SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD CAT IN ENGLISH AND mèo IN VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD "CAT" IN ENGLISH AND "MÈO" IN VIETNAMESE ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA TỪ "CAT" TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ "MÈO" TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THÙY Field: English Linguistic Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh HaNoi, 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Thùy Approved by SUPERVISOR ASSOC PROF DR HOANG TUYET MINH Date: / /2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to those who have contributed to this thesis and proud to acknowledge their help I would like first and foremost to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Hoang Tuyet Minh, for her inspiring and invaluable guidance, advice, encouragement and everything that I learnt from her throughout my work Without her, this thesis would not have been possible My sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, assistance, and enthusiasm during my course Special acknowledgment is also given to my lecturers at Hanoi Open University for their precious knowledge, useful lectures in linguistics, which lay the foundation for this study Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my husband and my family for their understanding, patience, and support during the entire period of my study There are many others I should mention here, people who helped me along the way and provided me support Listing all of them would fill a book itself, so I merely will have to limit myself to a few words: I thank you ALL! ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT .vi List of abbreviations vii List of tables and figures viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.1.1 Previous Studies of English Idioms 2.1.2 Previous Studies of Vietnamese Idioms 2.2 Theory of syntax 2.3 Theory of semantics 12 2.4 Overview of idioms 14 2.4.1 Definitions 14 2.4.2 Features of idioms 17 2.4.2.1 Syntactic features 17 2.4.2.2 Semantic features 19 2.4.3 Types of idioms 21 2.4.4 The similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs 22 2.5 Summary 24 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Research approach 26 3.1.1 Quantitative research 26 3.1.2 Qualitative research 26 iii 3.1.3 Descriptive method 27 3.1.4 Contrastive method 28 3.2 Methods of the study 28 3.3 Data collection and data analysis 29 3.4 Summary 30 CHAPTER 4: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD CAT IN ENGLISH AND MÈO IN VIETNAMESE 32 4.1 Syntactic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 32 4.1.1 Syntactic features of idioms containing the word cat in English 32 4.1.1.1 Noun Phrases 32 4.1.1.2 Verb Phrases 33 4.1.1.3 Adjective Phrases 34 4.1.1.4 Preposition phrase 34 4.1.1.5 Interjection 34 4.1.2 Syntactic features of idioms containing the word mèo in Vietnamese 35 4.1.2.1 Noun Phrase 35 4.1.2.2 Verb Phrase 36 4.1.2.3 Adjective Phrase 36 4.2 Semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 37 4.2.1 Semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English 38 4.2.1.1 Expressing good points 38 4.2.1.1.1 The personal characters and status of people 38 4.2.1.1.2 Convenient conditions and good things 39 4.2.1.2 Expressing bad points 39 4.2.1.2.1 The personal characters and status of people 39 4.2.1.2.2 Inconvenient conditions and bad things 40 4.2.1.3 Expressing neutral points 41 4.2.2 Semantic features of idioms containing the word mèo in Vietnamese 43 4.2.2.1 Good personal characters and status of people 43 4.2.2.2 Expressing bad points 43 4.2.2.2.1 Bad personal characters and status of people 44 iv 4.2.2.2.2 Inconvenient conditions and bad things 44 4.3 A comparison between the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 45 4.3.1 In terms of syntactic features 45 4.3.2 In terms of sematic features 48 4.4 Implications for teaching and learning idioms containing word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 51 4.5 Summary 53 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 54 5.1 Recapitulation of the study 54 5.2 Concluding remark of the study 55 5.3 Limitation of the study 56 5.3 Suggestions for further studies 56 REFERENCES 58 APPENDIXES 63 v ABSTRACT This study focuses on syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese with the aim of helping Vietnamese learners of English understand the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese effectively In order to achieve the aims given, descriptive and comparative methods are used in combination with the qualitative and quantitative ones Through their syntactic and semantic features, we find out the similarities and differences between idiomatic expressions containing the word cat between two languages in terms of syntactic and semantic features Data used for analysis in this study were mainly collected through reference books, dictionaries, and the internet websites The data collected in the two languages are then aggregated and compared in details to determine the similarities and differences between them Through analysis of forms of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese, it is deduced that idioms are really important in communication Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles They bring the vividness and richness to the speakers' speeches This is the reason why the more skillfully a person uses idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative relationship The findings of the thesis illustrate some implications for teachers and learners of English from the use of linguistic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word cat in English and focus on the meanings of the English idioms containing the word cat and a comparative analysis with Vietnamese ones Hopefully, the study may help learners and teachers of English avoid difficulties in teaching and learning idioms vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Adj : Adjective Adj.P : Adjective phrase N NP : Noun : Noun Phrase Pre.P V : Prepositional Phrase : Verb VP : Verb phrase vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4.1 Summary of syntactic features of idioms containing the words cat in English 34 Table 4.2: Summary of syntactic features of idioms containing the word mèo in Vietnamese ……….36 Table 4.3: Summary of semantic features of idioms containing the words cat in English 41 Table 4.4: Summary of semantic features of idioms containing the words mèo in Vietnamese 44 Table 4.5: Summary of syntactic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 45 Table 4.6: Summary of semantic features of idioms containing the words cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese 47 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual, or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves The functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release Each language also conveys a particular aspect of its culture which prevents people from communicating with each other effectively and clearly Language is used to show not only the way of each people perceives the world around but also the way each people reacts towards that world In “General linguistics”, Robins (1989) almost concurred, saying “A language [is a] symbol system … based on pure or arbitrary convention … infinitely extendable and modifiable according to the changing needs and conditions of the speakers” The American linguists, Bernard Bloch and George L Trager formulated the following definition: “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.” Each nation’s language lies in itself similar and different concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, ways of thinking, behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and traditions, social conventions, etc Words and expressions including idioms have formed the vocabulary system of a language Idioms are considered as special factors of a language’s vocabulary system because they reflect culturally specific characteristics of each nation, including material and spiritual values Therefore, a lot of researchers have long shown their concerns for idioms Idioms were formed along with the development of national language capital, closely related to proverbs, folk songs They occupy a large number in the treasure in English and in Vietnamese For a long time, idioms have been a means of communication in people's daily life, moreover, idioms have been used by many writers and poets in the literature to contribute to the content of the work It can be said, idioms are "The jewel of the nation" by its common use-value is crystallized from the language, quintessence of national culture Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles They bring the vividness and richness to the speakers’ speeches This is the reason why the more skillfully a person uses idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation of the study As mentioned in the previous sections, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (Oxford University Press - 1995) defines idioms as "a phrase or sentence that has an ambiguous meaning from the meaning of individual words and must be learned in an entire unit." (1995) Regarding reflection, it can be seen that there is no conflict between the mentioned definitions of idioms Regardless of the obvious differences in expression, they intersect at one point: idioms are meaningful fixed expressions that cannot be resolved by combining the literal meaning of the individual words Learning idioms plays an important part in improving language skills Many students feel that they cannot speak fluently or write a complete essay This happens because they all rely on the use of separate words leading to the creation of such a sentence of matching sentences Therefore, in order to confidently use foreign languages, having to understand and use idioms correctly will be a good choice for those who have a strong desire to improve their English proficiency However, learning idioms can cause many obstacles because of cultural differences My graduation thesis written Syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese involves the contrastive study of the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing words cat in English and Vietnamese By doing this, the various increasing, as well as the constructions possessed by cat the ways used properly in both languages, are found out In brief, there are five main chapters in my study: Firstly, rationale, aim, scope and design of the thesis are presented And then, previous studies and theoretical background are discussed, including four main small parts After that is the proposed research methodology All information that is founded and discussed is presented in the followed chapter Finally, summarizing what has been discussed in previous parts In terms of syntactic features, English and Vietnamese idioms are divided into three categories of noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases In semantic aspects, through the process of investigation, we have also discovered that all idioms in the corpus are categorized into three meanings including good points, bad points and neutral points 54 5.2 Concluding remark of the study The results of the study indicate that the following findings should be noted regarding idiomatic research containing the word cat It can be concluded that in syntactic perspectives, English and Vietnamese idioms that contain the word cat are analyzed according to phrase structures such as noun phrases, verb phrases, and adjective phrases In terms of their number, what we can see is the obvious domination of noun phrases in the total rate of syntactic features in English idioms It has the highest percentage Standing at the second place is the approximate number of verb phrases with and then are adjective phrases and preposition phrases Nearly in contrast with English cat idioms, Vietnamese idioms show their little attention to noun phrases Syntactically, Vietnamese idioms have the largest number in verb phrases, standing at the second place is the number of adjective phrases with and then is noun phrases Besides, English and Vietnamese idioms contain the word cat tend to be in symmetric, comparative and metaphorical structures In terms of semantic features, all idioms in the corpus are categorized into three meanings including good points, bad points and neutral points Idioms in English and Vietnamese contain the word cat are similar in the way to express some characteristics: good points and bad points about the personality of people and the circumstances and conditions in life However, there are some differences in the meaning of cat idioms in English and Vietnamese In English, cats are in a strong position; in Vietnamese, cats represent very low- people who are not given control or real meaning Among the idioms we mentioned, to describe people, English has many idioms In Vietnamese, however, compared to English, we can see fewer idioms describing people Meanwhile, Vietnamese people have many idioms that describe negative actions In addition, idioms that contain the word cat in English denote favorable conditions, good things, and neutral points of meaning, while Vietnamese idioms not indicate these meanings Mastering idioms containing the word cat is very helpful in teaching and learning them Recommend that in teaching idioms in general and idioms containing the word cat in particular, teachers should put them in text, in conversation before giving the meanings of these idioms, pay attention to word order in idioms and sound samples 55 5.3 Limitation of research The study investigated idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo Vietnamese about their syntactic and semantic aspects However, the cultural and pragmatic features of idioms in English and Vietnamese are not included in this thesis Moreover, the application of findings on the linguistic features of idioms containing cat to translation has not been proposed In addition, idioms may be missing during data collection This may lead to some mistakes in research Despite my significant efforts, certain limitations may be detected in this study due to time constraints and other unexpected factors That is the number of the cat in English idioms and in Vietnamese in the study is still relatively low compared to a large number of English and Vietnamese idioms However, I hope that serious work has served research questions as a contribution to the rich collection of previous studies in the same area Furthermore, the sample sources are limited to specific objectives of the thesis In addition, due to limited example sources acting as data for the study, some parts of the study did not reach the desired depth For these reasons, this study cannot cover all the features of idioms containing the word cat, such as the practical features of these idioms Due to limited knowledge and time my research stops here, but I hope that it will be analyzed further by following people who are interested in idioms containing the words cat 5.4 Suggestions for further studies Some suggestions for more in-depth research for people interested in topics related to me: Idioms are language units that act like words They can form sentences and have color meanings of their own The role of idioms in sentence formation in English and Vietnamese has not been systematically studied We hope that this can be studied in the near future Idioms are considered to be very special language units because they are different from words and idioms They are phrases whose words have different meanings from the dictionary definitions of the individual words Besides special meaning colors, idioms also have their own style of pictorial style After doing the research, some suggestions for further studies can be drawn as following: 56 Cultural and pragmatic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and those containing the word mèo in Vietnamese weather in English and Vietnamese Study semantic and syntactic features of proverbs containing the word cat in English and Vietnamese 57 REFERENCES ENGLISH 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https://www.easypacelearning.com/english-books/animal-idioms-from-a-toz/1000-animal-idioms-about-cats-and-their-meanings 89 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/16d9/a5ccd6573762fe60c6e2d6110bdbd9755 64f.pdf 62 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: List of English idioms containing the word “cat" a Cheshire cat alley cat a kick at the cat a bag of cats a remark catty a cat's chance in hell a dead cat on the line as much chance as a wax cat in hell (as) conceited as a barber's cat 10 as suspicious as a cat 11 as nervous as a cat 12 as weak as a cat 13 as playful as a kitten 14 as slick as a cat 15 as different as cats and dogs 16 be in the cat-bird seat 17 busier than a one-eyed cat watching two mouse holes 18 busier than a three-legged cat in a dry sandbox 19 bell the cat 20 black as a stack of black cats 21 cat fight 22 cat's pajamas 23 cat’s whiskers 24 catcall 25 cat nap 26 cat in the meal-tub 27 cat in the sack 28 cat burglar 29 cat-and-dog life 30 cool as a cat 31 cat's cradle 63 32 cat's meow 33 cat around 34 copy cat 35 cat's paw 36 cat and mouse 37 cat fur and kitty britches 38 dog my cats 39 dead cat on the line 40 dead cat bounce 41 emotional support cat 42 enough to make a cat laugh 43 fight like cat and dog 44 faster than a cat lapping chain lightning 45 fat cat 46 fight like Kilkenny cats 47 feel as if a cat has kittened in (one's) mouth 48 fraidy cat 49 grinning like a Cheshire cat 50 (has the) cat got your tongue? 51 hell cat 52 have kittens 53 herding cats 54 honest as the cat when the meat's out of reach 55 like a herding cat 56 lead a cat and a dog life 57 high as the hair on a cat’s back 58 keep no more cats than can catch mice 59 let the cat out of the bag: 60 like a cat in a strange garret 61 like something the cat brought in 62 look at what the cat dragged in! 63 like the cat that got/stole/ate the cream 64 like a scalded cat 65 like a cat on hot hot brick 64 66 like a cat on a hot tin roof 67 live under the cat's foot 68 look like the cat that swallowed/ate the canary 69 let the cat that got the canary 70 look like something the cat dragged in 71 mad enough to kick a cat 72 make a cat laugh 73 many ways to kill a cat 74 no room to swing a cat 75 swing the cat 76 not have a cat in hell's chance 77 not stand a cat in hell's chance 78 nimble as a cat on a hot bake - stone 79 rain cats and dogs 80 purr like a cat 81 play cat and mouse with 82 play a cat - and- mouse game with 83 put the cat near the goldfish bowl 84 scaredy- cat 85 set the cat among the pigeons 86 sick as a cat 87 see which way the cat jumps 88 shoot the cat 89 sling the cat 90 to be catty 91 the cat among the pigeons 92 throw the cat among the pigeons 93 turn cat in pan 94 touch the cat 95 top cat 96 wanton kittens make sober cats 97 walk like a cat on eggs 98 walk the cat back 99 weak as a cat/ a kitten 65 100 whip the cat 101 wildcat 102 wait the cat to jump Appendix 2: List of Vietnamese idioms containing the word mèo anh em chó với mèo ăn nhạt biết thương mèo ăn mèo buộc cổ mèo, treo cổ chó bứt râu mèo nhổ nanh cọp biết mèo cắn mỉu buộc cổ mèo, treo cổ chó chó già, mèo mù cơm treo, mèo nhịn đói 10 chó treo, mèo đậy 11 chó chê mèo lơng 12 chó khơ, mèo lạc 13 chó tha đi, mèo tha lại 14 chuột gặm chân mèo 15 chó gio, mèo mù 16 chửi chó, mắng mèo 17 đa nghi mèo 18 đá mèo, qo chó 19 đơn mèo cụt 20 giả mèo khóc chuột 21 gầm gừ chó với mèo 22 gửi mỡ cho mèo 23 giận chó mắng mèo 66 24 im ỉm mèo ăn vụng 25 làm mèo mửa 26 lôi mèo sổ chuột 27 lèo nhèo mèo vật đống rơm 28 mèo khóc chuột 29 mèo làm chó chịu 30 mắng chó chửi mèo 31 mèo mả gà đồng 32 mèo đàng chó điếm 33 mèo mỡ 34 mèo mù vớ cá rán 35 mèo già hóa cáo 36 mèo mù móc cống 37 mèo xó, chó nơi 38 mua mèo bị 39 mổ lợn đòi bèo, mổ mèo đòi mỡ 40 nhỏ nhẻ mèo 41 mèo thấy mỡ 42 chó với mèo 43 ốm mèo hen 44 rình mèo rình chuột 45 rửa mặt mèo 46 sợ xanh mắt mèo 47 tiu nghỉu mèo cắt tai 48 tưng hửng mèo tai 49 tươm tướp mèo thấy mỡ 50 yêu chó với mèo 51 yếu mèo hen Appendix 3: Key for exercises in chapter Exercise 1 Describe a room as very small b There isn't enough room to swing a cat 67 Tell someone that there are different d There's more than one way to skin a ways of doing something cat Say that there's going to be trouble g That's put the cat among the pigeons because of what someone has said or done Remind someone to keep something h Don't let the cat out of the bag secret Describe what happens when the boss a When the cat's away, the mice will leaves the office for a day or two play Warn someone not to try to find out i Curiosity killed the cat private information about others Tell someone they are being jumpy c You're like a cat on hot bricks and nervous Say that someone you know has an f He just rubs me up the wrong way annoying personality Tell someone to stop being too hesitant and careful in expressing their opinion e Stop pussyfooting around 10 Tell someone that they will not succeed at what they are trying to j You haven't got a cat in hell's chance! Exercise 2: dog, pussyfooting around, hell's catty away, the mice will play among bag whiskers 68 ... IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD CAT IN ENGLISH AND MÈO IN VIETNAMESE The findings of the analysis of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the word cat in English and the word mèo in. .. idioms containing the word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese are semantic and syntactic features 102 idioms containing the word cat in English are found and 51 idioms containing the word mèo. .. idioms containing word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese, a comparison between the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing word cat in English and mèo in Vietnamese and implications