VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTIES OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Phân tích đối chiếu thành ngữ nỗi sợ hãi Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTIES OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Phân tích đối chiếu thành ngữ nỗi sợ hãi Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Supervisor: Trần Bá Tiến, M.A Hanoi, 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Declaration i Aknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for choosing the topic Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Format of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 1.1 Idioms 1.1.1 Definitions of Idioms 1.1.2 Distinctive features of English idioms 1.2.1.1 Syntactic features of English idioms 1.2.1.2 Semantic features of English idioms 10 1.2.1.3 Cultural features of English idioms 12 1.1.3 Distinction between idioms, proverbs and some other terms: 14 sayings, phrasal verbs, colloquialisms 1.2 Human Feelings 17 1.2.1 Concepts of Human Feelings 17 1.2.2 Classifications of Human Feelings 17 1.2.3 Emotion Fear 19 Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English idioms denoting idioms fear in 20 comparison with Vietnamese counterparts 20 2.1 Structural features of English idioms denoting emotion Fear 20 2.1.1 English idioms denoting fear have clause patterns 20 v 2.1.2 English idioms denoting fear have phrase patterns 25 2.1.3 English idioms denoting fear have fixed patterns 27 2.1.4 English idioms denoting fear have odd patterns 27 2.2 An English-Vietnamese comparison of syntactic features of idioms denoting 27 fear 2.2.1 Similarities 27 2.2.1.1 Vietnamese idioms with clause patterns 27 2.2.1.2 Vietnamese idioms with phrase patterns 28 2.2.1.3 Using simile 30 2.2.2 Differences Chapter 3: Semantic features of English idioms denoting fear in comparison 30 33 with Vietnamese counterparts 3.1 Metaphor and metonymy in cognitive linguistics 33 3.2 Metaphor and metonymy in English idioms denoting fear 34 3.3 An English-Vietnamese comparison of semantic features of idioms denoting 35 fear 3.3.1 Similarities 35 3.3.2 Differences 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 42 Recapitulation 42 Concluding remarks 42 Limitations 42 Suggestion for further research 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Even having been living in England for a long time, a non-native speaker who has a great command of English could be easily realized that his English is not mother-tongue language when he is in conversation with an English speaker Explanation for this could be his way of using language Anyone who has already been put in a real communication of the language finds it easy to recognize that native-speakers‟ conversations are far more interesting and varied than that with non-native speakers The answer to this is that in their talk native speakers apply several idioms because of their convenience First, these idioms not only have brief and extraordinary forms, containing key words but they also hold profound meanings They manifest much what the speakers want to say and not want to say in words The means that can express speakers‟ viewpoints, feelings, attitudes and even personality and culture is their ways of idioms usage Take this example to consider “pull someone‘s leg‖ The phrase pull my leg would cause a lot of difficulties for non-native speakers because it has nothing to with the description of the action of pulling someone‟s leg but just means “to play a joke on somebody, usually by making them believe something that is not true” (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7th edition) or simply “to fool somebody” Therefore, knowing how to use a language is a completely different category from mastering a language Mastery of a language not only needs speakers‟ acquisition of several aspects of language such as semantics, syntax, phonetics and phonology, pragmatics but also their flexibility in language usage Idioms usage is the clearest evidence for their ability of varied language usage Moreover, idioms are the combination of culture, language usage and creative competence, personality and mark of time They are everlasting and passed from generation to generation because of their own distinctive features The combination of all the facts mentioned above is the reason for the thesis In the thesis the author has made an attempt to investigate into English idioms from different aspects Then there will be a comparison between English idioms and Vietnamese idioms denoting fear Aims of the study The study is carried out for the following aims First of all, it demonstrates some general knowledge about idioms in terms of syntactic, semantic and cultural features and their differentiation from other similar terms Secondly, it represents syntax and semantics of English idioms denoting fear Thirdly, the study provides a comparison of English and Vietnamese idioms, then clarifies syntax and semantics of Vietnamese idioms denoting fear Scope of the study English idioms have a great number of idioms denoting human feelings A few of basic emotions have been researched by some Vietnamese researchers such as “A Study on Structural and Semantic Features of English Idioms of Anger in Comparison with Vietnamese Equivalents” by Doan Ngoc Diep, “An Investigation into The English Words and Idioms Denoting Happiness” by Nguyen Thi Van Lam One human emotion that appears daily, therefore has several idioms, but has not been received much study is fear Hence, in the study the author concentrates on English idioms denoting fear and put it them in comparison with Vietnamese idioms Methods of the study The approaches and procedures employed to achieve the research goals are as follows: - To establish a theretical framework for the study, both domestic and foreign publications are critically reviewed and referred to - The quantitative method is dominantly used for the data statisctics In addition, the contrastive analysis approach is employed to compare the two language and cultures - Procedures: The study takes the following steps Data sources: The sources which are used to collect data consist of books, websites and other materials As for books, books which are concerned with idioms are collected and studied to gather necessary knowledge Main materials are Oxford Idioms (2010), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ AnhAnh-Việt (2004), Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt (2009), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2008), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2006) As for websites, they are the tool that is made use of The websites are a huge source of idioms Three basic websites are En.wikipedia.org, News.google.com and Books.google.com As for other materials, namely the previous theses in linguistics which are involved in the content of the study are also collected to grab related information Data analysis procedures: Idioms that are related to fear are collected from the dictionaries and books mentioned above Then the examples are taken from websites and books for illustration The last step is to investigate and analyze according to the requirements of the study Format of the study The study consists of three parts which are Introduction, Development and Conclusion Introduction: a brief account of relevant information for carrying out the study is represented They are the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the format of the study Development: This crucial part concludes four chapters Chapter I is Theoretical Background, which introduces initially necessary theories on the topic from the different aspects involved in idioms and human feelings Chapter II provides a deep insight into syntactic features of English idioms of fear and the comparison between the two languages, English and Vietnamese Chapter III has the similar steps as the second chapter It is concerned with semantic features of English idioms describing fear and its comparison with Vietnamese ones Conclusion: which includes Recapitulation, Concluding Remarks, and Suggestions for further researches The study ends at Reference and Recapitulation PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Idioms 1.1.1 Definitions of Idioms Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages Usage of idioms is integral in human interaction Be aware of this, recently, much work on idioms has been carried out Hence, a great number of definitions of idioms is understandable Every linguist who specializes in different branches will have different way to understand and describe idioms Jackson & Amvela and Palmer share the similar viewpoint on idiom definition According to Jackson & Amvela (2000, p.66), “an idiom may be defined as a phrase the meaning of which cannot be predicted from the individual meanings of the morphemes it comprises” Palmer (1990) states that an idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts It can be seen that there are two visible points in their statements First, an idiom is a phrase; second, its meaning is not simply the meanings of constituents making up the phrase Having the same point of view is Seidle and Mordie (1978, p.8) who consider “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone‖ Collins has a different way to define idioms but shares the similar idea To take the definition by Collins (1995) to consider, an idiom is a special kind of phrase It is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually […] idioms are typical metaphorical: they are effectively metaphors which have become „fixed‟ or „fossilized‟ In his definition, there are two noticeable terms, “typical metaphorical” and “fossilized” used to describe idioms „Metaphorical‟ could be referred to figurative and non-literal characteristics of idioms In the meanwhile, „fossilized‟ implies unchangeable property of idioms It can be seen from the definitions mentioned above, the linguists have defined idioms just in terms of their semantics and syntax In fact, idioms are man‟s creation and originated from human communication, thus usage of idioms is integral in human interaction Idioms have a deep interrelation with the human beings‟ thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and attitude, which means the speaker‟s culture Therefore, it would be a shortcoming in the attempt to define idioms without regarding their cultural aspect As for her viewpoint on idioms, Fernando (1997, pp.1-30) describes idioms as “conventionalized multiword expressions […] individual units whose components cannot be varied or varied only within definable limits […] Nor are the words of an idiom usually recombinable” At the same time, in her book, she lists three features which are commonly brought up with idioms to make it clearer, they are compositeness, institutionalization and semantic opacity Compositeness means that idioms are multiword expressions, consisting of more than one word According to Fernando, the shortest length is a two-word compound structure and the maximum limit is a complex clause with no more than two subordinate clauses In terms of institutionalization, idioms are the product of socially interaction expressions which have conventionalized, therefore, idioms are conventionalized expressions Semantic opacity could be understood as figurativeness and non-literalness of idioms In accordance with Fernando, an idiom is made up from at least two words and its meaning is not inferred from the meaning of each constituent or of both 1.1.2 Distinctive features of English idioms Analysis of the idioms in terms of definition simultaneously demonstrates some features of idioms Idioms should be treated as a special kind of every language They separate themselves from regular rules compared with other sorts of a language In other words, only in idioms the unacceptability in both meaning and form of a language could exist If a sentence she puts her money where her mouth is immediately indicates the meaning via its words, it could be changed into passive voice her money is put where her mouth is However, strangely enough, following the same form of every form that could be changed into passive voice Agent – Action – Recipient, the form mentioned above must not be employed in passive voice, otherwise, it looks odd Because, in fact put one‘s money where one‘s mouth is is an idiom, it is therefore necessary to be known as a fixed unit which does not permit of any rearrangement of its elements Put another aspect of idioms into consideration, that is semantic one, there will be one more aspects involved in Whether the sentence he loses his shirt should be treated as having a meaning directly through words or an idiom denoting losing a great deal of money, it will depend on the context it is embedded with That means idioms deal with pragmatics Exploration of features of idioms provides unique and interesting their peculiarities 1.1.2.1 Syntactic features of English idioms Johnson-Laird (1993, p.iii) states that “if natural language had been designed by a logician, idioms would not exist” Idioms hold distinctive features that cannot be seen in other kinds in a language Having the same idea, Fravel (1992) also states that idioms are anomalies of language Idioms exist in various forms, containing different number of words According to Fernando (1997), English idioms fluctuate between „two-word compound structure‟ and „a complex clause with no more than two subordinate clauses‟ On ice (set aside for future use), fork over (hand over), or wet blanket (dull or boring person who spoils the happiness of others) are some examples of the smallest structure of idioms Or if the shoe fits, wear it (admit the truth), people who live in glass houses shouldn‘t throw stones (one should not criticize when one is equally at fault) are illustration for the maximum limit of idioms In fact, there are idioms that have only one word “Lemon” (denoting something defective) is an idiom with only one word Or “fishy” is in the same case Seidl and Mordie (1978) discover syntactic properties of idioms when syntactic features and semantic features are put into correlation According to them, an idiom can have a regularly, irregularly or even wrongly grammatical structure Idiom spill the beans (reveal a secret) is a regular structure with the form Verb_ Direct Object, fill somebody‘s boots/shoes (do somebody‟s job in a satisfactory way when they are not there), give me five (hit the inside of somebody‟s hand with the inside of your hand as a greeting or to celebrate a victory) are in the case, or as free as (the) air/ as a bird (completely free) possesses the normal form, the comparative form However, consider sell him short, it is easy to see that the form of the idiom sell somebody short (underestimate somebody) is grammatically incorrect The last element short must be an adverb to modify sell Conversely, adjective short which is used to describe height of a person or to measure length or distance is applied to the job instead Do something on the off chance (to something even though you think that there is only a small possibility of it being successful), fight shy of something/ of doing something (avoid something or doing something, not want to do) are the instances of the extraordinary structure Some idioms that may have regular forms but the meaning is ambiguous The idiom dressed to kill (wear one‟s finest clothing) takes the regular form but has obscure meaning It could make sense that someone prepares for an action of killing someone by wearing clothes if it is not recognized as an idiom There are some same instances such as different strokes for different folks (everyone has different interests and tastes), eating someone (bothering or worrying someone), bite the bullet (endure in a difficult situation) , ... DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Idioms 1.1.1 Definitions of Idioms Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages Usage of idioms is integral in human interaction Be aware of this,... his way of using language Anyone who has already been put in a real communication of the language finds it easy to recognize that native-speakers‟ conversations are far more interesting and varied... English idioms denoting fear have phrase patterns 25 2.1.3 English idioms denoting fear have fixed patterns 27 2.1.4 English idioms denoting fear have odd patterns 27 2.2 An English- Vietnamese comparison