MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỈ SỰ “GIÀU” VÀ “NGHÈO” TRONG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT) VU THI THUY Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỈ SỰ “GIÀU” VÀ “NGHÈO” TRONG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT) VU THI THUY Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh Hanoi, 2017 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on syntactic and semnatic features of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requiremesnts for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2017 Vu Thi Thuy Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh Date: 24/11/2017 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher My special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies - Ha Noi Open University for their interesting lectures and useful advice I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends for idea sharing and encouragement It would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished without all of these valuable supports Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT Idioms play an important role in all natural languages including English and Vietnamese They enrich the language They help speakers and writers to emphasise their ideas and make our observations, judgments, and explanations more lively and interesting They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in a few words Effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without idioms; therefore, they are worth studying This thesis is a study on syntactic and semantic featues of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents The data are 154 idioms denoting richness and poverty in both English and Vietamese collected from some idioms dictionaries in English and Vienamese Through a variety of methods, namely descriptive mehod, comparative method, qualitative method and quantitative method, the study analyzes the syntacic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents The findings of the study help to find out some similarities and differences in syntax and semantics of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and Vietnamese This thesis also contributes to the general understanding of syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents Moreover, the thesis also gives teachers and learners of English some suggetions for teaching and learning English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS N : Noun V : Verb Adj : Adjective Adv : Adverb Prep : Preposition NP : Noun Phrase VP : Verb Phrase Adj.P : Adjective phrase Adv.P : Adverbial Phrase PP : Prepositional Phrase IsDR&P: Idioms denoting richness and poverty EIsDR&P: English idioms denoting richness and poverty VIsDR&P: Vietnamese idioms denoting richness and poverty iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1 Verb phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P Table 3.2 Noun phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P 21 25 Table 3.3 Adjective phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IDR&P Table 3.4 Prepositional phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P 26 27 Table 3.5 Adverbial phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P 27 Table 3.6 Comparative structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P 28 Table 3.7 A summary of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting Richness and Poverty in grammatical patterns 29 Table 3.8 Frequency of Syntactic Features of Idioms denoting Richness and Poverty in English and Vietnamese 30 Table 3.9 A statistical summary of semantic features of idioms denoting Richness and poverty in English and Vietnames 38 Table 4.1: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 45 Table 4.2: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 45 Table 4.3: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 46 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality Acknowledgements Abstract List of abbreviations List of tables and figures i ii iii iv v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rational 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 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3 4 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Theoretical backround 2.2.1 Definition of poverty, richness and idioms 2.2.3 Typical Features of Idioms 2.2.3.1 Semantic Ambiguity 2.2.3.2 Syntactic Restriction and Stability 2.3.3.3 Inseparability of Semantic and Syntactic Features 2.2.4 Idioms and other language units 8 11 11 12 12 13 2.2.4.1 Idioms and phrases 2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs 2.2.4.3 Idioms and collocations 2.2.5 Culture and language 2.2.5.1 Concepts of culture 2.2.5.2 Culture in language 13 13 14 15 15 15 vi 2.2.5.3 Idioms Related to Culture 2.2.6 Classification of Idioms 16 17 2.3 Summary 17 CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURS OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 18 3.1 Syntactic features of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and Vietnamese 18 3.1.1 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a verb phrase 3.1.2 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of a noun phrase 38 18 21 3.1.3 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adjective phrase 25 3.1.4 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a prepositional phrase 26 3.1.5 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adverbial phrase 27 3.1.6 Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of comparatives 27 3.2 Semantic features of English idioms enoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents 30 3.2.1 Symbolic characteristics of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and 30 Vietnamese 3.2.1.1 Metaphor 30 3.2.1.2 Metonymy 31 3.2.1.3 Hyperbole 31 3.2.1.4 Simile 32 3.2.1.5 Symmetry 32 3.2.2 Semantic fields of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting richness and poverty 32 3.2.2.1 Money 33 3.2.2.2 Food 34 3.2.2.3 Clothes 36 3.2.2.4 Other Property 36 3.3 Similarities and differences in term of syntax and semantics of English words and idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalent 39 vii 3.3.1 Similarities 3.3.2 Differences 39 39 3.3.2.1 Syntactic Features 39 3.3.2.2 Semantic Features 39 3.4 Concluding remarks 40 CHAPTER 4: COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LEARNER IN USING ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 41 4.1 Survey questionaires 4.1.1 Subjects 41 41 4.1.2 Questionaires 41 4.1.3 Procedure 42 4.2 Common errors made by learners when using English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents 43 4.2.1 Common errors made by learners of English 43 4.2.2 Causes of errors 46 4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms denoting richness and povery with references to the Vietnamese equivalents 47 4.3.1 Suggestions for learners in learning English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents 48 4.3.2 Suggestions for teacher in teaching English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents 50 4.4 Summary 52 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 53 5.1 Concluding remarks 53 5.2 Limitation of the study 54 5.3 Suggestions for further study 54 REFERENCES APPENDIX 55 58 viii References In English Ammer, C (1997), The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, New York Claire K (2003), Language and Culture, 4th Impression, Oxford University Press, China Collins Cobuild, 1995, Dictionary of Idioms Cowie, A P., Mackin, R., McCaig, I R, 1994, Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, Oxford University Press (Sd) Cruse, D A (1986), Lexical Semantics, Cambridge University Press Ginzburg, R S., et al (1979), A Course in Modern English Lexicology, Moscow Vysšaja Škola Greenbaum S (1996), English Grammar, Oxford University Press Fernando, C., 1998, Idioms and Idiomaticity Oxford: Oxford University Halliday, M A K, 1985, An Introduction to Functional Grammar London: Edward Arnold 10 Heacock, P (2003), Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, Cambridge University Press 11 Hornby, A (2005), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, (7th ed.), Oxford University Press 12 Nguyen Hoa (2004), Understanding English Semantics, NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 13 Kramsch C (1986), Language and Culture, Oxford: OUP 14 Lyons, J.(1977) Semantics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 Makkai, A (1987), A Dictionary of American Idioms, Barron’s Educational Series 16 Palmer F.R (1990), Semantics, Cambrige University Press 17 Randolph Q and Sidney G (1973), A University Grammar of English, Longman, Hongkong 18 Randolph Q et al (1985), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman, London and New York 55 19 Richards, Jack & Platt, John et, al (1987), Longman Dictionary of Applied linguistics, Longman Group UK Limited 20 Rosalind F (1991), The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs, Bloomsbury Books, London 21 Yong, H and Peng, J (2007), Bilingual Lexicography from a Communicative Perspective, John Benjamins Publishing Company 22 Wright J (1992), Idioms organizer, Thomson Heinle In Vietnamese 23 Diệp Quang Ban (2009), Ngữ pháp Việt Nam, NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam 24 Vĩnh Bá (1999), Từ điển thành ngữ tiếng Anh, NXB Giáo dục 25 Xuân Bá, Quang Minh (2008), Thành ngữ tục ngữ tiếng Anh, NXB Hà Nội 26 Chu Xuân Diên, Lương Văn Đang, Phương Chi (1975), Tục Ngữ Việt Nam, NXB Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội 27 Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ (1996), Từ điển Anh- Việt, NXB Giáo dc 28 Hoàng Văn Hành, 1998, Kể chuyện thành ngữ, tục ngữ, Viện Ngôn ngữ học Ủy ban KHXH, Nhà xuất khoa học xã hội 29 Cao Xuân Hạo (2006), Tiếng Việt sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, NXB Giáo dục 30 Trịnh Thu Hương, Trung Dũng (2016), Từ điển thàh ngữ Anh Việt, Nhà xuất Phụ nữ 31 Nguyễn Lân (1997), Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam, NXB Khoa 32 Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang (1978) Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt Nxb Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội 33 Hoàng Tuyết Minh (2014), 523 Thành ngữ so sánh ngang Anh – Việt, NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam 34 Vũ Ngọc Phan (2002), Tục ngữ ca dao dân ca VN, NXB Văn Học 35 Lã Thành (1995), Từ điển Thành ngữ Anh Việt thông dụng, NXB Khoa học Kỹ thuật 56 36 Nguyễn Như Ý (chủ biên), 1995, Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ tiếng việt, Viện ngơn ngữ học – TT KH xã hội nhân văn quốc gia, Nhà xuất giáo dục 37 Viện ngôn ngữ học (2009), Từ điển Anh Việt, NXB Khoa học Xã hội Bibliography 38 http://VnVista.com/forums/topic275.html 39 http://my.opera.com 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 http://aeVn.fr/topic/English-Vietnamese-idiom-t2310 http://thành ngữ tiếng anh.com/idioms Http://Vdict.com http://www.yourdictionary.com http://www.thefreedictionary.com http://dictionary.cambridge.org http://www.oup.com 47 http://English2share.blogspot.com/2008/04/English-V-idioms 48 http:// www.Vnsay.com/hoctienganh/ 49 http://www.wordnik.com/words/penurious 50 http://www thinkexist.com/quotation/money 51 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beggar 52 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moneybags 53 http://thoibaonganhang.vn/nho-nha-tranh-vach-dat-42107.html 54 http://www.english-sayings.com/category/english-proverbs 55 M.A thesis: “A study of linguistic features of proverbs expressing richness and poverty in English versus Vietnamese”, Tran Thi Cam Van (2012) 56 M.A thesis: “A study on English idioms denoting fear with references to the Vietnamese equivalents” Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai (2015) 57 M.A thesis: “A study on structural and semantic features of English idioms denoting anger with references to the Vietnamese equivalents” Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong (2015) 57 Appendix Poor as a Church mouse Over head an ear in debt Poor little rich’s girl Have neither house or home Have money to burn At the top of the tree Debt is the worst poverty Make a cat’s paw of other people Have enough and to spare As rich as a Jew Rob Peter to pay Paul Coin money Turn a pretty penny Go to the wall Needy situation Be in a tight place/spot Take the knock Sweat blood Stuff today and stare tomorro Strike oil Be one step ahead of the sheriff To step into inheritance To be at stake To spend money like water On short commons Dead men’s shoes To run up a bill To be rolling in cash From rags to riches To be in the red Pretty penny 58 Pretty pot of money To burn a hole in one’s pocket To marry money Money-spider Fast living Fast man Fat cat Fat of the land As plentiful as blackberries As thick as a cable To be in the black To live on bread and cheese In close quarters In easy circumstance In debt To be in low water In necessity Dog-poor Stone-broke Money-bags Made of money A bit trying To make money fly Man of mean/man of money A meal ticket To break the bank To be out of business To be in the money Flat/stonybroke To be broke to the wide On a tight budget To have (got) more than sense 59 Much coin, much care naked man A threadbare coat has no honey in his pot Brown bread Store of oatmeal down to chili and beans Live like a King 60 Appendix Áo ấm cơm no Tha phương cầu thực Cơm niêu nước lọ Rách tàu chuối khô Van công khất nợ Vay công lĩnh nợ Tiền rừng bạc bể Thịt thăn cơm ré Thất lỡ vận Nợ chúa Chổm Thẳng cánh cò bay Rủng rà rủng rỉnh Chó cắn áo rách Áo rách quần manh Nhà ngói mít Cơm no áo lành Quần manh áo vải Tiền dư thóc mục Khơng tiền khơng gạo Tiền khối bạc đồng Tiền nghìn bạc vạn Tiền trăm bạc chục Phú quý phù vân Tiền phú hậu bần Tiền nước Ăn bữa sáng lo bữa tối Chổi cùn rế rách Có dỗ người Con nhà lính tính nhà quan Đầu tắt mặt tối Giàu giàu 61 Giàu điếc sang đui Ho bạc khạc tiền Giàu vẻ vang, sang lịch Giật gấu vá vai Hái tiền Không tấc đất cắm dùi Khơng xu dính túi Ăn bữa hơm lo bữa mai Ăn đói mặc rách Ăn đói mặc rét Ăn mày đòi xơi gấc Cành vàng ngọc Chuột sa chĩnh gạo Chuột sa hũ nếp Chở củi rừng Cái khó ló khơn Giàu nứt đố đổ vách No cơm ấm áo No cơm ấm cật Nem công chả phượng Nhà cao cửa rộng Nhà tranh vách đất Nghèo rớt mồng tơi Rách tổ đỉa Ngồi mát ăn bát vàng Nhà rách vách nát Phi thương bất phú Phong gấm lụa Phú quý sinh lễ nghĩa Tham phú phụ bần Cầu bất cầu bơ Khó bó đến xương 62 Đói ăn vụng, túng làm càn Giàu chiều hơm, khó sớm mai Giàu hay mần, bần hay ăn Phú bất nhân, bần bất nghĩa Nhà giàu tham việc, thất nghiệp tham ăn Giàu làm chị, khó lụy làm em Của nhà giàu có nọc Giàu trọng khó khinh Nước chảy chỗ trũng Giàu ăn khó chịu No cơm tấm, ấm ổ rơm No bụng đói mắt vạn tội bần Có bát ăn bát để/có ăn để Uống nước chè tàu, ăn tràu cơi thiếc Khố son bòn khố nâu Mớ bảy mớ ba Tiền đầy cửa Bạc đầy cong Cơm hẩm cà thiu Muối dưa đắp đổi qua ngày Cơm sung cháo dền Muối dưa chay lòng Cơm thừa canh cặn Nhà ngang dãy dọc Mâm son bát sứ 63 Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS The following questionnaire aims at figuring out the errors encountered by nonmajor students of English at Ha Giang College of Education in using English idioms, especially English idioms denoting richness and poverty to suggest ways to improve their ability in learning English idioms Please answer the following questions as honestly as you can Thank you very much for your cooperation! Part 1: Answer the questions below Question Queston How long have you been learning English? A years □ B years □ C 10 years □ D Others ( _ years) □ You find learning English is A Very important B important C a little important D not important Question Question Your English skills are A Exellent □ B Good □ C Not good □ D Very bad □ You find using English idioms when speaking English is A Very necessary □ B Necessary □ C A little necessary □ 64 □ D Not necessary Question In an English lesson, how often you participate in speaking English idioms? Question Questions A Never □ B Sometimes □ C Often □ D Usually □ You find idiom lessons _ A very interesting □ B interesting □ C quite boring □ D very boring □ How much you like the topics given to discuss in English lessons? A very much B much C not very much D very little Question How much you know about English idioms denoting richness and poverty A very much B much C not very much D very little In English lesson, how often you use English Question idioms denoting richness and poverty? A Usually B Often C Sometimes D Never Question 10 How much you like topics of English idioms 65 denoting richness and poverty given in English lesson? A very much B much C not very much D very little Part 2: Do the exercises below Exercise 1: Complete the following sentences with the suitable idioms from the box below (Put the verbs of the idioms into correct form if necessary) strike oil in debt deep pockets step into inheritance make a fast buck be in a tight of place rob Peter to pay Paul marry money have money to burn a meal ticket 11, He by selling those stocks 12, His sister 13, After losing his job, he _ 14, I don’t think Miriam really cares much aout John She just regards him as 15, What’s the matter with you? You are acting like you _ 16, He suddenly had a lot of money when he _of his uncle’s property 17, It’s obvious that this was merely a case of _ There was not real clearing up of the debt 18, He has just buy a Cadilac I don’t know how he earns his living but he seems to _ 19, Andy’s business is not doing well at the moment He says he needs a friend with 20, The drinker was deeply 66 Exercise 2: Choose the correct idioms to replace the underlined parts in the following sentences by circling A, B, C or D 21, I was without money many times when I first started working (A) raking in the money (B) worth my salt (C) laying away money (D) flat broke 22, My neighbor seems to be short of money at the moment (A) loaded (B) deadbeat (C) hard up (D) in the black 23, My friend made a lot of money when he was working in the oil industry (A) a bundle (B) ends meet (C) a piggy bank (D) a living 24, That man is very rich but he never likes to spend his money (A) cut-rate (B) loaded (C) cooking the books (D) in the whole 25, The woman with the three children is having a difficult time to pay her bills (A) make ends meet (B) bet her bottom dollar (C) feel like a million bucks (D) make a bundle Exercise 3: Translate the following sentences containing idioms into Vietnamese 26, I Like to watch the fat cats go by in their BMWs ………………………………………………………………………………………… 27, Being unemployed with little chance of getting work is a dog’s life ………………………………………………………………………………………… 67 28, When property prices doubled in our area, we suddenly realised we were sitting on a gold mine ………………………………………………………………………………………… 29, A famly on a tight budget can’t afford meat every day ………………………………………………………………………………………… 30, He was as poor as a church mouse so his wife left him ………………………………………………………………………………………… 68 69 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M .A THESIS A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS. .. This thesis is a study on syntactic and semantic featues of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents The data are 154 idioms denoting richness and. .. and compares the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents and then withdraws some implications for teaching