A study on english and vietnamese idioms relating to women from a cross cultural perspective

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN FROM A CROSS –

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN FROM A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(NGHIÊN CỨU THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT VỀ

NGƯỜI PHỤ NỮ TỪ BÌNH DIỆN VĂN HÓA)

TRAN THUY LINH

Field: English Language Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN FROM A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(NGHIÊN CỨU THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT VỀ

NGƯỜI PHỤ NỮ TỪ BÌNH DIỆN VĂN HÓA)

TRAN THUY LINH

Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Vo Dai Quang, PhD

Hanoi, 2017

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN FROM A CROSS – CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE 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

my growth as an academic researcher

A special word of thanks goes to other lecturers of the Faculty of Postgraduate at Hanoi Open University for their ideas, support, encouragement and help in supplying materials and their valuable suggestion for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

This thesis cannot avoid limitation, so I wish to receive comments and opinions to make it better

ABSTRACT

This contrastive analysis study is carried out to find out the similarities and differences in semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women by using mainly the descriptive and comparative methods In terms of semantics, the stylistic devices such as metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, simile and symmetry are analysed and mentioned in semantic fields as social interaction, child bearing and love-marriage in personal relationship, etc Cultural features are also discovered as they bring about distinctive characteristics in these idioms Basing on the findings taken from the study, some possible implications will be proposed to help Vietnamese learners at Ha Nam gifted high school in Ha Nam province have

a better understanding of English idioms relating to women and be able to translate them from English into Vietnamese effectively in their process of mastering English as a foreign language

Table 3.3: Distribution in image of English and Vietnamese idioms

relating to women in terms of social interaction

36

Table 3.4: Distribution in image of English and Vietnamese idioms

relating to women in terms of child bearing

38

Table 3.5: Distribution in image of English and Vietnamese idioms

relating to women in terms of personal relationship

41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of tables iv

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION i

1.1 Rationale for the study i

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study ii

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study iii

1.5 Scope of the study iii

1.6 Significance of the study iv

1.7 Design of the study iv

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW vi

2.1 Previous studies vi

2.2 Semantics 8

2.2.1 Definition of semantics 8

2.2.2 Sematic features and some stylistic devices ix

2.3 Culture xi

2.3.1 Definition of culture xi

2.3.2 Cultural features xiii

2.4 Idioms and idioms relating to women xvi

2.4.1 Definition of Idiom xvi

2.4.2 Classification of Idiom xvii

2.4.3 Idioms relating to women xx

2.5 Summary xxii

Chapter 3 IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE FROM A CROSS – CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE xxiii

3.1 English idioms relating to women xxiii

3.1.1 Semantic features of English idioms relating to women xxiii

3.1.2 Cutural features of English idioms relating to women xxv

3.2 Vietnamese idioms relating to women xxvii

3.2.1 Semantic features xxvii

3.2.2 Cultural features xxx

3.3 Comparison of idioms relating to women in English and Vietnamese from a

cross – cultural perspective xxxii

3.3.1 In social interaction xxxiii

3.3.2 In child bearing xxxv

3.3.3 In personal relationship xxxvii 3.4 Summary xl Chapter 4 ACTUAL ERRORS MADE BY LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN USING ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN xlii 4.1 Survey questionnaires xlii 4.1.1 Subject xlii 4.1.2 Questionnaire for students xlii 4.1.3 Procedure xliii 4.2 Common errors made by learners of English when using English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women xliii 4.2.1 Common errors made by learners xliv 4.2.2 Causes of committing errors xlvii 4.3 Possible implications for learning English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women xlviii 4.4 Summary lii Chapter 5 CONCLUSION liv 5.1 Concluding remarks liv 5.2 Limitation of the study lvi 5.3 Recommendations/ Suggestions for further study lvi REFERENCES lviii APPENDIX 1 English idioms relating to women lxii APPENDIX 2 Vietnamese idioms relating to women lxviii APPENDIX 3 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE lxxviii

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

In today’s global world, the importance of English can not be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everywhere With the assistance of technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education, which, is the most important arena where English is needed

In Vietnamese education system, English is the first foreign language to be chosen To master English as the native speakers is not easy; however, it is desire

of all foreign learners in general and Vietnamese learners in particular, they usually face a lot of difficulties that prevent them from gaining successful conversations One of the reasons for these problems lies in the way people perceive and use idioms Each language, through words, has different constructs These structures represent the cultural thinking, psychology, intelligence and talent

of native speakers Idiom is one of those constructs Idioms not only work to make good text, beautiful images but also to express ideas in a deep, subtle way By studying English idioms in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the similarities and differences, which, therefore, help learners of English to understand and have better use of English idioms The meaning of idiom is the inner meaning, not just on the external form Idioms open up an approach in which all aspects of life and society are clearly defined and deeply implied Therefore, idioms are chosen as my thesis topic

Human being is the interesting and familiar topic to many languages Especially, it is popular in both Vietnamese and English languages The image of human being appears in everyday language, not excepting idioms In which, I especially like the image of women – the Muse in literature, one of the most typical topic that literature has mentioned

Actually, the English image describing women is very commonly used in idioms A large portion of English idioms relating to women are used to describe

people’s attitude (e.g A scarlet women) or to express a remark or evaluation (e.g

At your mother’s knee, A plain Jane), etc

Whereas, in Vietnamese idioms, women are described with admiration and

love as: Quốc sắc thiên hương, Đẹp như tiên or Hai sương một nắng, or with critical meaning as: Ba bà, chín chuyện, Chị bị hột vừng, etc

Attracted by the idiomatic expressions, especially those relating to the image of women because they express their richness and diversity in meaning In addition, these English idioms sometimes make me confused to figure out their exact meaning when needed translating into Vietnamese due to their very specifically different ways of expression in English and Vietnamese

Therefore, I just focus on the women’s role, fate and image in social interaction, in child bearing and in personal relationship,… - a very small part of the huge idiom treasure in: “A study on English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women from a cross – cultural perspective”

However, due to different language structures and cultural background, learners of English in Vietnam have to face with many difficulties and among which how to use English idioms relating to women effectively, and find some appropriate Vietnamese ones is one of the most complicated In reality, learners seem to pay inadequate attention to idioms relating to women though they have a very early contact with them As a result, they frequently fail to use them satisfactorily It is found that idioms relating to women are complicated but very interesting and useful in both oral and written communication Thus, the above thesis is being choosen

Hopefully, my study will meet the demand of the people who are interested

in this issue, and help the foreign language learners recognize, understand and translate the idioms denoting women into another language Furthermore, this study gives out some suggestions for the teaching and learning English idioms to Vietnamese learners to use them effectively

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The thesis basically studies English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women from a cross-cultural perspective in order to provide learners of English with a basic knowledge of this field to use them properly

In order to achieve these aims, the objectives are:

- To present the semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women

- To compare idioms relating to women in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective

(iii) To suggest some implications for learning English idioms to

1.4 Methods of the study

This study is designed to investigate the English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women, so the descriptive and comparative methods have been chosen

as major ones

Firstly, the descriptive method is utilized in order to give a full account of the semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting women Secondly, the comparative method is applied to identify the similarities and dissimilarities in their semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women

Some others as analytical, synthetic have also been used as supporting methods As a matter of fact, to investigate in details the semantic and cultural features with various nuances of meanings, analytical method is also employed, and then the synthetic method is used for grouping them on the basis of certain criteria according to semantic and cultural features Moreover, quite a few of research techniques have been combined, such as statistics, componential analysis, and contrastive analysis

In conducting the investigation, last but not least, setting up a regular consultancy with supervisor for a guidance and academic exchange is a critical technique to find out a right direction for doing the research successfully

1.5 Scope of the study

In this study, idioms relating to women are chosen to study based on their population, occurrence frequency, and power of expression in English and Vietnamese as well

In the thesis, not all idioms relating to women are listed and analyzed because of the time, knowledge, and material limitation The data source comes from more than ten English and Vietnamese dictionaries of idioms as well as on the Internet Some typical terms will be chosen to study to make clear the

similarities and differences in idioms relating to women in English and Vietnamese Particularly, in terms of semantics, these idioms will be analyzed and compared to clearly illustrate the differences and similarities between these components of English The comparison between two cultures will be mentioned which points out the cultural features influence the image of women in idioms

1.6 Significance of the study

In terms of theoretical significance, the study may probably contribute a certain description of the semantic and cultural features expressed by English idioms relating to women, hence generalizing their typical categories of meanings and ways of expression when comparing with the Vietnamese ones It is somewhat useful for linguistic researchers or theorists to shape a certain rules or principles in the fields of semantic or cultural factors study on idioms relating to women

Regarding practical significance, English idioms relating to women are very commonly used in English, but a thorough description of their semantic and cultural features in both English and Vietnamese have not been discussed so far

By conducting the study to give a full account of semantic and cultural features of these English idioms, it is believed that the findings of these would be a practical source of material for learners at Ha Nam gifted high school in Ha Nam Province

If they take it serious to explore these features, they could not only gain a good knowledge of English idioms in the light of meanings and the varified culture but also have a better capability of using them in a natural and authentic ways In addition, more or less, the results of this study can be applied to make the persuasive and effective communication, learn languages or help translators transferring source idioms into the target language ones more exactly

1.7 Design of the study

The general outline of this research consists of five chapters that are carried out in a typical order as follows:

Chapter 1- Introduction: presents the rationale of the study and states what the thesis is aimed at Also, the research questions, the methods, the scope, the significance and the design of the study are included

Chapter 2 - Literature Review: provides a review of the related previous studies, fundamental and essential theoretical preliminaries concerning the subject under consideration which serves as the basis foundation of data analysis and finding discussion in the following chapters

Chapter 3 is designed to give out findings and discussions for idioms relating to women in English and Vietnamese, the semantic and cultural features,

then compare them from a cross-cultural perspective

Chapter 4 presents the actual errors made by learners when using English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women with some possible implications for learning English idioms relating to women and translating them from English into Vietnamese effectively

Chapter 5 - Conclusion: Summarizes the issues that are discussed in the thesis Give limitations of the study, suggestions for further study

References and Appendix come at the end of the thesis

in daily communication language but also a valuable source of material for literary creation Many researchers have manipulated idioms, both native – like discourse

by English as well as a foreign language speaker In English, there are some important books such as “Cambrige Idioms Dictionary” by Cambridge university press [1], “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Ammer [3], “Idioms and Idiomaticity” by Fernando, C [9] or “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms”

by Ayto [20] and so on

Dr Montgomery Howwar of Aligarh Muslim University wrote an article about “Seeking the Nature of Idioms: A Socio-Cultural Study in Idiomatic English and Arabic meanings” [26] on International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, he analysed some Arabic and English idioms taking into consideration their bound culture, equivalence and context in order to explore the types of idioms, and to focus on using one of the techniques of dealing with idioms that is equivalence

Furthermore, some other articles also took English idioms into consideration Dr Richard Xiao [39] from Edge Hill University paid more attention to “Can ‘translation universals’ survive in Mandarin? Idioms, word clusters, and reformulation markers in translational Chinese.” In which three linguistic features investigated in translation studies – namely idioms, word clusters and reformulation markers, in translational Chinese as represented in a one-million-word balanced corpus of translated Chinese texts in comparison with native Mandarin represented in a comparable corpus of non-translated Chinese texts

In Vietnamese, there are many famous researchers who have studied about

idioms such as: Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt by Nguyen Luc [43], Thành Ngữ học Tiếng

Việt by Hoang Van Hanh [41], Thành ngữ tiếng Việt by Luong Van Dang [40], Từ điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam by Vu Thuy Anh [46]

Being aware of the importance of idioms in daily speech as well as in learning language, many researchers have given out efforts in studying issues and aspects of this field Some researchers have concentrated on analyzing in syntactic

and semantic features in English and Vietnamese idioms denoting human body

parts, animals, etc such as “A contrastive analysis of the grammatical and semantic

features of words and idioms denoting intelligence and wisdom in English and Vietnamese”, written by Phan Thị Minh Chau, (2005) [2] or “A study of some characteristics of structures, meaning and culture of English idioms about animals” by Pham Thi To Nhu, Danang University “A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms using the terms of body parts” by Nguyen Thi

Hiep carried out in 2001 The thesis “Semantic structures of words denoting

human body organs in English -Eye-Ear-Nose-Mouth - (versus Vietnamese)” was

written by Nguyen Duong Nguyen Hao in 2001 In “An investigation into idioms

and proverbs relating to women in English and Vietnamese”, Ho Thi Hoang Ngan

[27] painted clearly the syntactic and semantic features of the image of the women

in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs (2012) However, the cultural factors in English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women have not been dealt with so far

In another linguistic thesis named “Đặc trưng ngôn ngữ - văn hóa của các

từ chỉ bộ phận con người trong thành ngữ tiếng Việt (so sánh với tiếng Anh)”,

Nguyen Thi Phuong [44] described and analyzed words denoting human-body parts in English and Vietnamese idioms to find out similarities and differences About 1100 English idioms and 867 Vietnamese ones were collected and she found that the appearance of words denoting human-body parts in these two languages was quite different

In Nguyen Huong Giang’s study “The image of mouse, horse, cat, chicken

in English idioms and proverbs with reference to Vietnamese equivalents” [12], the

image of these animals in English and Vietnamese are resorted as a way of explaining human behavior, human feelings and even human relations Although, cultures of both countries are different, there are similarity meaning in English as well as Vietnamese idioms and proverbs

Besides, it may be helpful for cross-cultural communicators in dealing with people from other cultures (English or Vietnamese) to avoid cultural shocks In addition, we can found a number of contrastive studies of various aspects relating to idioms and proverbs in English and Vietnamese carried out to master students in the nationwide universities, which can be considered as a reliable source reference for the thesis

2.2 Semantics

2.2.1 Definition of semantics

In languages, idioms are the type of unit in which one can find a great deal of information in terms of language, culture, national identity and even human philosophy

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences

It focuses on the conventional meaning conveyed by the use of words and sentences in language

According to Nguyen Hoa [13], semantics as a discipline will not limited to meaning of word, but semantics has to expand into such a fuzzy or more gray area: the meaning of, and the distinction between the meaning of the sentence and the utterance And meaning reflects human conceptualization of our possible words or reality

Further more, semantics focuses on the relation between signifiers, such

as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata Semantics tries to understand what meaning is as an element of language and how it is constructed by language as well as interpreted, obscured and negotiated by speakers and listeners of language

The study of semantics looks at how meaning works in language, and because of this it often uses native speaker intuitions about the meaning of words and phrases to base research on

Semantics also looks at the ways in which the meanings of words can be related to each other Here are a few of the ways in which words can be semantically related

Synonymy: Words are synonymous/ synonyms when they can be used to mean the same thing (at least in some contexts - words are rarely fully identical

in all contexts), for example, begin and start

Antonymy: Words are antonyms of one another when they have opposite

meanings (again, at least in some contexts), for example, big and small

Polysemy: A word is polysemous when it has two or more related meanings In this case the word takes one form but can be used to mean two different things In the case of polysemy, these two meanings must be related in some way, and not be two completely unrelated meanings of the word, for

example, mouse (animal) and mouse (computer hardware)

Homophony: Homophony is similar to polysemy in that it refers to a single form of word with two meanings, however a word is a homophone when

the two meanings are entirely unrelated, for example, pen (writing instrument) and pen (small cage)

Semantics looks at these relationships in language and looks at how these meanings are created, which is an important part of understanding how language works as a whole Understanding how meaning occurs in language can inform other sub-disciplines, such as Language Acquisition, to help us to understand how speakers acquire a sense of meaning, and Sociolinguistics, as the achievement of meaning in language is important in a social situation

Semantics is also informed by other sub-disciplines of linguistics, such

as morphology, as understanding the words themselves is integral to the study

of their meaning, and syntax, in which researchers in semantics use extensively

to reveal how meaning is created in language, as how language is structured is central to meaning

2.2.2 Sematic features and some stylistic devices

Some main features of semantics are mentioned above, however, to match the topic of this study, several stylistic devices are discussed to clarify the meaning as the following

2.2.2.1 Metaphor

Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) stated that “a metaphor consists of a comparision between two dissimilar notions where one notion is to be understood in terms of the other notion” We can see that metaphor is the process of seeing sooth as something rather than comparing something It is an expression that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered having similar characteristics

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison

Here are the basics: A metaphor states that one thing is another thing It equates those two things not because they actually are the same, but for the sake

example, imagine what the metaphor would look like at face value: Love is a

battlefield while the inner meaning is Love is difficult

As a common figure of speech, metaphors turn up everywhere from novels and films to presidential speeches and even popular songs When they’re especially good, they’re hard to miss

2.2.2.2 Hyperbole

In English, according to Galperine I.R (1971), hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggerate, the aim of which is to identify one of the features of the object in questions to such a degree as will show its utter absurdity

Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting,” is a figure

of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis

It is a device often employed in the day-to-day speech Hyperbole is used to create an amusing effect, or to emphasize our meaning However, in literature it has very serious implications By using hyperbole, a writer or a poet makes common human feelings remarkable and intense to such an extent that they do not remain ordinary In literature, usage of hyperbole develops contrasts When one thing is described with an over-statement, and the other thing is presented normally, a striking contrast is developed This technique is employed to catch the

readers’ attention, as in I am dying of shame, which means I am very hungry

2.2.2.3 Metonymy

Metonomy is based on a type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meaning, a relation based on affinity but also on some kinds of association connecting to concepts which these meanings represent

A metonymy is a literary device in which one representative term stands

in for something else We also use metonymy frequently in our everyday life

For a better understanding, as can be seen in the example The pen is mightier

than the sword (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force)

2.2.2.4 Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things,

usually by employing the words "like", "as", in To fight like cat and dog, or As

fussy as a hen with one chick, …

Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes compare two things directly, whereas metaphors indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities Metaphor is the process of seeing sooth as something rather than comparing

something and is mainly used in the meaning transfer of idioms For instance, a

bitten child dreads the dog, baby in the wood, over the hill, young saint old devil

In addition, similes are like metaphors, but metaphors aren’t similes A metaphor makes a comparison by stating that one thing is something else, but a simile states that one thing is like something else

2.2.2.5 Symmetry

Symmetry is the quality of having parts that match each other, especially

in a way that is attractive, or similarity of shape or contents

In the idioms containing two parts such as happy wife/ happy life, like

mother/ like daughter, the relation of opinion between two parts of idioms is

established due to the corresponding in terms of grammatical and semantic field They express the same semantic category, the same word class and the same grammatical catergory Symmetry axis among the words in two sides is also the symmetry axis between the two sides of an idiom

Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for a man but a giant step for mankind, the use of contrasting ideas, “a small step” and “a giant step”, in the

sentence above emphasizes the significance of one of the biggest landmarks of human history

In order to characterize a thing or phenomenon from a specific point of view, it may be necessary not to find points of resemblance or association between it and some other things or phenomena, but to find points of sharp contrast Antithesis is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the expansion of objectively contrasting pairs

2.3 Culture

2.3.1 Definition of culture

In Notes towards the Definition of Culture Faber & Faber, 2010,

according to the point of view of Eliot, Thomas Stearns, the culture will appear

to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts (By Kim Ann Zimmermann, Live Science Contributor | July 12, 2017 10:12pm ET) The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step

further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization Thus,

it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group

"Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones, and a million other things," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science

The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture "It shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth," De Rossi said

According to Cambridge Dictionary, culture is the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time

In the book “Intercultural Communication”, Nguyen Quang [30] states that

culture is as “a shared background” (e.g national, ethic, religion) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and value.”

The meaning of the word in a language reflects the social consciousness of the ethnic community uses that language as its mother tongue In other words, the meaning of the word reflects the relationship between the symbolic world and the real world The relationship is culture and is expressed as a particular type of ethnic community compared to another ethnic community From a cultural view, the meaning of each word is a culture that represents the common culture of the human community, and the particular culture of a community of people

Culture, in fact, is different from particular societies It’s the specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptations and social systems that summarize

a group of people’s learned way of life” Supporting to this, culture is described as organic system of material and spiritual values created and accumulated during human process of real activity as well as their contact with natural and social environment He also states the cultural differences between the East and the West caused by the different living condition of the communities Therefore, the East has cultural features of agricultural origin and the West has culture of nomadic origins

2.3.2 Cultural features

2.3.2.1 Culture and language

In this thesis, the theoretical framework bases on the relationship between language and culture

Idioms not only belong to a language but also reflect much of its culture

In other words, they are considered to be a mirror reflecting social-cultural traditions in the most reliable ways For all these things above, we can conclude that there is a close relation between language, culture and proverb and idiom Both proverb and idiom reflect values, beliefs across culture

In “Language and Culture”, Kramsch definite that language is the principle means whereby we conduct our social lives When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways

At first, language expresses cultural reality The words people utter refer to common experience They express facts, ideas or events that are communicable because they refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share Words also reflect their authors' attitudes and beliefs, their point of view that are also those of others

Secondly, language embodies cultural reality through verbal or non-verbal aspects Members of a community or social group do not only express experience; they also create experience through language They give meaning to it through the medium they choose to communicate with one another, for example, speaking on the telephone or face-to-face, writing a letter or sending an e-mail message, reading the newspaper or interpreting a graph or a chart The way in which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings that are understandable to the group they belong to, for example, through a speaker's tone

of voice, accent, conversational style, gestures and facial expressions Through all its verbal and non-verbal aspects, language embodies cultural reality

Finally, language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value Speakers identify themselves and others through their use of language; they view their language as a symbol of their social identity The prohibition of its use

is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their

culture Thus we can say that language symbolizes cultural reality

Brown describes the relationship between them this way, “a language is a part of culture and culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture” Culture depends on language and language pushes

forward cultural transmission The relationship between culture and language is mutual restraint and interdependent

Language is an important and indispensable aspect of culture, a main expression of culture, and plays a very important role in culture Without language, the existence, inheritance and transmission of culture would not be possible Meanwhile, language is a carrier of culture Language develops with the development of society and culture The use of language is strongly influenced and shaped by culture There is no language without culture content Culture determines one’s behavior and the way one thinks and speaks Brown stated precisely, “Culture is really an integral part of the interactions between language and thought Culture patterns, customs, and ways of life are expressed in language; Cultural-specific world views are reflected in language”

“Although a language may be regarded as a relatively small part of a culture, it is also indispensable to both the functioning and perpetuation of culture

“Language and culture are two interdependent symbolic systems”, Nida said

Human culture without language is unthinkable Without language, there is

no culture Language is the keystone of culture Without culture, language will lose all its meanings and vanish in the end “A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of language, the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture” Douglas said

Language and culture are interdependable and have influence on each other Language is the very important carrier of culture; but culture has constrains on language Language is the crystallization of ethnic culture, due to the wide and popular diffusion of language, culture was widely circulated, and culture whereby development The transformation and development of language always accompany the development of culture So if we want to study cultural,

we have to study language and vice versa

2.3.2.2 Cultural identities

By approaching the question of the meaning of idioms relating to women from the semantic point of view, the meaning of the word is a cultural fragment, as stated in Phan Van Que's perception of symbolic problem It is true that there are a large number of idioms denoting women in symbolic expressions, especially when

those expressions are comparative, Đẹp như tiên in Vietnamese idiom and As quiet

as a mouse, As blind as a bat in English

A number of folk songs about family give us the image of women as the most lyrical, most enduring, and the most important character They are the central nucleus of every family relationship They are the understanding partner, the hardworking wife, good daughter-in-law, great sister and gentle mother

In spite of being influenced by foreign cultures throughout thousands of years of domination, Vietnamese women still retain their own beauty in the life

As society grows, people are more civilized, but the traditional virtues of women from rural to urban are still valuable, which is the beauty in their family and in the society: the beauty of the wife, the mother; the beauty of business woman, singer, poet, actor, …; the beauty of intelligence; the beauty of career, …

The modern features combine with traditional virtues to create the appearance and character bringing the meaning of pure Vietnamese, representing the class of Asian women

While it is impossible to compete with men in terms of stature, talent, or fighting, much family and social work is needed the role of women History of

Vietnam has recorded daily images of traditional women: Sớm ra ruộng lúa, tối về

nương dâu

Image of a woman Bán mặt cho đất, bán lưng cho trời - the main labor

force in food production, is very common in Vietnamese villages Their job is to make copper, pottery, rowing, selling things, spinning, weaving fabric, sewing clothes,… besides, they are also artists who compose and sing and dance folk songs… Everything in the family can not be done without their skillful hands

With the admiration and respect of the whole society, Vietnamese women

do not neglect the virtues to the tradition: Công Dung, Ngôn, Hạnh

Công: values a woman's ingenuity and thoughtfulness towards household chores

Dung: emphasizing the beauty of the woman’s soul rather than the appearance of the outside

Ngôn: the beauty of the mind and spirit when the woman makes speech Hạnh: beautiful behavior, virtue (in love, in family, in the relationship with others,…)

Nowadays, women are equal citizens of the community They are not only responsible for housework, but also for work, for the society To the community, they have ambition and effort at work, show the moral quality characters To their

family, it is said that woman is for their home or “Man make house, woman makes

homes” For women, children are always their blood, the most precious thing in

their life

Today, women needn’t waste much time staying at home do the housework However, their work, especially caring for a young child is no longer as hard as it used to be, but the mother still has a heavy responsibility on her shoulders to make their home happy with warm feelings and to direct her children to the future of a fulfilling physical and spiritual life

They are models of Giản dị mà sâu sắc, kín đáo mà không tĩnh lặng expressed in deep verses such as: Tình mẹ bao la như biển Thái Bình dạt dào , the

love of motherhood is compared to the Pacific Ocean

2.4 Idioms and idioms relating to women

2.4.1 Definition of Idiom

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English states that

“idiom” refers to “phrase or sentence whose meaning is not obvious through knowledge of the individual meanings of the constituent words but must be learnt

as a whole, e g give away, in order to, be hard put to it, and so on.”

Larson gives out the definition of idiom as “a string of words whose meaning is different from the meaning conveyed by the individual words”, and he states that idiom “carries certain emotive connotations not expressed in the other lexical items” Richard et al defines: “An idiom is an expression which functions

as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts”

This view is also shared by Robin, Palmer, Cruse and Jackson and Evenla [15]

Hornby argued in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary [14], an idiom

is “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be leant as a whole unit”

Idioms best mirror the national characteristics embodied in a language and are thus always rich in cultural connotation and national flavor Lots of cultural information is embedded in idioms In some senses, idioms are the reflection of the environment, life, historical culture, etc of the native speakers and are closely associated with their innermost spirit and feelings Idioms usually carry more impact than non-idiomatic expressions because of their close identification with a particular language and culture, according to Nida, for one thing, most idioms, though composed of few words, contain an extremely profound and rich meaning, for another most idioms carry a vivid image

Words do not just come individually; they also come in expressions - group Idioms are among the most common of these expressions by Wright

in-According to him, idiom is an expression with following features Firstly, idiom is fixed and is recognized by native speakers We cannot make up our own idioms The second feature is that idiom uses language in a non-literal-metaphor-way As mentioned in Oxford Dictionary idiom is defined as “a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood by its own”

In fact, in English and Vietnamese, the content and form of idioms and proverbs are extremely diverse, rich and complex In terms of form, idioms are not

always phrases A number of idioms has the clause structure, such as Nước đổ đầu

vịt, Ếch ngồi đáy giếng This form of mastering is often a cause of difficulty in

distinguishing idioms and proverbs In terms of content, both are the products of people's perception about things and phenomena of the objective world, which contain and reflect the knowledge of the people; are the experience, the intellectual crystallization of the masses, all from the generalization of reality to find out the nature, the law The content of the idiom is usually about expressing something that is random and individual whereas the content of proverbs expresses the nature, general, inevitable, rules Grammatically, idiom, in general, is just a word, not a complete sentence because the idioms are only intended to raise an image, a phenomenon, in contrast, proverb is a complete sentence, a complete message, a specific conclusion, a certain statement, a lesson learned from the fact For

example, Con không chê cha mẹ khó, Chó không chê cha mẹ nghèo,

Functionally, proverb is a brief, concise message, while idiom has the function of identifying, expressing things, action… similar as a word An idiom does not undertake the notification function On the other hand, a proverb performs this function perfectly It is clear that there is a real boundary between idiom and proverb However, this boundary is not absolutely separated Therefore, there are sayings that are considered by the author as idioms, other authors as proverbs

From these above definitions, it is difficult to define idioms exactly but we can recognize that idioms is a word, a phrase, a set expression or “fixed phrase” whose meaning does not concern the meaning of the individual words in the expression

forming them All idioms have complete meanings and they are generalized

by all their forming elements So, we cannot translate the meaning of the idiom from the individual words

Idioms have two layers of meaning To realize the idioms meaning, it cannot base on individual words To decipher an idiom, the meaning of both layers must be recognized and understood: (i) Literal meaning: the initial, basic meaning of the idioms, based on the words used and what they mean in a literal sense (ii) Idiomatic meaning: the underlying message, lesson or device offered

by the idiom; the meaning of the overall expression, in a broader sense, for

example the idiomatic meaning in put the cart before the horse Literal meaning:

At first glance, this idiom might not even register as anything out of the ordinary Yet, the advice given actually makes little sense -horses should be placed before carts, not the other way around The idiom suggests the reverse of how things should be with the idiomatic meaning to reverse the natural order of things, try something new, be innovative

Secondly, structurally, an idiom is a multiword expression Each word is regarded as a component of an idiom An idiom can consist of at least two components Individual components of an idiom can often be inflected in the same way individual words in a phrase can be inflected This inflection usually follows the same pattern of inflection as the idiom’s literal counterpart For

example: jump down one’s throat -He jumps my throat

An idiom behaves as a single semantic unit (i) It tends to have some measures of internal cohesion such that it can often be replaced by a literal

counterpart that is made up of a single word For example: walk all over someone

= frighten (ii) It resists interruption by other words whether they are

semantically compatible or not For example: pull one’s leg (iii) It resists

reordering of its component parts

An idiom has a non-productive syntactic structure only single particular lexemes can collocate in an idiomatic construction Substituting other words from the same generic lexical relation set will destroy the idiomatic meaning of

the expression such as: Drive someone crazy It is anomalous syntactic It has unusual grammatical structure For example: by and by

Idioms share some common syntactic and semantic features with other phraseology units in the language, which makes it difficult for learners to distinguish The confusion often occurs between idioms and proverbs or slangs

As mentioned before, idioms and proverbs share some common features

and it is necessary to put them side by side to distinguish First of all, both idioms and proverbs are ready-made units which are mainly orally transmitted from generation to generation and naturally accepted in daily life Secondly, both of them are set-expressions whose components are stable and not able to be substituted It is nearly impossible to add, omit or replace any components of an idiom or a proverb because it will make them lose their figurative meanings In addition, the meaning of most idioms and proverbs is understood metaphorically rather than literally This is the reason why it is arduous to discover their true meaning just by looking up the individual words in a normal dictionary Finally,

some proverbs originate from idioms An example of this is the proverb Birds of

a feather flock together (similar people spend time together) which contains the

idiom ‘birds of a feather’ (similar people)

Beside the similarities, both idioms and proverbs have their own typical features that distinguish one from another The first and most obvious difference lies in their syntactic structures In terms of syntactic structures, idioms are

phrases which are parts of sentences; thus, they are equivalent to words (E.g.: a

good head, loose heart…) In contrast, proverbs are complete sentences or

phrases which can express the whole idea by themselves (E.g.: Two heads are

better than one, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.…)

What is more, idioms and proverbs are also different in terms of their functions Proverbs are short well-known sentences or phrases that express a judgment, general truth about life, advice or moral lesson They contain three main literature functions namely perceptive, aesthetic and educational functions Therefore, a proverb can be considered as a perfect literature work The proverb

‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ illustrates this point clearly as it demonstrates a

remark about money and property Its perceptive function is to make people aware that it is not easy to get money; hence wealth cannot be obtained without some effort The educational function is to urge that people have to work hard to make money as well as to advise them to be careful about how much money they spend because it is hard to earn money and the amount they have is limited And its aesthetic function lies in its rhyme and the pithy manner That “money” rhymes with “trees” makes the proverb memorable Besides, the picture that the proverb draws leads readers to aware that they cannot just walk around and pick money like fruit from the trees or money is not as much as leaves on the trees The proverb is expressed in a figurative and picturesque way which helps readers understand the proverb easily then be deeply convinced On the contrary, idioms

do not express judgments; give advice or state general truth about life, which means they do not have functions of perception and education but only aesthetic function Lacking these two functions, idioms cannot be considered as a literature

work, but as a language unit only The idiom To eat like a horse illustrates that

idioms own only aesthetic function since it merely describes the ability of eating strongly of someone because of great hunger in figurative way as well as it does not offer any moral lesson or experience of life

However, in Vietnamese many researchers find it is difficult to clarify idioms or proverbs in the syntactic features According to Nguyen Luc [43], there are idioms in proverbs and idioms can be in sentence structrure The most clearly to identify idioms and proverbs are their characteristics in language functions Idioms have the function of identifying, while proverbs have the function of notification

In summary, idioms have many things in common with proverbs that remind learners to take them into parallel consideration when studying language Despite these similarities among them, they are still distinguishable

2.4.3 Idioms relating to women

Idioms are the most typical units of language that we usually meet and use every day They are considered subsystem of language There are a lot of sub-branches to study in this very large field, so it seems impossible to study all types of idioms In this thesis, I would like to narrow my scope of studying

by only investigating idioms relating to women

There is an affectionate sentence: Men build houses, women build homes It

can be said without women a family can not be formed, nor a warm home full of love for the children Especially without them, there is no rich folk chorus transmitted until today and tomorrow

According to dictionary, in the first meaning, woman is the adult female human being (as opposed to a man) And another meaning is the female sex or female human being in general (a female person who plays a significant role (wife

or mistress or girlfriend) in the life of a particular man)

As the above definitions of women, the idioms relating to women are considered as women idioms

These women idioms are collectively analyzed in quantity and divided into phrase structures and sentence structures, in which the number of phrase structures contains much more amounts than the sentence ones

It can be seen clearly from the beginning that Vietnamese idioms are as double as the English ones with a rather big number in syntactic features

In addition, many of them are not only made up of rhyming words, but also

of rhyming thoughts and ideas The use of parallelism usually means that the message of the idiom is its overall point or impact rather than individual words Also, specific words that may be ambiguous or used in unusual ways can be clarified or more narrowly defined by seeing them in the context of a parallel structure Similarity of structure exists in a pair of related words, phrases, or clauses

According to Ho Thi Hoang Ngan [27], by analyzing English and Vietnamese idioms in terms of their structure, some English idioms but most Vietnamese ones consist of two sides, and frequently there are 4, 6, or 8 words (that

is even numbers of words) for each side, it is due to the desire for the alliteration, rhythm to make a smooth speech

Moreover, another attribute of the parallel structure is created by grafting

factors which form idioms based on the rule of euphonic, such as thiếu thuế bắt vợ,

thiếu nợ bắt con; giàu lúc còn son, giàu lúc con lớn; … or so ; like …, like ; such , such ; better than are used It takes the forms nào, nấy; sao, .vậy; (thà) hơn , chẳng tày , … như … in Vietnamese

Regarding both structure and meaning, the idioms are characterized as an oral-literary form Even when used in writing texts, they mostly appear in dialogues

or conversations of literature characters And the distinguishing feature of spoken language lies in the spirit of the less said the better Therefore, a fair number of English and Vietnamese idioms contain elliptical constructions

In the case of idioms, there is no point going into detail of subclasses, owing

to them being independent sentence units In English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women, the syntactic ellipsis contains this

It is clear that both English and Vietnamese idioms have elliptical structure However, that is the typical characteristic of Vietnamese idioms, most of them are

in elliptical form The shorter, the better; the shorter, the more memorable is the feature of Vietnamese idioms

From the above description, the number of Vietnamese idioms reflecting the pattern of noun phrase is more than those of English However, both of English and Vietnamese ones have their own features Idioms seem to appear much in parallel structure Thanks to the sound repetition, antonym or synonym words, those idioms are easy to remember and pleasant to hear It seems that Vietnamese idioms are more flexible than those of English, that is some Vietnamese idioms can be changed the word order, or replaced the instant word with other synonym without

changing the meaning In the other words, Vietnamese idioms have plenty of variation

Idioms relating to women in English and Vietnamese both have various

variants For example, in English Like mother like daughter, As is the mother, so is

the daughter, and so on In Vietnamese we have Mẹ nào con nấy, Cha làm sao con bào hao làm vậy, Giỏ nhà ai quai nhà nấy, these idioms similarly express that the

child is like their parents in the way of their acting, behaving, and appearance

Last but not least, most of idioms that we study above have a symmetrical structure with two balanced members They are formed by joining the rhythm These structures do not only make idioms easy to say and remember, but they also keep the fixation and unshakeable characteristics of idioms, for example, Thế vợ đợ con, Con đàn cháu đống in Vietnamese and Like mother, like daughter in English

However, English and Vietnamese idioms have some different features such as: Vietnamese idioms are more flexible and imagery than those in English In these

examples: Vợ dại con thơ or Con thơ vợ dại, we see that the order of the word in

Vietnamese idioms can be changed for each other, and sometimes we can replace the word in the idiom by a synonymous word

2.5 Summary

In brief, this chapter has reviewed previous studies related to the research area and theoretical background that is employed for conducting the whole graduation thesis Regarding the theoretical framework, the theory relating to semantic unity and culture has been used as a foundation for analyzing semantic features of English idioms relating to women In terms of theoretical background, all aspects relating to idiom such as definition, features, classification and comparison with proverb have been indicated After the data collection had been done, all idioms were classified according to the categories created solely for the thesis The following chapters will provide a more detailed description of the specific semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese idioms relating

to women

Chapter 3 IDIOMS RELATING TO WOMEN IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FROM A CROSS – CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

This chapter presents semantic components and characteristics of cultural features of idioms in both English and Vietnamese The semantic features of English idioms are presented in Section 3.1 Section 3.2 discusses these of Vietnamese ones Section 3.3 gives out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women from a cross – cultural perspective The content of the chapter is summarized in Section 3.4

3.1 English idioms relating to women

3.1.1 Semantic features of English idioms relating to women

Sematic opacity is one of the most characteristic features of both English and Vietnamese idioms in general; idioms relating to women are no exception Just a small number of those are clear in meaning The cultural uniqueness of each language is usually considered reflecting through the semantic features

Almost all of the idioms relating to women in English, despite their consistency is high or low, are significant pictures about the real and concrete event, phenomena, experience or wise saying These things are then upgraded

to those that are general, united and abstract Idioms relating to women in English have a high symbolic characteristic since most of them use the popular and main principals of meaning transfer which are common stylistic devices as following

3.1.1.1 Metaphor

In fact, English idioms in my data used the means of metaphor to express

what people want to say In An earth mother, the metaphor method is used in the

image “mother” to mention a woman has children and who has a natural ability

as a mother It can not be understood as its facial meaning that is the mother nature

This type of stylistic device can be seen in a number of English idioms

relating to women, such as A lady of the evening (a prostitute) or A women of many

parts (a person with many skills), …

In the study of Ho Thi Hoang Ngan [27], idioms are mentioned semantically with these devices to make them more lively and attractively

3.1.1.2 Hyperbole

This stylistic device is used as one of the means of transferring idioms such

as Step on a crack break your mother’s back, or A woman of the world (someone

who has a lot of experience of life, and is not usually shocked by the way people

behave), … in English

There are not many English idioms relating to women use this type

3.1.1.3 Metonymy

In English, we have some idioms relating to women using metonymy

symbols such as: Faint heart never won fair lady The image “faint heart” in

this example refers to a person who is timid and not confident of doing something

3.1.1.4 Simile

In short, the comparative idioms always have two sides: the A is to be compared (also called the comparison) and the B is to compare (also referred to as

the comparison control) Words for comparison are very rich (as, like, equals, not

equal, …), but “as” appears most

In daily speech, English people have a good sense of humor This is reflected in the idiomatic system of comparisons with a great deal of variability In comparative idioms, the expressions of the comparator always reflect quite clearly the imprints on the material and spiritual life of the nation Let’s see the meaning in

these two comparative idioms As full as a boot (say bí tỉ) or Eat like a bird (ăn như

mèo)

Therefore, there are a number of English idioms As is the mother, so is the

daughter; A man is as old as he feels, and a woman is as old as she looks, Like mother, like daughter etc

3.1.1.5 Symmetry

In the idioms containing two parts such as happy wife/ happy life, like

mother/ like daughter, the relation of opinion between two parts of idioms is

established due to the corresponding in terms of grammatical and semantic field They express the same semantic category, the same word class and the same grammatical catergory Symmetry axis among the words in two sides is also the symmetry axis between the two sides of an idiom

Firstly, in relation of language, semantic content between words is corresponding with each other in the two sides and reflect characteristics of the

same semantic category such as happy/ happy, wife/ life (hapy wife, happy

wife), like/ like, mother/ daughter (like mother, like daughter)

Secondly, corresponding words must belong to the same category of the same word class In the other word, they have the same grammatical category

This means if word A is corresponding to B, the semantic and grammatical category of A and B are the same, for instance, if A is a noun, B must be a noun

otherwise, if A is a verb, B must be a verb Such idiom is as is the mother/ so is

the daughter

3.1.1.6 Antithesis

We can see some English idioms match this definition such as: A mother

can take care of ten children, but sometimes ten children can’t take care of one mother;

English idioms use antithesis to work out the contrast between two ideas Nonetheless, it is not only the semantic aspect which explains the linguistic nature

of antithesis; the structural pattern also plays an important role Antithesis is generally moulded in parallel construction The structure of the phrases/ clauses

is usually similar in order to draw the reader's/ listener's attention directly to the contrast

3.1.2 Cutural features of English idioms relating to women

The direction meaning of the idioms relating to women in English contains characteristics of cultural features in praising as well as in criticizing

Besides expressive meanings, the meanings of normal expression, there are also idioms that refer to people who, in addition to the meanings of identifying, meanings of normal expression, include either praise or disparagement, showing the attitude of praising and criticising from the speakers

As mentioned above, 97 English idioms relating to women collected for this research have been classified into 3 categories in accordance with their meanings, which are summarized in the Table 3.1 It is clear that the smallest number of the selected idioms (26.8%) belongs to the first category In other words, it seems that there are idioms in which speakers praise the women but not many The number of idioms in the second category is the nearly same, which accounts for 28.6% of the total number of selected idioms, whereas the third category are the highest with 43 idioms, corresponding to 44.3% of the set This showing speakers’ attitude in English idioms relating to women can be summarized in the table below

Table 3.1: Statistic summary of speakers’ attitude in English

idioms relating to women

a nation

It can be seen clearly that culture reflects religion Most western people believe in God because they are Christian The religious which carries out deeply influence on the way people think, the style they live, is shown in language that

they use Here is an idiom related to this field such as A devil with the men/

women

Another image is mentioned in describing women in idiom is fruit “An

apple” in An apple of one’s eye refers to a beloved child of his/ her mother Apple

is a kind of fruit related to western country while “eggs” is a kind of food that is indispensable to the Western people

Besides, the language in general and idioms in particular reflect the events, phenomenon and truth in daily life vividly and colorfully through using animal images First, “swan” represents for the child who is intelligence or beautiful such

as Every mother thinks her own gosling a swan Second, hen is animal that appears

as a mother, cock represent for a father, and chick as a child For example, Young

fighting–cock quickly ruffled its feathers, Many chickens come cheeping, One chick keeps a hen busy (the troubles that the children bring to the adult), Like a hen with one chicken (typical mother busy with the children)

Moreover, the role of culture becomes even more obvious when comparing idioms from different langugages What seems to be natural in a given language and unquestionable from the perspective of one’s own culture turn out to be idiosyncratic and conventional from the perspective of another language and culture? Almost all the parts of human body from the external to internal body parts and organs appear in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs All of them center on people, their behavior, their relationships, their physical and

emotional state, their experience and their interaction with others

There are many idioms in English involve body parts such as The apple of

one’s eye, A woman after your own heart, Mother scratches child’s back, child scratches mother’s, One tongue is enough for a woman, Faint heart never won fair lady, Face that only the mother could love, At your mother’s knee, The hand

that rocks the cradle rules the world There is one emerging idea in the above

idioms are English people hardly show their political attitude through idioms 3.2 Vietnamese idioms relating to women

3.2.1 Semantic features

Almost all of the idioms relating to women both in English and Vietnamese, despite their consistency is high or low, are significant pictures about the real and concrete event, phenomena, experience or wise saying These things

or are then upgraded to those that are general, united and abstract This one is one

of the main similarities of the two languages, English and Vietnamese Idioms relating to women in both languages have a high symbolic characteristic since most of them use the two popular and main principals of meaning transfer

It lies in fact that an idiomatic part of meaning is popular, in which figurative meaning is used more However, this characteristic shouldn’t be overemphasized and just regard the new metaphor as the meaning of the idiom is not fully consistent with reality The term is the general meaning, the sum of the internal relations of the constituent elements When using, each element that makes up the idiom will lose its real meaning However, there are many idioms

that use both real and figurative meanings such as Chân yếu tay mềm

The meaning of idiom is a complex and diversified matter Some expressions are clear, some have hidden meaning It is difficult to determine the meaning of some idioms, especially when idioms have derivative, metaphorical, and connotative meanings

However, many meanings, in idioms, all have a basic conceptual pattern This meaning is relatively stable If an element is replaced, the idiom may be broken The basic meaning of idioms is less variable and less subjective to context than free expression These are some common stylistic devices for easier step in the process of understanding idioms

3.2.1.1 Metaphor

In our language, metaphor is mainly used in the meaning transfer of idioms In Vietnamese, we often see some idioms are used metaphorically to

convey the meaning such as Chồng ăn chả, vợ ăn nem, Đem con bỏ chợ, ect

In this example Chồng ăn chả, vợ ăn nem, metaphor is used to mention an

unfaithful couple

Đem con bỏ chợ - the literal meaning of this idiom mentions to an action of

a mother who brings her child to the market and then leave her child desolated in a strange land In fact, the real and figurative meaning of this is a person who just helps some one by half The victim then don’t know what to do, or where should

go

3.2.1.2 Hyperbole

In Vietnamese, according to Đinh Trọng Lạc, Nguyễn Thái Hòa, hyperbole

is the usage of word(s) or phrase(s) to multiply the qualities of a mentioned object Hyperbole’s nature, motivation and purpose do not blow up or distort the truth to trick the reader or listener It is to emphasize the nature of the mentioned object to create strong impression on readers

This stylistic device is used as one of the means of transferring idioms such

as Chim sa cá lặn, Con biết ngồi mẹ rời tay, Con biết nói mẹ hói đầu, Con lên ba

mẹ sa xương sườn, Ruộng sâu trâu nái không bằng con gái đầu lòng in

Vietnamese

3.2.1.3 Metonymy

Here are some images that appear in idioms relating to women in terms of

metonymy: lòng in Sinh con há dễ sinh lòng; bụng and dạ in Bụng mang dạ

There are a lot of idioms using simile in Vietnamese, the words that let us

know this sentence uses this stylistic device are như, giống như, là, như là, hơn,

bằng ect Idioms have this stylistic device are Chồng như đó, vợ như hom, Chị em dâu như bầu nước lã, Một con sa bằng ba con đẻ, Dâu hiền hơn gái, rể hiền hơn trai, Đẹp như tranh, Một mẹ già bằng ba then cửa, Con gái là cái bòn, Bận như con mọn, …

Like English, the comparative idioms always have two sides: the A is to be compared (also called the comparison) and the B is to compare (also referred to as the comparison control) These idioms reflect quite clearly the imprints on the material and spiritual life of the Vietnamese people In contrast to the comparative

idiom of other peoples, particularly in English, it is easy to see the national nuance

of each language expressed in part

3.2.1.5 Symmetry

In the idioms containing two parts such as Con dại/ cái mang, Của chồng/

công vợ, the relation of opinion between two parts of idioms is established due to

the corresponding in terms of grammatical and semantic field They express the same semantic category, the same word class and the same grammatical catergory Symmetry axis among the words in two sides is also the symmetry axis between the two sides of an idiom

Firstly, in relation of language, semantic content between words is corresponding with each other in the two sides and reflect characteristics of the

same semantic category such as con/ cái, dại/ mang (con dại, cái mang), của/

công, chồng/ vợ (của chồng, công vợ)

Secondly, corresponding words must belong to the same category of the same word class In the other word, they have the same grammatical category This means if word A is corresponding to B, the semantic and grammatical category of A and B are the same, for instance, if A is a noun, B must be a noun

otherwise, if A is a verb, B must be a verb Such idioms are Cô nhi, quả phụ,

Nhiều con giòn mẹ, Con thì mẹ cá thì nước, Công cha nghĩa mẹ etc

3.2.1.6 Antithesis

We can see many Vietnamese idioms in this device such as: Chồng tới, vợ

lui; Bụng đàn bà, dạ trẻ con; Chồng quan, vợ bợm; Chị ngã, em nâng; Cha mẹ giàu con có, cha mẹ khó con không

In short, idioms convey their meaning in different ways vividly, polishedly and concisely through rhetoric methods Ho Thi Hoang Ngan [27] stated that to make readers or listeners understand the figurative meanings of idioms, people apply the metaphor method, using general to mean specific, singular to mean plural, using visible to abstract based on their similarities of shape, chararacteristic and even size In addition, they also center to show the meanings of idioms through metonymy by using one facets of image as the embodiment of the containers or a part to show the whole thing Besides, hyperbole is used as the method of making nature odd things, events or phenomena exaggerating Simile is used to make the comparision between the two

of the idioms by words such as like, as, như, là etc More importantly, the

symmetric of idioms have the qualities of symbolic and descriptive, which makes idioms imagery, easily to remember and moothly to talk

3.2.2 Cultural features

In Vietnamese, idioms are worth paying attention because of their expressive meanings Like English ones, or even more clearly that Vietnamese people tend to express their attitude in communication as well as remarking others, include showing their compliment and criticism

A language expression that implies positive evaluation of people, things, attributes, or behaviors that is good, beautiful, and deserves to be appreciated is considered a linguistic expression of merit For example, in addition to the normal

descriptive meaning, Mặt hoa da phấn implies compliments on the beautiful appearance of the person being mentioned, Thức khuya dậy sớm refers to the

compliments towards the hard-working person mentioned

In contrast to compliment, there is an act of expressing dislike, dissatisfaction,

underestimation, negative in favor of being bad, … For example, in idioms as Ba bà,

bốn chuyện; Chưa học làm dâu đã hay đâu làm mẹ chồng, besides the meanings

described normally, the criticizing attitude is implied to describe the ugly habit of women, chatting all day or do not respect others as normal gratitude, morals

In collected data, 169 Vietnamese idioms relating to women have been classified into three categories in accordance with their meanings, which are summarized in the Table 3.2 It can be seen that the highest number of the selected idioms (40.3%) belongs to the second category In other words, it seems that there are many idioms in which speakers criticise the women However, the number of idioms in the first category is the nearly same, which accounts for 34.3% of the total number of selected idioms, whereas the third category is the smallest with 43 idioms, corresponding to 25.4% of the set This showing speakers’ attitude in English idioms relating to women can be summarized in the table below

Table 3.2: Statistic summary of speakers’ attitude in

Vietnamese idioms relating to women

169 100%

Moreover, cultural factors are printed clearly in Vietnamese idioms relating to women First is the appearance of religious words Religion has played an important role in the daily life of the population in every country In some countries such as Vietnam or China, Buddhism is their religious belief The religious which carries out deeply influence on the way people think, the style they live, is shown in language

that they use Here are some idioms related to this field such as Ai trông thấy ma

biết đàn bà ăn bớt; Bà cốt ngửi mùi tàn hương, Bà cô ông mãnh; Bà vải chẳng khỏi lần lên chùa; Lắm thầy thối ma, lắm cha con khó lấy chồng; Mang con trong dạ đổ vạ cho ông vải,…

Second is the traditional cultural image Bamboo is a kind of plant that connects to the image of Vietnam for a long time We can see the image of bamboo

in Vietnamese wars that fought against invaders such as Mogolia, China, and powerful countries as France and America Bamboo represents for spirit and will of Vietnamese Bamboo appears in idioms relating to children as older generation, and

its sprout represent for younger generations in Tre già măng mọc, and “tre” represents for the person who are old enough, “măng” represent for a young child such as Con đàn như tre ấm bụi; Con có mẹ như bẹ ấp măng

Also, the images of buffaloes and fields are very popular to the Vietnamese

people Therefore, there are many idioms referring these items such as Con gái

mười bảy bẻ gãy sừng trâu, Ruộng sâu, trâu nái, không bằng con gái đầu lòng,

…

In addition, Vietnamese culture originates from the wet rice civilization

which is reflected through some idioms relating to children For example, Cơm tẻ

mẹ ruột, Bà tiền, bà thóc, bà cóc gì ai, Ăn cháo làm báo cho con, Nuôi con trẻ như vần cơm chín, …

Besides, the language in general and idioms in particular reflect the events,

phenomenon and truth in daily life through using animal images For example,

Con giữ cha, gà giữ ổ, Con tông gà nòi, Gà trống nuôi con, Mẹ gà con vịt, Gà một mẹ đá nhau… Therefore, we can catch many images of animals in Vietnamese

idioms relating women such as Hổ phụ sinh hổ tử, Con thì mẹ, cá thì nước, Mẹ

cú con tiên, …

Moreover, Vietnamese idioms do not lack the image of parts of the body All of them express the people, their behavior, their relationships, their physical and emotional state, their experience and their interaction with others

such as Con biết ngồi, mẹ rời tay, Con biết nói, mẹ hói đầu, Mẹ con một lần da

đến ruột, Bụng mang dạ chửa, Chân yếu tay mềm, Chết mẹ bú vú dì, Chồng yêu

xỏ chân lỗ mũi, Con lên ba, mẹ sa xương sườn

Another factor appears in Vietnamese idioms is the complaination meaning

about the government system, such as Miệng quan, trôn trẻ, Gái góa lo việc triều

đình, Cha mẹ đặt đâu con ngồi đấy, Thiếu thuế bắt vợ, thiếu nợ bắt con”

Vietnamese people had to cost their blood, their life, their family happiness

to struggle for the freedom and independence of the country Patriotic spirit that was available in each people had rising up Every Vietnamese citizen, even women and the old, contribute their strength to the process of fighting against invaders

And these are imprinted in the saying Giặc đến nhà đàn bà cũng đánh

Idioms were created by native speakers describing their life, their notion through their own images, their experience accumulated from many generations, and expressions variously due to the cultural diference from country to country Therefore, to understand idioms in general and idioms relating to women

in particular, we have to take a look at each culture where the idioms were build up

so that we can understand them exactly and make use of them correctly

cross – cultural perspective

It is believed that the relationship between language and culture is hardly deniable Language is primary cultural or social product and must be understood based on the culture In fact, language brings with it various aspects of culture, and in turn, culture carves its characteristics into language This mostly happen in idioms where human cognition of the world is the clearest and most plentiful

In order to help Vietnamese learners of English improve their knowledge of their field and especially their idioms relating to women through gaining a better insight into various cultural aspects of the people speaking the language they are learning and those of their own as well, what we intend to do below is to focus on cultural similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to women

“The words of a language often don’t reflect so much of the reality of the world, but the interest of people who speak it” stated by Palmer In other words, figures of idioms not only express factual meaning but also convey certain evaluate aspect towards the relevant phenomenon