MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY …………o0o………… M.THESIS IDIOMS, PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Các thành ngữ, tục ngữ liên quan tới loài chim trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt) Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Hanoi, 25/08/2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY …………o0o………… M.THESIS IDIOMS, PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Các thành ngữ, tục ngữ liên quan tới loài chim trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt) PHẠM THỊ HỒNG HÀ Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Lê Phương Thảo Hanoi, 25/08/2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Pham Thi Hong Ha Approved by SUPERVISOR DR.
LÊ PHƯƠNG THẢO DATE:……………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from many people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all most sincerely, knowing that my thanks are never adequate. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr.Lê Phương Thảo, 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. I would like to thank Assoc.Hoàng Tuyết Minh, Assoc.
Hồ Ngọc Trung, Dr.Trần Lê Dung for their invaluable suggestions, highly constructive comments on several issues related to the dissertation. Many thanks go to my friends and many others whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished. My sincere thanks also extend to all experts of the English Department for their assistance that has made them for their assistance and that has made the finalization of the dissertation possible in a very short time. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for their patience, endless love, and devotion.
Whatever choices I have made, they have always stood by me and believed in me. I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given me. ii ABSTRACT Language and culture are intimately connected. Language generally reflects the culture and vice versa, culture has a strong influence on the language.
Two countries with different cultures will surely have many dissimilarities in language and that does not except idioms and proverbs, which play a crucial part in language. The study is carried out with the aims to investigate the semantic and cultural features relating to birds in English and Vietnamese such as to discover cultural values through proverbs and idioms, to investigate the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating human characteristics through images birds, to help the Vietnamese learners of English be more aware of English and Vietnamese proverbs and idioms and how to use them appropriately and interestingly, to provide some suggestions for the teaching/learning and translation of the proverbs and idioms relating to birds, to understand the semantics and cultural features, to identify the similarities and differences using the idioms and proverbs relating to birds in daily communication in English and Vietnamese languages and to suggest some implications for learners and teachers to gain a better insight into various aspects about idioms and proverbs. Investigating and explaining some similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs relating to birds in English and chim in Vietnamese help to strongly corroborate the inextricable and dialectical relationship between culture and language, ameliorate knowledge of idioms and enhance cultural understanding of Vietnamese and English people to a great extent. Making comparisons will also better translation ability in some ways.
Moreover, through the scrutiny and analysis, there emerges a golden opportunity to review some general and essential knowledge of language, culture, similes, and idioms. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY. SCOPE OF THE STUDY. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY.
4 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES. Previous Research Works on Idioms in English. Previous Research Works on Idioms in Vietnamese.
AN OVERVIEW OF SEMANTICS. AN OVERVIEW OF CULTURE. The relationship between language and culture. Characteristics features of Vietnamese and English cultures.
Features of English cultures. Features of Vietnamese cultures. AN OVERVIEW OF IDIOMS. Definitions of idioms.
Some common features of idiom. AN OVERVIEW OF PROVERBS. Definition of proverb. Some common features of Proverb.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY. Semantic features of Idioms and Proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese. Cultural features of Idioms and Proverbs in English and Vietnamese. Based on principles of cultural types.
Based on cognitive cultural. 25 Chapter 3: A COMPARISON OF SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND CHIM IN VIETNAMESE. THE SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND CHIM IN VIETNAMESE. Semantic features of Idioms and Proverbs relating to birds in English (IPRBs).
Physical characteristic (incl. Appearance, Movement, Color):. Behaviors and attitudes (Dishonesty, Diligence, Laziness, Care) 30 3. Disease, parent relationship, transmitting of species characteristics from parents to their offspring.
Emotional characteristics (Embrrassment, Unstableness, Joy, Envy, Greed, etc. Time measurement and bird’s characteristic way of making sounds. Cultural features of Idiom and Proverb relating to “Birds” in English. Denoting Geography Environment and History.
Denoting Religion Belief. Denoting Custom Belief. THE SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO “CHIM” IN VIETNAMESE. Semantic features of Idiom and Proverb relating to “Chim” in Vietnamese 38 3.
Behaviors and attitudes (Dishonesty, Diligence, Laziness, Care) 41 3. Cultural features of Idioms and Proverbs relating to “Chim” in Vietnamese. Denoting Geography, Environment and History. Denoting Religious Belief.
Denoting Customs Belief. A COMPARISON BETWEEN IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO “BIRDS” IN ENGLISH AND “CHIM” IN VIETNAMESE. In terms of semantic features. In terms of cultural features.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY. RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 53 REFERENCES. 57 APPENDIX: IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO BIRDS IN ENGLISH AND CHIM IN VIETNAMESE. 59 VIETNAMESE IDIOMS: Names of birds.
66 vi Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE Theoretically, there have been quite a lot of studies and investigations into idioms and proverbs concerning animals, plants, colors, causes, and results, etc. Nevertheless, due to a certain gap in cultures and semantic perspectives, the idiom and proverbs relating to the word bird have not received enough attention from linguists in both English and Vietnamese, especially in terms of cultures and semantic features. The diversity of semantics of the idioms and proverbs relating to birds denoting social relationships encourages me to do this research.
Practically, when using idioms and proverbs related to birds, many Vietnamese learners do not know the real meaning of the idioms and proverbs, especially because of the differences in cultures. So this study is conducted in the hope of help Vietnamese learners of English improve their understanding of idioms and apply idioms in communication so that their speech is more adequate, natural, interesting, and imaginative. Idioms and proverbs reflect certain cultural traditions and add color to the language and make communication more lively and interesting. That is the reason why idioms and proverbs are so popular.
Birds are considered significant animals that nature has provided to feed both our body and spirit. As well, birds nourish our whole living style, supplying a source of energy that is an essential and wonderful part of life. In fact, the idioms and proverbs relating to birds (IPRBs) in English and chim (IPRC) in Vietnamese occupy a considerable amount of our speech and are considered an interesting phenomenon in language. In daily communication, people often borrow the (IPRBs) for not only conveying the denotative meaning but also communicating and expressing speakers’ and listeners’ attitudes, feelings, behavior, related inspiration, or the world outlook.
The IPRBs have a variety of meanings that make people learning foreign languages confused using the IPRBs in both English and Vietnamese. Clarifying the semantic features will help learners of English and Vietnamese to understand and use them effectively to achieve their communication goals. As a result, the topic “Features 1 of idioms and proverbs relating to the birds in English and chim Vietnamese” has been carried out according to the reasons cited. Therefore, it is necessary to research this matter to enrich characteristics of the IPRBs and IPRC, “Idioms and Proverbs relating to Birds in English and Vietnamese” has been carried out according to the reasons cited.
To present an overview of proverbs and idioms in general and a contrastive analysis of proverbs and idioms relating to birds in English and Vietnamese in particular. I hope it will partly help learners and translators avoid difficulties in realizing and translating English proverbs and idioms into Vietnamese and vice versa. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study aims to help Vietnamese learners master idioms and proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese in terms of semantic and cultural features. • OBJECTIVES To gain the aims, the following three main objectives are put forward: ✓ To identify, describe and analyze the semantic and cultural features of idioms and proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” Vietnamese.
✓ To explore and explain the similarities and differences of semantic and cultural features of idioms and proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese. ✓ To give some suggested implications for teaching and learning idioms and proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese effectively. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the research questions as follow: - What are the semantic and cultural features of idioms and proverbs relating to the word “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese? - What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese, in terms of semantic and cultural features? - What are the implications of the study to help Vietnamese learners to master to idiom and proverb teaching and learning? 2 4. RESEARCH METHODS - Descriptive methods are used to describe the semantics and cultural features idioms and proverbs relating to the word “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese.
- Comparative methods are used to make a comparison to find out the similarities and differents between idioms and proverbs relating to “birds” in English and “chim” in Vietnamese in terms of semantic and cultural features. - Within this thesis I only mention in the research object and scope of the thesis to idioms and proverbs relating to birds in English and chim in Vietnamese. The most important thing in data collection is to collect materials related to the study. I tried to choose the most appropriate ones.
Data is described, classified and analyzed systematically for the comparative analysis. - The findings of semantic and cultural features as well as analysis of these kinds of IPRBs and IPRC will provide great benefits for Vietnamese learners of English and English learners of Vietnamese. SCOPE OF THE STUDY In the theoretical background of the study, the thesis only focuses on idioms and proverbs relating to birds in English (IPRBs) and chim in Vietnamese (IPRC), namely, linguistic features of idioms and proverbs relating to birds in English and chim in Vietnamese are semantic and cultural features. 222 idioms and proverbs relating to birds in English and 193 idioms and proverbs relating to chim in Vietnamese are collected from reference books, dictionaries and Internet websites.