VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES TRỊNH THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG A STUDY ON MARRIAGE – RELATED ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS (FROM LINGUISTIC – CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) (Nghiên cứu về tục ngữ liên quan đến mối quan hệ hôn nhân trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Hanoi, 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES TRỊNH THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG A STUDY ON MARRIAGE – RELATED ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS (FROM LINGUISTIC – CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) (Nghiên cứu về tục ngữ liên quan đến mối quan hệ hôn nhân trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Văn Thị Thanh Bình, M. Hanoi, 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1.
Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 4. Design of the study 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5 Chapter 1: Theoretical background and Literature review 5 I. Proverbs about marriage 6 1.
Classification of proverbs 6 1. Proverbs and idioms 7 1. Proverbs and sayings 8 1. Some features of proverbs 9 1.
Some characteristics of English and Vietnamese people and 11 culture 1. Culture and cultural values 11 1.2 The relationship between language and culture 12 1. Characteristics of Vietnamese people and culture 13 1. Characteristics of English people and culture 14 II.
Literature review 16 Chapter 2. Data collection procedure 18 3. Data analysis 19 Chapter 3. Data analysis and discussion 20 I.
Comparison and contrast of English and Vietnamese proverbs about 20 marriage in terms of syntactics iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Comparison and contrast of English and Vietnamese proverbs about 29 marriage in terms of semantics III. Comparison and contrast of English and Vietnamese proverbs about 37 marriage in terms of culture PART III: CONCLUSION 47 1. For EFL teaching and learning 48 2.
Suggestions for further studies 51 REFERENCE 52 APPENDIX 1: English proverbs about marriage I APPENDIX 2: Vietnamese proverbs about marriage X APPENDIX 3: Collection of English and Vietnamese proverbs in terms of XVI cultural features v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Rationale Nowadays, in this globalization and integration era, communication and cross- cultural communication have become a pivotal want and need of people all over the world. Through language, we communicate and exchange our material and spiritual values, making the cultural knowledge of one another richer and more diversified. However each nation’s language lies in itself similar and different cultural concepts of many fields of life such as human values, ways of thinking, behavior standards, beliefs, customs and traditions, social conventions, etc.
Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language learners to communicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor understanding of the language itself and the language relation with culture. Among favourite languages such as French, Chinese etc, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been studied by a large number of people in the world. All foreign learners of English desire to master English as native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them from gaining successful conversations. One of the reasons for these problems lies in the way people perceive and use proverbs.
For many years, English proverbs have often been neglected in learning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverb in hand is worth a thousand words”(Reynolds, 1959: 75) Firstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent from our daily speeches. They are the main part of each nation’s culture, which reflect all aspects of life. People epitomize their ways of thinking and their ideas through proverbs. We can use them to solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments.
Proverbs are the mirrors that reflect human cultures. Elzaki (2002: 43) states: “If we want to understand the culture in a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nations have its own characteristics that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings”. Hence, it can be said that proverbs can help learners know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language. 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Secondly, proverbs are used to express ideas in figurative ways.
They bring the vividness and richness for the speaker’s speeches. Everyone who is much concerned about proverbs owns a very attractive manner of speaking. Especially, they can provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically. Without them, it can be stated that English might lose its colour and vitality.
In terms of teaching English, lessons will be more interesting and effective if the teacher knows how to apply proverbs to design different activities in an English class: quizzes, games, role- play, etc. Studying English proverbs in comparison and contrast with Vietnamese proverbs, we can find the similarities and differences between two languages and cultures, which therefore, help learners of English understand and have a better use of English and Vietnamese proverbs. This can also help learners have better communication in the cross- cultural communication. Brutus (1995: 23) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs I know your points of view, the attitudes of your ancestors.
Each time I know a new Vietnamese proverb, I become Vietnamese a little. I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”. Having been interested in proverbs for a long time, I decided to choose marriage- related proverbs as my thesis topic. Thanks to these proverbs, I can draw very good lessons and know how to treat others and behave myself accordingly.
Hopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners, teachers of English and for people who are interested in cultural patterns in communication and cross- cultural communication. Aims of the study The study aims to: - Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage. - Explore the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage - Provide some suggestions for the teaching, learning and translation of the 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com English proverbs about marriage. Scope of the study Proverbs are plentiful in both English and Vietnamese.
Therefore it is impossible for the author to carry out an all- rounded study on them. Only marriage- related proverbs are selected and a comparison and contrast between English and Vietnamese is made to distinguish one from another. In this study, both English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage are discussed in terms of syntactics, semantics and cultures. All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books.
Hence, this research may not cover all marriage- related proverbs, just those of common use. Methodology The study was intended to answer the following questions: 1. What are the general syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage? 2. Are there any similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage in terms of syntactics, semantics and culture? The major methods applied in the study are comparative and contrastive analysis.
This study is conducted by carefully collecting and referring to materials from various sources to have full- blown information of proverbs about marriage in terms of syntactics, semantics and culture. The good choice of proverbs in Vietnamese and in British English will be carefully analysed and examined to see the similarities and differences between the two cultures and languages. The author’s own experience in communication and cultural awareness will be referred to as way of viewing the field. Design of the study The study consists of three parts.
The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the background of the study. In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided about the rationale, aims, scopes, methodology, and design of the study. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com The main part of the study is part II: Development. This part includes three chapters.
Chapter one, as implied in the title: “Theoretical Background and Literature Review”, covers a series of proverb- related concepts ranging from definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types of proverbs, proverbs in comparison with idioms and sayings. It also mentions some previous studies on proverbs. Chapter two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study. Chapter two is concerned with “Methodology” whereas chapter three deals with a “Data analysis and Discussion”.
The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications for the EFL teaching and learning and for translation and suggestions for further studies. The study ends with the “REFERENCES”. 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART II. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW I.
Definitions of proverbs Proverbs are widely known in human languages and they are the crystallization of human beings’ wisdom. A proverb can not only teach, enlighten and persuade people but also can enrich language and culture. So, it is vey necessary to define what proverbs are. According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice”.
This definition is developed in the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, online) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy saying in common and recognized use: a concise sentence, often metaphorical or alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar to all”. Albig (1931: 529) argued that, “a proverb is a social definition of a situation.” Mieder (1989: 64) added “a proverb has been defined as a short, repeated, witty statement or set of statements of wisdom, truth and experience which is used to further a social end”. In other words, it is a short well- known expression that states a general truth or advice. Vu Ngoc Phan (2000: 39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice, or criticism” whereas Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more than 200 pages, and he concluded that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition of it.
Taylor noted that “…an incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not” (1931:3”) Even though there are different definitions of proverbs, they have something in common. Accordingly, proverbs are selected with meaningful sentences which play an important role in building people’s characters as well as educating people, especially children so as to draw useful more lessons. We come to a conclusion that proverbs are educational sentences of wisdom. 5 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Marriage- related proverbs According to Oxford dictionary, “marriage” refers to the legal relationship between husband and wife. The Oxford advanced learner’s encyclopedic dictionary says “marriage is a legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife; state of being married” From time to time, the definition of marriage changes by the benevolence of public opinion and also depends on the point of view. According to Wikipedia “marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found.
Such a union, often formalized via a wedding ceremony, may also be called matrimony”. Thus by, “marriage- related proverbs” here is meant proverbs that may be used to educate husband and wife regarding to their relationship with parents –in –law, their children and neighbors. Classification of proverbs It is said that the work of classifying proverb is just hard as defining it. Despite the foregoing constraint, scholars have attempted to categorize the proverbs.