Khóa luận tốt nghiệp a study of english idioms relating to love with reference to the vietnamese equivalent (khóa luận tốt nghiệp)

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS
A STUDY OF ENGLISH IDIOMS RELATING TO
“LOVE” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENT
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ
LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN TỪ “LOVE’’ CÓ THAM CHIẾU
ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT
Student

: Pham Thi Quynh

Student code

: 621200

Major

: English linguistic

Supervisor

: M.A Ha Thi Lan

Hanoi – 2021


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS
A STUDY OF ENGLISH IDIOMS RELATING TO
“LOVE” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENT
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ
LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN TỪ “LOVE’’ CÓ THAM CHIẾU
ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT
Student

: Pham Thi Quynh

Student code

: 621200

Major

: English linguistic

Supervisor

: M.A Ha Thi Lan

Hanoi – 2021


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

“I therefore declare that this accommodation is my own work and to the
most awesome aspect my insight it contains no materials recently distributed or
composed by someone else, or generous extents of material which have been
acknowledged for the honor of some other degree or certificate at VNUA or
some other instructive foundation, aside from where due affirmation is made in
the postulation. Any commitment made to the examination by others, with
whom I have worked at VNUA or somewhere else, is unequivocally recognized
in the proposition. I likewise announce that the scholarly substance of this
proposition is the result of my own work, but to the degree that help from others
in the venture's plan and origination or in style, introduction and phonetic
articulation is recognized”.
Hanoi, 2021

Pham Thi Quynh

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)
Date:……………………

i


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ..................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................v

Part 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
1.1. Rationale for the study ....................................................................................1
1.2.Aims and objectives of the study .....................................................................3
1.3. Research questions (in form of questions) ......................................................3
1.4. Scope of the study ...........................................................................................3
1.5. Significance of the study .................................................................................4
1.6. Design of the study ..........................................................................................4
Part 2: DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................6
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................6
1.1. Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad) ......................................6
1.1.1. Related research 1 ........................................................................................6
1.1.2. Related research 2 ........................................................................................7
1.2. Review of theoretical background ..................................................................8
1.2.1. Statement of theoretical framework chosen. ................................................8
1.2.2 Theoretical background .................................................................................8
1.3. Overview of idioms .......................................................................................11
1.3.1. Definition of Idioms ...................................................................................11
1.3.2. Principal Features of Idioms. .....................................................................14
1.3.3. Classification of Idioms .............................................................................15
1.3.4. An overview of phrases, clause and sentence structures ...........................20
1.3.5. An overview of parallel structures and comparative structures............... 25
1.3.6. Definition of Idioms Related to Love. .......................................................26
1.4. Summary. ......................................................................................................29

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Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................29
2.1. Research governing principles ......................................................................29
2.1.1. Research questions .....................................................................................29

2.1.2. Research hypothesis ...................................................................................29
2.1.3. Research types ............................................................................................29
2.1.4. Research approaches ..................................................................................30
2.1.5. Principles for data collection and data analysis .........................................30
2.2. Research methods ..........................................................................................32
2.3. Summary .......................................................................................................33
Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................34
3.1. Similarities and dissimilarities between English and Vietnamese idioms
denoting ‘love’ in term of syntactic features. ................................................34
3.1.1. Phrase Structures ........................................................................................34
3.1.2. Clause Structures (10) ................................................................................36
3.1.3. Parallel Structures (8) .................................................................................37
3.1.4. Comparative structures (8) .........................................................................37
3.1.5. Similarities. ................................................................................................38
3.1.6. Dissimilarities.............................................................................................38
3.2. Similarities and dissimilarities between English and Vietnamese idioms
denoting ‘love’ in term of semantic features. ................................................39
3.2.1. Similarities. ................................................................................................42
3.2.2. Dissimilarities.............................................................................................42
3.3. Summary. ......................................................................................................43
Part 3: CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................44
1. Recapitulation...................................................................................................44
2. Concluding remarks (conclusions) on each of the thesis objectives ...............44
3. Limitation of the current research ....................................................................45
4. Recommendations/Implications/Suggestions for further study .......................45
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................47

iii

ABSTRACT
To become proficient at English, one of the significant and fundamental
strides for learners is unmistakably to know how to use English idioms just as
native speakers. In a simple way, it is helpful and positive for learners to use
concise style of language to communicate significant speculation like human
emotions, customary statements and idioms, explicit settings, etc. In both of
Western and Eastern writing, "Love" is probably the most ideal emotion for
using idioms to define. The reasons for this study are to look at in which
techniques and conditions to express the feeling “love” as well as to make some
evaluations and comparisons between Vietnamese and English idioms. To carry
out the reasons above, sources and data are carefully accumulated and chosen
through looking through a changed of studies and researcher diaries about
expressions, both in English and Vietnamese. Subsequent to examining and
assessing for more clear perspectives on the proposition's viewpoints, the
outcome will prove that the two similitudes and dissimilarities between English
idioms and Vietnamese ones as far as syntactic and semantic features.

iv


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Adj.P : Adjective phrase
Adj

: Adjective

Adv : Adverb
Art

: Article

Conj : Conjunction
E.g

: For example

IRL : Idioms relating love
N

: Noun

NP

: Noun phrase

Num : Numeral
O

: Object

P

: Preposition

PP

: Preposition phrase

S

: Subject

V

: Verb

VP

: Verb phrase

v


Part 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study
English is the official language of 53 countries and spoken by around 400
million people across the globe. And yet, English is also used in global
diplomacy, the official language of the European Union, the United Nations,
NATO, the European Free Trade Association and many other organizations and
national unions. It is estimated that about 1.5 billion people are speaking English
globally, and about one billion others are in the process of learning it. This is the
reason why studying English has more benefits than any other languages
(According to ETS Global).
Furthermore, English is very popular in all over the world including
Vietnam. Learning English become popular and having a certificate of famous
tests such as TOEIC and IELTS is one of the need for student’s graduation and
people who want to apply a better job. Regardless of the way that it is important
to learn English, countless Vietnamese learners regularly fail to master it,
because of many issues and problems. One of the challenges is being familiar

with idioms and being able to use them correctly in certain situations.
Therefore, in this study I will do a research about idioms in English
relating to “love” with reference to Vietnamese equivalences to help people who
learn English in Vietnam can use English flexibly.
As I mentioned above, English has become a common language all over
the world. However, to achieve effective communication, it is required that
Vietnamese and foreign students are not only proficient in the English language,
but also know how to "say a little but make more sense". Therefore, the problem
of idioms in English is always an important issue in both theory and practice
because idioms are always difficult but inspirational for creativity associated
with different functions and meanings.

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When we talk about language, we cannot underestimate the importance of
idioms. Along with the development of language of human society, idioms have
gradually been formed over the years. Idioms are sentences that are not intended
to be understood in the ordinary sense, and the meaning of an idiom is often a
sentence that carries the art of metaphor in the entire sentence. Because of its
bold expression, the idiom is easy to express, expressing the thoughts and
feelings of the speaker and writer towards the mentioned thing.
In fact, idioms are also considered as a cultural language unit because it is
very close to our lives. It is widely used in everyday speech and in literature.
Through that, learners not only understand the syntax and semantics of words,
but also know more about the culture and customs of that country.
It can be said that idioms are an important part of the vocabulary system.
Every nation in the world has their own idioms. The more developed language
will inevitably bring about the appearance of new idioms, they appear along
with the changes of social life and most authentically reflect new features and

changes in social life of human. As we all know, those whose native language is
not English, face difficulty in understanding and using idioms, especially those
related to “love” because of love idioms between English and Vietnamese is
very different.
Love is the most noble and beautiful affection in the human heart. It is the
most beautiful expression for the relationship between people in life. Love itself
is a source of strength to initiate, form and preserve true values in human life.
Life will be bland and meaningless if living without love.
For this reason, I choose the topic “A sudy of English idioms relating to
“love” with refernece to the Vietnamese equivalent” as the research topic for the
graduation thesis. Thereby, I hope that I can partly help language learners
understand and use idioms in general and idioms related to “love” in particular
effectively.
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1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
 Aims:
The study is executed with the aim to look into the syntactic, semantic,
attributes of English idioms relating to love in comparison with reference to the
Vietnamese equivalences. It also points out the differences and similarities
between English idioms relating to love and Vietnamese ones. As a result, the
study could be used for English learners in learning, teaching and translating as
well as in other to motivate, encourage and submit certain solutions which could
assist English learners to apply and use both English and Vietnamese idioms
correctly.
 Objectives:
- To analyze, explain, and find out the similarities and dissimilarities in
expressions of love between couples expressed in English and Vietnamese
idioms. At the same time, determine the factors that make up that similarities

and dissimilarities.
- To identify and describe syntactic, and semantic features of English and
Vietnamese idioms relating to “love”.
- To motivate, encourage and submit certain solutions which could assist
English learners to apply and use both English and Vietnamese idioms correctly.
1.3. Research questions (in form of questions)
The study attempts to answer the following questions:
- What are syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese
idioms relating “love”?
- What are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese
idioms relating to “love” in terms of syntax and semantics?
1.4. Scope of the study
This study was restricted to English and Vietnamese idioms relating to
“love”. The thesis focuses mainly on selecting and analyzing the idioms in both
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languages in terms of syntactic, stylistic and semantic features of idioms relating
to “love”. In syntactic features, the study will perform the key characteristics
such as phrase structure. In the same way, an examination into love in English
and Vietnamese idioms will be performed to analyze the semantic aspect.
1.5. Significance of the study
The question is, why do you choose English out of nearly 600 languages?
As the third most widely spoken language in the world, English is widely
spoken and taught in over 118 countries and is commonly used around the world
as a trade language or diplomatic language. It is the language of science,
aviation, computers, diplomacy and tourism. Last but not least, it is the language
of international communication, the media and the internet.
Therefore, it is highly likely that if you meet someone from another
country, you will both be able to speak English. It gives you an open door to the

world and helps you communicate with global citizens. And idioms can be said
that a concise, concise and easy-to-understand method of communication. Not
only that, through idioms we can also understand the culture, customs and
practices of that country.
Following the aims, objectives and the scope of performing a study of
English idioms relating “love” with Vietnamese ones in terms of syntactic and
semantic features above, the study will support English users in Vietnam with
the knowledge and suggest ideas to correctly and flexibly apply this sort of
idioms without hesitation.
1.6. Design of the study
Apart from abstracts, references & appendices, this thesis clearly designed
into three parts:
• Part 1 is the Introduction for the study with presenting the rationale, aim,
objective, scope, significance and structural organization of the thesis.
• Part 2 is Development with three chapters:
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- Chapter 1 is Literature Review which generally analyze the theoretical
background of the study as well as the definition of the concept of idiom and
love.
- Chapter 2 is Methodology of the study which are discussed to explain.
- Chapter 3 is Findings and discussion where individual’s opinions of me
are demonstrated to support the concept of love idioms.
• Part 3 is Conclusion with the overview about the result of the report and
suggestions of solution for further research.
Finally, references are respectably noted in the end of the study.

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Part 2: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad)
In English, there are many famous linguists such as Ferdinand de
Saussure (1857 - 1913); Roman Jacobson; Edward Sapir (1884 – 1939); Paul
Grice (1913 – 1988); Noam Chomsky(1928);…
In Vietnamese, idioms have been also an interesting field for linguists.
They are: Cao Văn Hạo, GS Hoàng Thị Châu, Nguyễn Văn Khang, Mai Xuân
Thành and so on.
At University of Da Nang, there are several research papers that have
some relationship with various aspects of idioms. Such as: Nguyến Thị Mộng
Cầm, Nguyễn Hoàng Trà My (2011), Nguyễn Thị Phương Thu (2008), and so
on.
1.1.1. Related research 1
According to NGUYỄN THỊ MỘNG CẦM (2012) in “AN INVESTIGATION
INTO ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS RELATED TO LOVE AND
MARRIAGE”, she classified idioms reflect certain cultural traditions and depict the
national character. Idioms are often confusing because the meaning of the whole
group of words taken together has little, often nothing, to do with the meanings of
the words taken one by one (page 3). The knowledge support of these researches
have contributed to my paper a lot.
In the definition of Hornby [1995, p.589], idioms 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”.
In Vietnamese, Hoàng Văn Hành [37, p.25] defined that “idioms are set
expressions which are stable in morph _ structure, complete and figurative in
meaning, used widely in daily communication.”

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Grains and Redman [1986, p.45] and Amelia [2000, p.37] have
considered semantic opacity or semantic ambiguity as one of the salient features
of idioms.
Greenbaum (2002) defined “the technical term phrase is used even if there
is only one word _ the main word alone”.
“The typical structure of the verb phrase consists of a main verb preceded
optionally by a maximum of four auxiliary verbs. The four belong to different
subclasses of auxiliaries.” [27, p.53]
“The main word in an adverb phrase is an adverb. They may be preceded
by premodifiers and (less commonly) followed by post modifier.”[28, p.69]
1.1.2. Related research 2
According to research “Nghiên cứu thành ngữ tiếng Việt từ bình diện
ngơn ngữ học nhân chủng”, idioms are a characteristic unit and Vietnamese
idioms are no exception. Because, idioms are not only an important part of the
vocabulary of each language, but also a valuable source of materials to preserve
the cultural knowledge of the nation that possesses it. In other words, idioms are
the linguistic units that crystallize the nation's culture most clearly and are a tool
that reflects the most typical socio-cultural characteristics of the nation.
Therefore, not only linguists, but also social sciences and humanities
researchers, cultural researchers in general are often very interested in this
subject (p.1).
Idioms are a special language in every language of the world. The idiom's
specialness not only lies in the structural, morphological and semantic features,
but also lies in its ability to subtly express the cultural and thinking
characteristics of the nation that possesses it. If language is an instrument of
thinking, reflecting thinking, in linguistic units, idioms are where the most
striking impression of each ethnic group's thought is retained (p.27).

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In Chinese, the Han Chinese were very interested in idioms soon. Duong
Tu Tran [142] said that the concept of idioms has appeared in books since the
Zhou dynasty. However, the earliest possible research on Chinese idioms is in
the book "From the Era" in 1915 [132] (p.27).
1.2. Review of theoretical background
1.2.1. Statement of theoretical framework chosen
Idioms are constructed based on experiences or phenomena that have been
drawn down over generations. Through idioms, learners not only understand the
syntax and semantics of words, but also learn more about the culture and
customs of that country.
Idioms are considered cultural linguistic units because they are very close
to our life. In fact, idioms are widely used in speech and literature. However,
due to the different characteristics and meanings in each region, idioms become
barriers for English learners, leading to limited communication and learning
English idioms into Vietnamese and vice versa.
Love is one of the basic human emotions. Although hard to define, love is
expressed quite richly through idioms. Idioms are widely used and spread
throughout the language from poetry to daily communication. That's why I
chose this topic.
1.2.2 Theoretical background
1.2.2.1. Theory of semantics
Semantics is derived from French word sémantique, applied by MICHEL
BRÉAL (1883) to the psychology of language, from Greek semantikos from
semainein "signify" from sema "sign. Semantics is the study of the meaning of
words, phrases and sentences. Every language has the source of expression of
meaningful ideas. This term refers to the study of meaning and the systematic
ways those meanings are expressed in language. The structure of a language

expresses the meaning which exists in one's mind. The idea may be conveyed
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through the written and spoken forms of a language. As semantics is the study of
meaning in language and language is used to express meanings which can be
understood by others. So, semantics is that level of linguistics analysis where
meaning is analysed. It is the most abstract level of linguistics analysis since one
cannot see or observes meaning as one can observe and record sounds. Meaning
is related very closely to the human capacity to think logically and to
understand. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
by JACK C. RICHARDS and RICHARD SCHMIDT defines Semantics as:
“The study of meaning. There are many different approaches to the way
in which meaning in language is studied”. A Dictionary of Linguistics and
Phonetics by DAVID CRYSTAL defines it as: “A major branch of linguistics
devoted to the study of meaning in language.” According to A Dictionary of
Literary Terms by MARTIN GRAY: “The study of the meaning_of_words: how
words express their meanings, and how their meanings have changed in time.”
There are some explanation or theories of semantics based on the structuralist
approach. Some give an account of word meaning whereas others attempt to
account sentence meaning.
There are many theories of semantics which has been studied and analyzed
for centuries and they could generally classified into three basic concepts:
 Model-theoretic semantics is a special form of truth-conditional semantics.
According to it, the truth-values of sentences depend on certain abstract objects
called models. Understood in this way, models are mathematical structures that
provide the interpretations of the (non-logical) lexical expressions of a language
and determine the truth-values of its (declarative) sentences. Originally designed
for the semantic analysis of mathematical logic, model-theoretic semantics has
become a standard tool in linguistic semantics, mostly through the impact of

Richard Montague’s seminal work on the analogy between formal and natural
languages (Thomas Ede Zimmermann, February 2019).
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 Truth-conditional semantics is a theory of the meaning of natural
language sentences. It takes the language–world relation as the basic concern of
semantics rather than the language–mind relation: language is about states of
affairs in the world. The semantic competence of a speaker–hearer is said to
consist in his/her knowledge, for any sentence of his/her language, of how the
world would have to be for that sentence to be true (Robyn Carston, John
Benjamins Publishing Company).
 Lexical semantics is the study of word meaning. Descriptively speaking,
the main topics studied within lexical semantics involve either the internal
semantic structure of words, or the semantic relations that occur within the
vocabulary. Within the first set, major phenomena include polysemy (in contrast
with vagueness), metonymy, metaphor, and prototypicality. Within the second
set, dominant topics include lexical fields, lexical relations, conceptual metaphor
and metonymy, and frames. Theoretically speaking, the main theoretical
approaches that have succeeded each other in the history of lexical semantics are
prestructuralist historical semantics, structuralist semantics, and cognitive
semantics. These theoretical frameworks differ as to whether they take a systemoriented rather than a usage-oriented approach to word-meaning research but, at
the same time, in the historical development of the discipline, they have each
contributed significantly to the descriptive and conceptual apparatus of lexical
semantics (Oxford Research Encyclopedias).
1.2.2.2. Theory of syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that
govern the structure of sentences (sentence structure) in a given language,
usually including word order. The term syntax is also used to refer to the study
of such principles and processes. The goal of many syntacticians is to discover

the syntactic rules common to all languages (From Wikipedia).

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The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek word: σύνταξις “coordination”,
which consists of σύν syn, “together”, and τάξις táxis, “an ordering”. In linguistic,
syntax is a collection of rules, standards as well as methods which regulate the
structure of sentences in a certain language, specifically order of words (Oxford
University Press, 2016).
This structure expresses that human cerebrum figuring cycles will reflect
straightly into language. As result “there is a single, most natural way to express
a thought” (Antoine, 1660). The system goes on until the nineteenth century
which been supplanted by the advancement of etymology and by the contention
of reformist language specialists. They perceive that it isn't accurate about the
state “there is a single, most natural way to express a thought” due to internal
and

external environment on human thinking. Thus the rationale base for

examining language's design had been denied (Bickerton, 1990).
It possibly turned out to be clear when language specialists found and
adjusted present day hypotheses of punctuation in the late twentieth century. The
celebrated work “generative grammar” of educator Noam Chomsky is considered
as the most well known system to examine and investigate about punctuation with
the primary speculation that “language is a configuration of the human mind” and
“syntax is based upon the component structure of sentences”, following the idea
that syntax absolutely focus on the arrangement of a sentence more than its
communication purpose (Chomsky, 2002).
1.3. Overview of idioms

1.3.1. Definition of Idioms
1.3.1.1. English idioms
Idioms have consistently attracted attention of linguists. The recent trends
in English lexical investigations have tossed a totally extraordinary light on
these multi-word structures with pretty much unpredictable implications. Indeed,
even the etymologists can't express the complete definition for this term.
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According to Merriam-Webster, an idioms is an expression in the usage of
a language that is peculiar to itself either in having a meaning that cannot be
derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as up in the air for
"undecided") or in its grammatically atypical use of words (such as give way).
As the definition in Cambrigde Dictionary, idioms is a group of words in
a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings
of each word on its own.
Hornby (1995) announced that idioms is “a phrase or sentense whose
meanng is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must
be leant as a whole unit”.
The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
stated that an idiom is “an expression which function as a single unit and whose
meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts” (Longman Dictionary,
1992). Additionally, the writer of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
defines the idiom differently: “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear
from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole
unit.”
David Crystal announced that “idiom is a term in grammar and
lexicography to refer to a sequence of words which is semantically and often
syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit” (D. Crystal, 1995).
As displayed above, definitions of idioms are quite different between the

linguists yet generally, they don't vary much from one another and share a
similar essential thought of meaning of an idiom: “they are words, phrases or
expressions that cannot be taken literally; when used in everyday language, they
have a meaning other than the basic one you would find in the dictionary.”
(According to Sinclair)
Idioms play important role in our daily lives. We can see them all around
us. We use them in our speech and writing.
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“When you are having a conversation, a discussion, or an argument, or
when you write an article, an essay, or a report, you want to express your own
ideas. But there are many fixed expressions and idioms that you can use to link
these ideas, for example, to show the listener or reader that you are making a
new point, or disagreeing, or closing the argument. Using these phrases gives
you time to think about what you are going to say next and helps your listeners
or readers to know what they can expect and so understand your argument
better.” (Warren, 1994: A4)
Idioms are everywhere around us, nevertheless some people “do not feel
comfortable using idioms. They find it difficult to believe that the unusual
combinations of words can be used with the special meaning of the idiom.”
(McLay, 1987:3).
In general, for using the idioms correctly, it is important to understand the
proper meaning and the right situation in which particular idiom can be used.
1.3.1.2. Vietnamese idioms
In Vietnam, linguistic researchers have proclaimed numerous definitions
of idiom. Professor Hoang Van Hanh stated in “Ke Chuyen Thanh Ngu, Tuc
Ngu” (2002) that idioms are arranged expressions containing meaningful and
complete words with often uses in communication and other purposes.
Hoang Van Hanh (1994) states: “an idiom is a fixed group of words

which is firm in terms of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meaning,
and is widely used in daily speaking” (thành ngữ là những cụm từ cố định, có
hình thái cấu trúc bền vững, có tính bóng bẩy về ý nghĩa và được sử dụng rộng
rãi trong giao tiếp.)
Hồ Lê states: “an idiom is a word combination which has a stable structure
and a figurative meaning, and it is used to describe an image, a phenomenon, a
characteristic or state.” (Thành ngữ là một loại cụm từ có cấu tạo ổn định. Nghĩa
của thành ngữ có tính hình tượng, biểu trưng và giàu cảm xúc.)
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As the definition in Vietnamese Dictionary of The Linguistic Institution,
Danang Publisher declared that idioms are fixed collection of words which its
meanings can not be simply performed by its components’ meaning (Vietnamese
Dictionary, 2003).
In Vietnamese, idioms have been recognized, gathered and clarified
systematically since the finish of 1970s. Many Vietnamese idioms are acquired
from Chinese idioms. However, Vietnamese cleverly changed those implications
structure Chinese idioms into Vietnamese method of talking. A great deal of
study has been done to make collections of Vietnamese idioms in correlation
with different dialects.
1.3.1.3. English and Vietnamese idioms
These definitions above show that regardless of the distinctive nation,
culture and society, there is no contention about the meaning of maxims. Albeit
the definitions could be deciphered from various perspectives, they generally
call attention to a similar thought: an idiom is a fixed expresson with the
meaning could not be carried out by gathering the bare meaning of its singular
words.
1.3.2. Principal Features of Idioms
 Syntactic Restriction and Stability

There is a high stability in idioms in both English and Vietnamese. An
idiom has at least two constituents which are often firmed together. The users
cannot add any word in an idiom according to their intention.
 Semantic Ambiguity
Grains and Redman [1986, p.45] and Amelia [2000, p.37] have considered
semantic opacity or semantic ambiguity as one of the salient features of idioms.

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 Stylistic Devices
In fact, there are stylistic devices which can use some main principles of
meaning transfer such as metaphor, metonymy, simile, hype role.
1.3.3. Classification of Idioms
1.3.3.1. An overview of the classification of idioms in worldwide
It is significant, particularly for second language learners, to be able to
identify and precisely comprehend idioms of the native speakers. Other than
instructors and course readings which can just give limited information, quite
possibly the most reliable sources that leaners can take benefits of dictionaries.
There are two famous dictionaries which give a profound consideration about
English idioms: Longman dictionary of English idioms and Oxford dictionary of
Current Idiomatic English.
According to Longman Dictionary, there are eight types of idioms which
are listed below:
 Traditional idioms: The idioms in this type are mostly full and complete
sentences. The way to use this idiom is just to add a subject to identify the
purpose of the sentence. They are usually considered working as specific parts
of sentences. For example the verb phrase can work like a complement, subject
or object of the given sentence. “Keep an eye on somebody “and “cut to the
chase” are typical examples for this type of idioms.

 Idioms of actions which express feelings or emotions like “ hold one’s
houses” and “ found one’s feet “ are usually difficult and make trouble for users,
especially non- native speakers, to apply it. The problem here is, the meaning of
the related idiom is often figurative and not really literal while the action in the
idiom means quite different from which it does in other languages. As a result,
the confusion between meaning and action makes it unpopular comparing to
other idiom.

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 Sets of words such as “days and nights”. A number idioms of this type
belongs to the first group, work as specific types of sentence which the order is
often fixed
 Idioms which contain “it” like “Coining it” and “Dog it”. “It” in this type
of idioms does not relate to the constituents standing before it like it often does.
 Insinuation like “brew ski”. This type of idioms is familiar and quite
special in English society, which could be trouble with non-native speaker since
they do not perform a clear meaning.
 Sayings: they could be proverbs such as “A broken friendship may be
soldered but will never be sound” or just informal sayings such as “You can lead
a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”.
 Common phrases in communication or conversation such as “How come”
and “How do you do”. They often fail to express literal meanings.
 Similes such as “About as useful as a chocolate teapot “Come down on
somebody like a ton of bricks”.
Generally speaking, Oxford Dictionary delivers a deeper and more
concrete concept of idioms than Longman Dictionary. It provides a neat
definition, both figurative and literal meaning of idioms as well as attached
examples.

The following categories are classified into five types:
 Clear idioms like “nerves of steel” and “take cover”.
 Figurative idioms like “food for thought” or “take with a grain of salt”.
 Controlled connections, also named as semi idioms, are idioms which one
part expresses a literal or familiar meaning while other parts reveal figurative
meanings in certain concepts. For example: “an apple of one’s eyes” and
“darken someone’s door”.

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 Free connections are a group of words or phrases which combine together
with their literal meanings and are free to connect like “Actions speak louder
than words” and “keep one's feet on the ground”. The idioms in this type are
mostly parted out of the dictionary because its authors and editors recognize that
this type of idioms are usually not able to define as the exact characteristics of
an idiom.
 Unclear type: It is the facts that there are many cases which are
impossible to make clear whether they are idioms or just an idiomatic
expressions.
In general, there are a huge number of idioms in everywhere on the world
and every idiom could be diverse in one language from another. Therefore, it
makes out a numerous way to classify types of idioms. With a limited
information on this paper, idioms would be sorted into two different ways as
follows: idioms based on semantic structure and idioms based on syntactic
structure.
1.3.3.2. Based on semantic structure
Regarding how problematic it is to define an idiom; most linguists prefer
to describe them through an idiomatic range from at least to the most idiomatic
expressions according to semantic criteria. On one side of this scale are opaque

idioms, i.e. idioms whose significance cannot be estimated (e.g. kick the
bucket). The scale then closes so-called transparent idioms, the meaning of
which can be deduced (e.g. spill the beans). There are countless others between
these two contradictory possibilities, for which the linguists cannot reconcile the
transparency of individual idioms.
Vinogradov, a specialist in linguistic field, states that there are three main
kinds of idioms based on their semantic structure, they are phraseological
fusions, phraseological unities and phraseological combinations (Vinogradov,
2004). His classification is based upon the motivation of the unit that is the
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relationship between the meaning of the whole and the meanings of its
component parts. The degree of motivation is correlated with the rigidity,
indivisibility and semantic unity of the expression that is with the possibility of
changing the form or the order of components and of substituting the whole by a
single word though not in all the cases.
 Phraseological fusion is a semantically indivisible phraseological unit
which meaning is never influenced by the meanings of its components [2; 244].
It means that phraseological fusions represent the highest stage of blending
together. The meaning of components is completely absorbed by the meaning of
the whole, by its expressiveness and emotional properties. For examples:
Once in a blue moon – very seldom;
To cry for the moon – to demand unreal;
Under the rose – quietly.
Sometimes phraseological fusions are called idioms under which linguists
understand a complete loss of the inner form. To explain the meaning of idioms
is a complicated etymological problem (tit to tat means “to revenge”, but no one
can explain the meaning of the words tit and tat).
 Phraseological unity is a semantically indivisible phraseological unit the

whole meaning of which is motivated by the meanings of its components [2;
245]. In general, phraseological unities are the phrases where the meaning of the
whole unity is not the sum of the meanings of its components but is based upon
them and may be understood from the components. The meaning of the
significant word is not too remote from its ordinary meanings. This meaning is
formed as a result of generalized figurative meaning of a free word-combination.
It is the result of figurative metaphoric reconsideration of a word-combination.
For examples:
To come to one’s sense –to change one’s mind;
To come home – to hit the mark;
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