a contrastive analysis of idioms denoting fear in english and vietnamese = phân tích đối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗi sợ hãi trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTIES OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY


A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR IN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(Phân tích đối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗi sợ hãi trong
Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt)


M.A Minor Programme Thesis




Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215


Hanoi, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTIES OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY


A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR IN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(Phân tích đối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗi sợ hãi trong
Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt)


M.A Minor Programme Thesis





Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215
Supervisor: Trần Bá Tiến, M.A

Hanoi, 2010
iv



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
Aknowledgements
Abstract
Table of contents

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for choosing the topic
2. Aims of the study
3. Scope of the study
4. Methods of the study
5. Format of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
1.1. Idioms
1.1.1. Definitions of Idioms
1.1.2. Distinctive features of English idioms
1.2.1.1. Syntactic features of English idioms
1.2.1.2. Semantic features of English idioms
1.2.1.3. Cultural features of English idioms
1.1.3. Distinction between idioms, proverbs and some other terms:

sayings, phrasal verbs, colloquialisms
1.2. Human Feelings
1.2.1. Concepts of Human Feelings
1.2.2. Classifications of Human Feelings
1.2.3. Emotion Fear
Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English idioms denoting idioms fear in
comparison with Vietnamese counterparts
2.1. Structural features of English idioms denoting emotion Fear
2.1.1. English idioms denoting fear have clause patterns
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2.1.2. English idioms denoting fear have phrase patterns
2.1.3. English idioms denoting fear have fixed patterns
2.1.4. English idioms denoting fear have odd patterns
2.2. An English-Vietnamese comparison of syntactic features of idioms denoting
fear
2.2.1. Similarities
2.2.1.1. Vietnamese idioms with clause patterns
2.2.1.2. Vietnamese idioms with phrase patterns
2.2.1.3. Using simile
2.2.2. Differences
Chapter 3: Semantic features of English idioms denoting fear in comparison
with Vietnamese counterparts
3.1. Metaphor and metonymy in cognitive linguistics
3.2. Metaphor and metonymy in English idioms denoting fear
3.3. An English-Vietnamese comparison of semantic features of idioms denoting
fear

3.3.1. Similarities
3.3.2. Differences

PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Recapitulation
2. Concluding remarks
3. Limitations
4. Suggestion for further research

REFERENCES
APPENDICES




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1



PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Even having been living in England for a long time, a non-native speaker who has a
great command of English could be easily realized that his English is not mother-tongue
language when he is in conversation with an English speaker. Explanation for this could be
his way of using language.
Anyone who has already been put in a real communication of the language finds it
easy to recognize that native-speakers‟ conversations are far more interesting and varied
than that with non-native speakers. The answer to this is that in their talk native speakers
apply several idioms because of their convenience. First, these idioms not only have brief
and extraordinary forms, containing key words but they also hold profound meanings.

They manifest much what the speakers want to say and do not want to say in words. The
means that can express speakers‟ viewpoints, feelings, attitudes and even personality and
culture is their ways of idioms usage. Take this example to consider “pull someone‘s leg‖.
The phrase pull my leg would cause a lot of difficulties for non-native speakers because it
has nothing to do with the description of the action of pulling someone‟s leg but just means
“to play a joke on somebody, usually by making them believe something that is not true”
(Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition) or simply “to fool somebody”.
Therefore, knowing how to use a language is a completely different category from
mastering a language. Mastery of a language not only needs speakers‟ acquisition of
several aspects of language such as semantics, syntax, phonetics and phonology,
pragmatics but also their flexibility in language usage. Idioms usage is the clearest
evidence for their ability of varied language usage.
Moreover, idioms are the combination of culture, language usage and creative
competence, personality and mark of time. They are everlasting and passed from
generation to generation because of their own distinctive features.
The combination of all the facts mentioned above is the reason for the thesis. In the
thesis the author has made an attempt to investigate into English idioms from different
aspects. Then there will be a comparison between English idioms and Vietnamese idioms
denoting fear.
2. Aims of the study
The study is carried out for the following aims.
2



First of all, it demonstrates some general knowledge about idioms in terms of
syntactic, semantic and cultural features and their differentiation from other similar terms.
Secondly, it represents syntax and semantics of English idioms denoting fear.

Thirdly, the study provides a comparison of English and Vietnamese idioms, then
clarifies syntax and semantics of Vietnamese idioms denoting fear.
3. Scope of the study
English idioms have a great number of idioms denoting human feelings. A few of
basic emotions have been researched by some Vietnamese researchers such as “A Study on
Structural and Semantic Features of English Idioms of Anger in Comparison with
Vietnamese Equivalents” by Doan Ngoc Diep, “An Investigation into The English Words
and Idioms Denoting Happiness” by Nguyen Thi Van Lam.
One human emotion that appears daily, therefore has several idioms, but has not
been received much study is fear. Hence, in the study the author concentrates on English
idioms denoting fear and put it them in comparison with Vietnamese idioms.
4. Methods of the study
The approaches and procedures employed to achieve the research goals are as
follows:
- To establish a theretical framework for the study, both domestic and foreign publications
are critically reviewed and referred to.
- The quantitative method is dominantly used for the data statisctics. In addition, the
contrastive analysis approach is employed to compare the two language and cultures.
- Procedures:
The study takes the following steps
Data sources:
The sources which are used to collect data consist of books, websites and other
materials.
As for books, books which are concerned with idioms are collected and studied to gather
necessary knowledge. Main materials are Oxford Idioms (2010), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh-
Anh-Việt (2004), Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt (2009), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt
Nam (2008), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2006).
3

As for websites, they are the tool that is made use of. The websites are a huge source of
idioms. Three basic websites are En.wikipedia.org, News.google.com and
Books.google.com.
As for other materials, namely the previous theses in linguistics which are involved in the
content of the study are also collected to grab related information.
Data analysis procedures:
Idioms that are related to fear are collected from the dictionaries and books
mentioned above. Then the examples are taken from websites and books for illustration.
The last step is to investigate and analyze according to the requirements of the study.
5. Format of the study
The study consists of three parts which are Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
Introduction: a brief account of relevant information for carrying out the study is
represented. They are the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims, the scope, the
methodology and the format of the study.
Development: This crucial part concludes four chapters. Chapter I is Theoretical
Background, which introduces initially necessary theories on the topic from the different
aspects involved in idioms and human feelings. Chapter II provides a deep insight into
syntactic features of English idioms of fear and the comparison between the two
languages, English and Vietnamese. Chapter III has the similar steps as the second chapter.
It is concerned with semantic features of English idioms describing fear and its
comparison with Vietnamese ones.
Conclusion: which includes Recapitulation, Concluding Remarks, and Suggestions for
further researches.
The study ends at Reference and Recapitulation.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
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Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1.1. Idioms
1.1.1. Definitions of Idioms
Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages. Usage of idioms is integral in
human interaction. Be aware of this, recently, much work on idioms has been carried out.
Hence, a great number of definitions of idioms is understandable. Every linguist who
specializes in different branches will have different way to understand and describe idioms.
Jackson & Amvela and Palmer share the similar viewpoint on idiom definition.
According to Jackson & Amvela (2000, p.66), “an idiom may be defined as a phrase the
meaning of which cannot be predicted from the individual meanings of the morphemes it
comprises”. Palmer (1990) states that an idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be
inferred from the meanings of its parts. It can be seen that there are two visible points in
their statements. First, an idiom is a phrase; second, its meaning is not simply the meanings
of constituents making up the phrase. Having the same point of view is Seidle and Mordie
(1978, p.8) who consider “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean
something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone‖. Collins
has a different way to define idioms but shares the similar idea. To take the definition by
Collins (1995) to consider, an idiom is a special kind of phrase. It is a group of words
which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the
meaning of each word were taken individually […] idioms are typical metaphorical: they
are effectively metaphors which have become „fixed‟ or „fossilized‟. In his definition, there
are two noticeable terms, “typical metaphorical” and “fossilized” used to describe idioms.
„Metaphorical‟ could be referred to figurative and non-literal characteristics of idioms. In

the meanwhile, „fossilized‟ implies unchangeable property of idioms. It can be seen from
the definitions mentioned above, the linguists have defined idioms just in terms of their
semantics and syntax.
In fact, idioms are man‟s creation and originated from human communication, thus
usage of idioms is integral in human interaction. Idioms have a deep interrelation with the
human beings‟ thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and attitude, which means the speaker‟s culture.
Therefore, it would be a shortcoming in the attempt to define idioms without regarding
their cultural aspect. As for her viewpoint on idioms, Fernando (1997, pp.1-30) describes
idioms as “conventionalized multiword expressions […] individual units whose
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components cannot be varied or varied only within definable limits […]. Nor are the words
of an idiom usually recombinable”. At the same time, in her book, she lists three features
which are commonly brought up with idioms to make it clearer, they are compositeness,
institutionalization and semantic opacity. Compositeness means that idioms are multiword
expressions, consisting of more than one word. According to Fernando, the shortest length
is a two-word compound structure and the maximum limit is a complex clause with no
more than two subordinate clauses. In terms of institutionalization, idioms are the product
of socially interaction expressions which have conventionalized, therefore, idioms are
conventionalized expressions. Semantic opacity could be understood as figurativeness and
non-literalness of idioms. In accordance with Fernando, an idiom is made up from at least
two words and its meaning is not inferred from the meaning of each constituent or of both.
1.1.2. Distinctive features of English idioms
Analysis of the idioms in terms of definition simultaneously demonstrates some
features of idioms. Idioms should be treated as a special kind of every language. They
separate themselves from regular rules compared with other sorts of a language. In other
words, only in idioms the unacceptability in both meaning and form of a language could
exist. If a sentence she puts her money where her mouth is immediately indicates the

meaning via its words, it could be changed into passive voice her money is put where her
mouth is. However, strangely enough, following the same form of every form that could be
changed into passive voice Agent – Action – Recipient, the form mentioned above must
not be employed in passive voice, otherwise, it looks odd. Because, in fact put one‘s money
where one‘s mouth is is an idiom, it is therefore necessary to be known as a fixed unit
which does not permit of any rearrangement of its elements. Put another aspect of idioms
into consideration, that is semantic one, there will be one more aspects involved in.
Whether the sentence he loses his shirt should be treated as having a meaning directly
through words or an idiom denoting losing a great deal of money, it will depend on the
context it is embedded with. That means idioms deal with pragmatics. Exploration of
features of idioms provides unique and interesting their peculiarities.
1.1.2.1. Syntactic features of English idioms
Johnson-Laird (1993, p.iii) states that “if natural language had been designed by a
logician, idioms would not exist”. Idioms hold distinctive features that cannot be seen in
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other kinds in a language. Having the same idea, Fravel (1992) also states that idioms are
anomalies of language.
Idioms exist in various forms, containing different number of words. According to
Fernando (1997), English idioms fluctuate between „two-word compound structure‟ and „a
complex clause with no more than two subordinate clauses‟. On ice (set aside for future
use), fork over (hand over), or wet blanket (dull or boring person who spoils the happiness
of others) are some examples of the smallest structure of idioms. Or if the shoe fits, wear it
(admit the truth), people who live in glass houses shouldn‘t throw stones (one should not
criticize when one is equally at fault) are illustration for the maximum limit of idioms.
In fact, there are idioms that have only one word. “Lemon” (denoting something
defective) is an idiom with only one word. Or “fishy” is in the same case.
Seidl and Mordie (1978) discover syntactic properties of idioms when syntactic

features and semantic features are put into correlation. According to them, an idiom can
have a regularly, irregularly or even wrongly grammatical structure. Idiom spill the beans
(reveal a secret) is a regular structure with the form Verb_ Direct Object, fill somebody‘s
boots/shoes (do somebody‟s job in a satisfactory way when they are not there), give me five
(hit the inside of somebody‟s hand with the inside of your hand as a greeting or to
celebrate a victory) are in the case, or as free as (the) air/ as a bird (completely free)
possesses the normal form, the comparative form. However, consider sell him short, it is
easy to see that the form of the idiom sell somebody short (underestimate somebody) is
grammatically incorrect. The last element short must be an adverb to modify sell.
Conversely, adjective short which is used to describe height of a person or to measure
length or distance is applied to do the job instead. Do something on the off chance (to do
something even though you think that there is only a small possibility of it being
successful), fight shy of something/ of doing something (avoid something or doing
something, not want to do) are the instances of the extraordinary structure.
Some idioms that may have regular forms but the meaning is ambiguous. The
idiom dressed to kill (wear one‟s finest clothing) takes the regular form but has obscure
meaning. It could make sense that someone prepares for an action of killing someone by
wearing clothes if it is not recognized as an idiom. There are some same instances such as
different strokes for different folks (everyone has different interests and tastes), eating
someone (bothering or worrying someone), bite the bullet (endure in a difficult situation) ,
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mind one‘s P‘s and Q‘s (take care in speech and action), have the world by the tail (be
successful and happy), or call the shots/ the tune (be in control).
There are idioms whose both meaning and form are abnormal. The idiom on
somebody’s own head be it (somebody is alone for responsible for the results of their
action or decision) causes difficulties in explaining the form and guessing the meaning as
well. The same cases are for be in at the finish (be present when something ends), more

fool you/ them…. (you/ them… were very foolish to do something), cut one‘s eye teeth (to
get wiser, more mature and more experienced) and so on.
Another particularity that makes idioms special is their uniqueness and fixation in
their grammatical structure. First, their components cannot be varied, which means that
idioms do not accept any replacement or substitution. Little Mary never allows to change
into “big Mary”, “little John” or “big John” just because “little Mary” is an idiom denoting
the stomach. Most idioms are in the case such as lion of the day (the person who attracts
much attention), bite the dust (go down in defeat), jump the gun (to be hasty).
Second, rearrangement of any constituents is unacceptable in idioms. For example,
shoot the breeze, the native speaker of English would find it funny and quite odd if the
idiom is caught into passive voice whenever the form “Subject (agent) – Verb (action) –
Object (recipient)” appears as in “the breeze can be shot”. Some more instances are paint
the town red (carouse and have a good time) into “the town (– be) paint red, make a splash
(be successful and attract attention) into “a splash (– be) made”, feed someone a line
(deceive someone) into “someone (– be) fed” and so on. It is also impossible to change the
position of idioms‟ components, though grammatically it is correct, such as the idiom
shake up or ship out. Shape up or ship out (behave properly or leave!) must not get
changed by moving the second phrase to the front of the second phrase as “ship out or
shape up‖. Or if the shoe fits, wear it (admit the truth) should not be wear it if the shoe fits,
or leave someone high and dry (abandon someone) cannot be leave someone dry and high.
Third, idioms resist any addition and any deletion of their elements. Look at the idiom
smell a rat (feel that something is wrong). One could delete and add some elements to
emphasize the event such as “smell a million of rats”. This is not wrong in grammatical
aspect but idiomatically, it is not right. The reason is that only the combination of the three
components “smell”, “a”, and “rat” could create the meaning feel that something is wrong.
Thus, addition of any other words to idioms‟ fixed expression is completely unacceptable.
8

Similarly, shake a leg (hurry) could not be “shake both legs” in order to make sense “more
hurry”, come one day after the fair (be late, lose the chance) must avoid either “come after
the fair” or “come one minute after the fair”, or can‘t put two words together (have not
capacity of doing something) is impossible to become “can‟t put words together”.
Most of English idioms follow the strict rules mentioned above, though there are
some exceptions. As a matter of course, only a small number of idioms could permit some
limited changes in the parts that are not fixed and not key ones. According to Fernando
(1997), an idiom may be varied in terms of number and tense (inflectional changes) or the
replacement of one structure word like an article by another or by zero. Consider the
example for the idiom hold a gun to somebody’s head (force somebody to do something
that they do not want to do by making threats)
He had to sack a hundred workers last week. He didn‘t want to, but the bank was
holding a gun to his head.
(Oxford Idioms Dictionary, 2006)
The past continuous is used for the original idiom hold a gun to somebody’s head in
regard with grammatical rule, and “was” in the agreement of number with “the bank” – the
third and singular.
The similar exception happens to the following instances, such as drink to somebody‘s
health (drink to congratulate someone) could be:
At the party, they drank to the health of the chief guest.
(Bùi Phụng, Thành Ngữ Anh - Việt)
The article “the” and the preposition “of” have been applied to the sentence, instead of
remaining the possessive adjective.
Or in the eyes of somebody (in somebody‟s point of view) could be in other way to
express:
In your teacher’s eyes, you are intelligent.
(Bùi Phụng, Thành Ngữ Anh - Việt)
Although substitution hardly ever appears in English idioms, in fact in some cases
it happens based on the similarity in both part of speech and meaning, which will be
illustrated by the examples below.

It‘s not the reason to make the feathers fly, dear!
(Phạm Văn Bình, Tục Ngữ Nước Anh & Thành Ngữ Tiếng Anh Giàu Hình Ảnh)
“Feather” in the idiom make the feathers fly (quarrel, scuffle) could be replaced by “fur”
to become make the fur fly without changing its original meaning. “Feathers” and “fur”
share the same part of speech – noun as direct object, and the similar semantic meaning,
9



hence, they can interchange each other. Move heaven and earth and move mountains both
denote „do everything you can in order to help somebody, achieve something‟; “get” or
“pour” could replace “put” in put a quart into a pint pot (try to do something impossible,
especially to try to put something into a space which is too small for it); or “quaking”
replacing “shaking” and “boots” substituting for “shoes” in quaking in your boots (be
very worried or frightened).
According to Cacciari and Tabossi (1993: xiii) “the difficulties in characterizing
idioms is one of the reasons why idioms have attained fairly little attention even though
their relevance is unquestionable‖. Besides such anomalous features that retain non-native
speakers of English from acquiring this language, English idioms is normally recognized to
take grammatically common forms.
Cowie, Mackin and McCaig (1975) point out that English idioms can be classified
under two general headings which are phrase idioms and clause idioms. Within these major
groupings are several dominant sub-categories.
English idioms could be in the following clause patterns:
 Verb – Adverbial, such as whistle in the dark, prey on sb‘s mind
 Verb – Subject Complement, such as turn sour, sound asleep
 Verb – Direct Object, such as bend the truth, bury the hatchet
 Verb – Direct Object - Adverbial, such as play it by ear, string someone along
 Verb – Direct Object – Object Complement, such as leave someone high and
dry, paint the town red

 Verb – Indirect Object – Direct Object, such as give someone the slip, feed
someone a line
 Subject – Verb, such as sb‘s knees are knocking
English idioms could be:
 Noun phrase, such as somebody‘s blue-eyed boy, a big girl‘s blouse
 Adjective phrase, such as black and blue, a bit thick/ strong
 Prepositional phrase, such as on the blink, in black and white
 Adverbial phrase, such as out of the blue, as regular as clockwork
 Verb phrase, such as scare the pants off sb, get the shivers
In addition to the common patterns of English idioms, there is occasional appearance of a
great number of sentence idioms, for example:
They‘re all yours (passing the responsibility for somebody or the use of something
to another person)
You have to laugh (you think there is funny side to a situation)
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When hell freezes over (it will never happen)
1.1.2.2. Semantic features of English idioms
According to Johnson-Laird (1993, p.vii), ―idioms are illogical and frustrating
features of discourse since their meanings do not depend on the meanings of their parts
and the syntactic relations of those parts‖. English idioms are not only extraordinary in
terms of their syntax as analyzed but their semantics also.
With regard to the lexical aspect, English idioms are considered as lexemes since
they satisfy the criteria required for being stored in the lexicon. Lexeme is defined as “a
word or several words that have a meaning that is not expressed by any of its separate
parts” (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition). In fact, idioms cause the

confusion on the case whether or not they should have been put into lexical system due to
their abnormal peculiarities in terms of syntax and semantics. Unwillingly, they are
counted for but considered to be the odd exception as stated by DiSciullo and Williams
(1987), there is nothing more to say about them [idioms] than that (1) they are syntactic
objects and (2)they are listed because of their failure to have a predictable property
(usually their meaning). The acceptance could be possibly explained as follows the criteria
for being part of the lexicon is listedness, and objects that are listed have been dubbed
listemes by the authors. In order for an object to be listed in the lexicon, it must have a
meaning which cannot be computed compositionally, thus its meaning must be
“memorized”. Based on the norms analyzed by both the authors for a word or a phrase to
turn into a lexeme, an idiom is completely to meet the requirements of being a part of the
lexicon. Take the time to consider the example given to illustrate their point:
“Knowledge of language involves in some way a knowledge of particular
linguistic objects – for example, the word transmission and the knowledge that it
(1) has a certain morphological form and (2) refers to a part of a car; that take to
task has a certain syntactic form and means “rebuke”. To the extent that an object
does not have the form or interpretation specified by the recursive definitions of the
objects of the language, that object and its properties must be “memorized.” . . . .
Our overall point is that listedness is no more intrinsically characteristic of words
than it is of phrases. Some words and some phrases are listed, but infinitely many
of each are not”.
(DiSciullo and William, On the Definition of Word).
Jackendoff (1997) as well as Van Gestel (1995) are in favor of the assessment of
idioms as listemes. As one states that an idiom is a lexical item in its right because of its
11



expression of completely semantic idea, and must learned, stored and recycle as a single
chunk.

The second notice of English idioms is their semantic opacity or in their figurative
sense by another term. So far, it has been assumed that English idiom is formed by separate
components. However, the overall meaning of this fixed expression is not contributed by
its components‟ meanings but conventionalized. This is called non-compositionality. For
example, the meaning be frightened by cannot be decoded by splitting the idiom take
fright at into “take”, “fright” and “at” and referring the meanings from these split words.
flog a dead horse cannot be deciphered into “to waste the effort by trying to do something
that is no longer possible” by separating the idiom into “flog”, “a”, “dead”, “horse” and
then, jointing the meanings of these words.
According to Gill Philip (2007), the ease with which an idiom can be interpreted is
based on its level of semantic transparency as well as truth conditions and other contextual
cues. As regards the level of semantic transparency, an idiom varies from opacity to
transparence. An idiom is transparent if the expression is straightforwardly connected to its
meaning, without much semantic re-elaboration, for example mind/ watch your language!
can easily bring out the meaning “be careful about what you say in order not to upset or
offend someone” at first sight. At the contrary level to transparence is opacity when there
is arbitrariness between the idiom‟s expression and its meaning, for example, “call the
shots” has nothing to do with “be in control” since the relationship between them is
unmotivated and the product of conventionalization. In the view of Gill Philip, it is not
easy to decide whether the idiom is transparent or not, as “it is affected by the individual‟s
real-world knowledge, awareness of cultural norms, and general familiarity with the
phrase”.
Sharing the same points of view with Gill Philip in Idioms, but Fernando makes it
more concrete by classifying idioms and bringing out necessary criteria accompanied with.
According to Fernando, in her book Idioms and Idiomaticity (1996), the degree of
literalness leads to the classification of idioms into pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal
idioms.
 Pure idioms are non-literal and conventionalized, therefore invariant, which means
that the meaning is completely figurative. The only way to deduce the meaning of
a pure idiom is to learn and memorize.

12



Consider:
Dog-eat-dog (a situation in business, politics, etc. where there is a lot of
competition and people are willing to harm each other in order to
succeed)
Get down to the nitty-gritty (start discussing the basic, especially the practical
aspects of a matter or decision)
 Semi-idioms have at least one literal constituent sense and at least one non-literal
constituent sense. Thus invariance or permission of restricted variance in the
structure occurs in this kind of idioms. There will be a part of the idiom whose
meaning can be referred.
Consider:
A necessary evil (a thing that is unpleasant or even harmful, but which must be
accepted because it brings some benefit)
“necessary” is the part that have the literal meaning “must be”
A new man (a man who shares the work in the home that is traditionally done by
women, such as cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children)
 Literal idioms have non-literal element in their meaning, are hence less complicated
than pure idioms and semi-idioms. Which means that the meaning will
immediately be deduced from the meanings of every word. Invariance and
restriction on variance are found in literal idioms.
Consider:
Take your chances (make as much use as you can or your opportunities)
In every nook and cranny (everywhere; all part of a place)
Most English idioms are based on conceptual metaphor or metonymy, which is
another salient feature of idioms and known as metaphoricity. This feature explains for the
case why the idiom is difficult to be controlled and mastered. The idiom cock-and-bull

story is based on metaphor, denoting a story that is unlikely to be true but is used as an
explanation or excuse. Sense of “a/ per head” is based on the metonymy, denoting “for
each person”.
1.1.2.3. Cultural features of English idioms
Levorato (1993, p.126) assumes that the reason why idioms are so intriguing is that
they engage imagination, can transform abstract meanings into more concrete ones and
enrich the meaning of simple concepts. Idiomatic expressions are not a restricted part of
the language of popular culture but they exist in every area of human communication. That
is easy to make sense when idioms are the product of human interaction in communication.
The differences in geography, environment, means of production, national character, and
national psychology, in other words, the culture bring out the variety of languages in
13



general and distinctions of the idiom in particular. The distinctions of culture explain for
figurativeness of idioms. Without some foundational knowledge, information, or
experience and sharing common cultural references of conversational parties, the
communication must be a failure as the native speaker applies a great number of idioms in
his discourse, which has been so deeply integrated into the speaker's culture.
For example the idiom according to Hoyle, it never causes any difficulties for the
native speakers because they share the same culture, therefore knows who Hoyle is and
immediately decode the meaning. A non-native speaker of English is in completely
contrary situation if he encounters it for the first time. This idiom is concerned with a fact
on an English astronomer named Fred Hoyle and his book Short Treatise on the Game of
Whist. The rules and the hints to win the game that were given in the book were so popular
and used for long time that the idiom according to Hoyle was formed but the meaning is
beyond the expression itself, denoting “in accord with the highest authority; in accord with
a strict set of rules”. “Achilles‘ heel”, “feather in one‘s cap”, “fishing for information” and
so on are the products of the British culture.

Language is embedded with culture, hence the unchangeablity of idioms through
the passage of time is straightforward. Some idioms may gain or lose the favor with the
popularity, they still exist as the way culture does and there are new idioms to occur by
accident the same way new factors integrate into culture.
Take some idioms into consideration to explore how the British culture gave birth
to English idioms or in other words, to find out the sources of and for English idioms.
“Bigwig” means “an important person”. This idiom originates from the fact on the
Bourbon kings of France, Louis XIII (1601 - 1643) who went prematurely bald and took to
wearing a wig. Thus, historical events are a huge source for English Idioms. Other
examples are “according to Hoyle”, “armed to the teeth” or “go AWOL”
“Achilles’ heel” (a weak or a vulnerable feature) based on the legend of a hero in
the Greek mythology named Achilles. The mythology (especially the Greek mythology)
can be counted as another source. “Dressed to the nines‖, “Trojan Horse”, or “between
Scylla and Charybdis” are of the type.
“One fell swoop” (all at the same time; in a single action, especially a sudden or
violent one) comes from the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. The quotation from literature is
also a popular way to create idioms. William Shakespeare is supposed to be the writer who
adds several hundred to the English language and idioms as well. “Salad days‖, ―absence
makes the heart grow fonder‖,
14



“Break a leg” (a wish of good luck, do well) is sourced from a superstition. The
same type could be found in “to have an itchy palm”, “knock on wood”, so on.
“Blow off some steam” (to enjoy oneself by relaxing normal formalities) is based
on some principles in science. “Brand Spanking New” belongs to this case of idioms origin
“Chew the fat” (to talk about unimportant things) is originated from culture of
other countries, namely, from the Inuit. “Armed to the teeth” is such kind of idioms.
“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth” (do not be critical of a gift) is based on

some experience in choosing horses. Therefore, practices are a source of idioms.
“Face the music‖, ―bleed like a stuck pig‖, “blowing smoke‖, ―back handed compliment‖
are other instances.
“For the love of Pete” (be frustrated with this situation) has a reference to the
catholic Saint Peter. Therefore, religion is also a source from which several English idioms
come from. Most of this kind of idioms is from Christianity. “If Mohammed won't come to
the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed‖, “ninth circle of hell‖, ―practise
what you preach‖ belong to such type of idioms.
“Pushing up daisies” (to be dead) is sourced from the custom of growing flowers
or grass over a grave. Basing on folklore to create idioms is one of the sources. “Know (on)
which side one‘s bread is buttered”, “baker‘s dozen” or “beer or skittles” are of this type.
These examples show that many idioms are based on cultural knowledge that a
speech community shares.
1.1.3. Distinction between idioms, proverbs and some other terms: sayings, phrasal
verbs, colloquialisms.
In terms of idioms‟ definition, there are some similarities between idioms and other
terms such as proverbs, phrasal verbs, colloquialisms, sayings, slangs and clichés. Idioms
and proverbs gain most resemblance. Phrasal verbs own some characteristics of idioms
with regard to syntactic and semantic inspects. Clichés, slangs and colloquialisms are
necessary to be distinguished to avoid misunderstanding.
It is better to make sense of saying before analyzing other terms because saying is
the general term that can partly sump up other ones. Saying is “a well-known phrase or
statement that expresses something about life that most people believe is wise or true.”
(Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition). A saying also refers to “something
that is said, notable in one respect or another, to be ‗a pithy expression of wisdom or
truth‘”. (Wikipedia.com). It must be said that sayings are conventionalized by the
popularity. There are several kinds of sayings such as aphorism, adage, cliché, epigram,
epithet, gnome, aphorism, maxim, idiom, mantra, maxim, motto, platitude, proverb, quip,

saw, witticism. Of the sayings, idioms and proverbs are popular.
15



The idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the
meanings of its components and must be learnt as a whole, any occurrence to the fixed
expressions will not be considered as idioms.
A proverb is "a short well-known sentence that states a general truth about life and
gives advice" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7
th
edition). The proverb is deduced
from practical experience of humanity, in other words, common sense, therefore, it can be
understood literally, that means the meaning could be obtained from the meanings of
individual words, such as like father like son, nobody‘s perfect, or practice makes perfect.
Some properties are frequently found in proverbs. Firstly, it is their simple rhyme and
elegant balance, consider: all‘s well that ends well and slow but sure wins the race”.
Secondly, proverbs are expressed in homely and concrete terms as in closed mouth catches
no flies. Literal meaning, rhythm, balance, and homely expression are key points that make
proverbs popular and memorable. Notably, proverbs can be products of other sayings. A
proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. If a proverb
is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism.
A phrasal verb is “the combination of a verb and an adverb or a preposition, or
sometimes both, to give a new meaning‖ (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7
th

edition), it is used like a verb. In respect of meaning, there is seemingly not much
difference between a phrasal verb and an idiom, sometimes they are considered to be
identical. Both idioms and phrasal verbs share the common feature that is the non-
compositionality, which means the overall meaning of the phrase is not the sum of its

constituents‟ meanings. However, idioms are not identical to phrasal verbs for their visual
differences between them, structure and meaning as well. In consideration of the syntactic
structure, the first distinction is that the idiom does not follow any fixed structures. Its
structure is varied. Some of which have the correctly grammatical one but some are wrong
and illogical in terms of grammatical structure. Meanwhile, the phrasal verb carries one
stable structure. That is the verb is combined with one or two particles (a preposition
and/or an adverb). For example come through, build up, or wear off. Secondly, the phrasal
verb takes a small number of verbs and a small number of particles to build up its form
such as
 Common verbs: go, take, turn, come, make, set
 Common particles: out, up, off, at, on, away
16



Whereas, the idiom has a broader source to make up its form. It makes use of varied verbs,
different kinds of nouns, diverse adjectives, combination of these parts of speech and so
on. In terms of semantics, for examples “out of frying pan and into the fire‖, “caught
between the devil and the deep blue sea‖, ―after a storm come's a calm‖ or ―all roads lead
to Rome‖. In terms of semantics, both phrasal verbs and idioms can be classified in the
similar way. Idioms can be pure idioms, semi-idioms, or literal idioms. Phrasal verbs can
be literal meaning, non-literal meaning and semi-literal meaning. Making Headway –
Phrasal Verbs and Idioms Advanced by Graham Workman shares classification of phrasal
verbs into three types.
 Literal meaning: the meaning of the verb and the particle do not change.
e.g. run up the hill (the action of running in the direction of the top of the hill)
 Non-literal meaning: the addition of the particle(s) creates a multi-word verb that has
a completely different meaning from its components. It has idiomatic meaning.
e.g. run up a large telephone bill ( the increase of the amount of money)
 Semi-literal meaning: the basic meaning of the verb remains the sane, but the particle

adds an extra meaning
e.g. fly on to Los Angeles (the action of continuing to fly to Los Angeles).

One more salient characteristic of idioms is their figurativeness due to the
application of metaphoricity, which phrasal verbs cannot have. Underlying the literal
meaning of any idioms is figurative sense that requires one‟s thought, deduction,
imagination, background knowledge and so on. For instance, behind the closed doors. At
the beginning, without knowing it is an idiom, the phrase just gives the idea of the relation
of position (behind) of something with closed doors. However, knowledge of
metaphoricity enables one to realize the phrase is an idiom. “Closed doors” is associated
with privacy and secrecy. Behind closed doors is associated with something that is secret
and that no one is allowed to know. Basing on one‟s knowledge of metaphoricity the
meaning of the idiom “behind closed doors” could partly be deduced. It denotes “in
private; without the public being allowed to attend”. In the mean while, the meaning of
phrasal verbs is fixed. As for the non-native speaker, it needs to be looked up in the
dictionary and learnt by heart. In fact, the form of the phrasal verb could be seen in a great
number of idioms. In other words, the most common pattern of idioms is phrasal verbs
such as “to go down the drain”, “to get off my back” or “to hang on somebody‘s words”
which are in the form of phrasal verbs.
17



Colloquialisms is “a linguistic expression used exclusively in familiar, informal
conversation and thus not used in formal speech, writing or paralinguistics”.
(Wikipedia.com). Colloquialisms can be a words such as “y‘all” („you-all‘ is used
especially in the southern US to mean you when talking to more than one person (Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition)), “gonna” („going to‟) or “wanna” („want to‟

or „want a‟); they can be phrases such as “ain‘t nothin‘” („ain‟t can be „am not / is not / are
not‟ or „has not / have not‟; „nothin‟‟ is „nothing‟); colloquialisms can be an entire
aphorism, for example “there‘s more than one way to skin a cat” (a problem generally has
more than one solution). One remarkable of colloquialisms is their certain geographical
area. For example the colloquialism “red up one‘s room” (tell one to clean up his or her
room) is used by the people in Western Pennsylvania. Whereas, idioms are considered as
lexical items that means their usage throughout the country.
1.2. Human Feelings
1.2.1. Concepts of Human Feelings
Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (7
th
edition) proposes that feelings are “a
person‘s emotions rather than their thoughts or ideas”. Thus, finding out the definition of
human feelings means exploration of human emotions. In fact, it is not easy to define
emotion specifically since emotion is the synthesis of many aspects in which the changes
in body state is the biggest obstacle as one has his own personal state. Encyclopedia online
views that “the emotions are generally understood as representing a synthesis of subjective
experience, expressive behavior, and neurochemical activity”. Izard (1977, p.4) has the
similar view but makes it detailed by giving the criteria. The author proposes that “a
complete definition of emotion must take into account all three of these aspects or
components: (a) the experience or conscious feeling of emotion, (b) the processes that
occur in the brain and nervous system, and (c) the observable expressive patterns of
emotion, particularly those on the face”. Of the ideas of emotion, one that briefly indicates
that "the word emotion includes a broad repertoire of perceptions, expressions of feelings
and bodily changes." (Library.thinkquest.org) is easily acceptable.
1.2.2. Classifications of Human Feelings
Human emotion is an abstract field, complex and cannot be made specific as it is
concerned with human state; it is thus not easy to be defined. That explains for the fact that
the theorists of psychology have met a great deal of difficulty to have an exact
18

classification of human emotions into categories. Each psychologist proposes a different
classification of human emotions when he considers human emotions from different
perspectives. Parrot (2001) classifies emotions into primary emotion, secondary emotion
and tertiary emotion. Noticeably, the primary emotions are subdivided into six ones.
Ekman, Friesen, and Ellsworth (1982) base on face expressions that are similar across
cultures in order to classify human emotions into six basic ones. Plutchik (1980), emotions
can be classified into eight basic human emotions which have their opposite emotion and
grouped into four pairs of opposites. James (1884) classifies emotions into four ones which
are based on the physiological response to the event. While, as for Watson (1936) proposes
three fundamental emotions of humans.
These classifications are shown in the table by Ortony and Turner (1990), which
demonstrates the theorists and their classification of the basic human emotions.
ANDREW ORTONY AND TERENCE J. TURNER
ANDREW ORTONY AND TERENCE J. TURNER
A Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions
Reference
Fundamental Emotions
Arnold(1960)
Anger, aversion, courage, dejection,
desire, despair, fear, hate, hope, love,
sadness
Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth
(1982)
Anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness,
surprise
Frijda (personal
communication, September 8,

1986)
Desire, happiness, interest, surprise,
wonder, sorrow
Gray (1982)
Rage and terror, anxiety, joy
Izard (1971)
Anger, contempt, disgust, distress, fear,
guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise
James (1884)
Fear, grief, love, rage
McDougall (1926)
Anger, disgust, elation, fear,
subjection, tender-emotion, wonder
Mowrer (1960)
Pain, pleasure
Oatley and Johnson-Laird
(1987)
Anger, disgust, anxiety, happiness,
sadness
Panksepp (1982)
Expectancy, fear, rage, panic
Plutchik (1980)
Acceptance, anger, anticipation,
disgust, joy, fear, sadness, surprise
19



Tomkins (1984)
Anger, interest, contempt, disgust,

distress, fear, joy, shame, surprise
Watson (1930)
Fear, love, rage
Weiner and Graham (1984)
Happiness, sadness
Figure 1. A Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions
1.2.3. Emotion Fear
As can be seen in the table1, of the basic emotions such as sadness, happiness and
anger, fear is listed as one of the fundamental emotions of humans.
Fear is defined as “an emotional response to a perceived threat. It is a basic
survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus” (Wikipedia.com). In
other words, it is “the bad feeling that you have when you are in danger, when something
bad might happen, or when a particular thing frightens you” (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s
Dictionary, 7
th
edition). To put it simply, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
defines fear as “the feeling you get when you are afraid or worried that something bad is
going to happen”.
Degree of fear varies from “mild caution to extreme phobia and paranoia and is
involved in a number of additional cognitive and emotional states including worry, anxiety,
terror, fright, paranoia, horror, panic, persecution complex and dread”. The definition by
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gives the idea that the states such as worry
and anxiety are considered as slight degrees of fear since both the states worry (Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English) “the feeling of being anxious about something” and
anxiety (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition) “the state of feeling nervous
or worried that something bad is going to happen” are to some extent involved with the
emotion fear. Therefore, in the study the idioms that denote the emotion fear will slide
from the light level worry and anxiety to ultimate state dread.

Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English idioms denoting Fear in comparison with Vietnamese
counterparts
20



2.1. Structural features of English idioms denoting emotion Fear
2.1.1. English idioms denoting fear have clause patterns
According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1987) as regards elements such as V(erb) and
O(bject) that are constituents of sentences and clauses within sentences, there are seven
distinguishable clause types. They are (1) Verb _ Adverbial (V-A); (2) Verb _
Complement (V-C); (3) Verb _ Direct Object (V-O); (4) Verb _ Direct Object _ Adverbial
(V-O-A); (5) Verb _ Direct Object _ Object Complement (V-O-C); (6) Verb _ Indirect
Object _ Direct Object (V-O-O); (7) Verb (S-V). Besides odd cases of grammatical
structures, a great number of idioms that denote fear follow the basic clause patterns:
Order
Clause pattern
Idioms denote fear
1
Verb – Adverbial
Jump out of one‟s skin
2
Verb – Complement

Go hot and cold
3
Verb – Direct Object
Hold one‟s breath
4
Verb – Direct Object – Adverbial
Scare/frighten sb out of their wits
5
Verb – Direct Object – Object Complement
Make sb‟s blood run cold
6
Verb – Indirect Object – Direct Object
Give sb the creeps
7
Subject – Verb
Sb‟s knees are knocking
Figure 2: Original Clause Pattern and Examples of Idioms of Fear.
It can be seen from the table that English idioms that indicates fear exist in almost
all of the clause patterns. Given the statistics are summed up from the main sources:
Oxford Idioms Dictionary (2006), English – English – Vietnamese Dictionary (2004),
Learn-english-today.com (2010), Figurative language cross-cultural and cross-linguistics
perspective (2005), in 103 English idioms denoting fear, clause patterns make up 80.6%
with 83 idioms while the rest accounts for 19.4% with 20 ones. It is noted that the pattern
that allows synonyms such as shaking for quaking but denotes the same meaning will be
regarded as the same pattern.
 Verb – Adverbial pattern (V-A)
Of the clause patterns, this kind of patterns ranks third with 18 idioms accounting for
21.7% of clause patterns and 17.5% of English idioms denoting fear. The following
examples of English idioms of fear that illustrate the pattern.
Your eyes are wide open, your heart skips a beat and you jump out of your skin.

21



(Worldofcalvinandhobbes.blogspot.com; Retrieved on 29 July 2010)
I was scared witless of going topless in my 50s but I'm doing it
(Findarticle.com; Retrieved on 29 July 2010)
So just shake, shake, shake like a lettuce leaf
Shake it till the slugs fall off
(Darkness, Shake (Like A Lettuce Leaf))
I dread to think how many words I‘ve typed this year. I‘d imagine there will be
many more next year! Hope the quality remains good-ish.
(Randombits.gerardmcgarry.com; Retrieved on 29 July 2010)
The prepositional phrases on his mind, out of your skin, adverb phrase witless, like a
lettuce leaf, and non-finite verb clause to think function as adverbial in the pattern.
 Verb – Complement pattern (V-Cs)
The modern English grammar allows adverbials to function as complement in the
pattern because of their necessary clause elements, without them, the clause is
ungrammatical. For example into a stew in the idiom get into a stew plays the role of
complement even though it is a prepositional phrase that performs as an adverbial. The
percentage of the pattern of clause ones is 24.1 and 19.4 of the English idioms denoting
fear. The pattern ranks second of the clause patterns with 20 idioms.
Some other idioms that denote fear belongs to the pattern.
(…) And I, go to pieces and I wanna hide
Go to pieces and I almost die
(Peter & Gordon, I Go to Pieces)
(…)Hern is at his wits end after recently accepting yet another orphaned rhino calf
onto his farm after its mother was poached. (…)
(News24.com; Retrieved on 30 July 2010)
(…) When Calvin was lost on a trip to the zoo, she became sick with worry, and

was thrilled when his dad brought him back (…).
(Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes)
Complement for subject is realized in varied patterns, it can be noun phrase as pieces,
adverbial complement as at his wits end or adjective phrase as sick with worry.
 Verb - Direct Object pattern (V-Od)