idiomatic expressions of places in british english and vietnamese as seen from cultural perspective = cách diễn đạt thành ngữ về nơi chốn trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt nhìn từ góc độ văn hóa

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES



HÀ THỊ THỌ ANH


IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS OF PLACES IN BRITISH
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE AS SEEN FROM
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

( CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT THÀNH NGỮ VỀ NƠI CHỐN TRONG TIẾNG
ANH ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA)


MA MINOR THESIS



Major: English Linguistics
Code : 60 22 15


Hanoi – 2011
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES


HÀ THỊ THỌ ANH


IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS OF PLACES IN BRITISH
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE AS SEEN FROM
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

( CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT THÀNH NGỮ VỀ NƠI CHỐN TRONG TIẾNG ANH
ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA)


MA MINOR THESIS



Major: English Linguistics
Code : 60 22 15
Supervisor: Đỗ Thị Mai Thanh M.A


Hanoi - 2011
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration i
Acknowledgment ii
Abstract iii
Table of content iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 3
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1 Culture and language 4
1.1.1 Culture and cultural values .4
1.1.2 Relation between language and culture 5
1. 1.3 Idioms and their roles in communication 6
1.2 Idioms in the light of semantics 7
1.2.1 Definition 7
1.2.2 Functions of idioms 8
1.2.3 Classification of idioms 9
v

1.2.4 Sources of idioms 10
1.2.5 Features of idioms 11
1.3 Distinction of idioms 11
1.3.1 Idioms vs slang 11
1.3.2 Idioms vs proverb 12
1.3.3 Idioms vs collocation 13
1.4 Idioms in the light of culture 13
1.4.1 Idioms as seen from social specification 13
1.4.2 Idioms as seen from social psychology 17
1. 5 The influence of culture on British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions
of places 18
1.5.1 Influence of culture on British English idiomatic expressions of places 18
1.5.2 Influence of culture on Vietnamese idiomatic expressions of places 20

1.6 Previous studies on idioms 24
CHAPTER 2: DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN IDIOMATIC
EXPRESSIONS OF PLACES IN BRITISH ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 26
2.1 Idiomatic expressions of places in British English 26
2.1.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the geographical names 26
2.1.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘ house and home” 28
2.1.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘earth’ 29
2.1.4 Idiomatic expressions containing the word: sea/ ocean/river 30
2.2 Idiomatic expressions of places in Vietnamese 31
vi

2.2.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the geographical names 31
2.2.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘ house and home” 35
2.2.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘earth’ 35
2.2. 4 Idiomatic expressions containing the word: sea/ ocean/river 36
2.3 Findings 37
2.4 Summary 40
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Recaptulation 41
2. Implications 42
3. Suggestions for further study 42
References 43
Appendix I

1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale:
It is common knowledge that the language of each culture lies in its self similar and
different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as human values, attitude to life,

behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and tradition, social conventions etc.
As the special form of language, idioms not only help to enrich the language and
culture, but it also reflects the social life. Thus, the ability to understand idioms is
important for the successful communication. The difficult comprehension of language in
the form of idioms is more likely to lead to communication breakdown for those from
different language communities than any other forms of verbal language. Failure to grasp
the meanings of idioms can impinge upon an individual‟s understanding of language in
social, academic and business settings. In order to enhance the success of communication,
the study of the relationship between the idioms and cultures is significant and promising.
In British and Vietnamese culture and language, idioms are of great importance for its
common use and its figurative way of expressing the ideas. The idioms benefit people in
communication thanks to the provision with the way of expressing concepts linguistically,
that is the ability to convey meanings without verboseness. It can be said that idioms bring
the color and vitality for the language and the vividness and depth for the speaker‟s speech.
Knowing how to use idioms effectively in the right situation is becoming crucial for all the
speakers of English. From the front of cultural view, it becomes easy and interesting to
come to know the meaning of the idioms because British English and Vietnamese idioms
themselves are crucial and active part of culture. They play a great role of retaining,
passing traditional culture down to the next generation, reflecting people‟s typical cultural
factors and they will continue their progressive influence on people‟s real life.
Traditionally, the study of idiomatic expressions has been associated with the study of
literature, the use of idioms is the genius of national language that helps learners know
more about the language, custom and culture of the countries all over the world. In
communication, the presence of idiomatic expressions has formed the academic manner of
speaking. The idioms of any languages makes a great contribution to the speciality of that
language and also indicates the cultural values of the language because idioms often
originated from the social life or original literature such as wars, festivals, celebrations,
movies and the Bible.
2

Among the idioms relating to different aspects of social life, idiomatic expressions of
places in British English and Vietnamese specify the typical features of cultural values
connected to social life. Idiomatic expressions of places contain much knowledge about
mankind and surrounding world. Each idiom of place is connected to a local specification
and cultural background that conveys ideas about the lifestyles and stereotype of the nation
and the country. Specifically, the idioms of places refer to the human emotion, behavior,
life style and reflect the expectation and wishes of people in their social lives. Hence,
studying on the similarities and differences between the idiomatic expressions of places in
British English and Vietnamese has been one of the researcher‟s concerns and the study on
the topic “Idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese as seen from
cultural perspective” is carried out. The study will be served as an interesting and helpful
material for those who care for cultural patterns in intercultural communication and cross-
cultural communication.
2. Aims of the study:
The study aims at
- helping the learners establish a background understanding on the relationship
between idioms and culture by analysing the features of idiomatic expressions of places in
British English and Vietnamese;
- indicating influence of British culture and Vietnamese culture on language in
general and idiomatic expressions of places in this particular aspect;
- showing some similarities and differences between British English and
Vietnamese idiomatic expressions in terms of local specification in which meaning of the
idioms and human attitude are revealed;
- raising people‟s cultural awareness in teaching and learning British English and
Vietnamese idioms.
3. Scope of the study:
The study will focus on idiomatic expressions of places in British English and
Vietnamese which are taken from outstanding sources in English: Oxford Idioms-
Dictionary for Learners of English, Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary and Longman
Dictionary of English Language and Culture and in Vietnamese: Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục

Ngữ Việt Nam ( Nguyễn Lân), Đi Tìm Điển Tích Thành Ngữ ( Tiêu Hà Minh), Thành Ngữ
Anh Việt ( Bùi Phụng), Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ, Tục Ngữ, Ca dao Anh Việt Thông Dụng
3

(Nguyễn Đình Hùng). The list of British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions
will be found in the appendix as the illustrations.
4. Methods of the study:
This is a comparative and contrastive study. Therefore, the strategic methods used
are qualitative and quantitative ones which are conducted by carefully collecting and
referring to materials from various sources to have full-blown information of idioms and
its cultural background in general. The good choice of fifty idiomatic expressions in
Vietnamese and fifty idiomatic expressions in British English will be carefully analysed
and examined to see the similarities and differences between the two cultures and
languages. The author‟s own experience in communication and cultural awareness will be
referred to as way of categorizing the field.
5. Design of the study:
The study is divided into three main parts: Part A gives a general introduction and
stated the reasons, aims and ways for carrying out the study. Part B includes two chapters,
Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background on culture and idioms in British English
and Vietnamese. Also, the influence of the two cultures on idiomatic expressions of places
will be taken into account. Chapter 2 mainly provides a careful analysis of idiomatic
expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese concerning the similarities and
differences in the aspect of local specification. The last part, conclusion concerns with the
summaries of main points, the implication and some suggestions for further study.
4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1.1 Culture and language
1.1.1 Culture and cultural values

There have been various notions of culture, but to make it simple to get the ideas of
culture, according to Goodenough (1957, 167), the term culture is used in the sense of
whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society. Porter and
Samovar (1994; 12) also clarified that culture does not naturally come into the people‟s
mind, members of the culture adapt the patterns of behavior, ways of thingking and build
their attitude, beliefs etc fully part of their personality by absorbing them through repeated
experience or exposure. The power and influence of these perceptions can be seen in the
ways in which people acquire culture. Culture is transmitted from generation to generation,
people use various forms of communication: spoken words, written words, non verbal
actions to pass on the content and patterns of the culture in order to spread culture. As with
communication, culture has been evolving and thus can produce changes in the process of
invention. Also, every culture presents a limited choice of behavior patterns from the
infinite patterns of human experience. This selection is made according to the basic
assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture. In other words, culture defines
the boundaries of different cultural groups.
Every culture owns its cultural values that are global and abstract. The cultural
values identify what should be judged as good or evil in order to give rules for behaviors in
specific situations. Different cultures reflect different values and cultural values seem to
have changed, affecting the beliefs, and attitudes of most members of a culture and society.
Cultural values have been characterised in different ways but they often include: historical
value, social value, spiritual value, symbolic value and aesthetic value. Specifically,
historical value is a concept resting on particular viewpoints of history and presents a
special relationship with the past; social value concerns different places or things that tend
to make connections between people and to reinforce a sense of unity and identity;
symbolic value is simply understood as the repositories of meaning; aesthetic value is
considered a highly problematic area of enquiry involving dispute not only about what is
beautiful but also about who has the power and authority to take decisions about what is
5

beautiful and spiritual value addresses aspects of the religious, the numinous and the

sublime (www.demos.co.uk)
In conclusion, culture and cultural values, in anthropology, are the patterns of
behavior, beliefs, languages, rituals, art, religion and attitude etc that people living in social
groups have created, shared and experienced. Culture distinguishes one human group from
others and also distinguishes humans from other animals. Cultural values are generated and
exist in a culture and society as a measure for all social and cultural ativities and thus they
are considered an important determinant of a nation and society.
1.1.2 Relationship between language and culture
The relationship between language and culture has been interrelated in the sense
that language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. In the book
“Language and Culture” Kramsch (1998; 3) states “language is the principle means
whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is
bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways.” According to the author, the
language people use in communication express facts, ideas or events and reflect the
people‟s attitude and beliefs, their point of view, which share the same cultural and social
features. Also, through language, the experience of a social community is variously created
and presented. The members of a social community make a great contribution to the
language through the medium they choose to communicate. The way in which people use
different forms of communication: written or verbal and non-verbal medium creates
meanings for the language of the community. Consequently, thanks to all the verbal and
nonverbal aspects of the language, it is found that language embodies and represents
cultural reality. In addition, language possesses cultural values and consists of a complex
system of sign through which people use language as a symbol of the social community
and culture to identify themselves in the communication. Thus, it can be said that language
expresses the cultural identity.
In general, language and culture have always been in existence together and
reinforced each other. The relationship between them is so closely linked that separation is
impossible, in other words, it is difficult to master the language without the knowledge of
the culture.
6

1.1.3 Idioms and their roles in communication
Every language and culture is particularly rich in idioms - those modes of
expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and
grammatical rules. Without idioms, language would lose much of its variety and humor
both in speech and writing. Because idioms, the special form of language, belong to the
culture so it posseses the cultural values in which historical value, social value, spiritual,
symbolic and aesthetic values are of the main concerns.
In communication, idioms are used as the expressions that reflect accumulated
human experiences and are built on frequently occurring situations that demonstrate human
behavior, social traits, certain habits or tradition in a country. They almost represent life
lessons and are the heritage of those accumulated events that make up the consciousness of
a nation or humankind in general. Every nation has got their own idioms that are specific
to their own culture. Hence, learning the specific idioms related to a certain culture helps
learn more about the history, customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of it.
Idioms are also considered as special language units because they can organize and signal
the discourse e.g On the one hand or On the other hand, the listeners can find it easy to
follow the sequence of the conversation and traces back to the previous information or
reorganize the ideas in a more logical way. The role of idioms here is to create cohesion for
the speech and comprehension to the hearers.
It can be said that the biggest role in communication that idioms carry is to convey
information in a figurative and impressive way. The presence of idioms in every aspect of
life such as in conversation, on mass media, in game, in sport, in politics, in journals etc
has proved that. Using fixed expressions and idioms in a conversation will link the ideas
and help the listeners avoid verboseness and coarseness and somehow makes the
conversation more pleasing to the ears e.g She asked me why the report wasn‟t finished yet
so I reminded her that Rome wasn‟t built in a day. In the example, the meaning conveyed
to the reader is more picturesque and deeper, Rome wasn‟t built in a day means it takes
time, patience and hard work to do a difficult and important job. Everyone can take the
author‟s ideas absolutely natural and understand the idioms in the whole context. Thus,

idioms in communication help to express the speaker‟s ideas in a tactful way and have a
7

great effect on the listeners who not only absorb the meaning of the words but also picture
Rome wasn‟t built in a day to themselves.
However, the frequent use of idioms in a communication may bring the feeling of
less comprehensibility because communication is the activity of conveying meaningful
information and it requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative
commonality. The communication process is complete once the listener has understood the
speaker. Naturally, when speaking the speaker always bears in mind that the message he
wants to convey to the listeners must be comprehensible and subjected to the language and
cultural community, thus all aspects must be considered and arranged properly.
To sum up, idioms are used widely in everyday conversation has shown its
popularity and influence on social life. In the communicative message, the truth value, the
request or advice are conveyed to the listeners and make the language use more flexible
and figurative. Apparently, the shared knowledge background on idioms, language and
culture between the speakers and listeners can help to maintain and enhance the
communication.
1.2 Idioms in the light of semantics
1.2.1 Definition
English and Vietnamese are both rich in literature and idiomatic expressions reflect
the cultural values brought about by the real life varieties. Idioms are not only emphasized
by the colloquial expressions but also confirm its presence in the various forms of
literature: text book, press, Bible, poetry and report etc. The following are of the most
common ones that carry the nature and typical features of idioms.
According to Seidle and Mac Mordie (1988), “an idiom is a number of words
which, taken together, meaning something different from the individual words of the idioms
when they stand alone. The way in which the words are put together is often odd, illogical or
even grammatically incorrect.” Palmer (1990) argued that idioms as consequences of words
whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves. Semantically,

idioms are single units, but they are not single grammatical unit words.
As Hornby (1995) argues in his Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, an idiom
is 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. Again, the definition in the Oxford
8

Idioms- Dictionary for Learners of English states that idioms are at the first important or
full word. „Full‟ words are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. An idiom usually begins
as a phrase with a literal meaning which then starts to be used in a figurative or an
idiomatic way. For example; in the past it was a sign of respect to take your hat off to
someone when meeting them or entering their house. From this literal meaning, the phrase
came to be used more generally to show respect or express admiration for what someone
has done. Another view is from Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied
Linguistics (1992), the author states that “idiom is an expression which functions as a
single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts”.
In short, idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out by
looking at the meaning of its individual words. Idioms are composed of more than one
word: their constituents show how to some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we
expect of single words. An idiom typically resists interruption and re-ordering of its
constituents.
1.2.2 Functions of idioms
The functions of idioms have different ways of categorizing. According to Chitra
Fernando (1996, 72), idioms perform the three important functions: ideational,
interpersonal and relational functions. Her idea was initiated by the theory proposed by
Halliday (1985).
- Ideational idioms: (the state and way of the world‟ idioms) signify message content
such as: Actions (e.g: wear different hats), Events (e.g: turning point), Situation (e.g: be in
Queer street), People and things (e.g: a man about town), Attributes (e.g: matter of fact),
Evaluations (e.g: turn back the clock), Emotions (e.g: walk on air), etc.
- Interpersonal idioms: fulfill interactional function or characterize the nature of the

message specifically: Greetings and Farewell (e.g bye for now), Directives (e.g never
mind), Agreement (e.g say no more), Rejections (e.g I wasn‟t born yesterday) etc
- Relational idioms: ensure cohesion and aid the coherence of discourse such as:
adversative (e.g on the contrary), Comparison (e.g On the one hand), Causal (so that
when), Concessive (At the same time), Addition (What is more) etc.
Other categorization of functions drawn from Moon‟s theory (1998) is:
- Informational: conveying information of different kind; e.g in the red, rub the
shoulders with
9

- Evaluative: giving the speaker‟s attitude: e.g works wonders, wash one‟s hands off
something
- Situational: expressing conventions, clauses, exclamation, relating to extralingual
context; wall have ears,
- Modalizing: expressing modality, truth values, advice, request: more or less, at all,
in effect
- Organizational: organizing the text, signaling discourse structure: by the way, all in all
In general, idioms are often exploited to name objects, action or describe situations.
Idioms are fully made use of to express certain generalizations, advice, make evaluation
and emphasize. Identifying the specific uses of idioms also reveals their more general role
as conventional, familiar ways of saying: idioms are not one-offs as their recurrence in the
same type of context show.
1.2.3 Classification of idioms
Classification of idioms based on meaning:
According to Chitra Fernando (1996; 35), “idioms yield three sub-classes”: pure
idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms.
+ Pure idioms is a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression e.g;
Rome wasn‟t built in a day, Get on like a house on fires etc, have nothing to do with Rome
built or house and fire. In contrast to its literal counterpart meaning, a non- literal meaning
are imposed on the idioms as a whole “it takes time and patience and hard work to do a

difficult or important job” and “ quickly develop a very friendly relationship with
someone”
+ Semi-idioms have one or more literal constituents and at least one with a non-
literal subsense usually special to that co-occurrence relation and no other. E.g: Foot the
bill, Catch one‟s breath means “pay” and “check” respectively.
+ Literal idioms meet the salient criterion for idioms: invariance or restricted
variation. They are however less semantically complex than pure and semi-idioms. For
example: Home sweet home, Home is where the heart is.
Classification of idioms based on structures:
As mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (1993), the words and
structures are used within an idiom often quite unusual, so is the grammar but they can be
mainly devided into: phrase idioms and clause idioms:
10

+ Clause patterns:
Verb + compliment: Go downhill
Verb + direct object: Ease somebody‟s mind, Pack the house
Verb + direct object + compliment: Paint the town red
Verb + indirect object + direct object: Do somebody credit
Verb + direct object+ adjunct: Sell somebody down the river, Set the Thames on fire.
+ Phrase patterns:
Idioms as noun phrase: A no-go area
Idioms as an adjective phrase: As poor as a church mouse.
Idioms as a verb phrase: Get to the bottom of thing,
Idioms as a prepositional phrase: On Carey street
Idioms as an adverbial phrase: To the end of the earth
Idioms as an interjection: Take your time
1.2.4 Sources of idioms
In many ways, idioms reflect the history and ways of life of the people who have
spoken English over the age. Idioms have a variety of sources that originated from the

social and cultural life such as farming, means of transport, science, Bible, literature,
history, leisure activities etc.
In reality, a large of idioms comes from a time when far more people worked on the
land than they do now. Many idioms related to farm work such as hay making “till the hay
comes home” or harvesting crop: You reap what you so. In the past, travelling by ship was
often the fastest means of transport and there are many idioms connected to the sea and
sailing: A drop in the ocean. As our ancestors‟ lives were dominated by the land and the
seasons, these days our lives are shaped by science and technology e.g He‟s on live wire.
Besides, leisure activities have always been a rich source of idioms, from sports: (boxing)
Out for the count or from games to entertainment such as the theatre: Behind the scenes,
Take centre stage and from cinema: It‟s a wrap. It has been admitted that many idioms
have entered English from literature and history. From the rich sources of fables and tales
The streets are paved with gold (from Alice in Wonderland- an English fairy tale). Not
only the idioms come from the English history, many come from ancient legends of Greek
and Roman: An Achilles‟ heel, Cross the Rubicon (from the life of Julius Caesar and
Alexander The Great). The famous historical figures also left their mark on the language
11

for example: Napoleon with the idiom: Meet his Waterloo (the idiom originated from
Napoleon‟s battle in Waterloo in 1815). Almost all of the idioms come from the daily life
activities and a large part come from the Bible: Salt of the earth
In general, the great importance of an idiom is about its meaning, knowing the sources
relating to the idioms are a good way to work out the meaning of an idiom and its use.
1.2.5 Features of idioms
As suggested in the theory about idioms given by Chitra Fenando (1996; 3), idioms
are commonly accepted as a type of multiword expression or single words. It can have a
literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It
doesn‟t always follow the rules of meaning and grammar. The most frequently mentioned
features of idioms are:
- Compositeness: idioms are commonly accepted as a type of multiword

expression (Cost the earth, A drop in the ocean, On the high sea etc) though a few scholars
accept even single words as idioms.
- Institutionalization: idioms are conventionalized expressions, conventionalization
being the end result of initially expressions.
- Semantic opacity: the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of its constituents. In
other words, an idiom is often non-literal.
These three features in common word combinations have resulted in the type of
multiword expressions indentified by the term: idioms.
1.3 Distinction of idioms
1.3.1 Idioms vs slang
“Slangs are very informal words and phrases commonly used in speech, especially
between people from the same social groups or who work together, not considered suitable
for formal contexts and often not in use for long. Slang sometimes restricted to one
particular group of people e.g soldiers and children”. (Oxford Advanced Learners
Dictionary -1995). Slang is also defined as language that is not usually acceptable in
serious speech or writing, including words, expressions, etc regarded as very informal or
not polite, and those used among particular groups of people. (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English-1978). Slang is a means of identifying and reinforcing certain sub-
groups in society, that is the member of this group may not understand other group‟s
communication for instance: cop ( the slang for police) in the criminal world, cool (stylish
12

and modern ) in the youth‟s language. Moreover, slang stands differently from region to
region while idioms are almost the same in the same cultural area. For example, the idiom
like death warmed up (being ill) can be understood both in England and America;
meanwhile, such slang as ass kissing (flattering, toadying) are accepted only by the
American. One more distinction is that slang is fashionable and soon out of date.
In conclusion, idioms and slang are almost fixed in structure and words, but slang is
used among the groups of people whereas idioms are found in every kind of speech.
1.3.2 Idioms vs proverb

Flavell (1992) said that proverbs exist in all languages and written collections of them
date back to the earliest times. Proverbs can be defined as memorable short sayings of the people,
containing words of advice or wisdom and often appear in the form of whole sentences - to be
adapted into proverbial form. Meanwhile, idioms are normally phrases where the whole phrase
means something different from the meaning of the separate words.
Another distinction that proverbs differ from idioms is stated by Hornby (1995) that
a proverb is a short well- known sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or
gives advice, e.g If the mountain doesn‟t come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the
mountain. Vu Ngoc Phan (2000; 39) shared the same view and considered a proverb as a
complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or
criticism.” For example: Trời không chịu đất, đất phải chịu trời.
In general, idioms and proverbs share some same features that they are set-
expressions with stable components and used in a metaphorical way, their meanings cannot
be deduced from the individual words but must be understood as a whole. As they are
products of human‟s thought, cultures and processes of labour and daily activities, both
idioms and proverbs are orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally
accepted in life.
However, proverbs possess its own characteristics: they must have the clause or
sentence (not word) to express justice or an event implying the justice. Besides, proverbs
have a meaning beyond or other than the sum of the meaning of the individual words e.g: A
man is master in his own house. Also, proverbs can stand independently with a complete
meaning e.g: East or West, home is best. The way that proverbs show their contents and
meanings is logical and expressive and directly indicate the idea of justice and the idea of
comment, experience, morality justice or criticism basing on an action or an event.
13

1.3.3 Idioms vs collocation
Collocation as defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary (1995) is the
regular combination of words. Or “collocation is an arrangement of words which sounds
natural e.g strong coffee not powerful coffee (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary

English 1978). Another definition of collocation is provided by Oxford Collocations-
Dictionary for Students of English (2002) that “ collocation is the way words combine in a
language to produce natural- sounding speech and writing‟‟ for example, in English you
say: strong wind but heavy rain. Collocation runs through the whole of the English
language. No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation.
Admittedly, language that is collocationally rich is also more precise. This is because most
single words in English language collocate within broad limits. Choosing the right
collocation helps to express one self more clearly and be able to convey not just the general
meaning, but something quite precise.
As mentioned, idioms involve habitual collocation, a collocation of special kind.
For instance, A drop in the ocean the collocation of a drop and the ocean makes the
meaning of the resultant combination ambiguous (= a very small amount in comparison to
the much larger amount that is needed) - it is not related to the meaning of the individual
words, but is sometimes (though not always) nearer to the meaning of a single word.
1.4 Idioms in the light of culture
1.4.1 Idioms - as seen from cultural and social specification
It is known that an idiom is an expression not readily analyzable from its
grammatical construction or from the meaning of its component parts. It is the part of the
distinctive form or construction of a particular language that has a specific form or style
present only in that language. It is also stated that an idiom is an expression whose
meaning is not predictable from the usual grammatical rules of a language or from the
usual meanings of its constituent elements. Unlike many other aspects of language, an
idiom does not readily change as time passes. Some idioms gain and lose favor in popular
culture, but they rarely have any actual shift in their construction. People also have a
natural tendency to over exaggerate what they mean sometimes, which gives birth to new
idioms by accident. Likewise, many

idiomatic expressions whose meanings are not often
14

traceable to literal meanings of their radicals are closely connected to the following
specific features :
+ Idioms attached with locality
An idiom is generally a colloquial term requiring some foundational knowledge,
information, or experience, to use only within a social culture, where conversational parties
must possess common cultural references and social values. Therefore, idioms are not only
considered part of the language, but also part of the culture and society. As culture
typically is localized, idioms often are useless beyond their local context, nevertheless,
some idioms can be more universal than others and easily translated because the
metaphoric meaning can be deduced.
According to some linguistists, idioms can be seen as the result of social and
cultural community communication, they possess the local specification. Each idiom
presents the special cultural feature of that community. It can be seen clearly in such an
idiom as Công tử Bạc Liêu, the literal meaning can be The madarin‟s son in BacLieu
Province in the old time, the idiomatic meaning refers to the person who is very generous
and extravagant. Bac Lieu is the place in the south of Vietnam where the mandarin‟s son-
was born and grown up, his generosity and gallantry were first handed down in the local
area then the people in the neighborhood got used to the meaning and the reference. The
idiom came into being among the local community and gradually become the colloquial
expression expanded by the people in Vietnam. Actually, the locality shown in each idiom
is a good source to work out the variety in meaning of an idiom. The expansion and
popularity of idioms in the community and society have proved its great influence in the
cultural and social life and its role in communication.
+ Idioms attached with basic (human) need
As idioms have its root in the daily life of a community, from the process of
production to social and cultural activities, idioms reflect human basic need in life and
from the real life reflection, a lot of idioms are in existence. The desire for a better life, a
happy family or a fair relationship is reflected in harmony with the surrounding
environment in idioms.
Basic needs refer to those fundamental requirements that serve as the foundation

for survival including shelter, food, and clothing. Basic needs are attached with the
15

development of a strong community and a necessary factor to support the development of
culture and society. In the language and culture of any nation, the recognition of basic need
in literary versions can be found. Basic needs are a rich source for the language and culture
to prosper, it can be seen more clearly in the idioms mentioning the basic needs in people‟s
communication such as: to indicate the importance of the shelter: Home sweet home (used
to say how pleasant your home is especially when you really mean that it is not pleasant at
all), Nhà ngang dãy dọc ( literally the idiom refers to the house which is very big and
occupies the large space, idomatically it talks about the prosperity of a community with a
lot of big houses) or to show the influence of food on everyday life : As easy as pie (very
easy), ăn chó cả lông (literally “Eat a dog even its fur”, the meaning hiden is to criticize
the greedy people who want to get everything) or to mention the way of wearing and
dressing: Dressed to kill (talks about the woman, wearing the best clothes that attract
attention), Quần là áo lượt (literally “the beautiful clothes”, the meaning implied is to talk
about the well-dressed people with their best clothes etc). From the basic needs in life,
what is required and essential every day, idioms come into the world and reflect the habit
of people.
+ Idioms attached with social development
Idioms are an important part of language and culture that is characterized by its
profound meaning and special background. Language is a part of culture manifested by
man‟s production and the most important function of language is to reflect production
made by humankind, people‟s outlook on life and the development of a community. The
development of society promotes the creation of culture and the creation of new words and
expressions in a language including idioms. Besides, every aspect of culture affects
language directly. Owning to this kind of close relationship, language is described as the
carrier of culture and the mirror of cultural and social characteristics. Different nations and
societies possess different cultures, as a result, idioms of different nations must be affected
by their peculiar cultures and social development. Idioms are the heritage of history and

product of cultural evolvement thus they reflect the social development. Consequently,
knowing much about culture and social development through studying idioms and in turn
get better understanding of idioms by learning the social and cultural background behind
them are necessarily concerned about in language learning.
16

The following examples can somehow illustrate the social development: Ăn lông ở
lỗ- literally “live in caves and eat raw food”, idiomatically it criticizes the people who live
a wild and dirty, untidy life as the primitive people. This idiom reflects a way of life of
people from ancient time, primitive and backward. They lived like the animals in groups in
caves and ate flesh without fire. Another idiom Trời sinh voi, trời sinh cỏ ( literally “If the
God gives birth to elephants, he will also give them grass for food”) mentions the old
attitude to the human existence in the world that the things existing in the world have
interaction and support each other to survive. Sell somebody down the river- means to act
very unfairly to somebody who trust you, betray somebody you have promised to help.
This idiom comes from the days of slavery in the US. A slave who was sold to an owner
further down the Mississippi river would experience worse conditions than in the states
further north. Thus, the social development illustrated in the idioms obviously tells about
the crucial roles of idioms in language and social culture.
+ Idioms attached with cultural transmission
The notion of cultural transmission refers to the possibility that the acquisitions of a
culture can be transmitted to descendents and form the basis of cultural development. The
process of language and culture development can be traced back thanks to the presentation
of idioms. The presence and illustration of idioms in communication can somehow show
the cultural transmission in this or that way. As stated above, all the idioms originate in life
and in inventive product of culture and religion, the idioms with the deep root in culture
and religion can be seen such as: Achilles‟ heel (a hidden weakness or fault in somebody
which may be used to harm them. This expression is named after the Greek hero Achilles.
When he was a child, his mother dipped him into the river Styx, which meant that he
couldn‟t be injured. She held him by his heel, which therefore was not touched by the

water. Achilles died after being wounded by an arrow in the heel), Oai oái như Phủ Khoái
xin cơm (literally, people made a lot of noises and moan when asking for food in Khoai‟
District) the idiom criticizes the people who always complaint and moan. This originates
from the story in ancient time, Khoai Chau district in old Hung Yen province had a lot of
fields and farming land, the peasants were hungry and they moaned to ask for food and
made the chaotic scene in Khoai Chau.
All the examples above can illustrate a fact that idioms from the ancient time are
handed down to the next generation and are still in use in various parts of each nation,
17

Britain and Vietnam. Not only the idioms themselves are transmitted but also the origin-
the cultural background attached to the idioms – is included in communication.
Apparently, the idioms and its ancient root make a great contribution to the existence and
development of language and culture beyond the domestic border. The idioms themselves
help to hand down the cultural values and enrich the social and cultural life as well.
1.4.2 Idioms as seen from social-psychology
+ Idiomatic expressions referring to human attitude
Idioms present the human attitude toward spiritual and material life because almost
idioms are the voices of working people about their life and society accumulated in the
form of simple patterns but carry the most meaning. Idioms also reflect the attitude and
emotion toward to the problems in life. Attached with labor, nature and historical, social
ups and downs, idioms sophisticatedly reveal the life experience and life style, morality of
the working people. They reveal the values of life in society which are the beliefs of people
and help to define people‟s behavior, attitude to life and society, ways of thinking,
recognition criteria, moral standards and rules of society: When in Rome, do as the Roman
do- means “follow the example of other people and act as they do, especially if you are a
stranger or new to a place or situation”; the delicate comments are shown on production
experience, social behaviour: "Nén bạc đâm tọac tờ giấy"- literally „Money can tear a piece
of paper‟ which implies that money can help to solve every problem; “money talks” ; on
humane ideology or precious qualities of working people: “Beauty is only skin deep”;

forever truth;“Easy come, easy go”. The values of life and human attitude have an
interaction and certain impact on each other and on the way of life of people.
In British English and Vietnamese languages, idioms carry the most valuable
features of emotional, attitudinal and spiritual representation. Thanks to the short phrases
and rhyme, idioms are easy to remember and orally handed down and applied in the
communication from generation to generation. Gradually, idioms are refined and show the
meaning though the form can be varied in different regions.
+ Idiomatic expressions referring to emotions and behaviors
It is confirmed that idioms make up a large part of people‟s knowledge of language
and are a persistent feature of language. They can therefore convey all human feelings,
emotions via the flexible and vivid use of language.
18

There are a lot of idioms that people use to describe feelings and emotions. The
emotions and behaviors shown in idioms may be grouped by the following themes:
annoyance, confusion, happiness, love, attraction, pride, confidence, shame, sadness, scare,
surprise, anxiety etc. For instance, to indicate when someone is happy: On top of the world,
to show love such as: Fall head over heels in love, or to show the pride or confidence Walk
tall, stand tall etc- to express confusion: Completely at sea etc.
The human emotions and behaviors of social and cultural life are expressed and
reappeared in the idioms- the special feature of language, the part of culture. With the
meaning of idioms and the background attached, each idioms is a story itself through
which the human emotions and behaviors are described and vividly applied in real life
communication.
1.5 Influences of British English and Vietnamese cultures on idiomatic expressions of places
1.5.1 Influence of British English culture on idiomatic expressions of places
It has been confirmed that language and culture interact with each other and shape
each other. Language is the carrier of the culture which in turn is the content of language.
Idioms as a special form of language carry a large amount of cultural information such as
geographical conditions, historical development, customs, religious beliefs and literature of

British nation etc. Naturally, idioms are influenced by all those aspects because they are
also the heritage of culture.
+ The influence of geographical factor
Geographical environment plays an important role in shaping one country‟s culture
and human beings have no choice and ability to change the geography. The influence of
the typical features offered by each region and part of the country has brought the variety
for the culture and language. The idioms, the special form of language, are particularly
influenced by the geography: Carry coals to Newscastle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the
north of English, was once an important coal–mining centre), the idiom implies that people
carry something that there is already a lot of. Clearly, the place is full of coal where there is
no need to take some more, the idiom presents the feature of Newcastle- a coal mining
centre. There are a lot of idioms concerning about the geographical factor: Square Mile,
Ivory tower or On Carey street etc.
19

+ The influence of historical factor: the Roman conquest
British society with its long and splendid history has a magic power and great influence on
the culture. Also, the social history influences the language tremendously. With the
changes of history, the language continuously modifies and evolves, more and more idioms
come into the world with such a trace of the historical culture as war, for instance: the
Roman conquest - the biggest conquest that left the deep imprint in British culture. In 55
B.D the commander in chief of Roman Julius Caesar came to Great Britain and Romans
reigned over captured Great Britain for nearly four hundred years. Four hundred years of
Roman reign is enough time to have a tremendous impact on British culture. Rome went
away but the influences of Great Britain by their culture are still there on the island. Idioms
such as Appeal to Caesar; When in Rome, do as Roman do, Rome wasn‟t built in a day,
Fiddle while Rome burns etc have the origins from that.
+ The influence of customs and tradition:
British customs and tradition are of great importance in the English language as
well, especially in the forming of idioms. Because one nation‟s customs and tradition are

formed through a long history and firmly rooted in social and cultural life, it is closely
related to national psychology and acts as one important influence on idioms. Due to that, a
lot of idioms are in existence, take the example of the idioms originated in Haloween, one
of the very famous traditional festival of British people: The devil to pay (a lot of trouble)
or the idioms that reflect the traditional view of paying much attention to the shelter
Charity begins at home, English‟s home is his castle. In the idioms, the view point on life
originated in everyday life activities and spiritual and material life of British people is
obviously noted. Indeed, customs and traditional attitude has formed the new assertion of
idioms in communication and culture.
+ The influence of religion- Christianity
Religion exists in every country and nation and affects people‟s belief and life
especially before the modern civilization. The origin of religion can be dated back to
primitive society when religion was considered a kind of super- nature that could interfere
in people‟s life and get most of people‟s belief. There is a lot of religion in existence such
as: Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam, etc. Among them, Christianity which was brought
by the Roman, has been the main religion in Britain. The majorities of the British people
believe in Christianity and regard the Bible as one of the most important classical works in
20

their life. Thus, Bible has a large circulation in Britain and concerns nearly all the matters
in life so that it acts not only a classic in religion but also an important supporter of British
culture. The words such as God, heaven, devils, church are often used in Christianity and
in people‟s communication. Numerous figures with religious allusions in the idioms
originated from the Bible are often found e.g As poor as church mouse, one is so poor that
he has not a penny to call his own. The salt of the earth-the very good and honest person
that you can always depend on, An act of God- an event caused by natural forces which
people can not control or prevent for example a hurricane etc. Numerous idioms are
generated from the fountain of religion to show that Christianity with its Bible has
confirmed its great influence on English language, especially on idioms.
+ The influence of literature:

As a certain nation always owns its literature that is the representation of culture
and the essence of the nationality‟s language, the literary language has been gradually
accepted and has improved the development of native language. In ancient time, people
created myths, legends, fables and fairy tales thus, idioms were in existence with these
roots. For example: in English fairy tale: The streets are paved with gold, or from the 1001
Arabian Nights: An Aladdin‟s cave. Besides, the literary works such as novels, plays and
poems have enriched people‟s spiritual culture and finally provided a plentiful of resources
for idioms. Among those, William Shakespeare‟s work has contributed much to the stock
of British English idioms. Being the talented writer and poet, Shakespeare not only created
those great works, but also invented many of the most used expressions in the language of
English. Many idioms of the worldwide English have first been in the works of
Shakespeare‟s and have found their way to everyday use of English such as: Wear your
heart on your sleeve, All‟s well that ends well etc.
1.5.2 Influence of Vietnamese culture on idiomatic expressions of places
The deep root in agriculture has founded the particular colour of Vietnamese
culture and formed their view point on life and spiritual values. In the Vietnamese spiritual
life, the idioms concerning traditional legends or facts have always proved to be persuasive
and impressive in the ways of their communication and comparison. As well as the other
culture and society, Vietnamese culture has been influenced by the various factors such as
factors of geography, religion, literature, customs and tradition and history.