Semantic features of weather proverbs in English and Vietnamese

Semantic features of weather proverbs in
English and Vietnamese


Vũ Thị Yến Hồng


Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Đào Thị Thu Trang
Năm bảo vệ: 2012


Abstract. Everyone understands the importance that proverbs have in every language.
In the form of short, easily memorable phrases, the proverbs contain a great treasure of
folk wisdom, and through use of a short proverb, it is often easier to express an idea
better and more convincingly, than with a long speech. Knowledge of proverbs is
necessary for perfect knowledge of a language. Yet, proverbs in general and weather
proverbs in particular are units of language full of problems especially to second
language learners. Therefore, the thesis makes an effort to deal with a small part of
proverbs: semantic features of English and Vietnamese weather proverbs. Along with
the investigation is the qualitative and quantitative analysis in English and Vietnamese
proverbs collected from reliable books, dictionaries and websites. The key target the
investigation wants to reach is to discover the similarities and differences between
English and Vietnamese weather proverbs in terms of semantics by means of contrastive
analysis. A long with this discovery, the researcher reveals some weather proverbs in
both English and Vietnamese that are not reliable in specific contexts. Last, the study
also puts forward some suggestions for teaching and learning proverbs in general and
weather proverbs in particular.

Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Tiếng Việt; Ngữ nghĩa; Tục ngữ

Content
1. Rationale for the research
Every language has proverbs. Learning and understanding them is an important aspect of the
mastery of language. English language is no exception as it contains a large number of proverbs,
which are extensively used as the wisdom of people. English language learners, often struggling
with a limited vocabulary, find these memorable proverbs easy to learn and fun to use. Proverbs
add familiarity and comfort to an often strange and stressful situation for older English learners.
Proverbs can capture a point of view in vivid words. We learn proverbs our entire lives - from
our relatives, our teachers, our friends, the media, and our literature. These classic sayings
contain folk wisdom gathered through time and experience. They often capture a common
human experience across cultures and languages.
Hence, using proverbs in the language teaching not only provides learners with rich vocabulary
but also equips them with a good basis of cultural knowledge reflected in the proverbs
themselves. Through their keen observation of the world, hundreds of human generations have
created proverbs and used them. The condensed nature of proverbs allows them to be interpreted
repeatedly, across time and in different situations. They are interesting because they not only tap
into universal themes in the human condition, such as the physiological rhythms of the human
life cycle, but they also vary in ways that appear to reflect specific cultural differences. In the
home and in other community settings alike, proverbs are used to pass on rich cultural traditions,
to transmit folklore, and to communicate expected codes of behavior. (Matthew S. Kaplan, PhD,
2002, p.1).
So far, there have been a large number of researches conducted to investigate different features
of proverbs as well as their applicability in language teaching. Yet, most of the studies deal with
proverbs in general. In this paper, the researcher would like to focus only on the English weather
proverbs, put them in the comparison and contrast with Vietnamese ones in terms of semantic
features.
Weather, as we know, has been closely associated with us since we appeared in the world. Our
life, our work, our feelings are often influenced by weather. In the past, before modern
scientific weather forecasts existed, people whose lives and livelihood depended on the weather

relied on weather proverbs to predict weather changes. Nowadays, even with our access to
sophisticated weather prediction techniques (such as satellites, weather balloons, super
computers, Doppler radar, and a complex communications network) for production of reasonably
accurate daily weather forecasts, many people still utilize common knowledge of the weather
through weather proverbs because it is a simple way for them to predict the weather conditions
by themselves.
The reason for the researcher’s choosing weather proverbs is that more than any other kind of
proverbs, they illustrate the process human beings explore the natural world and form their
world-view as well as gain experience in dealing with nature, serving their need of economic
development. If you know many proverbs, and have a little understanding of how weather
systems work, you may conclude that proverbs tell you much about the weather. Even if the
proverbs are not ideally accurate, they will remind us about a weather system and help us learn
and remember how weather system works. More importantly, weather proverbs make us much
more aware of our environment so we can observe and appreciate the many wonderful and
intricate things going on in our natural surroundings. Proverbs can help us understand and table
out various weather situations. In addition, studying English weather proverbs (EWP) and
Vietnamese weather proverbs (VWP) plays an important role in interpreting and using this type
of proverbs.
All the points mentioned above are fundamental impetuses that stimulate the researcher to
conduct this study.
2. Research aims and research questions
2.1. Research aims
First of all, through the investigation into the semantic features of weather proverbs, the
researcher aims at discovering linguistic values underlying the literal words.
Secondly, the study is to compare and contrast semantic features of weather proverbs in English
and in Vietnamese.
Thirdly, the study is to equip learners with rich knowledge on Vietnamese proverbs and English
proverbs in general and on weather proverbs in particular. In addition, some suggestions for
teaching and learning English proverbs are also mentioned.
2.2. Research questions

1. What are the semantic features of EWP and EWP?
2. What are the similarities and differences between EWP and EWP in terms of their semantic
features?
3. Scope of the research
As proverb is a very broad topic, under the constraint of time, experience and shortage of
materials, the researcher cannot cover all kinds of proverbs but focus on weather proverbs only.
In addition, the researcher only concentrates on semantic features although the study would be of
greater success if it deals with other linguistic and non-linguistic features of weather proverbs
such as pragmatics, culture and syntax. However, some aspects of culture are used to explain
some different elements between two languages when it is necessary.
4. Significance of the research
It is obvious that proverbs occupy a large part in almost every language. It is hoped that along
with the understanding of the semantic features of proverbs in general and those of weather
proverbs in particular, the findings of the study can help learners employ weather proverbs more
regularly, spontaneously and effectively. Language learners can exploit them as a source of
language units to enrich and color their writing and speaking in both academic and daily settings.
As regards the teaching process, this thesis can also provide such a great reference source in the
subject of semantics. It can help to improve teachers’ awareness of the importance of proverbs as
an inseparable unit of the linguistic system and the need to include them into the curriculum.
5. Structure of the research
The study is composed of three parts:
Part A, Introduction, includes the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the research,
significance of the research, and structure of the research.
Part B, Development, includes three chapters.
Chapter 1, Literature Review, reviews some publications on weather proverbs and previous
studies as well as establishes the theoretical background for the study as the firm foundation with
definitions of proverbs and weather proverbs. The distinctive and remarkable characteristics of
these phenomena will also be unearthed in order to provide a clear concept from the beginning.
Chapter 2, Research Methodology, deals with the research design and procedures. In this
chapter, description of the sampling, instruments, the procedure of data collection and analysis

for implementing the thesis are mentioned.
Chapter 3, Major Findings and Discussions, is the main part of the research, which includes a
generalization about the semantic features of weather proverbs in both languages - English and
Vietnamese - and in what ways they are similar to or different from each other. The latter
discusses some weather proverbs that are not reliable in both languages.
Part C, Conclusions, summarizes the main content of the research and draws out conclusions.
This part also gives implications for teaching and learning PDW. Moreover, a statement of
limitations and suggestions for further research are also indicated in this chapter. Apart from that,
references and appendices are enclosed for those who are interested in studying the same issues.


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