A study on english proverbs denoting money with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI NGA

A STUDY OF ENGLISH PROVERBS
DENOTING MONEY WITH REFERENCE
TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(TÌM HIỂU TỤC NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VỀ TIỀN
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG
TIẾNG VIỆT)
M.A. THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Supervisor:Asso. Prof. Le Van Thanh

Hanoi, 2016


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project
report entitled:A study of English proverbs denoting money with reference to
the Vietnamese equivalents submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics. Except where
the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due
acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2016

Nguyen Thi Nga
Approved by
SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)
Date:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I could not have been able to complete my thesis without the
encouragement and help of my teachers, my parents and my friends.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to supervisor,
Mr.Lê Văn Thanh who gave me valuable advice, guidance and suggestions in
the process of my writing.
My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lecturers and officers of
Faculty of Graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University, who have facilitated me
with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying.
Finally, I am very grateful to my parents and my friends who are
always by my side in order to help and courage me.

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ABSTRACT
The Abstract should include the following points:
(i) Major issues presented in the thesis
(ii) Contributions made via the research
(iii) Related issues/problems left for future research

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
e.g.:

For example

N:

Noun

V:

Verb

Adv:

Adverb

Adj:

Adjective

Prep. :

Preposition

Conj.:

Conjunction

O:

Objective

NP:

Noun Phrases

VP:

Verb Phrases

PP:

Preposition Phrases

etc.:

Et cetera

PsDM:

Proverbs denoting money

EPsDM:

English proverbs denoting money

VPsDM:

Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY........................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ............................................................ v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................ ix
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1
1.1. Rational: ............................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the research: ............................................................................ 2
1.3. Objectives of research: ......................................................................... 2
1.4. Scop of the research: ............................................................................ 2
1.5. Significance of the research: ................................................................. 3
1.6. Structure of the research: ...................................................................... 3
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 5
2.1. Review of previous studies: .................................................................. 5
2.1.1. Previous studies oversea: ................................................................ 5
2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam: .......................................................... 6
2.2. Theoretical background: ....................................................................... 7
2.2.1. Theoretical framework: .................................................................. 7
2.2.1.1. Theory of syntax:...................................................................... 7
2.2.1.2. Theory of semantic: .................................................................. 8

2.2.2. Overview of proverbs: .................................................................... 9
2.2.2.1. Definition of English proverbs: ................................................ 9
2.2.2.2. Definition of Vietnamese proverbs: ........................................ 10
2.2.2.3. Features of proverbs: .............................................................. 10
2.2.2.4. Classification of English proverbs: ......................................... 13

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2.2.2.5. Distinction between proverbs and idioms: .............................. 14
2.2.3. Overview of Money...................................................................... 15
2.2.3.1. Definition of Money ............................................................... 15
2.2.3.2. Proverbs denoting Money: ...................................................... 16
2.3. Summary ............................................................................................ 17
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 18
3.1. Research- governing orientation: ........................................................ 18
3.1.1. Research questions: ...................................................................... 18
3.1.2. Research setting: .......................................................................... 18
3.1.3. Research approaches: ................................................................... 18
3.1.4. Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis .. 19
3.2. Research methods:.............................................................................. 19
3.2.1. Major methods and supporting methods: ...................................... 19
3.2.2. Data collection techniques ............................................................ 20
3.2.3. Data analysis techniques ............................................................... 20
3.3. Summary ............................................................................................ 21
Chapter 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION ................................................ 23
4.1. Structural features of English proverbs denoting money: .................... 23
4.1.1. Phrase structures ........................................................................... 23
4.1.1.1. Noun Phrases:......................................................................... 23
4.1.2. 4.1.2. Sentence Structures............................................................. 23

4.1.2.1. Simple Sentences.................................................................... 23
4.1.2.2 Compound sentences: .............................................................. 24
4.1.2.3. Complex Sentences ................................................................ 25
4.1.3. Structure similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese
proverbs denoting money ....................................................................... 25
4.1.3.1. Similarities ............................................................................. 25
4.1.3.2. Differences ............................................................................. 28

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4.2. Semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money
.................................................................................................................. 28
4.2.1. Money proverbs about the power of money .................................. 29
4.2.2. Money proverbs about money’s effects ........................................ 31
4.2.3. Money proverbs about money’s drawbacks .................................. 33
4.2.4. Money proverbs about money’s relative unimportance................. 34
4.2.5. Money proverbs about savings ..................................................... 35
4.2.6. Money proverbs about expense .................................................... 36
4.2.7. Money proverbs about lending and borrowing.............................. 37
4.2.8. Money proverbs about the value of time ....................................... 38
4.2.9. Money proverbs about exchange of goods and services ................ 38
4.2.10. Money proverbs about the rich ................................................... 38
4.2.11. Money proverbs about money’s sources ..................................... 39
4.2.12. Money proverbs about the importance of good words ................ 39
4.2.13. Others ......................................................................................... 40
4.2.13.1. English proverbs ................................................................... 40
4.2.13.2. Vietnamese proverbs ............................................................ 41
4.2.14. Major semantic similarities and differences of English and
Vietnamese proverbs referring to money. ............................................... 43

4.2.14.1. Differences ........................................................................... 43
4.2.14.2. Similarities ........................................................................... 48
Chapter 5 CONCLUSION ......................................................................... 53
5.1. Recapitulation .................................................................................... 53
5.2. Concluding remarks ........................................................................... 54
5.3. Limitations of the current research ..................................................... 55
5.4. Possible implications for teaching and learning English proverbs
denoting money......................................................................................... 55
5.4.1. For teaching English proverbs denoting money ............................ 55

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5.4.2. For learning English proverbs denoting money ............................ 56
5.5. Suggestions for future research........................................................... 57
REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 58
APPENDIXE 1: .......................................................................................... 62
APPENDIX 2 .............................................................................................. 68

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table 4.1 Semantics features of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to
money .......................................................................................................... 42
Table 4.2: ..................................................................................................... 45
Table 4.3 English proverbs referring to money and Vietnamese equivalents. 49

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rational:
Proverbs play an important role in languages and spirit life of each
nation. In both daily spoken language and literary language, we often meet the
use of many proverbs. Proverbs help communication more effectively in ways
of simple but sophisticated expressions. For example: "Time is money",
"Money tempts women, women tempt men", "Penny wise, pound foolish",
etc…Expressions like these have caught our attention.
Moreover, proverbs often reflect country’s customs, cultural and
traditional values. Therefore,it is neccessary to learn proverbs because when
you know proverbs means you know country’s culture as Dr. Denis Brutus, a
literature professor at the University of Pittsburgh, the USA (Pittsburgh
University, America, 1995) said: “Through proverbs, I know your point of
view, the attitudes of your ancestors. Each time I know a new Vietnamese
proverb, I become Vietnamese a little. I believe when we know all proverbs
of each other, we are brothers”.
Being aware of the important of proverbs, many researchers
havestudied proverbs. They concentrated on analizing the syntaxtic feature,
semantic feature as well as cultural feature of provebs denoting family
relationship, weather, animals, etc. Meanwhile, a study of proverbs denoting
money has not been dealt with so far.
Theseabove reasons have inspired me to choose the subject entitled :
“A study of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the
Vietnamese equivalents” as the topic of my master graduation thesis. I hope
this thesis would help English learners as well as Vietnamese learnersenrich
their custom, lifestyle and cultural knowledge; and improve their ability
understanding and using proverbs in daily communication.

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1.2. Aims of the research:
This research studies the meanings of money proverbs in English and
Vietnamese equivalents, and, then compare these two groups of proverbs so
as to find out similarities and differences between them in structural and
semantic features of proverbs denoting money.
1.3. Objectives of research:
To achieve the above aims, the three specific objectives have been put
forward as follows:
(i)

Finding out the main structural and semantic features of English

proverbs denoting money.
(ii)

Pointing out the similarities and differences between English and

Vietnamese proverbs denoting money in terms of structural and semantic
features.
(iii)

Suggesting some possible implications for teaching and learning

English proverbs denoting money.
1.4. Scop of the research:
Proverbs play an important part in English and Vietnamese languages.
However, due to the limitation of time and knowledge, it is impossible to

carry out a comprehensive study of all kinds of proverbs. In this graduation
thesis, only structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting
money are analyzed, thus helping us to propose some possible implications
for teaching and learning proverbs denoting money English.
To complete the research thesis, all the material collection of English
proverbs denoting money and their equivalents in Vietnamese with illustrated
examples are selected from some reliable dictionaries. It is hoped that the
outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would be able to make a
certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English at
Hanoi University of Business and Technology.

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1.5. Significance of the research:
In terms of theoretical significance, the research is expected to
contribute an in-depth description of English proverbs denoting money when
analyzing their structural and semantic features in comparison with
Vietnamese equivalents.
In terms of practical significance, English proverbs denoting money are
usually used in daily life, but there have been no studies dealing with the
semantic and structural features of English proverbs denoting money with
reference to the Vietnamese equivalent. As a result, this research focuses on
attempt to provide Vietnamese learners of English with better mastering how
to apply this kind of proverbs in sensible ways, how to thoroughly
understand, and naturally use them in receptive and productive skills. The
study is hoped to provide an important opportunity to advance the
understanding of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money and to
make a major contribution to the process of teaching and learning English.
1.6. Structure of the research:

The thesis is divided into five chapters as the follow:
Chapter 1, “Introduction”, provides an overview of the issues to be
covered and the situations in which the study is carried out. The aims, the
specific objectives, the scope, the significance and the structural organization
of the thesis are also presented in this chapter.
Chapter 2, “Literature Review”, discusses the previous studies on
proverbs relating to the area of the research and presents some theoretical
preliminaries that could be used as foundation for the process of conducting
the research.
Chapter 3, “Methodology”, present the research questions and
research approaches with various methods and techniques employed for
conducting the whole thesis.

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Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussion”, describes and analyses the
structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting money with
reference to the Vietnamese equivalents to find out and discuss the
similarities and dissimilarities in term of these features expressed through
English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money.
Chapter 5, “Conclusions and Implications”, summaries the major
findings resulted from the investigation and data analysis, presents the
limitations of the study, provides some suggestions for further research and
proposes some possible implications for teaching and learning this type of
proverbs from English.

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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are two main purposes in this chapter. Firstly, it presents a
review of previous studies related to English proverbs in general, English
proverbs denoting money in particular. Secondly, it presents and discusses the
theoretical background which guide and inform this research.
2.1. Review of previous studies:
Many studies on proverbs have been taken with a lot of topics, such as,
animals, family relationship, weather and etc.
2.1.1. Previous studies oversea:
Written

by

the

foremost

authority

on

proverbs,Wolfgang

Mieder,“Proverbs: A Handbook” (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), this
reference gives high school students,undergraduates, and general readers a
concise yet comprehensive overview of proverbs in world culture. The
volume begins with definitions and classifications of proverbs and a
discussion of their origin and dissemination. It then discusses several
representative proverbs from around the world. This is followed by a review

of scholarship on proverbs. The book next looks at how several proverbs have
appeared in political speeches, literature, popular culture, and everyday life.
The handbook closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources and
a glossary. Included are numerous photos illustrating the role of proverbs
around the world.
In 1985, “How proverbs mean” was carried out by Neal R.Norrick
(publish by Mouton Publisher). It focuses on the proverb as a discrete text.
Chapter 4 concerns on the literal reading of proverbs. The semantic analysis
of a proverb must begin with its literal reading. Chapter 5 defines the standard
types of figures in proverbs; in particular it discusses the various types of
relation holding between the standard proverbial interpretation and literal

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reading of proverbs. Chapter 6 concerns on the proverb inventory. It pulls
together various strands of the analysis to this point, because it amalgamates
surface structures, literal reading and standard proverbial interpretation along
with the relation between them into inventory entries for proverbs.
“The proverbs” by Archer Taylor (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1931),the study of the proverb is not designed to serve merely the
interests of students of the proverbs of a single country. It concerns itself with
fundamental problems in the study of the proverb, problems which have been
neglected. Although the emphasis throughout is upon English proverbs, the
ordinary European languages are draw on, especially Teutonic languages for
illustrative materials. One of the most valuable features of this work is the
formulation and clarification of proverb problems that need to be undertaken.
2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam:
There are a lot of studies on proverbs in Vietnam with variety of topics,
such as, such as: “Tục ngữ và dân ca Việt Nam” by Vu ngoc Phan, “Khảo

luận về tục ngữ Việt” by Trieu Nguyen (2006), “Giúp em học thành ngữ, tục
ngữ” by Dang Them (2008), “Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ, ca dao Việt Nam”
by Viet Chuong (1995) and so on.
Besides that, there are some studies, such as: “An Investigation into
Proverbs with Words Denoting Humans in English and Vietnamese” by Bui
Thi Hoang Mai (2011), "An investigation into English and Vietnamese
Proverbs Denoting Family Relationships” by Tran Thi Thuy Ngan (2012) at
Danang University, “A study on marriage-related English and Vietnamese
proverbs” by Trinh Thi Huong Giang (2012) at Hanoi University
After examining the studies mentioned above, it can be seen that many
linguists, grammarians, compilers of dictionary has been absorbed in
proverbs. A number of researchers have dealt with proverbs in many aspects
but proverbs denoting money are still an open subject.

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So far there have found no studies engaged in the semantic features of
English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese
equivalents. This study is being implemented to find the mentioned above
features, thus proposing somepossible applications for teaching and learning.
2.2. Theoretical background:
2.2.1. Theoretical framework:
2.2.1.1. Theory of syntax:
Syntax refers to the ways in which we order specific words to create
logical, meaningful sentences. While the parts of speech are all the different
types of words that we can use, syntax is the set of rules, patterns, or
processes by which we can put them together.
In linguistics, syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways in
which words combine

to

form phrases, clauses,

and sentences.

More

simply, syntax can be defined as the arrangement of words in a sentence. The
term syntax is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of
a language.
Syntax

is

one

of

the

ofgrammar.Traditionally, linguists have

recognized

between syntaxand morphology (which

is

major
a

primarily

components

basic

distinction

concerned

with

the internal structures of words).
Syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language
statement (Semantics is the meaning of these elements.) Syntax applies to
computer languages as well as to natural languages. Usually, people think of
syntax as "word order." However, syntax is also achieved in some languages
such as Latin by inflectional case endings. Syntax is understood to be the
theory of the structure of sentences in a language. This view has its direct
antecedents in the theory of immediate constituents, in which the function of
syntax is to mediate between the observed forms of a sentence and its

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meaning: “we could not understand the form of a language if we merely
reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate constituents” (Bloomfield

1933:161)
C.W. Morris in his Foundations of the Theory of Signs (1938)
organizes semiotics, the study of signs, into three areas: syntax (the study of
the interrelation of the signs); semantics (the study of the relation between the
signs and the objects to which they apply); and pragmatics (the relationship
between the sign system and the user).
2.2.1.2. Theory of semantic:
Whereas syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a
language statement, semantics is the meaning of these elements. Semantics
has a thousands-of-year history but the word “semantics” made it earliest
entry into the Old English Dictionary only in 1890s. Cliff Goddard (1998)
remarks that semantics, the study of meaning, is at the center of linguistic
quest to understand the nature of language and human language abilities.
Semanticsmeans the meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and
sentence structure. Semantics largely determine our reading comprehension,
how we understand others, and even what decisions we make as a result of
our interpretations. Semantics can also refer to the branch of study within
linguistics that deals with language and how we understand meaning. This has
been a particularly interesting field for philosophers as they debate the
essence of meaning, how we build meaning, how we share meaning with
others, and how meaning changes over time.
One of the central issues with semantics is the distinction between
literal meaning and figurative meaning.
With literal meaning, we take concepts at face value. For example, if
we said, “fall began with the turning of the leaves”, we would mean that the
season began to change when the leaves turned colors.

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Figurative meaningis a meaning that is not literal; the meaning used is
not the meaning of the word or phrase itself, but a different meaning implied
by it. This meaning is dependent on culture and history. This is the indirect
meaning. Utilizes similes and metaphors to represent meaning and convey
greater emotion. For example, “I'm as hungry as a bear” would be a simile
and a comparison to show a great need for sustenance.
2.2.2. Overview of proverbs:
2.2.2.1. Definition of English proverbs:
In the 12th century, Mathieu de Vendome (1984) stated that "A proverb
is a popular phrase, accredited by custom, accepted by the general opinion,
expresses the truth that has been proved genuine". Later on, Bartlett Jere
Whiting (1932, p.302) gives a quite full description of proverbs as follows:
A proverb is an expression which testifies its origin in form and phrase.
It expresses apparently a fundamental truth with alliteration and rhyme. A
proverb has both a literal and a figurative meaning, and is defined as a
popular set phrase having no author, known mostly in different languages,
expressing in one sentence a principle, an advice, a genuine or assumed truth
in a general concise form.
According to Mieder (1996,p.597), "Proverbs are short, generally
known sentences of the folk that contain wisdom, truths, morals and
traditional views in a metaphorical fixed and memorable form and that are
handed down from generation to generation". For example: "Courtesy costs
nothing" implies that you should be careful with your words, otherwise it will
cause you some problems. The proverb itself conveys an advice on human
behaviors in ways of metaphors as Mieder has already defined.
In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary(1995), it is said that "A
proverb is a short well-known sentence or phrase that states a general truth
about life or gives advice".

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From all above definitions, we can draw out some common features of
proverbs that proverbs are short standard statements having mostly
metaphorical meaning, which express truths, advice, wisdoms, etc…In
common they have no known authors or literary sources.
2.2.2.2. Definition of Vietnamese proverbs:
According to Dương Quảng Hàm (1951), he claims that a proverb itself
contains a full sense either an advice or a wisdom, etc…For example: "Cho
vay mất bạn" indicates an advice that you should not lend money to your
friends, if you do so, either you will have to bother them to repay the loan
which makes your friends resent you or they will not repay the loan which
makes you resent them.
Vũ Ngọc

Phan (1998,p.50) states that proverbs are the sentences

modified many times, used in many regions and handed down from
generation to generation. They are short, parallel and rhythmic. E.g.: "Giàu bỏ
bạn sang bỏ vợ" (Riches and reputation maybe a reason for a man to forget
his old relationships).
Nguyễn Đức Dân (1996,p.358) also studies proverbs and comes to
conclusion that proverbs are stable sayings in case of structure which reflect
experience, opinions, attitudes of human beings towards nature and society.
Most of proverbs hold figurative meanings. For example: "Đi một ngày đàng
học một sàng khôn” - The proverb reflects an experience of picking up more
knowledge.
In short, Vietnamese proverbs are also defined with features similar to
English proverbs. They are short, rhythmic, memorable; metaphoric
meanings; conveying advice, wisdoms, truths, etc…and transferred from

generation to another.
2.2.2.3. Features of proverbs:
a.

Structural features:

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Proverbs usually appear in the form of a phrase or a sentence. Proverb
formation can be framed in different syntactic patterns. Therefore, before we
discuss the syntactic structures of proverbs, it is necessary to take a brief look
on some important concepts like phrases and sentences.
a1. Phrases: The structure of a phrase consists of one or more
constituents in a particular order. There are five phrase types in both English
and Vietnamese. In this thesis, we investigate only noun phrase and verb
phrase.
Noun Phrase
Noun phrases consist of a head, as Quirk et al. [28, p.62], which is
typically a noun and elements which (either obligatorily or optionally)
determine the head and (optionally) modify the head, or complement another
element in the phrase.
Pre-modifier(s) + Head + Post-modifier(s)
No + money//
no

+ piper

a2. Sentences:Proverbs appear in a variety of different sentence types;
from a syntactic perspective, these sentences may be classified into three

distinct types according to the number of clauses and sub-clauses they
contain. These sentence types are: simple, compound, complex.
The most basic sentence is the simple sentence. Quirk and Greenbaum
[13, 165] defines simple sentence is a sentence that consisting of only one
clause. The clause patterns of simple sentences are correspondent to the seven
clause types: 1. SV, 2.SVA, 3. SVO, 4. SVC, 5. SVOA, 6. SVOO, 7. SVOC.
e.g.: Money talks
Money doesn’t grow on the trees
Money burns a hole in someone’s pocket

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Complex sentences contain one clause and one or more subclauses; the
subclauses may be adjectival, nominal, or adverbial. According to Quirk [14,
987-988], a complex sentence has at least two clauses and one or more bound
or subordinate clauses.
e.g.: If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master
Compound sentences possess multiple independent clauses which are
separated by a coordinator (in English these are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
There is a grammatical equality in these sentences, which balances the two
clauses against one another through a central fulcrum in the shape of the
coordinator.
e.g.:Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent.
b.

Semantic features:

Proverbs are a type of idioms and a special element of vocabulary.
Different from other types of idioms, proverbs are “truth-delivering” in

semantic. This semantic feature of proverbs determines their grammatical
forms and functions that are different from those of general vocabulary.
Proverbs have different meanings. Firstly, as an expression (a phrase, a
sentence, or even more than one sentence), it has a literal meaning. A literal
meaning is the expressional meaning deprival from the collective literary
meaning of all the words in the expression. “A little learning is a dangerous
thing”. The literal meaning of the sentence is the sentence-in-context meaning
of the proverb in a possible world. The above proverb has the meaning with
the proposition that a little meaning is a dangerous thing as an assertion. This
is its literal meaning.
Secondly, most of proverbs also have figurative meaning which is
another word for a diagram, display, an image or illustration. A figurative
meaning is a meaning that is not literal; the meaning used is not the meaning

12


of the word or phrase itself, but a different meaning implied by it. This
meaning is dependent on culture and history. This is the indirect meaning.
2.2.2.4. Classification of English proverbs:
Different categorizations of proverbs have been proposed by different
scholars.
The first categorization is one outlined by Norrick (How Proverbs
Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs), who analyzed a sample of the
proverbs from the oxford dictionary of English Proverbs. He developed a
more empirically oriented and less grandiose schematization that categorizes
proverbs according to the type of figuration they use. He distinguished five
types of figurative proverbs: synecdoche, metaphoric, metonymic, hyperbolic
and paradoxical. It must be mentioned that in Norrick's words figurative
proverbs have figurative meanings that differ from their literal meaning

( />Milner (cited in Norrick [27, p.51-52]) offered proverb classification
system based on the semantic oppositions of proverbs by using positive or
negative values.
Basing on the semantic oppositions like Milner, Dundes (cited in
Norrick [27, 56]), however, used neither the positive value nor negative one.
He showed that proverbs can be categorized into two main kinds: oppositional
and non-oppositional proverbs.
Another theoretical approach to proverb classification is given by
Permyakov (cited in [13, p.229]). According to him, proverbs are models of
real life or conceived situations. The situations mentioned here refer to three
different situation types involved in proverb usage. They are the interaction
situation (the situation in which a proverb is actually used), the context
situation(the situation to which one refers) and the proverb situation(the
situation which is contained in the proverb itself, if taken literally). In one

13


word, Permyakov helped to build a system of proverb classification based on
three aspects: the linguistic aspect, the thematic aspect and logical-semiotic
aspect.
There appear to be a number of proverb classification systems.
However, the one that was given by Matti Kuusi will be adopted on the
purpose of doing thesis because it meets our demands of semantic analysis of
EPsDM and VPsDM.
2.2.2.5. Distinction between proverbs and idioms:
According to Hornby (1995), in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary, proverb is defined as “a short well-known sentence or phrase that
states a general truth about life or giving advice, E.g. Better safe than sorry or
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. More particularly, Vu Ngoc Phan

(2000:39) considered proverb as “a complete saying expressing one idea of
comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”.
It is easy to find out that idiom and proverb have much in common and
it comes as no surprise that they are traditionally studied together. The first
one is that both idiom and proverb are ready –made. They are products of
human’s thought, cultures and processes of hard working and learning. They
are mainly orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally
accepted in daily life. Secondly, both idiom and proverb are set-expressions
with stable and components are not substituted. Therefore, their meanings
cannot be deduced from individual words but must be understood as a whole.
It means that any substitutions in any components of idiom or proverb may
result in unacceptable changes in the meaning of whole group, which make
them nonsensical in metaphorical meaning. Apart from this, most idiom and
proverb use language in metaphorical way. We cannot usually discover their
meanings by looking up the individual words in a dictionary; their meanings
must be understood metaphorically.

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Beside those similarities, both of them still own typical features that
distinguish one from the other. The first and most obvious difference lies in
their grammatical structures. Idiom is a phrase which is a part of sentence;
thus, it is equivalent to words only. Proverb is a complete sentence or a phrase
expressing the whole idea.
Moreover, idiom and proverb are also different in terms of their
functions. Proverb is a short well-known sentence or phrase that expresses a
judgment, state a general truth about life or advice; it is told to contain three
main literature functions which are perceptive function, aesthetic function,
and educational function. For example, the proverb “Money makes the mare

go” demonstrates a remark as well as a criticism about the negative side of
money. Its perceptive function is to make people aware of the bad effect of
money which can become the power dominating the society, even the most
inanimate things. The educational function is to criticize the negative side of
money and urge to be aware of that ill effect. And its aesthetic function is to
exaggerate in a picturesque way to help readers understand the proverb easily.
In contrast, idiom does not express judgments; give advice or state general
truth about life, which means it does not have functions of perception and
education but only aesthetic function. For example, the idiom “to eat like a
horse” merely describes the ability of eating strongly of someone because of
great hunger in figurative and imaginary way, and does not point out any
educational lesson or knowledge of life.
In short, beside their common things, idiom is distinguished from
proverb by its structures and functions.
2.2.3. Overview of Money
2.2.3.1. Definition of Money
Everyone uses money. We all want it, work for it and think about it.

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