A STUDY OF IMAGE BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
*********

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY
RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CÓ TỪ MIÊU TẢ
HÌNH ẢNH BIỂU TRƯNG VỀ CÁC MỐI QUAN HỆ GIA ĐÌNH
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

PHAM THI THUY

Field : English Language
Code: 60220201

HANOI, 2017
i


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY
RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CÓ TỪ MIÊU TẢ
HÌNH ẢNH BIỂU TRƯNG VỀ CÁC MỐI QUAN HỆ GIA ĐÌNH
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

PHAM THI THUY
Field : English Language
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong PhD

HANOI, 2017

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
“A study on image-bearing idioms of family relationships in English and
Vietnamese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master
in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has
been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2017

Pham Thi Thuy

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong PhD

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`hh`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, Nguyen Thi
Thanh Huong PhD, who gave me valuable advice, guidance and suggestion in the process
of my writing.
My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lectures and officers of faculty of
Graduate Studies, Ha Noi Open University, who have facilitated me with the best
possible codition 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 encourage me.

ii


ABSTRACT
This study focuses on semantic and syntactic features of image-bearing idioms for family
relationships in English and Vietnamese. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis is
made us of investigation 349 idioms in English and Vietnamese together with numerous
number of samples collected from referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries and
Internet websites. The study describes and compare the syntactic, semantic features of
image-bearing idioms expressing family relationships in English versus Vietnamese and
then withdraw some implications for the teaching and learning of English and
Vietnamese as a foreign language. In order to achieve these aims and objectives, the
descriptive and comparative methods are utilized. The descriptive method is used to
describe in details the syntactic and semantic features through the examples of imagebearing idioms expressing family relationships. In addition, the comparative method
could be used to identify the similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic
features of idioms expressing anger in English versus Vietnamese. In short, with the
combination of the descriptive and contrastive methods, syntactic and semantic
similarities as well as differences of image-bearing idioms expressing family
relationships English and Vietnamese could be discovered.

The findings show that image-bearing idioms of family relationships have remarkable
syntactic and semantic features and that there are some similarities and differences in
some features. Causes are also dealt with the implications for the teaching and learning of
idioms as well as for further study are put forward.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Table 2.2.1: The characteristics of image and relationships ........................................... 12
Table 3.1.2.1: Verb phrase structures of IBIFRs English and Vietnamese . .................. 26
Table 3.1.3.1: Adjective phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese. ....... 28
3.1.3.2 Prepositional phras structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese. ............... 28
Table 3.1.3.3: Prepositional phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese .. 29
Table 3.1.1 A summary of English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms denoting
family relationships in grammatical .................................................................................... 31
Table 3.1.2 A statistical summary of syntactic features ofimage bearing in English and
Vietnamese denoting family ................................................................................................. 32
Table 3.2.1: Kinds of Images expressing husband–wive relationship in English and
Vietnamese image-bearing idioms ....................................................................................... 33
Table 3.2.2: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms for
relationship between husband and wife............................................................................... 37
Table 3.2.3: Kinds of Images expressing for relationship between parents and children
in English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms............................................................. 41
Table 3.2.4: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms for
relationship between parents and children. ......................................................................... 44
Table 3.2.5: Kinds of Images expressing the relationship for siblings and others in
English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms ................................................................. 47
Table 3.2.6: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms of
siblings and other relationships. .......................................................................................... 49

Table 3.2.7: Kinds of Images expressing family relationships English and Vietnamese
image-bearing idioms ............................................................................................................ 52

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Diagram 1: Images of husband-wife relationship in English and Vietnamese imagebearing idioms ........................................................................................................................ 38
Diagram 2: Images of parent-child relationship in English and Vietnamese idioms .... 44
Diagram 3: Images of siblings and other relationship in English and Vietnamese idioms
.................................................................................................................................................. 50

Diagram 4: Kinds of family-related relationships in English and Vietnamese Imagebearing idioms ........................................................................................................................ 52

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CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY .......................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... iv
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale for the study............................................................................................................ 1
1.1
Aims and objects of the study …………………………………………………………..2
1.2
Research questions………………………………………………………………………2
1.3
Method of the study……………………………………………………………………..2
1.4

Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………….…2
1.5
1.6

Significance of the study…………………………………………………………….…..3
Design of the study………………………………………………………………….…..3

Chapter 2: ................................................................................................................................... 5
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Previous study ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Overview of phrase structures .............................................................................................. 6
2.2.1 Verb Phrases ...................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.2 Noun Phrases ..................................................................................................................... 7
2.2. 3 Prepositional Phrases ........................................................................................................ 7
2.2.4 Adjective Phrases .............................................................................................................. 8
2.3 Features of idioms ................................................................................................................ 8
2.4 Images-bearing idioms ....................................................................................................... 9
2.4.1 The importance of images in idioms ................................................................................. 9
2.4.2 Definition of image-bearing idioms ................................................................................ 11
2.4.3 The relation between images and family relationships ................................................... 11
2.5 National characteristics of idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese . .. 12
2.5.1 Cultural symbols .............................................................................................................. 12
2.5.2 Symbolic Animals ........................................................................................................... 13
2.5.3 Human body parts ........................................................................................................... 13
2.6 Teaching and learning image-bearing idioms in English .................................................. 14
2.7 Summary............................................................................................................................. 15
Chapter 3: ................................................................................................................................. 16
FEATURES OF IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE ............................................................................................................... 16
3.1 Syntactic features of image-bearing idioms of family relationships in english and

vietnamese ................................................................................................................................ 16

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3.1.1 Syntactic glimpse at image-bearing idioms for family relationships English and Vietnamese
idioms ....................................................................................................................................... 16
3.1.2. Image-bearing idioms in a structure of a verb phrase ..................................................... 24
3.1.3 Adjective phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese................................. 27
3.2.The structures of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting Family .................................. 29
3.2.1 Parallel structures ........................................................................................................... 29
3.2.2.Comparative structures ................................................................................................... 30
3.3.3.Borrowed idioms ............................................................................................................. 30
3.2 Semantic features of image-bearing idioms for family relationships ................................. 33
3.2.1 Semantic fields of Image-bearing idioms of family relationship in English and Vietnamese
. ................................................................................................................................................. 33
Chapter 4: DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN LEARNING AND
USING IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE ......................................................................................................................... 53
4.1. Survey questionnaires ........................................................................................................ 53
4.1.1. Content ........................................................................................................................... 53
4.1.2. Questionnaires ................................................................................................................ 53
4.1.3. Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 53
4.2. Common difficulties faced by learners of English when learning and using English idioms.
.................................................................................................................................................. 54
4.2.1. Students’ perception of learning speaking English idioms. ........................................... 54
Let’s have a look in the survey ................................................................................................. 54
4.2.2. Learner’s that forced the students’ ability in speaking English idioms. ......................... 55
4.3. Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms of education ................................. 56
4.3.1. Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms of education .............................. 56

4.4. Summary of the chapter ..................................................................................................... 57

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………...58
5.1 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................................ 58
5.2 Similarities and differences in semantic features of image-bearing idioms in English and
Vietnamese ............................................................................................................................... 58
5.3 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study .................................................. 59
It runs in the family .................................................................................................................. 74

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Being aware of the importance of idioms in daily interaction as well as in
learning language, a lot of researchers have made efforts to study issues and aspects
in this field. . Sometimes some idioms cannot be understood literally. Even if the
meanings of all the words in an idiomatic phrase as well as its grammar are simple,
the meanings of the whole phrase may still be confusing due to cultural barriers.
Therefore, a profound insight in idioms specifically image-bearing idioms for
cultural similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English offers
language learners not only fun in learning but also success in communication as
language is learnt through culture and culture is learnt through language. Idioms are
highly regarded as cultural-linguistic units because they basically reflect the sphere
of human life such as mind, emotions, world perception and evaluation, age,
morality, behaviour or human relation... An idiom is unusual either grammatically,
as in “tie the knot” or there is a meaning that cannot bederived from the conjoined
meanings of its elements, as in “They are like two peas in a pod”.
Every language has idioms, and they are challenging for foreign students to
learn. However, the learners will save much time and strength when using idioms in

writing or speaking. Moreover, using idioms will bring about the ornate sentences
they can make the pleasant for other people. Therefore, in order to understand as
well as translate idioms from a language to another language, the knowledge of
linguistic has to be completely involved. “Family relationships ” is the interesting
and familiar topics to many languages. Especially, it is popular in both Vietnamese
and English languages. The image-bearing idioms of family relationships are about
fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, their relatives; or the
relationships between parents and children, wives and husbands, brothers and
sisters, mothers and daughters in- law and as well as their lifestyle between people
in the family, kinship
For the reasons mentioned above, the theme “A study on image-bearing idioms of
family relationships in English and Vietnamese ” was chosen as a theme for this
study. In addition, the research will contribute a small field idioms about family
relationships .
1


1.1 Aims and objects of the study
Aims:
- investigate the linguistic features of image-bearing idioms of family
relationships in English and Vietnamese in order to help Vietnamese learners in the
process of learning these idioms effectively.
Objectives:
In order to achieve these aims, the objectives will attempt to:
- identify the syntactic and semantic features of image-bearing idioms of
family relationships in English and Vietnamese.
- find out the similarities and differences between image-bearing idioms of
family relationships in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in
term of syntactic and semantics.
- give some suggestions for teaching and learning image-bearing idioms of

family relationship in English.
1.2 Research questions
The study will find the answers to the questions:
The research questions to be solved in the study are:
1)

What are the syntactic and semantic features of image-bearing idioms of family
relationships in English and Vietnamese.

2)

What are the similarities and the differences between image-bearing idioms of
family relationships in English and Vietnamese.

3)

What are the applications for teaching, learning image-bearing idioms of family
relationships.

1.3 Method of the study
Collecting, descriptive and contrastive methods are used to described,
analyse the syntactic and semantic features of the two languages of English and
Vietnamese concerning the

image-bearing idioms of family relationship. The

characteristics accompanied by discovering and comparing some cultural features
of two languages English and Vietnamese are main purposes that we deal with in
this study.
1.4 Scope of the study

2


This research is restricted to image-bearing idioms of family relationships. It
is focused on making a contrastive analysis in terms of syntactic and semantic
aspects. Syntactically, my study will investigate into IT with noun phrase structure,
verb phrase structure, adjective phrase structure, prepositional phrase structure, are
investigated. In aspect of semantic opacity, an investigation into the image-bearing
idioms of family relationships will be carried out.
To complete the research thesis, all the material collection of

image-bearing

idioms English and Vietnamese with illustrated example are selected from reliable
dictionaries, books, stories and magazines. It is hoped that the outcome of this study
would be able to make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and
learning English idioms.
1.5 Significance of the study
In terms of theoretical significance, the study is expected to contribute an indepth description of idioms in English and Vietnamese.
In terms of practical significance, this study focuses on the image-bearing
idioms in English and Vietnamese family relationships. The study will provide
Vietnamese learners of

English with better mastering how to understand and

naturally use them in receptive and productive skills. The findings of the study is
hoped to provide an important opportunity to advance the understanding of English
and Vietnamese idioms can be the potential sources for both teachers and learners
that are concerned about image-bearing idioms of family relationships to make a

major contribution to the process of teaching and learning English .
1.6 Design of the study
- Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the study background, presents the
rationale, the justification, scope and organization of the study.
- Chapter 2, Literature review, discusses the previous studies on idioms
ralating to the area of the research and present some theoretical preliminaries that
could be used as foundation for the process of conducting the research.
Chapter 3, Syntactic and semantic features of images-bearing idioms of
family relationships in English and Vietnamese” describes and analyses the
structural and semantic features of image- bearing idioms of family relationships in
English and Vietnamese to find out the similarities and difference between them.
3


Chapter 4 , Difficulties faced by learners of English when learning and using
image-bearing idioms of family relationship in English and Vietnamese,
provide the suggestion for further research and propose some possible implication
translating this type of idioms from English.
Chapter 5 “Conclusion” highlights the major findings result from the investigation
and data analysis.

4


Chapter 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Previous study
Idioms have attracted many language researchers all over the world. They
are an important factor in native – like discourse by English as well as a foreign
language speaker. In the year of 1986 the two linguists Gulland published the book

“The Penguin Dictionary of English idioms”. The book provided a wide selection of
the most commonly used idiomatic phrases in the English language etc. “Idioms
Organization” is a book that John Wright has written about the idioms organized by
metaphor, topic and key word. The book “The American Heritage Dictionary of
Idioms” by Ammer or “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Richards, idioms
are carefully collected and categorized into alphabetical arrangement. Their
meanings and examples of usage in English are also mentioned. These are the books
that every linguistic or teachers of linguistics have to keep a look if they want to do
a research or a study on idioms.
In Vietnamese, there are many authors have studied about idioms such as
Trần Quang Mân , Lã Thành, Vĩnh Bá , Nguyễn Lân ,Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn
Đang

are writers who supplied a large amount of idioms. Their variants are

collected with examples originally extracted from novels, newspapers, magazines
and so on. Hoàng Văn Hành gave out his comments about idioms in the book
“Thành ngữ học Tiếng Việt”. In which, he studied many aspects of Vietnamese
idioms as well as collected and categorized these idioms. Besides, Vũ Dung, Vũ
Thuý Anh, Vũ Quang Hào wrote dictionaries which Vietnamese idioms are both
literally and figuratively explained, illustrated with examples. What is more, they
also classified Vietnamese idioms in comparison with English idioms so that
language learners can understand more clearly and exactly their literal meanings
Studying on Vietnamese and English idioms, there are some researches such
as Nguyen Thi Thu Mai (2009) Pham Thi To Nhu (1998), Nguyen Thi Hiep (2001).
In 2008, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thu who studied some features of idioms into
syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms containing verbs
of motion and so on. Many other researchers like Nguyen Luc, Lương Van Đang,
Hoang Kim Ngoc, are three authors who made a significant contribution in the field
5

of Vietnamese idioms. They wrote “Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt” which is a collection of
Vietnamese idioms arranged in alphabetical order with clear explanations and
examples extracted from Vietnamese novels, newspapers and magazines.
However, up to now, there have been no studies about image - bearing
idioms of family relationship. This is the reason why this study comes into being
in an attempt to focus on semantic and syntactic features of image- bearing idioms
of family relationships in English and Vietnamese.
2.2 Concept of syntax
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, we think of syntax as "word order."
However, syntax is also achieved in some languages such as Latin by inflectional
case endings. In computer languages, syntax can be extremely rigid as in the case of
most assembler languages or less rigid in languages that make use of "keyword"
parameters that can be stated in any order.
2.3 Concept of semantics
Semantics is the linguistic and philosophical study of meaning, in language,
programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics. It is concerned with the
relationship between signifiers- like words, phrases, signs, and symbols- and what
they stand for, their denotation.
The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry,
including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology and others.
Independently, semantics is also a well-defined field in its own right, often with
synthetic properties. In the philosophy of language, semantics and reference are
closely connected. Further related fields include philology, communication,
and semiotics. The formal study of semantics can therefore be manifold and
complex.
2.2 Overview of phrase structures

2.2.1 Verb Phrases
6


Concerning verb phrase, Greenbaum defined that “it has as its head a main
(or lexical) verb. The mainverb may be preceded by up to four auxiliaries.”
A verb phrase is the expansion of a verb, in the same way that a noun phrase
is the expansion of a noun. The verb phrase can be expressed both as an experiential
structure and logical structure. While the experiential structure is extremely simple,
most of

these mantic load is carried by the logical structure. In Vietnamese

language, there have no regular distinction between finite and non finite verb forms
like the way English does.
2.2.2 Noun Phrases
In grammar, a noun phrase is a phrase whose head isa noun or a pronoun,
optionally accompanied by a modifier set. Like allphrases, the constituents of the
English noun phrase can be analyzedinto both functional constituents and formal
constituents.
2.2. 3 Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase comprises a preposition as theheadword plus a
second, complement or completive element which isintegral to the structure of the
phrase.This complement element ismost typically realized by a norminal phrase.
Instead, the structure isdivided into two functional components - the preposition
followed byits complement. In general, a prepositional phrase expresses
arelationship between the complement of the preposition and someother constituent
of the sentence.

7

2.2.4 Adjective Phrases
The adjective phrase has its head an adjective, which may be preceded by
premodifiers and followed by postmodifiers
Adjective phrases act just like adjectives. They modify, describe, or give more
information about a noun or pronoun.
2.3 Features of idioms
An idiom is “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the
individual words”. To put it in a simple way, an idiom is a phrase in which the
words together have a meaning that is somehow different from the dictionary
definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms arduous to understand.
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines idioms as: "A group of words
whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words" ( 2006)
The viewpoint is supported in A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics. The author
regards an idiom as "a term used in grammar and lexicography to refer to a
sequence of words which us semantically and often syntactically restricted, so that
they function as a single unit" (1985)
According to A Dictionary of Linguistics, an idiom is "any expression peculiar to a
language, conveying a distinct meaning, not necessarily explicable by, occasionally
even contrary to, the general accepted grammatical rules" (1954)
According to the traditional view, idioms consist of two or more words the
overall meaning of which is unpredictable from the meanings of the constituent
words. A major assumption of the traditional view is that “idiomatic meaning is
largely arbitrary” Kovecses( 2002) that is this arbitrariness refers to the link
between an idiom and its figurative meaning. As for F.R.Palmer “an idiom is an
expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts”. In
this regard, Chomsky (1980) claims that idioms are thought to be noncompositional since the figurative meaning of these phrases are not functions of the
meanings of their individual parts. The cognitive linguistic view of idioms shares
with the traditional view that the meanings of idioms are not completely

predictable, but it suggests that a large part of an idiom‟s meaning is motivated.

8


The term refers to a set expression or a phrase comprising two or more
words. An interesting fact regarding the device is that the expression is not
interpreted literally. The phrase is understood as to mean something quite different
from what individual words of the phrase would imply. Alternatively, it can be said
that the phrase is interpreted in a figurative sense. Further, idioms vary in different
cultures and countries.
Idioms make perfect examples of figurative language, in that the overall
meaning of an idiom cannot be predicted from the composition of the literal
meanings of the constituent parts. For example, we cannot predict that these idioms
up in arms or down in the mouth mean very angry.
Idioms in both English and Vietnamese are structurally and lexically closelycombined phrases whose meanings are completely different from their component
parts.
In general, idioms are the products of national culture and social life. They
are conventionally linguistic units and ready-made utterances. Structurally, idioms
are fixed expressions; they don’t permit the usual variability displaying in other
contexts. From the semantic point of view, idioms must be interpreted in connection
with the historical and cultural characteristics.
2.4 Images-bearing idioms
2.4.1 The importance of images in idioms
The intimate relation between the meaning that need to be expressed and the
image indicated in idioms always exists. This gives the explaination of way we
recognize the meaning of idioms and the role play of image in this identifying
process. Different from literal meanings, figurature meanings is mentioned in
images or special effects.
Constructing literal images of idioms can help the learners understand the idiom,

not in terms of faster processing but in terms of decreasing percentage of mistakes
in recognizing a paraphrase of the idiom. This effect is particularly salient in the
processing of semantically transparent idioms and is stronger when idioms are
compared with an idiomatic paraphrases and not with literal ones. Furthermore, the
contribution of imagery is such that it produces fewer mistakes of the “miss” type
9


for transparent idioms, subjects improve their ability to recognize a real paraphrase
as equivalent in meaning to the target. Semantically opaque idioms, on the other
hand, seem to be indifferent to the imagery task, though a trend toward better
understanding may be observed in the case of literal paraphrases. The hypothesis
was that since idioms may be viewed as semantically broader or vaguer than literal
paraphrases subjects would more readily match idiomatic paraphrases with target
idioms than literal paraphrases.
As a result they would make fewer mistakes with idiomatic paraphrases than
with literal ones. This hypothesis was rejected by the results which revealed the
opposite picture - subjects made considerably fewer mistakes with literal
paraphrases than with idiomatic ones. One possible explanation derives from the
same feature of idioms, their semantic and ‘situational’ broadness which may have
caused subjects to reach a negative decision on the verification task much more
frequently than necessary, hence, these results. To conclude, the results show that
transparency plays only a minor role in comparison with familiarity, and that
familiarity itself is only useful as a concept in its own right, not by proxy of
frequency. The results also demonstrate that constructing a literal image helps our
understanding of transparent idioms whether by unconscious applying general
knowledge of the world, unconscious reasoning or some other process involved in
understanding. Thus, there exists a close link between figurative meanings of
transparent idioms and their literal images. It explains further the mechanisms of
comprehension of idioms and the role of imagery in this process. It remains to be

seen whether imagery facilitates not only the comprehension but also the process of
learning and retrieving from memory of figurative speech.
In the context of communication of languages in the world, the images are
used that not only display the glossy , the imagery, building up the vocabulary but
also make clearly the features of speaking and thinking and culture feature of
each country. By using the image- bearing idioms will approach a significance
result of the context

, makes speaker

and listeners

feel persuaded

communication . It also make a specific features of the language.

10

in


2.4.2 Definition of image-bearing idioms
The images- bearing idioms are formed from the process of recognizing the
world and constituting images that

called “imageable idioms”. This view is

different from the traditional view that considers idiom the sustainable combination
that does not seem to have any relationship between its constituent units and its
actual meaning. This image will be different depending on the specific environment

in which they live. In linguistics, there are many family idioms used in everyday life
or in books and novels, in newspapers or films and so on. Image-bearing idioms of
family relationships contain the kinship. That is, fathers, mothers, siblings,
husbands and wives, old generations in the family or other blood relationships. In
Vietnamese IBIFRs involving in members in the family such as fathers, mothers,
children and their relationships, for example mất cha còn chú; cha sinh mẹ dưỡng
…..These idioms praise the role of parents in the family, and Vietnamese customs
about having children.
Besides, family idioms also denoting the relationships between husbands and
wives such as, của chồng công vợ; chồng hoà vợ thuận, In English idioms, we
also have idioms such as like father, like son, two peas in a pod, a family man,
your next of kin.
In other words, we cannot speculate on the meaning of idioms because meaning of
idioms is completely arbitrary.
2.4.3 The relation between images and family relationships
Family relationships is a definition of the way that members in the family
treat to each other . These relations in families maybe the same or difficulties which
depends on the culture, living invironment or the awareness of the people. Thus, we
have no troubles in identifying this definition in our lives but these problems are in
multiform in other languages and cultures.
In contrary with this issue mentioned above, images are always clear, easy to
identify by intuition and we have no need to spend to much time to describe this.

11


Table 2.2.1: The characteristics of image and relationships
Images

Family relationships

-

the product of nature or labour;

-

having

shapes,

colour,

- the product of mentality;

feature, - invisible, not clear, personal feelings or

specific function;
-

-

objective

existence,

group;
to

be

on -

subjective

existence

in

people

template, to be in direct contact;

mentality at exact time;

identifying by the community unity.

- the awareness of family members at
exact time

2.5 National characteristics of idioms of family relationships in English and
Vietnamese .
Every nation has its own national characteristics. These are expressed through their
contents. Depending on the custom of each nation as well as its style of living and
viewpoints toward the practical world around, events or phenomena happening to
them, they reflect what they see and use some images that become the cultural
symbols or religious symbols.
2.5.1 Cultural symbols
Culture is formed by creative activities of human beings. It is obviously that
relying on language, we can find thespecific cultural features of a nation. First of

all, that is the respect of children to parents, engraving the upbringing of the
parents. Secondly, the marriage in Vietnamese culture contains some different
characters. In the past, parents had the right to choose husbands or wives for their
children and they looked for the suitable “better half” for daughters or sons.
The distinction between boys and girls still remains until now.
In many Vietnamese families, parents expect sons much more than girls. In
addition, to Vietnamese people, children are priceless presents of the Creator.
Another feature of national culture of Vietnamese people is that in many old feudal
families, a husband could have more than one wife.

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In Britain in particular and other western countries in general, when children
are old enough they have to leave the house and start a new life. There are some
idioms which concern with this matter such as “fly the nest, empty nests; When
did you two decide to tie the knot ” and so on.
2.5.2 Symbolic Animals
Animals are always connected closely to human beings. Animals make our
language significant with symbols.The animals often appear in English and
Vietnamese people are dogs, cats, birds, sheep, tigers and so on.
It is easy to find out that dogs are one of the animals which appear the most
regular in idioms both English and Vietnamese. Dogs are the most closed animalto
humans. Fish is sometimes expressed as a mother who loves and takes
care of her children carefully; this image is seen through the idiom” cá chuối đắm
đuối vì con”. Further more, some wild animals also appear on VIBIs such as “cha
hưu mẹ vượn, cha mẹ cú con tiên, cha hổ mang đẻ con liu điu “ and so on.
The images of fowls or chickens are used in VIBIs. Hens and her chickens
are compared with the mother and children as the idioms” gà cùng một mẹ”
or sometimes cocks are the metaphoric images of the widowers like the idiom

“gà trống nuôi con” and so on. It is clearly that animals are used in idioms are
familiar ones.
They connect to human life closely. Depending one each culture there are
some differences in using the symbolic animals in forming idioms. For example, the
sheep is a common castle in western countries the image of black sheep expresses a
member of the family who has disgraced himself, one whose name is generally not
mentioned in the family circle
2.5.3 Human body parts
Culture takes an important role in comparing idioms from different
languages. The meaning of idioms cannot be predicted from its component part is
not quite valid and cannot be applied to idioms body parts. The body-parts terms
used in idioms aredivided into two classes: those denoting external body parts and
those denoting internal body parts and organs. It is found that the metarphors,
through imaginary in nature, are not really all or betray. They seem to have a bodily
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or psychological basis although they are inevitably influenced by cultural models.
In English, human boby parts used such as a head, hand, mouth, heart and so on.
and in Vietnamese they are “ đầu, tay, gối, tóc, giọt máu” “ hand in hand ; tâm đầu
ý hợp” and so on
In short, we can find out idioms describe the human life; they convey
people’s experiences, thoughts and notions.
These are different from every country. Each nation has its own ways to
refect the reality relying on using idioms logically.
2.6 Teaching and learning image-bearing idioms in English
According many surveys of teaching and learning English, shows that it has been
more than 60% learners who would like to attempt an innovative and motivate
activities of learning English. Besides, some common difficulties made by learners
of English when using English idioms are showed: poor language ability, little

experience, lack of confidence and native language interference. Some suggestions
and methods in this part are mentioned to motivate students in learning English
idioms in class which hopefully provide a possitive attitude of learning and using
English.
Idioms and language users: the effect of the characteristics of idioms on their
recognition and interpretation by native and non-native speakers of English. This
study investigates the recognition and interpretation of English idioms by native and
non-native speakers. The main aims were to find how different characteristics of
idioms affect their interpretation, how unanimous (native) language users are about
meanings of idioms, and finally, how well second language learners recognise
English and VietNamese idioms. Although the significance of vocabulary and of
lexical phrases, or language ‘chunks’ in language learning has been acknowledged,
idioms have yet been neglected. The characteristics of idioms have been discussed
as have been processing and storing them in the memory. Studies on idioms have,
however, concentrated on native speakers. Yet, idioms are frequently used in
everyday language, particularly in the media. Therefore, some knowledge and
awareness of idioms is important to non-native learners especially at a more
advanced level. This study defines an idiom as a figurative multi-word expression
whose meaning is different from the sum of the literal meanings of its constituents..
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The responses by native speakers showed that the meanings of idioms are a
complex issue. Even though meanings are often taken for granted, and also
expressed as such by dictionaries, the results showed that native speakers frequently
disagreed on idiom meanings.
2.7 Summary

Learning idioms plays an important part in advancing language skill. Many
students have much difficulty in describing their own ideas and feel that they

can‟t speak fluently or write a complete essay. This happens because they all
rely on using separate words leading to make such “fragment” or “run-on”
sentences. Therefore, in order to be confident in using foreign language, to
understand and use idioms in right way would be good choice for those who
have strong desire to advance their level of English. However, learning
idioms could cause a lot of obstacles because of culture differences and other
facts. My graduation thesis namely “A study on image-bearing idioms of
family relationship in English and Vietnamese ” involves the contrastive
study of the syntactic and semantic features of image-bearing idioms
expressing relationship in English and Vietnamese which finds out the
various meanings as well as the constructions possessed properly in both
languages.

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Chapter 3:
FEATURES OF IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY
RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
3.1 Syntactic features of image-bearing idioms of family relationships in
english and vietnamese
3.1.1 Syntactic glimpse at image-bearing idioms for family relationships
English and Vietnamese idioms
In this part IBIFRs will be focused on the syntactic features in both
languages. Classification of idioms into smaller units depends on the independence
of semantics in components and idioms. Therefore, idioms will be classified into
different kinds of phrases such as a noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase,
prepositional phrase and so on. However, in both English and Vietnamese imagebearing idioms of family relationships, there are not any adverb phrases so we will
describe this feature through analyzing examples and categorize structures under the
form of noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases and prepositional phrases.

3.1.1.1. Image-bearing idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese
in a structure of a Noun phrase
Noun phrase is the most common structure in idioms. Following many
previous studies, a noun phrase usually occupies the largest amount. I summarize
them as the table below
Noun phrase is the most common structure in idioms. Following many previous
studies, a noun phrase usually occupies the largest amount. That can be the
structures of two nouns and more, an adjective and a noun, a noun and a preposition
or so on. Combining two or more nouns – the idiom is formed and it can be a
subject or an objand so on considering the first structure.

(Article) + Noun + Noun
It is also a popular structure in English idioms in general. The first noun
modifies to the second noun. The idiom “breadwinner” below will be a clear
sample.
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