A study on syntactic and semantic features of english idioms denoting richness and poverty with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC
FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING
RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH
REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA
CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỈ SỰ “GIÀU” VÀ “NGHÈO”
TRONG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)
VU THI THUY

Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC
FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING
RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH
REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE

EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA
CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỈ SỰ “GIÀU” VÀ “NGHÈO”
TRONG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

VU THI THUY

Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh

Hanoi, 2017


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
“A study on syntactic and semnatic features of English idioms denoting
richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents”
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requiremesnts 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, 2017

Vu Thi Thuy

Approved by

SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh
Date: 24/11/2017

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support
from a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly
supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas,
expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an
academic researcher.
My special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Post
Graduate Studies - Ha Noi Open University for their interesting lectures and
useful advice. I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends for idea
sharing and encouragement. It would never have been possible for me to have
this thesis accomplished without all of these valuable supports.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they
have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

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ABSTRACT
Idioms play an important role in all natural languages including English and
Vietnamese. They enrich the language. They help speakers and writers to emphasise
their ideas and make our observations, judgments, and explanations more lively and
interesting. They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning

in a few words. Effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without
idioms; therefore, they are worth studying.
This thesis is a study on syntactic and semantic featues of English idioms
denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents. The data
are 154 idioms denoting richness and poverty in both English and Vietamese collected
from some idioms dictionaries in English and Vienamese. Through a variety of
methods, namely descriptive mehod, comparative method, qualitative method and
quantitative method, the study analyzes the syntacic and semantic features of English
idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents.
The findings of the study help to find out some similarities and differences in syntax
and semantics of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and Vietnamese.
This thesis also contributes to the general understanding of syntactic and semantic
features of English idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the
Vietnamese equivalents. Moreover, the thesis also gives teachers and learners of
English some suggetions for teaching and learning English idioms denoting richness
and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents.

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
N : Noun
V : Verb
Adj : Adjective
Adv : Adverb
Prep : Preposition
NP : Noun Phrase
VP : Verb Phrase
Adj.P : Adjective phrase
Adv.P : Adverbial Phrase

PP : Prepositional Phrase
IsDR&P: Idioms denoting richness and poverty
EIsDR&P: English idioms denoting richness and poverty
VIsDR&P: Vietnamese idioms denoting richness and poverty

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1. Verb phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
Table 3.2. Noun phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P

21
25

Table 3.3. Adjective phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IDR&P
Table 3.4. Prepositional phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P

26
27

Table 3.5. Adverbial phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
27
Table 3.6. Comparative structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
28
Table 3.7. A summary of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting Richness and
Poverty in grammatical patterns

29

Table 3.8. Frequency of Syntactic Features of Idioms denoting Richness and Poverty in
English and Vietnamese
30
Table 3.9. A statistical summary of semantic features of idioms denoting Richness and
poverty in English and Vietnames
38
Table 4.1: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 1
45
Table 4.2: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 2
45
Table 4.3: Percentages of the students’ incorrect answers in exercise 4
46

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality
Acknowledgements
Abstract
List of abbreviations
List of tables and figures

i
ii
iii
iv
v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1. Rational

1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study
1.3. Research questions

2
3

1.4 Methods of the study
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 Significance of the study
1.7 Design of the study
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

3
3
4
4
6

2.1. Previous studies
2.2. Theoretical backround
2.2.1. Definition of poverty, richness and idioms
2.2.3. Typical Features of Idioms
2.2.3.1. Semantic Ambiguity

2.2.3.2. Syntactic Restriction and Stability
2.3.3.3. Inseparability of Semantic and Syntactic Features
2.2.4 Idioms and other language units

6
8
8
11
11
12
12
13

2.2.4.1 Idioms and phrases
2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs
2.2.4.3 Idioms and collocations
2.2.5 Culture and language
2.2.5.1 Concepts of culture
2.2.5.2 Culture in language

13
13
14
15
15
15

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2.2.5.3. Idioms Related to Culture
2.2.6. Classification of Idioms

16
17

2.3. Summary

17

CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURS OF ENGLISH IDIOMS
DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS.
18
3.1. Syntactic features of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and
Vietnamese
18
3.1.1. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a verb phrase.
3.1.2. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of a noun phrase 38

18
21

3.1.3. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adjective phrase. 25
3.1.4. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a prepositional phrase 26
3.1.5. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adverbial phrase 27
3.1.6. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of comparatives
27
3.2. Semantic features of English idioms enoting richness and poverty with references
to the Vietnamese equivalents

30
3.2.1. Symbolic characteristics of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and

30

Vietnamese
3.2.1.1. Metaphor

30

3.2.1.2. Metonymy
31
3.2.1.3. Hyperbole
31
3.2.1.4. Simile
32
3.2.1.5. Symmetry
32
3.2.2. Semantic fields of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting richness and poverty
32
3.2.2.1. Money
33
3.2.2.2. Food
34
3.2.2.3. Clothes
36
3.2.2.4. Other Property
36
3.3. Similarities and differences in term of syntax and semantics of English words and
idioms denoting richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalent

39

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3.3.1 Similarities
3.3.2 Differences

39
39

3.3.2.1 Syntactic Features

39

3.3.2.2 Semantic Features
39
3.4. Concluding remarks
40
CHAPTER 4: COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LEARNER IN USING ENGLISH
IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
41
4.1. Survey questionaires
4.1.1. Subjects

41
41

4.1.2. Questionaires

41
4.1.3. Procedure
42
4.2 Common errors made by learners when using English idioms denoting richness and
poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents
43
4.2.1 Common errors made by learners of English
43
4.2.2 Causes of errors
46
4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms denoting richness and povery
with references to the Vietnamese equivalents
47
4.3.1 Suggestions for learners in learning English idioms denoting richness and poverty
with references to the Vietnamese equivalents
48
4.3.2 Suggestions for teacher in teaching English idioms denoting richness and poverty
with references to the Vietnamese equivalents
50
4.4. Summary
52
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
53
5.1 Concluding remarks
53
5.2 Limitation of the study
54
5.3 Suggestions for further study

54

REFERENCES
APPENDIX

55
58

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Nowadays, English has been used in over the world. It has played a very
important role in bringing people from different countries closer and closer. In
Vietnam, English is also a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges and
universities. Vietnamese learners have been facing with many difficulties when they
learn a foreign language. To master a foreign language as well as to be able to use it
fluently is a strong desire of all learners. However, it is a difficult task for all learners
because of many obstacles that they have to face during their learning. Moreover, the
target of learning a foreign language is the ability to communicate. To be successful in
communication can only be reached when both the speakers and the listeners
understand each other. However, there are so many differences in many aspects of the
languages and cultures that cause various problems for learners in the process of
mastering a foreign language.
Moreover, the vocabulary of English consists of several hundred thousand
words and lots of idioms, and without an extensive English vocabulary, communication
in English just can not occur in a meaningful way.
In daily communication, we can see the frequent appearance of idioms. Idioms
have always attracted attention of linguists, although they were not given enough
recognition in the past. The new trends in English syntactic and semantic studies,

however, have thrown a completely different light on these multi-word units with more
or less unpredictable meanings.
Being regarded as something inherently linked with a successful acquisition of a
foreign language, idioms are of great importance in any language system. With
different levels of figurativeness they represent indispensable semantic elements that
help any foreign language speaker sound more native and proficient. It is obvious that
different languages will have different idioms, both in structure and meaning. Also the
repertoire of idioms will vary from one person to another, depending on their social or
intellectual background.
Virtually all countries, their linguistic features including the syntactic and
semantic ones may vary from country to country. It is this difference that could cause

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problems to Vietnamese learners and users of English and English learners and users of
Vietnamese as a foreign language. They could therefore commit errors in cross-cultural
communication or suffer from “culture shock”. Unfortunately, there is hardly a
research into the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness
and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents.
Accordingly, I have decided on this thesis title. I hope that my study could meet
the demand of the people who are interested in this issue, and hope it could help the
translaters, teachers and learners of English and Vietnamese as a foreign language
teach and learn English and Vietnamese better, especially the idioms denoting richness
and poverty.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study
1.2.1. Aims of the study
This thesis is aimed to find out similarities and differences between English
idioms of richness and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic
and semantic features as well as to point out some applications for teaching and

learning English idioms denoting richness and poverty.
1.2.2. Objectives of the study
To achieve the mentioned aims above, the following objectives can be put
forward
- To find out syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting
“richness” and “poverty” with referenceto the Vietnameseequivalents..
- To find out the similarities and differences between English idioms of richness
and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic
features.
- To propose some applications for teaching and learning English idioms
denoting “richness” and “poverty”.
1.3. Research questions
This research seeks to address the following questions
(i) What are syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting
“richness” and “poverty” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents?

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(ii) What are similarities and differences between English idioms of richness
and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic
features?
(iii) What are suggestions for teacher and learner in teaching and learning
idioms denoting “richness” and “poverty” in English?
1.4 Methods of the study
The study describes and compares the syntactic and semantic features of English
idioms denoting “richness” and “poverty” with references to the Vietnamese
equivalents and then withdraws some implications for teaching and learning of English
and Vietnamese as a foreign language.
The descriptive method is supposed to describe and interpret idioms denoting

richness and poverty in English and their Vietnamese equivalents to clarify the
syntactic and semantic features in English and Vietnamese.
In addition, the contrastive method is accompanied by the qualitative and
quantitative approach to identify the relationship of semantic and syntactic features,
identify the main principles of meaning transfer and find out the frequency of use of
these idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and Vietnamese.
1.5 Scope of the study
There are a variety of English idioms denoting richness and poverty. However,
due to the time allowance and limited knowledge, it is impossible to carry out a
comprehensive study of all kinds of English idiomatic expressions. Within the
framework of a mater graduation thesis, English idioms denoting richness and poverty
with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents could be put under investigation of this
thesis.
This thesis mainly focuses on syntactic and semantic features of English idioms
denoting richness and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents. Other aspects are out
of the scope of this study. They, although can be found somewhere in this paper, are
only meant to support of illustrate some arguments of the author.

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1.6 Significance of the study
With the purpose of doing a research into the syntactic and semantic features of
English idiomse denoting richness and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese
equivalents, this study could help:
- Native Vietnamese learners of English or Vietnamese and native English
learners of Vietnamese or English have a comprehensive understanding about the
syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting richness and poverty in these
languages.
- These learners grasp the use of idioms denoting richness and poverty in these

two languages and use them effectively in their learning process as well as in their
daily life.
1.7 Design of the study
The study is organized into five chapters: Introduction, Literature review,
Findings and Discussion, Applications and Conclusion.
Chapter 1 - Introduction: Presents the rationale to the study, aims and objectives
of the research, research question, methods of the study, scope of the research,
significance of the study and structure of the thesis.
Chapter 2 - Literature Review: Provides the readers with the literature review of
the research, which attempts to present the theoretical background including general
understanding about language learning process, an overview of English idioms
denoting “richness” and “poverty” and their Vietnamese equivalents.
Chapter 3 – Syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness
and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents: Present syntactic and
semantic features of English idioms denoting “Richness” and “Poverty” with reference
to the Vietnamese equivalents. The features are accompanied by statistical results and
the analysis of the data shown in the tables.
Chapter 4- Common errors made by learners when using English idioms
denoting richness and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents: Work
with some implications for teaching and learning English dioms denoting “Richness”
and “Poverty”

4


Chapter 5 - Conclusions: Summarize the thesis with concluding remarks. Also,
the limitations of the study are presented with suggestions for further studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review serves two main purposes. Firstly it gives a review of
previous studies related to English idioms in general and English idioms denoting
richness and poverty in particular. Secondly it presents and discusses the theoretical
background which guides and plays as the foundation for this research thesis to base on
in the process of conducting the whole research.
2.1. Previous studies
Idioms have attracted many language researchers all over the world. Idioms
carry a large amount of nationally or culturally specific information with them. It can
be said that idioms are an interesting and popular phenomenon of every language. Up
to now, there have been a number of writers making investigations into English and
Vietnamese idioms.
For foreign writers, a lot of books and dictionaries have brought us with great
benefit. For example, “A Course in Modern English Lexicology” by Ginzburg et al.
(1979) pointed out that non-motivated word-groups whose lexical meaning is not
deducible from that of their components are described as idioms. Also, he gave the
assumptions that non-motivated word-groups have function as wordequivalents
because of their semantic and grammatical inseparability.
Not only Ginzburg but also Halliday - a grammarian- has been interested in
usage of idioms and the role of idioms within a certain context. In “An Introduction to
Functional Grammar” Halliday (1985), there have been the explanation of structural
grammar, the relationship between grammar and semanticsa “a ‘functional’ grammar
means that it is based on meaning but the fact that is a ‘grammar’ means that it is an
interpretation of linguistic form” and especially in the light of Halliday’s view, idioms
are regarded as a class of group.
According to Cowie, Mackin & McCaig (1994), idioms are carefully collected
and categorized into alphabetical arrangement. Moreover, their meanings and examples
of usage in English are also mentioned and explained.
In “Idioms and Idiomaticity”, Chitra Fernando (1996) provides a comprehensive

treatment of idioms and idiomaticity from a functional perspective. It examines the use

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of idioms in discourse to combine the novel and the conventional, to convey
representations of the world, evaluate people and situations, signal conviviality or
conflict, and create coherent, cohesive texts. This book goes on to consider
implications for language learning and development.
In “Idiom Structure in English” (Makkai, 1972), the concept of idiomaticity
areas is introduced and the membership of each is illustrated with a small number of
typical examples. Each type of idiom in the first idiomaticity area (lexemic system) and
the second idiomaticity area (sematic system) is described in terms of its internal
structure and assigned a label. This discussion of the idiomaticity areas and their
membership is integrated with a general definition of the idiom in both the lexicology
and the semiology. By describing these two idiomaticity areas, the author suggests a
framework by which all types of English idioms have been mentioned.
Furthermore, “Idioms Organization” is a book that John Wright (1992) has
written about the idioms organized by metaphor, topic and key word. The book “The
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Ammer (1997) or “Oxford Dictionary of
English Idioms” by Richards (1987), 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, the first researchers having important contributions to this field
we must mention are Nguyen Luc and Nguyen Van Dang. 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. Moreover, Nguyễn Trần Trụ who wrote “Thành ngữ tục ngữ lược giải”
explains meanings of the most common idioms and proverbs in such simple, clear

ways that learners can use this book for consulting and reference purposes.
There are also many authors have studied about idioms such as “Thành Ngữ và
Tục Ngữ Việt Nam Chọn Lọc” by Tran Quang Man (2002), “Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh
Việt” by La Thanh (2006). Vinh Ba (1999), Nguyen Lan (1994) are writers who
supplied a large amountof idioms, their variants are collected with examples originally
extracted fromnovels, newspapers, magazines and so on. Hoang Van Hanh (2002) gave
out his comments about idioms in the book “Thành ngữ học Tiếng Việt”. In which, he

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studied many aspects of Vietnamese idioms as well as collected and categorized these
idioms. Besides, Vu Dung, Vu Thuy Anh, Vu Quang Hao (1993) wrote dictionaries in
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 papers such as
Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai (2015) with “A study on English idioms denoting fear with
references to the Vietnamese equivalents”; Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong (2015) with “A
study on structural and semantic features of English idioms denoting anger with
references to the Vietnamese equivalents”; Nguyen Thi Cam Van (2012) with “A study
of linguistic features of proverbs expressing richness and poverty in English versus
Vietnamese” and so on. However, up to now, there have been no studies about idioms
denoting richness and poverty. This is the reason why this study comes into being in
an attempt to focus on semantic and syntactic features of English idioms denoting
richness and poverty with references to the Vietnamese equivalents.
2.2. Theoretical backround
2.2.1. Definition of poverty, richness and idioms
2.2.1.1 Definition of Poverty

There are many definitions of poverty depending on the context of the situation
and the views of the person giving the definition. For instance, World Bank states that
“Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It
includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services
necessary for survival with dignity.
Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to
clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient
capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.” ("Poverty and Inequality Analysis".
worldbank.org.)
According to poverty is the state of one
who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.

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2.2.1.2 Definition of Richness
Unlike the word poverty, there are hardly various definitions for the word
richness. According to Từ điển Tiếng Việt (1992), richness is defined that “có nhiều
tiền của; trái với nghèo”.
The
definition
above
corresponds
to
the
one
from
Accordingly, richness is defined as the
state of having an abundant supply of money, property, or possessions of value.
2.2.1.3. Definition of idioms

Up to now, there are many definitions of idioms."If natural language had been
designed by a logician, idioms would not exist." (Philip Johnson-Laird, 1993) Idioms
exist in probably all languages - the definition of idiom is a construction whose
meaning cannot be logically deduced from the words that make it up. Chiefly, their
importance is that they are a major area of difficulty for non-native learners; although
illogical, idioms have to be learned because they are used a lot in conversational native
English speech.
According to Wikipedia “An idiom is a
word or phrase which means something different from what it says - it is usually a
metaphor. Idioms are common phrases or terms whose meaning are not real, but can be
understood by their popular use.” In “Idiom structure in English”, Makkai (1972),
defines an idiom as “any polylexonic lexeme made up of more than one minimal free
form of word (as defined by morphotactic criteria), each lexeme of which can occur in
other environments as the realization of a monoloxonic lexeme”. It can be seen that
idioms can mean something different from what the words mean.
Fernando (1996) defines idioms as being a type of “conventionalized multiword
expressions”, and “individual units whose components cannot be varied or varied only
within definable limits” and “not usually recombinable”, as well as referring only to
“those expressions which become conventionally fixed in a specific order and lexical
form, or have a restricted set of variants, acquire the status of idioms and are recorded
in idiom dictionaries”. Jennifer Seidl and W McMordie (1978) share the same point of
view with Hornby (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 1995) and Longman

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Idioms Dictionary (1998) and give the definition: “An idiom is a number of word
which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the
idiom when they stand alone”.
Idioms are composed of more than one word: their constituents show to some

extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words. An idiom typically
resists interruption and re-ordering of its constituents. For example, the idiom ‘kick the
bucket’ will lose its idiomatic meaning if it is re-ordered into ‘the bucket which is
kicked’. According to Palmer (1990), idioms as consequences of words whose meaning
cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves. Semantically, idioms
are single units, but they are not single grammatical units like words. He also printed
out some restriction in syntactic features and noted that the problem of idioms was
involved with the much wider issue of word formation, by which what would appear to
be new and more complex lexemes can be formed from single ones.
Collins Cobuild (1995) defines: ‘An idiom is a special kind of phrase. It is a
group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one it
would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually…Idioms are typical
metaphorical: they are effectively metaphors which have become ‘fixed’ or ‘fossilised’.
In Vietnamese, idioms have also attracted a lot of the interest of researchers.
Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Dinh Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien state in “Cơ sở ngôn ngữ học và
tiếng Việt” (1997) that “idioms are groups of words which are syntactically restricted
and have a particular meaning. Their meanings are often imaginative and figurative”.
Hoang Van Hanh defines in “Kể chuyện thành ngữ, tục ngữ” (2002) that idioms are set
expressions which are stable in theirmorpho – structure, complete and figurative in
their meaning, usedwidely in daily communication, especially in speech.
Generally, most of the authors showed that idiom is a group of words whose
meaning cannot be understood from the meanings of individual words in it. All things
considered, idioms are sayings that reflect accumulated human experiences and are
built on frequently occurring situations, which demonstrate human behavior, social
traits, certain habits or tradition in a country. They almost represent life lessons and are
a heritage of those accumulated events that make up the conscious of a nation or
humankind in general.

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2.2.3. Typical Features of Idioms
2.2.3.1. Semantic Ambiguity
As for Jackson and Zé Amvela in An introduction to Modern English
Lexicology (2000), idioms may be characterized by several features, but one of the
main features of idioms is semantic ambiguity “Since most idioms are constructed
from morphemes that are also used nonidiomatically, they may have either a literal or
an idiomatic meaning” (Jackson and Zé Amvela, 2000) which resulted in their
ambiguity in meaning. For example, if someone wants to “play gooseberry”, they may
be in fact in the process of game with the gooseberry (literal meaning) or they may
accompany two people who have a romantic relationship and want to be alone
(idiomatic meaning). In fact, once a reader or hearer realizes that the literal meaning is
unsuitable in the context, he will seek out the idiomatic meaning. When the ambiguity
still exists, it is difficult to reach final decision in respect of the notion idioms and its
content. Clearly “the context in which the idiom occurs also plays an important role in
the reduction of this potential ambiguity” (Jackson and Zé Amvela, p.67). Furthermore,
both “literal meaning” and “transferred meaning” are in an idiom (Palmer, 1990).
Transferred meaning is one of reason causing semantic ambiguity. According to
Nguyen Hoa (1998), transference of meaning includes mainly metaphor and
metonymy, comparison and so on. Hence, the more ambiguous an idiom is, the more
difficulties a language learner will face with its interpretation. In the book “Semantics”,
Palmer (1990) said that “one of the most familiar kinds of relationships between
meanings is that of metaphor where a word appears to have both a literal meaning and
one or more transferred meanings”. Great attention will be spent on the characteristic
of semantic ambiguity of idiom, in this thesis the author analyzes idioms in certain
situation and context combined with the means of transferring which are manifested in
meaning ways such as metaphor, metonymy, symmetry, simile by Palmer (1990) and
Nguyen Hoa (1998).
However, idioms become interesting and colorful thanks for their semantic
ambiguity of idioms. Additionally, idioms add humor, imagery, spice to language and

dress up messages in a colourful way. In this thesis, idioms are analyzed in both
aspects of semantic and syntactic features through their phrases.

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2.2.3.2. Syntactic Restriction and Stability
In idioms studies of many linguists, the characteristic features of idioms are not
only “semantic ambiguity” but also “syntactic restriction” and “stability”. It was
discovered by Yong and Peng (2007) “idioms are characterized by semantic
opaqueness, syntactic restrictions and structural stability”. What is more, it is
interesting to note that “although idioms consist of more than one word, they display to
some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words” by Cruse,
D.A. (1986). That is to say, therefore, that the elements in idioms usually bound
together. Hardly can idioms be inserted any word to satisfy users’ intention. The
English idiom “a peach” used to describe an outstandingly beautiful girl cannot be
inserted with any words without causing of losing its original meaning. Or put “thì
phải” before “trả đào” in Vietnamese idiom “ăn mận trả đào”. However, sometimes the
insertion in Vietnamese idioms can be acceptable. Let us take examples, “đỏ như gấc”
and “đỏ như gấc chín”.
We cannot also change the order of components in idioms as “they have fixed
form that usually cannot be changed” (Heacock, 2003). For instance, the English idiom
“apples and oranges” cannot be changed into “oranges and apples”, or the Vietnamese
idiom “bẻ lựu hái đào” cannot be turned into “bẻ đào hái lựu” because doing so would
hinder the temp of perception of the users and the above expressions are not surely
idioms.
Moreover, it is an undeniable fact that there are many grammatical restrictions
in idioms. A large number of idioms contain a verb and a noun, although the verb may
be placed in any tense, the number of the noun can rarely be changed. For example,
with the idiom “give someone the raspberry”, we can have “gave someone the

raspberry” but not “give someone the raspberries”.
In brief, in terms of syntactic feature, the idiomatic meaning can be lost if there
is any change and idioms may take many different forms or structures.
2.3.3.3. Inseparability of Semantic and Syntactic Features
In researching process of language, there are a lot of aspects studied by many
linguists. However, in “An Outline of Syntax” of Nguyen Hoa Lac (2000) “The
achievements of the structuralists are many. Perhaps the most important, the

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structuralists noted that the study of language can and should be divided into two parts:
syntax and semantics”. In this book, he also stated that form in language is one of ways
to get the meaning in language or “form underlines meaning”. Further, in any
language, any body of text, written or spoken always has a grammatical structure and
meaning system that lie behind the text. That is to say the structure of a word, a phrase,
a clause or a sentence cannot go without its semantic feature. In fact, semantics is the
one that can explain everything and give meanings, syntax conceived as structure,
grammar, lexicon, sounds and intonation, is the means to understand and explain the
meanings. Besides, according to Wierzbicka in Cross – Cultural Pragmatics – The
Semantics of Human Interaction (1991) “language is an integrated system where
everything ‘conspires’ to convey meaning: words, grammatical constructions and
various devices…meaning consists in human interpretation of the world.” From this
interwoven relationship, in my thesis Idioms denoting richness and poverty are
analyzed in the association of semantics and syntax.
2.2.4 Idioms and other language units
2.2.4.1 Idioms and phrases
Phrase is a short group of words which are often used together or a sequence of
two or more words arranged in a grammatical construction and acting as a conceptual
unit. As in Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic (1987),

it is defined “is a group of words which form a grammatical unit. A phrase does not
contain a finite verb and does not have a subject-predicate structure”. Distinguishing
between idioms and phrases is a difficult task. Many idioms may be erroneously
comprehended as phrases and vice versa. Idioms tend to be frozen in form and are not
ready to take part in other combination. Whereas, the meaning of phrases is the free
addition of the meanings of the words existing in the phrase.
2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs
Both idioms and proverb are set expressions, stable in structure and are readymade units for reproduction. The clear reflection of national characteristic of the people
using them is another similarity. However they are quite different in grammatical and
semantic nature.

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A proverb is a folksy saying but an idiom is a folksy saying unique to a culture
or ethnic group. A proverb is a statement that reveals wisdom or an experience shared
by many people. In the book “Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam”, Nguyen Lan
(1994) states that “Proverbs are completed sentences with full meanings, they say
about an advice, an experience or a comment…” Proverbs is usually known by many
people, stating something commonly experienced or giving advice or a short popular
saying, usually of ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or
useful thought.
Hoang Van Hanh is an expert of linguistics, he has had a lot of studies about
idioms and proverbs. In his book “Thành ngữ học tiếng Việt” (2008) he distinguished
the differences between them. He indicated “Idioms are special set expressions that
express the conceptions figuratively meanwhile proverbs are special sentences that
express judges imaginatively”. He stated proverbs are sentences and their roles are art
messages.
From the point of views of linguistics, we can identify the proverbs and idioms.
For example, the following are proverbs “Thuận vợ thuận chồng tát biển Đông cũng

cạn; Đói lòng ăn hột chà là/Để cơm nuôi mẹ, mẹ già yếu răng; Mẹ nuôi con bằng trăm
bằng bể/ Con nuôi mẹ con kể tháng ngày…” but these are idioms “Chồng hòa vợ
thuận; Mẹ góa con côi; Có nếp có tẻ…”
In short, proverbs are colloquial sentences. They are formed by people’s
experiences and moralities or they are based on brainpower to consider about human
beings and universe.
2.2.4.3 Idioms and collocations
Collocations are defined in The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics ‘are
associations of two or more lexemes (or roots) recognized in and defined by their
occurrence in a specific range of grammatical constructions’. Heav-+Rain is one such
abstract composite, realized in the patterns heavy rain and rain heavily. So collocations
and idioms share several common features. Both of them are fixed groups of words, are
highly restricted and have arbitrary limitation on use. Collocations provide the mutual
expectancy of words, or the ability of a word to predict the likelihood of another word
occurring. For example: the adjective ‘serious’ predicts nouns, primarily damage or

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face or illness, whereas one component of idioms, being semantically opaque, that
helps readers/listeners to see the boundary between them, thus ‘rain heavily’ is a
collocation but ‘rain cats and dogs’ is an idiom.
2.2.5 Culture and language
2.2.5.1 Concepts of culture
Culture is our life. It appears to be the truth that we are trying to find
significance of culture in our life. Culture is defined “the total set of beliefs, attitudes,
customs, behaviour, social habits etc. of the members of a particular society”. The
value of ourselves lie in what the word culture refers to as the whole social system of
transmitted ideas, beliefs, behavioral patterns, including language, actions, attitudes,
value and knowledge specific to a particular society. In his “Intercultural

Communication”, Nguyen Quang presents the definition of culture as “a share
background (e.g. national, ethic, religious) resulting from a common language and
communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values”.
The concept culture in this thesis does not mean “the arts” (literature, painting,
music, and the like) but is “the specialized behavioral patterns, understanding,
adaptations, and social systems that summarize a group of people’s learned way of
life”. Supporting this view, Tran Ngoc Them describes culture as an organic system of
material and spiritual values created and accumulated during human process of real
activity as well as their contact with natural and social environment.
2.2.5.2 Culture in language
The relationship between culture and language is highly closed. Language and
culture are undoubtedly closely integrated and interdependent during their whole
development processes. It is possible to say language is one of the top important
elements of any cultures, for it reserves and reflects most apparently that culture’s
characteristics.
In ‘Language and culture’, Kramsch mentioned the inseparable relationship of
language and culture into 3 parts: the first, language expresses cultural reality because
people use words to reflect their ideas, events, attitudes and beliefs; their point of view,
knowledge about the world that other people share; the second, language embodies

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