A study of idioms by food in english and vietnamese from a perspective of components

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

KHƢƠNG THỊ THỦY

A STUDY OF IDIOMS BY FOOD IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE FROM A PERSPECTIVE OF COMPONENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU THÀNH NGỮ THUỘC CHỦ ĐỀ THỰC PHẨM
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT TỪ BÌNH DIỆN HỢP PHẦN)

M.A. THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018


`

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

KHƢƠNG THỊ THỦY

A STUDY OF IDIOMS BY FOOD IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE FROM A PERSPECTIVE OF COMPONENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU THÀNH NGỮ THUỘC CHỦ ĐỀ THỰC PHẨM
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT TỪ BÌNH DIỆN HỢP PHẦN)

M.A. THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D.

Hanoi, 2018


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled “A Study of Idioms by Food in English and Vietnamese from a Perspective
of Components” 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, 2018
Student‟s Signature

Khƣơng Thị Thủy

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph. D.
Date:……………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from
my suppervisor, teachers and closest relatives.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Đặng
Nguyên Giang, Ph. D, 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.
Many thanks go to my colleagues and many others whose support and
encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for their patience,
endless love, and devotion. Whatever choices I have made, they have always stood
by me and believed in me. I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have
given me.
It is the support of all of the above that has enabled the completion of this
study, and for this I remain eternally grateful.

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ABSTRACT

An investigation of idioms by food in English and Vietnamese in terms of
structural and semantic components is carried out in the present study. The study is
done in the hope to reach the three objectives: (1) uncovering how the components
of idioms by food are organized structurally and semantically in English and
Vietnamese, (2) finding out the similarities and differences between English and
Vietnamese idioms by food in terms of structural and semantic components, (3)
giving some implications for teaching and learning idioms by food through
component analysis. The study also uses the componential analysis and descriptive

methods to describe in details structural and semantic components of idioms by
food in English and Vietnamese. Besides, the contrastive analysis will be used to
identify the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms by
food in terms of structural and semantic components. The findings of the study are
concerned with the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese
idioms by food in terms of (1) structural components and (2) semantic components.
In order to collect the data, a hand search approach of the dictionaries in both
languages has been conducted, which helps to establish a corpus of 162 idioms by
food in English and 167 idioms by food in Vietnamese. The collected data forms a
corpus under three categories: symmetrical idioms by food (11 for English and 79
for Vietnamese), similized idioms by food (42 for English and 45 for Vietnamese),
and non-symmetrical idioms by food (109 for English and 43 for Vietnamese).The
findings of the current study also reveal that most of the idioms in both English and
Vietnamese are analyzable and have meanings that are at least partly motivated. The
thesis also presents the implications for idiom teaching and learning.

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Classification of symmetrical figurative idioms in Vietnamese

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(Hoàng Văn Hành 2008: 76)
Figure 2.2: Classification of non-symmetrical figurative idioms in
Vietnamese (Hoàng Văn Hành 2008: 100)

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Figure 2.3: Classification of similized idioms in Vietnamese (Hoàng Văn
17

Hành 2008: 115)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ii

ABSTRACT

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

v

CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION

1

1.1. Rationale

1

1.2. Aims of the Study

2

1.3. Research Questions

3

1.4. Methods of the Study

3

1.5. Scope of the Study

3

1.6. Significance of the Study

3

CHAPTER 2.LITERATURE REVIEW

6

2.1. Theoretical Background

6

2.1.1. Idioms Defined

6

2.1.2. Syntactic and Semantic Features of Idioms

8

2.1.3. Idioms Classified

11

2.1.4. Idioms and other Language Units

18

2.2. Previous Research

21

2.2.1. Previous Research Works on Idioms Carried out in Foreign Countries

21

2.2.2. Previous Research Works on Idioms Carried out in Vietnam

22

2.3. Summary

25

CHAPTER 3.METHODOLOGY

27

3.1 Subjects

27

3.2 Instruments

28

3.3. Procedures

29

3.4. Data Analysis

30

3.5. Summary

36

CHAPTER 4.STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC COMPONENTS OF IDIOMS BY
FOOD IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

37

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4.1. Structural Components of Idioms by Food in English and Vietnamese

37

4.1.1. Symmetrical Idioms by Food

37

4.1.2. Similized Idioms by Food

39

4.1.3. Non-Symmetrical Idioms by Food

41

4.2. Semantic Components of Idioms by Food in English and Vietnamese

45

4.2.1. Motivation Degrees of Symmetrical Idioms by Food

45

4.2.2. Motivation Degrees of Similized Idioms by Food

46

4.2.3. Motivation Degrees of Non-symmetrical Idioms by Food

48

4.2.4. Composition of Semantic Components of Idioms by Food in English and
Vietnamese

50

4.3. English and Vietnamse Idioms by Food Compared in Terms of Structural and
Semantic Components

52

4.3.1. Structural and Semantic Components Found in both Languages

52

4.3.2. Structural and Semantic Components Unique to English

53

4.3.3. Structural and Semantic Components Unique to Vietnamese

53

4.4. Implications for Idiom Teaching and Learning

54

4.4.1. Participants

54

4.4.2. Data Collection

54

4.4.3. Findings and Discussions

57

4.5. Summary

59

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION

61

5.1. Summary of the Findings

61

5.2. Concluding Remarks

62

5.3. Recommendations for Further Studies

63

REFERENCES

65

APPENDIX 1

I

A CORPUS OF 162 IDIOMS BY FOOD IN ENGLISH

I

APPENDIX 2

VII

A CORPUS OF 167 IDIOMS BY FOOD IN VIETNAMESE

VII

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale
In Vietnam, English has long been regarded as a tool of international
communication, and together with its rising importance, the need of learning
English is becoming more and more urgent. It can't be denied that all foreign
learners in general and Vietnamese learners in particular desire to master English as
the native speakers; however, they usually face a lot of difficulties that prevent them
from gaining successful conversations. One of the reasons for these problems lies in
the way people perceive and use idioms.
Idiom is often defined as “a group of words which have a different meaning
when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word was
taken individually”. In fact, idioms are frequently heard and read in everyday
speech and in literature thanks to their succinctness, vividness and especially
quintessence in every language. Idioms in this way bear the cultural features of a
country in which they are used. In order to understand as well as translate idioms
from a language into another one, knowledge of not only linguistic aspects but also
of cultural reality has to be involved. Therefore, there may be nothing strange in the
fact that gaining an insight into English idioms is not only a wish but also a
necessity to any English learners.
Actually, studying idioms is not new; nonetheless, it has never been old. In
Vietnam, there exist three approaches in studying idioms: etymology, synchronic
evolution, and comparison and contrastive analysis (Hoàng Văn Hành, 2008).
Firstly, the investigations on idioms under etymology go into macro field. These
studies focus on the formation and transformation of each idiom during its

existence. It is hard work taking a lot of time and energy. The method mainly used
in these studies is the etymologizing, i.e. the origins of idioms are recovered in
order to make the forms and the idiomatic meanings transparent. Hoàng Văn Hành

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(2002) and Tiêu Hà Minh (2007) are the typical authors who pay attention to this
area. The second approach in studying idioms is synchronic evolution. Descriptive
method is used in these studies from which the underlying cultural factors behind
the idioms are partly interpretable. This area of study attracts a lot of authors such
as Trương Đông San (1974), Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang (1978), Nguyễn
Công Đức (1995), Hoàng Văn Hành (2008), etc. Studying idioms under comparison
and contrastive analysis is the third approach. The studies under original recovery
and synchronic evolution are the backgrounds for comparison and contrastive
works. Several attempts have been made to work out the similarities and differences
between English and Vietnamese in terms of emotion expressing idioms (Nguyễn
Văn Trào, 2009), idiomatic verb phrases (Nguyễn Văn Long, 2010), idiom
translation (Nguyễn Thị Lan, 2001; Hoàng Thị Minh Phúc, 2009), structural and
semantic components of idioms (Đặng Nguyên Giang, 2014), etc.
There have been so far studies on idioms such terms as colors, geography,
animals, time and so on from different perspectives. However, there have not been
any studies investigating idioms related to food in English and Vietnamese from a
perspective of components. As a result, the present study is carried out to find out
the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of idioms
by food from the perspective of components.
1.2. Aims of the Study
The study is conducted to improve the English teaching and learning in
general and idiom teaching and learning in particular. The findings of the study, to
some extent, help the teachers and the learners have a better way to improve English

and Vietnamese idioms. The present study is done in the hope to reach the
following objectives:
- to uncover how the components of idioms by food are organized
structurally and semantically in English and Vietnamese;
- to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese
idioms by food in terms of structural and semantic components;

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- to give some implications for teaching and learning idioms by food through
component analysis.
1.3. Research Questions
The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the research questions as
follows:
- How are the components of idioms by food organized structurally and
semantically in English and Vietnamese?
- What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese
idioms by food in terms of structural and semantic components?
- What are the implications for teaching and learning idioms by food through
component analysis?
1.4. Methods of the Study
Due to the main aims and objectives of the study, description, componential
analysis and contrastive exploitation would be mainly carried out throughout the
process. Also, the thesis makes use of the English language as the target and the
Vietnamese one as the source language (the base language).
Componential analysis and descriptive methods are used to describe in
details structural and semantic components of idioms by food in English and
Vietnamese.
Contrastive analysis will be used to identify the similarities and differences

between English and Vietnamese idioms by food in terms of structural and semantic
components.
1.5. Scope of the Study
Due to the duration of time and length as well as the reference available,
this thesis does focus on the idioms by food in both English and Vietnamese from
structural and semantic component perspective selected from recently published
dictionaries. All the authors of these works affirm that the idioms in their books are
both current and used, or at least understood, by most native speakers. It means that

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the study is deliberately limited to idioms by food usually used in daily
conversations.
1.6. Significance of the Study
Theoretically, the findings of the study, to some extent, prove that the
components forming idioms can be analyzed from both structural and semantic
perspectives. The idioms by food are quite popular in both English and Vietnamese;
therefore, the investigation is highly reliable in terms of theoretical framework
suggested.
Practically, with the purpose of making a study on the components of idioms
by food in English and Vietnamese, the study will be able to provide Vietnamese
learners of English with better mastering how to apply this kind of idioms in
sensible ways and how to understand the meanings of idioms thoroughly,
effectively and naturally. Besides, the findings of the study, to some extent, will
also help the students improve their idioms in general and idioms by food in
particular.
1.7 Design of the study
The study is divided into five chapters namely: Introduction, Literature
review, Methodology, Finding discussion, and Conclusion, of which major contents

consists of five chapters are as follows:
Chapter 1 presents the rationale for the research, the aims and the objectives
of the study, the research questions, the scope of the research, the significances of
research as well as design of the study.
Chapter 2 discusses some previous studies on different kinds of idioms by
food in English and Vietnamese and the theoretical background about idioms by
food.
Chapter 3 discusses issues of methodology and outline

subjects, data

collection instruments, procedure of data collection, statistical analysis and
summary content of this chapter.

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Chapter 4 presents the studying idioms by food under comparison and
contrastive analysis, identify the similarities and differencies between English and
Vietnamese idioms by food in term of structural and semantic components. The
pedagogical implication of the study as well as summary content of this chapter are
also presented
Chapter 5 makes conclusions on each of the research objectives,
implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.
References come at the end of the study.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Theoretical Background
2.1.1. Idioms Defined
Words have their own meanings. They, however, do not just come
individually; they also come in expressions or in groups. Idioms are among the most
common of these expressions. And it seems impossible to master a language
without learning idioms – a very important part of the language. What is an idiom?
The question may have several answers.
Many linguists such as Robins (1989), Palmer (1981) and others regard
idioms as a special kind of collocation. The meaning of an idiom, however, cannot
be deduced from the meaning of its constituents. An idiom is distinguished from a
collocation, for a collocation is a sequence of lexical items which habitually cooccur and each lexical constituent of a collocation is a semantic component. Hornby
(1995) argued in his Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, an idiom is “a phrase
or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words
and which must be learnt as a whole unit”. Sharing the same point of view, Seidl
and Mordie (1988) defined “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together,
mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand
alone”. For instance, the collocation of kick and the bucket forms an idiom meaning
die, which is not systematically determinable from the meanings of kick and the
bucket. This idiom or phrasal lexeme is formally identical with the phrase kick the
bucket whose meaning is systematically determinable on the basis of the meaning of
the lexemes of which it is composed – hit a certain type of container for liquids
with their foot.
Nguyễn Công Đức (1995) studies Vietnamese idioms from formal-semantic
perspectives. It can be said that it is a research investigating idioms quite
systematically from both structural and semantic perspectives. Based on the forms,
he divides Vietnamese idioms into three categories: symmetrical idioms, similized

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idioms and ordinary idioms. For symmetrical idioms, the most important
characteristic is the reciprocal or contrast of meaning of the two parts of idioms, i.e.
it is the relation of symmetrical contents. From this relation, symmetrical idioms
form other relations such as the relation of symmetrical words, i.e. symmetry or
repetition between components. Like other linguists, he supposes that similized
idioms are formed according a general formula A như B (e.g. đẹp như tiên (very
beautiful), trắng như ngà (very white), nhảy như choi choi (jump continuously),
etc). Ordinary idioms are generally formed by phrases, especially verb phrases: gửi
trứng cho ác (believe in wicked people), nói toạc móng heo (speak out one‟s mind),
đánh bùn sang ao (do something with no results), etc. Additionally, this kind of
idioms also has subject – predicate pattern: chuột sa chĩnh gạo (be very lucky to
have a comfortable life), ếch ngồi đáy giếng (have limited knowledge), chó ngáp
phải ruồi (be in luck), etc. The meaning formation process of idioms consists of
three stages: creating constituent parts including explicit and implicit components,
establishing the meanings through the internal relations among components,
generalizing and identifying the idiomatic meanings with things and concepts in
everyday life. He also comments that the meanings of idioms are generally formed
according to symmetrical, contrastive, harmonious, convergent and sudden
relations.
Hoàng Văn Hành (2008, p. 31) states that an idiom is a fixed group of words
which is firm in terms of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meaning,
and is widely used in daily speaking. The fixed properties of an idiom can be
realized as follows: (i) the words of an idiom are generally fixed. It means that the
components forming an idiom are unchanged in using; (ii) the fixed characteristic of
the structure of an idiom is expressed by the fixed order of the components forming
an idiom.
As can be seen from the above definitions, there are different ways of
defining an idiom. In general, most of the linguists share the same point that an

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idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning can not be worked out by looking at the
meaning of its individual words
2.1.2. Syntactic and Semantic Features of Idioms
i) Syntactic and Semantic Features of English Idioms
It is very easy to realize that most idioms are fixed expressions. There are no
changes in structure, word order and lexicology. We can take the idiom black and
blue (of bruises) as an example. It would sound uncanny if we changed it into blue
and black. It means that it wouldn‟t make sense. Moreover, when an idiom is used
in a complete sentence, it is hardly change into passive voice. Let us consider the
idiom to stuff one’s face in the sentence She is stuffing her face with chocolates
(She is eating a lot of chocolates); It would be unnatural to say Her face is stuffed
with chocolates.
However, some other idioms are more flexible; we can make some changes
if they don‟t lose their idiomatic meaning. This means that idioms are only fixed in
some of their parts but not all. The alteration of component words can help to form
a different idiom of the same or different meaning. Appearing on the mass media is
in this way of using. They no longer keep the full form of the idiom but add some
more components to make it more vivid, particularly effective when writing articles.
We can change the tense of the verb in the idiom to give someone the cold shoulder
(to treat someone in a cold or unfriendly way), or the verb in to have one’s finger
with to get one’s finger.
In addition, idioms may take many different forms or structures. Some
idioms are noun phrases such as tender age, a black sheep, forty winks, etc. Some
are verb phrases such as to spare one’s blushes, to do someone proud, to cut one’s
coat according to one’s cloth, etc. The most important thing is that an idiom can
have its own regular, irregular or even incorrect grammatical structure. to be at
large is an example of grammatical irregularity. The idiom is formed by verb +

preposition + adjective. In English, no structure like this is normally accepted

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because an adjective doesn‟t usually come after a preposition singly. However, this
can be considered as an exception in language.
When mentioning the semantic features of an idiom, we often talk about its
meaning. A linguist said “the meaning of an idiom is the special chemical mixture
of all components‟ meaning, which is completely new in quality”. This means that
it is very important to understand idioms metaphorically. We cannot usually
discover the meanings by looking up the individual words in a dictionary when
studying idioms; most of the idioms are metaphorical rather than literal. For
example, in order to understand the idiom (to feel) like fish out of water, we have to
consider its meaning metaphorically as to feel uncomfortable because of unfamiliar
surroundings.
Another feature concerning itself with semantics is that idioms can range
from positive, neutral to negative meaning. Some idioms have positive meanings
such as a willing horse (a keen worker), to get it into one’s head (deeply
understand), or to warm the cockles of one’s heart (to make someone feel pleased or
happy). Some have neutral meanings as to watch the world go by (observe the
others while doing nothing oneself), etc. And many other idioms are negative. For
instance, crocodile tears means insincere tears, to waste one’s breath means to talk
or give advice without having any effects, or to wash one’s dirty linen in public
means to discuss or argue about one’s personal affairs in public, etc. All those
examples show that the nuances of idiomatic meanings are very complicated. They
mainly depend on the nuances of their key components.
ii) Syntactic and Semantic Features of Vietnamese Idioms
Most of Vietnamese linguists have had the same point of view about the
forms of Vietnamese idioms. Nguyễn Văn Tu (1976) says “Idioms are fixed

expressions whose word components do not have their own individual meanings
and become a solid block”. He emphasizes the combination of the components
forming the meaning of idioms. Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1975) does consider an idiom
as a fixed expression. Although Nguyễn Đức Dân (1986) does not focus on the

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forms of Vietnamese idioms, he deals with the fixation of idioms. He writes
“Idioms are language units which have fixed forms”. Hoàng Văn Hành (1987)
attaches special importance to the components forming idioms. He affirms that an
idiom is a fixed group of words whose form is unchanged.
It can be said that Vietnamese idioms are fixed groups of words whose
forms are unchanged: the fixed combination comes from settled words and
expressions such as bắt cá hai tay (run after two hares), mèo mù vớ cá rán (The
devil looks after his own), cá chậu chim lồng (behind prison bars), ăn chắc mặc bền
(solidity first), chuột sa chĩnh gạo (get a windfall), etc. The fixation shows that we
cannot change the order of words or use the synonyms (similar words) to replace
any components of an idiom in a casual way. This is a basic feature helping us to
realize idioms easily. However, in fact, there are some fixed expressions which are
not idioms such as bánh xe lịch sử (the wheel of history), gia đình văn hóa (good
family), khoa học kỹ thuật (sciences and techniques) etc. Therefore, in order to
realize an idiom correctly, we can not only look at this feature but also other ones.
There have been a lot of different opinions about the semantic features of
Vietnamese idioms. According to Nguyễn Văn Mệnh (1972), an idiom introduces
an image, a phenomenon, a state, a personality, an attitude, etc. This opinion is quite
simple and general. In 1986, he gave his own new point of view: Idioms have their
own meanings and nominative functions, and are used in daily speaking. Nguyễn
Văn Tú (1976) says “The meaning of an idiom does not come from individual
components which may have their images or not. Its meaning can be different from

the meaning of each component or does come from each original word”.
Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1985) focused on the basic semantic features of idioms:
Being rich in imagery is a basic feature of idioms. Idioms express concepts basing
on specific images and symbols. The imagery of idioms is made from its metaphor
and comparison.
Although there have been different ideas about the semantic features of
idioms, Vietnamese linguists have all shared the same point of view as follows:

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Firstly, the meaning of an idiom is a perfect whole which does not come
from the meanings of individual components added.
Secondly, the meaning of an idiom expresses the reflection of things or
concepts.
Thirdly, the meaning of an idiom is usually figurative and descriptive.
Although many linguists affirm that idioms have their own figurative and
imaginary meanings, we shouldn‟t consider this as an absolute fact. In Vietnamese,
there are also some idioms which have literal sense coming from the meanings of
their components. They may be comparative idioms such as nát như tương (as pasty
as soy), đen như cột nhà cháy (as black as a sweep) and bám như đỉa đói (stick like
a limpet), whose imagery comes from the images compared with activities or
properties. Some Sino-Vietnamese idioms such as nhất cử lưỡng tiện (kill two birds
with one stone), bán tín bán nghi (half doubtful) and bách phát bách trúng (hit the
mark one hundred times out of one hundred) also have literal sense basing on the
meanings of their components.
2.1.3. Idioms Classified
Nunberg et al. (1994) classify English idioms into two types: idiomatically
combining expressions (or idiomatic combinations) and idiomatic phrases.
Idiomatic combinations refer to idioms whose parts carry identifiable parts of their

idiomatic meanings. The idioms like take advantage of (make good use of; profit
by) and pull strings (exert influence unobtrusively), whose meanings, while
conventional, are distributed among their parts. Idiomatically combining
expressions differ from collocations and ordinary expressions only in that the
conventional way of expressing the individual parts and the meaning is
conventional and also relatively opaque. Idiomatic phrases (e.g. kick the bucket
(die)) are non-compositional, i.e. they do not distribute their meanings to their
components (op. cit. Nunberg et al., 1994).
Nunberg et al.‟s distinction between idiomatically combining expressions
and idiomatic phrases, as discussed earlier, corresponds quite closely to Fillmore et

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al.‟s first feature: distinction of encoding and decoding idioms (Croft & Cruse
2004). However, the idiomatically combining expression/idiomatic phrase
distinction is not completely the same as the encoding/decoding distinction (Croft &
Cruse 2004). For instance, spill the beans (give away information) is an encoding
idiom though it is an idiomatically combining expression. Fillmore et al.‟s
encoding/decoding distinction is not very clearly defined. The distinction involves
the language user‟s capacity in parsing or decoding an expression.
Nunberg et al.‟s distinction appears to put idiomatically combining
expressions under transparent idioms and idiomatic phrases under opaque idioms. It
is the semantic opaqueness (or transparency) of an idiom, which has been based as a
criterion in Nunberg et al.‟s taxonomy, yields a small class of idioms. Consequently,
it may leave out of account an important group of expressions which have figurative
meanings, but which also preserve a current literal interpretation (e.g. hit the jackpot
(have a big success), beat one’s breast (show grief or sorrow)). The literal meanings
of the words making up these idioms „are still partly operative, though the idiomatic
meaning is the dominant one‟ (Fernando & Flavell 1981: 77). For instance, red

carpet can either convey „the especially good treatment/give an impressive
welcome‟, or „the red colour of the carpet‟. Slap someone on the back could signify
both „strike on rear upper vertical surface of the human body‟ and a sign „to show
cordiality‟.
Compared with Makkai‟s categorization, Fernando‟s (1996) classification
seems much simpler (Liu, 2008). However, problems can be seen in the examples
she gives in her categorization. For instance, she labels chin-wag a pure idiom,
while foot the bill is semi-literal. However, for many people, chin-wag is perhaps
more literal than foot the bill. Similarly, on foot is labeled as literal and good
morning semi-literal, but many people would probably consider that on foot is as
literal as good morning (Liu, 2008). Then, Fernando‟s judgment about where
examples belong seems to be fuzzy. Admittedly, this seems to be unavoidable for
any classification. Such fuzziness „afflicts taxonomies in every area of language‟

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(Fernando, 1996, p. 37).
In Vietnamese, Nguyễn Lực and Lương Văn Đang (1978) classify
Vietnamese idioms basing on the number of words forming idioms as well as their
structures:
- Idioms with three single words or more: bạn nối khố (a bosom friend), bở hơi
tai (fagged out), treo đầu dê bán thịt chó (play a confidence trick on), trẻ
không tha già không thương (wicked), etc.
- Idioms with a single word and a compound word: bé hạt tiêu (small but
spirited), câm miệng hến (keep silence), có máu mặt (rich), etc.
- Idioms with two compound words: buôn gian bán lận (cheat), nhắm mắt xuôi
tay (die), năm xung tháng hạn (an unpropitious period of time), etc.
- Idioms as simple sentences: châu chấu đá xe (unequal), êch ngồi đáy giếng
(have limited knowledge), mèo mù vớ cá rán (be in luck), etc.

- Idioms with alliterations or compound words: hì hà hì hục (be completely
engrossed in), lảm nhảm lảm nhàm (drivel), ăn bớt ăn xén (dishonest), etc.
- Idioms with symmetrical comparisons: nát như tương (crushed), đen như mực
(very dark), nặng như chì (very heavy), nguây nguẩy như mẹ quẩy tôm (turn
away in anger), etc.
- Idioms with summary comparisons: như cá gặp nước (feel comfortable), như
đỉa phải vôi (react immediately), như nước đổ đầu vịt (useless and
ineffective), etc.
However, the common structures of Vietnamese idioms are the structures
which have two symmetrical parts. Idioms are also formed by joining rhymes
(usually interior rhymes) such as bóc ngắn cắn dài (earning less than spending), bé
xé ra to (make it more complex), etc. These structures do not only make idioms
easy to say and remember, but they also keep the fixation and unshakeable
characteristics of idioms.
According to Nguyễn Công Đức (1995), Vietnamese idioms can be divided
into three main groups:

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Idioms with symmetrical structures
Symmetrical structures consist of two parts which have the same forms and
harmonious balanced contents (opposite or supplement of each other). These
structures form a large number of idioms in general and idioms showing speaking
activities in particular. They are concretized by the following expressions:
- AxAy (A: verb; x, y: combinative words): buôn gian bán lận (cheat), ăn
không nói có (dishonest), ăn thật làm giả (work perfunctorily), etc.
- BxBy (B: noun; x, y: combinative words): điều ong tiếng ve (unfavourable
reputation), mồm năm miệng mười (sharp-tongued), mồm loa mép dải
((sharp-tongued), etc.

- CxCy (C: adjective; x, y: combinative words): dại mồm dại miệng (make a
slip of the tongue), vụng ăn vụng nói (be bad in speech), vụng chèo khéo
chống (bad in doing but clever in speech), etc.
- DxDy (D: numeral; x, y: combinative words): nửa nạc nửa mỡ (ambiguous):
nửa đùa nửa thật (tell the truth in a joky way), nửa úp nửa mở (ambiguous),
etc.
Idioms with symmetrical structures can be compound sentences; for
example, có mồm thì cắp, có nắp thì đậy (keeping silence is good).
Idioms with similized structures
These are the common structures of Vietnamese idioms. A như B is considered
as the comprehensive form of similized idioms. The words such as như, bằng, tày
are usually between A and B, and they are concretized by the following
expressions:
- A như B (A: verb or adjective; B: noun): nói như vẹt (parrot), ngang như cua
(utterly nonsensical), chua như dấm (sour), etc.
- Ax như B (Ax: verb-adjective phrase; B: noun): nói dối như cuội (tell a lie),
nói ngọt như đường (use honeyed words), nói dẻo như kẹo (smoothtongued), etc.
- A như Bx (A: usually verb; Bx: phrase expressing activity): dỗ như dỗ vong

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(soothe), chửi như vặn thịt (abuse someone regularly), chửi như hát hay
(abuse), etc.
- Ax như Bx (Ax: phrase consisting of a verb and an adjective; Bx: phrase
expressing activity): nói dai như chó nhai dẻ rách (talk constantly), chuyện
nở như ngô rang (chat loudly), chuyện giòn như bắp rang (chat loudly), etc.
Ordinary idioms
- Subject – predicate pattern: gà què ăn quẩn cối xay (poor talent), đom đóm
bắt nạt ma trơi (impossible to bully the others), chó mặc váy lĩnh (impossible

to reach the better thing), etc.
- Verb phrase: gửi trứng cho ác (believe in wicked people), há miệng chờ
sung (lazy), khen phò mã tốt áo (do something unnecessary), etc.
- Noun, adjective phrase: đòn xóc hai đầu (perfidious), hai tay buông xuôi
(die), kẻ cắp già mồm (it was wrong but an argument is still given), etc.
- Noun + noun pattern: mạt cưa mướp đắng (thieves), lá mặt lá trái (doubletongued), etc.
Hoàng Văn Hành (2008) classifies Vietnamese idioms into 3 main categories
according to their structures and formation of meanings: symmetrical figurative,
non-symmetrical figurative and similized. Each main category is divided into
smaller categories (see Figure 2.1; 2.2; 2.3).

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SYMMETRICAL FIGURATIVE IDIOMS

Figure 2.1: Classification of symmetrical figurative idioms in Vietnamese

e.g. quẩy trứng đầu gậy,
nhắm mắt đƣa chân...

e.g. một mất một còn,
nhất cử nhất động...

(Hoàng Văn Hành 2008: 76)

e.g. theo đóm ăn tàn,
chọn mặt gửi vàng...

e.g. tiếng bấc tiếng chì,

mắt tròn mắt dẹt...

e.g. đầu trộm đuôi cƣớp,
đầu Ngô mình Sở...

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e.g. gieo gió gặp bão,
miệng ăn núi lở...

out of
phase

e.g. mát tay mát chân,
xui khôn xui dại...

in
phase

action of
manner
action of
purpose
cause
and
effect
selection
domination
parallelism

non-coordination – no meaning
meeting
coordination – meaning meeting


NON-SYMMETRICAL FIGURATIVE IDIOMS

subject – predicate pattern

phrases

e.g. hai bàn tay trắng,
anh hùng rơm...

e.g. ăn cƣớp cơm chim,
chạy long tóc gáy...

adjective
phrase

e.g. cá nằm trên thớt
nƣớc đổ lá khoai...

verb
phrase

e.g. mát tay, cứng họng...

noun
phrase

Figure 2.2: Classification of non-symmetrical figurative idioms in Vietnamese (Hoàng Văn
Hành 2008: 100)
SIMILIZED IDIOMS

t nhƣ B

nhƣ B indicates the
degree of t

nhƣ B

nhƣ B indicates the
manner of t

nhƣ B indicates the
attribute of A
e.g. nhƣ ếch ngồi đáy
giếng, nhƣ ngàn cân treo
sợi tóc...

e.g. nhảy nhƣ choi choi,
chạy nhƣ bay...

e.g. đen nhƣ củ súng
rách nhƣ tổ đỉa...

Figure 2.3: Classification of similized idioms in Vietnamese (Hành 2008: 115)

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