Nghiên cứu về thành ngữ có chứa các từ chỉ tim gan ruột và bụng dạ trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt nhìn từ góc độ văn hóa ngôn ngữ và văn hoá nước ngoài

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

----

VŨ MỸ LINH

A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING WORDS
DENOTING HEART, LIVER, GUT AND STOMACH IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA CÁC TỪ CHỈ
TIM, GAN, RUỘT VÀ BỤNG (DẠ) TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GĨC ĐỘ VĂN HĨA)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01

HANOI – 2017


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

----

VŨ MỸ LINH

A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING WORDS
DENOTING HEART, LIVER, GUT AND STOMACH IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA CÁC TỪ CHỈ
TIM, GAN, RUỘT VÀ BỤNG (DẠ) TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GĨC ĐỘ VĂN HĨA)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyễn Văn Độ

HANOI - 2017


DECLARATION
I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research and all the material
and sources collected in conducting the thesis have been identified and
acknowledged. the thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or for any
other purposes, and, it partly meets requirements for the degree of Master of
Education.

Hanoi, 2017

V M Linh

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Văn Do for his enthusiastic guidance and great
encouragement at all stages of the thesis.
I am also grateful to all the teachers of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi for their useful explanations and constant support.
One more thing I have made my best efforts to accomplishing the thesis,
however, there are still inadequacies and shortcomings. I am loking forward to
receiving all comments of teachers and friends. Thank you so much!

ii


ABSTRACT
In today‟s global world, the importance of English can not be denied and
ignored since English is the most common language spoken everwhere. With the
help of developing technology, English has been playing a major role in many
sectors. To follow this trend, mastering English is very important.
However, it is quite difficult to master all English aspects, especiall idioms.
In order to understand a language, we must know what the idioms in that language
mean. Idioms reflect certain cultural traditions and depict the national character.
With a view to exloring English and Vietnamese idioms in the light of
culture, this thesis has focused on idiomsatic expressions containing words denoting
heart, liver, gut and stomach in English and Vietnamese.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study .....................................................................................1
2. Research aims and research questions .........................................................2
3. Scope of the research ......................................................................................2
4. Methods of the study ......................................................................................3
5. Significance of the research ...........................................................................3
6. Design of the research ....................................................................................4
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND...............................................9
2.1. Overview of Idioms ..........................................................................................9
2.1.1. Definition of idioms ..................................................................................9
2.1.2. Typical features of idioms ......................................................................10
2.1.3. Idioms and other similar language units ..............................................13
2.2. The relationship of Language and Culture .................................................16
2.2.1. Concept of Culture .................................................................................16
2.2.2. The inseparable Relationship between Language and Culture .........16
2.2.3. The Relationship between Idioms and Culture ...................................16
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE ..................................18
3.1. Research design ..............................................................................................18
3.2. Research methodology ...................................................................................18
3.3. Data collection ................................................................................................18
3.4. Data analysis ...................................................................................................19

3.5. Reliability and validity ..................................................................................20
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................21

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4.1. Syntactic features of idioms containing heart, liver, gut, and stomach in
English and Vietnamese .......................................................................................21
4.1.1. Idioms in the form of phrase structures ...............................................21
4.1.2. Idioms in the form of sentence structures ...........................................23
4.2. Semantic features of idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach in
English and Vietnamese .......................................................................................23
4.2.1. Idioms describing people’s appearance ................................................24
4.2.2. Idioms expressing people’s wisdom ......................................................24
4.2.3. Idioms expressing people’s emotions and adttitudes .........................25
4.3. Similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of idioms
containing heart, gut, stomach and liver in English and Vietnamese ..............30
4.3.1. Similarities ...............................................................................................30
4.3.2. Differences ...............................................................................................32
4.4. Cultural characteristics of English and Vietnamese idioms containing
heart, liver, gut and stomach ...............................................................................33
4.5. Implications for teaching and learning idioms containing heart, gut,
stomach and liver ..................................................................................................34
PART III: CONCLUSION
1. Concluding remarks .....................................................................................36
2. Limitations of the thesis and further study ................................................36
3. Suggestions for further study ......................................................................37
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................38
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................... I

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
It is undeniable to say that English has become an important international
language; therefore, mastering English is full of great importance. In Vietnam,
English has become an essential and obligatory communication language since the
opening of its doors to the world in 1986. Many English-speaking foreigners from
across Asia, Australia, America and Europe started coming to invest in Vietnam,
which has motivated the Vietnamese to learn English to promote English
communication effectively among their counterparts. The importance of English
was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government and as a result the
English language programs were made compulsory beginning with the secondary
schools and subsequently the high schools and finally universities.
Learning a second language involves learning a second culture to varying
degrees. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects
culture. Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding,
unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication. Therefore,
learning English can not be seperated from learning its culture. According to
gaining the knowledge of culture, learners can have better understanding of the
language and use it in communication as native speakers do. The English language
being very flexible constantly enriches its vocabulary with words invented by
language speakers, making it more colourful with idiomatic expressions.
In a language system, idioms share cultural and historical information and
broaden people‟s understanding and manipulation of a language. Idioms are special
language units in which the cultural value of a nation is crystallized and the view of
world, the view of life of people can be showed the most truthfully, obviously and
copiously, the author considers that studying idioms in the connection between
language and culture is a good and effective way for a comparative study of idioms

in two or more languages.

1


Thus, having a good knowledge of idioms plays a key role in helping
learners have information in their mind about every language to avoid its culture
shocks in communication as well as comprehend the similarities and differences of
two languages and cultures. However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I
would like to focus on a very small part of the huge idiomatic treasure: “ A study on
idiomatic expressions containing words denoting heart, liver, gut and stomach in
English and Vietnamese from cutural perspective”.
2. Research aims and research questions
The purpose of the study:
 To find out the English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting
heart, liver, gut and stomach by using cutural elements.
 To explore syntactic and semantic features of the English and Vietnamese
idioms relating to heart, liver, gut and stomach.
 To point out the the similarities and differences in the cutural values of
two countries through the idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach.
 To help leaners reinforce their knowledge of both English and Vietnamese
idioms in general and on heart, liver, gut and stomach in particular, which assists
them to know how to use these idioms exactly in communication.
To achieve the above aims, the following research questions are put forward:
i. What syntactic and semantic features are reflected in the heart, liver, gut and

stomach idioms in both English and Vietnamese?
ii. What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnameses

cultures through idioms related to heart, liver, gut and stomach from cultural

perspective? What factors lead to such diffferences?
3. Scope of the research
- Idioms

are large parts in both English and Vietnamese; thus it is

impossible for the author to carry out a comprehensive study on them; thus, the
study just focuses on some idioms relating to heart, liver, gut and stomach.

2


- In this study, similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features
of idioms containing heart, gut, stomach and liver in English and Vietnamese are
discussed; English idioms denoting human feelings or emotions through the internal
organs are compared with Vietnamese ones.
- All English and Vietnamese idioms are collected from dictionaries, books,
websites; hence, this research may not cover all idioms relating to heart, liver, gut
and stomach, just those of common use
4. Methods of the study
Due to the scientific missions, the study uses several reseach methods to
meet the research aims.
- The statistic method: The purpose of this method is to collect idioms
contaning words denoting heart, liver, gut and stomach in both English and
Vietnamese from various reliable sources (referent books, stories, novels,
dictionaries and Internet websites) and then categorize them.
- The analysis method: the method is used to analyze the syntactic and
semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms containing heart, liver, gut and
stomach as well as the cultural features of English and Vietnamese hidden behind
those idioms.

- The comparative - contrastive method: It is the important method to
compare and find the differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese
idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach from cultural perspective.
5. Significance of the research
(i) Theoretical significance: The study supplies Vietnamese teachers and
learners with a deeper awareness understanding of idioms in general and idioms
containing heart, liver, gut and stomach in particular in terms of their syntactic,
semantic, and cultural features.
(ii) Practical significance: The study provides Vietnamese learners with
suggestions to improve their language skills when using idioms containing heart,
liver, gut and stomach, particularly communicative skill and avoid culture shock.

3


6. Design of the research
This research consists of three main parts
Part one is the Introduction, which consists of the rationale, the aims and
research questions, the objectives, the scope, the methods, the significance and the
design of the study.
Part two is the Development, which is the main part of the study dealing with
English idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach and their equivalents in
Vietnamese. This part is divided into four chapters:
Chapter I: Literature Review
Chapter II: Theoretical background including Overview of idioms, The
Relationship of Language and Culture, Idioms and Culture.
Chapter III: Methodology and procedure
Chapter IV:

Findings and discussion as well as some implications for

teaching and learning
The last part is the Conclusion of the study and suggestions for further
studies.
The References and Appendixes are at the end of the thesis.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
In the recent years, linguists are interested in doing research cutural
implications through language. And, there are a lot of studies which are related
idioms. Especially, studying idioms expressing human emotion are one of common
topics that researchers are keen on.
In the journal of Language “ Đặc trưng tư duy của người Việt qua ẩn dụ tri
nhận trong thành ngữ”, Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2009) has summarized that the
psychological world of the Russian has no correlation with the body parts, and, the
heart is the only to show the love. In the book “Ngơn ngữ và văn hóa: Tri thức nền
và việc giảng dạy tiếng nước ngoài”, Trịnh Thị Kim Ngọc (1999) has the same
opinion as Nguyễn Đức Tồn, she claimed that “heart” is the key word in the
Russian language in common and in the Russian idioms in particular. In the
Oriental ideology, both Japanese and China people uses “heart”idioms for
conceptualizing different emotions.
The Southern thinking in the agricultural traditional culture shows the concrete
and practical characteristics. Vietnamese country not only experienced many
challenges from living environment (storm, flood), but also being invaded by other
ones in the history, so, just to survive, food and drink are attached much importance
to everyone to live through the day. Vietnamese thought, herefore, and, is directly
related to the digestion organs such as gut (lòng, ruột), stomach (bụng, dạ)…The

below picture in the “Dictionnaire franco-tonkinois illustré” of P.G. Vallot (1898):

5


According to the article “ Con người suy nghĩ bằng bụng, dạ, ruột, gan hay
tim, …óc”, Nguyễn Cung Thơng shows that in English/France belonging to the
Indo-European language, the people think by brain and express emotions by heart,
the Chinese has the tendency of cardiocentrism which is different from the
abdominocentrism of the Vietnamese. After analyzing a lot of materials in using the
body organs of many coutries, the author sees that there are main trends to express
emotions and attitudes (thoughts):
i) Cerebrocentrism (quy-não, dùng não bộ hay đầu óc là trung tâm tư duy,)
ii) Cardiocentrism (quy-tâm, dùng tim làm trung tâm tư duy)
iii) Abdominocentrism (quy-phúc, dùng bụng làm trung tâm tư duy)
Besides, the paper “ Một số vấn đề ngơn ngữ và văn hóa thơng qua ý niệm
lịng, ruột bụng, dạ trong tiếng Việt” Trần Thị Hồng Hạnh supposed that Long, ruot,
bung, da are terms for body parts so they share some characteristics common with
other body terms. They can be used to nominate human body parts, be extended to
nominate different parts of things and to express human emotions. By comparing
the use of these terms in Vietnamese with their equivalents in some other languages
and through an analysis of literary work, this paper shows that there are some

6


differences, especially when these terms are used to express emotions in
Vietnamese. The results of this paper indicates that among these words, long
occupies the most central position in expressing emotion in Vietnamese.
In addition, there is also much investigation of idioms in English and

Vietnamese in general and idioms of the human body in particular such as “ A
contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of comparision ” M.A
thesis of

Đỗ Quỳnh Anh (2004). In this thesis,

she focused on idioms of

comparision with the structure “ as…as” in English and “như…như” in
Vietnamese. Then, she concludes that there are the similarities between idioms of
comparision in English and Vietnamese equivalents. IT is a contrastive analysis
from linguistic perspectives, there is no contrast between these idioms in the light
of culture. In another linguistic thesis “ Đặc trưng ngôn ngữ văn hóa của các từ chỉ
bộ phận con người trong thành ngữ tiếng Việt ( so sánh với tiếng Anh)” Nguyễn
Thị Phương analyzed words denoting human body parts in English and Vietnamese
idioms to find out similarities and differences in terms of semantics to express
appearance, knowledge, feelings, will. She also emphasized the effect of cultural
features in languages to learners, which makes them have difficulties in learning a
foreign language.
Moreover, some papers such as “ Về thành ngữ có chứa yếu tố ruột trong
tiếng Việt” ( Nguyễn Thanh Thủy), or “Một số thành ngữ có từ bụng” (Tạ Đức
Tú)… have the same opinion that gut, stomach (bụng, ruột, lòng, dạ) are containers,
an inside organs symbolized feelings or emotions of Vietnamese people.
With undeniable significance of idiomatic meanings in people‟s practical life
as well as relevant cultural values that have been crystallized during the last 20
centuries, a number of researches on idioms are conducted for the diverse use in real
life and for development of Literature. Particularly, books, dictionaries, references
and even documentary films which collect and take example of idioms have been
published and projected with a view to bringing both traditional and modern look at
every aspect of life.

7


Usually, for ease in finding, idioms and idiomatic expressions are
alphabetically categorized and arrangedby metaphor and topic. More importantly,
their meanings and their how - to - use in different languages are well explained.
For English idioms, there have been a wide variety of books which are of
huge benefit to learners such as “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie,
Mackin &McCaig, “Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English” by A.P
Cowie, R. Mackin & I.R McCaig (1983), “Collins COBUILD Dictionary of
Idioms” (2002), “Longman Dictionary of

English Idioms” (1979), Longman

Dictionary of Idioms” (1998), “CHAMBERS Dictionary of Idioms” (1996),
“Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukal and Milada (1994) and “Idioms Organiser
organized by metaphor, topic and keyword” by John Wright, Edited by Jimmie Hill
and Morgan Lewis, Illustrated by Bill Stott.
Besides, Vietnamese researchers have carried out studies on idioms namely
“Từ điển Thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt - Anh” (2006), “Thành ngữ Tục ngữ tiếng Anh”
(2008), „Kể chuyện thành ngữ tiếng Anh” (2006), “Tuyển tập Thành ngữ Tục ngữ
Ca dao Việt - Anh thông dụng” (2007)…
To sum up, all these studies above are closely related to thesis. The author
made every effort to have a lot of viewsas well as make a comparision culture of
different countries to discover mental activities through language. In this thesis, the
author focused on studying on similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic
features of idioms containing heart, gut, stomach and liver in English and
Vietnamese.

8


CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
As affirmed in Part I, languages and cultures have dialectical relationship.
Thus, exploring any aspect of any language is of utmost importance to indicate
cultural features of those who speak that language. In terms of literature and
practical life, we can reach a huge reservoir of idiomatic knowledge whereby
profound implications are perfectly but distinctly expressed in different countries.
However, for deeper and further analysis, this study concentrates on only a
tiny aspect of idioms to make it a typical phenomenon for idiom - related studies idiomatic expressions containing words denoting heart, liver, gut and stomach
in English and Vietnamese from cultural perspective.
2.1. Overview of Idioms
2.1.1. Definition of idioms
“Idiom” is divergently defined in divergent materials, according to the
concepts of authors or groups of authors. And, idioms are believed as a colorful and
fascinating aspect of English and are commonly used in all types of language,
formal and informal, spoken or written. The following idiom definitions are mostly
popular.
The Longman Dictionary of English Idioms (1979) defines: An idiom is a
group of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of the separate
words.
The Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English (Oxford
University Press - 1995) regards an idiom as “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” (1995:67).
The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
determines an idiom to be “an expression which functions as a single unit and
whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts” (2010:270).
Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms, 2nd ed. (2002:5). Glasgow: Harper

Collins explains: An idiom is a special kind of phrase. It is a group of words which
9


have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the
meaning of each word were taken individually.
Manser (1997) shares the same opinion that “Idioms are fairly fixed phrases
that consist of more than one word, with a meaning that cannot be understood from
putting together the meanings of the individual words”.
Chambers English Dictionary of Idioms (1996:5) also has a similar look at
what is an idiom defined: The term “idiom” is not an easily defined one - it can
refer to many kinds of words and phrases. The traditional definition of an idiom is
“a group of words which has a different meaning from the sum of its parts”
In addition, “idiom” is like a breath of fresh air to the evolution of
Vietnamese Literature and it is also explained clearly in almost Literature textbooks
as well as idiom references: Thành ngữ là những cụm từ mang ngữ nghĩa cố định
(phần lớn không tạo thành câu hồn chỉnh về mặt ngữ pháp; khơng thể thay thế và
sửa đổi về mặt ngôn từ) và độc lập riêng rẽ với từ ngữ hay hình ảnh mà thành ngữ
sử dụng, thành ngữ thường được sử dụng trong việc tạo thành những câu nói hồn
chỉnh. hay: Thành ngữ là tập hợp từ cố định đã quen dùng mà nghĩa của nó thường
khơng thể giải thích được một cách đơn giản bằng nghĩ của các từ tạo nên nó.
(According to Wikiquote and Vietnamese Literature Textbook 7).
Shortly, there are various words for defining what an idiom is. In general,
almost all the definitions show the similarity that an idiom is a fixed expression
whose meaning cannot be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual
words. However, in this study, the following definition is used: “an idiom is a fixed
phrase whose meaning cannot be exposed by looking at the meaning of its
individual words”.
2.1.2. Typical features of idioms
Both English and Vietnamese idioms have their own features which make

them unique in the variety of literary genres. To understand idioms in general or a
specific one in particular, it is vital to analyze their features under syntactic and
semantic angle.

10


2.1.2.1. Syntactic features of idioms
As mentioned in the previous part,,“idiom‟ is a complex language unit.
Hence, it is pretty difficult in literature to determine its characteristics as well as
organize idioms by structures. Many groups of authors choose to categorize idioms
by the number of words forming an idiom:

The number of
words

English idiom examples

3 words

Eat one‟s liver, spill your guts

4 words

A heart of gold

5 words

Have butterflies in one‟s stomach

6 words

From the bottom of one‟s heart

Vietnamese idiom examples
Bụng bảo dạ, bụng nát dạ,
gan thỏ đế
Cồn cào ruột gan, quyết chí
bền gan
Nghĩ thối ruột thối gan
Miệng thơn thớt, dạ ớt ngâm
Lo nát gan, bàn nát chí

However, in the field of language perspective, idioms still possess easy - to recognize syntactic features:
a. The word orders in an idiom cannot be rearranged. Once the word
arrangement is changed, the idiom can have no meaning.
It is clearly seen from one of the above idioms. Take the well - known phrase
“From the bottom of one‟s heart” as an instance, the idiom shows the sincerity and
love of someone that he/she puts into his/her actions for the others. In case words are
rearranged: “from bottom the of heart one‟s” or “bottom heart from the of one‟s”, the
idiom will be meaningless and it will not be called “an idiom” any longer.
b. The number of words in an idiom is unchanged.
To put it another way, no component in an existing idiom can be deducted or
no extra words can be added to it. In particular, if the word “spill” in the idiom „spill

11


one‟s gut” is removed, the idiom cannot keep its original meaning: to confess, to tell
the truth. Obviously, it is the same in case of adding one more word to the idiom.

c. No word can substitute for any word in an idiom
Indeed, word substitution in forming idiom is not permitted. Look at the
following example to make sense of this situation. The phrase “a heart of gold”
indicated the kindness of someone and it is usually used for praising (She has a
heart of gold). Replacing the word “heart” with “shoulder” or “gold” with “silver”
or even “diamond” will erase the idiom in the dictionary.
In addition to 3 most important syntactic features analyzed above, idioms
denoting heart, liver, gut and stomach can be grouped by the combination and
order of word kinds which create the idioms.
The idiom can be a noun phrase
The idiom can be formed in the structure: Verb + somebody’s +
heart/liver/gut/stomach
The idiom can be created from an adjective and a noun
Idioms can be built in a variety of structures but they are short and usually a
phrase rather than a full sentence. However, the idioms are the crystallization of the
ancient experience and contemplation in specific situations; thus we cannot imitate
the structures above and use our own words to form an idiom.
2.1.2.2. Semantic features of idioms
It is the fact that an idiom owns metaphorical meanings rather than literal
ones. Each idiom is formed in a special historic situations and it certainly refer to
cultural characteristics of the country where the idiom is used. Therefore, to
understand an idiom, it is vital to look at its hidden meaning after defining the literal
implications from the idiom components.
For the words denoting body parts such as heart, liver, gut and stomach, they
are all indispensable for people‟s existence. In other words, without any part above,
a person cannot survive. The idiom “Have the gut” is a typical instance. Someone
“having the gut” is the one that has enough bravery and courage to do something.

12

Equivalently in Vietnamese reservoir of idioms, “to gan” is an idiomatic
expression with the similar meaning to “have the gut”. At the first sight, a lot of
peoplecan deal with confusion in interpreting the idiom on the ground that it may
originate from historical and cultural knowledge.Hence, digging deeper in history
and culture of one country will make it much of ease to deduce the metaphoric
meaning of an idiom.
In addition to the positive meaning as the examples above, an idiom can
bring a negative color. For example, “have butterflies in one’s stomach” means
feeling nervous and worried.This is an easy idiom to interpret by its surface
structure and all its components. More specific, the stomach will get irritated if
there is something inside while butterflies always fly and move. As a consequence,
this stomach will create discomfort. From this analysis, the metaphoric meaning can
be easily realized: having the feel of nervousness. The idiom is equal to “Cồn cào
ruột gan”in Vietnamese idiom dictionary, also expressing anxiety about something.
With such explicit idioms, their meanings can be guessed by their word - cover.
The semantic features of an idiom are shown under various angles: by every
word forming it, by the hidden image (metaphor) and leaning on special history of
the idiom. In short, both syntactic and semantic features of idioms are indispensable
in the fields of exploring and conquering idiom knowledge. Gathering more idioms
containing words denoting heart, liver, gut and stomach will help broaden the vision
about idiom world as well as make it easier to deduce its metaphoric meanings.
2.1.3. Idioms and other similar language units
Like idioms, metaphors are defined in different ways. According to King
(2000:216), a metaphor describes something by using an analogy with something
quite different. Or as defined in Oxford Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary a metaphor
is a word or phrase used to describe somebody or something else, in a way that is
different from its normal use, in order to show that the two things have the same
qualities and to make the description more powerful.

13


In English, we have “a heart of gold” as an idiom and “a heart of stone” as a
metaphor. These two phrases are the same structured. In terms of meaning, the
former is kindness while the latter is the coldness, ignorance and not sympathy of
someone. However, in terms of the ease to understand, it is more difficult to explain
an idiom than a metaphor due to idiom owning hidden cultures. The latter is said to
be more understandable and even can be understood by its lateral meaning thanks to
its flexible usage in a sentence.
Besides, with a metaphor, we can use it in other form created by ourselves as
long as it ensures the grammar accuracy. For instance, we can change “She has a
heart of stone” to a comparative form such as “Her heart is as cold as a stone”.
Such a change is still acceptable in using English language. Nonetheless, it is
impossible to do the same to the idiom.
2.1.3.2. Idioms and proverbs
The confusion also occurs when people distinguish idioms and proverbs. To
clarify, the definition of proverb should be discussed to compare with that of idiom.
The Dictionary of Proverbs (2007) states that “A proverb is a saying, usually
short, that expresses a general truth about life. Proverbs give advance, make an
observation, or present a teaching in a succinct and memorable way”.
The other definition of proverb is from Mieder (1993:5): “A proverb is a
short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals,
and tradition views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorable form and which is
handed down from generation to generation”.
Some examples about proverbs that contain words denoting heart and
stomach: “A light heart lives long” (If someone has an open mind and usually think
positively and optimistically, he will enjoy his life better and hence, have a better
health); “A hungry stomach has no ears” (Indicate the hungry person that is totally
focus on nothing but their demand for food and other things have no meaning to him).

Similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs

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It cannot be denied that a large number of people who are using English and
Vietnamese language have misled proverbs for idioms. In reality, these two
language units have both similarities and differences to be differentiated.
Similarities
From the definition of idioms and proverbs, it is of ease to realize that these
two units have similarity in their syntactic and semantic features. Firstly, they have
unchangeable form. It means that the words in an idiom and a proverb cannot be
removed or replaced. Secondly, both idioms and proverbs are explained with their
metaphorical image rather than literal one. It seems to be impossible to give a
meaning to an idiom or a proverb with each separate component.
Differences
In terms of structures, idioms are always phrases while proverbs are the
whole sentences whereby the whole ideas are expressed.In some cases, an idiom is a
part of a proverb. For example, “a light heart” is an idiom which refers to people
that are open - minded and this idiom lies in the proverb “a light heart lives long”
(explained above).
About functions, “aproverb contains wisdom, truth, morals and tradition
views”; it means proverbs teach people moral lessons, provide advices and indicate
the truth about life. “Dreams are wishes your heart makes” is a very beautiful
proverb which advices people to dream what they are passionate from the bottom of
their hearts, not with a quick thought in their mind.
On the contrary, we cannot find any judgment, advice or truth about life in
an idiom, which indicates that idioms are not responsible for passing perception or
educating people but only providing more beautiful words to diversify words used
in real life. Take “chopped liver” as an example, it means someone or something

worthless. Besides, it does not mean to advice people to do something or judge
somebody.

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2.2. The relationship of Language and Culture
2.2.1. Concept of Culture
Stated in Brock (1970), “Culture in its broadest sense, is what makes you a
stranger when y are away from home. It includes all those beliefs and expectations
about how people should speak and act which have become a kind of second nature
to you as a result of social learning”.
According to Tran Ngoc Them (1999), “Văn hoá là một hệ thống hữu cơ các
giá trị vật chất và tinh thần do con người sáng tạo và tích luỹ qua q trình hoạt
động thực tiễn, trong sự tương tác giữa con người với môi trường tự nhiên xã hội”.
( Culture is an organic system of spiritual and material values created by human
beings ans accumulated from the process of practice activities in the interaction
between people and social -natural environment )
2.2.2.The inseparable Relationship between Language and Culture
Undoubtedly, language and culture has dialectical relationship. Inseparable
from culture, language performs 3 functions, including expressing, embodying and
symbolizing cultural reality, from Claire Kramsch‟s point of view
It is supposed in “Việt Nam - Những vấn đề ngơn ngữ và văn hóa” by
professor Tran Ngoc Them that language is the origin of every culture. If language,
along with working, creates human being, it is language, along with working, that is
the origin of every culture.
From the perspectives about the relationship between language and culture, it
is clear that they are inseparable. It means that each of them will shape and reflect
the other. The culture images are seen in every language unit and how to use the
language in practical life. Vice versa, the language can be interpreted from cultural

perspectives or leaning on cultural events.
2.2.3. The Relationship between Idioms and Culture
Language is a special product of human beings as all the other cultural
products. According to E.D. Sapir - a linguist from the United State, language is a
cultural product, not a functional entity or other concept: behind the language of a

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nation, we can always see its cultures; language does not stand separately from
culture. The author from the United Kingdom L.R. Palmer also indicates that the
history of language and culture is companied by each other, cooperate and
complement each other. In Vietnam book “Tiến tới xác lập vốn từ tựng văn hóa
Việt” by Nguyen Van Chien also affirms that Language is exactly a cultural
phenomenon. Culture has large external functions while language has more narrow
ones but larger catalepsy. Culture and language contains each other in spite of
their differences.
Logically, language and culture are mutually connected. Language is the
right means of transportation, storage and reflection of featured cultures in the
country which uses that language. Also, cultures of each nation have a desirable
influence on its language development and evolution.
To illustrate this inseparable relationship, according to Trinh Thi Thanh Hue
- the author of the book “So sánh hàm nghĩa văn hóa các từ chỉ động vật tiếng Hán
và tiếng Việt” and Nguyen Van Chien - the author of “Tiến tới xác lập vốn từ vựng
văn hóa Việt”, the lexical resource can be divided into various groups: cultural and
normal lexicon. While the latter brings common meaning, the former reveals
cultural messages and express both physical and spiritual cultures.

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CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE
3.1. Research design
The research design has been made with the purpose of providing guidelines
for systematic data gathering and finding the diversity of idioms containing heart,
liver, gut and stomach in English and Vietnamese. It further helps discover the
typical underlying cultural features of these idioms.
3.2. Research methodology
The study describes and compare the syntactic, semantic and cultural
features of idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese. In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study,
the statistic method is utilized to collect a lot of idioms from various reliable
sources (referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries and Internet websites) and then
categorize them.
Besides, the analysis method is used to analyze the syntactic, semantic and
cultural features of the listed idioms.
In addition, the comparative - contrastive method is very important to
compare and find the differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese
idioms containing heart, liver, gut and stomach from cultural perspective.
3.3. Data collection
In terms of phisiology, heart is a very important organ, which is responsible
for making sure that blood is supplied to every part of the body. According to
Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, “heart” is the organ in the chest that sends blood
around the body , usually on the left in humans. If the heart stops working properly,
a person also stops living. Because of this, the most important something is referred
to “heart”. Especially, the heart is placed in the centre of the body where the
feelings and emotions are thought to be, especially those connected with love ( a
heavy heart).
Besides, liver is a large organ in the body that cleans the blood and
produces bile. Gut is the digestive organ through which food passes when it leaves

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