Phân tích đối chiếu các câu thành ngữ có chứa thành tố head trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt dưới 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
*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG VÂN

IDIOMS REFERRING TO “HEAD” IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC CÂU THÀNH NGỮ
CÓ CHỨA THÀNH TỐ “HEAD” TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT DƯỚI GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201

HANOI - 2017


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

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG VÂN

IDIOMS REFERRING TO “HEAD” IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC CÂU THÀNH NGỮ
CÓ CHỨA THÀNH TỐ “HEAD” TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT DƯỚI GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: Dr. Đỗ Tuấn Minh

HANOI - 2017


CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
----------*****-------I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
IDIOMS REFERRING TO “HEAD” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master Degree at
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted to any degree at any other
universities or institutions. 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

Nguyễn Thi ̣Hồ ng Vân

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
On completing this study, I owe a profound indebtedness to many people for
their invaluable help during the conduct of my research.
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Dr. Do Tuan
Minh, my supervisor for his useful and critical comments and continual guidance.
My appreciation is also offered to my lecturers and my friends of Postgraduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps.
Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude towards my parents
for their continual encouragement and immeasurable support.

ii


ABSTRACT
There is a close relationship between Language and culture. Culture has a
strong influence on language and vice versa, language reflects culture. One of the
most effective ways to transfer cultures is utilizing idioms which may be a
hindrance for English learners in the process of mastering a foreign language.
Hence, in order to help learners have a better understanding of idioms, the
researcher decided to conduct “Idioms referring to “Head” in English and
Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis from cultural perspectives.” This research aims
to explore the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms
containing the word “Head” in terms of syntactic, semantic and especially cultural
features. At the end of the study, some educational implications for English
teachers, learners and translators are offered to make teaching, learning and
translating more effective. Hopefully, this paper will increase the knowledge of
idioms referring to “Head” and enhance cultural understanding of Vietnamese and
English people to a great extent.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CANDIDATE‟S STATEMENT ................................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1
1. Rationale for the study ............................................................................................1
2. Objective of the Study .............................................................................................1
3. Research questions .................................................................................................2
4. Scope of the Study .................................................................................................2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................3
1.1. Theoretical Background .......................................................................................3
1.1.1. Idioms ................................................................................................................3
1.1.2. Cultural and the Relationship between Language and Culture .......................12
1.2. Previous Studies ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES .......................................19
2.1. Research Design .................................................................................................19
2.2. Research Methods ..............................................................................................19
2.3. Research Procedures ..........................................................................................19
2.4. Data Collection..................................................................................................20
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................21
3.1.2. Sentence structures ..........................................................................................26
3.1.3. Similarities and Differences of Syntactic features of Idioms referring to
“Head” in English and Vietnamese ...........................................................................26
3.2. Semantic features of Idioms referring to “Head” in English & Vietnamese .....28
3.2.1. Similarities ......................................................................................................28
3.2.2. Differences ......................................................................................................30

iv


3.3. Cultural Features in Idioms referring to “Head” in English and Vietnamese....31
PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ..................................................35
1. Conclusion.............................................................................................................35
2. Implications for Learning, Teaching and Translation Idioms .............................37
2.1. Implications for Learning ...................................................................................37
2.2. Implications for Teaching ..................................................................................38
2.3. Implications for Translation ...............................................................................39
2.4. Limitations and Suggestion for Further Research............................................40
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................41
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................. I

v


LIST OF TABLES
List of tables

Page

Table 1

Noun Phrase

22

Table 2

Verb Phrase

23

Table 3

Adjective Phrase

25

Table 4

Prepositional Phrase

26

Table 5

Adverb Phrase

26

Table 6

Sentence Structure

27

vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
English is an interesting language to learn, however, to master English is not
easy. One of the phenomenons that make English learners find difficult is idiom
whose meaning cannot be always inferred from the meaning of its parts because
they contain not only the literal meanings but also the figurative ones. For example,
when we say “He is big-headed”, we do not mean that the man‟s head is big but a
man who is very conservative.
There are a large number of idioms in English as well as in other languages
like Vietnamese. Idioms can be seen everywhere, in newspapers, novels, short stories,
and in our daily conversation. In addition, idioms make a language more interesting,
vibrant and colorful. This is the reason why language learners should learn about
idioms in order to make their own communications and writings livelier and to avoid
misunderstanding the meaning of speakers or documents that use idioms.
I am attracted by idioms, especially idioms referring to “Head” which is one
of the most important parts in human body. The researcher found many idioms
denoting “Head” in both English and Vietnamese whose meanings are extremely
interesting. For example: “fall head over heels” means to be in love with someone
very much; and “đầu tắt mặt tối” which means very busy. In fact, English and
Vietnamese idioms referring to “Head” share the similarities and differences in the
light of culture.
From all these reasons above, the researcher decided to choose the topic
Idioms referring to “Head” in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis from
cultural perspectives to take detailed exploration. Hopefully, the study can enlarge
writer‟s knowledge about idioms referring to “Head” from cultural perspective and
contribute a small part of learning and teaching idioms.
2. Objective of the Study
The purpose of this study is to supply learners of English a basic knowledge

about syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting “Head” in comparison
with Vietnamese ones. Moreover, this study is carried out with the aim to explore
1


the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms which
denote “Head” in term of culture. In addition, some implications for teaching,
learning and translating will be explored at the end of the study in order to provide
readers useful resources of idioms. Finally, the study is implemented to satisfy
researcher‟s interest in idioms.
3. Research questions
In accordance with the objectives of the study, the research is conducted to
find out answers to the following research questions:
1. What syntactic and semantic features are reflected in the “Head” idioms
in both English and Vietnamese?
2. What are cultural features of idioms referring to “Head” in English and
Vietnamese?
4. Scope of the Study
It is impossible to cover all English and Vietnamese idioms in general and
human body idioms in particular in a scope of a minor study. Therefore, I would
like to focus on idioms referring to “Head” to get deeper analysis. Idioms denoting
“Head” in English and Vietnamese are collected from many reliable dictionaries.
The study would investigate the following points:
- General view of idioms in English and Vietnamese.
- Syntactic and semantic features of “Head” idioms in English and
Vietnamese.

- A contrastive analysis of head-based idioms in English and Vietnamese in
the light of culture.
- Some pedagogical implications for teaching, learning and translating.

2


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical Background
1.1.1. Idioms
1.1.1.1. Definitions of idioms
Every language has some phrases or sentences that cannot be understood
literally. Even if we know the meaning of all the words in a phrase and understand
the grammar completely, the meaning of the phrase may still be confusing. Many
clichés, proverbs, slang phrases, phrasal verbs and common sayings pose this kind
of problem. Phrases or sentences of this type are usually said to be idiomatic
(Spears, 1991).
According to Oxford Dictionary of English idioms (p. 57) “An idiom is a
word or phrase which means something different from what it says.” - it is usually a
metaphor. It means that the meaning of an idiom cannot be inferred from the
meaning of individual words in that idiom. For example, the phrase “a pain in the
neck” can be literally understood that one‟s neck is painful. However, it also has
another figurative meaning in the sentence “Tom always goes mad if others do not
obey him. He is really a pain in the neck.” A pain in the neck here refers to a
nuisance, or something or someone that causes nuisance.
In the same sense, J. Seidl and W. McMordie (1988, p.13) defined idioms as
“a number of words which, when taken together, have a different meaning from the
individual meanings of each word.”

For example, “twiddle one’s thumbs” in the

sentence “It is not equal when Tim only comes to the office and twiddles his

thumbs” has the idiomatic meaning “doing nothing”. This meaning is very different
from the meaning of each word in the idiom. Twiddle indicates an action and
thumbs are biggest fingers of hand.
In the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
(1992), an idiom is seen as “an expression which functions as a single unit and
whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts”.
3


In general, these linguists and dictionaries have the similar opinions about
the definition of English idiom which is a phrase whose meanings cannot be
predicted from the individual meaning of the components it contains.
In Vietnam, Hoàng Văn Hành (1994) defined an idiom as “a stable word group with a solid formation and structure, and a complete and figurative meaning,
used in everyday communication, especially in spoken language.” The idiom “chõ
mũi vào chuyện người khác” in the sentence “Bà ta chuyên chõ mũi vào chuyện của
người khác” (She always pokes her nose into other‟s life.) is an example for this
definition.
According to Hoàng Phê (1997) an idiom is “a set expression whose
meaning is generally inexplicable simple through the meaning of individual words
it contains.” For instance the phrase “da mồi tóc sương” (scaly skin and grey hair)
means very old, aged, used to indicate an aged person in the following sentence:
“Chốc đà mười mấy năm trời
Còn ra khi đã da mồi tóc sương”
(Truyện Kiều, Nguyễn Du)
(With more than ten years gone
If still alive, they must have scaly skin and grey hair)
1.1.1.2. Features of Idioms
Idiomatic expressions can be diagnosed by some properties that are extracted
from its practical use in variable discourses. The features that are set below are
extracted from an anonymous writer in an article labeled Anonymous. “Czech and

English Idioms of Body Parts: A View from Cognitive Semantics, English
Language”:


Idioms are conventional, i.e. they are well-established style.



Idioms have paradigmatic fixity, i.e. the individual elements of idioms are

unable to be substituted in the same place of its context.

4




Idioms are transformational anomalous, i.e. they are a unique group of

words that cannot be created according to a specific pattern.


From the formal viewpoint, idioms have combinatory abilities that are not

identical with the combinatory abilities of a regular language.


From the semantic point of view, idioms have no compositional function,

i.e. the total meaning of an idiom cannot be predicted from the meaning of its

individual parts.


Idioms have compositeness, i.e. an idiom is a combination of two or more

words which function as a unit of meaning and that exactly what is called semantic
unity.


Idioms have a special nature that makes them unique; they are richer than

the literal language in terms of their structure and semantic features.


Idioms are institutionalized, i.e. they are conventionalized and cannot be

changed.
1.1.1.2.1. Syntactic Features
First of all, idioms are commonly said to be the “set-expressions”, which
means we cannot add, omit or freely substitute the components in an idiom. In other
words, almost all idioms have fixed structures, and their components cannot be
varied or modified. In addition, we cannot transform an idiom into passive form,
either, especially when it is utilized in a full sentence. This is true in both English
and Vietnamese. For example, “ba đầu sáu tay”, “đầu đội trời, chân đạp đất” or
“have eyes in the back of your head”. If we make a change in these idioms, they are
not idioms any more.
Secondly, idioms can take many forms as well as structures like phrase
structures with noun phrase (“a good head”, “a cool head”), verb phrase (“bury
your head in the sand”, “fall head over heels”), or prepositional phrase (“from head
to toe”) and sentence structure (“eyes pop out of your head”). Moreover, some

idioms have grammatically incorrect structures. For instance, “give someone a

5


heads up”, or “to go through thick and thin”. However, it is widely accepted despite
the improper structure.
1.1.1.2.2. Semantic Features
According to Vinogradow (1997), the meaning of an idiom is cleverly
likened to “the special chemical mixture” of all the components‟ meaning. “Have
your head in the clouds” is a good example to illustrate his point. It would be
inappropriate to translate every word and understand the meaning literally because
it is impossible to have your head in the clouds. Actually, the true meaning of that
idiom is to be unaware of what is going on from fantasies or daydreams. This case
is also true in Vietnamese. For example, “Đầu tắt mặt tối” means very busy. No
doubt, the real meaning of the idiom is far different from that of the set phrase. It
means that although we may know the meanings of all the components of an idiom,
it is quite hard to comprehend its true meaning. Therefore, we cannot draw out its
meaning by just basing on the component words. We have to translate and interpret
idioms figuratively and metaphorically, instead.
However, this case is not always true. There are many idioms whose literal
meaning and figurative one are almost identical. This point was supported by the
opinion of Kunin, A.V. (2006) that was “the meaning of an idiom is either partly or
completely different from the meaning of all components. “Give and take”, “as busy
as a bee” are some instances for this because we can, more or less, guess their
meanings. There are also some Vietnamese idioms which have literal sense and
their meaning can be deduced correctly from the components such as “Đẹp như
tranh” (as pretty as a picture) and “Bán tín bán nghi” (half doubtful).
1.1.1.3. Metaphor and Metonymy in idioms
1.1.1.3.1. Metaphor

Metaphor is a term that comes from Greek which means “transference”. In
Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (1995:734), metaphor is defined as “the
imaginative use of a word or a phrase to describe somebody/ something as another

6


object in order to show that they have the same qualities and as to make the
description more forceful”. For example: “Tom is a snake”. Snake is a dangerous
animal. Therefore, the word “snake” is used to refer to one of characteristics of a
person. This example implies “Tom is a dangerous person”. However, the sentence
which uses metaphor is more forceful and face-saving to the hearer than the
sentence that does not.
According to Barcelona (2000:3), “Metaphor is the cognitive mechanism
whereby one experienced domain is partially mapped or projected onto a different
experiential domain so that the second domain is partially understood in terms of
the first one.”
In Vietnam, Vo Dai Quang (2003:33) defines metaphor as “word meaning
transference based on similarity between two things regards function, character,
size, shape, age, color, etc.”
In general, there are many linguistic definitions of “metaphor”, but all of
them share the same point that is metaphor always is the transference of name based
on the association of similarity.
1.1.1.3.2. Metonymy
Like metaphor, there are a number of definitions of metonymy. Lakoff and
Johnson (1980) define metonymy as the use of one entity to stand for another which
is related to it. In their view, metonymy has a primarily referential function, but it
also contributes to understanding.
According to Kövecses and Radden (1999), metonymy is a cognitive process
in which one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another

conceptual entity, the target, within the same idealized cognitive model.
Gibbs (1994: 320) further defines metonymy as “an aspect of something to
represent or stand for the thing as a whole”. Gibbs proposes „is like‟ test to
distinguish metaphor from metonymy. If one thing can be said to be like another,
then it is a metaphor. If it would be nonsensical to say this, then it is a metonymy.

7


To make it clear, Gibbs provides the following examples as used in the American
English contexts:
1. The cream puff was knocked out in the first round of the fight.
(Metaphor)
2. We need a new glove to play the third base. (Metonymy)
The only meaningful comparison is metaphor, in that it is meaningful to say
that „the boxer is like a creampuff‟ but would be nonsensical to say „the third
baseman is like glove.‟
1.1.1.3.3. Metaphor and Metonymy in Idioms
Metaphors and metonymies are applied prevalently in literature, written
language as well as spoken language as a tool to make the language become more
vivid, and in some cases, more profound. Particularly, metaphors and metonymies
can also be found in idioms which are considered as linguistic combinations
mainly with figurative meaning.
Kövecses (2010: 234) proposes that the motivation of idioms arises from
knowledge of cognitive mechanisms (metaphor, metonymy, and conventional
knowledge). In order to explain idioms based on metaphor, Kövecses (2010) uses
the example of spit fire where the domain of fire is used to refer to the domain of
anger. In this case, anger is comprehended via the anger is fire conceptual
metaphor. Because conceptual metaphor is not the only cognitive mechanism that
can motivate idioms, Kövecses goes on to explain idioms based on conventional

knowledge and metonymy. For this purpose, he collects a large number of idioms
relevant to the human hand from a variety of sources. As conventional knowledge is
also cognitive mechanism, Kövecses means that people in a given culture have the
shared knowledge regarding a conceptual domain like the human hand. They have
the standard information about the parts, shape, size, use, and function of the human
hand. The meaning of the idiomatic expression of have one‟s hands full is to be
busy. This can be easily understood because if someone holds things in the hand, it
is hard for them to pick up other things or use the hand to do another activity.
8


According to Kövecses, this is not the only explanation for this idiom, yet it is the
conventional (neither metaphoric nor metonymic) knowledge that motivates this
idiom. As for metonymy-based idioms, Kövecses uses the example of hold one’s
hand meaning „wait and see‟. This meaning arises as a result of the metonymy the
hand stands for the activity which seems to be the basis for the hand stands for the
person.
1.1.1.4. Proverbs and Idioms
According to Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a proverb is “a short wellknown sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advice”. Due
to the similarities between idioms and proverbs that they both have figurative
meanings, for example, it makes many people confused to distinguish idioms from
proverbs. However, the border between a proverb and an idiom is not very solid. It
means that they are different in some points.
Firstly, idioms and proverbs have different structures or the stability of
structures. According to Nguyễn Đình Hùng (1999) in Tuyển tập thành ngữ, tục ngữ
cao dao Việt - Anh thông dụng, a proverb is different from an idiom in terms of
syntax. A proverb is often a complete sentence meanwhile an idiom is just only a
fixed phrase or a group of words which is a constituent part of a sentence.
Therefore, the individual words in an idiom cannot be changed or omitted, or added
with any other elements. In contrast, a proverb is often elliptical in their nature. For

example, the idiom “with a high hand” cannot be shortened in any circumstances,
while the proverb “so many men, so many minds” can be shortened into “many
men, many minds” without any change in meaning.
Secondly, idioms can be distinguished from proverbs in terms of semantics
as well. Nguyễn Lân in “Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam” states that: “Thành
ngữ là những cụm từ cố định dùng để diễn đạt một khái niệm” and “Tục ngữ là
những câu hồn chỉnh, có ý nghĩa trọn vẹn, nói lên hoặc một nhận xét về tâm lý,
hoặc một lời phê phán, khen hay chê, hoặc một câu khuyên nhủ, hoặc một kinh

9


nghiệm về nhận thức tự nhiên hay xã hội”. In other words, the content of an idiom is
that of concept and the content of a proverb is that of judgment. For example: “head
and front” is an idiom expressing a person who proposes and lead a movement or a
launch; “two heads are better than one” is a proverb because it is an advice which
means it is better to have a discussion before making a decision.
In general, idioms and proverbs are different from each other in terms of
both syntax and semantics. Therefore, syntactic and semantic features of idioms and
proverbs are effective means to distinguish between them.
1.1.1.5. Idioms referring to “Head” in English and Vietnamese
1.1.1.5.1. Literal and figurative meanings of “Head” in English
In Modern English Dictionary, “Head” is defined as follow:
a. The part of body containing eyes, nose, mouth and brain.
For example: the ball hit her on the head.
b. A head (singular): as measure of length.
For example: Tom is taller than John by a head.
c. Headache
For example: I have got a terrible head this morning.
d. The mind, the brain

For example: The thought never entered mind head.
e. (Singular) a mental or natural ability of the specified nature
For example: have a good head for figures/ business.
f. Heads (singular verb) the side of a coin with the head of a person on it
For example: We tossed a coin and it came down heads.
g. (Plural) head individual animals in a herd, flock
For example: twenty head of cattle
h. A thing like a head in form or position
For example: Cut off the dead heads of the roses.
i. The foam on the top of poured beer

10


j. A device on a tape recorder that couches the moving tape and converts the
electrical signals into sound.
k. The part of a spot or boil that contains
For example: the pimple came to a head before bursting.
l. The top or the highest part of something.
For example: The title at the head of the page.
m. The more important or prominent end of something
For example: Place the pillow at the head of the bed.
n. The front of a line of people
For example: Stand at the head of a queue.
o. A leading position in something
For example: Be at the head of one‟s profession.
p. The person in charge of a group or an organization
For example: The head of the family.
q. The person in charge of a school or a college: headmaster or headmistress
r. The pressure produced by an amount of water or steam in a confined space

For example: they kept up a good head of steam.
s. A main division in a lecture, an essay, etc.
For example: a meeting arranged under five heads.
1.1.1.5.2. Literal and figurative meanings of “Head” in Vietnamese
The meanings of the word “Đầu” in Vietnamese are taken from the website:
/>a. The highest part if the human body, the front part of an animal, in which
there are the brain and other senses.
b. The head of human beings, considered as symbol of thought, perception.
For example: Vấn đề đau đầu
c. The part where there is hair on the human head, hair (in general)
For example: Gãi đầu gãi tai, mái đầu xanh.
d. The front or the highest part of something.
11


e. The beginning points of time of space; opposite to “end”
For example: Đầu làng, đầu tháng, đầu mùa thu.
f. The ending part of two identical parts on two opposite directions of an object.

For example: Hai bên đầu cầu
g. The first point of time or location, highest or in front of all other points
For example: Lần đầu, Hàng ghế đầu.
h. Indicating every unit to count the average of people, area units, etc.
For example: Bình quân đầu người.
1.1.2. Cultural and the Relationship between Language and Culture
1.1.2.1. Definition of Culture
In English, “culture” is a term that has been defined differently by various
scholars. In 1871, Edward Taylor, a British anthropologist, became the first to give
a full definition of culture in his book, Primitive Culture, that is “Culture...is that
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and

any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Kroeber
and Kluckhohn (1952:181) showed that:
"Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired
and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups,
including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached
values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on
the other as conditioning elements of further action."

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture
Organization (UNESCO), culture is defined as follow:
"Culture is a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional

features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and
literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs. "
Regarding to Matsumoto (1996), a set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and
behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual,

12


communicated from one generation to the next is considered as culture. Lederach
(1995:9) defined culture is "the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of
people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities
around them."
In Vietnamese, Nguyen Quang (1998:3) claimed that “Culture is a share
background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common
language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values.” For
him, the nature of culture is compared to an iceberg, most of which is hidden under
water. It means that culture has hidden aspects which have significant effects on

behavior of an individual and on interactions with others but cannot be seen
visually.
In general, Moore‟s definition of culture (1985:4) is the shortest and most
concise, in my opinion that is "Culture is the whole of knowledge, ideas and habits
of society that are transmitted from one generation to the next."
1.1.2.2. Definition of Language
There is no doubt that language is a communication tool used by humans,
animals and even some plant species. However, human language is apparently
unique in being a symbolic communication system which is learnt instead of being
biologically and naturally inherited. One of the most concise definitions of language
is that “language is a human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals
such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols” (Nordquist, n.d.) Li (2005,
p.24) noted that language carries out these three crucial functions:
1. Language is the primary vehicle of communication;
2. Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of
his history. In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;
3. Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the
continuity of societies and the effective functioning and controlling of social group.
Language contains many characteristic, one of which is that language is a
means of communication and self-expressions. It means language helps people

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express their ideas, feelings and various traces or surges of emotions. Language is
also said to be irrefutably arbitrary; non-instinctive; conventional, symbolic,
systematic and vocal. In addition, as a means of fostering, stimulating and
developing culture as well as establish and reinforcing human relations, language is
clearly a form of social behaviour which must be utilized in a society or it would
surely die. In short, being extendable, modifiable and especially, structurally

complex, language is a crucial factor that distinguishes humans from other creatures
or species.
1.1.2.3. The relationship between Culture and Language
Language and culture have an inextricable and dialectical relationship.
According to Brown (1994), “language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part
of a language, the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two
without losing the significance of either language or culture.” (p. 165). Kramsch
(2000) also proclaimed, “Language is the principle means whereby we conduct our
social lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with
culture in multiple and complex ways.” (p. 3). To emphasize the essential and vital
role of language to culture, Li (2005) stated that “without language, culture would
not be possible” (p.25). On the other hand, culture, a set of values, demeanours and
patterns of perception, also plays an important part in the formation and
development of language. It can be said that learning a language entails the learning
of a new culture. These two processes always occur concurrently.
In a nutshell, language is the indispensable vehicle for transmitting a large
amount of culture and culture has a significantly strong influence on language. They
are closely and naturally interwoven. It is widely known that each country has
different cultures. In fact, however, no culture is completely isolated and separately
unique. People of different cultures can sometimes share the same ways of thinking
and viewing in some matters. This is mentioned in the viewpoint of Li (2005)
“There are important resemblances that stem in part from diffusion and in part from
the fact that all cultures are built around biological, psychological and social

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characteristics common to all mankind.” (p. 26). Universal concepts and similar
points among cultures certainly reflect in languages. Therefore, between two
different languages, English and Vietnamese, for example, we can find some

concepts or cases that are coincidentally similar or even the same.
1.1.2.4. The Differences between English and Vietnamese Culture
Each country has different cultures due to various factors such as
geographical features and climatic conditions. Below are some differences between
British and Vietnamese cultures. Situated in North-western Europe, the United
Kingdom (UK) includes the island of Great Britain, the North Eastern part of the
island of Ireland and some other smaller islands. England is widely known as the
largest and also the most populous part of the island of Great Britain. Over ninety
percent of the population now dwells in towns or cities. Among many cultural
regions, the English culture is considered to be archetypal and often used to refer to
the culture of the whole country. In addition, surrounded by sea, Britain is
considered as an island country which generally has varied temperate climate.
Therefore, it is hard to know exactly what the weather in Britain will be like from
one day to another. Furthermore, there are not remarkably high mountains or forests
in Britain; much of the land is utilized for human habitation. The navigable rivers,
although quite short and not very large, have served a significant role in the
transport system.
Vietnam, on the other hand, locates in the South East of the Asian continent.
It is the largest and also most populous of the three Indochinese countries. With
fifty-four peoples, Vietnam is said to be a multi-ethnic country. Unlike Britain, a
majority of Vietnam‟s population still live in rural areas and small villages.
Generally, Vietnam is characterized by tropical monsoon type of climate. Although
about three quarters of its area are mountains and hills, Vietnam has vast and fertile
plains with alluvial soil banked up by many rivers and seas which are utilized for
agriculture which has always been a great of importance in the economy. There are
a plenty of agriculture products, such as rice, fruits, ground-nut trees, vegetables,

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various husbandry products and industrial trees, in which rice is regarded as the
basic food of every meals. Besides, Vietnamese people usually raise and breed
buffaloes, pigs and poultry. In fact, agriculture is intimately linked with aquaculture.
In Vietnam, there are many long and navigable rivers. The dense network of rivers,
lakes, streams and ponds is considered as the assets of this country, multiplying
Vietnam‟s grandeur in many ways.
Unlike Vietnam, agriculture does not serve the most significant part in
British economy. The working population employed in agriculture is estimated at
less than 3%. Cereals, dairying of beef, cattle, poultry meat and eggs are some
principle agricultural products in Britain. Therefore, the staple foods in British
meals are cereal and meat. When it comes to husbandry, people often mention
cows, cattle, sheep, poultry and horses. British people, especially the English, are
widely known for their modesty, humour and sportsmanship. In addition, politeness
is believed to be a conspicuous characteristic of British society. English people are
also perceived as being “reserved”. They often keep certain distance to strange
people, they neither talk much about themselves nor have the habit of showing
freely strong emotions. The major and common religion in Britain is Christianity,
while in Vietnam, Buddhism is the dominant one. Being one of the Eastern
countries, Vietnam has the Oriental cultures and values which are notably different
from those of the West. It has an old-aged and wonderful heroic history. In order to
protect the country from being taken as colony, Vietnamese people courageously
and unyieldingly fought against lots of fierce enemies in many years to gain their
independence and freedom. Influenced by Confucianism, Vietnamese people pay
much attention to the society hierarchy and the worship of ancestors. Moreover,
Oriental culture, including that of Vietnam, has dignified Yin-Yang philosophy,
which highlights the perfect harmony between people with people as well as people
with nature. In general, Vietnamese people are patriotic, hard-working, faithful,
intrepid, modest and self-controlled. As Nguyen, M. D (1985) stated, “Vietnamese
cherish and uphold their ties with the past and their historical heritage of 4,000

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years of civilization,…,Vietnamese prefer activities that develop the human
essence, such as philosophy, poetry and meditation.” (p. 411).
Admittedly, both Vietnam and Great Britain have their own significant
culture features which are not similar. As mentioning above, culture has a
significantly strong influence on language and language, certainly, acts as a mirror
reflecting most of the culture. Therefore, it is easy to see that there will be lots of
interesting dissimilarities between the language units of English and Vietnamese,
especially idioms.
1.1.2.5. Cultural features in Idioms
Every language has its own vivid and colorful idioms which were created by
people when using for a long time and has deep nation history and local color.
Maalej (2005) identifies idioms as culture-specific aspect of a particular language.
Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount
of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, national
psychology and thought pattern; therefore, they are closely related to culture.
Idioms are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement.
Consequently, we can know much about culture through studying idioms and in
turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind
them.
Despite the gap that exists between cultures, some idioms can be more
universally used than others, and can be easily translated. This fact of the culture
has influences on guessing idioms. Some linguists claim that idioms that are
concerned with the head can be guessed more easily because human beings
regardless of their cultures are familiar with the functions of their head.
1.2. Previous Studies
Up to now, there are a large number of documents about idioms in English
and Vietnamese. For English dictionaries of idioms, there are some famous ones

collected and written by researchers such as “Oxford Dictionary of idioms” by
Judith Siefring which provides learners with updated idioms including clear

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