A study on idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in english and vietnamese

1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In the world today, there are 5,000 to 6,000 living languages, of which English is by far
the most widely used. Approximately 350 million people speak English as their first language.
About the same number use it as a second language. It is the English language that is used as the
language of aviation, international sport and pop music. 75% of the world's mail is in English,
60% of the world's radio stations broadcast in English and more than half of the world's
periodicals are printed in English. It is also the English language that is used as an official
language in 44 countries, and as the language of business, commerce and technology in many
others. English is now an effective medium of international communication.
In Vietnam, English has long been considered 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.
Each nation's language lies in itself similar and different concepts on many fields of life
such as humane values, ways of thinking, behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and
traditions, social conventions, etc. Words and expressions including idioms have formed the
vocabulary system of a language. Idioms are considered as special factors of a language's
vocabulary system because they reflect cultural specific characteristics of each nation, including
material and spiritual values. Therefore, a lot of researchers have long shown their concerns for
idioms.
2
Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles. They bring the vividness and richness
to the speakers' speeches. This is the reason why the more skillfully a person use idioms in his
conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative relationship. One more
important thing is that the general present tendencies are towards idiomatic usage; therefore,
knowing how to use idioms effectively in the right situations is becoming essential. Moreover,
the most distinguished advantage of idioms is that they do provide users with a whole new way

of expressing concepts linguistically. It can be said that idioms are the color and vitality of a
language.
Several linguists have given a lot of definitions about an idiom basing on its fixed
characteristics. For example, "An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special different
meaning from the meaning of several words" (Dictionary of English Idioms, 1979). Sharing the
same point of view, Hoang Van Hanh (1994) considered an idiom as 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 characteristics of an idiom are as follows:
- Form: The words of an idiom are generally fixed. It means that the components forming
an idiom are unchanged in using.
- Structure: The fixed characteristic of structure of an idiom is expressed by the fixed
order of the components forming an idiom.
In fact, we can see a lot of idioms violating the principles of their fixed characteristics
such as to swear like a bargee and to swear like a trooper, to die a dog’s death and to die like a
dog in English, nước đổ đầu vịt and nước đổ lá khoai (like water off a duck’s back), giãi gió
dầm mưa and dầm mưa giãi gió (to be exposed to the sun and socked with dew) in Vietnamese.
This gives us some questions as follows:
Are the idioms above the idiomatic variants or synonymous idioms?
3
What kinds of idioms allow us to use the violation about their fixed characteristics?
What criteria make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous
idioms?
What are the similarities and differences between idiomatic variants and
synonymous idioms in English and those in Vietnamese?
The questions above have not been found in any studies about idioms before. This is the
reason why the author decided to make a further study on this topic. The thesis, A study on
idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese, is expected to be an
interesting and helpful material for foreign language teachers and learners and for people who
are interested in idioms in both English and Vietnamese.
2. Aims and objectives of the study

The study, as entitled, focuses on the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in
English and Vietnamese. Therefore, the study is aimed to:
- Present some theoretical background on idioms.
- Establish some possible criteria for the distinction between idiomatic variants and
synonymous idioms.
- Gain an insightful look at idioms in general and idiomatic variants and synonymous
idioms in particular in both English and Vietnamese.
- Work out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of
idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms.
3. Scope of the study
Due to the duration of time and the length as well as the references available, this thesis
does focus on the forms and contents of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English
and Vietnamese. The author would like to pay attention to the following questions:
4
- "Comparison" can be considered as a cognitive procedure, a scientific thought used in
all processes of perception. It means that it is different from a basic linguistic method.
- "Contrastive analysis" is a method which has its own principles and techniques.
- "Semantics-Pragmatics", according to Do Huu Chau, is a mergence of semantics and
pragmatics (semantics containing pragmatics and on the contrary).
Due to the aims and objectives of the thesis, the scope of contrastive analysis is based on
the following principles and aspects:
- Contrastive analysis of signs and appearances.
- Contrastive analysis of meanings of components.
- Contrastive analysis of forms.
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). The process, in general, can be divided into two stages which are always
applied in a quick-minded and active way.

Stage 1: During the process of investigating materials from various sources, the forms,
characteristics and meanings of idioms and their variants and synonyms in English and
Vietnamese are described and analyzed in the relationship with cultures. Then, techniques such
as comparison, transformation, and contrastive analysis are applied in a quick-minded and active
way to find out a general picture about the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both
languages.
5
Stage 2: Basing on the results from stage 1, the author has taken a careful contrastive analysis to
find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about the field of the
study.
The sources for the analysis are from materials and references written by linguists in
English and in Vietnamese as well as some bilingual reference books available in Vietnam. This
will help to make clear both the similarities and the differences between the idiomatic variants
and synonymous idioms in English and those in Vietnamese.
Techniques for analyzing materials:
- English and Vietnamese idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are investigated in
many of their aspects such as appearances, forms, component orders, characteristics, meaning
colours, figurative styles etc. Basing on this, the author has tried to find out the similarities and
differences between English idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms and Vietnamese ones.
- Description and comparison are carried in the order of different groups of subjects by
using some techniques such as contrastive analysis, componential analysis, transformable
analysis and statistics.
Moreover, frequent talks with the supervisor, lecturers and experts on the field have
proved to be a very useful method for the completion of the study. Also, the study is carried out
on the basis of the author's personal experience.
5. Design of the study
This study consists of three parts, excluding the appendixes and the references.
Part one, Introduction, consists of the rationale, the aims and objectives, the scope, the
methods, and the design of the study.
Part two, Development, is the heart of the study which directly deals with the idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. This part is divided into three
6
chapters including chapter I: Literature review and theoretical background, chapter II: Major
characteristics of English and Vietnamese idioms, and chapter III: Idiomatic variants and
synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese.
The last part is the conclusion of the study as well as some suggestions for implications
achieved from the discussion in the thesis and for further studies.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
7
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Literature review
There have been a lot of authors whose studies generally relate to idioms. Hoang Van
Hanh (1973), Nguyen Thien Giap, Le Nhu Tien (1988), Nguyen Khac Hung (1988), Hoang Van
Thang (1992), Trinh Duc Hien (1995), Phan Van Que (1995), Dang Anh Dao (1997) showed
their concerns for the ways how to use idioms in literature and in different kinds of act. Studies
on the roles of idioms in traditional culture were carried by some authors such as Duong Quang
Ham (1956), Pham The Ngu (1969), Dinh Gia Khanh, Chu Xuan Dien (1972, 1973), Cao Huy
Dinh (1974), Le Chi Que, Vo Quang Nhon (1990) etc. Nguyen Xuan Hoa (1995), Phan Van Que
(1996), Ngo Minh Thuy (2005) gave their own studies on idioms in Vietnamese in comparison
to Russian, English and Japanese.
Here are some studies directly relating to the field of the study:
A Study on Vietnamese Idioms (Hoang Van Hanh, 2004)
Hoang Van Hanh is a well-known Vietnamese linguist who had spent a lot of time and
energy on this research. This study specialized in the objectives, the aims, the tasks, the
problems, etc. of Vietnamese idioms. The author analyzed idioms based on different aspects,
synchronically and diachronically, on the view of functional and structural system as well as
from cultural, social and psychological perspectives. The research also introduced a systematic
collection of Vietnamese idioms in forms of three main types.
A contrastive analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and
Vietnamese (Nguyen Thi Nga, 2003, VNU-CFL)

In the study, the author focused on the features of English idioms and made a contrastive
analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese counterparts. The
8
author found that, though the animal-based comparison idioms in both cultures use different
animal images to express ideas, they semantically reflect the personal characteristics and status
of people in the society during the course of historic development of the two nations. According
to her, many animals are positive in English but negative or neutral in Vietnamese and vice
versa, which creates a lot of interests for learners in accessing and analyzing them.
Simile in English and Vietnamese - A contrastive analysis (Le Thu Ha, 2001, HOU)
In this paper, the author presented a contrastive analysis on the concept, formulation,
cultural traditional function, syntactic function and classification of simile in English and its
Vietnamese equivalents. She also pointed out some common mistakes made by Vietnamese
learners of English and some solutions as well as suggestions for translating simile from English
into Vietnamese.
A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison (Do Quynh
Anh, 2004, VNU-CFL)
The author gave out some theoretical background about idioms and made some
comparison with other concepts such as proverbs, slang and quotations. In the development, the
author made a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms, and then pointed out
some similarities and differences between these two languages. Due to the findings, the author
stated out some difficulties of learning English in terms of idioms and raised the awareness of
cultural related factors that should be put into consideration in the teaching process.
A study on comparative idioms from cultural perspective (Do Thi Thu Trang, 2006,
VNU-CFL)
In this study, the author analyzed and discussed English and Vietnamese comparative
idioms in the light of culture and she found out some similarities and differences in the way and
the reason why people from the two cultures convey their comparative idioms.
9
Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese (Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong,
2006)

This is a study written in Vietnamese. In the study, the author gave some theoretical
background relating to Vietnamese idioms in general and their idiomatic variants and
synonymous idioms in particular. Basing on the forms and contents, some criteria were given to
make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese. She
also carried an investigation on these due to their forms and meanings.
1.2. Theoretical background
1.2.1. Culture and the relationship between language and culture
Culture has a great influence on the origin and development of language. This is the
season why content of language is closely linked to culture. Besides words and expressions,
idioms are considered as special language units because they reflect cultural characteristics of
different countries.
1.2.1.1. Culture and its characteristics
Culture is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home. It includes all
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.
A way of thinking about culture is to contrast it with nature. Nature refers to what is born
and grows organically (from the Latin nascere "to be born"); culture refers to what has
been grown and groomed (from the Latin colere "to cultivate")
(Kramsch, 2000: 4)
According to Goodenough's famous definition (1957: 167), the term "culture" is used in
the sense of whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society.
10
Society's culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate
in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any
one of themselves.
Culture, therefore, is the "know-how" that a person must possess to get through the task of
daily living; only for a few does it require a knowledge of some, or much, music, literature, and
the arts.
Some scientists also compare the nature of culture to an iceberg, which is mostly hidden
under water. The part of culture that is exposed is not always that which creates cross-cultural

difficulties; but the hidden aspects of culture have significant effects on behavior and on
interactions with others.
Characteristics of culture proposed by Porter and Samovar (1994: 12):
- Culture is not innate, it is learnt. Fact has shown that members of culture learn their
patterns of behaviors and ways of thinking until they have become internalized. The power and
influence of these behaviors and perceptions can be seen in the ways in which people acquire
culture.
- Culture is transmissible. The symbols of a culture are what enable us to pass on the
content and patterns of a culture. People can use spoken words as well as nonverbal actions as
symbols to spread culture.
- Culture is dynamic. As with communication, culture is on going and subject to culture,
they can produce changes through the mechanisms of invention and diffusion.
- Culture is selective. Every culture represents a limited choice of behavior patterns from
the infinite patterns of human experience. This selection is made according to the basic
assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture. In other words, culture also defines
the boundaries of different groups. The notion of selectivity also suggests that cultures tend to
11
separate one group from another. If one culture selects work as an end (Japan) while another
emphasizes work as a means to an end (Mexico), we have cultural separation.
- Facets of culture are interrelated. As Hall clearly states: "You touch a culture in one
place and everything else is affected" (Porter and Somovar, 1994: 13). This characteristic shows
that culture is like a complex system.
- Culture is ethnocentric. Keesing notes that ethnocentrism is a "universal tendency for
any people to put its own culture and society in a central position of priority and worth" (Porter
and Somovar, 1994: 13). Ethnocentrism, therefore, becomes the perceptual window through
which a culture interprets and judges all other cultures.
In conclusion, culture, in anthropology, is the pattern of behavior and thinking that people
living in social group learn, create, and share. Culture distinguishes one human group from
others. It also distinguishes humans from other animals. A culture belonging to a group of
people includes their beliefs, rules of behavior, language, rituals, art, technology, styles of dress,

ways of producing and cooking food, religion, and political and economic systems.
1.2.1.2. Characteristics of British culture
The United Kingdom, constitutional monarchy in Northwestern Europe, is officially the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the largest island in the
cluster of islands, or archipelago, known as the British Isles. England is the largest and most
populous division of the island of Great Britain, making the South and East. Wales is on the
West and Scotland is to the North. Northern Ireland is located in the Northeast corner of Ireland,
the second largest island in the British Isles. Among these four cultural regions, the English
culture is considered a representative and often used to refer to the entire country's culture.
To other Europeans, the best known quality of the British, especially of the English is
"reserve". They are people who often keep certain distance to strangers, do not talk much about
12
themselves, do not show much emotion and seldom get excited. This fact tends to give their
communicators the impression of coldness.
Apart from "reserve", a typical English man is expected to be modest and humorous. Any
self-praise is felt to be ill-bred and it is ideal to laugh at oneself- at one's own faults, one's own
failures and embarrassment. He also tends to expect those characters in others and distrusts
exaggerated promises and shows of affection, especially if they are expressed in flowery
language.
Politeness is a hallmark of British society though their habits of politeness are on the
whole very informal. There are no complicated greetings, for instance, a simple "good morning"
or a cheery wave of the hands across the street is quite satisfactory; handshakes are only
exchanged on a first introduction, or on special occasions, or as a token of agreement or
congratulation. All politeness is based on the elementary rule of showing consideration for
others, and fitly acknowledging the consideration they show to you.
Moreover, sportsmanship is highly valued in Britain with rules showing generosity to
one's opponent and good temper in defeat. It is also an ideal that is applied to life in general.
This is proved by the number of sporting terms used in ordinary speech. One of the most
elementary rules of life is "never hit a man when he's down", in other words, never take
advantage of another's misfortune.

In short, we can say that although the United Kingdom covers only a small area of the
earth surface, the British, on the one hand, represent people of many different origins and
cultures; on the other hand, they are very different in some ways from people of other
continents.
1.2.1.3. Characteristics of Vietnamese culture
13
The Vietnamese culture is said to be an agricultural one with the most distinguishing
products as rice, vegetables and fish. Living in an agricultural country created democracy and
hierarchy, unity, and collective and independent spirit in Vietnamese people. They are also
greatly affected by Yin and Yang philosophy, clearly expressed in harmony tendency between
people with people and with the nature. In their social and communicative relationships, the
Vietnamese prefer feelings to reasons, spirit to material, subtlety and reserve to rough and
violence. In their spiritual life, they idolize fertility- a belief praises multiply with the genitals as
its symbol.
Though at any development period, to every Vietnamese person, motherland is the most
miraculous and nothing can compare to it. They have fought for centuries, against a lot of
enemies, to protect and hand it down to their ancestors. The second distinguishing feature when
talking about Vietnamese cultural identity is the durable relationship between individuals and
their family, between families and village, and to a broader term, the motherland. Generally
speaking, Vietnamese people are those of duty and responsibility. Another feature of no less
importance is the personalism in Vietnamese culture, which is opposite with individualism in
Western culture. Vietnamese people are those of various and diversified relationship and
strongly controlled by such complicated relationships. In the Viet community, to a person's
children, he is a father; to his wife, he is a husband; to his grandparents, he is a nephew; to his
neighbors, he also a family's child and a member of a large family.
In general, Vietnamese culture is an undetechable part of South-East Asian culture space
with typical features of a wet-rice civilization and Vietnamese people are said to be very hard-
working, brave and faithful in their living and behaviors.
1.2.1.4. Language and culture
14

According to Kramsch (2000:3) 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.
Kramsch argued that the words people utter express facts, ideas or events that are
communicable. Words also reflect their authors' attitudes and beliefs, their points of view, which
are also those of others. In both cases, language expresses cultural reality.
However, members of a community belonging to different social groups do not only
express experience, they also create experience through language. They give meanings to it
through the medium they choose to communicate with each other, for example, speaking face to
face, writing a letter or reading a newspaper. The way in which people use the spoken, written or
visual medium itself creates meanings that are understandable to the groups they belong to, for
example, through the speaker's tone of voice, accent, conversational style, gestures and facial
expressions. Through all its verbal or nonverbal aspects, we find that language embodies
cultural reality.
Language is also a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value. Speakers
identify themselves and others through their use of language as a symbol of their social identity.
The prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group
and their culture. Therefore, we can say that language symbolizes cultural identity.
The theory of linguistic relativity does not claim that linguistic structure constrains what
people can think or perceive, only that it tends to influence what they routinely do thing. In this
regard, the work of Sapir and Wholf has led to two insights:
- There is nowadays recognition that language, as code, reflects cultural preoccupations
and constrains the way people think.
15
- More than in Wholf's days, however, we recognize how important context is in
complementing the meanings encoded in the language.
In brief, language and culture always exist together and reinforce each other. The
relationship between them is so inextricable that we could not understand or appreciate the one
without the knowledge of the others.
1.2.2. Idioms

1.2.2.1. What is meant by “idioms”?
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 is impossible to master a language without learning idioms – a very important part of the
language. What is an idiom? The question may have many answers.
Many linguists such as Robins (1989), Palmer (1981), Jackson and Amvela (1998) and
others consider idioms as a special kind of collocation. The meaning of an idiom, however, can
not 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 co-occur 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
16
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.
Here are some more definitions of idioms:
- “An expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked
out from its separate parts”.
(Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1992)
- “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”
(Hoang Van Hanh, 1994: 21)
- “An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meaning
of several words”
(Dictionary of English Idioms, 1979)

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 idiom is a fixed expression whose
meaning can not be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual words.
1.2.2.2. What is meant by “idiomatic variants”?
In “Bases of General Linguistics”, Ju.X. Xtepanov partly dealt with variants. He said that
phonetic variation of words had its own limitation performed by synonyms. It means that the
forms of the words change but their meanings are the same. That a word is pronounced in two
ways makes two phonetic variants of a word. [31: 42]
"Variant" is something which differs in form from another thing, though really the same;
as, a variant from a type in natural history; a variant of a story or a word. [47]
17
Basing on these, we can say that idiomatic variants are idioms having the same meanings
and grammatical structures or having different components belonging to the same field of
meaning.
1.2.2.3. What is meant by “synonymous idioms”?
"Synonym" is one of two or more words (commonly words of the same language) which
are equivalents of each other, one of two or more words which have very nearly the same
signification, and therefore may often be used interchangeably.
( /> It can be said that Russian linguists have recorded great achievements of synonymy,
especially synonymous idioms. T.A. Bertagaep and V.I Zimin referred to synonymous idioms
(synonymous idiomatic groups of words) in modern Russian. Basing on the structures of
synonymous idioms, they gave the concept of idiomatic variants and the opposite of idiomatic
variants and synonymous idioms. They supposed that synonymous idioms were idiomatic
groups of words which had the same meanings but different expressive colours belonging to
different functional styles of the language. [27: 55]
In Vietnam, Do Huu Chau has partly referred to the synonymous idioms. He said “The
idioms which are about the same as words are mainly synonymous, colorific and descriptive”.
[7] It means that synonymous idioms are idioms having the same meanings but different
structures or having the same structures but different components belonging to different fields of
meaning.

1.2.2.4. Functions of idioms
Idioms may play different roles. They are used to name objects, actions or describe
situations. They may express certain generalizations, advice, make evaluation, emphasize…
Traditionally, from the point of view of the function of idioms, we can refer to the
18
following basis groups:
- idioms with a nominative function - express concepts and name objects, states,
processes, actions, qualities, etc. They have the structure of a phrase. Examples: while
elephant, pull somebody 's leg, cool as a cucumber; body and soul
- idioms with a communicative function - describe situations and express independent
statements. They have the structure of a sentence, e.g. all that glitters is not gold, the
coast is clear
- idioms with both nominative and communicative functions (including idioms with a
mixed, limited variable structure), e.g. break the ice - the ice is broken, close the door
on - the door is closed, lead somebody by the nose - somebody is led by nose
- idioms without any distinctive nominative and communicative function - linguists
usually include here modal and interjectional idioms, or idioms which have a cohesive
function, e.g. like hell; what on earth; on the other hand; as well as; by the way.
In relation to words, within the group of idioms with a nominative function (lexemic
idioms), we can refer to idioms equivalent to single words, i.e. they may be replaced by a single
word (of course = certainly, kick the bucket = die, in the family way = pregnant). They may
also correspond to non-idiomatic phrases (collocations: a big fish = an important person, as red
as a turkey cock = very angry), or they may be correlated with approximate (free) description,
e.g. have green fingers = have natural ability in growing plants.
Nominative idioms correlate with word classes (parts of speech). They may be divided
into: noun, verbal, adjectival and adverbial idioms, etc., for example: a dark horse (noun), make
give up (verbal), as white as a sheet (adjectival), once in a blue moon, tooth and nail
(adverbial). Their function is not completely identical with that of single words, since their
meaning usually includes a higher degree of both expressiveness and evaluation.
19

From the pragmatic point of view and discourse, some linguists, including Fernando
(l996) speak about:
- "ideational" idioms ("the state and way of the world" idioms, expressing namely:
actions, events,. situation, people, things, attitudes, emotions, etc.): red herring, bury the
hatchet, as white as a sheet
- "interpersonal" idioms (expressing greetings, agreement, rejections, etc.): so long,
never mind
- "relational” idioms (ensuring cohesion, etc).: by the way, in addition to, last but not
least
Other linguists give more detailed categorization of idioms. Some idioms may have more
than one function. Moon (1998), for example, distinguishes the following groups of idioms:
- informational (conveying information of different kind: in the red, rub shoulders with,
one’s kith and kin)
- evaluative (giving the speaker’s attitude to the situation: works wonders, wash one’s
hands of sth, a different kettle of fish)
- situational (expressing conventions, clauses, exclamation, relating to extralingual
context: walls have ears, so long, talk of the devil, long time no see)
- modalizing (expressing modality, truth values, advice, request: mark my words, more or
less, at all, in effect)
- organizational (organizing the text, signaling discourse structure: by the way, all in all,
let alone, in the light, on the other hand, in other words)
1.3. Summary
There have been a lot of authors whose studies generally relate to idioms. However, no
studies directly relating to idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and
20
Vietnamese are known to us. This is the reason why we carry a study on idiomatic variants and
synonymous idioms in both English and Vietnamese.
It can be said that culture has a great influence on the origin and development of
language. Content of language is closely linked to culture. Besides words and expressions,
idioms are considered as special language units because they reflect cultural characteristics of

different countries.
In general, idioms in both English and Vietnamese are fixed groups of words which have
settled forms and figurative meanings and reflect their own nation's culture values, including
material and spiritual values.
Idiomatic variants are idioms which have the same meanings and grammatical structures
or have different components belonging to the same field of meaning.
Synonymous idioms are idioms which have the same meanings but different structures or
have the same structures but different components belonging to different fields of meaning.
Idioms are used to name objects, actions or describe situations. They may express certain
generalizations, advice, make evaluation, emphasize, etc. In other word, naming things,
phenomena, processes, properties and describing situations are the main functions of idioms.
CHAPTER II: MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
IDIOMS
2.1. Characteristics of idioms
21
2.1.1. Characteristics of English idioms
According to many linguists, a group of words which has a fixed structure, indivisible
meaning, and can appear in speech like a word is called an idiom. Therefore, idioms can be
distinguished by their grammatical and semantic features.
2.1.1.1. Grammatical features
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
22
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
because an adjective doesn’t usually come after a preposition singly. However, this can be
considered as an exception in language.
2.1.1.2. Semantic features
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 can not 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 (to 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 (to 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.
2.1.2. Characteristics of Vietnamese idioms
23
In Vietnamese, idioms are considered as very special language units because they reflect
Vietnamese cultural characteristics. The forms and contents of idioms are also distinguished by
grammatical and semantic features.
2.1.2.1. Grammatical features
Most of Vietnamese linguists have had the same point of view about the forms of
Vietnamese idioms. Nguyen Van Tu [28] said “Idioms are fixed expressions whose word
components do not have their own individual meanings and become a solid block”. He
emphasized the combination of the components forming the meaning of idioms. Nguyen Thien
Giap [12] did consider an idiom as a fixed expression. Although Nguyen Duc Dan [7] didn’t
focus on the forms of Vietnamese idioms, he dealt with the fixation of idioms. He said “Idioms
are language units which have fixed forms”. Hoang Van Hanh (1987) attached special
importance to the components forming idioms. He affirmed that an idiom was a fixed group of
words whose form was 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 (to 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 (to get a
windfall), etc. The fixation shows that we can not 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.
2.1.2.2. Semantic features
24

There have been a lot of different opinions about the semantic features of Vietnamese
idioms. According to Nguyen Van Menh [21], 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. Nguyen Van Tu [28] said “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”.
Nguyen Thien Giap [13] 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:
- 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 (to 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 (to kill two birds with one stone), bán tín bán nghi (half doubtful) and bách phát bách trúng
25
(to hit the mark one hundred times out of one hundred) also have literal sense basing on the
meanings of their components.
2.2. Classification of idioms
In both English and Vietnamese there exist many different ways of idiom classification
among linguists who have based on different categories such as motivation, function, origin,
meaning and kind, etc. However, each language has its own characteristics and the idiom

classification is also based on different points of view.
2.2.1. Classification of English idioms
Some authors have classified English idioms into topic groups and countries. They have
also listed the amount of idioms belonging to each topic or country.
Idioms by topic
- Animals: the birds and the bees
- Body and bodily functions: at arm’s length
- Buildings and construction: to drive someone up the wall
- Character and appearance: as cold as ice
- Children and babies: like a kid in a candy store
- Clothes: at the drop of a hat
- Colours: black and white
- Death: at death’s door
- Drinking and pubs: to turn water in to wine
- Drugs: close but no cigar
- Food: as cool as a cucumber
- Furniture and household fittings: to cut a rug
- Gambling: to go for broke