Meal and its relating words in english and in vietnamese from semantic and cultural perspectives

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

‘MEAL’ AND ITS RELATING WORDS
IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE FROM
SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
(‘Bữa ăn’ và các từ liên quan trong tiếng Anh và tiếng
Việt dưới góc nhìn ngữ nghĩa và văn hóa)
DUONG VAN HOAT

Field: English Language
Code: 8.22.02.01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Tuyet Minh

Hanoi, 12/2020


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project
report entitled ‘Meal’ and its relating words in English and in Vietnamese
from semantic and cultural perspectives” submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where
the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due
acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2020

Duong Van Hoat

Approved by

SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Pro. Dr. Hoang Tuyet Minh
Date: ……………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The mission of completing this study would not have been fulfilled
without the useful and practical assistance from many people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my
supervisor Assoc. Pro. Dr. Hoang Tuyet Minh for her scholarly knowledge,
precious guidance and enthusiastic support regarding my study. She has
inspired and encouraged me a lot during the steps of my thesis.
I am really grateful to the organizers of the course as well as the
organizing board of master thesis defense for proper preparation and
enthusiastic supports before, during and post our study process.
I would like to convey my special thanks to all lecturers at the Faculty
of Post Graduate Studies - Hanoi Open University for their helpful and
interesting lectures that broaden my knowledge and lead me to my work.
Last but not least, I would like to show my sincere gratitude to my
family and all of my classmates together with close friends for their love,
care, encouragement and financial as well as spiritual support for me to finish
this thesis.

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ABSTRACT

The study focuses on solving the major question of what the primary
similarities and differences between the word ‘meal’ and its relating words in
English and in Vietnamese are from semantic and cultural perspectives. It is
based on the wide range of methods namely contrastive, comparative as well
as synthetic methods conducted by collecting data, analyzing the data, and
drawing representative conclusion. The data from books, newspapers, articles,
magazines on the internet and in daily lives are collected and analyzed by the
writer and are studied in the light of semantic and cultural perspectives. After
being documented, the writer analyzes them, as a result, the semantic and
cultural features of ‘Meal’ and its fields are identified, explained and clarified
namely names of meals, parts of the meals, eating means, eating places and
dining etiquettes in both England and Vietnam. From the result of the study, it
is attempted to explore how ‘meal’ and its relevant words are realized in
English learning and application on a daily basis with the hope that it will
help the readers to recognize the importance of mastering ‘Meal’ and its
relating words in English and in Vietnamese in the light of semantics and
culture in teaching and learning English for thorough awareness and better
findings. Additionally, the study helps with correcting students’ mistakes in
word use and enables having a better understanding of schools of words about
meal and relevant words in English and Vietnamese as well; therefore, the
study bears a great potential of becoming a basis for other authors to make
more intensive researches in the future.

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Table of Contents
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ......................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1
1.1. Rationale ..............................................................................................................1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study .........................................................................2
1.3. Research questions ...............................................................................................2
1.4. Methods of the study ............................................................................................3
1.5. Scope of the study ................................................................................................3
1.6. Significance of the study ......................................................................................4
1.7. Structure of the study ...........................................................................................4
Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 5
2.1. Previous studies ....................................................................................................5
2.2. Review of theoretical background .......................................................................6
2.3. Summary ............................................................................................................18
Chapter 3. COMPARISON OF ‘MEAL’ WITH THE WORDS RELATING
TO IT IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS .........19
3.1. Semantic and cultural analysis of the word ‘meal’ and its relating words in
English.......................................................................................................................19
3.2. Semantic and cultural analysis of ‘Meal’ and its relating words in Vietnamese
...................................................................................................................................29
3.3. Comparison of ‘Meal’ with the words relating to it in English and their
Vietnamese equivalents .............................................................................................42
3.4. Implications for teaching and learning English .................................................48
3.5. Summary ............................................................................................................48
Chapter 4: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 50
4.1. Recapitulation ....................................................................................................50
4.2. Concluding remarks ...........................................................................................51
4.3. The limitations of the study ...............................................................................51
4.4. Recommendations and suggestions for further research....................................51
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 53
IN ENGLISH ...........................................................................................................53
IN VIETNAMESE ..................................................................................................54

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SOURCES FROM THE NTERNET ....................................................................54
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................. 56

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
According to Shweder Et Al, 1998 in the book entitled the cultural
psychology of the emotions “To be a member of a group is to think and act in a
certain way, in the light of particular goals, values, pictures of the world.”
Semantics and culture can be defined as meanings of words and characteristics of a
group of people, able to affect and shape their beliefs and behaviours like
nationality, region, state, gender, or religion. It reflects itself in people’s everyday
thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and actions, and understanding what people say or write in
their daily lives can help us thoroughly understand and differentiate semantics and
cultures in word usage. In fact, not many of English learners deeply understand
English as well as its cultural characteristics through meaning of words as it is
hardly realized that behind a word are many things else to discuss. Therefore, they
are usually surprised by the diversity in the meaning of the words, not only in
communication, but also in other fields of this international language’s utility. In
hundreds of interesting themes relating to words, semantics and culture emerges an
English research on a popular word, ‘meal’, and its relating words in comparison
with Vietnamese equivalents in the light of semantics and culture.
‘Meal’ and the words that relate to it is a theme reflecting one of the most
fundamental features of human beings. As society evolved; however, this also
became a powerful cultural aspect, able to describe strong similarities and

differences among people worldwide, including English speaking countries and
Vietnam. The subject is as a matter of fact chosen by the author since it is thought
that behind the words of this category there must be a lot of exciting things, even
barriers mostly semantic and cultural fields for English teachers and learners. It is
furthermore said that to understand the culture of a country, people should look into
eating and drinking style of that country because they themselves reflect cultural
elements.
If users take in the cultural values in Vietnam as well as in English speaking
countries, they will be capable of utilizing English more naturally and fluently
because understanding cultural adjustment is the key to learning English as it assists
with knowing what to expect during cultural transitions and how to handle culture
shocks. Semantic and cultural competence is a valuable and marketable skills to be
a successful users of English in the future. Therefore, the thesis entitled ‘Meal’ and
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its relating words in English and in Vietnamese from semantic and cultural
perspectives” with the aim at assisting the learners with understanding semantic and
cultural features of these groups of words bears a great potential to meet the
demands mentioned previously.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
1.2.1. Aims
The research centralizes in analysing the word ‘Meal’ and its relating words
in English and in Vietnamese in terms of semantics and culture. It is aimed at
helping English learners and readers deeply comprehend and smoothly use the
fields of the word “meal”, its relevant words as well as their semantic and cultural
features in English and in Vietnamese.
1.2.2. Objectives
The major objectives of this study, put forward in order to gain the aims of
the study, are as follows:

- To identify and analyse the words relating to ‘meal’ in English and in
Vietnamese from semantic and cultural features.
- To find out similarities and differences in terms of semantic and cultural
features between the word ‘meal’ and its relating ones in both languages of English
and Vietnamese.
- To give implications for teaching and learning the words relating to meals
in not only English but also in Vietnamese in terms of semantics and culture.
1.3. Research questions
In order to achieve the study’s aims and objectives, the following research
questions which need raising for exploration are:
1. What are the semantic and cultural fields of the word ‘meal’ and its
relating words in English and in Vietnamese
2. What are the similarities and differences between the word ‘meal’ and its
relating words in English and in Vietnamese from semantic and cultural
perspectives?
3. What implications are drawn for teaching and learning the word ‘meal’
and its relating words in English and in Vietnamese?

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1.4. Methods of the study
The study is confined to the description, analysis and comparison in terms of
semantics and culture to complete the research a wide range of methods are applied
including major approaches as follows:
Firstly, analysis method is used to analyze lexical, semantic and cultural
features of the word ‘meal’ and its relating words in both English and Vietnamese.
Secondly, qualitative and quantitative methods are not only used in studying
dozens of books for reference to find and collect needy information and collecting
the specific examples for research but also applied to count and classify English and

Vietnamese words in close relation with ‘meal’ as a basis for the classification into
groups of words in accordance with semantic and cultural features.
Thirdly, comparative and contrastive methods are used to compare and
contrast the features of semantics and culture of English words relating to ‘meal’ in
English and their equivalents in Vietnamese.
Finally, synthetic method is taken advantage of to remark the characteristics
of lexicology, linguistics as well as culture in the words in relation to ‘meal’ in both
English and Vietnamese.
1.5. Scope of the study
Due to the limitation of time and space, the thesis paper cannot cover the
whole semantic and cultural meaning of the word ‘meal’ and its relating words in
English as well as their Vietnamese equivalents. The thesis mainly concentrates on
researching aspects of definitions of word and meaning in addition to some
information about lexical and semantic fields of word, lexical meaning and cultural
meaning.
In the framework of this study, the English word ‘meal’ and its relating ones
include five major data namely names of meals, categories of foods and drinks,
eating means, dining places, table manners and their Vietnamese equivalents
namely tên các bữa ăn, các loại đồ ăn với đồ uống, dụng cụ ăn uống, nơi ăn uống,
nghi thức ăn uống in terms of semantic and cultural features.
Another aspect is paid a lot of attention in the research is investigation and
comparison between the semantic and cultural analysis of the English word ‘meal’
and its relating ones in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents based on official data
taken for reference.

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1.6. Significance of the study
This study contributes to providing theoretical background about semantic

and cultural meanings of the word ‘Meal’ and its relevant words in English and in
Vietnamese which bears a potential of becoming a basis for other authors to make
more intensive researches in the future.
Additionally, the author hopes to point out the similarities as well as
differences between English and Vietnamese schools of words regarding ‘Meal’ and
its relating ones in terms of semantics and culture. Thanks to this, English teachers,
learners and users get to apply the words of the category mentioned above precisely
and effectively with thorough understanding of their semantic and cultural fields.
The study and its feasible findings promise to be a foundation for learners as
well as users of English to discover new knowledge of words in relation to their
equivalent semantic and cultural meanings for further study and application.
1.7. Structure of the study
The thesis is comprised of four chapters. Chapter I, Introduction, indicates
rationale, aims and objectives, scope of the study, research questions, methods of
the study and structure of the study. Chapter II, Literature Review, presents the
previous studies, theoretical background, theoretical framework relating to lexical,
semantic and cultural features of the word ‘meal’ and its relating words in English
and their Vietnamese equivalents. Chapter III, Findings and Discussion, provides
cultural and semantic features of ‘meal’ and its relating words in English and in
Vietnamese and making a comparison between them. Chapter IV, Conclusion,
briefly summarizes the remarkable findings of the study, concluding remarks, and
gives the limitations of the research and recommendations or suggestions for further
research.

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Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Previous studies
The study of the word ‘meal’ and the words belonging to it or food and drink

in English is not a new topic not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries
in the world. It is easily seen that many books, researches, articles and blogs on this
topic were officially published. For example, author Riddell, R. wrote about food
and culture in the book entitled “Food and culture in Australia” published in 1995.
One more outstanding work on this theme written by Kiple,K.F.&Omelas, K.c.
published in 1997 was “The Cambridge world history of food”. Another book
published recently in 2011 by Clarrisa Dickson named “A history of English food”.
The material mentioned above in addition to dozens of works on food, drink, meal
and relating words show that this type of topic has attracted great interests and
attentions of researchers. Today, people can find a wide range of written articles,
online newspapers, textbooks, essays, dissertations or thesis in close relation with
this issue. It can be said that the study of ‘meal’ and cuisine of a country is
apparently a category to be studied. Only in Vietnam, there are dozens of articles
and researches that work on this topic, possibly referred are, “Ha Noi gifts from
cultural perspective of cuisine” published by Culture publisher; “Cuisine culture
and Vietnamese dishes” issued by the youth publisher in 1994; “The uniqueness of
Vietnamese food cultures” by Vietnam tourism Times and Vietnam cuisine in
Wikipedia.
When globalization is showing deeper and deeper effects, the demand for
studying cultures of countries in the world is appreciably increasing day by day. In
this trend of global integration, researches on Vietnam cuisine are thereby in
blossom. They provide readers throughout the world with wide ranges of useful
information and knowledge of food and drink and certain cuisines of specific
nations or communities in general. Simultaneously, teachers as well as learners of
English in Vietnam in particular are conveyed with interesting examples and lively
documents in teaching-learning process. However, these works mainly focus on
giving introduction of words and their meanings or features.
Therefore, the thesis ‘meal’ and its relating words in English and in
Vietnamese from semantic and cultural perspectives” is not the first research
project. It is; nevertheless, a work that goes deep into studying English words

relating to ‘meal’ in English and in Vietnamese as well as comparison and contrast
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between these two categories in terms of semantic and cultural features. It is hoped
that the thesis will make certain contributions in clarifying the beauty
accompanying with meaning of English-Vietnamese words and cultures thanks to
which English users will find it easier and more enjoyable whenever the topic is
stated.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. What is the word?
Defining a word has never been an easy task for anyone. Many scholars have
attempted to define the word as a linguistic phenomenon as well as collected the
variants of definitions according to their aims and interests. In fact, the definition of
a word is one of the most difficult missions because each word has many different
aspects. It has a sound form as it is a certain arrangement of phonemes as well as
has morphological structure. However, being used in current speech, a word may
appear in different parts of speech and various meanings.
According to Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), one of the great English
philosophers, words are not merely sound but name of matter. Three centuries later,
the great Russian physiologist I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936) examined the word in
connection with his studies of the second signal system, and defined it as a
universal sign that can substitute any other signal from the environment in evoking
a response in a human organism.
Another point is that in the scope of linguistic the word, structurally,
possesses several characteristics basing on distinguishing between the external and
the internal structures of the word. External structure of the word means its
morphological structure. For instance, in the word “post-impressionists” the
following morpheme can be distinguished: the prefixes “post, im”, the root “press”,
the noun-forming suffixes “-ion”, “-ist’, and the grammatical suffix of plurality “5”. All the morphemes constitute the external structure of the word “postimpressionists”. The structure of words, and also typical word-formation patterns,

are studied in the section on word-building. The internal structure of the word, or its
meaning, nowadays, commonly referred to the word’s semantic structure.
Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possessed both
external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. Formal unity of the word is not,
strictly speaking, indivisible. Yet, its component morphemes are permanently
linked together in opposition to word-groups, both free and with contexts, whose
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components possess a certain structural freedom, such as “bright light”.
The formal unity of the word can be best illustrated by comparing a word
and word-group comprising identical constituents. The difference between “
blackbird” and “black bird” is best explained by their relationship with the
grammatical system of the language. The word “blackbird”, which is characterized
by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: “blackbirds”. The first
constituent “black” is not subject to any grammatical changes. In the word-group
“a black bird”, each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: “the
blackest bird I’ve ever seen.” Other words can be inserted between the components
which is impossible so far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity “a
black night bird”.
The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic
unity. In the word-group “a black bird” each of the meaningful words conveys
separate concept “bird”- a kind of living creature; "black a color. The word “black
bird’ conveys only one concept the type of bird. This is one of the main features of
any word, it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component
morphemes it may have in its external structure.
A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical
employment. In speech, most words can be used in different grammatical forms in
which their interrelation is realized. Another approach of the word is given out by S.
Potter, who writes that not similar to a phoneme or a syllable, a word is not a

linguistic unit at all.
All the above views are basic definitions of the word. However, the
linguistics have not pointed out the relationship in communication between a
speaker and a listener in which the speaker’s mental process is converted into sound
groups called “words” and the listeners brain converts the acoustic phenomena into
notions and ideas. In other words, it is a two-way process of communication.
All of different definitions and views of the word can be concluded as
follows the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication,
materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to
grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity.
2.2.2. What is the meaning?
According to John Joseph Fitzgerald in “From word and meaning”,
language is the amber in which a thousand precious and subtle thoughts have been
7


safely embedded and preserved. It proves that among the word’s various
characteristics, meaning is certainly the most important. Philosopher Wittgenstein
said in “Words and their meaning” that “the meaning of the word is its use in the
language”
Generally, meaning can be more or less described as a component of the
word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word
with the ability of denoting, qualities, actions and abstract notions. The complex
and somewhat mysterious relationship between referent (object, etc. denoted by the
word), concept and word can be explained: there is no immediate relation between
word and referent: it is established only through the concept (concept is thought or
referent).
In English, the philosopher Wittgenstein said in “Words and their meaning”
that “the meaning of the word is its use in the language”. Also, according to B.
Russell “a word has a meaning, more or less vague, but the meaning is only to be

discovered by observing its use, the use come first, and the meaning is distilled out
of it”.
Generally speaking, meaning can be more or less described as a component
of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the
word with the ability of denoting, qualities, actions and abstract notions. The
complex and somewhat mysterious relationship between referent (object, etc.
denoted by the word), concept and word can be explained: there is no immediate
relation between word and referent: it is established only through the concept
(concept is thought or referent).
On the other hand, there is a hypothesis that concepts can only find their
realization through words. It seems that thought is dormant till the word weakens it
up. It is only when we hear a spoken word or read a printed word that the
corresponding concept springs into mind.
The branch of linguistics which specializes in the study of meaning is called
“semantic”. As with many terms, the term “semantics” is ambiguous for it can
stand, as well, for the expressive aspect of language in general and for the meaning
of one particular word in all its varied aspects and nuances. It means that the
semantics of a word is not different from the meaning(s) of a word. Thus, according
to M. Pei puts it in “The study of language”, semantics is “language” in its broadest,
most inclusive aspect. Sounds, words, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions
8


are the tools of language. Semantics is language’s avowed purpose.
2.2.2.1. Lexical meaning
There is a common view that lexical meaning is the realization or naming of
a notion, emotion or object by means of a definite language system. Notion denotes
the reflection in the mind of real object and phenomena in their essential features
and relation in words. Each notion is characterized by its scope and content. The
scope of the notion is determined by all the objects it refers to. The content of the

notion is made up of all the features that distinguish it from other notions. The
distinction between the scope and the content of a notion lies at the basis of such,
terms as the identifying (demonstrative) and significant functions of the word.
The identifying function may be interpreted as denoting the objects covered
by the scope of the notion expressed in the word, and the significant function is the
function of expressing the content of the respective notion. The function of
rendering an emotion or an attitude is termed the expressive function. In other
words, the emotional content of a word is itself can evoke intentional or affective
connotations of word.
When a word refers to name, the demonstrative meaning is the individual
existing objects of reality “There was a fine old rocking chair that his father used to
sit in, a desk where he wrote letter, a nest of small table, and a dark imposing
bookcase. The meaning of many words is subjected to complex association
originating in habitual contents, verbal or situation, of which the speaker and the
listener are aware, and which form the connotational component of meaning. In
some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by the speaker’s slate of
mind and his attitude to what or who he is speaking about.
Lexical meaning consists of denotational meaning and connotational
meaning in which denotational meaning comprises significative and demonstrative
meaning, connotational meaning includes speaker’s emotion, evaluation and social
sphere. Though people who study lexical meaning have pointed out definitions
about it; however, they all share a common view that lexical meaning is the
realization or naming of a notion, emotion or object by means of a definite language
system.
Notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real object and phenomena in
their essential features and relation in words. Each notion is characterized by its
scope and content. The scope of the notion is determined by all the objects it refers
9

to. The content of the notion is made up of all the features that distinguish it from
other notions. The distinction between the scope and the content of a notion lies at
the basis of such, terms as the identifying (demonstrative) and significative
functions of the word. The identifying function may be interpreted as denoting the
objects covered by the scope of the notion expressed in the word, and the
significative function is the function of expressing the content of the respective
notion. The function of rendering an emotion or an attitude is termed the expressive
function. In other words, the emotional content of a word is itself can evoke
intentional or affective connotations of word.
Basing on two functions above, there may be two types of denotation
meaning: significant and demonstrative meaning. In the example “Now the night
has gone away ” (Air Supply) significant meaning is quite clear. Every word evokes
a general idea, a notion without directly referring to any particular element of
reality, the significant meaning and that of the notion coincide
When a word refers to name, the demonstrative meaning is the individual
existing objects of reality “There was a fine old rocking chair that his father used to
sit in, a desk where he wrote letter, a nest of small table, and a dark imposing
bookcase. The meaning of many words is subjected to complex association
originating in habitual contents, verbal or situation, of which the speaker and the
listener are aware, and which form the connotational component of meaning. In
some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by the speaker’s slate of
mind and his attitude to what or who he is speaking about.
Within the affection connotational of a word we can distinguish its capacity
to evoke or directly express.
- Emotion: dad —father
- Evaluation: good - excellent
- Intensity: adore – love
- Stylistic colour (social spheres) lay - kill
In conclusion, lexical meaning consists of denotational meaning and
connotational meaning in which denotational meaning comprises significative and

demonstrative meaning, connotational meaning includes speaker’s emotion,
evaluation, intensify and social sphere. Lexical meaning points to meanings of the
word ‘Meal’ and the words relating to it as well as provides the denotational with
connotational meanings and enables us to understand them in the view of semantics
10


and culture thoroughly. .
2.2.2.2. Semantic meaning
In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that is devoted to the study of
meaning, as the inherent at the level of words, phrases, sentences or larger units of
discourse. The study of semantics is also closely linked to the subject of
representation, reference and denotation. The basic study of semantics is oriented to
the examination of the meaning of signs and the study of the relations between
different linguistic units and compounds homonymy, synonymy, antonym,
, hyponymy, meronymy, metonymy, holonym, paronyms. A key concern is how
meaning attaches to larger chunks of text, possibly as a result of the composition
from smaller units of meaning. Traditionally, semantics has included the study
of sense and denotative reference, truth conditions, argument structure, thematic
roles, discourse analysis, and the linkage of all of these to syntax.
There are six sorts of semantics mentioned as follows:
Formal semantics which originates from Montague's work (see above). A highly
formalized theory of natural language semantics in which expressions are assigned
denotations (meanings) such as individuals, truth values, or functions from one of
these to another. The truth of a sentence, and its logical relation to other sentences,
is then evaluated relative to a model.
Truth-conditional semantics which was pioneered by the philosopher Donald
Davidson, another formalized theory, which aims to associate each natural language
sentence with a meta-language description of the conditions under which it is true,
for example: 'Snow is white' is true if and only if snow is white. The challenge is to

arrive at the truth conditions for any sentences from fixed meanings assigned to the
individual words and fixed rules for how to combine them. In practice, truthconditional semantics is similar to model-theoretic semantics; conceptually,
however, they differ in that truth-conditional semantics seeks to connect language
with statements about the real world (in the form of meta-language statements),
rather than with abstract models.
Conceptual semantics is an effort to explain properties of argument structure.
The assumption behind this theory is that syntactic properties of phrases reflect the
meanings of the words that head them. With this theory, linguists can better deal
with the fact that subtle differences in word meaning correlate with other
differences in the syntactic structure that the word appears in. The way this is gone
11


about is by looking at the internal structure of words. These small parts that make
up the internal structure of words are termed semantic primitives.
Cognitive semantics approaches meaning from the perspective of cognitive
linguistics. In this framework, language is explained via general human cognitive
abilities rather than a domain-specific language module. The techniques native to
cognitive semantics are typically used in lexical studies such as those put forth
by Leonard Talmy, George Lakoff, Dirk Geeraerts, and Bruce Wayne Hawkins.
Some cognitive semantic frameworks, such as that developed by Talmy, take into
account syntactic structures as well. Semantics, through modern researchers can be
linked to the Wernicke's area of the brain and can be measured using the eventrelated potential (ERP). ERP is the rapid electrical response recorded with small
disc electrodes which are placed on a person scalp.
Lexical semantics, a linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This
theory understands that the meaning of a word is fully reflected by its context. Here,
the meaning of a word is constituted by its contextual relations. Therefore, a
distinction between degrees of participation as well as modes of participation is
made. In order to accomplish this distinction any part of a sentence that bears a
meaning and combines with the meanings of other constituents is labeled as a

semantic constituent. Semantic constituents that cannot be broken down into more
elementary constituents are labeled minimal semantic constituents.
Cross-cultural semantics, various fields or disciplines have long been
contributing to cross-cultural semantics. Are words like love, truth,
and hate universals? Is even the word sense – so central to semantics – a universal,
or a concept entrenched in a long-standing but culture-specific tradition? These are
the kind of crucial questions that are discussed in cross-cultural semantics.
Translation theory, ethnolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and cultural linguistics
specialize in the field of comparing, contrasting, and translating words, terms and
meanings from one language to another (see Herder, W. von Humboldt, Boas,
Sapir, and Whorf). But philosophy, sociology, and anthropology have long
established traditions in contrasting the different nuances of the terms and concepts
we use. And online encyclopedia such as the Stanford encyclopedia of
philosophy, , and more and more Wikipedia itself have
greatly facilitated the possibilities of comparing the background and usages of key
cultural terms. In recent years the question of whether key terms are translatable or
12


untranslatable has increasingly come to the fore of global discussions, especially
since the publication of Barbara Cassin's Dictionary of Untranslatable: A
Philosophical Lexicon, in 2014.
All these features of semantic meaning show the detailed meanings and
usages of the word ‘meal’ as well as the words relating to it in both English and
Vietnamese, thanks to which the comparison of words of the same categories is
made favorably, potential to bring about the positive findings for the study.
2.2.2.3. Cultural meaning
Culture is
an
umbrella

term
which
encompasses
the social
behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs,
arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.
Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation
and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies.
A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a
guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves
as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculture in a
social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of
environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus in
military culture, valor is counted a typical behavior for an individual, as are duty,
honor, and loyalty to the social group are counted as virtues or functional responses
in the continuum of conflict. In the practice of religion, analogous attributes can be
identified in a social group.
Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the
range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in
human societies. Cultural universals are found in all human societies; these include
expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool
usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers the
physical expressions of culture, such as technology, architecture and art, whereas
the immaterial aspects of culture such as principles of social organization (including
practices of political organization and social institutions), mythology, philosophy,
literature (both written and oral), and science comprise the intangible cultural
heritage of a society.
In the humanities, one sense of culture as an attribute of the individual has
been the degree to which they have cultivated a particular level of sophistication
13

in the arts, sciences, education, or manners. The level of cultural sophistication has
also sometimes been used to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies.
Such hierarchical perspectives on culture are also found in class-based distinctions
between a high culture of the social elite and a low culture, popular culture, or folk
culture of the lower classes, distinguished by the stratified access to cultural capital.
In common parlance, culture is often used to refer specifically to the symbolic
markers used by ethnic groups to distinguish themselves visibly from each other
such as body modification, clothing or jewelry. Mass culture refers to the massproduced and mass mediated forms of consumer culture that emerged in the
twentieth century. Some schools of philosophy, such as Marxism and critical
theory, have argued that culture is often used politically as a tool of the elites to
manipulate the lower classes and create a false consciousness. Such perspectives are
common in the discipline of cultural studies. In the wider social sciences, the
theoretical perspective of cultural materialism holds that human symbolic culture
arises from the material conditions of human life, as humans create the conditions
for physical survival, and that the basis of culture is found in evolved
biological dispositions.
When used as a count noun, a "culture" is the set of customs, traditions, and
values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group or nation. Culture is the
set of knowledge acquired over time. In this sense, multiculturalism values the
peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the
same planet. Sometimes "culture" is also used to describe specific practices within a
subgroup of a society, a subculture (e.g. "bro culture"), or a counterculture.
Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of cultural
relativism hold that cultures cannot easily be objectively ranked or evaluated
because any evaluation is necessarily situated within the value system of a given
culture.
According to President M. Scares of Portugal, “My country is my language”.
(Law day, 1990, p.30). Each nation has its own language as long as they borrow or

adapt another language as their second language. All the language (native and
foreign languages), always convey cultural characteristics. It is the basic cultural
factor that distinguishes this country from others.
Say language means we are saying pride, identity, roots, communication and
all the things that stir the heart. According to President M. Scares of Portugal, “My
14


country is my language”. (Lawday,1990, p.30). Each nation has its own language as
long as they borrow or adapt another language as their second language. All the
language (native and foreign languages), always convey cultural characteristics. It is
the basic cultural factor that distinguishes this country from others. In other words,
we can realize this country from other via understanding and using cultural meaning
of words..
Take the word “xe đạp” or “bicycle” in Vietnamese and English as an
example we will know the different cultural meaning between them. In general, the
Vietnamese word “xe đạp” and the English word “bicycle” have the same meaning
that refer to a vehicle, using human strength to move. However, in the terms of
culture, the words in two languages are not totally the same. First is the cultural
meaning, to the Vietnamese “xe đạp”, which was imported first from France, is a
quite new vehicle. So, whenever think about it, they imagine a vehicle used by feet
movements so-called “xe đạp”. Meanwhile, the English name it is bicycle”
according to its feature “Bi” means “hai”, “cycle ” means “bánh xe”). Second is
the usage. If the English travel by bicycle or horse, they say “you ride (on) a
bicycle” or “you ride (on) a horse”. Obviously, English people take for granted
that there is no difference between the action “ride on a bicycle” and “ride on a
horse”. To Vietnamese on their part “xe đạp” is also a transport means used to
carry (đèo, lai) men or goods. People call bicycle is “xe đạp thồ” or “xe thồ ” if it is
used to carry goods. And, of course, the word ride (đi or đạp) does not go with this
vehicle but the word “push”. Third is structure. The English regards bicycle as an

entertainment or practice means, so it is made for one user and light luggage. In
contrast, Vietnamese people pay attention to durability than style.
Third is structure. The English regards bicycle as an entertainment or
practice means, so it is made for one user and light luggage. In contrast, Vietnamese
people pay attention to durability than style.
In conclusion, through the example, it is stated that people can communicate
with each other not only via literal meaning but also hidden-intention meaning. It is;
therefore, really necessary to deeply understand cultural meaning of speech as well
as words to communicate well in English. Among those topics, talking about ‘Meal’
and the words related in both English and Vietnamese is always an exciting subject.
Mastering the cultural meanings enables teachers as well as learners to interpret the
way how the words of this type are used transparently. Thanks to this more
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inspiration and motivation are created during teaching-learning process.
2.2.3. English and Vietnamese cuisine cultures
2.2.3.1. Lexical, semantic and cultural fields of words
J. Trier is one of the first authors to give out the definition of lexical and
sematic field of words. He defines that “fields are linguistic realities existing
between single words and the total vocabulary; they are parts of a whole and
resemble words in that they combine into some higher unit, and the vocabulary in
that they resolve themselves into smaller units”.
Over the time, linguists have shown that a lexical field of words or lexical
and semantic field of words is the whole words can be classified into sets according
to their meaning.
In a lexical field, not all lexical items necessarily have the same status. Many
linguists have given out their own definition about lexical and semantic field of
words, and J. Trier is one of them. He defines that “fields are linguistic realities
existing between single words and the total vocabulary; they are parts of a whole

and resemble words in that they combine into some higher unit, and the vocabulary
in that they resolve themselves into smaller units”. However, Trier’s most
important shortcoming is his idealistic methodology. He regards language as a
super-individual cultural product shaping concepts and the whole knowledge of the
world. His idea about the influence of language upon thought, and the existence of
an “intermediate universe” of concepts interposed between man and the universe,
is, wholly untenable.
The following set of words is a lexical field, because all the words in the set
refer to emotional states: Angry, sad, happy, exuberant, depressed, afraid. In a
lexical field, not all lexical items necessarily have the same status. Consider the
following sets, which together form the lexical field of color terms (of course there
are other terms in the same field)
(a) Blue, red, yellow, green, black, purple
(b) Indigo, saffron, royal blue, aquamarine, bisque.
The colors referred to by the words of set (a) are more usual than those
described in set (b). These colors are said to be less marked than the second set;
therefore the words in set (a) are less marked members of the lexical field will
usually be easier to learn and remember than more marked members, people learn
the term “blue” before they learn the terms “indigo, royal blue or aquamarine”.
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Typically, a less marked word consists of only one morpheme, in contrast to more
marked words (contrast “blue” and “royal blue”). The less marked member of a
lexical field cannot be described by using the name of another member of the same
field, while more marked members can be thus described (“indigo” is a kind of
“purple”). Less marked terms also tend to be used more frequently than more
marked terms; 44blue”, for example, occurs considerably more frequently in
conversation and writing than either “indigo” or “aquamarine”. Less marked terms
also are often broader in meaning than more marked terms; “blue” describes a

broader range of colors than “indigo” or “aquamarine”. Finally, less marked words
are not the result of the metaphorical usage of the name of another object or
concept, whereas more marked words often are (for example, “saffron” is the color
of a spice that gave its name to the color).
Few have done as much to clarify the meaning of culture as Alfred Kroeber
(1876-1960). Ruth Bunzel (1960, p.477), cites, certain recurrent themes‟ in his
work: One of these is the concept of the super organic – the idea that culture is a
reality of a different order from the particular habits of the individual composing a
society. Another is that culture areas are realities, not merely abstract classification
devices and where considered in relation to geographical areas can be analyzed in
terms of concepts borrowed from ecology. Another is the idea of periodicity in
cultural development, the small swings in fashion, and the large swings in the rise
and fall of cultures. We can mention in addition his treatment (1948, pp.292-296) of
form and content, eidos and ethos, material and immaterial approaches to culture, as
well as his interpretations of pattern and style in cultural expression (from here on
out, only the page numbers will be given for this reference unless otherwise
indicated). This paper focuses on those parts of his work that exemplify or
otherwise help to clarify the application of the methodology herein articulated. That
methodology builds on the principles first adumbrated by Charles S. Peirce and
Alfred North Whitehead.
Though most approaches to lexical semantics have shown little interest in
cultural aspects of meaning, the subject holds intense interest for adjacent
disciplines such as anthropology, cultural history, literary studies, and translation
studies, as well for the general public. The chapter reviews different ways in which
word meanings can be ‘culturally laden’, starting with cultural key words, i.e.
intense focal points of cultural meaning, typically untranslatable, by normal means,
17


into other languages. Words can also be culturally important in less dramatic

fashion. The chapter reviews examples from various abstract and concrete domains,
stressing that cultural themes are oftentimes conveyed by a suite of related,
mutually reinforcing words. The chief methodological challenges in this arena are
how to capture subtleties of meaning with precision, while avoiding the danger of
conceptual Anglo centrism creeping into the description. The chapter demonstrates
how the Natural Semantic Meta language (NSM) approach deals with this
challenge.
2.3. Summary
This chapter gives an overview of the theory of words and meanings to
the perspectives of lexicology, semantics and cultures. It is clearly seen that the
notions of words, meanings as well as their semantic and cultural features have
been fully outlined. The writer also focuses on presenting the types of words,
sorts of meaning and even words as carriers of culture. Simultaneously,
definition and features of lexical and semantic fields of words are also
mentioned in details as a firm foundation for the whole study.

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Chapter 3. COMPARISON OF ‘MEAL’ WITH THE WORDS RELATING
TO IT IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
3.1. Semantic and cultural analysis of the word ‘meal’ and its relating
words in English
In this chapter the definition of the word ‘Meal’ and its relating words as
well as their fields including names of meals, parts of the meals, dining places,
tableware and eating etiquette are going to be introduced. These, all in all, get
involved in making comparison between the word ‘meal’ as well as the words
related to in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese.
3.1.1. Definition of the English word ‘Meal’
Semantically and linguistically, each word is an independent unit of

language that embodies a notion in all its forms and meaning taken as a whole.
Therefore, the word ‘meal’ is not an exception as ‘meal’ itself satisfies existential
condition of a word, which is a unit of language used for human’s daily
conversations possessing and conveying a certain meaning.
Several definitions of the word ‘meal’ are availably seen in books,
magazines or even in dictionaries. According to Oxford Word Power Dictionary
‘meal’ means ‘a certain time when you eat or the food that is eaten at that time’. In
Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, ‘meal’ is the portion of food taken or
provided at one time to satisfy appetite. To KPI4 WBCKA$. E in “Five everyday
topics in English” in Russia “we partake of food some times a day. This partaking
of food at a certain time is called meal”.
In general, all the definitions stated above define relatively clearly about the
word ‘meal’. In this thesis; however, the word ‘meal’ tends to be used in
accordance with the definition extracted from Oxford Word Power Dictionary, the
word “meal” and elements relating to it such as eating and drinking, dining places
and habits in which each element has relevant sub-elements are bound to be
properly presented namely dining: types of meals, meal time, food, table ware,
eating place, eating etiquettes.
3.1.2. Fields of word ‘meal’ and its relating words in Enlgish
Obviously, all the elements that are connected with the notion of “meal” are
called field of the word “meal” or in a particular way, field of word “meal” is all the
words relating to it mainly including eating and drinking. They are parts of the word
“meal” and resemble words which can be combined together. The list made as
19