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

NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR IN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(Phân tích đối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗi sợ hãi trong
Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215 Hanoi, 2010
Hanoi, 2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
Aknowledgements
Abstract
Table of contents

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for choosing the topic
2. Aims of the study
3. Scope of the study
4. Methods of the study
5. Format of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
1.1. Idioms
1.1.1. Definitions of Idioms
1.1.2. Distinctive features of English idioms
1.2.1.1. Syntactic features of English idioms
1.2.1.2. Semantic features of English idioms
1.2.1.3. Cultural features of English idioms
1.1.3. Distinction between idioms, proverbs and some other terms:

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2.1.2. English idioms denoting fear have phrase patterns
2.1.3. English idioms denoting fear have fixed patterns
2.1.4. English idioms denoting fear have odd patterns
2.2. An English-Vietnamese comparison of syntactic features of idioms denoting
fear
2.2.1. Similarities
2.2.1.1. Vietnamese idioms with clause patterns
2.2.1.2. Vietnamese idioms with phrase patterns
2.2.1.3. Using simile
2.2.2. Differences
Chapter 3: Semantic features of English idioms denoting fear in comparison
with Vietnamese counterparts
3.1. Metaphor and metonymy in cognitive linguistics
3.2. Metaphor and metonymy in English idioms denoting fear
3.3. An English-Vietnamese comparison of semantic features of idioms denoting
fear


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I
1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Even having been living in England for a long time, a non-native speaker who has a
great command of English could be easily realized that his English is not mother-tongue
language when he is in conversation with an English speaker. Explanation for this could be
his way of using language.
Anyone who has already been put in a real communication of the language finds it
easy to recognize that native-speakers‟ conversations are far more interesting and varied
than that with non-native speakers. The answer to this is that in their talk native speakers
apply several idioms because of their convenience. First, these idioms not only have brief
and extraordinary forms, containing key words but they also hold profound meanings.

Thirdly, the study provides a comparison of English and Vietnamese idioms, then
clarifies syntax and semantics of Vietnamese idioms denoting fear.
3. Scope of the study
English idioms have a great number of idioms denoting human feelings. A few of
basic emotions have been researched by some Vietnamese researchers such as “A Study on
Structural and Semantic Features of English Idioms of Anger in Comparison with
Vietnamese Equivalents” by Doan Ngoc Diep, “An Investigation into The English Words
and Idioms Denoting Happiness” by Nguyen Thi Van Lam.
One human emotion that appears daily, therefore has several idioms, but has not
been received much study is fear. Hence, in the study the author concentrates on English
idioms denoting fear and put it them in comparison with Vietnamese idioms.
4. Methods of the study
The approaches and procedures employed to achieve the research goals are as
follows:
- To establish a theretical framework for the study, both domestic and foreign publications
are critically reviewed and referred to.
- The quantitative method is dominantly used for the data statisctics. In addition, the
contrastive analysis approach is employed to compare the two language and cultures.
- Procedures:
The study takes the following steps
Data sources:
The sources which are used to collect data consist of books, websites and other
materials.
As for books, books which are concerned with idioms are collected and studied to gather
necessary knowledge. Main materials are Oxford Idioms (2010), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh-
Anh-Việt (2004), Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt (2009), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt
Nam (2008), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2006).
3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT
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Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1.1. Idioms
1.1.1. Definitions of Idioms
Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages. Usage of idioms is integral in
human interaction. Be aware of this, recently, much work on idioms has been carried out.
Hence, a great number of definitions of idioms is understandable. Every linguist who
specializes in different branches will have different way to understand and describe idioms.
Jackson & Amvela and Palmer share the similar viewpoint on idiom definition.
According to Jackson & Amvela (2000, p.66), “an idiom may be defined as a phrase the
meaning of which cannot be predicted from the individual meanings of the morphemes it
comprises”. Palmer (1990) states that an idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be
inferred from the meanings of its parts. It can be seen that there are two visible points in
their statements. First, an idiom is a phrase; second, its meaning is not simply the meanings
of constituents making up the phrase. Having the same point of view is Seidle and Mordie
(1978, p.8) who consider “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean
something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone‖. Collins
has a different way to define idioms but shares the similar idea. To take the definition by
Collins (1995) to consider, an idiom is a special kind of phrase. It is a group of words
which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the
meaning of each word were taken individually […] idioms are typical metaphorical: they
are effectively metaphors which have become „fixed‟ or „fossilized‟. In his definition, there
are two noticeable terms, “typical metaphorical” and “fossilized” used to describe idioms.
„Metaphorical‟ could be referred to figurative and non-literal characteristics of idioms. In

meaning via its words, it could be changed into passive voice her money is put where her
mouth is. However, strangely enough, following the same form of every form that could be
changed into passive voice Agent – Action – Recipient, the form mentioned above must
not be employed in passive voice, otherwise, it looks odd. Because, in fact put one‘s money
where one‘s mouth is is an idiom, it is therefore necessary to be known as a fixed unit
which does not permit of any rearrangement of its elements. Put another aspect of idioms
into consideration, that is semantic one, there will be one more aspects involved in.
Whether the sentence he loses his shirt should be treated as having a meaning directly
through words or an idiom denoting losing a great deal of money, it will depend on the
context it is embedded with. That means idioms deal with pragmatics. Exploration of
features of idioms provides unique and interesting their peculiarities.
1.1.2.1. Syntactic features of English idioms
Johnson-Laird (1993, p.iii) states that “if natural language had been designed by a
logician, idioms would not exist”. Idioms hold distinctive features that cannot be seen in
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other kinds in a language. Having the same idea, Fravel (1992) also states that idioms are
anomalies of language.
Idioms exist in various forms, containing different number of words. According to
Fernando (1997), English idioms fluctuate between „two-word compound structure‟ and „a
complex clause with no more than two subordinate clauses‟. On ice (set aside for future
use), fork over (hand over), or wet blanket (dull or boring person who spoils the happiness
of others) are some examples of the smallest structure of idioms. Or if the shoe fits, wear it
(admit the truth), people who live in glass houses shouldn‘t throw stones (one should not
criticize when one is equally at fault) are illustration for the maximum limit of idioms.
In fact, there are idioms that have only one word. “Lemon” (denoting something
defective) is an idiom with only one word. Or “fishy” is in the same case.
Seidl and Mordie (1978) discover syntactic properties of idioms when syntactic

fool you/ them…. (you/ them… were very foolish to do something), cut one‘s eye teeth (to
get wiser, more mature and more experienced) and so on.
Another particularity that makes idioms special is their uniqueness and fixation in
their grammatical structure. First, their components cannot be varied, which means that
idioms do not accept any replacement or substitution. Little Mary never allows to change
into “big Mary”, “little John” or “big John” just because “little Mary” is an idiom denoting
the stomach. Most idioms are in the case such as lion of the day (the person who attracts
much attention), bite the dust (go down in defeat), jump the gun (to be hasty).
Second, rearrangement of any constituents is unacceptable in idioms. For example,
shoot the breeze, the native speaker of English would find it funny and quite odd if the
idiom is caught into passive voice whenever the form “Subject (agent) – Verb (action) –
Object (recipient)” appears as in “the breeze can be shot”. Some more instances are paint
the town red (carouse and have a good time) into “the town (– be) paint red, make a splash
(be successful and attract attention) into “a splash (– be) made”, feed someone a line
(deceive someone) into “someone (– be) fed” and so on. It is also impossible to change the
position of idioms‟ components, though grammatically it is correct, such as the idiom
shake up or ship out. Shape up or ship out (behave properly or leave!) must not get
changed by moving the second phrase to the front of the second phrase as “ship out or
shape up‖. Or if the shoe fits, wear it (admit the truth) should not be wear it if the shoe fits,
or leave someone high and dry (abandon someone) cannot be leave someone dry and high.
Third, idioms resist any addition and any deletion of their elements. Look at the idiom
smell a rat (feel that something is wrong). One could delete and add some elements to
emphasize the event such as “smell a million of rats”. This is not wrong in grammatical
aspect but idiomatically, it is not right. The reason is that only the combination of the three
components “smell”, “a”, and “rat” could create the meaning feel that something is wrong.
Thus, addition of any other words to idioms‟ fixed expression is completely unacceptable.
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It‘s not the reason to make the feathers fly, dear!
(Phạm Văn Bình, Tục Ngữ Nước Anh & Thành Ngữ Tiếng Anh Giàu Hình Ảnh)
“Feather” in the idiom make the feathers fly (quarrel, scuffle) could be replaced by “fur”
to become make the fur fly without changing its original meaning. “Feathers” and “fur”
share the same part of speech – noun as direct object, and the similar semantic meaning,
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hence, they can interchange each other. Move heaven and earth and move mountains both
denote „do everything you can in order to help somebody, achieve something‟; “get” or
“pour” could replace “put” in put a quart into a pint pot (try to do something impossible,
especially to try to put something into a space which is too small for it); or “quaking”
replacing “shaking” and “boots” substituting for “shoes” in quaking in your boots (be
very worried or frightened).
According to Cacciari and Tabossi (1993: xiii) “the difficulties in characterizing
idioms is one of the reasons why idioms have attained fairly little attention even though
their relevance is unquestionable‖. Besides such anomalous features that retain non-native
speakers of English from acquiring this language, English idioms is normally recognized to
take grammatically common forms.
Cowie, Mackin and McCaig (1975) point out that English idioms can be classified
under two general headings which are phrase idioms and clause idioms. Within these major
groupings are several dominant sub-categories.
English idioms could be in the following clause patterns:
 Verb – Adverbial, such as whistle in the dark, prey on sb‘s mind
 Verb – Subject Complement, such as turn sour, sound asleep
 Verb – Direct Object, such as bend the truth, bury the hatchet
 Verb – Direct Object - Adverbial, such as play it by ear, string someone along
 Verb – Direct Object – Object Complement, such as leave someone high and
dry, paint the town red

confusion on the case whether or not they should have been put into lexical system due to
their abnormal peculiarities in terms of syntax and semantics. Unwillingly, they are
counted for but considered to be the odd exception as stated by DiSciullo and Williams
(1987), there is nothing more to say about them [idioms] than that (1) they are syntactic
objects and (2)they are listed because of their failure to have a predictable property
(usually their meaning). The acceptance could be possibly explained as follows the criteria
for being part of the lexicon is listedness, and objects that are listed have been dubbed
listemes by the authors. In order for an object to be listed in the lexicon, it must have a
meaning which cannot be computed compositionally, thus its meaning must be
“memorized”. Based on the norms analyzed by both the authors for a word or a phrase to
turn into a lexeme, an idiom is completely to meet the requirements of being a part of the
lexicon. Take the time to consider the example given to illustrate their point:
“Knowledge of language involves in some way a knowledge of particular
linguistic objects – for example, the word transmission and the knowledge that it
(1) has a certain morphological form and (2) refers to a part of a car; that take to
task has a certain syntactic form and means “rebuke”. To the extent that an object
does not have the form or interpretation specified by the recursive definitions of the
objects of the language, that object and its properties must be “memorized.” . . . .
Our overall point is that listedness is no more intrinsically characteristic of words
than it is of phrases. Some words and some phrases are listed, but infinitely many
of each are not”.
(DiSciullo and William, On the Definition of Word).
Jackendoff (1997) as well as Van Gestel (1995) are in favor of the assessment of
idioms as listemes. As one states that an idiom is a lexical item in its right because of its
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expression of completely semantic idea, and must learned, stored and recycle as a single
chunk.

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Consider:
Dog-eat-dog (a situation in business, politics, etc. where there is a lot of
competition and people are willing to harm each other in order to
succeed)
Get down to the nitty-gritty (start discussing the basic, especially the practical
aspects of a matter or decision)
 Semi-idioms have at least one literal constituent sense and at least one non-literal
constituent sense. Thus invariance or permission of restricted variance in the
structure occurs in this kind of idioms. There will be a part of the idiom whose
meaning can be referred.
Consider:
A necessary evil (a thing that is unpleasant or even harmful, but which must be
accepted because it brings some benefit)
“necessary” is the part that have the literal meaning “must be”
A new man (a man who shares the work in the home that is traditionally done by
women, such as cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children)
 Literal idioms have non-literal element in their meaning, are hence less complicated
than pure idioms and semi-idioms. Which means that the meaning will
immediately be deduced from the meanings of every word. Invariance and
restriction on variance are found in literal idioms.
Consider:
Take your chances (make as much use as you can or your opportunities)
In every nook and cranny (everywhere; all part of a place)
Most English idioms are based on conceptual metaphor or metonymy, which is
another salient feature of idioms and known as metaphoricity. This feature explains for the
case why the idiom is difficult to be controlled and mastered. The idiom cock-and-bull

Language is embedded with culture, hence the unchangeablity of idioms through
the passage of time is straightforward. Some idioms may gain or lose the favor with the
popularity, they still exist as the way culture does and there are new idioms to occur by
accident the same way new factors integrate into culture.
Take some idioms into consideration to explore how the British culture gave birth
to English idioms or in other words, to find out the sources of and for English idioms.
“Bigwig” means “an important person”. This idiom originates from the fact on the
Bourbon kings of France, Louis XIII (1601 - 1643) who went prematurely bald and took to
wearing a wig. Thus, historical events are a huge source for English Idioms. Other
examples are “according to Hoyle”, “armed to the teeth” or “go AWOL”
“Achilles’ heel” (a weak or a vulnerable feature) based on the legend of a hero in
the Greek mythology named Achilles. The mythology (especially the Greek mythology)
can be counted as another source. “Dressed to the nines‖, “Trojan Horse”, or “between
Scylla and Charybdis” are of the type.
“One fell swoop” (all at the same time; in a single action, especially a sudden or
violent one) comes from the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. The quotation from literature is
also a popular way to create idioms. William Shakespeare is supposed to be the writer who
adds several hundred to the English language and idioms as well. “Salad days‖, ―absence
makes the heart grow fonder‖,
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“Break a leg” (a wish of good luck, do well) is sourced from a superstition. The
same type could be found in “to have an itchy palm”, “knock on wood”, so on.
“Blow off some steam” (to enjoy oneself by relaxing normal formalities) is based
on some principles in science. “Brand Spanking New” belongs to this case of idioms origin
“Chew the fat” (to talk about unimportant things) is originated from culture of
other countries, namely, from the Inuit. “Armed to the teeth” is such kind of idioms.
“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth” (do not be critical of a gift) is based on

saw, witticism. Of the sayings, idioms and proverbs are popular.
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The idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the
meanings of its components and must be learnt as a whole, any occurrence to the fixed
expressions will not be considered as idioms.
A proverb is "a short well-known sentence that states a general truth about life and
gives advice" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7
th
edition). The proverb is deduced
from practical experience of humanity, in other words, common sense, therefore, it can be
understood literally, that means the meaning could be obtained from the meanings of
individual words, such as like father like son, nobody‘s perfect, or practice makes perfect.
Some properties are frequently found in proverbs. Firstly, it is their simple rhyme and
elegant balance, consider: all‘s well that ends well and slow but sure wins the race”.
Secondly, proverbs are expressed in homely and concrete terms as in closed mouth catches
no flies. Literal meaning, rhythm, balance, and homely expression are key points that make
proverbs popular and memorable. Notably, proverbs can be products of other sayings. A
proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. If a proverb
is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism.
A phrasal verb is “the combination of a verb and an adverb or a preposition, or
sometimes both, to give a new meaning‖ (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7
th

edition), it is used like a verb. In respect of meaning, there is seemingly not much
difference between a phrasal verb and an idiom, sometimes they are considered to be
identical. Both idioms and phrasal verbs share the common feature that is the non-
compositionality, which means the overall meaning of the phrase is not the sum of its

adds an extra meaning
e.g. fly on to Los Angeles (the action of continuing to fly to Los Angeles).

One more salient characteristic of idioms is their figurativeness due to the
application of metaphoricity, which phrasal verbs cannot have. Underlying the literal
meaning of any idioms is figurative sense that requires one‟s thought, deduction,
imagination, background knowledge and so on. For instance, behind the closed doors. At
the beginning, without knowing it is an idiom, the phrase just gives the idea of the relation
of position (behind) of something with closed doors. However, knowledge of
metaphoricity enables one to realize the phrase is an idiom. “Closed doors” is associated
with privacy and secrecy. Behind closed doors is associated with something that is secret
and that no one is allowed to know. Basing on one‟s knowledge of metaphoricity the
meaning of the idiom “behind closed doors” could partly be deduced. It denotes “in
private; without the public being allowed to attend”. In the mean while, the meaning of
phrasal verbs is fixed. As for the non-native speaker, it needs to be looked up in the
dictionary and learnt by heart. In fact, the form of the phrasal verb could be seen in a great
number of idioms. In other words, the most common pattern of idioms is phrasal verbs
such as “to go down the drain”, “to get off my back” or “to hang on somebody‘s words”
which are in the form of phrasal verbs.
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Colloquialisms is “a linguistic expression used exclusively in familiar, informal
conversation and thus not used in formal speech, writing or paralinguistics”.
(Wikipedia.com). Colloquialisms can be a words such as “y‘all” („you-all‘ is used
especially in the southern US to mean you when talking to more than one person (Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition)), “gonna” („going to‟) or “wanna” („want to‟

classification of human emotions into categories. Each psychologist proposes a different
classification of human emotions when he considers human emotions from different
perspectives. Parrot (2001) classifies emotions into primary emotion, secondary emotion
and tertiary emotion. Noticeably, the primary emotions are subdivided into six ones.
Ekman, Friesen, and Ellsworth (1982) base on face expressions that are similar across
cultures in order to classify human emotions into six basic ones. Plutchik (1980), emotions
can be classified into eight basic human emotions which have their opposite emotion and
grouped into four pairs of opposites. James (1884) classifies emotions into four ones which
are based on the physiological response to the event. While, as for Watson (1936) proposes
three fundamental emotions of humans.
These classifications are shown in the table by Ortony and Turner (1990), which
demonstrates the theorists and their classification of the basic human emotions.
ANDREW ORTONY AND TERENCE J. TURNER
ANDREW ORTONY AND TERENCE J. TURNER
A Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions
Reference
Fundamental Emotions
Arnold(1960)
Anger, aversion, courage, dejection,
desire, despair, fear, hate, hope, love,
sadness
Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth
(1982)
Anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness,
surprise
Frijda (personal
communication, September 8,

distress, fear, joy, shame, surprise
Watson (1930)
Fear, love, rage
Weiner and Graham (1984)
Happiness, sadness
Figure 1. A Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions
1.2.3. Emotion Fear
As can be seen in the table1, of the basic emotions such as sadness, happiness and
anger, fear is listed as one of the fundamental emotions of humans.
Fear is defined as “an emotional response to a perceived threat. It is a basic
survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus” (Wikipedia.com). In
other words, it is “the bad feeling that you have when you are in danger, when something
bad might happen, or when a particular thing frightens you” (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s
Dictionary, 7
th
edition). To put it simply, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
defines fear as “the feeling you get when you are afraid or worried that something bad is
going to happen”.
Degree of fear varies from “mild caution to extreme phobia and paranoia and is
involved in a number of additional cognitive and emotional states including worry, anxiety,
terror, fright, paranoia, horror, panic, persecution complex and dread”. The definition by
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gives the idea that the states such as worry
and anxiety are considered as slight degrees of fear since both the states worry (Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English) “the feeling of being anxious about something” and
anxiety (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, 7
th
edition) “the state of feeling nervous
or worried that something bad is going to happen” are to some extent involved with the
emotion fear. Therefore, in the study the idioms that denote the emotion fear will slide
from the light level worry and anxiety to ultimate state dread.

Go hot and cold
3
Verb – Direct Object
Hold one‟s breath
4
Verb – Direct Object – Adverbial
Scare/frighten sb out of their wits
5
Verb – Direct Object – Object Complement
Make sb‟s blood run cold
6
Verb – Indirect Object – Direct Object
Give sb the creeps
7
Subject – Verb
Sb‟s knees are knocking
Figure 2: Original Clause Pattern and Examples of Idioms of Fear.
It can be seen from the table that English idioms that indicates fear exist in almost
all of the clause patterns. Given the statistics are summed up from the main sources:
Oxford Idioms Dictionary (2006), English – English – Vietnamese Dictionary (2004),
Learn-english-today.com (2010), Figurative language cross-cultural and cross-linguistics
perspective (2005), in 103 English idioms denoting fear, clause patterns make up 80.6%
with 83 idioms while the rest accounts for 19.4% with 20 ones. It is noted that the pattern
that allows synonyms such as shaking for quaking but denotes the same meaning will be
regarded as the same pattern.
 Verb – Adverbial pattern (V-A)
Of the clause patterns, this kind of patterns ranks third with 18 idioms accounting for
21.7% of clause patterns and 17.5% of English idioms denoting fear. The following
examples of English idioms of fear that illustrate the pattern.
Your eyes are wide open, your heart skips a beat and you jump out of your skin.

was thrilled when his dad brought him back (…).
(Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes)
Complement for subject is realized in varied patterns, it can be noun phrase as pieces,
adverbial complement as at his wits end or adjective phrase as sick with worry.
 Verb - Direct Object pattern (V-Od)