MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY


Vu Thi Kim Dung

A cross-cultural study on
idiomatic expressions containing numbers
in English and Vietnamese

NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA
NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CÁC TỪ CHỈ SỐ
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

M.A. THESIS
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT
M.A. THESIS Field : English Language
Code : 60220201
Supervisor : Assoc.Prof. Phan Van Que, Ph.D HANOI- 2013

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DECLARATION
Titlle: A cross-cultural study on idiomatic expressions containing
numbers in English and Vietnamese

I hereby declare that no part of the enclosed Master Thesis has been copied
or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and
that the thesis is originally written by me under strict guidance of my
supervisor.


Hanoi, December 2013
Vu Thi Kim Dung

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study … 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 3
5. Methods of the study.… 3
6. Design of the study 4
PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER 1: Literature review and theoretical background 5
A. Theoretical background 5
1.1. Idiomatic expressions 5
1.2. Definitions of idioms 8
1.2.1 Definitions of English idioms 8
1.2.2. Definition of Vietnamese idioms … 10
1.3. Classification of idioms 11
1.3.1. English idioms 11
1.3.2. Vietnamese idioms 17
1.4. Specific characteristics of idioms 18
1.5. Numbers in English and Vietnamese cultures 23
1.5.1. Numbers in English culture … 23
1.5.2. Numbers in Vietnamese culture …. 27
B. Literature review of previous studies on idioms … 28



LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The connotative meanings of numbers in English and Vietnamese
idioms by Spangle and Werner’s model 33
Table 2: List of English idioms containing number one (1) 35
Table 3: List of English idioms containing number nine (9) 37
Table 4: List of English idioms containing number two (2) 38
Table 5: List of English idioms containing number three (3) 40
Table 6: List of Vietnamese idioms containing number three (3) 41
Table 7: List of Vietnamese idioms containing number two (2) 43
Table 8: List of Vietnamese idioms containing number one (1) 45
Table 9: Types of numerical idioms in English and Vietnamese by Fernando’s
model 46
Table 10: English numerical idioms having Vietnamese equivalent expressions
with the same meanings 50
Table 11: English numerical idioms having Vietnamese equivalent numerical
idioms with the same meanings 51
Table 12: The frequency of appearance of numbers in English idioms 54
Table 13: The frequency of appearance of numbers in Vietnamese idioms 56
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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
In the world today, there are 5,000 to 6,000 living languages, of which
English is by far the most widely used. According to the statistics of list of
English spoken countries by Nationmaster.com, there are 45 countries in the
world speaking English with approximately 350 million people speak English

numbers have certain significance. People admire some numbers and vice
versa. All of those are factors that give me the inspirations to choose this topic
A cross-cultural study on idiomatic expressions (idioms) containing
numbers in English and Vietnamese. The thesisis 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 thesis, as entitled, focus on idiomatic expressions (idioms only)
containing numbers in English and Vietnamese, gives definitions,
classifications as well as some features of idioms in both English and
Vietnamese. Therefore, the aims of the study are:
• To explore the roles of numbers in the meanings of idioms in English and
Vietnamese.
• To find out the contribution of numbers to the meanings of idioms in
English and Vietnamese; Giving some suggestions to improve knowledge
about English idioms
3. Research questions
In order to achieve these aims, the following matters should be made clear:
• What are the differences of English culture and Vietnamese culture

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through the role of numbers in idioms?
• What do numbers contribute to the meanings of idioms in English and
Vietnamese?
4. Scope of the study
In this study, attention is firstly focused on analyzing typical idiomatic
expressions (idioms only) containing numbers in English and Vietnamese
which express English and Vietnamese cultures. Secondly, the study is
focused on revealing what types of English and Vietnamese idioms which

 Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical background, provides the
theoretical information about definitions, classification and features of idioms,
brief knowledge about numbers in English and Vietnamese culture, the review
of previous studies on idioms;
 Chapter 2: Methodology, is concerned with research questions, data
collection, analysis framework, data analysis;
 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions
• The last part, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS of the study,
includes recapitulation, limitations of the study and some suggestions for
implications and for further studies. Page | 5

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: Theoretical background and Literature review
A. Theoretical background
1.1. Idiomatic expressions
According to www.thefreedictionary.com, idiomatic expressions are the
expressions whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the
words that make it up. In other words, idiomatic expressions are types of
informal language that have meanings different from the meaning of the
words in the expression.
Idiomatic expressions include idiom, proverb, phrasal idiom, set
phrase, phrase, locution, saying, etc. In English and Vietnamese language,
idioms and proverbs are widely used. We will focus more on idiom and
proverb.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary provides the definition of idiom as “a
group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the

- Ăn gian nói dối
- Biết người biết ta
- Đầu voi đuôi chuột
- Mượn gió bẻ măng
- Quý nhân phù trợ, etc.
Proverb:
- Proverbs must have the clause or sentence structure (not word) to express
justice or an event implying the justice. Sometimes, subject or predicate can
be hidden in proverbs;
- It has a meaning beyond or other than the sum of the meaning of the

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individual words;
- Proverbs’ logic contents/meanings are exposed in two ways:
+ It expresses one idea of justice directly (without through actions and
events).
+ It expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or
criticism basing on an action or an event.
- It can stand independently with a complete meaning.
For example:
In English:
- A burnt child dreads fire
- Where there's a will there's a way
- A friend in need is a friend indeed
- Empty vessels make the most noise
- Great talkers are little doers, etc.
In Vietnamese:
- Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây, ăn khoai nhớ kẻ cho dây mà trồng
- Ăn kỹ no lâu, cày sâu tốt lúa

For example:
- All rolled up in one
- At sixes and sevens
- In two shakes of a lamb’s tail
- In one fell swoop
- Six feet under, etc
Idioms are composed of more than one word: their constituents show to some
extents of internal cohesion that we expect of single words. An idiom
typically resists interruption and re-ordering of its constituents.

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According to Asher and Simpson (1994), idiom, habitual collocation, is a
phrase or other sequence of words which has a meaning beyond or other than
the sum of the meanings of the individual words, and which do not participate
in the usual possible range of variation.
According to Cruse (1986: 37), an idiom is an “expression whose meaning
cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts when they are not parts of
idioms”.
Fernando (1996) shares the same view of the definition of idioms. At the same
time, he has a broad view when considering idioms as multi-word expressions
whose meanings are not derived from the meanings of their constituents or
their syntactic structures or consist the meaning of one of its constituents
while the other constituent denotes a concept which it does not denote in other
linguistic contexts.
We can see some examples for these views:
- Blow hot and cold
- A fair weather friend
- Knock something off
- Three sheets to the wind

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. Definition of Vietnamese idioms
“Vietnamese idioms are fixed expressions in the form of single words or
sentences but totally belong to the spectrum of words. Most of them are

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encoded, containing artistic stylization and are only part of an utterance.”
(Thành ngữ là cụm từ mang ngữ nghĩa cố định, chưa tạo thành câu hoàn
chỉnh; không thể thay thế/sửa đổi về mặt ngôn từ; thường được dùng để tạo
thành các câu hoàn chỉnh trong văn nói/viết; số lượng thành ngữ trong tiếng
Việt rơi vào khoảng gần 6 nghìn thành ngữ. Kết cấu của thành ngữ rất khó
(gần như không thể) phân định rõ ràng đâu là chủ ngữ, đâu là vị ngữ)
(Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam, p. 659)
According to Thành Ngữ Học Tiếng Việt (p.21), “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”.
Here are some examples of Vietnamese idioms, which are only part of an
utterance:
- Cá mè một lứa
- An cư lạc nghiệp
- Ba hoa chích choè
- Thả mồi bắt bóng; ….
Idioms are an invaluable treasure of the Vietnamese. “In idioms, we can find
the typical features of people’s thoughts, aesthetics (đẹp như tiên), virtues,
standards of human behaviour (cây ngay không sợ chết đứng) as well as the
attitudes towards the good and the evil (xấu như ma), the noble and the


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Oxford Dictionary of English idioms, Oxford University Express, English
idioms have the enormous structural variety. Basing on functions, idioms can
be also classified as phrase idioms and clause idioms. Seidl – McMordie
(1988), on the other hand, gave eight groups of idioms based on parts of
speech, as follows:
a. Key words with idiomatic uses:
- Adjectives and adverbs:
+ Big fish in a little pond
+ A hard and fast rule
+ As thick as thieves
- Nouns:
+ Out of sight, out of mind
+ The point of no return
+ That the way the cookie crumbles
- Miscellaneous:
+ Once and for all
+ How on earth…?
+ It’s back to the drawing board
b. Idioms with nouns and adjectives:
- Noun phrases:
+ A drop in the ocean
+ The lesser of two evils
+ The pros and cons
- Adjective + noun:
+ A back-seat driver
+ A flying visit
c. Idiomatic pairs:


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+ Red tape
+ A white – collar worker
- Numbers:
+ Back to square one
+ One in the thousand
+ Kill two birds with one stone
- Parts of body:
+ Cost someone an arm and a leg
+ See the back of something
+ Keep an eye on something/someone
h. Idioms with comparisons: as … as, like:
+ As busy as a bee
+ As plain as the nose on your face
+ Like the cat that stole the cream
Idioms by meanings and functions: Fernando (1996) divides idioms into
ideational idioms, interpersonal idioms and relational idioms in order to
explore the meanings of idioms and their functions. Based on that, it can be
inferred what the roles of the numbers appearing in idioms are. There are
three types of idioms:
- Ideational idioms: They are idioms either signify message content,
experiential phenomena expressing message contents such as actions, events,
situations (be in a pickle), attributes (matter of fact), evaluations and emotions
(lose one’s heart) or characterizing the message such as showing specific or
non – specific information.
For example, the idiom “have blood on one’s hand” is an idiom to describe a
situation which is “someone must be responsible for someone’s death or is
guilty of causing someone’s death” (Oxford Advanced Dictionary Online).

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information.
In this study, we use the classification of idioms by Fernando to analyze the
idiomatic expressions containing numbers in Chapter 2.
1.3.2. Classification of Vietnamese idioms
Nguyễn Lân in the book “Từ Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam” stated
that there are five types of idioms which are mentioned below:
- Idioms that contain well-selected words:
+ Văn hay chữ tốt
+ Chim sa cá lặn
+ Nếm mật nằm gai
+ Nghèo rớt mùng tơi, etc
- Comparison idioms:
+ Đẹp như tiên
+ Len lét như rắn mùng năm
+ Nhanh như chảo chớp
+ Ăn quà như mỏ khoét
+ Ướt như chuột lội, etc.
- Idioms with symmetrical structures:
+ Thượng bất chính, hạ tắc loạn
+ Yêu nhau lắm cắn nhau đau
+ Ăn chắc, mặc bền
+ Của thiên trả địa, etc.
- Alliteration idioms:
+ Dở dở ương ương
+ Đi đi lại lại
+ Ù ù cạc cạc, etc.

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