MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS
A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES
OF WORDS AND PHRASES DENOTING CUISINE IN
ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HOÁ CỦA
NHỮNG TỪ VÀ CỤM TỪ BIỂU ĐẠT ẨM THỰC TRONG TIẾNG
ANH VÀ NHỮNG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYỄN THỊ THU

Hanoi, 2016
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES
OF WORDS AND PHRASES DENOTING CUISINE IN
ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
( NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HOÁ CỦA
CÁC TỪ VÀ CỤM TỪ BIỂU ĐẠT ẨM THỰC TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ NHỮNG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)


Approved by SUPERVISOR
(Signature and full name)

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoàng Tuyết Minh
Date:……………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and
support from a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoàng Tuyết Minh, my supervisor, who has patiently and
constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose
stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly
through my growth as an academic researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to all my teachers at Hanoi Open
university, Postgraduate Department for their usefule lectures, without
whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for
me to have this thesis accomplished.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for
the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

ii


ABSTRACT


cuisine denoting areas, cuisine denoting names of man, cuisine denoting
combines with colour, cuisine denoting combines with flavour, and cuisine
denoting combines with quality.Moreover, they also broaden knowledge
about cultural features in English as well as in Vietnamese. From that, it
helps learners use them properly in spoken and written so as not to cause
“culture shocks” in daily communication.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1. Syntactic features of words and phrases denoting
cuisine in English

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Tabble 4.2. Semantic features of words and phrases denoting
cuisine in English

9

Table 4.3. Syntactic features of words and phrases denoting
cuisine in English with references to their Vietnamese equivalents

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Table 4.4a. Semantic features of words and phrases denoting
cuisine in English


2.2.4. Overview of cuisine ................................................................. 21
2.2.4.1. English cuisine .................................................................. 22
2.2.4.2.Vietnamese cuisine ............................................................. 23
2.2.5. Typical cultural features of cuisine ......................................... 24
2.2.5.1. Culture on eating habits of English ................................... 24
2.2.5.2. Culture on eating habits of Vietnamese ............................. 25
2.2.5.3. Meals in English and Vietnamese ...................................... 26
2.3. Summary ....................................................................................... 28
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Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY................................................................ 29
3.1. Study-governing orientations ....................................................... 29
3.2. Research questions ........................................................................ 29
3.3. Methods of the study ..................................................................... 29
3.4. Data collection ............................................................................... 30
3.5. Data analysis.................................................................................. 32
3.6. Summary ....................................................................................... 33
Chapter 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 34
4.1. Linguistic features of words and phrases denoting cuisine in
English .................................................................................................. 34
4.1.1. Syntactic features of words and phrases denoting cuisine in
English .............................................................................................. 34
4.1.1.1.Meals .................................................................................. 35
4.1.1.2.Drinks................................................................................. 37
4.1.2. Semantic features of words and phrases denoting cuisine in
English .............................................................................................. 39
4.2. Cultural features of words and phrases denoting cuisine in English ....... 41
4.2.1. Meals ....................................................................................... 41
4.2.2. Drinks ...................................................................................... 44

As we know, there are many countries in the world. Each has own its
language and culture. Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote, “culture,
then, is the great guide of human life”, it is true that knowing the culture of
a country is, in effect, a guide to understanding the soul of that country and
its people. Culture refers to many factors such as art, music, food, literature,
etc. In English and Vietnamese, researchers have also paid a lot of attention
to cuisine. There have been many authors carrying out studies on cuisine
such as Spencer, Colin (2003). British foo: An Extraordinary Thousand
Years of Hisotory. Columbia University Press; Broomfield, Andrea (2007).
“ Food and cooking in Victorian England: a history”; Taste Vietnam, 200912-29; How to cook Vietnamese cuisine, 2010; AsianInfo: Article on
Vietnamese food; “ Vietnamese Ingredients” WokMe. 2011. Retrieved 2
December 2011; Annie Corapi (2011). “The 10 healthiest ethnic cuisines.
CNN Health. Retrieved 3 December 2011; etc. However, both English and
Vietnamese have not had a study on features of words and phrases denoting
cuisines from language and culture.
This study is interested in English language and culture in common,
English cuisine in particularly. Hence, this study would like to show the
understanding about English cuisine. Specially, this thesis will compare and
contrast it with Vietnamese cuisine to show the similarities and differences
between cuisines of two countries.
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This study will help people who are interested in English language
and culture, will have more knowledge about linguistic and cultural features
of it with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents.
Practically, firstly, the differences in many aspects of the languages
and cultures cause various problems when both in English and Vietnamese.
Secondly, cuisine is a large field; therefore, teaching and learning has many
difficulties. Thus, a good understanding of cuisine is the key for learners to

books of English and Vietnamese, menus from restaurants and hotels and
books of

English and Vietnamese, the Internet and analysed their

similarities and differences.
1.5. Significance of the study
Theoretically, the research provides words and phrases denoting
cuisine in typical meals and drinks in English with reference to their
Vietnamese equivalents. This helps Vietnamese learners understand more in
terms of linguistic and cultural features in both two countries.
Practically, the research supplies Vietnamese learners some syntactic,
semantic and cultural features of words and phrases denoting cuisine in
English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents and daily meals and
drinks in two countries. This broadens more the knowledge about linguistic
and cultural features of words and phrases denoting English and Vietnamese
cuisine to learners.
1.6. Structural design of the study
The study is divided into five chapters:
Chapter one is the introduction, which presents the reason why the
topic is chosen, the aims, the objectives, the scope, the significance and the
structural design of the study are given.
Chapter two is the literature review, consisting of two parts: Previous
studies and theoretical background. This is also devoted to the presentation
of major linguistic and cultural features, the definitions about language and
culture, relationships of language, characteristics of English and Vietnamese

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2001). “Chicken tikka masala: Spice and easy does it”. bb.co.uk. Retrieved
28 September 2007; “Turkey Club UK”. Turkeyclub.org.uk. Retrieved
2010-06-03. These studies are specific dishes about chicken, turkey, etc.
In Vietnamese, Vietnamese researchers have also paid a lot of attention to
cuisine. There have been many authors carrying out studies on cuisine namely Taste
Vietnam, 2009-12-29; How to cook Vietnamese cuisine, 2010; How to cook
Vietnamese cuisine, 2004, NXB; AsianInfo: Article on Vietnamese food; "Vietnamese
Ingredients". WokMe. 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.; Annie Corapi (2011). "The
10 healthiest ethnic cuisines". CNN Health. Retrieved 3 December 2011.; "Typical
Vietnamese Foods". ActiveTravelVietnam.com. Retrieved 3 December 2011; "The
Food of Vietnam – Vietnamese Food". GuideVietnam.com. Retrieved 3
December 2011;

"VIETNAMESE

FOOD". Vietnam

Travel.

Retrieved 3

December 2011; "Yin – Yang in Vietnamese culinary art". Viet Nam mon pays
natal. Retrieved 3 December 2011; Hanoi Food Guide - The City Lane; Andrea
Nguyen (13 March 2011). "Heaven in a Bowl: The Original Pho". Retrieved 28
December 2011; Huu Ngoc – Lady Borton. (2010): Hanoian Food. Hanoi
Publishing house; Nguyen Vu Hanh Dung and Phan Dieu Linh. The researches
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above only studied about taste, the ways to cook dishes and drinks, general food


no means consistent, however. Many grammars also draw a distinction
between lexical categories (which tend to consist of content words, or
phrases headed by them) and functional categories (which tend to consist
of function words or abstract functional elements, or phrases headed by
them). The term lexical category therefore has two distinct meanings.
Moreover, syntactic categories should not be confused with grammatical
categories (also known as grammatical features), which are properties such
as tense, gender, etc.
In terms of characteristics of words and phrases, in English – Vietnamese
Dictionary in 2009: Word is a sound or combination of sounds that
expressed a meaning and froms and independent unit of the grammar or
vocabulary of a language.
In term of classes of words, a word may consist of a single morpheme
(for example: oh!, rock, red, quick, run, expect), several (rocks, redness,
quickly, running, unexpected), whereas a morpheme may not be able to
stand on its own as a word (in the words jusst mentioned, these are –s, ness, -ly, un, -ed). And complex word will typically include a root and one
or more affixes ( rock-s, red-ness, quick-ly, run-ning, un-expect-ed), or more
than one root in a compound (black-board, rat-race). Words can be put
together to build larger elements of language, such as phrases (a red rock),
clauses (I threw a rock), and sentences ( he threw one too but he missed).
According to Angela Downing and Philip Lock in English Grammar
(2, p.13), and Victoria Flomklin, Robert Rodman, Peter Collins and David
Blair in An Introduction to Language (17, p.176), words are classified
grammatically according to the traditional terminology, which includes
noun, verb, adjecitve, preposition, pronoun, article, and conjunction.
According to Victoria Fromklin, Robert Rodman, Peter Collins and
David Blair in An introduction to Language (17, p.121), in English, nouns,
verbs, adjecitves, and adverbs make up the largest part of the vocabulary.
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linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so
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function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the
grammatical hierarchy than a clause,
In term of overview of phrase structures
Noun phrases, Sidney Greenbaum defines the noun phrase as a phrase “
has as its head a noun, a pronoun, a nominal adjective or numeral”. (36, p.208).
Examples, a wonderful spinach cheese, a citizen of her own class,etc.
Verb phrases, “a verb phrase has as its head a main (or lexical) verb.
The main verb may be preceded by up to four auxilaries (or auxilary verb)”
(36, p.246). Examples, was sank, has been sunk, etc.
Adjective phrase, “the adjective phrase has as its head an adjective,
which may be preceded by premodifiers, and followed by postmodifier”.
For examples, fond of steak, very happy, etc.
Premodifiers are chiefly adverbs. The premodifier is also an
intensifiers are typically adverbs, prepositional phrases, clauses.
Adverb phrases, “the adverb phrase has as its adverb, wich may be by
premodifiers and (less commonly) followed by postmodifier.” (36, p.295),
for example, much more easily than I could count.
Prepositional phrases consists of a preposition and the complement of
the preposition. The preposition may be premodified by an intensifying
adverb. The prepositional complement is chiefly a noun phrase, an –ing
participle clause or wh-clause. For instance, that Peter with the red hair, a
good trip that I once had, etc.
To sum up, this part is presented about syntactic features of English,
including syntactic category, characteristics of words and phrases, namely,
classes of words, classes of morphemes, types of words, overview of phrase
structures such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb

particular form and will convey a particular meaning (or message). The
connection between the form of the signal and its meaning is established by
what (in a rather general sense of the term) is commonly referred to
semiotics as the code: the message is coded by the sender and decided by
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the receiver. Semantics is one of branches of linguistics studying about the
meaning, and it is considered as a major branch of linguistics devoted to the
study of meaning in language (Crystal, 1991: 310). From this definition,we
have to know what is meant by meaning. For thousand years, philosophers
have been considering the meaning of meaning, speakers of a language can
understand what is said to them and can produce strings of words that are
meaningful to other speakers (Fromkin, 1983: 151).
Leech (1977: IX) states that semantics (as the study of meaning) is
central to the study of communication; and as communication becomes
more and more a crucial factor in social organization, the need to understand
it becomes more and more pressing. Semantics is not only the center of
communication study but also the center of the study of the human mindthought processes, cognition, conceptualization. All these are intricately
bound up with the way in which we classify and covey our experience of the
world through language.
Lyons (1971:400)states,“Semantics may be defined, initially and
provisionally, as the study of meaning”.
Akmajian (1979:228) says, “Semantics is generally considered to be
the study of meaning (and related notions) in language, semantics is
generally considered to be the study of reference (and related notions) in
languages”.
Hornby (1974: 789) defines, “Semantics is branch of linguistics
concerned with studying the meaning of words and sentences”.
Katz (1972:1) defines, “Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning.

sometimes extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and
using language. Essential to both meanings is the systematic creation and
usage of systems of symbols – each symbol referring to linguistic concepts
with semantic or logical or otherwise expressive meanings.”
From these definitions the thesis can see how important the language
is in the process of communication. In this study, language is the means of
expressing thoughts and feelings. Culture can be seen as all human
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activities. Some people look at culture as the collective programme of the
mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from
another. Someone concluded that “there is not one aspect of human life that
is not touched and altered by culture”. In many ways it is correct: culture is
everything. Because culture is so broad in its scope, many definitions have
been suggested. The thesis examines some of these definitions so that
people might understand them better.
Anthropologists Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) reviewed some five
hundred definitions, phrasings and concepts and proposed the following
definition: “Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for
behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievements of human groups….the essential core of culture consists of
traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may,
on the other hand, be considered as products of action, and the other as
conditionaling elements of further action.”
Another definition by Byram ( 1998) runs as follows “A society’s
culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to
operate in a manner acceptable to it’s members. Culture is not a natural
phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people’s behaviour or emotions.
It is rather an organization of these things. It is the form of things that

system is such that only context can indicate time. This different perception
directly affects the translation from Vietnamese language into Western
languages and vice versa.
The thesis can be seen that language is distinctly a form of human
cultural behaviour. Language helps learners understand not only one another
but culture as well. If one uses a language well, one must know the culture
that uses the language. This is because the ability to react with speakers of
another language depends not only on language skills but also on
comprehension of cultural habits. For example, in Vietnamese culture, it is
considered polite behaviour to ask someone at first meeting about his or her

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age and marital status. But this way of talking is not acceptable in other
culture like English, Australian and American culture.
In learning language, we can see that language is a key element of
any culture. Language is a part of social life. As a result, every expression
such as greeting, addressing…are affected by culture. This aspect should be
paid attention to when we study cuisine, Byram ( 1998) said that: “It is
really assumed that exposure language will lead to some kinds of cultural
learning. Thus as learners learn language they learn about culture and as
they learn to use a new language they learn to communicate with other
individuals from a new culture”
That also means that cultural difference leads to the differences in the
way and the perception of communication which is the expression of
language. For example, in the Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai languages, the
greeting “where are you going?” is appropriate instead of “Hello” “Good
day”. However, it may be inappropriate in other cultures like Western
culture; it may be regarded as a curious question. So, if Vietnamese people