MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC
FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING
RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH
REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA
CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỈ SỰ “GIÀU” VÀ “NGHÈO”
TRONG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)
VU THI THUY

Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC
FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING
RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH
REFERENCES TO THE VIETNAMESE

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh
Date: 24/11/2017

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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. Le Van Thanh, 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.
My special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Post
Graduate Studies - Ha Noi Open University for their interesting lectures and
useful advice. I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends for idea
sharing and encouragement. It would never have been possible for me to have
this thesis accomplished without all of these valuable supports.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they
have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

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ABSTRACT
Idioms play an important role in all natural languages including English and
Vietnamese. They enrich the language. They help speakers and writers to emphasise
their ideas and make our observations, judgments, and explanations more lively and
interesting. They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning

PP : Prepositional Phrase
IsDR&P: Idioms denoting richness and poverty
EIsDR&P: English idioms denoting richness and poverty
VIsDR&P: Vietnamese idioms denoting richness and poverty

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1. Verb phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
Table 3.2. Noun phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P

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25

Table 3.3. Adjective phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IDR&P
Table 3.4. Prepositional phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P

26
27

Table 3.5. Adverbial phrase structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
27
Table 3.6. Comparative structures of English and Vietnamese IdR&P
28
Table 3.7. A summary of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting Richness and
Poverty in grammatical patterns

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1

1.1. Rational

1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study
1.3. Research questions

2
3

1.4 Methods of the study
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 Significance of the study
1.7 Design of the study
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

3
3
4
4
6

2.1. Previous studies
2.2. Theoretical backround
2.2.1. Definition of poverty, richness and idioms
2.2.3. Typical Features of Idioms
2.2.3.1. Semantic Ambiguity

2.2.5.3. Idioms Related to Culture
2.2.6. Classification of Idioms

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17

2.3. Summary

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CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURS OF ENGLISH IDIOMS
DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS.
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3.1. Syntactic features of idioms denoting richness and poverty in English and
Vietnamese
18
3.1.1. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a verb phrase.
3.1.2. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of a noun phrase 38

18
21

3.1.3. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adjective phrase. 25
3.1.4. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of a prepositional phrase 26
3.1.5. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in structures of an adverbial phrase 27
3.1.6. Idioms denoting richness and poverty in a structure of comparatives
27
3.2. Semantic features of English idioms enoting richness and poverty with references
to the Vietnamese equivalents

39

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3.3.1 Similarities
3.3.2 Differences

39
39

3.3.2.1 Syntactic Features

39

3.3.2.2 Semantic Features
39
3.4. Concluding remarks
40
CHAPTER 4: COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LEARNER IN USING ENGLISH
IDIOMS DENOTING RICHNESS AND POVERTY WITH REFERENCES TO THE
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
41
4.1. Survey questionaires
4.1.1. Subjects

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41

4.1.2. Questionaires


REFERENCES
APPENDIX

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58

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Nowadays, English has been used in over the world. It has played a very
important role in bringing people from different countries closer and closer. In
Vietnam, English is also a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges and
universities. Vietnamese learners have been facing with many difficulties when they
learn a foreign language. To master a foreign language as well as to be able to use it
fluently is a strong desire of all learners. However, it is a difficult task for all learners
because of many obstacles that they have to face during their learning. Moreover, the
target of learning a foreign language is the ability to communicate. To be successful in
communication can only be reached when both the speakers and the listeners
understand each other. However, there are so many differences in many aspects of the
languages and cultures that cause various problems for learners in the process of
mastering a foreign language.
Moreover, the vocabulary of English consists of several hundred thousand
words and lots of idioms, and without an extensive English vocabulary, communication
in English just can not occur in a meaningful way.
In daily communication, we can see the frequent appearance of idioms. Idioms
have always attracted attention of linguists, although they were not given enough
recognition in the past. The new trends in English syntactic and semantic studies,

learning English idioms denoting richness and poverty.
1.2.2. Objectives of the study
To achieve the mentioned aims above, the following objectives can be put
forward
- To find out syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting
“richness” and “poverty” with referenceto the Vietnameseequivalents..
- To find out the similarities and differences between English idioms of richness
and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic
features.
- To propose some applications for teaching and learning English idioms
denoting “richness” and “poverty”.
1.3. Research questions
This research seeks to address the following questions
(i) What are syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting
“richness” and “poverty” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents?

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(ii) What are similarities and differences between English idioms of richness
and poverty and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic
features?
(iii) What are suggestions for teacher and learner in teaching and learning
idioms denoting “richness” and “poverty” in English?
1.4 Methods of the study
The study describes and compares the syntactic and semantic features of English
idioms denoting “richness” and “poverty” with references to the Vietnamese
equivalents and then withdraws some implications for teaching and learning of English
and Vietnamese as a foreign language.
The descriptive method is supposed to describe and interpret idioms denoting

two languages and use them effectively in their learning process as well as in their
daily life.
1.7 Design of the study
The study is organized into five chapters: Introduction, Literature review,
Findings and Discussion, Applications and Conclusion.
Chapter 1 - Introduction: Presents the rationale to the study, aims and objectives
of the research, research question, methods of the study, scope of the research,
significance of the study and structure of the thesis.
Chapter 2 - Literature Review: Provides the readers with the literature review of
the research, which attempts to present the theoretical background including general
understanding about language learning process, an overview of English idioms
denoting “richness” and “poverty” and their Vietnamese equivalents.
Chapter 3 – Syntactic and semantic features of English idioms denoting richness
and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents: Present syntactic and
semantic features of English idioms denoting “Richness” and “Poverty” with reference
to the Vietnamese equivalents. The features are accompanied by statistical results and
the analysis of the data shown in the tables.
Chapter 4- Common errors made by learners when using English idioms
denoting richness and poverty with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents: Work
with some implications for teaching and learning English dioms denoting “Richness”
and “Poverty”

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Chapter 5 - Conclusions: Summarize the thesis with concluding remarks. Also,
the limitations of the study are presented with suggestions for further studies.

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treatment of idioms and idiomaticity from a functional perspective. It examines the use

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of idioms in discourse to combine the novel and the conventional, to convey
representations of the world, evaluate people and situations, signal conviviality or
conflict, and create coherent, cohesive texts. This book goes on to consider
implications for language learning and development.
In “Idiom Structure in English” (Makkai, 1972), the concept of idiomaticity
areas is introduced and the membership of each is illustrated with a small number of
typical examples. Each type of idiom in the first idiomaticity area (lexemic system) and
the second idiomaticity area (sematic system) is described in terms of its internal
structure and assigned a label. This discussion of the idiomaticity areas and their
membership is integrated with a general definition of the idiom in both the lexicology
and the semiology. By describing these two idiomaticity areas, the author suggests a
framework by which all types of English idioms have been mentioned.
Furthermore, “Idioms Organization” is a book that John Wright (1992) has
written about the idioms organized by metaphor, topic and key word. The book “The
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Ammer (1997) or “Oxford Dictionary of
English Idioms” by Richards (1987), idioms are carefully collected and categorized
into alphabetical arrangement. Their meanings and examples of usage in English are
also mentioned. These are the books that every linguistic or teachers of linguistics have
to keep a look if they want to do a research or a study on idioms.
In Vietnamese, the first researchers having important contributions to this field
we must mention are Nguyen Luc and Nguyen Van Dang. They wrote “Thành ngữ
Tiếng Việt” which is a collection of Vietnamese idioms arranged in alphabetical order
with clear explanations and examples extracted from Vietnamese novels, newspapers
and magazines. Moreover, Nguyễn Trần Trụ who wrote “Thành ngữ tục ngữ lược giải”
explains meanings of the most common idioms and proverbs in such simple, clear

There are many definitions of poverty depending on the context of the situation
and the views of the person giving the definition. For instance, World Bank states that
“Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It
includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services
necessary for survival with dignity.
Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to
clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient
capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.” ("Poverty and Inequality Analysis".
worldbank.org.)
According to poverty is the state of one
who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.

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2.2.1.2 Definition of Richness
Unlike the word poverty, there are hardly various definitions for the word
richness. According to Từ điển Tiếng Việt (1992), richness is defined that “có nhiều
tiền của; trái với nghèo”.
The
definition
above
corresponds
to
the
one
from
Accordingly, richness is defined as the
state of having an abundant supply of money, property, or possessions of value.
2.2.1.3. Definition of idioms

extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words. An idiom typically
resists interruption and re-ordering of its constituents. For example, the idiom ‘kick the
bucket’ will lose its idiomatic meaning if it is re-ordered into ‘the bucket which is
kicked’. According to Palmer (1990), idioms as consequences of words whose meaning
cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves. Semantically, idioms
are single units, but they are not single grammatical units like words. He also printed
out some restriction in syntactic features and noted that the problem of idioms was
involved with the much wider issue of word formation, by which what would appear to
be new and more complex lexemes can be formed from single ones.
Collins Cobuild (1995) defines: ‘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 ‘fossilised’.
In Vietnamese, idioms have also attracted a lot of the interest of researchers.
Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Dinh Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien state in “Cơ sở ngôn ngữ học và
tiếng Việt” (1997) that “idioms are groups of words which are syntactically restricted
and have a particular meaning. Their meanings are often imaginative and figurative”.
Hoang Van Hanh defines in “Kể chuyện thành ngữ, tục ngữ” (2002) that idioms are set
expressions which are stable in theirmorpho – structure, complete and figurative in
their meaning, usedwidely in daily communication, especially in speech.
Generally, most of the authors showed that idiom is a group of words whose
meaning cannot be understood from the meanings of individual words in it. All things
considered, idioms are sayings that reflect accumulated human experiences and are
built on frequently occurring situations, which demonstrate human behavior, social
traits, certain habits or tradition in a country. They almost represent life lessons and are
a heritage of those accumulated events that make up the conscious of a nation or
humankind in general.

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dress up messages in a colourful way. In this thesis, idioms are analyzed in both
aspects of semantic and syntactic features through their phrases.

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2.2.3.2. Syntactic Restriction and Stability
In idioms studies of many linguists, the characteristic features of idioms are not
only “semantic ambiguity” but also “syntactic restriction” and “stability”. It was
discovered by Yong and Peng (2007) “idioms are characterized by semantic
opaqueness, syntactic restrictions and structural stability”. What is more, it is
interesting to note that “although idioms consist of more than one word, they display to
some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words” by Cruse,
D.A. (1986). That is to say, therefore, that the elements in idioms usually bound
together. Hardly can idioms be inserted any word to satisfy users’ intention. The
English idiom “a peach” used to describe an outstandingly beautiful girl cannot be
inserted with any words without causing of losing its original meaning. Or put “thì
phải” before “trả đào” in Vietnamese idiom “ăn mận trả đào”. However, sometimes the
insertion in Vietnamese idioms can be acceptable. Let us take examples, “đỏ như gấc”
and “đỏ như gấc chín”.
We cannot also change the order of components in idioms as “they have fixed
form that usually cannot be changed” (Heacock, 2003). For instance, the English idiom
“apples and oranges” cannot be changed into “oranges and apples”, or the Vietnamese
idiom “bẻ lựu hái đào” cannot be turned into “bẻ đào hái lựu” because doing so would
hinder the temp of perception of the users and the above expressions are not surely
idioms.
Moreover, it is an undeniable fact that there are many grammatical restrictions
in idioms. A large number of idioms contain a verb and a noun, although the verb may
be placed in any tense, the number of the noun can rarely be changed. For example,
with the idiom “give someone the raspberry”, we can have “gave someone the

it is defined “is a group of words which form a grammatical unit. A phrase does not
contain a finite verb and does not have a subject-predicate structure”. Distinguishing
between idioms and phrases is a difficult task. Many idioms may be erroneously
comprehended as phrases and vice versa. Idioms tend to be frozen in form and are not
ready to take part in other combination. Whereas, the meaning of phrases is the free
addition of the meanings of the words existing in the phrase.
2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs
Both idioms and proverb are set expressions, stable in structure and are readymade units for reproduction. The clear reflection of national characteristic of the people
using them is another similarity. However they are quite different in grammatical and
semantic nature.

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A proverb is a folksy saying but an idiom is a folksy saying unique to a culture
or ethnic group. A proverb is a statement that reveals wisdom or an experience shared
by many people. In the book “Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam”, Nguyen Lan
(1994) states that “Proverbs are completed sentences with full meanings, they say
about an advice, an experience or a comment…” Proverbs is usually known by many
people, stating something commonly experienced or giving advice or a short popular
saying, usually of ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or
useful thought.
Hoang Van Hanh is an expert of linguistics, he has had a lot of studies about
idioms and proverbs. In his book “Thành ngữ học tiếng Việt” (2008) he distinguished
the differences between them. He indicated “Idioms are special set expressions that
express the conceptions figuratively meanwhile proverbs are special sentences that
express judges imaginatively”. He stated proverbs are sentences and their roles are art
messages.
From the point of views of linguistics, we can identify the proverbs and idioms.
For example, the following are proverbs “Thuận vợ thuận chồng tát biển Đông cũng

Communication”, Nguyen Quang presents the definition of culture as “a share
background (e.g. national, ethic, religious) resulting from a common language and
communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values”.
The concept culture in this thesis does not mean “the arts” (literature, painting,
music, and the like) but is “the specialized behavioral patterns, understanding,
adaptations, and social systems that summarize a group of people’s learned way of
life”. Supporting this view, Tran Ngoc Them describes culture as an organic system of
material and spiritual values created and accumulated during human process of real
activity as well as their contact with natural and social environment.
2.2.5.2 Culture in language
The relationship between culture and language is highly closed. Language and
culture are undoubtedly closely integrated and interdependent during their whole
development processes. It is possible to say language is one of the top important
elements of any cultures, for it reserves and reflects most apparently that culture’s
characteristics.
In ‘Language and culture’, Kramsch mentioned the inseparable relationship of
language and culture into 3 parts: the first, language expresses cultural reality because
people use words to reflect their ideas, events, attitudes and beliefs; their point of view,
knowledge about the world that other people share; the second, language embodies

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