PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature and the theoretical background on idioms in both English and Vietnamese
are presented in this chapter. Section 1.1 presents definitions of idioms and their
fundamental issues such as idioms from traditional view, idioms from cognitive view,
idioms from taxonomic view, and idioms from cultural view. This section also provides
a borderline that demarcates idioms from other linguistic units. Then, Section 1.2
reviews studies related to idioms in English and Vietnamese and those under
comparison and contrastive analysis in both languages. Section 1.3 summarizes the
chapter and highlights the research gap in which the present inquiry aims to situate
itself. A definition of an idiom for working is also presented in this section.

1.1. Theoretical Background

1.1.1. Idioms Defined

Words have their own meanings. They, however, do not just come individually; they
also come in expressions or in groups. Idioms are among the most common of these
expressions. And it seems impossible to improve a language naturally without learning
idioms – a very important part of the language. What is an idiom? The question may
have several answers.

Idioms are generally regarded as a special kind of collocation (Palmer 1981; Robins
1989; Jackson and Amvela 1998; etc). The meaning of an idiom, however, is usually
different from the meanings of the combination of its constituents. An idiom is
distinguished from a collocation, for a collocation is a sequence of lexical items which
habitually co-occur and each lexical constituent of a collocation is a semantic
component. Hornby (1995) argues that an idiom is ‘a phrase or sentence whose meaning
is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a
whole unit’. Sharing the same point of view, Seidl and McMordie (1988) defines ‘an
idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the

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individual words of the idiom when they stand alone’. For instance, the collocation of
kick and the bucket forms an idiom meaning die, which is not systematically
determinable from the meanings of kick and the bucket. This idiom or phrasal lexeme is
formally identical with the phrase kick the bucket whose meaning is systematically
determinable on the basis of the meaning of the lexemes of which it is composed.

An idiom is also regarded as ‘an expression which functions as a single unit and whose
meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts’ (Longman Dictionary of
Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics 1992). Sharing the same point of view,
Cowie, Mackin & McCaig (1993) state that idioms are groups of words with set
meanings that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts.
Fernando (1996) defines an idiom as ‘an indivisible unit whose components cannot be
varied or varied only within definable limits’. No other words can be substituted for
those comprising. Nor are the words of an idiom usually recombinable.

Mệnh (1972) and Châu (1981) suppose that idioms are available linguistic units which
have stable structures, typical meanings and nominative functions. An idiom is ‘a fixed
group of words having a complete meaning and descriptive value’ (Dân 1986). He also
adds that idioms express concepts based on separated images. It is the reason why
idioms usually have their own figurative meanings. For example, the phrase cưỡi ngựa
xem hoa (do something summarily and perfunctorily) is considered as an idiom because
its idiomatic meaning cannot be infered from the meanings of its constituents (cưỡi,
ngựa, xem and hoa).

Hành (2008: 31) states that 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’. The fixed properties of an idiom can be realized as follows: (i) the words of
an idiom are generally fixed. It means that the component parts forming an idiom are
unvaried in using; (ii) the fixed characteristic of the structure of an idiom is expressed
by the fixed order of the component parts forming an idiom.

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 of view that an idiom is a

15
fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out by looking at the meanings of its
individual constituents.

In the present study, given below is regarded as a summary of the defining features of
an idiom. Such an idiom

(i) is a fixed unit whose components cannot be varied or varied under definable
control;

ii) is regarded as a complex scene with a bipartite semantic structure: a literal

reading and an idiomatic meaning;

(iii) has the meaning which is usually different from the meanings of the
combination of its components;

(iv) expresses a pure concept.

1.1.2. Idioms from Traditional View

Traditionally, it is believed that idioms are unpredictable or non-compositional (Chafe

1970; Chomsky 1965, 1980; Katz 1973; Fernando & Flavell 1981; Mệnh 1972; Châu
1981; Đức 1995; Hành 2008; etc). Although we have learned the meaning and syntactic
property of each word of an idiom, we are still unable to capture its idiomatic meaning.
In other words, the meaning of an idiom cannot be derived from the meanings of its
constituents.

According Fernando & Flavell (1981), the meaning of an idiom is not the result of the
compositional function of its constituent parts. They regard an idiom as a lexeme and
give their own conclusions as follows:

We have examined several issues which focus attention on the idiom as a single
lexeme that is non-correlative in its syntax and therefore non-literal in terms of
its constituents. The most satisfying and sensitive criterion to establish
idiomaticity is undoubtedly the semantic one. In the first place, definitions of
idioms by linguists, lexicographers and language teachers are nearly always
couched primarily in semantic terms. Such a semantically-based definition is

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 intuitively more satisfying for the ordinary non-specialist native speaker. When
asked for a definition of 'an idiom', his first thoughts are that it does not mean
what the individual words in it would lead you to expect. Semantic
considerations underline most of the criteria proposed for idiomaticity.
Obviously the transparent-opaque axis is semantic in nature, and the fact that
idioms are unanalysable lexemic wholes is a semantic statement.
(Fernando & Flavell 1981: 32)

Table 1.1 represents the traditional view of idioms, which is drawn from Kövecses &
Szabo (1996):

special idiomatic meaning ‘die’

the meaning of the linguistic form ‘kick’, ‘the’, ‘bucket’
linguistic forms and their properties kick the bucket (no passive, etc)

Table 1.1: Traditional view of kick the bucket in English

As can be seen from the table, the idiomatic meaning ‘die’ seems to have no link with
the literal meaning and syntactic properties of the idiom kick the bucket. This can be
applied to idioms in Vietnamese as follows:

special idiomatic meaning ‘quý hiếm (vary rare and valuable)’

the meaning of the linguistic form ‘mì’, ‘chính’, and ‘cánh’
linguistic forms and their properties mì chính cánh (unvaried)

Table 1.2: Traditional view of mì chính cánh in Vietnamese

According to traditional view, the meaning of an idiom is the special chemical mixture
of all components’ meaning, which is completely new in quality. It means that there is
no link between the literal reading and the idiomatic meaning. However, in fact there
exist a lot of idioms such as on foot, in any case, slow but sure, etc in English and ăn to
nói lớn (speak out openly), bàn đi tính lại (discuss something carefully), nói thật mất
lòng (speaking the truth hurts someone’s feelings), etc in Vietnamese, the idiomatic
meanings of which can be derived from the meanings of their component parts, i.e. their
syntax is correlative. Indeed, the traditional view cannot be applied to explain all types
of idioms. It is regarded as the limitation of this view.

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1.1.3. Idioms from Cognitive View

From cognitive view, most idioms are believed to be analyzable and have meanings that
are at least partly motivated (Geeraets 1995; Gibbs 1990, 1995; Kövecses & Szabo
1996; Nunberg et al. 1994; Fernando 1996; Taylor 2002; Langlotz 2006, etc). Nunberg
et al. (1994) divide idioms into two categories (i) idiomatically combining expressions
whose constituent parts carry identifiable parts of their idiomatic meanings, and (ii)
idiomatic phrases whose idiomatic meanings cannot be derived from their parts. For
example, the phrase spill the beans, which means ‘divulge the information’, can be
analyzed by looking at the action of ‘spill’ as the action of divulging and ‘beans’ as the
information. Similarly, the phrase cưa sừng làm nghé meaning ‘one who is old tries to
be young and innocent’ in Vietnamese is analyzable in this way: cưa sừng refers to
người già lớn tuổi (the old), while làm nghé corresponds to cố làm ra vẻ trẻ trung, ngây
thơ (try to be young and innocent). It seems to be ambiguous how ‘spill’ and
‘beans’/‘cưa sừng’ and ‘làm nghé’ associate with their figurative interpretation. These
idioms are still considered as idiomatically combining expressions. However, we have
difficulty in analyzing some idioms such as kick the bucket (die) in English or đẽo cày
giữa đường (be indeterminate in one’s position) in Vietnamese because they are
completely opaque. In other words, the meanings of these idioms cannot be motivated
and obtained from the combination of ‘kick’, ‘the’ and ‘bucket’ or ‘đẽo’, ‘cày’, ‘giữa’
and ‘đường’ literally. In fact, except for idioms such as kick the bucket in English and
đẽo cày giữa đường in Vietnamese, most idioms belong to idiomatically combining
expressions. According to Nunberg et al. (1994: 497), ‘saying an expression is an
idiomatic combination (i.e. idiomatically combining expression) doesn’t require us to
explain why each of its parts has the figurative interpretation it does, so long as we can
establish a correspondence between it and the relevant element of the idiomatic
denotation’.

Gibbs (1990, 1995) supposes that most idioms are motivated by cognitive – semantic
mechanisms such as metaphors, metonymies and conventional knowledge. Blow your
stack, flip your lid, and hit the ceiling, etc (lose one’s temper suddenly and violently) are
the examples. These idioms are called anger idioms which are widely motivated by the

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conceptual metaphors. It seems that conceptual metaphor anger is heated fluid in a
container activates the linguistic realizations of the anger emotion. Gibbs (1990) carries
out a psychological experiment to prove the existence of conceptual metaphors for
anger idioms as follows:

When imagining Anger idioms, people know that pressure (that is stress or
frustration) causes the action, that one has little control over the pressure once it
builds, its violent release is done unintentionally (for example, the blowing of the
stack) and that once the release has taken place (i.e. once the ceiling has been hit,
the lid flipped, the stack blown), it is difficult to reverse the action. Each of these
responses is based on people’s conceptions of heated fluid or vapor building up
and escaping from containers (ones that our participants most frequently reported
to be the size of a person’s head). We see that the metaphorical mapping of a
source domain (for example, heated fluid in a container) into target domains (for
example, the anger emotion) motivates why people have consistent mental
images, and specific knowledge about these images, for different idioms about
anger.
(Gibbs 1990: 434)

Indeed, the psychological experiments conducted by Gibbs (1990, 1995) prove that the
figurative meanings of most idioms are not arbitrary. Sharing the same points with the
authors above, in the present study we once again suppose that most idioms in both
English and Vietnamese are analyzable and have meanings which are at least partly
motivated through the component parts forming idioms.

1.1.4. Idioms from Taxonomic View

In English, several attempts have been made to classify idioms (Makkai 1972; Fernando
& Flavell 1981; Seidl & McMordie 1988; Cowie, Mackin & McCaig 1993; Nunberg et
al. 1994; Fernando 1996; etc). According to Fernando & Flavell (1981: 30), idioms are
divided into “two main headings, which in practice usually overlap to some extent: the
'formal' idiom family and the 'concept' idiom family”. The 'formal' idiom family refers
to a set of idioms having a similar syntactic pattern and at least one lexical item, and the
'concept' idiom family involves pairs such as bury the hatchet and take/dig up the
hatchet (come to friendly or peaceful terms with somebody else). Semantically,
Fernando & Flavell (1981) divide idioms into four types: transparent, semi-transparent,

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semi-opaque, and opaque.

Based on the topics in terms of parts of speech, Seidl & McMordie (1988) give eight
groups of idioms as follows:

Key words with idiomatic uses:

Adjectives and adverbs: bad, good, long, etc.

Nouns: end, line, thing, etc.
Miscellaneous: all, how, too, etc.

Idioms with nouns and adjectives:

Noun phrase: a drop in the ocean (something of inconsiderable value)

Adjective + noun: a close shave (escape from)

Idiomatic pairs:

Pairs of adjectives: cut and dried (make a quick or sudden escape)

Pairs of nouns: wear and tear (deterioration and damage from use)
Pairs of adverbs: more or less (approximately)
Pairs of verbs: hit and miss (guess-work)
Identical pairs: bit by bit (each piece at a time)

Idioms with prepositions: by, for, from, etc.

Phrasal verbs: act up (annoy), call something off (cancel), make something up to
someone (compensate for), etc.

Verbal idioms: blow one’s own trumpet (praise oneself), call a spade a spade (call
something by its own name and not by a euphemism), do a bunk (go away without
warning), etc.

Idioms with key words from special categories:

Animals: bird, bee, bull, etc.

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 Colors: black, blue, red etc.
Numbers, size, measurement: one, inch, mile, etc.
Parts of the body: arm, back, nose, etc.
Time: day, minute, night, etc.

Idioms with comparisons:

Comparisons with as … as: as bold as brass (impudent)

Comparisons with like: go like the wind (move very fast)

Grammatically, Cowie, Mackin & McCaig (1993) classify English idioms into clause
patterns, possessive clause patterns, phrase patterns, and noun phrase pattern with
repeated element (see Appendix 2).

From cognitive view, Nunberg et al. (1994) classify English idioms into two types:
idiomatically combining expressions (or idiomatic combinations) and idiomatic phrases
(see Section 1.1.3). More specifically, Fernando (1996) divides English idioms into
three categories: pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms (see Table 1.3).

Types of idioms Example

Pure idioms Invariant, non-literal devil-may-care; red herring; spick and span;
smell a rat; the coast is clear, chin-wag
Restricted variance, pitter-patter/pit-a-pat; take/have forty winks;
non-literal seize/grasp the nettle; get/have/cold feet
Semi- Invariant drop names; catch fire; kith and kin; foot the
literal bill; fat chance, float a loan
Restricted variance chequered career/history;
blue
Literal idioms Invariant on foot; in sum; on the contrary; arm in arm;
waste not, want not; happy New Year
Restricted variance opt in favour of/for; for example/instance;
happy/merry Christmas

Table 1.3: Types of idioms (Fernando 1996: 32)

From the pragmatic point of view and discourse, some linguists, including Fernando

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(l996) give three groups of idioms as follows:

‘ideational’ idioms (‘the state and way of the world’ idioms, expressing namely:
actions, events, situation, people, things, attitudes, emotions, etc.): a red herring
(a diversionary topic), bury the hatchet (come to friendly and peaceful terms
with somebody else) , as white as a sheet (very white), etc;

‘interpersonal’ idioms (expressing greetings, agreement, rejections, etc.): so long

(good bye), never mind (don’t worry), etc;

‘relational’ idioms (ensuring cohesion, etc): by the way (incidentally), in addition

to (as well (as); over and above), last but not least (in order to emphasize that
somebody/something is no less important than the others previously mentioned),
etc.

From functional view, Moon (1998) and others distinguishes the following groups of
idioms:

informational (conveying information of different kind: in the red (be in debt),

shrug one’s shoulders (raise, then drop), one’s kith and kin (members of one’s
family or racial group), etc);

evaluative (giving the speaker’s attitude to the situation: work wonders

(successful), wash one’s hands off something (irresponsible for something), a
different kettle of fish (be in trouble), etc);

situational (expressing conventions, clauses, exclamation, relating to extralingual

context: walls have ears (somebody may be listening surreptitiously), talk of the
devil (comment on the unexpected presence or arrival of somebody just
mentioned), long time no see (not met for a long time), etc);

modalizing (expressing modality, truth values, advice, request: mark my words

(notice and and remember what someone says), more or less (approximately), at
all (in any way), in effect (really), etc);

organizational (organizing the text, signaling discourse structure: by the way

(incidentally), all in all (all things considered), on the other hand (in different

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 words), etc).

As can be seen from the categories of idioms above, it is clear that English idioms are
traditionally classified due to their synctactic properties whereas the classification of
idioms from cognitive view is based on their semantic properties.

In Vietnamese, the category of idioms is usually established according to their

structures and forms (Lực and Đang 1978; Đức 1995; Hành 2008; etc). Lực and Đang
(1978) classify Vietnamese according to the number of words forming idioms as well as
their structures:

Idioms with three single words or more: bạn nối khố (a bosom friend), bở hơi tai
(to fag because of working very hard), treo đầu dê bán thịt chó (attract the other
by a dishonest trick or a show of a false thing), trẻ không tha già không thương
(be wicked with everyone), etc.

Idioms with a single word and a compound: bé hạt tiêu (small but skillful and
spirited), câm miệng hến (keep silence), có máu mặt (be rich and quite famous),
etc.

Idioms with two compounds: buôn gian bán lận (cheat in commerce), nhắm mắt
xuôi tay (die), năm xung tháng hạn (an unpropitious period of time), etc.

Idioms as simple sentences: châu chấu đá xe (a battle with unequal forces), êch
ngồi đáy giếng (have limited knowledge because of little communication), mèo
mù vớ cá rán (be suddenly in luck), etc.

Idioms with alliterations or compounds: hì hà hì hục (be absorbed in doing

something), lảm nhảm lảm nhàm (talk a lot of nonsense), ăn bớt ăn xén (take
stealthy rake off), etc.

Idioms with symmetrical comparisons: nát như tương (very crushed), đen như
mực (very dark), nặng như chì (very heavy), nguây nguẩy như mẹ quẩy tôm (turn
away abruptly with resentment), etc.

Idioms with summary comparisons: như cá gặp nước (be in one’s element), như
đỉa phải vôi (react immediately when being affected), như nước đổ đầu vịt (have

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 no effect), etc.

However, the common structures of Vietnamese idioms are the structures which have
two symmetrical parts. Idioms are also formed by joining rhymes (usually interior
rhymes) such as bóc ngắn cắn dài (earning less than spending), bé xé ra to (make it
more complex), etc. These structures do not only make idioms easier to say and
remember, but they also keep the fixation and unshakeable characteristics of the idioms.

Based on the expressing functions, Tú (1983) divides Vietnamese idioms into three
categories as follows:

Idioms expressing things: con rồng cháu tiên (proud of the history of the nation),
núi cao sông dài (a hard journey), đường đi nước bước (the way how to solve a
problem), etc.

Idioms expressing properties: chân lấm tay bùn (a hard work in the country), đầu
tắt mặt tối (a hard life), một nắng hai sương (working hard all days), etc.

Idioms expressing activities: nước đổ lá khoai (have no effect), đứng núi này
trông núi nọ (unsatisfied with the present work, position, or love), được voi đòi
tiên (one who is greedy and never satisfied with what he has), etc.

According to Đức (1995), Vietnamese idioms can be divided into three main groups:

Idioms with symmetrical structures: Symmetrical structures consist of two parts which
have the same forms and harmonious balanced contents (opposite or supplement of each
other). These structures form a large number of idioms in general and idioms showing
speaking activities in particular. They are concretized by the following formulas:

AxAy: buôn gian bán lận (cheat in commerce), ăn không nói có (very
dishonest), ăn thật làm giả (come in for a true result but work perfunctorily),
etc.

BxBy: điều ong tiếng ve (unfavourable reputation), mồm năm miệng mười (talk
incessantly without any care to the listeners’ reaction or attitude), mồm loa mép
dải (be sharp-tongued; talk incessantly without any care to the listeners’ reaction
or attitude), etc.

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 CxCy: dại mồm dại miệng (make a slip of the tongue), vụng ăn vụng nói (be bad
at giving speeches), vụng chèo khéo chống (bad at doing something but good at
talking or persuading), etc.

DxDy: nửa nạc nửa mỡ (be ambiguous): nửa đùa nửa thật (tell the truth in a
joky way), nửa úp nửa mở (ambiguous attitude), etc.

Idioms with symmetrical structures can be compound sentences; for example, có mồm
thì cắp, có nắp thì đậy (keeping silence is good).

Idioms with comparison structures: These are the common structures of Vietnamese
idioms. A như B is considered as the comprehensive form of these idioms. The words
such as như, bằng, tày are usually between A and B, and they are concretized by the
following formulas:

A như B: nói như vẹt (parrot), ngang như cua (utterly nonsensical), chua như
dấm (very sour), etc.

Ax như B: nói dối như cuội (usually tell a lie), nói ngọt như đường (use honeyed
words), nói dẻo như kẹo (be smooth-tongued), etc.

A như Bx: dỗ như dỗ vong (soothe continuously), chửi như vặn thịt (abuse at
someone regularly), chửi như hát hay (abuse at somebody in a bad way), etc.

Ax như Bx: nói dai như chó nhai dẻ rách (talk constantly), chuyện nở như ngô
rang (chat loudly), chuyện giòn như bắp rang (chat loudly), etc.

Idioms with non-symmetrical structures

Subject – predicate pattern: gà què ăn quẩn cối xay (one who is mean and has a
poor talent earns his living around the familiar place), đom đóm bắt nạt ma trơi
(impossible to bully the others), chó mặc váy lĩnh (impossible to reach the better
thing), etc.

Verb phrase: gửi trứng cho ác (believe in wicked people), há miệng chờ sung
(be lazy and look forward to being suddenly in luck), khen phò mã tốt áo (do
something unnecessary), etc.

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 Noun/adjective phrase: đòn xóc hai đầu (be wicked and double-tongued), hai tay
buông xuôi (die), kẻ cắp già mồm (it was wrong but an argument is still given),
etc.

Noun + noun pattern: mạt cưa mướp đắng (thieves), lá mặt lá trái (be double-
tongued), etc.

Hành (2008) classifies Vietnamese idioms into 3 main categories according to their
structures and formation of meanings: symmetrical figurative, non-symmetrical
figurative and similized. Each main category is subdivided into smaller categories (see
Figure 1.1; 1.2; 1.3).

SYMMETRICAL FIGURATIVE IDIOMS

coordination – meaning meeting non-coordination – no meaning

meeting

balance focus alternative cause purpose manner

and
effect

in out of
phase phase
e.g. đầu trộm đuôi cướp,

e.g. mát tay mát chân,

e.g. tiếng bấc tiếng chì,

e.g. một mất một còn,

e.g. gieo gió gặp bão,

e.g. theo đóm ăn tàn,

e.g. quẩy trứng đầu gậy,

nhắm mắt đưa chân...
đầu Ngô mình Sở...

xui khôn xui dại...

mắt tròn mắt dẹt...

nhất cử nhất động...

miệng ăn núi lở...

chọn mặt gửi vàng...

Figure 1.1: Classification of symmetrical figurative idioms in Vietnamese (Hành 2008: 76)

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 NON-SYMMETRICAL FIGURATIVE IDIOMS

phrases subject – predicate pattern

noun verb adjective

phrase phrase phrase
e.g. hai bàn tay trắng,

e.g. cá nằm trên thớt

e.g. ăn cướp cơm chim,

e.g. mát tay, cứng họng...

anh hùng rơm...

nước đổ lá khoai...
chạy long tóc gáy...

Figure 1.2: Classification of non-symmetrical figurative idioms in Vietnamese (Hành

2008: 100)

SIMILIZED IDIOMS

t như B như B

như B indicates the như B indicates the như B indicates the

degree of t manner of t attribute of A
như ngàn cân treo sợi tóc...
e.g. như ếch ngồi đáy giếng,
e.g. đen như củ súng

e.g. nhảy như choi choi,

chạy như bay...
rách như tổ đỉa...

Figure 1.3: Classification of similized idioms in Vietnamese (Hành 2008: 115)

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The theoretical framework employed in the present study is based on the idiom
classification of Đức (1995), Hành (2008), Fernando & Flavell (1981) and Fernando
(1996).

1.1.5. Idioms from Cultural View

Language is a reflection of culture and culture directly shapes the formation of

language. Idioms are regarded as an important part of the language and culture of a
society. In discovery into the unknown world, idioms reflect the transformation in
conceptualization of the world around and the association between the human beings
and the universe. Therefore, idioms which are regarded as a form of a language reflect
culture in a concentrated way (op. cit. Zhang 2007). More particularly, Lijie (2010)
points out that the cultural differences between English and Chinese on idioms origins
are dominated by different living circumstance, different historical allusion, different
religions and beliefs, and different traditions and customs.

Fernando and Flavell (1981) outline the cultural preoccupations, the 'world view'
implicit in the idioms of English. More specifically and generally, Bình (1999) supposes
that geographical feature, habitat, mode of production, cultural character, national
thought, etc define the characteristics of idioms of each language. Let’s have a look at
the idiom night cap in English. Literally, this is a kind of hat used to wear at night when
sleeping. Surprisingly, the English use this phrase to refer to a cup of wine or something
for drinking before bedtime. If we are not English, it is very difficult for us to
understand the meaning of this idiom by looking at its separate components. However,
the English find it difficult to understand the Vietnamese idiom láo nháo như cháo trộn
cơm (be insolent in behaviour) because their main food is bread but rice (op. cit. Bình
1999). Another example we might use to show the role of cultural character of each
nation arising in the meanings of idioms is the phrase kick the bucket. The method of
killing pigs which gave rise to the expression kick the bucket has long since died out. It
is not generally known nowadays that the bucket was (in Norfolk, England) the beam
from which a pig about to be killed used to hang by its hind feet. The nervous reflex
actions of the pig, after its throat was cut to let the blood drain into a receptacle below,
caused it to kick the bucket as it was dying. This is the reason why this phrase means

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‘die’ (op. cit. Fernando & Flavell 1981).

Sharing the same point of view with Bình (1999), Lan (2001) emphasizes the role of the
national thought in defining the images compared by giving a comparative table among
Vietnamese, English and Russian in terms of similized idioms (see Appendix 1).
Through this table, she comments that the images used to compare are very popular
things in everyday lives of the people in each nation. Additionally, Hành (2008) does
not only pay attention to structural system, he also particularly focuses on the use and
artistic value of idioms. From cultural perspective, he comments that underlying cultural
factors behind idioms need uncovering.

1.1.6. Idioms in the Relationship to Other Linguistic Units

Words and groups of words including idioms make a vocabulary system of a language
(A Dictionary of Vietnamese, Viện ngôn ngữ học 2004). It means that the vocabulary
system of a language is very complex. It consists of a lot of different linguistic units.
Therefore, distinguishing idioms from other linguistic units is necessary. Several
linguists (Mệnh 1972; Lực & Đang 1978; Đức 1995; Hành 2008; Trào 2009; etc) have
made attempts to distinguish idioms from some of other linguistic units such as
collocations, proverbs, clichés and catchphrases, etc. However, they in fact usually
overlap to some extent. In the present inquiry, idioms and some of other linguistic units
are distinguished according to their structural realization, relationship among
components, meaning, nominative function, syntactic function, and denotation.

Most of the linguists share the same point of view that an idiom is a fixed expression
whose meaning is usually different from the meanings of the combination of its
individual words.

According to Greenbaum (1974) and others, collocations can be understood as

sequences of lexical items which habitually co-occur in a language so that the
occurrence of one item can often predict the presence of the other (cited in Trào 2009).
It means that the components of the collocations can form syntactic units. Collocations

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are also regarded as “fixed groups of words having been used for a long time and their
meanings come from the meanings of their components” (Viện ngôn ngữ học, 2004:
810). For example, rán sành ra mỡ (be very mean) in Vietnamese and as bald as a coot
(completely bald) in English are idioms, but lên lớp (give a lesson) in Vietnamese and
go to bed in English are considered as collocations.

It is clear that the forms of idioms and collocations are not different: They are all fixed
groups of words. However, the meanings of idioms do not usually come from the
meanings of their component parts; collocations tend to have their own literal meanings
coming from the meanings of their constituents.

According to Hornby (1995), a proverb is defined as ‘a short well-known sentence or

phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advice, e.g. Better safe than sorry or
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. More particularly, Phan (2000: 39) regards a
proverb as ‘a complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality,
justice or criticism’.

Idioms and proverbs are traditionally investigated together because they share several
similarities. Firstly, both idioms and proverbs are ready-made. They are products of
human’s thoughts, cultures, and working and learning processes. From generation to
generation, they are mainly orally handed down and accepted in a natural way.
Secondly, both idioms and proverbs are set-expressions whose meanings are not usually
derived from individual component parts. Additionally, most idioms and proverbs are
metaphorically used, i.e. the idiomatic meanings cannot usually be uncovered by
looking up the individual words in a dictionary (op. cit. Lực & Đang 1978; Đức 1995;
Hành 2008).

Apart from the similarities above, idioms and proverbs have their own typical features.
The biggest difference lies in their grammatical structures. Idioms are usually phrases
which are parts of sentences; therefore, they usually function as words. Proverbs are
usually complete sentences or phrases expressing the whole idea. Furthermore, idioms

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and proverbs also differ from each other in terms of their functions. Proverbs are usually
short well-known sentences or phrases that express a judgment, state a general truth
about life or advice. It is believed that they have perceptive, aesthetic and educational
functions. On the contrary, idioms do not express judgments, give advice or state
general truth about life. It means that they do not have functions of perception and
education but only aesthetic function (op. cit. Hành 2008).

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995), slang is defined as ‘informal words

and phrases commonly used in speech, especially between people from the same social
groups or who work together, not considered suitable for formal contexts and often not
in use for long’. Spears (2007: xx) points out the differences between idiomatic and
slang as follows:

Although there are some entries that are very casual or informal English, slang
and idioms should not be confused. Some slang is also idiomatic, and some
idioms are also slang, but generally, they refer to different aspects of language.

Idiomatic refers to the way a phrase is linked to a unique meaning rather than to
the literal meanings of its component words.

Slang refers to expressions that are informal, often humorous synonyms for
widely known standard words as well as specialized words with limited use in
the general population.

Indeed, although idioms and slang are almost fixed and their meanings are usually
different from the meanings of the combination of the component parts, they have some
certain differences. Slang is used among some groups of people whereas idioms are
quite popular. Slang is regarded as a means of identifying and reinforcing certain sub-
groups in society. It means that this group may not understand the conversations of
other groups’. In the same cultural area, idioms are usually not varied whereas slang
makes different from region to region. Additionally, while idioms are quite stable, slang
is fashionable and soon out of date.

Table 1.4 summarizes the distinguishing criteria of idioms:

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Features Idioms Collocations Proverbs Slang
Structural fixed groups of words groups of words usually sentences words or fixed groups of
realization or sentences words
Relationship close, fixed, available close, fixed, available close, fixed, available close, fixed, fashionable
among component
parts
Meaning figurative literal figurative (generalized) figurative
Nominative naming things, naming things, naming accounts, naming things, phenomena,
function phenomena, processes, phenomena, etc. events, etc. processes, properties, etc.
properties, etc.
Syntactic function sentence forming sentence forming sentences used sentence forming
independently
Denotation pure concepts pure concepts communiqué, pure concepts
conclusion, truth,
experience, etc.
Examples kick the bucket in ride a bicycle in English, Money makes the mare top hole in English, and vãi
English, and cưa sừng and lên tiếng in go in English, and vỏ trưởng in Vietnamese
làm nghé in Vietnamese Vietnamese quýt dày có móng tay
nhọn in Vietnamese

Table 1.4: Distinguishing criteria of idioms

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