A STUDY ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS CONTAINING WORDS DENOTING COLORS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
To some people, learning English is such a hard process when they have to deal with a large number of unfamiliar vocabularies and strange structures everyday. Slangs and idioms, therefore, are also big matters causing them many troubles. The English language is full of idioms (over 15,000). Native speakers of English use idioms all the time, often without realising that they are doing so. This means that communication with native speakers of English can be quite a confusing experience. In this reasearch, the author will make an effort to focus the topic on one popular type of English idiom, i.e Idiom containing word denoting colors.
It is said that mastering idioms means you’re using and understanding the language more like a native speaker would. The tough part about mastering idioms is that knowing all the individual words may not help you to understand the meaning of the phrase. Idioms of colors in English and Vietnamese are too because we have many idiomatic expression involving the whole range of colors in both languages. For example, knowing the meanings of “roll out” or “carpet” may not help you to understand the meaning of “roll out the red carpet: put on a special welcome for an important person.
Therefore, in an attempt to learn and use idioms effectively, it is such a necessary task for language learners to take the culture and the habit of native speakers into consideration
The aim of this thesis is to make a contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese Idioms containg words related to Colors in terms of semantic and pragmatic features in order to hep English users easily understand and use this kind of idiom more effectively and confidently in various contexts. Morever, this study also aims to show the affect of Social and Culture behaviors in using Idioms denoting words related to Color in the two languages: Vietnamese and English.
The objectives of the research are:
– identify and describe semantic and pragmatic feature of Idioms containing words denoting Color in both Vietnamese and English.
– point out similarities and differences of Idioms containing words denoting Colors in terms of semantic and pragmatic features in English versus Vietnamese.
– indicate social and cultural factors influencing on ways Vietnamese and English people use Idioms related to Colors.
– provide Vietnamese learners of English with a practical knowledge of the field to enable them to thoroughly understand, effectively and naturally use Idioms of Colors in listening, speaking, writing, reading and especially, in translating.
1. What are Semantic features of Idioms containing words related to Colors in English and Vietnamese?
2. What are Pragmatic features of Idioms containing words related to Colors in English and Vietnamese?
3. What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese Idioms containing words related to Colors in terms of semantic and pragmatic aspects ?
1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study is organized into five chapters:
Chapter 1 (Introduction), Chapter 2 (Literature Review and Theoretical Background), Chapter 3 (Research Design and Methodology), Chapter 4 (Findings and Discussions) and Chapter 5 (Conclusions and Implications).
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW
Words denoting colors and idioms of colors have so far arrested much attentions of reseachers. Dealing with the problems of colors, there was a remarkable thesis named “An Investigation on the Semantics Features of Words Denoting Color- Black, White, Blue, Green, Red, Yellow”. (Nguyen Thi Thu Suong- Hanoi, 1999). Also, Truong Thanh Ngoc and Mai Nguyen Dieu Khoa in their research have made a great contribution to this topic. In the study by Truong Thanh Ngoc (2003), she mentioned semantic features of WDsC in English and Vietnamese: black, white, green, red, yellow, blue, brown, grey, orange, pink and purple. However, in other study by Mai Nguyen Dieu Khoa (2003), she focused her attention on the study of metaphoric meaning of words denoting colour which includes six main colours.
Besides, there has been an interesting small research paper by Nancy Alvarado and Kimberly A.Jameson on the Internet named “The Use of Modifying Terms in the Naming and Categorized of Color Appearances in English and Vietnamese” (Journal of Cognition and Culture), they exmanined the use of modifier in English and Vietnamese colors. Nguyen Thi Dieu Hao(2005), found that people tend to use idioms denoting colour words in daily communication. Phan Thi Le Huyen marked a new trend with contrastive analysis on both semantic and pragmatic features of the adjective “Black” in English and “Đen” in Vietnamese in compound words, collocation and idiomatic phrases. In term of Red, Bui Thi Thanh Hien studied the metaphor related to Red in English and Vietnamese. Most of them only systemized words denoting colors in English and focused on the semantics features.of them.
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.2.1. Definition of Idiom
Idioms are a unique feature of languages and may differ from each language, culture and country. Idioms may contain words which denote people, objects or animals. Learning idioms of a language makes it easier and fun to understand and use the language. English language is supposed to contain about 25,000 idiomatic expressions. It is important to learn the idioms of a language to avoid any misunderstandings in the use of words.
2.2.2. Principal Features of Idioms
There are two features that identify an idiom: firstly, we cannot deduce the meaning of the idiom from the individual words; and secondly, both the grammar and the vocabulary of the idiom are fixed, and if we change them we lose the meaning of the idiom
2.2.3. Classification of Idioms
2.2.4. Semantic Theory
In linguistics, semantics is the study of how words convey meaning. A semantics theory attempts to account for the relationship between a word, or signifier, and the real-world object, idea, etc. that it describes, which is called the signified or denotation
a. Formalist Semantics Theory
b. Cognitive Semantics Theory
c. The Categories of Meaning in Semantics
2.2.5. Pragmatic Theory
a. Pragmatic with Human Language Behavior
b. Aspects Of Language Studied In Pragmatics
2.2.6. Relationship between Semantic and Pragmatic
Semantics and pragmatics are both related to the way meaning is derived from language. Semantics studies the meaning that words and certain combinations of words hold for both the speaker and listener. Pragmatics deals with how the context in which words are used can dictate their true meaning at that particular time. Semantics and pragmatics are closely related as they both are attempts to understand the meaning of language beyond the literal definition of words.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
3.2. RESEARCH METHODS
With the aim of achieving the set goal, several methods are simultaneously employed such the descriptive method, the analytic method, the inductive method.
Firstly, i determined some criteria to select the samples, namely samples of idioms containing words denoting colors in English and Vietnamese. They must be from verbal or written sources, be dialogues and contain unadjacent pair.
Secondly, with such set criteria I collected 100 samples of idioms containing words denoting colors in English and 100 in Vietnamese.
Then, the distinctive features of English and Vietnamese idoms containing words denoting colors were found and analysed.
For the data, I selected 200 samples (Vietnamese and English) of idioms containing words denoting color from sources as follow:
– English dictionaries, English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs books
– English/ Vietnamese teaching textbooks
– Pragmatics coursebooks
– Semantic coursebooks
– Academic websites
In my thesis, 100 samples of idioms containing words denoting colors in English and 100 ones in Vietnamese selected for the analysis are in the form of written texts in the sources provided. They are analysed in terms of pragmatics and semantic and the compared and contrasted in order to find out the similarities and differences between them.
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The idiomatic expressions I was looking for were those, which included one or more words from the following list:
Black, Blue, Green, Grey/gray, Orange, Red, Violet, White, Yellow.
The terms are all used frequently and I, therefore, anticipated that idiomatic expressions would not be difficult to find.
4.1. THE SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS CONTAINING WORDS DENOTING COLOR IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE
4.1.1 The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing Words Denoting Color in English
a. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Black”
English people were familiar with this color in every daily activities because this was the color of sky at night when there was no light at all. Black colour is not used to convey positive meanings : as black as night/ as black as the ace of spades. Most of the phrases in the group are associated with disapproval (black sheep of the family, black look), sadness and gloom (black mood), illegality (black economy, blackmail) and evil (black deeds, black as hell).
b. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “white”
Contrary to black, white usually has a positive connotation. It’s easy to find this color in many popular idioms of Westerners therefore people put this color next to many familiar things in daily life to express what they want to say, for example “ as white as snow”, “white as a sheet” …. In English, when someone mentions something “ in black and white”, they will aim at something clear, undeniable, i.e in the example : “I put down my complaint in black and white.”.
c. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Red”
– To be as red as a beetroot indicates deep embarrassment. Red as a lobster, on the other hand, is used to describe sunburn.
– Red with angeror to see redindicates the rush of blood to the face associated with anger.
– A red letter day is a holiday, a cause for celebration. Calendars typically have holidays marked in red ink whereas other days are in black.
– To be caught red-handed. In this idiom, the colour red originally referred to blood
d. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Red”
Green is the anticipation of things to come. It is is also the signal of safe. In the popular idiom “give (someone) the green light” , the speaker aim to to give the hearer a permission/ promise to proceed with a project. Futhermore, the idioms which contain the word green is sometimes indicate anger , jealousy and envy. These are “green with envy” and the “green-eyed monster”.
e. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Blue”
Unexpected events can be said to come like “a bolt from the blue” or “out of the blue”, and are thus compared to a lightning bolt appearing in a clear blue sky – not a dark, stormy one where it might be expected. Infrequent events are said to occur “once in a blue moon”.
f. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Yellow”
Cowardly people are said to “have a yellow streak”. The idiom “yellow-bellied” in the sentence: “The man is yellow-bellied and is never willing to fight for what is right” also shares the same meaning to name a man with timid and coward characterictis.
g. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Violet” / “Purple”
In England and the United States, violet is the color most commonly associated with the extravagant, the individualist, ambiguity, the unconventional, and the artificial. The popular idiom “not a shrinking violet” is used to refer to someone who is anything but shy.
h. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Orange”
The author found several expressions with orange colour; however, only one proved to be a pure idiom: (all) “Lombard street to China orange”. The remaining expressions collected during the preliminary search in dictionaries were excluded from the further corpora search, as explained in Chapter 2. The idiom (all) “Lombard street to China orange” is described as old-fashioned, but no information was found as to when it was coined.
i. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Gray/ grey”
Apart from the idiom “gray matter”, where the colour may be attributed simply to the colour of neurons and brain in general, the expressions in this group suggest that the situation or entity that they connote is somewhat shady, illegal or immoral. Grey matter here means brain or intelligent. “Grey area” is a situation, where the rules are unclear and it is difficult or impossible to say what is right and what is wrong.
4.1.2 The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing Words Denoting Color in Vietnamese
a. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Đen”
English idioms are favored of black color and so are Vietmanese ones. In English, Black is the colour of mourning whereas this color represents for something unlucky, unfortunate: “ Đen bạc đỏ tình”, “Đen như đít chảo” ( as black as the back of saucepan)
Black in Vietnamese idiom is sometimes used to show something unclear, something bad. This concept of meaning can be found in some idioms “Ăn đen ở bạc” (to behave ungratefully) or “Thay đen đổi trắng”…
Furthermore, it is different that black in Vietnamese is used to make a comparison to describe color : “Đen như bồ hóng” ( as black as shoot), “Đen như than” (as black as coal), “Đen như quạ” (as black as crown.
b. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Trắng”
It is a fact that when we are sick, we lack blood, which makes our complexion not pinkish but pale white. Too much plain white without other colors causes a feeling of monotony, emptiness and loss: “ Trắng bệt như ma”, “Đầu trắng khăn tang”
Influenced by Western culture, white also has some positive associations. Beside the red traditional aodai, brides often wear white dresses in wedding. Students go to school in white uniform. Therefore, there are many Vietnamese idioms containing “white” with positive meaning: “Thanh thiên bạch nhật” , “Giấy trắng mực đen”, “Làm rõ trắng đen”.
c. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Đỏ”
It is the color of luck: “Đen bạc đỏ tình”
The Vietnamese call it the prosperous sign. The red also symbolizes the success, luck. We can see this in some phrases popularly used by Vietnamese people such as “số đỏ”, “vận đỏ”, “bằng đỏ” or in the following idiom: “Chẻ vỏ vẫn thua vận đỏ”.
In addition, when we want to express somebody who does something wrong, we often use the color red to describe his face. So there is such idiom “become red-faced” in English and “ Mặt đỏ như gấc”, “ đỏ mặt tía tai”, “ mặt đỏ như Trương Phi” in Vietnamese. That’s also the reason why Vietnamese people use “red” as a symbol of human’s anger
d. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Xanh”
In Vietnamese idioms, there’s no distinction between what’s so-called “xanh da trời” ( blue) and “xanh lá” ( green), therefore, green and blue in English idioms were used with the same name “ xanh” in Vietnamese ones.
“Xanh” in Vietnamese reprensents for something quiet, peaceful : “ Non xanh nước biếc” ( a very beautiful landscape), “ Xanh biếc giậu tầm xuân”. It is also used to describe something or someone that is still young because “xanh” is the color of something unripe and not ready to be eaten. Vietnamese contains many idioms modified for this concept: “Lá xanh chồi biếc”, “ Kẻ tóc bạc tiễn người đầu xanh”
In addition, “xanh” sometimes was used to describe a person in a bad mood, pale and lack of vitality: “ Mặt xanh như gà cắt tiết” (The face is as purple as a stacked chicken), “Mặt xanh như tàu lá”.
e. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Vàng”
In the old day, yellow was only favored by King and his family, therefore we can easily see this in some popular phrases or idioms: “Lá ngọc cành vàng”, the concept of this idiom comes from a girl, or a woman who has a higher position in society, “Vàng thau lẫn lộn”, “vàng” in this idiom means gold.
This color term is used to indicate a very good characteristic of a person i.e bravery and constancy. This feature is proved via these following idioms: “Lửa thử vàng, gian nan thử sức”, “Gan vàng dạ ngọc” ( a person who is of a brave heart and an iron will)
f. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Tím”/ “Tía”
Tím/ Tía is used in most of Vietnamese idioms with the same meaning, that is anger:
– “Giận tím gan” ( be purple with suppressed anger)
– “(Giận) Đỏ mặt tía tai” (to be purple with rage)
– “Bầm gan tím ruột” (terribly angry)
g. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Xám”
Cam is the color of orange fruit. In general, an Orange hue is a warm, happy color. Because it’s a mixture of two colors, a more Yellow/Orange will tend to create color meanings more closely associated with Yellow. That is the main reason why the author can’t find any source of document mentioning to this color in Vietnamese idiom.
h. The Semantic Features of Idioms Containing word “Xám”
“Xám” in Vietnam is the color of ash. From the concept that ash is the only thing to remain after wood was totally burnt, this hue is used to indicate something sad, something destroyed, something broken. This feature of meaning can be seen clearly in some popular phrase such as “xám xịt” (leaden), “xám ngắt”, “xám như tro”
4.2.1. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing Words Denoting Color in English
a. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “Black”
– Dad: “Shut up and go away! No where here for you, black sheep!”
In this argument between a dad and his son, the dad seemed to be very angry with his son. Out of control, he called the boy “black sheep”. In the first part, the idiom “black sheep” was said to indicate someone who is thought to be a bad person by the rest of their family.
– “Pat Fitzgerald, who was nearly as black as the ace of spades, laughed and shook his head. “Charlie, Charlie,” Mr. Grace said, as if very sad. “Only you can save his life”. In this context, some cristists said that, the idiom “as black as the ace of spades” shares a little bit thought of race discrimination.
b. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “White”
– To the King, after his little princess left the country, he felt terrible this morning and in the mirror he looked himself as white as a sheet.
– My cousin came home one night shaking..and white as a ghost..! She was with 2 of her girl friends..and she had jus dropped off a friend at home….
As can be seen that the two idioms in two different context “ as white as a sheet” and “ white as a ghost” nearly share the same meaning that someone gets really frightened . When you’re white as a sheet, you look “like you’ve seen a ghost,” and that expression also sounds right and can be replaced with each other in some cases. Perhaps there is a strong connection between whiteness and ghosts in English.
c. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “Red”
If anyone gets angry, more blood is pressed to their face and makes it turn red. That’s why we have these idioms “see red” (be very angry), “a red face”, “go as red as a beet”, “red in the face.
Red is effectively used to draw our attention, to catch our eyes. “Red bull’s eye” (hồng tâm) is the centre of the target that you shoot or throw at. “In the red” means being in financial difficulty, in debt.
We have an English idiom “a red rag to a bull”. For example:
“Tom, Don’t talk about politics. It’s like a red rag to a bull. You’re too young”. In this case, the teacher warned his student Tom against talking about politics.
d. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Green”
Color Green was used to describe the color of a jealous face.
“When George brought home his expensive car, his neighbor Bill was green with envy”
It is said that green color in English represents for jealousy so the idiom “green with envy” in this context shares the same meaning. When George by himself a luxurious car, it’s easy to make his neighbor get jealous.
“My supervisor has read my proposal. Now I have the green light to start the project”.
Like a green traffic light, which gives permission to start, this idiom means allowing someone to go ahead with their job
e. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “Blue”
This is the color of sadness and depression:
– “After seeing the old house in such bad shape, I had the blues for weeks” or “Patricia tends to feel blue around the holidays”
Futhermore, it is very popular to idicate something random, something comes unexpectedly:
“Out of the blue, a few days ago all my sub-menus pop-up on the left and not the right. If I pull the FILE menu down and go to NEW or SEND, the sub-menu opens on the left of the top menu instead of the right side.
“I re-booted my Windows 76 computer but it still doing it. Can some one please help me fix this major annoying problem I have?”
f. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “Yellow
English people tend to use diom containing color “Yellow” to indicate a person with cowardice. In other cases, yellow in almost every culture represents sunshine, happiness, and warmth. Take into a consideration in some context below:
– “Well, this little yellow streak has the gall to blow in to-day and say he’ll take Carthey’s place.”
– Alleyne gave a gulp in his throat, for the yellow streak seemed to pass through the man; but he still ran forward.
g. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Violet” / “Purple”
Despite the fact that violet color is favored very much by English, it is not used widely in idiom. On collecting data for my thesis, unluckily, the author just find only one idiom containing this color, i.e “ shrinking violet” This one, however seems to be very popular in daily speaking and novel. In contexts, shrinking violet is used to indicate a shy person who doesn’t express their views and opinions:
– There was a time when Kate was a shrinking violet, too timid to make a stand – but not anymore.
h. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “ Orange”
The meanings of Orange tend to be quite ambiguous, being neither considered positive or negative. The pure Orange hue is a Secondary Color. Because it’s a mixture of two colors, a more Yellow/Orange will tend to create color meanings more closely associated with Yellow. Perhaps, it is the main reason why English idioms containing “Orange” are rarely used in context.
i. The Pragmatic Features of Idioms Containing word “Gray/ grey”
Though there are so many idioms containing color “ Gray” in English, only some of them are used in daily speaking or novel especially the idiom “get gray hair”. This one is easily found in numerous context as follow:
– The younger, on the contrary, not wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in removing every gray hair she could find.
– He was a very lean man, of no more than average height, with gray hair cut short and a stubbly gray moustache.
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