CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODS
FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION
 INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Idioms pervasive in human everyday language
difficult to understand
carrying cultural information

Cultural features in Vietnamese idioms => left open

=> cultural features in Vietnamese idioms with possessive words

 INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Objective(s)
analyse cultural features
expressed in Vietnamese idioms with possessive words.

provide some knowledge of Vietnamese culture

=> help understand more about Vietnamese idioms
containing possessive words.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Previous studies
Published studies of Vietnamese idioms: limited
- syntactical and semantical analysis
- cognitive views + image schemas
+ conceptual metaphors

cultural features in Vietnamese idioms with possessive words: not mentioned

 LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Idiom: a holistic linguistic expression that reflects cultural
identity of a language community
E.g. “cây đa cây đề” people with high seniority
and great reputation in a field

cây đề = sacred figs

cây đa = banyan
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Idiom
Idiom with possessive words
+ Verbs: có, còn, thiếu, hết, mất, chứa, nắm, chiếm giữ, thuộc về
(have, exist, lack, be no longer, lose, contain, hold, seize, belong to)
+ Noun: của (property)
E.g. Có của thì khôn như mại
+ Conjunction: của (of)
([those who] have property are as
wise as a white sardine)
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Idiom
Idiom with possessive words
Cultural features
a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to
life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions
shared by a group of people, and t influencing their behaviour
 METHODS
Data collection: observation and manual collection
- “Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam” (Dictionary of
Vietnamese idioms and proverbs) by Nguyễn Lân (2003),
- “Sổ tay thành ngữ tục ngữ tiếng Việt” (Handbook of Vietnamese
idioms and proverbs) by Nguyễn Trọng Khanh (2009),
- “Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ tiếng Việt” (Explanatory
dictionary of Vietnamese Idioms) by the Institute of Linguistics
(1995).

Data analysis: descriptive method

 METHODS

Steps
- Read the dictionaries and collect the idioms with the verbs
có, còn, không, thiếu, hết, mất, chứa, nắm, chiếm giữ, thuộc
về, the noun của and the conjunction của.
- Divide them into cultural and non-cultural categories, then
subcategories of agricultural and non-agricultural images, and
groups of flora or fauna and fishery.
- Shed light on the meanings of the idioms.
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
172 idioms 88 idioms

(88) (40)
(84) (48)

F1. Proportion of idioms with and F2. Proportion of cultural-featured

without cultural factors idioms with agricultural and
non-agricultural images
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
72 images

(23)
(49)

F3. Proportion of flora, fauna and fishery images

appearing in idioms with possessive words
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to agricultural images in VIsPWs
(lúa) tẻ (common rice), nếp (glutinous rice), thóc (paddy), gạo (tree),
cơm (cooked rice), xôi (cooked glutinous rice), chè (sweetened
Flora images

porridge), cháo (porridge), bột (flour), hồ (glue), cây (tree), bụi (bush),
dây leo (vine), bầu (gourd), bí (squash), khế (star fruit), chanh (lemon),
cam (orange), quýt (mandarin), lê (pear tangerine), lựu
(pomegranate), cà (eggplant), đỗ (bean), cội (root), rau (vegetable),
(rau) muống (water spinach), lá lốt (piper sarmentosum), xương xông
(chapa), hoa (flower), nụ (bud), vỏ- ruột (cover- inner part)
cá (fish), cá khô (dried fish), trứng (egg), mắm (salted
Images of fauna fish), mại (white sardine), vích (sea turtle), lươn (eel), tằm
and fishery (silk worm), gà (chicken), bò (cow), ngựa (horse)
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to agricultural images in VIsPWs
Flora images
Hiện nay nhiều đôi vợ chồng vẫn quan niệm sinh con phải có nếp có tẻ
(currently, several couples still believe that they ought to give birth to
both glutinous rice and common rice)
figuratively
boy(s) & girl(s)
Nếp (glutinous rice) tẻ (common rice)
expensive cheap
more valuable less valuable
less usually used/ in more usually used/ in daily
special contexts life
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to agricultural images in VIsPWs
Flora images
Images of fauna and fishery
Có cá đổ vạ cho cơm (have fish, then blame rice) => falsely blamed
Fishery product

Mất cả chì lẫn chài (lose both lead and fishing net) => losing everything
Fishery tools

Mất bò mới lo làm chuồng (build a byre after losing cows) => ill-prepared
Farmer’s valuable property, companion
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to agricultural images in VIsPWs
Flora images
Flora, fauna and fishery images
- flexibly manifested in Vietnamese idioms with
two possessive verbs- “có” (have) and “mất”
(lose).
- the meaning of the idioms is neither related to
nor inferred from these agricultural images.
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to non-agricultural images

Utensils and facilities: bát đàn (unpolished pottery bowls), lụa (silk), thau
(copper), cây đa (banyan), đèn (lamp, usually oil lamp), bát sứ (porcelain
bowls), the (gauze), vàng (gold), trăng (moonlight),
Human parts: lòng (gut), dạ (abdomen), gan (liver),
Belief and religion: chùa (pagoda), Phật (Buddha), thờ (worship), thiêng
(sacred), kiêng (consideration), lành (safe)
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to non-agricultural images
Có trăng quên đèn (have the moon, then forget the lamp) => faithlessness
Hết lòng hết dạ (with all the heart)
=> working with all abilities and enthusiasm

Có thờ có thiêng (There is worship, there is sacredness)

=> gratitude and respect
 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
Cultural features attached to non-agricultural images

There are different non-agricultural images typical of

Vietnamese culture used in Vietnamese idioms with
possessive words. Along with agricultural images, they
weave a colourful picture of idioms, contributing to enrich
Vietnamese vocabulary system and to show unique
Vietnamese cultural values.
 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
- Typical Vietnamese cultural images used in IsPWs
+ gạo (rice) of different types
+ products made of/from gạo,
+ vegetables and fruit,
+ fishery products,
+ beliefs and religious activities,
+ social and familial relations.
- Facilitating the learning of Vietnamese language/ idioms
- Contribution to the study of Vietnamese culture.
 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion

Recommendation

The issues of culture included in idioms should be

continuously studied not only within a language
but across languages as well.
Thank you
for
listening