- The thesis, A study on idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese, is expected to be an interesting and helpful material for foreign language teachers and learners and for people who are interested in idioms in both English and Vietnamese. - Aims and objectives of the study The study, as entitled, focuses on the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. - Establish some possible criteria for the distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms. - Gain an insightful look at idioms in general and idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in particular in both English and Vietnamese. - Work out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms. - Scope of the study Due to the duration of time and the length as well as the references available, this thesis does focus on the forms and contents of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. - Then, techniques such as comparison, transformation, and contrastive analysis are applied in a quick-minded and active way to find out a general picture about the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both languages.. - This will help to make clear both the similarities and the differences between the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and those in Vietnamese. - English and Vietnamese idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are investigated in many of their aspects such as appearances, forms, component orders, characteristics, meaning colours, figurative styles etc. - Basing on this, the author has tried to find out the similarities and differences between English idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms and Vietnamese ones. - Part two, Development, is the heart of the study which directly deals with the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. - This part is divided into three chapters including chapter I: Literature review and theoretical background, chapter II: Major characteristics of English and Vietnamese idioms, and chapter III: Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. - Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese (Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, 2006) This is a study written in Vietnamese. - In the study, the author gave some theoretical background relating to Vietnamese idioms in general and their idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in particular. - Basing on the forms and contents, some criteria were given to make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese. - What is meant by “idiomatic variants”?. - Basing on these, we can say that idiomatic variants are idioms having the same meanings and grammatical structures or having different components belonging to the same field of meaning. - Basing on the structures of synonymous idioms, they gave the concept of idiomatic variants and the opposite of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms. - However, no studies directly relating to idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese are known to us. - This is the reason why we carry a study on idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both English and Vietnamese. - Idiomatic variants are idioms which have the same meanings and grammatical structures or have different components belonging to the same field of meaning. - CHAPTER III: IDIOMATIC VARIANTS AND SYNONYMOUS IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 3.1. - Therefore, the synonymous idioms are more complex than the synonyms of words because they are connected with the idiomatic variants. - Idiomatic variants in English and Vietnamese Idiomatic variants are available in both English and Vietnamese. - However, the forms and contents of idiomatic variants in each language are different.. - Idiomatic variants in English It is easy to realize that the components, especially verbs and nouns, of an English idiom can be replaced by units which are synonymous or belong to the same field of meaning. - The idiomatic variants in English are the other forms of idioms whose meanings are the same as the original idioms. - Idiomatic variants in Vietnamese Ju.X. - [31: 42] It can be said that idiomatic variants are different forms of the same idioms. - Idioms having phonetic variants are considered as idiomatic variants: chôn nhau cắt rốn – chôn rau cắt rốn (birth-place). - That the order of the components of an idiom is not the same also makes idiomatic variants: mật ít ruồi nhiều – ruồi nhiều mật it (Little supply much demand). - When the components of an idiom are replaced by units which are synonymous or belong to the same field of meaning, we also call these idiomatic variants: dữ như hùm – dữ như cọp (ferocious like a tiger). - Vietnamese idiomatic variants are quite multiform and complicated. - Synonymous idioms chậm (slow). - Synonymous idioms đen (black). - Synonymous idioms. - (Appendix 1) We only focus on semantic synonymous sentences because they relate to idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms.. - Criteria for the distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms In both English and Vietnamese, in order to make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms, we focus on two criteria: meanings and grammatical structures. - The differences between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms can be shown as follows: (Diagram 1, 2). - Diagram 1: Idiomatic variants. - Diagram 2: Synonymous idioms. - Basing on two criteria above, we can make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms as follows: Idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same meanings and grammatical structures or have different components belonging to the same field of meaning. - Forms of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese 3.6.1. - Forms of idiomatic variants As we know, idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same meanings and grammatical structures or have different components belonging to the same field of meaning. - Basing on these criteria, we can realize idiomatic variants through their forms as follows: 3.6.1.1. - It is clear that the meanings of phonetic idiomatic variants in Vietnamese are the same and they also have the same meaning colours. - Idiomatic variants basing on the change of their component orders This kind of variants is very rare in English, but it is quite common in Vietnamese. - These idiomatic variants have their own different forms: Form 1: ABCD = CDAB These idiomatic variants consist of four syllables. - Semantically, disyllabic compound words in the idiomatic variants above refer to phenomena which usually go together. - Although these idiomatic variants have different forms, they have the same meaning and style colours as their base idioms. - For example, the idiomatic variants such as chia loan rẽ phượng (to separate two lovers) and cửa Khổng sân Trình (The Confucianist School) are more popular whereas chia phượng rẽ loan (to separate two lovers) and sân Trình cửa Khổng (The Confucianist School) are not very often used. - Form 2: AxBy = AyBx These idiomatic variants consist of four syllables. - In addition, beside the forms above, Vietnamese idiomatic variants have three special forms as follows. - Contractive idiomatic variants and the contrary In English this kind of idiomatic variants is rare. - There are two kinds of contractive idiomatic variants in Vietnamese. - Idiomatic variants are contractions of their base idioms: e.g. - Idiomatic variants come from their contractive base idioms: e.g. - Idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other languages English idioms can be formed by using borrowings as their components. - However, idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other languages are not available in English. - In Vietnamese, there are a lot of idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other languages, especially Sino. - Idiomatic variants binh địa ba đào (An upheaval happening during a calm) quốc sắc thiên hương…. - In general, the meanings of these idiomatic variants are similar to those of their Sino idioms Vietnamized. - Idiomatic variants with their components replaced by synonyms In both English and Vietnamese, these idiomatic variants are available. - The meanings of these idiomatic variants are similar to those of their idioms. - Idiomatic variants with their components replaced by words or expressions having the same lexical-semantic field When the components of idioms are replaced by other words or expressions belonging to the same lexical-semantic field, they are considered as idiomatic variants. - These idiomatic variants are available in both English and Vietnamese.. - In general, the frequencies of using idiomatic variants and their base idioms in English are the same. - In addition, the meaning and style colours of English idiomatic variants are similar to those of their base idioms. - Basing on the meanings and the forms of idiomatic variants and their base idioms with their components replaced by words or expressions having the same lexical-semantic field, we can consider this kind of idiomatic variants as an intermediary between variation and synonymy. - Appearances of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese An investigation was carried out among 100 pairs of English idioms having the same meanings adapted by chance from Pocket English Idioms written by Jennifer Seidl – W. - (Appendix 3) The purpose of the investigation was to discover the amount of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both English and Vietnamese. - Basing on this, we found out how idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms appear in each language. - The main findings are in Table 2 Table 2: Appearances of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese Language. - Idiomatic variants. - Synonymous idioms English. - The table shows that the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English are quite equal. - Idiomatic variants are 46% and 54% are synonymous idioms. - However, in Vietnamese Idiomatic variants are much more common than synonymous idioms. - In contrary, Vietnamese idiomatic variants are more common than English ones. - Summary Although there are some similarities such as multiform meaning colours, sentence forming abilities and distinction criteria, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both languages have some differences: In English, the order of the components of an idiom is fixed. - They are considered as idiomatic variants. - In Vietnamese, idioms having phonetic variants are considered as idiomatic variants such as chôn nhau cắt rốn – chôn rau cắt rốn (birth place). - In both English and Vietnamese, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are quite common. - Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are available in both English and Vietnamese. - Table 3: Forms of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese Idiomatic variants Forms. - Vietnamese Phonetic idiomatic variants. - available Idiomatic variants basing on the change of their component orders. - available Contractive idiomatic variants and the contrary. - available Idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other languages. - available Idiomatic variants with their components replaced by synonyms. - available Idiomatic variants with their components replaced by words or expressions having the same lexical-semantic field. - It can be said that idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both English and Vietnamese have the same meaning colours but different figurative style colours. - Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese are more complex and multiform than those in English. - In contrary, Vietnamese idiomatic variants are more common than English ones.. - Basing on this, the author interprets why idioms are considered as special language units and what their idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are. - The author also gives some criteria to make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese. - however, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both languages have some differences. - In Vietnamese, idioms having phonetic variants are considered as idiomatic variants such as chôn nhau cắt rốn – chôn rau cắt rốn (birth-place). - Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in Vietnamese are more complex and multiform than those in English.. - In this study, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms were grammatically and semantically analyzed quite deeply in both English and Vietnamese