1. Student's full name: Soudsadachanh PHAIMANY
2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth: September 16, 1984
4. Place of birth: Vientiane, the capital of Laos
5. Decision No. 2175/QD-XHNV-DT dated November 23, 2019, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, recognizing the student.
6. Changes in the training process: None
7. Thesis Title: A Comparative Study of Idioms for Evaluating People in Lao and Vietnamese
8. Major: Linguistics; Code: 8229020.01
9. Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Thi
10. Summary of thesis results: Through a comparison of 560 idioms used to evaluate people.
In Lao and 779 Vietnamese idioms used to evaluate people, we have observed the following:
1. Idioms evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese share similarities and differences in their structure. Both consist of three or more syllables, with an even number of syllables, forming two complete and balanced clauses. However, idioms in the two languages differ in the number of tones; Vietnamese has six tones, while Lao only has five. There is also a difference in the ratio of syllable usage. In terms of grammatical structure, Vietnamese idioms typically have one or two clauses, while Lao idioms can have multiple clauses in addition to one or two clauses.
2. Idioms evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese have similarities and differences in semantic features. In both languages, idioms have two layers of meaning: figurative and literal. The themes of evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese idioms focus on similar content such as advice, education, praise/criticism, ridicule, critique, and affirming the beauty of people. The semantic differences lie in the fact that Lao idioms include both literal and symbolic meanings, with symbolic meanings being more prevalent than literal ones; differences also exist in the choice of imagery, comparisons, and expression; Vietnamese idioms use indirect expression, while Lao idioms use direct expression.
3. The structural similarities are due to the typological characteristics of both languages, which are analytical and tonal, while the similarities in idiomatic meaning are due to cultural similarities. There are also cultural differences due to different symbols and concepts between the two peoples.
11. Practical applications: The research results can be applied in teaching Vietnamese to Lao speakers, or Lao to Vietnamese speakers.
12. Future research directions: Expand the scope of research to include linguistic and cultural issues in the Lao and Vietnamese languages.
13. Published works related to the thesis: None
INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS
1. Full name: Soudsadachanh PHAIMANY
2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth: September 16, 1984
4. Place of birth: Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR
5. Admission decision number: No 2175/QD-XHNV-DT dated November 23rd, 2019 made by The Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
6. Changes in academic process: None
7. Official thesis title: Comparing idioms about evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese languages
8. Major: Linguistics; Code: 8229020.01
9. Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Thi
10. Summary of the results of the thesis: By comparing 560 idioms for evaluating people in Lao language and 779 idioms for evaluating people in Vietnamese, we have found the following results:
1. Idioms for evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese both have similarities and differences in structural characteristics. They are all composed of 3 or more syllables with an even number of syllables, and forming 2 complete parts of an idiom. However, idioms in the two languages have differences including the number of tones, in Vietnamese there are 6 tones, but in Lao idioms there are only 5, a difference in the ratio of using the number of syllables and grammatical structure, Vietnamese idioms only have 1 to 2 - part structure, while in Lao idioms, apart from 1 and 2- part structure, also using a multi-part structure.
2. Idioms for evaluating people in Lao and Vietnamese languages have similarities and differences in semantic characteristics. In both languages, idioms have two layers of meaning including figurative and literal meaning, the topics of human assessment of Lao and Vietnamese idioms focus on the same contents such as advice, education, praise, criticism, affirmation of human beauty...etc. The differences in semantics, Lao idioms include literal and symbolic meanings, in which symbolic meanings account for a larger number than the literal meanings; In term of the differences in the choice of images to represent, compare and express, Vietnamese idioms use indirect expressions, while Lao idioms use direct expressions.
3. The structural similarities are due to the typological characteristics of the two languages, both of which are analytic and tonal, while the similarities in idiomatic meanings are due to cultural similarities. There are also cultural differences due to different symbols and different conceptions between two nations.
11. Practical applicability, if any: The findings obtained from the study of the thesis can be applied in teaching Vietnamese to Lao people, or Lao language to Vietnamese people.
12. Further research directions, if any: Expanding the scope of research into linguistic and cultural issues in two languages Lao - Vietnamese.
13. Thesis-related publications: None
