AN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC DEVICES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Proverbs are part of the oral tradition of a cultural group. Because they are usually spoken and not written, they must be vivid and have the quality that they can be easily remembered. As a result, they use various linguistic devices such as: alliteration, rhyme and rhythm for sound effects; simile, metaphor, personification for graphic images; and parallelism, antithesis, paradox, repetition and ellipsis for specific structural arrangements. This investigation into stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese proverbs is to work out not only the similarities and differences of those rhetorical devices but also discover the cultural aspects of these two peoples. In addition to the five chapters of a standard thesis as usual, the research puts in some pages of appendices for readers of more interest and curiosity. Hopefully, the study is useful to those who teach and study English, regarding proverbs part of their life and career.