Syntactic and semantic features of adverbs of degree in english and chinese

2019– 2021 (2) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE M.A THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND IN CHINESE (Đặc điểm cú pháp ngữ nghĩa trạng từ mức độ tiếng Anh tiếng Trung Quốc) NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT Field: ENGLISH LANGUAGE Code: 8.22.02.01 HANOI – 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND IN CHINESE (Đặc điểm cú pháp ngữ nghĩa trạng từ mức độ tiếng Anh tiếng Trung Quốc) NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr HOANG TUYET MINH HANOI – 2022 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Syntactic and semantic features of adverbs of degree in English and Chinese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2022 Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt Approved by SUPERVISOR Date: …………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this study is a result of the support and encouragement from several people I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to them for their precious help and support First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my admirable advisor Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh for the continuous support and motivation and for her comments and suggestions during the study Her stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher My thanks also go to all my lecturers at Hanoi Open University for their precious knowledge which lay the foundation for this study, my colleagues and many others whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished My sincere thanks also go to my HOU 2019-2021(2) classmates, in particular my close ones, who always encouraged and helped me solve the problems which occurred during the study Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family and friends for their patience, endless love, and devotion Whatever choices I have made, they have always stood by me and believed in me I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given to me This accomplishment would not have been possible without all of them Thank you very much iii ABTRACT The research mainly focuses on describing syntactical characteristics and semantic features of adverbs of degree in English and Chinese novels, after that pointing out the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of them Descriptive method, comparative analysis method, and analytical and synthetic methods were applied in the research to expose and analyze the data This research analyzes two literary works, an English novel “If tomorrow comes” by Sidney Sheldon and a Chinese novel “古船” (The Ancient Ship) by Zhang Wei As the result, 36 adverbs of degree with 686 occurrences were found in the English novel and 26 adverbs of degree with 1.286 occurrences were found in the Chinese one The results of this research are: Firstly, both adverbs of degree in English and adverbs of degree in Chinese can take various positions in the sentences like, post verbal position, preverbal position Secondly, English adverbs of degree and Chinese adverbs of degree as well can modify different word class such as: adjective phrases, adverb phrases, prepositional phrases and verbal phrases, and noun phrase Last, English and Chinese adverbs of degree are divided into some semantic categories On the whole, adverbs of degree in English and Chinese share some similarities, but they are different in some ways, too iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Adj : Adjective Adv : Adverb Adv-Ps : Adverb Phrase APs : Adjective Phrase AV : Auxiliary Verb N : Noun NPs : Noun Phrase PPs : Preposition Phrase S : Subject V VPs : Verb : Verb Phrase v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4.1 English adverbs of degree found in the English novel and Table 4.2 their occurrence ……………………………………………31 English adverbs of degree found in the English novel and their occurrence ……………………………………………37 Table 4.3 Syntactic features of English adverbs degree in the novel “If tomorrow come” by Sidney Sheldon…………………… 41 Table 4.4 Syntactic features of Chinese adverbs degree in the novel “古 船” (The ancient ship) by Zhang Wei…………………… 42 Table 4.5 Semantic features of English adverbs degree in the novel “If tomorrow come” by Sidney Sheldon…………………… 49 Table 4.6 Semantic features of Chinese adverbs degree in the novel “古 船” (The ancient ship) by Zhang Wei…………………… 54 Table 4.7 Table 4.8 Syntactic features of adverbs of degree in English and Chinese novels…………………………………………… 55 Semantic features of adverbs of degree in English and Chinese novels …………………………………………….57 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii iii iv Abstract List of abbreviations List of tables and figures v vi Table of contents Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 3 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Structure of the study 4 6 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.1.1 Previous studies in English 2.1.2 Previous studies in Chinese 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Adverb in English and Chinese 2.2.1.1 Adverb in English 2.2.1.2 Adverbs in Chinese 11 2.2.2 Adverbs of degree in English and adverbs of degree in 15 Chinese 2.2.2.1 Adverbs of degree in English 15 2.2.2.2 Adverbs of degree in Chinese 2.3 Summary Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 3.2 Research setting 3.3 Research approach vii 21 25 26 26 26 27 3.4 Research methods 3.5 Principles for data collection and data analysis 3.6 Summary 28 29 30 Chapter 4: ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND IN CHINESE 31 4.1 Syntactic and semantic features of adverbs of degree in English in 31 the novel “If tomorrow comes” by Sidney Sheldon 4.1.1 Syntactic features of adverbs of degree in English 4.1.1.1 Positions 4.1.1.2 Functions 31 31 34 4.1.2 Semantic features of adverbs of degree in English 4.1.2.1 Emphasizer 4.1.2.2 Amplifiers 4.1.2.3 Down-toners 38 38 38 40 4.2 Syntactic and semantic features of adverbs of degree in Chinese in 42 the novel “The ancient ship” by Zhang Wei 4.2.1 Syntactic features of adverbs of degree in Chinese 43 4.2.1.1 Positions 4.2.1.2 Functions 4.2.2 Semantic features of adverbs of degree in Chinese 4.2.2.1 Absolute adverbs 4.2.2.2 Relative adverbs 4.3 Comparison between syntactic and semantic features of adverbs of degree in English and those in Chinese 4.3.1 In terms of syntactic features 4.3.2 In terms of semantic features 4.4 Summary 43 45 50 50 51 55 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation 55 57 60 61 61 5.2 Concluding remarks 5.3 Implication of the thesis for learning English and Chinese 5.4 Limitation of the research 5.5 Recommendations and suggestion for further studies REFERENCES 61 62 64 64 66 APPRENDIX 69 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale English is an international language, spoken in many countries both as a native and as a second or foreign language It is taught in the schools in almost every country on this earth English language is an international language used all over the world as a means of communication Chinese is not used as widely as English, but it is spoken by the most people It cannot be denied that English and Chinese are currently the two most popular foreign languages in Vietnam, and it has been a tendency for Vietnamese to learn the two languages at the same time Any comparative and contrastive studies about English and Chinese are supposed to be crucial for Vietnamese learners and to some extend can add certain theoretical background to study English and Chinese In language study, it has been widely agreed that words are one of the most important components which language learners must master in order to comprehend not only their denotative meaning but also connotative meaning including other necessary aspects such as their patterning and grammar in use Two main types of words that play important roles in languages in general and in English and Chinese in particular are content words and function words Linguistically, it is explained that a function word, sometimes called a grammatical word or a closed class word, is a word that contains little lexical meaning or has no meaningful meaning, but expresses a grammatical or structural relationship with other words in a sentence (Hartmann & Stork, 1972; Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik, 1985; Au-Yeung, Howell & Pilgrim, 1998; Hartsuiker, Bastiaanse, Postma & Wijnen, 2005) Function words include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, modals, particles and quantifiers In contrast to the function word, a content word or a lexical word or an open-class word, is referred to as a word that has meaning itself and function to carry the content of a sentence According to Carter, McCarthy and O’Keeffe (2011), English has four classes of content words, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs Since ancient times, the words of the Chinese language have been grouped into two main categories: 虚 词 (function word) and 实 词 1 She barely had been seated when a familiar voice said, "Well, hello there!" Gregory Halston gave her a smile that barely touched his lips His fingers were trembling so hard that he was barely able to dial the number of the bank Commandant Marze barely managed to hold his temper in check She barely heard his voice through the canvas She barely had the strength to hold the knife in her grasp …………… 75 APPENDIX 2: SEMANTIC CATEGORIES OF CHINESE ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN THE CHINESE NOVEL Relative 1.1 Extremely/ Super high: Adverbs 最/最为 (most: 200) 1.驶船人漂荡在大海上，也许最爱回想的就是庙会上熙熙攘攘 的场景。 2.到隋恒德这一代，老隋家到了最兴盛的时候。 3.最让他忧虑的还有世事的变迁，一颗心像被什么日夜绞拧 着。 他们最常去的就是那个干废的码头，望着变窄了的河道讲 一些船上的故事。 5.四爷爷当年不过三十出头，因为他在老赵门里辈分最高，所 以人们也就这么喊。 …………… 完全 (completely: 29) 1.而秦汉时又完全沿用了齐故城，直到魏晋。 2.人们完全有信心花上几年的时间，超过英国，赶上美国。 也没有人召集他们，这完全是地皮的力量。 他玩着，天完全黑下来的时候才回到家里。 她知道丈夫的血如今是完全地流完了。 ………… 1.2 High: 更 (more: 132) 那呜隆呜隆的声音更像远处滚动的雷鸣。 大家似乎觉得：没有了那么多外地人来镇上搅闹，倒可以 生活得更福气。 76 儿子会更孝顺，女子会更贞洁。 他去蘸墨，手抖得更厉害了。 他的头发那么浓黑，脸也就显得更白了。 ………………… 更加 (even more) 1.见素说完，脸色更加苍白，有些喘息。 2.脖吴只把这鼓励分给自己一份，读得更加卖力。 3.她们当即解开了头发，于是立刻变得更加妩媚。 4.但抱朴并没有扔下公司的工作，相反更加兢兢业业，仔细周 到。 公司里的所有人见了神色庄严的总经理，都对他更加敬 重。 格外(extraordinarily: 6) 1.后来每逢他走过那片蓖麻林，每逢风雨之夜，他都表现得格 外不安。 2.由于大食堂正在全国铺开，因而这项发明格外引人注目。 3.益华公司近来又格外慷慨，批发给大商店一大宗进口服装 4.女公务员好象完全忘记了李其生办丧事时挨的那一巴掌，两 人感情格外融洽。 5.隋不召对这一件事格外重视 还(far more: 2) 1.3 Medium/ Sub-high: 比较 (rather/quite: 4) 1.让人羡慕的是这里处于比较热闹的地段。 2.你比一比吧，比一比就会明白──可是我接上要告诉你的 77 是，这些比较有个屁用！ 3.我说得比较多，反驳时比较动情。 「关于《古船》答记者问」是比较晚的了。 还 (still:2) 但镇上人认为令人不安的「先兆」还远远不止这些。 你这个坏蛋，你比武松还有劲…… 1.4 Low: 稍稍 (a little: 15) 1.车子稍慢，闹闹一下子蹿上车去，一边嚷着：「赶车跑啊！ 2.抱朴服药几日，病情稍解，但肌肤斑点依旧。 3.她看出是见素，稍稍拖长了声音问：「干什么？」 4.李玉明稍稍轻松了一些。 5.女人在一边学艺心切，稍有些不快也只得忍了。 ………………… 稍微 (slightly: 7) 1.她直奔店里，站在柜台后面还稍微有些喘息。 2.他走上街头，让凉风吹拂着，感到稍微舒服一些。 3.李玉明宣布了结果，人群才稍微安静一些。 4.抱朴稍微平静了一下，擦了擦额头上的汗水。 5.栾春记走出四爷爷的小院，稍微平静坦然了一些。 …………………… Absolute 2.1 Extremely high: Adverbs 太(too:135) 我常想这是人的一种病，病根太深了。 我高声地笑，病根太深了。 78 时间太长了。 这可差得太多了。 哥哥，你太苦了，你活得真不易，真不易。 ………………… 极(extremely: 32) 1.他们发现了一处极为重要的古都遗址：东莱子故城。 2.太阳走得慢极了 3.他觉得身上轻松极了，两只手那么柔软。 4.一股热血在周身回旋了这么多年，突然间涌到了喉头上，喉 头烫极了。 5.小姑娘幸福极了，去吻他的脖子、眼睛。 ………… 极其(extremely: 23) 1.这把刀铁锈斑斑，刀背有指头那么厚，但刀刃儿极其锋锐。 2.她身上有些黑，有些凉，可是极其柔软。 3.酒席极其丰盛。 4.看来揭走铁锅炼钢是极其有远见的。 5.她平静地躺在炕上，内心却极其痛苦。 ………… 顶(most: 3) 1.他求饶、哀叫，全不顶用 2.就是不顺利，顶多送上三个梯队。 3.她的性情是天底下最好的，就那么屈在男人怀里，一声不 吭，高兴了顶多哭一哭。 2.2 High: 79 很(very: 245) 1.古阳山地带也有一截城垣，是否属于齐长城就很难考了 2.砖的颜色已经像铁，最上一层的城垛还很完整。 3.隋迎之的结局很惨。 4.由于地皮不稳，很多人都觉得头晕恶心。 5.太阳升起很高了，强烈的阳光使粉丝、沙滩，还有河水，都 反出光亮来。 挺(quite: 14) 1.抱朴慢慢长高了，长得挺拔俊逸 2.你像个石头人，挺有劲似的。 3.我老爱寻个碴儿跟他争论，这挺好玩的。 4.这个资本家小崽子挺懂啊！ 5.他神色沉重地对见素说：「你睡得挺香。 ……………… 非常(very:19) 1.开始转得非常缓慢，像河边的老磨一样缓缓地转。 2.他在联欢晚会上唱了一支歌，非常的新鲜奇特，所有人都没 有听过。 3.李其生这个夜晚激动非常，竟然久久不愿归去。 4.见素听见这么漂亮的姑娘无缘无故地骂了一句，觉得非常有 趣。 5.他们的友谊非常久远。 特别(particularly: 34) 1.粉丝工业特别赖水，河水浅下去，就不得不停下几个磨屋。 2.隋不召也特别喜欢这个侄子，常常把他扛在肩头上。 80 3.好象那儿的阳光分外灿烂，风特别温柔，笑声和歌声正隐隐 约约传过来。 4.含章觉得这一天粉丝上的死结特别多，解也解不完。 5.见素高高的身量，两条腿显得特别长 ……………… 相当(quite: 4) 1.全镇有相当大一部分人正在为一些人的贪婪做出牺牲 2.他知道这次「倒缸」相当严重，因为上一次大「倒缸」就曾 闻过这种气味。 3.抱朴头也不抬，表情沉重，语气却相当和缓：「我也不很明 白。 4.对于见素来说，这一切已经是相当大的收获了。 十分 (Extraordinarily: 60) 1.虽然一个字也听不懂，大家还是十分激动。 2.他们什么也没有捅到，十分懊丧。 3.她老要跟他说话，十分活泼欢快。他偏不跟她说。 4.方格啧啧的，样子十分遗憾。 5.大虎十分高兴地接受了任务。 ……………… 2.3 Medium: 不太 (not too: 8) 当天晚上，月亮不太亮。 她不太高，可是显得修挺。 做什么事情也不太清楚，只是觉得要赶紧做些什么。 她说她活不太久了 81 10 我死了是为国捐躯，我不太怕。 不很 (not very:5) 他到如今也不很明白，却能体验到爸爸心底的轻松。 抱朴头也不抬，表情沉重，语气却相当和缓：我也不很 明白。 82 APPENDIX 3: SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN THE ENGLISH NOVEL POSITIONS 1.1 Post Verbal Position I'm terribly sorry I feel absolutely wonderful." You can reassure yourself very simply, if you wish Charles had hurt her badly, and she had no wish to be hurt again I feel absolutely wonderful." She belonged completely to him; she was his to destroy …………… 1.2 Pre-Verbal I would greatly appreciate any courtesies you extend him Position She could hardly speak I'll simply ignore him She barely heard his voice through the canvas He really was too damned attractive …………… 1.3 Initial Position Didn't he, really? I'm surprised Tracy glared at Jeff "It was nothing, really." "Absolutely not, Baroness I could not permit that "Yes Indeed, I am." "Indeed," Halston said "Would you follow me, please?" 1.4 Parenthetical Position Carefully, almost reverently, he lifted out the object that lay in the nest She looked at Tracy and said, almost shyly, "I ain't come across many decent things in my life Now, very slowly, we're going to back out of the room." 83 FUNCTIONS 2.1 Modifier of APs Oh, I'm terribly sorry Are you quite sure? Charles and I were going out for dinner, but the weather's too nasty He was totally indifferent to the fact that she had been released from prison I'm very happy for you …………………………… 2.2 Modifier of VPs I hope these are well guarded." Charles had hurt her badly, and she had no wish to be hurt again She barely heard his voice through the canvas Everyone was to cooperate fully I would greatly appreciate any courtesies you extend him She could hardly speak …………………… 2.3 Modifier of PPs The next five days were almost like a new life for Tracy It was almost like being part of a family They were almost at the boarding gate when Tracy reached them You're really out of our class, aren't you, old boy He has just over three hundred thousand dollars in his checking account." ……………… 2.4 Modifier of Adv-Ps It was produced almost instantly It was almost too good to be true It was almost over, and she would pay, as he had made 84 other whores pay It's really very simple But he said it a shade too quickly ………………… 2.5 Modifier of NPs There was an exquisite Tiepolo and Guercino and a Titian, and there was almost a full wall of Cézannes Tracy helped lift the bitch to the top of the van, which was almost the exact height of the wall If you have scruples, she's really a horrible woman." She's really quite a horrible woman, who has houses all over the world filled with expensive goodies Have you verified that the two men are really Pietr Negulesco and Boris Melnikov …………………… 2.6 Modifier of pronoun/ numerals Baroness, that ball travels through the air at almost a hundred miles an hour There's really nothing you could say, my dear, is there? Perry Pope knew simply everybody I've given away quite a bit of money It was just a little mistake 85 APPENDIX 4: SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF CHINESE ADVERBS OF DEGREE IN THE CHINESE NOVEL POSITIONS 1.1 Post Verbal 如今原料是节省得很了：只用麦子的麸皮外加一点玉 米的渣屑。 长脖吴抑扬顿挫，已经激动无比 她羞愧(v)极了，幸福极了，捣着他的背，捣着，慢慢 又像拍打一个婴儿一样了。 李其生这个夜晚激动非常，竟然久久不愿归去 四爷爷惋惜非常，搓着手，一阵叹息。 1.2 Pre-verbal 竹林黝黑，一丛丛在晚风中活动，很像秋秋柔软婀娜 的身躯。 见素等待得焦躁，也很想找老人拉一拉。 我老想这是老隋家人犯下的一个罪过，太对不起洼狸 镇 他们就这样依偎着，直到太阳完全落下去 哎呀，我真想使劲打你一顿。 1.3 Post Adjectival 张王氏的生意萧条得很。 整个会场热烈无比。 那家伙力大无比。 太阳走得慢极了 有一本《论语》小到可以放进掌心，精致非常，透着 墨香。 ………………………… 86 1.4 Pre adjectival 这种拗气太可怕了。 抱朴似乎也很高兴。 副手无比惊愕地看着他问：「你怎么知道埋在桃树下 4.那是更深一层的忧虑和惊诧啊。 看了一会儿，他咬咬牙，又骂了几句更难听的话，然后慢 慢解了腰带。 到隋恒德这一代，老隋家到了最兴盛的时候。 …………………… FUNCTIONS 2.1 Modifier a Modifier of VPs 我真恨你！我真恨你！ 革委会无比焦灼，思来想去，请来了年老体迈的李玄 通和绝食的人陪坐。 那呜隆呜隆的声音更像远处滚动的雷鸣。 含章的工作大约是最让人羡慕的了。 他对自己的判断非常满意。 隋不召也特别喜欢这个侄子，常常把他扛在肩头上。 ………………………………… b Modifier of APs 我给你最高工资，你先干着。倒缸自有人扶。 全镇最富有的人家居然欠下别人的，抱朴怎么也不信。 有一次他踢了闹闹一脚，闹闹醒来，反应极敏地回身给了 他一脚。 这牵涉到了极其复杂的问题，他不得不承认。 见素听见这么漂亮的姑娘无缘无故地骂了一句，觉得非常 有趣。 87 …………………………… c Modifier of NPs 这个计划可真他妈够大的。 很多人站到更前边一点，用力地伸着脖子，两手按到肋 上，不安地摩擦着。 这个出自老隋家的公司总经理为全镇所注目，因为他是在 一个非常时刻走进了经理办公室的。 那个东西上面的疤痕使他和妻子尤其悲愤不已。 张王氏加倍地吟诵，嗓门较前变大了些。 ……………………… d Modifier of PPs 最后又有大字报将她与镇长周子夫联系起来，说她完全由 镇 上最大的走资派所支持和包庇，有人亲眼见到周子夫来 学校时，与她交谈过，并且面带微笑 显然它完全被废弃，变为了山中的一个多余。 4.因而当地政府必须谨慎对待，多加保护，尤其在土改复查 中确保其人身安全 e Modifier of Adv-Ps 他们最常去的就是那个干废的码头，望着变窄了的河道讲 一些船上的故事。 隋不召最先想到的就是自己侄子的那个。 所有人都有些惊讶，想不到由这个小孩子最先辨认出来。 这里最常来的除了张王氏，也就是吴校长了 赵多多身子活动着，终于最先拿起筷子来把香瓜戳了个 洞。 ………………………… 2.2 A complement 张王氏的生意萧条得很。 整个会场热烈无比。 小姑娘幸福极了，去吻他的脖子、眼睛。 88 他声音微弱极了，像是悄悄地问了句： 含章哭过，口渴非常，这时候就抖抖地用瓷勺盛汤来 喝。 …………………… 2.3 An adverbial of degree 含章无比美丽，像后母茴子一样。 她更加胡涂了。 唉，倔不了几天了……我心里挺难受。 酒席极其丰盛。 他们的友谊非常久远。 ……………… 89 ... adverbs of degree in English and in Chinese in terms of syntactic and semantic features In addition, some implications for learning adverbs of degree in English and those in Chinese need giving... features of adverbs of degree in English and in Chinese will be analyzed in term of positions and functions Semantic features of adverbs of degree in English and in Chinese will be analyzed in. .. between adverbs of degree in English and those in Chinese in terms of their syntactic and semantic features? (3) What are some implications for learning adverbs of degree in English and those in Chinese?