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Attachment 1 Title page VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Duy Tân SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “PLAY” IN ENGLISH AND “CHƠI” IN VIETNAMESE MA THESIS IN[.]
VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Duy Tân SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “PLAY” IN ENGLISH AND “CHƠI” IN VIETNAMESE MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020 luan an VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Duy Tân SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “PLAY” IN ENGLISH AND “CHƠI” IN VIETNAMESE Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020 luan an DECLARATION BY AUTHOR Except where reference has been made in the text, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person I, Nguyễn Duy Tân, hereby state that this thesis is the result of my own research and the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any degrees to any other universities or institutions Author’s Signature Nguyễn Duy Tân Approved by SUPERVISOR Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D Date:…………………… i luan an ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis is credited to many people’s contributions and support I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all most sincerely, knowing that my thanks are never adequate First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph D., my supervisor, for his helpful and warm encouragement as well as his insightful comments on my work from the beginning to the end of the study In addition, I would like to thank all of the lecturers who gave me interesting lessons, dedication and advice during my study at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences I also offer my special thanks to my beloved pupils and friends whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family It is their endless love and expectations that have motivated me to complete this thesis I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given me ii luan an TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION BY AUTHOR………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………… vi LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………… vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………… 1.1 Rationale…………………………………………………………… 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study…………………………………… 1.3 Research questions…………………………………………………… 1.4 Scope of the study…………………………………………………… 1.5 Significance of the study…………………………………………… 1.6 Methodology………………………………………………………… 1.6.1 Data collection…………………………………………………… 1.6.2 Research methods………………………………………………… 1.6.3 Underlying theoretical frameworks……………………………… 1.7 Structure of the study………………………………………………… Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………… 10 2.1 Words and word classes…………………………………………… 10 2.1.1 Polysemy of words………………………………………………… 10 2.1.2 Word classes……………………………………………………… 12 2.2 Review of the previous research works……………………………… 17 2.3 Chapter summary…………………………………………………… 17 Chapter 3: SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF “PLAY” IN ENGLISH AND “CHƠI” IN VIETNAMESE……………………………………… 19 3.1 Syntactic features of “play” in English……………………………… 19 3.1.1 “Play” as a verb…………………………………………………… 19 iii luan an 3.1.2 “Play” as a noun…………………………………………………… 27 3.2 Syntactic features of “chơi” in Vietnamese………………………… 29 3.2.1 “Chơi” as a verb…………………………………………………… 29 3.2.2 “Chơi” as an adverb……………………………………………… 31 3.3 A comparison between “play” in English and “chơi” in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic features…………………………………………… 31 3.3.1 Syntactic features found in both languages……………………… 31 3.3.2 Syntactic features unique to English……………………………… 32 3.3.3 Syntactic features unique to Vietnamese………………………… 33 3.4 Chapter summary…………………………………………………… 34 Chapter 4: SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “PLAY” IN ENGLISH AND “CHƠI” IN VIETNAMESE……………………………………… 36 4.1 Semantic features of “play” in English……………………………… 36 4.1.1 “Play” as a verb…………………………………………………… 36 4.1.2 “Play” as a noun…………………………………………………… 42 4.2 Semantic features of “chơi” in Vietnamese………………………… 44 4.2.1 “Chơi” as a verb…………………………………………………… 44 4.2.2 “Chơi” as an adverb……………………………………………… 47 4.3 A comparison between “play” in English and “chơi” in Vietnamese in terms of semantic features …………………………………………… 47 4.3.1 Semantic features found in both languages……………………… 47 4.3.2 Semantic features unique to English……………………………… 48 4.3.3 Semantic features unique to Vietnamese………………………… 51 4.4 Chapter summary…………………………………………………… 52 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION…………………………………………… 54 5.1 Recapitulation……………………………………………………… 54 5.2 Concluding remarks………………………………………………… 57 5.3 Implications………………………………………………………… iv luan an 58 5.3.1 For English teaching and learning………………………………… 58 5.3.2 For translation from English to Vietnamese and vice versa.……… 59 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies……………………… 59 REFERENCES………………………………………………………… 61 v luan an ABSTRACT An investigation of play in English and chơi in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features is carried out in the present study Description and contrastive analysis are regarded as the main methods used in the present thesis The findings of the study are concerned with the similarities and differences between play in English and chơi in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features In order to collect the data, a hand search approach of the dictionaries in both languages has been conducted, which helps to establish the number of meanings of each word In the present study, the theoretical fameworks (theory of contrastive analysis; theory of syntax and semantics) are applied to both English and Vietnamese Additionally, an overview of some theoretical background dealing with the general concepts of syntax, semantics, words, polysemy of words and word classification is presented for the background of analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of the two words, play in English and chơi in Vietnamese Our investigation reveals that play in English and chơi in Vietnamese may function as verbs The biggest difference between play in English and chơi in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic features lies in the verbal forms and the coordinate possibility of each in the clauses In terms of semantic features, the findings of the study reveals that there are 11 meanings in common conveyed by the two verbs, play in English and chơi in Vietnamese When working as a verb, play in English has more meanings than chơi in Vietnamese There are 21 meanings conveyed by play, unique to English whereas chơi has meanings which are unique to Vietnamese Play in English may be a noun which has five main meanings, and chơi in Vietnamese can function as an adverb and has only one meanings The thesis also presents the implications for English teaching and learning as well as translation vi luan an LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1 Forms and functions of the verb “play” in English (adapted from Quirk & Greenbaum (1987))…………………………………… … 20 vii luan an Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It is a fact that language is an essential form of communication It allows people to convey and elaborate their perspective It means that language is the bridge to connect people all over the world Therefore, language is a subtle and complex instrument used to communicate an incredible number of different things Bloomfield (1933) states that “we could not understand the form of a language if we merely reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate constituents” By this, he means that in order to account for the meaning of a sentence, it is necessary to recognize how individual constituents (such words and morphemes) constitute more complex forms Wilkins (1972, p.11) emphasizes the importance of vocabulary, and he writes: “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” Furthermore, Pyles and Algeo (1970) suppose that “when we first think about language, we think about words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” In fact, vocabulary is the decisive element that links the four skills of speaking, reading, listening and writing all together In order to communicate well in a foreign language, we should acquire a great number of words and know how to use them accurately Nevertheless, vocabulary of both English and Vietnamese has its own features that could raise difficulties for language teachers and learners and makes both teaching and learning English still far from being satisfaction In the process of teaching English, it is recognized that even a simple word like play also makes students confused much due to its syntactic and semantic features and its Vietnamese equivalent In English, the word play can combined with other words to form phrases, clauses and sentences in a language Therefore, it is necessary that the teachers of English acquire adequate knowledge of the word order and the relationships between words In term of semantic features, it has both denotaion and connotaion meanings that learners luan an ... play in English and chơi in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic features lies in the verbal forms and the coordinate possibility of each in the clauses In terms of semantic features, the findings of. .. in English and chơi in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features? 1.4 Scope of the study The present study investigates the syntactic and semantic features of play in English and. .. the following objectives: - To investigate the syntactic features of play in English and chơi in Vietnamese; - To investigate the semantic features of the play in English and chơi in Vietnamese;