The Challenge in a Conceptual Change: Vietnamese Verbs with Tense Markers or Aspect Markers?

18th Annual COTSEAL Conference, July 18-19, 2008 University of Wisconsin - Madison The Challenge in a Conceptual Change: Vietnamese Verbs with Tense Markers or Aspect Markers? Tammie M Tran University of California, Irvine Outline L3 L1 L2 General Introduction Vietnamese word order Vietnamese verbs Position of the verb in the sentence The most important distinction between Vietnamese verbs and the verbs in other languages Verbs – Concept Grammatical meaning Syntactic meaning Lexical and semantic meaning Temporal reference forms Outline (2) L3 L1 L2 Any Possibility?/Challenge in a Change – Tense Marker or Aspect Marker in Viet Language Comparative analysis of distinctions of Vietnamese verbs and verbs in other languages Basic features of tense markers and aspect markers Tense marker or aspect marker? Unavailable qualities in Vietnamese tense markers The qualities of aspect in Vietnamese markers ‘đã, đang, sắp, sẽ, etc.’ Conclusions and pedagogical implications Word Order English Subject - Verb - Object Vietnamese Subject - Verb - Object Vietnamese Verbs Position Most important distinction – No conjugation/no agreement (in terms of subject, gender, number, case) I study my Vietnamese lesson Tôi học tiếng Việt She studies her Vietnamese lesson Cô học tiếng Việt Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts Grammatical meaning Predicate Form - Ø (invaried) Temporal reference Tense Aspect Mood Voice Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts (2) English Vietnamese 1.Tense 1.Thì 2.Aspect 2.Thức 3.Voice Indicative 4.Mood Imperative + - ? Subjunctive 3.Dạng/Thể 4.Cách ≠ * Thể + ≠ - ? Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts (3) Syntactical meaning Verb - vi + vt vt vi Auxiliary verb Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts (4) Lexical and semantic meaning Verbs of action State verbs (Auxilary verbs) Causative verbs Verbs of existence, appearance, disappearance Verbs of feeling or perception Verbs of wish, desire, wants Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts (5) Temporal reference forms expressed by Particles accompanied with verbs Chúng gặp hôm qua We met each other yesterday  Adverbial phrases of time Chúng gặp hôm qua./Hôm qua gặp We met each other yesterday  Grammatical/pragmatic - context Vietnamese Verbs – Concepts (6) Grammatical/pragmatic context Anh bao giờ?/Bao anh về? When did you come back?/ When will you come back? Biết em buông mối hồng Tiếc anh chậm nên đứng ngồi phịng bơ vơ Know that you let loose the pink thread for marriage tie Regret I was slow and stood lonely outside Tense or Aspect Marker? Vietnamese Verbs - Differences Position Conjugation/agreement Temporal expressions Chúng gặp hôm qua We met each other yesterday Chúng gặp hôm qua We met each other yesterday Tense or Aspect Marker? (2) •Tense •Sohn (1995) (p24) ‘Tense is obligatory in Korean’ •Aspect •Sohn (1995) (p24) ‘Aspect is optional in Korean’ Tense or Aspect Marker? (3) •English L2 L5 L3 L1 L4 •Tense – P, Pr, F •Aspect – Perf, Imperf., Progressive, (Simple) •Russian •Tense – P, Pr, F (Anderson, 2006) •Tense + Aspect P, Pr + Perf, Imperf., Prospective (Jakobson, 1957+Anderson,2007) Tense or Aspect Marker? (4) •Korean •Soga (1983) –ru and –ta affixes – noncompleted & completed aspectual markers •Chinese •McEnery and Xiao (2003) ‘Romance languages, French & Spanish: Tense – important (tense languages) Chinese: Aspect – more important (aspect language)’ Tense or Aspect Marker? (5) Vietnamese – Tense? No mandatory No conjugation No S-V agreement (in terms of gender, number, case) Đã, đang, sắp, -He is talking to his students Aspect? Tense - is - Pr Chúng gặp hôm qua Perfective Aspect – be + ing - Progressive Chúng gặp hôm qua Tense or Aspect Marker? (6) Aspects/ Tenses Perfective Perfect Imperfective Perfect + progressive Simple  English Progressive Past Past perfect Past perfect progressive Simple past Past progressive Present Present perfect Present perfect progressive Simple present Present progressive Future Future perfect Future perfect progressive Simple future Future progressive Vietnamese  Aspect -> Perfective Just completed vừa/mới Imperfective Completed Progressive Inceptive About to take place Prospective Yet to take place Conclusions & Pedagogical Implications -Tense/tense markers? -Time frame? -Aspect/aspect markers? -Pedagogical implications Thank you & Comments are welcomed Discussions Tense ?/Time frame ? Aspect ? Mai sau, dù có Đốt lị hương ấy, so tơ phím này: Sometime, if ever you tune this lute, Or light that incense vessel, look outdoors: (Translated by Huynh (1987))  Biết em buông mối hồng Tiếc anh chậm nên đứng ngồi phịng bơ vơ (Know that you let loose the pink thread for marriage tie Regret I was slow and stayed lonely outside)  Discussions (2) Tense ?/Time frame ? Aspect ?  Tối qua, ăn cơm điện thoại reo   Yesterday evening, when I was having dinner, the phone rang Đến cuối năm sau (thì) tơi hồn tất dự án I will have finished this project by the end of next year  Đến cuối năm sau (thì) tơi hồn tất dự án I won’t have finished this project until the end of next year  Đến tháng chín, tơi trở lại trường I won’t be back to school until September