A study on the collocations of lexical verb do with Vietnamese equivalents

A study on the collocations of lexical verb "do" with Vietnamese equivalents Đỗ Thị Ngọc Lan Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Dr. Trần Xuân Điệp Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: Although collocations have been studied and viewed from different angles by numerous scholars, it is still an interesting topic which attracts people’s interest. This study investigates the collocations of lexical verb ‘do’. The author only focuses on the most frequent type ‘do + noun phrase’ to analyze. The study starts with providing/offering some theoretical preliminaries, in which the notion of collocation with its definition, classification and characteristics is presented. The researcher also gives some previous studies on collocations. Several previously-conducted studies are then reviewed briefly. The main part focuses on analysis of ‘do + noun phrase’ collocations in different contexts, in which their meanings appeared. Data used in this study are collected from various sources of textbooks, articles, stories, etc. To obtain one of the objectives of the study is to show the Vietnamese equivalents of this type of collocations, we take examples in both English and Vietnamese into consideration. Finally, some major findings are pointed out. The results show that ‘do + noun phrase’ collocations have different Vietnamese equivalents when they occur in different contexts. Keywords: Động từ; Ngữ pháp; Tiếng Anh. Content: iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Methods of the study 3 5. Design of the study 3 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1. English collocation 5 1.1.1. The origin of the word „collocation‟ 5 1.1.2. Definitions of collocation 5 1.1.3. The distinction between free compounds, idioms and collocations 6 1.1.4. Classification of collocation 8 1.1.4.1. In terms of frequent use 8 1.1.4.2. In terms of structure 8 1.1.4.3. In terms of strength 10 iv 1.1.5. Characteristics of collocation 10 1.1.5.1. Collocations are arbitrary 10 1.1.5.2. Collocations are language-specific 11 1.1.5.3. Collocations are not necessarily adjacent 12 1.2. Theory of verbs 13 1.2.1. Definition 13 1.2.2. Classification 13 1.2.2.1. Auxiliary verbs 14 1.2.2.2. Semi-auxiliary verbs 15 1.2.2.3. Lexical verbs (full verbs) 15 1.2.3. The verb „Do‟ in English 15 1.2.3.1. The auxiliary „do‟ 15 1.2.3.2. The lexical „do‟ 16 1.3. Review of some previous studies of collocations 17 CHAPTER 2: COLLOCATIONS OF LEXICAL VERB “DO” WITH VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 20 2.1. Collocations of lexical verb „do‟ with Vietnamese equivalents 20 2.1.1. Form 21 2.1.2. Meanings 22 2.1.2.1. 'Do' for general ideas 22 2.1.2.2. 'Do' for –ing activities 23 2.1.2.3. „Do‟ for „an activity or a task‟ 24 v 2.1.2.4. „Do‟ for „business‟ 27 2.1.2.5. „Do‟ for „sport‟ 27 2.1.2.6. „Do‟ for „subjects of study‟ 29 2.1.2.7. „Do‟ in other cases 29 2.2. Summary 31 CONCLUSION 33 1. Recapitulation 33 2. Limitations of the study 33 3. Suggestions for further studies 34 REFERENCES 35 SOURCES OF DATA 38 1 PART I INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Vocabulary in general plays an important role in any language as we cannot communicate without words. British linguist Wilkins (1972:111) once stated “without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. There is a common assumption that the more words a learner knows, the larger the learner‟s vocabulary knowledge is. However, words are not used alone and separately but go with each other and depend on each other. Words are combined into phrases. There are free phrases and fixed phrases. The latter often confuse learners because there are not any fixed rules for all the combinations. English-as-a-second-language learners often have difficulties treating fixed phrases in their learning process. That is why many learners cannot communicate fluently although they know a lot of words. Therefore, the possible combinations of words or collocations have to be taken into consideration. Although collocation has become the subject of a linguistic study only recently, it arouses a growing interest in numerous linguists and is defined in various ways. Accordingly, there is no exhaustive and uniform definition or categorization of collocation. Therefore, it tends to be one of the most problematic and important area of vocabulary, especially for second language learners. Hill (1999:5) goes so far as to suggest: “We are familiar with the concept of communicative competence, but perhaps we should add the concept of collocational competence to our thinking”. He also claims that non-native speakers have problems “not because of faulty grammar but a lack of collocations”. Along with Hill, McCarthy (1990:12) claims that “collocation deserves to be a central aspect of vocabulary study.” These pieces of evidence done can show the great importance of collocation in acquisition of a language. The author would like to investigate the possibility of combining words into fixed expressions. As mentioned above, phrases are formed by words together. Words in English are classified into different classes in which verbs have always been one of the most complex classes of words because verb, or rather, phrasal verb is the central to the structure of the sentence. 2 According to Palmer (1965:1), “learning a language is, to a very large degree, how to operate the verbal forms, the pattern and the structure of the verb in that language”. There is a question which need to be answer is that how verbs collocate with other classes of word. A verb can collocate with a noun, a preposition, an adjective or even another verb. Verb phrases are then created. Investigating the combinations of verbs must be necessary for improving the students‟ knowledge and lessening their difficulties. As can be seen from the discussion above, collocation is a big area in linguistics. Due to the constraints of time, the focus of this study is only on the collocations with the lexical verb „do‟, a rather special and complex verb in English. Since the research is carried out against the Vietnamese backgrounds, the corresponding Vietnamese equivalents are also provided. The research is so entitled “A study on collocations of lexical verb ‘do’ with Vietnamese equivalents”. 2. Aims of the study This study aims at investigating the collocations the lexical verb „do‟ in English. This study is carried out to serve three major purposes: - To give an overview of the concept of collocation with its main features, properties and classification. - To conduct an investigation into the collocations of lexical verb „do‟ - To give Vietnamese equivalents of collocations of „do‟. In order to get the above-aims, the following questions need to be addressed: 1. What are the meanings of „do‟ in a number of English collocations? 2. What are the Vietnamese equivalents of collocations with lexical verb „do‟ in corresponding contexts? 3. Scope of the study This study is confined to the investigation into a very small aspect of vocabulary issue - the collocations of the lexical verb „do‟ in English. The lexical „do‟ is chosen because „do‟ as an 3 auxiliary verb is limited in use for performing negative and interrogative sentences, or avoiding repetition or having emphasis function. Meanwhile „do‟ as lexical verb has a number of meanings when it collocate with other classes of word. In other words, the lexical „do‟ can be in different collocations with different meanings. „Do‟ as a lexical verb can collocate with a noun, a preposition, an adjective or an adverb, etc. Within the framework of an M.A. minor programme thesis, the author has no ambition to cover all the kinds of collocation with the lexical verb „do‟, but only „do + noun‟ collocations, based on the common assumption that this is the most frequent collocation of „do‟ and other kinds are less frequent in use and more often found in dictionaries. Vietnamese equivalents of collocations of „do‟ will be later discussed through analyzing English – Vietnamese examples in different contexts. 4. Methods of the study In order to obtain the above-said aims, the study is carried out basically through the descriptive and qualitative methods. The descriptive method is employed to give in depth and detailed description of collocations of lexical verb „do‟ in English. The work starts with a review of existing study results on collocations to provide a better understanding of the topic. Then different meanings of collocations of lexical verb „do‟ are described, and then examples are provided to illustrate the description. The qualitative method is used in collecting data. Collocations with the lexical verb „do‟ will be collected from different sources such as stories, books, magazines, journals, etc… then analyzed systematically to generalize the uses of these collocations. In addition, a comparative and contrastive view is used to compare and contrast collocations of „do‟ and their equivalents in Vietnamese. The method is, overall, both deductive and inductive. 5. Design of the study This study is composed of three main parts: The first part, Introduction, states reasons for choosing the topic, the aims of the study with the detailed methodology to gain these aims, the scope of the study and the organization of the study. 4 The second part, Development, includes two chapters: Chapter 1: features the review of related literature and the theoretical backgrounds for the study, in which the collocation and the theory of verbs will be discussed. The verb „do‟ will be also identified in terms of grammatical characteristics in structures related to „do‟. Chapter 2: presents and describes concrete cases of collocations with the lexical verb „do‟ with their Vietnamese equivalents in corresponding contexts. The third part is the Conclusion summarizing the main ideas discussed in the previous parts, showing the limitations of the study and providing the suggestions for further studies. 35 REFERENCES 1. Bahns J. 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K Halliday & R.H Robins (Eds.), In memory of J.R Firth (148-162), London: Longman 29 Sinclair J (1991), Corpus Concordance... of J.R Firth (148-162), London: Longman 29 Sinclair J (1991), Corpus Concordance Collocation, Oxford: Oxford University Press 30 Trinh F.N (1995), English collocation: A translator’s problem, Available at http://www.ausit.org/pics/ENGLISHCOLLOCATIONS.doc 31 Wilkins D .A (1972), Linguistics in language teaching, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press . Review of some previous studies of collocations 17 CHAPTER 2: COLLOCATIONS OF LEXICAL VERB DO WITH VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 20 2.1. Collocations of lexical verb do with Vietnamese equivalents. then analyzed systematically to generalize the uses of these collocations. In addition, a comparative and contrastive view is used to compare and contrast collocations of do and their equivalents. against the Vietnamese backgrounds, the corresponding Vietnamese equivalents are also provided. The research is so entitled A study on collocations of lexical verb do with Vietnamese equivalents .