The experiential structure of nominal group in English and Vietnamese Triệu Thành Nam Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Nguyễn Huyền Minh Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract. The Experiential Structure of Nominal Group in English and Vietnamese is an investigation into the experiential functions of nominal groups in English and Vietnamese in the light of Systemic Functional based on which lots of studies and researches have been done with great achievements claimed in the teaching and learning practice. The thesis is to reach an understanding of the experiential structure of English and Vietnamese nominal groups. For that to be done, there are description and interpretation of experiential functions comprising English nominal groups. Based on the description and interpretation done on English, Vietnamese nominal groups are examined. Examples of Vietnamese nominal groups are marked for potential functional positions, and then component element(s) in each position is/are examined and discussed carefully. The aim of these analyses is to build up a functional structure pattern for Vietnamese nominal groups. The present author also tries to point out similarities and differences in the experiential structure of English and Vietnamese nominal groups based on the description and interpretation having been done. This is done through the analyses of lots of Vietnamese nominal groups and their English translation ones. The study has concluded that the similarities in the experiential structure of English and Vietnamese nominal groups are related to the functions of Numerative, the post-Qualifier elements, and the realization of each experiential function. In both English and Vietnamese nominal groups, the function of Numerative occurs in the pre-position, before the Head/Thing. If the post-Qualifier elements are phrases and/or clauses, their occurrence is the same in nominal groups of the two languages. English and Vietnamese nominal groups also share the similarity in the realization of experiential functions. The differences lie in the ordering pattern of the experiential functions in the nominal group of the two languages. In English nominal groups, moving from the left to the right, there appear the experiential functions from of the greatest specifying potential to of the least specifying potential; in Vietnamese ones, the process of specifying the Head/Thing is in the opposite direction. Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Tiếng Việt; Cụm danh từ; Ngữ pháp Content PART 1: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale for the study 1 II. Scope of the study 2 III. Research Questions 2 IV. Methods of the study 2 V. Methods of Analysis 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENTS CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE I. Systemic Functional Grammar 4 II. Noun Phrase or Nominal Group: The problem of labeling 5 III. Noun Phrase/Nominal Group in Different Schools of Grammar 6 1. Noun Phrase in Structural Grammar and Generative Transformational Grammar 6 2. Noun Phrase in Functional Discourse Grammar 7 3. Nominal Group in Systemic Functional Grammar 8 IV. The Nominal Group in English 9 1. An overview of English Nominal Group 9 2. The experiential structure of the nominal group in English 11 2.1. Premodifier 11 2.1.1 Deictic 11 2.1.2. Numerative. 13 2.1.3. Epithet 13 2.1.4. Classifier 13 2.2. The Head: The Thing 15 2.3. The Postmodifier – the Qualifier 16 3. Summary on the experiential structure of the nominal group in English 16 CHAPTER 2: NOMINAL GROUP IN VIETNAMESE I. An overview of studies on Vietnamese Nominal Group 18 II. Nominal Group in Vietnamese 19 2.1 The Head: the Thing 20 2. 2. Premodifier 23 2.2.1. Position (-1) 24 2.2.2 Position (-2): Cái 24 2.2.3. Position (- 3) 25 2.2.4. Position (- 4) 26 2.3. Postmodifier 26 2.3.1. The Postmodifier is a word 26 2.3.1.1. Position (1): Classifier 26 2.3.1.2 Position (2): Epithet 27 2.3.1.3 Position (3): Deictic 27 2.3.2. The postmodifier is a phrase or clause 28 CHAPTER 3: STRUCTURAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF THE NOMINAL GROUP IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH I. Similarities. 29 1.1. NGs in English and Vietnamese have the same logical structure 29 1.2. The similar realization of the experiential functions 30 1.3. The Numerative occurs before the Head 30 1.4. The structural similarity in the post-position phrases and clauses 30 II. Differences 31 2.1. The function of Deictic 31 2.2. The function of Epithet 32 2.3. The function of Classifier 32 III. Concluding Remark 33 PART 3: CONCLUSION 36 List of Reference 38 INTRODUCTION I. Rationale for the study Over the last few decades, the modern linguistics has seen the remarkable developments of functional linguistics in which the theory of systemic functional grammar developed by Halliday is said to have the greatest influences. Vietnamese linguistics has also initiated new trends, basing on the functional grammars. Some Vietnamese linguists, such as, Cao Xuan Hao with Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng (1991), Hoang Van Van with Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức năng hệ thống (2001), and Diep Quang Ban with Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt (2008) are the first to apply the theory of Systemic functional grammar into the interpretation of Vietnamese language. And their studies marked new important changes in the approaches to Vietnamese language. These works have settled a functional base for other further studies on Vietnamese under the light of the Systemic functional grammar. In these works, functional aspects and relationships, such as the issues of Theme, Mood, and Process of transitivity of clauses have been described. Besides, structures below clauses, such as, nominal groups, also have received some interpretations. However, on Vietnamese language in general and Vietnamese nominal groups in particular, there have to be more functional studies because theory of functional grammar can be still considered "new" in Vietnamese linguistics. That, in other words, means the number of people who know and pay attention to it is still limited. On Vietnamese nominal groups, although there have been some studies, the issue still has some questions to be answered and some debates to be solved, and needs further investigations. One question raised to be answered is: Can the experiential functions in Vietnamese nominal groups be clearly determined based on the systemic functional grammar? One debate that has not been solved completely is about the determination of the component element(s) of the Head and Thing in Vietnamese nominal groups. Furthermore, for Vietnamese learners of English, the full understanding of nominal groups in English and Vietnamese has been proved to be of the great importance, especially, when they want to develop skills of high proficiency, such as translation. As a matter of fact, dense scientific terms, expressions of complicated abstract issues, etc. are in the forms of nominalization, and their meanings are not easy to be grasped. The understanding of the experiential functional components and the effects that each component can have on the whole meaning of the nominal group in the two languages can help much in this case. Those discussed above are the reasons for doing this thesis which is titled: The Experiential Structure of Nominal Groups in English and Vietnamese. II. Research Questions The aims of the study are stated in the following research questions: 1. How are Nominal Groups in English and Vietnamese constructed in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar? 2. What are the similarities and differences in the functional construction of the Nominal Group in English and Vietnamese? III. Scope of the study As can be inferred from the research questions, the study focused on the experiential functions of nominal groups in the two languages. The study is to describe the experiential functional components of which the nominal group is comprised. Based on the descriptions, the comparison between English and Vietnamese nominal groups will be made. Due to limited time, the issue of reference of nominal group/noun phrase is put out of the study. That will lead to the fact that some relevant structural features of the nominal group will not be discussed fully. The study is within the nominal group structure and the relations of its functional components. Nominal groups that are used for the description and demonstration tend to be of the standard ones. IV. Methods of the study The basic methods used in this thesis are descriptive and contrastive methods of language research. First, a description of NG in English is given in the chapter of theoretical background and literature review, and then that in Vietnamese will be done in the next chapter. Nominal groups that are used as examples for analyses and descriptions are taken from books of different genres in English and Vietnamese. The contrastive method is used to figure out the similarities and differences between nominal groups in the two languages. V. Methods of Analysis To answer the first question, with the Systemic Functional approach the study will look into the structures of the nominal groups in the two languages. Each functional component of the nominal group will be described separately, and defined first in the interpretation of English nominal groups. In the description of Vietnamese nominal groups, there will be marked positions in the structure; each position will be examined to determine the function that the element in that position realizes. Examples of Vietnamese nominal groups will be used accompanied with their English translations. The answer to the second research question is obtained through comparing the typical orderings of the functional components of the nominal groups in the two languages. For the demonstration of the similarities and differences, examples of English - Vietnamese nominal groups are given. The similarities and differences are intended for further studies and unstated implications for learning and teaching English for Vietnamese learners. References - Bloors, T. & Bloors, M. (1995). The Functional Analysis of English. London: Arnold. - Brown, K (Editor-in-chief). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier, 2005 - Cao Xuân Hạo (1991). Sơ Thảo Ngữ Pháp Chức Năng. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội. - Crystal, D. (1985). Linguistics. London: Penguin. - Crystal, D. (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Diệp Quang Ban (2008). Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục. - Đinh Văn Đức (2001). Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt: từ loại. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. - Eggins, S. (1994). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Continuum, Wellington House. - Hoàng Văn Vân (2002). Ngữ Pháp Kinh nghiệm của cú Tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội. - Halliday, M.A.K (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold - Huddleston, R. (1976). An Introduction to English. Transformational Syntax. London: Longman. - Lyon, J. (1995). Linguistic Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Morley, G.D. (2000). Syntax in Functional Grammar. London: Continuum. - Nguyen Lân (1956). Ngữ Pháp Việt Nam. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục. - Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1996). Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt: Tiếng - Từ ghép - Đoản ngữ Hà Nội:Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. - The Noun Phrase in Functional Discourse Grammar (2008), edited by Daniel Garcia Velasco & Jan Rijkhoff. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. . Minh Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract. The Experiential Structure of Nominal Group in English and Vietnamese is an investigation into the experiential functions of nominal groups in English and. functional component of the nominal group will be described separately, and defined first in the interpretation of English nominal groups. In the description of Vietnamese nominal groups, there will. of the experiential functions in the nominal group of the two languages. In English nominal groups, moving from the left to the right, there appear the experiential functions from of the greatest