A contrastive study on interjections in english and vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯỢNG A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON INTERJECTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU THÁN TỪ TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2015 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯỢNG A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON INTERJECTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU THÁN TỪ TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr HỒ NGỌC TRUNG Hanoi, 2015 ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A contrastive study on interjections in English and Vietnamese 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, 2015 Nguyễn Thị Phượng Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr Hồ Ngọc Trung Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Hồ Ngọc Trung, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to the teachers at Faculty of Post Graduate, Hanoi Open University and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband, for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT This study sets out to focus on finding out the grammatical, pragmatic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese interjections and discussing the similarities and differences of interjections in English and Vietnamese To achieve this end, descriptive method and contrastive analysis are employed as the major methods In addition to that, experimental method, error analysis and statistical technique are applied as the supporting ones to carry out the research efficiently Basing on the qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study has pointing out the various features of English and Vietnamese interjections Morphologically, both English and Vietnamese interjections can be reduplicative, onomatopoeic, and even they are loan words Syntactically, this special means of expression in the two languages can be in the form of single words, a group of words Also, interjections can combine with another interjection or other word classes to form complete and incomplete sentence In terms of pragmatics, interjections have different functions to convey various states of emotion such as joy, anger, sympathy, surprise, doubts, fears, pity, pain, and the like Furthermore, the cultural aspect is also embeled in interjections of the two languages The above features of interjections and their similarities and dissimilarities are discussed in details in the following chapters iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 2.1 Vietnamese parts of speech classification according to Diệp Quang Ban and Hoàng Văn Thung Table 2.1 Speech Acts‟ classification by Austin and Searle 10 Table 4.1 Interjections as complete reduplication in English 26 Table 4.2 Interjections as partial reduplication in English 27 Table 4.3 Interjections as loan words in English 28 Table 4.4 Interjections as onomatopoeia in English 30 Table 4.5 Interjections as complete reduplication in Vietnamese 32 Table 4.6 Interjections as partial reduplication in Vietnamese 32 Table 4.7 Interjections as loan words in Vietnamese 35 Table 4.8 Interjections as onomatopoeia in Vietnamese 36 Table 4.9 Interjections as word groups in English 38 Table 4.10 Interjections as complete sentences in English 39 Table 4.11 Interjections as incomplete sentences in English 39 Table 4.12 Interjections as single words in Vietnamese 41 Table 4.13 Interjections as group of words in Vietnamese 42 Table 4.14 Interjections as incomplete sentences in Vietnamese 44 Table 4.15 Summary of cultural features of English and Vietnamese 68 interjections iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of tables and figures iv Table of contents v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research 1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 Objectives of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.3 Summary 18 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Research-governing orientations 19 3.2 Research methods 22 3.3 Summary 24 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25 4.1 25 Grammatical features of interjections in English and Vietnamese 4.1.1 Morphological features of interjections in English and Vietnamese 25 4.1.1.1 Morphological features of interjections in English 25 4.1.1.2 Morphological features of interjections in Vietnamese 30 4.1.2 Syntactic features of interjections in English and Vietnamese 36 4.1.2.1 Syntactic features of interjections in English 36 4.1.2.2 Syntactic features of interjections in Vietnamese 40 v 4.1.3 Grammatical similarities and differences of interjections in English 46 and Vietnamese 4.2 Pragmatic features of interjections in English and Vietnamese 48 4.2.1 Pragmatic features of interjections in English 48 4.2.2 Pragmatic features of interjections in Vietnamese 56 4.2.3 Pragmatic similarities and differences of interjections in English and 63 Vietnamese 4.3 Cultural features of interjections in English and Vietnamese 65 4.3.1 Cultural features of English interjections 65 4.3.2 Cultural features of Vietnamese interjections 66 4.3.3 Cultural similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese 69 interjections 4.3.4 Summary 70 4.4 70 Implications of the research for the teaching, learning and translating of English interjections at HUBT 4.4.1 Questionnaire reports 70 4.4.2 Implications of the research for the teaching, learning and translating 72 of English interjections at HUBT 4.4.2.1 Implications of the research for the teaching and learning of 72 English interjections at HUBT 4.4.2.2 Implications of the research for HUBT students to translate 73 English interjections Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 76 5.1 Recapitulation 76 5.2 Concluding remarks 76 5.3 Limitation of the research 77 5.4 Recommendations for a further research 78 REFERENCES vii APPENDICES xii vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It is obvious that communication plays a vital role in our daily lives Communication helps us exchange information, and solve problems at work as well as in our personal situations In addition to that, it is also a great factor to bridge the gap between cultures When communicating, words, phrases, and sentences are widely used to express the speakers‘ opinions and thoughts Furthermore, we even use forms which can be uneasily defined as words, but which have to be seen as phonemic clusters with or without certain meaning assigned to convey various messages These messages might not be ideas or thoughts, but rather feelings or emotions The forms conveying emotional and expressive values used in communication are called interjections In my teaching of English language as well as my research for teaching, a great number of interjections have been found both in literature books and other documents like newspapers, movies and the like However, the teaching of interjections has long been ignored by language teachers in my university in particular and in Vietnam in general In speaking lessons, language teachers fail to provide students with grammatical and pragmatic knowledge of English interjections, which, unfortunately, gives rise to students‘ being unable to establish a successful oral communication when interacting with both native and non-native speakers In addition to that, for nearly ten years of teaching English at Hanoi University of Business & Technology (HUBT), I have experienced that the majority of my students encounter problems in using English interjections Especially, when having interjections in textbooks and relevant materials, they find it difficult to translate these forms into Vietnamese For all the reasons above, I have the desire to research into the field With the study entitled A Contrastive Study of Interjections in English and Vietnamese, I hope the research can help my students in HUBT use and translate English interjections appropriately in every single context 1.2 Aims of the research The study is aimed at finding out the grammatical, pragmatic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese interjections and discussing the similarities and differences of interjections in English and Vietnamese in order that Vietnamese students in general and HUBT students in particular could have a better understanding of interjections and translate them properly according to contexts given 1.3 Objectives of the research The study is intended to: - describe the grammatical, pragmatic and cultural features of interjections in English and Vietnamese - point out the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Vietnamese interjections in terms of grammar, pragmatics and culture - propose the implications of the research to the teaching, learning and translating of English interjections into Vietnamese at HUBT Appendix 2: Summary of the grammatical features of interjections in English and Vietnamese Grammatical features English interjections Vietnamese interjections Ha-ha, ho-ho, bye-bye, Lêu lêu, ha, hằm Reduplication oh-oh, hee-hee, hamana- hằm, ái, này hamana, Reduplication Morphological features Complete hubba-hubba, neenrer-neenrer, tsk-tsk, uh-uh, bye-bye Partial a-ha, ho-hum, holy moly, Hú hồn, a ha, hoan reduplication woo-hoolah-de-dah, yo- hô, ho-ho, tee-hee, va-vavoom Loan words et voilà, blah, ooh, ohh- Thôi, hứ, ôi, ái, alo, a la-la, oyez, hallelujah, lê, bye bye, lạy chúa whoa, ouch, olé Onomatopoeia Boo-hoo, boo-ya, ha-ha, Shh, ẹc, ha, ái, shh, Mmm, bam, boing, boo!boo, bow-wow, hem, piff, plum, swash, tee-tee, tra-ra, tu-whit, tut-tut Syntactic features Interjections as Ack, ah, oh, argh, blah, Này, hừm, ơ, thôi, à, single words eek, er, hey, olé, well, a, dạ, vâng, hả, hử, Mmm, yeah, great, bẩm, nhé, nhỉ, úi, wonderful, yes trời, ạ, ái, ôi Interjections as oh my God, oh no, damn ôi giời ơi, ôi trời ơi, group of words lunatic, Good heavens, khổ quá, ôi trời cao or for crying out loud đất dày ơi, chao ôi, Lạy trời lạy đất, lạy chúa, thì, ôi xv Interjections as complete sentences Interjections God blesses you! Con lạy cụ God saves me! Mà có trời biết! God heavens Khổ thân tôi! as Urgh, what a mess! Quý hóa quá! incomplete How generous! Đời, đời! sentences What a nuisance! Nguy mất! Wow, what luck! Lộn hết ruột! Oh, what a surprise! Thật ầm ĩ! Cha bố tiên nhân nhà mà ày! Kệ bố nhà! Kệ tiên nhân vợ! Khốn nạn cho thị lắm! Operational form Positive - A meeting of minds! interjections - Great! Well done! Chà/ Sướng quá/ Gớm/ Ừ /Úi ôi/ Thượng đế ôi /Lạy chúa/ Chao buồn! Negative - Oh no! - Bẩm không interjections - Không đời Interrogative - Oh yes? - Thế ạ? interjections - Yeah? - Mừng à? - Really? - Thật ư? xvi Appendix 3: Summary of the Pragmatic Features of Interjections in English and Vietnamese Pragmatic features English interjections Suggested Vietnamese equivelents Expressing advice Oh, well, er Ơ, ấy, chết nỗi, kìa, này, thôi, Expressing anger Oh, no, damn lunatic, À, hừm, này, tức thật, fiddle-dee-dee, hmph Showing compliments Oh, hey, yeah, well done, Này, ừm, chà, giỏi, tốt, Mm tuyệt vời, tuyệt quá, quý hóa Showing complaints Oh, fiddle-dee-dee, well, Ôi, ô hay, hừm, giời ạ, oh my god, oh my trời/giời ơi, ôi giời ôi, godness chao ôi, thượng đế ôi, ôi Conveying Oh, well, oh my god À, khổ quá, này, nè Hurrah, wow, oh my A, ơ, sướng quá, hoan hô, god, cheer, woah Oh, fiddle-dee-dee, uh- A, á, ờ, ôi, ô hay, ấy, dạ, huh, yeah, yes, good, hừm, vâng, ừ, phải đấy, well tốt Ah, oh, er, uh, um, Mm, Ơ, để xem đã…, ờ, dạ, Mmm, well mời… Oh, no, yeah, well, Mmm Chết nỗi, dạ, ấy, ơ, kìa, clarification/explanation Expressing delight or joy Functioned as responses Expressing hesitation Showing refusals bẩm không ạ, Showing surprise Oh, wow, whoa, ờ, ôi, ý, trời/giời ơi, a wonderful, great Expressing doubts Oh, well, um À, ô, ơ, hừm, thật ư, thật không xvii Extending concern, Oh, well, poor you Lạy trời ơi, thì, ôi dào, tội nghiệp quá, sympathy thương Showing fears Ah, no, oh, my god A, á, ơ, ôi, hơ, ôi giời ơi,ối Expressing pity Oh, it‟s a pity, sorry Ôi, dạ, thôi, ồ, ối, trời ơi, ơi, trời đất ơi, ôi trời cao đất dày ơi, tiếc quá, tiếc Conveying pain Ouch Ái, úi, ôi, u, shhhh xviii Appendix 4: English Interjections Interjections Meanings Aah exclamation of fear Ack communicating disgust or dismissal Aha laughing Ahh realization or acceptance Ahem gaining attention Argh frustration Aye denoting agreement Aw dismissive or indicative of disappointment, or expressive of sympathy or adoration Aww something sweet or cute Bingo acknowledging something as right Bah dismissive Blah communicate boredom or disappointment bam suggesting the sound of sudden, hard impact Blech implying nausea Boo an exclamation to provoke fright Boo-hoo imitative of crying Boing reflecting the noise made when a compress spring í suddenly released Boo-ya a cry of triumph Boo-wow imitating the parking of a dog Bwah-hah-hah facetiously mimics the stereotypical archvillain‘s triumphant laugh Bye-bye farewell Eh questioning something Eww something disgusting xix Damn lunatic cursing Duh deriding someone who seems dense Eek indicating an unpleasant surprise Eh dismissive Er playing for time Et voilà there it is Feh an indication of feeling underwhelmed or disappointed Gak an expression of disgust or distaste God blesses you/ God saves me praying Ha expressing joy or surprise, or perhaps triumph haha communicating laughter or derision hallelujah praising the Lord Hamana-hamana implying speechless embarrassment Hardy-har-har communicating mock amusement Hee-hee a mischievous laugh hem the sound made in clearing the throat Hey expressing surprise or exultation, requesting repetition or calling for attention Ho-ho expressive of mirth, indicating triumph of discovery Ho-hum signaling indifference or boredom Holy moly surprise Hubba-hubba the vocal equivalent of a leer Hup from the sound-off a military cadence chant, signaling beginning an exerting task Hurrah an exclamation of triumph or happiness Huh a sign of disbelief, confusion, or surprise, a request for repetition Hist signaling the desire for silence Hm suggesting curiosity, confusion, consternation, or xx skepticism Hmph indicating displeasure or indignation How generous! praising Ick signaling disgust Jesus/Jesus Christ/oh hell/God damn it colloquial swears Lah-de-dah denoting nonchalance or dismissal Mm-hmm an affirmative or corroborating response neener-neener a taunt Oh I see/ I think Oh-oh a warning response to something that will have negative repercussions Oh my god/ my godness/god heavens complaining, praying Oh what a surprise showing surprise Olé a vocal flourish to celebrate a deft or adroit maneuver Ooh conveying interest or admiration Ooh-la-la a response to an attempt to impress Oh no negating Oops making a mistake Ouch exclamation of pain Oy a lament of frustration, concern, or self-pity oyez a cry uttered to call attention piff imitating the sound made by swiftly going bullet through the air Pff expressing disappointment, disdain, or annoyance Pfft communicating abrupt ending or departure xxi Phew communicating disgust, fatigue, or relief plump representing the sound made by a heavy object falling into water Poof imitative of a sudden disappearance Pooh a contemptuous exclamation Pshaw denoting disbelief, disapproval, or irritation, communicating facetious self-consciousness Psst calling for quiet Rah signaling triumph Shh an indication for silence Sis boom bah an outdated encouraging cry, most likely to be used mockingly now Swash! swash imitating the sound of splashing into water Tchah communicating annoyance Tee-tee representing the sound of titter or snicker Tra-ra imitating the sound of a horn Tu-whit imitating the call of an owl Tut-tut refering to the alveolar click functioning as a sort of rejection Uh showing dismay Ugh an exclamation of disgust Um a placeholder for a pause but also denoting skepticism Urgh, what a mess!/what a nuisance! complaining Well done praising Whee an exclamation of excitement or delight Whoa a call to halt or an exclamation of surprise or relief Whew amazement and/or relief Wow/ Wow what luck! expressing surprise or admiration xxii Woo-hoo expressing happiness or excitement Yay/Yaay congratulatory exclamation Yeah variant of ‗yes‘ Yeah, fun, of course confirming Yikes for fear or concern (not serious) Yippee exclamation of celebration Yow an exclamation of surprise or conveys being impressed Yuck signaling disgust Yum a response to the taste of something delicious and, by extension, the sight of an attractive person Zoinks an expression of surprise or amazement popularized by the cartoon character Shaggy, of Scooby Doo fame Zowie expressing admiration or astonishment xxiii Appendix 5: Vietnamese interjections Vietnamese Interjections Meanings Ơ, ấy, chết nỗi, kìa, này, thôi, nào, giving advice À, hừm, này, tức thật, hừ, hằm hằm expressing anger Này, ôi, ừm, chà, giỏi, tốt, tuyệt vời, tuyệt showing compliments quá, quý hóa Ôi, ô hay, hừm, giời ạ, trời/giời ơi, ôi giời ôi, complaining chao ôi, thượng đế ôi, ẹc, mà có trời biết, lộn hết ruột, thật ầm ĩ, chà, chà À, khổ quá, này, nè conveying clarification/explanation A, ơ, sướng quá, hoan hô, expressing delight or joy A, á, ờ, ôi, ô hay, ấy, dạ, hừm, vâng, ừ, phải đấy, functioning as responses tốt, Ơ, để xem đã…, ờ, dạ, mời… expressing hesitation Chết nỗi, dạ, ấy, ơ, kìa, bẩm không ạ, thôi, showing refusals ờ, ôi, ý, trời/giời ơi, a, ồ, ô showing surprise À, ô, ơ, hừm, thật ư, thật không, expressing doubts Lạy trời ơi, thì, ôi dào, tội nghiệp quá, extending concern, sympathy thương quá, A, á, ơ, ôi, hơ, ôi giời ơi,ối showing fears Ôi, dạ, thôi, ồ, ối, trời ơi, ơi, trời đất ơi, expressing pity ôi trời cao đất dày ơi, tiếc quá, tiếc Ái, úi, ôi, u, shhhh, ái conveying pain Lêu lêu, ôi mocking Hú hồn, lạy chúa, trời ơi, lạy trời lạy đất, hú vía praying A lô starting a phone call Bye bye, tạm biệt, chào saying goodbye Vĩnh biệt goodbye forever Xin chào saying hello xxiv A lê going ahead Cha bố tiên nhân nhà mày, khốn nạn, mẹ kiếp, colloquial swears kệ bố Nỡm lắm, phải gió loving terms Không đời nào, bẩm không negating Kia giving direction Thôi chết regretting xxv Appendix A SURVEY ON THE USE AND TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH INTERJECTIONS (Please complete the form by writing in the spaces or putting an “X” (your choice) All the information here will be used for the analysis in the MA Thesis interjections  Gender:  on English and Vietnamese only, not for any other purposes.) male female Age : Do you know what interjection is? Yes No How often you use English interjections? always often sometimes never How often you meet interjections in your course books? always often sometimes never During the lessons, when meeting interjections, what your teachers do? explain thoroughly explain unclearly ignore Which feature of English interjections you find most interesting in? grammatical one pragmatic one cultural one xxvi Which feature of English interjections you find easiest to recognize? grammatical one pragmatic one cultural one Which feature of English interjections you find the most difficult to recognize? grammatical one pragmatic one cultural one Personally, which area of English interjections you have better understanding of? their grammartical features their pragmatic features their cultural features In daily communication, how often you have the habbit of using English interjections? Always often sometimes never 10.In translation, if encountering an English interjection, how often you translate it into Vietnamese? always often sometimes never 11.If you have to translate English interjections into Vietnamese, you pay attention to their cultural aspect? Yes, always Yes, sometimes Yes, often No, never 12.In your opinion, who use interjections more often? The English The Vietnamese 13.What you think of English interjections? Very useful A bit useful Nothing special xxvii 14 In your coming academic year, you wish to have some lessons for learning about English interjections? Yes, a lot Yes, a little No, it‘s useless 15 Translate the following dialogue into Vietnamese: - ―Last year, I rode my bike across the United States.‖ - ―Wow! How long did it take you?‖ …………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………… 16 Translate the following sentence into Vietnamese: Hmm Well, listeners, we are going to take a short break, but if you have a question for Barbara, now‟s the time, so get on the phone and call… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… 17 Translate the following dialogue into Vietnamese: - While cleaning the house, I found a dead rat under the bed - Ew! …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… 18 Translate the following sentence into Vietnamese: Oh my God John, your hair is so beautiful that I want to make my home …………………………………………………………………………… 19 Translate the following sentence into Vietnamese: What will happen to us next? God only knows! xxviii …………………………………………………………………………… 20 Translate the following dialogue into Vietnamese: Good morning every one! Today I would like to talk about our company‟s new product …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your time! xxix [...]... functions, and discourse type constraints of German interjections, in particular ha and na The data consist of two sets of child-adult conversations—picture book interactions in family and psychodiagnostic settings By comparing the adults and the children‘s use of interjections, it was revealed that children had managed to acquire interjectional forms and functions as well as discourse type constraints According... both qualitative and quantitative firstly to collect and analyze the data Then, it is to describe the grammatical, pragmatic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese interjections and to find out the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Vietnamese interjections In the thesis, both primary and secondary data will be employed so that I can have more sources of information to complete... different English and Vietnamese books, research works and internet sources These examples are most common-used interjections in English and Vietnamese Accordingly, the data are likely to provide a detailed description of how interjections are used in different contexts 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques Once data have been collected, they are classified and analyzed basing on their meanings and functions in. .. reduplication There‘s rhyming reduplication (razzle-dazzle, hoitytoity), exact reduplication (bye-bye, din-din), ablaut reduplication (dingdong, zig-zag), and shm-reduplication (baby-shmaby, fancy-schmancy) http://blog.dictionary.com/reduplication/ Concerning the relationship between interjections and reduplicatives, interjections and reduplicatives are said to have a partial relationship to each other An... other An interjection can be a reduplicative and a reduplicative may act as an interjection However, only a small number of reduplicatives are interjections When an interjection is formed by a partial or complete reduplicative, its value can be greater This can be said that reduplicatives play a role in the practical value of interjections 2.2.3.4 Interjections and onomatopoeia The term onomatopoeia is... explicatures‖ (2001: 148) Therefore, he regards interjections as ―indicators of higher-level explicatures containing speech-act, or propositional-attitude information‖ (2003: 54) Lin (2006) studied the language of emotion in Kavalan and found that the four primary interjections in Kavalan, one of many aboriginal languages in Taiwan, signal different attitudes of the speaker Chao (2009) investigated exclamations... studies above, it is obvious that researchers in Vietnam as well as in other countries have gained deep insights and made significant findings in this field However, the contrastive study of Interjections in English and Vietnamese still awaits deeper investigation, which is why the present study hopes to fill in the gap to make significant contribution to the teaching, learning and translating English Interjections. .. ơi, and the like 2.2.3.2 Classification of interjections Ameka (1992) categorised interjections in terms of functions into three types They are: (i) Expressive interjections (ii) Conative interjections (iii) Phatic interjections David Cram (2008) considers interjections as a peripheral part of speech, as minor sentence type, and a unit on the margins of language Diệp Quang Ban (2009) classifies interjections. .. form and the meaning 14 Regarding the relationship between interjections and onomatopoeia, interjections may relate to onomatopoeia in some ways As interjections express our emotional world, it can be words or group of words resembling a sound Accordingly, some onomatopoeia may be interjections like ẹc, ha ha However, onomatopoeic words are various, only some of this type can play the role of an interjection... grammatical, pragmatic and cultural features Since the thesis is conducted by a descriptive and contrastive analysis, English is considered the target language and Vietnamese is the source one The data collected are qualitatively processed to investigate the similarities and differences of interjections in English and Vietnamese in terms of grammar, pragmatics and culture The specific steps used in the