Negative questions in english and vietnamese – a contrastive analysis

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE- A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS (CÂU HỎI PHỦ ĐỊNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT, PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU) VŨ VĂN HỮU Hanoi, 2016 VŨ VĂN HỮU ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2014 - 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE- A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS (CÂU HỎI PHỦ ĐỊNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT, PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU) VŨ VĂN HỮU Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Nguyễn Đăng Sửu, Ph.D Hanoi, 2016 Certificate of originality I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled Negative questions in English and Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except for the indicated reference, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2016 Vu Van Huu Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr Nguyen Dang Suu (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… 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 Nguyen Dang Suu, 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 my lecturers and many others at University, without their 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 for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work Abstract This paper focuses on English and Vietnamese negative questions in term of structures and word using The author wishes only to concentrate on three types of negative questions: negative Yes/ No question, negative Whquestion and negative alternative question The thesis is divided into five charters The similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese negative questions have been analysed and pointed out Moreover, this research also helps learners and teachers improve their language competence in order to avoid mistakes and have a deep understanding of negative questions as well The thesis mainly focuses on the structures of three main types of negative questions in English and Vietnamese, the negative words that are used in negative questions are also considered However, semantic features have been initially investigated; a deeper approach to the pragmatic feature is suggested for further study TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality …………………….……………………… … ….…… i Acknowledgements…………………….……………………………………….…… ii Abstract………….…………………………………………………….………… … iii Contents……………………………………………………………….…… …….… iv 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…………………………………………….… 2.2.1 Interrogative sentence in English and Vietnamese in brief……………… 2.2.1.1 Definition of questions…………………………………………… 2.2.1.2 Classification of questions in English and Vietnamese…………… 2.2.2 Negation in English…………………………………………….……… … 10 2.2.2.1 Definition of negation…………………………………………….… 10 2.2.3 The semantic approach to English negative questions…………………… 10 2.3 Summary……………………………………………….……… ……………… 13 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research-governing orientations…………………………………………….… 14 3.1.1 Research approach…………………………………………….……… … 14 3.1.2 Research questions…………………………………………….……… … 14 3.1.3 Research setting…………………………………………….……… …… 14 3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis………… 15 3.2 Research Methods…………………………………………….……… ………… 15 3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods………………………………… 15 3.2.2 Data collection techniques…………………………………………….…… 15 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques…………………………………………….…… 16 3.3 Summary…………………………………………….……… ………………… 16 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Negative questions in English…………………………………………….…… 17 4.1.1 Negative questions in English……………………………………………… 18 4.1.2 Negative Wh- questions…………………………………………….……… 20 4.1.3 Negative alternative questions……………………………………………… 21 4.2 Negative questions in Vietnamese…………………………………………….… 23 4.2.1 Negative Yes/No questions………………………………………………… 23 4.2.2 Negative WH – questions…………………………………………….…… 25 4.2.3 Negative alternative questions……………………………………………… 27 4.3 Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese negative 28 questions.…………………………………………….……… ……………………… 4.3.1 Similarities between English and Vietnamese negative questions……… … 28 4.3.1.1 Yes/No questions…………………………………………….……… 28 4.3.1.2 Negative Wh- questions……………………………………………… 33 4.3.1.3 Negative alternative questions……………………………………… 35 4.3.2 Differences between English and Vietnamese negative questions………… 37 4.3.2.1 Yes/No questions…………………………………………….……… 37 4.3.2.2 Negative Wh- questions…………………………………………… 40 4.3.2.3 Negative alternative questions…………………………………… 42 4.4 Summary…………………………………………….……… ………………… 44 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the findings…………………………………………….……… … 45 5.2 Implication for teaching and learning………………………………………… 46 5.3 Suggestion for further studies…………………………………………….…… 47 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………… 48 Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research English is not the most widely spoken language in the world in terms of the number of native speakers there are many more Chinese speakers than native English speakers but Chinese is spoken little outside of Chinese communities, so English is the most widespread language in the world It is difficult to estimate exactly how many English speakers there are, but according to one estimate there are more than 350,000,000 native English speakers and more than 400,000,000 speakers of English as a second language (a language used in everyday life, even though it is not the native language) or foreign language (a language studied but not used much in everyday life) However, even these numbers not really indicate how important English is as a world language, because less than fifteen percent of the world population use English The importance of English is not just in how many people speak it but in what it is used for English is the major language of news and information in the world It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control, and it is used even for internal air traffic control in countries where it is not a native language In communicative process in English as well as in other languages, questions play an important role in our daily life We are not able to keep communicating going on well without asking questions We ask in order to exchange information, ideas, feeling and knowledge On the other hand, we sometimes ask questions not for the above purposes but for confirmation, placed before the subject, and the word not is placed after the subject However, when contractions are used, the contracted form of not “n’t” follows immediately after the auxiliary Questions in Vietnamese are usually formed by adding the negators: “không”, “chưa”, “chẳng” or “chả” which are normally placed after the subject and before the predicate in combination with “ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ gì/ sao/ ư/ phải khơng/ chứ” which occur in final position Sometimes “chẳng phải/ không phải/ chả phải/phải chăng/ / / chả phải là” in presubject position is used in combination with “à/ sao/ hay sao/ gì/ sao” in final position “Chẳng lẽ (nào)/(có) lẽ nào”/ có in presubject position can be used in combination with negator “không/ chẳng/ chưa/ chả” before the predicate E.g.1: Can’t you drive straight? (Anh lái thẳng sao?) The sentence means that I think you are able to drive straight but it’s obvious that you don’t want to drive straight [22.47] E.g.2: Have I not asked you again and again to be here on time?Chả phải nhiều lần đề nghị anh đến hay sao? E.g.3: Doesn’t that sound rather like tempting Providence? Nói khơng sợ quyến rũ thượng đế à? E.g.4: Aren’t you coming in, Robert?’: Anh không vào ăn hay sao, Rôbớt? b Negative tag question + Structure: Negative tag questions are formed by an affirmative statement and a negative tag, or negative statement and affirmative tag The choice and tense 38 of the operator are determined by the verb phrase in the statement In English: Affirmative statement + negative tag ? Negative statement + affirmative tag? In Vietnamese: CN+ khơng /chẳng … +đt,+ có phải/có dúng khơng? E.g: +Robert, it is not true, is it? Anh Rôbớt, khơng đúng, có phải khơng? + You didn’t your homework, did they? Em khơng làm tập, có không? + Function: Negative tag questions are used in order to ask for confirmation of the affirmative statement In general, contractions are used in negative tag questions Tag questions in Vietnamese are used to confirm speaker’s belief Some fixed expressions can be used after the affirmative statement such as “(có) khơng”, “(có) phải khơng” Or “khơng phải”, “khơng đúng” are used in combination with particles like “à/ à/ hả/ nhỉ/ hả/ nhỉ/ chứ/ ư/ sao” E.g.6: He came home late, didn’t he? [22.51] E.g.7: You haven’t seen Ron or Hermione, have you? Said Harry [11.193] E.g.8: You will wait and have some tea, won’t you? Ơng đợi lát uống trà với chúng tơi nhé? [22.120] 39 E.g.9: I’ll see you soon again, Arthur, shan’t I? Ơng Actơ, tơi gặp lại ơng sau nhé? [22.122] 4.3.2.2 Negative Wh- questions a structure In English questions, WH – word usually comes first However, in Vietnamese, it is not necessary to invert interrogative words to the beginning of the questions In Vietnamese questions, interrogative pronouns are located in the place of the word they replace They can come first, jump in the middle or come at the end of the questions In some cases, the interrogative pronouns are inverted to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis E.g.1: Why haven’t you finished your homework yet? - Sao mà chưa làm xong tập? - Vì mà chưa làm xong tập? - Thế mà chưa làm xong tập vậy? - Vì mà chưa làm xong tập? - Con chưa làm xong tập sao? - Con chưa làm xong tập nào? - Con chưa làm xong tập nhỉ? Auxiliaries are obligatory in English questions, but they are not in Vietnamese In addition, there is subject- verb agreement in English questions whereas it is not necessary in Vietnamese because Vietnamese 40 verbs have no inflection In other words, verbs in Vietnamese not change their forms according to person or tense like in English Normally, tenses in Vietnamese are distinguished by an adverb of time, time – markers or by the context Some Vietnamese words, for instance “sẽ/ (future), đã/ vừa/ mới/ vừa (past), (progressive)”, are time – markers in the verb phrase and placed before verb As discussed above, negative wh- questions are rare exception for Whyquestions, “who”, “what”, “which”….etc are only used for requesting information, such kind of question is formed by adding “n’t” after auxiliary verb, all come after wh-words However, negator “not” can be put in a post subject position in its full form or pre- subject position in its short form (wh- words can operate in various functions, however, within the scope of this study, the author only focuses on wh- questions that play as objects in sentences) In English: Wh-word +aux/modal verb+n’t+Verb+…? In Vietnamese: CN+ khơng/chưa/chẳng…+ đt + ai/cái gì…? E.g.2: Who don’t you want to live with? Bạn không muốn sống với ai? E.g.3: What haven’t you recognized around here? Cậu chưa nhận diện đây? b Function In Vietnamese questions, modal particles “ạ, hả, nhỉ, ấy, đó, thế, etc.” are often used in the final positions of the sentence in order to express the familiarity and different attitudes between the speaker and the addressee However, in English, intonation and stress can be used to express attitudes E g: Bác chưa vấn ạ? (Respect) 41 (Who don’t you interview?) Tại cậu không thấy mệt nhỉ? (Familiarity) (Why don’t you feel tired?) 4.3.2.3 Negative alternative questions a Structure: These alternative choices in the list are separated by conjunction “or” in English and there are also the kinds of alternative questions in Vietnamese Additionally, Vietnamese use conjunctions hay, hay là, which are equivalent to “or” in English In English, Aux/ modal verb + n’t are put at the beginning of the interrogative structure Whereas, In Vietnamese, the subject appears at the beginning of the sentence and the negator “không/ chẳng/ chưa’ and other particles stands after the subject In English: Aux/modal verb+n’t +Sub+Verb+ N1 or N2…? In Vietnamese: CN + không/ chẳng/ chưa…+ đt1+hoặc+ đt2…? E.g.4: Don’t you like coffee or tea? Anh khơng thích Cà phê hay (khơng thích) trà? In English, Which always comes first and stands before ‘negative part’ However, in Vietnamese, the negative part works as the object in the sentence and the subject appears at the beginning of the sentence The Vietnamese usually use one of the connections like: hay, hay là, hoặc, before the last alternative in this kind of sentence, which usually refers to all the need of the speaker, which is expected to reply by the addressee 42 In English: Which +N+ aux/modal verb+ n’t+ verb, N1 or N2? In Vietnamese: CN +không/chưa/chẳng+đt+ dt + nào, dt1 hay/hay là+dt2? E.g.5: Which car don’t you like, the red or the black one? Anh khơng thích xe tô nào, màu đỏ hay màu đen? E.g.6: Which ice-cream don’t you Cậu khơng thích loại kem nào, sơ cô like, la, va ni hay dâu tây? chocolate, vanilla strawberry? or Loại kem cậu khơng thích, sơ la, va ni hay dâu tây? In conclusion, we can see that the construction of English and Vietnamese negative interrogative sentences have both differences and similarities, in which differences play a larger part The main reason making this difference is while English has the inversion of auxiliary verbs in most kinds of negative interrogative sentences; Vietnamese just adds question words into the statement and keep the word order the same There is no inversion in Vietnamese negative interrogative sentences b Funtion In English negative alternative questions, Wh- words always come first while they may be at the beginning or in the middle of the question just before the last alternative item Except for the case in which wh- words functioned as the subject of the question, all English negative alternative questions have subject- operator inversion while Vietnamese ones not There is subject- verb agreement in English negative alternative 43 questions while it is not necessary in Vietnamese ones 4.4 Summary In this chapter, I would like to make a comparison between main types of questions in English and in Vietnamese I am trying to find out to what extent the things I want to compare are equivalent and different so as to realize how the Vietnamese language affect the Vietnamese learners of English in the process of learning 44 Chapter CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the findings The study has analyzed and discussed a contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese The main contents of the topic are presented in five chapters The structures of English negative questions (negative Yes/No-question, negative Wh-questions, and negative alternativequestions) have been described and compared with Vietnamese equivalents to find out the similarities and differences to help learners fully understand them in both languages Moreover, the information status and some semantic aspects have been investigated to certain extent to lay the foundation for the work of contrastive analysis And another more important part in my study is to find how to use “not” in English negative questions and “không”, “chưa”, “chẳng”, “chả” in Vietnamese equivalents The position of “not” and “không” in English and Vietnamese negative sentence is often similar, they are both placed before the verbs However, in negative questions, “không” in Vietnamese is not placed before the subject meanwhile “not” can be place before or after subject (negative full form and negative short form) The differences in position of “not” and “không” in two languages sometimes lead students to commit mistakes To help learners to avoid these mistakes, some solutions are suggested for both teachers and learners The author has also drawn out some forms of exercises to practice I hope that my study on the contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese equivalents can help other learners and I myself know how to use English negative questions correctly and profoundly Moreover, this study also helps us to improve the language competence in order to avoid mistakes and have a deep understanding about negative questions as well 45 However, because of limited time and experience, I am not being able to give more details for my subject, the mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable All the constructive criticism and valuable comments are highly appreciated 5.2 Implication for teaching and learning Teaching and learning English, to some people, are easy tasks, but to some others, it is really a hard-solving problem The reason for any difficulties facing these people can be various, may be they lack a “natural ability” or they not have suitable methods for teaching and learning Generally speaking, English negative questions are not the same as its Vietnamese equivalents, so for students, they must be aware of the structures and know how to use English negative questions for different purposes Therefore a lot of practice is needed to master in order to be successful and effective in using English Besides, mistakes are inevitable during the learning process However, those mistakes are not strange, the important thing is that students can find the causes of those mistakes to correct them and try their utmost to avoid them The responsibilities of language teachers are giving lectures and helping students to understand and use the language correctly and effectively For each type of lessons, teachers can app-ly different teaching methods It is a must to focus on structures and lexical devices when introducing English negative questions to Vietnamese learners Moreover, teachers should not worry about the mistakes of their students; on the contrary, they should let their students know that the mistakes are common and unavoidable Because no one can master everything, so our students Guiding students to correct the mistakes is more important and helpful However, in order to achieve the success, it is necessary to have attempts of both teachers and learners 46 5.3 Suggestions for further studies This paper has conducted the investigation into English and Vietnamese negative questions, and the author has subjectively drawn out some findings about the structures and lexical devices that are used in English and Vietnamese negative questions The author has put a lot of efforts on this study and also got much help from teachers, friends and family However, for such a large topic as this, it requires much more efforts, time and knowledge to cover, therefore, the study can not avoid imperfection and limitation Though, for further research, the author hopes this study to be a useful reference material and suggest that: A study on the semantic and pragmatic approach to English and Vietnamese negative questions A study on the lexical devices used in English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents 47 Bibliography English: Alexander, L.G.(1990) Longman English Grammar Practice for Intermediate Students Essex: Longman Angela, D., & Locke, P (2003) A university course in English grammar London and New York: Routledge Anne Seaton (2007) Basic English Grammar book 1,SaddlebaEducational Publishing, Inc Azar, B S (2000) Understanding and Using English Grammar New York: Longman D Robert Ladd (1981), A First Look at the Semantics and Pragmatics of Negative Questions and Tag Questions, Bucknell University and University of Pennsylvani Eastwood, J (1994) Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Feigenbaum, I (1985) The grammar handbook New York: Oxford University Press Frank, M, (2005), Modern English, A practical reference guide, New Jersy: Prentice Hall Hewings, M (1999) Advanced Grammar in Use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10 JK Rowling, (1997), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 48 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, England 11 JK Rowling, (1998), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, England 12 Master, P (1996) System in English grammar: An introduction for language teachers New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents 13 Quirk, R (1973) A university Grammar of English England: Longman 14 Swan, M (2004) Practical English Usage Oxford: Oxford University Press 15 Wilder, O (1998), An Ideal Husband, Methuen Drama, printed in Vietnam 49 Vietnamese: 16 Ban, Diệp Quang (2002), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (tập 2), NXB Giáo dục 17 Ban, Diệp Quang (2004), Ngữ Pháp Việt Nam- phần câu, NXB Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội 18 Cẩn, Nguyễn Tài (1999), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt, NXB DHQG Hà Nội 19 Dân, Nguyễn Đức (1998), Logic Và Tiếng Việt, NXB Giáo dục 20 Hạo, Cao Xuân (2003), Tiếng Việt- Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, NXB Giáo dục 21 Lan, Lý dịch (2005), Harry Potter & Hòn Đá Phù Thuỷ, NXB Trẻ 22 Lan, Lý dịch (2005), Harry Porter & Phòng chứa Bí mật, NXB Trẻ 23 Phê, Hoàng (2002), Từ điển Việt Nam, NXB Đà Nẵng, Đà Nẵng 24 Sửu, Nguyễn Đăng (2010), Đặc Điểm Của Câu Hỏi Tiếng Anh Đối Chiếu Với tiếng Việt, NXB Khoa học Xã hội, Hà Nội 25 Thiêm, Lê Quang (2004), Nghiên cứu đối chiếu ngôn ngữ, NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Hà Nội 50 Websites: 26 http://en.allexperts.com/q/English-Second-Language-1815/English-negativequestions-1.htm 27.http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/19011-responding-negativequestions.html 28 http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/usage/negative-forms.htm 51 ... English negative questions in English and Vietnamese - a contrastive analysis focuses on English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents within the frame of negative structures The three main... questions and we can be able to use it flexibly and fluently The contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese negative questions also reveals the similarities and differences in both languages... some necessary approaches of the research, data collection, data analysis Chapter is devoted to the analysis and comparison of semantic features of English and Vietnamese negative questions,