NOMINAL GROUPS USED IN THE FAIRY TALE “CINDERELLA” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled Nominal groups used in fairy tale “Cinderella” from the perspective o

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

PHAM THI HA

NOMINAL GROUPS USED IN THE FAIRY TALE

“CINDERELLA” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

(DANH NGỮ TRONG TRUYỆN CỔ TÍCH ―CINDERELLA‖ THEO QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Hanoi 2018,

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

PHAM THI HA

NOMINAL GROUPS USED IN THE FAIRY TALE “CINDERELLA” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE

OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

(DANH NGỮ TRONG TRUYỆN CỔ TÍCH ―CINDERELLA‖ THEO QUAN ĐIỂM NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Ph.D Do Kim Phuong

Hanoi 2018,

i

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled Nominal groups used in fairy tale “Cinderella” from the perspective

of systemic functional grammar 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, 2018

Pham Thi Ha

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)

PhD Do Kim Phuong

Date:………

I would like to convey my special thanks to all lecturers at the Faculty of Post Studies - Hanoi Open University for their helpful and interesting lectures that broaden my knowledge and lead me to my work

Last but not least, I would like to send my thankfulness to my family and all of my close friends for their love, care, encouragement and financial as well as spiritual supporting for me to fulfill this thesis

iii

ABSTRACT

The purposes of the study are to find out and analyze the nominal groups in a

chosen English fairy tale ‗Cinderella’ in terms of experiential and logical structures and also to see how these groups are used in Vietnamese translation ―Cô bé Lọ

lem” This study is descriptive qualitative study It is kind of method which is

conducted by collecting data, analyzing the data, and drawing representative conclusion

The writer collects and analyzes the experiential and logical structures of nominal

groups used in fairy tale ―Cinderella” then study them in Vietnamese translation

―Cô bé Lọ lem” The number of the data in English is 325 nominal groups, and 120

Vietnamese nominal ones After being documented, the writer analyzes them, as a result, the experiential and logical structures of the nominal groups are identified, and explained in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar

In the study, the English nominal groups are analyzed into 20 experiential structures

In addition, the logical structures of English and Vietnamese nominal groups are

found in the thesis This kind of structure consists of three elements: Premodifier,

Head and Postmodifer which occur in both English and Vietnamese nominal

groups Meanwhile, the change in using the structures of nominal groups in Vietnamese translation is pointed out

From the result of the study, the writer attempts to explore how nominal groups were realized in fairy tales with the hope that it will help the readers to recognize the importance of nominal groups in teaching and learning English The results of

iv

the data can be used for applying Systemic Functional Grammar in language teaching and learning nominal groups in English Especially, it is useful to the reading or to the translating fairy-tales to some extent Additionally, the study helps with correcting students‘ mistakes in writing This exploration enables us to have a better understanding of nominal groups in English and Vietnamese as well

vi

LIST OF FIFURES AND TABLES

Figure 2.1: Functions of Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier and Thing

Figure 2.2: Experiential structure of part of a nominal group

Figure 2.3: Nominal group with (a) prepositional phrase, (b) non-finite clause and (c) finite clause as Qualifier

Table 2.1: Items functioning as specific Deictic

Table 2.2: Determiner functioning as non-specific Deictic

Table 2.3: Adjectives frequently occurring as post-Deictic

Table 2.4: Items (numerals, or [embedded] nominal groups) functioning as

Table 4.3: The experiential structures of nominal groups used in Vietnamese fairy

tale ―Cô bé Lọ Lem”

Table 4.4: The logical structures of nominal groups used in the story “Cô bé Lọ

Lem”

Table 4.5: Nominal groups used in the English fairy tale ―Cinderella” in

comparison with Vietnamese ones in terms of logical structures

vii

Table of contents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF FIFURES AND TABLES vi

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.2.1 Aims 2

1.2.2 Objectives 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Design of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Previous studies 6

2.2 Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar 6

2.2.1 Nominal groups in English 8

2.2.1.1 Experiential structure of nominal group 10

2.2.1.1.1 Deictic 11

2.2.1.1.2 Numerative 13

2.2.1.1.3 Epithet 14

2.2.1.1.4 Classifier 15

viii

2.2.1.1.5 Qualifier 17

2.2.1.1.6 Thing 18

2.2.1.2 Logical structure of nominal groups 20

2.2.1.2.1 Premodifier 20

2.2.1.2.2 Head 20

2.2.1.2.3 Postmodifier 21

2.2.2 Nominal groups in Vietnamese 22

2.2.2.1 An Overview of Studies on Vietnamese Nominal Groups 22

2.2.2.2 The structure of Vietnamese Nominal Groups 23

2.2.2.2.1 The Premodifier 23

2.2.2.2.2 The Head/Thing 24

2.2.2.2.3 The Postmodifier 27

2.3 An overview of fairy tales 27

2.3.1 The definition 27

2.3.2 History of English fairy tales 28

2.4 Summary 29

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 Subjects 30

3.2 Methods 30

3.3 Procedures 31

3.4 Statistical Analysis 32

3.5 Summary 33

CHAPTER 4 THE ANALYSIS OF NOMINAL GROUPS IN FAIRY TALE “CINDERELLA” AND ITS TRANSLATION IN TERMS OF THESTRUCTURES 34

ix

4.1 Nominal groups in English fairy tale ―Cinderella‖ 34

4.1.1 Experiential structure 34

4.1.2 Logical structure 43

4.2 Nominal groups used in Vietnamese translation ―Cô bé Lọ Lem” 45

4.2.1 Experiential structure 45

4.2.2 Logical structure 54

4.3 Suggestions for the studying and teaching nominal groups in terms of structure 59

4.4 Summary 60

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 61

5.1 Summary of Findings 61

5.2 Concluding remarks 62

5.3 Recommendations for Further Study 62

REFERENCES 63 APPENDIX

1

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

It is obvious that English nowadays plays an extremely important role to modern life People all over the world use English as a means of communication; hence, this kind of language has become an international language For all English learners, using English as native speakers or having profound understanding of this kind of language is their desirability

As a learner of English, I had not known about any kinds of English grammar except for Traditional Grammar before I pursed Master degree of Applied of Linguistics I was deeply impressed by one of the most important schools of linguistics, which is called ―Functional grammar‖, especially, when it was put into comparison with another popular subtype of grammar: Traditional grammar According to William (2005) the Traditional grammar was defined as ―the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts about the structures of language that is commonly taught in schools‖

In Traditional Grammar, words are analyzed into such functions as Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O), Complement (C), and Adverbial (A) Also, in this type of grammar sentences are analyzed basing on seven major clause types: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA, SVOO, SVOC, and SVOA All of these rules are presented clear by Quirk et al

(1985) in “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” However, due to

taking linguistic structures as its priority, Traditional grammar has limitations on interpreting the organization of a discourse Hence, Functional Grammar was developed by the linguist Halliday in the 1960s in order to deal with the problems of discourse analysis

Functional grammar emphasizes the ways in which language functions to assist meaning, but also relies upon knowledge, understanding and the use of terms of traditional grammar Functional Grammar compared with other types of grammar focusing on text as a whole (text types) analyzed field meaning what is going on in

2

text; tenor meaning roles, relationships and communication of the participants; mode meaning channel of communication

According to Eggins (1994: 1 cited in Thao, Phuong 2003: 2), “Functional

Linguistics is increasingly being recognized as providing a very useful descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic, meaning-making resource” Halliday and other linguists used the functional model of grammar to

interpret how people use language and how language is structured for use

In Vietnam, there have been some grammarians studying functional grammar: Cao

Xuân Hạo (1991) with the work “Tiếng Việt – Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng”, Hoàng Văn Vân (2002) with “Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú pháp Tiếng Việt- Mô

tả theo quan điểm chức năng”, Halliday M.A.K (2004) with “Dẫn luận ngữ pháp chức năng” (Hoàng Văn Vân dịch), Diệp Quang Ban (2002) with “Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt” and Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1999) with “Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt”

From big love with fairy tales which raised my heart and my soul when I was a child, an academic study on nominal groups in these tales from the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar Using the theory of this grammar which is considered a satisfactory explanation of nominal group as developed by Halliday (1994) and some other system linguists, the study attempts to explore how nominal group realized in a fairy tale with the hope that it will help the readers to recognize the importance of nominal group in teaching and learning English

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

3

1.2.2 Objectives

The study gives such objectives as:

- Presenting and describing nominal groups used in English and Vietnamese

fairy tale ―Cinderella” in terms of experiential and logical structures from the

perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar

- Presenting and describing nominal groups used in Vietnamese

translation ―Cô bé Lọ Lem” in terms of experiential and logical structures from the

perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar

- Giving some suggestions for translating, studying and teaching nominal groups for major students at college and universities

1.3 Research questions

In order to achieve the study‘s objectives, the following research questions need to be raised for exploration are:

- What are the experiential and logical structures of nominal groups used in

English fairy tale ―Cinderella” from the perspective of Systemic Functional

Grammar?

- What are the experiential and logical structures of nominal groups used in

Vietnamese translation ―Cô bé Lọ Lem” in the light of Systemic Functional

Grammar?

- What are suggestions for translating, studying and teaching nominal groups

in fairy tales?

1.4 Methods of the study

The study is confined to the description, analysis and comparison in terms of experiential and logical structures of nominal groups In order to achieve the goal, the approach is inductive, which is based on the data as well as the fairy tale

“Cinderella” and Vietnamese translation “Cô bé Lọ lem”

Firstly, the fairy tale ―Cinderella” will be carefully selected from textbooks,

internet and authentic sources The authenticity is highly appreciated by the authors;

4

most of the tales are, therefore, mainly chosen from authentic sources;

Secondly, the selected fairy tale will be described and analyzed in terms of the experiential and logical structures of nominal groups

Thirdly, the data obtained will be analyzed and compared in order to find out how the nominal groups change in Vietnamese translation

Finally, the research results will be discussed to figure out some suggested ideas to help Vietnamese people translate, teach and learn English

1.5 Scope of the study

The fairy tale ―Cinderella” in both English and Vietnamese is the primary and

useful tools of exchanging ideas, facts, recommendations, proposals and so on Due

to the limitation of a minor thesis, the research cannot explore all the aspects of this broad area but only the experiential and logical structures of nominal group as seen

in Functional Grammar The investigation and analyses have been based on the data

in the fairy tale “Cinderella‖ in both English and its Vietnamese translation

1.6 Significance of the study

This study contributes to providing theoretical background about functional grammar in terms of experiential and logical structures of nominal groups in the

fairy tale “Cinderella”, which is a basis for other authors to make more intensive

researches in the future

Additionally, the author also hopes to point out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese nominal groups in terms of experiential and logical structures Also, it helps with translating, teaching and learning nominal group in fairy tales

1.7 Design of the study

This study is comprised of the following chapters:

5

Chapter 1 is an introduction presenting some background information and the

rationale of the study The aims, the scope, the significance and method of the study are also dealt with in this chapter

Chapter 2 is aimed to present the theoretical background of the work Some

essential concepts closely related to the study are carefully discussed one by one

In terms of Functional Grammar, some concepts such as systemic functional grammar, nominal groups, the Deictic, the Epithet, the Numerative, the Classifier, the Qualifier and the Thing are presented The definition, the history of English fairy tales and the feature of English fairy tales are also mentioned in the chapter

Chapter 3 is established to mention the methods which will be used to study the

thesis

Chapter 4 analyzes nominal groups in the fairy tale “Cinderella” in both English

and Vietnamese translation in the light of Functional Grammar In this chapter, the terms of experiential and logical structures of nominal groups in English and Vietnamese are carefully analyzed to help figure out how they are used and how they change when translating into Vietnamese

Chapter 5 is set up to summarize the whole research Some useful applications for

translating, studying and teaching nominal group are also pointed out in this chapter

of clause structure Mianliang Li brings A Systemic Functional Study of the English

Nominal Group with “a number of” The results of the study show that ―a number of” as a whole is a numerical expression in the English nominal groups

Besides, Mianliang Li conducted ‗A Systemic Functional Study of the English

Nominal Group as Interpersonal and Textual Grammatical Metaphor’ The study

analyses the English nominal groups as interpersonal and textual grammatical metaphor on the basis of the metafunctions in systemic functional linguistics The findings show that interpersonal and textual grammatical metaphor is also a property of the English nominal group

In Vietnamese, Diep Quang Ban focuses on the nominal groups in terms of

structure in general In addition, Cao Xuan Hao provides the data of the trends of Systemic Functional Grammar

However, most of the books and authors mentioned have not fully studied the nominal groups used in a fairy tale in terms of structure from the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar

2.2 Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar

As mentioned above due to taking linguistic structures as its priority, traditional grammar has limitations on interpreting the organization of a discourse Hence, Systemic functional grammar was developed by the linguist M.A.K Halliday in the 1960s in order to deal with the problems of discourse analysis Halliday explained

7

that his grammar is called functional because ―the conceptual framework on which

it is based is functional one rather than a formal one

This kind of grammar emphasizes the ways in which language functions to assist meaning, but also relies upon knowledge, understanding and the use of terms of traditional grammar Functional Grammar compared with other types of grammar

focusing on text as a whole (text types) analyzed field meaning what is going on in

text; tenor meaning roles, relationships and communication of the participants; mode meaning channel of communication

According to Eggins (1994: 1 cited in Thao, Phuong 2003: 2), “Functional

Linguistics is increasingly being recognized as providing a very useful descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic, meaning-making resource” Halliday and other linguists used the functional model of grammar to

interpret how people use language and how language is structured for use

―Language has evolved to satisfy human needs, and the way it is organized is functional with respect to these needs.‖ (Halliday, ibid, xiii)

Halliday’s theory focuses firmly on meaning and he is opposed to the autonomous syntax when he tries to avoid using the term ―syntax‖ and to use his term

―Lexicogrammar‖ as an alternative He claimed that grammar and lexis ―are not totally different kinds of patterning but are part of the same level different in degree‖ Moreover, the line separating Lexicogrammar and Semantics in Systemic functional grammar is not made clear; that is why Systemic functional grammar is (called) the grammar which is pushed into the direction of semantics

In SFG, fundamental components of meaning in language are functional components, and the use and meaning of language are understood as the performance of the 3 metafunctions:

+ The ideational function + The interpersonal function + The textual function

8

These function are realized in every units of language in use ranging from the whole text to phrases and groups and so on It can be said that the theory of 3 metafunctions is the thread line in Systemic functional grammar by Halliday It also helps to distinguish Systemic functional grammar from other functional theories

The ideational metafunction is divided into two subtypes: the experiential and logical metafunctions

- The experiential function is to reflect our experience and understanding of the world, which include all that come from our imagination

- The logical metafuntion works above the experiential It builds up our reasoning on the basis of our experience

The second metafunction is the interpersonal metafunction which comprises the three component areas: the speaker/writer persona, social distance and relative social status, and which serves to establish and maintain social relations The textual metafunction is to provide links of building/setting up discourses By this function,

we can tell a text from a set of sentences randomly mixed together

It can be said that the theory of the three metafunctions is the underlying

background of Systemic functional grammar

2.2.1 Nominal groups in English

Nominal groups in Systemic functional grammar play a very important role They are used to refer to the same things, however, these terms are in different respects of

own reason for his choice

As a functionalist, Halliday has always made himself a distance from formal grammar One of his ways of doing this is trying to avoid formal terms in Systemic functional grammar Therefore, he uses Nominal Group Also, he makes a distinction between the concept of Group and of Phrase A group is defined as ―an expansion of a word‖, whereas a phrase is ―a contraction of a clause‖

In Systemic functional grammar, a nominal group is a group of words which

represents or describes an entity, for example "The kind old English doctor who was

9

standing over there is Mrs Kelly" Grammatically, the wording "The kind old English doctor who was standing over there" can be understood as a nominal group

(a description of someone), which functions as the subject of the information

exchange and as the person being identified as "Mrs Kelly"

Nominal groups in Systemic Functional Grammar is different from Noun phrases in Traditional Grammar The term 'nominal' in 'nominal group' was adopted because it

denotes a wider class of phenomena than the term noun (Halliday 2004: 320)

The nominal group is a structure which includes nouns, adjectives, numerals and determiners, which is associated with the thing under description (a.k.a entity), and

whose supporting logic is Description Logic

Within Halliday's functionalist classification of this structure, he identifies the functions of Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier and Thing The word classes which typically realize these functions are set out in the table below:

Fig 2.1 Functions of Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier and Thing

(Source: Halliday, 2004)

Within a clause, a definite nominal group functions as if it were a proper noun The proper noun (or the common noun when there is no proper noun) functions as

the head of the nominal group; all other constituents work as modifiers of the head

The modifiers preceding the head are called pre-modifiers and the ones after it post

modifiers The modifiers that represent a circumstance such as a location are

called qualifiers English, most post modifiers are qualifiers (Halliday, 2004:

311-312) In the following example of a nominal group, the head is bolded

Those five beautiful shiny Jonathan apples sitting on the chair

a means of packaging the message of a clause in the desired thematic form”

Like the English clause, the nominal group is a combination of three distinct functional components, or metafunctions, which express three largely independent sets of semantic choice: the ideational (what the clause or nominal group is about); the interpersonal (what the clause is doing as a verbal exchange between speaker and listener, or writer and reader); and the textual (how the message is organised—how it relates to the surrounding text and the context in which it is occurring/ it occurs)

In a clause, each metafunction is a virtually complete structure, and the three structures combine into one in interpretation However, beneath the clause—in phrases and in groups, such as the nominal group—the three structures are incomplete of themselves and need to be interpreted separately, "as partial contributions to a single structural line" In nominal groups, the ideational structure

is by far the most significant in premodifying the head To interpret premodification, it is necessary to split the ideational metafunction into two dimensions: the experiential and the logical

2.2.1.1 Experiential structure of nominal group

In his book, An introduction to functional grammar (2001), Halliday gave an example of the nominal group those two splendid old electric trains with

pantographs structurally analyzed in terms of Experiential structure

Fig 2.2 Experiential structure of part of a nominal group

(Source: Halliday, 2004)

11

2.2.1.1.1 Deictic

In Halliday‘s theory of functional grammar, the Deictic element indicates whether

or not specific subset of the Thing is intended The nature of the Deictic is determined by the system of DETERMINATION including specific and non-

specific Deictics The specific Deictics are demonstrative which is by reference to

some kind of proximity to the speaker (this, these = ―near me‖; that, those = ―not

near me‖), and possessive which is by reference to person as defined from the

standpoint of the speaker (my, our, your, his, her, their, its; also Linda‘s mother) All these have the function of identifying a particular subset of the ―thing‖ that is being referred The Deictic element is clearly analyzed by Halliday in the following tables:

Table 2.1 Items functioning as specific Deictic

Determinative Interrogative

these those the

Which(ever)

What(ever)

his her its their

one‘s

whose(ever)

[John‘s]

[my father‘s], etc

[which person‘s], etc

(Source: Halliday, 2004)

Table 2.2 Determiner functioning as non-specific Deictic

12

(not either)

No (not any)

the class of ‗thing‘ by referring to its fame or familiarity, its status in the text, or its similarity/dissimilarity to some other designated subset

The words occurring as post-Deictic are adjectives, and may also occur in the function of Epithet; those that frequently occur as post-Deictic are shown in Table 6(3) Also found in the post-Deictic in the nominal group are words express the

speaker‘s attitude (to the thing, or else to the world in general), such as wretched,

miserable, lovely, splendid, as in those lovely two evenings in Bali

Table 2.3 Adjectives frequently occurring as post-Deictic

(‗non-identical‘), other [note a + other, another]; respective

exemplification Certain, particular, given; various,

different (‗various‘), odd; famous, well-known, infamous, notorious; special

13

preceding; subsequent, future

comparable projection modality:

modalization

ordinary, typical, usual, regular modality:

modulation

Table 2.4 Items (numerals, or [embedded] nominal groups) functioning as

Numerative

quantitative One two three, etc., [a

couple of], etc., [a quarter of], etc

few little [a bit of], etc., several [a number of], etc.,

many much [a lot of], etc

few less more [the same amount of], etc

The quantifying Numeratives (or ‗quantitatives‘) specify either an exact number

(cardinal numerals, for example three girls) or an inexact number (for example a lot

of girls)

The quantifying Numeratives (or ‗quantitatives‘) specify either an exact place in

order (ordinal numerals, for example the first flight) or an inexact place (for example a subsequent flight)

An inexact Numerative expression maybe exact in the context; for example, just as

many trains, the next train On the other hand, an exact Numerative expression may

be made inexact by submodification, as in about ten trains, almost the last train

2.2.1.1.3 Epithet

According to Halliday, the Epithet function is to add the features or characteristic of

the Thing The Epithet indicates some quality of the subset, for example old, long,

blue, fast This may be an objective property of the thing itself; or it may be an

expression of the speaker‘s subjective attitude towards it, for example splendid,

silly, fantastic

Halliday also classified the Epithet element into experiential Epithets – expressing objective of the Thing and interpersonal/attitudinal Epithets – indicating the speakers’ attitude, making up the interpersonal meaning part of the nominal group Epithets are realized by adjectives; there is no hard and fast line between these two, but the former are experiential in function, whereas the latter, expressing the speaker‘s attitude, represent an interpersonal element in the meaning of the nominal

As in Halliday‘s note: ―the same word may act as either experiential or

interpersonal epithet.‖ However, there are still some criteria to distinguish

15

experiential from attitudinal ones ―Experiential epithets are potentially defining,

interpersonal ones are not‖ Furthermore, attitudinal are more likely to precede

experiential ones They may come before Numerative, and tend to be ―reinforced by other words, or other features, all contributing to the same meaning: synonyms, intensifiers, swear words, particular intonation contour, voice quality features and the like.‖ (Halliday, ibid, p.184)

2.2.1.1.4 Classifier

The last function element in the premodifier part of the nominal group in English is the function of Classifier This function is to indicate a specific subclass of the Thing Classifiers are typically realized by adjectives and nouns, and they

usually occur right before the Thing Consider the following nominal groups:

(i) bus station

(ii) electric trains

(iii) wooden trains

In (i) bus is the Classifier

It helps to tell the specific type of the station to be referred to, answering the question: which type of the station is it? Similarly, in (ii) and (iii), the classifiers electric and wooden help to point out the subset of the trains, distinguishing the trains in (ii) from the trains in (iii)

One problem that arises when recognizing the experiential functions in the nominal group is to distinguish Classifier from Epithet Some ambiguity can occur when the determination of the function can be assigned either Classifier or Epithet In dancing girls, as Boor and Bloor (ibid) point out, when dancing is considered as Classifier, the nominal group refers to some girls who dance as a job, and when dancing is considered as an Epithet the group refers to some girls who are in the process of dancing

Halliday (ibid, p.184) also claims that: ―Sometimes the same word may function either as Epithet or as Classifier with a difference in meaning‖ Although the

16

separate line between Epithet and Classifier is not very clear, there are still sufficient differences Halliday (ibid, p.185) has pointed out two differentiating criteria:

(1) Classifiers do not accept degrees of comparison (one can normally say an older table, a more splendid dress, but not a more wooden table.)

(2) Classifiers tend to be organized in mutually exclusive sets (a table is wooden, mental or plastic.)

The four functions potentially occurring in the premodification of the nominal group: Deictic – Numerative – Epithet, and Classifier have been discussed Of the four functions mentioned, Deictic and Classifier can be restrictive elements or restrictors which help to specify the referents of the thing Numerative and Epithet

in general add more quality features or characteristics of the thing

Furthermore, Halliday emphasized other words also entering into the nominal group, namely words of the class verb, which may function as Epithet or Classifier

He explained that verbs function in the nominal group in one of two forms:

(i) Present (active) participle, V-ing, e.g losing, as in a losing battle

(ii) Past (passive, or intransitive) participle, V-en, e.g lost, as in a lost cause

When functioning as Epithet, these forms usually have the sense of the finite tense

to which they are most closely related: the present participle means ‗which is (was/will be)…ing‘, the past participle means ‗which has (had/will have) been…ed‘ When functioning as Classifier, they typically have the sense of a simple present, active or passive: present (=active) ‗which …s‘, past (=passive)

‗which….ed‘ He also gave very clear examples:

Verb as Epithet

(i) a galloping horse (‗a horse which is galloping‘)

a bleeding nose (‗a nose which is bleeding‘)

If the verb is one which does not normally take the ‗present in present‘ tense

be….ing (i.e a verb expressing a mental or relational process), the distinction

between ‗which….s‘ and ‗which is…‘ is neutralized; the next pair of examples are also Epithets:

17

the resulting confusion (‗the confusion which results‘)

a knowing smile (‗a smile [which suggest the smiler] knows)

(ii) a wrecked car (‗a car which has been wrecked‘)

a fallen idol (‗an idol which has fallen‘)

Verb as Classifier

(i) a stopping train (‗a train which stops‘)

a travelling man (‗a salesman who travels‘)

(ii) a tied note (‗a note which is tied‘)

spoken language (‗language which is spoken‘)

2.2.1.1.5 Qualifier

In this section, the element that follows the Head/the Thing is discussed That is the postmodifier and in the experiential term, it is called the Qualifier The Qualifier, unlike other experiential functions, can be realized by a clause and/or a phrase Typically, it is the defining relative clause and verbal group, and ―of‖ phrase that realize the Qualifier in the nominal group

About the function of the Qualifier in the nominal group, the Qualifier expresses some characteristic of the Thing The process of characterizing by the Qualifier here involves the participation of the Thing in a direct or indirect way It may be a major process – that is, a clause, finite or non-finite; or a minor process - a prepositional phrase Figure 2.2 exemplifies these three variants (Halliday, 2004: 324)

(a)

(b)

18

Fig 2.3 Nominal group with (a) prepositional phrase, (b) non-finite clause and

(c) finite clause as Qualifier

A clause functioning as Qualifier in the nominal group is referred to as a relative clause; more specifically, as a defining relative clause (in contrast to a non-defining relative clause, which is not embedded but hypotactically dependent

2.2.1.1.6 Thing

Based on Halliday‘s theory, the element called ‗Thing‘ is the semantic core of the nominal group It may be common noun, proper noun or (personal) pronoun The personal pronouns represent the world according to the speaker, in the context of a

speech exchange The basic distinction is into speech roles (I, you) and other roles (he, she, it, they); there is also the generalized pronoun (one) Also, he mentioned

proper names which are names of particular persons,

individually or as a group; institutions of all kinds; and places

Personal pronouns and proper names are alike that, for both, the reference is

typically unique With pronouns, the referent is defined interpersonally, by the speech situation With proper names it is defined experientially: there exists only one, at least in the relevant body of experience Usually, they occur without any elements of the nominal group However, sometimes they need further defining,

for example, poor Mai, dear Linda

Common nouns, on the other hands, are nouns that are common to a class referents These name all the classes of phenomena that the language admits as things, and

hence, as participants in processes of any kind

(c)

One of the cases when the Head and the Thing do not conflate that is worth

mentioning here is the case of involving a measurement of something which includes collectives, partitives, and quantitatives According to Halliday, in the nominal groups of measurements, the Head is measuring word, with the ―of‖ phrase

as Postmodifier, whereas the Thing is the thing being measured, and the measuring expressions have the function of a complex Numerative

In this section, the fifth experiential function in the nominal group is discussed: the Thing, which is the most semantic component Other functions in the experiential structure play the roles of adding some kind of meaning property to the Thing In other words, other functional component has certain effects on the status of the Thing

In unmarked cases, the Thing of the experiential structure conflates with the Head

of the logical However, a nominal group with a Head can have no Thing And in these nominal groups, Numerative and/or Deictic can have the role Head in logical structure

20

In general, the experiential structure of nominal groups in English can potentially consist of six functions: Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier, Thing, and Qualifier Each function is typically realized by a certain class of word, phrase and clause, and has a different role in identifying the Thing It is unmarked that the Head of the nominal group conflates with the Thing, which is usually realized by a noun or a pronoun

The Premodifier part of the nominal group is made up with 4 experiential functions: Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, and Classifier whereas the Postmodifier has only one function That is the Qualifier

2.2.1.2 Logical structure of nominal groups

Linguists in Systemic Theory used to deal with two types of group structure in general: experiential, and logical (Martin, 1997:72) The first type is the focus of this paper, however, this does not mean that the logical structure is irrelevant, but this paper falls short of exposing such a complex and highly abstract interpretation

of groups in terms of formal logic This kind of structure consists of three elements: Premodifier, Head, Post modifier

2.2.1.2.1 Premodifier

Halliday considers the structure of the nominal group from a different, and

complementary, point of view; seeing it as a logical It does not mean interpreting it

in terms of formal logic; it means seeing how it represents the generalized semantic relations that are encoded in natural language

logical-E.g those two splendid old electric / trains

Premodifier Head

2.2.1.2.2 Head

According to Halliday, the element we are calling ‗Head‘ is the semantic core of the nominal group It may be common noun, proper noun or (personal) pronoun The personal pronouns represent the world according to the speaker, in the context of a

21

speech exchange The basic distinction is into speech roles (I, you) and other roles

(he, she, it, they); there is also the generalized pronoun (one)

Also, he mentioned proper names which are names of particular persons,

individually or as a group; institutions of all kinds; and places

Personal pronouns and proper names are alike that, for both, the reference is

typically unique With pronouns, the referent is defined interpersonally Sometimes

the Head is rather different from the Thing in experiential structure For example,

―those who are caring the patient‖, in this logical structure the Head ―those‖ is not

the Thing

2.2.1.2.3 Postmodifier

The element following the Head is also a modifying element called Postmodifier

As for the Postmodifier, it is typically an embedded phrase or clause, it is also

part of the nominal group, having a function referred to by linguists as

Postmodifier (Thompson, 2000: 185) Unlike the elements that precede the Head,

which are words (or sometimes word complexes), what comes after the Head is

either a phrase or a clause (Arnold, 1985:166) Almost all Qualifiers are embedded

phrases or clauses (ibid.); thus, Morley (1985: 97) points out that they are

structurally of a rank "higher than or at least equivalent to that of the nominal

group"; such qualifying structures are said to be 'embedded', or using systemic

terms, "rankshifted" (Halliday, 1994: 144) The examples below may give a

clear idea about the structures that may realize the Postmodifier element:

2.2.2 Nominal groups in Vietnamese

2.2.2.1 An Overview of Studies on Vietnamese Nominal Groups

Nominal Group in Vietnamese has received a lot of researches and studies over the last 50 years, and there have been remarkable achievements on explaining the structure of Nominal Group Some famous Vietnamese who have paid much attention and great efforts into Nominal Group can be mentioned are: Nguyen Lan (1956), Nguyen Tai Can (1975), Cao Xuan Hao (1991), Dinh Van Duc (2001), Hoang Van Van (2001), and Diep Quang Ban (2008) The studies and researches by the Vietnamese linguists are based on different viewpoints of different school of grammar

Hence, though there have been a lot of agreements on the structure of nominal groups in Vietnamese, the issue still has some debates

In general, it can be said that most of the investigations into the structure of

Nominal groups in Vietnamese are formal descriptions The two things that these descriptions have done are (1) to classify the constituents of nominal according to their meanings and parts of speech, and (2) to clarify the formal relationship between the Head and other constituents

The last four decades have seen the development and influence of Functional Linguistics in general, and the SFG in particular in the linguistics over the world

23

That makes one new trend in modern linguistics And of course, Vietnamese linguists can ignore that new trend Some linguists have made great efforts applying the new theory in interpreting Vietnamese Cao Xuan Hao, Hoang Van Van and Diep Quang Ban are typical authors using the Functional Grammar into Vietnamese with lots of high appreciated achievements

2.2.2.2 The structure of Vietnamese Nominal Groups

In his book (Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, 2005: 50), Diep Quang Ban defined a nominal

group as a group of free words that does not have a leading word, has a primary relationship between the main element and its sub-element, and the main element is the noun He affirmed that the fully potential form of nominal groups in Vietnamese are made up with three parts: the Head- the centre of the NP/NG, the Premodifier – the modifier occurring before three Head, and the Postmodifier – the modifier occurring after the Head A fully potential form of nominal groups in Vietnamese appears in the following pattern:

Premodifier Head Postmodifier

In terms of logical structure, Vietnamese nominal groups have the same structural components as English one with the Head in the centre and the modifiers locating before and after it

2.2.2.2.1 The Premodifier

According Diep Quang Ban, in the Premodifier, there can appear many

at the same time These elements are distributed into different positions There are three positions in the Premodifier; they are Position -1, Position -2, Position -3

These positions are in a certain order which cannot be changed

- Position -1(V1) [Deictic]: including the words before the Head such as: cái Sometimes we can see other words like: con (Thì con người ấy ai cầu làm chi- Nguyễn Du), ông (Nhớ ông Cụ mắt sáng ngời – Tố Hữu)

24

- Position -2 (V2) [Numerative 1]: including the words before the Head such

as: cardinal numbers, quantitative (vài, mỗi, từng, mọi, mấy)

- Position -3 (V3) [Numerative 2]: including the words before the Head such

E.g 2

E.g 3

In the examples above, there are no classificators (loại từ) coming before the nouns which are completely accepted to be the Heads And in these cases, the Head and the Thing conflate

The Head of the NG is difficult to identify when as said previously there is a

classificator coming before a noun The nouns as the heads in this case, we can also claim that the Thing and the Head coincide, and it is unmarked

25

The problems arise where in the nominal group there appears a classificator with the

omission of the noun, such as quyển này and gói này The question here is how to

determine the Head in these cases It is easy to recognize that the main elements in

these nominal groups are the classificators, cuốn and bức

However, if we treat the elements as the Heads, is it contrary when the Heads in the

full forms of those NGs (cuốn sách, bức tranh) are the nouns not the classificators?

The answer here is ―no‖ The explanation is that in the cases when the nouns are omitted, the classificators are the Heads but not the Things That means in terms of the logicalstructure, the classificators in those NGs can be the Head – the central part of the groups The nominal groups in these cases have no Thing Some examples are as follows:

Another situation in which the determination of the Head also poses some problems

is when there are words of measurements placed before the nouns In Vietnamese words of measurements can be divided into two types: scientific words of exact measurements, such as lít (liter), mét (meter), tấn (ton), and traditionally conventional words of inexact measurements, such as, miếng (piece), thanh (bar), thìa (spoon)

In the NPs with the scientific words of exact measurements preceding the nouns, such as, hai mét vải (two meters of cloth), ba lít sữa (three liters of milk), hai tấn gạo (two tons of rice), the heads are the measuring words mét, lít, tấn, and the Things are the measured things (vải, sữa, gạo)

26

According to Diep Quang Ban (ibid), that is because the scientific words of exact measurements are really abstract nouns; they are completely capable of being the heads of the NGs However, in terms of experiential functions, they are not the Things The Things in the cases are the things being measured (vải, sữa, gạo) That means in the Thing does not conflate with the Head

In English, the situation is the same And therefore, we can also treat the measuring words as the function of a complex Numerative which can continuously be analyzed into a Numerative and a Classifier The Thing and the Head here do not coincide The experiential structure of the NGs with measuring expressions can be interpreted

In the NGs with the traditionally conventional words of inexact measurements, such

as, một thìa đường (a spoon of sugar), một miếng bánh (a piece of cake), the Thing

conflates with Head, and is realized by the nouns following That is because the

words (thìa, miếng) are not unit words for measurements They are used in the ways

of metaphor and metonymy According to Dinh Van Duc (ibid), these words are closer to the particles The experiential structure of those nominal groups with the traditionally conventional words of measurements can be interpreted as follows:

such elements as Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier, Thing and Qualifier (in

accordance with Halliday (1994) helps us clearly know about experiential function

2.2.2.2.3 The Postmodifier

Though standing on different points of view, Vietnamese linguists all agree that a NP/NG of fully potential form in Vietnamese is made up with three parts: the Head- the centre of the nominal group, the Premodifier – the modifier occurring before three Head, and the Postmodifier the modifier occurring after the Head A fully potential form nominal group in Vietnamese appears in the following pattern:

In terms of logical structure, Vietnamese nominal group has the same structural components as English one with the Head in the centre and the modifiers locating before and after it

The Postmodifier element is the modifier occurring after the Head It can be an

embedded phrase or clause, it is also part of the nominal group Unlike the English Qualifier that is after the Head, which are words (or sometimes word complexes), what comes after the Head is either a phrase or a clause (Arnold, 1985:166) Thus, Morley (1985: 97) points out that they are structurally of a rank

"higher than or at least equivalent to that of the nominal group"; such qualifying structures are said to be 'embedded', or using systemic

2.3 An overview of fairy tales

2.3.1 The definition

A fairy tale is a traditional story, usually written for children, which often involves imaginary creatures and magic According to Wikipedia, the free

28

encyclopedia, a fairy tale is a type of short narrative that typically features such

folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments

2.3.2 History of English fairy tales

Fairy tales are found in oral and in literary form The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace, because only the literary forms can survive Still, the evidence of literary works at least indicates that fairy tales have existed for thousands of years, although not perhaps recognized as a genre The name ―fairy

century Many of today‘s fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today

In culture where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial reference to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times

The first significant person to record fairy tales was Charles Perrault who recorded stories such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in his book Mother Goose fairy tales The fairy tales emerged as an unquestioned genre in the works of the Brothers Grimm, who recorded various tales from different cultures and revised many of Perrault‘s The first edition (1812-1815) of Brother Grimm remains a treasure folklorists to rewrite the tales in leer editions to make them more acceptable, which ensured their sales and the later popularity of their work

Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children Literary

the fairy tale became associated with children‘s literature In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children

29

2.4 Summary

This Chapter gives an overview of the theory of systemic-functional grammar in terms of nominal groups in English and in Vietnamese We have outlined the notions of experiential structure of nominal groups in the light of systemic -functional grammar At the same time, definition and history of fairy tales are also mentioned together with their and features

Features of systemic-functional grammar relevant to the analysis of the fairy tales in English and Vietnamese that are the experiential structures of nominal groups discussed in details

The research methodology for the whole study will be discussed in Chapter 3