The syntactic and semantic features of negative questions in english with reference to vietnamese based on the selection of bilingual plays “ an ideal husband” and “lady windermere’s fan”

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY TRỊNH THỊ HỒNG NGỌC THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE BASED ON

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRỊNH THỊ HỒNG NGỌC

THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE BASED ON THE SELECTION OF BILINGUAL PLAYS “AN IDEAL

HUSBAND” AND “LADY WINDERMERE‟S FAN”

(NHỮNG ĐẶC ĐIỂM VỀ CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÂU HỎI PHỦ ĐỊNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT DỰA TRÊN

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRỊNH THỊ HỒNG NGỌC

THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE BASED ON THE SELECTION OF BILINGUAL PLAYS “AN IDEAL

HUSBAND” AND “LADY WINDERMERE‟S FAN”

(NHỮNG ĐẶC ĐIỂM VỀ CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÂU HỎI PHỦ ĐỊNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT DỰA TRÊN TUYỂN TẬP KỊCH “MỘT NGƯỜI CHỒNG LÝ TƯỞNG” VÀ “CÁI

QUẠT CỦA PHU NHÂN UYNĐƠMIA”)

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled THE SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE BASED ON THE SELECTION OF BILINGUAL PLAY “AN IDEAL HUSBAND” AND“LADY WINDERMERE‟S FAN” 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, 2019

TRỊNH THỊ HỒNG NGỌC

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc.Prof.Dr.Nguyễn Đăng Sửu

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof Dr.Nguyễn Đăng Sửu from Ha Noi University of Business and Technology for his extremely helpful advice, enthusiastic supports and comments when I carry out my study

I also give my sincere thanks to the leading board of Faculty of Graduate Study- Ha Noi Open University for their help and right directions and the whole staff of the Faculty of Graduate Study- Hanoi Open University for their support and advice

Finally, I want to send my thanks to my father, my mother, my husband and

my family for their long time support and encouragement during the completion of

my study

Hanoi, March, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT 1

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION 2

1.1 Rationale of the study 2

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study 3

1.2.1 Aims of the research 3

1.2.2 Objectives of the research 3

1.3 Scope of the research 3

1.4 Research question 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 The organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of previous studies 5

2.2 Questions in English and Vietnamese 7

2.2.1 Overview of Questions 7

2.2.2 Classification of questions in English and Vietnamese 8

2.2.2.1 Classification ofquestions inEnglish 8

2.2.3 Negation in English 18

2.2.3.1 Overview of negation 18

2.2.3.2 Scope of negation 18

2.2.4 Negation in Vietnamese 20

2.2.5 Negative question 20

2.2.5.1 What is a negative question? 20

2.2.5.2 The semantic approach to English negative questions 21

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research-governing orientations 24

3.1.1 Research approach 24

3.1.2 Research questions 24

3.1.3 Research setting 24

3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 24

3.2 Research Methods 24

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods 24

3.2.2 Data collection techniques 25

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 25

Chapter 4: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISSH AND VIETNAMESE 26

4.1 The syntactic features of negative questions in English 26

4.1.1 Negative questions in English 26

4.1.2 The syntactic features of Negative Yes/No questions 26

4.1.2.1.Uncontracted form 27

4.1.2.2.Contracted form 27

4.1.2.3 Negative declarative Yes/No questions 28

4.1.2.4 Negative Yes/No questions in the selection of plays 28

4.1.3 The syntactic features of Negative Tag Questions 29

4.1.3.1 The syntactic features of negative tag-questions 29

4.1.3.2 Negative tag- questions in the selected plays 30

4.1.4 The Syntactic features of Negative Wh- questions 31

4.1.4.1.The syntactic features of negative WH- questions 31

4.1.4.2.Negative WH- questions in the selected plays 31

4.1.5 The Syntactic features of Negative alternative questions 32

4.1.5.1 The syntactic features of negative alternative questions 32

4.2 Semantic features of negative questions in English 33

4.2.1 negative question used to express disappointment 33

4.2.2 Negative questions used to confirm the truth: 33

4.2.3 Negative questions used to express suggestions: 33

4.2.4 Negative questions used to express advice: 33

4.2.5 Negative questions used to express offer: 34

4.2.6 Negative questions used to invite the negative response from the hearer: 34

4.3.1 Negative Yes/No questions 34

4.3.2 Negative WH–questions 35

4.3.3.Negative alternative questions 36

4.4 Similarities and differences of negative questions between English and Vietnamese 37

4.4.1 Similarities of English and Vietnamese negative questions 37

4.4.1.1 Yes/No questions 37

4.4.1.2 Negative Wh- questions 40

4.4.1.3 Negative alternative questions 41

4.4.2 Differences of English and Vietnamese negative questions 41

4.4.2.1 Negative Yes/No questions 41

4.4.2.2 Negative Wh- questions 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 45

REFERENCE 47

APPENDIX 49

In English, especially in grammar, many aspects have been focused on including questions Hence, in this research, the author would like to concentrate on questions which specifically are negative questions

The research will make clear the syntactic and semantic features of negative questions with reference to Vietnamese based on grammar books, reliable materials and the selection of bilingual plays “An Ideal Husband” and “Lady Windermere‟s fan” From that research, readers, learners will be able to understand and use negative question in English and Vietnamese effectively

Each topic consists certain content to besolved In this study, the main issue is how to clarify the syntactic and semantic features of negative questions in English and in Vietnamese especially,how the negative questionsare used in bilingual plays

“An Ideal Husband”and “Lady Windermere‟s fan”

We hope the result of the study will be applied to improve the students‟ ability

of understanding negative questions and use them fluently after graduating from university They will be able to deal with common mistakes made by students in English in general and in using negative questions in particular

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

In English, especially English grammar, every student also hear about the questions in English, the main purpose of giving question is to get needed information, besides, question also functions to express the emotion, attitude or command of interviewer Based on the context, question is given in a suitable structure for a certain purpose In many kinds of questions, negative questions seem more popular in daily conversation and in the literature User can use negative questions with variety of aims, for example:when someone has a negative question, they can reply “No” in response to the agreeing answer, but “yes” to negative answer Hence, negative question is difficult to use and understand in both their meaning and structure As the result, in the hope of helping both teachers and students to use negative question effectively, this study is concerned about the new

aspect of negative question: the syntactic and semantic features The full title is: the syntactic and semantic features of negative question in English with reference to Vietnamese based on the selection of plays “An Ideal Husband”and “Lady Windermere‟s Fan” In this study, English user can know more deeply about the

meaning and structure of negative question, besides, researcher also points out some mistakes made by learners, especially, by students in the Faculty of English at Hanoi Open University and some solutions to the problems

Many teachers and students have confessed that they have made confusion in different situations when they use negative questions Sometimes, they do not know what their partners talk about, the partners agree or disagree even they can‟t understand their partners‟ emotion That‟s why, they always ask for further information and in some cases, they require the answer again and again but with unclear and equivocal questions The problem is: “how to understand clearly when to use and give negative question? How to make a negative question in the proper situation? For all the above-mentioned reasons, the researcher would like to introduce to English users the new respect of negative question: “the syntactic and semantic features of English negative questions with reference to Vietnamese(based on the selection of bilingual plays “An Ideal Husband” and “Lady Windermere‟sfan” Although, this aspect has beenstudied in different areas,this study deals with syntactic and semantic features of negative questions based on the selection of bilingual play,which helps learners make correct negativequestions Moreover, this study also helpsstudentseasily understand when negative questions are used in different contexts

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

1.2.1 Aims of the research

The study is mainly aimed at providing the syntactic and semantic features of English negative questions with reference to Vietnamese equivalents based on the selection of plays “An Ideal Husband” and “Lady Windermere‟s fan”, thus proposing some implications for teaching English negative questions to Vietnamese learners of English

1.2.2.Objectives of the research

The objectives of the research include:

- describing the syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese negative questions

-pointing out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese negative questions

1.3 Scope of the research

The study “English negative questions in English and Vietnamese focuses on English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents within the frame of negative structures The three main types of questions will be focused: Yes-No question, Wh-question, Alternative question Especially, only negative questions that use negator “not” will be discussed, others will be suggested for further study

1.4 Research question

The research questions of the study are:

- What are the syntactic and semantic features of negative questions in English and in Vietnamese?

- What are the similarities and differences of negative questions between English and Vietnamese?

- What are the use of negative questions in the selection of plays “An Ideal Husband” and “ Lady Windermere‟s fan”?

1.5 Significanceof the study

- In term of theories: this study provide foundation theories for semantic and syntactic features of negative question, and also provide information to help students and teachers of English

- In term of realities: the study will help both teachers and students use negative questions correctly in their communication, teaching and learning of English

1.6 The organization of the study

The study consists of five chapters:

- Chapter 1: Introduction: this part shows the general view of the study, the aims and objectives of study

- Chapter 2: Literature review: in this part, author want to mention some previous study, theoretical background and theoretical framework From that point,it makes the readers know the foundation sources of the topic: the syntactic and semantic features of negative questions in English with reference to Vietnamese (based on the selection of bilingual plays “An Ideal Husband” and “Lady Windermere‟s fan”) In addition, it would be the foundation for the finding and discussion

- Chapter 3: Methodology: This part is to provide the data which author collected and explains the ways and the reasons why author is able to collect the data

- Chapter 4: Finding and discussion: this is the most important part of the study It illustrates the results of study including: some general knowledge of negative questions, the syntactic and semantic features of negative questions in English with reference to Vietnamese equivalents

Chapter 5: Conclusion: this part summarizes the result of this study and gives some suggestions for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of previous studies

The theoretical knowledge of the study is based on the view point from different prospects of great linguists as well as the ideas extracted from the researches previously done In this chapter, the author would like to review some researches related to the study of previous authors as references for carrying out the study Based on these studies, the author can find out many good ideas for this thesis They are foundation for this thesis

The book "Negation in English and Other Language" of Otto Jespersen was

published in Kgl Danske Videnskabernes Selskab in 1917 which lays the broad foundation for studies of negation later This book is actually very advanced for its age It contains lots of stuff of interest to logicians and linguists, even those reading

it today In his excellent work, Otto Jespersen has discovered a pattern that describes how linguistic negation shifts between several stages He provides general tendencies of negation, strengthened and weakened negatives, indirect and incomplete negation, special and nexal negation, the meaning of negation This book provided valuable information on negation in English and other language It will be foundation to create many ideas for other study Focus of negation gives a stress on particular part of a negative clause; this not only indicates the contrast of meaning implicit in the negative but also implies the rest of the clause in the positive Therefore, based on the study of Otto Jespersen, I will also investigate

negation in English and Vietnamese as theoretical background of this research

Questions are an important part of the English grammar Negative questions are used to indicate the speaker‟s idea(what he/she believes is or is not true) and attitude (surprise, anger,…).Many grammarians have described negative questions

like L.G.Alexander (1990), Betty Scrapper Azar (2002), Anne Seaton( 2007),

&Randolph Quirk (1973) and so on They have their own way to describe

thenegative questions Fundamentally, they concentrate their attention on the definition, formation, functions of the negative questions, types of negative questions and their uses Moreover, negative questions in Vietnamese are also

described by such authors as Diep Quang Ban (2002), Nguyen Tai Can (1999), Cao Xuan Hao (2003), Nguyen Kim Than (1997) and Nguyen Phu Phong (2002)

basic different uses between some questions He focuses on Yes/ No questions, Negative statements, Yes/ No answers He only doesn‟t deal with the formation of making Yes/ No questions He also introduces theforms of negative alternative questions In negative question, he describes the full form and the short form Furthermore, he describes how to use stress and intonation in negative questions

Betty Schrampfer Azar (2002) in Understanding and Using English Grammar refers to the background knowledge of negative questions He

givesspecific details for each negative question He introduces more about the forms of yes/ no and information questions, negative Wh- questions, negative tag- questions He specifies forms of avoiding double negatives

In the book Basic English Grammar book 1, Anne Seaton (2007) only

focuses his attention on two kinds of questions They are yes/ no questions and Wh-questions He gives some more simple uses, functions and positions of the questions In addition, he pays much attention to the usages of some negative questions such as yes/ no negative questions and wh- negative questions

Randolph Quirk (1973) in the book A University Grammar of English gives

some features of negative questions or specific details of relationship between subjects, predication with negative questions In his opinion, assertion and non- assertion are some major types of sentence

In the book Ngu Phap Tieng Viet, Diep Quang Ban (2005) deals with

specific characteristics, classifications and descriptionof negative questions He mentions four types of Vietnamese negative questions such as negative structure in Yes/No questions, negative structures in Tag- questions, negative structures in Wh- questions, negative structures in alternative questions Language group of philology

faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University (2006) in the textbook Ngu Phap Tieng Viet part 1 gives basic features and kinds of negative questions They pay attention to

the classification of negative questions by functions and intended uses

In short, much research has been done on the negative questions but they don‟t carry out comparison between them in English and Vietnamese In fact, there are similarities and differences between them Consequently, it is very essential to have a comprehensive study of negative question in English in comparison with that in Vietnamese

In fact, there is a great deal of investigation of negative questions However, there is little research of negative questions in English and Vietnamese

2.2.Questions in English and Vietnamese

In the book “ Oxford guide to English grammar ”,an interrogative sentence,ora question is defined as a sentence whose most basic usage is to ask for information (Eastwood,2002,p.27).According to Vietnamese linguist Le Quang Thiêm,questions are sentences whose main purpose is to find out more about something we have not known or have not understood yet

Examples: Do you speak French? How can I do that?

As you can see,the two above definitions share the same idea with each other However, as Le Quang Thiêm states,in reality,sometimes we ask questions so as not to seek for extra information but for other purposes For instance,Vietnamese can use questions in order to greet each other

Forexamples: Nam,đang xem phim hả?

Cháu đang đi đâu thế?

It is also true in English We ask questions such as:“Hi there,what are you doing?”,“Hello,how are you ? ”which do not really need a particular reply When doing research about questions,we may also come across some ideas defining question as a sentence that needs a reply.This definition is not accurate because I have mentioned,there are some kinds of questions which do not need answers Among the mare rhetorical questions and paradoxical questions.Sometimes we ask questions as a means of expressing the way we feel or as away of showing our frustration, anxiety, agreement, anger etc.Wec all the serhetorical questions

Forexamples: What the hell are you talking about?

There is also another type of question that cannot be answered because there is

no answer to it.We call this type of question aparadox.The most famous paradoxical

In conclusion, we can see that there are many different ways to define a question, largely based on their purpose of usage Most of them are not contradictory to each other, they are complementary to each other.The most accurate and concise definition I think is the one in “Oxford guide to English grammar” Let me put it again here as to sum up this part: A question, or in other words, an interrogative sentence is a sentence whose most basic usage is to ask for information

2.2.2 Classification of questions in English and Vietnamese

2.2.2.1 Classification of questions inEnglish

This is not an easy question because there are a variety of ways to classify English questions In “The grammar handbook ”,Feigenbaum(1985) says that there are two kinds of them: questions to learn and questions to confirm.Questions to learn include information or WH- questions and affirmative yes/no questions Questions to confirm include Negative Yes/No questions, Tag questions and Restatements (p.16) As you can see, this way of categorizing is based on the purpose of using questions

However, according to Angela (2003), interrogative structures in English are

of three main types: Polar, Alternative and Non- polar [p 185] A polar interrogative, also called yes/ no question, is a question whose answer is either

“Yes” or “No” (Can you swim?) Non- polar interrogative, also called WH- question or information questions is the one asking for some information refered to

by the Wh- word (Where are you from?) The third one is alternative interrogative, which consists of two polar interrogatives joined by“or”(Do you want to stay a bit longer or would you prefer to go home ?) There is also another kind of classification In “System in English Grammar ”, Master (1996) claims that there are four types of questions in English : Yes/No questions, Information questions, Tag questions and Echoquestions

Annette Capel, Lorna Heaslip and Douglas Williamson state in their book

“English usage” published in 2001 that there are two main types of questions:

„yes/no‟ questions and wh-questions

Yes/no questions: Yes/no questions are thequestions which can be answered

by „yes‟ or „no‟ For example: „Are you ready?‟ - „Yes‟

„Have you read this magazine?‟ - „No‟

„Yes/no‟ questions are formed by changing the order of the subject and the verb group If the verb group consists of more than one word, you put the first word

at the beginning of the sentence, in front of the subject and put the rest of the verb

group after the subject For example:Will you have finished by lunchtime? ; Has he been working? If you are using a simple tense, you use an appropriate form of the main verb after the subject For example:Do you meet Jane in London? Does Anne

do this sort of thing often? However, if the main verb is „be‟ you put the form of

„be‟ at the beginning of the clause, followed by the subject and „do‟ must not be

used For example: Are you Okay? Was it lonely without us?

You can use a structure such as „Have you got…?‟ Or a structure such as „Do you have…?‟ in yes-no questions People no longer say „Have you…?‟ when using

„have‟ as the main verb If you want to ask a „yes/no‟ question, you do not usually use the normal word order of a statement However, you can use the normal word order of a statement to ask a „yes/no‟ question if you want to express surprise, or to check that something is true For example:

You‟ve flown this machine before?

You‟ve got two thousand already?

Wh-questions: Wh-questions are used to ask about the identity of the people

or things involved in an action, or about the circumstances of an action Wh- questions begin with a „wh‟word The „wh‟-words are:

- the adverbs „how‟, „when‟, „where‟, and „why‟;

- the pronouns „who‟, „whom‟, „what‟, „which‟, and „whose‟;

- the determiners „what‟, „which‟, and „whose‟

When a „wh‟-word is the subject of a question, the „wh‟-word comes first, followed by the verb group The word order of the clause is the same as that of an ordinary statement For example:

- What happened?

- Who could have done it?

The form of a question is similar when the „wh‟-word is part of the subject For example:

- Which men had been ill?

When a‟wh‟-word is the object of a verb or preposition, or when it is an adverb, the „wh‟-word comes first The formation of the rest of the clause is the

same as for „yes/no‟ question; that is the subject is put after the first word in the verb group, and the auxiliary „do‟ is used for simple tenses For example:

- Which do you like best?

- When would you be coming down?

The form of a question is similar when the „wh‟-word is part of the object For example:

- Which book are you going to read?

- Which city is the biggest in Vietnam?

If there is a preposition, it usually comes at the end of the clause For example:

- What are you looking for?

- Which country do you come from?

However, if a phrase such as „at what time‟ or „in what way‟ is being used, the

preposition is put at the beginning For example: In what way are they different?;

At what time will she come back?

If „whom‟ is used, the preposition is always put first „Whom‟ is only used in formal speech ans writing For example:

-With whom are you talking?

In the book “The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language”, Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K Pullum state that the term „question‟is commonly used

at both the semantic and pragmatic levels At the semantic level, a question is distinguished by the fact that it defines a set of logically possible answers:

i Have you seen it? I have seen it I haven‟t seen it

ii Who broke it? I broke it Jane broke it?

The waiter broke it One of my sons broke it

Instead of saying I have seen it to the question Have you seen it?we might say

“Yes” or “I have.” Or “Yes, I have” or „Yes, I have seen it.” And so on Although

these are different in form they are equivalent, and we will regard them as the same

answer Similarly for the negatives: “I have not seen it; I have not; I haven‟t; No;

No, I haven‟t”.These all count as the same answer It is in this sense of the term that

we can say that question “Have you seen it” defines a closed set of just two possible

answers Questions like “Who broke it?”, on the other hand define in principle an open set of answers: there are definitely many others besides those given as “I broke it; Jane broke it;The waiter broke it; One of my sons broke it.”

At the pragmatic level, the pragmatic concept of question is an illocutionary category Prototypically, a question in this sense is an inquiry To make a genuine inquiry is to ask a question to which one doesnot know the answer with the aim of obtainingthe answer from the addressee An inquiry can be thought ofas effective a kind of a directive - a directive (usually a request) to the addresseeto supply the answer The directive forceis indirect, however, since the propositional content of the implied directive is not the same as that which is actually expressed As with the indirect directive, the request force can be signaled explicitly in the non-

propositional component by the marker please,as in “What is the time, please?

In the book, they have clarified that questions can be classified in many different ways First of all, we have to look at and distinguish the three kinds of questions as polar, alternative and variable

a.Polar questions

The question“Is it raining?” has as answers a pair of polar opposites, positive and negative The answer to“Is it raining?” are It is raining and It is not raining orequivalently Yes and No, or Yes, it is and No, it is not, and so on.The propositional

content of one answer is expressed in the question itself, and that of the other is obtained by reversing the polarity Usually the answer is the positive that is

expressed in the question, but it can also be the negative Yes and No are used in

positive and negative answers respectively The choice between them is determined

by the polarity of the answer, with the polarity of the question being irrelevant

Thus Yes it is and No, it‟s not are answers to both Is it raining? And Isn‟t it

raining?

Polar questions prototypically have the form of a closed interrogative clause as

in Is it raining? which is mentioned above They do not always have this form,

however, they may be the following:

- You want to go to the movie this evening?

- Last night, you went to the Wedding but your sister stayed at home?

- Another cup of coffee?

“You want to go to the movie this evening?” is what we call a declarative

question: it has declarative not interrogative syntax with the question meaning

normally signaled by rising intonation or the punctuation “?” “Last night, you went

to the Wedding but your sister stayed at home?”has the form of a coordination of

declarative clauses: there are two clauses, but it is a single question And finally

“Another cup of coffee?” is a clause fragment

b Alternative questions

Alternative questions have as answers a set of alternatives given in the

question itself For example, the answers to the question “Is it good or bad?” are

“It‟s good” and “It‟s bad”, which are derivable directly from the question This

example contains two alternatives, but there may be more: e.g three in“Would you

like to come in the morning, the afternoon or the evening?” The propositional

content of an alternative question is equivalent to, a disjunction of propositions,

disjunction being the relation expressed by “or” Each of these propositions gives

the content of one of the answers The propositional content of“Is it cool or cold?, for example, is “It is cool or cold”, which is logically equivalent to “It is cool or it

With multiple coordination the intermediate coordinates take rising intonation

like the first, for example: Would you like tea ↑ coffee ↑, or orange juice

↓?Alternative questions usually have closed interrogative syntax In Is it a man ↑ or

a woman ↓? the or-coordination is within the clause, whereas in Is it real ↑ or is it false ↓? It is between clauses which are two interrogative clauses but a single

question It is also possiblefor an alternative question to have the form of a

declarative as You‟re staying here ↑ or coming with him ↓?, or of a clause fragment

as Tea ↑ or coffee ↓? Prosodically marked declaratives, however, are much less

readily used for alternative questions than for polar ones; this is no doubt because questions with declarative form are biased, and alternative questions tend to be neutral

The coordinator is an essential component of an alternative question, but it

may also occur incidentally in a polar question as in “Will I be able to get some tea

or coffee at the bus station?” Herethe answers are “Yes, you will” and“No, you won‟t” The meaning of the question is that I am not asking which drink is available

but whether or not I‟ll be able to get one or other of the drinks

In writing there will often be ambiguity between an alternative question and a

polar question that happens to contain an or-coordination, but the two cases are

distinguished in speech by intonation An alternative question has a rise on the first coordinate and a fall on the last: a polar question will not distinguish the coordinates

in this way but will normally have a rising pitch on the last:

- Alternative question: Are you free on Tuesday↑ or Wednesday↓?

- Polar question: Are you free on Tuesday or Wednesday↑?

The answers to the alternative question “Are you free on Tuesday↑ or Wednesday↓?” are “I am free on Tuesday” and “I am free on Wednesday.”The polar question is equivalent to “Are you free on Tuesday or Wednesday, or not?The answers are “Yes, I am free on Tuesday or Wednesday” and “No, I am not free on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

It‟s so interesting to note that there is a specil type of alternative question that has the alternative consisting of a positive and its negative counterpart Questions

of this kind are logically equivalent to polar questions, and we call them alternative questions, for example:

polar-i Are you ready or are you not ready?

ii Are you ready or aren‟t you ready?

iii Are you ready or aren‟t you?

iv Are you ready or not?

v Are you, or are you not, ready?

c Variable questions or Wh- questions

- Variable questions

Variable questions or Wh-questions have a propositional content consisting of

an open proposition (which has a place left open) containing a variable The answers express closed propositions (which haven‟t left anything available to be filled in) derived by substituting a particular value for the variable We look at the

variable question “What did they give Ann?” The answers may be: “They gave Ann

for…”“Some books, the key, everything she asked for” are the variables which have

different values Prototypically, there is no logical limit to the number of different possible values so that the set of answers will be open-ended These questions have the form of an open interrogative clause They are marked by a phrase containing an interrogative word-whose role is to express the variable The question may consist solely of the interrogative element, forming a clausal fragment: Who?; What about the others?; and so on

When the interrogative phrase has a function other than that of subject of the interrogative clause, it is normally fronted to pre-nuclear position, and in main

clauses this triggers subject-auxiliary inversion For example: “Where are those senses located?” “What were the results of that examination?”

Fronting of a non-subject interrogative phrase is not obligatory in main clauses: it can remain in situ, i.e in the default position of corresponding non-

interrogative phrases, following the verb For example: “And those senses are located where?” It is easy for us to see the difference in the following presentation

i.Where are those senses located? - And those senses are located where?

ii.What were the results of that - And the results of that examination

examination? were what?

-Single variable and multi-variable questions

All the variable questions given so far have contained a single variable, for

example, Who said that? Where are those senses located? What were the results of that examination? They are the single variable questions But it is possible for there

to be more than one variable For example:

i- Who said what?

ii- Who said what to whom?

In the first multi-variable question “Who said what?” there are two variables,

they arewho and what And in the second variable question, there are three variables which are who, what and whom

Multi-variable questions may have either singulary answers or multiple answers For example:

- Who beat who? - John beat Jane  singulary answer

- John beat Jane and Smith beat Ken  multiple answer

A singulary answer simply provides a single value for each variable A multiple answer provides sets of values- pairs if there are are two variables, triples if there are three, and so on

In the book "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language"

(Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik, 1985), question can be classified into three major kinds according to the types of reply

they expect such as Yes/No question, WH-questions and Alternative questions

This way of classification, in my opinion, is suitable and logical That‟s why I take this classification for the study in my thesis

Questions that expect answer is affirmation or negation, as in "Have you finished the book?" are Yes/No questions Specially, Yes/No question also known

as a polar question

Polar questions have divergent forms The most prototypical form is

interrogative clause, as in “Is Jane coming?”

Not all yes/no questions have subject-operator inversion Another form is

declarative question The declarative question is type of question which is identical

in form to a declarative, except for the final rising intonation It rather casual in tone

as in "You think I'm kidding you? You think it's a joke to have to walk home on a clear night with an umbrella? You think that because I'm quirky I don't hurt? You've got it backwards I'm quirky because I hurt."

(Jack Weston as Danny in The Four Seasons, 1981)

A further type of Yes /No question which conveys positive or negative orientation is

children, does she?”

Huddleston noted that Interrogative clause added as a supplement to the declarative clause is called the tag The declarative clause is referred as an anchor (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p 892) A special rule is that a negative tag is

attached to a positive anchor This is easily seen in “a He is a professor in your university, isn‟t he? And “b He isn‟t a professor in your university, is he?

Tags questions can be used for imperatives or suggestions After

imperatives, "won‟t you" often used to invite people to do things, and

"will/would/can/can‟t/could you" to tell or ask people to do things (Swan, 2000,

p.480) For instance:

a Close the door, will you?

b Take a seat, won‟t you?

c Let‟s go to the zoo, shall we?

The tag is raised or fell depending on the illocutionary of the utterance The rising tag expresses doubted or asked for verification Meanwhile, the rising tag expresses acknowledgement that the anchor is true (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p 894)

Questions that typically expect a reply from an open range of replies, as in

"What is your name?" or "How old are you?" are WH-questions These questions

have interrogative form containing interrogative such words to express the variable

as who, which, whom, where, when… etc

Questions that expect as the reply one of two or more options presented in

the question, as in "Would you like to go for a walk or stay at home?" are

Alternative questions There are two types of alternative questions The first

resembles a Yes/No question, but differs from Yes/No question only in intonation; instead if final rising tone, it contains a separate nucleus for each alternative: a rise occurs on each item on the list, except the last, on which there

is a fall, indicating that the list is complete ↑example: Shall we go by bus ↑or train↓? Would you like chocolate ↑ vanilla or strawberry ↓?

The second type of alternative question is really a compound of two separate questions: a wh-question followed by an elliptical alternative question For

example:Which ice cream would you like? Chocolate↑, vanilla↑ or strawberry↓?

b.Classification of questions in Vietnamese

A little similar to English question, in the book “ Vietnamese Grammar ” written by a Vietnamese linguist, Diệp Quang Ban He classifies Vietnamese question into four types: Câu hỏi có từ nghi vấn (WH-question), câu hỏi lựa chọn (Alternative question), câu hỏi dùng ngữ điệu (Declarative questions), câu hỏi có tiểu từ chuyên dụng (Specialized copulative questions) However, with Le Quang Thiem, he simply categorizes Vietnamese question just into two types in term of semantic such as alternative questions and variable questions (Lê, 2004, p 225)

Vietnamese Alternative questionshave the answers as the alternatives, usually two alternatives There are three subtypes: alternative questions marked by

là/hay là, có…không/ phải không/đã…chưa, à/ư/ nhỉ/ nhé

Alternative questions marked by là/ hay là (or) may have the answers given

or negate the information in the question

a Mẹ em thích ăn bánh tráng hay bánh xèo?

b Bánh tráng/ Bánh xèo/ Cả hai (both)/ Chẳng món nào cả (none of them)

Alternative questions marked by có…không, ….phải không, ….đã chưa have

the polar opposites

a Cậu có đi học Anh văn tối nay không? - Có/không

b Bố con về hay chưa? - Dạ chưa/ Dạ rồi

c Con đánh vỡ cái lọ này phải không? - Dạ vâng/Dạ không phải

Alternative questions marked by à, nhỉ, ư, sao, chứ…These words are put at

the end of the sentence

a Tối nay không đi chơi à? - Có chứ/ không

b Hôm nay là hạn cuối nộp bài ư? - Ừ/không

Another kind of questions in Vietnamese is variable questions This kind

uses the interrogative words or phrases to ask for information such as: ai (who), gì/cái gì/nào(what), đâu/ở đâu (where), khi nào/bao giờ (when), sao (why),…For

example:

a Khi nào cậu về quê nghỉ tết?- Một tuần nữa

b Ai đi với cậu hôm qua?- Mẹ tớ

As for Vietnamese,as said above, Le Quang Thiem, based on the semantics, classifies questions inVietnamese into two main kinds:alternative questions and non- alternative questions He synthesized into the following table:

questions

alternative questions

Non-Alternative questions Non-alternative

questions

Yes/no questions

Alternative questions WH-questions

The more research we do, the more different ways we will discover Therefore,

we cannot say this one is correct and that one is not They are just different points

of view and might be based on different foundations Because the purpose of this

questions, therefore, I will take the classification of Lê Quang Thiêm, which seems the most logical one related to the two languages, as the foundation for my analysis

published in 1998 by the Centre of dictionary at Da Nang Publishing House says

that negation is the act of rejecting the existence, the necessity of something; is the opposition to affirmation The fact has shown thatthere also have been many

definitions of negation made by many scholars so far: Frank, Marcela (undated; 205) states that negation shows disagreement, denial, absence of somebody or something, or an opposite idea or quality Forming a negative clause means putting

“not” directly after operator Semantically speaking, Frank has pointed out the importance of negation in establishing “a counter–part” of affirmation Grammatically speaking, the insertion of “not” in predicate of a sentence is a signal

of negation

My research mainly bases on English Grammar book “A University Grammar

of English” (R, Quirk.1973) According to him, the negation of a simple sentence is accomplished by inserting not (abbreviated n‟t) between the operator and the

predication Although the definition of negation varies from scholar to scholar, from dictionary to dictionary, we can draw some main points as follows: Negation is a part of men‟s cognition activity and communication process It is also a basic category of thinking, of formal logic It is the opposition to the affirmative category

2.2.3.2 Scope of negation

The term scope of negation is introduced to refer to the stretch of language over which the negative has its effect The relation between negative words and non-assertive words that they govern will happen in scope of negation (that is part

of language that the negative meaning operates through) The scope of negation formally extents from the negative words to the end of the clause; or extents from the negative words to the beginning of a final adjunct The subject and any adjuncts

which occur before a final predication often lies outside it Scope of negation is the scale of sentence which negation has its influence on In that sentence, negator will have to be used to establish a negative sentence Depending on the place of the negator,the meaning of the sentence will be changed In addition, the relationship between the negative words (or negator) and the other kinds of words in the sentence will be illustrated by scope of negation The place of negation can be spread out from the negative word to the end of sentence,for example:

(1) I absolutely did not teach English to her

(2) I did not absolutely teach English to her

In the first sentence, the scope of negation spreads out from “not” to “her” with subject (I), adjunct (absolutely), operator (did) So, with the full form, the scope of negation in the first sentence have its fully negative effect We can rewrite the first sentence as:

It is absolute that I did not teach English to her

In the second sentence, the scope of negation stretches from “not” to “her” However, when the subject (I) and operator (did) take place outside, the adjunct is inside, hence, the meaning of the clause is changed, we can also rewrite the second sentence as:

I teach English to her, but not all the time

The negative clause that has adjunct is ambiguous to interpret Because adjuncts are optional elements and have no fixed position that listeners understand

in their own ways The scope of negation only works with non-assertive forms In the negative with assertive forms, the scope does not include them It is because assertive-forms do not exert negative effect For example:

a He did not collect some stamps ≈ He collected some stamps

b He did not collect any stamps ≈ He collected no stamps

A negative with assertive-form implies another affirmative or is regarded as

“partial negative” Apart from adverbials, the ambiguity is also made by an operator

in a negative While, Operator is not a normal auxiliary expressing grammatical function, but a modal auxiliary With a negative modal auxiliary, verb phrase falls into a situation that the negation belongs to main verb or auxiliary, the interpretation

of the negative depends on the negative meaning of modal auxiliaries themselves

2.2.4 Negation in Vietnamese

Vietnamese negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement "I am happy" into its opposite denial "I am not happy" Here are some examples:

From the examples above, we can see that the structure of the Negation in Vietnamese has a logical pattern The way in which Vietnamese say NO is also very similar to that of the English The equivalent of NOT in English is KHÔNG in

Vietnamese Vietnamese use KHÔNG for negation in the place of doesn't, don't or isn't, aren't, etc in English For example:

She doesn't read fast

Cô ấy không đọc nhanh

In the English negative sentence, we need to put does not in front of the verb read In the Vietnamese sentence, we use the word không in the place of does not The word không would be the main negation word for most cases

In general, it isvery important to learn Vietnamese Negation because its structure

is used in every day conversation The more you understand and use it fluently the closer you get to the mastery of the Vietnamese language However, first we need to know what the role of Negation is in the structure of the grammar in Vietnamese

2.2.5 Negative question

2.2.5.1 What is a negative question?

Quirk (1973:193) said that: “Negative questions are interrogative sentences with the presence of negative marker They ordinarily do not accomplish questioning in the sense of information seeking”

According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 8th edition, negative question has two different kinds of meanings It can, for example, be used to ask for confirmation of something that you believe stating clearly that it does not exist or untrue to be true It can also be used to ask for confirmation of a negative notion Or

in other words, the speaker in this case is surprised that something has not happened

or is not happening When using negative questions, the speaker has a tendency of expressing an implied supposition of requesting affirmation or denial

In other words, negative question is also defined as a kind of question which is different from the other kind of question in meaning For this question, speaker shows his/her assumption or hope that his/her partner requests the affirmation or denial In negative question which the speaker brings out, the structure when the assumption of speaker is negative, the structure will go with “do you”, besides, if the assumption of speaker is positive, the structure which is used is “don‟t you” Below are some examples:

- You (do) dance, don‟t you?

In this question, some readers confused and give the opposite answer which the speaker doesn‟t anticipate, however, the speaker anticipates the confirmation

“yes”from the listener, because the speaker hopes that the listener will dance

- You don‟t dance, do you?

Different from the initial question, this question illustrates the other aspect of speaker In this situation, speaker thinks that his/her partner does not dance and hope his/her partner requests affirmation

- Don‟t you dance?

In this version, speaker believes that the person in question does not dance, but speaker still doubts and wants to have correct answer In this question, the answer is yes/no to confirm the speaker‟s thinking

In this part, author want to bring out some definitions made by previous grammar

on internet and books, go along with that definition are some example to illustrate

2.2.5.2 The semantic approach to English negative questions

Ladd (1981) presents a first look at the semantics and pragmatics of negative questions For example:

Eg.1:Don‟t you really know? (p.304)

Eg.2: Don‟t you want the world to take you seriously then, Lord Darlington?

The ambiguity in these examples is remarkably hard to keep hold of, and the following elaboration may be helpful

E.g.3: (Situation: Kathleen and Jeff have just come from Chicago on the Greyhouse bus to visit Bob in Ithaca)

Bob: You, guys must be starving You want to get something to eat?

Kathleen: Yeah, isn‟t there a vegetarian restaurant around here- Moosewood,

or something like that

Bob: Gee, you‟ve heard of Moosewood all the way out in Chicago, huh? Ok, let‟s go there.[…… ]

Kathleen uses the negative question Isn‟t there a vegetarian restaurant

around here? to ask for confirmation of something she believes to be true

Compare this to the following case:

E.g.4: (Situation: Bob is visiting Kathleen and Jeff in Chicago while attending

a meeting)

Bob: I‟d like to take you guys out to dinner while I‟m here, we‟d have time to

go somewhere around here before the evening session tonight, don‟t you think? Kathleen: I guess, but there‟s not really any place to go in Hyde Park

Bob: Oh, really, isn‟t there a vegetarian restaurant around here?

Kathleen: No, about all we can get is hamburgers and souvlaki

Bob uses the negative question here for a very different reason: he had

previously assumed the truth of the proposition there is a vegetarian restaurant

around here, but has now inferred from what Kathleen says that this proposition is

actually false, and is using the negative questions to check this new inference

The ambiguity between „left-wing‟ and „right-wing‟ is seen in (E.g.5) and (E.g.6)

E.g.5: (Situation: A and B are former left-wing activists discussing the recent activities of a colleague.)

A: Did you hear John‟s decided to go to business school?

B: Yeah, I can‟t believe how much he‟s changed these days; didn‟t he even

vote for Reagan?

A: That‟s what somebody told me

E.g.6: (Situation: A and B are staunch Republicans)

A: What‟s Dick been up to these days, I haven‟t seen him at the Club for ages

B: Haven‟t you heard? He says he‟s disillusioned with two-party politics, he‟s

joined Common Cause, gave a lot of money to the Citizens‟ Party…

A: Didn‟t he even vote for Reagan?

B: Not as far as I know

The situation in (E.g.5) means that in (E.g.3), the negative question is being used to confirm something the speaker believes to be true, which means that John voted for Reagan In (E.g.6), on the other hand, as in (E.g.4), the negative question, which is used to check on a new unexpected inference, means that Dick didn‟t vote for Reagan

At first glance it might appear that the different implicatures and appropriate conditions seen in (E.g.3) and (E.g.6) are purely pragmatic, and that apparent ambiguity results from different pragmatic inferences drawn by the hearer on the basis of knowledge about the speaker‟s politics, eating habits, etc