A study on semantic and pragmatic features of concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in english and “vẫn”, “chưa” in vietnamese

THESIS A STUDY ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND “VẪN”, “CHƯA” IN VIETNAMESE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGỮ NGHĨA VÀ NGỮ DỤNG C

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC

FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND “VẪN”, “CHƯA” IN VIETNAMESE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGỮ NGHĨA VÀ NGỮ DỤNG CỦA CÁC LIÊN TỪ NHƯỢNG BỘ “STILL”, “YET” TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ “VẪN”, “CHƯA” TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYEN NGOC THUY

FIELD: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Hanoi, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC

FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND “VẪN”, “CHƯA” IN VIETNAMESE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGỮ NGHĨA VÀ NGỮ DỤNG CỦA CÁC LIÊN TỪ NHƯỢNG BỘ “STILL”, “YET” TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ “VẪN”, “CHƯA” TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYEN NGOC THUY

Field: English Language Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Nguyen Dang Suu, PhD

Hanoi, 2017

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

“A STUDY ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND “VẪN”, “CHƯA” IN VIETNAMESE” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

of Master in English Language Except for the indicated, reference, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2017

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Nguyen Dang Suu, PhD

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With boundless appreciation, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the people who helped me bring this master thesis completion I would like to express my profound gratitude to the following:

The Faculty of Post Graduate Studies of Hanoi Open University for giving

me permission to commence this master thesis and to do the necessary research work;

My supervisor, Nguyen Dang Suu, PhD, whose expertise, consistent guidance, ample time spent and constant pieces of advice that helped me bring this thesis into success;

My loved family and friends, who have supported me throughout my study process, by both encouraging and helping me putting pieces together

All the people whose direct and indirect support helped me complete my master thesis in time

I will be forever grateful for all of your support

The thesis focuses on “A study on semantic and pragmatic features of

concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese” whose purpose is to find out the similarities and differences of the semantic and pragmatic features of concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese The theory of semantics, pragmatics and conjunctions is used as fundemental background for the research Data taken from novels, stories in English and Vietnamese are classified and analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods to prove the semantic and pragmatic features

It is presented in form of tables and figures The contrastive methods was used to find out the similarities and differences of such conjunctions in terms of semantics and pragmatics On investigating sentences collected from some bilingual stories and questionnaire done by students from Hanoi University of Business and Technology, the thesis also analyzes mistakes made by Vietnamese students This analysis, to some extent, leads to some possible suggestions for teachers and students with aims at helping them use these concessive conjunctions in English and

in Vietnamese in an effective way in their work

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1 Types of conjuntions relations and their meanings……… 23

Table 3.1 The frequency of “still” in the data……… 53

Table 3.2 The frequency of “vẫn” in the data……… 54

Table 3.3 The frequency of “yet” in the data……… 55

Table 3.4 The frequency of “chưa” in the data……… 56

Table 3.5 Features of “still” and “vẫn”in the data……… …… 58

Table 3.6 Features of “yet” and “chưa” in the data……… 58

Table 4.1 Mistakes made by students when translating “still”, “yet” into Vietnamese 62 Figure 3.1 The frequency of “still” in the data……… 53

Figure 3.2 The frequency of “vẫn” in the data……… 54

Figure 3.3 The frequency of “yet” in the data……… 56

Figure 3.4 The frequency of “yet” in the data……… 57

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of tables and figures iv

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale … 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study …… 2

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Design of the study 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 5

2.1.1 Studies by foreign researchers 5

2.1.2 Studies by Vietnamese researchers 6

2.2 Theoretical background 7

2.2.1 Overview of semantics … 7

2.2.2 Overview of pragmatics 8

2.2.3 Theory of translation 9

2.2.3.1 Definitions of translation 9

2.2.3.2 Translation equivalence 9

2.2.4 Theory of mistakes 10

2.2.4.1 Mistake definition 10

2.2.4.2 Different types of mistakes 11

2.2.5 Components of meaning 12

2.2.5.1 Grammatical meaning 12

2.2.5.2 Lexical meaning 12

2.3 Theoretical framework 14

2.3.1 Speech acts 14

2.3.1.1 Locutionary acts 15

2.3.1.2 Illocutionary acts 15

2.3.1.3 Perlocutionary acts 16

2.3.2 Presupposition 18

2.3.3 Parts of speech 19

2.3.4 Conjunctions 22

2.3.4.1 Definition of term 22

2.3.4.2 Classifications of conjunctions … 23

2.3.5 The meaning of “still”, “yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa” 26

2 3.5.1 The meaning of “still”, “yet” … 26

2.3.5.2 The meaning of “vẫn”, “chưa” 27

2.4 Summary… 28

Chapter 3: CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND “VẪN”, “CHƯA” IN VIETNAMESE 3.1 Semantic features of “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese 3.1.1 Semantic features of “still” 29

3.1.1.1 Continuation 29

3.1.1.2 Emphasis in comparison… 30

3.1.1.3 Contrast 31

3.1.1.4 Motionless ……… 33

3.1.2 Semantic features of “yet” ……….… 33

3.1.2.1 Something has not happened until now or specified time ……… 33

3.1.2.1 Contrast ……… 34

3.1.2.2Emphasis ……….…… 35

3.1.3 Semantic features of “vẫn” ……….…… 37

3.1.3.1 Continuation ……… 37

3.1.3.1 Emphasis ……… 38

3.1.3.2 Contrast……….…… 39

3.1.4 Semantic features of “chưa”……….… 41

3.1.4.1 Something that has not happened……….……… 41

3.1.4.2 An enquiry……….…… 42

3.1.4.3 Emphasis……… ……… 42

3.2 Pragmatic features of “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese 3.2.1 Pragmatic features of “still” ……… 43

3.2.1.1 Presupposition ……… 43

3.2.1.2 Illocutionary acts ……… 44

3.2.2 Pragmatic features of “yet” ……… 45

3.2.2.1 Presupposition ……….……… 45

3.2.2.2 Illocutionary acts ……… 46

3.2.3 Pragmatic features of “vẫn” ……… 47

3.2.3.1 Presupposition ……… 47

3.2.3.2 Illocutionary act ……….………… 48

3.2.4 Pragmatic features of “chưa”……… 49

3.2.4.1 Presupposition ……… 49

3.2.4.2 Illocutionary acts……… 50

3.3 Contrastive analysis of “still”, “yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa” ……… 53

3.3.1 In terms of semantic features ……… 53

3.3.1.1 Similarities and differences of “still” and “vẫn” ……… 53

3.3.1.2 Similarities and differences of “yet” and “chưa” ……… 55

3.3.2 In terms of pragmatic features ……… … 57

3.3.2.1 Similarities of “still’, “yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa” ……… 58

3.3.2.2 Differences of “still’, “yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa” ……….…… 59

3.4 Summary ……….59

Chapter 4: AN ANALYSIS ON THE MISTAKES MADE BY VIETNAMESE STUDENTS WHEN TRANSLATING “STILL”, “YET” 4.1 An analysis on the mistakes made by Vietnamese students when translating “still” and “yet”……… 60

4.1.1 Subjects……… 60

4.1.2 Questionnaire……… 60

4.1.3 Mistakes made by students ……… 60

4.2 Possible causes of mistakes ……… 62

4.2.1 Lack of vocabulary … 62

4.2.2 Insufficient knowledge of grammar ……… 63

4.2.3 Inadequate cultural background ……… 63

4.3 Suggested ways of overcoming the mistakes ……… ……… 64

4.3.1 Susggestions for teachers ……….……… 64

4.3.2 Susggestions for students ……… 65

4.4 Summary ……… 66

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION

5.1 Concluding remarks ……… 67 5.2 Limitation of the research ……… ………… ………67 5.3 Recommendations/Suggestions for further research ……… ….68

REFERENCES

SOURCES FOR DATA

APPENDIX

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

English has played a very important role in the development of commerce, trade, education, technology, economics, etc Therefore, getting good knowledge of English grammar is very important because one can express his/her ideas, feelings

or emotions by not only separated words but also meaningful sentences We can write or speak short sentences, but if we want our English to flow a bit more naturally we need to learn how to join sentences together by using some linking words or connectors Moreover, conjunctions can function as connectors and transition signals, and actually play an important role in linking sentences, paragraphs, or clauses together

Inspite of the same meaning, using the words in different contexts and with different objects is quite a problem In fact, a prevalent phenomenon has taken place

in a great number of countries in the world where millions of people are attempting

to use English as native speakers Nevertheless, it is inadequate to take care of the word choice (adjectives, nouns, verbs, and articles…), grammar rules (voice, aspect, and tense…) alone for fruitful communication; how to use proper conjunctions is highly appreciated Without conjunctions, it is rather hard to understand the content

of a meandering speech In addition, the given ideas are completely by no means cohesive, logical and unified

The fact has showned that English has widely been used internationally with its highest effectiveness in communication Many researchers have made study of semantics and pragmatics in many languages In pragmatic studies, the researchers deal with speech acts, presupposition and implicit meanings… Yule, G (1996) and Levinson, S C (1983) carried out significant studies on pragmatics Many linguists

in Vietnam such as Cao Xuan Hao, Do Huu Chau, Nguyen Duc Dan, Nguyen Hoa,

… also studied pragmatics Additionally, the topic of conjunctions and their functions in different languages has been repetitively declared by linguists Robin

Carston (1993) and concentrated on and Posner, P (1980) studied semantics and

pragmatics of sentence connectives in natural language Conjunctions are analysized in terms of grammar as parts of speech by Diep Quang Ban, Le Bien, Nguyen Tai Can

It is undeniable that conjunction is such a complex category that non-native learners cannot help having trouble in use Reviewing some of typical researches in Vietnamese, we found that conjuctions are studied deeply and throughoutly, but in terms of grammar only In terms of semantics and pragmatics, they are not much interested in For these reasons, we think that it is very important to study semantic and pragmatic features of the concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and

“vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese from the perspective of their semantic and pragmatic features This study is conducted to improve the users’ ability of using language and

to Hanoi University of Business and Technology This may help them study and use such words effectively Teachers may find this useful for their teaching

1.2.2 Objectives

The objectives of the research are:

to describe some semantic and pragmatic features of “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese;

to find out the similarities and differences between the concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese;

to provide some suggestions for teaching and learning English to Vietnamese teachers and students

1.3 Research questions

To fully achieve these aims, the study should answer the following questions

1. What are the semantic and pragmatic features of “still”, “yet” in English and

“vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese?

2. What are the similarities and differences of concessive conjunctions “still”,

“yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa”?

3. What are some suggestions for teaching and learning English to Vietnamese students?

1.4 Methods of the study

In order to carry out the study, 600 sentences including “still” and “yet” and

600 sentences including “vẫn” and “chưa” were collected from novels and stories in English and Vietnamese

Firstly, the qualitative and quantitative are the major approaches used in the study in combination with data collection, data description and analysis techniques

to bring the research to the completion

Finally, the contrastive analysis is used to find out the similarities and differences between the concessive conjunctions in English and in Vietnamese

1.5 Scope of the study

This thesis aims at finding the features of “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”,

“chưa” in Vietnamese They are investigated in terms of semantics and pragmatics

to perform a contrastive analysis We used 600 sentences taken from stories, novels

in English as Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, The old man and the sea, … and 600 sentences taken from stories, novels in Vietnamese as Vắng mặt, Madam Nhu Trần

Lệ Xuân – Quyền lực Bà Rồng, Harry Potter và phòng chứa bí mật, to do the

research

1.6 Significance of the study

We hope this study will make contribution to the richness of conjuntions in general and concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese in particular in terms of semantics and pragmatics The study will be a useful reference with solutions suggested which helps teachers and students find

their own ways to overcome weakness in teaching and learning English

1.7 Design of the study

The study includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study It outlines the background of the study including the rationale, aims and objectives, the research questions, methods

of the study, the scope of the study, the significance of the study and design of the study

Chapter 2 is Literature review which covers brief view of previous studies and series of concepts on semantics, pragmatic and conjunctions in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 3 is about the contrastive analysis of features of concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese to point out

the similarities and differences between them

Chapter 4 is about the application of investigating the Vietnamese equivalents meaning of “still”, “yet” in bilingual stories and analyzing mistakes made by Vietnamese translators and students when translating “still”, “yet” into Vietnamese and possible causes of mistakes, the way of overcoming the mistakes and suggestions for translating, teaching and learning concessive conjunctions more effectively

Chapter 5 is the last part of the study which summarizes what has been done, accompanied by limitations in doing the study and suggestions for further

studies

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 A review of previous study

2.1.1 Studies of international authors

Halliday and Hasan [15] reseached on Cohension in English Cohesion in

English is concerned with relatively neglected part of the linguistic system: its resources for text construction, the range of meanings that are speciffically associated with relating what is being spoken or written to its semantic environment A principal component of these resources is 'cohesion' Halliday and Hasan establish five types of ties: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions and lexical cohension Separate chapters contain detailed linguistic descriptions of each relation, with analysis of sentences and short passages drawn from diverse sources The book studies the cohesion that arises from semantic relations between sentences Reference from one to the other, repetition of word meanings, the conjunctive force of but, so, then and the like are considered Furthermore, it describes a method for analysing and coding sentences

After the publication of Halliday & Hasan’s [15] research on cohesion, many scholars tried to explain different aspects of this feature in speech Dooley & Levinsohn’s [9] view is taken primarily from Halliday & Hasan [15] and Brown & Yule’s [5] framework Dooley & Levinsohn [9] have divided cohesion devices into six categories, namely, descriptive expressions, identity, lexical relations, morpho-syntactic patterns, signals of relations between propositions (conjunctions), and intonation patterns Dooley & Levinsohn (ibid.) state that the conjunction device contains four elements including associatives, additives, adversatives, and developmental markers

Erica McClure and Margaret S Steffensen (Technical Report No 158, 1980) examines children's use of conjunctions Three major issues are addressed: linguistic complexity, developmental differences, and ethnic differences The subjects for the study third, sixth, and ninth graders were of Anglo, Black, or Hispanic ethnicity They completed sentence fragments ending in the conjunctions and, but, because, and even though These conjunctions can be paired, and-but and because-even though, where the second member of each pair is basically the negative of the first The data indicate that the positive member of each pair was easier than the negative one; the complete order of difficulty for the four

conjunctions was because < and < but < even though The order of difficulty was constant across grades and ethnic groups For all ethnic groups there was improvement in the use of conjunctions between third and ninth grade However, the grade by which effective mastery of each conjunction was reached differed for the three ethnic groups, being in general earliest for Anglos and latest for Hispanics

Asabe Sadiya Mohammed (Article, 2015) examines the use of various forms

of conjunctions in the writings of students in English as Second Language situations It has found a significant difference in the use of `and` between high and low rated texts The conjunctive `and` is seen to have a less unifying function, it is therefore avoided in the high rated texts but vigorously utilised in the low rated ones In addition, the study further reveals that there is no significant difference in the use of other conjunctives For example with `temporal`, and `demonstratives`, these are scarcely employed in any of the texts The conclusion drawn is that these ESL students have yet to master the mechanics of text connection through conjunctions and recommends extra efforts towards the teaching of conjunctions to achieve the proficiency level required of students

Shoghosho`ara [34] examined conjunctions as a cohesive device in Persian stories at children and adults level to see whether there are differences in the application of conjunction in such texts She concluded that writers at both levels use all four kinds of conjunctions In addition, statistics showed that in both groups the frequency of additive conjunctions were higher than other conjunctions The frequency of causatives in adults` stories was twice as much as children’s The use

of adversatives was almost the same in the corpus Furthermore, temporal ones in children's stories were 2.5 times more than their adults` counterparts Therefore, he concluded that when writing a story, writers should pay attention to who are their audiences

2.1.2 Studies of Vietnamese authors

Cao Xuan Hao [45] stated that “vẫn”, “tiếp tục”, “vốn”presupposes that the action, posture or process has happened before According to Diep Quang Ban [37], some function words to indicate time such as “đã”, “sẽ”, “đang”, “vừa”, “mới”,

“vẫn”, “cứ”, “còn”, “chưa” (implying both time and negative), “đã từng”… come before verbs,adjectives; “rồi”, “xong”, “xong rồi”, “xong”, “ngay” appear after verbs, adjectives while “tức thì” may turn up before or after them

Phan Van Hoa [44] pointed out that “yet” emphasizes the paradox and differences between Q and P while “still” emphasizes what has not happened to P will do to Q in the future Likewise, in Vietnamese, “vậy mà”, “thế nhưng”,

“nhưng”, “song” stresses the contradiction but “vẫn” stresses the continuation or capability to P’s occurrence at Q.”

Nguyen Thi Hoang Hue [13] gave a contrastive analysis on conjunctions in some English and Vietnamese newsletters The researcher merely focuses on contrastive analysis of the use of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Newsletters Through the study, readers not only understand deeply about conjunctions in general but also, more importantly, Vietnamese learners have clearer knowledge about the similarities and differences in conjunction usages between English and Vietnamese in particular so that difficulties can be dealtwithbysomesuggestions

Bui Thuy Anh [2] gave an overview of theoretical background of discourse and discourse analysis; cohesion, coherence and cohesive devices; concept of ESP and ESP discourse Besides, she would like to describe and analyze lexical cohesive devices through some English and Vietnamese Fables She hopes that the findings

of the study will be given a big contribution to the teaching and learning English

2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.1 Overview of semantics

Lyons [23] defined semantics is the study of meaning in language According to Kreidler [19], linguistic semantics is the study of how languages organize and express meanings Löbner stated that semantics is the part of linguistics that is concerned with meaning

To Minh Thanh [35] stated that semantics is a branch of linguistics which deals with meaning Semantics is the study of meaning in language (i.e what language means) while pragmatics is concerned with meaning in context (i.e what people mean by the language they use)

Semantics is the study of meaning in language We know that language is used to express meanings which can be understood by others But meanings exist in our minds and we can express what is in our minds through the spoken and written forms of language (as well as through gestures, action etc.)

Semantics is that level of linguistic analysis where meaning is analyzed It is the most abstract level of linguistic analysis, since we cannot see or observe

meaning as we can observe and record sounds Meaning is related very closely to the human capacity to think logically and to understand So when we try to analyze meaning, we are trying to analyze our own capacity to think and understand our own ability to create meaning Semantics concerns itself with “giving a systematic account of the nature of meaning” (Leech, 1981)

2.2.2 Overview of pragmatics

Pragmatics is being the study of relation of signs to interpreters Pragmatics

as another branch of linguistic is the study of meaning which relates to the context

or the external meaning of language unit To get more clear definition about pragmatics, let us look at the following definition below

Levinson [22] states: “Pragmatics is concerned solely with performance principles of language usage and the disambiguation of sentences by the contexts in which they were uttered Pragmatics is the study of the relation between language and the contexts that are basic to an account of language understanding”

Do Huu Chau [39] cited some foreign experts’ comments on pragmatics and explained generally about pragmatics He also mentioned speech acts in his work

From the definition above, we can conclude that pragmatics is a branch of linguistics which concerns with language use in context and the study of meaning related to the context or situation It explains the way language use understood well after connecting it to the situation where, when and by whom it is uttered

Some experts said that pragmatics is a branch of semiotics which study about signs and symbols used by man for communicating in a particular language From the definition above, it seems to be clear that pragmatics is:

1 A single science of language that different from other field since it studies about the external meaning of language, not the external structure of language

2 Used as a means that study about one of the functions of language namely

• Facts about the objective facts of the utterance: who the speaker is, when the utterance happened, and where;

• Facts about the speaker’s intention What language the speaker intends to use, what meaning he intends to be using

• Facts about beliefs of the speaker and those to whom he speaks and what are they talking about

• Facts about relevant social institutions, such as promising, marriage ceremonies, and the like, which affect what a person accomplishes in or by saying what he does

2.2.3 Theory of translation

2.2.3.1 Definitions of translation

Translation, by dictionary definition, consists of changing from one form to another, to turn into one 'own or another' language (The Merriam - Webster Dictionary, 1974) Some authors have given the following different definitions of translation:

In the book “A Linguistic Theory of Translation”, Catford [7] defines that translation is not a dangerous technique in itself provided its nature is understood, and its use is carefully controlled and translation is in itself a valuable skill to be imparted to students Furthermore, translation is an operation performed in languages and also a process of substituting a text in one language for a text in another More specifically, translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)

Another author, Nguyễn Hồng Cổn [38] mentions that the activity of translation is still a language activity and language plays core and basic roles However, he says that together with the attention to linguistic problem, translators also need to pay attention to the problems relating to the SL and TL such as social environment, culture and religion

2.2.3.2 Translation equivalence

Equivalence can be said to be the central issue in translation although its definition, relevance, and applicability within the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy, and many different theories of the concept of equivalence have been elaborated within this problem Translation equivalence occurs when a SL and a TL text or item are relatable to (at least some of) the same

features of substance The greater the number of situational features common to the contextual meanings of both SL and TL texts, the “better” the translation

According to Peter Newmark, translation equivalence is an unwritten rule about translation which people know and which influences the form of translating

exchange “Translation equivalence will not be achieved word for word, collocation for collocation, clause for clause, sentence for sentence, but possibly only paragraph for paragraph, or, rarely, text for text For this reason, translation equivalence, like the term ‘unit of translation’, is sometimes a useful operational concept, but it can be only roughly and approximately indicated for a stretch of language.”

Mentioning translation equivalence, Eugene Nida distinguishes two types of equivalence: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form (poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, concept and concept) and content (gloss translation, aim to allow the reader to understand as much of the SL context as possible) However, dynamic equivalence is based on the principle of equivalent effect, i.e that the relationship between receiver and message should aim at being the same as that between the original receivers and the SL message

J.C Catford claims that SL and TL texts or items are translation equivalents when they are interchangeable in a given situation Catford's approach to translation equivalence clearly differs from that adopted by Nida since Catford had a preference for a more linguistic-based approach to translation and this approach is based on the linguistic work of Firth and Halliday Catford proposed very broad types of translation in terms of three criteria: the extent of translation (full translation vs partial translation); the grammatical rank at which the translation equivalence is established (rankbound translation vs unbounded translation); the levels of language involved in translation (total translation vs restricted translation)

2.2.4 Theory of mistakes

2.2.4.1 Mistake definitions

According to J Richard et al, [31], an error is the use of a word, speech act

or grammatical items in such a way it seems imperfect and significant of an incomplete learning (184) It is considered by Norrish [27:7] as a systematic deviation that happens when a learner has not learnt something, and consistently gets it wrong However, the attempts made to put the error into context have always

gone hand in hand with either Language Learning and Second Language acquisition processes, Hendrickson [12:357] mentioned that mistakes are ‘Signal’ that indicate

an actual learning process taking place and that the learner has not yet mastered or shown a well-structured competence in the target language

All the definitions seemed to stress either on the systematic deviations triggered in the language learning process, or its indications of the actual situation

of the language learner themselves which will later help the monitor be it an applied linguist or particularly the language teacher to solve the problem respecting one of the approaches argued in the Error Analysis (Anefnaf 2017), the occurrence of mistakes does not only indicate that the learner has not learned something yet, but also it gives the linguist the idea of whether the teaching method applied was effective or it needs to be changed

2.2.4.2 Different types of mistakes

It would be useful to distinguish between different types of anomalous language behaviour: the error, the mistake and the lapse Let us call a systematic deviation, when a learner has not learnt something and, consistently ‘gets it wrong’

an error As mentioned above, a child aquiring his own language sometimes consistently makes the same error In the same way, when a learner of English as a second or foreign language makes an error systematically, it is because has not learnt the correct form A common example is using the infinitive with ‘to’ after the verb ‘must’ (eg ‘ I must to go to the shops’ Let us suppose that the learner knows the verbs want (+ to), need (+ to) and perhaps ought (+ to); by analogy he then produces must (+ to) Until he has been told otherwise, or until he notices that native speakers do not produce this form, he will say or write this quite consistently Once a learner has noticed or been taught that in English the verb ‘must’ does not follow the the same pattern as some of the other modal verbs, there may well be a period during which he produces ‘he must go ‘and’ he must to go’ Sometimes he will use one form and sometimes the other, quite inconsistently This inconsistent deviation we shall call a mistake: sometimes the learner ‘gets it right’ but sometimes he makes a mistake and uses the wrong form

There is another type of wrong usage which is neither a mistake nor an error and can happen to anyone at any time This is a lapse, which may be due to lack of concentration, shortness of memory, fatigue, etc A lapse bears little relation to whether or not a given form in the language has been learnt, has not been learnt or

is the process of being learnt Native speakers suffer lapses in the same way as ners of the language; a recent example was a presenter of BBC’s Radio 4 who said

lear-‘chieving to astrive’ instead of ‘striving to achieve’

Many teachers may feel that there is another type of common ‘mistake’: a careless slip, caused by the learner’s inattentiveness in class In fact, by referring to any kind of unacceptable or inappropri-ate form as ‘careless’ we are pre-judging the cause and blaming the learner for it To be realistic, we must admit that classrooms are not always populated by the ideal, motivated, attentive students we would hope

for But can we call a learner careless who produces the following utterance: ‘That

is the man that I saw him last Friday’ after he has worked at sentences

demonstrating relative clauses? Clearly there are many possible explanations for this deviation and we are denying ourselves the chance of valuable insights into what is going on in the learner’s mind if we ascribe this behaviour to simple carelessness

2.2.5 Components of meaning

2.2.5.1 Grammatical meaning

Lyons [23] points out that “Different forms of the same lexeme will generally, though not necessarily, differ in meaning: they will differ in respect of their grammatical meaning.”

Nguyen Hoa [11] states that the grammar of a language is traditionally viewed as a system of rules which say about how lexical items are put together to form phrases, clauses and sentences or even discourse Once these rules are flouted, the products will be described as ungrammatical But as is clear, the grammatically (or grammatical well-formedness) is closely related to meaningfulness Put in another way, any grammatical formation may be meaningless if it is not meaningful

interpretation of the sentences of the language – rightly called mental grammar For the time being, little is known about the mental grammar that all speakers of a language presumably, have, and in particular whether there is a clear-cut line between grammar and lexicon However, our view is that there exists a close relatonship between the grammar and the lexicon of a language: the grammar reflects the ways in which the lexicon operates as means of communication and as

an instrument of thought In other words, part of the meaning (of the lexicon) is encoded in the grammatical structure of languages

And the lexical meaning of the word can be classified into denotational meaning,connotative meaning, structural/associative meaning and categorial meaning

2.2.5.2.1 Denotative meaning or denotation

Kreidler [19] explained that denotation is the potential of a word to enter into such language expressions Reference is the way speakers and hearers use an expression successfully; denotation is the knowledge they have that makes their use successful Nguyen Hoa [11] claims that denotative meaning is called

- Conceptual meaning This kind of meaning is widely assumed to be the central factor in linguistic communication It has a complex and sophisticated organization

E.g: A table may be defined as a piece of furniture used for writing at

- Referential This is the ability to refer to objects or things

E.g: Can you get me a book vs I bought a book this afternoon

2.2.5.2.2 Connotative meaning or connotation

According to Kreidler [19], meaning is more than denotation People not only talk and write to describe things and events and characteristics; they also express their opinions, favorable and unfavorable Language furnishes the means for expressing a wide range of attitudes; this aspect of meaning is called connotation

Amvela and Jackson point out that “connotations constitute additional properties of lexemes, e.g poetic, slang, baby language, biblical, casual, formal, humorous, legal, literary, rhetorical.”

Nguyen Hoa [11] points out connotative is the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual

content This kind of meaning is rather unstable: that is they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual

2.2.5.2.3 Structural/associative meanings include

- Reflected meaning: It refers to a phenomenon whereby a single word or phrase

is associated with more than one meaning

- Collocative meaning: It consists of the associations of a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment

- Associative meaning: This is also the meaning which arises because of its association with other meaning

- Thematic meaning: This is the kind of meaning which is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis

2.2.5.2.4 Categorial meaning

It is one part of grammatical meaning which words derive from being a member of one catergory rather than another (nouns rather than verbs and so on) Words fall into such categories as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, etc

2.3 Theoretical framework

2.3.1 Speech acts

Pragmatics is defined as the study of language use and linguistic communication, and the central concern of pragmatics is the study of speech acts Speech act is a part of pragmatic discussion which relates to what a certain sentence and utterance possesses certain act within it Speaking a language is performing speech acts, acts such as making statements, giving commands, asking questions, making promises, and so on In other words, we can do things with speech

The study of how people do things with speech is the study of speech acts In studying speech acts one is acutely aware of the importance of the context of the utterance In some circumstance there is a sheep dog in the closet is a warning, but the very same sentence may be promise or even as mere statement of fact, depending on the circumstance

Nguyen Nhu Y [53] defines speech acts in “Dictionary of linguistic terms” as

“a certain purposeful passage under certain conditions separated by means of intonation and completed in terms of sound and acoustics that speaker and hearer are related to the same meaning in a certain context of communication Speech acts

are made when a speaker (writer) speaks (writes) an utterance to the hearer (reader)

in certain context”

According to J.R Searle in Speech Act: an essay in the philosophy of language [33], there are three components of speech acts carried out by a speaker namely locution, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts

2.3.1.1 Locutionary acts

Act which is also known as utterance act, is the actual form of words used by the speaker and their semantic meaning It is an act of uttering something, syllables, words, phrases or sentence form of a language This is not a very important act because it is not communicative It can be performed by a parrot, tape recorder, radio, etc

Austin further analyses the locutionary act into three sub-types such as (i).the phonic act of producing an utterance in the phonic medium of sound (ii) The phatic act of constructing a particular sentence in a particular language and (iii) The rhetic act contextualization a s sentence For example, when we utter a very

simple sentence like:“Have you ever tried thinking?”, we are supposed touse

certain sounds of English and a particular type of intonation, which can become obvious if we are serious about transcribing this utterance – this is the phonic act Second, this sentence is composed according to certain rules, involving particular words and grammar rules of this language – this is the phatic act Last, this sentence

is made in a certain real context, which we can readily imagine – this is the rhetic act

2.3.1.2 Illocutionary acts

Vanderveken points out “By uttering sentences in the contexts of use of natural languages, speakers attempt to perform illocutionary acts such as statements, questions, declarations, requests, promises, apologies, orders, offers and refusals…”

Illocutionary act is an act performed in saying something When an utterance aims to do something, this is what is often called in pragmatic terms, the illocutionary act namely the act of doing something It can be classified into illocutionary act when we regard to situation and the context of the utterance

When one utters a sentence, one can assign what is referred to as illocutionary force to it This illocutionary force may be understood as some kind of intended message that a speaker assigns to the sentence that he utters One type of illocutionary force is what is commonly referred to as implicature For example,

when we ask somebody: “Have you got the time?” the illocutionary force we assign

to this utterance turn it functionally into a question about time, rather than whether the person asked has time or not We use language for a variety of purposes: to make promises, pledges, to threaten, to cajole, insult, to convict a criminal, and so

on There are many different kinds of illocutionary force Thus, we will see that the speaker can do something or perform an act by saying or making an utterance Such

a kind of utterance is called performative If the utterance contains a verbs which actually performs the act (promising, pleading, thanking, etc.), it will be called explicit performative

2.3.1.3 Perlocutionary acts

Perlocutionary act is the third part of speech act which is distinctive from two other kinds of speech act It is the act that produces effects on the hearer or defined by the hearer’s reaction to the speaker utterance Let see the example below:

The speaker produces the utterance“There is a snake beside you” and the

hearer believe what the speaker says Then, it may cause the hearer panic, scream or run These emotions or actions of the hearer are the perlocution of the utterance, or the perlocutionary act the speaker perform by making that utterance From the example above, it can be concluded that perlocutionary act happens depends on the hearer’s reaction.Typical examples of perlocutionary acts are: inspiring, impressing, embarrassing, intimidating, persuading, deceiving, misleading, irritating

George Yule proposed five categories of speech acts based on general functions performed via those speech acts

a Declarations

Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their utterance Let’s consider the examples given by George Yule:

(5) Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife

(6) Referee: You’re out!

(7) Jury Foreman: We find the defendant guilty

As illustrated in these examples, performing the speech act of declarations requires the speaker of a special institutional role in a specific context Specifically, different context in (5) (at the church), (6) (in a football match), and (7) (in a court) respectively marks different roles of the speakers as a priest (5), as a referee (6), and

a Jury Foreman (7) So, when using a declaration, the speaker uses his/her words to change the world

b Representatives

Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not They can be facts, assertions, conclusions, or descriptions Let’s have a look at the following example:

(8) The moon goes around the earth

The fact that is mentioned in this utterance has been proved to be true thanks

to some scientific discoveries So, it is completely reasonable for the speaker to believe in the fact and utter it as a “representative” The instance which is going to

be illustrated in (9) states the representative of description:

(9) We had a happy honeymoon in Nha Trang It was sunny and the beach was wonderful

Performing the act of representative, the speaker makes the descriptionof the weather and the beach in their honeymoon.It can be seen that in representatives, the speaker makes the words fit theworld (of belief)

c Expressives

Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels They express the speaker’s pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow These speech acts can be performed by the speaker or hearer, but they are about the speaker’s experience For instance,

(10) I’m really pleased with your presentation

(11) What bad news!

(14) Come in!

(15) Can you pass the sugar, please?

(16) Don’t make a mess!

In contrast to the representatives and the expressives, the acts of directions show the speaker’s aim at making the world fit the words (via the hearer)

e Commissives

Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that the speaker uses to commit himself/herself to some future action Such speech acts express what the speaker intends They are promises (as in (17)), threats (as in (18)), refusals (as in (2.19)), etc They can be employed by an individual or by a member of a group

(17) We will lend you our car for two days

(18) If you keep being late for work, you’ll be dismissed

(19) I’m busy I will not come to the party

When using the speech acts of commissives, the speaker makes the world fit the words (via the speaker)

These five general functions of speech acts can be formed into three subgroups

The first group contains the speech acts of declarations which change the world through words The second one consists of representatives and expressives which both make words fit the world The representatives areperformed based on the belief of the speaker and the expressives are shown via the speaker’s feelings The third includes directives and commissives which both make the world fit the words The difference between these two kinds of speech acts is that the former is via the hearer where as the latter is via the speaker

2.3.2 Presupposition

According to George Yule [36:19], a presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance Speakers, not sentences, have pre-supposition For example:

Jane’s brother bought two apartments

This sentence presupposes that Jane exists and that she has a brother The speaker may also hold the more specific presupposition that she has only a brother and her brother has a lot of money All these presuppositions are held by the speaker and all of them can be wrong

The concept of presupposition is often treated as the relationship between two propositions In the case below, we have a sentence that contains a proposition (p) and another proposition (q), which is easily presupposed by any listener However, the speaker can produce a sentence by denying the proposition (p),

obtaining as a result the same presupposition (q)

Debora’s cat is cute (p)

Debora has a cat (q)

When I say that Debora’ s cat is cute, this sentence presupposes that Debora has

a cat In

Debora’ s cat is not cute (NOT p)

the same thing holds true, that is, it presupposes that she has a cat This property of presupposition is generally described as constancy under negation Basically, it means that the presupposition of a statement will remain constant (i.e still true) even when that statement is negated

Nguyen Duc Dan [22, p.194] states that there are two kinds of presupposition: semantic presupposition and pragmatic presupposition For example:

(20) Con anh Ba đang bệnh (21) Con anh Ba không bệnh (22) Anh Ba đã có con (22) is always true whether (20) is right or wrong (if (20) is wrong, (21) is right) Therefore (22) is presupposition of (20) and (21)

From pragmatic perspective, there is correction/ incorrection value to a sentence beside true/false value A sentence may be true but false in presupposition

(23) Anh tiếp tục hút thuốc à?

(24) Vâng (25) Trước kia thì có, nhưng bây giờ thì không, tiền đâu mà hút thuốc Thuốc này mua cho ba tôi

(26) Đây là lần đầu tôi hút (27) Chưa bào giờ tôi hút cả Thuốc này mua cho ba tôi

(24), (25) and (26) show that (23) is true and correct (27) shows that (23) is false and incorrect

- Preposition: Prepositions come shortly before a noun or pronoun and show that noun’s relationship to another part of the sentence

For example: under the bed, until noon, throughout America, except the mustard, of the people, in the end

- Pronoun: A pronoun refers to a noun and takes it place Some refer to people or show that something is owned

For example: I, me, we, us, you, he, she, him, her, they, them my, our, your, his, her, its, their

- Determiner: a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has

For example: a, the, every

- Conjunction: Conjunctions connect parts of the sentence together

For example: Amy and Rob arrived

I’ll walk or I’ll drive

- Modal verbs: a verb used with another verb to express an idea such as possibility that is not expressed by the main verb.The modal verbs

in English are "can," "could," "may," "might," "must," "ought," "shall,"

"should," "will," and "would."

- Primary verb: one of the three verbs be, do and have that can function

both as a main verb and an auxilary verb

2.3.1.1.2 Open classes consist of

- Nouns: Nouns identify a person, place, thing or idea An article (a, an, or the) can be put in front of a noun, or replace it with a pronoun

For example: nurse (a nurse, the nurse, him, her)

garden (a garden, the garden, it) democracy (a democracy, it)

- Adjectives: Adjectives describe a noun

For example: crooked politician, large airport, broken truck

- Full verbs: A verb is a word that expresses an action or a state of being For example: They disagree with him

They are outraged

They have no choice

- Adverbs: a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time,

circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc For example:

gently, quite,then, there

To these may be added two lesser catergories

- Numerals: a word expressing a number

For example: one, two, three, first, second…

- Interjections: an abrupt remark, made especially as an aside or interruption

For example: oh, ah, ugh, phew

2.3.3.2 In Vietnamese

Nguyen Thien Giap [23:260-267] classifies word classes as

- Nouns (danh từ): nouns identify things, phenomena and concepts Nouns can be devided into

+ Common nouns: nhà, sách, cây, …

+ Proper nouns: Hà Nội, Lan, Paris,…

- Pronouns (đại từ): Pronouns do not name things, phenomena, … but to replace them Pronouns can be devided into

+ Personal pronouns: tôi, nó, họ, mày, tao,…

+ Demonstrative pronouns: đây, đấy, đó, này,…

+ Interrogative pronouns: ai, gì, nào,…

+ Indefinite pronouns: ai, đâu, nào, sao,…

+ Relative pronouns: mà, cái mà, … + Reflexive pronouns: tự nó

+ Reciprocal pronouns: lẫn nhau

- Verb (vị từ): Verb is a word expresses an action, state of being: chạy , nhảy,

đi, đứng,…Verb can be devided into

+ Intransitive verb: ngủ, ngồi, đứng, nghỉ, … + Transitive verb: xây, đào, cắt, …

- Adjective (tính từ): The meanings of adjectives in English are denoted by

verbs in Vietnamese

- Quantifiers (lượng từ): quantifiers express quantity They can be devided into

+ Determined quantifiers: một, hai, ba bốn,…

+ Undetermined quantifiers: mấy, mỗi, mọi, tất cả, …

- Adverbs (trạng từ): The meanings of adverbs in English are denoted by verbs

in Vietnamese

- Prepositions (giới từ): tại, bởi, vì, nếu, dù, …

- Conjunctions (liên từ): are word used to connect two words, clauses or

sentences: và, hay, hoặc, nên, vẫn, tuy nhiên, chưa, …

- Interjections (thán từ): a ha, ái chà, chao ôi, …

- Article (quán từ): cái, các, những,…

- Particle (tiểu từ): à, ư, nhỉ, nhé, …

Rodney Huddleston (1944) defines conjunction as uninflected word that used

to connect clauses or sentences, or to coordinate words in the same clause Another

8 definition by Ann Cole Brown (1987), conjunction is a word that connects individual words or groups of words In fact, a conjunction literally means the act of joining or combination

And in a word, it is worth viewing the most adequate definition by Richard Mallery (1967) that “a conjunction is a word or a pair of words used either to connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences or to show how one sentence is related

to another.” Many definitions of conjunctions are arrived at by other grammarians However, they generally defined the concept of conjunction in the light of emphasizing on its main function concerning the combination of words, clauses or sentences

• In Vietnamese

Vietnamese conjunction is an interesting topic that many Vietnamese linguists have concerned about In the dictionary “Bách khoa Việt Nam, tập 2” published in 2002, conjunctions serve as connectors which link words, phrases, and sentences to denote the significance of the relationships such as alternative, contrast, concession, etc

According to Hoàng Trung Thông [51], conjunctions are words expressing the grammatical relations used to join the components in sentences or in phrases Conjunctions do not make sense in terms of vocabulary and grammar, especially they never keep functions as subject or predicate in a sentence

Having the same opinions with Hoàng Trung Thông, Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh in

“Tiếng Việt hiện đại” [48] also defines that conjunctions are words which refer to the grammatical relations used to connect parts of sentences or the elements in the phrase Another definition written by Hoàng Thế [50] shows that conjunctions are considered as joiners to connect two clauses together and Nguyễn Lai [46] also agrees that conjunctions are words with the function to adhere words having the same syntax roles in sentences or to link the same functional components, sentences, paragraphs in which the conjunctions represent certain semantics’ functions

Although each author gives the different definitions, their contents come to a high agreement It can be said that like English conjunctions, Vietnamese conjunctions are the glue to combine words, word phrases, paragraphs, sentences, etc The linguists really help readers to understand deeply about conjunctions The following part is detail classifications of Vietnamese conjunctions

2.3.4.2 Classifications of conjunctions

• In English

Halliday [16:349] proposes some headings that may be useful for analysis purposes These are opposition, classification, additive, adversative, verificative, temporal, comparative, causal, conditional and concessive These are presented with their meanings in the table below

Table 2.1: Types of conjunctive relations and their meanings

Primary

Types

Immediate Sub-types

Examples of items Meaning

ELABORATION

Appositive In other words, that is to say,

for example, thus, to illustrate

Some element is representedor restated Clarification Rather, at least, by the way,

In any case, anyway, in particular, more specifically,

in short, to sumup, actually,

Summarises, makesmore precise or reinstates Additive And, also, moreover, but, Inclusion

EXTENSION

yet, however nor (negative), and

Variation Instead, on the contrary,

apart from that, alternatively

Related

Temporal In the first place, then, next,

just then, hitherto, previously, finally, in the end, soon, after a while, next time, that morning, until then, at this moment

Related to time, a short time duration

Comparative likewise, similarly, in a

differentway

Related to

ENHANCEMENT

Causal Hence, consequently,

because of that, as a result,

on account of this, for this purpose

Relating to or being

Conditional Then, in that case, otherwise,

if not, however, even so, nevertheless

One depends on another

Concessive Yet, still, however, even so Conceding

• In Vietnamese

There are many ways of classifying Vietnamese conjunctions, but the one mostly applied is according to the parts of utterances that they link together From the view of Diệp Quang Ban [37], Vietnamese conjunctions are arranged into two principal groups: subordinating and coordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions are used to combine subordinate constituents with super-ordinate constituents, while coordinating conjunctions are used to link words, word phrases, and sentences

According to Nguyễn Lai [46], like English conjunctions, Vietnamese conjunctions can also be categorized into two types: conjunctions connecting coordinated clauses (coordinators) and conjunctions connecting dependent clauses (subordinators)

(i) Coordinators

Conjunctions that link coordinated clauses are: và (and), nhưng/ mà (but), hay/hoặc (or), vì vậy/ do vậy (so/ hence/ therefore), etc

E.g Chợ họp giữa phố vãn từ lâu Người về hết và tiếng ồn ào cũng mất

(Market in the city centre has disbanded for a long time Everyone comes back home and noise is also lost.)

(Cited in “Hai đứa trẻ” (1938) - Thạch Lam) According to grammatical meanings, conjunctions of this type have three main meanings or functions in sentences The first function is conjunctions

expressing listing, for instance, coordinators “và”, “với”, “cùng” simply link

clauses to indicate enumeration and consecutive or simultaneous events

E.g Tôi đến nhà An nhiều lần và trở thành người thân của cả gia đình

(I went to An’s house many times and became the intimate of the whole family)

(Cited in “Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt, tập 1” (1993) - Diệp Quang Ban)

The next function is conjunctions showing alternative “hay”, “hay là”,

“hoặc là”, “hoặc…hoặc…” An example of this type can be seen in:

E.g Ngoài ra, ông vẫn thường đi xếp hàng mua gạo hoặc nhu yếu phẩm

(In addition, he often stands in a queue to buy rice or necessities.) (Cited in “Giấc mơ ông lão vườn chim (1970) – Anh Đức)

The last function of conjunctions is that they are used to express contrast

such as “nhưng”, “song”, “còn”

E.g “Hắn nghiến răng vào mà chửi cái đứa đã đẻ ra Chí Phèo Nhưng mà biết đứa nào đã đẻ ra Chí Phèo?

(He gritted his teeth to verbal child that spawned Chi Pheo But know who has spawned Chi Pheo?)

(Cited in “Chí Phèo” (1946) – Nam Cao) (ii) Subordinators

The other set of conjunctions is used to link dependent clauses, and there are

usually couple conjunctions to describe these relationships such as “tuy…nhưng…”,

“vì …nên…”, “do…nên…”, “bởi…nên…”, “dù…nhưng…”, “nếu…thì…”

In dependent clauses, there are four smaller types of relationships:

- Conjunctions expressing reason: “vì…(cho) nên/ mà…”, “tại…(cho) nên/ mà…”, “do….(cho) nên/ mà…”, “nhờ…(cho) nên/ mà…”, “bởi…(cho) nên/ mà…”

E.g Từ khóc như mưa bởi vì Từ chẳng còn biết trông cậy vào ai

(Tu cried bitterly because she did not know whom she could rely on.)

(Cited in “Đời Thừa” (1943) – Nam Cao)

- Conjunctions expressing condition-consequence: “nếu (như)…thì…”, “hễ (mà)…thì/ là…”, “giá (mà)…thì…”, “ví…thì…”, “nhỡ…thì…” These

conjunctions are used in conditional sentences

E.g Nếu thị không vào thì hắn vẫn cứ nghĩ vẩn vơ mãi

(If she does not come, he still thinks miscellaneously.)

(Cited in “Chí Phèo” (1946) – Nam Cao)

- Conjunctions expressing concession: “tuy…nhưng/ vẫn…”, “dù…nhưng/ vẫn…”, “mặc dù…nhưng/ vẫn…”

E.g Tuy những tiếng quen thuộc ấy hôm nào chả có, nhưng hôm nay hắn

mới nghe thấy

(The familiar noise is always appeared every day, but today he hears that.) (Cited in “Chí Phèo” (1946) – Nam Cao)

- Conjunctions expressing purpose: “để…(thì)…”

E.g Hắn tìm một người bạn thân để nói chuyện văn chương

(He is looking for a close friend in order to talk literature.)

(Cited in “Đời Thừa” (1943) – Nam Cao)

2.3.5 The meaning of “still”, “yet” and “vẫn”, “chưa”

2.3.5.1 The meaning of “still”, “yet”

According to Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary, 9th edition

“Still” has the following meanings

- Continuing until a particular point in time and not finishing

E.g I wrote to them last month and I’m still waiting for a reply

- Despite what has just been said

E.g We searched everywhere but we still couldn’t find it

- Used for making a comparison stronger

E.g The next day was warmer still

- Not moving; calm and quiet

E.g Keep still while I brush your hair

- With no wind

E.g A still summer’s day

“Yet” has the following meanings

- Talking about something that has not happened but that you expect to happen (used in negative sentences and questions)

E.g I haven’t received a letter from him yet

- Now, as soon as this (used in negative sentences)

E.g We don’t need to start yet

- From now until the period of time mentioned has passed

E.g He’ll be busy for ages yet

- Used to say that something could, might, etc happen in the future, even though it seems unlikely

E.g We may win yet

- To emphasize an increase in number of times something happens (used with again)

E.g Prices were cut yet again

- To emphasize an increase in the degree of something

E.g A recent and yet more improbable theory

- Despite what has just been said (nevertheless)

E.g It’s a small car, yet it’s surprisingly spacious

2.3.5.2 The meaning of “vẫn”, “chưa”

According to “Từ điển tiếng Việt” (Vietnamese dictionary) by Hoang Phe (2003)

“Vẫn” has the following meaning

- To expresses continuation without changing of an action, state of being, nature

at the mentioned time

E.g Trời vẫn cứ mưa to

(It is still raining heavily)

- Affirmation of something normally happens in abnormal conditions

E.g Chủ nhật, thư viện vẫn mở cửa

(The library opens even on Sunday.)

- Affirmation of comparisons

E.g Năm nay nó học khá, nhưng vẫn không bằng năm ngoái

(This year, he has studied quite well, but not as well as he did last year.)

“Chưa” has the following meaning

- To expresses something has not happened until a certain time, but may happen

in the future (negative meaning)

E.g Chưa ai đến cả

(Nobody has come.)

- To ask about something has come out or not (Put at the end of a question.)

E.g Đi ngủ chưa?

(Have you gone to bed yet?)

- Affirmation of what the speaker says is true and expect the agreement of the listener (Put at the end of the sentence.)

E.g Tội nghiệp thằng bé chưa, ngã đau quá!

(Poor boy! He hurt badly after his falling.)

2.4 Summary

In this chapter, some previous studies on conjunctions are mentioned to realize that there are certain characteristics that need to master Also, theory of semantics, pragmatics and conjunctions pave the way as the background to understand and analyze conjunctions in various contexts Based on the theoretical framework, a study on semantic and pragmatic features of concessive conjunctions “still”, “yet” in English and “vẫn”, “chưa” in Vietnamese to be discussed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3 CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON SEMANTIC AND

PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF CONCESSIVE

CONJUNCTIONS “STILL”, “YET” IN ENGLISH AND

We use “still” totalk about the continuing until a particular point in time

and not finishing

(3.1) Superstition was with me at that moment; but it was not yet her hour

for complete victory: my blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigour; I had to stem

a rapid rush of retrospective thought before I quailed to the dismal present [1, C.2, p.5]

(Lúc đó tôi đâm ra tin dị đoan Nhưng mê tín cũng chưa hoàn toàn

choán hẳn tâm hồn tôi Máu tôi vẫn còn bừng bừng; tinh thần của kẻ nô

lệ vùng lên chống đối làm trỗi dậy trong lòng tôi một sức mạnh đắng

cay Tôi phải kìm bớt những hồi tưởng miên man về quá khứ trước khi

bị suy nhược vì những sợ hãi hiện tại.)

(3.2) I heard the rain still beating continuously on the staircase window.

[1, C.2, p.7]

(Tôi lắng nghe tiếng những hạt mưa liên miên tí tách đập vào cửa kính

chỗ cầu thang.)

In the above example, the rain continued outside the window, it happened

previously and continued up to that time

(3.3.) The Dowager might be between forty and fifty: her shape was still fine;

her hair (by candle-light at least) still black; her teeth, too, were still

apparently perfect [4, p.16]

(Bà Dowager khoảng 40 hoặc 50 tuổi Ngoại hình của bà vẫn rất chuẩn, mái tóc (ít nhất là được nhìn qua ánh nến) vẫn còn xanh; hàm răng vẫn còn rất hoàn hảo.)

(3.4) They looked around People were still watching them, mainly because

of Hedwig's continuing screeches [4, p.69] (Hai đứa nhìn quanh Thiên hạ vẫn còn ngó tụi nó, chủ yếu là tại vì con Hedwig cứ ca cẩm mãi.)

(3.5) It was getting into the afternoon and the boat still moved slowly and

steadily [3, p.66] (Trời đã về chiều và con thuyền vẫn lừ đừ tiến một cách vững chắc.)

(3.6) This interesting riddle is still quite a challenge to modern science in the

twentieth century [5, p.6] (Sự bí ẩn thú vị này vẫn là một thách thức với nền khoa học hiện đại thế

kỷ 20.)

3.1.1.2 Emphasis in comparison

“Still” is used to make a comparison stronger

(3.7) Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have

not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty

[1, C.3, p.9] (Sự nghèo khó là đáng buồn đối với người lớn, lại càng buồn hơn đối với trẻ con Chúng không hiểu nhiều về sự chịu khó, tính cần cù, sự nghèo khổ đáng kính trọng.)

(3.8) “Though if his grades don’t pick up,” said Mr Malfoy, more coldly

still , “that may indeed be all he is fit for —” [4, p52] (Ông Malfoy ngày càng lạnh lùng hơn: “Tuy nhiên nếu thứ hạng của nó

ở trường mà không nhích lên, thì nó quả thực chỉ xứng đáng làm quân trộm cắp mà thôi”.)

(3.9) Then get your hand in order because there still is more to come

[3, p.110] (Hãy sẵn sàng chuẩn bị bởi vì những con khác sẽ đến.)

(3.10)“He will sacrifice all to his long-framed resolves,” she said: “natural affection and feelings more potent still.” [1, C.30, p.11] (Anh ấy sẽ hy sinh hết cả tình thương yêu và những tình cảm khác mãnh liệt hơn cho một dự định ôm ấp từ lâu.)