A contrastive analysis of noun-verb conversion in English and Vietnamese. M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 60 22 15

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ KIM ANH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF NOUN-VERB CONVERSION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Phân tích đối chiếu chuyển loại danh từ sang động từ tiếng Anh tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis ss Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ KIM ANH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF NOUN-VERB CONVERSION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Phân tích đối chiếu chuyển loại danh từ sang động từ tiếng Anh tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis ss Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Dr Trần Xuân Điệp HANOI - 2010 IV TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABBREVIATION AND SYMBOL vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study The aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Format of the study PART 2: DEVELOPVEMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 An overview of CA and CA guiding principles 1.2 Conversion – A word formation process 1.2.1 Definition and Terminology 1.2.2 Remarkable features 1.2.3 Typology 1.3 Word Meaning 10 1.4 Verbs 12 1.4.1 Verbs in English 12 1.4.2 Verbs in Vietnamese 13 CHAPTER 2: THE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF N-V CONVERSION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 15 V 2.1 N-V conversion in English 15 2.1.1 Grammatical Features 15 2.1.1.1 Syntactic Features 15 2.1.1.2 Morphological features 16 2.1.2 Semantic Features 17 2.2 N-V conversion in Vietnamese 25 2.2.1 An overview of conversion in Vietnamese 25 2.2.2 Noun-verb conversion 27 2.2.2.1 Grammatical Features 27 2.2.2.1.1 Syntactic Features 27 2.2.2.1.2 Morphological features 29 2.2.2.2 Semantic Features 30 2.3 Findings 32 2.3.1 Similarities 32 2.3.2 Differences 33 2.4 Implications for EFL teaching and learning 34 PART 3: CONCLUSION 36 Conclusions 36 Limitations of the study 37 Recommendations for Further Research 37 REFERENCES 38 VI ABBREVIATION AND SYMBOL CA: Contrastive Analysis EFL: English as a Foreign Language L1 : First Language L2 : Second Language N-V: Noun to Verb A: Adjective *: unacceptable ( ): a parenthesis enclosing the two numbers inside, the first number indicates the year of publishing, and the second indicates the page being referred to PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study The topic is chosen due to the following reasons Among many different word formation processes to create new lexicon, conversion is a new trend growing up in the productive field According to Cannon, G (1985:415), conversion will be more active in the future, and so, it will create a great part of the new words appearing in the English language Nguyễn Kim Thản (1977:9) states that the verb is one of the most complex parts of speech, which is widely used, and as a result, play a key role in any language system Of all the conversion processes represented in English, it is acknowledged, and shown by, for example, Biese (1941), Marchand (1969), Plag (2003) that creating verbs from nouns N-V conversion is the most productive and by no means unexpected It is due to the lack of derivational means of forming verbs from nouns and adjectives in present-day English Vocabulary of both English and Vietnamese has a remarkable range of flexibility and adaptability Thus, this study is intended to make the contrast of N-V conversion between English and Vietnamese in terms of grammatical and semantic features One more reason is that, a good understanding of English word formation processes is essential for the EFL teaching and learning The study will be useful for the teachers and learners with the expectation of building a clear picture of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese Aims of the study The aims of this study are:  To describe grammatical and semantic features of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese  To work out as many as possible the similarities and differences in terms of grammatical and semantic features between N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese  To provide some implications for teaching/learning word formation in general, N-V conversion in particular To fully achieve these aims, the study should answer at least the following questions:  What are the grammatical and semantic features of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese?  What are the similarities and differences in grammatical and semantic features between English and Vietnamese N-V conversion?  To what extent are word formation processes in general, and N-V conversion in particular, considered in EFL teaching and learning? Scope of the study Many fields relating to N-V conversion need to be explored However, due to the limited time and available facilities, the thesis is to be focused on the description and contrastive analysis of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese with respect to grammatical and semantic features at word level Methods of the study The intended method employed in this study is CA It has been acknowledged that with this method, the similarities and differences between languages can be worked out effectively The procedures of the study are in the order as follows:  Collection of relevant documents  Critical reading of theoretical background related to the study  Generalization and classification of relevant literature  Formation of ideas related to the study  Comprehensive description of grammatical and semantic features of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese  Detection of similarities and differences of N-V conversion between two languages  Giving comments on these issues in EFL teaching & learning Sources of examples:  Bilingual stories, works, magazines  Monolingual English and Vietnamese books  Monolingual and Bilingual dictionaries  Research projects, linguistic journals, articles into English and Vietnamese conversion Format of the study The study begins with “Declaration”, “Acknowledgement”, “Table of contents”, “Symbols and Abbreviation” This study is completed on the basis of three separating parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part A (Introduction) provides a brief account of relevant information about the rationale, aims, scope, methods, and format of the study Part B entitled Development which plays the most crucial role in the whole study It is considered as the backbone of the study This part consists of two chapters  Chapter 1: This chapter is about theoretical notions necessary for the study covering the concepts ranging from CA and guiding principles for CA, N-V conversion, and word meaning It also provides an overview of verbs in English and Vietnamese  Chapter 2: This chapter offers a detailed contrastive analysis of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese Firstly, N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese will be described and analyzed in terms of grammatical and semantic features Then, considering these features, the similarities and differences between two languages will be worked out Finally, some implications of the study for EFL teaching and learning will be mentioned The last part is "Conclusion", which includes the recapitulation of what have been done in the study, the limitations of the study, and the recommendations for the further research The study ends with "References" PART 2: DEVELOPVEMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND In order to create the basis for carrying out the CA study in the main part, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the relevant theoretical background This chapter, therefore, is intended to give an overview of CA and CA guiding principles The concept of conversion as a word formation process will be regarded and revealed with the provision of definitions and types In addition, word meaning, verbs in English and Vietnamese will be briefly reviewed 1.1 An overview of CA and CA guiding principles The term „Contrastive linguistics‟ was suggested by Whorf, B.L (1941) for comparative study which is giving emphasis on linguistic differences and it has been redefined by Fisiak (1981:1) as “a subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities between them” CA is used as an alternative for contrastive linguistics CA is very broad field of linguistics, since it embraces all its major levels: phonology, semantics, syntax and pragmatic, the latter including text studies and some aspects of the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective CA of two languages become useful when it is adequately describing the sound structure and grammatical structure of two languages, with comparative statements, giving due emphasis to the compatible items in the two systems It is assumed that learning of L2 is facilitated whenever there are similarities between L1 and L2 Learning may be interfered with when there are marked contrasts between L1 and L2 CA provides an objective and scientific base for L2 teaching If the L1 and L2 both have significantly similar linguistic features on all the levels of their structures there will not be much difficulty in learning the L2 in a limited time To help the study bring into play, Chaturvedi (1973)‟s the following guiding principles for contrastive study will be applied (i) To analyze the mother tongue and the target language independently and completely (ii) To compare the two languages item-wise-item at all levels of their structure (iii) To arrive at the categories of: a) similar features, b) partially similar features, c) dissimilar features - for the target language (iv) To arrive at principles of text preparation, test framing and target language teaching in general 1.2 Conversion – A word formation process 2.1 Definition and Terminology Although conversion has been an important part of English word formation for centuries, linguists have argued over almost every facet relating to this process; even down to the term used to describe it The terminology used for this process has not been completely established yet Most current linguists use „conversion‟, but others refer to the process as „functional change‟ or „functional shift‟, and „zero-derivation‟ or „zeroaffixation‟ Each term is associated with a different connotation, theory, and slightly different meaning Functional change or shift is used, for example, by Cannon (1987:67), “from a linguistic point of view, functional shift does not add a new form to the lexicon; but the inflectability or noninflectability of the new functionshift requires it to be classed as a new form etymologically” Zero-derivation or zero-affixation, if conversion is viewed as a word-formation process, one theory is that it appears to run parallel to the derivational word-formation processes Inflectional affixes are said to be „class-maintaining‟, whereas derivational affixes are „class-changing‟; as the conversion process is „class-changing‟, it is deemed to be derivation with a „zero-affix‟ or „zero-morpheme‟ This issue has caused debate amongst linguists and divides them into two camps: those who think that there is a zeroelement involved in the process, and those who reject that theory Prominent linguists who endorse the theory that conversion is a process involving the addition of a derivational zero include Marchand (1969), Lyons (1977), and Allen (1978) According Marchand (1969:360), “it is because of the parallelism with overtly marked derivatives that we speak of zero-marked derivatives or zero-derivatives, not just because of the added element of content which characterizes the transposition of the adjective clean to the verb clean, etc” Lyons (1977:512) defines that “zero-derivation is derivation by means of the affixation of an identity element” Allen (1978:273) also states, “It is clear that the zero element under 27 Conversion in Vietnamese is a really convenient and flexible way of forming new words and it can be used so popularly in both speaking and writing styles: N-A - Cô nói giọng Huế - Cậu công tử - Một phong cách Việt Nam - Việc can thiệp đó có tính chất xâm lược, phản dân chủ không Mỹ chút V-N - Những dự định táo bạo mang tính rủi ro cao - Những suy nghĩ đó thật nông V-A - Hàng hóa dịp tết bán rấn chạy - Ánh mắt cô gái đong đưa A-V - Quan phủ dịu giọng - … hỗn hỗn lại hỗn cụ chánh Ba A-N - Vẻ bí mật nó làm tơi tị mị - Cái đẹp có mặt khắp nơi With the aim of making contrast between English and Vietnamese N-V conversion, this type will be investigated in terms of grammatical and semantic features 2.2.2 Noun-verb conversion 2.2.2.1 Grammatical Features 2.2.2.1.1 Syntactic Features In verb phrases, like other verbs in Vietnamese, the denominal verbs can function as the central component and combine with other auxiliary components as follows:  With auxiliary components before verbs (cũng, đều, cứ, cịn, vẫn, chưa, khơng, chẳ ng, hãy, đừng, chớ ) - Tao thề từ tao khơng họ hàng với vợ chồng mày 28 - Tơi khơng vợ với nó - Thôi đừng văn chương nữa, nói cụ thể mày muốn đi! - Khơng nế p tẻ Bời vì ông y ên trí là ̣ng này chỉ là những vâ ̣t cho ông tiêu khiể n vắ ng vơ.̣  With nouns and other auxiliary components after verbs “Đêm khuya thiế p mới hỏi chàng: Chạc rơm gánh đá vững vàng chi không? Chạc gánh đá đứt đi, Chạc rơm gánh đá có vững bền.” “Đêm qua ngỏ cửa chờ ai? Đêm cửa đóng then cài khăng khăng.” “Bao giờ cho đế n tháng mười, Ta đem liề m hái ngoài ruô ̣ng ta Gă ̣t hái ta đem về nhà, Phơi khô quạt xong công.” “Chồng sang võng đòn rồ ng, Chồ ng hèn gánh nặng đè còng cả lưng.” The denominal verbs can have many grammatical functions as predicative, subjects (this function is not popular to Vietnamese verbs in general and to the denominal verbs in particular), objects, and complements “Công anh chăn nghé lâu, Bây giờ nghe lớn thành trâu cày?” “Chèo ghe xuố ng biể n bắ t cua, Bắ t cua cua ke ̣p, bắ t rùa rùa bơi.” - Tôi ̣nh gói lại chỗ quà đó cho thật đẹp vừa lúc anh đến - Nói nôm na, Ván – cách cũng muố n chim chị Tam đáo để - Nóng ruột, cụ lấy giẻ để đệm tay, rồ i ngước mắ t lên xà nhà để nghi ̃ ngơ ̣i “Em ngả va ̣t áo mà bọc thư này, Để đêm thêm nhớ để ngày chớ quên.” The denominal verbs can be transitive and intransitive verbs  As transitive verbs 29 “Trầ u bọc khăn trắ ng cau tươi, Trầ u bọc khăn trắ ng đaĩ người xinh xinh.” “Trên trời có đám mây vàng, Bên sông nước chảy có nàng quay tơ.”  As intransitive verbs “Hế t mắ m em còn đơm, Ba năm mắ m ngẫu, thổ i cơm ̣i chàng.” “Rủ cấy cày, Bây giờ khó nho ̣c có ngày phong lưu Trên đồ ng ca ̣n dưới đồ ng sâu, Chồ ng cày vơ ̣ cấ y trâu bừa.” The denominal verbs can be used in both active and passive voices - Đám đấ t vườn bị cuốc tung cả lên - lỡ chú bi ̣“lâ ̣p gioòng”, hoă ̣c bị tai phải biết! 2.2.2.1.2 Morphological features The denominal verb in Vietnamese has only one form in any mood, voices and tenses It has no derivates This means there is no changes in the appearance of it in any statement or sentence “Đôi ta đũa kho, Không tề không tiê ̣n không so cũng bằ ng.” “Cổ tay em trắ ng la ̣i tròn , Để cho gớ i mà mịn bên Gố i chăn gố i chiế u không êm, Gố i lu ̣a không mề m bằ ng gố i tay em.” These denominal verbs can be combined with other words to create compound words belonging to different parst of speech such as nouns, verbs, or adjectives e.g cày cuốc, gánh gồng, cơm rượu, văn chương, đèn sách etc 30 2.2.2.2 Semantic Features Generally, like other Vietnamese verbs, the denominal verbs refer to actions, activities, progresses, or changes Some semantic features can be stated as follows: Nouns denoting tools, instruments, furniture can be verbs referring to the processes of using the things e.g cày, cuố c, bừa, cưa, đục, bào, rèn, đe, khoan, gớ i, gánh, cân, xích, quạt, khóa, đơm, chèo, câu, cài, búi, bao, bọc, bó, gói, kìm, kẹp, đàn “Trời mưa cho ướt lá cau, Đôi ta be bé rủ bừa Trời mưa cho ướt lá dừa, Đôi ta be bé bừa đồ ng trong.” “Trách cha trách mẹ muôn phần, Ngồ i đớ ng ba ̣c mà cân phải chì.” “Uớc gì đào đươ ̣c tới tiên, Ước đầu gố i liề n tay ta.” “Tóc dài búi mà trưa, Ham chi người đe ̣p mà thưa viê ̣c làm ” “Trèo lên gạo cao cao, Thấ y gỗ mu ̣c càng bào bong.” “Ai về cuố c đấ t trồ ng cau, Cho em vun ké dây trầ u mô ̣t bên ” “Qúy hồ anh có lịng thương, Em mơ ̣t lòng ̣i rương khóa rồ i.” - Đó là mơ ̣t người ăn mày, ngờ i bó giị - A, mày đánh gãy chó ông , ông chỉ kẹp cho mày chế t tươi , rồ i ông đề n ma ̣ng Bấ t ba chục bạc cùng! - bèn búi tóc ngựa cho thực nền, - Phải ông lại đe nữa Nouns are the names of things can be verbs denoting the processes or activities related to these things e.g mưa, muố i, thịt, lễ, tế t etc - Nhưng rồ i ông ấ y bắ t lễ nhiề u quá, đến nỗi không thể kiếm lại - Thì ơng khơng tế t, nên laõ ấ y kiế m chuyê ̣n đáng lẽ ông phải bỏ tế t laõ ấ y 31 - Mẹ muối cà chín thơm chợ nhiều - Lão ̣nh thi ̣t chó ố m Nouns referring to the abstract or general concepts can be verbs denoting abstract actions e.g vợ chồng, vợ con, cha con, mẹ con, phu thê, trai gái, anh em, chăn chiế u , đèn sách, họ hàng, rượu chè, cờ bạc , quà cáp, thuố c thang, quầ n áo, xe cộ, áo xống, xơ múi… trách nhiệm, triế t lý, văn chương, ngoại giao - Công việc gặp khó khăn, ông ta phải ngoại giao thâ ̣t khéo - Các ông triế t lý với maĩ , lỡ tàu - Nế u dễ daĩ , ngô ̣ các cu ̣ trách nhiệm tơi, chịu tội cho tơi - Chứ ở đây, tiế ng là quan cai tri ,̣ mà quanh năm, ơng chẳ ng xơ múi - anh kết bạn với ai, hôm rượu chè linh đình, hơm cờ bạc tấp nập - Mày phải kiếm quà cáp lên quan - Cô ấ y cứ quầ n áo suố t cả ngày chứ có lo lắ ng gì cho cái đâu “Đêm nằ m nghi ̃ la ̣i mà coi, Lấ y chồ ng cờ bạc voi phá nhà.” “Triều đình cịn chuộng thi thư, Khun anh đèn sách sớm trưa ho ̣c hành Khuyên đừng trai gái hoang tàn, Khuyên đừng chè rượu nữa mang tiế ng người Cũng đừng cờ bạc đua chơi, Sao cho sự nghiê ̣p người trươ ̣ng phu.” 32 2.3 Findings After going through the comprehensive descriptions of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese, the similarities and differences between them will be drawn out 2.3.1 Similarities 2.3.1.1 In Terms of Grammatical Features  Syntactic features  They two all can occur as a part of a predicate of a sentence - What did the sea say to the sand? Nothing, it just waved! - Her hobby is bicycling across France - Bác Phán trông xung quanh, chả có quạt đươ ̣c - Chín người cơm rượu no say, rồ i chừng trố ng hai, bắ t đầ u  They can have other different functions such as subjects, objects, or complements - Hosting our show this evening is the lovely Gloria Monroe “Quay tơ phải giữ mố i tơ, Dù năm bảy mối cũng chờ mối anh.” - We like to party - It is not necessary to landmark further success - Bu thấ y tình cảnh nhà thế này , bu chả ḿ n th́ c thang tí Uố ng chén nà o vào mồ m, đeo nơ ̣ chén ấ y, uống làm - She is certain to medal at the Athens Olympics - Tìm hộ tơi để quạt  They can be transitive and intransitive verbs used in active or passive voices - Twelve models from Shanghai will stage fashion show from Oct 22 to 30 at Hoa Binh theatre - Let‟s dialogue - Kế t cu ̣c nấ y đề u khuyên bà Lý nên để tiề n cho ông lên huyê ̣n tế t quan “Nửa đêm trăng tắ t tàn , Láng giềng ngủ hết em đàn anh nghe.” - It will be the fourth ASIAD to be hosted by Bangkok - Sau câu giản di ̣ấ y, anh bị xích tay và giải 33  Morphological features  They can be used in some compounds e.g machine-gun, nickname, honeymoon, outline, snowball, blackmail, blacklist, cold-shoulder, daydream, hand-wash, chợ búa, bếp núc, tiê ̣c tùng, chó má, gà qué, cá mú, xơ múi etc 2.3.1.2 In Terms of Semantic Features  The denominal verbs in both languages have a common semantic feature of verbs, that is, they both refer to actions, activities, progresses or changes Interestingly they coincide in meanings in some cases These are the cases of saw, plough, paddle, load, salt, lock, chain, drill and the equivalents in Vietnamese cưa, cày, chèo, gánh, ḿ i, khóa, xích, khoan  The most remarkable similarity lies in the semantic change Theoretically, whenever conversion appears, a semantic change is at the same time made In N-V conversion, when a verb is formed from a noun, a new meaning is inserted However, the new meaning is still related to the original meaning of the noun to some extent - Where you bank your salary? bank originally exists in English as a noun and it means an organization, or a place that provides a financial service By conversion, the verb bank is created and its meaning is rather different from the verbs to place money in a bank Here, we can find a fact that the verb and the noun also have an internal logical meaning In Vietnamese N-V conversion, we find it the same - Nó đem xích xích chó lại - Vừa nói, vừa bịch vào người chị Dậu bịch … 2.3.2 Differences 2.3.2.1 In Terms of Grammatical Features  In English, the denominal verbs carry markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspects, person, number but that does not occur in Vietnamese A distinctive feature of Vietnamese verbs is the absence of tense inflection, the form of the verb does not change according to the time when the action or the process takes place The use of tense marker đã, sẽ, etc is possible but not obligatory, Vietnamese verbs not indicate person 34 and number either, since these categories are made obvious by the context, these features are also common to all the denominal verbs - He telephoned (his wife) to say he would be late - Thế đã chợ búa, cơm nước chưa?  From the aspects of morphological features, one outstanding morphological feature of Vietnamese verbs is that they have only one form, no derivates, the denominal verb is not an exception In English, it has five forms: the base, the s-form, the past form, the past participle and the - ing participle as stamp, stamps, stamped, have stamped, stamping and derivate as stamper - This alone stamps the story as a slander - Nhưng rồ i ông ấ y bắ t lễ nhiề u quá, đến nỗi không thể kiếm lại 2.3.2.2 In Terms of Semantic Features  With regard to semantic features, the patterns of semantic relationship between N and V in English are numerous if one observes semantically related groups In English, the lexical meaning of the denominal verb points out the instrument, the agent, the place, the cause, the result, and the time of the action etc In Vietnamese, they are limited 2.4 Implications for EFL teaching and learning The topic of word formation covers a significant area in the field of foreign language learning and teaching If learners understand how the word formation process works, they possess one of the most powerful understandings necessary for vocabulary growth However, the importance of the process of how a word is shaped in English is still underestimated by planners, book writers, and teachers The word-formation is usually taken for-granted and words are still assigned to categories e.g verb, noun, adverb, adjective etc In EFL, most language teaching materials are taken from grammatical syllabuses, which accept the view that language is a grammatical system and that learning a language consists of learning that system The development of new approaches to language teaching, such as communicative approach, which originates from the purpose of language as communication yielded situational and notional syllabuses In these approaches word formation processes are not considered in the name of communicative language, and EFL materials vary depending on how the textbooks designers and 35 developers conceptualize them which is often focus on the situations and notions to be utilized in communicative language According to these new approaches, EFL mostly consists of teaching patterns of social use and how to use them to express meaning Therefore, neither grammatical syllabuses nor the more recent ones give attention or importance to word formation Students are left to their abilities to use dictionaries and guessing skills to understand such processes The EFL teacher should attribute much importance to the word formation processes The rationale behind teaching word formation processes is that learners are likely to attach meanings to words which they have never encountered before if they can recognize within them the presence of familiar morphemes A finite number of word formation processes in English can be introduced and taught directly in EFL purposes Each process has its own characteristics and usage Therefore, they should not be confused These processes are an essential aspect of the English language that no teaching approach could bear neglecting them In case of N-V conversion, students need to know the fact about this word formation processes and how to put words to fit different grammatical contexts as words can change their grammatical and semantic value without changing their shapes This study, to some extent, can contribute as referenced document to the aspect of N-V conversion in terms of grammatical and semantic features in implicating for EFL teaching and learning In this chapter, the contrastive analysis of N-V in English and Vietnamese is carried out N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese are examined in terms of grammatical and semantic features, considering these features, the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese N-V conversion are highlighted Some implication for EFL teaching and learning are also raised 36 PART 3: CONCLUSION Conclusions English and Vietnamese are different types of language Each has its own ways of word formation However, conversion is a common phenomenon of both languages This study, in its scope, has attempted to make a contrastive analysis of this phenomenon to find out the similarities and differences between them What have been done in this master thesis can be summarized: Based on relevant theoretical background of CA, CA guiding principles in particular, conversion as word formation process, word meaning, and verb class, N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese were analyzed and contrasted in terms of grammatical and semantic features The thesis has solved all the aims mentioned in the introduction The questions raised are also fully answered Some findings were drawn out and are as follows:  The denominal verbs in the case of N-V conversion in both languages share quite a lot of similar syntactic features such as they have different functions in a sentence such as subject, predicate, object and complement  The denominal verbs in the case of N-V conversion in English almost differ from Vietnamese ones with respect to morphological features  The denominal verbs in the case of N-V conversion in English carry markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspects, person, number and mood in contrast with Vietnamese ones  The denominal verbs in both languages coincide in their general meanings and meanings in some cases There is a semantic change made at the same time whenever a N-V conversion appears The patterns of semantic relationship between N and V in English are numerous and they are limited in Vietnamese This study was conducted with the expectation of providing a deeper understanding about the phenomenon of N-V conversion in English and Vietnamese in terms of grammatical and semantic features It, therefore, also discusses some implications for EFL teaching and learning of word formation process in general, and the aspect of N-V conversion in particular 37 Limitations of the study Although the study has offered some insightful findings, it still has limitations The study lacks of discussion of semantic limitation of N-V conversion, of factors inhibiting the production of N-V conversion, and of construction of meaning during N-V conversion The connection between derivation and N-V conversion, the relation between N-V conversion and metaphor, rmetonymy are not fully taken into consideration The different classification of the denominal verbs should be elaborated The functions of N-V conversion should be emphasized Recommendations for Further Research For the limitations mentioned above, further research into this kind of conversion in both English and Vietnamese may include the following areas, so that CA‟s can be made  Semantic limitations of N-V conversion  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