1 Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THI ̣ HẢI YẾN ENGLISH VERBS „SAY‟; „TELL‟; „SPEAK‟; „TALK‟ AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS ĐỘNG TỪ „SAY‟; „TELL‟; „SPEAK‟; „TALK‟ TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ NHƢ̃ NG TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI, 2010 Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THI ̣ HẢI YẾN ENGLISH VERBS „SAY‟; „TELL‟; „SPEAK‟; „TALK‟ AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS ĐỘNG TỪ „SAY‟; „TELL‟; „SPEAK‟; „TALK‟ TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ NHƢ̃ NG TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Dr HÀ CẨM TÂM HANOI, 11/2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration p i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv Table of contents vii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims and Objectives of the study Research Questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Method of the study Organization of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 1.1 Semantics 1.2 Meaning 1.3 The Meanings of “meaning” 1.4 Synonyms 1.5 Synonymic group 11 1.6 Componential analysis 11 Chapter 2: The Study 13 2.1 Research questions 13 2.2 Data collection 13 2.3 Analytical Framework 14 2.4 Data Analysis and Discussions 17 2.4.1 Syntactic features of the verbs under study 17 2.4.2 Semantic features of the verbs under study 22 2.4.2.1 Meanings conveyed by Say 23 2.4.2.2 Meanings conveyed by Tell 24 2.4.2.3 Meanings conveyed by Speak 25 2.4.2.4 Meanings conveyed by Talk 26 2.4.3 The English verbs Say, Tell, Speak and Talk and their Vietnamese Equivalents 28 2.4.3.1 Say and its Vietnamese equivalents 29 2.4.3.2 Tell and its Vietnamese equivalents 30 2.4.3.3 Speak and its Vietnamese equivalents 32 2.4.3.4 Talk and its Vietnamese equivalents 33 2.4.3.5 Findings and concluding marks 35 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 3.1 Conclusions 38 3.2 Pedagogical Implications 40 3.3 Limitations and Suggestions for further Research 40 REFERENCES 42