Syntactic and semantic features of open in english and mở in vietnamese

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2018 - 2020 (I) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “OPEN” IN ENGLISH AND “MỞ” IN VIETNAMESE (Đặc điểm cú pháp ngữ nghĩa từ “open” tiếng Anh “mở” tiếng Việt) PHẠM THỊ DUNG PHAM THI DUNG Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 HANOI - 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “OPEN” IN ENGLISH AND “MỞ” IN VIETNAMESE (Đặc điểm cú pháp ngữ nghĩa từ “open” tiếng Anh “mở” tiếng Việt) PHẠM THỊ DUNG Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D HANOI, 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project entitled Syntactic and Semantic Features of "Open" in English and "Mở" 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, 2020 Phạm Thị Dung Approved by SUPERVISOR Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D Date: 20/4/2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thesis has been successfully completed thanks to the assistance and guidance of my teachers, friends, colleagues and family Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D., who has patiently supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher Besides, my sincere thanks also go to all the lecturers in the Faculty of Post - graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University for their very useful and interesting lectures Without the support and encouragement, it would have never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, my warmest thanks are to my family, my husband and my children for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to uncover the similarities and differences between “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features In order to collect the data, a hand search approach of the dictionaries in both languages has been conducted In the present study, the theoretical frameworks (theory of contrastive analysis; theory of syntax and semantics) are applied to both English and Vietnamese Additionally, an overview of some theoretical background dealing with the general concepts of syntax, semantics, words, polysemy of words and word classification is presented The results of the study show that “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese share quite a lot of similar syntactic features However, there are still some differences in terms of semantic and syntactic features due to the fact that Vietnamese is widely considered the monosyllabic system while English is polysyllabic one A further pedagogical implication resulting from the findings included in this study could be equally beneficial for teachers and learners who would like to expand their knowledge concerning contrasting two languages iii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1 Forms and functions of the verb “open” (adapted from Quirk & 20 Greenbaum (1987)) iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iii Abstract iv List of tables v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the Study 1.7 Structure of the study Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Words and word classes 2.1.1 Polysemy of words 2.1.2 Word classes 2.2 Review of the previous studies 10 2.3 Chapter summary 11 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 12 3.1 Research approaches 12 3.2 Research methods 12 3.3 Data collection 12 v 3.4 Underlying theoretical frameworks 13 3.4.1 Theory of contrastive analysis 13 3.4.2 Theory of syntax and semantics 15 3.5 Chapter summary 18 Chapter 4: A COMPARISON BETWEEN “OPEN” IN ENGLISH 19 AND “MỞ” IN VIETNAMESE IN TERMS OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES 19 4.1 Syntactic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese 19 4.1.1 Syntactic features of “open” in English 19 4.1.1.1 “Open” as a verb 19 4.1.1.2 “Open” as an adjective 27 4.1.1.3 “Open” as a noun 28 4.1.2 Syntactic features of “mở” in Vietnamese 29 4.1.2.1 “Mở” as a verb 29 4.1.2.2 “Mở” as an adjective 31 4.1.2.3 “Mở” as a component in a compound word 31 4.1.3 A comparison between “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic features 32 4.1.3.1 Syntactic features found in both languages 32 4.1.3.2 Syntactic features unique to English 32 4.1.3.3 Syntactic features unique to Vietnamese 33 4.2 Semantic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese 34 4.2.1 Semantic features of “open” in English 34 4.2.1.1 “Open” as a verb 34 4.2.1.2 “Open” as an adjective 37 4.2.1.3 “Open” as a noun 40 vi 4.2.2 Semantic features of “mở” in Vietnamese 41 4.2.2.1 “Mở” as a verb 41 4.2.2.2 “Mở” as an adjective 42 4.2.2.3 “Mở” as a component in a compound word 42 4.2.3 A comparison between “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese in terms of semantic features 43 4.2.3.1 Semantic features found in both languages 43 4.2.3.2 Semantic features unique to English 44 4.2.3.3 Semantic features unique to Vietnamese 49 4.3 Chapter summary 50 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 52 5.1 Recapitulation 52 5.2 Concluding remarks 53 5.3 Implications 54 5.3.1 For English teaching and learning 54 5.3.2 For translation from English into Vietnamese and vice versa 55 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 56 REFERENCES 58 vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Bloomfield (1993) states “we could not understand the form of a language if we merely reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate constituents” By this, he means that in order to account for the meaning of a sentence, it is necessary to recognize how individual constituents such words and morphemes constitute more complex forms Wilkins (1972, p.11) emphasizes the importance of vocabulary, and he writes: “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” Furthermore, Pyles and Algeo (1970) states that “when we first think about language, we think about words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” In fact, vocabulary is the decisive element that links the four skills of speaking, reading, listening and writing all together In order to communicate well in a foreign language, we should acquire a great number of words and know how to use them accurately Nevertheless, vocabulary of both English and Vietnamese has its own features that could present difficulties for language teachers and learners and makes both teaching and learning English still far from being satisfaction In the process of teaching English in general, it is recognized that even a simple word like “open” also makes students confused much due to its syntactic and semantic features In English, the word “open” can be combined with other words to form phrases, clauses and sentences in a language Therefore, it is necessary that the teachers of English acquire adequate knowledge of the word order of a language and the relationships between words In terms of semantic features, it has both denotation and connotation meaning that learners of English have to base on the context In Vietnamese, “mở” does not only indicate a physical activity only but also implies other situations in real life communication such as “mở lòng”, “cởi mở”, “mở rộng”, etc Here and there, there are many studies on [Cô bắt đầu tranh luận cách nói vị trí bữa tiệc mình.] The story opens with a murder [Câu chuyện bắt đầu với hình ảnh tên sát nhân.] "I am going to open the instrument, Eliza, and you know what follows." [Eliza à, dạo nhạc mở đầu, cô biết phải tiếp nối nào”.] (Pride and Prejudice, p 19) - To tell someone everything that you are thinking about, especially something that has made you unhappy: At night she opened her heart to Jane [Trong đêm, thổ lộ tâm tư với Jane.] (Pride and Prejudice, p 285) - Cause evacuation of (the bowels): It can cause sharp pain, especially when opening the bowels [Nó gây đau nhói, đặc biệt thông ruột.] - Extend into view or achieve a clear view of (a place) by sailing past a headland or other obstruction: Gradually Rosedale opened to view and we dipped into North Dale which is hidden from the fray but spacious [Dần dần Rosedale chúng tơi đắm vào North Dale, nơi ẩn xung đột rộng rãi.] We shall open Torbay shortly [Khơng lâu nhìn thấy rõ Torbay.] - (of a counsel in a law court) make a preliminary statement in (a case) before calling witnesses: Comyn opened for the plaintiff [Comyn đưa tuyên bố sơ cho nguyên đơn.] - To explode: 46 He ordered his men to open fire [Ông ta lệnh cho quân nổ súng.] (English-Vietnamese Dictionary, 2007, p 283) - To realize or make somebody realize the truth about something in the idiom “open your/somebody's eyes (to something)”: The necessity of opening her eyes to his character never occurred to me [Cháu không nghĩ cần thiết phải làm cho sáng mắt tư cách anh ta.] (Pride and Prejudice, p 214) When my eyes were opened to his real character [Khi sáng mắt nhận người thật anh ta.] (Pride and Prejudice, p 209) - available for transactions: I withdrew all my money except the minimum required to keep the account open [Tôi rút tất tiền trừ số tiền tối thiểu yêu cầu để giữ cho tài khoản thực giao dịch.] - (of a telephone line) ready to take calls: Our free advice line is open from 8.30 to 17.30 [Đường dây tư vấn miễn phí chúng tơi hoạt động từ 8h30 đến 17h30.] - Freely available or accessible; unrestricted: Booking is open and tickets sales are doing extremely well [Việc đặt vé không hạn chế việc bán vé diễn suôn sẻ.] - (of a cheque) not crossed (British): Moreover, the holder may decide to add a crossing to an open cheque, which is then treated as being crossed 47 [Ngồi ra, chủ sở hữu định thêm dấu gạch chéo vào séc thường để hủy giá trị nó.] - Not concealing one's thoughts or feelings; frank and communicative: His eyes showed open admiration as he looked at her [Ánh mắt thể ngưỡng mộ rõ ràng nhìn ấy.] - (of a fabric) loosely knitted or woven: It's usually done with a tack cloth which is an open weave fabric treated with a wax [Nó thường thực với miếng vải dính loại vải dệt thưa xử lý sáp.] - (of the bowels) not constipated: He has a good appetite, and his bowels are open [Nó ăn uống ngon miệng, khơng bị táo bón.] - (of land) not covered with buildings or trees: The plans allow increasing numbers of new houses in open countryside [Các dự án cho phép tăng số lượng nhà vùng nông thôn thưa thớt.] - Likely to suffer from or be affected by; vulnerable or subject to: The system is open to abuse [Hệ thống bị lạm dụng.] - (of a goalmouth or other object of attack in a game) unprotected by defenders: With an open goalmouth in front of him, he put the ball over the cross bar [Có khoảng trống phía trước,nhưng anh đưa bóng qua xà ngang.] - (of a town or city) officially declared to be undefended, and so immune under international law from bombardment: He proceeded to declare Manila an open city and ordered his army to withdraw" 48 [MacArthur tuyên bố Manila thành phố không bảo vệ lệnh rút quân.] Although there are a lot of similarities of the senses conveyed by the two words open and mở in English and Vietnamese, and also the ways how these senses are conveyed, there are still some differences in the meanings and in the way in which these languages express meanings, especially extended meanings We can conclude that the differences in terms of meaning are extremely huge and the implicit meaning of open seems to be richer than the word mở in Vietnamese language If users are not aware of these ones, there will be numerous misunderstandings Therefore, to some extent, the foregoing comparison may help the users of both languages reduce the unnecessary irrelevances in interpreting when exchange open in English and mở in Vietnamese 4.2.3.3 Semantic features unique to Vietnamese Firstly, mở refers to turn on/ switch on/ start/ undo For example: Tôi mở máy phát điện [I’ll start the generator.] Con mở đài để nghe thời [Turn on the radio to listen to the news.] Anh mở băng hoạt hình cho bọn trẻ xem [Play the cartoon tape for the children to watch.] Secondly, mở means making a new promising situation Dự án kinh tế mở tương lai tươi sang cho tỉnh nhà [New economic project will bring a bright future to the province.] One further different characteristic is that mở is better used in compound It can be followed by a noun, an adjective or a verb, and in this case the combination makes compound words with special meanings implying in different real situations : mở cờ, mở đầu, mở hàng, mở mang, mở mặt, mở toang, mở thầu, cởi mở, rộng mở, mở… 49 Mua cho em Anh người mở hàng [Buy it please You are the first customer of mine today.] 4.3 Chapter summary In term of syntactic features, the investigation reveals that both open in English and mở in Vietnamese share quite a lot of syntactic features such as they can function as both verbs and adjectives When functioning as verbs, verb phrases containing open and mở can occur as predicate, subject, object, adverbial, or appositive Also in this chapter, serious effort has been made to analyze the biggest difference between open in English and mở in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic features which lies in the verbal forms and the coordinate possibility of each in the clauses Open in English is a lexical verb which has five forms whereas mở in Vietnamese has the same verb form in any case Open can be a noun functioning as subject, object, or complement, which is unique to English In Vietnamese, mở can be a component in a compound word The word mở can be followed by a noun, an adjective or a verb, and in this case the combination makes compound words with special meanings In terms semantic features, we have endeavoured to bring about the contrastive analysis of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese Firstly, all their senses of meaning are listed Then a serious effort has been made to analyze “open” and “mở” in their broadest sense to state some similarities and differences between the target and by synthesizing different sources of documents mainly collected from dictionaries Through the examples in English and Vietnamese, we drew out some findings hereinafter Accordingly, “open” and “mở” coincide in their general meanings such as opening something so that it is no longer closed, in order to see or get what is inside; moving your eyelids upwards so that you can see; moving your lips in order to speak It can also be understood as to spread something out or unfold; to start an activity; to start business of the day or to start business for the first 50 time Interestingly, “open” is richer in extended meanings There are at least twenty items of meanings differing from “mở” in conjunction with the semantic content of the words that accompany it in the sentence where found out whereas “mở” is better used in compounds In conclusion, in this chapter the author has made effort to find out the similarities and differences between the studied objects basing on almost the questions posed before doing the research for the hope of providing an overall understanding about the word “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese in respects of syntactic and semantic features We wish to highlight the awareness of EFL teachers and learners about the similarities and differences between them to avoid their mother tongue interference when dealing with these two words when contrasting two languages 51 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation “Open” in English has a lot of structures and the meaning nuances with “mở” in Vietnamese However, it is not simple to distinguish between them With this aim, I have set up major goal for the thesis, to investigate the syntactic and semantic features to find out the similarities and differences between “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese In order to achieve this target efficiently, a number of theoretical backgrounds are presented to support the study The results of the study were more numerous, and they seem to be more significant Firstly, in terms of syntactic features the two words “open” and “ mở” share quite a lot of similar syntactic features such as: both have different functions in a sentence such as predicate, subject, complement, appositive or object ; “open” and “ mở” are recognised as both transitive and intransitive verbs Despite some similarities, there are still some differences in the meanings due to the fact that Vietnamese is widely considered the monosyllabic system while English is polysyllabic one Thus, tense, aspects, person, number and mood of “open” are recognised by markers of grammatical cate whereas “mở” does not On the ground of morphological features, both “open” and “mở” are monosyllabic words Moreover, “mở” seems to be more flexible in term of its ability to combine with another verb and adjective to make a compound with special meanings such as rộng, toang, tung, , etc., which cannot be found in English Secondly, in terms of semantic features, the comparing open with mở and vice versa respectively in respects of semantic features in which we dealt with general meanings and extended meanings of each word Through the 52 examples in English and Vietnamese, we drew out some findings hereinafter: “open” and “mở” coincide in their general meanings such as moving (a door or window) so as to leave a space allowing access and vision, formally establishing or beginning (a new business, movement, or enterprise) Interestingly, “open” is richer in denotation meanings whereas “mở” is better used in compounds with special meanings such as mở hàng , mở thầu , mở ra, mở mang, mở mặt, mở toang, etc Thirdly, these findings can lead to the conclusion that different meanings created by one lexeme are caused by different contexts in which senses of the exist This proves the fact that providing students with meanings of each word must be clearly given in concrete contexts with proper Vietnamese references The comparison may help the users of both languages reduce the unnecessary irrelevances in interpreting when exchange “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese 5.2 Concluding remarks After investigating into all issues mentioned, the concluded results show that there has been a relationship between the syntactic and semantic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese These two words are analyzed and contrasted in respects of grammatical features, semantic features which were the focus of the study The findings can be summarized as follow: Theoretically, the study has provided a comprehensive and overall knowledge about the syntactic and semantic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese - “Open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese share quite a lot of similar syntactic features such as they have different functions in a sentence such as predicate, subject, complement, appositive, or object - They also share some similar morphological features - “Open” carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspects, person, number and mood while “mở” does not 53 In terms of semantic features, there are at least five sub-groups of senses of open as a verb , three sub-groups of meanings of open as a a noun and ten items of meanings as an adjective deeply discussed and introduced with careful quotations from different sources of data At the same time, at least ten general meanings the word “mở” are listed, further discussion mở as a component of compounds are also mentioned Basing on the results of studying the meanings of the two words separately, we run to the following findings: - “Open” and “mở” share at least five similar general meanings; - “Open” has at least twenty items of meanings differing from “mở” In the other word, “open” is richer in denotational meanings; - “Mở” is more flexible than open in compounding ability; therefore , “mở” is better used in compounds Moreover, the similarities and differences between these verbs in English and in Vietnamese is very helpful in contrasting two languages Practically, the study helps teachers and students to get some useful suggestions in teaching and learning On the other hand, the result of the study may help the newcomers in interpreting when exchange “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese 5.3 Implications 5.3.1 For English teaching and learning In reality, we cannot separate teaching grammar and vocabulary because they are both integral part of the language which we cannot be omitted Knowing a language is not only knowing the grammatical rules, but also knowing when and where it is appropriate to use, how to use, and to what people Developing learners’ communicative competence as well as linguistic competence is the final aim of language teaching Teaching vocabulary not only means providing learners with an increasing number of words but also give learners more details about the 54 word, their sense relations in comparison with their equivalents in the target language Thus, syntactic and semantic features of the two words should be explained comprehensively and cautiously so as to help the learning process of students become efficient The teachers, depending on the results of the investigation, may know exactly the errors that the learners often make when writing as well as translating the sentences and find out necessary ways to help their learners to correct effectively To the students: Most students are very interested in learning both grammatical and lexical items However, they often recognize lexical ones as an area in which they have difficulties to grasp well The following suggestions should be considered to get good vocabulary learning results It is best for students to learn words in specific and real situations In this way, they can be equipped the knowledge of language to understand them better Besides, learners also should pay attention to transfer meaning in process of translating words in different contexts To master endless source of words, learners can approach some documents such as dictionaries, books, newspapers, novels, films and so on It would be better for learners to compare and contrast the two sources of languages to interpret words accordingly Vietnamese learners of English can understand comprehensively how they are applied in diverse situations In brief, the study figures out that is words are learned separately and no chunks, collocations or free combinations are analyzed cautiously, students will never reach the proficiently levels of native speakers in using the language 5.3.2 For translation from English into Vietnamese and vice versa Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text that communicates the same message from the source text to the target language 55 In order to a correct translation, translators must take the rules of grammar of the two languages, their writing conventions, and even implicit meanings into consideration It is not surprising that there exists a common misconception when newcomers of translation interpret word-for-word correspondence between any two languages The findings of the study on the ground of syntactic and semantic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese may help the translators to find the appropriate expressions when dealing with the specific situations and contexts where the word “open” and “mở” are used, help the learners decide the best word choice, avoid unnecessary misinterpretation 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies Despite a considerable effort that has been made, some limitations of this study cannot be avoided due to time, knowledge, reference material limitation Besides, due to the limited sources of examples serving as the data for the study, some parts of the study have not accomplished a satisfactory depth as they should Firstly, syntax and semantics are analyzed for only one pair of words “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese in this paper Secondly, the researcher’s knowledge makes it impossible to provide sufficiently and focus on other pairs of words intensively Although the study has offered some insightful findings, it has a limitation The results in this study are just relatively reasonable because of the limited number of instances with “open” and “mở” taken for analysis I hope that in the future research, more instances will be analyzed to have a standard result The study might be served as a foundation for studies on other pairs of words in English and Vietnamese Through I have made my great efforts in this thesis to work out the best results, due to limitation of time and knowledge of the author, mistakes and 56 limitations are unavoidable Therefore, any your comments or corrects for my better work would by highly appreciated This thesis has focused only on studying the semantic and syntactic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese Therefore, there are still some aspects related to this problem left for further researches: - Semantic and syntactic features of “close” in English and “đóng” in Vietnamese - Semantic and syntactic features of “open” in English and “mở” in Vietnamese and its synonyms and antonyms 57 REFERENCES Foreign authors Anshen, A & Aronoff, M (1999) Constructional Change in English: Developments in Allomorphy, Word Formation and Syntax Cambridge University Press Bloomfield, L (1914) An Introduction to the Study of Language New York: Henry Holt Bybee, R (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization Oxford University Press Chomsky, N (2002) Syntactic Structures 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Vietnamese authors Diệp Quang Ban (2005) Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt Nxb Giáo dục Lê Biên (1999) Từ loại tiếng Việt đại Nxb Giáo dục Đỗ Hữu Châu (1986) Các bình diện từ từ tiếng Việt Nxb Khoa học xã hội Hoàng Phê (2018) Từ Điển Tiếng Việt Nxb Giáo dục Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh, Nguyễn Thu Minh (2001) Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt, Nxb Từ điển bách khoa Võ Đại Quang (2005) Một số vấn đề Cú pháp, Ngữ nghĩa, Ngữ Dụng & Âm vị học Nxb Văn hóa-Thơng tin Hà Nội 60 ... ENGLISH 19 AND “MỞ” IN VIETNAMESE IN TERMS OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES 19 4.1 Syntactic features of ? ?open? ?? in English and ? ?mở? ?? in Vietnamese 19 4.1.1 Syntactic features of ? ?open? ?? in English 19... English and ? ?mở? ?? in Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features Scope of the study The present study investigates the syntactic and semantic features of ? ?open? ?? in English and ? ?mở? ?? in Vietnamese. .. the following objectives: - To investigate the syntactic features of ? ?open? ?? in English and ? ?mở? ?? in Vietnamese; - To investigate the semantic features of the ? ?open? ?? in English and ? ?mở? ?? in Vietnamese;