A contrastive study of quantifiers in english and in vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF QUANTIFIERS IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE i chi u v ng t ti ng nh v ti ng Vi t VU THANH BINH Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Hanoi, 11/ 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF QUANTIFIERS IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE i chi u v ng t ti ng nh v ti ng Vi t VU THANH BINH Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Dr DANG NGOC HUONG Hanoi, 11/ 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A contrastive study of quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English anguage Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Vu Thanh Binh Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Dang Ngoc Huong, Dr, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly 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 My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lecturers and officers of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University, who have facilitated me with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ABSTRACT The title of my thesis is a study on A contrastive study of Quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese The reason that I choose this thesis is Through the process of teaching English in mountainous areas to ethnic minority students, I see that students in mountainous areas in general and ethnic minority students in particular have many difficulties in using words in English, especially using the right kind of words, stemming from that fact, I decided to this topic to better understand quantifiers and word denoting quality in order to better understand this field and help students in upland areas understand and understand and use them correctly The purpose of my study is to describe the semantic and syntactic features of Quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese, and propose the implications for teaching these ones at high school To carry out this research, I use descriptive, analytical and contrastive method Hopefully, the finding of this study can, to some extent, be suggested as a referential materials for Vietnamese students and teachers in studying and teaching quantifiers Finding the correct use of Word denoting quality has important implications for ethnic minorities in using correct words in English TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv 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 Previous studies 2.1.1 Related previous studies overseas 2.1.2 Related previous studies in Vietnam 2.2 Theoretical background 10 2.2.1 Concepts of syntax 10 2.2.1.1 Definition of syntax 10 2.2.1.2 Concept of sentence 16 2.2.1.3 Concepts of the phrase and classification of phrase 17 Phrase in English 17 Classification of phrase 18 2.2.2 Semantics-related issues 21 2.2.2.1 Definition of meaning 21 2.2.2.2 Types of meaning 23 Conceptual meaning 23 Connotative Meaning 24 Stylistic meaning 24 Affective Meaning 25 Reflected Meaning 25 Collocative Meaning 25 Thematic Meaning 25 2.2.2.3 Concepts of reference 26 2.3 Quantifiers in English 27 2.4 Quantifiers in Vietnam 29 2.5 Summary 29 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 3.1 Syntactic features of quantifying words in English 30 3.1 Subject 30 3.1.2 Subject complement 32 3.1.3 Object 33 3.1.4 Adverb 35 3.1.5 Determiner 36 3.2 Semantic features of quantifying words in English 41 3.2.1 Expressing quantity 41 3.2.2 Inclusiveness words (Both/All) 44 3.2.3 The meaning of countable and uncountable nouns 46 3.2.3.1 Countable Nouns 46 3.2.3.2 Uncountable Nouns 47 3.2.3.3 Both Countable Nouns and Uncountable Nouns 48 3.2.4 Indicating the level 49 3.2.5 Referential meaning 54 3.2.6 Negative meaning 58 3.2.7 The expressive meaning 61 3.3 Summary 63 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 64 4.1 Recapitulation 64 4.2 Concluding remarks 64 4.3 Limitation of the study 65 4.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research 65 REFERENCES 66 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale: According to traditional grammar, English vocabulary is divided into kinds of words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and word count is one of the types of words in the category Although in English documents such as grammar books, dictionaries, etc., there are many ways to define the amount of words, but the common understanding of English words like many, much, few, little is called quantity, because these words denote the quantity of things In English sentences they usually come before nouns, modifying nouns, the term defining the number of things that the noun denotes From the point of view of structural grammar when analyzing the composition of English nouns, word quantity acts as a qualifier for quantity, for example: much water (nhi u n c a lot of money nhi u ti n However, in addition to the task of being a determinant in English nouns, words like much, a lot, a bit are also used in many different positions, taking on different syntax functions in English sentences written and spoken language, for example: Thank you a lot or Last year I did not have much of a vacation Up to now, almost all grammar books and English study books detail the meaning and usage of numerical words like many, few, a few; much, little, a little and other numerical words; These words are often described in terms of nouns, but in positions in the sentence, there are not many documents detailing the classification and the meaning of their use This fact raises the question of whether to understand word quantity in English, based on form or semantics, or a combination of the two As an English teacher in mountainous schools, I find it very difficult for students to use English correctly, especially using the correct Quantifiers in English In order to help the students use the right quantifiers, I decided to make this thesis to help the mountainous students understand and use the correct quantifiers For the above reasons, I have decided to explore English numerical words in terms of syntax and semantics in relation to Vietnamese This study deals with quantification in English, the process by which a speaker assigns a certain magnitude or quantity to an instance of a thing by means of grammatical devices called quantifiers It aims to tackle the problem of random use of quantifiers made by foreign learners of English, by highlighting their specific functions in the language It hypothesis that each quantifier has a specific function in language, which is different from the others In doing so, it applies the three cognitive theories of meaning to their analysis: categorization, configuration, and conceptualization The study has, therefore, reached three specific results First, a quantifier has more than one sense; the prototype, which is the main sense that comes to the mind of the speaker, the periphery, the remaining senses, which form a network gathering around the prototype Second, quantifiers can be placed in general areas of knowledge, called domains, in which they represent different aspects of it, and so acquire different meanings Third, when two or more quantifiers occur in the same position, they represent distinct construal Each member of the pair has a special message to convey In fact, when teaching English in mountainous schools, I find it very difficult for students to use English correctly, especially using the correct Quantifiers in English In order to help the students use the right quantifiers, I decided to make this thesis to help the mountainous students understand and use the correct quantifiers 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study: Aim: -To help learners of English master similarities and differences of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese in terms of semantic and syntactic features effectively Specific Objectives: -To identify the similarities of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese in terms of semantic and syntactic perspective -To identify the differences of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese in terms of semantic and syntactic perspective -To give some implications for both teacher teaching and student learning quantifiers in English effectively 1.3 Research questions: This study aims to answer the following research questions: - What are semantic and syntactic features of quantifiers in English? - What are similarities and differences between the semantic and syntactic features of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese? - What implication is drawn for teaching and learning quantifiers? 1.4 Methods of the study: * Research approach - To bring the effectiveness of the thesis, I have used a combination of many different research methods such as: The thesis is conducted with the method of combining the two research approaches of descriptive research and contrastive research Descriptive research is applied to describe and demonstrate linguistics features of English containing quantifiers with the Vietnamese equivalents Examples and statistic tables of classification of idioms will be presented The contrastive research help us find out the similarities and differences in terms of semantic features of English containing quantifiers and the Vietnamese equivalents Additionally, statistical and observation methods are also applied to draw necessary findings * Research type + Descriptive — survey, content analysis, qualitative, narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, and case study) + Associational — correlational, causal-comparative + Intervention — experimental, quasi-experimental, action research (sort of) * Research methods: - Qualitative method: This method will be based on the previous works of the authors on the semantics of quantum words Qualitative approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behavior Such an approach to research generates results either in non-quantitative form or in the form which are not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis Generally, the techniques of focus group interviews, projective techniques and depth interviews are used - Quantitative methods: This method will be based on the actual survey results of the use of words in English and Vietnamese - Mixed methods approach: pragmatic knowledge claims, collection of both quantitative and qualitative data sequentially - Contrastive approach: Contrast the meaning of the quantifiers in English and Vietnamese 1.5 Scope of the study: As mentioned in the section Aims and Objectives of the study above, the thesis aims to describe the syntactic and semantic features of English word quantity, thereby finding out some similarities and differences between English word quantity and their equivalent in Vietnamese However, the thesis does not only 10 Diễn tả cảm xúc mạnh mẽ Diễn tả cảm xúc mạnh mẽ Diễn tả cảm giác nghi ngờ extremely, terribly, amazingly, wonderfully, insanely especially, particularly, uncommonly, unusually, remarkably, quite pretty, rather, fairly, not especially, not particularly The movie was amazingly interesting The movie was particularly interesting The movie was fairly interesting She sang wonderfully well She sang unusually well She sang pretty well The lecture was terribly boring The lecture was quite boring The lecture was rather boring 3.2.4.5 Reverse with negative adverbs: Usually, the subject precedes the verb, however, some negative adverbs can cause a reversal when placed at the beginning of the clause The order is reversed and the verb comes before the subject This reversal is only used in the text, not used to say Adverbs Normal order Reverse Never I have never seen such courage Never have I seen such courage Rarely She rarely left the house Rarely did she leave the house Not She did not only the cooking but Not only did she the cooking, but 62 Adverbs Normal order Reverse only the cleaning as well the cleaning as well Scarcely I scarcely closed the door before he started talking Scarcely did I close the door before he started talking Seldom Seldom we cross the river sunset We seldom cross the river after sunset 3.2.5 Referential meaning The referential uses of descriptions (both definite and indefinite) have received a great deal of scholarly attention As a result, our knowledge of the linguistic data relevant to the study of such uses, as well as our grasp of the range of theories that may account for them, can be said to be fairly extensive Referential uses of other quantified determiner phrases, by contrast, have certainly not been extensively considered by any means This paper is a brief essay on referential uses of quantified determiner phrases in general A number of mistaken beliefs seem to surround these uses in the literature that does consider them, including some misconceptions of the basic properties they exhibit In particular, the currently received view appears to be that at most only referential uses of definite (and possibly indefinite) descriptions are frequent and standard, not requiring recherché contextual scenarios The paper‘s first aim, pursued in section , is to develop with minimal detail the observation that, contrary to the received view, for all typical kinds of quantified determiner phrases (quantifier phrases, for short), referential uses are frequent and can be perfectly standard, arising in run-of-the-mill contextual scenarios A second aim of the paper, pursued in section 2, is to offer a preliminary, necessarily sketchy discussion of how these data constrain the feasible extensions of theories of descriptions to cover the referential uses of quantifier phrases in general 63 The received view that referential uses of quantifier phrases other than descriptions are different from referential uses of descriptions in the way just mentioned has lately provided great stimulus to views on which these latter uses, and especially those of definite descriptions, ought to receive a thoroughly semantic explanation There are two reasons for this First, if the two kinds of uses are substantively different in the mentioned way, the road is open for the suggestion that, even if the semantics of other quantifiers is strictly non-referential, the frequency and standardness of the referential uses of the definite (and possibly the indefinite) article reflect an appropriate semantic convention Second, the purported differences suggest that while a standard pragmatic explanation of referential uses of quantifier phrases other than descriptions is required, such an explanation is unavailable in the case of referential uses of descriptions My own view, motivated to a great extent by the observations of section 1, is that the data appear to be more complex than usually thought, and are far from unequivocally supporting a semantic explanation of referential uses of descriptions Another motivation is my impression that fully pragmatic theories have at their disposal a simple apparatus of rarely heeded concepts and distinctions that can reasonably account for the standard, nonrecherché character of many referential uses of quantifier phrases in general (including descriptions) In particular, a suggestion that emerges from the discussion in section is that pragmatic theories might plausibly explain these uses as involving a genus of particularized conversational implicatures in which no conversational maxims are ―flouted‖ or even violated, rather than generalized implicatures or particularized implicatures of Grice‘s ―exploitative‖ type In this section I offer some brief comments on the question of whether or to what extent the preceding considerations favor any particular kind of theory of the referential uses of quantifier phrases over the others I emphasize that I don‘t take the dispute between semantic and pragmatic theories of referential use to have been satisfactorily resolved as a result of the preceding discussion It is widely agreed that definite descriptions have both what Keith Donnellan 66 called ―referential‖ uses and what he called ―attributive‖ uses There is less 64 than wide agreement as to what would be an exact, counterexample-free, theoretical characterization of the distinction [89] I don’t have much time Tơi khơng có nhi u th i gian [90] I don’t have much money Tơi khơng có nhi u ti n [91] Most people in this room have played cricket H u h t m i ng i phòng n y ch i cricket [92] Several guys at the dock are insane M t s kẻ b n t u trí [93] A few men drinking champagne over there are happy M t v i ng i n ng ang u ng sâm panh ằng vui [94] Some eggs are broken M t s tr ng b hỏng [95] (a) Every murderer of Smith is insane (a) M i kẻ gi t mith iên ub (b) Every guy at the dock is insane (b) M i gã b n t u u trí [96] (a) Most murderers of Smith are insane (b) Most guys at the dock are insane (a) H u h t nh ng kẻ gi t mith (b) H u h t nh ng ng ub iởb nt u [97] (a) Several murderers of Smith are insane (b) Several guys at the dock are insane (a) M t s kẻ gi t Smith b trí (b) Nhi u ng i b n tàu b iên [98] (a) Some murderers of Smith are insane (b) Some guys at the dock are insane (a) M t s kẻ gi t Smith trí 65 iên u trí (b) M t s kẻ b n tàu b trí [99] (a) A few murderers of Smith are insane (b) A few guys at the dock are insane (a) M t vài kẻ gi t Smith nh ng kẻ trí (b) M t v i ng i b n tàu b trí [100] Every man drinking champagne over there is happy M i ng i u ng sâm panh ó u h nh phúc [101] Most men drinking champagne over there are happy H uh t n ng u ng sâm panh ó u vui vẻ [102] Many men drinking champagne over there are happy Nhi u ng i n ng u ng sâm panh ó vui [103] Several men drinking champagne over there are happy V i ng i n ng u ng sâm panh ằng vui [104] Some men drinking champagne over there are happy M t s ng i n ng u ng sâm panh ằng vui [105] A few men drinking champagne over there are happy M t v i ng i n ng ang u ng sâm panh ằng vui [106] Every egg is broken Quả tr ng n o b vỡ [107] Most eggs are broken H u h t tr ng u b hỏng [108] Many eggs are broken Nhi u tr ng b hỏng [109] Several eggs are broken M t s tr ng b hỏng [110] Some eggs are broken M t s tr ng b hỏng [111] A few eggs are broken M t vài tr ng b hỏng 66 [112] Every figure is black M i h nh u en [113] Most figures are squares H u h t hình hình vng [114] Many figures are squares Nhi u hình hình vng [115] Several figures are circles M t s hình hình trịn [116] Some figures are circles M t s hình hình trịn [117] A few figures are circles M t vài hình hình trịn 3.2.6 Negative meaning 3.2.6.1 Little Little in English has negative meaning, which means a little, not much, it usually comes after the verb and after it is the nouns We use Little + uncountable nouns, its mean very few, not enough to (tend to be negative) [118] There is little sugar in my coffee - Có t ng c phê c a tơi In the example [118], little sugar tends to negate since there is very little sugar in the coffee cup, doesn't seem to be sweet enough to use, and needs a little more [117] Let’s go and have a drink We have got a little time before the train leaves - y i v nh u th i Ch ng ta m t t th i gian tr c t u r i b nh I have little money, not enough to buy groceries [118] I've got (very) little money I need to borrow some Tơi có ti n Tôi c n i vay thêm 67 [119] I have little money, not enough to buy a lunch (Tôi có ti n, kh ng mua b a tr a ấy.) There was little time for consultation [120] I’m so sorry as I have only little money, not enough to buy this bouquet of flowers for my mother (Tơi xin lỗi tơi có ti n, khơng mua bó hoa cho mẹ tơi) [121] He finds that there is little tea, not enough to make a cup of tea, so he goes out to buy a package 3.2.6.2 The use of little and few is mostly limited to written English In conversation, little and few are often replaced by hardly any In this case, the verb structure in the negative form + much / many can also be used: We saw little = We saw hardly anything/We didn’t see much Tourists come here but few stay overnight = Tourists come here but hardly any stay overnight - Little and few can be used more widely when compared with so, very, too, extremely, comparatively, relatively, The comparative form of few is fewer can also be used more widely: I’m unwilling to try a drug I know so little about They have too many technicians, we have too few There are fewer butterflies every year 3.2.6.3 Little is mainly used with better and more: His second suggestion was little (= not much) better than his first He was little (= not much) more than a child when his father died - In formal English, little can be placed before certain verbs, for example expect, know, suspect, think: He little expected to find himself in prison e little thought that one day … 3.2.6.4 Few We use Few + plural countable noun : its mean very few, not enough to (tend to be negative) 68 [122] I have few books, not enough for reference reading Tôi có m t sách, khơng c tham khảo [123] Few people can say that they always tell the truth Rất t ng i nói h ln ln nói th t [124] I've got (very) few friends I need to make new friends Tôi h u nh kh ng có b n Tơi c n có thêm b n m i [125] Few people pass this test (Có t ng i qua c ki m tra này.) [126] I have few books, not enough for reference reading (Tơi có m t t s ch kh ng c tham khảo) [127] Few books which you can read on the table (Có ích sách bàn mà b n có th c) [128] There are few oranges in the refrigerator (Chỉ có cam t l nh) 3.2.7 The expressive meaning 3.2.7.1 A couple of: Two or a few things that are similar or the same, or two or a few people who are in some way connected: The doctor said my leg should be better in a couple of days A couple of people objected to the proposal, butthe vast majority approved of it We'll have to wait another couple of hours for the paint to dry She'll be retiring in a couple more years The weather's been terrible for the last couple of days Many economists expect unemployment to fall over the next couple of months I'm sorry I didn't call you, but past couple of weeks Take a couple of steps backwards 69 I've been very busy over the She lived in Rome for a couple of years, where she taught English Take a couple of weeks off - you need a break The getaway car was abandoned a couple of kilometres from the scene of the robbery There's not much in the way of entertainment in this town - just the cinema and a couple of pubs - Two people who are married or in a romantic or sexual relationship, or two people who are together for a particular purpose:  a married couple  An elderly couple live (US lives) next door  Should the government more to help young couples buy their own homes?  The couple skated spectacularly throughout the competition - To join or combine: The sleeping car and restaurant car were coupled together High inflation coupled with low output spells disaster for the government in the election - Two or a few things that are similar or the same, or two or a few people who are in some way connected: I’m packing a couple of sweaters in case it gets cold - Two people who are married or who spend a lot of time together esp in a romantic relationship: We’re having two couples over for dinner 3.2.7.2 A pair (of): - A pair (of) means a pair They often go with the countable nouns in the plural, and these nouns are usually in the form of pieces, such as glasses, jeans I just bought a pair of jeans T i vừa mua m t chi c qu n bò m i – B n tự hi u l qu n th có ng qu n nên dùng a pair of jeans.) - Two things of the same appearance and size that are intended to be used together, or something that consists of two parts joined together: 70 - a pair of shoes/gloves - a pair of scissors/glasses - I can't find a matching pair of socks - He packed two pairs of trousers and four shirts - I'd like you to this exercise in pairs (= in groups of two) - Two people who have a romantic relationship or are doing something together: They seem a very happy pair What have the pair of you been up to? - Two animals that come together to have sex and produce young: a breeding pair a mated pair of swans - To make something one of a pair, or to become one of a pair: Famous paintings have been paired with poems by Sandburg, Angelou, and others - Two things of the same appearance and size that are intended to be used together, or something that consists of two parts joined together: a pair of gloves/shoes a pair of pants/scissors Each package contains three pairs of socks -To make or become one of a pair: Famous paintings have been paired with poems by Sandburg, Angelou, and others - Two people, things, or organizations that work, are used, or appear together: The pair are accused of securities fraud The carpenters worked in pairs 3.3 Summary Through the scope of the above analysis, we found that the amount of words in English and Vietnamese has many differences and similarities In terms of semantic characteristics, the meaning of words denoting quantity changes according to the situation of the sentence, it can mean the meaning of quantity, the 71 meaning of inclusion, the nouns countable or uncountable, the meaning of the level, the referential meaning or negative meaning Syntactically, the quantifiers function also changes, it can be subject, subject compliment, object, adverbial or pridicate Its function changes according to where it is in the sentence 72 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Recapitulation There is nothing more wonderful than perceiving the world through quantifiers That is the reason why the quantifier with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent are chosen in my thesis In my thesis, the quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese are examined carefully to bring out the basic ideas and various views on semantic features in order to find out the similarities and dissimilarities of them The rationale, aims and objectives of the study are presented in chapter One It was also in this chapter that the scope, the significance and structural organization of the thesis have been found as an overall introduction to the research Chapter Two is the theories involved in this thesis under consideration which serve as the foundation of data analysis and findings discussion in this thesis Chapter Three designed to describe the research-governing orientations and research methods Some research questions have been presented in this chapter In the time of completing the study, we have also discovered that most quantifiers contain two simultaneous meaning in terms of semantic aspect at the same time, that is the literal meaning and figurative meaning As a sequence, the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in using quantifier are unavoidable This caused by many reasons such as cultural factors, the traditional customs, or even the way of thinking; therefore, it is the crucial factor that make some quantifiers in Vietnamese have no equivalence in Vietnamese or vice versa 4.2 Concluding remarks After completing the research thesis, the two given major objectives have been concentrated and shown as below: (i) Syntactic characteristics of quantifier (ii) Semantic characteristics of quantifier to help Vietnamese teachers and learners of English have a better understanding of the quantifier in terms of semantic features, this main aspect has been described and analyzed 73 In chapter Findings, Thesis analyzed very clearly Syntactic features of quantifying words in English - Subject; Subject complement; Object; Adverb; Predicate; Semantic features of quantifying words in English - Expressing quantity; Inclusiveness words; The meaning of countable and uncountable noun; Indicating the level; Referential meaning; Negative meaning; The expressive meaning After regarding the comparison about quantifiers between English and the Vietnamese equivalents, both similarities and differences have been found in terms of semantic features Last but not least, some possible implications for teaching and learning have been suggested, hopefully, it will be helpful for not only Vietnamese learners of English but also other ones in many areas or aspects 4.3 Limitation of the study Despite my considerable efforts, certain limitations could be detected in this study due to time and other unexpected factors; however, the study has been implemented under strict rules with serious work Hopefully, this study can make a contribution into the rich collection of other previous studies on the same areas Due to the limitation of my knowledge as well as the time of my research stops here, I expect that it will be profoundly analyzed more by following people whose are interested in quantifier words in English and in Vietnamese 4.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research In this thesis, we have confined ourselves to the study of a humble part of Syntactic characteristics and Semantic characteristics of quantifier and their Vietnamese equivalents to find out their similarities and differences As a result, many other aspects need to be studied in further researches, for instance, the students' errors in using quantifiers 74 REFERENCES Barwise, J and R Cooper (1981) Generalized quantifiers and natural language Linguistics and Philosophy 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grammatical devices called quantifiers It aims to tackle the problem of random use of quantifiers made