Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa và văn hoá của lớp từ chỉ 12 con giáp của người việt trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt

Vinh university foreign languages Department =====    ===== trÇn thÞ huÖ Semantic and cultural features of the class of words denoting 12 vietnamese zodiac animals in english and vietnamese (Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa và văn hóa của lớp từ chỉ 12 con giáp của người Việt trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt) graduation paper Field: Semantics Vinh, may 2007 i Vinh university foreign languages Department =====    ===== Semantic and cultural features of the class of words denoting 12 vietnamese zodiac animals in english and vietnamese (Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa và văn hóa của lớp từ chỉ 12 con giáp của người Việt trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt) graduation paper Field: Semantics Student: Trần Thị Huệ Supervisor: Lê Đình Thảo (M.A) Vinh, may 2007 Acknowledgements ii The thesis could not have been completed without the help of my teachers and friends during the time of my doing it. Firstly, I would like to express my deep thank to my supervisor – Mr. Le Dinh Thao (M.A) for his great support and constant, helpful advices on my study. I also want to thank all the teachers of Foreign Languages Department for lending me necessary materials and encouraging me a lot to complete this thesis. Secondly, I am greatful to Master of Arts Phan Thi Van Huong for her useful advices from the early stages of the study. Thirdly, I would also like to thank my parents and classmates for their help and encouragement during the process of writing this graduation thesis. Vinh, May 2007 Tran Thi Hue iii Table of contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENTS .ii ABBREVIATIONS iii PART A. INTRODUCTION 1 1. Reasons for Choosing the Subject 1 2. Aims of the Study 2 3. Objectives of the Study .2 4. Methods of the Study 3 5. Design of the Study .3 PART B. CONTENTS 4 CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES .4 1.1. Word .4 1.2. Word Meaning 5 1.3. Transference of Meaning .6 1.4. Influence of Culture on understanding Word Meaning .9 1.5. Contrastive Analysis on Language 10 CHAPTER II. THE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF CLASS OF WORDS DENOTING 12 ANIMALS OF VIETNAMESE ZODIAC SIGNS ON SEMANTIC TRANSFERENCE AND CULTURAL FEATURES 2.1. The Features of Semantics Transference .12 2.1.1. Quantitative Features 12 2.1.1.1. In English .13 2.1.1.2. In Vietnamese .17 2.1.2. Qualitative Features 23 2.2. Cultural Features of Words denoting 12 Vietnamese Zodiac Animals .24 2.2.1. The Reasons of Choosing 12 animals symbolizing 12 year cycle in the Orient .24 2.2.2. Ways of Choosing 12 Zodiac Animals .29 2.2.3. Comparison of Ways of View of the Orient (through Japanese) and the Occident . CHAPTER III. SUGGESTED EXERCISES .38 PART C. CONCLUSION .43 REFERENCES 44 iv APPENDIX 45 v ABBREVIATIONS AmE : BrE : CA : E.g : Esp : Etc : IDM : Infml : Sl : American English British English Contrastive Analysis For example Especially Et cetera Idiom Informal Slang vi PART A. INTRODUCTION 1. Reasons for Choosing the Subject In the course of global integration, English has become the vital device for communication in all fields. It is considered a bridge that brings people from different countries closer. As a result, English is being taught and learned widely in Vietnam. During the course of learning English, we have chance to deal with many aspects of English language. In that, I am really fond of its semantic field and cultural features since these play an important role in the process of learning a language. Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It discusses the types of meaning, the change and development of meaning and so on. Polysemantic words are general and specific phenomenon of many languages in the world. Polysemy is a property of single words and it refers to the situation whether the same word has two or more different meanings. I am really interested in studying different meanings of the same word, especially the meaning of words denoting twelve animals in Vietnamese zodiac signs in English and Vietnamese. We can not deny that this class of words is very familiar to Vietnamese people and it has certain position in Vietnamese superstition life. Therefore studying the transference of meaning and its cultural features through this class of words attract me much. Choosing two languages, English and Vietnamese to make a contrastive analysis has scientific base on linguistics and culture. England and Vietnam have their own culture, human race, geography and history. Moreover, I would like to examine and find out some relationships between two languages to support for teaching and learning English and Vietnamese. Teaching a language as a foreign language, first of all, needs to teach the way of speaking and thinking as the native speakers of that language. For example, an English man will answer when being asked question like "where are you going" by a Vietnamese people but it is only greeting of Vietnamese people and not need to be answered. So by understanding the native way, we can avoid such misunderstanding situations. And in here, understanding the meaning and cultural meaning of these words is very helpful for learners when they learn the second language and want to find out all fields of that language. Finally, to my knowledge, noone has studied this subject. 1 2. Aims of the Study This study aims at finding out the similarities and differences on aspect of semantic transference through class of words denoting 12 animals in Vietnamese zodiac signs in English and Vietnamese, and on aspect of cultural features between the Orient and the Occident towards these animals. This study, to some extend, describes national cultural features reflected in the semantic transference of this class of words. It provides materials, a big part of basic knowledge on semantic transference of English and Vietnamese words to help teaching and learning English and Vietnamese as well. I hope the results of this study will help the readers have a clearer understanding about the mechanism of semantic transference and about the cultural features of these words. Moreover, I also hope that suggested exercises provided will contribute in teaching and learning semantics in general and the transference of meaning in particular in two languages. Last but not least, this study aims at providing the similarities and differences between the Orient and the Occident's views towards these animals. 3. Objectives of the Study I pay attention to words denoting 12 animals in Vietnamese zodiac signs in English and Vietnamese. This investigation is limited to the class of words denoting twelve Vietnamese zodiac animals in Vietnamese and its equivalence in English that has the semantic transference reflected in two dictionaries: “Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary - Oxford University Press, 2000” and “ Từ điển Tiếng Việt - Hoàng Phê (chủ biên) – Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội, Trung tâm từ điển học, 1994”. We only study the polysemantic words having primary meaning denoting twelve Vietnamese zodiac animals. We do not pay attention to words having derived meaning denoting twelve Vietnamese zodiac animals and to the phenomenon of conversion. 2 4. Methods of the Study - Analytic and systematic methods - Contrastive method - Statistic method 5. Design of the Study Part A. Introduction 1. Reasons for Choosing the Subject 2. Aims of the Study 3. Objectives of the Study 4. Methods of the Study 5. Design of the Study Part B. Contents Chapter I. Theoretical Preliminaries Chapter II. The Contrastive Analysis of Class of Words denoting 12 Animals of Vietnamese Zodiac Signs on Semantic Transference and Cultural Features Chapter II. Suggested Exercises Part C. Conclusion References Appendix 3 PART B. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES 1.1. Word The term “word” appears to be a simple concept but in fact, it is extremely difficult to define. Within the scope of linguistics the word has been defined syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches. For instance, it has been syntactically defined as “the minimum sentence” by Haslet and much later by L.Bloomfield as “a minimum free form” . E.sapir (quoted in Arnord (1986) in references ) takes into consideration the syntactic and semantic aspects when he calls the word “one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning, into which the sentence resolves itself”. He also points out one more, very important characteristic of the word, its indivisibility “it can't be cut into without a disturbance of meaning”. In Truong, Hoang Tat (1993), Palmer noted that a word is marked if not by ‘spaces’ or ‘pauses’, at least by some features of the sound system of the language. The definition seems to be the most satisfactory is that the word is the fundamental unit of language. It is a dialectical unity of form and content. The content or meaning of the word is not identical to notion, but it may reflect human notion, and in this sense may be considered as the form of their existence. In Antrushina (1985), Linguists have found the nature of the word: First, the word is a unit of speech which, as such, serves the purposes of human communication. Thus, the word can be defined as a unit of communication. Second, the word can be perceived as the total of the sounds which comprise it. Third, the word, viewed structurally, possesses several characteristics. The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the words. By external of the word they mean its morphological structure. The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is nowadays commonly referred to as the word's semantic structure. This is certainly the word's main aspect. Words can serve the purposes of communication solely due to their meanings so understanding the shades of meanings of the word is very important for learners of that language to communicate successfully. 4 . denoting 12 vietnamese zodiac animals in english and vietnamese (Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa và văn hóa của lớp từ chỉ 12 con giáp của người Việt trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng. denoting 12 vietnamese zodiac animals in english and vietnamese (Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa và văn hóa của lớp từ chỉ 12 con giáp của người Việt trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng