An analysis of weather forecast in english and vietnamese in the light of systemic functional grammar

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES NGUYỄN TRẦN THỤC ĐOAN AN ANALYSIS OF WEATHER FORECAST IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IN THE LIGHT OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 60.22.02.01 MASTER THESIS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES (A SUMMARY) Da Nang, 2017 This thesis has been completed at University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Long Examiner 1: Assoc Prof Dr Tran Van Phuoc Examiner 2: Dr Ngu Thien Hung The thesis was be orally defended at the Examining Committee Time: 09/9/2017 Venue: University of Foreign Language Studies -The University of Da Nang This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at: - Library of University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Weather forecast has become an important part in the society because it is highly informative Weather language has been widely accepted by the public; however, though the basic meaning has been interpreted as with the same proposition as it‟s passed from forecasters to viewers, the linguistic realizations of this proposition may be different in terms of the functional analysis Learning to interpret and translate weather forecast news in English into Vietnamese and vice versa in general is a difficult task for Vietnamese learners of English To ensure that this information of the upcoming weather.is received in the optimum manner it is necessary that the public and especially the writers of the weather forecast, learners of language can take in and understand the message However, still little has been written about this topic, particularly in weather forecast in English and Vietnamese For that reason, I would like to a research paper on the topic: “An analysis of weather forecast in English and Vietnamese in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar” to be a contribution to the present knowledge of the field and the findings of a contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese will be beneficial for both Vietnamese and English - speaking people 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1 Aims This study aims to examine the functional aspects of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese to provide the Vietnamese teachers and students of English with an insightful knowledge concerning how language functions and organized in weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese 1.2.2 Objectives - To find out the functional aspects of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese in view of systemic functional grammar and discourse analysis - To discover the similarities and differences of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese in terms of the meta-functions of systemic functional grammar and discourse analysis 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the interpersonal functions of weather forecast in terms of the analysis of clause as exchange in English and Vietnamese? What are the textual functions of weather forecast in terms of the analysis of clause as message in English and Vietnamese? What are the similarities and differences of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese in terms of the meta-functions of systemic functional grammar and discourse analysis? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is limited to the analysis of the meta-functions of systemic functional grammar of the daily weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese such as the interpersonal functions and textual functions and discourse analysis In more detail, clause as exchange of interpersonal functions and clause as message of textual functions in weather forecast will be looked into Such ideational functions as material clauses, behavioural clauses, mental clauses, verbal clauses, relational clauses and existential clauses will not be examined and they are put beyond the scope of this study 1.5 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY The research would be a contribution to the teaching and learning English and Vietnamese, especially, helping language users have a better insight into the linguistic features at the functional level for language performance In addition, the findings of the research would provide learners with knowledge or understanding about the weather forecasts in English and in Vietnamese Finally, the study would help learners aware of and use a series of words to describe the weather and remind them to take notice the difference between the use of word between English and Vietnamese weather forecasts 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Background Chapter 3: Research Methods Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW A lot of researchers have looked at weather forecasts from various viewpoints Among of them are Gerald Fleming, Claus Skovbjerg, Tran Thi Thom, Huynh Thi Anh Chi… Gerald Fleming (2005) published Guidelines on weather broadcasting and the use of radio for the delivery of weather information with the purpose of providing an overview of weather broadcasting for those who not know what it is and offering the curious readers interesting information about how the broadcast meteorologists present the weather Claus Skovbjerg collected and explained a large number of weather vocabularies and their uses in context In addition, a number of practical studies relevant to the weather forecast analysis have been undertaken Regarding the topic of weather forecast in language studies and those of discourse analysis, there are many practical studies related to the analysis of weather language have been carried out “A study of metaphoric meanings of words denoting weather in English and Vietnamese” by Huynh Thi Anh Chi (2010) examined the metaphoric meanings of words denoting weather such as hot, cold, warm, cool, cloud, storm in English and nóng, lạnh, ấm, mát, mây, bão in Vietnamese Next, “A discourse analysis of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese” conducted by Tran Thi Thom (2011) has shown the discourse features in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts in terms of the layout, lexical choice, syntactic features and cohesive devices Then, in “An investigation into English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather” Dang Thi Bich Huong (2011) showed her attention to the distribution of syntactic and semantic characteristics related to idioms containing words denoting weather in English and Vietnamese Another study is “An investigation into syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting weather”, Nguyen Thi My The (2011) This paper has also made an investigation into semantic and syntactic features in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts in terms of proverbs However, most of the writers only discussed the problems in syntactic aspects and their semantic roles while communicative meaning has not been fully mentioned Nevertheless, there isn‟t any research about the analysis of the English and Vietnamese weather forecasts in terms of Systemic Functional Grammar up to now 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Discourse Analysis Discourse is one of those elastic terms which one sometimes encounters in linguistics It is used in somewhat different ways by different scholars Discourse is used beyond the boundary of isolated sentences It means that any sequence of language in written or spoken form is concerned with the use of language in stretches larger than a sentence 2.2.2 Systemic Functional Grammar 2.2.2.1 Clause as Exchange According to Halliday (2014), clause as exchange is a clause which has meaning as an exchange, a transaction between speaker and listener In clause as exchange, there are mood, residue and pronoun system 2.2.2.2 Clause as Message Halliday (2014) states that clause as message is a clause which has meaning as a message, a quantum of information He also claims in all languages the clause has the character of a message: it has some form of organization giving it the status of a communicative event, but there are different ways in which this may be achieved In the clause as message, there are theme and rheme Aptly named „Clause as Message‟ (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014), the textual metafunction helps organise the message within and between clauses, and is closely linked to theories of cohesion 2.2.3 General View of Forecast and Weather 2.2.3.1 Notion of Forecasting 2.2.3.2 Notion of Weather Forecasting 2.3 SUMMARY Chapter RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 METHODOLOGY This thesis design was based on the combination descriptive and comparative methods; qualitative and quantitative techniques 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN The theoretical framework employed in this study was systemic functional grammar This included the analysis of (1) clause as exchange, (2) clause as message 3.2.1 Data collection 100 daily English weather forecasts and Vietnamese weather forecasts from the Internet within one year (2016) were collected for the data Most of the data used in this study is downloaded from famous websites of the weather in the US and in Vietnam 3.2.2 Procedure The steps of the research: collecting data, analyzing and comparing the results 3.2.3 Data analysis On the basis of 100 English weather forecasts and Vietnamese weather forecasts, data analysis focuses on analyzing and comparing the interpersonal function, textual function and cohesive devices of two groups of weather forecasts, then drawing out the similarities and differences between them 3.3 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY 3.4 SUMMARY Chapter FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 INTERPERSONAL FUNCTION OF WEATHER FORECASTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 4.1.1 Interpersonal Function of Weather Forecasts in English + Analysis of Mood Table 4.2 Relative Frequencies of Mood Selection in Relation to Speech Function (from English Data) commodity information goods-&services orientation giving STATEMENT OFFER declarative [589] demanding QUESTION COMMAND interrogative [7] imperative [93] 10 Table 4.6 Relative Frequencies of Mood Selection in Relation to Speech Function (from Vietnamese Data) commodity orientation giving information goods-&-services STATEMENT OFFER declarative [1122] demanding QUESTION COMMAND Interrogative [0] imperative [64] + Analysis of Modal Auxiliary Table 4.7 The Frequency of Modal Auxiliary (from Vietnamese Data) modal nên/ cần phải modality inclination/futurity ability/possibility necessity obligation frequency 225 46 10 auxiliary + Analysis of Pronoun System Table 4.8 The Frequency of Personal Pronouns (from Vietnamese Data) personal quý vị bạn 70 66 pronouns frequency + Analysis of Tense 11 Table 4.9 Tense (from Vietnamese Data) major tenses future present past frequency 225 44 32 4.1.3 Similarities and Differences in Interpersonal Function of Weather Forecasts in English and Vietnamese First, in terms of mood, I can say with a large percentage of declarative mood is used in both languages (85.49% in English and 94.60% in Vietnamese) However, in English weather forecasts, the presenter tends to use more imperative and integrative mood than in Vietnamese ones Besides, positive polarity outnumbered negative polarity significantly in both languages In terms of modal auxiliary, in English and Vietnamese, futurity such as “will” (68) and “sẽ” (225) are the most frequently employed, followed by possibility such as “can” (26) and “có thể” (46) With relation to pronoun system, the findings suggest that Vietnamese tends to use about 50% second personal pronouns “quý vị” whereas English uses more than 60% first personal pronouns “we” In regard to tense, differences can be found between the English and Vietnamese weather commentaries; in the English texts, the present tense is dominated (710), while in the Vietnamese ones the domination is the future tense (225) 12 Mood Declarative (English 85.49% and Vietnamese 94.60%) Positive (English 98.98%/ Vietnamese 93.93%) > Negative (English 1.02%/ Vietnamese 6.07%) English imperative (13.49%) + integrative (1.02%) > Vietnamese imperative (5.40%) + integrative (0%) Figure 4.3 Mood Selection in the English and Vietnamese Weather Forecasts Possibility “can” (24.07%) and “có thể” (16.31%) Futurity “will/ should” (67.59%) and “sẽ” (79.79%) Necessity “nên/ cần” (3.55%) Modal Auxiliary Obligation “have to” (8.34%) and “phải” (0.35%) Figure 4.4 Modal Auxiliary in the English and Vietnamese Weather Forecasts 13 4.2 TEXTUAL FUNCTION OF WEATHER FORECASTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 4.2.1 Textual Function of Weather Forecasts in English 4.2.1.1 Analysis of Theme (i) Textual Theme Based on an analysis of Thematic structure, a continuative adjunct and conjunctive adjunct are found in these data as well as the relative elements (ii) Interpersonal Theme Table 4.12 Occurrence of Interpersonal Themes (from English Data) Interpersonal Theme (102) WH- Modal Vocative element Let‟s adjunct 10 80 (2.94%) (8.82%) (9.8%) (78.44%) (iii) Topical (Ideational) Theme 14 Table 4.13 Occurrence of Topical Themes (from English Data) Types of Theme pattern Distribution rate Total 475 marked 148 unmarked 327 (iv) Simple and Multiple Theme Table 4.14 Occurrence of Themes (from English Data) Types of Theme pattern Distribution rate Total 968 simple 475 multiple 493 4.2.1.2 Analysis of Grammatical Cohesion (i) Reference Table 4.15 Use of Reference (from English Data) Total Reference use 2095 N % 1724 82.29 (ii) Ellipsis Table 4.19 Use of Ellipsis (from English Data) Total 2095 (iii) Substitution Ellipsis used N 127 % 6.06 15 Table 4.20 Use of Substitution (from English Data) Total Substitution 2095 N % 224 11.65 4.2.1.3 Analysis of Lexical Cohesion Table 4.21.Use of Lexical Cohesion (from English Data) Total Repetition 121 General words N % N % 67 55.37 54 44.63 4.2.2 Textual Function of Weather Forecasts in Vietnamese 4.2.2.1 Analysis of Theme (i) Textual Theme (ii) Interpersonal Theme Table 4.24 Occurrence of Interpersonal Themes (from Vietnamese Data) Interpersonal Theme (219) WHelement Let‟s Vocative Modal adjunct 0 50 169 (0%) (0%) (22.83%) (77.17%) (iii) Topical (Ideational) Theme 16 Table 4.25 Occurrence of Topical Themes (from Vietnamese Data) Types of Theme pattern Distribution rate Total 830 marked 375 unmarked 455 (iv) Simple and Multiple Theme Table 4.26 Occurrence of Themes (from Vietnamese Data) Types of Theme pattern Distribution rate Total 833 simple 463 multiple 370 4.2.2.2 Analysis of Grammatical Cohesion (i) Reference Table 4.27 Use of Reference (from Vietnamese Data) Total 729 Reference use N % 585 80.24 (ii) Ellipsis Table 4.31 Use of Ellipsis (from Vietnamese Data) Total 729 (iii) Substitution Ellipsis used N 105 % 14.4 17 Table 4.32 Use of Substitution (from Vietnamese Data) Total Substitution 729 N % 39 5.35 4.2.2.3 Analysis of Lexical Cohesion Table 4.33 Use of Lexical Cohesion (from Vietnamese Data) Total 37 Repetition N % General words N % 37 100 0 4.2.3 Similarities and Differences in Textual Function of Weather Forecasts in English and Vietnamese Based on the theme and cohesion analysis of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese, I can say that in both languages concerned, unmarked theme occurs in almost all clauses Adverbs of time and adverbs of places were used in marked theme to emphasize time and place the incoming weather conditions are probably going to occur The speakers used multiple Theme by adding textual Theme and interpersonal Theme to topical Theme to create connectedness in the discourse Interpersonal Theme takes a small account for both languages Nevertheless, there are some certain differences in the two languages In the case of the simple and multiple Themes, in comparison with Vietnamese, the multiple Themes are more 18 common than the simple Themes in English Both kinds of the commentaries have reference, ellipsis, conjunctions and repetition in cohesive devices However, ellipsis in English weather forecasts occupies the least proportion with 6.06%, meanwhile; Vietnamese weather forecasts 14.4% Finally, general words are the only occur in English weather forecasts with 44.63% but the frequency in Vietnamese weather forecasts is rare Table 4.34 Textual Function of Weather Forecasts in English and Vietnamese English Weather Vietnamese Weather Forecasts Forecasts Unmarked Theme 68.84% 54.82% Marked Theme 31.16% 45.18% Multiple Theme 50.93% 44.42% Simple Theme 49.07% 55.58% Reference 82.29% 80.24% Ellipsis 6.06% 14.4% Repetition 55.37% 100% General words 44.63% 0% 4.3 SUMMARY Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 19 In terms of discourse structure, English and Vietnamese weather forecasts have many similarities as well as differences English weather forecasts display a two part structure: introduction and body; meanwhile, there are three parts in Vietnamese ones: introduction, body and ending Introduction is normally composed of greeting In English weather forecasts, the way to greet the viewers is various such as time-free greetings “Hello”, “Hi”, time-bound greetings “Good morning”, “Good afternoon”, “Good evening” and greeting on special days or in ceremonies “Happy independence day to you all”, “Happy Monday” Meanwhile, the Vietnamese forecasters prefer to use direct greeting with some greeting expressions used in formal meetings or ceremonies by using the word “xin kính chào” or “kính chào” The most informative part the body often covers weather information such as present weather conditions as well as predictions of future weather and advices Lastly, endings, which are absent in English weather forecasts are relatively popular in Vietnamese ones 20 Table 4.35 Discourse Structure of English and Vietnamese Weather Forecasts English Weather Forecast Vietnamese Weather Forecast - parts: introduction and body + Time-free greetings “Hello”, “Hi” - parts: introduction, body and ending + Direct greeting: formal + Time-bound greetings “Good morning”, “Good afternoon”, meetings or ceremonies “xin kính chào” or “kính chào” “Good evening” + Greeting on special days or in ceremonies “Happy independence day to you all”, “Happy Monday” Interpersonally, the paper research deals with the four characteristic aspects that are moods, modal auxiliary, personal pronouns and tense As regard moods, declarative clauses (giving information) are frequently selected Question in these English commentaries is to ask the advertiser himself a question to attract the attention of the audience It‟s a strategy, not a real communication However, questions not appear in Vietnamese ones Positive polarity outnumbered negative polarity significantly in both 21 languages By using different modal auxiliary, the broadcaster presents his predictabilities and uncertainties on weather issues, which can influence the attitude and belief of the listeners and the viewers The most frequently modal auxiliary used is futurity such as “will” and “sẽ”, followed by possibility such as “can” and “có thể” From the uses of personal pronoun system, the dominance of first plural personal pronouns in subjective case “we” is observed in English Meanwhile, among all of the Vietnamese pronouns investigated we find a rare rate of the case In addition to, there are second personal pronouns “quý vị” and “các bạn” used in Vietnamese Moreover, English has possessive pronouns to indicate the possessor of another noun (eg “our”, “your”) In contrast, possessive pronouns not exist in Vietnamese; instead, the word “của” is used to indicate the possession In regard to tense, past, present and future tense are identified in both English and Vietnamese data Differences can be detected between the English and Vietnamese weather commentaries; the most frequently used tense in the English texts is the present tense, whereas in the Vietnamese ones it is the future tense Basically, Theme in English and Vietnamese shares many common characteristics Firstly, in both languages, the topical theme which form unmarked theme occurs in almost all clauses Marked theme is presented by adverbs of time and adverbs of places to emphasize when and where are probably going to suffer from the weather situations However, theme in the two languages contains some certain differences In the case of the simple and multiple Themes, as compared to Vietnamese, the multiple Themes are more 22 common than the simple Themes in English The speakers used multiple Theme by adding textual Theme and interpersonal Theme to topical Theme to create connectedness in the discourse Interpersonal Theme takes a small account for both languages However, in interpersonal Theme, different from English weather commentaries, vocative in Vietnamese weather commentaries is used at the beginning of the forecast to be in contact with audience by using “Thưa quý vị bạn” Meanwhile, among all of the English Theme investigated we find no rate of the case Both kinds of the commentaries have reference, ellipsis, conjunctions and repetition in cohesive devices To begin with, reference in English weather forecasts has the highest frequence as compared to Vietnamese weather forecasts, it is near threefold than Vietnamese weather forecasts (2095 vs 729) That is to say, reference is an effective cohesive device in English weather forecasts Second, ellipsis in English weather forecasts occupies the least proportion with 6.06%, meanwhile, Vietnamese weather forecasts 14.4% Finally, general words are the only occur in English weather forecasts with 44.63% but the frequency in Vietnamese weather forecasts is rare 5.2 IMPLICATIONS 5.2.1 To Teachers The study helps teachers to form a layout of weather forecasts easily, then lead students to catch more how to use the pronouns, types of sentences and cohesion in weather commentaries 23 Whenever asking students to write a piece of writing, it is very important for a teacher to ask them to determine the layout because each genre of discourse has its own layout which helps us to develop our writing in a natural and proper way From the findings of the tense, teachers may help students to describe the weather by using different tenses to refer to events happening and remind them to take notice of the difference between the uses of personal pronouns In English, we use most of first plural personal pronouns “we”, while it is not the case in Vietnamese 5.2.2 To Students It can be clear that understanding the main ideas, the organization as well as the structures of discourses can be one of the most important tasks in processing of meanings through wordings Thus, students need a good knowledge of not only vocabularies, grammar and of discourse as well, especially style of writing which makes readers understand or not due to the way to use devices as well as differences in cultures and values that are embedded in the way people use their language Furthermore, the comparison and contrast from the two kinds of weather commentaries are a helpful material that helps them to cope with this Through the analysis of using cohesive devices in English weather forecasts and Vietnamese weather forecasts, it is believed that this study can be of some help to students to be aware of the importance of coherence, cohesion so that they can improve their writing skills 5.2.3 To Weather Presenters 24 Weather presenters are to master the way to write a succinct and vividly weather forecast to draw audiences‟ interest as well as attention It is not easy to achieve this desire if weather presenters are not equipped the specialist knowledge and background methods about it The result of the research helps them effectively deliver weather information 5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This research has got a number of restrictions due to the limited knowledge of the researcher and reference materials First of all, all weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese collected for this analysis are chosen from different websites of meteorology instead of approaching real ones Second, only some certain linguistic characteristics of English and Vietnamese weather forecasts such as systemic functional grammar can be examined in the study Finally, there are many types of weather forecasts which attract the attention of many people; the researcher can only focus on daily weather forecasts in US and Vietnam in general However, hopefully, the study will be a valuable reference for anyone who takes an interest in the problem 5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCHES - A contrastive analysis of ideational function in weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese - An investigation into intonation, stress, timbre, rhythm in English and Vietnamese weather forecasts ... functions and organized in weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese 1.2.2 Objectives - To find out the functional aspects of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese in view of systemic functional. .. functions of weather forecast in terms of the analysis of clause as message in English and Vietnamese? What are the similarities and differences of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese in. .. Similarities and Differences in Textual Function of Weather Forecasts in English and Vietnamese Based on the theme and cohesion analysis of the weather forecasts in English and Vietnamese, I can say