CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY, DATA, AND GENERAL FINDINGS
4.2. Expansion in Vietnamese Clause Complexes
4.2.1. How is Expansion Realized in Vietnamese Clause Complexes?
4.2.1.3. Conjunctions in Vietnamese Clause Complexes of Expansion
In Vietnamese clause complexes of expansion, the constituent clauses can be connected either structurally (using adjacency and punctuation) or lexically (using conjunctives).
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As regards structural conjunctions, it is stated from previous studies on Vietnamese grammar that adjacency of clauses is used in Vietnamese paratactic complexes only; in the hypotactic complexes, constituent clauses must be combined using conjunctives (Panfilov: 1993, Nguyễn Như Ý et. al.:1996, Nguyễn Kim Thản: 1997, Diệp Quang Ban: 2004, Mai Ngọc Chừ et.al.: 2009, Nguyễn Văn Hiệp: 2009, Nguyễn Thiện Giáp: 2010). However, real-life data, for example, clause complex 207_29, show the contrary.
215. Là người thông minh, ||Mevlana nhanh chóng có được kiến thức sâu rộng ||và trở thành một triết gia Hồi giáo nổi tiếng. (207_29)
Subject ellipsis is popular in clause complexes when the agents of the processes in the complex are the same. Usually, subject ellipsis happens in the non-initiating clauses.
If subject ellipsis happens at the initiating clause of the complex, it is certainly the marker of dependency: the initiating clause is the dependent clause. As seen in 207_29, at without conjunctives, an expanding clause can still prove itself to be dependent on the expanded clause when it precedes the expanded clauses and its subject is hidden. The point to be concluded about structural conjunctions in Vietnamese clause complexes is: adjacency of clauses can be used in both paratactic and hypotactic clause complexes, but in hypotactic clause complexes, for adjacency to work, the dependent clauses must be subject-elliptic.
Conjunctives in Vietnamese, except the correlative conjunctive structures, tend to attach to the expanding clauses. The system of Vietnamese conjunctives is wide- ranging, and conjunctives can be classified based on their structures and the taxis and logico-semantic relations in which they are used.
a. Conjunctives Structurally Classified
Vietnamese conjunctives can be classified according to their structure
(i) Simple conjunctives: linkers / binders: và, hoặc, nhưng, song, vả lại, do đó, vì thế, cũng vây, bởi, nếu, etc.; prepositions: ngoài, trừ, từ, tới tận, etc.;
adverbs: tuy nhiên, mặc dù, sau khi, trước khi, trong khi, đồng thời, trừ phi, thêm nữa; relative expressions: đó là, người (mà), nơi (mà), cái (mà), lúc (mà), người nào, cái nào, nơi nào, khi nào, etc.;
These conjunctives are simple in their structure and in that they are close-system items, and that can work alone as the cohesive devices in the clause complex. The usual position of these conjunctives in clause complexes is initiating the expanding clauses.
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However, in a Vietnamese clause complex of expansion, there is a tendency that when a simple conjunctives is used in the expanding clause, a particle, thì or là, is also employed in the expanded clauses. The particle thì or là makes no syntactic or semantic contribution to the expanded clause, and to the logico-semantic relation between the clauses, either, so its existence is purely optional. The particle is just there to parallel the conjunctive in the expanding clause, with the aim to seek for the balance in the clause complex structure only.
(ii) Conjunctive groups: và rồi, nhưng rồi, không những…mà còn…, tuy…mà / nhưng…, nếu…thì…, một đằng…đằng khác…, thà…còn hơn…, nào…ấy…, bao nhiêu…bấy nhiêu…, nào là…nào là…, khi (thì)…lúc (thì)…, chỗ này…chỗ khác… etc.
The distinctive feature of conjunctive groups in Vietnamese is that: the most preferred conjunctive groups are the correlative structures, one part attached to the expanded clause, the other to the expanding clause to display the close linking / binding between them. They are different from the combinations of simple conjunctives and particles thì and là in that while the particles are just optional and can be omitted, none of the parts of the conjunctive groups can be left out from the complex.
(iii) Complex conjunctives: verbal conjunctives: coi như, giả sử, tức là, nghĩa là, có thể hiểu rằng, cộng với, thêm vào đó, nói cách khác là, etc. nominal conjunctives: trường hợp, nhân dịp, bằng cách, ví dụ là, etc. adverbial conjunctives: trái lại, tương tự, ngược lại, cụ thể là, không lâu sau, etc.
These conjunctives are complex in that they contain at least one open-class item: a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
b. Conjunctives Tactically Classified
In previous studies of Vietnamese, there seems to be different views on the markers of parataxis and hypotaxis. Bùi Đức Tịnh (1966: 114-116) says that in Vietnamese, conjunctives are divided into conjunctives for paratactic relations (tập-hợp liên-từ) and conjunctives for hypotactic relations (phụ-thuộc liên-từ). In other words, conjunctives in Vietnamese can be the markers for taxis in Vietnamese clause complexes.
A foreign author who studies Vietnamese grammar, Panfilov (1993: 300) views that conjunctives are used in both paratactic and hypotactic relations, and he even lists out them specific conjunctives used in parataxis and in hypotaxis. Nguyễn Văn Hiệp. (2009:
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367) somehow share this view in that the relation of parataxis in a clause complex is usually marked with adjacency, the clauses are juxtaposed with punctuations and the absence of conjunctives. If conjunctives are employed, they are never conjunctive groups likethose listed above, which are typical for hypotaxis. Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (2010: 177, 354) is quite extreme in his view on the use of conjunctives in linking / binding clauses.
He defines the relation of parataxis as the combination of linguistic items with adjacency, not with conjunctives. Whenever any conjunctives are used in the connection, the relation between linguistic items is definitely hypotactic. In their dictionary of linguistic terms, Nguyễn Như Ý et al. (1996: 37, 38) also see the distinction between conjunctives used in paratactic and hypotactic relations in Vietnamese clause complexes the same way as Panfilov, S.V. (1993) and Nguyễn Văn Hiệp (2009): conjunctives are used in both relations. Thus, it is hereby stated that: in Vietnamese clause complexes of expansion, either paratactic or hypotactic, conjunctives are used to link constituent clauses; whether the complex is paratactic or hypotactic depends on the meanings of the clauses and the meanings of the conjunctives.
Basic distinctions between conjunctives for paratactic and hypotactic relations will be discussed in 5.2.1.4 and 5.2.1.5, yet, the general trends are that: paratactic conjunctives are mostly simple conjunctives, while hypotactic conjunctives are mostly conjunctive groups and complex conjunctives.
c. Conjunctives Functionally Classified
Nguyễn Văn Hiệp (2009: 369) sees that there must be certain semantic relation behind any grammatical relation in Vietnamese. In this sense, the combination of clauses into the clause complexes must be meaningful in some way. In fact, conjunctives in Vietnamese, whether purely functional words and structures (close-system items) or complex phrases (with open-class items), do convey certain meaning on the logic- semantic relations that they are demonstrating. Conjunctives in Vietnamese clause complexes of expansion can thus be divided basing on their functions - the logic-semantic relations between clauses that they are demonstrating.
(i) Conjunctives for elaboration: người (mà), nơi (mà), cái (mà), lúc (mà), người nào, cái nào, nơi nào, khi nào, tức là, có nghĩa là, có thể hiểu là, ví dụ là, cụ thể là, nói cách khác là, etc
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(ii) Conjunctives for extension: và, rồi, còn, nhưng, không những…mà còn…, thà…còn hơn…, một đằng…đằng khác…, nào là…nào là…, thêm nữa, cộng với, chẳng những thế, etc.
(iii) Conjunctives for enhancement: khi, trong khi, vì, bởi, nếu…thì…, nào…ấy,
…bao nhiêu …bấy nhiêu, khi thì… lúc thì…, chỗ này…chỗ khác…, trường hợp, miễn là, bằng cách, không lâu sau, etc.
However, like other languages, Vietnamese conjunctives primarily belong to the functional categories, many of them can therefore be used interchangeably among the three logico-semantic relations above.