CHAPTER 4: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ‘IN’
4.3. A comparison between IN prepositional phrases inthe novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions
4.3.1. In terms of their syntactic features
In terms of syntactic features, it is identified that the prepositional phrases
“IN” in sentences from the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions acts as a post-modifier of a noun, an adverbial or a complement. The frequency of each type is presented in Table 4.11:
Table 4.11: Syntactic features of IN prepositional phrases in the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions Syntactic Features
English Vietnamese
Frequency Percentage (%) Frequency Percentage (%) Post-modifier of a
noun 169 51,68% 145 51,60%
Adverbial 95 29,05% 78 27,76%
Complement 63 19,27% 58 20,64%
Total 327 100,00% 281 100,00%
It is shown in Table 4.11 that more than a half of all the prepositional phrases in the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom (51.68%) function as post- modifiers of nouns whereas 29.05% are used as an adverbial in a sentence. The least frequency of the prepositional phrase “IN” in terms of syntactic features concerns complement; it is shown that this function of the prepositional phrase “IN” in the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom only accounts for 19.27%.
In the Vietnamese translated version, the frequency of each function of the prepositional phrase “IN” experienced the same trend with that in the English
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original version. The highest frequency also involves Post-modifier of a noun with 51.60%, followed by adverbial (27.76%) and complement (20.64%).
Adverbials
Adverbials are different from the other functions (Subject, Object, and Complement) since they are most of the time optional. It is identified that these elements have 1) range of semantic roles; 2) propensity for multiple occurrence in the same clause; 3) range of realization forms; 4) range of possible positions in the clause; 5) distinctive grammatical functions; and 6) flexibility for use in information processing and in displaying textual connections. In this regard, the uses of adverbials in “If tomorrow comes” are broken down with their frequencies as below:
Table 4.12: The frequency of IN prepositional phrases as adverbials in the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions
Syntactic Features
English Vietnamese
Frequency Percentage (%) Frequency Percentage (%)
Adverbial 95 29,05% 78 27,76%
The frequency use of adverbials in Vietnamese version is at 78 times, while the English version has used total of 95 times of adverbials. An adverbial can be a word, phrase, or modifier clause (change, restrict, or add meaning) to a verb. A sentence can contain one or more adverbials. Adverbials usually precede words or propositions to which they need modifications. But it depends on the sentence that one can put it after or at the end of the sentence (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014).
This can be illustrated by the following examples of the proposition “IN” on the novel with both versions in English and Vietnamese:
Table 4.13: Adverbials in two versions of the novel
No. The original The Vietnamese version
1 She placed it next to the telephone and dialed her daughter's number in
Philadelphia
Bà đặt nó cạnh máy điện thoại và quay số của con gái ở Philadelphia 2 Too deeply wrapped in her thoughts Và bà nghĩ, thật mới hợp cảnh hợp
người làm sao
3 I feel like a princess in a fairy tale Con cảm giác mình cứ như một công
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chúa trong chuyện cổ tích ấy 4 I'm leaving for Deauville in the
morning
Sáng mai tôi đi Deauville
5 When I saw you in that house Từ lúc anh thấy em trong ngôi nhà đó
The distinction between the different types of adjuncts is based on the different meta-functions. In the experiential function of language, adjuncts are circumstantial, modal adjuncts and conjunctive adjuncts, respectively, interpersonal and textual in meta-function. Adverbials can be classified by meaning or by their position in the sentence. Depending on what they mean, adverbials can be classified into (Biber et al., 2007).
Manner adverbials -this is the type used to describe how an action is performed. (quickly, slowly, or lazily, etc.). It is noted that The position of the adverbials usually follows the verb or the object (if there is an object). Adverbials of time is used to designate the time the action is taken (this morning, today, yesterday, last week, etc.). This type can assist to be used to answer the when question or the question of time. It starts with the question of when ones want to do it. Adverbials of time are usually placed at the end of the sentence (regular position) or beginning of sentence for emphasized positions. Adverbials of frequency is to depict how often an action (sometimes, often, always, rarely, etc.) happens (Piủún, 1999). They are used to answer the question “How often?”. In this regard, the use of adverbials will be followed by the verb or before the main verb. Adverbials for designation of place are used to describe the action relating where, where or how close (Quirk et al., 2005). They are used to answer the question “where”. Common adverbials from common places are “here, there, out, away, everywhere, somewhere, above (above), below (below), etc.” (Hwang, and Schubert, 1994).
These all typical adverbials used in the English version of “If tomorrow comes”. In comparison to the Vietnamese version, an adverbial is an independent clause that functions as an adverb; i.e., the whole clause modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. As with all other propositions, adverbials include a subject and a predicate, although the subject or verb (in the predicate) may be removed from time to time. Adverbials in Vietnamese language are considered to have an advantage of being able to explain some of the words that come after it to complement the predicate (e.g., quickly, loudly, bewitching, etc.). In fact, adverbials
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in Vietnamese have a narrow definition than in comparison to use of adverbials in English. In the above examples, the samples number (1), (2), and (5), the sentence structures remain the same between the original and the translated version while the adverbials are being placed after the verbs. While on the number (3) and (4), the adverbials are reversed in positions between the original and the translated version.
At the same time, on the sample (3), (4), and (5), the Vietnamese translated words are not considered being adverbials in this language but more of a preposition word or clause. The translation is converted and classified the adverbials in English into preposition words in Vietnamese. Nevertheless, it is rendered and noted to have several differences between two versions of English copy and Vietnamese copy.
These differences are mainly caused by the distinguished natures between two languages while the meanings remain the same.
Post modifier
This is the most frequent function of the prepositional phrase “IN” in the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions. In English grammar, a postmodifier is a modifier that follows the word or phrase it limits or qualifies. Modification by a postmodifier is called post- modification. As discussed below, there are many different types of postmodifiers, but the most common are prepositional phrases and relative clauses. In comparison of Vietnamese translation version and the original English version of “If tomorrow comes”, the post modifier is collectively to expressed in the following percentage.
Table 4.14: The frequency of IN prepositional phrases as modifiersin the novel "If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions
Syntactic Features
English Vietnamese
Frequency Percentage (%) Frequency Percentage (%) Post-modifier of a
noun 169 51,68% 145 51,60%
In this regard, the post-modifier of a noun is more frequent to be used in the English version in comparison to the Vietnamese version. In the Vietnamese version, the post-modifier of a noun comprises of three main components of (1) the first part, (2) the center part, and (3) the last part. In the Vietnamese version, the translator used only 145 post-modifier of a noun while in the English version, this
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frequency is at 169 times. In fact, post-modifier of a noun is a type of grammar unit very common in English, but it also causes many difficulties for users when doing English grammar exercises and used in practice. In English language, a noun phrase may include modifier nouns. If modifiers are placed before a noun, they are called pre-modifiers. Modifiers after a noun are called post-modifiers. The Vietnamese version is dedicating with less post-modifier of a noun which is type of word combination and the number of dependent words it makes up. Description of post- modifier of a noun in English and Vietnamese are a combination of nouns with some of the dependent words that they form, have a more complete meaning and are more complicated than nouns alone, but works in sentences like a noun.
Different grammatical structures can post-modify a noun (relative clause, non-finite clause or prepositional phrase). Post-modification by prepositional phrases is by far the commonest type of noun phrase post-modification in English: it is three or four times more frequent than either finite or non-finite clausal Post- modification, it is proved while studying four types of discourse. Additionally, prepositional phrases functioning as post-modifiers of nouns can be turned into relative clauses with an equivalent meaning. There is always a relation to a more explicit modifier, and therefore a prepositional phrase functioning as a post- modifier can be seen as a reduction of a more complex, mainly clausal, post- modifier. These post-modifiers are naturally linked to be-sentences. This shows that the elements of a complex noun phrase can be matched with those of a clause.
Among the studies on post-modification across different registers, 20 percent of all noun phrases in academic writing have a post-modifier, as the complexity of noun phrases increases across the registers in a familiar order, with conversation at one extreme and academic prose at the other. They also added that the frequency of prepositional phrases as post-modifiers forms a scale: relatively rare in conversation to extremely common in academic prose. While dealing with noun phrases in academic writing, they found that noun phrases with post-modifiers are used most commonly for first mentions of a referent in a text. This is mainly because the post- modifier helps identify the referent of the head noun. They also noted that post- modification, in comparison to pre-modification, is more elaborated so as to establish the intended reference and provide the salient descriptive details about that referent. While discussing the results they found after studying post-modification in noun phrases, In academic prose, prepositional phrases as post-modifiers allow a
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very dense packaging of referential information in a text, typically characterizing non-human entities in relation to other non-human entities. They are more compact than clausal post-modifiers and commonly occur in sequences. The hierarchical embedding relations found with such sequences are often complex. However, they are less compact, and more explicit about the relationships involved, than equivalent sequences of noun pre-modifiers. This study stresses the importance of post- modification by prepositional phrases in the field of academic writing as it offers compact and clear descriptions, in comparison to other constructions. Furthermore, it is outlined that the prepositions used to introduce prepositional phrases in post- modifier position.
It is shown that the same prepositional phrases can be a non-restrictive modifier (first example) or an adverbial (second example) because of its position in the clause. This shows that the nonrestrictive modification is an optional one since adverbials are optional. This information is granted from the writer as part of his/her own way of construing reality, which means that the writer perceives the scene from a particular angle and wants his/her reader to share this experience with him/her.
Choosing to offer this extra piece of information means that the writer has chosen it from among other possibilities in order to reach a particular end. However, with restrictive post-modification, the writer makes an effort to be clear and transparent.
In such case, the writer wants to make sure that the reader gets and understands the message.
Functioning as modifier of other phrases is the grammatical function of prepositional phrase in Vietnamese. Prepositional phrases modify noun phrases, adjective phrases, and verb phrases.
The below are some examples from the translated version of “If Tomorrow Comes”
Cao khoảng lm70, trong mớ tóc thưa, cặp mắt nâu cộng (Five feet ten inches, in thinning sandy hair)
New Orleans vào tháng Chín này chỉ hợp với đám người nhếch nhác mà thôi
(New Orleans in September was only for the uncivilized)
Louise có…trên đại lộ Foch ở Paris (Louise had… on Avenue Foch in Paris)
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The prepositional phrases trong mớ tóc thưa, vào tháng Chín, and từ ở Paris modify the NOUN PHRASES New Orleans và Louise
Jeff nắm lấy cánh tay của Tracy và đưa cô đến một nơi vắng vẻ gần cây đàn piano(Jeff took Tracy's arm and walked her over to a deserted spot in near by the piano)
The prepositional phrase gần cây đàn piano modifies the ADJECTIVE PHRASE vắng vẻ.
Trong tuần này họ đã khám phá NewMarket (In this week they explored NewMarket)
The prepositional phrase Trong tuần này modifies the VERB PHRASES đã khám phá.
Complements
Per say, complement in English language is used for the purpose of completing the meaning of another part of the sentence. In fact, complements do not add additional information - they provide the information needed to achieve the intended meaning in the sentence. Additives, even ones that complete the meaning of the subject, are always part of the predicate. There are five main types of adverbs: objects, object complements, adjective complements, adverbial complements, and subject complements (Quirk et al., 2005). In this regard, the uses of complement in “If tomorrow comes” are broken down with their frequencies as below:
Table 4.15: The frequency of IN prepositional phrases as complementsin the novel
"If tomorrow comes" by Sidney Sheldom and their Vietnamese translation versions Syntactic Features
English Vietnamese
Frequency Percentage (%) Frequency Percentage (%)
Complements 63 19,27% 58 20,64%
The frequency uses of complement in Vietnamese version is at 58 times, while the English version has used total of 63 times of complement. This can be illustrated by the following examples on the novel with both versions in English and Vietnamese:
Table 4.16: Complements in two versions of the novel
No. The original The Vietnamese version
1 You're in perfect health. Sức khỏe bà hoàn toàn tốt.
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No. The original The Vietnamese version
2 You've got all the colors of the wind in you.
Con thay đổi cứ như một làn gió ấy.
3 the bank's senior vice-president in charge of the international
department.
phó chủ tịch nhà băng phụ trách khu vực quốc tế.
4 I know in that. Tôi biết thế.
5 a search was in progress to make certain.
đang được tiến hành để bảo đảm.
Complements help complete the meaning of a sentence. There are complements that add meaning to the subject, there are also complements that add meaning to the object. This can be interpreted to be the definition of complements for uses in both English and Vietnamese. Complement in English is a word or phrase that describes, changes the name, or completes the meaning of the adverb directly from a verb. Complement the sufficiency word can be a noun (noun), adjective (adjective), relative clauses (relative clause), the infinitive (infinitive), noun-verb (gerund), or phrase of the from that kind. When ones use nouns such as object complements, they do the task of renaming or redefining the object of the verb. When ones use nouns as additional objects, they serve to rename or redefine the object of behavior verbs. Adverbial complements are used to indicate the condition or the resultant state of a person, place or object (adverb directly) caused by the action of the verb. In addition, adjectives function as object complements, which can be used to describe or change adverbs directly. Like all adverbs, adjectives must follow the direct adverb that they describe.In Vietnamese language, complements are defined to be auxiliary components of a sentence. An 'complement' is an auxiliary component that has the function of raising the object of the action or activity, so it is a modifier for the verb. There are two types of complements, adjunctive and disjuncts. The adjunctive complement is the direct object of the action / activity, while the distant complement is the indirect object of the action or activity. Complement component parts before or after the verb or adjective modifies the verb or adjective and contributing to form phrases or phrases from adjectives.
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From examples above, it is critical to acknowledge for the same critical applications between English and Vietnamese language in the complement being a supporting component to the subject or the objective of sentences. From examples from (1) to (5), the meaning and structure of complements are kept original in the translated version in Vietnamese. Complements are used for the supporting on actions or expressions of the subject. From examples above, complements are nouns, as well as adjectives, or even linking verbs. This is true for both English and Vietnamese version in the novel. At the same time, the structure and position of complements are remaining the same on both versions.
Functioning of complement other phrases is the grammatical function of function of prepositional phrase in Vietnamese. Prepositional phrases complement, noun phrases, adjective phrases, and verb phrases. Prepositions are considered as secondary (often adverbs) as complementary to the main component of the sentence in terms of spatial, temporal, manner, cause, purpose, and task meanings. instrument or condition. Again, this emphasizes on the translation of the Vietnamese version where the prepositions are combined or integrated with its complementing nouns, verbs, or adjectives.
For example, from “If Tomorrow Comes”, the following prepositional phrases complement other phrases.
nhìn một lỗ nhỏ trên trần nhà ngay phía trên đầu lão (…staring up at a small hole in the ceiling directly above his head)
The prepositional phrase lỗ nhỏ trên trần nhà functions as complement of the NOUN PHRASES phía trên đầu lão.
Tôi hy vọng cô hiểu rằng không có vấn đề cá nhân gì ở đây cả (I hope you understand there is nothing personal in this)
The prepositional phrase ở đây cả functions as complement of the ADJECTIVE PHRASE cá nhân.
Perry Pope đang đứng như trời trồng giữa buồng ( Perry Pope was standing in the middle of the attic )
The prepositional phrase giữa buồngfunctions as complement of the VERB PHRASE, was đang đứng như trời trồng.