EQUIVALENTS
This is the analytical, data-based part of the present study, the quantitative analyses of linguistic data. The aim of this chapter is to present and discuss quantitative results from the data. Before analyzing the data quantitatively, the pertinent problem relating to two- word verbs quantification requires classification.
The fact that most of two-word verbs are polysemous raises the question whether a two-word verb should be quantified as a whole or according to its different semantic meanings. Instead of counting all instances of ‗come along‘, for example, this PV could be broken down into its different semantic constituents and quantified as ‗happen, appear‘, and ‗improve‘, etc. Several researchers say the quantification by semantic criteria is not feasible and that there are too many cases in which the meaning of a two-word verb deviates from one of the various dictionary meanings and where a clear-cut semantic differentiation is not possible. They quantify PVs as independent of inherent semantic differences, so that they can set up the list of frequently used two-word verbs. In the present study, two-word verbs are quantified according to their semantic criteria.
The semantic analysis of some common English two- word verbs will be reported in this chapter. As stated in previous sections, the study concentrates on PVs and PreVs of
„Come, Give, Go, Make‟ and „Hear, See, Think‟. They are among the 12 most common lexical verbs that all occur over 1000 times per million words in the LSWE Corpus (Biber et al., 1999), and listed in categories of 20 lexical verbs combines with eight adverbial particles to account for more than one half of the 518, 923 PV occurrences identified in the megacorpus (Gardner & David, 2007). The first four are lexical verbs belonging to material processes. The remains are lexical verbs realizing mental processes. However, two-word verbs of a lexical verb, e.g. ‗Come‟, can still denoting both processes, e.g. ‗Come around‘: ‗đến chơi‟ (material process), and ‗đổi ý‟ (mental process). Therefore, it would be so complicated to arrange two-word verbs of all chosen verbs and their meanings in one
process at a time. Instead, two-word verbs of seven selected verbs are displayed in seven separate tables, and put into separate columns named material processes and mental processes which run parallel18. This makes it easier to see and compare material processes and mental processes at the same time.
3. 1. COME
The single-word verb ‗Come‟ can go with 32 particles/ prepositions and create 32 PVs and PreVs with hundreds meanings. Among them, 26 (15 PVs and 11 PreVs) have meanings that denote material and/ or mental processes. Three two-word verbs ‗come across‟, „come by‟, „come off‘ can be either PV or PreV with differences in sense.
PVs come about, come across, come along, come around/ round, come away, come by, come down, come forward, come in, come off, come on, come out, come over, come through, come up
PreVs come after, come across, come at, come before, come by, come for, come into, come off, come to, come under, come upon.
It emerges from the Appendix 1 that, of the 26 two-word verbs with ‗Come‘, 100%
denote material processes. In other words, all combinations of ‗Come‘ with 26 particles /prepositions bear meanings that belong to material processes. There are 10 cases in which one two-word verb can realize both material and mental processes: 7 PVs (come down, come forward, come out, come over, come through, come up) and 3 PreVs (come at, come to, come upon). Not any case construes only mental processes.
Verbs with very general meanings can become very specialized, collocational and idiomatic as soon as they form a relationship with other lexemes, and PVs are an excellent case in point (Altenberg & Granger 2001: 174, cited Waibel 2007). When a single word verb such as „Come‟ enters into a relation with another lexeme such as the particle ‗down‟, it produces a set of meaning as the following examples:
1. Oil is coming down in price. (rớt giá)
18 The entire list of some common two-word verbs deriving from „Come‟, „Give‟, „Go‟, „Make‟, „Hear‟,
„See‟, and „Think‟ can be found in Appendixes.
2. It‘s coming down in torrents outside. (đổ mưa) 3. The pilot was forced to come down in a field. (hạ cánh) 4. The ceiling looked ready to come down any minute. (rơi xuống) 5. When the curtain came down, we all rushed for the exit. (hạ xuống) 6. That was the year I came down. (ra trường)
7. The party was so good. I haven‘t really come down yet. (hạ nhiệt) 8. I knew my parents would come down on my sister‘s side. (đứng về phía) 9. I wasn‘t prepared to pay 1500$ but they eventually came down to 1350$.
(chấp nhận giá thấp hơn)
The PV „come down‟ construes a motion in space, from a high position to a lower position with a little difference in the shade of meaning for different participants like the nature phenomenon, a person, an airplane or a curtain as in the above examples. But when it construes a changing in the human‘s mind, from highly exciting states to a normal or lower states as in example 7, 8, 9, it is realizing mental processes. Or the PV „come around/
round‟ can denote both material and mental processes in that it can express movement in time as in ‗Before we knew it, Christmas had come around again‘, or movement in space as in ‗Why don‘t you come around to our house for drinks?‘; at the same time, „come around‟ construes a recover in human‘s consciousness or a change in the human‘s mind as in ‗Larry fainted, but he soon came around in the fresh air‘, ‗Bob refused the job at first, but he soon came round when he heard how much money they were offering him‘.
An exhaustive table listing the two-word verbs of single-word verb ‗Come‟ can be found in Appendix 1. It is obvious from Appendix 1 that for the two-word verbs deriving from „Come‟, the number of material senses really dominates those of mental processes.
Some cases of two-word verbs listed in 4 or 5 out of 7 corpus studied such as „come about‟, „come across‟, „come along‟, „come on‟, „come off‟ do not even denote mental processes. The number of meanings denoting mental processes can only be fewer than or at best equal to, but never more than those denoting material processes. Look at the 10 two-word verbs that can denote both processes:
‗come around/ round‟ has two material senses, equal to two mental senses.
1. Before we knew it, Christmas had come around again. (lại đến) (Actor)
2. Why don‘t you come around to our house for drinks? (đến chơi) (Actor) (Range)
3. Larry fainted, but he soon came around in the fresh air. (hồi tỉnh, hồi phục) (Senser)
4. Bob refused the job at first, but he soon came round when he heard how much money they were offering him. (Senser) (đổi ý )
„come at‟ can mean ‗to attack‘ (tấn công) as in ―The dog suddenly came at me‘
where ―the dog‖ is seen as „Actor‟ and ―me‖ is ‗Goal‟; and ‗to think‘ (tiếp cận, xem xét vấn đề) as in ‗We‘ll try coming at the problem from different angle‘, in which ―we‖ acts as ‗Senser‟ and ―the problem‖ is ‗Phenomennon‟. The rate is 1-1 between material process and mental process.
‗come down‟ has 6 material senses, there times more than mental senses. This rate is the same to ‗come over‟ and ‗come to‟ (3 material senses vs. 1 mental sense).
‗come forward‟ also has the rate 1-1 when the meaning ‗take action‘ (xung phong) in ‗John came forward as a candidate for the position‘ belong to material process while ‗willing to help, offer information‘ (tình nguyện cung cấp thông tin) as in ‗Police have asked witnesses to come forward‟ construes mental process.
‗come out‘ reveals a larger variance between material senses and mental senses.
Nine senses construe material processes while only one meaning construes mental process.
1. Her tooth came out when she bit into the apple. (bị lòng ra) (Goal)
2. The first of the spring flowers had already come out. (nở) (Goal)
3. The sun come out and bathed the whole garden in its summer light. (hiện ra) (Goal)
4. Emily‘s book came out last month. (ra mắt bạn đọc) (Goal)
5. The party leader came out for an acceptable candidate. (ủng hộ) (Senser) (Phenomenon)
‗come up‘: of the 7 meanings as can be seen in the following examples, only the last one which expresses the feeling that one could feel from his stomach construes mental process. All other six construes material processes.
2.1. A woman came up and started complaining about the noise. (tiến đến) (Actor)
3.2. My brother is coming up next year. (vào đại học) (Actor)
4.3. The first snowdrops are just coming up. (nhú ra) (Goal)
5.4. He could feel his breakfast coming up. (buồn nôn) (Phenomenon)
‗come upon‟ has the rate 2-1 between material process and mental process.
1. We turned a corner and came upon an old church. (bắt gặp) (Actor) (Goal)
2. He came upon me for damages. (qui trách nhiệm cho) (Actor) (Beneficiery)
3. A feeling of great excitement suddenly comes upon me. (chợt xuất hiện)
(Phenomenon) (Senser)
In addition, let alone the connection in meanings of a two-word verb realizing both processes (e.g. „come at‟: tiến đến tấn công (Material) → tiếp cận, xem xét vấn đề (Mental); „come upon‟: tình cờ gặp, bắt gặp (Material) → (cảm xúc, ý tưởng) chợt nảy ra, chợt xuất hiện (Mental), meanings in one process are somehow related to each other (e.g.
‗come off‟: ngã ra- bung ra- ra khỏi sân or „come out‟: long ra- ra nụ trổ hoa- (ảnh) được rửa ra- (sách) được phát hành, etc).
3. 2. GIVE
‗Give‟ has total 10 combinations with particle/ preposition, 6 of them can realize material and/ or mental processes, they are: give in, give off, give out, give up (PV) and give away, give of (PreV). The results from the analysis of Appendix 2 show that all six two-word verbs denote material processes. Only the PV ‗give up‟ realizes both processes but the ratio is rather unequal, 6 material senses and 1 mental sense, as can be seen in the following example:
1. Children rarely give up their seats to older people on buses now. (nhường) (Actor) (Goal) (Beneficiary)
2. I‘m not going to give up all my friends just because I‘m getting married. (cắt đứt) (Actor) (Goal)
3. She gave the baby up for adoption. (đem cho đi) (Actor) (Goal)
4. Doing this course will mean giving up a lot of my spare times. (hy sinh) (Goal)
5. Police are urging the man to give himself up before any further damage is caused.
(đầu thú)
(Actor) (Goal)
6. Do I have to give up my old passport when I apply for a new one? (giao nộp) (Actor) (Goal)
7. It‘s about time you gave up smoking. (bỏ) (Actor) (Goal)
In example 1, the children act as the ‗Actor‟, ‗seats‘ as the ‗Goal‟ and the ‗older people‘ as the ‗Beneficiary‟, typical participants of material processes. The same can be analyzed from example 2 – 6, with or without participant ‗Beneficiary‟. Meanwhile, in example 7,
„give up‟ construes the battle in the mind of a person. Moreover, two participants ‗Senser‟
(‗you‘) and ‗Phenomenon‟ (‗smoking‘) reveal that the PV ‗give up‟ is denoting mental processes.
The meanings construing material processes of „Give‟ are likely to be close to each other. For example, there is only little difference in the nuance of PV ‗give in‟ in the two pairs of example:
(1a) Completely surrounded by our soldiers, the enemy finally gave in. (đầu hàng) (1b) We mustn‘t give in to terrorist demands. (nhượng bộ)
(2a) She gave in her homework a week late. (nộp bài)
(2b) He‘s waiting until the end of the week to give in his notice. (xin thôi việc) Or the PV ‗give out‟ in the following examples:
1. The teacher gave out the exam papers. (phát)
2. Details of the accidents were given out on the nine o‘clock new. (đưa tin) 3. That lamp doesn‘t give out a lot of light. (phát ra, toả ra)
3. 3. GO
Appendix 3 documents the two-word verbs originating from the single-word verb
‗Go‟ that realize material and/ or mental processes. ‗Go‘ can combine with 17 particles to create 17 PVs:
go about, go long, go around/ round, go away, go by, go down, go forth, go forward, go in, go off, go on, go out, go over, go through, go together, go under, go up.
And 16 prepositions to make up 16 PreVs:
go about, go after, go at, go against, go by, go for, go before, go into, go off, go on, go to, go over, go through, go toward, go without, go with.
Five two-word verbs go by, go off, go on, and go through can be PV and PreVs.
Two-word verbs that realize material processes (and mental processes) account for 97%.
Six two-word verbs denote both material and mental processes are: go by, go for, go in, go on, go through and go with. For example:
1. I shall go entirely by what my solicitor says. (làm theo, tuân theo)
(Actor) (Goal)
2. It‘s never very wise to go by appearances. (đánh giá dựa vào, tin vào) (Phenomenon)
3. I think I‘ll go for the steak. What are you having? (chọn) (Actor) (Goal)
5. So what type of men do you go for? (thích, bị thu hút bởi) (Phenomenon) (Senser)
However, observing the data in appendix 3, the advantage is still in favor of material processes when the ratio for each two-word verb respectively is: 1-1, 4-1, 2-1, 2-1, 4-1, and 2-1. Of the total 104 meanings, only 7 meanings construe mental processes while 97 meanings construe material processes, one can see the overwhelming number of material processes compared to mental processes.
The single case that does not denote material processes but denotes only mental processes is PV ‗go down‟: 12 material processes and none mental processes. All of them are intransitive processes. Moreover, the material senses that ‗go down‟ construes seems to have relationship as in the following instances:
1. How long will it take for the swelling to go down? (xẹp xuống) 2. We need to win the next two games to avoid going down. (xuống hạng) 3. My tire‘s gone down again. (xì hơi)
4. Arsenal went down 2-1 to Everton. (thua cuộc)
5. If the business goes down, we go down with it. (thất bại, mất uy tín) Another special case is two-word verb ‗go off‘.
1. The gun went off by accident. (nổ)
2. She got up as soon as the alarm clock went off. (kêu) 3. Suddenly all the lights went off. (bật sáng)
4. This milk has gone off. (hỏng) 5. The show went off very well. (diễn ra) 6. Has the baby gone off (to sleep) yet? (ngủ)
In the sentence ‗I think she‘s going off me‘, ‗go off‟, as a PreV means ‗do not like anymore, lose interest‘; it construes the changing in the feeling of the person. But ‗go off‟, as PV, only realizes material processes. Look more closely in the examples, we also see that all of them are intransitive processes.
3. 4. MAKE
‗Make‘ can go with 5 particles after, off, out, over, and up and 4 prepositions for, of, towards, and with, create 9 two-word verbs that denote material and/ or mental processes. None of them realize mental processes solely.3 two-word verbs denoting both processes are: make of, make out, and make up. In which, the rate of „make of‟ is 1-1, for 4 material senses with „make out‟, we have 2 mental senses, and 2 metal processes with
‗make up‟ can not compare with 8 material ones. Examples to illustrate this as followed:
1. They‘re going to try to make a go of their marriage again. (tận dụng cơ hội) (Actor) (Goal)
2. I don‘t know what to make of our new teacher. (hiểu, nghĩ, nhận xét) (Senser) (Phenomenon)
3. I don‘t know how they‘ll make out in the big city. (xoay xở)
(Actor)
4. I can‘t make her out. (hiểu rõ tính của ai) (Senser) (Phenomenon)
Furthermore, the meanings of ‗make up‟, the PV listed in 5 out of 7 corpus also connect to one another, though there is still difference in their nuance. Interestingly, most of them are transitive processes. Some examples are as followed:
1. Don‘t go to the bother of making the camp bed up; I‘m just as happy on the sofa.
(dọn giường)
2. Don‘t worry about the kids‘ lunches. I‘ve made them up already.
(chuẩn bị, sắp xếp)
3. The House of Representatives and the Senate make up the Congress of the U.S.
(bao gồm, cấu thành nên)
4. I‘m paying 500$, and Dave is making up the difference. (trả phần còn thiếu).
3. 5. HEAR
As for the verb ‗Hear‘, two PreVs „hear from‟, „hear of‟ are at the focus.
Comparing with 4 two-word verbs and 7 meanings that dictionaries put forward, we suggest our learners should first remember 3 frequently-used meanings: one construes material process as in ‗Do you ever hear from any of your school friends?‘ („nhận được thư, điện thoại); the other two construe the process that the single-word verb ‗Hear‘ denote, the mental processes. For instance:
1. biết (về sự tồn tại của ai, cái gì)
I‘ve heard of the Alexander technique, but I don‘t know anything about it.
(Senser) (Phenomenon) 2. biết tin (nhận được tin)
I was sorry to hear of your accident.
(Senser) (Phenomenon)
3. 6. SEE
The single-word verb „See‟ has 18 different senses from the combination with 8 particles around, beyond/ past, in, into, off, out, through, and 3 prepositions about, of, to.
Although single-word verb ‗See‘ denotes mental processes, it is obvious from Appendix 6 that its two-word verbs tend to realize material processes. Except „see beyond‟ and „see into‟ solely denote mental processes, and „see through‟ denote both material and mental processes with the rate 2-1 in favor of material processes, the remains only denote material processes.
The meaning of a two-word verb in one process also relate to each other. For example, the sense of „see into‟ in the sentence ‗I wish I could see into his mind and find out what he thinks of me‘ is rather close the sense in ‗If we had known what was going to happen, we might have done things differently, but you can‘t see into the future‘ because they both construe mental processes.
Another example is „see off‟ or „see in‟. They only denote material processes and their meanings in this process seem to have connection.
(1a) We all went to the airport to see Terry off. (tiễn) (Actor) (Goal)
(1b) The dogs soon saw off the burglars. (đuổi, tống cổ) (Actor) (Goal)
(2a) The ambassador waited on the steps to see the visiting dignitaries in. (dẫn đi xem) (Actor) (Goal)
(2b) After seeing her in (= into her home), he rode off without a word.
(đưa về an toàn) 3. 7. THINK
„Think ahead‟, „think out‟, „think over‟, „think through‟, „think up‟, „think about‟
and „think of‟ are 7 two-word verbs (equal to 13 meanings) realize material and/ or mental processes. However, unlike the verb „See‟, with „Hear‟, we see the number of two-word verbs denoting mental processes dominates the number of two-word verbs realizing material processes. Only „think out‟ has one sense (‗lên kế hoạch chi tiết‟) construing material process:
He had to think out what to do next.
(Actor) (Goal)
This chapter has presented the work of grouping some common two-word verbs according to their various meanings into 2 processes: Material and Mental. The results from the analysis of tables in appendixes correspond to the remarks of Halliday (1985;
2004) that PV is a single Process rather than Process plus circumstantial element, which reflects in their assignment to process types, i.e. a verb denoting a process may belong to a different process when being used with another particle or preposition. Moreover, we see in this chapter that a verb and its two-word verbs can belong to more than one process, but there is still one process that is prior than others. A two-word verb mainly denotes the process that its single-word verb denotes. If a verb realizing material processes, most of its PVs and PreVs will belong to material processes, though nothing is for sure with verbs realizing mental processes, where most meanings of the two-word verbs with ‗Hear‟ and
‗Think‘ refer to mental activity while and ‗See‘ appears favour of physical activity.
Furthermore, to some extent, meanings of two-word verbs within one process or in both processes related to each others.