Conjunctions in some english and vietnamese newletters a contrastive analysis 55

1 1 4 English and Vietnamese Marketing NewslettersOne of the biggest tasks of many business companies today is gaining andkeeping prospective customers Accordingly, most companies use ma

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

CONJUNCTIONS IN SOME ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NEWSLETTERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU LIÊN TỪ TRONG MỘT SỐ BỨC THƯ NGỎ

TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

M A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15

HA NOI

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

CONJUNCTIONS IN SOME ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NEWSLETTERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU LIÊN TỪ TRONG MỘT SỐ BỨC THƯ NGỎ

TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

M A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15

SUPERVISOR:, Ph D

HA NOI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Declaration ………

Acknowledgements ………

List of tables………

Abstract ………

Table of contents ………

PART 1: INTRODUCTION ………

1 Rationale for the study ………

2 Aims of the study ………

3 Scope of the study ………

4 Methods of the study ………

5 Design of the study ………

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT………

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND………

1 1 An overview of Newsletters………

1 1 1 Definitions of Newsletters………

1 1 2 Types of Newsletters………

i ii iii iv v 1 1 2 2 2 3

4

4 4 4 4

1 1 3 Formats of Newsletters………

1 1 4 English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters………

1 2 English and Vietnamese Conjunctions………

1 2 1 English conjunctions………

1 2 1 1 Definitions of English conjunctions………

1 2 1 2 Classifications of English conjunctions………

1 2 2 Vietnamese conjunctions………

1 2 2 1 Definitions of Vietnamese conjunctions………

1 2 2 2 Classifications of Vietnamese conjunctions…………

1 3 Related studies ………

1 4 Summary………

CHAPTER 2: CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF CONJUNCTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MARKETING NEWSLETTERS………

2 1 Introduction………

2 2 Contrastive analysis of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters………

2 2 1 Frequency of using conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters………

2 2 2 Similarities and Differences in conjunction usages in English and Vietnamese ………

5 7 7 7 7 8 15 15 16 18 19

20

20 20

20

25

2 2 2 1 Similarities………

2 2 2 2 Differences………

2 3 Summary………

PART 3: CONCLUSION………

1 Recapitulation………

2 Implications………

2 1 Implications for EFL teaching and learning………

2 2 Implications for translating………

3 Contributions of the study………

4 Limitations of the study………

5 Suggestions for further research………

REFERENCES ……… ………

APPENDICES

25 31 34 35 35 36 36 38 39 39 40

41

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

In the world of cooperation and development, English has become aninternational language and effective means of communication bringing nationsthroughout the world close together English is said to have played a very importantrole in the development of commerce, trade, education, technology, economics, etc

in almost every country especially in Vietnam’s integration into the world

Therefore, it is necessary to know how to use English correctly and

communicatively In the process of learning English, having good knowledge ofEnglish grammar is of great importance, for one can express his/her ideas, feelings

or emotions not only by separated words but also by meaningful sentences formedgrammatically Thus, the importance of grammar is the researcher’s first reason forchoosing this topic

The second reason the writer chooses conjunctions to study is that whengrammar is under discussion, most people tend to appreciate the significances oftenses, aspects, voices, order of clause elements rather than conjunctions

Conjunctions, functioning as connectors and transition signals, actually play animportant role in linking sentences, paragraphs, or clauses each other Apart fromthis, thanks to conjunctions, various kinds of grammatical sentences are formedsuch as compound sentences and complex sentences

One more reason that has inspired the researcher to the topic is her deepinterest in English Commerce, especially in newsletters The fact is that, a

newsletter is regarded as a form that many companies use to promote their products

It serves as a smaller version of the newspaper to create good relationships withcustomers, suppliers, and other stakeholders It goes without saying that newsletterscontribute towards the overall success of the business Newsletters are also known

as consultant letters, so they need to have the logic and coherence to attract

customers Besides, conjunctions are seen as an essential means of linking so as to

increase the persuasion in newsletters Therefore, studying and finding the

similarities and differences in conjunction usages in English and Vietnamese

Newsletters will be of great help to the writer in teaching economic students at Hoa

Lu University where the author is working

2 Aims of the study

The research firstly aims to study conjunctions used in English and

Vietnamese marketing newsletters and then explore the similarities and differencesbased on the syntactic and semantic features between them At the end of the study,some implications for teaching, learning and translation will be covered as usefulresources To fully achieve these aims, the study should answer the following

questions:

1 How frequent are conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Newsletters?

2 What are the similarities and differences in conjunction usages in English and Vietnamese Newsletters?

3 Scope of the study

Many topics relating to conjunctions as well as lots of types of newsletters indifferent fields need to be exploited For the feasibility of a minor M A thesis, thewriter narrowed the scope of the paper The main focus is on the descriptive andcontrastive analysis of conjunction usages in English and Vietnamese marketingnewsletters with respect to the syntactic and semantic features

4 Methods of the study

The study has been carried out based on a combination of different methods,

among which the main method is contrastive analysis In fact, according to Carl

James (1980), contrastive analysis (CA) is defined as a linguistic enterprise aimed atproducing inverted two-valued typologies (a CA is always concerned with a pair oflanguages), and founded on the assumption that languages can be compared For thecontrastive analysis method, English is considered to be the target language andVietnamese - the source language - a means to contrast The author has taken 40

samples of both English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters (20 English and 20Vietnamese ones) to compare and contrast This method involves two steps:

describing the syntactic and semantic features of conjunctions in English and

Vietnamese marketing newsletters, then comparing and contrasting to point out thesimilarities and differences between these two languages Together with this

method, the writer also uses the quantitative method that is based on data to

examine conjunctions used in both English and Vietnamese Supporting techniquessuch as reference to the publication, consultation with the supervisor, discussion withcolleagues, and personal observations are also of great significance

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts organized as follows:

Part 1 entitles “INTRODUCTION” outlining the background of the study in

which a brief account of relevant information such as rationale, aims, scope,

methods, and designs of the study will be presented

Part 2, the “DEVELOPMENT” is subdivided into two chapters Chapter 1

– Theoretical background, as its name suggests, covers a series of concepts about

English and Vietnamese conjunctions and an overview of newsletters The writeralso introduces some famous studies related to conjunctions as a source to develop

this thesis In Chapter 2, the researcher focuses on “Contrastive analysis of

conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters” The author

analyzes and contrasts how to use conjunctions in English and Vietnamese

marketing newsletters based on the syntactic and semantic features to find out thesimilarities and differences in the two languages

Part 3, the CONCLUSION, is the last part of the study which summarizes

what has been done, what has not been covered, accompanied by suggestions forfurther study Some possible implications for language teaching, learning and

translation are given at the end of this part with a view to providing a new insightinto a very important device of linking in English and Vietnamese

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 1 An overview of Newsletters

1 1 1 Definitions of Newsletters

According to Edward A Hamilton (1996) in the book “Newsletters Design”,

a newsletter is an ambiguous term It is defined as a condensed periodical used to

communicate specialized editorial information He explains briefly that

“condensed” means it is shorter than the average newspaper or magazine and

provides lots of information in limited space; “periodical” means it is published

regularly; “specialized” means it focuses not on a broad subject area such as

finance, but on a subject-within-a-subject such as real estate finance, not on

organizations in general, but a specific organization

From the point of Nadeem Hussain’s views, in the article “Advantages and disadvantages of Newsletters” published on September 18th, 2008, a newsletter is

defined as a form of advertising that is sent periodically It is considered as a

popularly effective marketing tool, it provides relevant and updated information ofthe products or services of the organization for the existing clients or customers

In another persuasive definition written by Chuck Green (2002), a

newsletter is one of the best ways to keep the company’s name in front of the eyes

of the clients, the associates, and others that may be in the company’s market target And sending newsletters to customers is a common marketing strategy which can

bring many benefits for the company

1 1 2 Types of Newsletters

In his book “Design it Yourself Newsletters” written by Chuck Green (2002),

he describes three basic types of Newsletters or models of newsletters including

Marketing Newsletters, Relationship Newsletters, and Expert Newsletters The

author also shows that each type of newsletter has its own characteristics

The first type is Marketing Newsletters They are commonly used by

businesses to promote a product or a kind of service It is also known as a companynewsletter The marketing newsletter tries to turn prospective customers intopatrons

The second type is Relationship Newsletters Some examples about this type

are club newsletters, employee newsletters, church newsletters, and schoolnewsletters They focus on the shared interests of the target audience or reinforcing

a relationship

The last type is Expert Newsletters This type can be very exclusive or be

paid These newsletters generally focus on a specific topic and the recipient issomeone who has specifically requested the information in the newsletters and iswilling to pay for the information

1 1 3 Formats of Newsletters

According to Janice Byer in the article “Newsletters are smart marketing”

published on August 12th, 2010, newsletters can be produced in several formats Forbusinesses, the most economical and most readily acceptable newsletter formats areplain text emails, HTML emails, and HTML page on the website, PDF, and print The author also shows that each newsletter format has its own advantages anddisadvantages and they are shown on the table below:

Plain TextEmail

Easy to format Limited to text onlyEasy for readers to open Cannot include graphics or fancy

formattingCosts only your time

HTMLEmail

Visually appealing Restricted in sizeCosts only your time Can only be fully viewed while

readers are onlineAllows for creativeness

Determining which model fits the types of newsletters to use and publish is

to depend on the user’s purposes Having the same opinion with Janice Byer, Ladan

Lashkari in the article “Newsletter Formats – How to easily choose the perfect

format for your newsletters”, published on January 19th, 2007 also gives three basic

formats of Newsletters They are HTML, plain text, and PDF She states that HTML

is a good format because it is more professional than plain text and easier to createthan PDF It allows extensive use of graphics and text links Using graphics and

product pictures in newsletters can really attract customers’ attention Plain text is

the easiest format to create, but it does not sound professional because no technical

knowledge and special software are required as well PDF is not used as commonly

as the two above newsletters formats It is quite difficult to produce because the

writer needs to build each issue in Microsoft Word first and then convert it into PDFwith special software

In comparison with English newsletters formats, the writer realizes that

HTML and PDF are the widely used formats in Vietnamese newsletters

Adobe to produce or a PDF printerdriver

Can send only a text email with alink to the page

Readers can save to their computerand read at their leisure

Print Costs only your time

Endless possibilities for design Costly to print and mailRoom for lots of content & graphics

1 1 4 English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters

One of the biggest tasks of many business companies today is gaining andkeeping prospective customers Accordingly, most companies use marketing

newsletters as an effective way to promote their products and services, and Englishand Vietnamese companies are no exception

According to Nadeem Hussain (2008), marketing newsletter is a form ofadvertising that is sent periodically It is a document that notifies, reminds, advises,communicates and advertises about a business to its target audiences and customers

In addition, it is also a good way to build an effective connection with clients

Companies can motivate customers to buy their products through informative

marketing newsletters

Both English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters are being widely used

by many companies with a view to promoting their businesses However, there isstill a slight difference that English marketing newsletters content is often longerthan that in Vietnamese

1 2 English and Vietnamese Conjunctions

1 2 1 English conjunctions

1 2 1 1 Definitions of English conjunctions

Conjunction is a word rooted from two Latin oniunctio or coniunctions meaning “to join together” (Mc Arthur, 1992) English conjunctions are defined

as words which typically join sentences and elements within sentence” (Berk,

1999) According to him, we can always add one structure to another by joining two

or more elements with a conjunction

Rodney Huddleston (1944) defines conjunction as uninflected word that used

to connect clauses or sentences, or to coordinate words in the same clause Another

definition by Ann Cole Brown (1987), conjunction is a word that connects

individual words or groups of words In fact, a conjunction literally means the act ofjoining or combination

And in a word, it is worth viewing the most adequate definition by Richard

Mallery (1967) that “a conjunction is a word or a pair of words used either to

connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences or to show how one sentence is

related to another ” Many definitions of conjunctions are arrived at by other

grammarians However, they generally defined the concept of conjunction in the

light of emphasizing on its main function concerning the combination of words,

clauses or sentences

1 2 1 2 Classification of English conjunctions

According to Chalker (1967), the word-class conjunction is a traditional one

which can be divided into coordinating and subordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join grammatically equal elements whereassubordinating conjunctions link a subordinate “dependent” clause to a main clause

Also, he points out conjunctions consist of single words (because, however, so),

compound conjunctions (as long as, so that, surprising that, provided that) and

correlative ones (both… and)

However, from many grammarians’ points of view such as Carol Ann

Bergman (1989), Ann Cole Brown (1987) and Quirk and Greenbaun (1973),

English conjunctions include coordinating conjunctions (or more simply

coordinators), subordinating conjunctions (or subordinators) and correlative

conjunctions (correlatives)

In “Grammar, rhetoric, and composition” (Mallery, 1967), conjunctions can

be arranged into three principal groups: coordinating, correlative and subordinating

conjunctions With correlative and subordinator groups, the writer merely states

their definition together with the list of words belonging to both groups However,

apart from common correlatives (both … and, either … or, neither … nor, not only

… but also) the writer recommends others: though … yet, whether … or, so … as, if

… then, as … as

Another research provided by Chalker (1967), conjunctions are traditionally

divided into coordinating and subordinating conjunctions According to him and,

or, but, so, yet, for, neither … nor, either … or, both … and, not only … but also

belong to the coordinator group They are used to join two equal parts of the

sentence whereas the subordinating conjunctions are used to link a modifying clause

to a main clause

To sum up, there are many different ideas about types of conjunctions Theauthor would like to take three types of conjunctions including coordinating,

subordinating and correlatives into consideration as follows:

(i) Coordinating conjunctions

 Definitions and functions of coordinators

Based on Quirk’s viewpoint (1973), explicit indicators of coordination are

termed coordinating conjunctions And coordination is analyzed as the process of

joining units which are in equal status In other words, coordination involves thelinking of units which are constituents of the same level Virtually, the process ofconjoining equal status units must be attended by a coordinator which is a wordwhich joins elements that are grammatically equal (Chalker, 1967)

In “A reference English Grammar”, R A Close (1975) stresses the

coordination of separate parts of clauses caused by coordinating conjunctions Aspecific explanation about separated parts of a clause shows that more than twoparts of the subject, object, etc can be further added Sometimes, coordinationprompts ambiguous meaning What is more, coordinators can join more than twoclauses in order to form a compound sentence

In terms of function, Michael Swan (1995) states that the basic function of

coordinators to join pairs of clauses that are grammatically independent from each

other

From Ann Cole Brown’s point of view, the function of coordinators is more

elaborative She gives three main functions: First of all, a coordinating conjunction

may connect nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and other

sentence elements Each coordinating conjunction shows a different relationship

between the words that it connects Secondly, a coordinating conjunction may

connect two of independent clauses which are groups of words that can stand by

themselves as complete sentences Thirdly, a conjunction helps to avoid repetition

by bringing separate items into one sentence

 Syntactic features of coordinators

Quirk and GreenBaum in “A University Grammar of English” (1973)

introduced six syntactic features of coordinators as follows:

a Restricted to

initial position “and”, “or” and “but”are restricted to initial

position in the clause:

John plays the guitar, and his sister

plays the piano

*John plays the guitar; his sister and

plays the piano

of clauses

They are living in England or they

spending a vacation here

*Or they are spending a vacation there,

they are living in England

c Conjunctions

preceding “and”, “or”, “but”, “for”, “so that” do not

allow another conjunction

to precede them

(Source: Quirk and GreenBaum in “A University Grammar of English” (1973))

 Kinds of coordinators

As a matter of fact, there have been classifications of coordinators For

instance, Collin Cobuild (1990) lists the most common coordinators: and, nor, but,

or, then, for Nevertheless, according to Oshima Alice and Hogue Ann, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so are called FANBOYS in order to help learners easier to

remember these coordinators

In short, not all grammarians have been able to provide readers a consistentclassification of coordinators Therefore, the occurrence of various classifications isinevitable To be more precise and to understand coordinators more clearly, it islikely that Quirk’s classification of coordinating conjunctions (1973) should be

taken into account: and, or, but, for, yet, so with the functions as follows:

d Ellipsis of subject The coordinators allow

ellipsis of the subject ofthe clause they introduce

if the subject is referential with that of thepreceding linked clause

co-I may see you tomorrow or (co-I) may

phone later in the day

e Linking of subordinate clauses

“and” and “or” can link

“and” and “or” can link

more than two clauses

John might take them by car, Mary

might go with them by bus, or I might

order a taxi for them

Coordinators Functions Examples

and joins alike sentences The bride’s guests sit on the left, and

the groom’s guests sit on the right

but joins opposite or contrast

(ii) Subordinating conjunctions

 Definitions and functions of subordinators

Mallery (1967) gives a clear definition about subordinating conjunctions that

“subordinators are words being used to indicate that one element is subordinated to another in a sentence ”

According to Quirk and Greenbaum in “A University Grammar of English”

(1973), “subordination is a non-symmetrical relation holding between two clauses

in such a way that one is a constituent or part of the other ” In other words, a

subordinate clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction A

subordinating conjunction connects elements in the sentence that are of unequal

value

In terms of functions, subordinating conjunctions usually express relations oftime, reason, condition - consequence, concession and purpose They are presented

in the below table:

Functions Subordinators Examples

Time after, as, as long as, as soon

as, before, until, when After the sun rises, we will set out onour journey

Reason because, as, since We are late for the meeting because our

car broke down

Concession although, though, while, She was a good actress while he was

so uses to combine clauses

whose second clause is theresult of something described

in the first

I had no car, so I hired one for the

journey

yet is quite similar to “but”

for introduces a reason or a

cause

The days were short, for it was now

December

• Kinds of subordinators

A list of subordinators is highly elaborated and distinguished betweensimple, compound and correlative subordinators by Quirk (1973) They are threemajor kinds of subordinators

“that”

in that, so that, such that, except that, in order that, for all that

They whispered in order that no one

could hear their conversation

Endingwithoptional

“that”

now (that), providing (that), provided (that), supposing (that), considering (that), given (that), seeing (that), granted (that)

Providing (that) the weather is fine, we

shall go on a picnic on Saturday

Ending

with “as”

as far as, as long as, in so far,

as soon as, so as (to + infinitive)

You can borrow my car as long as you

promise not to drive too fast

Endingwith

“than”

sooner than (+ infinitive clause), rather than (+ non- finite or verbless clause)

She prefers to wear skirts rather than

wear dresses

Others as if, as though, in case In case I forget, please remind me of my

promise

whereas, rather than only a mediocre actor

Purpose in order to, so as to She went to the post office so as to buy

some stamps

In addition, borderline subordinators are mentioned and divided into three borderline categories: habitual combinations of subordinators (just as, if only), participle form (supposing…) and expression of time (directly, immediately …)

What is more, Quirk also suggests other indicators of subordinations

including wh-elements, subject-operator inversion, nominal clause with and withoutthat and comment clauses, besides the main subordinating conjunctions

As above-mentioned definitions, subordinators are identified as connectors

of unequal elements or an independent with a dependent clause to make a complexsentence Therefore, subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of

the subordinate clause (e g I went out, although it was snowing) or probably start the first clause of the sentence (e g Because it rained like dogs and cats, he

couldn’t go out )

(iii) Correlative conjunctions

A correlative conjunction consists of two or more words that work together

as a set Correlative coordinators’ function likes coordinating conjunctions becausethey connect words that perform equal functions in a sentence (Ann Cole Brown,1987)

Cobuild (1990) arrives at the definition of a correlative conjunction that acoordinating conjunction used in pairs in parallel contraction However, based onMallery’s definition (1967) that correlative conjunctions are those used in pairs or

in a series, the following list including the popular correlatives is given:

not only but also

though … yet

Whether … or

neither … nor both … and either … or

as … as

so … as

if … then

As one of the correlative pairs, “neither … nor” can be separated, that means neither and nor are used as single correlative conjunctions without being a

correlative pair

e g She doesn’t love him Neither does he

“I can’t remember his name” “Nor can I”

Being the English conjunction; thus, correlatives are to do with the

combination of clauses and elements And we can realize the most prevalent

position of correlatives which often appears right before the combined items In

other words, they are always placed in front of the first word group (e g Either you apologize or I will never speak to you again )

1 2 2 Vietnamese Conjunctions

1 2 2 1 Definitions of Vietnamese conjunctions

Vietnamese conjunction is an interesting topic that many Vietnamese

linguists have concerned about In the dictionary “Bách khoa Việt Nam, tập 2”

published in 2002, conjunctions serve as connectors which link words, phrases, andsentences to denote the significance of the relationships such as alternative, contrast,concession, etc

According to Hoàng Trung Thông (1998), conjunctions are words expressingthe grammatical relations used to join the components in sentences or in phrases Conjunctions do not make sense in terms of vocabulary and grammar, especiallythey never keep functions as subject or predicate in a sentence

Having the same opinions with Hoàng Trung Thông, Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh in

“Tiếng Việt hiện đại” (1994) also defines that conjunctions are words which refer to

the grammatical relations used to connect parts of sentences or the elements in thephrase

Another definition written by Hoàng Thế (1990) shows that conjunctions areconsidered as joiners to connect two clauses together and Nguyễn Lai (2006) alsoagrees that conjunctions are words with the function to adhere words having thesame syntax roles in sentences or to link the same functional components,

sentences, paragraphs in which the conjunctions represent certain semantics’

1 2 2 2 Classifications of Vietnamese conjunctions

There are many ways of classifying Vietnamese conjunctions, but the onemostly applied is according to the parts of utterances that they link together Fromthe view of Diệp Quang Ban (1993), Vietnamese conjunctions are arranged into twoprincipal groups: subordinating and coordinating conjunctions Subordinating

conjunctions are used to combine subordinate constituents with super-ordinateconstituents, while coordinating conjunctions are used to link words, word phrases,and sentences

According to Nguyễn Lai (2006), like English conjunctions, Vietnameseconjunctions can also be categorized into two types: conjunctions connecting

coordinated clauses (coordinators) and conjunctions connecting dependent clauses(subordinators)

e g Chợ họp giữa phố vãn từ lâu Người về hết và tiếng ồn ào cũng mất

(Market in the city centre has disbanded for a long time Everyone comes back home

and noise is also lost ) (Cited in “Hai đứa trẻ” (1938) - Thạch Lam)

According to grammatical meanings, conjunctions of this type have three

main meanings or functions in sentences

The first function is conjunctions expressing listing, for instance,

coordinators “và”, “với”, “cùng” simply link clauses to indicate enumeration and

consecutive or simultaneous events

e g Tôi đến nhà An nhiều lần và trở thành người thân của cả gia đình

(I went to An’s house many times and became the intimate of the whole family)

(Cited in “Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt, tập 1” (1993) - Diệp Quang Ban) The next function is conjunctions showing alternative “hay”, “hay là”,

“hoặc là”, “hoặc…hoặc…” An example of this type can be seen in:

e g Ngoài ra, ông vẫn thường đi xếp hàng mua gạo hoặc nhu yếu phẩm

(In addition, he often stands in a queue to buy rice or necessities )

(Cited in “Giấc mơ ông lão vườn chim (1970) – Anh Đức)

The last function of conjunctions is that they are used to express contrast

such as “nhưng”, “song”, “còn”, for example “Hắn nghiến răng vào mà chửi cái đứa

đã đẻ ra Chí Phèo Nhưng mà biết đứa nào đã đẻ ra Chí Phèo?

(He gritted his teeth to verbal child that spawned Chi Pheo But know who has spawned

(ii) Subordinators

The other set of conjunctions is used to link dependent clauses, and there are

usually couple conjunctions to describe these relationships such as “tuy…nhưng…”,

“vì …nên…”, “do…nên…”, “bởi…nên…”, “dù…nhưng…”, “nếu…thì…”

In dependent clauses, there are four smaller types of relationships:

+ Conjunctions expressing reason: “vì…(cho) nên/ mà…”, “tại…(cho) nên/

mà…”, “do… (cho) nên/ mà…”, “nhờ…(cho) nên/ mà…”, “bởi…(cho) nên/

mà…”

e g Từ khóc như mưa bởi vì Từ chẳng còn biết trông cậy vào ai (Tu cried bitterly because she did not know whom she could rely on )

(Cited in “Đời Thừa” (1943) – Nam Cao) + Conjunctions expressing condition-consequence: “nếu (như)…thì…”, “hễ (mà)…thì/ là…”, “giá (mà)…thì…”, “ví…thì…”, “nhỡ…thì…” These conjunctions

are used in conditional sentences

e g Nếu thị không vào thì hắn vẫn cứ nghĩ vẩn vơ mãi (If she does not come, he still thinks miscellaneously )

(Cited in “Chí Phèo” (1946) – Nam Cao) + Conjunctions expressing concession: “tuy…nhưng/ vẫn…”, “dù…nhưng/ vẫn…”, “mặc dù…nhưng/ vẫn…”

e g Tuy những tiếng quen thuộc ấy hôm nào chả có, nhưng hôm nay hắn

mới nghe thấy

(The familiar noise is always appeared every day, but today he hears that )

(Cited in “Chí Phèo” (1946) – Nam Cao) + Conjunctions expressing purpose: “để…(thì)…”

e g Hắn tìm một người bạn thân để nói chuyện văn chương (He is looking for a close friend in order to talk literature )

(Cited in “Đời Thừa” (1943) – Nam Cao)

1 3 Related studies

As shown above, opinions about conjunctions, newsletters in general andEnglish and Vietnamese ones in particular are given by many different researchers Closely related to this thesis, there are some researches In the Graduation Paper

named “A contrastive analysis of English coordinators “and/or/but” and

Vietnamese equivalents” Le Thi Bich (2000) merely contrasted the typical

coordinating conjunctions “and/ or/ but” in English and Vietnamese equivalents

At the end of the study, the author came to a conclusion that there are similarities

and differences of using the conjunctions “and/ or/ but” in English and in

Vietnamese equivalents based on semantic and syntactic perspective Another

research concerning conjunctions by Nguyen Thanh Huong (2002) in her

graduation paper, she provided an overview of all kinds of English conjunctions More importantly, in this paper, the author listed some difficulties faced by

Vietnamese learners in understanding and using conjunctions At the end of thegraduation paper, some suggested solutions to Vietnamese learners’ difficulties inlearning conjunctions were given as an effective source for learners

1 4 Summary

In this chapter, by elaborating on the key terms, the researcher has brieflyreviewed the theoretical background of the study More importantly, the writerprovides an interesting insight into English and Vietnamese conjunctions andnewsletters As a matter of fact, there is a close relationship between marketingnewsletters and conjunctions Marketing newsletter is regarded as an effective way

to promote their products and services It is a form of advertising which attractscustomers; therefore, it requires logic and coherence Consequently, conjunctionsare used mostly in newsletters to gain this aim of newsletters

CHAPTER 2: CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF CONJUNCTIONS

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MARKETING NEWSLETTERS

2 1 Introduction

This chapter sets out to delve into providing a contrastive analysis of

conjunction usages in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters The data usedfor analysis are extracted from forty samples of marketing newsletters in the two

languages (including 20 in English and 20 in Vietnamese) to compare and contrast

The researcher collected the samples from the book “Oxford Handbook of

Commercial Correspondence” published by Oxford University Press in 2003,

written by A Ashley and from reliable web addresses of English and Vietnamese

companies or organizations They are sources that were accessible at the time of

conducting this research

The first step in the analysis the writer synthesizes the frequency of

occurrence of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters Then,the author lists a corpus of English and Vietnamese conjunctions in Appendices 1,

2, 3, and 4 Based on these data, the researcher compares to find out the similarities

and differences in conjunction usages in terms of syntactic and semantic features in

The first thing that the researcher would like to mention in the study is the

frequency of occurrence of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing

newsletters

Table 2 1: English conjunctions in English marketing newsletters

N0 English Newsletters No of

words

No of conjunctions

Percentage (%)

6 "In the Black" Newsletter 1520 60 3 7%

12 "Keeping the Best" Newsletter 829 24 2 9%

Table 2 2: Vietnamese conjunctions in Vietnamese marketing newsletters

words

No of conjunctions

Percentage (%)

1 Thai Son Tien Phong Company’s Newsletter

5 Seabird Tours Company’s Newsletter 306 12 3 9%

10 Lan Anh Computer Company’s Newsletter

12 Trung Thuc Trade and Services Limited Company's Newsletter

13 Sac Mau Printing and Advertising Limited Company's Newsletter

15 Bao Tin Construction Company's Newsletter

16 T&C International Travel Newsletter 388 14 3 6%

17 Anh Son Freight Services Newsletter 588 31 5 2%

18 Khang Nghi Package Printing Limited Company's Newsletter

From the above results, it can be said that the frequency of occurrence ofconjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters is equivalent

Conjunctions used in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters respectivelyaccount for the percentage from 2 9 % to 5 6%, and from 2 0% to 5 2% However,there is still a slight difference of the length of newsletters in the two languages The number of words of English marketing newsletters is much more than that inVietnamese marketing newsletters because English marketing newsletters not onlyintroduce the products but also describe the details of products

Based on the frequency of conjunctions used in both languages, the writergives an account of the conjunctions which are of greater occurrence frequency thanthe others in both English and Vietnamese The following results are extracted fromAppendices 3 and 4 (table 2 3 for English conjunctions and table 2 4 for Vietnameseconjunctions)

No of conjunctions

465563827252525221916

Table 2 4: Vietnamese conjunctions in Vietnamese marketing newsletters

It can be seen from Tables 2 3 and 2 4 that the most frequent occurrence of

English conjunctions in marketing newsletters are “and”, “or”, “but”, the

Vietnamese equivalents most in use are “và, hoặc, nhưng” These conjunctions have the higher percentage than other conjunctions, especially the coordinator “and” It

accounts for the highest rate (53 2% for English and 54 6% for Vietnamese) whilethe lowest rate of conjunction used in English is 0 1% and in Vietnamese is 0 3%

(see full in Appendices 3 and 4) The reason why these conjunctions are popular inboth English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters is that they are widely used indaily communication Moreover, using the simple sentences can help customers

fully understand the writer’s purposes in such a fast way Besides that, other

conjunctions such as “because, if, as, however, although …” are also present at

these two languages And the percentages of these conjunctions are entirely

presented in Appendices 3 and 4

7 Không chỉ … mà còn (not only …

One more thing worthily noted, as in Appendices 3 and 4, the writer finds

out 31 kinds of different conjunctions in English marketing newsletters while

Vietnamese has only 15 kinds of conjunctions Therefore, it can be said that some

conjunctions are used in English but hardly seen in Vietnamese marketing

newsletters

Nevertheless, because of the aim and the scope of the study, the author has

no intention of concentrating on a certain conjunction In other words, the

researcher only investigates the similarities and differences in conjunction usages

between English and Vietnamese

Taking English and Vietnamese conjunctions into comparison, the study

finds out the main similarities and differences on syntactic and semantic features as

follows:

2 2 2 Similarities and Differences in conjunction usages in English and

Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters

2 2 2 1 Similarities

 Syntactic features

Concerning syntactic features, it goes without saying that conjunctions used

in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters have the function as connectors orlinking devices

e g: Hapaco là một trong những thương hiệu mạnh, từ lâu đã trở nên quen thuộc không chỉ với thị trường trong nước mà còn với thị trường nước ngoài

(Hapaco was one of the strong brands which have become familiar not only with the domestic market but also foreign markets ) (Hapaco Group’s Newsletter)

The company PAPCEL is a general supplier of machinery and engineering,

including commissioning and guarantees tests (Technical Newsletter)

It is difficult to imagine these above sentences without conjunctions, they

will be lacking in the logic and cohesion And that is the reason why readers or

clients will not be interested in reading these sentences Therefore, the appearance

of conjunctions such as “both … and; and; not only … but also” as a means of

linking words, phrases, and sentences

Another similar syntactic feature is that conjunctions in English as well as

Vietnamese are used as transition signals of ideas and sentences in order to create

the coherence in a paragraph

e g: Hiện nay, thị trường sản phẩm IT đang rất sôi nổi Nhu cầu sử dụng các thiết bị công nghệ thông tin giá rẻ ngày càng cao Chính vì vậy, rất cần một nơi tập trung các sản

phẩm và phân phối với giá tốt đáp ứng nhu cầu của khách hàng Đó là lý do “Chợ đầu mốisản phẩm IT ra đời ”

(Currently, the IT products market is very vibrant Demand for using cheap

information technology equipment is increasing Therefore, it is necessary to have a

centralized location and distribute products with good prices to meet the demands ofcustomers That is why “IT product market hub was born” )

(Lan Anh Computer Company’s Newsletter) Conjunction “therefore” beginning at the second sentence of the above

paragraph is considered as a transition signal It helps readers understand what the

writer is going to talk about as well as what the writer has already mentioned By

using the conjunction “therefore”, the above paragraph is more logical and coherent

in order to attract customers’ attention

One more similar thing lies in the classifications of conjunctions Through

comparison, the researcher agrees that both English and Vietnamese conjunctions

can be divided into: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions

Interestingly, it is easy for the writer to recognize that the position ofconjunctions used in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters are very alike

They are highly flexible and can occur in different positions: initial, medial or final

positions

e g: Ngoài ra, Hồng Ngọc luôn sẵn sàng tư vấn, cung cấp thông tin về thiết kế, in

ấn, giá cả các sản phẩm, dịch vụ một cách nhanh nhất để quý công ty dễ tham khảo, dễchọn cho mình dịch vụ hoàn hảo nhất

(In addition, Hong Ngoc is always ready to advise, provide information on

designing, printing, prices of products, and services as quickly as possible so that thecompany can take it easy to choose their own perfect service most )

(Hong Ngoc Advertising’s Newsletter)

Các sản phẩm in ấn luôn là yếu tố đại diện, là phương tiện để quảng bá hình ảnh

của mỗi doanh nghiệp trên thị trường Vì vậy, các ấn phẩm cũng phải thật sự chuyên

nghiệp và ấn tượng từ khâu thiết kế, in ấn cho đến công đoạn hoàn thiện sản phẩm

(The printed product is always a factor representation, a means to promote the

image of every business in the market Therefore, the publications must also be truly

professional and impressive from designing, printing to the finished product stage )

(Thai Son Tien Phong Company Newsletter)

CoordinatingConjunctions

Và, hoặc (hay), vì vậy, ngoài

ra, hơn nữa, bên cạnh, tuy nhiên

And, or, but, so/hence, however/nevertheless, in other words, besides, moreover/

furthermore, then

SubordinatingConjunctions

Nếu (giá), hễ, dù/ mặc dù, tuy

… nhưng, bởi vì, không những

In addition, the operational cost of maintaining these servers was increasing due to

power consumption

Increasing collaboration with suppliers and customers while enhancing profitability

(“The New Blue” Newsletter)

However, conjunctions rarely appeared in the final position in both languages

 Semantic features

Regarding semantic features, it is undoubtful that all conjunctions in Englishand Vietnamese have the same literal senses In other words, their meanings are

equivalent For example, “and, or, but” in English are corresponding to “và, hoặc,

nhưng” in Vietnamese Other instances like “both … and” or “not only … but also”,

their meanings do not change in Vietnamese

More interestingly, conjunctions in both languages are used as the means of

expressing meanings such as alternative, contrast, reason, concession, purpose, and condition – consequence

a Conjunctions showing alternative

e g Để biết thêm thông tin vui lòng truy cập www rmit com vn, hoặc

www facebook com/RMIT

(For more information, please visit our website at: www rmit com vn or

If you have any questions or comments pertaining to the newsletter’s content, please call or email me directly at drooney@rooneylandscape com or 847-577-0246

(Rooney Landscape Newsletter)

We welcome your feedback or suggestions

b Conjunctions expressing contrast

(Excellerator Newsletter)

e g Điều mà bạn dễ dàng cảm nhận tại Ẩm Thực Việt là sự sang trọng, lịch sự nhưng rất bình dân, giản dị

(Things that you easily feel at Vietnamese Food are luxurious, polite, but very

Most people think of piñatas as a fun activity for children, but the history of piñata

is long and interesting (Mosiac Xpressions Newsletter)

c Conjunctions showing reason

e g Toyota always has a worthwhile advertising program because it wants to

embark onto bring products and services nearer to clients (Toyota Newsletter)

Từ lâu thương hiệu Vina - Giầy đã trở nên rất quen thuộc với người tiêu dùng Việt

Nam bởi vì chất lượng và mẫu mã của nó đã chiếm lĩnh được một sự tin cậy tuyệt đối của

số đông người tiêu dùng

(For a long time, Vina-Giay brand has become very familiar to Vietnamese

consumers because its quality and design have dominated an absolute confidence of the

majority of consumers ) (Vina-Giay Company’s Newsletter)

d Conjunctions showing concession

e g Although Mosaic Xpressions has been created with the business community in

mind, be on the lookout for topics the entire family can enjoy

(Mosiac Xpressions Newsletter) Tuy mới tham gia vào thị trường Việt Nam nhưng với đội ngũ nhân viên chuyên

nghiệp, chúng tôi hy vọng quý khách sẽ hài lòng

(Vietnam has recently taken part in the market, but with professional staff, we hope

customers will be satisfied ) (Seabird Tours Company’s Newsletter)

e Conjunctions expressing purpose

e g Để đáp ứng nhu cầu thông tin, quảng bá thương hiệu sản phẩm và phản ánh các

hoạt động của tập đoàn, Hapaco đã tiến hành khôi phục, nâng cấp Website, tạo cho

Website của tập đoàn có một gương mặt mới, với nội dung thông tin đa dạng, phong phú

(In order to meet the demand for information, promote brands, and reflect the

group’s activities, Hapaco Group has conducted to restore, upgrade Website, and create anew face for Website with a variety of information content )

(Hapaco Group’s Newsletter)

In order to facilitate customer workforce recovery capabilities, IBM further

extended the BC & RS facilities with Work Area Recovery services in September 2011

(IBM Company’s Newsletter)

f Conjunctions expressing condition – consequence

e g If you would like to provide feedback of products or services, please click on

the email link located at the end of the newsletter (“In the Black” Newsletter)

Nếu quý ông/ bà có câu hỏi gì thì xin vui lòng liên hệ 0912 425 792 hoặc email

trungson@cement com vn

(If you have questions, please contact us 0912 425 792 or email

trungson@cement com vn) (Trung Son Cement Newsletter)

Another similarity is concerned with the means of expressing meanings

There exist many conjunctions representing the same semantic relationship in both

English and Vietnamese For example, in English when expressing the concession

relation, it is possible to use the conjunctions such as “though/ although/ even

though” or using the conjunctions “because/ since/ for” when expressing the reason

relation And the same things are equivalent in Vietnamese

Furthermore, through comparison, it can be seen that the order expressing of

meaning in cause-effect relation and concessive relation (conjunctions expressing

cause-effect, concession) in both languages are similar Two clauses in these

relations can be exchange without changing the meaning In the following example,

the writer can give cause first, then effect or vice versa

The sentence “Because the production costs are being paid through

donations, this project will enable the Numbalums to provide literally tens of

thousands of dollars in proceeds from CD sales to the NU Bands and to other

worthwhile Numbalums projects ” (Numbalums Newsletter) can be rewritten into

“This project will enable the Numbalums to provide literally tens of thousands of

dollars in proceeds from CD sales to the NU Bands and to other worthwhile

Numbalums projects because the production costs are being paid through

donations ” without the change of meaning

2 2 2 2 Differences

Apart from the similar syntactic and semantic features about the use of

conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing newsletters, the researcher has

found the significant differences between the two languages

 Syntactic features

The first striking difference lies in the way of using conjunctions In fact, in

English, there are conjunctions whose structures are quite different from those in

Vietnamese From our own observations, English newsletters writers are likely to

use one conjunction as a linking word in a sentence rather than two as in the

Vietnamese ones For example, in Vietnamese, “nhưng” can also combine with tuy/ mặc dù/ dù to form pairs of subordinate conjunction tuy … nhưng/ mặc dù …

nhưng/ dù … nhưng And “nếu” often comes together with “thì” to form double

conjunction “nếu … thì” Nevertheless, it is impossible in English to have although

… but/ though … but, if … so In other words, the pairs never exist in English

e g Tuy mới xuất hiện tại thị trường Việt Nam trong vòng 5 năm trở lại đây nhưng

Bourjois đã khẳng định được vị trí, trở thành một trong những thương hiệu mỹ phẩm nổitiếng được ưa chuộng nhất hiện nay (Bourjois Company’s Newsletter)

Taking the above sentence into consideration, as stated earlier, Vietnamese

people always have the habit of using “tuy” associated with “nhưng” However, in

English, this sentence can only be translated as “Bourjois appear in the Vietnam

market in the next 5 years, but it has affirmed its position, becoming one of the

famous cosmetic brands which are most popular at present ” Or “Though Bourjois

appear in the Vietnam market in the next 5 years, it has affirmed its position,

becoming one of the famous cosmetic brands which are most popular at present ”

A similar case applies to “nếu … thì” and “vì … nên”, these couple

conjunctions are used popularly in Vietnamese whereas “if … so; because/ since …

so” are not allowed to use in English

e g Nếu quý ông/bà có câu hỏi gì thì xin vui lòng liên hệ 0912 425 792 hoặc email

thuytran@rmit com vn

(If you have questions, please contact us 0912 425 792 or email

thuytran@rmit com vn) (RMIT Newsletter)

Vì công ty chúng tôi muốn đem lại sự hài lòng và chất lượng tuyệt vời cho khách hàng nên chúng tôi luôn lắng nghe, chia sẻ kinh nghiệm với khách hàng

(Our company would like to bring the satisfaction and excellent quality to our

customers, so we always listen and share the experience with them )

(Anh Son Freight Services Newsletter)

The second difference can be found in the classifications of conjunctions As

in English, conjunctions are divided into three main types: coordinators,

subordinators, and correlatives What’s more, subordinators consist of simple,

compound and correlative subordinators while Vietnamese conjunctions only have

two main types including coordinating and subordinating conjunctions Correlative

conjunctions belong to subordinators

Another different point is concerned with functions of conjunctions In

English, there exist some words whose functions are both conjunctions and

prepositions, for example, “since, for” Taking the following sentences extracted

from “IBM Company’s Newsletter” to illustrate for this:

(1) We increased our brand value by 8% since 2010

(2) Since the reporting requirements cannot be burdened on the production database and

the reporting service does not get real-time updates, the information available on thesystem usually is at-least a week old

In the first sentence “since” is classified as a preposition while “since” in the

second sentence functions as a conjunction And this phenomenon does not appear

in Vietnamese Furthermore, the subordinator “since” itself is also different

subordinator “because” from the position in a sentence although they express the

same semantic relationship “Because” can be found in the initial or middle

positions whereas “since” is obligatory at the beginning of sentence

 Semantic features

With regard to semantic features, in the first place, it appears that

Vietnamese conjunction meanings tend to be more flexible than those in English

For instance, English has conjunctions “moreover, furthermore” and they are

translated into “hơn nữa, vả lại”, but in Vietnamese, these conjunctions can be

variously interpreted as “hơn thế nữa, hơn vậy nữa, với lại/ vả lại …” or

conjunctions “so, hence, therefore” simply are “vì vậy”, however, they can be

variously expressed such as “chính vì vậy, chính vì lẽ đó” in Vietnamese This

flexible usage is hardly seen in the English language which possesses a range of

fixed conjunctions because English pays much attention to grammar while

Vietnamese people often focus on semantic form

e g Hơn thế nữa, công ty chúng tôi có quy trình sản xuất khép kín và hiện đại có

xuất xứ từ Nhật Bản

(Moreover, our company has closed manufacturing process and modern originating from

The second noticeable difference is that in English there appear conjunctionsexpressing positive meanings or negative meanings because looking at English

conjunctions readers can guess their functions and expressive nuances For

example, some conjunctions express positive meanings such as “and, in addition,

what’s more,” and those express negative meanings such as “neither … nor, nor

…” When these conjunctions appear in sentences, it is not difficult for readers to

realize whether those sentences show positive or negative meanings Contrastingly,

in Vietnamese, this phenomenon seems to be not clear; readers have to rely on the

context of joined clauses rather than on the conjunctions themselves to consider the

semantic relationships between them

One more different thing worthily noted is that in Vietnamese, coordinators

“và” (and), “hoặc” (or) are often used with only one meaning whereas in English

each word “and”, or “or” possesses other different senses For example, “or”

means not only “hoặc” but also “otherwise”

e g Hurry up or you will not buy our products (Michelin Company Newsletter) And coordinator “and” in the sentence “The staff in our company can

consult with customers hours and hours to build a close relationship ” (Givenchy

Company Newsletter) means “increasingly”

 Frequency of using some conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing

newsletters

As shown in Tables 2 3 and 2 4, there are some conjunctions whose

frequency is totally different For example, the frequency of “or” (hoặc) in

Vietnamese newsletters is much more than one in English Specifically, “or”

accounts for 13 5% of total used conjunctions while it is 6 4% in Vietnamese

newsletters It is similar to the conjunction “but” (nhưng) “Nhưng” accounts for

7 9% and “but” accounts for 4 3%

2 3 Summary

This chapter makes a comparison and contrast of conjunctions across two

languages: English and Vietnamese Based on the results from synthesizing the

occurrence frequency of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing

newsletter samples, the author has conducted a succinct contrastive analysis to find

out the similarities and differences of conjunctions in terms of syntactic and

semantic features in both languages And these useful findings play an important

role in suggesting some implications for EFL teaching, learning and translating in

the next part

conjunctions in English and Vietnamese Marketing Newsletters is equivalent The

most frequently English conjunctions found in marketing newsletters are “and”,

“or”, “but”, the Vietnamese equivalents most in use are “và, hoặc, nhưng”

Regarding the similarities and differences in conjunction usages in some English and Vietnamese Newsletters, based on the results from synthesizing the

occurrence frequency of conjunctions in English and Vietnamese marketing

newsletter samples, the writer has conducted a succinct contrastive analysis to findout the similarities and differences of conjunctions in terms of syntactic and

semantic features in both languages

As regards syntactic features, we see the following similarities: (i) both

English and Vietnamese conjunctions have the function as joiners or linking

devices (ii) conjunctions in two languages are used as transition signals of ideas and sentences to create the logic and coherence in a paragraph (iii) coordinators and subordinators do exist in both English and Vietnamese (iv) positions of

conjunctions used flexibly in English and Vietnamese (initial, medial or final

positions)

However, some differences have been also worthily noted: (i) English

newsletters writers are likely to use one conjunction as a linking word in a sentence

rather than two as in the Vietnamese ones (ii) English conjunctions are divided into

three types (coordinators, subordinators, and correlatives) whereas there are only

two main types in Vietnamese (iii) there exist some words whose functions are both conjunctions and prepositions (e g since, for …)