Luận văn a contrastive analysis between the verb fall in english and the verb ngã in vietnamese

NGUYEN THI NGAN A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE VERB ‘FALL’ IN ENGLISH AND THE VERB ‘NGA’ IN VIETNAMESE PHAN TICH DOI CHIEU DONG TU ‘FALL’ TRONG TIENG ANH VA DONG TU ‘NGA’?. UNIVERSI

NGUYEN THI NGAN

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE VERB

‘FALL’ IN ENGLISH AND THE VERB ‘NGA’ IN

VIETNAMESE

(PHAN TICH DOI CHIEU DONG TU ‘FALL’ TRONG TIENG ANH

VA DONG TU ‘NGA’? TRONG TIENG VIET

MLA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215

HANOI — 2010

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES

AR RRR RRR

NGUYEN THI NGAN

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE VERB

‘FALL’ IN ENGLISH AND THE VERB ‘NGA’ IN

VIETNAMESE

(PHAN TICH DOL CHIEU DONG TU ‘FALL’ TRONG TLENG ANH

VA DONG TU ‘NGA’ TRONG TIENG VIET

M.A MINOR THESIS

Ficld: English Linguistics Code: 602215

Supervisor: Assoc Prof.Dr Nguyén Van D6

HANOI - 2010

4 Scope of the study

5 Methods of the study

6 Design of the study

PART I: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORICAL BACKGROUND

1 An overview on Contrastive Analysis

1.2 MICA versus MaCA

1.3 A brief description of verbs

CITAPTER 2: A STUDY ON THE VERB ‘FALL? IN ENGLISIT AND

THE VERB ‘NGA’ IN VIETNAMESE

2.1 A Contrastive Analysis between the verb ‘Fall’ in English and the

2.1.3.1 In Terms of grammatical features

Meanings in some idioms and proverbs

1 Recapitnlation

2 Implication of the study

2.1 To ERL Teaching and Learning

2.2 To transtation from English to Vietnamese and Vice Versa

3 Recommendations for firther Research

CA: Contrastive Aulysis

MICA: Microlinguistic Contrastive Analysis MaCA: Macrolinguistic Contrastive Analysis EFL: English as a Forcign Language

Li: First Language

1L2: Second Language

pronunciation, cle,

On the part of grammar, verbs have always been one of the most complex classes of words, which have most widely used and consequently, have played an important role in any language systomn so far As a rosull, mamy finat Ihosises on contrastive analysis belwomn verbs in malive

language and target language have been conducted to provide teachers and learners thorough view on those verbs and have good way to use them, Among verbs, the verb “fall one of which

‘Vietnamese 2quivalont is ‘Nga’, is one of the common and confusing words to learners

Conducting the minor thesis entitled “A Comtrastive Analysis between the Verb ‘FALL’ in

English and the Verb ‘NG

2, Aims of the study

The study is aimed at

- Finding the similarities and differences between the verb “fall” in English and the verb “nga” in English mainly in terms of Mirolinguistic Comastive Analysis (MICA) and partly in terms of Masrolinguistic Contrastive Analysis (MaCA)

- Providing recommendations for teaching, learning and translating ‘fall’ and “ngã” into the target language

3 Research questions

‘To fully achieve these aims, the study should answer the following questions:

() What are the grarmnatical and scmantic features af cach verb and how are they

similar and different in terms of these features?

Gi) What are their synonyms and what are the idioms and proverbs with these two verbs?

(iii) What are the implications of the study for the EFL teaching, leaning and

translation?

4 Scope of the study

In this minor thesis, it is difftcnt to discuss both the verbs in terms of MiCA and MaCA in dolails, Consequently, the author mainly focuses on analyzing and contrasting Ihem in terms of MICA (conccrning grammatical and scmantic features of the two verbs), and just give a brief introduction about the similarities and differences between them concerned with MaCA

The verbs “fll and ‘nga? ar Tich in synonyms, the author could not discuss tham all in details but give an overview on the most common ones

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims given, the author has eombined different incthods as follow

- Analyze and contrast;

- Synthesize

The procedures of the sindy are

- To synthesize meanings of ‘fall’ and ‘ng®? and examples to iilustrats from different sources such as dictionaries, literary works, newspapers, magazines, native speakers and websites

~ To eollool the synonyms of cach verb and idioms/ proverbs with (hem,

- To analyze and contrast each verb and draw out the similarities and differences between

them in terms af MiCA and MaCA

- To suggest the ways to apply the findings of the study to the language teaching/learning and translation

6 Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three main parts based on the fallawing arrangement

Part I entitled ‘INTRODUCTION? outlines the background of the study in which brief account of relevant information such as the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study arc provided

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

RACKGROUND’, supplics tho goneral fimdarcntal and cssontial thoarctical concepts involving the subject under consideration, It covers a series of concepts ranging from CA, guiding principles for contrastive study, MiCA, MaCA, verbs in English and in Vietnamese, a

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brief introduction of synonyms, and idioms/ proverbs Chapter 2 entitled “A OONTRASTIVI ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE VERB ‘FALL’ IN ENGLISH AND ‘NGA’ IN VIETNAMESE”

discusses the two verbs in terms of MiCA and MaCA in suceession Affer that, the similarities

and differcnees arc drawn oul Rach chapler onds wilh 80}

Part IH, the ‘CONCLUSION’, provides recapitulation, implications of the study for EFL teaching and learning and translation ftom English to Vietnamese and vice versa, and

oncluding remarks

recommendations for further tescarch The ‘REFERENCES?’ comes next The study ends with the ‘APPENDICES’

PART Ti: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 An overview on Contrastive Analysis

Contrastive analysis (CA) is the s

to identifying their structural differences and similarities The term ‘Contrastive linguistics’ was suggested by Whorf (1941) and was defined as “a sub discipline of linguistics concemed

smatic study of a pair or more of languages wilh a view

with the comparison of two or mare languages or subsystems of languages in order to

determine both the differences and similarities between them”, (Fisiak, 1981:1) CA is the

method of analyzing the structure of any two languages with a view to estimate the differential aspouls of their systems, irrespective or their generic alfinily or level of development CA of two languages becomes usefid when it is adequately describing the sound structure and

grammatical sirncture of two languages, with comparative statements giving due emphasis to

the compatible items m the two sysicrns,

From 1940s to 1960s before the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) field as we know it was established, Charlss Tries (1945:9) wrote: “The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the language to be leaned carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner” Robert Lado, in 1987 wrote:

“Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of farms and

meanings of their native language and culnure to the foreign language and culture- hath

productively and when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture and

receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and culture as practiced hy

natives”, In the 1960s and early 1970s, CA was used extensively in the field of Second

Language Acquisition Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) — this extension of the notion

of CA attributed the ability to predict errors to a CA of two languages, a predictability that

practitioners associated with the degree of similarily between the two systems Rober! Lado

wrote: “ those elements that are similar to this native language will be simple for him, and

those elements that are different will be difficult.”

CA cmphasizes on the influcnc: of the mother tonguc in earning a sccond language in

phonological, morphological and syntactic levels Contrastive Analysis is not merely relevant for second language teaching and learning hut it can also make useful contributions lo machine translating and linguistics typology It is relevant to the designing of teaching matetials for use

(2) To compare the two languages item-wise-item at all levels of their structure

(3) ‘To arrive at the categories of a’ similar features bi partially similar features of

dissimitar features — for the target language:

(4) To amtive at principles of text preparation, test framing and targct language teaching

1.2 MICA versus MaCA

These are broad terms which refer lo two major types of linguistics Microlinguisties refers ta phonetics, phonology, grammar and semantics, whereas macrokinguistics covers

sociotingni

, discourse analysis and other related disciplines In sociolinguistics, the micro level is oflen cqnated with variation and fice-lo-face communication, whereas mero sociolinguistics involves language planning and sociology of language

According to the microlinguistics view, languages should be analyzed for their own sake without any refersnce to Iheir social function, to the manmer in which they are equircd by imman beings, and to the literary or communicative function of language Thus, a MiCA often compares phonology*phonetics, grammar and lexis, For example, a study of this kind often finds out what the consonant phonemes in languages X and Y are, how they differ in inventory, realization and distribution; what the tense system of language X and Y, etc

‘The main aim of a MiCA is a formal description of the language system based on the interrslalionships aud indcpendcneies of its ctemen's without any soures to external factors Obviously, the translation situation which evolves equivalent messages, that are speech units and texts in two different Iangnages is not part of the system of either of these languages and can not be studied and deseribed in terms of microlinguisties

Macrolinguistics which includes meanings, and especially sociolingustics, studies how Tanguage ad meaning function within human social systers,

Carl James suggested that “the communicating individual must he able to identify the

situational constraints to which speech events are subjects und produce ullerarwes thal conform to them.”

Hymes (1974) identifies six variables which he suggests the ethnographer of speaking musl refer to in characterizing any particular event; they are setting, participants, purpose, key, content, and channel Whereas, Carl James (1980:101) simplified these six variables in to

“who says what to whom, where and when, how and why.”

1.3 A brief description of verbs

1.3.1 Verbs in English

Vorb is tho core pan of specch in English It is the kind of word Ihal exprosses existence

action, or occurrence in most languages

According to Jack C Richards et al (1992:398), in Lnglish, a word is a verb when it satisfies

those criteria,

- Qoours as part of the predicate of a sentence;

- Carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, mumber, and

Tnood; andl,

- Refers to action or state

In the next part, such areas as forms of verbs, major grammatical categories and

classifications of English verbs will be bricfly discussed

As Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum (1973:26) put it: ‘Many English verbs have five forms: the base, the —s form, the past, the -ing participle and the ed participle” Tor example,

‘play’, ‘plays’, ‘played’, ‘playing’ and ‘played? are five forms of the regular verb ‘play’ when

‘fall’, ‘falls’, ‘fall’, “falling” and ‘fallen’ are five forms of the irregular verb ‘fall’ Fach verb form has its owm ñimetions

The English verb has main grammatical calegorics such as to

which would be shortly discussed

Tense could be understood as the correspondence between the form of the verb and the time

2 — aspect — voice — mood

of the action or state it describes Many modcrn grammarians claim that in the English

language, verbs have two tenses: the present tense and the past tense No marker of a fisture

tense exists on {he verb in Bnglish; the fulurily ofan event may be expressed [hrough the use of

‘the auxiliary verbs ‘will’ and ‘shall’, by the structure ‘Be going to + infinitive’, the present progressive, the simple present.

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With reference to aspect, it concerns the marmer in which the verbal action is experienced or regarded (as completed or in progress)

According to Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum, mood is the form of the verb that shows

ul nods or mamcr in which a thought is expressed Iu English, Gere are Uhraz moods

indicative, imperative and subjunctive Indicative mood expresses an assertion, denial, or question Imperative mood expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice aa in Don't smoke in this building ~Be carefal! Subjunctive mood expresses dowht or something conirary

to fact: It is sirange thal he should have left so early

Voice is the way in which a language expresses the relationship between a verb and the noun

phrase

ssocialed with il, When the subject is the agent or docr of the action, the verb is in the

active voice as in The cat ate the mouse When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of

the action, it is said to be in the passive voice as in 7he mouse was eaten by the cat

English verbs can be classified in wany ways From Randolph Quirk and Sidney

Greenbaum’s view, verbs can be classified according to the function of items in the verb

phrase This distinguishes lexical verbs from anxiliary verbs

Lexical walk, fall, cal, play

Primary: do, have, be Auxiliary

Modal: can, may, shall, will

could, might, should, would,

miust, ought to, used to, need, dare

Lexical verbs can be subdivided into dynamic and stative verbs When verbs will not admit

the progressive, they are called stative such as ‘Jove’, ‘like’ and ‘seem, when they admit it, they are called dynamic ‘teach’, ‘visit’, ‘go’ are some instances of dynamic verbs Verbs are

also divided into onz-word verhs and multi-word verbs which are Hfustrated in the exarnples, below

- We ate learning, (one-word verb)

~ The children ff down: (phrasal verb, multi-word verb)

~ ‘They called on the man ( prepositional verbs: multi-word verb)

- He puis up with a Tol of Leasing ( phrasal- prepositional verb, multi-word verb)

When classified by their complementation, verbs fal into intensive or extensive The

intensive verbs, or copula verbs, are used to join a noun, a pronoun, an adjective to the subject

for a sentence, such az: be, feel, look, seem, remain, appear, become, tum, grow, fall, get, go,

cone Others are extensive verbs

Verbs can be classified as intransitive and transitive verbs An intransitive verb like sleep, cry and rain do nol require an objcel Tn contrast, a ltansilive verb like give, buy, take canmot stand alone and need objects

1.3.2, Verbs in Vietnamese

Vietnamese is an isolating and analytic language in which grammatical moanings arc

shown chicfly through word order and function words (grammatical words) Also, Vietnamese

words have the same forms in different positions in sentences As a result, several grammatical structures are similar in finteorganization but differen in granunatical meanings Fer example:

- Con tdi dang tap di, nd hay ng lém (My son is toddling Lle usually falls down)

+ Hm qua con t6t bi ngé kha dan (Yesterday my son fell down and hiwt himself badly.)

In Vietnamese Gramnar by Huu Quynh (1980), Verb is defined as a word which refers to

an action, a behavior, an idea or an emotion, a state or a development of a state

Unlike English verbs, vorhs in Victtarnese do not have the caneard with olher paris of speech In other words, they are not affected by number, person, gender, mood, voice and tense in addition, when finctioning as central component of a verb phrase, verb can combine wilh other todal auxiliary components before it to indicate scape of the action or aetivity such

as eding, déu, cw, etc ; to indicate continuation like edn, van, ete ; to indicate tense, aspect such

as sip, dang, sé, da, etc ; to indicate advice ot prohibit such as hay, ding, chd' and so an Also,

as Nguyen Kim Than ( 1977:178 ) states that a, dang, vừu, mới, sẽ, are words indicating aspect — time It means that they are used to show the carrying out or completion of an action ina certain time and the use of adverbs of time belongs to the area of sentence structures Resides, such words us bi, chi, doe, which way be considered a sign of the passive voice Verbs in Vietnamese can have different functions in a sentence The most popular one is predicator as in: Nó ngã xe; Lớp tôi dang foe toan Verbs can be subjects of a sentence as int

Yêu là chết trong lòng một ít They can bè complements, for cxample: Con téi dang hoc fait,

“Nhiều xe bị trượt ngữ ở quăng đường này ete

Tiệp Quang Ban and Hoang Vin Thing classify Vietnamese verbs into transitive and intransitive verbs, Intransitive verbs are ones that can stand alone with complete meaning

without help fiom others word, for example: Né dang ngủ; Mợi người đều cưới, No ngd xuéng

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a0 Transitive verhs, in conirast, camot stand alone, they need others word to complete their meaning as in: Mai mua céi áo mới, Tôi phải đản: bài tối nay ete Those two authors have another way to classify Vietnamese verbs info independent verbs (déng nr déc fap) and

words of which il consists and partly by its grammatical meaning

Baker (1992:12) stated that lexical meaning of'a word may be viewed as the specific value it has in a particular linguistic system It is the most outstanding individual property of words, and in contrast with grannnatical meaning, il can sland on iL own

Leech, G (1981:23) classified lexical meaning into the following different types:

(1) Conceptual’ denotational meaning: Logical, cognitive, ot denatative content

(2) Associative meaning

- Connotative meaning: What is communicated by virtue of what language refers fo, above the conceptual value

- Social meaning: What is communicated of the social circumstances of language use

- Afféctive meaning: What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of'the speakers/

writers

- Reflected meaning: What is communicated through association with another sense of the

same expression

+ Collocative meamng: What is cotnmumicated through assacialion wilh words which tend

to occur in the environment of another ward.

(3) Thematic meaning: What is communicated by the way in which the message is

organized in terms of order and emphasis,

‘To discuss about word meanings in Vietnamese, Do Hum Chau (1999:111-130) uses the

forms “¥ nghia bidu vat" (denotational meaning) and “ ¥ nghia, bidu nigm” (commotatonat meaning) According to him, entities and phenomena in the objective world are reflected in the mind as concepts and reflected in the language as the denotational meanings which lead

to the relevant meanings:

Tt can be scon clearly that, in terms of lexical meaning, verbs in English and in

Vietnamese are similar to same extent However, they are different in terms of grammatical

meanings, English verbs carry two kinds of meaning, momwhile, Vieinamose vorbs do nol

cary grammatical meaning such as tense, aspect, etc

1.5 Synonyms

Synonyms ars actully words of the sare part of speech which have similar meaning, bul not identical meanings They may share a similar denotational or connotational meaning, They may differ from each ather in terms of denotation or connatation

Jack C Richard ot al (1992:368) defined synonym as 4 word which has thơ same tacaning er nearly the same meaning as another word It should be noted that two wards which are synonymous must belong to the same part of speech

Lyons (1995-60) divides synonyris into three kinds: absolute synonyins, near sytonyms and partial synonyms According to him, two or more expressions are absolute synonyms if, and only if, they satisfy the following three conditions

(i All theiz meanings are identical,

Gi) They are synonymous in all contexts,

(iii) They are semantically equivalent (Le their meaning or meanings are identical) on all dimensions of meanings and deseriplive and non-descriptive

However, absolute synonyms are extremely rare in English A few pairs may be said to be absolute synonyms include ‘semantics’ and ‘semasiology’, ‘noun’ and ‘substantive’,

‘functional’ and ‘affix’, ‘flexion’ and ‘inflexion’,

Absolute synonyms also can be found in Vietnamese as in ‘sin bay” and “phi trường”, ‘ti vi? and may v5 Inyén’, ‘bing di? and ‘Lic ed’ ote

1.6 Idioms and proverbs

Idioms as well as proverbs are used widely in daily communication, They can occur in formal style and in slang ‘hey can appear in poetry or in the language of journalist, the writer and the Bible

According to John Wright (1999-7), an expression is an idiom when it carries the following, features:

1 This fixed and it is recognized by native speakers You carmat make up your awn!

2 It uses language in a nowlitcral-metaphorical-way

According to Jack C Richards et al (1992:172), idiom is an expression which functions as a

single unit and whose Teaming carmol be worked ont fiom ils saparale parts, This view is shared by Robins (1989), Palmer (1981), Jackson and Evenla (2000), Seidle (1978) and Cruse (1986) tot example, ‘fall flat on one’s face’- the collocation of ‘fall’, ‘flat’, ‘on’, ‘one’s’ and

‘face’ is a idiom meaning “fail or make a inistake in an ombarrassing way’ which is not systemantically determinable trom the meaning of its constituents,

According to Paimer (1990), idioms as consequences of words whose meaning cannot be

prodieted from the meaning of the words themsclvas, Semantically, idioms are sings urls, but they are not single grammatical units like words For example, if an idiom may be inflected, the inflectional affixes are carried by the grammatical appropriate elements within the idioms

whether or nol they arc scrantic constiiucnts

Another term that usually goes with idioms is ‘proverb’ In Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary ‘praverb’ is defined as “a well-known phrase or sentsnes that gives advice or says something that is penerally true, for example ‘Waste not, ward not” Mizder (1993-24) stated that ‘a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical fixed and memorizable form and which is fumed down fron gencralion ta generation?

For Vietnamese definitions, aocording to “Tử Diễn Tiếng ViêP by Nguyễn Dinh Hing, dion is 'tập hợp từ cỗ định đã quen đùng mà nghĩa thưởng không thể giải thích được một

cách đơn giản băng nghĩa cia cdc tit tao nén n6’ For cxample, ‘M6 nang hai sương, Tản

sanh ra ma’ ate idioms Meanwhile, ‘proverb’ is ‘Cau ngin gọn, thường có vần điệu, đúc kết

trí thức, kinh nghiệm sông và đạo đức thực tiễn của nhân dân" “Pdi co sạch, rách cho thom"

is an example of proverb

Tlowever, it is difficult to distinguish the two terms For example, the verse ‘cid treo mao day’ may satisfy the notion of idioms as well as proverbs They are fixed groups of words that

get their meaning ftom the whole, not by individual words Resides, together they also form a short rhythinie senlones, stating an advice for daily (asks of keeping food, There are still many more, such 8s “tức ruước vỡ bà", "kiến tha lâu đẩy tỖ”, "râu buộc ghét trâu an’, eto Thay create problems for researchers when trying to put them into two sections of idioms or proverbs

Tn fact, proverbs are also collected in idioms’ books Such dictionaries as Th Dian Thành

Xgữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyen Bich Hang, Ti Dién Thành Ngữ - Tục Ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyen Lan, Tục Ngữ Thành Ngit Nude Anh by Xuan Ba provide both idioms and proverbs

wilhout clear distinguislion belwoen the two terns As the result, idioms and proverbs as fixed

Contrastive Analysis between the Verb ‘/’all’ in Linglish and the Verb “Ngã” m Vietnamese”.

2.1.1 An investigation into the Verb ‘fall’ in English

As we have mentioned in the early parts, in terms of microlinguistics the verb “fall will be worked wilh Gree features: gramurutival fealures (including synactic and morphological features) and scmantic features

2.1.1.1 Grammatical Features

2.1.1.1.1 Syntactic Feaiures

‘Fall’ is a typical verb, so if shares the same syntactic fanctions of verbs;

(a) Ocours as part of the predicate of a sentence or example:

- He fell over on his way hack from the hathroom and became stuck in the doorway

(6: 66)

- How she wodld throw herself upon him, and how her tears would fall like rain, and her lips pray God ta give her hack her hay and she would never, never abuse him anymore

(13:33)

- Bwas high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and

animals that had fallen into it (9:15)

(b) Derivates of “fall” have different grammatical functions such as subjects, objects, or

complements, ste as in:

- Falling doesn’t make you a failure, staying down does

- Lcan’t help falling intove with you (Hlvis Presley’s song)

- His hand closed upon the karife: he raised it, glanced at it, and let it fall, with a

(c) Carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number and

mood as in:

- Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as

she went down ta look about her, and ta wonder what was going to happen next (9:98)

- Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea (9:13)

- When the last one falls, Imust die wo (7.62)

- ‘Fall to, good friends” said the joiner; and the guests, when they saw how it was,

needed no second asking, but taking up the kenfe and fork fell to valiantly (3: 154)

- But it must have fallen too short or gone too far; so he tried twice more (13:88)

(D ‘Fall’ is both transitive and intransitive verb This rocans thal ‘fal can occur with or

without objects

As an intransitive verb’

- Then he suddenly fell on to his knees and started crving loudly, his hands covering

~ A dead leaf fell in Soapy’s lap (7:99)

- While she was climbing an the hranch, it suddenly broke and Ophelia fell (9:40)

As a transitive verb

- the father thought to himself, “lt cannot surely be Aschenputtel”, and called for an

axe and fall the tree, but there was no one init (3:123)

2.1.1.1.2 Morphological features

The verb ‘fall’ consists of one morpheme as a root According to Quirk et al (1987), like

many olher English verbs, il has five forms: te base “fall”, the —s fortn “falls”, the past fort

“fell”, the past participate “fallen”, the ing participle “falling”

By means of derivation, the verb “fall” itself is also a noun as in

- Pride comes hafore a fall (Proverb)

- The young sleuth’s sudden fall had caused the puppy to fly from her arms.(8:69)

Resides, it has some derivates as follows:

«© Lallen (adjective):1 lying on the ground, after falling (used before noun), as in

“The voad was blocked hy a fallen tree’ 2 (ofa soldier) killed in a war,

» Pallible (adjective): able to make mistakes or be wrong, as in ‘Al! koonan beings are fallible’

= Tnfallible (adjective): ineapablz of failure or error, for example The truth was that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his conwades had alwavs locked upon as infallible (1386)

«© lallng (ađj): coming down freely or becoming lower in mưmber, amounf and degree, as in ‘Though a tree grows ever so high, the falling leaves retun to the

ground.’ (Malayan provcb)

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‘Tall’ is also used in suich many compounds as ‘downfall’ (the loss of a person’s money ar power), ‘faliback’ (a plan or course of action that is ready to be used in an emergency if other things fll), ‘falling-off or ‘fall-off (a reduction in the number, amount or quantity of somathing, ‘falling star” (shooting slur) and ‘fallout’ (dangerous radioactive dust, thal is in the air after a nuclear explosion or the bad results of a situation or an action), ‘rightful?’ (dusk),

‘pitfall’ (a hidden danger or difficutty), ‘rainfall’ (the total amount of rain falling in an area in

2 particular time), ‘snowfall’ (an ocuasion when snow falls: the amount of sniow Ihal falls ina particular placc in a period of time), ‘waterfall’ (a place where a strcam or river falls fom a high place), ‘windfall’ (an amount of money that somebody/something wins or receives

unexp

seledly or a (ruil, especially an apple, thal Ihe wind has blown down from a tree) cle

- He could sense the one silent man who always remained besides him, the flavour of his breath when he hent down to umerap hin every tventy-four hours at nightfall, to examine his

- The water treatment was new, now, and Tom's low condition was a windfall to her

(13: 117)

2.1.1.2 Semantic Features

In this section, we will attempt to discuss different senses of ‘fall’ in general,its idioms as well as its synonyms Like many other lexical verbs, ‘fall’ refers to an action or state

- When he had gone through three kingdoms he came one evening to a wood,

and seated herself under the tree to go to sleep, but he heard a rustling in the boughs, and a

- The old idea was that heavy object fell faster (14:93)

- Faithful John, as he spoke the last wards, fell lifeless, and became stone (3:54)

- Tom dodged hither and thither through lanes until he was well out of the track

of vemmning scholars, and then fell into a moody jog (13:84)

2.1.1.2.1, General meanings

In accordance with http://www word-origins.com/definition/fall html , the verb falf comes

from prchistoric Germanic *falfan, which also produced German fallen, Dutch vallen, and

Swedish faila The noun is partly a survival of Old English feall, partly a borrowing from the related Old Norse fall, bul probably mostly a new formation based on the verb

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000 Oxford University Press), Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture {1992.Longman Group), Lac Viet Mtd

2002-RVA dictionary,thefreedictionary.com, yourdictionary.com and some other dictionaries, the verb ‘fil’ in Enplish could be summarized and listed with the following basic meanings,

(1) move downwards

Tn Oxford Advanced Loarner’s Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of English Tangmage and Culture dictionary, the first meaning of ‘fal’ is to move or drop down froma higher

position io a lower position Vietnamese equivalents could be ‘roi’, ‘rot’, ‘d8", ‘nga’ etc

- Ifyou let one drop of his hlaad fall, you will Jose all your land and money (5:11)

- Alice had nol a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed ta be a very deep well (9:2)

- [fitfell, they knew their leader was lost (14:79)

- More snow fell in the winter than could melt away in the svonmer, (14.174)

~ By this time large drops of rain had started ta fall (8:36)

(2) Stop standing/ walking

‘Fall’ is understood as suddenly going down onto the ground after you have been standing, walking, or running, especially without intending to This kind of meaning is used to show the

action of people or animal Tn Viclnamwss, il could be ‘nga’, “đổ, 1@ Below ara some

examples:

- then he watched Claudius fall and die (3:43))

- Fame had come hack; she was mopping the floor where I'd fallen- with sivaight

- Lftred my gun at the same time, and he fell down, 20

Also referring to this meaning, ‘fill’ can be understood as to throw oneself to the ground as

in the following example

- Your life is now at the mercy of the Duke, so fall on your knees and beg for mercy

(5:12)

(3) Decrease or decline

“Tai! is also used as to go down to a lower level amount, qnality and price etc, especially a

much lower one

- Fewer people are visiting its shops, and demand far its holidays has fallen (1:28)

The verb ‘fall’ is also used when the volume or the pitch of sound diminis!

- My friend's voice fell to a whiaper

(4) Become

‘fall’ also functions as a linking verb, which means to start to be in a new or different state

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the verb ‘fal’ has the meaning of passing into a particular state, condition or situation

- Portia had fallen in love with Bassanio 4:4)

- When the liquid from it is poured on the eyes of someone who is sleeping it will make

that man or woman fall in love with the next person he saas (5:19)

- As soon as Tilania fell asleep, the fairies left to do the things that the queen had

- There was once all old king, who having fallen sick, thought to himself, “This is very

(5 Belong toa group

The next meaning is lo belong to or be part of a particular group, area of responsibilily, range of things, or type of things In Vietamese, it means ‘chia thanh’, ‘chia lam’, “thuộc vào

loai’ etc

- The subject falls into two main areas

- Other copulas fall into ovo main classes, according te whether the role of the

subject complement is that of current attribute or attribute resulting from the event described

(© Start doing something

“fal?” also means starting doing something or being involved with something, often without

intending to:

- Mr Walters fell to “shawing off’, with all sorts of official bustlings and activities, giving orders, delivering judgments, discharging directions here, there, everywhere that he

could find a target (13:46)

- As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in the bank opposite,

just above the water's edge, caught his eye, and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice

(7) Mang down

When describing hair or material,

denotes the meaning of hanging down loosely It

might be translated as ‘buéng xuống, 'xõa xuống” or 'rủ xuống" in Vietnamese.

- Her hair fall over her shoulders in a mas:

It could be understood as to happen or take place at a specified time as in

- My birthday falls on a Monday this year

or occur al a specified place as in

- The stress falls on the last syllable

(9) Be directed towards

This verb can be used ta describe the light, shadow or somconc’s cyes or glance with the sense of moving in a particular direction or to come in a particular position In this case, its

Vietnamese equivalents could be ‘hiréng vio", ‘chiéu vao’, ‘nga vao’, "bắt gặp phát”, etc

~ He knew that a yearning glance fell upon him, now and then, through a film of tears,

- Soon her ayes fall on a little glass box that was lying under the table; she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words “EAT ME” were heautifully

- But when the first beams of the sun fell on the garden he saw that the three sacks were all filled, standing one hy the other, and not a even a grain was missing 109)

- An eclipse of the moon can be seen from half of the earth, but an eclipse of the sun cam be seen only in the narrow path where the moon's shadow falls (1420)

(10) Be given by assignment or distribution

In Vietnamese it means ‘trao/giao cho’, ‘dita cho’, ‘ phan cho’, “ủy thác cho’, ‘rai vao", ‘tre

thành nhiệm vu" cle See the following examples

~ The greatest task fell to me

~- Ler face was rather serious, and it was evident from her manner that responsibility

had fallen on her shoulders al an early age (8:42)

- It fell to me te avtify the parents af the victims

TLulso means being given by right or inheritance

- The estate falls to the eldest son

- Then the Tomphams fall heir to the entire estate (8:2

+ Beyond the hil, the land falls away sharply towards the river

In Vietnamese, the verb ‘fall’ with this sensc can be transfated as “thoai thoải xuống" or “dốc

Ifa place falls in a war or an election, a group of soldiers or a political party takes control of

iL Tis Violnarresa equivalents could be “rơi vào”

- Oh that Thad died rather than have fallen into his power (8:32

- It looked as jý all Europeam seould fail do lúa hands (12 106i

- The Inca empire fall to the Spanish conqueror Pesaro a few years after the Aztecs

(14) Die in battle

One more meaning of the verb ‘fall’, which is used literally, is to be killed or wounded at war

or in battle, for example

- Another wave of traops followed the first, ruming past thase who had fallen

- When he saw Brutus strike, great Caesar fell, O what a fall was there! Then Tand you

In Viemamese, we can use ‘hy sinh’, ‘nga xnéng’, ‘nim lai’, ‘thic’, ‘chét” to denote this

- It is their hushands! fault if wives do fall

- Festerday, you fell low Let uy see in the future how high you van rise (2:39) (16) Cut

According ta some clo

ctromic dielionarics Tike the freedictionary.com, ‘fall’ is also a transitive verb which means ‘cut down’ or ‘fell a tree’ This seems to be the old meaning of the verb

- Then he began to fall a tree, but he had not heen at it long before he made a wrong

stroke, and the hatchet hit him in the arm, so that he was obliged to ge home and get

2.1.1.2.2, Meanings in Some Idiams and Praverbs

Idioms and proverbs are of the most valuable treasues of a language In daily communication and in written texts, we can see the frequent appearance of idioms ‘he verb

“fall” is found with 80 idioms and proverbs The grid below discusses only some common ones

fall by the wayside make progress in the wayside for financial

-Kate Bosworth falls head

fall head over heels with Someone, Gear heels for her

especially sudderdy handsome co-star

let the chips fall control events, truth about her husband, where they may because destiny let the chips fall where

controls ther thoy may,

into each life some things will happen to house has just had a rain must fall everyone at some time terrible accident Into each

life some rain must fall

mind

6 fo be lesz than the -IiewoulisaokanyoFhis

all shø

# Sore Feu or starebird stat who fell short of bis

that is needed ot that high standards

you want

something

lo gel a very serious - Breastfed babies are less

fall victim’prey to,

b eas easy as falling i was as easy as falling off a

‘

be falling to condition, especially pieces vị

pieces/bits becanse of age

" to do something which - le is worried that his

fall foul of

mukes samcons angry tccnags kids will fall foul

or which breaks rule, of the law

with the resnit that yon

somebody/something

are punished

fall from grace To do something between filling from

people choose to starve

2.1.1.2.3 Synonyms wf “Fall”

Synonyms are words that mean about the same thing Synonyms add interest and life to roading and writing, Synonyms ean be classified into five sain kinds: semmmtic synonyms, stylistic synonyms, semantic-stylistic synonyms, phraseological synonyms and territorial synonyms The verb ‘fall’ has many synonymous words, In this minor thesis, we would like to

focus on ils semantic synonysns,

(1) The first meaning of “fall” is to move to a lower position It is synonymons with ‘drop’,

‘drip’, ' plummet’, ‘ plunge’, ‘descend’, ‘ timble’,’ topple’, ‘sink’ For example:

- But Sid's fingers slipped and the howl dropped and broke 433)

- The camera glanced off the tip of my finger, and tumbled toward the floor (10: 22)

- She had vision of a child plunging into the water below, perhaps striking her head

(2) Wilh the sense of stop standing, loose balance and collapse, ‘fal" las such synonyms as

‘tumble’, ‘collapse’, * stumble’, ‘ trip’ or ‘go down’ For cxample:

- in an instant both bays were rolling and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like

- The miserable Latter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter, and went

(3) When ‘fall’ is used as to decrease, it might be replaced with ‘decline’, ‘drop’,

‘decrease’, ‘decline’, ‘go down’, ‘diminish’, ‘lessen’, and ‘subside”

- The amount of homework decreased/lessened towards the end of the semester;

- The temperature is going dawn!dropping/decreasing

(4) With regard to the state of passing into a particular state condition, or situation, “fall” can be substituted by ‘become’, ‘go’, ‘gel or ‘Lu?’

- When the Princess of the Golden Palace heard this she became more trustful, and

her heart inclined favorably towards him, so that she willingly consented to become his

- Also, she was growing weak from hunger (8:98)

(3) ‘Fall’ is synonymous lo “be divided! classified into’, ‘form inlo’, ‘group’, ‘ealegorizc’,

‘catalog’, ‘sort’, ‘organize’ in case it refers to belong to a group

- The sample material has been classified into five categories

- The class will be grouped wito two teams to play the game

(6) With the meaning ‘start doing something’, ‘fall’ partly has the similar meaning with

“‘bogin’, ‘start’, “commence? and ‘s

out’

- Tears began to roll down her cheeks (8:53)

- I started to worry that I was traveling in a circle, a very small circle at that, but I

30

(7 Conceming the act of hanging down (of materials and hair), users can replace “fall”

with ‘hang’ or ‘flow’

- Her tong black hair flowed down her back

- Then the puppy ruining a very litde way forwards with its tongue hanging out

of its mouth, and its great eyes half stad (933)

(8) Relating to the sense of happening, ‘fall’ can be used instead of ‘occur’, ‘happen’,

‘come abou’, ‘chance’, ‘lake place’, fall ouv’, ‘befall’, “go down’ and ‘come Lo pass’

- Faithful John had understood it all, and from thai time he remained quiet and sad, Sor he thought to himself that were he to conceal what he had heard from his WSIEF,

-"These coffins”, said she, “were intended for your twelve brothers, but they weni away far from home when you were born”, and she related how everything had come

- As the day progressed, I considered ways to get out of whatever was going down

at the Cullen house tonight (10: 12)

(9) When ‘fall’ describes the way the lighl, shadow or the eyes directs to, il is simitar with

‘settle’, ‘rest’, ‘strike’ or ‘shine’

- Apparently the man noticed nathing amiss, because his eyes rested only casually

- The sunshine struck hot on his fie (4:12)

(9 When being undzrstood as to be given by assignment or distritration, to be given

by right or inheritance, ‘fall’ is synonymous with ‘light’, ‘return’, ‘pass’, ‘devolve’

- the burden of proof devolved upon the defendant

- the land returned to the family

ay ‘Slope downward? and ‘drop downward? can replace “fall” Lo deseribe scenery

- Green inf sloped down to either edge, brown analy tree-roots gleamed below the

surface of the quiet water (118

(12) In order to show the fact of losing power, status or government, ‘fall’ has such

synonyms as ‘fail’, ‘lose office/power’, ‘leave office’, ‘quit’, ‘step down’, ‘resign’

- Te was forced ta leave office because of illegal business dealings

- I don't believe that 1 ought to quit because Lam not a quitter (Nixon, Richard)