ENGLISH CONDITIONALS AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (ON THE BASIS OF THE BOOK HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS BY j k ROWLING)

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, there are four main types such as the Zero Conditional cause and effect, the First conditional open, the Second Conditional unreal and t

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 8220201

ENGLISH CONDITIONALS AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(ON THE BASIS OF THE STORYHARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER

OF SECRETS BY J.K ROWLING)

CÂU ĐIỀU KIỆN TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT (DỰA

TRÊN TẬP TRUYỆN HARRY POTTER VÀ PHÒNG CHỨA BÍ MẬT CỦA J.K

ROWLING)

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM NGÂN

Hanoi, 2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

Field: English Language Code: 8220201 ENGLISH CONDITIONALS AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(ON THE BASIS OF THE BOOK HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER

OF SECRETS BY J.K ROWLING)

CÂU ĐIỀU KIỆN TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT (DỰA

TRÊN TẬP TRUYỆN HARRY POTTER VÀ PHÒNG CHỨA BÍ MẬT CỦA J.K

ROWLING)

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM NGÂN

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr HỒ NGỌC TRUNG

Hanoi, 2018

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled

English conditionals and their Vietnamese equivalents (on the basis of the book

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling) submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2018

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation

First and foremost, my deepest thanks are due to my supervisor Assoc Prof.Dr Ho Ngoc Trung for his invaluable advice, generous assistance and continual encouragement in completion of this study His continual encouragement, careful reading, critical comments and patient guidance made my work more enjoyable and easier

My thanks also go to all lecturers of the Faculty of Graduated Studies, Hanoi Open University who taught me valuable lessons

I would also like to send my thanks to all my informants for their willling participation in the study I greatly appreciate their generosity with their time and efforts in filling in the questionnaire Without them this paper could not have been possible

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family members who have constantly supported, inspired and encouraged me to complete the graduation paper

Abstract

This study comparatively analyses the structures and pragmatic features of English conditionals and their Vietnamese equivalents The analysis is based on the types and other forms or phrases of the conditionals in the languages under study The study analyses both secondary and primary data upon which its conclusion is based

In the analysis, the study has used the Speech Act theory and shown that there are the structures and pragmatic features in the conditionals of the two languages under

study For example, English has several conditional markers including if; Vietnamese has several conditionals markers (nếu…thì, giá mà…thì…) Other

differences include the use of (in Vietnamese conditionals as opposed to English counterparts) a whole sentence represented either by subject and verb or by a verb plus an enclitic It is evident from the findings that conditional clauses account largely for tools mostly used in conversation in both Vietnamese and English, in oral and written discourse, though the written discourse is not discussed here When used in conversation, initialized if - clauses can be used to give directives, speak humorously and sarcastically and offer apologies, commands, advice and instructions The analysis has in addition shown factors that determine the position

of the if-clause The conditionals are seen as reflecting the psychological thoughts and the state of speaker (rebuke, request) These aspects are shown in the use of predictive and future temporal conditionals by both Vietnamese and English speakers The study on the whole has contrasted conditionals in Vietnamese and English at forms and usages levels The study recommends further studies on conducting a comparative analysis of English and Vietnamese

List of tables

Table 2.1: structure of Zero type……… 19

Table 2.2: structure of First type ……… 20

Table 2.3: Structure of Second type ……….21

Table 2.4: Structure of Third type……….21

Table 2.5: Structures of four conditionals types ………23

Table 2.6: Table 2.6: Vietnamese interrogative forms……….30

Table 3.1: Answers made by students when choosing types of conditionals ……… 36

Table 4.1: The ways to translate Conditionals based on four types ……… 58

List of diagrams Diagram 3.1: Errors made by students when using conditional conjunctions ……… …36

Diagram 3.2: Common errors made by students when using pragmatic functions and translating conditionals… 37

List of charts Chart 4.1: classifications of Zero type in the book ……….40

Chart 4.2: Basic types of conditionals in the book ……… 49

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Design of the study 3

Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Previous studies 5

2.2 Mood and tense 6

2.2.1 Mood 6

2.2.1.1 Concepts of mood 6

2.2.1.2 Types of Mood 7

2.2.2Tense 9

2.2.2.1 Concepts of tense 9

2.2.2.2 Types of Tense 9

2.3 English Conditional 11

2.3.1 Definitions 11

a Concepts of Conditional sentences 13

b Types of English conditionals 14

2.3.1.1 The Zero conditionals 14

2.3.1.2 The First conditionals 15

2.3.1.3 The Second conditionals 16

2.3.1.4 The Third conditional 17

2.3.1.5 The Mixed conditionals 18

2.3.2English conditional conjunctions 19

2.3.3Conditional meanings 19

2.3.3.1 Real and Unreal 20

2.4 Vietnamese Conditionals 21

2.4.1 Concepts of Vietnamese conditionals 22

2.4.2Types of Vietnamese conditionals 23

2.4.2.1 Assumption conditionals (Câu điều kiện dự báo giả định) 23

2.4.2.2 Unreal assumption conditionals (Câu điều kiện phản thực) 24

2.4.2.3 Inferential conditionals (Câu điều kiện suy luận) 24

2.4.2.4 Speech act conditionals (Câu điều kiện hành động ngôn từ) 24

2.4.2.5 Superlanguage conditionals (Câu điều kiện siêu ngôn ngữ) 27

2.4.2.6 Comparative symmetry conditionals (Câu điều kiện so sánh đối xứng) 27

2.5 Conditionals in Speech Act theory 27

2.6 Summary of chapter 30

Chapter III: METHODOLOGY 31

3.1 Subjects 31

3.2 Instruments 32

3.3 Procedures 33

3.3.1Data collection procedures 33

3.3.2 Questionnaire 33

3.4 Statistical Analysis 33

3.5 Summary of the chapter 35

Chapter IV: ENGLISHCONDITIONALS AND THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 37

4.1 Structural features of conditionals in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 37

4.1.1 The Zero conditionals 38

4.1.2 The First conditionals 41

4.1.3 The Second Conditionals 43

4.1.4 The Third conditional sentences 46

4.1.5 The Mixed conditional sentences 47

4.2 The pragmatic functions of conditionals used in the book 49

4.2.1 Rebuke 51

4.2.2 Lamentation 51

4.2.3 Argumentation 52

4.2.4 Request 52

4.2.5 Assertion 53

4.2.6 Manipulation 54

4.2.7 Exhortation 54

4.2.8 Mockery 55

4.3 The ways of translating English conditionals into Vietnamese 56

4.3.1 Translating English conditionals based on the Types 56

4.3.2 Translating English conditionals based on the Pragmatic fuctions 59

4 5 Implications for Vietnamese learners to study English conditionals 60

4.4 Summary of the chapter 61

Chapter V: CONCLUSION 62

5.1 Summary of findings 62

5.2 Concluding remarks 62

5.3 Recommendation for Further study 63

REFERENCES i

APPENDIXES iv

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In daily conversation, we communicate with a variety of sentences to express our thoughts; very often we use representative utterances in form of conditionals to perform a logical relation between the condition and the conclusion, the consequence… However, in many cases; we employ conditionals not to express a descriptive message about logical relation between the real and unreal condition and the judgment about the likelihood of the possibility of a state-of-affair In fact, the condition described in these cases is found to have a specific function other than a description of the condition for a normal conditional sentence Rather, the conditionals are assumed to express many meanings from speakers: hoping, warning, threatening… This linguistic fact raises a question about a kind of conditionals concerning their linguistic features Being a young teacher of English, I always wonder how to inspire my students in learning English to get good result after a term After a long time, I realize that good knowledge and high score is not enough We need to have good language behavior whenever we contact the foreigners and how can we use language to achieve our purpose It depends on our ability in communication In this respect, I decide to do my research on the linguistic features of conditionals in communication and translation We will support some special view of the phenomenon of conditionality The main objective will be simply to study structures and pragmatic features of English conditionals:

―English conditionals and the Vietnamese equivalents (on the basis of the story

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling)‖ The findings are

expected to find out the forms and usages of conditionals between English and Vietnamese Therefore, it can help the learners get success in communication or studying English and help us understand and have good manipulative skills of using

language in each conversation

The realization of conditional meaning has been a puzzle and has seemingly escaped uniform descriptions and interpretations Because of this, conditionals have been an object of study in such fields as syntax, semantics and pragmatics Many studies are successful in comparatively analyzing the syntax and semantics of the conditionals in English and in Vietnamese There is hardly any study that has been done to examine how particular meanings are assigned to different types of English

conditionals with reference to Vietnamese This particular research, therefore, was set out to investigate whether there is any relationship between Vietnamese and English conditionals with regard to their pragmatic features

1.2 Aims of the study

The study is to help learners of English use conditionals in English effectively when knowing the structures and the usages of conditionals

As a result, the objectives of the study are:

 Investigating the forms of conditionals in the story Harry Potter and the

Chamber of Secrets;

 Discovering the pragmatic functions of conditionals in the story;

 Examining how English conditionals aretranslatedinto Vietnamese effectively

This study has been completed to suggest some implications for translating and learning English conditionals effectively

1.3 Research questions

To perform the objectives, the research will answer the following questions:

1 What are the forms of English conditionals in the story Harry Potter and the

Chamber of Secrets?

2 What are the pragmatic functions of English conditionals in the story Harry

Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?

3 How are English conditionals translated into Vietnamese?

1.4 Methods of the study

The qualitative and quantitative research approaches are the two paradigms that guide the direction of a research paper from the initial stage to the time of writing the final report In this particular study, the researcher used the qualitative approach owing to its suitability in social research and the fact that it can be applied

in the subjects‘ natural environment (De Vos, 2001) In addition, the rationale behind the choice of the qualitative approach is centered in its strengths It is flexible and emphasizes people‘s lived experiences, their perceptions, their assumptions and their presuppositions as connected the world around them

(Neumann, 2006) In qualitative research, the researcher collects data right from the participants In this study, the researcher collected data from Vietnamese students, who had 10 years learning English gradually in schools

This quatitative research aimed at unearthing detailed information on English conditionals, how they formed syntactically as well as linguistic factors that initiate their use in social discourses The selection of Vietnamese speakers with English proficiency was to enable the researcher to have a good understanding of Vietnamese conditionals

1.5 Scope of the study

This study focuses on syntactic and pragmatic features of conditionals in English and Vietnamese to use as a source material for learners and teachers However, due to the time and the length limit, this paper is confined to the instances

of 294 conditionals from the book ―Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‖ by J

K Rowling This research carried out a survey inNguyen Van Cu High School in

Tu Son, Bac Ninh with 128 students in three classes of grade 12

1.6 Significance of the study

This paper focuses on describing and analyzing the structures and usages of English conditionals described in grammatical books, then examining their usage in

different communication circumstances in the book ―Harry Potter and the Chamber

of Secrets‖ Besides, the paper will also find out the frequency of conditionals in the

book ―Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‖ to hypothesize the presence of

these conditionals and its Vietnamese equivalents Last but not least, the paper suggests some implications for translating English conditionals

1.7 Design of the study

Tne study is designed into five chapters

Chapter I: Introduction provides rationale of the study, research problems, aims and

objectives of the research, the significance of the study and the scope of the research

Chapter II: Literature Reviewsummarizes, synthesizes and reviews critical points of

relevant published works Concepts that are mentioned in the theoretical

background of interpreting include: overview of mood, tense and English conditionals It has shown some concepts and classification of Vietnamese conditionals

Chapter III: Methodologyexplains what methods are employed for data collection

and analysis looks at the selection of subjects and the procedures of data collection and analysis

Chapter IV: Findings and discussionsfinds out the basic types and most common

forms of conditional sentences that appeared in the novel as well as their pragmatic functions, the frequency of conditionals and its Vietnamese equivalents Then, lists out the current mistakes of using conditionals and suggests some implications for translating English conditionals

Chapter V:Conclusion summarizes the main features of conditionals in answer to

the three research questions, condenses the limitations, and proposes some suggestions for further studies

Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies

Conditionals have been mentioned in a number of previous studies not only

in English but also in Vietnamese There are some points of view about the structures and usages of Conditionals According to A J Thomson, A V Martinet (1986), Raymond Murphy (1994), B D Graver (1986) and John Eastwood (1997), conditionals are classified into different types based on two criteria: physicalism (real – unreal) and time (past – present – future)

Moreover, type 0 (zero) is added to indicate condition – consequence by B

D Graver and John Eastwood Meanwhile A V Martinet and Betty Schrampfer Azar put it in type 1 as consequence, habit and truth In addition, Martinet, Azar and Eastwood mentioned a mixed type such as 1 – 3, 2 – 3, 3 – 2

In universal grammar, the linguists such as Fillmore (1986), Langacker (1987) have applied prototype theory on linguistic analyses Eve Sweetser in From Etymonogy to Pragmatics (1990) classified conditional semantics into three domains: content, epistemic and speech act domain

It is understood that content-based conditionals are relating the content of the two clauses mutually The content conditionals can be understood is for the P clause

to identify a situation, which causes or automatically results in the state of affairs

signaled by the Q clauses.According to Quirk et al (A Comprehensive Grammar of

the English Language), there are four main types such as the Zero Conditional (cause and effect), the First conditional (open), the Second Conditional (unreal) and the Third Conditional

Nguyen Khanh Ha (2008) mentioned prototype theory and prototype conditionals in Vietnamese Le Thi Minh Hang (2009) examined the causal relation and conditionals She has explained and demonstrated all kinds of conditionals Vu Thi Nga (2009) has analyzed conditional hedges in Vietnamese communication utterances She examined a lot of different communicative situations especially in Vietnamese literature

In Practical English Grammar (Dang Thi Huong 1998), the conditionals were approached from the view of two separation clauses and Mood categories According to the author, the IF clause was categorized, depending on the speaker‘s

conception, the indicative and subjunctive (based on the correlation of tense and time); the main clause included Infinitive and Modal and would be changed if it referred to the past, present or future This system came from the perspective of theory and conditional problem was solved flexibly However, when applied in practice, this approach is obviously difficult for the readers who are not English majors

Võ Thị Kim Anh (Different Ways to Express Condition andConcession in

English and Vietnamese - M.A thesis,2010) stated thatcondition-consequence

relation is often described as ―If P then Q‖ Herarticle just focused on consequence expressed by subordinatingconjunctions Pragmatic functions of conditional sentences concerning10illocutionary act in English and Vietnamese: threatening, advising, warning,criticizing, offering, requesting, regretting, and

condition-softening are discussed

In this research, the author has described and analyzed the types of English

conditionals both in the sentences If and in other sentences with conditional

conjunctions Pragmatic functions of conditionals are shown in the paper Therefore, some suggestions are mentioned to help Vietnamese learners master translating of English conditionals

2.2 Mood and tense

2.2.1 Mood

2.2.1.1Concepts of mood

Mood is a group of verb forms expressing a particular attitude It might also bedefined as a grammatical category in specific languages English, for example, theindicative mood, expressing factual statements, the imperative mood, expressing commands and the subjunctive mood, expressing possibilities and wishes (EncartaDictionaries, 2009)

Some authors have mentioned the concept of mood in their book According

to E.M.Gordon and I.P.Krylova: ―Mood is the form of which shows the relation

between the action expressed by the predicate verband reality‖ This relation is

established by the speaker who may wish to present an action as a real fact or as a command (a request) or as something unreal, something that does not exist in reality V Vinogradov also expressed the same idea in another way:

―Moodexpresses the relation of the action to reality as stated by the speaker‖

Example:

1 If Lungowe plays tomorrow, we will lose the base ballgame (indicative)

2 If Lungowe played tomorrow, we would lose the base ballgame (subjunctive)

2.2.1.2 Types of Mood

According to M A K Halliday (2004), Mood is classified into Indicative,Imperativeand Subjunctive Indicative types are declarative, interrogative (yes/no and W – H interrogatives)

Furthermore, there have been many views of difficulttypes of Mood; the most common point is that there are three moods: Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive mood

We can use indicative mood to give information (I like reading poetry,

wehad dinner at six…), to express opinions (I think she is a good student…) tomake

promises (I shall do everything I can help you…)

(ii) Imperative Mood

Halliday (2004) mentioned that the Imperative has a different system of Person from indicative since the imperative is the mood for exchanging goods – services, its Subject is you or me or ‗you and me‘ That is difficult to understand

clearly than other concepts.Simply, the word ―imperative‖ derives from Latin

―imperare‖ command Imperative Mood expresses command, prohibition, entreaty

or advice

We have the following different kinds of command:

- Command without a subject (Open the door!)

- Command with a subject (Don‘t you worry! or somebody clean the

board!)

- Command with ―let‖ (Let me take your coat! or Let‘s go outside!)

Thus, in English, the imperative verb is severely restricted in tense, aspect, voice and modality

(iii) Subjunctive Mood

In contrast to the Indicative mood, the Subjunctive usually refers to nonfactual or hypothetical situations

There are two types of subjective - the present Subjunctive and the past Subjunctive

+ The present Subjunctive:

The present Subjunctive of all verbs is identical with the simple present tense indicative, except that the third person singular form is the same as in all other persons (for example: without the ―s‖ ending) The present Subjunctive form of ―to be‖ is ―be‖ for all persons

Example: It is necessary that they be told what happened

In the sentence above, the dependent clause (that…) contains an order;therefore, the mood should be Subjunctive Therefore, the verb should be be told rather than are

told

+ The past Subjunctive:

The past Subjunctive in English consists of the past Subjunctive which is identical with the simple past tense indicative, except that the verb ―to be‖ has

―were‖ for all persons and the past perfect Subjunctive which is identical in form with the past perfect indicative The past Subjunctive is used in conditional clauses implying a negative, or in clause in which the condition is combined with improbability or unreality

Examples:

If I were you I should accept the offer

If I had worked harder, I wouldn‘t have failed the exam

Furthermore, the past subjunctive is also used after such expressions as:

- I wish that… (I wish he visited us more often)

- Suppose that… (Suppose (that) the teacher caught us wasting time)

Types of Mood

2.2.2 Tense

2.2.2.1 Concepts of tense

Jespersen (1931:1) states that tense are―the linguistic expression of time

relations‖; Eckersley and Eckersley (1960:157) conclude that tense ―means the verb form or forms used to express certain time relations Crystal (1985: 352)

postulates that tense is a category used in the grammatical description of verb referring primarily to the way the grammar marks the time at which the action denoted by the verb took place

Finally, Cormier (1986: 26) gives a wider scope to the definition of tense, regarding it as the grammaticalization of location in time Considering the comprehensive quality of Cormier‘s definition, the researcher believes that it is the most appropriate among all the other definitions

2.2.2.2 Types of Tense

a Present Tense

Cormier (1988:37) states that the present moment is a location fixed in the time line Thus, the present tense is the location of the situation at that point Yet, this seems somehow a controversial argument since situations that coincide with the present moment are rare However, such rare situations do occur Cormier gives an

example with a performative verb: I promise to pay you ten pounds Cormier (Ibid.:

Mood

Indicative

Subbjunctive

Imperative

38) adds that one of the most interesting characteristics of the present tense is that it can be used to refer to situations that occupy much longer period of time than the present moment, including the present moment

Example: The Eiffel Tower stands in Paris

b Past Tense

The past tense is used when the happening state, action or event is related to

a definite time in the past, a point that may be called 'then‘ The past tense is the marked member of the opposition past/ present, as Fowler (1974:42) suggests that tense in English has only two values from a formal point of view, i.e., [± past] avoiding the use of ―present‖ in tense opposition A sentence is either marked (+ past) or unmarked (- past)

c The Futurity

Traditional grammarians divide time into threefold opposition, i.e., past, present and future, while structuralisms, being more committed to form than to meaning, reject the term ―future tense‖ because there is no verb form that can denote future time like the two forms representing past/ present respectively Stone, (1976) states that simple futurity denotes an action with reference to future time or

future intention It is distinguished by means of two main markers, viz shall and

will whose function is either to give the meaning of pure futurity or to express

determination or promise The problem arises, according to Hornsby (1977:45) in indicating future activities aside from other notions like likelihood, willingness, and

so on Yet, one can assume that when future events are not inflected by these notions, i.e., likelihood and the like, we are talking about ―pure future‖

The objections that have been raised against dealing with a ―future tense‖ is treated by Daoud (1988:1) who considers tense as a semantic category whose main function is to express the concept of time in its three dimensions, i.e., past, present and future Taking this definition into consideration, Daoud (Ibid.) argues that

―future tense‖ should be treated as an integral part of the English tense-system though most linguists reject the use of ―future tense‖ since the inflectional morphology of the English verb does not include any affix that could be regarded as

an explicit marker of future tense

Three main tenses:

2.3 English Conditional

2.3.1 Definitions

While the word if provides a simple function to express conditional thought, the class of expressions using if are not wholly representative of conditionals at the

level of conceptualization This paper explores some of the ways that conditionals

are verbalized in English by presenting observations obtained from the book Harry

Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling

Semantically, the logical form of the utterance may be enriched (e.g Recanati, 2010) or even overridden (e.g Jaszczolt, 2010) to give the speaker‘s intended meaning, this research shows that a conditional may either be expressed overtly via the construction used, or implicitly, where the intended conditional meaning has to be recovered pragmatically There is thus a crucial interaction between semantics and pragmatics in generating a conditional, since the conditional implicature may be the main, intended meaning (cf Default Semantics, Jaszczolt, 2010) This suggests that conditionality is dependent on an interaction between various sources of communication, from the lexicon and grammar, to the speaker‘s intentions and the topic of conversation

While conditionals may be expressed either directly or indirectly, this paper shows that in each conditional expression there is an underlying expression which

uses if Since in all conditional expressions if is present as a concept, utterances using if express conditional thought directly using the default, most common conditional marker This paper thus shows how conditionals which overtly use if fit

into a broader semantic category

Besides, with the discrepancies between the material conditional and natural language conditionals as motivation, Stalnaker (1975) takes a variant truth-

conditional approach to the study of conditionals, arguing that if bears a non-truth-

functional relation between its antecedent and consequent In particular, he argues

that a conditional is true if and only if in the closest contextually available possible

world in which the antecedent is true the consequent is also true

This account fares better than the truth-functional account in following the pattern of our conditional thought in that it restricts our consideration of the consequent to those situations where the antecedent holds Immediately we have a more intuitive notion of what a conditional is However, what should be noted here

is that Stalnaker does not provide us with a definition for what a conditional is, but

an account of the truth conditions of already established conditionals Therefore, on the one hand we do not have a method of deciding whether an expression is conditional, but secondly, this account is only relevant to conditional assertions and won‘t adequately extend to other conditional speech acts which are not concerned with truth We thus require some definition of conditionals which subsume both conditional assertions and conditional speech acts, and furthermore, a definition which will allow us to decide whether an expression falls into the class of conditional expressions

In his Dictionary of Grammatical Terms, Trask (1992) describes the term

‗conditional‘ as:

A conventional name for certain verb forms occurring in some languages, notably Romance languages, which typically express some notion of remoteness, supposition, approximation or implied conditional

By defining a conditional as ‗certain verb forms‘ which express an ‗implied conditional‘, it would appear that there is an element of circularity to this definition Nevertheless, there are more important problems when applying this definition to the current endeavor Since English does not have any particular tense or inflection depicting conditional mood, to specify that conditionality refers to verb forms is not

an appropriate definition when applying to conditionals in English While we could

talk of the conditional tense in English being expressed with would, it is obvious that we can construct conditional sentences which do not use would, and moreover that would is not only used to introduce a conditional What is required is some

definition that will subsume the relevant constructions, but will not limit conditional expressions to specific verb forms

One aspect of Trask‘s definition which may prove fruitful in shaping our own definition of conditionals is the notion of ‗remoteness‘ Employing a Gricean

(1967) tack, use of the word if typically signifies that the speaker does not know the

antecedent to be certainly true, and gives rise to a quantity implicature that the

speaker is not in a position to make a stronger statement, for example using since in place of if We want to extend this rationale to other conditionals which do not use

if While if may signify some inherent remoteness from reality, pinning remoteness

on the antecedent more generally removes the burden from the word if It should

also be noted that by bringing in a notion of remoteness from reality, we implicitly consider the speaker‘s epistemic stance towards the truth of the antecedent This turns the focus away from a grammatical definition of conditionals towards a pragmatic definition, where the speaker‘s intentions and context of utterance also have to be taken into consideration

a Concepts of Conditional sentences

Bibber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and Finnegan (1999) argue that, as a linguistic and cognitive complex structure, the conditional sentence expresses a myriad of meanings and functions via various manifestations The conditional is considered complex since its realization is dependent upon the occurrence of another event Conditionals are said to have the ability to express logical arguments, especially in academic debates to introduce or develop an argument (Bibber et al, 1999) Not only that, literature has shown that they also express cognitive reasoning, semantic nuances through factual, nonfactual or hypothetical events In addition to the said before, conditional sentences can also be used to mitigate the force of suggestion or command, making it the hearer‘s choice

(a) If breaking the rule of law is a crime, why then do we see law breakers walking the streets freely? (Introducing an argument)

(b) If you expose a candle to excessive heat, it will melt (Factual)

(c) Well, you can join us if you don‘t mind (Suggestion)

Randolph Quirk in ―University Grammar of English‖ (1972) suggested an idea:

―Conditional clauses state the dependence of one circumstance or set of

circumstances on another‖ Collins Cobuild (1990) in ―English Grammar‖ also

pointed out:

―Sentences containing conditional clauses are sometimes called conditional

sentences‖ and as for him conditional clauses begin with ―if‖ or with conjunctions having similar meaning like ―unless‖

From the definition above we can define the Conditional Sentence as one kind of complex sentence of at least two main clauses ―the main clause (result

clause)‖ and ―subordinate clause (if clause)‖ used to express the dependence of one

circumstance or set of circumstances on another and in most of cases two clause orderings are acceptable In others words the ―clause‖ sets up the condition for ―the main clause‖ to produce the result or outcome

b Types of English conditionals

To identify the type of conditionals, the mood of the verb is used as key elements, certain constructions are fairly standard The verb forms are the noticeable feature to descript conditionals and to classify The types of conditionals are identified as shown subsequently is dependent on the various verb forms used in both the protasis (antecedent) and appdosis (consequent) Theidentification, classification and discussion done in this study is inconformity with most grammarians on conditionals such as (Young,1989), Goodwin cited in (Fintel, 2012), and whose classification of conditional sentences is based on the verb in the protasis, Robertson also cited in (Fintel, 2012) whose classification basically follows that ofGildersleeve in classical Greek by identifying four types of conditionals,each determined by the mood of the protasis Depending on which book of grammar one consults, one will find three, four or more English conditional sentence types referred to (and with slightly different names for each), but generally, one can say that there are four that are most recognized These are the zero conditional, the first conditional, the second conditional, the third conditional and the mixed conditional

2.3.1.1 The Zero conditionals

The zero conditional is a structure that expresses that something is (or was) always true, that one action is (or was) always followed by another It is also used to talk about scientific facts - things which always happen under certain conditions It is worth pointing out that most zero conditional sentences will mean the same thing if

―when‖ is used instead of the ―if‖ In the zero conditional therefore, the Present Simple Tense or the past is used in both clauses The Zero conditional is called Zero

because it is not about what might, or will, happen in the future, or about hypothetical or unreal situations, but about things that always happen when something else is done

Time reference

of main clause

Present Pre cont Past

Now/

always Present Past

Real/ possible Timeless

Generic

excessive heat, John is cursing,

Linda was sad

it melts

it means that he is very angry she just stared into the distance

Table 2.1: Structure of Zero type

2.3.1.2 The First conditionals

The first conditional (also called conditional type 1) is a structure used for talking about possibilities in the present or in the future In other words, it is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled

Hypotheticality Temporality

If + [pre] Pres/

future

Pre modal Will/ must/

can/ may

Pre/ future Real, possible

& probable

Pre/future time-bound: explicit

Table 2.2: Structure of First type

Type 1: If present + will simple form

Example:

If it rains we may get wet

2.3.1.3 The Second conditionals

The Second Conditional (also called type 2) is a structure used to talk about unreal

situations in the present or in the future It is used to talk about impossible

situations

Table 2.3: Structure of Second type

Time reference

of main clause

Non past

[past, modal]

Would, should,

Could, might Would, should, could

Now or any time

Non past

Unreal, hypothetical conditional with probable

[past, modal]

would/should/could/

result

Unreal (counterfactual, hypothetical)

Present

Present future

If I won the lottery, I would by a car

Type 2: If + past + conditional

Example:

If I were you, I would drive more carefully

If she had a house, her life would be better

It is worth noting that the action in the second conditional is characterized by unreality

Example:

If I were the Queen of England, I would give everyone a chicken

If pigs had wings, they would be able to fly

2.3.1.4 The Third conditional

The Third Conditional (also called type 3) is a structure used for talking about unreal situations in the past In other words, it is used to talk about things which DID NOT

HAPPEN in the past The action in the third conditional is characterized by impossibility

past Counterfactual,

unreal conditional &

unreal probable past result

past

Table 2.4: Structure of Third type

Type 3: If + past perfect + perfect conditional

Example:

If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam

If the driver had fastened his seat belt, he would probably have survived the accident

It is worth noting that while the first conditional and second conditional focus

on the present or future, time in the third conditional is the past and signifies a completed action in the past The condition, therefore, cannot be fulfilled because

the action in the if-clause did not happen

2.3.1.5 The Mixed conditionals

Mixed conditionals are combined with two different types of conditionals patterns These combinations are not all that frequent, but the most common

combination is when we have a type 3 conditional in the if-clause (if + past perfect) followed by a type 2 conditional (would + infinitive) in the main clause

+ Mixed third / second conditional

With this combination we are contrasting an imagined or real event in the past with the present result of that Consider these examples:

Examples:

If he had taken the medication as prescribed, he wouldn't still be lying sick

in bed

If she had taken reasonable precautions, she wouldn't be pregnant now

Note that we can also convey the same idea of past event and present result by using type conditional (if + past perfect would've + past participle) in both clauses:

+ Mixed second / third conditional

The other possibility, though this is less common, is when there is a type 2 conditional in the if-clause (if + past simple) followed by a type 3 conditional (would've + past participle) in the main clause

With this combination, we are describing ongoing circumstances in relation to a previous past event Consider these examples:

If you were not such a poor dancer, you would have got a job in the chorus

line in that musical

If you were not so blind to his faults, you would have realized that he was

out to swindle you

In short, types of Conditional Sentences can be summed up as in the tables below:

Example If it rains, we will get wet

2- Unreal in

present, future

Simple Past Was, were//V2/ed

Would + be/V bare

Example If I were you, I would be more carefully

3- Unreal in past Past Perfect Would + present perfect

Example If she had worked hardly, she wouldn‘t have lost the job

0 (zero) - Reason result

Table 2.5: Structures of four conditionals types

2.3.2 English conditional conjunctions

As it has been formerly stated, most studies investigating the concept of conditionals usually focus on standard conditional constructions which consist of a conjunction with two clauses, namely, the proteases and apodosis The role of the conditional conjunction in conditional sentences will be briefly explained Dancegyer (1998) suggests that a conjunction in a conditional sentence can have two roles First, it is a marker of non-assertiveness, whereby its position in front of

an assumption shows that there are reasons for presenting the assumption as unassertive Second, it introduces the conditional clause showing that there is a connection between the conditional and result clause in the conditional sentence (Fauconnier (1994))

Similarly, Tynan and Lavin (1997) believe that the main role of the connective conjunction in a conditional sentence is to express the assumptions of the speaker regarding the relation between the two clauses in the conditional They interpret the conditional sentence to mean that if the conditional clause is true, the result clause will be true and the speaker does not assert that the conditional clause

is true The following section will explain the conditional meanings

2.3.3 Conditional meanings

This section discusses conditional meanings in general and is divided into two subsections: the first subsection discusses the meaning of conditionals It argues that conditional sentences should be grouped into two types, namely, real conditionals and unreal conditionals Real conditionals are expressed by a speaker who has no negative belief about the fulfillment of the condition, whereas unreal conditionals

are uttered by a speaker who has a negative belief about the fulfillment of the condition

2.3.3.1Real and Unreal

Traditional grammarians (Azar 1981, Carter and McCarthy 2006 and Murphy.2012) classify conditional sentences in the English language into three types: real, hypothetical and unreal conditional The three types are illustrated below respectively:

a If it rains, the match will be cancelled

b If it rained, the match would be cancelled

c If it had rained, the match would have been cancelled

This classification is based on the forms that are used to express conditional meaning in English However, there are more time references that can be indicated

in conditional sentences For example, real conditionals can indicate the past or the present, as shown respectively in the following examples:

a If he was at the jail yesterday, he had a bad time

b If he is at the jail now, he is having a bad time

Therefore, some linguists usually classify conditional sentences regarding their semantic meanings into two types The first type includes all real conditionals and the second type includes all unreal conditionals There are more than one definition and term that describe the two types of conditionals For example, Sweet (1898) classifies conditionals into two types: open versus rejected conditionals Sweet (1898) states that open conditionals do not imply any thing in relation to the fulfillment of the condition; however, they leave the truth of the statement open In contrast, rejected conditionals imply the rejection of the condition (Kruisinga and Erades 1960)

In the same way, Jarvis (1971) divides conditional sentences into two groups: non-counterfactual versus counterfactual Jarvis (1971) states that the speaker in non-counterfactual conditionals does not commit himself to the realization of the event in the protasis In contrast, the knowledge of the speaker in counterfactual conditionals typically indicates that the protasis is false Similarly, Palmer (1974) uses the terms real and unreal conditionals to refer to non-counterfactual and counterfactual Palmer (1974) suggests a relation between the past forms and the unreality in conditional sentences in the English language On the other hand, he suggests a relation between an expected tense and reality

Also, Dancygier (1998) states that two types of conditionals are distinguished in the literature The first type is open conditionals (it is also called real, factual or neutral)

Dancygier (1998; 30) states that open conditionals do not make any predictions about the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the condition The second type is hypothetical conditionals (it is also called closed, unreal, rejected, non-factual or counterfactual) and Dancygier (1998; 30) describes it as an expression of the speaker's negative belief as to the fulfillment of the condition

Also, Dancygier (1998, 34) adds that `open conditionals are seen as neutral with respect to the fulfillment of the condition, and hypothetical ones are said to present it as contrary to expectation, assumption or fact, depending on time reference'

This thesis follows the linguists above in assuming that conditionals should

be classified into two groups The first group will be called real conditionals and it will include all conditionals that are expressed when the speaker has no knowledge about the fulfillment of the condition and does not make any prediction about this fulfillment Also, this type includes all the possible types of time references It means that it will involve the past, present and the future The following conditional sentences are real conditionals in the English language:

a If he was at the jail yesterday, he had a bad time

b If he is at the jail now, he is having a bad time

c If he is at the jail tomorrow, he will have a bad time

In contrast, the second group will be called unreal conditionals The unreal conditionals will include all conditionals that are expressed when the speaker has a negative belief about the fulfillment of the condition This type will include the unreal conditionals that indicate the past and they are contrary to fact, the present and contrary to assumption or the future and contrary to expectation The following examples illustrate the three types of unreal conditionals in the English language

a If he had been at the jail yesterday, he would have had a bad time

b If he were at the jail now, he would be having a bad time

c If he were at the jail tomorrow, he would have a bad time

2.4 Vietnamese Conditionals

2.4.1 Concepts of Vietnamese conditionals

Vietnamese conditional is a compound sentence, consisting of a main clause (vế chính) and a subordinate clause (vế phụ) Before the subordinate clauses, there

are conditional conjunctions such as nếu, giá, giả sử… Furthermore, in Vietnamese, there is a conditional conjunction standing before main clause (thì), they become the pairs of conditional conjunction such as nếu…thì, giá …thì, giả sử…thì…

Semantically, the two clauses make the full meaning of the sentence; without any clauses, the sentence is meaningless Syntactically, the connection between two clauses cannot make the clear expression and closely link rules because Vietnamese

is an isolating language The evidences conclude conjunctions, clause order, modal verbs and context

i Structure of Vietnamese Conditionals

The basic structure based on the above theory:

Conditional conjunctions are very important in this structure because the conditional evidences in Vietnamese conditionals are not clear and nearly without rules According to Nguyen Khanh Ha (2005), the pair of conditional conjunction

nếu…thì is used more often than other ones, so that the structure of nếu…thì is able

to be Vietnamese conditional model We can describe the structure:

In the research, Ha (2005) confirmed the important role of conditional conjunctions in Vietnamese conditionals She manipulated the Mental spaces of Fauconnier (1985) They have a view that linguistic communication involves the construction of superlative structure away from language Spiritual spaces, which are the structures, are more different than other linguistic structures but created in any discourse; it depends on the guidelines provided by the language expressions Linguistic expressions play the role of creating new spaces, the elements within that space, and relationships between the elements Language expressions play the role (Conditional conjunction + subordinate clause) – Main clause

Nếu A (thì) B

of creating new spaces, the elements within that space, and the relationships between the elements

Based on Mental spaces, conditional conjunctions are classified into three major functions In general level, conditional conjunctions are the language units creating space for conditional space (hypothetical) In word level, they are the sign

of non-confidence and before a predicate (assumption) implies that the speaker has reason to present the predicate as an indelible matter (hypothetical) In sentence level, they introduce one of the clauses in conditional sentences It affirms the close relationship between the conditional clause and the main clause in a given cognitive domain

2.4.2 Types of Vietnamese conditionals

Because Vietnamese is an isolating language, Ha (2005) mentions thatconditionals are categorized into six types based on the semantic relationship

between two clauses They are assumption conditionals (câu điều kiện dự báo giả

định), unreal assumption conditionals (câu điều kiện dự báo phản thực), inferential

conditionals (câu điều kiện suy luận), speech act conditionals (câu điều kiện hành

động ngôn từ), superlanguage conditionals (câu điều kiện siêu ngôn ngữ)

andcomparative symmetry conditionals (câu điều kiện so sánh đối xứng)

2.4.2.1 Assumption conditionals (Câu điều kiện dự báo giả định)

The casual relationship between two clauses is cause – effect These imagined futures form the basis of important human cognitive activities, which is

the prediction

Example: Tôi vẫn nhớ bố tôi và nghĩ rằng nếu tôi có mặt trên cái đồn tiền

tiêu phía Bắc đó, hẳn bố tôi sẽ sung sướng vô cùng.(Dương Thu Hương

Hành trình thơ ấu 293)

Nếu (thì)

Positive attitude  positive prediction

Neutral attitude - neutral prediction

A

Sẽ Chắc

Có lẽ Hẳn …

B

Negative attitude - negative prediction

2.4.2.2 Unreal assumption conditionals (Câu điều kiện phản thực)

In the case of unreal assumption conditions, this is a mismatch between the conditional space and its original space The original space of utterances is the real, which the listener can identify from the context and previous utterances The space performs aneventnot changed.We have two small classes:

- Unreal assumption conditionals denoting counterfactual assumptions

Em vẫn cứ ở chợ với bố em đến hết đời nếu cô em không tới lôi ra khỏi cái

hũ nút ấy

- Unreal assumption conditionals denoting improbable unreal assumption:

Sao hôm nay bố tôi không ở nhà Nếu bố tôi có nhà thì tôi đâu đến nỗi này

2.4.2.3 Inferential conditionals (Câu điều kiện suy luận)

These conditionals express speakers‘ (writers‘) deductions The general meaning of these conditionals is Nếu (I know) A thì (I infer) B, there are five kinds

of

- If clause gives the consequence, the main clause gives the origination:

Nếu ông có hành vi nào tỏ ra chống đối chế độ này thì chỉ do tự ái mà thôi

- The main clause introduces or classifies the phenomena/ event in If clause:

Nếu khối mỡ dưới da bụng dày 4,5 cm trở lên, thì được xem là béo phì bệnh

lý (nguy cơ tim mạch, tiểu đường cao)

- The main clause gives the speaker‘s evaluation about the event in If clause:

Sính cảm thấy yên tâm về hạnh phúc của mình, ―Nếu nó là con trai thì nhất‖

- If clause gives a hypothesis, the main clause concludes:

Mày nên nghĩ cho kỹ, tao thấy nếu cứ như những điều mày viết trong này (tôi đưa quyển sổ cho Châu) thì mày và Sính là hai người khác nhau lắm

- If clause gives the basis for calculating, the main clause gives the results

Nếu tính riêng đất nông nghiệp thì bình quân một khẩu nông nghiệp có 0,1

ha, một lao động nông nghiệp có 0,34 ha, một hộ nông dân có 0,5 ha

2.4.2.4 Speech act conditionals (Câu điều kiện hành động ngôn từ)

There are two kinds of speech act conditionals: the whole conditional sentence is a speech act (the speech act has conditional content) and the conditional sentence has the main clause as a speech act (the conditional speech act)

(i) the speech act with conditional content

Cao Xuan Hao (1991) and Nguyen Khanh Ha (2005) analyse conditionals into three groups:

a Interrogative sentences: the main clause is interrogative form, if clause

is not a question

- explicit questions:

(See Table 2.6: Vietnamese interrogative forms)

- questions expressing suspiciousness:

These are interrogative questions that begin with phải chăng, hay là, không biết,

liệu … and finish with ư, chăng, không biết, nhỉ… They express the suspiciousness

and incertitude

Example: Nếu tôi lo cho cô được một cái giấy phép lập một tổ hợp làm nước

mắm, liệu cô có kham nổi không? (Nguyễn Thị Minh Ngọc p27)

- questions as exclamations:

These are the exclamations using interrogative forms without answers; the

intonation has a different emotional tone We use the words biết mấy, biết bao, bao

nhiêu, chừng nào, đâu…

Example: Nếu tôi lấy một người đàn bà khác, tôi sẽ hạnh phúc bao nhiêu?

b Narrative statement:

- Deontic conditionals (Câu điều kiện đạo nghĩa):

The conditionals are used to guide or adjust behavior‘s dialogue person In these

conditionals, there are deontic expressions like: nên, cần, phải, có thể… in main

clause

Example: Nếu ông biết rằng lấy văn sĩ ấy cô em ông sẽ phí hoài hạnh phúc

thì ông nên lấy quyền lực làm anh ra mà ngăn cản, đâu phải bạo động

(Chuyện riêng Tuần báo đàn bà 128/1941)

- Conditionals as requests (Câu điều kiện có giá trị cầu khiến):

The main clauses in these conditionals include the word expressing the request hãy,

cứ, đừng, chớ…

Example: Nếu bạn chỉ quen ăn thịt hãy loại bỏ mỡ cho đến khi mắt thường

không còn nhìn thấy mỡ (Lê Thúy Tươi p 78)

- Conditionals with other illocutionary acts

In many cases, the conditionals express verbal value clearly; however, their structures are not particular Therefore, to realize the conditionals, we base on the content, expression word or context…

 Recommendation (Dặn dò): Nếu có biến, Tóc Đỏ đưa hai em đến nơi an

toàn nhé

 Threatening (Đe dọa): Nếu đằng ấy không cho tớ đi, tớ sẽ báo cho mẹ

đằng ấy bắt đằng ấy về nhà

Table 2.6: Vietnamese interrogative forms

c perfomative statement (Câu ngôn hành):

They are the indicative statement sentences It is that they express the act when speaking

Example: Xin lỗi ông, nếu như trong lúc cao hứng tôi đã xúc phạm đến

những điều ông cho là thiêng liêng.(Nguyễn Khắc Phục p160)

(ii) the conditional speech act:

• example: nếu bạn ở vùng trồng mía, đến mùa thu hoạch đƣợc

ăn mía thỏa chí, chẳng cần ăn cơm cũng béo, đúng không nào?

The conditionals have limited quality The IF-clause is a group of words or as an idiom The relationship between IF-clause and main clause is loose IF-clause is used as hedging to make more polite

-Anh gì, à anh Núi ơi, làm ơn giúp em một tay?

- Gì cơ?

-Cái màn của em bị mắc…đấy, anh giúp em, nếu anh không vội

(Lê Lựu.p14)

2.4.2.5 Superlanguage conditionals (Câu điều kiện siêu ngôn ngữ)

In this kind of conditionals, the preceding clause is the main clause

Công việc ở công ty vẫn tiến triển bình thường nếu không muốn nói là trôi chảy

The main clause notifies or expresses opinions, but the speakers (writers) do not ensure a good expression Therefore, IF- clause is expressed the writer‘s (speaker‘s) suspicion

2.4.2.6 Comparative symmetry conditionals (Câu điều kiện so sánh đối xứng)

In these conditionals, the function of the clause is compared to evaluate the corresponding or contradictory content in another clause The comparison is the database for listeners to compare and identify the similarities and differences in the content of other clause; the relationship between two clauses is symmetrical

Example: Nếu một trong những ngần ấy năm qua, là những ngày đáng nhớ,

thì năm nay lại là những ngày ta cố quên đi

2.5 Conditionals in Speech Act theory

In the speech act (theory) model, all conditions are seen as implicit performatives which are used to do something in addition to stating condition The model states that the meaning of any utterance cannot be understood apart from the speaker‘s intent, the situational linguistic context as well as the linguistic form Young (1989) suggests that viewing conditionals under the speech act model is like viewing a problem from different angles which usually results in a clearer understanding This can be assimilated to taking pictures of different sides of the building, for a picture of the front of the building may be an accurate representation but it cannot provide the viewer with an understanding of the whole building Hence, the use of the Speech Act theory makes the understanding of conditionals clearer in the present study

The theory of "implicature" was proposed by Grice in a series of lectures at Harvard in 1967.Grice recognized that the meaning of communication is dependent not simply on what is said, but also on what is implicated (implied) He distinguished between the inferences that one could possibly draw from an utterance and the inference that the speaker intended The latter he called implicatures This concept arose out of five principles (or rules) that he formulated by which efficient, rational, and cooperative use of language is achieved

Since meaning is conveyed through both the linguistic activity and the situational context, it follows that there is more communicated than what is said

"The words and sentences on the page are reliable clues, but they cannot be the total picture The more pressing question is how the texts function in human interaction.‖

Two pioneers of speech act theory are J L Austin and John R Searle Their basic thesis is that people actually perform acts by using speech patterns Austin begins by saying that there are a number of utterances that are not reports about reality and therefore not subject to being true or false Instead, these utterances are

actions (e.g., "I name this ship Queen Elizabeth" or "I bet you a dollar it will rain

tomorrow") By making the utterance the speaker is actually performing the action

Such use of language is termed "performative." Thus, Austin theorizes, language may be used either to say something about reality (constative utterance) or to do something (performative utterance)

Often the performative will be marked in the surface structure by a definite formula: the first person singular pronoun, the present tense, and a performative verb, such as promise, warn, thank command, congratulate, or apologize Other times it will not be overtly marked in the surface structure For example, "Can you pass the salt?" would be the implicit form of "I request that you pass me the salt.‖Thus, there are two categories of performatives: explicit performatives (marked in surface structure by standard formula) and implicit performatives (not marked in surface structure by standard formula)

Performatives can carry a certain force (rebuke, warning, etc.) or can achieve

a certain effect (conviction, persuasion, etc.) The first is called an illocutionary act (e.g., "He urged me to shoot her") and the second is called a perlocutionary act (e.g.,

"He persuaded me to shoot her") If an illocutionary act fulfills all its necessary conditions, it will produce in the hearer recognition of the intent of the utterance

In order for communication to be effective, the speaker must get the hearer to recognize the intent of his utterance This may be accomplished in several ways which one the speaker chooses depends on situational factors He may indicate his intent in a conventional manner by the standard formula, a recognized device in the surface structure other than the standard formula, a sentence-type that represents a certain illocutionary force, or in a non-conventional manner by framing his words in such a way (without any commonly recognized surface structure marker) so that the audience can make the proper inferences The first would be a direct speech act; the other three would be indirect speech acts

Indirect speech acts which are constructed by questioning or stating one of the necessary conditions are called conventional Some, however, do not follow this

pattern; e.g., "Boy, I'm starving" can be used for a request Such nonconventional

indirect speech acts seemingly violate Grice's principles of communication and place the burden on the hearer to make the proper inference

The hearer can usually discern that an utterance is a certain type of performative by inference from what was said in light of the context For example, the utterance "There is a bull in the field" could either be a simple remark or a warning It all depends on which side of the fence the person being addressed is standing! In the same way one can infer from the context and what was said that Martha's utterance (John 11:21) has the illocutionary force of a rebuke

Basically there are two elements involved in understanding an utterance: the propositional meaning, or what was said, and the intent of the speaker, or why it was said (the illocutionary force)

In some cases the two elements are not detachable; the propositional content includes the force indicating device If the fellow picking daisies on the other side

of the fence recognized only the propositional meaning of "There is a bull in the field," he would probably end up being gored He may have been able to parse every word and to look up the meanings in a lexicon, but he would have failed to understand because he missed the intent Both elements should be recognized as an interconnected unit Illocutionary force then is an aspect of meaning that can be described in terms of conditions or rules Propositional content conveys what is being said, and the illocutionary force conveys how it is to be taken To understand the statements in Scripture, exegetes must be sensitive not only to the propositional meaning but also to devices that mark illocutionary force

2.6 Summary of chapter

This chapter has presented the theory of conditionals sentences and other previous studies related to sentences have been reviewed in both Vietnamese and English The theory of conditionals such as definition, structure and other concepts

as mood, tense, conditional conjunctions and conditional meanings have been made clear in Chapter 2 Not only that, the chapter has also listed the types of conditionals

in Vietnamese and in English clearly Briefly, what has been in this chapter is the theoretical background and framework for discussing and finding in Chapter 4

Chapter III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Subjects

3.1.1 Context of the study

This is a conduct research that provides a deeper outstanding of conditionals

and the application of conditionals in the book named Harry Potter and the

Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling There are a few instances where research has

been conducted on the conditionals in the book by quantitative and qualitative approach

Joanne Rowling (31 July 1965), writing under the pen name J.K Rowling, is

a British novelist, philanthropist, film and televisionproducer and screenwriter best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series Since then, Rowling has written four books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith—the crime fiction novels The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fantasy novel written by

British author J K Rowling and the second novel in the Harry Potter series The book was published in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998 by Bloomsbury and later, in the United States on 2 June 1999 by Scholastic Inc

The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls of the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened and that the "heir of Slytherin" would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families These threats are found after attacks which leave residents of the school "petrified" (frozen like stone) Throughout the year, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione investigate the attacks It won high praise and awards from critics, young readers and the book industry, although some critics thought the story was perhaps too frightening for younger children Much like with other novels in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets triggered religious debates; some religious authorities have condemned its use of magical themes, while others have praised its emphasis on self-sacrifice and on the way in which a person's character is the result of the person's choices

Several commentators have noted that personal identity is a strong theme in the book, and that it addresses issues of racism through the treatment of non-human, non-magical and non-living people Some commentators regard the diary as a