The english complex noun phrases and their vietnamese equivalents in translated version of the novel love story by erich segal

To achieve this end, descriptive method is used to give the deep and detail description of functional and structural features of English complex noun phrases reference with Vietnamese eq

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS THE ENGLISH COMPLEX NOUN PHRASES AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION

OF THE NOVEL “LOVE STORY” BY ERICH SEGAL

(Cụm danh từ phức Tiếng Anh và những tương đương trong Tiếng Việt trong bản dịch cuốn tiểu thuyết “Câu chuyện tình yêu”

của Erich Segal)

HOANG THI THOM

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Dang Suu

Hanoi, 2020

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

“The English complex noun phrases and their Vietnamese equivalents in

translated version of the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal” 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, 2020

Hoang Thi Thom

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Dang Suu

Date:………

A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate Studies

at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam 6

2.3.3 The similarities and differences between English and

Vietnamese complex noun phrases

2.2.4 Translation theory

34

42

CHAPTER 3: THE COMPLEX NOUN PHRASES IN THE

NOVEL “LOVE STORY” AND THEIR VIETNAMESE

EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION

43

3.3 Complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich

Segal and their translated version

43

3.5 Mistakes of Vietnamese students when learning English 54

complex noun phrases

3.6 Implications for teaching and translating complex noun

4.4 Suggestions for further studying 59

REFERENCES……… APPENDICES………

Table 3.2: The learners’ acquisition levels on the identify of

post-modification in English complex noun phrases

53

Table 3.3: The learners’ acquisition levels on syntactic function of English

complexnoun phrases

53

Table 3.4: The learners’ acquisition levels on the use of word order in

English complex noun phrases

53

Table 3.5: The learners’ acquisition levels on the ability of translating

English noun phrases into Vietnamese

54

ABSTRACT

The study aims at helping Vietnamese teachers and learners of English identify functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in English and Vietnamese and pointing out the expressions of complex noun phrases in the novel

"Love Story" by Erich Segal and their equivalents in Vietnamese translated version

as well as providing them some suggestions for improving the teaching-learning process of English complex noun phrases To achieve this end, descriptive method

is used to give the deep and detail description of functional and structural features

of English complex noun phrases reference with Vietnamese equivalents Basing on the qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study has pointing out the various features of English complex noun phrases with reference to Vietnamese from examples extracted from the novel "Love Story”.Furthermore, basing the result of survey, the author has pointed out the difficulties in learning English complex noun phrases at high school, so the study will provide a comprehensive and overall knowledge about functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in English Besides, the Vietnamese learners will get new knowledge about the structure of complex noun phrases which appear in the novel "Love Story" This thesis has focused only on studying the English complex noun phrases in the novel

“Love Story” by Erich Segal with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Therefore, there are still some aspects related to this problem left for further researchers

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

In today’s world of globalization, the English language has become part and parcel

of every existing field It has been an international language of communication, business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on It is now the main language of books, newspapers, airports, international business and academic conferences, science technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international competition, pop music and advertising A lot of career opportunities are opened to English speaking people anywhere and everywhere Therefore, increasingly people are getting in the learning of English, since it is really important to both the personal and professional level However, teaching is not always easy There are many differences in phonology, vocabulary and grammar Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own ideas, while grammar is the study of words and the ways words work together, an invisible force that guides us as we put words together into sentences Any person who communicates using a particular language, consciously or unconsciously becomes aware of the grammar of that language Learning and teaching English, reading with comprehension or translating material from English into Vietnamese or vice versa, always create difficulties for learners particularly because of the differences between English and Vietnamese

In order to help learners have a better knowledge of English, it is of great importance to predict difficulties from the differences between the two languages and solve them In English grammar, word combination in phrase is considered to

be one of the most difficult phenomena Noun phrases, especially complex noun phrases seem to cause great deal of trouble when translating them in general from the source language text into the target language text and vice versa This is also the case when the author reads the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal While the translation process is quite complex as it requires translators to put a lot of thoughts

on a variety of aspects beyond the materials to be translated The materials are not only written in different languages, but they also represent different cultures, differ greatly in terms of linguistic, literary and cultural-social conventions For this reason, the author concerns a good deal with the translation of literary works and

assigned the paper the title “The English complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version”

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The aims of the study are to help Vietnamese learners and translators have deeper knowledge of noun phrases, especially complex noun phrases and then analyzing the complex noun phrases from the novel “Love Story ” by Erich Segal and the equivalents in the translated version in Vietnamese The study helps them avoid making mistakes in translation

There are three main objectives in this study The first object is describing the syntactic features of English complex noun phrases with the references to their Vietnamese equivalents The second one is finding out the similarities and differences between the structure of complex noun phrases in English and in Vietnamese And lastly, it is giving some suggestion for teaching and translating complex noun phrases to Vietnamese learners in effective ways

1.4 Methods of the study

Firstly, the descriptive method is used in the first stage to give the deep and detail description of syntactic features of English complex noun phrases with reference to Vietnamese equivalents Moreover, questionnaires are used to collect reliable data,error analysis is used to find out the particular mistakes made by students at Vinh Bao high school when using English complex noun phrases

Secondly, qualitative research is used It can involve collecting quantitative information, involves gathering mass of raw data from different powerful sources

In addition, quantitative research is used to count and classify features and construct statistical modelsand figures to explain what is observed on structural and functional features of English complex noun phrases with Vietnamese equivalents

Furthermore, the comparative method is used to find out the expressions of complex noun phrases in the novel "Love Story" and their equivalents in Vietnamese translated version

1.5 Scope of the study

The study is focused on syntactic features of the structure of English and Vietnamese complex noun phrases from perspective of traditional grammar and in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and then find out the similarities and differences between complex noun phrases in English and Vietnamese from the novel “Love Story” All the data are typical written examples from the collected materials or extracts from the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal in the source language text and its translated version Apart from the novel, the examples for illusion are also taken from some grammar books and source books

1.6 Significance of the study

The finding of this study is expected to give valuable contributions theoretically and practically

Theoretically, this study will give deeper our understanding and knowledge about the syntactic functions of English complex noun phrases in reference with the Vietnamese equivalents

Practically, the study will bring the benefits to language teachers, translators, learners and people who are in favor of it

1.7 Structure of the thesis

The study consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1: “Introduction” that states clearly the reasons for doing the research and the aims, the objectives, the scope of the research, the significance of the research as well as the structure of the study

Chapter 2: “Literature review” that gives a critical review of the previous studies relating to the research problem under investigation and presents the theoretical background employed as tools for conducting the whole srudy

Chapter 3: “The complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version” that describes and analyzes the functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in the novel with reference to Vietnamese equivalents in order to provide some possible suggestions for improving teaching-learning process of English complex noun phrases for Vietnamese teachers and students of English

Chapter 4: “Conclusion” that makes conclusion on each of the research objectives, implications, limitations and suggestions for further research

References come at the end of the study

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section, previously conducted research in the detail fields of noun phrases, especially complex noun phrases will be presented and discussed This must be done in order to place the thesis in the context relevant to the research which will be conducted Furthermore, it will provide the readers with some basic knowledge of the background and present state of this field of research

2.1 Previous studies

2.1.1 Previous studies oversea

According to Paul Robert (1964), "all sentences contain two main parts, a noun phrase and a verb phrase" In English, the two functions tend to be separated – the verb tends to carry the grammatical meaning, while the lexical meaning is more connected with the noun

Fromkin et al (1990) considers "a noun phrase could be an article followed by a noun (the car, ) A noun phrase could also be made of a head and a prepositional phrase as its modifier such as (a man in a uniform) A noun phrase could also contain an adjective phrase as the modifier in the head.”

There were many works overseas related to noun phrase such as Keizer, E (2007)

The English Noun Phrase: The Nature of Linguistic Categorization, Studies in English Language (series) Cambridge:CUP

Quirk, Greenbaum et al (1972) in the book “A comprehensive grammar of the

English language” studied the structure and syntactic functions of English noun

phrases

There were also some studies related to noun phrases and complex noun phrases

such as Sharelle Sanglof, (2014) Pre- and Postmodfication in Noun phrases ; Xiao

Li, (2010) Understanding the Semantic Structure of Noun Phrase Queries

Microsoft Research Association for Computational Linguistics; Michael Elhadad,

(1996) Lexical choice for complex noun phrases Ben Gurion University in the Negev; Nulty, Paul (2007) Semantic classification of noun phrases Optimization

Techniques; Programming Models

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

There were also many studies related to noun phrases in Viet Nam Doctor Ðặng

Ngọc Hướng had the dissertation.“Danh ngữ Tiếng Anh trong sự đối chiếu với

Tiếng việt” which was done in 2009

The scientific report of Nguyen Thi Van Lam (2007) The structure of English

noun phrase Scientific magazine This article aimed at discussing the structure of

English noun phrases both basic and complex

In his book "An outline of syntax", Mr Nguyen Hoa Lac - lecturer in English states

that a noun phrase is a group of words with a noun or pronoun as the main part (the head) The noun phrase may consist of only one word as in this case "Tom arrived yesterday" or it may be long and complex

There were also many thesis of noun phrase in Vietnam, for example, the thesis of

Trinh Thi Vinh (2009) A contrastive analysis of premodification of noun phrases

in English and Vietnamese This study aims to discuss the premodification of noun

phrases in English and in Vietnamese and their impact upon teaching and learning English in the Vietnamese situation Attempts have been to state the similarities and differences in premodification of noun phrases – in the two languages and raise and solve some difficulties and problems arising particularly from differences between English and Vietnamese

Besides, the master thesis of Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong (2013) Word order in

English noun phrases in comparison with Vietnamese was also a contribution to the

noun phrases The study aims at analyzing word order in English and Vietnamese noun phrases to show the basic word orders and the changes of word order in English and Vietnamese noun phrases and find out some similarities and differences between word order in English and Vietnamese

Moreover, the thesis of Nguyen Anh Thi (2007), Reflections on the application of

noun phrases in English – Vietnamese translation aimed at finding out whether

there is a correlation between the comprehension of English noun phrases and the translation performance

Great efforts of the researcher were made to find a better way of teaching and learning complex noun phrases However, they are all minor thesis, many other related issues cannot be discussed thoroughly Compared to those previous studies, this study will will focus on structural and functional features and expressions of

complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and their

equivalents in Vietnamese

2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.1 Phrase in English

2.2.1.1 Definition and types of phrases in English

In English grammar, a phrase is a group of two or more words functioning as a meaningful unit within a sentence or clause A phrase is commonly characterized as

a grammatical unit at a level between a word and a clause

A phrase is made up of a head (or headword)—which determines the grammatical nature of the unit—and one or more optional modifiers Phrases may contain other phrases inside them

Common types of phrases include noun phrases (such as a good friend), verb phrases (drives carefully), adjective phrases (very cold and dark), adverb phrases (quite slowly), and prepositional phrases (in first place)

2.2.1.2 Noun phrases in English

2.2.1.2.1 Definition of English noun phrases

Traditionally, “The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, complement

of the sentence and complement of the preposition phrases from A comprehensive

grammar of the English language (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1972) It can be inferred

from the definition that the functions of noun phrases bring about the recognition of noun phrase For example:

My organization has opened thirty evening classes for the street children

S O C of prepositional phrase

According to systemic functional grammar of M.A.K Halliday, a nominal group (noun phrase) contains the head noun and followed by various other items all of them in some way characterizing the noun These occur in a certain sequence and the sequence is largely fixed although some variation is possible It can be described

as follow:

Pre-modifier + Head noun + Post-modifier

that big-sized Bag on the table

According to Jacobs (1995), noun phrases are word phrases which are used to refer

to things people want to talk about Referring is important, speakers need to refer to people, objects, concepts, processes, and all kinds of entities, and noun phrases serve this function

Noun phrases are groups of words that function like a noun Typically, they act as subjects, objects, or prepositional objects in a sentence Noun phrases are simply nouns with modifiers Just as nouns can act as subjects, objects, and prepositional objects, so can noun phrases Similarly, noun phrases can also work in

a sentence as adjectives, participles, infinitives, and prepositional or absolute phrases The modifier can come before or after the noun If it comes before the noun it's likely to be an article, possessive noun, possessive pronoun, adjective, or participle Modifiers that come after the noun include prepositional phrases, adjective clauses, participle phrases, and infinitives For examples:

The spotted puppy is up for adoption

(Noun phrase as a subject)

At the zoo, I saw a striped zebra

(Noun phrase as an object to the verb "saw")

Mary lives in an eclectic household

(Noun phrase as a prepositional object; preposition = "in")

The car wash was out of order

(Noun phrase with "car" acting as an adjective for the noun "wash")

The Delta Airlines flight to New York is ready to board

(Noun phrase with "Delta Airlines" acting as an adjective for the noun "flight")

She kindly offered water to the gardener working in the hot sun

(Noun phrase as a participle)

The ability to give to others is an important character trait

(Noun phrase as a "to-infinitive")

He had to sit beside the horribly angry girl

(Noun phrase as a prepositional phrase; preposition = "beside")

Her face red with embarrassment, she took her seat beside the man she had

tripped

(Noun phrase as an absolute phrase to the subject "she")

They walked into the sunset, their laughter carrying on the breeze

(Noun phrase as an absolute phrase to the subject "they")

In addition to, In Quirk and Greenbaum’ viewpoint (1973), the complex noun

phrases consist of three components: the head, the premodification, and the postmodification

We see that there are many different attitudes about noun phrases because this is studied from different aspects like: the function of noun phrases, role of noun phrases, or components of noun phrases However, all definitions include some common features such as components and their relationships of noun phrases

2.2.1.2.2 Classification of English noun phrases

English noun phrases can be classified English noun phrases can be classified into the basic noun phrases and complex noun phrases

Basic noun phrases

The basic noun phrases consist of pre-modifier and head noun

Basic noun phrases consists of pronouns, numerals or nouns with articles (indefinite, definite or zero) or nouns with other closed – system items that occur before the noun head including pre – determiners, determiners and post – determiners For examples:

I love old houses

The six young children play in a team

Not only can basic noun phrases consists of pronouns or numerals, but they can also comprise a head noun with determiners or determiners modified by pre-determiners and / or post – determiners The head noun of a noun phrase is the central element and decisive factor in performing the syntactic functions of the whole noun phrase It can be singular count noun such as “book”, plural noun

“books” or mass noun like “ink”

Complex noun phrases

Complex noun phrases contain three components: pre – modification, head noun and post – modification

Pre – modification

The second component of a complex noun phrase is pre-modification, also called pre – modifiers, including modifiers that stand before the head noun Pre – modifiers can be closed – system and / or open – class items Closed – system pre – modifiers are optional in the complex noun phrases Meanwhile, open – class pre – modifiers come after the closed – system ones and precede the head noun

Head noun

As in the basic noun phrase, the head noun, first of all is the central element and core component of the complex noun phrase It may be count or mass noun which dictates concord and (for the most part) other kinds of congruence with the rest of the sentence outside the noun phrase

Post – modification

The third important component of a complex noun phrase is post – modification, called post – modifiers, comprising all the items placed after the head These post – modifiers are mainly realized by prepositional phrases, finite clause (or relative clauses), non finite clauses, adjective phrases, noun phrases or adverbial phrases For examples:

My little brother always feared monsters in the closet

The prepositional phrase ‘in the closet’ modifies (describes) the noun ‘monster’ The noun and prepositional phrase combine to make the noun phrase ‘monsters in the closet’

Both of the people who I share a flat with are nurses

The relative clause ‘who I share a flat with’ post modifies (describes) the noun ‘people’

Noun phrases are often modified by more than one structure For example:

Antique cars, which are bought in SE Asia, are resold in Australia

The noun ‘cars’ is pre modified with the adjective ‘antique’

It is post modified with a relative clause (which…bought) and a prepositional clause (in…Asia)

2.2.1.3 English complex noun phrases

In describing complex noun phrases we need to distinguish the following

constituent parts: The head, the pre-modification and the post- modification

Structure of English complex noun phrase

Pre-modification + Head + Post-modification

The head

According to Randolphin Quirk in A comprehensive grammar of the English language, 1972, 1238 “The head, around which (for the most part) of the other constituents cluster and which dictates concord with other parts of the sentences”:

The tall girl standing in the corner is my sister

The tall girls standing in the corner are my sisters

The tall girl in the corner who has a blue sweater is my sister

Pre – modification

The pre – modification comprises all the items placed before the head It can be formed by:

a Pre-determiners

Central determiners may be preceded by pre determiners They specify quantity in

the noun which follows them, and they are of three major types: quantifiers,

multipliers, fractions

- Quantifiers: All, both, half

These pre-determiners can occur only before articles or demonstratives but, since they are themselves quantifiers, they do not occur with the following ‘quantitatives’

determiners: every, (n)either, some, any, no, enough

All, both, and half have of-constructions, which are optional with nouns and

obligatory with personal pronouns:

all (of) the water all of it

both (of) the children both of (them) half (of) the time half of it

- Multipliers: Double, twice, three/ four…times

- Fractions: One-third, two-fifths, etc

b Determiners

Central determiners include a number of different kinds of word: articles (a, an, the), possessives or genitives (his, her, your), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), interrogatives (which, what).They are initial positions in a noun phrase (if there is no pre determiner) and occupy the same position in a noun phrase Those determiners always precede both the noun and any adjective Moreover, they indicate the kind of reference which the nouns have

For example:

Several new dresses

A profound book

The words in the determiner category are mutual exclusive so nouns can be modified by only one term from this class In case there is co-occurrence of an article or a demonstrative and a possessive in a noun phrase, we normally “need to construct an of-phrase with the possessive pronoun”

The friends of mine

Possessive determiner and “the” can precede either plural or singular noun whereas

“a, this, that” and stressed some modify singular noun, and unstressed some, these, those modify only plural noun

- Article: a , an, the

Articles tend to attach themselves to nouns that refer to physical entities When words are used to refer to an abstract institution, the articles are often omitted whereas the use of an appropriate article is necessary when words refer to concrete entities

“a” and “an” are singular indefinite article, used to introduce a NP into the discourse

“The” occur in a noun phrase if the items have been mentioned before It is used before definite plural or singular noun

- Possessives (genitives): my, own, his, her, etc

These words are called determiners if only they precede a head noun

They can occur with any kinds of noun thus are not restricted with the regard to the countability and number of the head noun

- Demonstrative: this, that, these, those, etc

Function of demonstratives is to point items out as in “this book”

Demonstratives reflect a quality called deixis We have three kinds of deixis: person, temporal, and spatial (typical) For example, if we want to point out something that is close to us, we use “this” and something far, we use “that” as illustrated below

This new dress

That fierce dog

- Interrogatives: which, who, that, etc

Typical begin with the letter Wh For example:

Which child teased the dog?

c Post-determiners

- Cardinal numerals: Apart from one, which can co-occur only with singular count nouns, all cardinal numerals (two, three, etc) co-occur only with plural count nouns:

E.g I have one dog and two cats

- Ordinal numerals: except first, co-occur only with count nouns All ordinals usually precede any cardinal numbers in the noun phrase:

E.g The hall is on the first floor

- Quantifiers

There are two small groups of closed-system quantifiers:

- many, (a) few, and several co-occur only with plural count nouns:

Ex: John has many friends

- much and (a) little co-occur only with non-count nouns:

Ex: He has much money

- Several is rarely (and much virtually never) preceded by a determiner, and in the case of few and little there is a possitive/negative contrast according as the indefinite article is or is not used:

a few oranges (=several)

few oranges (=not many)

a little bread(=some) little bread (=not much)

d Premodification by adjectives

Ex: Her family is really delightful  Her really delightful family [1: 1323]

His behavior was not very courteous  His not very courteous behavior

[5:1323]

e Premodification by – ing participles

Ex: The approaching train is from Liverpool [1: 1326]

(The train which is approaching)

She has a very interesting mind [1: 1325]

(Her mind interests me very much)

f Premodification by – ed participles

Most –ed participles have passive meaning, and only a few will easily admit the permanent reference that will permit premodifying use We may contrast the participle of the stative verb in [1] with that of the dynamic verb in [2]

e.g The wanted man was last seen in Cambridge [1] ( Tai lieu so 1: 1328)

( The man goes on being wanted by the police)

The found purse was returned to its owner [2]

(The purse was found at a particular moment)

Modifier in –ed may be directly denominal and not participles at all

Eg: a bearded man (a man with a beard or a man who has a beard)

a wooded hillside (a hillside covered with woods)

g Premodification by nouns

In most cases, premodifying nouns correspond to postmodification with prepositional phrases:

e.g his life story (the story of his life)

an iron rod (a rod of iron)

life imprisonment (imprisonment for life) (Tai lieu so 1: 1330)

The premodifying structure has reduced explicitness in relation to the postmodifying structure, and if the relationships between the nouns become unclear

or unpredictable, premodification is unacceptable This becomes apparent with the range of prepositions involved in prepositional phrase postmodification are tested for noun premodification:

Eg: This book on grammar (this grammar book)

The meaning of this sentence (this sentence meaning)

h Premodification by genitive

The illustration of the genitive as premodifier with restrictive function was the following example:

I visited his fisherman’s cottage [1:1335]

The meaning is “The cottage belongs/belonged to a fisherman” or “resembles/ resembled the cottage of a fisherman” It should be noticed that if we had used another noun in the genitive, eg: his friend’s cottage, we would have moved from restrictive to restrictive function and, above all, changed the relationship of the constituents from premodification and determinative The difference in structure is clearly brought out if further premodifying items are added:

I visited his old fisherman’s cottage

I visited his old friend’s cottage [ 1: 1335]

i Premodification by adverb and other phrases

Another minor type of premodification is the adverb phrase, as in:

e.g: She travelled to many far – away places [The places are far away.]

I have this strange under – the – weather feeling [I feel under the

Eg: I visited his what-do-you-call-it cottage [What do you call it when a cottage

has walls made from overlapping pieces of timber?]

[1: 1337]

Post – modification

a Post – modification by finite clauses

We distinguish two major types of finite clauses as noun – phrase postmodifiers, relative clauses [1] and appositive clauses[2]

e.g The news that appeared in the papers this morning was well received [1] The news that the team had won calls for a celebration.[2]

Although similar, the difference between these two types of finite clause becomes apparent, for example if we try to replace “that” by “which” in the two example

The news which appeared in the papers this morning was well received [1a]

The news which the team had won calls for a celebration.[2a]

Thus “that” is not replaced by a wh-pronoun in appositive clauses, as it is in relative clauses More significantly from a general point of view, “that” in

[2] has no function as clause element within the that-clause, as it has in relative clause structure Thus in [1] the relative pronoun is subject, in [1b] it is object:

The news which we saw in the papers this morning was well received [1b]

Relative clauses include restrictive and non – restrictive clauses

(i) In restrictive relative clause, the pronouns given in the survey below are used, the information is essential and the head noun is specific reference When we indicate a parenthesized relative pronoun, it means that there is the option between that-relative and “zero”:

This is the book (that) I bought at the sale

When we use parentheses only “( )”, this is to indicate “zero”:

This is the book ( ) I bought at the sale

S, O, C, A in the survey below means that the relative pronoun functions respectively as subject, object, complement, and adverbial (or complement in a prepositional phrase functioning as adverbial) in the relative clause:

S: They are delighted with the book which / that / ( ) has just appeared

O: They are delighted with the book which / that / ( ) she has written

C: She is the perfect accountant which / who / that her predecessor was not

A: She arrived the day in which / that / ( ) I was in (on)

[ 1: 1248]

(ii) In non- restrictive relative clause, the most explicit forms of relative pronouns, the wh-series, are typically used The information is additional and the head noun is unique reference The relative pronoun can be subject, object, complement, or adverbial Here is a survey of the different forms for personal and non- personal antecedents:

S: I spoke to Dr Spolsky, who was unwilling to give further details

S: This excellent book, which has only just been received, was published a year ago O: I spoke to Dr Spolsky, whom I met after the inquest

O: This excellent book, which Freda has only just received for review, was published a year ago

C: Anna is a vegetarian, which no one else is in our family

A: This is a new type of word processor, about which there has been so much publicity

With non – restrictive relative clauses, we usually have a tone unit boundary, often accompanied by a pause, before the relative clause and often a repetition at the end

of the relative clause of the nuclear tone of the tone unit preceding the relative clause In writing, non – restrictive relationship is usually marked off by commas

By contrast, with restrictive relative clauses, there is usually no tone unit boundary

or pause before the relative clause; nor in writing is the relative clause separated by

a comma from what precedes

b Post – modification by non finite clauses

(i) Post – modification by present participle clauses:

Postmodification of the noun phrase is possible with all three of the non-finite clause types: -ing participle, -ed participle and infinitive clauses The

correspondence between –ing clauses and relative clauses is limited to those relative clauses in which the relative pronoun is subject:

The person who will write/ writes/ is writing/ wrote reports is my colleague

The person writing reports is my colleague.[1]

The non – finite clause writing reports in [1] may be interpreted, according to the context, as equivalent to one of the more explicit versions Other examples or post – modifying –ing clause:

The dog barking next door sounded like a terrier (“which was barking next door”) You should look for a man carrying a large umbrella (“who will be carrying a

large umbrella”)

It must be emphasized that – ing forms in postmodifying clauses should not be seen

as abbreviated progressive forms in relative clauses Stative verbs, for instance, which can not have the progressive in the finite verb phrase, can appear in participle form

(ii) Post modification by infinitive clauses:

Eg: The student to answer this question…

(iii) Post modification by past participle clauses:

Eg: The doctor (who is) expected to arrive at any moment

c Post – modification by prepositional phrases

In addition to reduction of sentences into noun phrases by means of post modification by finite and nonfinite clauses, we have the further possibility of reduction of postmodification by prepositional phrases A prepositional phrases is

by far the commonest type of postmodification in English It is three or four times more frequent than either finite or nonfinite clausal postmodification The full range

of prepositions is involved, including complex prepositions

e.g: the road to Lincoln

this book on grammar

a man from the electrictity company

the meaning of this sentence

the house beyond

the church two years before the war

a tree by a stream (Tài lieu so 1: 1274)

d Post-modification by adjective and adverbial clause

An adjective or adverbial clause may follow the head noun as a modifier for the head noun as illustrated below, respectively For example:

We don’t talk to the people upstairs

I saw her face full of tears

The road back was done with traffic

Table 2.1: The Structure of Complex Noun Phrase in English

Noun

modification

Post-

Pre-determiner

Identifier Numeral/

Indefinite quantifier

Adjective Noun

modifi

er

Adjective/adverb Relative clause Non-finite clause Prepositional phrase

Syntactic functions of English complex noun phrases

Randolph Quirk et al (1980) say "the functions of noun phrases, as subjects, objects, complements or appositive in English sentence structures are diverse" Some other functions of English complex noun phrases are prepositional complement, adverbial, adjective complement

A noun phrase can be the subject of the verb “be”

The tall girl standing in the corner is my sister [1: 1238]

S

b CNPs as object (O):

- Complex noun phrase can be direct object:

For example:

I spoke to Dr Spolsky, whom I met after the inquest [1:1238]

- Complex noun phrase can be an object for a preposition:

For example: I will speak to the person who we always believe in about it

O

c CNPs as complement

- CNPs function as subject complement (Cs)

A complex noun phrase can be complement for the subject when standing after

linking verbs such as become, to be, to seem

- CPNs functions as object complement (Co)

A complex noun phrase can be complement for an object when standing after some

verbs like to make, elect, to call, to consider, to appoint, to name, to declare, to

recognize, …

We recognize his dog that has lost its tail

Co

- CPNs function as prepositional complement (Cprep):

That’s the book which he has been looking for

- CPNs as adjectival complement (Cadj)

ex : The game isn’t worth the candle

d CNPs as appositive (App) :

2.2.2.1 Definition and types of phrases in Vietnamese

A phrase is any group of words that does not contain a subject completing an action When a group of words contains a subject doing an action (subject-verb), it becomes a clause Phrases can be added to sentences to make them more complex Concepts can begin with a single word and develop into a compound sentence Common types of phrases include:

+ noun phrases: A noun phrase is a combination of words made up of a noun and some dependent words it forms It has a fuller meaning and is more complex than a noun, but functions in a sentence like a noun

For example: ba thúng gạo nếp, ba con trâu đực, …

+ verb phrases: A verb phrase is a combination of a verb and a number of words depending on it Many verbs must be accompanied by an auxiliary language, forming a verb phrase

For example: đùa nghịch ở sau nhà ,…

+ adjective phrases: Adjective phrase is a combination of words formed by adjectives and other accompanying words

For example: xinh dã man, đẹp tuyệt vời, …

2.2.2.2 Noun phrases in Vietnamese

2.2.2.2.1 Definition of Vietnamese noun phrases

As was stated earlier, in European languages, especially those inflectional languages, there is a system of grammatical categories in nouns, such as number, gender, and case These are marked by suffixes English, although being a little inflectional language, has this grammatical phenomenon, especially in number Vietnamese is an un – inflectional and isolating language and the word order in the

language is of special importance, relating to the word order in the noun phrase Vietnamese linguist focus on the combination between Vietnamese nouns and other modifications as well as the combination among modifications in the relationship with nouns

In Vietnamese, when a noun is used to perform some functions in a sentence, some modification is often added to form a phrase Such phrases in which there is a noun acting as a head are called noun phrases A noun phrase is a combination of words made up of a noun and some dependent words It has a fuller meaning and is more complex than a noun, but functions in a sentence like a noun

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_grammar)

According to Ðo Thi Kim Liên (a Vietnamese grammarian), “A noun phrase is combination of words in which the noun is a central element and it has one or more subordinate elements around to supplement grammatical meanings to itself.” And in Lê Dũng’s viewpoint (2002), “A noun phrase is a group of words which the beginning is a noun and its function is appositive

A noun phrase is a free combination of a noun nucleus and one or more than one subordinate elements which are of 2 types: front element (Pre-nominal modifiers) and end element (Post-nominal modifiers) (Doan, T.T., Nguyen, K H., Pham, N

Q., 2001)

2.2.2.2.2 Classification of Vietnamese noun phrases

In general, a noun phrase is Vietnamese may have two parts, they are:

(i) the head taken by noun, in the middle of the phrase

(ii) modification is divided into two parts: pre-modification and

post-modification

Basic noun phrases

In some cases, these noun phrases consist of two parts:

a Those with pre-modification and the head

Phan dau Phan trung tâm

Premodification Head

For examples:

Những ý nghĩ

(the) ideas

Các quả cam

(the) oranges

b Those with the head and post-modification

Phan trung tâm Phan cuoi

Complex noun phrases

A complex noun phrase in Vietnamese consists of three main parts: the head noun, the pre-modifier and the post-modifier The pre-modifier and post- modifier are used to support the meaning of the noun phrases

For example in the noun phrase “ba sinh viên này”, the noun center is “sinh viên”, the pre-modifier is “ba” (three) and the post-modifier is “này”

According to Nguyen Hung Tuong (2004) Nouns can be modified with other words resulting in complex noun phrases These modifiers include demonstratives, quantifiers, classifiers, prepositional phrases, and other attributive lexical words, such as other nouns and verbs These modifiers co-occur with the modified noun (known as the head noun or noun phrase head), but there are restrictions on what kind of modifiers are allowed depending upon the subclass of noun

The structure of Vietnamese noun phrase can be summarized in the following example:

cả hai cuốn từ điển Việt Anh này của nó

cả Hai cuốn từ điển Việt Anh này của [nó]

All Two CLFbook Dictiona

ry

Vietnamese-English PROX.DEM

of [3RD.PRO

N]

TOTALI

TY

QUANTIFI ER

CLASSIFI ER

HEAD NOUN

ATTRIBUTI

VE NOUN PHRASE

DEMONSTRAT IVE

PREP PHRASE

"both of these Vietnamese-English dictionaries of his"

Vietnamese complex noun phrases

A complex noun phrase in Vietnamese consists of three main parts: the head noun, the pre-modifier and the post-modifier The pre-modifier and post- modifier are used to support the meaning of the noun phrases

According to T H Nguyen (2004), Vietnamese complex noun phrase elements in include pre-nominal modifiers (quantifiers, articles, numerals, the particle CÁI, classifiers, measure phrases) and post-nominal modifiers (noun adjuncts, adjective phrases, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, demonstratives, and possessives), in addition to the head noun

Structure of Vietnamese complex noun phrases

Pre-modification + Head + Post-modification

Functions:

- Noun phrase may function as subject

In Vietnamese language, 99% of subject is noun phrase and pronoun

For example: Kì thi sắp đến

- The second function of noun phrase is predicate

For example: Cả làng này đều nhà ngói

- The third function of noun phrase is noun modifier In Vietnamese we call it “định ngữ”

For example: Nhà gạch gần công viên

- A noun phrase can also function as object (bổ ngữ)

For example: Cô giáo đọc thơ Hàn Mạc Tử

- The final function of a noun phrase is adverbial (trạng ngữ)

For example: Sáng nay, cha tôi phải lên đồng sớm

Pre – modification

The classifier

Classifiers in Vietnamese form a closed lexical class In Vietnamese syntax, a classifier is an optional element in a noun phrase that immediately precedes the

noun as in cuốn sách, cái bàn

Structurally, a classifier must follow a numeral if there are numerals in a noun phrase Therefore, in Vietnamese it‘s grammatical to say “gà”, “con gà” or “hai con gà” but it will be ungrammatical to say “hai gà” Classifiers cannot stand alone in a noun phrase as in “Con/ cuốn” and are used to individuate noun, thereby making them accountable as illustrated below

Bàn - cái bàn

hai bàn - hai cái bàn

In case, there is a demonstrative, an adjective, or a relative clause, which functions

as an explicit specifying modifier, the head noun can be omitted as shown below,

Bạn muốn mua cái bàn nào?

Cái vàng hay cái xanh?

Since classifiers precede nouns, where the English structure is concerned, classifier choice is dependent on the semantic features of the classified nouns They are often compatible with respect to the three-way animacy-based distinction of the head

nouns with which they can co-occur In other words, classifiers such as cái, con,

người require a certain animacy value as inanimate objects, animals, and people,

respectively

Among the most common Vietnamese classifiers are:

cái : used for most inanimate objects

chiếc: almost similar to cái, usually more connotative (e.g when referring to

a cute object, chiếc might be more suitable than cái)

con: usually for animals and children, but can be used to describe some

inanimate objects (con dao = knife, con đường = street)

bài: used for compositions like songs, drawings, poems, essays, etc

câu: sentential constructs (verses, lyrics, statements, quotes, etc.)

cây: used for stick-like objects (plants, guns, canes, etc.)

tòa: buildings of authority: courts, halls, "ivory towers"

quả/trái: used for globular objects (the Earth, fruits)

quyển/cuốn: used for book-like objects (books, journals, etc.)

tờ: sheets and other thin objects made of paper (newspapers, papers,

calendars, etc.)

lá: smaller sheets of paper (letters, playing cards)

việc: an event or an ongoing process

chuyện: a general topic, matter, or business

In case, there is no compatibility between the classifiers and the head noun, the ungrammaticality will be result Furthermore, two classifiers cannot co-occur in the same noun phrase as illustrated follow

We can say: cái bàn, con gà, người hàng xóm

But we cannot say: con bàn, cái gà, cái hàng xóm

or: cái con bàn, con cái nhà

As I mentioned above, classifiers can individuate nouns, making it countable as a unit They are called unit-classifiers ( cái, con) There are also others types of classifier denoting kinds or events called kind-classifiers as in (1a) and event-classifiers as in(1b)

(1a) loại sách, thứ chanh

(1b) cuộc họp, trận mưa

The three types of classifier are all in the classifier category and of course share the characteristics of a classifier in term of their distribution restriction and position in a noun phrase Not only can they not co-occur with other classifiers of the same type

as in (2a), they cannot occur with other types of classifiers as in (2b) either

I buy a/the CL book

While a [một-CL-N] explicitly marks the NP as singular with indefinite reading only as in

“tôi mua một cuốn sách”

To form a plural noun phrase, it’s obligatory to add “các, những” before CL-N as in

“những con gà” “ các cuốn sách”

Articles

Most researchers argue that there are no lexical articles in Vietnamese In fact, Vietnamese has a class of lexical articles According to T C.Nguyen (1975),

“một”, “những”, “các” are articles in Vietnamese Where classifiers are used,

articles must precede the classifiers and the head noun as in “ các con gà”

Art- CL-N

The article một is also an optional element in Vietnamese noun phrase and precedes

the head noun but where there is the presence of this article, it carries a singular and

indefinite interpretation as in “tôi mua một con gà”

It’s normally used in Vietnamese noun phrases for the first mention of referents For example,

tôi mua một con gà và một con vịt, con gà 1.5 kg và con vịt 2 kg

As you can see in the above example, “một” introduces the reference into the discourse If it have been mentioned previously, “một” is not be used

It cannot occur in definite context such as denoting unique reference as in

(3b)Mỗi nước chỉ có MỘT đại diện được tham gia cuộc họp

Những and các are also function as lexical articles in a noun phrase Although both

các and những denote plurality, there is a slight difference in term of their semantics feature While các emphasizes “all of a given set of entities”, những implies that

“only certain of the total possible number are referred to” (Thompson 1965:180) as

in (4a) and (4b) respectively Moreover, “các’ can only occur in contexts that

require definite noun phrases while “những” can only occur in contexts that require indefinite ones as in (4c) and (4d) respectively

(4a)Tôi có rất nhiều sách Những cuốn sách cũ rất hay

(4b)Đem các cuốn sách cũ ra đây

(4c)Mời các anh vào nhà chơi

Hai CÁI anh học sinh này

Ba CÁI cân thịt này

CÁI can be used as the only overt element of the noun phrase when the context is given In the following example, both the noun and the classifier appear in the question, but only the numeral is in the answer:

The numerals is sometimes obligatory when the context is given as in

Anh mua mấy cân thịt?

Tôi mua hai cân

In the above example, only the answer has the numeral

More importantly, the use of numerals and articles is mutual exclusive In other words, in Vietnamese noun phrases where there is presence of numerals, the articles are not used and vice verse Therefore, it will be ungrammatical to say “ những hai cái cuốn sách”

The particle CÁI (focus marker)

The particle CÁI occurs before the head noun and can intervene between a numeral (if there is one) and the classifier or a measure phrase It may be preceded by other pre-noun modifiers such as quantifiers, numerals, and articles It must always co-occur with a classifier as in “ hai CÁI cuốn sách kia ” or “hai CÁI ấm trà này”

The particle CÁI is sometimes mistaken with the homonymous classifier “cái, but it’s different from classifier cái as well as other classifiers in term of distribution and function When the particle CÁI precedes a count noun, the use of a classifier is obligatory, as shown in (a) However, the particle CÁI cannot be used before the homonymous classifier as shown in (b)

(a) hai CÁI con mèo

(b) hai CÁI “cái” bàn này”

It can go with any kind of nouns which classifiers cannot such as mass-denoting nouns and unclassified nouns as shown in (a) and (b) respectively

(a) mua CÁI cân mỡ này

(b) tôi thích CÁI mái tóc này

The particle CÁI can also follow the articles “những”, “các” , “một” as in “những CÁI cuốn sách kia” , “ các CÁI đất đai này” , or “một CÁI thùng”

CÁI serves as a formal device to signal that there is a focus in the NP so the use of a noun in the NP is obligatory

“CÁI” often occurs with NPs that contain a post-nominal modifier such as demonstratives for definite interpretation as shown below

(a) CÁI mỡ này

(b) CÁI phương pháp này

Quantifiers

Vietnamese quantifiers are words that can occur within a noun phrase before a head noun (with or without a classifier) Quantifiers include a class of lexical word which indicates some quantity and distribution

Estimated quantity: mấy, vài, dăm, mươi lăm

Distribution: mọi, mỗi, từng, tất cả, toàn bộ,…

Some quantifiers can combine directly with any nouns as shown in (a), (b) such as tất cả, toàn bộ, tổng thể, ít, nhiều whereas others require the use of an intermediate classifier as in (c) such as mọi, mỗi, từng mấy, vài In that case, the quantifiers precede the classifier:

(a) tất cả rượu này đều được nhập khẩu từ Pháp

(b) tất cả con mèo kia

(c) mấy cuốn sách này

It will be ungrammatical in Vietnamese grammar to say “ mấy sách này”

Quantifiers directly precede the head noun that they modify when that head noun is

of a noun that does not require an obligatory classifier as in “vài dặm”

Vietnamese quantifiers appear as the leftmost positions in noun phrases so do they occur before plural articles and cardinal numbers as in

Tất cả ba mươi nghìn cuốn sách đều được xuất bản

Toàn bộ các em hoc sinh này

Some quantifiers in Vietnamese can stand alone when the context is clear such as tất cả, toàn bộ, nhiều, vài, vài ba, dăm bảy as illustrated below

Hôm nay có mấy hoc sinh nghỉ học ?

Tất cả (học sinh) đi học đầy đủ

tờ giấy” It’s not recognizable in Vietnamese grammar As a result, measure phrases

and classifiers don’t occur in the same syntactic position They are also different in many other features They can be modified by a possessive phrase or a demonstrative as in (a) or sometimes, a demonstrative phrase may be served as a measure phrase as in (b) By contrast, nothing can intervene between classifier and the head noun as in (c)

(a) cốc này nước

(b) bán cho tôi một chai đầy này rượu

(c) con mèo đen NOT con đen mèo

Furthermore, the use of classifiers is limited because of its incompatibility with the head noun in term of intimacy, human or shape as in cái nhà, con mèo, quả cam

By contrast, there is little restriction with respect to which measure phrase can be used with which noun as in these expressions “kí sắt, kí gạo, kí cam”

As you see, the same measure expression can be used with various nouns regardless shape, countable, uncountable noun

Post – modification

The complex noun phrases in Vietnamese are post – modified by noun, noun phrases, verbs, adjectives, adjectival phrases, ordinal numbers, quantity words and clauses

Post – modification by noun and noun phrases

When nouns are used as post – modifier, they modify the head so as

to

- specify the characteristics of the head

For instance: sách văn học , mèo mướp

- Mention the relationship with the head which can be possessive relationship

or the relationship of materials

E.g: Lan có một chiếc nhẫn vàng

- The relationship of place

E.g: ngưòi nhà quê rất thật

Post – modification by verbs

- Verbs denote action, status of the subject

- Verbs denote activities that are not carried out by the head

e.g: Hoàng có bài thơviết về mùa thu

Head verb

Post – modification by adjectives adjective phrase

In general when adjectives are used as post – modification their main function is to denote the characteristics of the nouns they modify

một ngườithông minh

head adj

Post-modification by prepositional phrase

Vietnamese grammar accepts the use of prepositional phrases as post modifiers in NPs In case there is an adjective phrase, a modifying PP obligatorily follows an AP

or NA, as in the followings

(a) Bức tranh mới gần tường

(b) Truyện tranh trong phòng

Post – modification by ordinal numbers and quantity words

Apart from being used as pre – modifiers, ordinal and quantity words can also be used as post – modification In Vietnamese the ordinal numbers, being as post modifiers can denote either quantity, e.g: phòng một, mâm sáu… Or the order sequence of the head nouns in connection with the others of the same type

Post – modification by relative clauses

It’s not obligatory to use a connective “mà” before relative clauses as in “cái váy mà tôi mua”

If both adjective phrase and relative clause modify the head noun, the order will be

as follow: N- AP-RC

For instance: cái váy mới mà tôi vừa mua

In case, prepositional phrase and relative clause co-occur in a Noun phrase, both PP- RC and RC- PP are acceptable For example,

Căn nhà trong huyện mà anh ấy vừa mua

Căn nhà mà anh ấy vừa mua trong huyện

Post-modification by demonstrative

Another post-nominal modifier in Vietnamese NP is demonstratives Vietnamese demonstratives all have the function of identifying a referent with respect to another contextual point or position Vietnamese

demonstratives are free morphemes including này, đó, kia, ni, nớ and always follow the head nouns as in con mèo đó, cái bàn kia They are not distinguished in term of

number but in term of degree of distance

- Proximal: này, ni ‘this/these’

- Medial: đó, đấy, ấy, nớ‘that/those’

- Distal: kia, tê ‘that over there’

- Indefinite: đâu "where, nào "which, sao "how

When there are others modifiers co-occurring with demonstratives, the demonstratives obligatorily occur after these modifiers

For instance: cái bàn cũ này

A noun phrase with a relative clause seldom takes a demonstrative but if it does, the

order will usually be as follow: N- RC- Dem as in cuốn sách mà tôi mua này

Post-modification by possessives

In Vietnamese grammar, Possessives are expressed by a prepositional phrase consisting of preposition của “of” plus a possessor The possessor can be a personal pronoun, a kinship term, a proper name, or a full NP

To avoid confusion, we usually left out or keep the first preposition “của” when there are two possessive phrases in the same NP as in

Nó là cháu của mẹ tôi

In spoken Vietnamese, to make a smooth speech we often skip the preposition

“của” as in mẹ tôi, thế giới động vật…

In Vietnamese, if there is co-occurrence between a PossP and an AP or PP in a noun phrase, the PossP always follows the AP or PP

Cây bút của bạn mà tôi đang viết rất tốt

Cây bút mà tôi đang viết của bạn rất tốt

As you see in the two above sentences, they have the same meaning However, the first is more commonly used

Besides, a demonstrative and a PossP also may co-occur in Vietnamese NP As happening to RC, both Poss- Dem and Dem –Poss orders are available

Tôi sẽ cho bạn xem những cuốn sách[ này] [của tôi]

Tôi sẽ cho bạn xem những cuốn sách [của tôi] [này]

In short post-modification is much more complex than pre- modification Its complexity is because of the wide range of words involved and the varieties of modification but also the difficulty in determining the combination among the modifiers themselves

The division of modification into pre-modification and post- modification does not only rely on their positions in the phrase There are a number of basic differences between them that can be briefly presented as follows:

(i) classes of words involved: almost every pre-modifier is introduced by a special particle, whereas post-modifiers are introduced by content words (although there is also a number of particles found

acting as post-modifiers)