A contrastive study of quantifiers in english and in vietnamese

From the point of view of structural grammar when analyzing the composition of English nouns, word quantity acts as a qualifier for quantity, for example: much water nhi u n c a lot of m

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF QUANTIFIERS

IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE

i chi u v ng t trong ti ng nh v ti ng Vi t

VU THANH BINH

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Hanoi, 11/ 2020

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF QUANTIFIERS

IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE

i chi u v ng t trong ti ng nh v ti ng Vi t

VU THANH BINH

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Dr DANG NGOC HUONG

Hanoi, 11/ 2020

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

entitled “A contrastive study of quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese”

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

My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lecturers and officers of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University, who have facilitated me with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying

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

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ABSTRACT

The title of my thesis is a study on A contrastive study of Quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese The reason that I choose this thesis is Through the process of teaching English in mountainous areas to ethnic minority students, I see that students in mountainous areas in general and ethnic minority students in particular have many difficulties in using words in English, especially using the right kind of words, stemming from that fact, I decided to do this topic to better understand quantifiers and word denoting quality in order to better understand this field and help students in upland areas understand and understand and use them correctly

The purpose of my study is to describe the semantic and syntactic features

of Quantifiers in English and in Vietnamese, and propose the implications for teaching these ones at high school To carry out this research, I use descriptive, analytical and contrastive method Hopefully, the finding of this study can, to some extent, be suggested as a referential materials for Vietnamese students and teachers

in studying and teaching quantifiers Finding the correct use of Word denoting quality has important implications for ethnic minorities in using correct words in English

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Structure of the study 5

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Previous studies 6

2.1.1 Related previous studies overseas 6

2.1.2 Related previous studies in Vietnam 9

2.2 Theoretical background 10

2.2.1 Concepts of syntax 10

2.2.1.1 Definition of syntax 10

2.2.1.2 Concept of sentence 16

2.2.1.3 Concepts of the phrase and classification of phrase 17

Phrase in English 17

Classification of phrase 18

2.2.2 Semantics-related issues 21

2.2.2.1 Definition of meaning 21

2.2.2.2 Types of meaning 23

1 Conceptual meaning 23

2 Connotative Meaning 24

3 Stylistic meaning 24

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4 Affective Meaning 25

5 Reflected Meaning 25

6 Collocative Meaning 25

7 Thematic Meaning 25

2.2.2.3 Concepts of reference 26

2.3 Quantifiers in English 27

2.4 Quantifiers in Vietnam 29

2.5 Summary 29

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

3.1 Syntactic features of quantifying words in English 30

3.1 1 Subject 30

3.1.2 Subject complement 32

3.1.3 Object 33

3.1.4 Adverb 35

3.1.5 Determiner 36

3.2 Semantic features of quantifying words in English 41

3.2.1 Expressing quantity 41

3.2.2 Inclusiveness words (Both/All) 44

3.2.3 The meaning of countable and uncountable nouns 46

3.2.3.1 Countable Nouns 46

3.2.3.2 Uncountable Nouns 47

3.2.3.3 Both Countable Nouns and Uncountable Nouns 48

3.2.4 Indicating the level 49

3.2.5 Referential meaning 54

3.2.6 Negative meaning 58

3.2.7 The expressive meaning 61

3.3 Summary 63

Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 64

4.1 Recapitulation 64

4.2 Concluding remarks 64

4.3 Limitation of the study 65

4.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research 65

REFERENCES 66

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale:

According to traditional grammar, English vocabulary is divided into kinds

of words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and word count is one of the types of words in the category Although in English documents such as grammar books, dictionaries, etc., there are many ways to define the amount of words, but the

common understanding of English words like many, much, few, little is called

quantity, because these words denote the quantity of things In English sentences they usually come before nouns, modifying nouns, the term defining the number of things that the noun denotes From the point of view of structural grammar when analyzing the composition of English nouns, word quantity acts as a qualifier for

quantity, for example: much water (nhi u n c a lot of money nhi u ti n

However, in addition to the task of being a determinant in English nouns, words like

much, a lot, a bit are also used in many different positions, taking on different syntax functions in English sentences written and spoken language, for example:

Thank you a lot or Last year I did not have much of a vacation

Up to now, almost all grammar books and English study books detail the

meaning and usage of numerical words like many, few, a few; much, little, a little

and other numerical words; These words are often described in terms of nouns, but

in positions in the sentence, there are not many documents detailing the classification and the meaning of their use This fact raises the question of whether

to understand word quantity in English, based on form or semantics, or a combination of the two

As an English teacher in mountainous schools, I find it very difficult for students to use English correctly, especially using the correct Quantifiers in English

In order to help the students use the right quantifiers, I decided to make this thesis to help the mountainous students understand and use the correct quantifiers

For the above reasons, I have decided to explore English numerical words in terms

of syntax and semantics in relation to Vietnamese

This study deals with quantification in English, the process by which a speaker assigns a certain magnitude or quantity to an instance of a thing by means

of grammatical devices called quantifiers It aims to tackle the problem of random use of quantifiers made by foreign learners of English, by highlighting their specific functions in the language

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It hypothesis that each quantifier has a specific function in language, which is different from the others In doing so, it applies the three cognitive theories of meaning to their analysis: categorization, configuration, and conceptualization The study has, therefore, reached three specific results First, a quantifier has more than one sense; the prototype, which is the main sense that comes to the mind of the speaker, the periphery, the remaining senses, which form a network gathering around the prototype Second, quantifiers can be placed in general areas of knowledge, called domains, in which they represent different aspects of it, and so acquire different meanings Third, when two or more quantifiers occur in the same position, they represent distinct construal Each member of the pair has a special

message to convey

In fact, when teaching English in mountainous schools, I find it very difficult for students to use English correctly, especially using the correct Quantifiers in English In order to help the students use the right quantifiers, I decided to make this thesis to help the mountainous students understand and use the correct quantifiers

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study:

Aim:

-To help learners of English master similarities and differences of quantifiers

in English and Vietnamese in terms of semantic and syntactic features effectively

Specific Objectives:

-To identify the similarities of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese in

terms of semantic and syntactic perspective

-To identify the differences of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese in

terms of semantic and syntactic perspective

-To give some implications for both teacher teaching and student learning quantifiers in English effectively

1.3 Research questions: This study aims to answer the following research

questions:

- What are semantic and syntactic features of quantifiers in English?

- What are similarities and differences between the semantic and syntactic features of quantifiers in English and Vietnamese?

- What implication is drawn for teaching and learning quantifiers?

1.4 Methods of the study:

* Research approach

* Research type

+ Descriptive — survey, content analysis, qualitative, narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, and case study)

+ Associational — correlational, causal-comparative

+ Intervention — experimental, quasi-experimental, action research (sort of)

* Research methods:

- Qualitative method: This method will be based on the previous works of the authors on the semantics of quantum words

Qualitative approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of

attitudes, opinions and behavior Such an approach to research generates results either in non-quantitative form or in the form which are not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis Generally, the techniques of focus group interviews, projective techniques and depth interviews are used

- Quantitative methods: This method will be based on the actual survey results of the use of words in English and Vietnamese

- Mixed methods approach: pragmatic knowledge claims, collection of both quantitative and qualitative data sequentially

- Contrastive approach: Contrast the meaning of the quantifiers in English and Vietnamese

1.5 Scope of the study:

As mentioned in the section Aims and Objectives of the study above, the thesis aims to describe the syntactic and semantic features of English word quantity, thereby finding out some similarities and differences between English word quantity and their equivalent in Vietnamese However, the thesis does not only

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study semantically English words In other words, the thesis does not only examine word quantity with the meaning of indicating the quantity of things (quantity); Thesis researches word quantity both in form and meaning (meaning) That means there are some words that look like words, but not just quantity In this case such

words could be called quantifier word, for example in the sentence She does not

have much money left, the word much is the quantity of the word indicating quantity; however, in the sentence I like apples very much, the word much looks

like word quantity, roughly called word quantity Or, there are some nouns that

have only quantity, such as plenty, lot, number, majority, etc or some adjectives with only quantity such as plentiful, abundant, much / more, little / less, etc can

also be called is gradual The thesis includes all the above mentioned cases, including words with quantifier form according to the traditional grammatical point

of view and the words with quantitative meanings equal to the name of quantifier in their research

The study will be conducted on the two languages: English and Vietnamese, the quantifiers are taken from the 200 sentences of dictionaries, grammar books, from Literature works or novels

Structure: Proposed organization of thesis

1.6 Significance of the study:

- Theoretical significance: This study provides a theoretical basis for the study of semantic and syntactic features of quantitative terms, from the perspective

of quantifiers more broadly

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- Practical significance: The research provides the usage of quantifiers in English, helping learners to use quantifiers more effectively

1.7 Structure of the study:

The thesis starts out with Introduction chapter where background for the research should be established, that is, why it was done It is vital to state clearly the reasons for doing the research and the objectives of the thesis as well as the scope and the significance of the research

The literature review chapter is the place to summarize the results of others who worked on the problem or on a similar problem It is important to uncover all important literature and summarize the theoretical background/preliminaries employable as tools for conducting the research

The Finding and Discussions chapter is the part describing what can be learned during the research and interpreting the results

The last chapter in a thesis is the Conclusions which restate the aims and summarize how to conduct the research to the objectives

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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies

2.1.1 Related previous studies overseas

Can we now say what quantifiers are? Perhaps Generalized quantifier theory, and the relational theory of determiner denotations which goes with it, offer

an answer In a way, this tells us what quantifiers are in remarkably specific terms But the moral of section II is that it does not tell us all that much about how quantifiers work The examples there show us that to understand quantification in natural language is to understand more than what quantifiers are; it is also understand significant aspects of semantics, and the ways semantics interact with syntax Being a quantifier is a property with significant semantic and grammatical implications It is the specification of how many objects in a certain set of a predicate is valid Languages primarily employ two sorts of devices to indicate quantity within a nominal Many languages have a category of number (e.g singular

vs plural) and have a variety of quantifiers (e.g several, few, all, every) Radden and Dirven (2007:116) show that quantification or the notion of quantity refers to the magnitude of an instance of a thing; it is the speaker‘s act of specifying the quantity of an instance A quantifier, as its name implies, expresses quantity

Quantifiers can be a single word (e.g little) or a phrase (e.g a little) and are

used with nouns They can be used with either a countable or an uncountable noun

to express amount or quantity Laurent, etal (2005:1) claim that a cognitive semantic approach to quantifiers serves to categorize and give meaning to quantifiers

Quantifiers project a representation of quantity, which influences how information is perceived

Schools of linguistics treated quantifiers in various ways In traditional

grammar, quantifiers are treated as adjectives For example, in a phrase like many girls, many is an adjective, which describes the following noun girls In structural grammar, quantifiers are treated as modifiers For example, in a phrase like many girls, many is considered as a modifier of the noun girls In transformational

generative grammar, quantifiers are treated as determiners For example, in a phrase

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like many girls, many is treated as a determiner of the noun girls As a reaction to

these assumptions, in Cognitive Grammar, as it is mentioned in Taylor, (2002:353), quantifiers are treated as grounding elements They characterize the profiled instances of a noun in terms of number or amount Each quantifier has a special semantic value that defines its usage range Each quantifier has a distribution unique

to itself

According to Nunan (1993:5), ―discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences which are perceived as being related in some way‖ Those several sentences can build a conversation spoken form or a text (written form) Academic discourse is one type of discourse that has become a popular term in the development of linguistics and it is considered as something standard Academic discourse in terms of written forms can be essay writings, journal articles, academic textbooks, or dissertations, etc Students are expected to reach the conventions of academic writing such as formality, clarity and conciseness, etc Therefore, academic discourse inspires researchers with much attention to many aspects and it also motivates students to gain proficiency of the English language, especially at higher education s cited in ― cademic Discourse and Critical Consciousness‖, academic discourses are understood as the ways of thinking and using language that prevail in the academy (Bizzell, 1992) In the definition of academic discourse of Karen Bennett (2008:60), in the acamdemy may

be in research or higher educational environment While Helsingin Yliopisto (2012:12) in the one hand also defines academic discourse as using languaguage in the world of academy, in the other hand he emphasizes academic discourse as the way of ―enabling university to go about teaching students and doing research‖ Hyland (2004:11 cited in Martha, 2012) points out his view of academic discourse which comprises of not only strict forms but also pragmatic purposes

ccording to Geeraert‘s metaphor 2006:2 Cognitive inguistics is like a group of islands that are closely joined together by a shared perspective Cognitive Linguistics is a broad movement within modern linguistics It contains a variety of approaches Cognitive Linguistics began to arise in the 1970s, and has been active since the 1980s As stated in Nerlich and Clarke (2007:590-591), Cognitive Linguistics emerged from its dissatisfaction with the twentieth-century linguistics,

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especially Generative Linguistics The term Cognitive Linguistics was first used by George Lakoff, somewhere around 1975, but he was not the only one who was dissatisfied with Generative Linguistics In 1975, Charles Fillmore was working on his theory of frame semantics, and Ronald Langacker was laying the foundations of his Cognitive Grammar Around 1972, Leonard Talmy introduced the principles of Gestalt psychology into linguistic analysis From 1980 onwards, Cognitive Linguistics began to develop in the works of Lakoff (metaphorical categorization), Johnson (image schemata), Langacker (Cognitive Grammar), Fauconnier and Turner (mental spaces and blending, and Geeraerts (diachronic prototype semantics) Cognitive Linguistics has two primary commitments that distinguishs it from other movements in linguistics, as Evans (2011:71) clarifies first, Cognitive linguists try to describe and model language in the light of other evidence from other cognitive and brain sciences Second, Cognitive linguists come around a generalization commitment: a commitment to describe the nature and principles that constitute linguistic knowledge as an outcome of general cognitive abilities

Cognitive Linguistics focuses on general assumptions, such as the belief that language is not autonomous and linguistic cognition is not separated from other

human cognition Janda (2000: 5-6) defines language as a set of resources that are

available to language users for the symbolization of thought and for the communication of these symbolizations Furthermore, Cognitive Linguistics views mind, meaning, and language as embodied According to Taylor (2007:566-67) Cognitive Linguistics highlights two distinctive features: first the emphasis on the conceptual and experiential basis of semantics, and second Cognitive Linguistics stands against to those theories which treat grammatical constructions as meaningless

Janda (ibid: 5-6 states that Cognitive inguistics‘ major role is to understand how human cognition motivates language to be described in terms of abstract trends rather than absolute rules Human beings are not rule-guided algorithms, but individuals with a free will who exercise in ways not entirely consistent and predictable, but on the whole well-motivated patterns In the field of meaning Janda states that meaning has to come from somewhere, it does not just exist as a set of symbols or in the words or in a set of logical rules, rather Cognitive Linguistics

variety of ways In Cognitive Linguistics, this phenomenon is called construal It

has significant linguistic consequences

Cognitive Linguistics treats language as a tool for organizing, processing and conveying information Cognitive Linguistics explains language creation, learning and usage by referring to the concepts formed in the mind It focuses on the meaning that is embodied in experience and explained with reference to human cognition Linguistic abilities are tied to the general cognition abilities, and there is

no boundary between general knowledge and linguistic meaning

Taylor (2002:9) mentions the editors of the monograph series Cognitive Linguistics Research as follows: Cognitive Linguistics treats language as an integral facet of cognition which reflects the interaction of social, cultural, psychological, communicative and functional considerations, and which can only be understood in the context of a realistic view of acquisition, cognitive development and mental processing Cognitive Linguistics is not just about psychology applied to language,

it is like any other linguistic study the same kinds of things- syntax, morphology, phonology, word meaning, discourse structure

This approach enables the linguist to go beyond the description and formalization of the linguistic facts, and to arrive at a more bright perspective explanation of the facts

Cognitive Grammar is a specific approach to language within Cognitive Linguistics It adopts a symbolic view of language in which every linguistic element has meaning; nothing is empty or dummy The founder of Cognitive Grammar is Ronald Langacker (1987,1991), and is still one of its practitioners In the mid

1970s, he called his approach space grammar He developed Cognitive Grammar

as a reaction against Chomsky‘s Generative Grammar

However, in one of angacker‘s articles as cited in Geeraerts and Guyckens

2.1.2 Related previous studies in Vietnam

As a matter of fact, there have been a lot of studies on quantifiers have attracted learners of English such as Mai Lan Huong and Nguyen Thanh Loan (2011), g ph p ti ng nh, xb ng, Many authors Ha Thi Nhu Hoa, Nguyen Nhat Anh, Pham Thi Nhu Mai, Nguyen Bang Giang, Pham Thi Mai Anh, Tran Thanh Tam (2019) Chinh ph c to n b ng ph p ti ng nh, xb i h c

It is also said that syntax is a form of grammar and it is concerned primarily with word order in a sentence and with the agreement of words when they are used simultaneously It is also true that every language has developeda specific

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mechanism that is similar to syntax to make a boundless number of sentences This

is a common feature that can be witnessed in all languages

In the past, syntactic clues have sometimes been utilized in lexicography as

an aid to establishing polysemy In theoretically oriented linguistic literature, too, the claim had often been made that a difference in meaning (Dixon, 1985) In the present work, however, a stronger claim has been tried to explore that a syntactic similarity is likely to reflect a similarity in meaning, so that shared syntactic patterns are likely to reflect shared semantic components To the extent to which this claim is validated, shared syntactic properties can be seen as evidence for postulated semantic structures

As has been discussed above, syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways

in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences Therefore, studying the syntactic features means studying the properties of words and their relationships when they combine together in specific patterns of arrangement in a sentence

Syntax is the study of grammatical relationships between words and how they are combined to form phrases and sentences The word ‗syntax‘ has its roots in

the Greek word syntaxis, which means ‗arrangement‘ Syntacticians study patterns

of sentence formation in order to better understand universal principles (those that apply to all languages) and those that apply to specific languages (language-specific parameters)

So what is a sentence? There are several definitions in the literature; however, they all agree on the following basic concepts Sentences communicate entire thoughts through combining words and morphemes into phrases It is important to understand that sentences are not merely strings of words arranged in linear order, but that they are organized into phrases, some of which are contained,

or embedded, within others in a hierarchical order

Sentence formation rules are language-specific At a basic level, all sentences consist of a subject and predicate The subject can be overt or stated as in

‗Superman wore his red cape to the Commissioner‘s dinner‘ Pronominal subjects can be covert or implied as in commands such as ‗ ook out!‘ for ‗You look out!‘, or

dropped as in (1)

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Habl -o espa ol for Yo habl -o espa ol

speak-1p.s Spanish I speak-1p.s Spanish

I speak Spanish

Language-specific rules also account for the way in which words may be ordered in a sentence Languages such as English, adhere to the subject-verb-object (SVO) word order This means that the subject will always precede the verb and the object will always follow the verb Languages such as Modern Persian have the object preceding the verb (SOV)

(3) Superman loves his cape

Compound sentences are composed of two simple sentences

(4) Superman loved his cape so he decided to purchase another one

Complex sentences are those in which a subordinate or dependent clause is embedded within a main or independent clause

(5) Lois pressured Superman to purchase a purple cape

Even though sentences appear to be composed of linear strings of words, they are actually combinations of constituents or syntactic units that are arranged in

a hierarchical order Consider a syntactically ambiguous phrase such as ‗The new shoes and socks were sitting by the front door‘ We can parse the subject as either (6a) or (6b)

(6a) [the new shoes and socks] (both are new)

(6b) [the new shoes] and socks (only the shoes are new)

Constituents can be a single word, or a phrase built around a single word We

use constituency tests to determine which words belong to which phrases

Substitution tests constituency by replacing a group of words with one

word

In (7) we see 2 constituents replaced with single words (a pronoun and an adverb)

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(7) All the fishermen are going to Italy

They are going there

(8) shows that when a prepositional phrase (PP) on flight 10’ is embedded in the noun phrase (NP) all the fishermen it must be considered a part of that NP constituent since we cannot replace only the all the fisherman

(8) All the fishermen on flight 101 are going to Italy

* They on flight 101 are going to Italy

They are going to Italy

Movement of a group of words from one position in a sentence to another is

a second constituency test (9) shows that the prepositional phrase (PP) in the pantry can be fronted (moved to the head of thesentence)

(9) You can find the peanut butter in the pantry

In the pantry you can find the peanut butter

Other modifying phrases can also undergo movement

(10) My cousin just returned from his vacation utterly rested and refreshed

Utterly rested and refreshed, my cousin just returned from his vacation

Deletion can be used to test constituency

(12) Mary was hoping to see John at the football game tonight also

Mary was hoping to, also

Short answers to content questions can also be used as a constituency test

(13) Superman decided to bring an orzo and cauliflower salad to the picnic

Superman decided what? to bring an orzo and cauliflower salad to the picnic Superman decided to bring what? an orzo and cauliflower salad to the picnic

Phrases and heads

Each constituent is minimally composed of a lexical item (a word belonging to a lexical category), but can include all required lexical/functional items, along with optional modifiers The part of speech that is central in the phrase is referred to as the ‗head‘ n XP can be so only if the head ‗X‘ is present Thus an P must have a

noun as its head

(14a) [NP Kittens]

As mentioned, phrases may include modifiers

(14b) [NP [D the N kittens]] (14c) [NP [D the [AP furry] [N kittens [PP with long

whiskers] [CP who were sleeping [PP under the shed]]]]]

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Likewise, a verb phrase (VP) must contain a verb and only those elements that are required, e.g a NP object for a transitive verb, as well as optional

embellishments, e.g., adverbs

(15a) [VP bought [NP a book]] (15b) [VP bought [NP a book [PP for her best friend]]]

Phrase Structure Rules

Any given language has its own phrase structure rules, which govern how syntactic structures are formed They show which words/phrases are required, those that are optional, and they stipulate a word order In (16) we see that the phrase structure

rules for NPs in English include the following:

is embedded in the NP since it is a constituent within the NP

This is also the case when certain verbs select sentences as complements Consider

(17) Harry decided that he really needed a motorcycle

The verb ‗decided‘ has as its complement the sentence that he really needed

a motorcycle This complement sentence is embedded since it is generated within

the VP The ability to embed sentences within sentences gives us the ability for infinite creativity

Tree Structures

Tree structures provide a graphic representation of the hierarchical nature of

constituents and relationships between words They show the deep (D) structure, the application of movement rules, and the corresponding surface (S) structure In syntactic trees, the lexical category is represented by phrase (XP) as the dominating node A noun phrase will be an NP, a verb phrase, a VP, etc These simple phrasal nodes may dominate a single node (non-branching (18a)), two nodes (binary

branching (18b)), or three nodes (ternary branching (18c)) In each case, one of the

dominated nodes must share the part of speech of the dominating node

Examples:

although in (20b), the PP in the morning has been fronted

(20a) Harriet runs 10 miles in the morning before going to work (20b) In the morning, Harriet runs 10 miles before going to work

Meaning is changed, however, when the auxiliary verb is in the declarative

sentence (21a) is raised above the subject in (21b), forming a yes/no question

(21a) Peter is having a lot of difficulty communicating

(21b) Is Peter having a lot of difficulty communicating?

Rules of movement show that sentences can have two distinct structures, the D-structure where all grammatical requirements are met, and S-structure, which

is the form that actually comes out of your mouth Additional sentence types that undergo transformations include Wh questions, in which a Wh word is raised above the subject (22) and passives, in which the subject is either omitted or ‗demoted‘ to

a prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence, the object moves to subject position, and the verb takes on a past participle form(23)

(22) D-structure: Maria has seen which movie?

S-structure: Which movie has Maria seen _?

(23) Active: The gardener trimmed the trees

Passive: The trees were trimmed by the gardener

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Ambiguity

Syntactic ambiguity occurs when the meaning of a sentence is not clear due to structural factors Consider (24)

(24) The superhero captured the criminal with a large red net

The obscurity here is due to the fact that the PP with a large red net could modify the verb captured by specifying the item that was used to carry out the

action, or could describe which criminal was captured, i.e., the criminal ‗with the large red net‘

Ambiguity also occurs when a sentence is incorrectly analyzed In (25), the

initial parsing assumes that is introducing the embedded sentence that her neighbor met However when the NP the lie is encountered, a re-analysis must take place

due to the semantic constraints of what may be selected as the object of the

verb met One cannot meet a lie A second reading will show that the relative

clause that her neighbor met modifies the NP the banker and that the kernel

sentence is ―Harriet told the banker a lie.‖

(25) Harriet told the banker that her neighbor met the lie

Another source of syntactic ambiguity is misreading the role of an NP in

relation to local verbs In (26), the NP the bookcase is initially understood to be the object of the first verb dusting until the lower verb, fell is encountered Since there

is no subject for fell, the sentence will be re-analyzed such that the bookcase will be understood as being found in subject position of fell and dusting will be understood

to have a covert object

(26) While Superman was dusting the bookcase fell over

Studying syntax can be very rewarding if you master one step before moving

on to another Work slowly and systematically and you will see how rewarding the process can be

2.2.1.2 Concept of sentence

So far, there have been numerous definitions of the sentence in English since different grammarians look at the sentence from different perspectives However, the thesis follows the definition in the dictionary in which the sentence is said to be

a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete idea; in writing the sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a stop or question mark (Dictionary of Contemporary English, p.1587) In addition, Quirk (1985) relates the structure of the simple sentence to that of the single independent clause with central elements as subject (S), verb (V), object (O),

Type 1 SV(e.g.: The dog has died)

Type 2 SVO(e.g.: The dog ate the bone.)

Type 3 SVC(e.g.: The dog is dead.)

Type 4 SVA(e.g.: The dogisover there.)

Type 5 SVOO(e.g.: She bought him a dog.)

Type 6 SVOC (e.g.: He kept the dog clean.)

Type 7 SVOA (e.g.: He kept the dog carefully.)

2.2.1.3 Concepts of the phrase and classification of phrase

Phrases in English

According to ( Alexander 1998, 243 ), a phrase is a group of words acting as

a single part of speech and not containing both a subject and a verb It is a part of a

sentence, and does not express a complete thought

A phrase is a group of words that express a concept and is used as a unit within a sentence Eight common types of phrases are: noun, verb, gerund, infinitive, appositive, participial, prepositional, and absolute Take a look at our selection of phrase examples below

For example, the phrases in the first two sentences of this page are italicized

In which the first sentence contains five phrases: ― of words‖, ― acting as a single part of speech,‖ ― as a single part of speech,” and “ not containing both a subject and a verb ― Except for the phrase beginning with as, all the phrases are acting as

adjectives The phrase beginning with as is adverbial

According to http://www.thefreedictionary.com., a phrase is a group of words without a Subject and a Verb, which makes sense, but not complete sense

Examples:

- Lectures begin at nine

- They bought me a box of chocolates

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- I’m feeling cold

- They are behaving badly

Classification of phrase

In English grammar, grammarians divide phrases into an array of categories

with specific names based on the type of word that begins or governs; noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, infinitive phrase, participle phrase, gerund phrase, and absolute phrase, to name but a few However, the definition of phase

should be clarified to understand the diversity of those terms

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

A noun phrase consists of a noun and all its modifiers

Here are examples:

 The bewildered tourist was lost

 The lost puppy was a wet and stinky dog

 The flu clinic had seen many cases of infectious disease

 It was a story as old as time

 The sports car drove the long and winding road

 Saturday became a cool, wet afternoon

A verb phrase is similar to what is considered a predicate in more traditional

grammars Verb phrases generally are divided among two types: finite, of which the head of the phrase is a finite verb; and nonfinite, where the head is a nonfinite verb, such as an infinitive, participle or gerund

A verb phrase consists of a verb and all its modifiers

Here are examples:

 He was waiting for the rain to stop

 She was upset when it didn't boil

 You have been sleeping for a long time

 You might enjoy a massage

 He was eager to eat dinner

A gerund phrase is a phrase consisting of a gerund and any modifiers or

objects associated with it A gerund is a noun made from a verb root plus ing (a

 Taking my dog for a walk is fun

 Walking in the rain can be difficult

 Strolling along a beach at sunset is romantic

 Getting a promotion is exciting

 Signing autographs takes time

 Going for ice cream is a real treat

 Singing for his supper was how he earned his keep

 Getting a sore back was the result of the golf game

 Pulling an all-nighter did not improve his test scores

 Sailing into the sunset was the perfect end to the book

An Infinitive Phrase is a group of words consisting of an infinitive and the

modifier(s) and/or (pro)noun(s) or noun phrase(s) that function as the actor(s), direct object(s), or complement(s) of the action or state expressed in the infinitive, such as: We intended to leave early

An infinitive phrase is a noun phrase that begins with an infinitive verb Here are some examples:

 To make lemonade, you have to start with lemons

 I tried to see the stage, but I was too short

 She organized a boycott to make a statement

 To see Niagara Falls is mind-boggling

 He really needs to get his priorities in order

 The company decided to reduce hours for everyone

 To donate time or money is an honorable thing

 I went to Spain to study the language and culture

An appositive phrase is a group of words consisting of an appositive and its

modifiers Like a single word appositive, appositive phrases appear beside the noun

or pronoun they are renaming These phrases are either essential or non-essential—more about that later

An appositive phrase restates and defines a noun It consists of one or more words

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Examples are:

 My favorite pastime, needlepoint, surprises some people

 Her horse, an Arabian, was her pride and joy

 My wife, the love of my life, is also my best friend

 A cheetah, the fastest land animal, can run 70 miles an hour

 My idea, a recycling bin for the office, was accepted by the boss

 The Florida panther, the state animal of Florida, is an endangered

species

A participial phrase is a group of words consisting of a participle and the

modifier and/or nouns, pronouns or noun phrases that function as the direct objects, indirect objects, or complements of the action or state expressed in the participle

A participial phrase begins with a past or present participle

Examples are:

 Washed with my clothes, my cell phone no longer worked

 Knowing what I know now, I wish I had never come here

 I am really excited, considering all the people that will be there

 We are looking forward to the movie, having seen the trailer last

week

 Grinning from ear to ear, she accepted her award

 The happy dog ran the entire length of the park, pausing only to sniff

the dandelions

 Painted a brilliant white, the small room appeared bigger

 The lake, frozen over all winter, was finally thawing

A prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting of a preposition, its

object, and any words that modify the object Most of the time, a prepositional phrase modifies a verb or a noun These two kinds of prepositional phrases are called adverbial phrases and adjectival phrases, respectively

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and can act as a noun, an adjective or an adverb

Examples are:

 The book was on the table

 We camped by the brook

 He knew it was over the rainbow

 She was lost in the dark of night

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 He was between a rock and a hard place

 I waited for a while

 She smelled of strawberries and cream

 He won the challenge against all odds

An absolute phrase is a phrase that modifies the entire main clause of a

sentence, instead of just an individual word It consists of a noun and a participle, as well as an optional additional modifier or object Absolute phrases appear before or after a clause

An absolute phrase has a subject, but not an action verb, so it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence It modifies the whole sentence, not just a noun

Examples are:

 His tail between his legs, the dog walked out the door

 Picnic basket in hand, she set off for her date

 The guys attacked the pile of nachos, their fingers getting the last bit

of cheese off the plate

 Their heads hanging down, the whole group apologized

 The entire team, their uniforms muddy and stained, shouted for joy

2.2.2 Semantics-related issues

2.2.2.1 Definition of meaning

In semantics, conceptual meaning is the literal or core sense of a word There

is nothing read into the term, no subtext; it's just the straightforward, literal,

dictionary definition of the word The term is also called denotation or cognitive

meaning Contrast the word with connotation, affective meaning, and figurative

meaning, which go beyond the dictionary to add subtext to a word when it's used

In writing and conversation, it's good to know the difference between the literal, conceptual meaning of a word and all the connotations it has before you use

it, to dispel misunderstandings or any offense before you accidentally put it out there—especially if a word is loaded with negatives or stereotypes about a group of people

"To understand a word fully," noted authors Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman,

"a student must know not only what it refers to, but also where the boundaries are that separate it from words of related meaning."

The potential layers of meaning that a word has, besides its straight dictionary definition, makes word choice in your writing so important It's

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especially important to know when those layers have historically racist or sexist undertones to them Layers also have ramifications for those learning a language and being able to choose between similar words and use the correct one in the proper situation

The conceptual meaning of a word, in the field of linguistics, is just one of seven types of meaning that a word can have

Affective meaning: what meaning is associated with it in the real world for the speaker or writer rather than just its dictionary meanings; subjective A CEO and a nun talking about charity could mean two different things

Collocative meaning: words that are regularly found together For example,

take pretty and handsome These words are more often associated with one gender

or the other If you hear someone behind you say, "Don't you look handsome," and you look to see one person talking to a girl and one talking to a boy, your

knowledge of how handsome is used collocatively helps you figure out that the

person you overheard is talking to the boy

Conceptual meaning: the dictionary definition of the word; the descriptive

definition of it A cougar in the dictionary is a big cat In contexts about people and

not concerning wildlife, the term has other meanings

Connotative meaning: subtext and layers brought into the context by the use

of a particular word; subjective A word's connotations can be negative or positive,

depending on the audience The label of being a liberal or a conservative, for

example, can be good or bad, depending on the person's intentions in using it and the person hearing or reading it

Connotative meanings can change over time or mean different things among different societies

Reflective or reflected meaning: multiple conceptual meanings For example,

the literal, dictionary definition of the word gay is "happy" or "bright" (colors),

though in society's use today it has a much different meaning

Social meaning: the meaning given to words based on the social context that

they're used in For example, someone from the South would use y'all more often

than someone from a different region of the country People from different regions

call a carbonated soft drink different things, too, from pop to soda to Coke (whether

or not that is its literal brand name)

 My studies are important to me

 What's important to me are my studies

A writer or speaker can imbue emphasis by how he or she ends a sentence or paragraph

2.2.2.2 Types of meanings

A word is the smallest unit of spoken language which has meaning and can stand alone, it is a written representation of one or more sounds which can be spoken to represent an idea, object, action, etc in order to be understood by the people, a word must have a meaning

Most words have more than one meaning, it is the characteristic of words that a single word may have several meaning, in fact, words may play an enormous part in our life Words are used not in isolation but related to human situation It is through our experience with them in human situation that they take on meaning.in human situation If we talk about words, we can not avoid talking about the study of meaning (semantics) The meaning of word is often complex, having such component as a picture, an idea, a quality, a relationship and personal feelings and association Lyons 1977:643 in Palmer1981:40-41) suggested that we should draw a distinction between sentence meaning and utterance meaning, the sentence meaning being directly predictable from the grammatical and lexical features of the sentence, while utterance meaning includes all the various types of meaning, then, is the part of meaning of a sentence that we are going to discuss in the next following Lyons states that, utterance meaning is the part of meaning of a sentence that is directly related to grammatical and lexical features, but is obtained either from associated prosodic and paralinguistic features or from the content, linguistic and non-linguistic The seven types of meaning are as follows:

1 Conceptual Meaning

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Conceptual meaning is sometimes called denotative meaning or cognitive meaning,

it is widely assumed to be the central factor in linguistic communication Larson noted that denotative meaning is also called as primary meaning, that is the meaning suggested by the word when it used alone It is the first meaning or usage which a word will suggest to most people when the word is said in isolation it is the meaning learned early in life and likely to have reference to a physical situation (Larson, 1984: 100)

The denotation of word is its agreed-upon sense-what it refers to, stands for, or designates, a part from the feeling it may call up, and this again is able for a good deal on the context the words that appears in

It is said that the aim of denotative meaning is to provide, for any given interpretation of a sentence, a configuration of abstract symbols, in which shows exactly what we need to know if we are to distinguish that meaning from all other possible sentence meaning in the language

2 Connotative Meaning

As we experience, words are human situations, they not only take on certain denotation, but also often acquire individual flavors They have come to have emotive tone, the associations, and suggestiveness of the situation in which they have been a part For example let us examine the words ―brink‖ This denotes on

―edge‖ However in the phrase ―The brink of the cliff” or” the brink of disaster”,

this word suggest danger and its emotive tone is that of fear

According to Leech (1974: 40-41) connotative meaning is the communicative value

an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content It will be clear if we are talking about connotation, we are in fact talking about the ―real word experience‖ Someone associates with an expression when someone uses and hears it The fact that if we compared connotative meaning with denotative meaning is that connotations are relatively unstable; that is they vary considerably we have seen, according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual Although all the speaker of particular language speaks the language exactly the same conceptual framework, actually each of them has individual perception of words Connotative meaning is indeterminate and open in the same way as our knowledge and belief about the universe are opened-ended Connotations play a major role in the language of literature, of politics, of advertising, and a greeting card

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3 Stylistic Meaning

Stylistic meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the circumstances

of its use A recent account of English has recognized some main dimensions of stylistic variation For instance:

1 They chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot

2 After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money

Sentence (1) could be said by the two criminals, talking casually about the crime afterwards; sentence (2) might be said by the chief of the police in making the official report; both could describe the same happening (Leech, 1974: 15)

4 Affective Meaning

Affective meaning is a sort of meaning which an effect the personal feeling of speakers, including his/her attitude to the listener, or his/her attitude to something he/she talking about In order to get people attention to be quiet, we might say either

‖I’m terribly sorry to interrupt but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voice as a little‖ or 2 ―Will you belt up‖ Factors such as intonation and voice

timbre are also important here The impression of politeness in the sentence (1) can

be reserved by tone of biting sarcasm; sentence (2) can be turn into a playful remark between intimates if delivered with the intonation of a mild request

6 Collocative Meaning

Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquire s on account of the meanings of the words, which tends to occur in its environment For instance the words pretty and handsome share common ground in the meaning of good looking But may be distinguished by the range of noun in which they are like to occur or collocate; Pretty woman and handsome man The ranges may well match although they suggest a different kind of attractiveness of the adjectives

7 Thematic Meaning

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This is the final category of meaning, thematic meaning is the meaning that is communicated by the way in which the speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis It is often felt an active sentence such as (1) below has a different meaning from its passive equivalent (2) although in conceptual content they seem to be the same (Leech 1974: 19)

1 Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize

2 The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith

We can assume that the active sentence answers an implicit question ―what did Mrs Bessie Smith donate?‖, while the passive sentence answer the implicit question

―who donates the first prize?‖, that in other words in contrast to se 2 suggest

that we know who Mrs Bessie Smith

2.2.2.3 Concepts of reference

When it comes to the meaning of a word, we can pay attention to the inner or outer meaning of a word Endophoric meaning includes the previous reference (the act of only) anaphoric reference, for example, when using the pronoun to say he, this pronoun refers to / refers to the previous (backward) it to a noun indicating the person the male is in front (earlier), on the contrary, when using the word following, this word means referring to the object behind (later, forward) called a cataphoric reference In addition to the concept of reference in (in the sentence), we also pay attention to the external reference meaning, outside the sentence (exophoric reference) For example, when using first person singular pronouns singular or plural, at the beginning of a sentence I or we can use as the subject because these words refer to the outer object of the sentence, these objects ( / speakers exist in the outside world

―Endophoric‖ reference is a more general term that includes both anaphoric and cataphoric reference So it refers to something inside the text, either earlier (anaphoric) or later (cataphoric) So any of the examples above of anaphoric and cataphoric reference are also examples of endophoric reference

Endophora refers to the phenomenon of expressions that derive their reference from something within the surrounding text (endophors).[1]

For example, in the sentences "I saw Sally yesterday She was lying on the

beach", "she" is an endophoric expression because it refers to something mentioned

elsewhere in the text, i.e "Sally"

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By contrast, "She was lying on the beach," if it appeared by itself, contains

surrounding text, so there is not enough information given within the text to independently determine to whom "she" refers It can refer to someone the speaker assumes his audience has prior knowledge of, or it can refer to a person he is showing to his listeners Without further information, in other words, there is no way of knowing the exact meaning of an exophoric term

Endophora can be broken into three

subcategories: cataphora, anaphora and self-reference

2.3 Quantifiers in English

A quantifier is a word that usually goes before a noun to express the

quantity of the object; for example, a little milk Most quantifiers are followed by

a noun, though it is also possible to use them without the noun when it is clear what we are referring to For example,

Do you want some milk? – Just a little It‘s clear that I mean ‗a little

milk‘

There are quantifiers to describe large quantities (a lot, much, many), small quantities (a little, a bit, a few) and undefined quantities (some, any) There are also quantifiers that express the idea of a sufficient amount (enough, plenty)

There are some quantifiers that have a similar meaning but differ because one is used with countable nouns and the other is used with uncountable

nouns Countable nouns are things that we can count; for example, a table, two chairs Uncountable nouns are things that we cannot count and only have a singular form; for example, some furniture, some fruit

In grammar, a quantifier is a type of determiner (such as all, some, or much)

that expresses a relative or indefinite indication of quantity

Quantifiers usually appear in front of nouns (as in all children), but they may also function as pronouns (as in All have returned)

A complex quantifier is a phrase (such as a lot of) that functions as a

quantifier

Examples and Observations

"I believe that every person is born with talent." (Maya Angelou)

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"Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the

beat keep time with short steps."(Hans Christian Andersen, in the instructions for the music for his funeral)

"Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very

simple reason: they made no such demand upon those who wrote them."(Charles

Caleb Colton, Lacon, or Many things in Few Words, 1820)

"All politicians should have three hats: one to throw into the ring, one to talk

through, and one to pull rabbits out of if elected."(Carl Sandburg)

"I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened."(attributed to Mark Twain, among others)

Meanings of Quantifiers

"Quantifiers can be classified in terms of their meaning Some quantifiers

have a meaning of inclusiveness That is, they refer to an entire group Both refers to two members of a group of two, few to a subgroup of the entire group, and all to the totality of members of a group of unspecified size Every and each refer to single members of a group The difference between all, a few, and both on the one hand and each and every, is reflected in subject-verb agreement

"Other quantifiers are noninclusive and have a meaning related to size or quantity These quantifiers can be classified by the relative size they indicate For

example, many and much refer to large quantities, some to a moderate quantity, and little and few to small quantities " (Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of

English: A Course Book and Reference Guide Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Partitives and Quantifiers: Agreement

"There is, in fact, a somewhat fuzzy distinction between partitive structures

and inclusives and Quantifiers formed with of In a clause such as a lot of students

have arrived it is the noun students which determines number agreement on the

Finite (have - plural) It is not normally possible to say *a lot of students has

arrived Therefore students is the head of the noun group and a lot of is a complex

Quantifier Similarly, it is also normal to say a number of students have

arrived not a number of students has arrived, that is, to treat a number of as a

complex Quantifier

"For beginning learners, it may be best to introduce expressions such as a lot

of and a number of as complex Quantifiers but in other cases to err on

the prescriptive side and encourage agreement with the noun preceding of."

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Count Nouns, Mass Nouns, and Quantifiers

"Count nouns (e.g diamond, bottle, book, board, waiter, table, cat, bush,

truck, house) and mass nouns (e.g gold, coffee, paper, wood, meat, air, water, coal, smoke, blood, wine) differ grammatically in the range

of articles and quantifiers they occur with For instance, count nouns occur with the

indefinite article a but not with the complex quantifier a lot of: a diamond, *a lot of

diamond Mass nouns do the opposite: a lot of gold, *a gold."

(Ronald W Langacker, "Linguistic Manifestations of the Space-Time (Dis)Analogy." Space and Time in Languages and Cultures: Language, Culture, and Cognition, ed by Luna Filipović and Katarzyna M Jaszczolt John Benjamins, 2012)

Zero Plurals

"After numerals or quantifiers, count nouns may have a zero plural (the same

form as in the singular): thirty year, many mile." (Sidney

Greenbaum, Oxford English Grammar Oxford University Press, 1996)

However, in the Longman Dictionary, published in 1991 in Madrid: ongman Group UK imited on page 20 , the first definition a states ―quantity is

an indefinite amount or number However, the second definition 2a says ―quantity

is the aspect in which a thing is measurable in terms ò degree oh magnitude‖ According to this "quantity" approach, in English, the word quantity can be understood as "level" or "importance" The thesis follows this approach, claiming that quantifiers are words that can have two meanings: the first means quantity or quantity and the second means only the degree

2.4 Quantifiers in Vietnamese

In Nguyen Tai Can's Vietnamese Grammar book published by the National University of Science in 1996, from page 231 to page 234, the author describes parts of Vietnamese reputation In which the author thinks that in Vietnamese there are a number of determinants, the first part of the Vietnamese noun is the qualifier indicating quantity, indicating the number of unidentified things by numbers, for

example: tất thảy cả tất cả… In the book Vietnamese grammar problems, Types of

words and word directives of the author Nguyen Phu Phong published by VNU Publishing House in 2002, page 51 of the authors stated that, in Vietnamese, there

Quantifier words: most, much, each…

In some English grammar books and dictionaries, a number of words: both, many, most ., when standing alone in sentences, are called pronouns or in cases

where nouns are wiped out Thesis point of view, that the amount of English words can stand alone as a pronoun, meaning forward reference, related to the aforementioned noun

For example:

[1] All of the members of the executive committee have made their views

known to me Most want to hire only experienced programmers from now on, and each wants to interview the applicants

In the example [1], the words most and each usually come before the nouns, but in this case they stand alone as the subject for the verbs want and wants The word most means the plural, so the verb is used in the plural, each means the singular, so the verb is used in the present singular Likewise, the following word counts serve

as the subject in the following examples;

[2] ……… Both are correct (cả hai u ng)

[3] ……… None are my friends (không ai l b n c a t i) [4] ……… Some have disappeared (m t s bi n mất) [5] ……… Most died in the war (h u h t b hy sinh trong

cu c chi n tranh)

In the examples above, the words Both, None, Some, Most are all regular amounts

with countable nouns, nouns with these adjectives in front of the sentence, the

meaning is clear, without any repetition after quantity Used in the subject position

like these words can also have some other words, for example: all, ………