MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH VERBS OF SENSES WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CÁC ĐỘNG TỪ CHỈ GIÁC QUAN TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYỄN THỊ HƯỜNG Field of study: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. ĐẶNG NGỌC HƯỚNG Hanoi, 2017 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on syntactic and semantic features of English verbs of senses with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents” 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, 2017 Nguyễn Thị Hường Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people.
First of all, I would like to express my special gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Dang Ngoc Huong for his enthusiastic assistance. I would like, hereby, to extend my sincere thanks to HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY, where I have received many golden opportunities to do this wonderful thesis on the topic “A study on syntactic and semantic features of English verbs of senses with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents”. Writing the thesis helped me much in consolidating what I had acquired and knowing how to do research work.All in all, I have gained so many new things.
I would also like to thank my classmates who have advised me in the process of implementing this thesis. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the encouragement and support they have provided me for the fulfillment of my academic work. ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to provide insights into syntactic features of the sensory verbs in both English and Vietnamese, and to better understand the semantic features of these verbs. More specifically, a survey was conducted in the thesis using descriptive, statistic and qualitative methods.
The samples included 100 students in grade 11 at Le Quy Don Gifted High School in Lai Chau province. The author then tried to discover the elements that make up the differences in verbs of senses. Based on the survey results, learners are expected to understand deeply about the syntactic and semantic features of English verbs denoting senses with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents. They can master how to apply the verbs in general and verbs of senses in particular in sensible ways, how to understand comprehensively and how to translate them effectively and correctly.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations Explanations ADV Adverb DT Determiner C Complement Ex Example V Verb NN Noun NNP Proper noun MD Modal O Object P Preposition S Subject LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Different types of English verbs. Error! Bookmark not defined.2: Basic paradigm of English sense verbs (Viberg, 1984) Error! Bookmark not defined.3:Structure proposed by Viberg (1984). Error! Bookmark not defined.4:Sweetser’s correspondences of sense verbs. Error! Bookmark not defined.5:The perception frame of the study(Fillmore 1971).
Error! Bookmark not defined. 1: Summary of the Semantic Features of SEE. 2: English SEE Verbs and Their Vietnamese Translational Equivalents. 3: Summary of the Semantic Features of HEAR.
4: English HEAR Verbs and Their Vietnamese Translational Equivalents. 5: Summary of the Semantic Features of TOUCH. 6: English TOUCH Verbs and Their Vietnamese Translational Equivalents. 7: Summary of the Semantic Features of SMELL.
8: English SMELL Verbs and Their Vietnamese Translational Equivalents. 9: Summary of the Semantic Features of TASTE. 10: English TASTE Verbs and Their Vietnamese Translational Equivalents. 1: The results of common errors made by learners of English when using the verbs of senses in English …………………………………………………… ……….
2: The results of Test paper of Grammar and vocabulary as the s verb……. 3: The results of Test paper of Grammar errors and Vocabulary of sense verbs……………………………………………………………………………………38 Table 4. 4: The results of Test paper of Translation errors of students ……………….39 CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
iv LIST OF TABLES. Aims and objectives of the study. Methodology of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Design of the paper. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Theory of syntax. Error! Bookmark not defined. Concepts of semantics. Error! Bookmark not defined.
An overview of English Verb. Error! Bookmark not defined.1 Definition of the verb. Error! Bookmark not defined. Classifications of verbs.
Error! Bookmark not defined. An overview of verbs denoting senses. Error! Bookmark not defined. A brief description of sensory verbs in English.
Error! Bookmark not defined. A brief description of sensory verbs in Vietnamese. Error! Bookmark not defined. Summary of the chapter.
Error! Bookmark not defined. 22 VERBS OFSENSE IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS. The syntactic features of English verbs denoting senses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents. The verb to SEE.
The verb TO HEAR. The verb TO TOUCH. The verb to SMELL. The verb TO TASTE.
The semantic features of English denoting senses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents. The verb TO SEE. The verb TOHEAR. The verb TO TOUCH.
The verb TO SMELL. The verb TO TASTE. 35 COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LEARNERS OF ENGLISH. 35 WHEN USING THE VERBS OF SENSES IN ENGLISH.
Data collecting instruments and analysis. Common errors made by learners of English when using the verbs of senses in English. Causes of common errors made by learners of English when using the verbs of senses in English. Suggestions for teaching and learningto see, to hear, to touch, to smell and to taste in English.
Suggestions for teaching those verbs for Vietnamese learners of English. Suggestions for learning those verbs for Vietnamese learners of English. Summary of the chapter. Limitation of the study.
Suggestions for further study. Rationale Of all parts of the sentence, the verb is often hypothesized to be the semantic variant in linguistics (Gentner, 1982). The language of the world has many variations related to the verb information of SENSE, as well as its singular forms. Accordingly, all SENSE verbs have a certain common meaning (Schultze, 2000).
In addition to exploring the semantic differences derived from the SENSE verb, this thesis also considers the internal organization of the SENSE verb through its meaning investigation based on close attention to the structure grammar structure and semantic characteristics of these vocabularies. Another fundamental aspect of the current approach is the basis of vocabulary data in the broad sociological context. Language and human culture are combined, from which they gradually adapt (Levinson 2003). Thus, the author not only confines to observations of purely linguistic characteristics, the author also attempts to clarify the field of sociology in which semantic distinctions between verbs SENSE in both English and Vietnamese.
Historically, there have been no hypotheses regarding the link between culture and language or vice versa. Thus, in this paper, the author shows that there is a relationship between the semantic structure of the SENSE verb and ecological context in which this verb is used. Perception verbs are complex problems for learners in both their grammatical form and lexical meaning. Learners tend to avoid expressing their ideas with perception verbs because they are not confident of using them.
Many perception verbs carry more than one meaning. Thus, it is difficult for learners to determine accurately the meaning of perception verbs. From many researches and experiences of author, this research found it is difficult for Vietnamese learners to use perception verbs in speaking and writing English accurately. Meanwhile, not much of research on perception verbs has been done.
For that reason, I hope that this work will be a start for further studies on syntactic and semantic features of English verbs denoting senses with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents. Recently, with the support of technology and Internet, global communication has become common, and thus English is more important all over the world. Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult for learners of English to find the right words when expressing their opinions and feelings due to the different meaning in different contexts, especially when transferring meanings of words from English to Vietnamese and vice versa. The verbs maybe the most important part of the sentence since they state what is happening in the sentences’ context.
English verbs are grouped into different classifications based on various criteria in order to help English learners to understand and use them easily. One of the most important groups of verbs may be the group of verbs denoting senses, such as: to see, to seem, to taste, to touch, to sound, to hear, to listen. These verbs are considered as having the high frequency of appearance in the usual daily conversations. They have a wide range of meanings, and if English users and translators do not pay attention or understand deeply the context, they can misunderstand and be confused.
Trying the best to find the right answer for the difficulties in order to motivate teaching, learning and translating is one of the most necessities, which Vietnamese users take for granted. Investigating into the syntactic and semantic features of English sensory verbs to see; to hear; to touch; to smell; to taste with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents is of great help for Vietnamese users in using these verbs effectively and correctly. For all the above reasons, the author has decided on the topic for her thesis A Study on Syntactic and Semantic Features of English Verbs of Senses with Reference to Their Vietnamese Equivalents. The thesis is aimed at syntactically and semantically analyzing the five English sensory verbs together with their Vietnamese equivalents.
The study is also expected to provide Vietnamese users of English with better mastering how to apply the verbs in general and verbs of senses in sensible ways, how to understand comprehensively and how to translate them effectively and correctly. Aims and objectives of the study 1. Aims of the study As the title indicates, this paper aims to investigate the linguistic features of English verbs denoting senses with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents. The verbs include: to see, to hear, to touch, and to taste.
The thesis sets up as its tasks to investigate how the verbs combine with other words and what they mean in English sentences. On the basis of what they are in English and how they are translated into Vietnamese, the writer expects to point out possible similarities and differences in terms of syntax and meanings of these verbs in English and Vietnamese in order to assist Vietnamese learners to study and to use these verbs effectively and correctly. Objectives of the study In order to achieve the above aims, the study focuses on the following objectives: To analyze the syntactic features of verbs of senses in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents; To find out semantic features of verbs of senses in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents; To suggest some recommendations on the improvement of English teaching and learning those verbs. Research questions On the basis of the mentioned aims and objectives, the researcher will seek to answer the following questions: What are the syntactic features of English verbs of senses with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents? What are the semantic features of English verbs of senses with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents? What are the recommendations for learning, teaching those verbs of senses? 1.
Methodology of the study The thesis employs mainly qualitative research method in order to describe and analyze syntactic and semantic features of English verbs of senses.