English – Vietnamese Contrastive

Analysis on the Perspective of Syntax

1
Goals
+ Basically understand the definition of “Syntax”
+ Have a well-round overview on sentences and clauses
+ Examine different types of phrase structure rules
+ Understand transformational rules
+ Examine some potential Vietnamese-English interactions

2
 English – Vietnamese Contrastive
Analysis on the Perspective of Syntax
Group 1:
Nguyễn Thị Thanh Tâm
Nhâm Thị Hồng Mai
Hoàng Lê Yến Nhi
Nguyễn Hùng Tuân
Lê Hải Anh
Bùi Thị Điệp
Nguyễn Thị Minh Ngọc
Đỗ Vũ Nhật Minh
Nguyễn Thu Nguyệt
Nguyễn Trà My 3
 No. Presenter Comment

1 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Tâm

2 Nhâm Thị Hồng Mai

3 Hoàng Lê Yến Nhi

4 Nguyễn Hùng Tuân

5 Lê Hải Anh

ClassQH2020-2/ Group 1 4
 No. Presenter Comment

6 Bùi Thị Điệp

7 Nguyễn Thị Minh Ngọc

8 Đỗ Vũ Nhật Minh

9 Nguyễn Thu Nguyệt

10 Nguyễn Trà My

ClassQH2020-2/ Group 1 5
 TYPES OF SENTENCES AND
CLAUSES IN VIETNAMESE AND
ENGLISH

Presenter: Nham Thi Hong Mai

TYPES OF SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH

1. Types of sentences based on grammatical - Simple sentence

construction. - Compound sentence
- Complex sentence
- Compound-complex sentence

2. Types of sentences based on meaning, - Declarative

purpose (function). - Interrogative
- Imperative
- Exclamatory

3. Types of sentences based on voice. - Active voice

- Passive voice
 Types of sentences based on grammatical construction

1. Simple sentence 2. Compound sentence

a. Definition
a. Definition - A compound sentence is made up of at least two
- A simple sentence is a sentence with one subject simple sentences joined by a coordinating
and one predicate. (Bruce, 2014) conjunction; in writing, punctuation can
- A simple sentence is made from a set of phrases substitute for the conjunction. (Bruce, 2014)
surrounding a predicate, and is used to describe - A compound sentence is a sentence constructed
an event (Diep, 2004). by two (or more than two) simple sentences in a
way that neither sentence contains others. (Diep,
a. Example 2004)

a. Example

English Vietnamese English Vietnamese

I love you Em yêu anh They got there early, and Họ đến đó sớm, và họ đã có
they got good seats. chỗ ngồi tốt.
 Types of sentences based on grammatical construction

3. Complex sentence 4. Compound-complex sentence

a. Definition a. Definition
- A complex sentence contains a simple sentence - A compound-complex sentence has two or more
and one or more dependent clauses. (Bruce, 2014) independent clauses and at least one dependent
- A complex sentence is a sentence that embeds a clause. (Bruce, 2014)
part of a sentence or another sentence. (Diep,
2004) a. Example

a. Example

English Vietnamese

Last night, I ate a lot when I Tối qua về nhà ăn nhiều

English Vietnamese got home, but I was still nhưng vẫn đói nên ra trung
hungry, so I went to the tâm thương mại mua thêm
When I was young, I played Khi còn trẻ, tôi chơi bóng
shopping center to buy đồ ăn.
football very well. rất giỏi.
some more food.
 Contrastive analysis of sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Similarity Both English and Vietnamese have some basic structure of sentences: S V, S V O, S V O C...

- Structure - Structure
Difference + I will come back tomorrow. + Mai mẹ về.
-> Subject: I; Predicate: come back. -> Theme: Mai (adverb); Rheme: mẹ về.
-> In English, the structure of a sentence follows the -> In Vietnamese, the structure of a sentence follows
formula: Subject - Predicate. the formula: Theme - Rheme.

- S V C sentence type: - S V C sentence type:

+ She is Hanoian. + Cô ấy là người Hà Nội/ Cô ấy người Hà Nội
+ Cô ấy đẹp lắm.
+ She is so beautiful. -> In these sentences, the noun and adjective play the
-> In these sentences, tobe plays the role of a predicate. role of a predicate.
-> In the first example, the word là can be omitted
without changing the meaning of the sentence.
 Contrastive analysis of sentences in English and Vietnamese.

- S V O C sentence type: - S V O C sentence type:

Difference + We elected him our chairman for three running + Chúng tôi bầu ông ấy làm Chủ tịch ba khóa
terms of office. liền.
-> This example is a simple sentence. -> “ông ấy làm Chủ tịch ba khóa liền” (= he works as
chairman for three running terms of office). This
phrase can be a simple sentence in Vietnamese.
Therefore, the example can be a compound sentence.

- Empty subject: - Empty subject:

It is very hard to study English. + Thật khó để có thể học tiếng Anh/ Học tiếng
Anh thật khó.
-> The sentence is formed by Subject and verb. -> There’s no subject in the Vietnamese example.
-> There’s no equivalent phrase as It is adjective to do
something in Vietnamese.
 Types of sentences based on meaning, purpose (function)

1. Declarative
a. Definition
- These sentences make a statement. (Bruce, 2014)
a. Example
English Vietnamese

I love you. Em yêu anh.

2. Interrogative
a. Definition
- These sentences ask a question. (Bruce, 2014)
a. Example

Type of question English Vietnamese

WH - question What are you looking for? Anh đang tìm cái gì?
Yes/ No question Did they come back home? Họ về rồi phải không?
Tag question They are playing football, Họ đang chơi bóng đá phải
aren’t they? không?
 Contrastive analysis of interrogative sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Similarity - Both language use interrogative words or phrase to ask for information which are AI (WHO), GÌ/ CÁI GÌ
(WHAT), CÁI NÀO (WHICH), ĐÂU/ Ở ĐÂU (WHERE), KHI NÀO/ LÚC NÀO/ BAO GIỜ/ CHỪNG
NÀO...(WHEN), SAO/ TẠI SAO/VÌ LÝ DO GÌ (WHY).

Difference - Structure - Structure

+ Is Mai a doctor? + Mai là bác sĩ phải không?
-> In English questions, we usually put an auxiliary -> In Vietnamese, question word order is simpler like
verb, a modal verb or the verb “to be” before a narrative sentences: “ subject + predicate”, and added
subject, or combine with Wh-word to form a question. with modal particles like “À, Ư, NHỈ, NHÉ, HẢ” or
pairs of adverb like “CÓ...KHÔNG, PHẢI
KHÔNG”.
- Intonation - Intonation
+ Did they meet each other? + Họ đã gặp nhau phải không?
-> In English, people raise their voice at the end of the -> In Vietnamese, normally people don’t use
Yes/ No question. intonation.
 Contrastive analysis of interrogative sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Difference - Word order - Word order

+ Where will she go? + Cô ấy sẽ đi đâu?
+ Who loves Tom? + Ai yêu Tom?
-> In English, Wh-words are always at the beginning -> In Vietnamese, interrogative words can be at
of the sentence. the beginning or at the end of the sentence.

- Tag question - Tag question

+ She is Mary, isn’t she? + Cô ấy là Mary phải không?
-> In English, tag question is a grammatical structure -> Vietnamese doesn’t have tag questions. We just
in which a phrase such as “ISN’T IT?” or “DO translate it equivalently from English by a statement
YOU?” is added to the end of a statement in order to adding “PHẢI KHÔNG”, “ĐÚNG KHÔNG”, “À”,
turn it into a question or check that the statement is “Ư” to the end of the sentence.
correct.
 Types of sentences based on meaning, purpose (function)

3. Imperative
a. Definition
- These sentences express a command or make a request. (Bruce, 2014)

a. Example

English Vietnamese
Please give me a glass of water! Vui lòng lấy hộ tôi cốc nước!
Find him. Hãy tìm anh ta.
 Contrastive analysis of imperative sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Similarity - Both English and Vietnamese use special terms to express an order, words such as "DO", "LET", “DON'T" in
English and "HÃY", "ĐI", “ĐỪNG", “CHỚ", “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC" in Vietnamese.
- English and Vietnamese both take advantage of empty words to make imperative more gentle and polite. For
example, Vietnamese people use the phrase "VUI LÒNG" when giving an order or making an offer. Here, "VUI
LÒNG" is almost synonymous with "PLEASE" in English imperatives.

Difference - Pronoun “You” - Pronoun “You”

+ You sit down here. + Anh hãy ngồi xuống đây.
-> This request expresses annoyance, rudeness and -> This request expresses informality and friendliness.
disrespect of the speaker toward the listener.
-> The pronoun “YOU” in English imperatives will make
them more extreme and offensive, enlarging the
distance between the speaker and the listener.
 Contrastive analysis of imperative sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Difference - Structure - Structure

+ When the alarm rings, passengers and crew will + Khi chuông báo động vang lên, hành khách và
assemble at their boat station. thủy thủ đoàn phải tập trung tại bến tàu.
-> In English, people use some special structures such -> In Vietnamese, people use special terms such as
as “WILL V”, “MAY V”, “TAG QUESTION” to express "HÃY", “ĐI", “KHÔNG ĐƯỢC" or modals verbs such as
commands. "PHẢI" and "CỨ" for requests, orders, and instructions.

- Performative verbs - Performative verbs

+ We hope you come join the party with us! + Mong các bạn đến dự bữa tiệc với chúng tôi!
-> In English, we can not put performative verbs such -> In Vietnamese, we can use some performative verb
as "ASK", "WISH", "SUGGEST", "REQUEST", such as "XIN", “MONG", “ĐỀ NGHỊ", “YÊU CẦU",
“INVITE", “ADVISE", at the begging of a sentence to “CÁM", “MỜI", “KHUYÊN" to make an imperative
make a request. sentence.
 Types of sentences based on meaning, purpose (function)

4. Exclamatory
a. Definition
- These sentences show strong or sudden feelings. (Bruce, 2014)

a. Example

English Vietnamese

Oh, This man is very bad! Ôi, người đàn ông này tệ lắm!
How lovely your cat is! Con mèo của bạn thật đáng yêu làm sao!
 Contrastive analysis of exclamatory sentences in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Similarity - English and Vietnamese speaker can use intonation on any type of sentence express an exclamation.
- Interjections in English and Vietnamese are used to express an exclamation and can stand alone to form a
special sentence.

Difference - Interjections - Interjections

+ Eow! I hate this dish! + Eo ơi, tôi ghét món này.
-> Vietnamese interjections may have one, two or
-> English interjections are normally one syllable three syllables (A, ỐI, Ô KÌA, CHAO ÔI, EO ƠI)
(OH, AH, WHEE, WHOO)

- Speaker’s feeling or attitude - Speaker’s feeling or attitude

+ My god! What a shame! + Trời ơi! Sao mà nhục nhã!
-> “What a shame!” is an exclaimative expression and -> “Sao mà” is an exclaimative expression and it
it conveys the information of the utterance. doesn’t convey any information of the utterance.
-> In English, an exclamative expression conveys the -> In Vietnamese, the speaker's feeling can be
information or proposition and speaker’s feeling or expressed by an exclamative expression whereas the
attitude. information or proposition of the utterance lies on the
main sentence.
 Types of sentences based on voice

a. Definition
- In English, a voice is the relationship of the grammatical subject of a verb to the action conveyed by that verb.
In an active sentence, the grammatical subject of the verb carries out an activity or purpose. In the passive
version of this sentence, the subject is receiving the action of the verb. (Bruce, 2014)

- In Vietnamese, Cao Xuan Hao (1998) also shares the same idea. He states that while the subject in active voice
is the doer, the subject in passive voice is affected by the agents.

a. Example

English Vietnamese

Active: John bought a new computer. Active: John my một chiếc máy tính mới.
Passive: A new computer was bought by John. Passive: Một chiếc máy tính mới được mua bởi John.

Active: I built my house 2 years ago. Active: Tôi đã xây nhà 2 năm trước.
Passive: My house was built 2 years ago. Passive: Nhà tôi đã được xây 2 năm trước.
 Contrastive analysis of passive voice in English and Vietnamese.

English Vietnamese

Similarity (1) The use

- When the speaker does not want to mention or not know the agent
- When the speaker just wants to pay attention to the result of the action.
- When the speaker wants to have a smoother sentence by keeping the same subject for the two or more verbs.

(2) The structure

- Both passive sentences in English and Vietnamese follow a specific structure.
+ In English: The passive sentence is constructed by the formula.
Object + be + P.P
+ In Vietnamese: The passive sentence is formed by the formula
Object + bị/ được + agent + V
 Contrastive analysis of passive voice in English and Vietnamese.

Difference - The structure: Be + P.P changes its form based on - The structure: bị/ được does not change form
the subject. regardless of the subject.

- The structure does not convey positive or negative - The word bị usually conveys negative meaning
meaning. while the word được seems to convey positive
meaning.

- Passive sentences follow exactly the structure. - The word bị/ được can be omitted without changing
the meaning.
(Nhà tôi đã được xây 2 năm trước.
Nhà tôi đã xây 2 năm trước.)
Reference
1. Bùi, M. H. (2008). Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu= Contrastive Linguistics. Giáo dục.
2. Diệp Quang, B. (2004). Ngữ pháp Việt nam.
3. Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P. (2018). A concise introduction to linguistics. Routledge.
4. Thu, Đ. M., Ngọc, Đ. T. M., Vân, N. M., Ngân, L. K., Lê Thanh Hương, N. P. T., & Lâm, Đ. B.
TẬP QUY TẮC CÚ PHÁP TIẾNG VIỆT.
TYPES OF PHRASES IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE

Presenter: Hoang Le Yen Nhi

English Phrase
Definition

● A phrase is any constituent of a clause.

● Phrases are commonly named for one of their main elements.

Phrase

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Prepositional

Phrase Phrase Phrase Phrase Phrase
English Phrase
Definition

● A phrase may be a string of words or just one word.

● One phrase also can be embedded within another phrase.
● The head of a phrase is the word that determines the syntactic or phrasal
category of that phrase.
✔ If the phrase is made up of one word => that word is the head of the phrase.
✔ If a phrase has two or more words in the lexical category that the phrase is
named for, then the one that carries the central meaning of the phrase is the
head of the phrase.
English Phrase
Definition
Example: Jack went to the store

• One word
Jack • Noun phrase

• A string of words
Went to the store • Verb phrase

• A string of words
to the store • Preposition phrase

• A string of words
The store • Noun phrase
English Phrase
Noun Phrase

●Example: The boat

⇒ boat is the head of the phrase

●Example: The title of the new movie

English Phrase
Noun Phrase

● Example: The boat

⇒ boat is the head of the phrase

● Example: The title of the new movie

⇒ The phrase is about the title of the movie and not about the
movie itself => title is the head of the phrase
⇒ All parts of a phrase that are not the head are called the phrase’s
dependents.
English Phrase
Noun Phrase

● Example: The title of the new movie

⇒ The in The title is specifier. (because the is a determiner)

⇒ The new movie is complement. (because it indicates the title is

that of a movie as opposed to a book, a magazine, or play.)
English Phrase
Verb Phrase

All English sentences (sentence is abbreviated as S) contain a noun

phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP)
⇒an English sentence is minimally as follows:

Subject (NP) + Verb (VP)

Example: Fish swim.

English Phrase
Verb Phrase

All English sentences (sentence is abbreviated as S) contain a noun

phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP)
⇒an English sentence is minimally as follows:

Subject (NP) + Verb (VP)

Example: Fish swim.

NP VP
English Phrase
Verb Phrase

● Verb phrases often include a noun phrase.

● Verbs that combine with a noun phrase are called transitive verbs.
Example:
Mary ate the hamburger.
ate the hamburger is the verb phrase.
the hamburger is the noun phrase within the verb phrase.
⇒ ate the hamburger is a transitive verb.
English Phrase
Adjective Phrase

- Adjective phrases are headed by an adjective.

Example: She is beautiful.
⇒ Beautiful is a adjective phrase.
- Adjective phrases might also include adjective modifiers (elements
that add a property to another lexical item).
Example: The man with beard entered the room.
⇒with beard is an adjective modifiers.
- Adjective phrases in turn modify nouns.
English Phrase
Adverb Phrase
- Adverb phrases are headed by an adverb and might also include other adverbs and
an adjective phrase or phrases.

- Adverb phrases modify verbs in the following ways:

1. Frequency (They came every day.)

2. Duration (The students have been coming for the past five days.)

3. Time (Tim will be here at 3 o’clock.)

4. Manner (You should do it this way.)

5. Purpose (Christopher brought his report card home to show it to his father)
English Phrase
Preposition Phrase
● Prepositional phrases are headed by a preposition and include a
noun phrase.
● Both adjective and adverb phrases can use prepositions.
Example: The farmer from Iowa is going into the store.
The function of from Iowa is to modify the farmer; it tells you where
he is from. It is an adjective phrase, but because it is also a
prepositional phrase.
The phrase into the store is an adverb phrase (or an adverbial
prepositional phrase). It modifies the verb by telling us where the
farmer went.
Phrase
References

Bruce M.Rowe et Diane P.Levine (2016), a concise introduction

to linguistics, Routledge.

Diep, Quang Ban. (2005). Ngu phap tieng Viet. Ha Noi city:
Education Publishing House.
Phrase Structure Rules in English and Vietnamese

Presenter: Nguyễn Hùng Tuân

In English, we have a basic three-part structure of a phrase: 

Pre-head post-head
Head noun
string string

Obligatory and cannot be omitted from the phrase.

IN OTHER WORDS, The head of the phrase is the central word defining
the type of phrase
Example:

Phrase type Head Example

Noun phrase Noun The children in class 5

Verb phrase Verb Play the piano

Prepositional phrase Preposition in the garden

Word order in Vietnamese noun phrase

Pre-modifier Head noun post-modifier

Phần phụ trước Phần phụ sau

Phần trung tâm
VD: Tất cả những CUỐN SÁCH mà Mary đã đọc.

CUỐN SÁCH – head noun

Tất cả những– pre-modifier
mà Mary đã đọc – post-modifier
 Phrase Structure Rules in English and Vietnamese

A. Noun Phrases - NP among other functions, a noun phrase (often called a nominal phrase) can
function in a sentence as the subject, direct object, and indirect object. Bruce M. Rowe et Diane P.
Levine (2016)
English Vietnamese

A NP could be a single noun or Diệp Quang Ban (2005) defines NP as a free

pronoun or a variety of longer forms: combination which has no relational words preceding.
There is a principal and accessory relation between the
VD1: Julian mailed a letter. main element and subordinate elements. The main
(Julian: a NP & Subject of the sentence; element is a noun.
a letter is also a NP and the direct object.)
VD: Lan là một học sinh giỏi trong lớp 6A
VD2: Three people came late.
(Three people is the NP and the subject NP: Lan, một học sinh giỏi, lớp 6A
of the sentence.)
B. Verb phrase

English Vietnamese
include three elements: central element, pre-additive element
include a verb and can include an auxiliary verb,
direct or indirect object, and modifier. and post-additive element
Ex1: Fish swim 1. Modal verbs: Phải, dám,cần, có thể…
(Intransitive verbs can form a verb phrase Ex: Anh ta cần mua một cái bàn
by themselves.)
Swim > verb phrase composed of just a verb 2. VP with Passive: bị, được, phải
Ex: cô ấy được tuyên dương
Ex2: Nhung ate the hamburger.
(ate the hamburger: VP) 3. VP with two actions described by two verbs, the 2 nd verb is
an
additive element: ăn đứng, ngã ngồi, chết đứng..
Ex: Vấp hòn đá, nó ngã ngồi

4. Verb describing sense of affecting two objects: cho, tặng,

biếu,
vay, mượn
Ex: Mình mượn Trí chiếc xe đạp
 Phrase Structure Rules in English and Vietnamese

C. Prepositional phrase is a phrase headed by a preposition. It can function to modify a noun

phrase or a verb phrase.

VD1: The doctor from national hospital is going into the airport .
Prepositional phrases: from Iowa and
into the store.
 Contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese structure rules
Similarities Differences

1. Both English and Vietnamese NP have 1. The position of elements in the NP

the ability of combination which have nouns Most of subordinate elements in English stand before head
working as the head. noun while those in Vietnamese stand in two sides
the demonstrative, adjective and noun modifier in English
2. The head noun can influence the subordinate structure precede head noun while those in Vietnamese
elements and even choose which element can or structure follow head noun.
cannot go with them. Ex: that expensive Sony camera - cái máy ảnh Sony đắt tiền đó

2. The order in kinds of adjective element

In English, all the adjectives going before head noun must be
arranged accurately: opinion, size, age, shape, color, purpose,…
In Vietnamese, the position of adjectives is flexible and up to the
speaker’s purpose. It means that the more the speaker wants to
emphasize the word, the closer it is placed to the head noun
VD:
English - a small red sleeping bag
Vietnamese: một cái túi ngủ nhỏ màu đỏ’ or ‘một cái túi ngủ
màu đỏ nhỏ’.
 Reference

1. Bruce M.Rowe et Diane P.Levine (2016), a concise introduction to linguistics, Routledge.

2. Tran Thi Thanh Tam (2010), the structure of noun phrase the structure of Vietnamese and
English Noun phrase, HCMC University of Pedagogy
3. Diep, Quang Ban. (2005). Ngu phap tieng Viet. Ha Noi city: Education Publishing House.
4. Bress, P. The Noun phrase. Retrieved May 2, 2005, from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/noun-phrase
 4. Transformational rules in
English and Vietnamese

Presenter: Le Hai Anh and Bui Diep

 Topicalization in English and Vietnamese
•Topicalization:
basic sentencedifferentderived
focus sentence

•Topicalization in English
E. g: I love Christine.
-> Christine, I love.

•Topicalization in Vietnamese (Quá trình “chủ đề hóa”, bổ ngữ đảo trí)

(Nguyen, 2009)
E. g: Ông giáo ấy không hút thuốc bao giờ.
-> Thuốc, ông giáo ấy không hút bao giờ.
Contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese
in term of
Obligatory and optional transformations.

Presenter: Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc

Obligatory transformation
English Vietnamese
In American Sign Language (ASL), In Vietnamese Sign Language (VSL) , the
the topicalization transformation is topicalization also happens. However, the structure
obligatory; the object is always signed is different.
first. SOV
OSV E.g:
E.g: ❖ Vietnamese: Tôi yêu mẹ.(I love Mom the most)
❖ English: He threw the ball. =>VSL: Tôi mẹ yêu nhất.(I MOM LOVE.)
=>ASL: BALL BOY THROW ❖ Vietnamese: Tôi không thích ăn dưa hấu. (I
❖ English: I don't like to play don’t like eating watermelon.)
tennis. =>VSL: Tôi ăn dưa hấu không thích.(I EAT
=>ASL: TENNIS I LIKE PLAY NOT WATERMELON NOT LIKE.)
 •In Vietnamese, an embedded sentence will be inserted “N+
•In English, the that insertion (mà)” that precedes it. Words in the blank have a lexical
rule as it applies to embedded relationship with the embedded sentence.
sentences is obligatory. It must E.g:
be applied to the deep
structure to render a ❖ Việc anh ta trốn thuế là không thể tin nổi. (That he
grammatical surface structure. evaded paying tax is unbelievable.)
❖ Sự kiện cách mạng Tháng Tám thành công đem lại độc
E.g: lập, tự do cho dân tộc.(That August Revolution
❖ That she won the prize is succeeded brought independence and freedom for the
incredible. nation.)
•“she won the prize” is an •However, it is not obligatory because Vietnamese is analytic
embedded sentence, acting as and isolating language. A subject in Vietnamese could be a
a noun phrase in the larger sentence with Subject- Predicate, without insertion of any
sentence. other elements like “that”.
•The insertion of that forms a E.g:
surface structure sentence. ❖ Anh ta trốn thuế là không thể tin nổi.
❖ Cách mạng Tháng Tám thành công đem lại độc lập, tự
do cho dân tộc.
•Another rule that is obligatory in English
is called yes/no question formation. •In Vietnamese, a yes/no question is formed not
(Movement transformation.) by a movement transformation as it is in
English, but by an insertion transformation that
•Transformational grammarians assume
is obligatory.
that the deep structure of a yes/no
question is similar to that of a declarative •“Có” is inserted in front of the main verb in the
sentence, but with an abstract element sentence, and “không” is added at the end of
labeled Q at the beginning of the the sentence. The words order does not change.
sentence. In addition, “có” is optional.
# Q John will eat his lunch # •E.g:
•The form shown here is a deep structure ❖ Em thích chiếc bút này. ((I) like this pen.)
that must undergo transformations to
become a surface structure. => Em (có) thích chiếc bút này không ? (Do you
like this pen?)
•NP 1 Aux 1 V 1 X
⇒ Aux 1 NP 1 V 1 X
=> Will John eat his lunch?
Optional transformation
Vietnamese
English •The particle movement transformation
•The particle movement transformation The particle movement transformation does not work
with Vietnamese. We say “Mặc áo vào”, not “Mặc vào
E.g: He put on his coat. áo”.
He put his coat on. •Topicalization rule
•Topicalization rule Topicalization is also optional in Vietnamese.
E.g: I like cake. E.g: Mình ăn cái bánh đó. (I eat that cake.)
Cake, I like Cái bánh đó, mình ăn. (That cake, I eat.)
•Imperative transformation •Imperative transformation
E.g: You get out! E.g: Mày im đi. (You shut up.)
Get out! Im đi! (Shut up!)
 •Verb phrase deletion rule
San nói cô ấy sẽ chuyển ra ngoài và cô ấy đã làm
thế/vậy.
•Verb phrase deletion rule
“Thế” and “vậy” here are pronouns, replacing a clause
E.g: San said she would move out,
or event mentioned before. This is insertion
and she did.
transformation, and it is also optional.
•Pronominalization
•Pronominalization
E.g:
Pronominalization happens in Vietnamese to ensure
A: I thought Bin would like this the coherence of the text and many other grammar
house. functions, so it is optional. Besides, the title must be
chosen appropriately.
B: He actually liked the house.
In Vietnamese, pronouns are very diverse.
•Form: “title+ấy”, “title+ta”.
E.g: He/She : anh/cô/bác/chị ta, anh/cô/bác/chị ấy
Reference

Bruce, M. R., Diane, P. L. (2014). A Concise Introduction to Linguistics.

Routledge
Đào Minh Thu, Đào Thị Minh Ngọc, Nguyễn Mai Vân, Lê Kim Ngân, Lê
Thanh Hương, Nguyễn Phương Thái, Đỗ Bá Lâm. Tập Quy Tắc Cú Pháp
Tiếng Việt. SP8.5 – Đề tài KC.01.01.05/06-10
Humphries, T., & Padden, C. (1992). Learning American Sign Language.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Nguyễn Đức Tồn, Nguyễn Thị Phương (2012), Mấy Vấn Đề Về Cú Pháp
Của Ngôn Ngữ Kí Hiệu Ở Việt Nam. Ngôn ngữ, 4, 17-31.
Contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese
in term of
Noun phrase structure

Presenter: Do Vu Nhat Minh

Reference

Noam Chomsky. 1965. Aspects of Theory of Syntax. The M.I.T Press.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Diệp Quang Ban. Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt. Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục Việt
Nam
Vũ Ngọc Tú. 1996. Nghiên cứu đối chiếu trật tự từ Anh-Việt trên một
số cấu trúc cú pháp cơ bản. Luận án phó tiến sĩ khoa học ngữ văn.
Trường Đại học Tổng hợp Hà Nội
Potential Vietnamese-English Interactions

Nguyễ n Thu Nguyệ t

 Takeaways
Vietnamese and English have the same basic SVO word order. Vietnamese is an
isolating language in which the relationship between parts of a sentence is
indicated by the word order and auxiliaries. As a result, word order is critical to
convey the meaning of a sentence.

1. In Vietnamese, a word follows the noun it modifies (sách mới, anh tôi, vấn
đề đầu tiên, văn học Việt Nam hiện đại), unlike English which has the
reverse word order (new book, my brother, first issue, modern Vietnamese
literature).

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Takeaways
2. In the basic structure SVP (Subject + Verb + (Subject) Predicative) the English
copular verb to be is used to link
(i) a noun to a noun, e.g., My name is John.
(ii) a pronoun to a noun, e.g., He is my friend.
(iii) a noun or pronoun to an adjective, e.g., The movie is good.

In Vietnamese the sentences of type (iii) do not use the copular verb là, that is
(i) Tên tôi là John.
(ii) Anh ấy là bạn tôi.
(iii) Bộ phim ấy ______ hay

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Takeaways
3. In English, interrogative words (who, what, which, how, where, when, why) are
placed at the beginning of a question.

In Vietnamese, some interrogatives are placed at the beginning of questions (vì

sao, tại sao, sao). Some others are put at the end of questions (đâu, ở đâu). The
position of the interrogative words ai, gì, nào depends on their grammatical
function in a sentence. Interrogative words with the meaning of time (bao giờ,
khi nào, ngày nào, hôm nào, lúc nào, thứ mấy, ngày bao nhiêu) refer to the past
tense when placed at the end of questions and indicate the present or future
when put at the beginning. For instance, Bao giờ anh ấy đến? (When will he
arrive?) vs. Anh ấy đến bao giờ? (When did he arrive?)

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Takeaways
4. In interrogative sentences, Vietnamese native speakers distinguish the
purpose and the reason by using different interrogative words, whereas the
context identifies the purpose or the reason in English, for instance: Anh đi
đến đấy làm gì? (Why do you go there? Literally: For what purpose do you go
there?) vs. Vì sao anh không muốn đi đến đấy? (Why don't you want to go
there?)

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Takeaways

5. Some words have a position different from the position of English words
with similar meanings and functions. For example: đẹp hơn vs. more
beautiful, Quyển sách này hay hơn quyển sách kia nhiều. vs. This book is
much better than that one. Tháng sau tôi đi Việt Nam. vs. I am going to
Vietnam next month.
Some words have different meanings when placed in different positions,
for instance: được nghỉ ba ngày (to be allowed to take three days off) and nghỉ
được ba ngày (to be able to take three days off).

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Takeaways

6. The adverbs of degree rất and lắm are used without the adverb nhiều "much"
when the verb conveys the meaning of feeling. The adverb much is necessary in
English: Tôi rất thích quyển sách này. or: Tôi thích quyển sách này lắm. versus I like
the book very much

Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part)
published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian.
 Potential Vietnamese-English Interactions
- Based on the cross-linguistic comparison of Vietnamese and English
Syntax, it is possible to predict and describe how these languages may
interact.

- This section presents predictions about potential language interactions

between Vietnamese and English within individual speakers:

1. Vietnamese Transfer to English

2. English Transfer to Vietnamese
 Vietnamese Transfer to English
Adult L2 learners often transfer L1 skills onto their L2 (McDonald, 2000). Transfer
from L1 to L2 is often referred to as positive transfer.

This table displays potential influences of Vietnamese (L1) on English (L2) at morpho-
syntax level.
 Vietnamese Transfer to English

- These patterns more likely occur in adolescent or adult learners of English as a

second language.
- Individual speakers would not necessarily exhibit all of these patterns depending
on factors such as age of arrival, age of English acquisition, years of formal
instruction, language and dialect of the surrounding community, and opportunities
to practice with native English speakers (e.g., Flege, Yeni-Komshian, & Liu,
1999; Genesee, Paradis, & Crago, 2004; McDonald, 2000).
Vietnamese Transfer to English

Vietnamese speakers may have difficulty with English noun and verb
inflections since their L1 does not use morphological markers such as the past
tense verb marker –ed, plural –s, and third person singular –s (McDonald, 2000).

For instance, Vietnamese speakers may use the present tense verb to indicate
tenses of past or future.
 Vietnamese Transfer to English

Another potential interaction may be with differences in word order.

For instance, nouns come before adjectives in Vietnamese, while adjectives come
before nouns in English. Word order of content questions in English may also be
influenced by Vietnamese. Vietnamese speakers may have difficulty with inverting
subject-verb word order or even including auxiliary verbs when asking questions in
English (McDonald, 2000). The auxiliary verb may be omitted altogether, and the
question word may be placed in sentence-final position to fill the answer slot such as
“You go where?” for “Where are you going?” or “You drink what?” for “What would
you like to drink?”
English Transfer to Vietnamese
It is well known that a person’s L1 may influence their L2 performance in adult L2
learners (e.g., McDonald, 2000; Sato, 1988). Recent studies have also shown that L2
skills may influence L1 performance (Hernandez, Bates, & Avila, 1994; Su, 2001).

The table below presents potential interaction of English with Vietnamese in

Vietnamese American students learning both languages.
 English Transfer to Vietnamese
English (L1) influences on Vietnamese (L2) may involve word order.

American students may place adjectives before nouns such as đẹp bướm [pretty
butterfly] for bướm đẹp [butterfly pretty] “pretty butterfly.” To indicate possession, they
may place the possessor in front of the possession such as mẹ xe [mother car] for xe mẹ
[car mother] “mother’s car.”
 English Transfer to Vietnamese
English (L1) influences on Vietnamese (L2) may involve word order.

American students may use English subject-verb inversion in constructing Vietnamese

questions or may have difficulty knowing where to place the question word. In
addition, they may omit classifiers that are required to complete a noun phrase.
Summary
- Dominant Vietnamese learners of English may have difficulty with
grammatical aspects of English not found in Vietnamese.

- English skills may influence Vietnamese performance of English

(L1) students at grammatical levels.
 References
Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second language acquisition. Journal of Memory
and Language, 41, 78-104.
Genesee, F., Paradis, J., & Crago, M. (2004). Dual language development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and
second language learning. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Company.
Hernandez, A., Bates, E. & Avila, L. (1994). On-line sentence interpretation in Spanish English bilinguals: What does it
mean to be “in between”? Applied Psycholinguistics, 15, 417-446.
McDonald, J. L. (2000). Grammaticality judgments in a second language: Influences of age of acquisition and native
language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 395-423.
Ngo, N. B. (2001). Vietnamese Language: Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part) published by the Council of
Teachers of Southeast Asian.
Sato, C. J. (1988). Origins of complex syntax in interlanguage development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10,
371-395.
Su, I. (2001). Transfer of sentence processing strategies: A comparison of L2 learners of Chinese and English. Applied
Psycholinguistics, 22, 83-112.
Tang, Giang (2007) "Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Vietnamese and English with Implications for Vietnamese Language
Acquisition and Maintenance in the United States," Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement: Vol.
2 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. DOI: 10.7771/2153-8999.1085
Suggested Drills

Nguyễn Trà My
 Suggested Drills
“The student who comes in contact with a foreign language will
find some features of it quite easy and others extremely
difficult. Those elements that are similar to his native language
will be simple for him and those elements that are different will
be difficult. It is the purpose of this contrastive grammatical
analysis to point out differences and similarities between
English and Vietnamese grammatical structures.”

Nguyen Dang Lien (1971), A Contrastive Grammatical Analysis Of English And Vietnamese, 3, xii.
Suggested Drills
1. Word order
English: new car Vietnamese: xe mới

Vietnamese and English have completely opposite arrangement of

adjectives and nouns. English puts adjectives before nouns and
Vietnamese puts nouns before adjectives.
Suggested drill: Students need to be explained and reminded
regularly of this order. Suggested drills can be arranging the order
of words.
 Suggested Drills
2. Existential clause
English: There are 2 apples
Vietnamese: Có 2 quả táo

Vietnamese does not have a logical subject equivalent to English Subject (there).
Furthermore, this type of sentences in English comes with the predicate “be”.
is
Suggested drills: These are substitution
are
drills in which the students will have to
substitute alternatively singular and There was an apple/apples

plural fillers of the Stative Subject a lot. were

have been
 Suggested Drills
3. Adjective Predicate
English: They are smart
Vietnamese: Họ thông minh

In Vietnamese, the Adjective Phrase fills the Predicate slot, and consequently is not
linked to the subject tagmeme by anything equivalent to the English Auxiliary (be)
Phrase.
are

Suggested drills: These are substitution drills They seem smart

in which the students are asked to substitute
look
the Predicate or the Equational Complement.
 Suggested Drills
4. Word ending for verb agreement
Vietnamese: Anh ấy đi bộ - Họ đi bộ English: He walks – They walk
There is no other different form of verb in Vietnamese and verbs do not depend on
subject.

Suggested drills: These are is

substitution drills in which the are

students are asked to use singular was
There an apple/apples
and plural Subjects lot fillers
were
alternatively, or give the correct
have been
forms of words.
 Suggested Drills
Vietnamese: Cô ấy đã ăn – Cô ấy đang ăn –
5. Tense
Cô ấy sẽ ăn
English: She ate – She is eating – She will eat

In Vietnamese, the notion of Time is optionally expressed in the sense that an action or state in the
past or in the future can be expressed perfectly by a present Predicative Phrase (đã, đang, sẽ) that
does not contain a Tense Modal.
ate/đã ăn yesterday/hôm qua
Substitution drills can be prepared
She/ is eating/đang ăn at the moment/bây giờ
to teach the students to use the
right Close-knit Verb Phrases with Cô ấy

different given Time expressions. will eat/sẽ ăn tomorrow/ngày mai

 Suggested Drills
6. Question

English: When did he go there? – Who went there? – What did he buy?
Vietnamese: Nó đi đến hồi nào? – Ai đi đến đó? – Nó mua cái gì?

The students should be taught to use the Falling Intonation Pattern instead of the
Vietnamese Rising Intonation Pattern when they produce Information Interrogation
Sentences and vice versa. On the recognition level, the students should be taught to
differentiate the Sentence Type from a Declarative Sentence Type by the Clause Types
they contain rather than by their Intonation Patterns.

Suggested drill: Students are taught to listen and produce the Falling Intonation Pattern
in English or Rising Intonation in Vietnamese.
 Suggested Drills
7. Passive clause

English: He was praised by them

Vietnamese: Nó được họ khen

Since there are no Passive Transitive Clause Types in Vietnamese, the students will have
to learn to trans form the Active Single Transitive Clause Type 2 into this Passive Clause
Type

Suggested drills: These are transformational and substitutional drills in which the
students will have to transform Active Single Transitive Clauses into Passive Single
Transitive Clauses, and also to substitute the fillers of the Passive Single Transitive
Predicate and the Agent slots.
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