Contrastive Linguistics

Grammatical CA
(English and Vietnamese)
Recommended books

1. Ke, P. (2019). Contrastive linguistics. Peking University Press & Springer

Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

2. Lê Huy Trường, Đặng Đình Thiện, Trần Huy Phương (2015). A grammar
of the English language - Ngữ pháp tiếng Anh. Trường Đại học Hà Nội.

3. Đoàn Thiện Thuật, Nguyễn Khánh Hà, và Phạm Như Quỳnh. (2012). A
concise Vietnamese grammar – Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt giản yếu. Nhà xuất
bản Thế giới.
Contents

1. The theory of GCA

2. CA of grammatical categories (E. & V.)
3. CA of syntactic functions (E. & V.)
4. CA of sentences (E. & V.)
 The theory of GCA
1. Contrastive linguistics is a branch of linguistics which studies two or more languages
synchronically, with the aim of discovering their differences and similarities (especially the
former) and applying these findings to related areas of language study or practice.
Contrastive linguistics = Contrastive Analysis (CA) = Contrastive studies
(Ke, P., 2019)
2. Contrastive grammar is a branch of contrastive linguistics.
A contrastive grammar of two languages may be defined as an attempt to systematically
compare the grammars of these languages.
Ideally, such a comparison must meet at least 3 criteria:
(i). It should involve all levels of linguistic organization;
(ii). It should be bidirectional;
(iii). It should be nonselective.
3 criteria to make an ideal comparison:

1. It should involve all levels of linguistic organization:

- Deal with:
+ phonological level;
+ morphological level;
+ syntactic level;
+ semantic level;
+ pragmatic level.
2. It should be bidirectional:
- Pay equal attention to both languages
3. It should be nonselective:
- Consider both similarities and differences
The importance of GCA
How to translate the following sentences into Vietnamese/ English?
1. I was given mark 8 by my teacher yesterday.
2. She was hit by him.
3. My sister was born in Hanoi.
4. It is rumored that she is a single mum.
5. Mới hôm qua, con bé vẫn còn chơi đùa vui vẻ. Vậy mà hôm nay nó đã lử đử thế rồi.
6. Ngọt như mía lùi
If you were the boy, you would say…
 In English:
 I go to school.
 To school I go.
 InVietnamese:
 Em đi đến trường học.

Why GCA?
Errors are unavoidable.
Main reasons for errors/problems in translating and interpreting one
language into another language:
1. Lack of grammatical knowledge about source and target languages (e.g.: unable to
notice the contrast in tenses, aspects, and adjuncts; unable to translate voice
correctly, etc.);
2. Lack of cultural knowledge about source and target languages.

GCA helps
- identify the similarities and differences between 2 languages;
- solve the linguistic, socio-cultural problems.
 Grammatical categories

1. Grammatical categories may be defined as classes or groups of items

(including morphemes and lexical items) which fulfill the same or similar
grammatical functions in a particular language.
2. Grammatical categories are sometimes known as inflectional
categories in inflectional languages (Latin, Greek, German, French, and
English).
3. Grammatical categories include number, person, gender, case, tense, aspect,
voice, and mood.
(Ke, P., 2019)
 CA: number, tense, aspect, voice.
 Grammatical categories - Number in English

In English, number distinguishes nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. according to whether they are singular
or plural, and countable or uncountable.
 Singular form = unmarked form
 Plural form = marked form (use of morphemes -s/-es)
- e.g. : flowers, quizzes, etc.
(Ke, P., 2019)
Plural markers in English are non-productive:
 Change in internal vowels: foot – feet; goose – geese
 Use of the archaic inflectional morphemes -(e)n: ox – oxen, child – children
 Identical form between singular and plural forms: sheep, deer, trout
 Two plural forms of borrowed nouns: memorandum – memoranda/memorandums
 Grammatical categories - Number in English

Discuss the category of number in the following sentences (noun form and verb form):
1. Overall, about 33 million workers have no paid sick days, according to Family Values at Work Action, an
advocacy organization.
2. The lack of paid sick leave hurts both workers and the economy, said Seth Harris, professor at
Northeastern University and former top labor policy adviser to President Joe Biden.
3. Every employee was given a bonus yesterday.
4. Many children are playing badminton.
5. He likes eating out at weekends.
6. I am a doctor. She is a nurse. We are coming from different regions of Vietnam. And we were at the
same party last night. I was very happy to have chances to know many interesting things from her.
7. The deer runs/run quickly.
 Grammatical categories – Number in Vietnamese
 Use of quantifiers/numerals:
- Cardinals: + Definite numbers: một, hai, ba, mỗi,…
+ Indefinite numbers: dăm, một vài, năm bảy, nhiều, mọi, …
- Ordinals: + thứ + a number: người thứ nhất, phòng thứ ba,
tháng (thứ) 3…
+ a nucleus noun + a definite number: gác 2, phòng 4, …
Notes:
Cardinals + a unit N. + N. (animals/plants/material): 3 cốc nước, 5 cân gạo, …
 The CA of Number
(English & Vietnamese)

 Explain the following factors:

- Forms of the noun itself (singular & plural forms)
- Effects of number on forms of the noun/verb/other surrounding words
 Grammatical categories – Tense in English

 Tense derived from the Latin word ‘tempus’ which is used to express the time of an action.
(Valeika & Buitkienė, 2003)
 Tense indicates the relationship between the form of a verb and the time of the action or state it
describes.
(Ke, P., 2019)
 In other words, tense shows:
- the relationship between the action and the moment of speaking:
He met me yesterday.
- the relationship between the different actions within one sentence/ utterance:
She said she would come to my party yesterday.
 Grammatical categories
- Tenses in English -
Discuss the tenses and their positions in the following sentences:
1. I have had many careers in my lifetime, from waitress to library page to editor.
2. She worked in London for 5 years.
3. He truly believes that these young poets have the potential to shape our literary landscape.
4. My parents will visit her family next Sunday.
5. Let’s stay here tonight, and then move on tomorrow morning.
 Grammatical categories
- Tenses in Vietnamese -
Discuss the tenses in the following sentences:
1. Tờ Soccer-King nhấn mạnh rằng Nhật Bản đã làm nên kỳ tích ở World Cup 2022.
2. Ở vòng 1/8, Nhật Bản sẽ đối đầu với thử thách khá mạnh là Croatia, đội bóng xếp thứ 2 ở bảng F.
3. Một ngư dân đang đưa tàu từ cửa Nhật Lệ về cảng Gianh để neo đậu, tránh trú báo cùng các ngư dân khác thì bị
rơi xuống biển mất tích.
4. Hoa làm xong bài tập rồi.
5. Cậu đi cùng luôn chứ? – Tớ còn phải dọn dẹp nhà cửa.
6. Tối qua, tớ đến nhà anh ấy chơi.
7. Lúc này, tớ nói chuyện với ba mẹ cô ấy.
8. Lát nữa, anh đưa em về.
 Grammatical categories
- Tenses in Vietnamese -

NOTE:

Sometimes, formal/auxiliaries words such as đã/ đang/ sẽ/ vẫn đang don’t show the right
tenses in some specific contexts.

Cách đây một tháng, việc kinh doanh chuỗi nhà hàng ăn uống của anh ấy còn đang trên đỉnh cao
của sự nghiệp, vậy mà nay đã trở về con số 0.
 The CA of Tense
(English & Vietnamese)

Explain the following factors:

Means of expressing tenses in English and Vietnamese
(lexically/grammatically)
Effects on the verb form in sentences
 Grammatical categories – Aspect in English

 Aspect indicates how the event described by a verb is viewed, such as whether the action
happens once or repeatedly, is completed or still continuing.
(Ke, P., 2019)

 4 aspects: the indefinite, the progressive, the perfect, and the perfect progressive.
 The CA of Aspect
(English & Vietnamese)
 English
1. The girl visited me last week.
2. She has been reading this novel.
3. I will read this novel when I have free time.

 Vietnamese
1. Hôm qua, tớ (đã) đọc xong cuốn tiểu thuyết đó.
2. Sáng nay, tớ đọc tiểu thuyết này.
3. Mai, anh tôi sẽ đến đây.
 Grammatical categories – Voice in English

 Voice expresses the relationship between a verb and the noun phrase(s) which is/are
associated with it.
(Ke, P., 2019)
 2 typical types: the active; and the passive.
E.g.:
1. He cleans the floor every day.
2. The floor is cleaned every day.
 Grammatical categories - Voice in Vietnamese
Discuss the highlighted words in the following sentences:
1. Tối qua, em được ăn pizza.
2. Em bị trượt môn đó rồi.
3. Vì hôm qua cả nhà bị ăn mỳ tôm rồi nên hôm nay được ăn bù rất nhiều món ngon do mẹ nấu
nhé.
4. Tôi bị điểm kém.
5. Tôi được điểm cao.