| Peer-Reviewed

Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences

Received: 8 March 2022     Accepted: 20 April 2022     Published: 28 April 2022
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Employing descriptive approach and qualitative analysis, this paper focuses on comparing Vietnamese generic sentences with English ones in order to look for similarities and differences in the ways each of the languages chooses to express the meaning of their generic sentences. The comparison indicates that there is no exact equivalence between their three types of generic sentences. Specifically, both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with a [+definite] article; but Vietnamese has no single article which can be considered as an exact equivalent of the — the sole [+definite] article which goes with a variety of English nouns: respectively preceding a [+singular count] noun, a [+singular group] noun, and a [+plural count] noun, the is equivalent to the zero article, các — the [+definite], [+plural count] article, and những — the [+indefinite], [+plural count] quantifier in Vietnamese. Both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with the zero article; but the zero article in Vietnamese is [+definite] while the zero article in English is always [+indefinite]. The zero article is also prominent because it witnesses the fact that universalism and uniqueness operate quite well in the two natural languages in question. The universal is shown by their generic sentences’ identical internal structure, which is the topic/subject noun phrase always beginning with a certain kind of article plus the frequent [+stative] verb in the comment/predicate verb phrase. The unique asserts that each of the two languages is beautiful in its own way and deserves the patience and understanding of any language user, native and non-native. Except for the existence of the Vietnamese classifier, the first type of generic sentences including only those beginning with an [+indefinite], [+singular] article, which is một in Vietnamese or a(n) in English, exemplifies the similarities between the two languages; their differences lie in the other two types. Interchangeability among the three types of generic sentences is determined by the characteristics of their subject/topic noun phrase or the meaning of their predicate/comment verb phrase.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 10, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25
Page(s) 166-175
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Generic Sentences, Genericity, The Classifier, The Zero Article

References
[1] Asher, R. E. and Simpson, J. M. Y. (Eds.) (1994). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford, New York, Seoul, and Tokyo: Pergamon Press.
[2] Azar, B. S. and Hagen, S. A. (2017). Understanding and using English grammar (5th ed.). London: Pearson Education, Inc.
[3] Bui, M. H. (2000a). Về vấn đề quán từ và nhận diện quán từ trong tiếng Việt [Articles and ways to identify articles in Vietnamese]. Ngôn ngữ [Language] 12: 1–16.
[4] Bui, M. H. (2000b). Một số đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa-ngữ pháp của “những và “các” [Some semantic-grammatical features of “những and “các”]. Ngôn ngữ [Language] 3: 1–17.
[5] Cao, X. H. (1998). Tiếng Việt — Mấy vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp, ngữ nghĩa [The Vietnamese language — Some issues in phonetics, grammar and semantics]. Ho Chi Minh City: Education Press.
[6] Cao, X. H. (1999a). Nhận định tổng quát, phủ định tổng quát, phủ nhận tính tổng quát của nhận định tổng quát và phủ định tổng quát [General comments, general negations, and negating the generality of general comments and negations]. Ngôn ngữ [Language] 8: 1–8.
[7] Cao, X. H. (1999b). Nghĩa của loại từ [The meaning of classifiers]. Ngôn ngữ [Language] 2: 1–13.
[8] Cao, X. H. (2017). Tiếng Việt — Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng (tái bản lần 1) [The Vietnamese language — A rough draft on functional grammar (1st ed.)]. Ha Noi: Social Sciences Press, Phuong Nam Books Ltd.
[9] Cao, X. H.; Nguyen, V. B.; Hoang, X. T. and Bui T. T. (2003). Ngữ pháp chức năng tiếng Việt Quyển 1, CÂU TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT: CẤU TRÚC — NGHĨA — CÔNG DỤNG (tái bản lần 5) [The Vietnamese functional grammar Book 1, SENTENCES IN VIETNAMESE: STRUCTURE — MEANING — USE (5th ed.)]. Ho Chi Minh City: Education Press.
[10] Carlson, G. (1977a). Reference to kinds in English. (PhD dissertation), University of Massachusetts.
[11] Carlson, G. (1977b). A unified analysis of English bare plural. LaPh 1: 413–56.
[12] Crowther, J. (Ed.) (2020). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (10th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[13] Downing, A. (2015). A university course in English grammar (3rd ed.). Londond and New York: Routledge.
[14] Dik, S. (1989). The theory of functional grammar. Part I: The structure of the clause. Dordrecht: Foris.
[15] Dinh, V. D. (1986). Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt — Từ loại [Vietnamese Grammar — Word classes]. Ha Noi: Higher Education and Occupation Press.
[16] Eastwood, J. (1994). Oxford guide to English grammar (7th impression 2002). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[17] Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed). London: Arnold.
[18] Krifka, M., et al. (1993). Introduction. In: G. Carlson and J. Pelletier (eds.) The Generic Book. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
[19] Ly, T. T. (2000) Về cấu trúc nghĩa của câu [About the semantics structure of sentences]. Ngôn ngữ [Language] 5: 1–9.
[20] Nguyen, D. (1992). Mỹ thuật và tôi [The fine art and me]. Mỹ thuật — Tạp chí của Hội Mỹ thuật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh [Fine Arts — Magazine of the Fine Arts Association of Ho Chi Minh City], 5: 29.
[21] Nguyen, T. H. (1993). Con gà trong đời sống tinh thần của người Cơ-tu [Chicken in the spiritual life of the Katu]. Mỹ thuật — Tạp chí của Hội Mỹ thuật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh [Fine Arts — Magazine of the Fine Arts Association of Ho Chi Minh City], 7: 26–28.
[22] Nguyen, T. L. K. (2001). Danh từ khối trong tiếng Việt hiện đại [Mass nouns in modern Vietnamese]. PhD dissertation, Pedagogy University of Ho Chi Minh City.
[23] Nguyen, T. C. (1975). Từ loại danh từ trong tiếng Việt hiện đại [Nouns as a word class in modern Vietnamese]. Ha Noi: Social Sciences Press.
[24] Swan, M. (2016). Practical English usage (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[25] Smalley, R. L. and Ruetten, M. K. (1989). Refining composition skills — Rhetoric and grammar for ESL students (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
[26] To, M. T. (2014). The English adverbial of time vs. the Vietnamese range topic of time. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2 (6): 348–355. Retrieved from http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=501&doi=10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
[27] Vu, N. P. (2003). Tục ngữ, ca dao, dân ca Việt Nam [Vietnamese Proverbs, Folk verses and Folk songs]. In Tác phẩm được tặng giải thưởng Hồ Chí Minh [The work awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize]. Ha Noi: Social Science Press.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    To Minh Thanh. (2022). Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 10(2), 166-175. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    To Minh Thanh. Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2022, 10(2), 166-175. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    To Minh Thanh. Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences. Int J Lang Linguist. 2022;10(2):166-175. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25,
      author = {To Minh Thanh},
      title = {Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {10},
      number = {2},
      pages = {166-175},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20221002.25},
      abstract = {Employing descriptive approach and qualitative analysis, this paper focuses on comparing Vietnamese generic sentences with English ones in order to look for similarities and differences in the ways each of the languages chooses to express the meaning of their generic sentences. The comparison indicates that there is no exact equivalence between their three types of generic sentences. Specifically, both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with a [+definite] article; but Vietnamese has no single article which can be considered as an exact equivalent of the — the sole [+definite] article which goes with a variety of English nouns: respectively preceding a [+singular count] noun, a [+singular group] noun, and a [+plural count] noun, the is equivalent to the zero article, các — the [+definite], [+plural count] article, and những — the [+indefinite], [+plural count] quantifier in Vietnamese. Both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with the zero article; but the zero article in Vietnamese is [+definite] while the zero article in English is always [+indefinite]. The zero article is also prominent because it witnesses the fact that universalism and uniqueness operate quite well in the two natural languages in question. The universal is shown by their generic sentences’ identical internal structure, which is the topic/subject noun phrase always beginning with a certain kind of article plus the frequent [+stative] verb in the comment/predicate verb phrase. The unique asserts that each of the two languages is beautiful in its own way and deserves the patience and understanding of any language user, native and non-native. Except for the existence of the Vietnamese classifier, the first type of generic sentences including only those beginning with an [+indefinite], [+singular] article, which is một in Vietnamese or a(n) in English, exemplifies the similarities between the two languages; their differences lie in the other two types. Interchangeability among the three types of generic sentences is determined by the characteristics of their subject/topic noun phrase or the meaning of their predicate/comment verb phrase.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Generic Sentences in Vietnamese and English: Similarities and Differences
    AU  - To Minh Thanh
    Y1  - 2022/04/28
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25
    T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    SP  - 166
    EP  - 175
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0221
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221002.25
    AB  - Employing descriptive approach and qualitative analysis, this paper focuses on comparing Vietnamese generic sentences with English ones in order to look for similarities and differences in the ways each of the languages chooses to express the meaning of their generic sentences. The comparison indicates that there is no exact equivalence between their three types of generic sentences. Specifically, both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with a [+definite] article; but Vietnamese has no single article which can be considered as an exact equivalent of the — the sole [+definite] article which goes with a variety of English nouns: respectively preceding a [+singular count] noun, a [+singular group] noun, and a [+plural count] noun, the is equivalent to the zero article, các — the [+definite], [+plural count] article, and những — the [+indefinite], [+plural count] quantifier in Vietnamese. Both Vietnamese and English have generic sentences beginning with the zero article; but the zero article in Vietnamese is [+definite] while the zero article in English is always [+indefinite]. The zero article is also prominent because it witnesses the fact that universalism and uniqueness operate quite well in the two natural languages in question. The universal is shown by their generic sentences’ identical internal structure, which is the topic/subject noun phrase always beginning with a certain kind of article plus the frequent [+stative] verb in the comment/predicate verb phrase. The unique asserts that each of the two languages is beautiful in its own way and deserves the patience and understanding of any language user, native and non-native. Except for the existence of the Vietnamese classifier, the first type of generic sentences including only those beginning with an [+indefinite], [+singular] article, which is một in Vietnamese or a(n) in English, exemplifies the similarities between the two languages; their differences lie in the other two types. Interchangeability among the three types of generic sentences is determined by the characteristics of their subject/topic noun phrase or the meaning of their predicate/comment verb phrase.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Faculty of International Languages and Cultures, Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

  • Sections