English and Vietnamese articles 1

Running head: English and Vietnamese articles

English and Vietnamese articles: A Contrastive Analysis Ho Dinh Van HCMC University of Pedagogy

English and Vietnamese articles 2 An article is a word combining with a noun to specify its grammatical definiteness (Wikipedia, 2009). Unlike adjectives or determiners which are optional, articles are necessary in a noun phrase in order to indicate whether the noun is definite or not. The lacking of an article itself also shows some certain definiteness. This paper aims at trying to answer the question whether there are articles in Vietnamese or not and to analyze the English articles (a, an, the) in contrast with the Vietnamese articles. Then some teaching implications will be pointed out and discussed.

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Are there any articles in Vietnamese? The question whether there are articles in Vietnamese or not has been discussed for a long time. The answers and explanations vary among many researchers. According to Vo (2008), since there are no clear definitions for Vietnamese articles, he suggested using nouns as articles and listed 13 possible ones. 1. con: con g, con voi, coi chut, etc. 2. ci: ci nh, ci bn, ci gh, etc. 3. ngi: ngi nh, ngi cha, ngi n, etc. 4. ngn: ngn ni, ngn i, ngn sng, etc. 5. cnh: cnh tay, cnh ng, cnh rng, etc. 6. tay: tay qun vt, tay chi, tay ngh, etc. 7. ng: ng anh ho, ng nam nhi, etc. 8. nh: nh vn, nh th, nh bun, etc. 9. bn: bn sao, bn danh sch, bn lit k, etc. 10. qu: qu cam, qu qut, qu xoan, etc. 11. cy: cy da, cy mt, cy xoi, etc. 12. tm: t m o, tm phn, tm danh thip, etc. 13. chic: chic l, chic khn, chic nn, etc. However, when using nouns as articles in this way, we cannot say whether the noun phrase is definite or not. In fact, Tuong (2004) call these 13 nouns classifiers which have completely different functions with articles. He also pointed out that there are a lot of classifiers, not only 13, which can be divided into three main kinds, based on the features of the head noun:

English and Vietnamese articles 4 Features Inanimate Classifier ci ngi con con ngi c Head Noun bn nh chut voi ph n b n a table a house a mouse an elephant a woman a female friend

Non-human

Human

What is a classifier? A classifier is a word preceding a common noun in order to modify and complete it (Nhat, 2009) or a word or morpheme which is used to classify a noun according to its meaning (Wikipedia). In many cases, it serves to make the noun countable (Tuong, 2004). ba ci nh bn con ch * ba nh * bn ch

Besides, a classifier has a function of nominalizing the whole classifier construction making it become a noun phrase, even when it doesnt contain any nouns. (Hao, 2007) p (adjective) tr v (verb phrase) ci p s tr v

A classifier has no direct translation in English. This feature helps to differentiate a classifier from a measure phrase, which is is a phrase often used in combination with a numeral to indicate the number of things or people to which the head noun refers (Wikipedia).

English and Vietnamese articles 5 Numeral + Classifier + N Numeral + Measure phrase + N hai ci tch hai tch tr two cups two cups of tea

The special function of ci In his article, Tuong (2004) argued that ci is a particle functioning as a focus marker, occurring between a numeral and a classifier or a measure phrase and drawing attention to a focused constituent in the noun phrase and he put it in a difference category with articles. a ti CI cun sch MU XANH. (Give me the blue book.) Assuming that there are three books on the table: a red, green and blue one, then ci in this sentence draws the reader/listener s attention to the adjective mu xanh in order to emphasize that Give me the BLUE book, not the GREEN or RED one. It is necessary not to mistake ci as a particle with ci as a classifier. As classifiers cannot co-occur (for example: *con cy bt, *s cun sch, etc), ci in these noun phrases are not classifiers: CI con mo ny (this very cat) CI ngi nh to nht (the biggest house) When the particleci is used with a countable noun, a classifier is obligatory, except when there is a homonymous classifier. * CI mo ny * CI ci bn ny.

English and Vietnamese articles 6 Nhat (2009), however, classified ci as an article, together with nhng, cc, etc. Ci is a singular definite article. Ci cun sch m anh cho ti mn rt hay. (The book which you lent me was very good.) The articles nhng and cc Tuong (2004) argued that nhng is a plural, indefinite article, and cc is a plural definite article. His idea is based on the concept that cc refers to the whole set of entities, while as nhng refers to a subset of entities.

nhng

cc

C NHNG quyn sch c hoi khng chn. (There are books which you can read for many times without feeling bored) * C CC quyn sch c hoi khng chn. The noun phrase nhng quyn sch in this sentence refer to a subset of entities. Therefore, cc cannot be used. Nhng is often used to mark plurality and indefiniteness.

English and Vietnamese articles 7 C nhng bi ca khng bao gi qun. (There are songs that will never be forgotten.) However, nhng can also be used to indicate definiteness, but unlike cc, which refers to a whole set of definite entities, nhng refers only to some of the definite entities. NHNG em hc sinh gii nht lp (the best students in the class) CC em hc sinh u rt ngoan. (All of the students are well-behaved.) In Vietnamese, however, it is not necessary to use an article to indicate whether the head noun is definite or not. Anh gi l th dm em cha? (Have you send the letter for me yet?) The noun l th in this sentence is a definite noun since both the speaker and the listener know which letter is being mentioned.

English and Vietnamese articles 8 In this part of the paper, I would like to analyze the uses of English articles in contrast with the Vietnamese articles in two aspects: indefinite and definite articles. Indefinite articles The indefinite articles in English include a/an. When translated into Vietnamese, a/an means mt. Mt is also a singular indefinite article in Vietnamese (Tuong, 2004). Ngy xa c mt c gi xinh p (Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl) B a cho ti mt quyn sch. (Dad gave me a book.) Just like a/an, mt introduces the things or people to which the head noun refers into the discourse. Since the beautiful girl, book, c gi xinh p, quyn sch have not been mentioned before, they are indefinite noun phrases. According to A. Jacobs (1995), indefinite articles in English had two main uses: specific and generic uses. - The specific indefinite use indicates a specific person or thing that is unfamiliar to the addressee or has not yet been mentioned. I saw an old friend this morning. - The generic indefinite use does not indicate any specific person or thing but a whole class of entities. A car can be very expensive.

English and Vietnamese articles 9 In Vietnamese, mt can be used for both specific and generic cases. In this sentence, the speaker talks about a specific person she met. Ti gp mt g sng nay. (I met a man this morning.) However, in the below sentence, the speaker doesnt mention any speci fic minor injuries but all of them. Mt vt thng nh cng c th gy nguy him n tnh mng. (A minor injury can also become fatal.) Definite articles The definite article in English is the which can be used with almost any kinds of nouns: countable, uncountable, plural or singular nouns. Though there are many complicated rules concerning using it, the most basic principle is that the is used when the noun phrase refers to something or someone that is identifiable to the addressee (Wikipedia, 2009). From this principle, many other small rules can be generated. 1. The is used when the entity has been previously mentioned. His car struck a tree. You can still see the mark on the tree. In Vietnamese, when introducing a new entity into the discourse, we use the article mt. If the entite has been mentioned before, mt will not be used any more. In that case, no articles will be needed. B ti cho ti mt con ch. Mt hm (*mt) con ch b i mt. (My grandma gave me a dog. One day, the dog went a way) Or the article ci can be used.

English and Vietnamese articles 10 B ti cho ti mt con ch. Mt hm ci con ch b i mt. (My grandma gave me a dog. One day that very dog went away.) 2. The is used when both the speaker and the addressee know what th ings or people are being mentions. For instance, a wife talks to a husband: Did you lock the door? Here, both the speaker and the listener know which door is being mentioned. In Vietnamese, we use no articles in this case. Anh kha ca cha? 3. The is used when the entity is unique or considered to be unique (the moon, the earth, the world, etc.) This rule also applies for the cases in which the definite article is used before superlatives and some adjectives like first, second, last, only, etc. In Vietnamese, no articles are needed in these cases, except for the case of superlatives with the article nhng. nhng bi ht hay nht mi thi i (the most everlasting songs) nhng bng hoa p nht (the most beautiful flowers) 4. The is used when the entity is assumed to exist in a particular context. For instance, in the context of a family, we can talk about the father, the mother, the grandmother, etc. In Vietnamese, we use no articles in this case. 5. The entity is identifiable to the addressee by the addition of modifiers. For instance, the girl in red, the book I lent you yesterday. In Vietnamese, we can use the article ci to emphasize the modifiers. ci c gi mc o mu (the girl in red)

English and Vietnamese articles 11 ci quyn sch m ti cho a nh mn hm qua (the book which I lent you yesterday)

English and Vietnamese articles 12 From the contrastive analysis of the Vietnamese and English articles, I would like to discuss some teaching implications Firstly, most students find articles extremely hard to master. They do not know how to differentiate between a definite and indefinite noun phrase. In this paper, I have tried to explain that a noun phrase is definite when the things or people to which it refers are identifiable to the addressee. However, deciding whether a noun phrase is definite or not in some cases is difficult. Consequently, the teachers should help the students understand the rules and draw their attention to the context which plays an important part in specifying the definiteness of a noun phrase. Secondly, since the explanation of Vietnamese articles is too broad, and sometimes not clear, most English learners will have a lot of difficulties in producing a grammatically correct Vietnamese noun phrase. Some will make a mistake like ci mo or con sch, etc. The teachers should help students correct their mistakes and provide them more opportunities to practice using articles in speaking as well as in writing. Finally, the teachers and students should aware that a good knowledge of article will help improve their speaking and writing skills. It also raises their confidence in using a new language. In order to master using articles, it is necessary to listen to and read in the native language, accompanying with doing a lot of practice and exercises.

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Conclusion In conclusion, article is a common linguistic feature. To some teachers, it may be hard to teach, but articles are the basic knowledge that every learners need to know before studying further. Although there are still some unclear concept, a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese articles helps to shed some light into a topic that for long has caused a lot of discussions. I hope that with my little effort, I have contributed something to helping the teachers shape a perfect way of teaching articles in high schools.

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Reference list Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2009). Article (grammar). Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_(grammar) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2009). Classifier. Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifier Trinh, Nhat . (2009). Tieng Anh qua lang kinh Viet: mot ca cu the. Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://e-cadao.com/Ngonngu/Tienganhqualangkinhviet.htm Ngo Nguyen, Dung. (2009). Noi ban khoan cua con va cai trong tieng Viet. Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://damau.org/archives/10011 Minh, Vo. (2008). Tan man ve tieng Viet. Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://www.dcvonline.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=print& sid=4628 Cao Xuan, Hao. (2007). Su tich bon chu CHINH TRUOC PHU SAU trong Viet ngu hoc. Retrieved December 15th, 2009 from http://www.talawas.org/talaDB/showFile.php?res=4115&rb=06 Nguyen Hung, Tuong. (2004). The structure of the Vietnamese Noun Phrase. Boston: Boston University. A. Jacobs, R. (1995). English syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.