VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
NGUYỄN THỊ NGÂN A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE VERB
‘FALL’ IN ENGLISH AND THE VERB ‘NGÃ’ IN
VIETNAMESE

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU ĐỘNG TỪ ‘FALL’ TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ ĐỘNG TỪ ‘NGÃ’ TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT M.A. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215 HANOI – 2010


HANOI - 2010
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
2. Aims of the study
3. Research questions
4. Scope of the study
5. Methods of the study
6. Design of the study
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. An overview on Contrastive Analysis
1.2. MiCA versus MaCA
1.3. A brief description of verbs
1.3.1. Verbs in English
1.3.2. Verbs in Vietnamese
1.4. Types of meaning
1.5. Synonyms

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5 2.1.1.1. Grammatical features
2.1.1.1.1 Syntactic features
2.1.1.1.2. Morphological features
2.1.1.2. Semantic features
2.1.1.2.1. General meanings
2.1.1.2.2. Meanings in some idioms and proverbs
2.1.1.2.3. Synonyms of “Fall”
2.1.2. An Investigation into the verb „Ngã‟ in Vietnamese
2.1.2.1. Grammatical features
2.1.2.1.1 Syntactic features
2.1.2.1.2. Morphological features
2.1.2.2. Semantic features
2.1.2.2.1. General meanings
2.1.2.2.2. Meanings in some idioms and proverbs
2.1.2.2.3. Synonyms of „Ngã”
2.1.3. Findings
2.1.3.1. In Terms of grammatical features
2.1.3.1.1. Similarities.
2.1.3.1.2. Differences

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6 1. Recapitulation
2. Implication of the study
2.1. To EFL Teaching and Learning
2.2. To translation from English to Vietnamese and Vice Versa
3. Recommendations for further Research.
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
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ABBREVIATIONS CA: Contrastive Analysis
MiCA: Microlinguistic Contrastive Analysis
MaCA: Macrolinguistic Contrastive Analysis
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
L1: First Language
L2: Second Language

- Providing recommendations for teaching, learning and translating „fall‟ and „ngã‟ into
the target language
3. Research questions.
To fully achieve these aims, the study should answer the following questions:
(i) What are the grammatical and semantic features of each verb and how are they
similar and different in terms of these features?
9 (ii) What are their synonyms and what are the idioms and proverbs with these two
verbs?
(iii) What are the implications of the study for the EFL teaching, learning and
translation?
4. Scope of the study
In this minor thesis, it is difficult to discuss both the verbs in terms of MiCA and MaCA in
details. Consequently, the author mainly focuses on analyzing and contrasting them in terms of
MiCA (concerning grammatical and semantic features of the two verbs), and just give a brief
introduction about the similarities and differences between them concerned with MaCA.
The verbs „fall‟ and „ngã‟ are rich in synonyms, the author could not discuss them all in
details but give an overview on the most common ones.
5. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims given, the author has combined different methods as follow:
- Analyze and contrast;
- Synthesize.
The procedures of the study are:
- To synthesize meanings of „fall‟ and „ngã‟ and examples to illustrate from different sources
such as dictionaries, literary works, newspapers, magazines, native speakers and websites.
- To collect the synonyms of each verb and idioms/ proverbs with them.
- To analyze and contrast each verb and draw out the similarities and differences between
them in terms of MiCA and MaCA.


11 PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. An overview on Contrastive Analysis.
Contrastive analysis (CA) is the systematic study of a pair or more of languages with a view
to identifying their structural differences and similarities. The term „Contrastive linguistics‟
was suggested by Whorf (1941) and was defined as “ a sub discipline of linguistics concerned
with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to
determine both the differences and similarities between them”, (Fisiak, 1981:1). CA is the
method of analyzing the structure of any two languages with a view to estimate the differential
aspects of their systems, irrespective or their generic affinity or level of development. CA of
two languages becomes useful when it is adequately describing the sound structure and

(4) To arrive at principles of text preparation, test framing and target language teaching
in general.
Theses principles coincide with what Carl James presented in Contrastive Analysis (1980:64)
to some extent.
1.2. MiCA versus MaCA
These are broad terms which refer to two major types of linguistics. Microlinguistics refers to
phonetics, phonology, grammar and semantics, whereas macrolinguistics covers
sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and other related disciplines. In sociolinguistics, the micro
level is often equated with variation and face-to-face communication, whereas macro
sociolinguistics involves language planning and sociology of language.
According to the microlinguistics view, languages should be analyzed for their own sake
without any reference to their social function, to the manner in which they are acquired by
human beings, and to the literary or communicative function of language. Thus, a MiCA often
compares phonology/phonetics, grammar and lexis. For example, a study of this kind often
finds out what the consonant phonemes in languages X and Y are, how they differ in inventory,
realization and distribution; what the tense system of language X and Y, etc.
The main aim of a MiCA is a formal description of the language system based on the
interrelationships and independencies of its elements without any source to external factors.
Obviously, the translation situation which evolves equivalent messages, that are speech units
and texts in two different languages is not part of the system of either of these languages and
can not be studied and described in terms of microlinguistics.
Macrolinguistics which includes meanings, and especially sociolinguistics, studies how
language and meaning function within human social systems.
13 Carl James suggested that “the communicating individual must be able to identify the
situational constraints to which speech events are subjects and produce utterances that
conform to them.”
Hymes (1974) identifies six variables which he suggests the ethnographer of speaking must


With reference to aspect, it concerns the manner in which the verbal action is experienced or
regarded (as completed or in progress).
According to Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum, mood is the form of the verb that shows
the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed. In English, there are three moods:
indicative, imperative and subjunctive. Indicative mood expresses an assertion, denial, or
question. Imperative mood expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice as in Don‟t
smoke in this building. ~Be careful! Subjunctive mood expresses doubt or something contrary
to fact: It is strange that he should have left so early.
Voice is the way in which a language expresses the relationship between a verb and the noun
phrase associated with it. When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the
active voice as in The cat ate the mouse. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of
the action, it is said to be in the passive voice as in The mouse was eaten by the cat.
English verbs can be classified in many ways. From Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum‟s view, verbs can be classified according to the function of items in the verb
phrase. This distinguishes lexical verbs from auxiliary verbs.
Lexical: walk, fall, eat, play…
Primary: do, have, be
Auxiliary
Modal: can, may, shall, will
could, might, should, would,
must, ought to, used to, need, dare
Lexical verbs can be subdivided into dynamic and stative verbs. When verbs will not admit
the progressive, they are called stative such as „love‟, „like‟ and „seem‟; when they admit it,
they are called dynamic. „teach‟, „visit‟, „go‟ are some instances of dynamic verbs. Verbs are
also divided into one-word verbs and multi-word verbs which are illustrated in the examples
below.
- We are learning. (one-word verb)
- The children fell down (phrasal verb, multi-word verb)
- They called on the man. ( prepositional verbs; multi-word verb)

Besides, such words as bị, chịu, được, … which may be considered a sign of the passive voice.
Verbs in Vietnamese can have different functions in a sentence. The most popular one is
predicator as in: Nó ngã xe; Lớp tôi đang học toán. Verbs can be subjects of a sentence as in:
Yêu là chết trong lòng một ít. They can be complements, for example: Con tôi đang học hát;
Nhiều xe bị trượt ngã ở quãng đường này etc.
Diệp Quang Ban and Hoàng Văn Thung classify Vietnamese verbs into transitive and
intransitive verbs. Intransitive verbs are ones that can stand alone with complete meaning
without help from others word, for example: Nó đang ngủ; Mọi người đều cười; Nó ngã xuống
16 ao. Transitive verbs, in contrast, cannot stand alone, they need others word to complete their
meaning as in: Mai mua cái áo mới; Tôi phải đánh bài tối nay etc. Those two authors have
another way to classify Vietnamese verbs into independent verbs (động từ độc lập) and
dependent verbs (động từ không độc lập). However, in this study the former classifications will
be used to compare the verb „fall‟ and „ngã‟.
1.4. Types of meaning
The word „meaning‟ was once the focus of a great deal of discussion among linguists
interested in semantics. Theories of meaning and its types can be found in the literature (Leech
1974, Lyon 1977, 1995, Palmer 1981, Crystal 1995). There are two types of meanings:
grammatical and lexical meaning.
According to Lyon (1995:52) a lexeme may have different word-forms which will generally
differ in their grammatical meaning. For example, the forms of „teacher‟ and „teachers‟ differ
in respect of their grammatical meaning. „teacher‟ is singular form, and „teachers‟ is plural
form; and the difference between singular form and plural form is semantically relevant. It
affects sentence meaning. The meaning of a sentence is determined party by the meaning of the
words of which it consists and partly by its grammatical meaning.
Baker (1992:12) stated that lexical meaning of a word may be viewed as the specific value it
has in a particular linguistic system. It is the most outstanding individual property of words,
and in contrast with grammatical meaning, it can stand on it own.

Jack C.Richard et al (1992:368) defined synonym as a word which has the same meaning or
nearly the same meaning as another word. It should be noted that two words which are
synonymous must belong to the same part of speech.
Lyons (1995:60) divides synonyms into three kinds: absolute synonyms, near synonyms and
partial synonyms. According to him, two or more expressions are absolute synonyms if, and
only if, they satisfy the following three conditions:
(i) All their meanings are identical;
(ii) They are synonymous in all contexts;
(iii) They are semantically equivalent (i.e. their meaning or meanings are identical) on all
dimensions of meanings and descriptive and non-descriptive.
However, absolute synonyms are extremely rare in English. A few pairs may be said to be
absolute synonyms include „semantics‟ and „semasiology‟, „noun‟ and „substantive‟,
„functional‟ and „affix‟, „flexion‟ and „inflexion‟.
Absolute synonyms also can be found in Vietnamese as in „sân bay‟ and „phi trường‟, „ti vi‟
and „máy vô tuyến‟, „bóng đá‟ and „túc cầu‟ etc. 18 1.6. Idioms and proverbs
Idioms as well as proverbs are used widely in daily communication. They can occur in
formal style and in slang. They can appear in poetry or in the language of journalist, the writer
and the Bible.
According to John Wright (1999:7), an expression is an idiom when it carries the following
features:
1. It is fixed and it is recognized by native speakers. You cannot make up your own!
2. It uses language in a non-literal-metaphorical-way.
According to Jack C. Richards et al (1992:172), idiom is an expression which functions as a
single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts. This view is

In fact, proverbs are also collected in idioms‟ books. Such dictionaries as Từ Điển Thành
Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyen Bich Hang, Từ Điển Thành Ngữ - Tục Ngữ Việt Nam by
Nguyen Lan, Tục Ngữ Thành Ngữ Nước Anh by Xuan Ba provide both idioms and proverbs
without clear distinguistion between the two terms. As the result, idioms and proverbs as fixed
expressions with the verbs „fall‟ and „ngã‟ will be given in this minor thesis.
1.7. Concluding remarks
In this chapter, theoretical background for the contrastive analysis between the verb „fall‟ in
English and „ngã‟ in Vietnamese in terms of MiCA and MaCA has been introduced. It includes
an overview on CA, brief contrasts between MiCA and MaCA, and between the verb „fall‟ in
English and „ngã‟ in Vietnamese. In addition, the chapter also gives kinds of meaning,
synonyms and idioms. Based on this theoretical foundation, we will commence chapter two “A
Contrastive Analysis between the Verb „Fall‟ in English and the Verb „Ngã‟ in Vietnamese”. 20 CHAPTER 2: A STUDY ON THE VERB „FALL‟ IN ENGLISH AND THE VERB

21 - “Fall to, good friends”, said the joiner; and the guests, when they saw how it was,
needed no second asking, but taking up the knife and fork fell to valiantly. (3:154)
- But it must have fallen too short or gone too far; so he tried twice more. (13:88)
(d) „Fall‟ is both a transitive and intransitive verb. This means that „fall‟ can occur with or
without objects.
As an intransitive verb:
- Then he suddenly fell on to his knees and started crying loudly, his hands covering
his face. (2:36)
- A dead leaf fell in Soapy‟s lap. (7:99)
- While she was climbing on the branch, it suddenly broke and Ophelia fell. (5:40)
As a transitive verb
- The father thought to himself, “It cannot surely be Aschenputtel”, and called for an
axe and fell the tree, but there was no one in it. (3:123)
2.1.1.1.2. Morphological features
The verb „fall‟ consists of one morpheme as a root. According to Quirk et al (1987), like
many other English verbs, it has five forms: the base “fall”, the –s form “falls”, the past form
“fell”, the past participate “fallen”, the –ing participle “falling”.
By means of derivation, the verb “fall” itself is also a noun as in
- Pride comes before a fall. (Proverb)
- The young sleuth‟s sudden fall had caused the puppy to fly from her arms.(8:69)
Besides, it has some derivates as follows:
 Fallen (adjective):1. lying on the ground, after falling (used before noun), as in
„The road was blocked by a fallen tree‟. 2. (of a soldier) killed in a war.
 Fallible (adjective): able to make mistakes or be wrong, as in „All human beings
are fallible‟.
 Infallible (adjective): incapable of failure or error, for example
The truth was that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his

- Tom dodged hither and thither through lanes until he was well out of the track
of returning scholars, and then fell into a moody jog. (13:84)
2.1.1.2.1. General meanings
In accordance with http://www.word-origins.com/definition/fall.html , the verb fall comes
from prehistoric Germanic *fallan, which also produced German fallen, Dutch vallen, and
Swedish falla. The noun is partly a survival of Old English feall, partly a borrowing from the
related Old Norse fall, but probably mostly a new formation based on the verb.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (2000. Oxford University Press),
Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture (1992.Longman Group), Lac Viet Mtd