Luận Văn A contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp năm 2012
Đề tài: A contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese


TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I: INTRODUCTION . 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study . 2
4. Methods of the study . 3
5. Design of the study 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1. Negation in English and Vietnamese in brief. 4
1.1. Definition of negation. . 4
1.2. Scope of negation . 4
1.3. Focus of negation . 5
The relationship between scope and focus of negation . 7
2. Negative questions in English . 7
2.1 What is a negative question? 7
2.2 The semantic and pragmatic approaches to English negative
questions . 8
CHAPTER 2: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE NEGATIVE QUESTIONS . 11
1. Negative forms and non-assertive forms in English . 11
1.1. Negative Forms 11
1.2. Non – assertive forms 12
2. Negative orientation 13
3. English negative questions 14
3.1. Negative Yes/No questions 14
3.2. Negative Tag- questions 15
3.3. Negative Wh- questions . 16
3.4. Negative alternative questions . 16
4. A contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and their
Vietnamese equivalents. . 17
4.1. Structures of negative question 18
4.1.1 Negative structures in Yes/No questions . 18
4.1.2 Negative structures in Tag- questions 22
4.1.3 Negative structures in Wh- questions 24
4.1.4 Negative structures in alternative questions . 26
4.2. Subclause . 28
4.2.1 Use of “not” in English negative questions and in Vietnamese
equivalents . 28
5. Summary 31
CHAPTER 3: COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY HAIPHONG PRIVATE
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN USING ENGLISH NEGATIVE
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 32
1. Some common mistakes 32
2. Some suggestions to correct the mistakes . 33
PART 3: CONCLUSION . 36
1. Summary of the study 36
2. Suggestions for further studies and final comment . 37
References 38
Books: 38
Websites: 38
APPENDIX 40


P ART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Learning a foreign language is of great significance today. It is the bridge
connecting countries in many fields. The mastery of a foreign language
enables us to communicate with people from other countries, achieve mutual
understandings, and further our trade contacts, economic co- operations, and
cultural and academic exchanges with other countries.
I am interested in learning English so much. Engli sh, as mentioned over
and over again, is an international language. In Viet Nam, English, now, is a
compulsory subject for pupils in most primary and secondary schools. It is
also an important subject for students at all universities. Particularly, English
is one of the essential requirements for those who want to find a good job.
However, in order to master a language, we have to pay attention not only
to grammar, structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation but also the culture of
the language.
In communicative process in English as well as in other languages,
questions play an important role. We are not able to keep communication
going on well without asking questions. We ask question in order to exchange
information, ideas, feeling and knowledge. On the oth er hand, we sometimes
ask questions not for the above purposes but for confirmation, refusal irony or
reply avoidance. It is undeniable that questions can not be missed in
communication. There are a lot of types of question in English but in this
paper I would like to devote all my interest into English negative questions
and their Vietnamese equivalents. The purpose is to get more understanding
of this type of questions to use them flexibly. The contrastive analysis of
English and Vietnamese negative questions also reveals the similarities and
differences between the two languages. From my experience and knowledge,
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I will go deep into this matter with a hope to assist people who are interested
in the subject matter.
2. Aims of the study
I have been learning English for a long time; however, I sometimes make
mistakes in using and translating English negative questions into Vietnamese
and vice versa. Many students also make these mistakes. For these reasons;
my study deals with “Negative question in English and Vietnamese – a
contrastive analysis”.
In details, my Graduation Paper aims at:
a. Examining how the structures of English and Vietnamese
negative questions are built and used in details.
b. Making a comparison between English negative questions and
their Vietnamese equivalents.
c. Exposing some common mistakes made by Vietnamese students
and presenting some suggested solutions.
d. Heightening learner‟s awareness in learning English and
Vietnamese negative questions.
3. Scope of the study
The study “Negative questions in English and Vietnamese - a contrastive
analysis” focuses on negative questions in English and Vietnamese
equivalents within the frame of structures and using negative words. Four
types of questions will be discussed: Yes-No questions, Tag questions, Whquestions and Alternative questions. However, due to the limited time and
knowledge, only negative questions that use the negator “not” will be
discussed in details, the others will be suggested for further study. The study
also finds out the common mistakes made by students at HPU and some
suggestions to correct these mistakes.
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4. Methods of the study
The study is conducted by carefully collecting materials from various
sources to have full – blown information of English and Vietnamese negative
questions. Moreover, I have consulted with my supervisor, and obtained
suggestions, instructions and encouragement from my teachers. The
contrastive analysis is made intra- and interlingually: English negative
questions with Vietnamese counterparts. The contrastive analysis involves
two stages: the description of the structures and the use of negative words in
both languages.
5. Design of the study
My graduation paper is divided into three parts, in which the second,
naturally, is the most important part.
a. Part 1 is the INTRODUCTION in which the rationale, aims of
the study, scope of the study, methods of the study, design of the
study are presented.
b. Part 2 contains three chapters:
Chapter 1 provides readers with some theoretical background
on negation, negative questions in English and Vietnamese in brief.
Chapter 2 is also the main part of the study, which provides
the contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese negative
questions.
Chapter 3 is the common mistakes made by students in using
English negative questions and suggested solutions.
c. Part 3 is the Conclusion of the study. It also gives out implication
for learning Negative questions in English and some suggestions
for further studies.
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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. Negation in English and Vietnamese in brief.
1.1. Definition of negation.
According to the Vietnamese Dictionary, published in 1998 by the Centre
of Dictionary, “Negation is the act of rejecting the existence, the necessity of
something, is the opposition of affirmation”. In the Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English, published in 1994, negation is “the act of stating that
something does not exist or is untrue”. The study is mainly based on English
Grammar book “A University Grammar of English” (R, Quirk.1973). As for
him, the negation of a simple sentence is accomplished by inserting not, n’t
between the operator and the predication. Although the definition of negation
varies from scholar to scholar, from dictionary to dictionary, we can draw
some main points as follows: “Negation is a part of man‟s cognition activity
and communication process. It is also a basic category of thinking, of formal
logic. It is the opposition of the affirmative category”.
According to Le Quang Thiem, a Vietnamese linguist, “negative sentence
is used to describe the absence of an object, an event or a phenomena” while
in many grammar books; we can see that a negative sentence is used to claim
that something is not true or incorrect.
1.2. Scope of negation
The term “scope of negation” is introduced to refer to the stretch of
language over which the negative has its effect. The relation between negative
words and non-assertive words that they govern will happen in scope of
negation (that is part of language that the negative meaning operates through).
The scope of negation formally extends from the negative words to the end of