nghiên cứu danh hóa như một hình thức ẩn dụ ngữ pháp trong các diễn văn chính trị tiếng anh và tiếng việt theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng của hệ thống

i

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************




NGUYỄN THU HIỀN


NOMINALIZATION AS GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN POLITICAL
DISCOURSE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
(Nghiên cứu danh hóa như một hình thức ẩn dụ ngữ pháp trong các diễn văn chính trị
tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15





Hanoi – 2011

ii

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************




NGUYỄN THU HIỀN


NOMINALIZATION AS GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN POLITICAL
DISCOURSE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
(Nghiên cứu danh hóa như một hình thức ẩn dụ ngữ pháp trong các diễn văn chính trị
tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Nguyễn Xuân Thơm




Hanoi – 2011

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality i
Acknowledgement ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Justification of the study 1
2. Aims and Objectives of the study 1
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Method of the study 2
5. Format of the study 3
PART B : DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND…………………………… ……4
1.1 Systemic Functional Grammar 4
1.2 Grammatical Metaphor 5
1.2.1 What is Grammatical metaphor? 5
1.2.2 Classification of Grammatical Metaphor 6
1.2.2.1 Ideational Metaphors 6
1.2.2.2 Interpersonal Metaphors 7
1.3 The Language of Political Discourse 8
1.3.1 Political Discourse 8
1.3.2 The Language of Politics 8
1.3.3 Language, power and ideology 10

1.4 Some Basic Characteristics of American and Vietnamese Culture 10
1.4.1 American Culture 10
1.4.2 Vietnamese Culture 11
CHAPTER 2: NOMINALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE:
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION……………….………………13
2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Nominalization in English 13
2.2.1 What is Nominalization in English? 13
2.2.2 Categories of Nominalization in English 14
2.2.2.1 Lexical nominalization 14
2.2.2.2 Clausal nominalization 16
2.3 Nominalization in Vietnamese 18
2.3.1 What is Nominalization in Vietnamese? 18
2.3.2 Categories of Nominalization in Vietnamese 18
2.4 Concluding remarks 21
CHAPTER 3: NOMINALIZATION IN POLITICAL DISCOURSES
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE…….………………………… 21
3.1 Introduction 22


v


3.2 Nominalization in President Bush’s Speech: Address to Congress (September 20
th
,
2001) 22
3.2.1 The Realization of Nominalization 23
3.2.2 Ideational Function 24
3.2.3 Interpersonal Function 27

3.2.4 Textual Function 28
3.3 Nominalization in President Nguyen Minh Triet’s Speech: Diễn Văn Khai Mạc
Đại Lễ 1000 năm Thăng Long (October, 10
th
, 2010) 30
3.3.1 The Realization of Nominalization 31
3.3.2 Ideational Function 31
3.3.3 Interpersonal Function 33
3.3.4 Textual Function 34
3.4 Concluding Remarks 35
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION:
A CONTRASTIVE COMPARISON…………… ………………… 36
4.1 Introduction 36
4.2 The Similarities and the Differences on Linguistic Properties 36
4.3 The Similarities and the Differences on Cultural Properties 37
PART C : CONCLUSION 40
1. Recapitulation 40
2. Implications 41
3. Limitation and Suggestions for Further Studies 41
REFERENCES 43

vi


LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Types of Nominalization in President Bush‟s Speech
Table 2: Semantic Roles of Nominalization in President Bush‟s Speech
Table 3: Interpersonal Analysis of Nominalization in President Bush‟s Speech
Table 4: Theme- Rheme Analysis of Nominalization in President Bush‟s Speech
Table 5: Types of Nominalization in President N.M. Triet‟s Speech
Table 6: Semantic Roles of Nominalization in President N.M. Triet‟s Speech
Table 7: Interpersonal Analysis of Nominalization in President N.M. Triet‟s Speech
Table 8:Theme- Rheme Analysis of Nominalization in President N.M. Triet‟s Speech


1


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Justification of the study
Grammatical metaphor in general and nominalization in particular is a familiar concept in
Systemic Functional Grammar and recent research of Halliday (1985, 1988, 1994), have
proved that grammatical metaphor involving nominalization play a key role in creating
scientific discourse. Halliday considers nominalization from a systemic functional
perspective. This theory is functional because it aims to account for three basic kind of
meaning, namely, the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual. Nominalization, a type
of grammatical metaphor, is one of the most prominent syntactic features of political

discourse. However, the use of this kind of metaphor in political discourse with the role in
the enactment, reproduction, and legitimization of power and domination, may cause
difficulties for the readers or the listeners in understanding what is meant or referred to by
the writer or the speaker. Our thesis is entitled “Nominalization as grammatical metaphor
in Political Discourse in English and Vietnamese from the perspective of Systemic
Functional Grammar”. The choice of our thesis is based on three reasons. Firstly, the
nominalization, as explained in later sections, is the nominalizing process, which is “the
single most powerful resource for creating grammatical metaphor” (Halliday: 1994: 352).
The absence of sufficient research on nominalization as grammatical metaphor in political
discourse poses an interesting challenge for us. Secondly, an insight into the nature and the
functions of nominalization in political discourse can help the researcher to make
comprehensive and comprehensible presentations of nominalization and help readers to
realize its importance for the comprehension of English and Vietnamese political speeches.
Finally, we set out a view of the interrelationship of language and society, with the
emphasis on power and ideology. Ideology is pervasively present in language, that fact
ought to mean that the ideological nature of language should be one of the major themes of
modern social science. Particularly, there is a close connection between a linguistic choice
and a certain ideology maintained by relations of power, and the power phenomenon is
manifested in a variety of linguistic structures.
2. Aims and Objectives of the study
The aim of this study is to make an inquiry into the nature of nominalization in English and
Vietnamese in general.


2


This study also points out the functions of nominalization in political discourse and
therefore explains why nominalization should be given special treatment in working with
this specialized genre. Its impacts on the message content are also explored.

In carrying out the study this way, the following questions are raised for exploration.
1. What is the Nature of Nominalization in English and in Vietnamese?
2. What are the Linguistic Structure and the Functions of Nominalization in English
and Vietnamese Political Discourses?
3. What are the Linguistic and Cultural Similarities and Differences between
Nominalization in English political discourse and that in Vietnamese one?
Hopefully, this research will provide some insight and practical help in decoding political
speeches, in evaluating linguistic aspects of the ideas conveyed, the way the more powerful
employ language in order to impose their ideas on the less powerful members of society,
and finally the readers can figure out the similarities and differences in the use of
nominalization in political discourse between English and Vietnamese.
3. Scope of the study
This study attempts to explore the concept of nominalization in English and in Vietnamese
in terms of linguistic structure to find out the similarities and differences of the concept
between the two languages. It is also the intent of this study to analyze the use of
nominalization in political speeches in English and Vietnamese to figure out how it
contributes to the metafunctions of the discourse, the overall meanings of the discourse and
how it serves the speakers‟ ideologies.
4. Methods of the study
We begin this study with a descriptive method to identify the phenomenon, then compare
and contrast the phenomenon between English and Vietnamese. The researcher adopts the
statistical method and analyzes the data in terms of quality and quantity. The study
conducted is an inductive approach where data is collected from English and Vietnamese
political discourses to describe nominalization as a natural linguistics process.
In the exploration of nominalization in political discourse, the systemic functional theory
as developed by Halliday (1994), Dik (1997), Matthiessen (1995), and other systemicists is
adopted as the theoretical framework.

3


5. Format of the study
The paper includes three parts namely Part A- Introduction, Part B- Development and Part
C-Conclusion. Part B is divided into four chapters:
Chapter 1 explores theoretical background of Systemic Functional Grammar, the concept
of Grammatical Metaphor and the Language of Political Discourse.
In chapter 2, the emphasis is on Nominalization in English and Vietnamese as a general
description.
In chapter 3, the focus shifts to Nominalization in political discourse in English and
Vietnamese with a case study on two speeches: one of the President Bush and the other of
the President Nguyen Minh Triet.
Chapter 4 brings focus on a comparative and contrastive analysis between nominalization
in English and Vietnamese to find out both the similarities and the differences. Therefore,
the researcher can suggest some implications for teaching and translating.

4


PART B : DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Systemic Functional Grammar
Systemic functional linguistics (hereafter abbreviated “SFL”) conceives of text as social
interaction. Systemic functional linguists view language as systems of meaning potential in
human interaction that are realized by various structures. The organizing concept is not a
structure described by rules, but as communicative behavior, as meaning making in a
context of a culture, the behavior matrix within which all social interaction take place and
the general context that gives meaning to culturally recognized activities. In addition,
systemic functional grammar develops a profound analysis of language on the base of
regarding reality- representational and communicative functions of language. These
functions, termed by Halliday as metafunctions including ideational, interpersonal and
textual metafunctions of language, are related to the issue how it is shaped to meet human
needs.
Ideational metafunction is the one that helps to understand, organize and express
perceptions of the world and our consciousness. The ideational component on the semantic
plane consists of experiential meanings and logical meanings. Experiential meanings at the
grammatical rank of the clause are those functions that reflect or represent processes,
participants, and circumstances. In Halliday‟s analysis of English (Halliday, 1994: 106-

161), experiential meanings are accounted for in clauses by the transitivity system. The
transitivity system includes choices of process type and the configurations of possible
participants, process and circumstances which are associated with a particular process type.
Logical meanings are realized by relationships of coordination (or parataxis) and
subordination (or hypotaxis) between clauses and other structure units. The way of
analyzing the clause in terms of process, participants and circumstances produces
constituency structures whereas logical meanings are associated with interdependency
structures. The following example represents an experiential analysis of clause:
Who
has cleaned
the floor?
Actor
Process: material
Goal
Interpersonal metafunction is concerned with the interaction between the speaker and the
addressee(s)- the grammatical resources for enacting social roles in general, speech roles in
particular, in dialogic interaction; i.e. for establishing, changing and maintaining


5


interpersonal relations. The functions within the interpersonal component include giving or
demanding information, expressing intention, assessing degree of probability, expressing
attitude, and so on. These functions have to do with social interaction than with “content”.
The grammar of interpersonal meanings put the focus of clause as a unit of exchange
structured as Subject, Predicator, Complements and Adjuncts. An analysis of a clause from
this perspective can be shown in the following example:
Who
has

cleaned
the floor?
Subject
Finite
Predicator
Complement
Textual metafunction is described through the system of theme. Thematic structure “gives
the clause its character as a message (Halliday 1994: 37) and thus, creates relevant to the
context. The descriptive elements used to show this are called Theme and Rheme. The
theme serves as the departure of the message, which in English coincides with the initial
element(s) of the clause; and the Rheme is the remainder of the message. These elements
may also be classified as Given, or information which identifies that which the clause is
about, and New, information which relates to the Given. The following example shows the
analysis of the textual perspective:
Who
has cleaned the floor?
Theme
Rheme
There is a close relationship between these two structures. Within any set of contextual
conditions, the speaker can exploit the potential that the situation defines, using thematic
and information structure to produce an astonishing variety of rhetorical effect.
The relationship of these three functions, which are in the discourse- semantic stratum, is
called “metafunctional resonance” by Halliday (1994).
1.2 Grammatical Metaphor
1.2.1 What is Grammatical metaphor?
Functional Grammar defines metaphors as variations in the expression of meaning rather
than just variations in the use of words. Functional Grammar looks at metaphors from a
different perspective, not asking “how is this word used?” but “how is this meaning
expressed?” or “how is grammar structured to make the text effective in the achievement
of purpose?” There is a kind of transference going on, the transfer of representation

between different grammatical categories. The difference in the message is the kind of


6


meaning variation which Halliday (1994) calls Grammatical Metaphor. Therefore,
grammatical metaphor means a substitution of one grammatical class, or one grammatical
structure by another. Similarly, Matthiessen (1995) discusses grammatical metaphor as a
way of expanding the semantic potential of the system; or Thompson (1996) as the
expression of a meaning through a lexical- grammatical form which originally evolved to
express a different kind of meaning. For example:
(a) the index dropped surprisingly sharply
(b) a surprisingly sharp drop in the index
In short, for Halliday and systemic Functionalists, metaphor constitutes a
lexicogrammatical phenomenon; they are the result of realignments in the realizational
relationship between semantic units and grammatical ones that create a complex
relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar. There is, thus, a congruent and an
incongruent or metaphorical realization. It is important to say that there will always be
some semantic features or features distinguishing grammatically metaphorical forms and
their non-metaphorical counterparts (Halliday, 1985).
1.2.2 Classification of Grammatical Metaphor
Halliday (1994) divides grammatical metaphor into metaphors of mood (including
modality) and metaphors of transitivity. In terms of semantic functions, these are,
respectively, interpersonal metaphors and ideational metaphors.
Thompson (1996) classifies grammatical metaphor into logical and experiential metaphors,
interpersonal metaphors and textual metaphors.
In the following sections we will adopt Halliday‟s view in classifying grammatical
metaphors into interpersonal and ideational metaphors.
1.2.2.1 Ideational Metaphors

Ideational grammatical metaphors are called metaphors of transitivity. The grammatical
variation between congruent and incongruent forms here applied to transitivity
configurations, and can be analyzed in terms of the functional structure of these
configurations. Expression of ideational meanings is extended in important ways beyond
their default encoding. The default expression of ideational meanings is as follows: Process
is represented by clauses; Qualities by adjectives and Entities by nouns or noun phrases. In
principle, metaphorical expressions can be represented in either of two ways, either (1)
taking them at their face value, or (2) interpreting them in their congruent form (Halliday,


7


1994: 346). In order to bring out the metaphorical nature of an incongruent expression, it is
compared to an equivalent congruent realization. For example:
The year the villa was completed
saw
the end of 20 years of war with
France
Senser
Process:
Mental
Phenomenon
In the year the villa was completed
20 years of war with
France
ended
Circumstance: Temporal
Actor
Process: Material

As we cannot always decide how best to unpack metaphorical meanings, we can identify
the main ways in which grammatical metaphor arises. One of the most important is
nominalization, i.e. the turning of clausal patterns into nominal ones. This type of
grammatical metaphor plays a key role because it involves a realignment of all other
elements of the message. Halliday discusses nominalization- the drift towards
“thinginess”- as a category of ideational metaphor. Halliday (1994: 352) points out the role
of nominalization as follows:
Nominalizing is the single most powerful resource for creating grammatical
metaphor. By this device, processes (congruently worded as verbs) and properties
(congruently worded as adjectives) are reworded metaphorically as nouns; instead of
functioning in the clause, as a Process or Attribute, they function as Thing in the nominal
group.

Ideational metaphors are found in all types of adult discourse. Complete congruency and
complete incongruency are rare (Halliday, 1994: 342). In general, Halliday argues, written
language has more ideational metaphors than spoken discourse. In written language,
various lexical meanings are packed into one single nominal group and metaphor of
transivity makes writing more vivid and expressive.
1.2.2.2 Interpersonal Metaphors
Interpersonal grammatical metaphor focuses on the area of Modality and Mood.
In Metaphors of Modality, the grammatical variation which occurs is based on the
logical-semantic relationship of projection. Whereas modal meanings are congruently
realized in modal elements in the clause (i.e. modal operators, modal adjuncts or mood
adjuncts), interpersonal metaphors are defined by Halliday (1994) as expressing modal


8


meaning outside the clause, for instance, by means of an additional projecting clause. That

is metaphors of modality are explicit realizations of modal meanings. For example:
I think it’s going to rain. (vs. Congruent: It is probably going to rain.)
In Metaphors of Mood, a mood meaning is not expressed in the clause, but rather as an
explicit element outside the clause. The incongruent transference in the process of the
realization of the speech functions is metaphor of mood. One speech function can be
realized by various moods and one mood can realized different speech functions. For
examples:
(1) Command functioning as warning:
I wouldn’t…if I was you. (Congruent: don’t…)
(1) Modulated command, typically functioning as advice:
She’d better… (Congruent: she should…)
In conclusion, the purpose of using metaphor is to get the lexis and the grammar the way
the speaker wants it in order to produce a certain effect. In addition, the use of metaphor
presents an alternative way of constructing a picture of reality; we may even find an
ideologically charged representation in the choice of metaphor.
1.3 The Language of Political Discourse
1.3.1 Political Discourse
Politics is concerned with the power: the power to make decisions, to control resources, to
control other‟s people behavior, and to control their values (Jones, J. & Peccei, J. S., 2004:
36). According to Van Dijk the notion of „Political Discourse‟ does not remain limited to
the „institutional‟ field of politics (e.g. parliamentary discourse, election campaigns, party
programs, speeches, etc.) but opens to all linguistic manifestations that may be considered
to be political, provided that it is convincingly argued what makes them ‟political‟.
Political discourse may be singled out as a prominent way of “doing politics”. Indeed, most
political actions (such as passing laws, decision making, meeting, campaigning, etc.) are
largely discursive.
1.3.2 The Language of Politics
The conception of language we need is that of discourse, language as a form of social
practice, i.e. language is a part of society, a social process, and a socially conditioned
process. Politics has its own code, a language variety particular to a specific group.

Language is a means of communication, a means of representing and shaping argument


9


and political argument is ideological, in that it comes from a series of beliefs. The way
language is used says a great deal about how the idea is shaped, thus when analyzing the
language of a political text, it is important to look at the way the language reflects the
ideological position of those who have created it. Politicians choose their words carefully
because they believe in the power of language to influence thought, and they believe
implicitly in linguistic relativity. Politicians throughout the ages have owed much of their
success to their skillful use of rhetoric, whereby they attempt to persuade their audience of
the validity of their view by their subtle use of elegant and persuasive language. Some of
the linguistic rituals, which are significant features of various political activities and
regarded as potentially ideological, are as following (van Dijk, Fairclough, N., 2001, Jones,
J. & Peccei, J. S., 2004):
(i) Presuppositions are the implicit, taken-for-granted-to-be-true assumptions embedded
within a sentence or phrase.
(ii) Implicatures allow the politician‟s audience to make assumption about the existence of
information that is not made explicit in what the politician actually says. The use of
presupposition and implicature is particularly useful in political discourse because it can
make it more difficult for the audience to identify and (if they wish to) reject views
communicated in this way, and can persuade people to take something for granted which is
actually open to debate.
(iii) Rhetoric is defined as „the art of using language to persuade or influence others; the
body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer so that he may express himself with
eloquence‟ (Oxford Dictionary as cited in Jones, J. & Peccei, J. S., 2004: 45). Politicians
often use rhetorical figures such as repetition, parallelism, additions, deletion, euphemism
and substitution, which is the case for irony, metonymy and metaphor to increase the

impact of their ideas.
(iv) Syntax: somewhat less obvious and more subtle than lexical style is the political
manipulation of syntactic style, such as the use of pronouns, variations of words order, the
use of specific syntactic categories, active and passive constructions, nominalization,
clause embedding, sentence complexity and other ways such as the list of three, or
contrastive pairs to express underlying meaning in sentence structures. Prominently,
Nominalization has a central role to play in political communication. One effect of this
grammatical form is that crucial aspects of the process are left unspecified: there is no


10


indication of the timing of the process; modality; and often an agent and/ or a patient.
Syntactic structures are able to put more or less emphasis, focus or prominence on specific
words, phrases or clauses, and thus indirectly contribute to corresponding semantic stress
on specific meanings, as a function of the political interests and allegiances of the speaker
or writer (Fowler et al. 1979, Kress & Hodge 1993 as cited in van Dijk). A close analysis
of texts in the next sections in terms of such features, particularly nominalization can
contribute to our understanding of power relations and ideological process in discourse.
1.3.3 Language, power and ideology
Language only gains power in the hand of the powerful; language is not powerful per se.
Often enough, a specific language even symbolizes the group or person in power, and
fights about the status or discrimination of one or the other language, and Politics is
inevitably connected to power- the ability of its holders to exact the compliance or
obedience of other individual to their will (The New Dictionary of Modern Thought as
cited in Jones, J. & Peccei, J. S., 2004: 10). The common-sense assumptions which are
implicit in the conventions according to which people interact linguistically, and of which
people are generally not consciously aware are embedded in the forms of language that are
used, according to Fairclough, are ideologies. Ideologies are closely linked to power,

because the nature of the ideological assumptions depends on the power relations which
underlie the conventions; and because they are a means of legitimizing existing social
relations and differences of power. Also, ideologies are closely linked to language, because
using language is the commonest form of social behaviour (Fairclough, N., 2001: 2). The
exercise of power, in modern society, is increasingly achieved through ideology, and more
particularly through the ideological workings of language. The nature of the power
relations acted here is often not clear, and the discourse involves hidden power for the
favored interpretations and wordings are those of the power-holders in our societies.
1.4 Some Basic Characteristics of American and Vietnamese Culture
1.4.1 American Culture
The Americans have strong individualism, especially in economic environment of
capitalism (Levine & Adelman, 1993 as cited in Nguyễn, Q., 2002:213). Because of the
strong individualism, the Westerns or Americans have the psychology of individual-
respecting, wanting to be free to make choice, to pursue their own ideas, which display the
“ego” or the “ironclad, hungry for success” in dealing with the outside world as they like


11


solving the conflicts by using arm forces and always keep in mind the ambition of having
the opponent‟s absolute submission (Trần, N.T., 2008). Besides, the American themselves
always proclaims the virtues of national independence and economic development, they
have the habits of seeking to remark the region in the US image and pretensions about the
universality and superiority of American ideas and ways of doing things (Douglas, 2004).
They want to facilitate American hegemony and the expansion of US power around the
world. Most Americans have continually constructed self-image for themselves as citizens
of benevolent world power acting to support universal principles and interests (Melani,
McA., 2005). Regarding the concept of the “ego”, the Anglicists objectify the “ego” and
regard it as an object (Nguyễn, Q., 2002); therefore, in Anglicist language and culture,

objectiveness encroaches. Finally, according to Trần Ngọc Thêm (1999), Western people
including Americans tend to express “action or dynamic property” by the expression of
“stationary”.
1.4.2 Vietnamese Culture
Vietnamese culture was deeply rooted in wet-rice cultivating farming and the wet-rice
agricultural-originated culture is the prominent characteristic of Vietnamese culture‟s
identity and governs other characteristics. The basic characteristics of Vietnamese culture
are as following (Trần, Tr.D., 2001 & Phan, M.C, 2008): (i) having the spirit of loving the
home, the village, the country and respecting the nature; (ii) living by the love-based rule;
(iii) having the collective thinking way; (iv) flexibility in their community-organizing
decided by the collective, dialectical and thoughtful thinking way of love-based farmers,
which allows them to adjust to be suitable (reasonable) in each specific situation. The love-
based living regulation and the desire of having a peaceful life have made their flexible
living way to be more profound, and have become the peaceable psychological foundation
in dealing with all kind of social relations; (v) having harmonized behaviour in receiving
cultural flows from the outside world and the soft (flexible), peaceable attitude in dealing
the pressure from the outside world; (vi) and having the patriotic doctrine, consciousness
of the national spirit and traditional undauntedness and indomitability in struggle because
of long and long construction, safeguarding of the country and struggles against the
enemies. What‟s more, Vietnamese are always aware of the “ego”, they appear as the
subject of the world and the thing they usually take into consideration is not the thing itself
but the relationship between them and the thing. Therefore, according to Nguyễn Quang


12


(2002), in Vietnamese language and culture, subjectiveness is more prominent. The last
point, according to Trần Ngọc Thêm (1999), is that Vietnamese tend to use “dynamic
property” to express “stationary”.

13


CHAPTER 2: NOMINALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE:
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION
2.1 Introduction
Nominalization is a relatively familiar term in modern linguistics. It can be found occur
frequently in English and Vietnamese. For examples:
(1) FBI agents arrested Bill in New York → the arrest of Bill by FBI agents in New York
(2)Các đặc vụ FBI bắt Bill ở New York → Việc các đặc vụ FBI bắt Bill ở New York
This kind of nominalizing metaphor probably evolved first in scientific and technical
registers, where it played a dual role: first, it made it possible to construct hierarchies of
technical terms, and second, to develop an argument step by step, using complex passages
„packaged‟ in nominal form as Themes. Gradually, it has developed into most other
varieties of adult discourse and becomes “a mark of prestige and power” (Halliday, 1994:
353). According to Thomson (1996: 170), nominal groups have two qualities which are
useful. First, a noun typically refers to a „thing‟, i.e. something which exists and the
meaning can now be treated as existing, as a kind of abstract thing. Second, nominalization
is available to function as a participant in another process, and also as Theme.
Furthermore, nominalization is in harmony with ideology of science, and of academic,
formal writing because it allows processes to be objectified, non-finite and unarguable.
This is intimately connected with the fact that it is “thingified‟ by being expressed as a
noun. For reasons mentioned above, in linguistic terms, academic, formal writing shows
preference for noninalization which represents “fossilised” processes whose primary
function is to express not dynamic action but the relationship between the nominals.
2.2 Nominalization in English
2.2.1 What is Nominalization in English?
Nominalization is a prevalent linguistic phenomenon in English as Fowler said, “English is
a sort of nominalized language: (1991: 79). There are many definitions on nominalization.

Nominalization is a process of turning a verb or an adjective into a noun (Quirk et al,
1985). In Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (1996), nominalization refers
to any derivation of nouns from another word class, usually verbs or adjectives. According
to Halliday (1985), nominalization refers to any element or group of elements that is made
to function as a noun or a nominal group in the clause, including clauses (finite or non-
finite clauses), nominalized adjectives (the so-called de-adjectival) or verbs (de-verbal).


14


Another definition offered by Dik is that nominalization is an embedded construction
which has one or more properties in common with a primary, nominal term (1997: 157).
He distinguishes two types of nominalization: headed, the embedded construction
adjoined to a nominal head with a rather general meaning such as “fact”, “thing”, or
“circumstance”; and non-headed, the predicate itself taking on certain nominal properties.
Based on the above definitions on nominalization, we can see that in English
nominalization can occur at the different levels such as at the word level (Lexical
nominalization) or at the clause level (Clausal nominalization). For examples:
(1) …the argument to the contrary (Halliday, 1994)
(2) John deplored that Peter had to leave. (Dik, 1997)
(3) I disapproved of John’s drinking. (Dik, 1997)
2.2.2 Categories of Nominalization in English
2.2.2.1 Lexical nominalization
Lexical nominalization: refers to any nominalized word or word group which is derived
from verbs (named de-verbal nominalization) or adjectives (named de-adjectival
nominalization). Most derived nouns are abstract in meaning. Lexical nominalizations are
created by adding suffixes to the roots. Nominalizing suffixes in English are listed below;
the symbols V and A in the list show whether the noun is derived from a verb or an
adjective respectively.

Suffix
main meaning(s)
examples
-age
-al
-ance, -ence

-ant, -ent

-cy
-dom
- ee
-er,-or
-ery, -ry
(various meanings)
action or instance of V-ing
action or state of V-ing,
state of being A
a person who V-s, something
used for V-ing
state or quality of being A
state of being
a person (various meanings)
a person/ thing that V-s
(various meanings)
wastage, postage, orphanage
arrival, denial, proposal
assistance, resemblance, experience,
dependence, difference, ignorance
assistant, consultant, coolant

accuracy, adequacy, infancy
boredom, freedom, wisdom
devotee, absentee, employee
actor, writer, visitor
bravery, refinery, robbery
likelihood


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-hood
-ing

-ism
-ity
-ment
-ness
-tion
-ure
state of being A
action/ instance of V-ing,
place or material
ideology, movement, tendency
state or quality of being A
action or instance of V-ing
state or quality of being A
action or instance of V-ing
feeling, meeting, training
building, landing, crossing

criticism, capitalism, Marxism
ability, activity, responsibility
argument, movement, treatment
blindness, fairness, happiness
communication, education,
closure, departure, pressure
(Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 89-90)
De-verbal nominalizations can be: the agent of the verb (the nouns with suffixes: -ant, -er,
-or, -ar,); the patient of the verb (the nouns with suffixes: -ee); the process and result of the
verb (the nouns with suffixes: -age, -al, -ance, -tion, -ment); or the instrument of the verb
(the nouns with suffixes: -age, -ant). De-adjectival nominalizations refer to: abstract
concepts having the quality described by the adjectives (the nouns with suffixes: -ity, -ness,
-ism); or person having the quality described by the adjectives (the nouns suffixes: -ist)
Another way to derive nouns from other word classes is known as conversion (or „zero
derivation‟) (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 91); that is no affix is added to the base-the
root, but the base itself is converted into a different word class, usually from a verb or
adjective into a noun. For examples:
conversion base meaning(s) of example of converted noun
from converted noun
adjectives (A)





verbs (V)

hopeful
white

catch
cheat

walk
someone who is A
someone who is A

something that is V-ed
someone who V-s

act of V-ing
presidential hopefuls
they speak like the whites do
in the South
they had a fine catch of fish
…accused him of being a
cheat
we can go for a walk later
(Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 91)


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Derived nouns can occupy the functions of nouns such as subject, object, complement of
sentences, and complement in prepositional phrases. For example:
The conventionalist system lacks the capacity to reach anything like the flexibility of
pragmatism, because any relaxation would inevitably involve the defeat of publicly
encouraged expectation. (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009)
2.2.2.2 Clausal nominalization

Clausal nominalization: refers to any finite or non-finite clause which functions as a noun
in a clause. These kinds of clauses, complement clauses, include that-clauses, wh-clauses,
to-infinitive clauses, and V-ing clauses (Lock, 1996). For examples:
(1) That Aristotle appealed to such principles is not surprising.
(2) Really understanding this aspect of grammar needs a fair bit of work.
In addition to the four main types, there are two less productive types of complement
clause: bare-infinitive clauses, which are a special type of infinitive clause, and ed-clauses,
which are rare. Both of them are non-finite clauses (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 308);
for examples:
(3) The film would help identify participants at the weekend party.
(4) I got the door unlocked.
Complement clauses are also called nominal clauses, because they often occupy a noun
phrase slot in a clause, such as subject, object, or predicative.
(i) That-clauses
That-clauses can appear in post-predicate position which is the most common type of that-
clauses (accounting for 80 percent of all that-clauses-Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 312),
in extraposed construction, or serve as subject predicate and noun complements. For
examples:
(1) I didn‟t agree that he should be compelled to do singing.
(2) It‟s a wonder that the tree’s alive, but it is.
(3) The truth is that country is now specializing more in processing and marketing.
(4) The traditional belief that veal calves should be kept in warm environment is
unscientific.
(ii) Wh-clauses
There are three types of wh-complement clauses: interrogative clauses, nominal relative
clauses, and exclamatives. Interrogative clauses and nominal relative clauses use the same


17

wh-words, except that whether is used only with interrogatives. Nominal relative clauses
can be paraphrased with a general head noun and relative clause. Exclamative wh-clauses
begin with how + adjective or what as a pre-determiner (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009:
322). Exclamative wh-clauses are less common than the other types.
Wh-clauses can occur as subject, object, subject predicate or as complement of adjectives,
prepositions or nouns. For examples:
(1) I was thinking how nice you are, what a good actor, and what a nice man.
(2) What he did was surprising.
(3) That‟s why I returned to the village.
(4) It was incredible what had happened to them.
(5) His parents were proud of what he had done.
(6) We have no knowledge of where it came from.
(iii) To-infinitive clauses
To infinitive complement clauses are more common in the written register than in
conversation. They are used to report speech, mental states, intention, desires, efforts,
perceptions, and other general actions. They often occur in post-predicate and subject
predicate position. However, they can also occur in subject position and in extraposed
construction, or function as nouns complement (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 328). For
examples:
(1)I‟m just trying to get away early.
(2)A fourth challenge is to develop management arrangements within hospital.
(3)I‟m not sure it‟s necessary to ask you not to pass any information on to the
Communist.
(4)[…] „To take away the profits of crime is one thing; to seize the assets that have no
connection with crime is another.
(5) Last year the society‟s committee made a decision to relaunch in a bid to attract
more members.
(iv) V-ing clauses
Ing-complement clauses serve a wide range of functions. They are often used with verbs

like begin, start, and stop to convey aspect. However, they are also used to report speech
acts, cognitive states, perceptions, emotions, and other actions. Ing-clauses are common in
the written registers like fiction, news and academic prose than in conversation (Biber,


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Conrad, & Leech, 2009: 344). Ing-clauses most often occur in post-predicate position. In
addition, they can occur in subject position or as subject predicates and noun complement.
For examples:
(1) He began paging through old newspapers.
(2) There is no reason why women should not be good at selling cars.
(3) Really understanding this aspect of grammar needs a fair bit of work.
(4) My uncle‟s hobby is collecting fish.
(5) He had no intention of singing at anyone’s twenty-first birthday.
1.4.3 Nominalization in Vietnamese
1.4.3.1 What is Nominalization in Vietnamese?
Nominalization is a sub-type of grammatical metaphor (or the transitivity of word class)
(Diệp, Q.B., 2005). The transitivity of word class is a way of forming new words without
the change of the root. There are two ways of transferring: first, by adding a word (the so-
called morpheme or nominalizer) such as cái, nỗi, niềm, sự, việc, etc. which signifies the
word class, here the noun class, to the root; secondly, by shifting a word of one class (i.e.
adjective or verb) into another word class (i.e. noun) without any change of the root or any
help of other morpheme. The latter must be realized in context or the ability to combine
with other words (Nguyễn, V.T., 1976: 84) as in “Vượt khó được mới giỏi” & “Điều đó rất
khó thực hiện”. By nominalization, an event, an action or a state is turned into a participant
and can be used in different position in a sentence, fulfilling any syntactic role as any other
noun such as subject, object, complement or adverbial. Nominalization is a real fact of
Vietnamese, it accounts for the diversification of syntactic structures in Vietnamese and it

is considered among Vietnamese-speaking people that nominalization is characteristic for
official and socio-political writings. On the whole, by means of the adaptation of certain
morphemes, nomimalized nouns can be found at the word level (Lexical nominalization)
or at the clause level (Clausal nominalization). For examples:
(1) Việc điều tra vụ giết người đang được cảnh sát tiến hành.
(2) Điều anh nói làm cô ấy rất buồn.
1.4.3.2 Categories of Nominalization in Vietnamese
1.4.3.2.1 Lexical Nominalization
Lexical nominalization, nominalization at word level, is the formation of a new noun from
a verb or an adjective by the adaptation of such morphemes or the so-called “nominal


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preffixes” (Trần, H.M., 2005) or “nominalizers” as cái, nỗi, niềm, sự, việc, cuộc, điều,
điềm, tính, etc. These morphemes can be lexical-meaningful or meaning-empty. These
nominalized nouns can create the meaning of quality or the meaning of action.
Verbs can be converted into abstract nouns or the names of actions by the adaptation of
such nominalizers as sự, việc, cuộc with a clause with or without subject. They are those
which belong to three groups (Trần, H.M., 2005:439-40):
(i) state, achievement and accomplishment verbs; for example: sự phá hủy
“destruction” [ phá hủy “destroy”]
(ii) action verbs; for example: việc học “learning” [học “learn”]
(iii) verbs denoting finished actions; for example: việc điều tra “investigation” [điều
tra “investigate”]
Adjectives can also be nominalized to express mental phenomenon by nominalizers like
nỗi, niềm (Diệp, Q. B., 2005: 487); for examples: niềm vui “happiness” [vui “happy”], tính
hiền lành “gentleness” [hiền lành “gentle”]
Adjectives can also be nominalized to express quality by nominalizers such as tính, tính

chất, điều, điềm, màu, vị, etc (Diệp, Q. B., 2005: 486); for examples: tính nóng nảy “a
short temper” [nóng nảy “short-tempered “], tính chất ôn hòa “equableness” [ôn hòa
“equable”], điều dữ “fierceness” [dữ “fierce”], điềm xấu “bad omen” [xấu “bad”], màu đỏ
“red” [đỏ “red”], vị đắng “bitterness” [đắng “bitter”]
Nguyễn Kim Thản (2008) adds some more nominal prefixes to the above list such as: tình,
chủ nghĩa, nhà, lòng, etc. The classifier “cái” can be used to nominalize a verb or an
adjective to denote non-living things, inanimate objects (Nguyễn, V. H, 2003) as in cái
chết “death” [ chết “die”], cái đẹp “beauty” [đẹp “beautiful”]. Nguyễn Kim Thản (2008)
also represents four typical patterns of turning a clause which functions as such as Subject,
Predicate, Adverbial, Noun Complement, Verb Complement, or Adjective Complement into
a nominal group. In academic prose, to make the language more abstract and stylistic, this
type of clauses can be turned into a noun group (called “de-clausal”) and often goes with
the linking word “của”. The four grammatical patterns are listed below (Nguyễn, K.T.,
2008):
Pattern 1: Tiếng Việt giàu đẹp là điều không còn nghi ngờ gì cả.
→ Sự giàu đẹp của Tiếng Việt là điều không còn nghi ngờ gì cả.
In this pattern, we have Sự + verb/adjective + của +complement


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Pattern 2: Anh làm thế là đúng. → Việc làm của anh đúng.
In this pattern, we often use Việc/ cái + verb/adjective + của +complement; or a noun
functioning as predicate.
Pattern 3: Nó sai lầm như thế đấy. → Sai lầm của nó như thế đấy.
Here the verb or adjective is used as a noun + của +complement.
Pattern 4: Ta thắng rất lớn. → Thắng lợi của ta rất lớn.
Anh nghĩ thế không đúng lắm. → Ý nghĩ ấy của anh không đúng lắm.
In this pattern, we use a noun which is equivalent to the verb or adjective in term of

meaning together with của +complement.
In addition to the nominalizing process by adding nominalizers to the front adjectives or
verbs, some words such as bó, chồng, gợn, xiên, etc. are verbs per se but they can be turned
into nouns or classifiers in particular as in bó (củi), chồng (sách), gợn (sóng), xiên (cá).
The list includes 25 words (Diệp, Q. B, 2005: 489). Furthermore, like the case of converted
nouns in English, in Vietnamese, some verbs or adjectives can be used as nouns without
any addition of any morpheme. They can be realized as a verb, an adjective or a noun in
context. For example: “Đầu óc căng thẳng vì tiếng bom, tiếng đạn, tiếng rú và trong mỗi
một người đều phải trải qua những bực tức, giận dữ, lo âu và cả sợ sệt nữa” (Bùi, M., T.,
1999).
Besides the nominal prefixes mentioned above, there are some more words that are used
for the purpose of nominalization. A rather long list of such morphemes and various
interpretations of them (Hoàng Trọng Fiến 1970, cited in Lev Morev, 2005) testifies that
up to now there are no strict common linguistic rules of nominalization in Vietnamese (Lev
Morev, 2005: 458).
1.4.3.2.2 Clausal Nominalization
According to Trần Hữu Mạnh (2005) and Nguyễn Kim Thản (2008), a clause, which
includes Subject and Predicate, can be nominalized by adding the nominalizer
“Việc/Điều/Cách” to the clause; therefore, it can function as a noun or noun group.
Its structure will be “ Việc/Điều/Cách + subject + predicate” as in:
Anh lên tiếng là đúng. → Việc anh lên tiếng là đúng.
Cậu nói rất đúng. → Điều cậu nói rất đúng.