LV A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF MOTION VERBS IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 RATIONALE
Perhaps verbs occur in English sentence as the most important critical
component of sentence meaning and completeness. It denotes the notion of
process, action or activity and also has a temporal component (tense). There
are also verbs which have some intrinsic spatial meaning. These include
motion verbs and existence verbs.
Motion verbs are ones of the verbs that posses the biggest quantity of
meanings and highest used frequency in English. In the book “Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English” by Quirk [47, p.365], we have
found it useful to classify verbs into seven major semantic domains, in which
activity verbs(or motion verbs) are the most common verbs. In the distribution
of semantic domains, the most common verbs (i.e. verbs that occur at least 50
times per million words) are far from evenly distributed across the seven
semantic domains. 50% of all common verbs are activity verbs (139 out of
218 common verbs). They occur almost in conversation, fiction, news and
academic prose. Overall, activity verbs (or motion verbs) occur much more
commonly than verbs from any other semantic domain.
In the book “Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English”( based
on the British National Corpus) by Leech [39,p.215], motion verbs are
considered as the most common ones with high frequency. However, motion
verbs are

kinds of fairly complicated words. For Vietnamese students,

the differences in two languages cause a lot of difficulties in using words.
They may feel confused when encountering such verbs or may not use them
effectively. For example, in English we say “I will go to Hanoi, tomorrow”,

although speaker can stay at any position . But in Vietnamese we can say
“Ngaìy mai täi seî âi Haì Näüi”, “Ngaìy mai täi seî ra Haì Näüi”, “Ngaìy mai täi seî vãö
Haì Näüi”. When we say “Ra, âi and vãö” in English, we can use “ go” to express
our thought . But in Vietnamese, “Ra” is used when speaker is staying or
living in the South or Middle land , “vãö” is used when speaker has fatherland
is Hanoi. Therefore, “go” in English can be translated into Vietnamese “ Ra,
âi and vãö”.Or to express “ Anh ta âi laío âaío nhæ ngæåìi say”, in English it is
said “he was staggering along as if drunk” but in Vietnamese for English
learners at the beginning stage of efficiency will use the structure “Go +
adverbial phrase of manner” to describe the motion. Thus, English learners,
especially Vietnamese students find it very difficult when they meet such
cases in their communication and studying .
From the examples above, we can see that there must be semantic and
syntactic differences in motion verbs uses in English and Vietnamese. The
difficulties that Vietnamese learners may meet are not only in semantic form
but in syntactic form as well. Moreover, motion verbs occur frequently. They
are popularly used. Therefore, I would like to choose motion verbs as my
study to help learners use these verbs effectively .
1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research does not focus on all the motion verbs in English and
Vietnamese but on 5 commonly used verbs in English come, arrive, leave,
run , walk, and their equivalent expressions in Vietnamese âãún, tåïi, råìi khoíi ,
chaûy, âi bäü. Due to time, length limit of the thesis and the ability of our own,
the paper is just intended to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of
these verbs.


1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The thesis is designed to study the syntactic and semantic
characteristics of motion verbs in English and Vietnamese. In order to do this,

the following theoretical and practical matters are taken into considerration in
this thesis: how English motion verbs are classified , what the commonly used
English motion verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents are and how these
kinds of verbs are used in different types of discourses . From this, the thesis
analyzes the syntactic and semantic features of the English motion verbs and
their Vietnamese equivalents. In practice, the study aims to supply some
implications to language teaching, language learning as well as in translating
the English motion verbs. The practical information is hoped to raise the
language users’ awareness of the differences between the two languages in
terms of motion verbs uses so that they can be successful in language
communication in English .
1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4.1 Aims
The study is expected to provide Vietnamese learners with a
description of syntactic and semantic characteristics of English motion verbs
and their Vietnamese equivalents.
1.4.2 Objectives
• To identify syntactic and semantic features of motion verbs in English
and Vietnamese .
• To find out the differences and similarities between English motion
verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents .
• To suggest some implications for teaching, learning and translation of
English motion verbs .


1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The studies try to answer the following questions :
1. What are the syntactic and semantic features of the motion verbs in
English and their Vietnamese equivalents in novels and short stories ?
2. What are the similarities and differences between English motion

verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents ?
3 . What are the implications for teaching, learning and translating
English motion verbs ?
1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The thesis is divided into five chapters as follows
Chapter 1, the Introduction, which includes the rationale, the scope of
the study, the aims and objectives, purpose of the study, research questions
and organization of the study. Chapter 2 briefly reviews previous research
works

related to the topic and presents the theoretical background of the

study.
Chapter 3 presents the methods of collecting and analyzing data .
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion which studies the syntactic and
semantic features of English motion verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents.
The last chapter summarizes the results of the tasks done in Chapter 4.
This part also provides some implications for teaching and learning English
motion verbs and some suggestions for further research .


CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 PREVIOUS RESEARCH WORKS
Motion verbs have been the subject of several studies by linguists
because they present particularly interesting syntactic and semantic
characteristics. In particular, even if that are often considered as being a
coherent semantic class, we can find verbs displaying different semantic
features and syntactic behavior .
Many linguists have done researches into this linguistic field. In

“ Semantic Structures”, Jackendoff [35] presents some verbs of manner of
motion and configuration. “A New Approach to English Grammar on
Semantic Principles” by Dixon .[24] mentions seven subtypes of motion: the
RUN subtype which refers to a mode of motion, the ARRIVE subtype which
deals with respect to a definite Locus, the TAKE subtype which refers to
causing something to be in motion with respect to a Locus, the FOLLOW
subtype refers to motion with respect to something which is moving, the
CARRY subtype refers to motion in juxtaposition with some moving object,
the THROW subtype which describes causing something to be in motion , and
the DROP subtype which refers to unwanted motion.
Brala Maria [15] in “Location in Motion” supply us with some
information about verbs of motion. She mentions that verbs of motion
include 9 classes: Inherently directed motion, Leave verbs, Manner of motion,
Manner of motion using a vehicle, Waltz verbs, Chase verbs and Accompany
verbs .
Levin, B.[42] classifies verbs of motion into two sub-classes : verbs of
inherently directed motion, and verbs of manner of motion .


In Vietnamese, there are a number of linguists interested in motion
verbs. Haì Quang Nàng [7] not only mentions motion verbs with different
forms of movement ( chạy, nhảy, bò, bay, đi, leo, trèo, trườn, lê, bơi...) but
also talks about a group of motion verbs with particular semantic and
syntactic features, they are motion verbs with direction: ra, vào, lên, xuống,
qua, lại, về, đến, tới... . For Hæîu Âaût , Tráön Trê Doîi , Âaìo Thanh Lan [3]
present that motion verbs are the ones expressing movement in space such as;
đi, chạy, bò, leo, trèo, ... and motion verbs with the direction of movement
such as ra, vào, lên, xuống, qua, lại, về, đến, tới. Besides, the matter has been
discussed by Nguyãùn Kim Thaín [10] with a special group of motion words
with direction: ra, vào, lên, xuống, qua, lại, về, đến, tới. Nguyãùn Vàn Thaình

[11] with verbs with movement meaning such as: ra, vào, lên, xuống, qua, lại,
về, đến, tới, đi, chạy, bò, leo, trèo, or Nguyãùn Lai [6] with words denoting
direction of movement in Vietnamese .According to him, in modern
Vietnamese, words denoting motion are of great interest because of their
theoretical and practical values.Words expressing motion are verbs
themselves (Nam ra sân) or they have another functions beside verbs (Nam
nhìn ra sân ).
There also have been many researches that focus on verb groups . Tráön
Thë Phæåïc Haûnh [2002] analyzed the semantic and syntactic features of four
English verbs such as say, tell, speak and talk and their Vietnamese
equivalents. Âinh Thë Diãûp Thaío [2002] studied verbs denoting existential
process in English and Vietnamese. Causative verbs

in English and

Vietnamese are studied by Læång Kim Thæ [2003]. Nguyãùn Thë Häöng Âæïc
[2005]with English spatial verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents in the light


of cognitive grammar. Lã Thë Tuyãút Hoa [2005] investigated motion verbs.
However, she mainly focused on linguistic and cultural characteristics of the
verb “To Go” not all the motion verbs .
2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
In order to solve the question of meaning , it is very necessary to get the
basic information given by semantics as well as its detailed questions such as
semantics, meaning, components of word meaning, semantics features,
meaning relations, semantic field, componential analysis, syntactic features of
motion verb, semantic roles, grammartical roles and syntactic relations.
2.2.1 Semantic Features
2.2.1.1 Semantics

In general, semantics can be defined as the study of meaning. It is
central to the study of communication. In addition, there is no doubt that
communication is a crucial factor in our life, which is why the need to
understand semantics becomes more and more pressing .
Many authors hold the idea that semantics is the meaning place of
various cross current thinking

and various disciplines of the study.

Philosophy, psychology and linguistics all claim a deep interest in semantics,
but their interests are diverse because of their different starting points .
According to John Lyons [43,p.xii], semantics is by definition the study
of meaning, and linguistic semantics is the study of meaning in so far as it is
systematically encoded in the vocabulary and grammar of natural languages.
This definition of linguistic

semantics, as far as it goes, is relatively

uncontroversial. But it is also almost wholly uninformative unless and until
one goes on to say, first, what one means by “meaning” and, second, what
exactly is meant by “encoded” in this context .He also adds that those who


draw a terminological distinction between “semantics” and “pragmatics” and
take narrower view of meaning than he does will see his book as introduction
to a broader field of linguistic semantics and pragmatics.
But Jack Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber [52,p.172] say “ the study
of meaning is called semantics. Semantics is usually concerned with the
analysis of the meaning of words, phrases, or sentences, and sometimes with
the meaning of utterances in discourse or the meaning of a whole text .”

In order to make a thorough study of meaning, we have to understand
other concepts such as meaning, components of word meaning, semantic
features, componential analysis and so on .
2.2.1.2 Meaning
Meaning plays an important part in communication. Meaningless
utterances have no value in communication; they can only make their
language user a laughing stock, which is why understanding the meaning is
very important for the language user. It is not easy to identify the meaning
expressed by a word or but an utterance because it depends on many factors
concerned. For example, the word “spring’ could have different meanings in
the following sentences :
He was born in the spring of 1944 (spring here means the season
between winter and summer)
She is full of energy, like a coiled spring (spring here means a twisted
piece of metal that can be pushed, pressed or pulled but which always returned
to its original shape or position afterwards .
There is a mountain spring near here (spring here means a place where
water comes naturally to the surface from the ground)
Where on earth did you spring from? (spring here means to appear
suddenly unexpectedly from a particular place)


According to Lesley Jeffries [37,p.3] meaning is a kind of invisible
unclothed being waiting for the clothes of language to allow it to be seen,
which is why it is very necessary to take off the clothes of language to
understand the real meaning of words, phrases, and sentences e.g.,” the red
flag at the seaside of a resort” means “danger”.
Through this example, a conclusion can be drawn that the meaning of
the word is not all the time decided by itself but its relation with the others.
That is why John Lyons [43,p.4] states that the noun “meaning” and the verb

“mean”, from which it is derived, are used, like many other English words, in
a wide range of contexts and in several distinguishable senses .
The idea of meaning given by David Crystal [23,p.102] is as
follows: ”In modern linguistics, meaning is studied by making detailed
analysis of the way words and sentences are used in a specific context. It is an
approach shared by several philosophers and psychologist.”
And David Crystal [23,p.247] also states: “Meaning is a basic notion
used in language study in two main ways. First determining the signification
of a message is the chief end of linguistic enquiry: above all, language is
concerned with the communication of meaning. Second, meaning is used as a
way of analyzing the structure of language, through such notions a
contractiveness and distinctiveness.”
2.2.1.3 Components of word-meaning
In the study of meaning, the denotational meaning and connotational
meaning cannot be avoided. The meanings are defined in the Longman
Dictionary of Applied Linguistics [52] as follows:
a. Denotation is a part of the meaning of a word or phrase that relates it
to phenomena in the real world or in a fictional or possible world .For
example, the denotation of the English word bird is a two-legged, winged,


egg-laying, warm-blooded creature with beak. In a meaning system,
denotation meaning may be regarded as the “central” meaning of a lexical
item. It is often equated with referential meaning and with cognitive meaning
although some linguists and philosophers make a distinction between these
concepts .
b. Connotation is the additional meanings that a word or phrase has
beyond its central meaning. These meaning show people’s emotions and
attitudes towards what the word or phrase refers to. For example, child could
be defined as a young human being but there are many other characteristics

which different people associate with child, e.g. affectionate, amusing,
lovable, sweet, mischievous, noisy, irritating grubby .
But some connotation may be shared by a group of people of the same
cultural or social background, sex, rage; other may be restricted to use or
several individuals and depend on their personal experience. In a meaning
system, that part of the meaning, which is covered by connotation, is
sometimes referred to as affective meaning, connotation meaning, or emotive
meaning .
Whereas, Charles. W.Kreidler [38,p.58] states the denotation is the
relation to phenomena outside of language, including imaginary phenomena;
the connotation is the cluster of attributes that the lexeme may evoke .
About the connotation meanings, Mildred L.Larson [44,p.131] states: a
word, which has a positive connotation in one culture, may actually have
negative connotation in another. For example, the English word tribe. In some
parts of the world, ethnic group reacts very positively to being called tribe, but
in other parts of the world, the same word has the negative connotation and
people do not want to be called members of a tribe. Referentially, the word
tribe would be referring to an ethnic group, but the positive and negative


overtones must also be taken into consideration if the word is chosen to be
used .
It can be concluded that the negative or positive connotation of a word
is not only decided by itself but by the context in which it exists .
2.2.1.4 Semantic features
Semantic features play a very important part in differentiating the
match between word and meaning. We need a very large number of features
to do this work. But linguists believe that a much smaller number of features
would be needed in writing grammar description.
But

Jack Richards, John Platt and Heidi Weber [52,p.254] say

semantic features are “the smallest units of meaning in a word. The meaning
of a word may be described as a combination of semantic features”
According to David Crystal [23,p.346], semantic feature is “a minimal
contrastive element of a word’s meaning, in some approaches called a
semantic component.” e.g. Boy = + young + male + human.
2.2.1.5 Meaning relations
In order to identify exactly the meaning of a word, we have to consider
another semantic phenomenon called meaning (sense) relation, which
consists of synonymy, antonymy, polysemy and homonymy .
About meaning (sense) relations, Charles.W.Kreidler [38,p.46] states:
“Meaning is more than denotation and connotation. What a word
means depends in part on its associations with other words, the relational
aspects. Lexemes do not merely “have” meanings they contribute to the
utterances. The meaning that a lexeme has because of these relationships is
the sense of that lexeme .”
And David Crystal [23,p.349] expressed this idea as follows:
"Sense relations or semantic relations are the relations of meaning


which exists between words, such as sameness or oppositeness of meaning.”
Polysemy is a semantic phenomenon in which a word has two or more
similar meanings.
The house is at the foot of the mountains
One of his shoes felt too tight for his foot
“Foot” here refers to the bottom part of the mountains in the first
sentence and the bottom part of the leg in the second .
According to David Crystal [23,p.106], polysemy refers to cases where

a lexeme has more than one meaning. For example, the word “chip” can mean
a piece of wood, food, or electronic circuit .
In other words, polysemy can be said to be a property of a single
lexeme, which is common characteristics of most other lexemes. For example,
the noun “neck” is treated in standard English dictionaries as a single lexeme
with several distinguishable senses: “part of the body”, “ part of the bottle”
etc.
Polysemy is recognized if the senses concerned are related either
historically or psychologically , and do not necessarily coincide. Two senses
are considered to be historically related if they originate from the same source
or one sense derived from the other. Two senses could be psychologically
related if they are intuitively felt to be related, and are assumed to be different
uses of the same word.
Polysemy can be considered to be the phenomenon of direct result of
semantic change. Exactly speaking, it is a chained transference of meaning
between the primary and the derived meanings. For example, the second is
derived from the first; the third from the second etc.
Polysemy can be understand as the existence of various meanings of
the same word at a certain historical period of the English development on the


basic of which the primary and secondary meanings develop. The basic
meaning is usually the free one understood by a group of people using the
same language. When it exists alone, it does not depend on the preceding of
following words. It is also the referential meaning that includes the conceptual
one.
2.2.1.6. Semantic roles
Clauses are divided into types according to the types of the verbs that
occupies their semantic and syntactic core. Verbs, in turn, are divided into
semantic according to the kind of involvement of the participants in the state

or event coded by the clause. The array of semantic roles typically associated
with each verb defines the propositional frame of the verb and thus the
semantic type of the verbal clause. In Givon.T [31,p.91] terms the major
semantic roles in the clause are agent, patient, dative, instrument, benefactive
and a set of locational and temporal roles like source / location / goal and
associative
Here are typical examples of these semantic roles in simple clauses
[31,p.92]
Mary (agent) kicked John ( patient )
John ( dative ) heard Mary
She worked with her father ( associative )
She went to the store ( locative )
2.2.1.7 Semantic field .
The semantic structure of vocabulary of a language can be studied in a
precise and systematic way by means of componential analysis of which the
theory of semantic field greatly leans .
The assumption of lexical field analysis or semantic field analysis is
that lexemes can be grouped together into semantic fields on the basis of


shared meaning and that most, if not all the vocabulary of a language, can be
accounted for in this way. The description of meaning, the definition of
lexemes, is then undertaken within each semantic field and involves defining
each lexeme in relation to the other lexemes in the field .
Different terms such as lexical field, semantic field and word field are
usually treated as synonyms, but some authors have proposed distinctions
among then. For example, John Lyons [43,p.429] distinguishes between
“conceptual field” (a structure of concepts on the semantic level, a structured
conceptual area)and lexical field (a set of lexemes that covers a specific
conceptual field ).

Semantic field (lexical field) is defined by Jack Richards, John Platt
and Heidi Weber [52,p.164] as “the organization of related words and
expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another.”
For example, kinship terms such as father, mother, brother , sister,
uncle, ants belong to a lexical field whose relevant features include generation,
sex, membership of the father ‘s or mother’s side of the family, etc.
For example, in English there is no singular noun that covers both cow
and bull as horse covers stallion and mare .
According to David Crystal [23,p.346,347], semantic field is defined
as “the view that vocabulary of a language is a system of interrelated lexical
networks, and not an inventory of independent items, also called lexical field
theory. Examples include the fields of vehicles, fruits, clothing, colour, and
part of the body. Not all aspects of experience nearly divide into semantic
fields, however, and it is always necessary to consider the context before
assigning a lexical item to a field. For example, “hospital” relates to both the
semantic field of health (as in I was in hospital last week) and that of buildings
( as in The hospital needs a new roof )”


2.2.1.8 Componential analysis
Componential analysis analyzes words for their semantic components
because the semantic components of a word can affect the meaning of the
whole sentence and determiner the possible thematic roles and grammatical
roles the word can assume .
According top Jack Richards, John Platt and Heidi Weber [52,p.53],
componential analysis is the study analyzing a word into a set of meaning
components ( or semantic features). For example, the meaning of English
word boy may be shown as <+human>

<+male>

<-adult>

Usually, componential analysis is applied to a group of related words,
which may differ from one another only by one or two components. This
approach was developed in anthropological linguistics for the study of kinship
and other terms in various languages .
In other word, componential analysis can be interpreted as an attempt to
get at the meaning of words by analyzing them into their “component” parts.
The theory is that word meanings can be broken down into a series of
“features” (which may be universal) take the following words: bull, cow,
stallion, mare, colt, calf, heife, horse. We can analyze the “meaning” of these
words with the following

features : +/-MALE( or of course

+/-FEMALE ,+/-ADULT,+/-EQUINE and +/-BOVINE. So a bull word
would

be

+MALE<+ADULT,+BOVINE;cow

would

be

-MALE,+ADULT,+BOVINE; stallion would be +MALE, +ADULT,
+EQUINE and mare would be +ADULT, -MALE, +EQUINE; colt would be
-ADULT, 0 MALE ( 0 means either male or female ), + EQUINE etc .

As far as its application is concerned, componential analysis has been
successfully used to explain closed sets of words, especially kinship terms. It
is done for following reasons :


1. to remove redundancy of features (i.e. redundancy rules) and to provide
semantic descriptions of those words (i.e . binary features).
2. to understand the semantic components of words in order to describe
how a sentence’s morphological and syntactic processes are affected by
a word semantic components.
The above discussion of semantics as well as other questions such as
meaning , components of meaning, semantic field, semantic features … has
proved the fact that the meaning of the word is not decided by itself, but by its
relation with the others.
2.2.2 Syntactic characteristics
Syntax is the study of how combine to the form sentences and the rules
which govern the formation of senten ces. However, syntactic structure is
understood

as the arrangement of words and morphemes into larger

units( phrases, clauses, and sentences).
Meaning is associated with the way in which words are combines to
make phrases, clauses and sentences. Compare The dog bit the postman and
The postman bit the dog, which involve the same word meanings but quite
different sentence meanings because of their different syntactic arrangements.
As Dixon (1991) claims, there is a principled interaction between the meaning
of a word and its grammartical properties. Once a learner knows the meaning
and grammartical behaviour of most of the words in a language, then from the
meaning of a new word he can infer its likely grammatical possibilities, or

from observing the grammatical use of a new word, he may be able to infer a
good deal about what it means.
Every verb, in its capacity as the core of a clause, is defined
semantically in terms of the semantic roles of the participants in the state or
event codes by the clause. Within the clause, these participants occupy the


grammatical roles of, most commonly, subject, direct object, indirect object,
adverb or predicate. These grammatical roles are marked in English by a
combination of morphology and word-order. But they also have other, more
subtle, grammatical-behavioral properties, such as various constraints on their
distribution in grammaticao environment.
2.2.2.1 Grammartical roles
The participants in states or events, in whatever semantic role, may
occupy one of four distinct grammatical roles in the clause: subject (S), direct
object (O), indirect object (IO) and nominal predicate (PRE). As a brief
illustration of the four major grammartical roles in simple clauses consider :
The Woman gave a book to the child
(S)

(O)

(O)

Mary is a teacher
(S)

(PRE)

While the grammartical subject in English simple clauses precedes the

verb, is morphologically unmarked, and requires grammartical agreement
with the verb, at least to the limited extent that exists in English, the
grammartical object follows the verb and does not require grammatical
agreement with the verb. Nominal predicates in English follow copular verbs
as be and the indirect objects follow the verb (if present). However, they are
morphologically marked by a preposition. One that typically marks the
semantic role of the participant occupying the indirect object grammatical
role. For example:
She went to the market

[ locative: direction toward]

He walked on the beach

[ locative: direction away]

Mary came with her brother

[ associative]

2.2.2.2. Syntactic relations


According to the grammartical classification of verbs, verbs fall into
three broad subclasses- those that require only one role ( intransitiv verbs),
those which require two roles (copular) and those require two or more roles
(transitive verbs). There is a considerable difference between intransitive
subject and transitive subject.
If a verb has only one role, at the semantic level, then it must be mapped
onto intransitive subject relation , at the syntactic level. Some of the roles in

intransitive subject can control the activity in which they are involved (e.g.
walk, speak) but other intransitive subject roles exercise no control (e.g. break,
die, grow).
If a verb has two or more roles, one will be mapped onto transitive sub
ject and another onto transitive object (e.g. Mary cut the cake)
It is clear that verbs are one of the most central syntactic category in
language. They have deep relations with the other categories: nouns because
they select arguments which are often nominals or adverbs because adverbs
modify verbs, prepositions, which, in turn assign thematic roles to NPs. Verbs
associated with adverbs permit the computation of aspect .
The role common to all motion verbs is (thing) ‘moving’ (e.g. Mary
ran). There may also be specification of Locus – the place with respect to
which motion takes place an NP in Locus role is most often marked by the
appropriate preposition. Certain motion verbs may allow the preposition to be
ommited, a slight semantic difference then resulting, e.g. He jumped ( over )
the river, She climbed (up) the mountai. It is also possible in certain
circumstances to omit a preposition before a measure phrase, e.g. he ran (for )
a mile [23,p.1991]


CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
In this research, constrastive analysis is suggested to be the main


method of the research. Besides, the study also uses

qualitative and

quantitative approaches that help to analyse the data in a reliable way. The
data on motion verbs in English and Vietnamese are collected, described and
analysed, so that semantic and syntactic features are drawn out.
The methods selected to analyze the syntactic and semantic features are
Descriptive method (to describe motion verbs in terms of their structures and
meanings to draw some conclusions on the syntactic and semantic features),
Interpretive method (to collect and interpret what is meant by motion verbs)
and Contrastive method (to detect the similarities and differences in aspects
of motion verbs in English and Vietnamese).
With the purpose and model of the investigation described above, the
study will also be carried out on qualitative approach as supporting methods.
3.2 STUDY PROCEDURES
The study procedures are as follows:
- Choosing the topic to investigate by reviewing the previous works
carefully. Moreover, in order to have findings on semantic and syntactic
features of English motion verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents, the study
tries to seek the answers to the following questions:
What are the syntactic and semantic features of the motion verbs in
English and their Vietnamese equivalents in novels and short stories ?
What are the similarities and differences between English motion verbs
and their Vietnamese equivalents ?
What are the implications for teaching, learning and translating English
motion verbs ?
Basing on the materials collected, I can get some valuable theoretical
background as well as practical evidence. The theoretical background on the


motion verbs and its related matters are based on the viewpoint of Levin Beth.
As for Vietnamese, a lot of linguists are resorted to in this paper such as
Nguyen Kim Than [10], Nguyen van Thanh [11] , Nguyen Lai [6] ...

- Choosing the approach to the problem and the theoretical background.
Before the study was actually carried out, a proposal of the study had
been written. The reearch proposal, then, was presented at the master Thesis
Proposal Evaluation Council of the university of Danang. There are two
raesons for presenting the research proposal. Firstly, the practicaility of the
study will be carefully considered. Secondly, the Council members will offer
necessary suggestions to help the researcher improve or reorient the study.
Collecting data:
The relevant data are taken from 9 English novels, short stories and
their Vietnamese translational versions. They are
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Cooper, James Fenimore
“The most interesting short stories in the world” by Henry , O.
“Witch of Oz” by l.Frank Baum
“Tales from Shakespeare” by Shakespeare
“Condensed Chicken soup for the Soul” by Jack Canfield and Mark
Victor Hansen
“The tempest” by Shakespeare
“Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by R.L Stevenson
‘The Stories of The Five Town”s by Arnold Bennett
The Death of Karen Silkwool by Hamman Joyce
From theses novels and short stories, 838 examples are quoted,
analyzed and used as the chief source for the qualitative evidence .
- Analyzing data:
Firstly, the syntactic features of the 5 English motion verbs and their


Vietnamese equivalents are presented through clear and understandable
examples.
Then the semantic features of the 5 English motion verbs and their
Vietnamese equivalents are presented in turn.

After that the frequency of the 5 English motion verbs are investigated.
After presenting the syntactic and semantic features of English motion
verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents, the discussions of findings are
carried out in order to find out the differences and similarities of each matter
mentioned to state the differences and similarities in English and Vietnamese
motion verbs.
- Suggesting some sollutions for teaching, learning, and translating
English motion verbs.
Before the presentation of the thesis, I have attended two seminars held
by the Department of English, College of Foreign Languages in order to be
consulted and guided to the completion of the study.

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION


4.1 SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH MOTION VERBS
4.1.1 Syntactic Features of COME
Come belongs to the sub-group of intransitive verbs with a locative
indirect object. Its subject is an agent and the indirect object is a locative.
Come codes, first, events of motion, whereby the subject moves toward or
away from the locative object. That is, Come combines with adverbials as
adverbs , prepositional phrase, to-infinitive... . In brief, the motion verb Come
can be used in the following structures:
a. COME

+

no complement

For examples:
(1)

When a cyclone came, people went down into their cellars and stayed
there.

[ 57, p. 4 ]

( Khi mọỹt cồ lọỳc õóỳn, ngổồỡi ta õi xuọỳng hỏửm nhaỡ mỗnh vaỡ ồớ õoù .)
(2)

It is not so bad, said Sara And I have got lots of friend. Theres
Becky in the next room, and come and see.

[57, p. 95]

( Cuợng khọng tóỷ lừm, Sara noùi, Vaỡ mỗnh cuợng coù nhióửu baỷn. Coù
Becky ồớ phoỡng kóỳ bón vaỡ - laỷi õỏy maỡ xem .)
(3)

Slowly, daylight came.
(T t, tri ó rng ụng)

[58,p.112]


b. COME

+ Prepositional phrase

Forexample :
(4)

When Sara came into the school room, she looked happy and well.
[57, p.119]
(Khi Sara bổồùc vaỡo lồùp hoỹc, cọ beù coù veớ vui vaỡ khoeớ maỷnh.)

(5)

He told how he had bought poison and how he intended to come to the
tomb to die, and lie with Juliet.

[65, p.58]

(Chaỡng kóứ chaỡng õaợ mua thuọỳc õọỹc nhổ thóỳ naỡo vaỡ chaỡng õaợ dổỷ õởnh tồùi
nhaỡ mọử õóứ chóỳt, vaỡ nũm bón Juliet.)
(6)

A friend of his wifes who owned a little dog would come in for a
moment before taking her evening stroll.

[66, p. 6]

(Mọỹt ngổồỡi baỷn cuớa vồỹ anh coù mọỹt con choù nhoớ seợ õi vaỡo mọỹt laùt trổồùc
khi laỡm cuọỹc taớn bọỹ buọứi tọỳi.)
(7)

The people saw my balloon and said, This man is a wizard ! He
comes out of the sky!

[57, p.129]

(Ngổồỡi dỏn thỏỳy bong boùng cuớa ta vaỡ noùi ỏy laỡ thỏửy phuỡ thuyớ! ng ta
tổỡ trón trồỡi xuọỳng !)

c.

COME

+ To - Infinitive / Present participle

For example:
(8)

Ermengarde often came to visit Sara and Sara helped her with her
school lessons again.

[57, p.129]


(Ermengarde thổồỡng õóỳn thm Sara vaỡ Sara laỷi giuùp cọ hoỹc baỡi
trổồỡng.)
(9)

If youve come to steal, go ahead. There are a few things you can

take.
[68, p.136]
(Nóỳu anh õóỳn n trọỹm thỗ laỡm õi. Coù vaỡi õọử vỏỷt anh coù thóứ lỏỳy õỏỳy.)
(10) Joss came running up at that moment .

[66, p.236]

(Vổỡa luùc õoù Joss chaỷy laỷi.)
(11) She came sobbing into the room .

[5,p. 332]

(Cọ ta vổỡa bổồùc vaỡo phoỡng vổỡa khoùc thọứn thổùc.)

d.

COME

+ Reflexive Pronoun + To - Infinitive

For example:
(12) The friar, having learned that the letters which he had sent to Mantua
had, by some unlucky chance, never reached Romeo, came himself,
with tools and a light, to set the lady...

[67, p. 54]

(Vở tu sộ bióỳt õổồỹc rũng nhổợng laù thổ maỡ ọng gồới õóỳn Mantua do xui xeớo
õaợ khọng tồùi tay Romeo, lióửn tổỷ mỗnh tồùi nhaỡ mọử vồùi caùc duỷng cuỷ vaỡ
mọỹt ngoỹn õeỡn õóứ giaới thoaùt cọ gaùi.)

e.

COME

+

Adjective / Adverb ( phrase )

For example:
(13) The next morning, the friends came again to the Wizards room .
[57, p. 4]