Exclamations in english and vietnamese – a contrastive analysis

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRẦN THỊ KIM TUYẾN

Exclamations in English and
Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis
(Phân tích đối chiếu câu cảm thán trong
Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt)

M.A THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRẦN THỊ KIM TUYẾN

Exclamations in English and
Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis
(Phân tích đối chiếu câu cảm thán trong
Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt)

M.A THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Thị Vân Đông

Hanoi, 2018


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
Exclamations in English and Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without
due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

Hanoi, 2018

Trần Thị Kim Tuyến

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Nguyễn Thị Vân Đông
Date:……………………

i


PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the process of doing this work, I have received a lot of useful help and
advices from my teachers , my parents, and my friends.
First of all, I would like to express my great attitude to my own supervisor: Dr

Nguyen Thi Van Dong, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the
stages of the study, and whose valuable ideas and advice, encouragement have helped
me shape and fulfill the thesis.
I also would like to give my deep thanks to all teachers in the foreign languages
Department who gave some useful materials and opinions on the thesis.
My thanks are also sent to my family and my friends who gave me a lot of good
conditions and encouragement to complete the thesis.
Finally, my sincere thanks are due to all of you who will give me some
comments after reading the thesis.

ii


ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the syntactic and semantic features of exclamations in
English and Vietnamese. It is investigated with the hope of finding out the similarities
and differences between the exclamation’s form in both languages and suggesting
practical applications to the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign
language in Vietnam. Data used for analysis in this study were collected from some
literary works written by Jack London and some literary works in Vietnamese written
by Nam Cao. To carry out this research, the writer used descriptive, qualitative,
quantitative and contrastive methods. The result of the study illustrates the fact that
Vietnamese and English native speakers are similar in the choice of interjections as the
most prominent element in exclamations. However, the structures of exclamations are
quite different between two languages. English exclamations are mainly formed by whelements,imperatives and noun or adjective phrases meanwhile particles, adverbs, and
idioms are dominated in Vietnamese.

iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL: English as a second language
EFL: English as a foreign language

iv


LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Types of interjections

22

Table 4.1: Base forms of wh-exclamations

28

Table 4.2: Variants of wh-exclamations

29

Table 4.3: Interjection in English and Vietnamese

37

Table 4.4: Different structures of exclamations in Engish and Vietnamese

39

v


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement of authorship

i

Preface and acknowledgements

ii

Abstract

iii

List of abbreviations

iv

List of the tables

v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1. Rationale for the study

1

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study

2

1.3. Research questions

2

1.4. Methods of the study

2

1.5. Scope of the study

3

1.6. Significance of the study

3

1.7. Design of the study

4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

5

2.1. Previous studies

5

2.2. An overview of sentences

8

2.2.1. Definition of sentences

8

2.2.2. Sentence classifications in English and Vietnamese

10

2.2.2.1. Sentence classifications in terms of syntax

10

2.2.2.2. Sentence classifications in terms of purposes

12

2.2.3. Minor types of simple sentences

14

2.3. Exclamations

15

2.3.1. The English linguists’ conception of exclamations

15

2.3.2. The Vietnamese linguists’ conception of exclamations

17

2.3.3. Exclamations with illocutionary for indicating devices

18

2.3.4. Basic structures: “How+Adjective!” and “What+a/an+Adjective+Noun!”

19

2.3.5. Interjections

20

vi


2.3.6. Intonation

22

2.3.7. Exclamation mark (!)

23

2.4. Summary

23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

25

3.1. Subjects

25

3.2. Instruments

25

3.3. Procedures

26

3.4. Statistical Analysis

26

CHAPTER 4: EXCLAMATIONS IN JACK LONDON AND NAM CAO
LITERARY WORKS – A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

27

4.1. Syntactic features of exclamations in English and in Vietnamese

27

4.1.1. Syntactic features of exclamations in English

27

4.1.1.1. Exclamation formed with How/ what

27

4.1.1.2. Exclamation formed with Imperative

29

4.1.1.3. Exclamation formed with Noun phrases/ adjective phrases

29

4.1.1.4. Exclamatory questions

30

4.1.2. Syntactic features of exclamations in Vietnamese

31

4.1.2.1. Exclamation formed by using interjections or exclamatory idioms

31

4.1.2.2. Exclamation created by particles

32

4.1.2.3. Exclamation formed by adverbs

33

4.1.2.4. Exclamation formed by intonation

34

4.1.2.5. Exclamatory questions

34

4.2. A contrastive analysis of syntactic features of exclamation in English and
Vietnamese in some literary works written by Jack London and by Nam Cao.

35

4.2.1. Similarities in terms of syntactic features of exclamation in English and
Vietnamese

35

4.2.1.1. Exclamatory structures formed by interjections

35

4.2.1.2. Exclamatory questions

38

vii


4.2.2. Differences in terms of syntactic features of exclamation in English and
Vietnamese

39

4.2.2.1. Differences stay on the exclamatory structures

39

4.2.2.2. Typical differences on structures

40

4.3. Semantics features of exclamations in English and in Vietnamese

41

4.3.1. Semantic features ofexclamations in English

41

4.3.2. The semantic meanings of exclamations in English

44

4.3.3. Semantic features of exclamations in Vietnamese

45

4.3.4. The semantic meanings of exclamations in Vietnamese

47

4.3.5. Equivalents

and differences

of exclamations

under the semantic

consideration

49

4.3.5.1. Equivalents

49

4.3.5.2. Differences

50

4.4. Implications for teaching and learning

50

4.5. Summary

51

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS

53

5.1. Summary of findings

53

5.2. Concluding remarks

53

5.3. Limitations

54

5.4. Recommendations for further study

54

REFERENCES

55

APPENDICES

viii


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study
It cannot be denied that language is a means of communication of human
beings. Owning to language, people are able to understand each other in the process
of working and living. We can use language to express our thoughts, emotion, state
and hope to the others. From that deep understanding, human unite to conquer
nature and society to make society more developed steps by steps.
In daily conversations, expressions showing the speaker’s feelings in these
cases have mono-function (i.e. expressing what the speaker feels) but in other ones
they function differently. They do not only cover the earlier mentioned functions
but they also reveal what the speaker really means and would like through their
exclamations. This desire of researching on functions of exclamations will be fueled
most effectively.
Through exclamations, the speaker’s feelings are expressed effectively. In
Vietnamese settings, one of the four types of sentences is exclamations and that
type receives little attention from learners and thus, there have not been many
studies on exclamations. So far, the research of interrogatives, of imperatives and of
the likes has dominated, studying exclamations becomes our interest then.

Knowing that language as a mirror of culture and ‘national character’, and
that language is the address of culture. Using Vietnamese, English or any other
languages, people have thoughts and emotion in common. They have also the same
tones of emotion such as: anger, joy, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust,
despeakerair? … However, the ways of expressing it out are different. One can use
gestures to show their attitude or feelings while the others may use facial
expressions but the most common and important means is language. Through
utterances, people express their shock, surprise, fear, anger, admiration … and these
utterances are called exclamations. Studying functions of exclamations in terms of
linguistic dimension in general and in English as well as Vietnamese in particular to

1


find out equivalents and differences leads to the topic: “Exclamations in English
and Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis”.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study is expected to find out the similarities and differences about
exclamations in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics and
suggest some practical applications to the process of teaching and learning English
as a foreign language in Vietnam.
To reach the aim, the objectives of the study are as follows:
- To invest the syntactic and semantic features of exclamations in English in
some literary works written by Jack London and by Nam Cao in Vietnamese.
- To find out the similarities and differences of the identification methods of
exclamations in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics.
- To give some suggestions for teaching and learning exclamations in
English for Vietnamese learners.
1.3. Research questions
To gain the estimated results, it is necessary to find out the proper answers for the

following questions:
1. What are the syntactic and semantics features of exclamations in English
in some literary works written by Jack London and ones in Vietnamese written by
Nam Cao?
2. What are the similarities and differences of the identification methods of
exclamations in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics?
3. What are suggestions for teaching and learning exclamations in English
for Vietnamese learners?
1.4. Methods of the study
In order to complete this study, some different research methods will be
applied. In this study, the descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and contrastive
methods are used for finding out the syntactic and semantic features of English and
Vietnamese exclamations.
Firstly, descriptive method is applied to describe in details syntactic and

2


semantic features of English and Vietnamese exclamations.
Secondly, qualitative method is used to discover exclamations that emerge
after close observation, careful documentation, and thoughtful analysis. Moreover,
the quantitative method is used for analyzing the data.
Futhermore, the contrastive method is used to find out the similarities and
differences of the identification methods of exclamations in English and
Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics in some literary works written by Jack
London and by Nam Cao in Vietnamese.
By applying these methods, it helps to find out the syntactic and semantic
characteristics of English exclamations in English and Vietnamese.
1.5. Scope of the study
This study is investigated to answer the questions: whether the features of

syntax and of semantics in exclamations of the two languages are the same.
Concerning this study, exclamations in the two languages are considered in
terms of syntax and of semantics.
In the framework of the study, about 300 exclamatory sentences in some
literary works written by Jack London and nearly 300 exclamatory sentences in
some literary works in Vietnamese written by Nam Cao have been extracted. These
data are categorized into groups according to the identification methods of
exclamations in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics provided
in references.
It is hoped that the outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would be
able to make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning
English.
1.6. Significance of the study
Theoretically, with the purpose of doing the research into exclamations in
English and Vietnamese literary works in terms of syntactic and semantic and
raising attention from Vietnamese learners so that they can be able to use them
successfully in a real world of English communication.

3


Practically, the study provides the similarities and differences about
exclamations in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics. So it
could help Vietnamese learners of English to be aware of different ways of
expressing exclamations and improve their competence and performance of
English.
1.7. Design of the study
The study consists of five following chapters:
Chapter I, Introduction, includes the rationale, the aim and objectives, the
research questions, the scope, the significance and the structural organization.

Chapter II, Literature review, introduces previous studies related to the
thesis. Also, this is an introduction to theoretical background which is designed to
serve as the basic foundation of data analysis and discussion of findings in the
following chapter.
Chapter III, Methodology, presents the research questions and research
approach with various methods and techniques to conduct the research thesis.
Chapter IV, Exclamations in English and Vietnamese – A contrastive
analysis, describes and analyzes the syntactic and semantic features of exclamations
in English and Vietnamese basing on some literary works in English written by Jack
London and in Vietnamese written by Nam Cao, makes a comparison of
exclamations in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents and
provides some possible implications for teaching and learning exclamations in
English and Vietnamese.
Chapter V, Conclusion, gives the summary of the study. Furthermore, this
chapter also presents the limitations of the research and some suggestions for
further studies.
References and Appendixes come at the end of the thesis.

4


CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Previous studies
In English, exclamations or exclamatives have been chosen to describe by
most grammarians as either one of the major clause types on par with declaratives,
interrogatives and imperatives, or as a minor clause type. However, their
approaches are different in some ways.
Quirk et al. (1985), for instance, use the term “exclamative” to refer to a
grammatical category, i.e. a specific clause type, while they use the term

“exclamation” to refer to the logical or semantic status of an utterance. This means
that in Quirk et al.’s terminology, some exclamations are realised by
“exclamatives”, while some are not. Quirk et al. (1972) seem to consider
exclamations to constitute a sentence type of their own, they still recognise other
constructions that can be used when making exclamations. They discuss
exclamatory questions”, like Hasn’t she grown! and Has she grown!, and say that
they are “questions in form, but functionally like exclamations” (Quirk et al.
(1972,70)). They also recognise exclamations in which the ''emphatic degree
items''so and such are used as intensifiers and determiners respectively in statements
and questions: We’ve had such atime and Why did you use to hate geography so?
(Quirk et al. 1972, 84). They also mention echo exclamations, which repeat part or
all of the preceding utterance:
A: I’m going to London for a holiday.
B: To London! That’s not my idea of a rest. (Quirk et al. (1972, 84)
In conclusion, this means that both Quirk et al. (1972) and Quirk et. al
(1985) recognize several different form types that can be used as exclamations, but
still prevail in the belief that there exists an exclamatory form type on par with
declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives.
Radford (1997) recognises the same types of clauses/sentences as Quirk et
al.(1985) do,namely declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamative

5


sentences. Sadock & Zwicky (1985), on the other hand, hold that there are
three

major

sentence types, interrogatives and imperatives, and some minor

sentence types such as exclamations, imprecatives and optatives. It may be
important to make clear here that Sadock & Zwicky (1985) do not here discuss
clause types, but sentence types. They consider exclamatives introduced by what (a)
or how to constitute a minor sentence type. They claim that there are also a number
of exclamatory types.
Bolinger (1989, 248) discusses this matter thoroughly. He agrees with Quirk
et al. (1972& 1985) in saying that exclamations are primarily used to express the
speaker’s own feelings, and he argues that this means that if intonation is basically
affective, the connection between intonation and exclamation must be “both broad
and deep”.
Bolinger (1989) stresses that part of the problem concerning intonation and
exclamations is related to the fact that there is a great deal of variation concerning
the intonations that can be used in exclamations. There is no such thing as an
“intonation of exclamation” according to Bolinger (1989, 248), not even in the more
general sense in which we talk about the intonation of questions and the intonation
of commands, where certain contours do predominate.
David Crystal (1995) explores many facets and varieties of the English
language, bringing life to this large and complex subject. Rarely has a book so
packed with accurate and well researched factual information been so widely read
and popularly acclaimed. David Crystal recognizes four types of sentence
functions: statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. Exclamations can
have either minor or major sentence status and are mainly investigated in syntactic
form.
Radford (1997, 506) defines an exclamative as “a type of structure used to
exclaim surprise, delight, annoyance etc.” and goes on to say that “in English
syntax, the term is restricted largely to clauses beginning with wh-exclamative
words like what! or how!”. The use of the word structure seems to indicate that he

6

regards the exclamative as a syntactic phenomenon, whereas, Rosengren (1997) and
others, argue that the exclamative is a pragmatic phenomenon.
In Vietnamese, grammarians and linguists have investigated exclamation
from different perspectives but mainly focus on traditional, syntactic or semantic
perspectives (Hoàng Trọng Phiến (1989); Mai Ngọc Chử, Vũ Đức Nghiệu, Hoàng
Trọng Phiến (1990); Diệp Quang Ban (2004) and Đỗ Thị Kim Liên (1999).
According to these authors, exclamative theory was developed greatly from 18th to
20th century. Those who advocated this theory were Humbon, Stundan, Russo said
that human’s language derived from the sounds of anger, joy, sadness, anguished
cried expressed when we were moved. In some cases, interjections are signals of
our emotion and thoughts. In the other one, the relationship between the sounds of
words and emotive state of human is considered such as the combination of sound
causing the impression in our soul that is similar to the one caused bythings.
In the thesis of Hà Thị Hải Yến (2000), the consideration of Vietnamese
exclamations is taken into seriously. But actually, this thesis deals with the scope of
a study of conversation interactions. She focuses on the exclamative function of each
move in each conversation without paying much attention to illocutionary force of
exclaiming though it is an illocutionary act in speechacts.
Besides that there have been some publications on sentence types including
exclamations such as Câu trong tiếng Việt (Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998); Ngữ pháp Việt
Nam - phần câu (Diệp Quang Ban, 2004); Giáo trình ngôn ngữ học (Nguyễn
Thiện Giáp, 2008); Nghiên cứu ngữ pháp tiếng Việt (Nguyễn Kim Thản,1963);
Câu trong tiếng Việt (NguyễnThị Lương, 2005) etc.
Other Vietnamese theses have been researched into exclamation such as:
“Câu cảm thán trong Tiếng Việt” by Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc, PhD. thesis,
Hanoi National University, 2004.
“Syntactic features of exclamation in English and Vietnamese” by
Nguyễn Thị Thu Vân, MA thesis, Hanoi Open University, 2016.

However, there has not been so far a study on syntactic and semantic features

7


of exclamations in English and in Vietnamese. It is necessary for the writer to do a
research on this matter to have a deeper understanding about exclamations in the
two languages, first for her own career’s sake and then for the Vietnamese learners
or researchers of English as a foreign language.
2.2. An overview of sentences
2.2.1. Definition of sentences
There is a variety of definitions of a sentence. McDougal Littell (2004,36)
simply defines a sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete thought.
Brown, Nilson, Shaw & Weldon (1984, 57) share the same and add some more
information: “a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. The
purpose of a sentence is to describe an action or state a condition of a person, a
place, a thing or an idea.”
Halliday (1994, 180) argues that “describing a sentence as a construction of
words is rather like describing a house as a construction of bricks, without
recognizing the walls and the rooms as intermediate structural units.”. He states
that a sentence should be defined as a clause complex with the simple sentence (one
clause) as the limiting case.
Morley (2000, 25) looks at a sentence in many aspects. In meaning terms, he
says “the role of the sentence is to express one or more ideas or ‘proposition’ from
the ideational component, each proposition being realized by a clause.”
As for Nguyễn Hòa (2001) “…the sentence refers to the system or language
side: it can be thought of as the ideal structure behind various realizations in
utterances.”
Mai Ngọc Chử, Vũ Đức Nghiệu & Hoàng Trọng Phiến (2006,285) give out
the definition about a sentence: “A sentence is the language unit which has

independent inner and outer grammatical structure and ending intonation. It bears
a relatively complete thought enclosed with the speaker’s attitude or only
displaying the speaker’s attitude, which helps form, show and communicate ideas
and affection as the smallest information unit”.

8


Richards and Platt (1992,330) say about a sentence: “the largest unit of
grammatical organization within with parts of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs, adverbs)
and grammatical classes (e.g. word, phrase, clause) are said to function. In English
a sentence normally contains one independent clause with a finite verb.”
In language usage, Diệp Quang Ban (2004) lists three major functions of the
sentence: expressive function, interpersonal function and text-making function.
- Expressive function: in daily communication, one by some means
orotherexpresses one or some events in his experience. This can be done thanks to
the fact that language has a mean compatible with it which is called “the sentence
in expressive function” (p.27). Those events in experience are not in fixed forms;
they are expressed through one’s viewpoint and coded in grammar of a certain
language. Therefore, the same event can be viewed and expressed in different ways
in different languages and even different in one language due to different
expressions.
- Interpersonal function: in conversations, people use sentences
tocommunicate with one another. In that process, the speaker always intends to do
some action to influence the hearer. For example, the speaker speaks to inform
about something, to ask the hearer to do something, to express his thought to the
hearer or to set up a communication relation. Those actions are called speech
actions. In each language system, there are means that mark those speech actions,
such as declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. (p 29 30)
- Text-making function: in a certain situation, the sentences must be

organized to be in harmony with the preceding and following ones (in other words,
co-text) or with the outside situation (context of situation). In this case, sentences
are regarded as a message. The organization of the sentences to make a message
requires two elements: Theme and Rheme. The relation of these two elements is
called Theme - Rheme structure. (p. 30 - 31)
- Alexandra Grammatical School (300-200 BC) has considered that
sentences are the combination of words to express complete thoughts. Sentences are

9


the largest unit of grammatical organization within parts of speech (e.g. noun, verb,
adjective…) are said to function.
From the above definitions, the main features of sentences are listed as follows:
- The largest unit of grammatical organization
- The basic unit of written English language communication
- Constructed by grammatical rules
- Express a thought and the speaker’s feelings and attitude.

2.2.2. Sentence classifications in English and Vietnamese
In English and Vietnamese, most of the grammarians share similar
classifications of sentence in terms of syntax and purposes. These classifications
can be grouped into different types as follows:
2.2.2.1. Sentence classifications in terms of syntax
In terms of syntax, sentences are divided into three categories:
+ Simple, compound and complex
According to Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S(1985,719) “A simple sentence
consists of a single independent clause.”
Greenbaum, S. (1996,632) defined that “A simple sentence consists of one
main clause, without any subordinate clauses: No fingerprints were found

anywhere in the house.”
According to Diệp Quang Ban (2004), A sentence is thelanguage unit
which has independent inner and outer grammatical structure and ending
intonation. It bears a relatively complete thought or the speaker’s attitude, or only
displaying the speaker’s attitude, which helps form, show and communicate ideas
and affection. A sentence is the smallest information unit.
(1) He is a good father. This example is a simple sentence.
Most of textbooks (ESL, EFL…) gave a definition about complex sentence
as follows: A complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses, often
joined by a coordinating conjunction.

10


The coordinating conjunctions are as follows: but, and, nor, either, so,not
only, but also…Except for very short sentences, coordinating conjunctions are
always preceded by a comma.
(2) I gave her a present on her birthday, but she did not like it. This example
is a complex sentence.
Compound sentence which contains more than one clause of which one is the
main clause, the others are subordinate clauses being part of the main clause. The
subordinate clauses and main clause are jointed together by subordinating
conjunctions.
The main clause is a clause which has a meaningful unit by a independent
clause but it also needs one or more subordinate clause complementing for it.
The subordinate clause (dependent clause) is a clause which has to depend
on the main clause.
- There are three subordinate clauses:
Subordinate clause has a function as a noun (noun clause).
Subordinate clause has a function as an adjective (adjective clause).

Subordinate clause has a function as an adverb (adverbial clause)
(3) The film that interested me was aboutatrue love.This is a complex
sentence.
+ Complete and incomplete
Sentences serve as a framework for people to clearly express their ideas in
writing. There are several characteristics that must be met in order for a written
thought to be considered a complete sentence. A complete sentence must: begin
with a capital letter, end with a punctuation mark (period, question mark, or
exclamation point), and contain at least one main clause. A main clause includes an
independent subject and verb to express a complete thought. A complete sentence
has at least one main clause, or subject-verb pair.
A sentence can be very long but still be an incomplete sentence if it lacks an
element necessary to complete a thought. By contrast, a very short sentence can be a
complete sentence if the missing elements are provided by context

11


(1)

I’m glad to see you. (Complete sentence)

(2)

Glad to see you.(Incomplete sentence)

+ Major and minor
David Crystal (1995) divides sentences into two main types: regular and
irregular sentences. Regular sentences are often referred to as major sentences,
irregular ones as minor sentences.

The major sentences are ones which can be broken down into a specific and
predictable pattern of elements.
(3)

We like parties. (Major sentence)

Minor sentences are no constructed in irregular way. They use abnormal
patterns which cannot be clearly analyzed into a sequence of clause elements as can
major sentences. Minor sentences do not follow all the rules ofgrammar.
(4)

Hands up! (Minor sentence)

If sentences are divided into 2 types above, exclamations belong to minor
sentences. Those are frequently used in every day conversation and look quite
complex because they have no grammatical rules. The speaker of any language can
accomplish a great many communicative tasks with the sentences of their language.
They can start a conversation, order someone to do something, narrate a tale, ask for
information, promise to do something at some future time, report what they have
known or have heard, express surprise or dismay, suggest a joint action, give
permission for someone to do something, make a bet, offer something to someone
and so on. For some of these uses of sentences, a language will have specific
syntactic constructions, or even specific forms. Such a coincidence of grammatical
structure and conventional use, we call a sentence type.
2.2.2.2. Sentence classifications in terms of purposes
Semantically, sentences can be classified into four categories: declarative,
interrogative, imperative and exclamatory.
Following definitions of each of them are quoted from Quirk et al. (1990,
231), “Declaratives are sentences in which it is normal for the subject to be present
and to precede the verb. Interrogatives are sentences, which are formally marked in

12


one of two ways: yes-no interrogatives (an operator is placed in front of the subject),
and wh-interrogatives (an interrogative wh-element is positioned initially and there
is generally subject-operator inversion). Imperatives are sentences, which normally
have no overt grammatical subject, and whose verb has the base form.
Exclamatives are sentences which have an initial phrase introduced by what or how,
usually with subject-verb order.” Radford (1997, 506) has defined an exclamative as
“a type of sentence used to exclaim surprise, delight, annoyance etc.”
In a declarative sentence, a statement is made.
E.g.: “A plane had landed right in the middle of the cornfield.”
(Nguyễn Cao Hy 2004, p. 62)
In an interrogative sentence, we ask a question.
E.g.: “Now then, what are your plans for the future?”
(Nguyễn Cao Hy 2004, p. 130)
In an imperative sentence, an order or request, etc. is made.
E.g.: “Keep out of my way!”
(Phan Tường Vân 2004, p. 107)
In an exclamatory sentence, we show strong feeling, etc.
E.g.: “My, what a nice place you have here!”
(Phan Tường Vân 2004, p. 116)
(5)

How happy we were when the dawn came and our flag was still there!

(6)

How did he do his hair! (exclamation formed as a question)

(7)

I just won the race! (exclamation formed as a declarative sentence)

The same classifications of sentence are found in the sentence theory of
Quirk et al (54: 6), sentences may be divided into four major clauses, whose use
correlates

with

different

communicative

functions:

commands and exclamations.
(8)

They’ve got a new house.

(9)

Have they got a new house? (question)

(statement)

(10) Buy them a new house.

(command)

(11) They’ve got a new house!

(exclamation)

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statements,

questions,


2.2.3. Minor types of simple sentences
Most grammarians have chosen to describe exclamatives as either one of the
major clause types on par with declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives, or as a
minor clause type. This is not surprising since utterances lacking inversion,
beginning with “what” and “how” do not function in the same way as ordinary
declaratives or interrogatives.
We know, however, that declarative clauses, for instance, can be used to
fulfill many different functions in natural languages, i.e. there is no one–to–one
relation between language form and language function. Consequently, exclamations
need not be of a clause type, but may instead be a pragmatic phenomenon, a claim
comes from the fact that those who consider exclamations to be of a sentence type
(e.g. Quirk et al. 1972, 1985) have to introduce minor sentence types having the
same exclamatory function as the sentences they call exclamations.
Quirk et al. (1972) recognizes four major classes in which simple sentences
may be divided, and the division seems to have been made on the basis of
(syntactic) form and (pragmatic) function:
(i) Statements: sentences in which the subject is always present and

generally precedes the verbs such as “Kama will come here today.”
(ii) Questions: sentences marked by one of the following criteria:
a. The placing of the operator in front of the subject, as in “Will Kama come here
today?”
b. The initial positioning of a wh – element as in “When will Kama comehere?”
c. Rising question intonation as in “Kama will come heretoday?”
(iii) Commands: sentences which normally have no overt grammatical
subject andwhose verbs are in the imperative mood, e.g.: “Do it right now!”
(iv) Exclamations: sentences that have an initial phrase introduced by “what”
or “how” without inversion of subject and operator as in “What a nice dress you
have!”

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2.3. Exclamations
According to , the root or main word in
exclamatory is exclaim. It comes from the Latin word “exclamare”, which in its
turn, and is the combination of “ex” and “clamare”. “Ex” means “ out of, from” and
“clamare” means “to cry out”. Therefore, an exclamatory sentence is a statement of
a complete thought or a way of thinking that show a great and usually sudden
emotion of some kind. More clearly, David Crystal (1995), exclamations are
sentences, which show that a person has been impressed or roused by something.
For example, visiting someone’s house for the first time, the admiration or interest
are expressed with the following utterances:
- What a beautiful house you have!
- It is such a nice house!
- Your house is so nice!
- Nice house!
- How nice ahouse!

- Isn’t the house nice!
- So nice a house!
All the above sentences are exclamations because they convey strong
feelings of speakers towards something.
2.3.1. The English linguists’ conception of exclamations
According to David Crystal in the English language: “Exclamation are
sentences which show that a person has been impressed or roused by something.”
They often take the form of a single word or short phrase- a minor sentence such as:
Gosh!, Oh! dear!, or of all the nerve! But exclamations can have major sentence
status too, with a structure which differentiates them from statement, questions and
directives.
- Their first element begins with what or how and is followed by a subject
and a verb.
- What a lovely day it is!
- What a mess they’ve made!

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