Từ ngữ công giáo trong các bản kinh nguyện của các giáo phận dòng tại việt nam tt tiếng anh

VIETNAM ACEDAMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
--------------------

VU VAN KHUONG

CATHOLIC WORDS
IN PRAYER BOOKS OF DOMINICAN ORDER DIOCESES IN VIET NAM
Major: Vietnamese Language
Code: 9.22.01.02

ABSTRACT OF LINGUSTICS DORTORAL THESIS

Ha Noi, 2020


The work was completed at:
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
VIETNAM ACEDAMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Cong Duc

Reviewer 1: Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thien Giap
Reviewer 2: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Pham Hung Viet
Reviewer 3: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Le Thi Lan Anh

The thesis will be defended in front of the Academy-level Judging Council met at:
……………………………………………….……………………………………………
at ………., dated.........................

The thesis can be found at the library: ……………………………………………….

……………………………………………….………………………………………..
……………………………………………….………………………………………..
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OPENING
1. Urgency of the thesis topic
Catholicism is one of the major religions in Vietnam, making significant contributions
to Vietnamese language, especially the achievements of the Quoc ngu characters. However,
there are just few studies on Catholic words in Vietnamese language.
Because many of Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican order
Dioceses in Viet Nam carry doctrinal and theology concepts…like terms, many of them
are daily words in Catholic community; while many others carry traces of history of early
days of the Quoc ngu characters, many are modern words, etc., it can be said that those
Catholic words in the prayer books show typical features of Catholic words in the
Vietnamese language. As such, selecting those words to clarify the Catholic words in
Viet Nam is very reasonable.
The thesis makes contributions to achievements of studies on Vietnamese
language, and Catholic words in Vietnamese. The thesis findings facilitate understanding
and use of the Catholic prayers; gradually building the Catholic vocabulary, contributing
to standardizing the Catholic words in Vietnamese… These are the reasons for us to
choose the topic.
2. Study purpose and missions
This thesis is aimed to identify and clarify the Catholic vocabulary in prayer
books. To realize this goal, the thesis shall: Give an overview of the situation and
establish the theoretical basis for study; Classify and describe the linguistic
characteristics of the lexical units; Learn about the activities of Catholic words in
Vietnamese language through a number of Vietnamese literatures.

3. Subjects, scope and references of the study
3.1. Subject:
Catholic words in prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam.
3.2. Scope:
The study is mainly carried out in Vocabulary, in particular, under the main aspects
such as the formation, structural and semantic features, and activities of the words.


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3.3. References:
The references are 9 prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam,
including: Hai Phong, Bui Chu, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh and Lang Son. The earliest prayer
was printed in 1865, the latest was in 2010, and the prayer book of Lang Son diocese has
no printing year.
4. Methodology
In order to solve study tasks, the thesis mainly uses text survey method to collect
Catholic words used in references, as the object of study; and also the linguistic
description method to learn, classify and describe Catholic words in prayer books.
5. New scientific contributions of the thesis
 Finding out the ways of formation, showing the mechanism of reproduction,
clarifying the origin and Vietnamese characteristics of Catholic loan words
 By studying the activities of the Catholic words in daily Vietnamese language,
the thesis assesses the organic correlation between Catholicism and culture - society in
Viet Nam expressed by language.
6. Theoretical and practical significance of the theses
6.1. Theoretical significance: adding the theoretical matters of Linguistics
through a specific corpus; contributing to clarifying the linguistic characteristics of
Catholic words in the prayer books.
6.2. Practical significance: The thesis contributes a specific study of jargon for

Vietnamese linguistics. The thesis findings can serve for Catholic language study.
7. Thesis structure: In addition to the Introduction, Conclusion, the thesis consists
of 4 chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview of studies and theoretical basis related to the study topic.
Chapter 2: Ways of forming Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican
order Dioceses in Viet Nam
Chapter 3: Structural and semantic characteristics of Catholic words in the prayer
books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam
Chapter 4: Catholic words in daily Vietnamese language.


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Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDIES AND THEORETICAL BASIS
RELATED TO THE STUDY TOPIC
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Study history overview
1.2.1. Studies concerning Catholic words in the world
At the beginning of BC, documents explaining the concept of Catholicism
appeared [63]. But in the 20th century, the study of Catholic words was carried out only in
the academic aspect of Linguistics [138]. Initially, the works were mainly made on the
viewpoint of Vocabulary, learning the origin and explaining meaning of the words, such
as O. Jesperson [139], Donald M. Ayers [135], etc.
While seeing religion as human nature, some linguists like Franz Boas, Edward
Sapir, Benjamin Lee Whorf, etc. pioneered the study of linguistic and religious categories
from the viewpoint of Anthropological linguistics [36]. The authors focused on analyzing
and proving the intrinsic relationship between the basic meaning of words and politics,
religion, etc. of the ancient culture which still affects the today culture.
The third trend, such as David Crystal [134], William Samarin [144], etc.,
following the Social linguistics studied the religious factors interfering transformation or

stability of a linguistic community. Of them, those focusing on functional study of
religious factors in languages were: W. Stewart [145], John F. Swayer and JMY
Simpson, etc.; and those focusing on studying the linguistic policy matters were B.
Spolsky [143], etc.
1.2.2. Studies concerning Catholic words in Viet Nam
There were just few studies of Catholic words in Viet Nam, mainly from the
perspective of Vocabulary. Those words are much appeared in dictionaries of different
types, including: bilingual, multilingual: [23], [31] etc.; unilingual professional
dictionaries: [45], [80], etc.
The articles explaining the meaning of Catholic words, emphasizing old Catholic
words, are now rarely used: [154], [155], etc. The articles explaining words emphasized
the theology meanings, religious concepts: [157], [148], [149], etc.; Another trend was to
study Catholic words in Viet Nam as an indirect object of studies on history of Nom


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script, Quoc ngu characters, Vietnamese language based on Catholic documents: [66],
[34], [108], [74], etc.
Many authors studying the correlation of Catholics with culture and society in Viet
Nam has, recently, indirectly mentioned the Catholic words under the viewpoint of the
Anthropological Linguistics and Social Linguistics [17], [99], etc.
The above overview shows that there has been no study on the Catholic words in
the prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam.
1.3. Theoretical basis
1.3.1. Organic relationship between language and religion
The language and religion have a close organic relationship with each other. The
religion must rely on the language to convey its messages and meanings, and the religion,
vice versa, enriches, promotes and preserves the language.
1.3.2. Position of Catholic vocabulary in Vietnamese vocabulary

The Catholic words studied are “jargon” located next to other Vietnamese word
classes such as terminology, occupation words, local words, etc.; and also different from
jargons of other religions, such as Buddhism, Caodaism, etc.
1.3.3. Concept of ways of formation and development of Vietnamese vocabulary
According to Nguyen Thien Giap (2002), Vietnamese vocabulary can be enriched
in 8 ways [28]. Mai Ngoc Chu (1997) believed that there are 2 ways to form new words:
use factors available in the language to form new words; and borrow words [18].
1.3.4. Concept of language exposure and linguistic borrowing
The language exposure means an intersection of two or more languages, giving
rise to linguistic changes; The linguistic borrowing means a phenomenon in which one
element of one language enters another language, becomes used and assimilated by that
language.
1.3.5. Conception of words and phrase
In Vietnamese, some authors identify words as “sounds”, others base on the
meaning and function of syllables similar to phonemes. Some authors agree upon single
words, compound words, repeated words, etc. but others recognize Vietnamese with
single words only.


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Phrase, combination, construction, group of words “means a combination of words
into group of words, that are related in terms of vocabulary and grammar.” [124].
1.3.6. Concept of meaning of words and meaning development of words
 The meaning of the word “means whole spiritual content appeared in thought
of a native speaker when he/she is exposed to a certain form of language sound” [49].
 The development of the meaning of words covers expanded sense,
narrowed sense, metaphorical transfer and metonymical transfer.
1.3.7. Denomination theory
Identity means assigning a linguistic notation with a concept - symbolic meaning

which reflects certain characteristics of a symbol - attributes, qualities and relationships
of objects and processes within the physical and spiritual aspects, so that linguistic units
form the content elements of verbal communication.” [98].
1.3.8. Overview of Catholicism and Catholicism in Viet Nam
Catholics was born in Asia Minor region, but thrived in Europe after 313 [57]. In
early 16th century, the Catholicism entered Viet Nam and established the first two
dioceses in 1659. In 1693, Dong Dang Ngoai Diocese was given to the Dominican order,
so called the Dominican order Diocese or briefly “Order Diocese”, which now consists of
dioceses of Hai Phong, Bui Chu, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh and Lang Son.
1.3.9. Catholicism with Vietnamese culture
Catholicism in Viet Nam, in its own way, has made certain contributions to the
Vietnamese culture, especially related to the invention of the Quoc ngu characters.
1.4. Sub-conclusion
The thesis presents an overview of studies and theoretical matters serving as the
basis for this thesis, such as: Analyzing the organic relationship between the language
and the religion; positioning the Catholic words in Vietnamese vocabulary system in
general; Presenting concepts about the ways of formation and development of
Vietnamese vocabulary, language exposure, viewpoints about words, etc. Finally, the
thesis gives an overview of the Catholicism in general and Catholicism in Viet Nam in
particular, the relationship between the Catholicism and the Vietnamese culture-literature
as context of the study object.


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Chapter 2: WAYS OF FORMING CATHOLIC WORDS IN THE PRAYER
BOOKS OF THE DOMINICAN ORDER DIOCESES IN VIET NAM
2.1. Introduction
2.2. The ways of borrowing foreign Catholic words
2.2.1. Reason for borrowing the foreign Catholic words

The Catholicism officially entered Viet Nam around 1533. In Viet Nam,
before this time, had no vocabulary units that conveyed the concepts of the
Catholics. Therefore, the missionaries had to borrow Catholic concepts in their native
language and in Latin as the Church’s official language.
2.2.2. Origin of the Catholic loan words
2.2.2.1. Jewish origin: Jewish originated words were often borrowed through an
intermediate language such as Latin, Portuguese or Spanish, such as: Tội Adam (sin of
Adam), Amen, and Alleluia.
2.2.2.2. Greek origin: The Bible is written in Hebrew and Greek. This is why
many of the later Bible words widely used in the communion were of Greek origin, for
example: ẩn tu (hermit), cánh chung (eschatology), etc.
2.2.2.3. Latin origin: Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church, as such,
most of the concepts in the Catholicism are officially expressed in this language, for
example: Ảnh thánh (holy image), Bí tích (Sacrament), etc.
2.2.2.4. The Catholic loan words in Vietnamese language with traces of
Portuguese: for example: Sang-ta (holy), Cau-rut (Cross), etc.
2.2.2.5. The Catholic loan words in Vietnamese language with traces of
Spanish: for example: Thánh A-phô-tô-li (Apostle), A-r-ca-khê-lô (Archalgel)…
2.2.2.6. Sino-Vietnamese Catholic words: There are 257/1132 units (23%) but
there are only 59 Sino-Vietnamese Catholic “jargons” equivalent to the Catholic
“jargons” included in Chinese (compared based on Sino-Vietnamese reading sounds).
2.2.3. Method of receiving Catholic loan words
2.2.3.1. Keep word form in the source language: There is a very low number of
words received, only 40/1132 Catholic words.


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2.2.3.2. Phonetic transcription in source language: There are 103/1132 words
(9.09%). Most of the Indo-European words expressing the polymorphism.

2.2.3.3. Calque (loan translation and loan shift) in source language: there are
689/1132 words, accounting for more than 60.86%, as shown in the table below:
Table 2.1: Ratio of translation equivalence of Latin-Vietnamese Catholic words
Ratio of equivalence

Number of Latin
Catholic words

Number of
Vietnamese
Catholic words

Percentage

Latin 1: 1 Vietnamese

345

345

50%

Latin 1: 2 Vietnamese

79

158

23%

Latin 1: 3 Vietnamese

28

84

12%

Latin 1: 4 Vietnamese

10

40

5.9%

Latin 1: 5 Vietnamese

5

25

3.6%

Latin 1: 6 Vietnamese

5

30

4.4%

Latin 1: 7 Vietnamese

1

7

1.1%

473

689

100%

Total

The table shows that, the more words of translation equivalence the units have, the
lower their percentage is, indicating that the objects tends to self-normalize during their
use.
2.3. The ways of creating new words
2.3.1. Use new form to express a new meaning
The words of this nature were mainly formed by the following methods: creating a
new sound shell a shell named a newly formed concept; shortening combining and
shortening.
2.3.2. Use available form to express a new meaning
This is the way to form new words though adding a certain Catholic content to an
available Vietnamese word, similar to the expanding the word sense. For example, prayer
hands pose 1. Face or hold your hands together (Normal sense). 2. Hands facing each

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other, the right thumb presses on the left thumb in the shape of the Cross and put in front
of the chest. (Catholic meaning).
2.4. Sub-conclusion
The thesis has mentioned the ways of forming the Catholic words in the
corpuses. The borrowing is the important way and makes up the majority of vocabulary
units. With a comparison, we have found that the borrowed Buddhist “jargons” mainly
came from Asian languages, while the Catholic “jargons” were mainly borrowed from
the Western languages.
The ways to creating new words in different methods can be divided into two
types of structures: the one that uses the new forms to express new contents and the one
that uses available forms and materials to express new contents, or also known as
creating new words with meaning development.
Chapter 3: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF
CATHOLIC WORDS IN THE PRAYER BOOKS OF THE DOMINICAN ORDER
DIOCESES IN VIET NAM
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Structural characteristics of Catholic words in the prayer books of the
Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam
3.2.1. Characteristics of Catholic single words
3.2.1.1. Overview:
(8.39%). This

ratio

is

The thesis
much

has

lower

classified 95/1132 from
than

the

15.05%

the
of

application

single

word

in Vietnamese Buddhist vocabulary [60].
3.2.1.2. Catholic single words considered in terms of the number of syllables:
According to the statistics, the number of polymorphic single words (62.1%) is almost as
twice as the number of monosyllabic single words (37.9%). This is explained by the large
number of the Catholic words borrowed from the Indo-European family origin.
3.2.1.3. Catholic single words considered in terms of part of speech: Based on the
traditional grammatical concept of part of speech, we have identified the types of the

single words as follows: nouns accounted for 67.36%, verbs accounted for 27.36%,


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adjectives accounted for 3.15%. Thus, the ratio of nouns is superior, showing that the
system of names of concepts and objects occupies a large part in the prayers.
3.2.1.4. Catholic single words considered in terms of origin of constituents
Table 3.4: Catholic single words considered in terms of origin of constituents
Origin of constituents of the Catholic Quantity

Ratio (%)

single words
Native Vietnamese

24

25.26

Sino – Vietnamese

20

21.05

Indo-European

51

53.68

Total

95

100,00

According to Nguyen Van Khang (2013), there are about 4,000 common French
and English originated words, 60-70% Sino-Vietnamese originated words used in
Vietnamese [51]. Meanwhile, the proportion of Sino-Vietnamese originated constituents
and of Indo-European originated constituents in this class of words is just over 21% and
53%. This can be explained by the characteristics of the language exposure process in the
activities of the Catholic community in Viet Nam.
3.2.2. Characteristics of Catholic compound words
3.2.2.1. Overview
Table 3.5. General features of compound Catholic words in Vietnamese
Catholic Compound words
Structure

Word type

Quantity

Ratio (%)

Main - secondary

569

77.79

Independent

163

23.21

Noun

515

73.40

Verb

154

21.93

Adjective

33

4.46

Origin of structural Native Vietnamese 337

48.01

elements

Total

Sino-Vietnamese

119

16.90

Mixed

246

35.04

720

100,00


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3.2.2.2. Characteristics of relationship of Catholic compound words:
The thesis has identified 163 independent compound words (23.21%), 569 mainsecondary ones (77.79 %).
3.2.2.3. Characteristics of types of Catholic compound words:
Among the Catholic compound words, there are 33 adjectives (4.46%), 154 verbs
(21.93%), 515 nouns (73.40%).
3.2.2.4. Characteristics of origin of constituents of Catholic compound words:
The compound words with native Vietnamese constituents have a remarkable

proportion with 337/702 units (accounting for 48.01%). Sino-Vietnamese originated
compound words: 119/702 (16.9%), Hybrid compound words: 246702 words (35.04%).
3.2.3. Characteristics of Catholic denomination combinations
3.2.3.1. Reason of forming the Catholic denomination combinations:
When words are not enough to denotes the concepts, the new linguistic units
should be formed based on the available words to name them. Based on the structural
characteristics, we call them denomination combinations.
3.2.3.2. Characteristics of word types and structural models of the Catholic
denomination combinations:
There are 302/358 noun-centered denomination combinations (84.35%); 37 verbcentered ones (10.33%) indicating ritual actions; 19 adjective-centered ones (5.30%)
showing nuances or properties which were typical in the Catholic community activities.
3.2.3.3. Characteristics of origin of constituents of the Catholic denomination
combinations:
Of 302 noun-centered denomination combinations, 103 ones are made up of pure
Vietnamese constituents, accounting for 34.10%; 29 ones had Sino-Vietnamese
constituents, accounting for nearly 9.61%; 169 ones are composed of composite
constituents, accounting for 55.96%.
There are no constituents of the denomination combinations whose central
component is an Indo-European originated verb and adjective. This ratio shows a high
trend of use of pure Vietnamese words of the Catholic community when they are not
under the pressure of borrowing religious concepts.


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3.3. Semantic characteristics of the Catholic words in the prayer books of the
Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam
3.3.1. Fundamental characteristics as a basis for denomination of the Catholic
words
3.3.1.1. Characteristics of content and meaning of holding the religious ceremony:

Including names of sacraments, prayers, rites in the liturgy and practice of popular
morality, methods of praying, etc.
3.3.1.2. Characteristics of holder of the religious ceremony:
The holder of the religious ceremony means the chair person, identical with the
celebrant, for example: Cha giải tội (Confessor), Thày cả (Priest), etc.
3.3.1.3. Characteristics of action or gesture in the religious ceremony:
In the Catholic ceremony, there are gestures accompanied by words and symbolic
gestures, e.g.: Ăn năn đền tội (contrition and penitence), ăn năn tội (contrition)…
3.3.1.4. Characteristics of target audience of the religious ceremony:
The supreme object of Catholic ceremony is the God. Besides, Blessed Virgin
Mary and saints are also sometimes targeted, e.g.: Chúa Dêu Cha (God the Father), Đức
Mẹ (Blessed Virgin Mary), etc.
3.3.1.5. Characteristics of places where religious ceremony is held:
Places of worship, training establishments, residence places, etc. of each religion
have different characteristics, e.g: nhà thờ (church), nhà chung (common house), etc.
3.3.1.6. Characteristics of material elements in the religious ceremony:
The material elements in the Catholic ceremonies are always symbolic, for
example: Scent of fire symbolizes the prayer that radiates in front of the face of God, etc.
3.3.1.7. Characteristic of time of the religious ceremony:
The Catholic worship of is arranged to be spread out to the rhythm of time,
called the liturgical time, e.g.: giờ kinh sáng (morning prayer hour), Tuần Thánh (Holy
week) mùa Chay (Lent), Năm thánh (Holy year), etc.
3.3.1.8. Characteristic of spiritual level in the religious ceremony:


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We have identified the Catholic denomination words on the basis of the
characteristics of the spiritual level in the religious ceremonies, such as: sốt mến (lovely),
sốt sắng (eager), sảng sót (fail)...

3.3.2. Characteristics of classification based on semantics of Catholic words
Based on the semantic content of lexical units, we have classified semantic
categories as shown in Table 3.6. below:
Catholic words by semantic categories
Group of

Liturgy

and ideological of God and

words

Quantity
Ratio

Philosophical Designations Organizational

Normal

structure,

Total

concepts

saints

dignitaries

460

280

146

169

77

1132

40.64%

24.73%

12.90%

14.93%

6.80%

100%

3.3.2.1. Liturgical and popular ethics words: occupy the highest proportion with
460/1132 units (40.64%), e.g.: Alleluia, Amen, ăn năn cách trọn (contrition), etc.
3.3.2.2. Words referring to the Catholic philosophical and ideological
concepts: 169/1132 units (14.93%), such as: Anh sáng (light), Ba thù (Three enemies),
Bảy mối tội đầu (Seven capital sins), etc.
3.3.2.3. Designations of God and saints: 146/1132 words, accounting for 12.90%
of the total number of studied words, e.g.: Ba Ngôi (Trinity) Chúa Dêu Cha (God the

Father), Tổng lãnh thiên thần (Archangel), etc.
3.3.2.4. Words indicating organizational structure and positions in the Catholic
Church: 280/1132 words, accounting for 24.73%, e.g.: Y-ghê (The Church), Địa phận
(Diocese), Giáo xứ (Parish), etc.
3.3.2.5. Common words used in the Catholic communion: 77/1132 words,
(accounting for 6.80%), for example: Ăn lễ (Enjoy the feast), Ăn năn trở lại (Contrition
and return), etc.
3.4. Sub-conclusion
In terms of structure, the Catholic words in the prayer books are structured
according to the Vietnamese word construction methods, including single words,


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compound words and denomination combinations. The compound words accounting for
the highest proportion (77.74%). The compounding method helps to borrow and create
words to meet the needs of the Catholic communion in Viet Nam.
The thesis has found that: the Indo-European originated single words accounts for
the highest proportion (50.52%). These are original single words, denoting magnitude of
direct borrowing from these languages. In contrast, compound words and denomination
combinations of Native Vietnamese and hybrid compounds which account for a high rate
(more than 48%) are created by the method of constructing Vietnamese words to create
derivative words.
In terms of semantics, the thesis has found 8 fundamental characteristics as the
basis for denomination and 5 semantic categories of the Catholic words in the studied
prayers.

Chapter 4: CATHOLIC WORDS IN DAILY VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Impacts of Vietnamization of the Catholic loan words

4.2.1. Influence of Vietnamese structure on Catholic loan words in terms of
phonetics and writing:
These impacts include monosyllabicization, e.g.: Deus (God) – Dêu, etc. ; adding
tones, e.g.: Cruz – Câu rút (the Cross), etc.; Vietnamizing consonant combinations,
e.g.: Bispo - Vítvồ; Vietnamizing vowel components: nasal vowel is processed into “ông”
or “ong”, e.g.: Atrição /atrisõ/ - Ăn năn tội a-tri-song; Bênção - Phép Biên-song…
4.2.2. Influence of Vietnamese structure on Catholic loan words in terms of
semantics
We have realized that there are words whose religious meaning remains
unchanged, for example: Cha xứ (Pastor), đất thánh (holy land), Thiên Chúa (God),
Dòng (Order), etc.; but there are also ones whose religious meaning is changed, for
example: Xưng tội (Confession), which is a Catholic jargon, meaning “an act with which
a layman confesses to a priest in a religious ceremony to have his/her sins forgiven” has


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been transformed into “self-confessing to others (not in a religious ceremony and not for
being forgiven”.
4.3. Involvement of the Catholic words in national language of Viet Nam
through Vietnamese literatures
4.3.1. Involvement of the Catholic words in national language of Viet Nam
through Vietnamese folk verses and proverb
4.3.1.1. Involvement of the Catholic words in folk verses and proverb describing
working and production activities: Sentences with Catholic characteristics can be easily
recognized.
Lễ Rosa thì tra hạt bí
Lễ Các thánh thì đánh bí ra
(Apply the squash seeds in Rosa ceremony
Dig the squash plants for growing in All Saints Day)

4.3.1.2. Involvement of the Catholic words in folk verses and proverb concerning
love, marriage, family
Amen, lạy Đức Chúa Trời
Xin cho bên Đạo, bên Đời lấy nhau.
(Amen, Oh my God
Please let the christian and the gentile get married.)
4.3.1.3. Involvement of the Catholic words in folk verses and proverb concerning
religious living
Có thực mới vực được Đạo. (Fine words butter no parsnip.)
Đi Đạo lấy gạo mà ăn. (Follow Catholics to get rice.)
4.3.1.4. Involvement of the Catholic words in folk verses and proverb concerning
the living, society and how to treat others
Em như một đóa hoa đào
Mẹ cha muốn phước bắt vào nhà tu
Trăm nghìn lạy Chúa Giêsu
Nhà tu đừng hóa nhà tù giam em.


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(You look like a bunch of peach blossom. Forced to stay at monastery by your
father with the hope of all the best for you.But, God Jesus! Please don’t turn the
monastery to a prison).
We can see that the words that are Catholic jargons in the above fork verses have
transcended the boundary of the liturgical language and entered the language of everyday
life at a pretty high level of “non- jargonization” of folk verses - proverbs.
4.3.2. Involvement of the Catholic words in national language of Viet Nam
through written literatures
Through studying a number of selected works, we have found that the Catholic
jargons enters the national language of Viet Nam in various aspects: Words referring to

hierarchy, titles in the Catholics; words referring to the system of administrative and
corporate levels in the Catholics; words referring to the system of the Catholic rituals
and liturgies; Words referring to the system of religious facilities of the Catholic
communion; Catholic words referring to Catholic objects; Catholic words referring to the
system of Catholic philosophical and ideological concepts in daily Vietnamese language;
words referring to the common activities of the Catholic communion.
4.4. Sub-conclusion
Based on the organic relationship between language and religion, we have
mentioned the activities of the Catholic words in daily Vietnamese language, in the
following aspects:
The impact of structure of Vietnamese on the Catholic loan words is called the
process of Vietnamization of Indo-European originated Catholic words. These words are
affected on all three aspects: phonetics, semantics and writing.
The active participation of the Catholic words in the daily Vietnamese language is
the process of “non-jargonizing” the Catholic words. The Catholic words that are
considered jargons, were used only in a communion of special communication, has
transcended their own boundary and transformed into the national language of Viet Nam,
contributing to fulfilling the communication mission of the national language of Viet
Nam, because they are all part of the Vietnamese language in general. This trend


16

indicates that the Catholic community in Vietnam is not a closed community but an open
one like its Catholic (universal) nature.

CONCLUSION
There are few studies on the Catholic words in Vietnamese language
currently. This thesis is in such a general context, so there are definitely many
limitations. Targeted at the Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican order

Dioceses in Viet Nam, we firstly wish to provide an overview of this group of words,
then reflect partial characteristics of the Catholic words in Viet Nam which have not been
included in many studies. For that purpose and with specialized methodologies, including
surveying text, and linguistic description, and with the tactics such as: functional
analysis, structure analysis, the semantic constituent analysis, reference analysis, statistics
and classification, etc., we have surveyed and identified lexical units of the Catholic
words in distinction with other classes of words; classified and described the linguistic
characteristics of the Catholic lexical units; studied developments of these Catholic words
in the daily Vietnamese language in general. Specifically, the thesis has reached the
following findings:
1. On the theoretical basis of semantic vocabulary in general and semantic
vocabulary in relation to religion, the thesis has located the Catholic words in the prayer
books of the Dominican order Diocese in particular, Catholic words in Viet Nam in
general in the Vietnamese system. This positioning is important because it shows the
position and presence of a particular class of religious words in Vietnamese language that
no one has done before. This positioning initially shapes or identifies characteristics and
criteria for the study object not to be confused with the words of other classes and scopes.
2. Under the diachronic perspective, the Catholic words in the prayer books of the
Dominican order dioceses in Viet Nam in particular, the general Vietnamese Catholic
words have undergone a process of formation and development associated with the
process of introduction and development of the Catholic communion in Viet Nam. The
thesis has studied and identified two ways to form this group of words: borrowing and
creating new words.


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The borrowing is an important way, accounting for the highest proportion (about
78%) of lexical units, due to the need to spread the religious messages which requires
introduction of Catholic concepts into Viet Nam which were not available in Viet Nam

before that. The borrowing takes place in two aspects: Borrowing both form and content
or borrowing content only. The first borrowing results in words that are received in their
original and phonetical transcription modes. The second borrowing results in words that
are received through calque. The majority of Catholic words borrowed in Vietnamese can
be traced to deep roots because the Catholic vocabulary system in general is based on the
three languages associated with the formation of this religion, the Hebrew, Greek
and Latin, of which, Hebrew and Greek are the languages of the Bibles, Greek
and Latin are the languages of the Catholic theology, philosophy and liturgy. In
particular, Latin is the canonical language of the Catholic Communion. In addition, the
thesis has also identified the direct origin of Vietnamese Catholic words that are
intermediate languages of missionaries such as Portuguese and Spanish based on similar
readings of their lexical units. Because of the importance of Sino-Vietnamese reading in
the Vietnamese, the thesis has also discussed this type of units. We have also compared
the Catholic words with a Sino-Vietnamese reading to Chinese Catholic words to see
their connections. The comparison findings are surprising, this word class of two
neighboring languages has almost no relation to each other. This is consistent with the
independence in the history of Catholic evangelization into China and into Viet Nam.
Appearance of the way of creating new words to form a class of Catholic words in
the prayer books of the Dominnican order Dioceses in Viet Nam partly shows the
autonomy, maturity and depth of the Catholic integration in Viet Nam. During the
development process, the Catholic community in Viet Nam has created new entities and
concepts, which results in failure to satisfy by borrowing, and causes the indigenous
community to create new names to identify them. The ways to creating new words can be
divided into two types of structures: The one that uses new forms to express new
content, including creating a new sound shell to name a newly formed concept,
compounding to create new words, shortening to create new words, both shortening and
compounding to create new words, etc.; And, the one that uses existing forms


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and materials to express new content, and known as the method of creating new words by
meaning development. For the Catholic words in the studied prayers, the thesis has
shown that creation of new words in this way is mainly to add new meaning to an
existing word in Vietnamese, which can be a common term, but also a jargon of a certain
religion or belief used in the Vietnamese language.
Put the study findings concerning the ways of formation of the Catholic words in
the prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam in comparison with the
Buddhist jargon system in Viet Nam in particular and Vietnamese language in general,
we have found that in addition to the similarities in the ways of formation, methods of
borrowing if borrowing, methods of construction if creating new words, there is a major
difference in the origin of the lending languages and usage level of words with SinoVietnamese reading. For example, for origins of the lending languages, the borrowed
Buddhist jargons primarily originated from Asian languages, the borrowed Catholic
jargons, in contrast, mainly originated from Afro-Asiatic and Indo-European languages,
such as Jewish, Greek, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, etc. There have been few studies so
far concerning the Vietnamese loan words, of course including words borrowed from
Buddhism and Catholicism, in terms of borrowing between Vietnamese language and
Sanskrit through the Buddhist vocabulary system, between Vietnamese language and
Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, etc. through the Catholic vocabulary
system; Regarding the level of using words with a Sino-Vietnamese reading: while the
general assumption believes that the Sino-Vietnamese words account for 60-80% of the
Vietnamese words, in Buddhism, according to Le Thi Lam, Sino-Vietnamese words
dominate 98.8% [60, p.142], the survey findings show that these words only account for
23% of the Catholic words in the studied documents. This difference is due to: The
Vietnamese language system in general is heavily influenced by Sino language over
thousands of years of Northern domination with linguistic and cultural assimilation; For
Buddhism, most of the Buddhist Sutras are translated from Sino language into
Vietnamese and one of the ways to Viet Nam of Buddhism is from China. Meanwhile,
Catholics entered Viet Nam directly by European missionaries, bringing with them the
Indo-European Catholic vocabulary system. The history of mission in Viet Nam is also

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completely independent, with almost no relation to the history of mission in
China. Moreover, the missionaries who entered Viet Nam often studied Vietnamese with
ordinary people, and the subjects who received the early teachings were mainly the
ordinary people, so the Sino-Vietnamese words were considered ambiguous and
complicated, etc. Those are the reasons why Sino-Vietnamese words appear very little
compared to other groups of words in the studied documents.
3. The third study aspect of the thesis is the structural and semantic characteristics
of the Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam.
In terms of morphological structure, the Catholic words in the prayers are formed
based on the Vietnamese word structure, including single words, compound words and
denomination combinations. There are no Catholic words in the prayer books in
repetition form, and there are also no semantics identified as idioms. The compound
words account for the highest proportion of 77.74% of the total number of lexical units,
the single words account for 8.39% and the denomination combinations account for
13.87% of the Catholic words in the studied documents. This is consistent with the
construction of the Vietnamese vocabulary in general with most of the compound
words. It is thanks to the method of compounding that the range of Catholic words can
easily be borrowed (through calque and hybrid compounding) and creating new words to
meet the needs of the community.
In terms of categories, the words being nouns account for the highest proportion of
the total number of both single words (67.36%) and compound words (73.40%). This
finding reflects the current state of the religious content conveyed in Catholicism is
largely concepts. If studied in terms, most of these concepts are Catholic terms.
In terms the origin of the Catholic word constituents: single words with IndoEuropean constituents occupy the highest proportion of single words, with 48/95 units
(50.52%); In contrast, compound words with pure Vietnamese constituents have a
superior rate with 425/880 units (more than 48%). The findings show that: Indigenous

European-originated single words represent a high proportion, showing the magnitude of
direct borrowing from these languages. In contrast, native Vietnamese compound words


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occupying a high rate shows that is a method of Vietnamese word formation, creating a
higher volume of secondary words, a more creative product of Vietnamese people.
The proportion of Catholic single words, compound words and denomination
combinations with Sino-Vietnamese elements is always low, 21.05%, 16.90%, and 9.61%
respectively. The findings showed a non-significant influence of Sino-Vietnamese
reading on this word class. The reasons for origins of forming the Sino-Vietnamese
reading for the Catholic words have been presented in studies on the ways of formation
of Catholic words.
In terms of semantics, the thesis mainly describes two characteristics related to
denomination characteristics and characteristics of classifying words in terms of
semantics. The thesis has found 8 fundamental characteristics as a basis for
denomination: Characteristics of content and meaning of holding the religious ceremony,
Characteristics of holder of the religious ceremony, Characteristics of action or gesture
in the religious ceremony, Characteristics of target audience of the religious ceremony,
Characteristics of places where religious ceremony is held, Characteristics of material
elements in the religious ceremonies, Characteristic of time of the religious ceremony,
Characteristic of spiritual level in the religious ceremonies. These denomination
characteristics constitute the peculiarity of Catholic words.
Catholic words were jargons, in other words they belonged to a certain social
dialect, so it was difficult to reach out to people outside the Catholic community. The
thesis initially solves this problem by classifying the Catholic words in the studied
documents based on the semantic categories, to explain them in the system. This enables
the readers to both grasp content that explains each word briefly, and also receive it in
comparison with other concepts in the system or in a semantic category.

By classifying words according to the semantic categories, we have found that the
liturgical and rituals words account for the largest number, with 460/1132 units
(40.64%). Common words account for the lowest rate of only 6.80%, with 77/1132
units. It is because that the former group accounts for the highest proportion as the
studied documents are all prayers. Moreover, religious words or jargons are mainly
different from nationwide words in the technical or terminological conceptual system and


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this group of vocabulary belongs to the that of high professionalism. A little rate of
common words shows that, apart from the religious activities serving the religious needs,
the common activities and languages of the Catholic community are not different, but
belong to the common community nationwide.
4.

Under the concept of the close organic relationship between the

language and the religion, the thesis studies the activities of Catholic words in the daily
Vietnamese language in two aspects: Influence of Vietnamese language on the Catholic
vocabulary class, and vice versa through involvement of these words in the daily
Vietnamese language.
The Catholic words are those - concepts formed by borrowing or self-creating. In
addition to the new words directly born by the native community, the Indo-European
Catholic words when coming to Viet Nam were influenced by many factors of the
Vietnamese language to actually become a product of this language. This is the process
of Vietnamizing the borrowed words. The study findings show that the Catholic words in
the prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet Nam are subject to changes in
both phonetics and semantics. The loan words of Indo-European origin that have
phonetic characteristics different from Vietnamese are independent languages,

undergoing changes to adapt with the systematic phonetic characteristics of the
Vietnamese language, such as: monosyllabicizing, adding tones, changing double
consonant, etc. In terms of semantics, besides most of the Catholic words which retain
their original meaning, the thesis has recorded 38/1132 lexical units with a change in
meaning, mainly with broader sense, for example: Ba thù (Three enemies), which meant
in Catholics as “The three enemies that cause sins to human beings are: Devil, world,
flesh”, has its sense expanded to mean “Enemy in general” in the daily Vietnamese
language; Bảy mối tội đầu (Seven origin sins), meant in Catholics as “the seven causes of
sins, consisting of: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth”, has its sense
expanded to mean “Sources of sin conviction in general” in the daily Vietnamese
language; Pharisiêu (Pharisaicist), which meant in Catholics as “A group of Jewish
believers strictly following the rules, living separately from ordinary people”, has its


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sense expanded to mean “people living in hypocrisy and having extreme spirit” the daily
Vietnamese language, etc.
In terms of life of the Catholic word class in Vietnamese language, in addition to
understanding the effects of rules of Vietnamese language on the borrowed Catholic
words, the thesis has presented the trend of transforming into the nationwide Vietnamese
language through folklore and writing literature. The study has demonstrated the
participation of Catholic words on many topics in the Vietnamese folklore and in
literature. This shows that although Catholic words were jargons traditionally, they tend
to involve in the nationwide Vietnamese language, collaborating in fulfilling the general
communication mission of the Vietnamese language, because they are all part of the
Vietnamese language in general. Studying this transformation trend may be of
significance for assessing the presence of the Catholic community, Catholic culture in the
Vietnam society and culture.
With the study, the thesis tries to present an overview of the characteristics of the

Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican order Dioceses in Viet
Nam. Thereby, it contributes to drawing a picture of the Catholic words in Viet Nam in
general, bringing more or less useful things to learn and study Catholic prayer words and
Catholic words in Viet Nam. With current studies on the Catholic words in Viet Nam, we
have realized that there should be works on standardization of Vietnamese Catholic
words, and codification of the Catholic words with significant involvement in the daily
Vietnamese language in Vietnamese dictionary, etc. to facilitate correct and consistent
use of these words.
In the context of a few studies on the Catholic words in Viet Nam, the thesis
remains still sketchy with some shortcomings. The object of the thesis is only included in
a small scope which is the Catholic words in the prayer books of the Dominican order
Dioceses in Viet Nam, while we don’t have much data for immediate comparing with the
Catholic words in the prayer books of dioceses in other regions; comparing with the
Catholic words in other areas of activity of the Catholic communion; or comparing the
characteristics of Catholic words with the words of other religions in Vietnam, etc. except
for some cases of comparison with the Buddhist words in Viet Nam, because this religion


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has been much studied and seems to be the single one with in-depth study in Viet Nam.
The missing points of our thesis as mentioned above are those we are expected to carry
out in our further studies. We are looking forward to all your constructive feedbacks to
further realized our plans, to make our these more complete and equip ourselves with
more useful insights, helping our studies to make more effective contributions.