1. What is Contrastive Analysis? Give an example to illustrate the definition.

Answers: (5 points)
- Fisiak (1981) defines CA as "a sub-discipline of linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more
languages or subsystems of language in order to determine both the differences and similarities between
them.“
In other words, CA is a branch of applied linguistics that is concerned with studying and finding the
similarities and differences between a pair of languages or more based on the assumption that languages can
be compared then applying these findings to the area of teaching and learning languages.
E.g., A study on vowels in English and Vietnamese – A contrastive analysis
2. What is the difference between comparative linguistics and contrastive linguistics?

Answers: (5 points)
Comparative study
1. makes a diachronic study
2.The subjects of comparison are limited to its
parent language and language
3. aims at the homogeneity of the languages
compared
4. languages compared are not limited
5. It is intended to penetrate and make clear the
laws of the historical development, international
communication
Contrastive study
1. makes a synchronic study
2. the subjects of contrast are its parent or not
parent
3. aims at the heterogeneity of the languages
compared
4. languages are limited to two, generally
speaking
5. Provide a practical use in language teaching;
dictionary compiling & translation.

3. What is interference/transfer? Discuss positive & negative transfer.

Answers: (5 points)
- The term transfer/interference is dealt with in CA to explain the difficulties learners face in learning a
second language. To avoid any misunderstanding, transfer is used interchangeably with interference.
Transfer refers to the influence of L1 on L2 in both positive and negative way. Odlin (1989) presents a
definition of transfer as "The influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target
language and any other language that has been previously acquired”.
- Positive transfer occurs where a language item in L1 is also present in L2, so acquisition of this item makes
little or no difficulty for the learners. Negative transfer occurs when there is no concordance between L1 and
L2 and thus, acquisition of the new L2 structure would be more difficult and errors reflecting L1 structure
would be produced. (Powell: 1998)

4. What is the procedure for contrastive analysis?

Answers: (5 points)
According to Lado (1957), Contrastive analysis goes through 4 stages:
1. Description: linguist explicitly describes the two languages under study
2. Selection: he selects forms (rules, structures) for contrast
3. Contrast: he compares and draws one linguistic system on the other to specify the relationship of one
system with the other.
4. Prediction based on the analysis.

5. What is a vowel? What is a consonant? What is the difference between a vowel and a consonant?

Answers: (5 points)
Definition:
A vowel is a speech sound in which the airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any way in the mouth or
throat – and which is usually pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords, e.g. English /i:/ in /si:/ see and
/u:/ in /tu:/ too.
A consonant is a speech sound where the air stream from the lungs is either completely blocked (STOP),
partially blocked (LATERAL), or where the opening is so narrow the air escapes with audible friction
(FRICATIVE). With some consonants (NASAL) the air stream is blocked in the mouth but allowed to
escape through the nose.
Difference between a vowel and a consonant:
A vowel is produced without any stoppage of the airstreams in the oral cavity meanwhile there is obstruction
in the production of a consonant.
A vowel is syllabic, i.e., it forms the center or nucleus of a syllable meanwhile a consonant is not except
some syllabic consonants. Ex: are (V), car (CV), art (VC), cart (CVC)

6. What is a vowel? Compare and contrast English and Vietnamese vowels?

Answers: (5 points)
Definition: A vowel is a speech sound in which the airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any way in
the mouth or throat – and which is usually pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords, e.g. English /i:/ in
/si:/ see and /u:/ in /tu:/ too.
Compare and contrast English and Vietnamese vowels
English vowels: There are 5 long vowels: i: u: ɜ: ɔ: a: and 7 short vowels: ə ɪ e æ ʌ ʊ ɒ. And there
are 12 diphthongs: /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/, /ei/, /ai/, / /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/
Eg:
Vietnamese vowels: The vowel is the nucleus of words in Vietnamese. Each word contains one vowel or a
group of vowels with or without a consonant preceding or following. There are 13 vowels: /i, e, ε, ɤ, ɤˇ, a,
ɯ, ă, u, o, ɔ, ɔˇ, εˇ/, and 3 diphthongs: /ie, ɯɤ, uo/. In spelling, we have these vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ,
u, ư, y.
Eg:
7. What is a consonant? Compare and contrast English and Vietnamese consonants.

Answers: (5 points)
Definition: A consonant is a speech sound where the air stream from the lungs is either completely blocked
(STOP), partially blocked (LATERAL), or where the opening is so narrow the air escapes with audible
friction (FRICATIVE). With some consonants (NASAL) the air stream is blocked in the mouth but allowed
to escape through the nose.
Compare and contrast English and Vietnamese consonants:
+ English consonants: 24 consonants: Plosive stop: Ex: /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, /k/; Fricative: Ex: /f/, /v/, /s/,
/z/, /h/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/; Affricate: Ex: /tʃ/, /dʒ/; Nasal: Ex: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/; Lateral: Ex: /l/; & Gliding or semi-
vowel consonants: Ex: /w/, /r/, /j/
+ Vietnamese consonants: 22 initial consonants: /b, m, f, v, t, t’, d, n, z, ʐ, s, ş, c, ʈ, ɲ, l, k, χ, ŋ, ɣ, h, ʔ/ and
8 ending/ closing consonants in which there are 6 consonants /m, n, ŋ, p, t, k/ and 2 semi-vowels /-w, -i/.

8. What are sentence elements in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese? Give an example for
each.

In English In Vietnamese
Subject Chủ ngữ
Predicator Vị tố
 Predicate Vị ngữ
Object Tân ngữ
Complement Bổ ngữ
Theme-complement Đề ngữ
Adjunct Gia ngữ
Disjunct Biệt tố
Conjunct Liên tố

Thế là Có lẽ Bây giờ Bọn trẻ Học Tiếng hàn Trên lớp Nhỉ?
Liên tố Biệt tố Gia ngữ Vị tố Tân ngữ Bổ ngữ Biệt tố
Chủ ngữ Vị ngữ

In my George And Martha Are diner At Right

opinion, having George’s now?
place
Disjunct Conjunct Verb Object Adjunct
Predicator
Subject Predicate

9. What are clause’s elements and verb patterns in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese? Give
an example for each.

 Clause’s elements:
In English In Vietnamese
Subject Chủ ngữ
Verb Động từ
Object Tân ngữ
Complement Bổ ngữ
Adverbial Trạng ngữ

He is lovely Anh ấy thông minh SVCs Intensive

He is out of the office Anh ấy đi ra ngoài SVA
He is crying Anh ấy đang cười SV Intransitive Extensive
He broke the vase Anh ấy làm vỡ cái chén SVO Transitive
He sent me an e-mail Anh ấy gửi tôi một tin nhắn SVOO
He found the play boring Anh ấy cho rằng vở kịch SVOCo
nhàm chán
He put the vase on the table Anh ấy đặt cái chén lên bàn SVOA

10. What does word mean? What do morphemes mean? Give examples in English & Vietnamese.

Answers: (5 points)
Word means dialectical unity of form and content, independent unit of language capable to form a sentence
by itself.
E.g.:
In English: book, bookish, unlucky, lexicology, whitewash, kiss-me-quick, happy-go-lucky
In Vietnamese: tôi, bác, hoa, sông, nói cười, đường sắt, câu lạc bộ
Morphemes may be defined as the minimal meaningful language units. In Vietnamese, morphemes may
coincide with syllables.
E.g:
In English: book + -ish = bookish; un- + luck + -y = unlucky
In Vietnamese: đường + sắt = đường sắt; câu + lạc + bộ = câu lạc bộ

11. What is the definition of homonyms in English? How are homonyms classified in English and
Vietnamese? Give an example for each.

Answers: (5 points)
Definition: Homonyms are words identical in pronunciation and/or spelling but different in meaning. Eg:
‘here – hear’ in English; ‘con ngựa đá đá con ngựa đá’ in Vietnamese
How are homonyms classified in English and Vietnamese?
In English: There are 3 types of homonyms:
- Homophones: are words identical in pronunciation only, eg, buy – by
- Homographs: are words identical in spelling only, e.g., tear – tear
- Full (perfect) homonyms: are words identical in both pronunciation and spelling: e.g.,
fast (go without food or some kinds of food),fast (quickly) – fast (deeply, soundly)
In Vietnamese: There are 2 types:
- Full homonyms: are words identical in all parts of speech such as verbs, nouns, adjectives, e.g., đường
(đường để ăn) – đường (đường để đi); cầu (cầu xin) – cầu (cây cầu)
- Morpheme (syllable) homonyms: are words whose morpheme or syllable is identical in pronunciation &
spelling, e.g., yếu (tình trạng sức khỏe) – trọng yếu

12. What is the definition of idioms? How are idioms classified according to grammatical functions in
English? Give examples in English & Vietnamese.

 An idiom is a group of words in which the meaning cannot be explained in terms of the habitual
meanings of the words that make up the piece of language.
 Classified:
o Idioms nominal in nature: They have a noun as the key word in each and work as a noun in the
sentence.
- a white elephant: something useless and unwanted but big and costly (adj + n)
- flesh and blood: relatives and family (n + conj + n)
- green hand: inexperienced person (adj+ n)
- land of promise: paradise (n + prep + n)
o Idioms adjective in nature: Their constituents are probably not adjective, but they function as
adjectives. (simile)
Examples: as poor as a church mouse: having or earning barely enough money for one’s own
needs (as + adj + as + n)
o Idioms verbal in nature
* Phrasal verbs (v + prep/particle )
- go off with sth: leave someplace with that does not belong to one (v + particle + prep)
- look into: investigate
- take after sb: resemble (one’s father or mother) in appearance or character
 *Other verb phrase
- Burn one’s boat/bridges: to do something with the result that you will not be able to return to
a previous situation again, even if you want to (V + ‘s +N)
- Clean the feet of sb (V + N + prep + N): serve sb
o Idioms adverbial in nature: The idioms here contain numerous prepositional phrases, which can be
considered both as adjective and adverb, so the idioms which have the same structure may function
differently in a sentence.
- tooth and nail: with great violence and determination ( n+ conj +n)
- heart and soul: completely
o Sentence idioms
As we mentioned before, idioms are stable. The constituents can not be changed or replaced, so the
sentence idioms are sayings and proverbs, which can be subdivided into simple, compound and
complex sentences.
- Two heads are better than one.
- Diamonds cut diamonds.
- Many men, many minds.
- No pains no gains.
- He laughs best who laughs last.

13. What is the definition of figures of speech? Name types of figures of speech in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese. Give an example for each.
Answers: (5 points)
Definition: A figures of speech is ‘‘a word or phrase which is used for special effect, and which does not
have its usual or literal meaning’’
Types of figures of speech in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese
1. Simile and metaphor (Ví von/so sánh và ẩn dụ):
Eg: Simile: As fresh as a daisy; Trắng như tuyết
Metaphor: She is a fox (a cunning person)
“Êm đềm trướng rủ màn che
Tường đông ong bướm đi về mặc ai” (Nguyễn Du)
2. Personification (Nhân cách hóa)
Eg: - the thirsty ground, pitiless cold
- Em có nghe thấy gió nói gì không?
3. Metonymy (Hoán dụ)
Eg: - We live under the same roof (house)
- “Áo nâu cùng với áo xanh
Nông thôn cùng với thị thành đứng lên” (Tổ Hữu)
4. Synecdoche (Cải dung)
Eg: - She captured the hearts of the nation
- “Vì sao trái đất nặng ân tình
Nhắc mãi tên Người Hồ Chí Minh” (Tố Hữu)
5. Hyperbole (Nói quá)
Eg: - She sheds floods of tears.
“Độc ác thay, trúc Nam sơn không ghi hết tội
Dơ bẩn thay, nước Đông hải không rửa sạch mùi”
6. Litotes (Nói giảm)
Eg: - I don’t think I would agree with you.
- “Bác đã đi rồi sao Bác ơi!” (Tố Hữu)
7. Irony (Mỉa mai/ châm biếm)
Eg: - What a lovely day it was! Everything I had went wrong.
- Nếu tên bạn không phải là Google thì đừng có hành động như bạn biết tất cả mọi thứ vậy.
8. Euphemism
Eg: - He breathed his last.
- Ông ấy đã trút hơi thở cuối cùng.
9. Onomatopoeia (Sound imitation)
Eg: - Hiss, cuckoo
- quạc quạc, ào ào, rì rầm

14. Give the definition of simile and metaphors. Give examples in English and Vietnamese.

Answers: (5 points)
Simile is ‘‘the use of comparison of one thing with another’’.
Ex: - He runs as fast as the wind.
- Đỏ như son/máu
Metaphor is the transference of names based on the association of similarity. In other words, metaphor is a
hidden comparison.
Ex: - She has a heart of stone.
- Người Cha mái tóc bạc
Đốt lửa cho anh nằm

15. What is the definition of metonymy? Give examples in English and Vietnamese.

Answers: (5 points)
Definition: Metonymy is metonymy is the transference of name based on the association of contiguity. The
name of one thing is changed for that of another to which it is related.
Ex: - The kettle is boiling.
- “Áo nâu cùng với áo xanh,
Nông thôn cùng với thị thành đứng lên”