HANOI METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF LEXICOLOGY

BY

NAME: Nguyen Thu Hue STUDENT’S CODE: 220000599

NAME: Vu Thi Nhat Hai STUDENT’S CODE: 220000587

NAME: Dang Thi Lan Huong STUDENT’S CODE: 220000610

CLASS: NNA D2020A

INSTRUCTOR: Dr Nguyen Thi Van Anh

2022

ABSTRACT

Morphology is a branch of linguistics and is closely related to contrastive analysis.

With a wide knowledge base, it is essential to form a research paper on the
morphological aspect of the process of learning contrastive analysis. Inspired by
the above necessity, this project work on morphology contrastive analysis in
English and Vietnamese languages. The method of getting this work done involves
studying and analyzing the morphemes of English and Vietnamese. The scope of
this work is The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
and its Vietnamese translation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Approval Abstract

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1. Background
2. Purpose/Aim of the study

The purpose of this research is to clarify the theory of linguistics in general and
morphology in particular. In addition, this study also carries out and contrasts
aspects related to morphometry on research scopes which are two different
languages, namely English and Vietnamese. As a result, this research can draw
out conclusions about the morphological similarities and differences between
these two languages, and at the same time verify the theoretical accuracy of the
differences between the types of language.

3. Scope of the research

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the Governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles, and
organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments
long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

Line 8 to 17 On Archives.gov

Bản tuyên ngôn nhất trí của mười ba Hợp bang Mỹ châu

Chúng tôi khẳng định một chân lý hiển nhiên rằng mọi người sinh ra đều bình
đẳng, rằng tạo hóa đã ban cho họ những quyền tất yếu và bất khả xâm phạm,
trong đó có quyền được sống, quyền được tự do và mưu cầu hạnh phúc. Rằng
để đảm bảo cho những quyền lợi này, các chính phủ được lập ra trong nhân dân
và có được quyền lực chính đáng trên cơ sở sự đồng ý của nhân dân, rằng bất cứ
 khi nào một thể chế chính quyền nào đó phá vỡ những mục tiêu này, thì nhân
dân có quyền thay đổi hoặc loại bỏ chính quyền đó và lập nên một chính quyền
mới, đặt trên nền tảng những nguyên tắc cũng như tổ chức thực thi quyền hành
theo một thể chế sao cho có hiệu quả tốt nhất đối với an toàn và hạnh phúc của
họ. Thật vậy, sự thận trọng sẽ buộc người ta hiểu rõ rằng một chính quyền đã
được thiết lập qua một thời gian dài thì không nên thay đổi chỉ vì những lý do
đơn giản, nhất thời. Mọi kinh nghiệm đều đã chứng tỏ điều đó, rằng khi cái xấu
còn trong chừng mực chịu đựng nổi, thì nhân loại dễ cam chịu nó, hơn là dám
tự trao cho mình quyền loại bỏ những thể chế mà họ đã quen thuộc.

Theo Tuyên ngôn Độc lập Hoa Kỳ (1776)

(do Đại sứ quán Hoa Kỳ tại Việt Nam dịch)

Dòng 7 đến 21, https://vi.wikisource.org/

Chapter Two: Contrastive analysis on morphology

2.1. CA on Morphology

2.1.1 Contrastive analisys (CA) and the fields of linguistic

a) What is contrastive analisys (CA)

- Contrastive analisys is a sub-discipline of linguistics that prioritizes the use of

contrasting methods of different languages to find out the similarities and
differences between them for theoretical and practical purposes.

b) The feilds of linguistic

- Historical linguistics

- Syntax and morphology

- Semantics and pragmatics

- Phonetics and phonology

- Typology
2.2.2 Morphology

a) Morphology and morpheme

- Morphology definition: In linguistics, morphology, is the discipline of identifying,

analyzing and describing the structure of morphemes (also known as elements,
words) and other meaningful units such as words, affixes, word types, tones,
implication. In other

- Morphemes: are the smallest meaningful unit which may consitute words of part
of words. They are “smallest” or “minimal” in the sence that they can not be
broken down further on the basis of meaning.

b) Types of morpheme

- There are two types of morphemes:

+ Free morphemes: Morphemes that can occur independently (as individual words)
and have particular meaning (Eg: cat, child, sleep,...). Free morphemes can be
categorized into Lexical morphemes and Grammatical/ Functional morphemes

 The lexical morphemes are those morphemes that are large in number and
independently meaningful. The lexical morphemes include nouns, adjectives,
and verbs.
 The grammatical or functional morphemes are those morphemes that consist
of functional words in a language, such as prepositions, conjunctions
determiners, and pronouns.

+ Bound morphemes: Morphemes that can occur with another morphemes and can
not stand alone as individual words. Bound morphemes can be categorized into
Bound roots and Affixes.

 Bound roots are those Bound morphemes that have lexical meaning when
they are included in other bound morphemes to form the content words.
 Affixes are those bound morphemes that naturally attached different types of
words and are used to change the meaning or function of those words.

- All morphemes realized in utterances are called morphs

c) Morphs and syllables

- Morphs are manifestations of morphemes and represent a specific meaning

- Syllables are parts of words which are isolatedonly syllables on the basis of
pronunciation.

Eg: Unemployment have 3 morphs (un + employ + ment) and 4 syllables

(un/em/ploy/ment)

2.2. How to do the contrastive analysis

2.2.1 The difference between English and Vietnamese based on the

classification of the language types

2.2.1.1 Isolating language and Fusional language

- An isolating language is a type of language with a morpheme per word ratio close
to one, and with no inflectional morphology whatsoever. In the extreme case, each
word contains a single morpheme. Vietnamese is one of the languages that belongs
to the type of isolating languages.

- Fusional languages or inflected languages are a type of synthetic language,

distinguished from agglutinative languages by their tendency to use a single
inflectional morpheme to denote multiple grammatical, syntactic, or semantic
features. In other words, A fusional language is a language in which one form of a
morpheme can simultaneously encode several meanings. Fusional languages may
have a large number of morphemes in each word, but morpheme boundaries are
difficult to identify because the morphemes are fused together. Most European
languages are somewhat fusional, including English.

2.2.1.2 Determine the number of morphemes in English and Vietnamese

- Based on the above theory, we know that Vietnamese belongs to the type of
independent language, while English belongs to the type of fusional language. In
Vietnamese, counting the number of morphemes is easy because each word in
Vietnamese is considered a morpheme. On the other hand, getting to the number of
morphemes in English is quite difficult because English morphemes are divided
into many types with many levels, and we have to rely on the meaning to determine
the morphemes. Besides, an English word can have one or several morphemes put
together. From that, it can be concluded that the number of morphemes in an
English sentence and the number of morphemes in a translated Vietnamese
sentence are different.

2.2.2 Contrast on the research scope

2.2.2.1 Contrast on the number of morphemes

English sentence 1: We/ hold (held + past tense) these/ truth/s/ to/ be/ self/-evident/,
that/ all/ Men/ are/ create/d/ equal/, that/ they/ are/ endow/ed/, by/ their/ creator
(create + or), with/ certain/ unalienable (un + alienate + able) Right/s/, that/ among/
these/ are/ Life/, Liberty/, and/ the/ Pursuit/ of/ Happiness (happy + ness).

Vietnamese sentence 1: Chúng tôi khẳng định một chân lý hiển nhiên rằng mọi
người sinh ra đều bình đẳng, rằng tạo hóa đã ban cho họ những quyền tất yếu và bất
khả xâm phạm, trong đó có quyền được sống, quyền được tự do và mưu cầu hạnh
phúc.

English sentence 2: That/ to/ secure/ these/ Right/s/, Govern/ment/s/ are/ institute/d
among/ Men/, deriving (derive + ing) their/ just/ power/s/ from/ the/ consent/ of/
the/ Govern/ed/, that/ when/ever/ any/ form/ of/ Govern/ment/ become/s/
destruct/ive/ of/ these/ end/s/, it/ is/ the/ right/ of/the/ people/ to/ alter/ or/to/
abolish/ it/, and/ to/ institute/ new/ Govern/ment/, lay/ing/ it/s/ foundation (found +
ation) on/ such/ principle/s/, and/ organizing (organize + ing) it/s/ Power/s/ in/ such/
Form/, as/ to/ them/ shall/ seem/ most/ like/ly/ to/ effect/ their/ Safe/ty/ and/
Happiness (happy + ness).

Vietnamese sentence 2: Rằng để đảm bảo cho những quyền lợi này, các chính phủ
được lập ra trong nhân dân và có được quyền lực chính đáng trên cơ sở sự đồng ý
của nhân dân, rằng bất cứ khi nào một thể chế chính quyền nào đó phá vỡ những
mục tiêu này, thì nhân dân có quyền thay đổi hoặc loại bỏ chính quyền đó và lập
nên một chính quyền mới, đặt trên nền tảng những nguyên tắc cũng như tổ chức
thực thi quyền hành theo một thể chế sao cho có hiệu quả tốt nhất đối với an toàn
và hạnh phúc của họ.
English sentence 3: Prudence/, indeed/, will/ dictate/, that/ Govern/ment/s/ long/
establish/ed/, should/ not/ be/ change/d/ for/ light/ and/ transient/ cause/s; and/
accord/ing/ly/ all/ experience/ hath/ shewn(show + past tense), that/ man/kind/ are/
more/ dispose/d/ to/ suffer/, while/ evil/s/ are/ suffer/able/, than/ to/ right/
themselves (themself + plural) by/ abolish/ing/ the/ form/s/ to/ which/ they/ are/
accustom/ed.

Vietnamese sentence 3: Thật vậy, sự thận trọng sẽ buộc người ta hiểu rõ rằng một
chính quyền đã được thiết lập qua một thời gian dài thì không nên thay đổi chỉ vì
những lý do đơn giản, nhất thời. Mọi kinh nghiệm đều đã chứng tỏ điều đó, rằng
khi cái xấu còn trong chừng mực chịu đựng nổi, thì nhân loại dễ cam chịu nó, hơn
là dám tự trao cho mình quyền loại bỏ những thể chế mà họ đã quen thuộc

Language Sentences Words Morphs Fingdings

- In Vietnamese, the number of

Sentence 1 35 44
words and morphemes in a
sentence is the same. Meanwhile
English Sentence 2 75 98 in English, there is a difference
between the number of words
and the number of morphemes
Sentence 3 47 63 in the sentence.

- The reason for this difference

Sentence 1 48 48 is that in English there are
bound morphemes (including
root and affixes). Affixes when
Vietnamese Sentence 2 107 107
added before or after the root
morphemes will not change the
Sentence 3 83 83 word count, instead the number
of morphemes will increase.

2.2.2.2 Root and affixes

Sentences Words Root Affixes Findings

 - endowed - endow - ed - In English,
affixes are added to
- đã ban cho - ban/ cho - đã the beginning or
-Rights - s (plural end of a word,
- right thereby creating a
form)
-Những quyền new word with a
- quyền lợi
lợi - những different meaning,
the number of
- Creator - create - or (refering words does not
1
- Tạo hóa - tạo ra to people) change but the
number of
- Unalienable - un + able morphemes
- alienate
(không thể increases.
- bất khả xâm
- xa lánh được) Meanwhile, in
phạm Vietnamese, there
- happiness - happy are no affixes, but
- ness (noun there are auxiliary
- hạnh phúc - hạnh phúc form) words. When
adding affixes in
2 - governments English, the
- các chính phủ - ment (noun number of words,
- govern form); s the number of
(It is the same (plural form) morphemes, and
with the words - chính phủ
the meaning of the
ends, rights and -các
original
powers) Vietnamese word
are also changed.
- ed (passice
- instituted - institute
void) - In many cases,
- được lập ra - lập ra adding affixes to
- được
words in English
- deriving - derive - ing (noun sentences does not
phrase) change the
- có được - có được, nhận meaning or part of
 ( It is the same speech of words in
with laying and được Vietnamese
organizing) sentences so the
sentence is suitable
- ed (pasive for the context of
void) ở đây the scope.
- governed có nghĩa
- govern
- trong nhân dân chính phủ
thuộc về
nhân dân

- safety,
happiness - ty, ness
- safe, happy
- an toàn, hạnh (noun form)
phúc

3 - governments

- các chính phủ - ment (noun

- govern form); s
(It is the same (plural form)
with the words - chính phủ
ends, rights and -các
powers)

- established
- establish -ed
- đã được thiết
- thiết lập - đã được
lập

- ed (passive
- changed - change voice )

- bị thay đổi - thay đổi - bị

- causes - cause - s (plural

form)
 - những lí do - lí do - những

- ing( noun
- accordingly - accord
phrase) + ly

- show +
- shewn - show
past tense
- đã chứng tỏ - chứng tỏ
- đã

- man

- con người
- mankind (những cá -kind (một
nhân, những nhóm, một
- nhân loại tập hợp )
con người
trong tập thể
loài người)

- dispose - ed (passive
- disposed
voice)
- dễ làm cho
- bị dễ làm cho
Bị

- sufferable - able
- suffer
- có thể cam - có
- cam chịu
chịu được thể...được

- themselves - themself
- themself +
- bản thân họ - bản thân họ plural form
(chỉ nhiều cá thể ( chỉ một cá thể
) duy nhất )

- ing
- abolishing - abolish
( noun
- loại bỏ - loại bỏ
phrase)

- forms - form - s ( plural

 form)
- những thể chế -thể chế
- những

- accustomed - accustom - ed

- đã quen thuộc - quen với

- s (plural
- evils - evil
form)
- những cái xấu - cái xấu
- những

2.2.2.3 Possible semantic change

English Vietnamese Findings

Hold: cầm, nắm, giữ,etc But in the

We hold these ( truth material, they use “khẳng định”
Chúng tôi khẳng định
- s) to be (self - instead of “nắm giữ/ nắm bắt” to
một chân lý hiển nhiên
evident) emphasize the truth that the author
will mention in the article..

Truths: những sự thật, những chân

lý. In the English translation, the
word "truths" refers to the truths
that the author states later such as
"that all Men are created equal"; "
... these truths ... một chân lí that they are endowed"... so the
word "truths" is in plural form.
But in the Vietnamese translation,
it means "một chân lý" to affirm,
emphasize and focus on equality -
which is “bình đẳng”

Governments are các chính phủ được lập In the Vietnamese text, the first
instituted among ra trong nhân dân và “nhân dân” is translated as "men",
Men, deriving their có được quyền lực but the second “nhân dân” is
 called "govered". Based on the
context of the text, government is
established based on the consent
of the people and belongs to the
just powers from the chính đáng trên cơ sở people, which can be understood
consent of the sự đồng ý của nhân as the people creating the
Governed dân government (or the government
originating from the people). so
the 2nd “nhân dân” is translated as
"govered" with the meaning of
belonging to the people.

"becomes destructive" translates

into Vietnamese as "trở nên tàn
phá/phá hoại" (adjective form),
but in Vietnamese texts the verb
"phá vỡ" is used. If we keep the
that whenever any rằng bất cứ khi nào
adjective form in the Vietnamese
form of Government một thể chế chính
text, the translation’s context will
becomes destructive quyền nào đó phá vỡ
no longer match the original text.
of these ends những mục tiêu này
"trở nên phá hoại" has a less
formal style for political writing.
so the translator considered
changing the word type
accordingly.

Chapter Three: Finding

3.1. Findings from the research

- In Vietnamese, the number of words and morphemes in a sentence is the same.

Meanwhile in English, there is a difference between the number of words and the
number of morphemes in the sentence.

- The reason for this difference is that in English there are bound morphemes
(including root and affixes). Affixes when added before or after the root
morphemes will not change the word count, instead the number of morphemes will
increase.

- In English, affixes are added to the beginning or end of a word, thereby creating a
new word with a different meaning, the number of words does not change but the
number of morphemes increases. Meanwhile, in Vietnamese, there are no affixes,
but there are auxiliary words. When adding affixes in English, the number of
words, the number of morphemes, and the meaning of the translated Vietnamese
sentences are also changed.

- In many cases, adding affixes to words in English sentences does not change the
meaning or part of speech of words in Vietnamese sentences so the sentence is
suitable for the context of the scope.

- In many cases, the translation of the second language does not completely match
the semantics of the first language. This is not due to errors in the translation
process, but due to many different reasons.

+ The first is due to respect to the context of the research object. If during the
translation process, the translator does not consider the variations, then the
translated text may have a context that does not match the original text.

+ Second, because each language is different in many aspects such as structure,

grammar, word type, etc., when performing translation work, translators must
respect the distinctive individual factors of each language.

+ This is the result of the transfer process in the research of contrastive analysis.
Translation does not need to be close to 100% of the meaning of the original text,
but it is still easy for readers to understand and the translated text has the right style
and context, it is the result of the positive transfer.
3.2 Conclusion

References

1. James, C(1980). Contrastive Linguistics. Longman

2. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ (2016). Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu (Contrastive Linguistics).
Hanoi Metropolitan University.
3. Robert Lado (1999). Linguistics across cultures, Ann Arbor
4. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
5. https://vi.wikisource.org/wiki/Tuyên_ngôn_Độc_lập_Hoa_Kỳ
6. bktt.vn.Chuyển_di_ngôn_ngữ
7. https://membean.com/roots/ac-towards
8. https://iievietnam.org/cac-loai-tu-trong-tieng-viet/
9. https://tr-ex.me/positive_and_negative_transfer
10.dictionary.cambridge.org