1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES MAI THỊ THU HÂN VERBS OF MOTION AND THEIR LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS AN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM COGNITIVE APPROACH (Động từ vận động và các mô hình từ vựng hoá của chúng Nghiên cứu so sánh Anh Việt từ góc độ ngôn ngữ học tri nhận) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Hanoi - 2010 2 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES MAI THỊ THU HÂN VERBS OF MOTION AND THEIR LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS AN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM COGNITIVE APPROACH (Động từ vận động và các mô hình từ vựng hoá của chúng Nghiên cứu so sánh Anh Việt từ góc độ ngôn ngữ học tri nhận) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trần Hữu Mạnh Hanoi - 2010 DECLARATION 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS PART 1. INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 2. Aims of the study 3. Scope of the study 4. Research questions 5. Contribution of the study 6. Methodology 7. Design of the study 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: VERBS OF MOTION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 1.1 Verbs of motion and their classification 1.2 The syntactic and semantic features of English motion verbs 1.3 The syntactic and semantic features of Vietnamese motion verbs 1.4 The similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese motion verbs 1.5 Summary 4 4 6 9 10 CHAPTER 2: COGNITIVE SEMANTICS AND THE THEORY OF LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS 2.1 An overview of Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics 2.1.1 Cognitive Linguistics and the key concepts 2.1.2 Cognitive semantics and its main tenets 2.1.3 Figure and Ground 2.2 The theory of lexicalization patterns 2.2.1 What is lexicalization? 11 11 12 12 14 14 7 2.2.2 The motion event 2.2.3 Satellites 2.2.4 A two-way typology of motion event 2.3 Summary 14 17 17 17 CHAPTER 3: A COMPARISON OF LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MOTION VERBS 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Lexicalization patterns of English and Vietnamese motion verbs 3.2.1 Lexicalization pattern 1: Motion + Co-event 3.2.2 Lexicalization pattern 2: Motion + Path 3.2.3 Lexicalization pattern 3: Motion + Figure 3.2.4 Other minor patterns 3.3 Split and parallel system of conflation 3.4 The parallel pattern of conflation in Vietnamese? 3.5 Summary 18 18 18 25 30 31 32 32 33 CHAPTER 4: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF MOTION VERBS AND THEIR LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS IN A SPECIFIC NOVEL TEXT– APPLICATIONS FOR TRANSLATORS AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS 4.1 Introduction 4.2 A comparative analysis on the motion verbs and lexicalization patterns of motion verbs in the chapter ‘The Battle of Hogwarts’ and its Vietnamese version 4.3 Applications for translators and language teachers 4.4 Summary 34 34 40 41 PART 3: CONCLUSIONS 1. Major findings 2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 42 43 REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix 1: Beth Levin (1993)‘s classification of motion verbs in English and the Vietnamese equivalents 45 8 Appendix 2: Motion verbs in English (Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts) [iii] Appendix 3: Motion verbs in Vietnamese (Chương 31: Chiến trường Hogwarts) Appendix 4: Analysis of sample motion verbs in chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts and the Vietnamese version Appendix 5: A table of contrast between basic English and Vietnamese motion verbs Appendix 6: Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts (Motion scene 2) Appendix 7: Chương 31: Chiến trường Hogwarts 9 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS A: Adjuncts C: Complement CLs: Cognitive Linguistics Loc: Locative O: Object Od: Direct Object Oi: Indirect Object O-loc: Locative Object Part: Particle(s) Po: Object Predicative S: Subject S-language: Satellite-framed languages SVCs: Serial verb constructions V: Verb V-language: Verb-framed languages 10 LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS Diagram 3.1: Co-event conflated in the Motion verb (adapted from Talmy, 2000b: 28) Table 1.1: Path verbs and Directional complement verbs in Vietnamese Table 4.1: Lexicalization patterns of English and Vietnamese motion verbs in chapter 31 ‗The Battle of Hogwarts‘ 11 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Motion verbs - ‗the verbs that describe movement are first learned, most frequently used and conceptually dominant‘ (Miller & Johnson-Laird (1977:527). Cognitive semantics classifies motion verbs based on the sort of semantic information which their verb roots characteristically encode. In general, motion verbs, both transitive and intransitive, typically express only one of the three semantic entities route, manner, or shape, and the general tendency for analysing motion verbs is to separate manner verbs from path verbs. Talmy‘s (2000) work distinguishes two different types of languages, i.e., satellite-framed and verb- framed languages, according to the way the different elements of a motion scene are mapped onto linguistic elements. English, as a satellite-framed language, expresses the core component of motion, i.e., Path or the trajectory of motion, in satellites (e.g., up, down) or in prepositional phrases (e.g., into/out of the house), leaving the verb slot free to encode Manner-of-motion. Relying on the basic assumption that languages vary typologically in terms of how they map lexical syntactic elements onto semantic domains, Talmy (2000) deeply investigated the regular associations (lexicalization patterns) among meaning components and the verb, providing a cross-linguistic study of lexicalization patterns connected with the expression of motion. He was mainly interested in evidencing typologies, i.e. small number of patterns exhibited by groups of languages, and universals, i.e. single patterns shared cross- linguistically. According to Talmy, some languages lexicalize in the verb the manner or the cause of motion, other languages lexicalize the path, and finally in a few languages the figure or object that moves is worth mentioning. This theoretical framework arises in me as to whether there are any similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese motion verbs, how lexicalization patterns are cross-linguistically applied to analyzing English and Vietnamese motion verbs, and what might be the lexicalization patterns of Vietnamese motion verbs. These questions are the strong motivations that inspire me to carry out this small research with a view to uncovering the notions of motion verbs and applications of lexicalization patterns in both English and Vietnamese. 2. Aims of the study: The paper aims to (i) Examine, in some depths, the main concepts of cognitive semantics, its main concepts and tenets, the theory of lexicalization patterns with its typological and universal principles across languages. 12 (ii) Provide an insight into the analysis of motion verbs in English and Vietnamese and set this as the basis for the English and Vietnamese comparison of lexicalization patterns of motion verbs. (iii) Find out and compare the lexicalization patterns of motion verbs in English and Vietnamese; based on which to discover some similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese lexicalization patterns of motion verbs. (iv) Apply the theory of lexicalization patterns to analyzing motion verbs in an English novelist text and its Vietnamese version with the aim to confirm the results of the preceding parts. 3. Scope of the study This study essentially adop Leonard Talmy (2000)‘s theory of lexicalization patterns of motion verbs and some notions proposed in Talmy-related studies by Slobin (1996, 2004, 2006). Furthermore, the study explores the meaning-surface relations between the semantic elements like Motion, Manner, Cause, Path, Figure… and the verbs of motion as the surface element chosen. The direction of the study will be to hold ‗verbs of motion‘ as constant selected surface entity and then observe which semantic entities namely Figure, Ground, Manner, Cause, Motion, Path are variously expressed in it. In addition, because of the limited scope, we mainly focus on the first three lexicalization patterns among Talmy‘s eight patterns as they are more representative. For the rest five patterns, we just do the job of recognition rather than go further into their details. 4. Research questions (i) What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese motion verbs? (ii) What are the lexicalization patterns of English and Vietnamese motion verbs? How are these lexicalization patterns similar and different? (iii) What are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese motion verbs and their lexicalization patterns used in the chapter ‗The Battle of Hogwarts‘ in the novel ‗Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows‘ and the Vietnamese version? 5. Contribution of the study The study hopes to explore the main concepts of cognitive semantics and lexicalization patterns of verbs of motion with typological and universal principles embedded in them. It is hoped that the results of the study will partly contribute to the development of cognitive semantics in general, and their lexicalization patterns of verbs of motions in 13 particular. In addition, all the cognitive underpinnings of these patterns are expected to be uncovered, and the similarities and differences are hoped to be drawn. The study, then, will bring in practical benefits to language teachers, translators and those who are in favour of it. 6. Methodology of the study: This study uses a combination of some different methods: The strategic method chosen is the descriptive and analytical which seeks to describe and explain the phenomenon. Contrastive Analysis is also used in this research. For comparison, we will describe motion verbs and their lexicalization patterns in the two languages under the same theoretical framework and then find out the similarities and differences. The data used for the study e.g. examples or illustrations, are cited from the reliable resources provided by famous scholars or from real life situations. It is hoped that valuable conclusions will be reached by deductive reasoning. Together with these methods, we also use the quantitative procedures that are based on data, facts and features to examine motion verbs and their lexicalization patterns used in a novel and its translated version in the mother tongue. Given this method of inductive reasoning, we expect to reach a confirmation for the conclusions drawn out. Supporting techniques such as reference to the publication, consultation with the supervisor, discussion with colleagues, and personal observations are also of great significance. 7. Design of the study: The study is divided into three main parts presented as follows: Part 1: Introduction, which states the reasons, reveals the aims, narrows the scope, identifies the research questions and presents the significance, methodology as well as the organization of the study. Part 2, including four chapters, reports on the main contents of the study. Chapter 1 is concerned with exploring the similarities and differences of motion verbs in English and Vietnamese. Chapter 2 is dedicated to examining some main concepts of cognitive semantics and the theory of lexicalization patterns. Chapter 3 deals with the comparative analysis of Talmy‘s lexicalization patterns of English and Vietnamese motion verbs. The last chapter is toward applying the typology of English and Vietnamese motion verbs in a specific novel text to confirm the conclusions revealed. Given the conclusions, this part indicates possible implications for language teaching and translation, hopefully providing an alternative method of analyzing an aspect of language from a different point of view. Part 3, the last part of the study, is the conclusion which summarizes what has been done, what has not been covered, accompanied by suggestions for further study. There are also appendixes where supplemental materials and list of reference books are provided. [...]... information is more often encoded in English motion verbs themselves and in adjuncts in Vietnamese 1.6 Summary This chapter provides an interesting insight into English verbs of motion and a precise comparison to Vietnamese equivalents In this chapter, the syntactic and semantic features of motion verbs are also explored and some similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese verbs of motion have... Lyons (1977:535) regard lexicalization as the result of the addition of semantic information and the result of the loss of semantic information (cited in Bauer, 1983:56) For example, understand provides an instance of lexicalization due to the loss of semantic information since in current English, it contains none of the meaning of under and none of the meaning of stand In my understanding, new concepts... English and Vietnamese motion verbs based on the seven motion- verb groups taken from Beth Levin‘s classification and their Vietnamese equivalents 1.3 The syntactic and semantic features of English verbs of motion Late traditional grammar classifies verbs into seven major semantic domains: activity verbs, communication verbs, mental verbs, causative verbs, occurrence verbs, existence verbs and aspectual verbs. .. lang thang, đi lần lần, đi khập khiễng, đi õng ẹo, … (see Appendix 1) 1.5 Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese verbs of motion Taking English and Vietnamese verbs of motion into comparison, the study finds out the following main similarities and differences on valency patterns and verb meanings  Similarities: 1 English and Vietnamese motion verbs both fall into the group of activity... further comparison CHAPTER 2 COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS AND THE THEORY OF LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS 2.1 An overview of Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics 2.1.1 Cognitive Linguistics and the key concepts In the eighties, a new approach to the study of language began to develop: Cognitive Linguistics (CL) This school of linguistics was born as a reaction against formal approaches 22 to language, such... activity verbs They take the semantic role of describing motion and are the head in the verb phrases 2 Both English and Vietnamese motion verbs are transitive and intransitive verbs They appear mostly in the patterns of SV and SVO They can be used either as simple verbs (oneword verbs) in I cross the road or as compound verbs in I rode across the road or Tôi chạy vào nhà 3 Vietnamese motion verbs pattern... semantic meanings and often require an Olocative: Motion and Direction of Motion: 19 (15) Xe đã qua cầu (The car ran across the bridge) Motion + Direction Regarding motion verbs, we present here a list of main path verbs which may function as both full verbs and directional complement verbs conveying the meanings of prepositions in Vietnamese: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Path verbs/ Directional complement verbs. .. meanings of these verbs include a specification of the direction of motion E.g The convict escaped the police b Leave verbs: abandon, desert, leave, etc These verbs do not specify Manner of motion; they just indicate that motion away from a location has taken place E.g We abandoned the area c Manner of motion: including Roll verbs (bounce, float, move, ) and Run verbs (bounce, float, jump, ) Roll verbs. .. expressions 23 2.1.2 Cognitive semantics and its main tenets Cognitive Semantics consider linguistic meaning as a manifestation of conceptual structure, which emerges from bodily experience According to Gardenfors (1995), meanings can not stand apart from the people who use and create them because all linguistic expressions must come from and be activated by our mind and brains Cognitive semanticists are... two semantic meanings of motion verbs: Motion and Direction In our sense, these directional verbs take the role of a complement to the main verb and act as the ‗directional complement verbs In this regard, the information of motion in a sentence consists of three semantic elements: Motion, Manner and Direction For example: (14) Xe đã chạy qua Motion + Manner Direction cầu When placed after a manner . AND THEIR LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS AN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM COGNITIVE APPROACH (Động từ vận động và các mô hình từ vựng hoá của chúng Nghiên cứu so sánh Anh Việt từ góc. PATTERNS AN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM COGNITIVE APPROACH (Động từ vận động và các mô hình từ vựng hoá của chúng Nghiên cứu so sánh Anh Việt từ góc độ ngôn ngữ học tri nhận) M.A. CHAPTER 1: VERBS OF MOTION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 1.1 Verbs of motion and their classification 1.2 The syntactic and semantic features of English motion verbs 1.3 The syntactic and semantic