-30- i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole, or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Da Nang, 2006 Huỳnh Thị Thanh Vân -31- ii ABSTRACT The thesis explores semantic features of English verb “Get” and its Vietnamese equivalents “Lấy, nhận” in terms of the semantic categories of “acquiring”, “obtaining” and “receiving” Through the contrastive analysis, I identified the similarities and differences of these verbs on semantic and syntactic aspects Especially, greater attention was paid to the semantic field The study was carried out through the qualitative and descriptive approach Over one thousand samples were taken from different sources such as novels, short stories, films, daily conversations in English and Vietnamese to illustrate the structural and semantic analysis The thesis also gives some implications for English teaching-learning process -32- iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statements of Authorship i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii Abbreviations iv List of Tables v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the Problem 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 1.2.1 Aims 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Scope of the Study 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 Methods of the Study 1.6 Organization of the Study CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 A Review of Previous Studies 2.2 Theoretical Background 2.2.1 Functional Approach to Meaning 2.2.2 Sense Relations 2.2.3 General View of Verb 18 2.3 Summary 25 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 3.1 Research Design and Methodology 26 3.2 Research Procedures 27 -33- 3.3 Data Collection 28 3.4 Data Analysis 29 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the English Verb “Get” 30 4.1.1 Basic Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the Verb “Get” 30 4.1.2 Syntactic and Semantic Performances of the Verb ‘Get’ in the 37 Semantic Categories of “Acquiring,” “Obtaining,” and “Receiving” 4.2 Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the Vietnamese Verbs 53 “Lấy”, “Nhận” in the Semantic Categories of “Acquiring,” “Obtaining,” and “Receiving” 4.2.1 Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the Vietnamese Verb “Lấy” 4.2.2 Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the Vietnamese Verb “Nhận” 4.3 Similarities and Differences of the Verbs “Get” and “Lấy”, “Nhận” 64 Under Investigated Semantic Categories 4.3.1 The Verb “Nhận” in Contrast with the Verb “Get” 64 4.3.2 The Verb “Lấy” in Contrast with the Verb “Get” 67 4.3.3 Some Suggestion for Translating “Get” into Vietnamese and “Lấy”, “Nhận” into English 79 4.4 Summary 82 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 5.1 Conclusion 83 5.2 Implications on Teaching, Learning, and Translation 85 5.3 Limitation and Suggestions for Further Research 88 REFERENCES vi APPENDIX vii -34- iv ABBREVIATIONS (In Alphabetical Order) A Adverbial Di-trans V Di-transitive verb DO Direct object C Complement Complex-trans V Complex-transitive verb Conv Daily conversation HBO HBO channel IO Indirect object Mono-trans V Mono-transitive verb NP Noun phrase PP Prepositional phrase O Object S Subject St something V Verb VP Verb phrase -35- v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1 The Main Senses of the English Verb “Get” and the Vietnamese Verbs “Lấy” and “Nhận” .13 Table 4.1 Diagram of the Main Senses of “Get” .34 Table 4.2 Summary of the Main Senses of the Verb “Get” and Its Equivalents in Vietnamese 37 Table 4.3 The Semantic Features of the Verb “Get” in Terms of the Semantic Categories of “Acquiring,” “Obtaining”, and “Receiving” 50 Table 4.4 Summary of the Main Senses of the Verb “Lấy” and Its English Equivalents .59 Table 4.5 The Main Senses of the Verb Get and Vietnamese Equivalents in the Semantic Categories of “Obtaining,” “Acquiring,” and “Receiving” .64 Table 4.6 The Common and Distinctive Semantic Features of the Verbs “Get” and “Lấy” “Nhận” 78 -36- vi REFERENCES Vietnamese [1] Diệp Quang Ban (2002), Giáo Trình Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt, Trung tâm ĐTTX- Đại học Huế [2] Nguyễn Tài Cẩn, (1998), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt, Nxb ĐHQG Hà Nội [3] Nguyễn Hoà (2004), Understanding English Semantics, Nxb DHQG Hà Nội [4] Nguyễn Hoà Lạc (2000), An Outline of Syntax, Nxb TPHCM [5] Trần Hữu Mạnh, (2003), “Phân tích Đối chiếu Động ngữ Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt bình diện Ngữ pháp-Ngữ nghĩa-Ngữ dụng” - Đề tài KH cấp ĐHQG Hà Nội, Tạp chí Khoa học ĐHQGHN, Ngoại ngữ, T.XIX (2), 20-33 [6] Huỳnh Vũ Chí Tâm (2004), A Study on Semantic Features of State Related Verbs in English and their Vietnamese Equivalent Expressions, Luận văn Thạc sĩ, ĐHĐN [7] Nguyễn Kim Thản, (19 ), Động Từ Tiếng Việt, Nxb KHXH [8] Lương Kim Thư (2003), Verbs Denoting Causative Process, Luận văn Thạc sĩ, ĐHĐN [9] Hồ Sỹ Thứ, (1998), “Get Một Động Từ Đa Dạng”, Easy English, Vol 67, Tre Publishing House English [10] Cruse, D.A (1987), Lexical Semantics, CUP, 3-89 [11] Delahunty, G.P., & Garvey, J.J (1994), Language, Grammar, and Communication, McGraw- Hill, Inc., Singapore -37- [12] Downing, A., & Locke, P (1992), A University Course in English Grammar, Prentice Hall [13] Fries, Ch (1963), Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language, University of Michigan Press [14] Ginzburg, R.S et al., (1979), A Course in Modern English Lexicology, (2nd ed.), Moscow Vyssaja Skola [15] Gramley, S., & Patzold, K.M (2004), A Survey of Modern English, (2nd ed.), Routledge, London and New York [16] Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G.K et al (2002), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, CUP, 1442 [17] Jacobs, R.A (1995), English Syntax-A Grammar for English Language Professionals, Oxford University Press, 167 [18] Leech, G., Cruickshank, B., & Ivanic, R (1989), An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage, Edward Arnold, A Division of Holder and Stoughton, London, Melbourne Auckland, 162-175 [19] Levin, B (1993), English Verb Classes and Alternations, University of Chicago Press [20] Lyons, J (1996), Linguistic Semantics-An Introduction, Cambridge University Press [21] Miller J (1998), An Introduction to English Syntax, Edinburgh University Press [22] Quirk R (1985), A Grammar of Contemporary English, (9th impression), Longman, 342-369, 801-853 [23] Thompson L.C., (1991), A Vietnamese Reference Grammar, University of Hawaii Press [24] Widdowson H.G., (1996), Linguistics, Oxford University Press, 57-61 -38- SOURCE OF EXAMPLES QUOTED Vietnamese [25] Nam Cao (2003), Những Tác Phẩm Tiêu Biểu trước 1945, Nxb Giáo Dục [26] Nguyễn Công Hoan (2001), Bước Đường Cùng, Nxb Đồng Nai [27] Nguyễn Lân (2000), Từ Điển Từ Ngữ, Nxb TPHCM, 1039-1040 [28] Nhiều tác giả (1999), Từ Điển Anh Việt, Nxb TP HCM, 733 [29] Nhiều tác giả (1999), Từ Điển Tiếng Việt, Nxb Thanh Hoá [30] John Steinbeck (1993), The Grapes of Wrath, Biên tập: Phạm Sông Hồng [31] W.M Thackơrê (1988), Hội Chợ Phù Hoa, Người dịch: Trần Kiêm, Tập 1,2 Nxb Văn học, Nxb Đà Nẵng [32] Viện Khoa học Ngôn Ngữ (1994), Từ Điển Anh Việt, Nxb Khoa Học Xã Hội, 692-693 [33] Viện Khoa học Ngôn Ngữ (1995), Từ Điển Việt Anh, Nxb Khoa Học Xã Hội [34] Nguyễn Như Ý (1999), Đại Từ Điển Tiếng Việt, Vol.1, Nxb TTVH English [35] Nam Cao (1983), Chí Phèo and other Stories, (2nd ed.), Foreign Languages Publishing House [36] Crowther, J (Ed.), (1995), The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 494 [37] Hank, P (Ed.), (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Clarendon Press-Oxford, 769-770 [38] Hemingway, E (1986), The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Người dịch: Hoàng Tuý, Foreign Languages Publishing House [39] Hutchinson, T (1997), Life Lines (Pre-Intermediate), OUP [40] International Story (1999), Người dịch: Bùi Quang Đông, Nxb TP.HCM -39- [41] Maugham, S (1999), Dấu Chân Nơi Rừng Thẳm, Người dịch: Huỳnh Thanh, Nxb Thanh Niên [42] McIntyre, A.(2005), The Semantic and Syntactic Decomposition of get: An Interaction Between Verb Meaning and Particle Placement, Journal of Semantics, 22(4), Oxford University Press [43] Merriam-Webster (1987), Webster’s Compact Dictionary of Synonyms, USA [44] Segal, E (2000), Chuyện Tình, Người dịch: Hoàng Cường-Bích Thủy, Nxb Thanh Niên [45] Shakespeare W (1986), Tales from Shakespeare, Người dịch: Cao Xuân Nghiệp, Nxb, TP.HCM [46] Steinbeck, J (1993), The Grapes of Wrath, David Campbell Publishers Ltd [47] Song Hong Publisher (1963), Impasse, (A Translated version of the original copy Bước đường by Nguyen Cong Hoan) [48] Thackeray, W.M (1948), Vanity fair, The Zodiac Press Web pages [49] http://web.lancaster.ac.uk (2006) [50] http://web.ling.sem.verb (2006) [51] http://web.ling.wiki.hut (2006) [52] http://web Top Ten Uses of Get Wiki (2006) [53] http://web.unc.edu.ling (2005) -121- The King, pretending to be pleased with this, praised Hamlet’s success + convey the sense of stealing: The verbs steal, take are used to express this sense Vietnamese normally add the words trộm, cắp, to the verb lấy to make phrasal verbs For examples, lấy trộm, lấy cắp, lấy mất: (226) Colonel Heavytop took off three bottles of that you sent me down [48, p.103] Bữa số rượu ba gửi cho bị đại tá Hêvytôp lấy chai [31, p.239] + With the sense as travel by or catching (a bus, train, or other form of transport) get is just used with public transport: (227) I got the taxi across to Baker Street [37, p.769] Tôi taxi qua phố Baker In Vietnamese lấy can transfer this meaning, for example: Con lấy xe mà di However, there is opposition - lấy used with private means such car- xe hơi, xe riêng Additionally, there is a bit difference in the word order In English the word taxi follows the verb get, in Vietnamese the verb follows the word xe Thus, Let’s get a taxi means Hãy taxi, not *Lấy taxi mà di Lastly, the expression “got the car through traffic” denotes the meaning to cause the car to go + In English, “get a husband” or “get a wife” mean “obtain a husband,” “obtain a wife,” denoting a resultant possession Get married lends itself to the emphasis on a particular point in time; it marks the beginning of the marriage, the change of state Meanwhile, be married denotes as statal-passive In Vietnamese lấy vợ, lấy chồng, có vợ, có chồng have the same meaning In addition, there is a bit difference between their syntactic combinations Get combines with a noun phrase or a past participle, lấy with a noun phrase only In this sense, English can use verbs such as marry, have, and Vietnamese say lấy làm vợ, lấy làm chồng: -122- (228)That year in October the girl got married, her husband was the son of a rich deputy village chief [35, p.70-126] Tháng 10 năm ấy, lấy chồng, lấy trai ông phó lý, nhà có (229)Unless may be if you marry Jennifer Cavilleri [44, p.128-129] Có lẽ anh lấy Jennifer Cavilleri làm vợ In brief, + Under examined semantic categories, “get” and “lấy,” “nhận” are used as introversive verbs in most cases + Get and lấy have dynamic meaning in all senses Get and lấy usually have animate or human subjects, which realize agent participants, and the process with get and lấy are almost the material process + The subject of nhận can be animate or unanimate + “Get” and “lấy,” “nhận” are used as di-transitive verbs indicating a beneficiary of the agentive directional complement in the sense “fetch,” “buy” + The objects in most cases are inanimate, and play the affected semantic role When there is an animate object, it can be direct object or indirect object It realizes the recipient, the beneficiary, or the affected role: (230) Go get me a bucket a water right off [46, p.330] Đi lấy nước cho mẹ nhanh lên [30, p.536] In (230) me is the recipient (231) If he had been better with women she would probably have started to worry about him getting another new, beautiful wife [38, p.68-69] Giả thử thành công với đàn bà cô ta lo lấy cô vợ đẹp In (231) another new, beautiful wife plays the affected semantic role + Their main semantic features are summarized as follows -123- Table 4.6 The Common and Distinctive Semantic Features of the Verbs “Get” and “Lấy, Nhận” Semantic features Get Lấy Nhận - Receiving st that has been sent or given to - Possesion of something concrete or abstract - Objects come to be possessed or manually controlled - Unintentional possession - Passive, negative meaning - Communicating + + + + + + + + + - + + + +/- - Difficulty- get - Inchoative of have - Responsibility with get - The trying- get - Manage to succeed in attaining, achieving something - Obtaining by concession or request - Achieving; being awarded the specific examination grade, class of degree - Acquiring knowledge + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - - The transfer of possession - Physical possession - Spatial transfer - Transfer of information - Genuinely causative- get - Stealing + + + + + - + + + + + + + + + + - - Exchange of money - Exchange of goods - Non- monetary exchange + + + + + + + + - -124- 4.3.3 Some Suggestions for Translating of “Get” into Vietnamese and “Lấy, Nhận” into English Through the survey of the samples associating to the problem under discussion and the studied syntactic and semantic features of the verb, we can translate the senses of “get” and “lấy” relying on their patterns, and word semantic structures In terms of the semantic categories of “obtaining,” “acquiring,” and “receiving,” focusing on transitive get + NPs with the possessive uses, for example, “get a book,” we can translate it into Vietnamese such as “mua sách,” “nhận sách,” “lấy sách.” Ditransitive get VPs mainly transfer the sense of “fetch,” “buy,” for example, “I got a book for Ann,” or “I got Ann a book” are normally equal to “Tôi lấy/ mua sách cho Ann” in Vietnamese Genuinely causative use of “get” entails that the object comes to be possessed or manually controlled by the subject Thus, “get the book out of the bag” means “lấy sách ra/ lôi sách khỏi túi.” Besides the similar uses to the verb “get,” the Vietnames verb lấy has other variants, and it cannot be transferred by “get”: + For most cases, lấy cớ, lấy lẽ are translated into on, under, pretending in English: (232) Đại úy Râu đơn lấy cớ cô ốm xin gia thêm hạn nghỉ phép, ngày quanh quẩn nhà [31, p.254] Captain Rawdon got an extension of leave on his aunt’s illness and remained dutifully at home [48, p.109] (233) The King, pretending to be pleased with this, praised Hamlet’s success [45, p.61] Tên Vua, lấy cớ thích thú với việc này, ca ngợi thắng lợi Hamlet -125- + We translate the Vietnamese verbal phrase “lấy danh dự (thề)” into “upon my honour” (234) I was trying to hum it this morning in bed I was, upon my honour [48, p.38] Sáng hôm nay, nhẩm lại lúc nằm giường, xin lấy danh dự mà thề, [31, p.100] + Normally, we use in, with, on to transfer the sense how the subject creates oneself an air, or a gesture: (235) When he saw Rebecca alone, he rathed her about his father’s attachment in his graceful way [48, p.111] Lúc gặp Rêbecca mình, lấy giọng nhã nhặn nói trêu cô việc ông bố có ý quyến luyến cô gái [31, p.257] (236) As soon as she could speak, said with a comical, good-humoured air [48, p.30] Lúc bắt đầu nói nên lời, cô ta lấy vui vẻ bảo [31, p.79] + We translate use for lấy in the sense of using something to something: (237) He used his tunic, which he carried on his shoulders to dust his head, face and clothes [47, p.138] Ông lấy áo the vắt vai phủi đầu, mặt, mũi vào áo quần [26, p.172] - In this sense for most cases lấy is not usually translated in English expressions, lấy is as a light verb in Vietnamese: lấy quần áo mặc= mặc quần áo (238) He had sprung up with the sun and put on the new clothes [48, p.407] Mặt trời rạng, nhảy bổ từ giường xuống, lấy quần áo mặc (239) He covered her up in one of his Benjamins [31, p.238] [48, p.62] -126- - Anh ta lấy áo choàng kiểu Benjamin phủ lên vai cô thiếu nữ [31, p.149] In conclusion, the exact meaning of the verb can be interpreted only in the context Due to the complexity in the semantics of the two verbs, and the lack of the context the learners are difficult to interprete, or choose the exact meaning to translate Therefore, they may confuse in choosing the right meaning because of ambiguity of the sentences or make many errors in translation For examples: The learners often translate the sentences as follows I’ve got a lease on a new apartment Tôi thuê hộ Instead of: Tôi ký hợp đồng thuê hộ No, by God! She’s getting’ half a dollar extra Không trời ơi! Cô có thêm đô la Or: *Ôi lạy chúa tôi! Cô trả thêm cho đô la Instead of: Lạy chúa, bắt trả nửa đôla phụ thu And for a time I was happy I think I got her now Có thời gian hạnh phúc Tôi nghĩ có Or: *Trong thời gian hạnh phúc Tôi muốn có cô Instead of: …và cảm thấy sung sướng thời gian Tao tin tao hiểu He couldn’t get leave from his father *Anh rời xa cha Or: *Anh ta sống xa bố Instead of: Anh không xin phép bố It’s difficult to get a living there *Thật khó để có sống nơi -127- Or: *Thật khó để kiếm chổ Instead of: Thật khó kiếm sống They only got part of her *Họ hiểu phần cô Or: Họ nhận phần cô Instead of: Nên họ lấy phần I got you, said Lincoln You don’t want to admit it’s got any attraction for you *Lincoln nói, có em Em không muốn thừa nhận điều thú vị với em Or: *Lincoln nói, có em Em không muốn thú nhận em có chút sức hút Instead of: Lincoln nói, hiểu ý anh Anh không muốn chấp nhận rượu đủ sức hút anh mà 4.4 Summary The English verb “to get” and the Vietnamese verb “lấy” have many similarities as well as differences in the semantic features in terms of the semantic categories of “obtaining,” “acquiring,” and “receiving.” In comparison with the verb “lấy,” “nhận” is simpler in the syntactic and semantic features under investigated issues of the study Get is the “wondrous” and terrible in its senses It is a very informal word The central use of get (in my opinion) is in the semantic categories “obtaining,” “acquiring,” and “receiving.” Lấy is also the most complicated in Vietnamese It has the wide range of meanings and it can combine with many word classes - The sign * in the sentences 1Æ7 means that these sentences are incorrect variants -128- Chapter CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Conclusion This paper is aimed to answer the four research questions mentioned in chapter The goal of the study is to show semantic features of the English verb “to get” and the Vietnamese verb “lấy” in terms of the semantic categories of “obtaining,” “acquiring” and “receiving” Their associated syntactic characteristics are presented in chapter as well These issues were resolved relying on the theoretical framework provided in chapter 2; the chapter has attempted to investigate the function of semantics as well as syntax of verbs, and the concepts such as meaning, sense relation, semantic features, and componential analysis Moreover, the paper was carried out step by step in the course of the methods and procedures planned in chapter Semantically, Get and Lấy both have many senses They have numerous similar meanings The main common senses are: - The subject moves in order to pick up or bring something - The objects come to be possessed or manually controlled by the subject - Or subject’s primary motivation in moving the object is to bring it into a position where after event subject can something with it - The subject comes into possession of something concrete or abstract - The subject manages to succeed in attaining, achieving something; experience - The subject overcomes some kinds of obstacle to attain something - The subject seizes something with force, or plots to obtain something - The subject comes to hold then transfers something to the recipient -129- - The subject transfers his or her possession of something to the buyer or seller through a commercial transaction Syntactically, in the sentences with the verbs get and lấy, the subjects are usually animate The objects in most cases are inanimate Get and lấy have most common patterns as SVO, SVOO, SVOA, and SVOC In those get and lấy are transitive verbs - In the semantic feature of commercial transaction, there is normally the sentence pattern: S + V + NP + Adjective - There are many expressions, where get and lấy are used as light verbs - Get and lấy can combine with particles, or words denoting degree, or direction which appear before or after the objects in the verb phrases Apart from the similarities, some differences also exist between the two verbs The verb lấy is not able to denote the pure or state possession It cannot transfer the passive meaning as in “He got a bullet in the thigh”, the sense of “to establish communication with over a distance; to capture; to receive as a punishment.” For example: “You can always get me by telephone; Get him before he escapes; He got 20 years in jail” The similar to the verb get, it does not denote the sense of stealing something, nor is used as a particle The most significant difference between “get” and “lấy” is that the verb “get” is only used in informal style, in daily conversations; the verb “lấy” can be used in informal and formal speech For example, “Chủ trương Đảng Nhà nước ta lấy dân làm gốc” – “lấy” in that sentence is in the official style Due to the complexity of the meanings of the two verbs “get” and “lấy,” the study of “get” is really a difficult task for the Vietnamese learners and the foreigners who learn Vietnamese will not find it easy to master the meanings and the uses of “lấy,” either So finding the effective way to use -130- these verbs correctly and naturally is really necessary for the teachers and learners of English as well as of Vietnamese 5.2 Implications for Teaching, Learning and Translation We may assume that application of various methods should be an essential part of learning process and consequently of teacher’s training Some of the methods of lexicological analysis are of primary importance for teachers of English and are widely used in the preparation of teaching material In fact contrastive analysis grew as the result of the practical demands of language teaching It was shown that the errors which are made by foreign language students can be often traced back to the differences in semantic structure of words between the target language and the language of learners One of the major problems in the learning of the second language is the interference caused by the difference between the mother tongue of the learner and the target language Language learning however cannot just a matter of learning to substitute a new set of words for the familiar ones of the mother tongue Each language contains words which cannot be translated directly from this language into another For example, as I have mentioned the most equivalent of the English verb “get” is the verb “lấy” in Vietnamese in terms of the categories of “obtaining,” “acquiring,” and “receiving”, but we cannot translate “get” in this expression “to get one glimpse (of it)- nhìn qua( gương mặt đó) chút” with the verb “lấy.” The verb “get” can be used in many ways It means to obtain, have or receive, and can be used sometimes in place of verbs “to be” and “to become” The verb is very flexible and sometimes, when combines with other words, can take on a whole different meaning such as get drunk means to drink until intoxicated with alcohol; get lost means to lose one’s way -131- Thus on the level of the lexical meaning the teacher should expect an unusual degree of learning difficulty Therefore he or she can find out the effective ways of teaching new items with a more extended and careful presentation and practice Difference in the lexical meaning of the correlated words is accounted for the difference of their collocation ability in different languages This is of particular importance in developing speech habits as the mastery of collocations is much more important than the knowledge of isolated words Thus, the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese “lấy” when taken in isolation are felt as correlated words as in a number of cases “get” stands for “lấy,” e.g “get me the dictionary- lấy cho từ điển,” “get a large part- lấy phần lớn.” In collocation with other nouns, however, the Vietnamese “lấy” cannot be used in the same meaning in which the English verb “get” is currently used, such as “got a lease- ký hợp đồng thuê;” “got any attraction for you - đủ sức hút với anh.” So the meaning of the word is not determined by itself but by its relations with other linguistic and non-linguistic components Thus, we can only identify the meaning of the word in a certain context It is possible to infer that teaching the meaning of a word; the teacher should offer the use of the word through sentence patterns, or concrete situations Theory is always accompanied by practice Thus, teachers are expected to provide learners with as many drills which are given in the forms of language focus, or conversation pieces and so on as possible so that they can understand and correctly use the new materials relating to the topic of a lesson Thanks to frequent practice the learners will be aware of exceptions to the rules Once they keep in mind these cases, no much confusion and mistakes they make -132- In my study though the examination of the two verbs “get” and “lấy,” I would like to draw some implications for translation As we know the chief difficulties in translating are lexical- i.e words, collocations and fixed phrases or idioms Difficulties with words are of two kinds: the first- we not understand them, the second we find them hard to translate Obviously, the more polysemantic the word is the more difficult to choose one of its appropriate meanings So we have to rely on the context, sometimes on the whole text or the whole story to master its idea to translate Because of the limitation of the length and the scope of the study I just offer some implications on the phrase or sentence level For example: + There is no clear distinction in the combinations of “get leave” and “get the sack,” except the article the They have the pattern “V plus NP”, but “get the sack” has the negative meaning, we can change it into another pattern “V plus past participle” “get sacked,” denoting the same sense “bị đuổi” The opposite in “get leave;” “get leave” means to ask someone for permission to leave, but “get left” has negative meaning “bị bỏ rơi” + In the combination of “get” and the word “back”, we cannot translate its meaning without the context: - get back means “arrive back, come back” (trở lại, lại) - get back denotes the sense of “contact again, return call” (điện lại, liên hệ lại) - get back means “bring back, pay back” (lấy lại, trả lại) + We can translate the sentence “I got a new dress” into “Tôi có váy mới” if we want to show our possession; into “Tôi mua váy mới” in case of emphasis of a point of time you had it, or a commercial transaction -133- + And when we translate “lấy” into English we have to know whether it is a lexical verb or a particle, or an emphatic word If “lấy” is not a lexical verb at all, we translate it as “oneself,” “own;” “not even,” “scarcely” or omitted These implications happen in most of cases, but there are existing exceptions of course Thus we should be careful in translation of these two verbs as well as in teaching materials involving them to the learners to achieve a good result in the teaching and learning process 5.3 Limitation and Suggestions for Further Research This study has discussed the semantic features of the verbs “get” and “lấy” in terms of the semantic categories of “obtaining,” “acquiring,” and “receiving.” There is no denying that this paper cannot cover all features possessed by the two verbs under discussion The findings as well as the implications made about the issues mentioned above are restricted and have not pointed out the problem such as the semantic roles of the elements of clause structures of the verb “lấy”, and the sharp distinction between them For these reasons, further research should go into more details on these aspects and some interesting points such as - the semantic and syntactic features of the phrasal verbs of “get” (get up, get down) - the pragmatic features of the verb “get” - an investigation into the semantic and syntactic similarities and differences between the two common English verbs “to get” and “to take” -134- -135- [...]... describe the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese verb “lấy, “ nhận” - identify, describe and compare syntactically and semantically the verbs “get” in English and “lấy, “ nhận” in Vietnamese - find out their differences and similarities in syntactic and semantic features -find out the successful way to translate the verbs “get” into Vietnamese and “lấy, nhận” into English 1.3 Scope of the Study... examine the syntax and semantics of the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese verb “lấy, nhận” in terms of the semantic categories of “acquiring,” “obtaining” and “receiving,” to help learners thoroughly understand the differences and similarities on semantic features of these verbs in English and Vietnamese, and to make the effective use of them 1.2.2 Objectives The study is intended to: - set up a theoretical... syntax and semantics exist among the verbs “get” and “lấy, “ nhận”? - How should we translate the verb “get” into Vietnamese and “lấy, nhận” into English? 1.5 Methods of the Study The study is carried out through descriptive, qualitative, and contrastive methods The qualitative research design is used and supported by an empirical of data collected 1.6 Organization of the Study The study consists of. .. of this verb [9, p.20] But there has not been any research paper which investigates the syntactic and semantic features of the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese verbs “lấy, nhận” in contrast Their semantic categories and expressions are presented only in dictionaries In my study, I attempt to make a contrastive analysis of the syntax and semantics of the verb “get” in English and its Vietnamese. .. It can, of course, become greatly complicated, and as in all analysis, as the details reproduce they can lose their point and create confusion 2.2.3 General View of Verb In language teaching and learning, verbs take an important role in language acquisition There are many researches and explorations about verb area And the verb “Get” is in the top five of the most common verbs in the English language,... that the verb “get” covers a wide range of use in spoken English The study would be of great success if it dealt with all its senses However, due to the shortage of time and the length limit, the paper is just intended to examine mainly syntactic and semantic features of the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese verbs “lấy” and nhận” in terms of the semantic categories of “acquiring,” “obtaining,” and. .. “obtaining,” “receiving” with the verbs “get” and “ lấy” is a difficult task for Vietnamese learners of English, and also, the confusion in the choice of words and their meanings is problematic for those who learn Vietnamese Awareness of the meanings of these verbs will help learners get a better understanding of their usage, find out English- Vietnamese as well as Vietnamese -English translational equivalents,... Vietnamese verbs is also given The Methodology and Procedures of the study involving the design, and procedures of the research, the data description of the study are presented in Chapter 3 Chapter 4 deals with the investigation into common as well as distinctive semantic features of each verb Description of the verbs ‘get’ and “lấy, nhận” particularly on the semantic features of “acquiring,” “obtaining” and. .. permission Therefore, a study for the successful way to translate ‘Get’ into Vietnamese and ‘Lấy, nhận’ into English will be a contribution to the teaching and learning the two languages Similarities and differences found from the analysis between English and Vietnamese will be of great benefit to Vietnamese learners of English and foreign students of Vietnamese as well -48- 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the. .. in the way of thinking, lifestyle, and literature between the Vietnamese people and the English native speakers These differences themselves have caused many difficulties for Vietnamese learners of English Moreover, the reason is there are some words that have many meaning categories and their meanings sometimes are very different from each other, as the English verb “get” The English verb “get”, as ... each verb? - What differences and similarities in terms of syntax and semantics exist among the verbs “get” and “lấy, “ nhận”? - How should we translate the verb “get” into Vietnamese and “lấy, ... contrastive analysis of the syntax and semantics of the verb “get” in English and its Vietnamese equivalent verbs “lấy, “ nhận” in terms of the semantic categories of “acquiring,” “obtaining” and “receiving”... a theoretical framework to describe the English verb “get” and the Vietnamese verb “lấy, “ nhận” - identify, describe and compare syntactically and semantically the verbs “get” in English and