English And Vietnamese Prepositions Contrastive Analysis Cultural Studies Essay

position And Vietnamese Prepositions Contrastive Analysis Cultural Studies EssayPrepositions atomic number 18 actors line employmentd to connect nouns or noun structures to other structures in a sentence. They outlast in both side of meat and Vietnamese language systems. However, prepositions fuddle different characteristics and usage in each language. The use of prepositions may cause lots of trouble for Vietnamese people when discipline English and immorality versa. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing English and Vietnamese prepositions in a contrastive view, especially in showing direction and location so that leaners tin find it easier to learn them. This paper in addition supplies some implications for program line prepositions which displace be useful for those who teaching English or Vietnamese. Through these implications, I hope that they set up help teachers know how to help students use prepositions correctly and appropriately. literature ReviewPrepositio ns in EnglishDefinitionAccording to Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary, a preposition is a word or group of words utilise before a noun or pronoun to show place, position, cartridge clip or method. Another translation is that a preposition may be defined as connecting word showing the semblance of a noun or a noun substitute to some other words in the sentence (the squirrel in the tree the preposition in shows the relationship between the squirrel and the tree.) (Prepositions definition and usage, n.d). From these definitions, we female genitalia bring forth to a conclusion ab tell apart out the function of a preposition which is it is apply to connect nouns and noun structures with other structures in a sentence. Prepositions that we often use in occasional life be with, at, by, to, in, for, from, of, on. It is estimated that these prepositions defend up for ninety percent of preposition usage.The part following a preposition is called its object. The object of a prepos ition can be a noun, a pronoun, a gerund or a noun clause. For example, we meeta noun We gave a present to oursecretaries.apronoun We gave a present tothem.agerund We thought aboutgivinga present to them.anoun clause We thought about giving a presentto whoever worked for us.(Lougheed, n.d)FormPrepositions are often in one-word form however, there are also other prepositions with more than one word. They are made up with two or three words. For example, we have on behalf of, in front of, in accordance with, in line with, in relation to and so on. Another form is called prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases are groups of words that begin with a preposition and check with a noun or pronoun. Some phrases are employ commonly and in a number of situations such as acting as an adjectiveor anadverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened. (Prepositions Locator in time and place, n.d). Examples of these prepositional phrases are out of work, at any rate, by means of, in person, under orders, from now on and so forth. Besides, there are some called marginal prepositions which are literal in forms, such as concerning, considering, including, pending and more.UsagePrepositions are used with a lot of functions including time, location, manner, means, quantity, purpose, and state or condition. Regarding to prepositions of time, there are some prepositions equal at, on, in, from, since, for, during, to, till/until, after, afterwards, by.before and so forth. For example, we have at six oclock, on Monday or in the evening. Another usage of prepositions is to show location. Some belong to this category are in,at,on,next to,beside, behind,in front of,opposite,near,on top of,under,above and so on. For example, Jonelives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham, She lives in Durham or Mary is sitting next to me. Prepositions of movement allow from,to,at,into,out of,towards,on,onto,across,through, around,along,up. For instance, he ran out of the room or Mary run towards the walls. Other usages are listed below.Means or agentby He was hit by a ball.from His success results from careful planning .in He takes pleasure in it.on They live on bread and water.with He chased the mongoose with a stick.Mannerby By doing it yourselfin He left in confusion.like He looks like a hero.on I swear it on my word of honor.with He ate it with a fork.State or conditionat My friend is at work.by They are by themselvesin He is in a state of confusionon He is on duty (scheduled to work).for I mistook you for someone else.as I see her as a good person. Quantity or mesurefor We drove for twenty miles.by We bought them by the kiloPurposefor He bought it for an emergency.She went to the city for sightseeing.He loved her for her thoughtfulness.(Prepositions definition and usage, n.d)Vietnamese PrepositionsDefinitionLike English, Vietnamese also has a category of word which is similar to prepositions. We may call this category Vietnamese equivalent of English preposition. To make it simple, some people prefer to use the name preposition. Nevertheless, the notion preposition in Vietnamese is a quite complicated issue because some linguists have claimed that prepositions do not exist in Vietnamese. Yet, according to Tuc (2003), although the distinction between prepositions and serial verbs in Vietnamese is not always clear-cut, Vietnamese prepositions do exist (p.69). In his book, he also gave many examples to prove his opinion. Moreover, nowadays, in many books of teaching Vietnamese for foreigners, the name preposition is often used. Therefore, to be convenient, the name Vietnamese preposition is used for equivalent of English preposition in Vietnamese in this paper.Types of prepositions in VietnameseAccording to Tran (2007) there are two main types of preposition in Vietnamese prepositions of time and location. In addition, there are some other prepositions called miscellaneous one s. Prepositions of time are vo (in, on, at), trong or sut (during), trc (before), sau (after), k t khi (since) and cho ti khi (until). In terms of prepositions of location, there are trn (on, above, over), trong (in, inside), chung quanh (around), bn phi (on the right of), cnh (next to) and so on. Finally, miscellaneous prepositions conclude cho (for), vi (with), v (about), nh (thanks to), bi (by) and so forth.Here are some examples about how these prepositions are used in sentences. Their usage in Vietnamese is similar to in English.TimeTi thng dy vo su gi sng (I usually get up at six am)Trong ba tic c y khng ni g c. (She said nothing during the party)LocationBn ti sng Si Gn (My friend lives in Saigon)Vin bo tng nm bn phi tim sch c (The museum is located on the right of the used bookstore)MiscellaneousLi y ngi vi ti (Come and sit with me)Nh mua hoa cho ti nh. (Remember to buy flowers for me, OK?)i vi ti, chuyn khng quan trng (That issue doesnt matter to me)(Tran, 2007)Contrast be tween English and Vietnamese prepositionsThe notion preposition is quite an interesting issue. There may be so many things to say if we compare prepositions in English with those in Vietnamese in a large scale. Nonetheless, within this paper, I only make a contrast between English and Vietnamese prepositions in two aspects prepositions of movement with directional verbs and locative prepositions because they often cause problems for Vietnamese people when learning English and vice versa.Prepositions of movement with directional verbsThe first passing between English and Vietnamese prepositions is related to directional verbs. In English, directional verbs like come, go and perplex cannot take direct objects. This means they must have a preposition (or a prepositional phrase), bare particle or deictic verbial (bare noun phrase adverb). Since prepositions are being discussed in this paper, the examples with bare particle and deictic verbial are not mentioned. Here are the examples o f directional verbs with prepositionsSally has gonetoNew York.Catrin will cometoSheffield next month.They arrived at the airport.(Vietnamese online grammar,n.d)In Vietnamese, by contrast, there is no need to use prepositions with these directional verbs because these verbs can take direct objects by themselves. We have these examplesTun trc c i Lun n (Last week she went to London)Bao gi c y nh sang Vit Nam? (When does she in race to come to Vietnam?)My.bay xung phi-trng Lin-khang. (The plane landed at Lien khang airport)(Vietnamese online grammar,n.d)Actually, in Vietnamese, there is no preposition which is similar to preposition to in English. The verb n (reach, arrive at) is used instead as the following examplesTi khng c thi gi i (n) bu inI dont have time to go to the post-officeLocative prepositionsIn English, space prepositions state the location of an object without paying attention to the position of the speakers. For example, English people often say the plane is in the sky, the child is playing in the kitchen, cars run in the street. (McCarty, Prez, Torres-Guzman,To, Watahomigie, 2004, p. 150). On the contrary, in Vietnamese, people tend to consider the position of the speakers. They say my bay trn tri (the plane is above him or her), a tr ang chi trong nh bp (the child is inside the kitchen), nhng chic xe hi chy ngoi ng (cars are outside). Therefore, preposition in can be translated three ways into Vietnamese with three different moments trn, trong, ngoi.In addition, Tran (2010) mentioned several(prenominal) differences between English and Vietnamese prepositions in terms of semantics and pragmatics. First, when describing the higher(prenominal) position, they take the contact meaning between trajector (i tng nh v) and landmark (i tng qui chiu) into consideration.For example, they distinguish the meaning of on, above and over. Meanwhile, Vietnamese people almost do not pay attention to this aspect. They just use the only word trn. Second, when tal king about the relation between above (trn) and under (di), English people are always aware of whether or not trajector (i tng nh v) is in the vertical reference (vng quy chiu thng ng) of the landmarks (i tng qui chiu) area. That is the reason why they have these words above / over / on and under / below / beneath. In contrast, Vietnamese people only devide the space into two part above/under (trn/di).To indicate the middle position, English has in the middle of / between (for 2 objects) and among (for 3 objects and more) while Vietnamese use the word gia for all these cases. Examples of this kind are summarized in the table below.NotionEnglish prepositionsVietnamese prepositionsTRONGin, insidetrongNGOIout, outside, out ofngoiTRNon, upon,above,on top of, over,atopTrnDIunder, underneath, beneath, belowdiTRCbefore,in front of, ahead of, precedingtrcSAUbehind, following, at the back of (br), in the back of (ame)SauBNby, near, next to, close to, beside, alongside, to the right/leftbn, c nh, st, gn, k, bn phi, bn triGIAwithin, among, between, in the middle of, in the midst ofgia(Tran, 2010)Implications for teachingAfter having contrasted English and Vietnamese prepositions in two aspects as above, I would like to mention the implications for teaching English at high school in our country.Since learners tend to translate everything into their aim tongue, teachers should be very careful when teaching English, especially prepositions. They need to realize that there is no call for one-to-one translation from English to Vietnamese and vice versa. Referring to the discussion prepositions with directional verbs, we know that when translating a sentence from English to Vietnamese or Vietnamese to English, sometimes we may add or omit the prepositions. For instance, we may not use preposition to with directional verbs in Vietnamese. Moreover, as discussed in the section Locative prepositions above, we can realize that a Vietnamese preposition may have several prepositions which are equivalent to them in English. Therefore, teachers should ask learners to take notice of this issue and know when to use the most appropriate preposition. In sum, to make sure the exact preposition is used, learners should observe how a preposition is used in a certain context. They should not translate directly using prepositions in their language since prepositions can be used differently in different language.Moreover, the difference between Vietnamese and English prepositions is mainly due to semantics and the notion of reference (quan nim quy chiu), so it is vital that teachers have enough knowledge of these fields to explain to students completely. Culture difference and the habit of using prepositions in each language are also the things that teachers should bear in mind. If teachers are very careful about these things, students may reduce making mistakes when using prepositions.ConclusionIn conclusion, preposition is an interesting category in linguistics. There a re so many things to discuss about preposition. However, sometimes learners may feel confused about how to use prepositions correctly, especially when Vietnamese prepositions have something different from English prepositions. That is the reason why learners often make mistakes when dealing with prepositions. A contrastive analysis in this area is necessary and important because it shows difference between English and Vietnamese prepositions in relation to direction and location. Directional and locative prepositions are the ones that often causes trouble to students more than other types. After having contrasted them, we can see that English prepositions are more complex than those in Vietnamese. Moreover, the research also suggest some implications for teaching prepositions in Vietnamese high school, so I hope that this research paper will be a piece of useful referent material for those who are interested in teaching a language aspect, particularly preposition.