CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 6 Besides the classification of English information questions, according to some Vietnamese linguists , we can also de vide Vietnamese information questions into 3 types : Câu h ỏ i ch ủ ng ữ Câu h ỏ i tân ng ữ Câu h ỏ i b ổ ng ữ 2. Wh questions in English and in Vietnamese 2.1 Wh questions in English Information questions can be classified as three types of questions based on the following tabl e : Types Forms Aims Examples Subject questions Question word + subject + (auxiliary) + main verb Subject Who broke the vase? Which candidate will win the election? Object questions Question word + auxiliary + subject + main Verb Object Which car have your sister buy? Whom did you see last night? Compliment questions Question word + auxiliary + subject +main verb + compliment Place Time reason Manner Where is John going? When do you finish homework? Why do you refuse the offer? How can she get there? Along with the needed information, each question serves different function: Question Words Functions Examples what asking for information about something What have you learned from the lesson? CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 7 asking for repetition or confirmation What? Sorry I can't hear you. You did what? what...for/Why asking for a reason, or purpose What did she dress up for? when asking about time When did the train arrive? where asking for location Where do you live? which asking about choice Which house do you rent? who asking what or which person or people (subject) Who went to the hospital? whom asking what or which person or people (object) Whom did you see? whose asking about possession Whose are these bags? why don't making a suggestion Why don't you give me a hand? how asking about manner How does your mother look? asking about condition or quality How was your final test? how + adj/adv asking about extent or degree how far asking about distance How far is it from your house to school? how long asking about duration (time or space) How long do you spend studying English every day? CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 - 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 8 how many asking about quantity (countable) How many students are there? how much asking about quantity (uncountable) How much do you weigh? how old asking about age How old are you? The most important component that helps to form Wh questions is question words (interrogative words). In linguistics , they symbolize the thin g that we don’t know and they are often called Wh - questions because most of them have the initial letters Wh . When the Wh question is the subject of a verb, the word order of a question is usually the same as that of a affirmative statement. The questio n is made by placing the wh word into the subject position. No other changes are needed to form a question except the question mark. e.g. I gave him a candy > Who gave him a candy? When the Wh question is the object of a verb, t he word order of a question differs from that of a n affirmative statement. In a question, the first auxiliary precedes the subject. e.g. I’m cooking > What are you doing? 2.2 Wh questions in Vietnamese Vietnamese Wh questions can be formed by combining Question words with particles (nh ỉ , h ả , sao, ư, ạ ) at the end of the questions to point out the relationship between the speaker and addressee or to show our emotions. In Vietnamese the structure of information questions changes, however, we can make a co nclusion that generally there are two main structures: Q word + S + +V+ O+ (particle)? S + V+ O+ Q word +(particle)? CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 9 Examples M ẹ đi du l ị ch bao nhiêu ngày ạ ? Hôm qua sao c ậ u không r ủ t ớ xem phim? Khi nào em ra trư ờ ng? Vietnamese information questions can be also classified as three types of questions : Types Forms Aims Examples Subject questions Q form + Predicative Subject Ai đã làm v ỡ bình hoa th ế ? Đi ề u gì làm b ạ n bu ồ n v ậ y? Object questions subject + Verb + Q form Object Ch ị b ạ n mua xe lo ạ i gì? T ố i qua anh đã g ặ p ai cơ? Compliment questions Subject + Verb + Q form Q form + S + V S+ V + Q form + N Place, time, reason, manner, supposition, quantity, mean, purpose John đang đi đâu v ậ y? T ạ i sao c ậ u l ạ i t ừ ch ố i công vi ệ c đó ch ứ ? C ậ u tính mua bao nhiêu th ị t? And each of them has different functions depending on what kinds of information we want to ask for : Question Words Functions Examples Gì, cái gì asking for information about something (Object) C ậ u h ọ c đư ợ c gì/cái gì r ồ i nào? CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 10 Cái gì asking for information about something (subject) Cài gì khi ế n b ạ n n ổ i gi ậ n th ế ? t ạ i sao, vì sao , t ạ i làm sao, t ạ i vì sao, th ế nào (mà), b ở i vì sao, sa o mà, là th ế nào asking for a reason Sao hôm nay cô ấ y m ặ c đ ẹ p th ế ? Đ ể làm gì/Đ ể làm gì asking for purpose C ậ u mua cu ố n sách này làm gì? Ở đâu/Đâu asking for location B ạ n s ố ng ở đâu? Preposition (t ừ , lúc) + Khi nào /Bao gi ờ asking about time M ẹ v ề t ừ lúc nào? B ằ ng gì/Cách nào asking about mean C ậ u v ề nhà cách nào? Ai asking what or which person or people (subject) Ai b ị tông xe v ậ y? Ai asking what or which person or people (object) B ạ n nói chuy ệ n v ớ i ai sáng nay? Th ế nào/Ra sao asking about manner B ạ n trai c ậ u trông ra sao? Bao nhiêu/M ấ y asking about quantity C ậ u có bao nhiêu ti ề n? Bao xa/xa bao nhiêu asking about distance T ừ nhà đ ế n trư ờ ng bao xa? Bao lâu asking about duration B ạ n h ọ c T.Anh bao lâu r ồ i? To form Vietnamese information questions, we need interrogative words (or interrogative pronouns) such as: ai (who/ whom), c ủ a ai (whose), gì (what), cái nào (which), khi nào (when), đâu, ở đâu (where), như th ế nào, b ằ ng cách nào (how), vì sao, t ạ i sao, th ế nào (why), bao nhiêu (how much, ho w many), bao lâu (how long), etc. CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 11 Interrogative pronouns are the integral parts of informat ion questions in Vietnamese. Their position stays flexible. They can appear first, in the middle or at the end of the questions. Their position is based on the grammatical differences or meaning of tenses. According to professor Cao Xuân H ạ o, their positio ns may follow some below situations: Positions Question words Examples Beginning of the sentences Sao, vì sao, t ạ i sao Bao gi ờ , khi nào, hôm nào (future tense) Sao anh ấ y không đ ế n nh ỉ ? Khi nào anh tr ở l ạ i? End of the sentences Ra sao, th ế nào Bao gi ờ , khi nào, (past tense) S ứ c kh ỏ e nó sao r ồ i? Anh tr ở l ạ i khi nào? Before predicates ai, gì, đâu, bao nhiêu (subject) Ai đang nói x ấ u gì mình đây? After predicates ai, gì, đâu, bao nhiêu (compliment) C ậ u đang nói x ấ u ai đó? 3. Comparison and contrast 3.2 In term s of use of question words Wh questions in English and Vietnamese share some common features. Firstly, most of question words in Vietnamese and English information question have the same functions. English Question Words Vietnamese Question Words what Gì/Cái gì Why T ạ i sao/Vì sao/Sao What...for Đ ể làm gì when Khi nào/Bao gi ờ where Ở đâu/Đâu which Nào/Cái nào Who/Whom Ai CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 12 whose C ủ a ai why don't T ạ i sao không how B ằ ng cách nào how long Bao lâu how far Bao xa how many/How much Bao nhiêu/M ấ y how old Bao nhiêu tu ổ i Wh words in both two languages have the form of reduction and they can be a single word or a grou p of words, for instance, who ( ai), what ( cái gì), where ( ở đâu); what for (đ ể làm gì), why not ( t ạ i sao không), where to ( t ớ i đâu). Moreover, reason adjuncts in both languages such as why ( t ạ i sao), for what reason ( v ì lý do gì), for which reason ( vì lý do nào) usually stand at the beginning of the sentence and function as an adverb. Why do you drink too much coffee? T ạ i sao anh u ố ng nhi ề u cà phê v ậ y? For what reasons did you leave school early? Vì lý do gì mà b ạ n ngh ỉ h ọ cs ớ m? However, in English the interrogative word “when” only appears in the beginning of the sentence and time in the answer depends on the tense used, for example, A: When are you going to get married? B: Next year A: When did you get married? B: Two years ago. On the contrary, in Vietnamese the words such “ khi nào, bao gi ờ , lúc nào ” are put both at the beginning and the end of the sentence. When standing at the beginning, they indicate that the action will happen; and in the case of being placed at the end, they show us that the action happened. This is also a typical feature in Vie tnames grammar. A: Khi nào em t ố t nghi ệ p đ ạ i h ọ c? (in the future) B: Sang năm. A: Em t ố t nghi ệ p đ ạ i h ọ c khi nào? (in the past) B: Năm ngoái. In addition, when asking about means of transport, in English we use “ How” ( như th ế nào); but in Vietnamese we say “ By what” ( b ằ ung phương ti ệ n gì). For instance, an English will ask “ How do you go to your office?”. Meanwhile, a Vietnamese says “ Anh đi làm b ằ ng phương ti ệ n gì ?”. This grammar point is small, but it may cause problems to English beginners. CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 13 Additi onally , the productiveness of English information questions is much less than Vietnamese ones. Only one English questions word can be translated into a lot of Vietnamese question words Eg. “ Why” in Vietnamese equivalence may be these words “t ạ i sao”, “vì sao ( mà)”, “t ạ i làm sao”, “t ạ i vì sao” “th ế nào (mà)”, “b ở i vì sao”, “sao mà”, “là sao”, “là th ế nào”, “do đâu”, “vì đâu”, “vì cái gì” Eg. “What” in Vietnamese equivalence may be these words “ cái gì”, “đi ề u gì”, “chuy ệ n gì”, “vi ệ c gì” 3.2 In terms of structure W hen the question words are the subjects of the information questions in Vietnamese and English, both of them ar e formed based on the structure : Q word + V + O. In other words, the word orders in both questions are the same and th e question words are located at the beginning of the sentences Eg. Ai ng ồ i k ế bên b ạ n? → Who sits next to you? Eg. Đi ề u gì đã x ả y ra trong ngôi nhà giàu có ấ y? → What happensed to the rich family? However, the location of the interrogative words in English and Vietnamese information questions is as different as chalk and cheese. In Vietnamese information questions, the position of the questions words is not always at the beginning of the questions like in En glish. In English information questions, the Wh words always come first under any circumstances, their position is unchanged while Vietnamese question words jump all the time. Eg. In English What stands at the beginning of the question : What does he want? In Vietnamese gì stands at the end of the question : C ậ u ta mu ố n gì? Eg. What did books have to do with them? In Vietnamese gì stands in the middle of the question : Nh ữ ng ngư ờ i không h ọ c hành c ầ n gì đ ế n sách v ở ? Furthermore, the elements that we use to make the information questions in Vietnamese and English are somehow not the same. In English information questions, auxiliaries are a must, but it is unnecessary in Vietnamese ones. Additionally, verbs play an impo rtant role in English, that’s why we must take subject verb agreement into consideration while we are unconcerned with Vietnamese verbs. And to express our feeling, attitude, in CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA8 2 14 Vietnamese we use particles such as “ ạ , h ử , h ả , nh ỉ , ấ y, đó, th ế , etc”, but in English we use intonation and stress instead, when we ask for something using information questions, we lower our voices at the end of the questions. Some traditional grammar books state that English information questions emphasize on correct gr ammar and the word order in con trast with Vietnamese ones which focus on meaning rather than grammar. 4. Ap plications 4.1 In learning and teaching Firstly, form this small research, students have a chance to build up their own step by step construction on how to create information questions . Therefore, the eagerness towards learning will come to them spontaneously and the atmosphere classroom becomes more friendly, learning and teaching English information questions are no longer a burden for student as well as teacher. Secondly, there are two requirements for students when they lea rn to ask information questions : the choice of correct words and the word orders for different types must be learned. As student learn to practice these features of information questions, they are definitely confused about which words or structures are acceptable or unacceptable. They will sometimes make it right, not v ery right and wrong along with fluency and accuracy as this is a natural condition when learning English. Finally, some co mmunicative speaking activities encourage students take full advantage of information questions, especially in different social contex ts. This means that teacher is responsible for creating as many opportunities as possible to help students practice asking, answering, giving, receiving more English information questions. Progressively, students have much confidence in speaking English in real life. 4.2 In communication Because there is no intonation in Vietnamese, Vietnamese people tend to speak English like the way they speak Vietnamese, with a flat intonation. Somehow they have an improper intonation when speaking English in different contexts. Having no intonation or have a wrong intonation will make the communication boring and the listeners will feel uncomfortable or misunderstand . Therefore, speakers of the two languages, by studying the structure of wh question in the ot her language, can recognize and use the wh questions effectively and avoid misunderstanding. CONTRASTIVE LINGUIST ICS TRAN VAN THUAT (25 07 1994) – 18M NNA
