The PhD thesis in Linguistics and Literature

Aspect in Vietnamese (In comparison with French and English)

ABSTRACT:

This thesis examines semantico-syntactically the aspectual system in Vietnamese. This system is composed of the aspectual components and markers that are marked in a given syntactical frame. The set of aspectual meanings of a situation must be established through the interaction between aspectual components (e.g. a type of situation) and a marker. The categorisation of the situations is based upon the sematico-temporal properties of its constituents (e.g. noun phrases, verb phrases, etc.) and the association of a situation type and an aspectual marker contributes to determine the aspectual values of a situation.

The thesis compared different means of expressing the aspectual values in Vietnamese, French and English through a large number of Vietnamese texts translated into French and English and vice versa in order to point out similarities and differences as well among the concerned languages. In addition, examining the translation of Vietnamese aspectual constructions into French and English and those of verbal forms from French and English into Vietnamese helps clarify the meanings and functions of the markers like đã, đang, rồi, etc. 

FINDINGS:

1. The thesis examines the aspectual meaning in Vietnamese by categorising the situations on its semantico-temporal features.
2. The aspectual meanings of a situation must be determined on different syntactical hierarchies: verb, verb phrase and sentence. Besides, the thesis also describes the semantic structure of the subject and object noun phrases and its roles in defining the aspectual values.
3. The thesis points out that the aspectual meaning of a situation must result from the interaction between an aspectual marker and a given situation type. A situation type with its particular semantic properties is usually compatible with a given aspectual meaning (e.g. only the telic situation is compatible with the perfective meaning). However, the fact that an aspectual marker is incompatible with a situation type can lead to a reinterpretation of the aspectual value of a situation.
4. The aspectual values in Vietnamese should be also defined by means of the semantico-syntactic relations between sub-situations, expressed by the sub-verbs that constitute the whole situation expressed by a series of verbs.

IMPLICATIONS:

1. The thesis can contribute to a further research on the aspectual system and different categories of verbs and a series of verbs in Vietnamese.
2. In terms of teaching foreign languages, the thesis can give a new way of explaining and clarifying the meaning of the verbal forms in the inflectional languages like French, English. At the same time, it gives to learners of Vietnamese a basis for understanding the Vietnamese aspectual constructions.
3. In addition, the thesis results can be applied in teaching translation at a high level.