The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time

Thanh Minh To

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time

Thanh Minh To

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 6)

Received: 1 October 2014 Accepted: 22 October 2014 Published: 30 October 2014

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Abstract

Differences between the function of the adverbial of Time and that of the range topic of Time may lead Vietnamese language users to the risk of mistakenly translating the English clause with the adverbial of Time. The recommended translation of the English commercial note “Have you had a Coke today?” is “Hôm nay bạn đã uống Coca-Cola chưa?”, in which the adverbial of Time at the end of the English clause should be converted into the range topic of Time at the beginning of its Vietnamese equivalent, to meet the requirement of the Topic-Comment structure of the Vietnamese clause. In the mistakenly used version “Bạn đã uống Coca-Cola hôm nay chưa?” hôm nay can also be considered as an adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier of Coca-Cola, resulting in a case of structural ambiguity that should always be avoided. The research reported in this paper was carried on the basis of the theory of the Topic-Comment structure applied by Hao X. Cao (1991) to Vietnamese as a natural language to search for (i) dissimilarity with regard to word order when translating into Vietnamese the English clause with one or more adverbials including the adverbial of Time; (ii) possible cases when native speakers apply the fronting of the adverbial of Time in the English clause, like “Tonight I’ll call you.” instead of “I’ll call you tonight.” and (iii) any potential change in the meaning they would like to convey with such fronting.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
Page(s)	348-355
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Adverbial, Range Topic, Topic-Comment Structure, Fronting (Movement), Point of Time, Extent in Time, Principle of End-Weight

References

[1]	Stageberg, N. C. and Oaks, D. D. (2000) An Introductory English Grammar. Fifth Edition. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.
[2]	Cao. X. H. (1991) Tiếng Việt – Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng (The Vietnamese Language – A Rough Draft on Functional Grammar), Hanoi: Publishing House of Social Sciences.
[3]	Halliday, M. A. K. (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Second Edition, London: Arnold.
[4]	Dyvik, H. J. J. (1984) Subject or Topic in Vietnamese, University of Bergen, Norway (provided in the form of a typed material in 1994 to Department of Vietnamese Literature and Linguistics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy by Mr. Olaf Husby).
[5]	Hurford, J. R., Heasley, B. and Smith, M. B. (2007) Semantics – A Course Book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]	Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S; Leech, G.; and Svartvik, J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London and New York: Longman Group Ltd.
[7]	Biber, D.; Johansson, S.; Leech, G.; Conrad, S.; and Finegan, E. (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, London: Pearson Education Ltd.
[8]	To. M. T. (2011) Vai nghĩa trong câu trần thuật tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh (Semantic Roles in Vietnamese and English Declaratives), Ho Chi Minh City: Publishing House of Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City.
[9]	Cook, G. (1989) Discourse, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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APA Style

Thanh Minh To. (2014). The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(6), 348-355. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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ACS Style

Thanh Minh To. The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(6), 348-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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Thanh Minh To. The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(6):348-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12,
  author = {Thanh Minh To},
  title = {The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {6},
  pages = {348-355},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20140206.12},
  abstract = {Differences between the function of the adverbial of Time and that of the range topic of Time may lead Vietnamese language users to the risk of mistakenly translating the English clause with the adverbial of Time. The recommended translation of the English commercial note “Have you had a Coke today?” is “Hôm nay bạn đã uống Coca-Cola chưa?”, in which the adverbial of Time at the end of the English clause should be converted into the range topic of Time at the beginning of its Vietnamese equivalent, to meet the requirement of the Topic-Comment structure of the Vietnamese clause. In the mistakenly used version “Bạn đã uống Coca-Cola hôm nay chưa?” hôm nay can also be considered as an adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier of Coca-Cola, resulting in a case of structural ambiguity that should always be avoided. The research reported in this paper was carried on the basis of the theory of the Topic-Comment structure applied by Hao X. Cao (1991) to Vietnamese as a natural language to search for (i) dissimilarity with regard to word order when translating into Vietnamese the English clause with one or more adverbials including the adverbial of Time; (ii) possible cases when native speakers apply the fronting of the adverbial of Time in the English clause, like “Tonight I’ll call you.” instead of “I’ll call you tonight.” and (iii) any potential change in the meaning they would like to convey with such fronting.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time
AU  - Thanh Minh To
Y1  - 2014/10/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 348
EP  - 355
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
AB  - Differences between the function of the adverbial of Time and that of the range topic of Time may lead Vietnamese language users to the risk of mistakenly translating the English clause with the adverbial of Time. The recommended translation of the English commercial note “Have you had a Coke today?” is “Hôm nay bạn đã uống Coca-Cola chưa?”, in which the adverbial of Time at the end of the English clause should be converted into the range topic of Time at the beginning of its Vietnamese equivalent, to meet the requirement of the Topic-Comment structure of the Vietnamese clause. In the mistakenly used version “Bạn đã uống Coca-Cola hôm nay chưa?” hôm nay can also be considered as an adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier of Coca-Cola, resulting in a case of structural ambiguity that should always be avoided. The research reported in this paper was carried on the basis of the theory of the Topic-Comment structure applied by Hao X. Cao (1991) to Vietnamese as a natural language to search for (i) dissimilarity with regard to word order when translating into Vietnamese the English clause with one or more adverbials including the adverbial of Time; (ii) possible cases when native speakers apply the fronting of the adverbial of Time in the English clause, like “Tonight I’ll call you.” instead of “I’ll call you tonight.” and (iii) any potential change in the meaning they would like to convey with such fronting.
VL  - 2
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Thanh Minh To

Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Thanh Minh To. (2014). The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(6), 348-355. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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ACS Style

Thanh Minh To. The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(6), 348-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

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AMA Style

Thanh Minh To. The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(6):348-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12,
  author = {Thanh Minh To},
  title = {The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {6},
  pages = {348-355},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20140206.12},
  abstract = {Differences between the function of the adverbial of Time and that of the range topic of Time may lead Vietnamese language users to the risk of mistakenly translating the English clause with the adverbial of Time. The recommended translation of the English commercial note “Have you had a Coke today?” is “Hôm nay bạn đã uống Coca-Cola chưa?”, in which the adverbial of Time at the end of the English clause should be converted into the range topic of Time at the beginning of its Vietnamese equivalent, to meet the requirement of the Topic-Comment structure of the Vietnamese clause. In the mistakenly used version “Bạn đã uống Coca-Cola hôm nay chưa?” hôm nay can also be considered as an adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier of Coca-Cola, resulting in a case of structural ambiguity that should always be avoided. The research reported in this paper was carried on the basis of the theory of the Topic-Comment structure applied by Hao X. Cao (1991) to Vietnamese as a natural language to search for (i) dissimilarity with regard to word order when translating into Vietnamese the English clause with one or more adverbials including the adverbial of Time; (ii) possible cases when native speakers apply the fronting of the adverbial of Time in the English clause, like “Tonight I’ll call you.” instead of “I’ll call you tonight.” and (iii) any potential change in the meaning they would like to convey with such fronting.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The English Adverbial of Time vs. the Vietnamese Range Topic of Time
AU  - Thanh Minh To
Y1  - 2014/10/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 348
EP  - 355
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140206.12
AB  - Differences between the function of the adverbial of Time and that of the range topic of Time may lead Vietnamese language users to the risk of mistakenly translating the English clause with the adverbial of Time. The recommended translation of the English commercial note “Have you had a Coke today?” is “Hôm nay bạn đã uống Coca-Cola chưa?”, in which the adverbial of Time at the end of the English clause should be converted into the range topic of Time at the beginning of its Vietnamese equivalent, to meet the requirement of the Topic-Comment structure of the Vietnamese clause. In the mistakenly used version “Bạn đã uống Coca-Cola hôm nay chưa?” hôm nay can also be considered as an adjectival to be the post-nominal modifier of Coca-Cola, resulting in a case of structural ambiguity that should always be avoided. The research reported in this paper was carried on the basis of the theory of the Topic-Comment structure applied by Hao X. Cao (1991) to Vietnamese as a natural language to search for (i) dissimilarity with regard to word order when translating into Vietnamese the English clause with one or more adverbials including the adverbial of Time; (ii) possible cases when native speakers apply the fronting of the adverbial of Time in the English clause, like “Tonight I’ll call you.” instead of “I’ll call you tonight.” and (iii) any potential change in the meaning they would like to convey with such fronting.
VL  - 2
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download