2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
WEEK 5
LEXICAL CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
The big picture 1: What is a lexeme? What are the two divisions of lexicology?
A lexical item is also called a “lexeme (词位)”. It is the smallest meaningful unit that is an item in the vocabulary (词汇)
of a language. It may be simply a word (word-lexeme [单词词位]), but it can also be a phrase (phrasal lexeme [短语词
位])._________________________________________________________________________________________
Two devisions of lexicology are: lexical morphology and lexical semantics________________________________
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I. Contrastive Lexical Morphology
The big picture 2: Briefly name and explain the two main branches of morphology? Are both of them within the
scope of this chapter? Why/ Why not?
Two main branches of morphology: lexical/derivational morphology and inflectional morphology____________
Inflectional morphology is not within the scope of this chapter since it fall within the scope of grammar which do not
bear relation with the lexical aspect of this chapter.________________________________________________
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A closer look:
1. How do we define a ‘morpheme’?
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in the meaning system of a language, that is, it is the smallest
meaningful element into which words can be analyzed._______________________________________________
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2. Read section 4.1.2 (pp. 70-72) carefully and draw a diagram to summarise it on the next page. You may refer
to Fig. 4.1 (p. 73).
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
Morpheme
Free morpheme Bound morpheme
(can occur as (dependent on other
separate words) morphemes to exist)
e.g. pen, good, no e.g. de-, -able, -s/es,
-ed
Affix Combining form
(form new words by
combining with
other combining
(in terms of functions) forms, word or affix)
(in terms of positions)
e.g. bio-, geo-
Inflectional & derivational
Prefix, infix & suffix
Stem/base form/base
morpheme
(part of a word that an
inflectional affix can be
added)
e.g. root; 1 root + 1
derivational affix; 2 or more
roots
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
II. Contrastive Lexical Semantics
The big picture 3: What are the two levels of meaning? Which of them is the focus of this chapter? Why?
The two levels of meaning: lexical meaning and sentence meaning______________________________________
Lexical meaning is the main focus of this chapter. Because the title of this chapter is “lexical contrastive analysis” as
well as sentence meaning being such a dynamic notion, which involves
pragmatic/syntactic/referential/phonological dimension_____________________________________________
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A closer look:
3. The Motivation (Internal Form) of Words: Fill in the table with key points and examples.
Definition of ‘motivation’: a strong reason for doing something; certain relationships that may be perceived to
exist between the form of a word and its meaning or between its primary meaning (原初意义) and its associative
meaning(s); relationship between the form and meaning
4 types of motivation below:
Phonetic Graphemic Morphological Semantic
- Definition: the - Definition: the relationship - Definition: the relationship - Definition: the
relationship between between the written form of between the relationship between
the phonetic form of a a word and its referential morphological make-up of a word the primary
word and its referential meaning and its referential meaning meaning (原初意义) of a
meaning (the word and its
relationship between Ideographic languages (TC associative meanings
linguistic cho các ngôn ngữ tượng (联想意义) (extended
signs and the entities in hình) meaning [引申意义],
the world which they - Examples of folk etymology (từ figurative meaning (比
refer to or describe). => Các ngôn ngữ có chữ nguyên học ( a popular way of 喻意义, 喻义), etc.).
(Nghe âm thanh là nghĩ tượng hình thường có modifying the form of a word or
tới cái nghĩa liền) motivation này phrase to make it seem to be Example: a wolf in
derived from a more familiar sheep’s clothing
word) in Eng and Vie: (related to the the
famous fable told by
- Examples of In English: https://www.merriam- Aesop)
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
onomatopoeic words webster.com/grammar/folk-
(từ tượng thanh) in etymology#:~:text=This (Vietnamese): sở
Eng and Vie: %20gravitational%20pull khanh (truyện Kiều)
%20toward%20a,16th%20century
In English: buzz, rustle, %2C%20its%20Latinate%20name
tinkle, rat-a-tat-tat, - muskrat, hangnail, crayfish,
piter-patter woodchuck, asparagus (sparrow
grass), cockroach (not “cock” and
In Vietnamese: meo “roach” but derive from Spanish
meo, bíng boong, lách word cucaracha”)
tách, rào rào, khò khò
In Vietnamese: xuộc (?)
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
4. Sense Relationships
a. What is ‘sense’?
The place a word or phrase (lexeme [词位]) holds in the system of relationships with other words in the
vocabulary.e.g. bachelor and marriage____________________________________________________________
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b. What are the two main types of sense relationship? Provide a short explanation for each.
Two types of sense relationship: __________________________________________________________________
Syntagmatic (sequential semantic relations): (“Syntagm” is a linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms
[phonemes (音位), words, or phrases] that are in a sequential relationship to one another.). Which mean when we
hear a particular sentence, we automatically think of a small set of word to fill in the gap sequentially. For example:
He is a kind ….(man/person/etc.) => đoán thuận theo trình tự nhả chữ___________________________________
Paradigmatic (substitute semantic relations): (“Paradigm” is a set or list of linguistic items that form mutually
exclusive choices in particular syntactic roles). Which mean when we hear a particular sentence, we may put in the
blanks a set of words that are suitable and replace one item with another may result in a change in meaning => thay
thế từ trong câu bằng một item khác trong set_______________________________________________________
c. What is ‘collocation’? Why does it represent syntagmatic relations - theo hàng ngang - giới hạn một
số lựa chọn của mình?
Collocation (搭配) is related to the co-occurrence of words and phrases___________________________________
It represents syntagmatic relations as collocation involves lexemes that work together in an predictable way which
align to the nature of guessing what set of word might appear next in sequential semantic relations ___________
d. How would you translate the two puns in English on pp. 82-83 into Vietnamese?
Trong một lần thằng em có tính tiêu hoang của tôi về quê thăm nhà, nó nói rằng nó sẽ sẽ kết hôn và yên bề gia thất.
Nghe vậy, bố tôi chỉ đáp: Sao mày không ở vậy mà dẹp yên cái đống nợ nần của mày đã”
“Tôi đã đề ra một số phương hướng nhằm phát triển doanh nghiệp trong thùng tư góp ý. Anh đã nhận được nó rồi
chứ?”
“Rồi, mà anh có thấy cậu tạp vụ đang bưng thùng rác đằng kia không”
“Tôi có thấy”
“Vậy thì đừng lo nhé. Chính cậu ta sẽ thực hiện những ý tưởng của anh”
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
e. Fill in the table with key points and examples for each type of paradigmatic relations - về mặt ý đồ
của tác giả - theo hàng dọc. (các mối liên hệ dưới bảng)
Synonymy Synonymy (同义) denotes the relationship of “sameness” of meaning, e.g (giống core meaning)
(mối quan hệ mix
đồng nghĩa blend
giữa các từ) merge
mingle
fuse
Words rarely (if ever) have exactly the same meaning. There usually exist
stylistic, regional, expressive, or other subtle differences between their meanings
Two lexemes (词位) might be synonymous in one sentence
but different in another
Antonymy Antonymy (反义) is the relationship of “oppositeness of meaning.”
There may be no true synonyms, but there are several kinds of real antonyms: gradable, non-
gradable and converse terms
Hyponymy Hyponymy (上下义) refers to the notion of “inclusion,” whereby we can say that
“an X is a kind of Y.” rose is a hyponym (下义词) of flower, car of vehicle.
Several lexemes (词位) can be “cohyponyms” (同级下义词) of the same
superordinate (上义词) (general term), e.g. rose, pansy, tulip, etc. are the cohyponyms of flower.
Animal is a strange lexeme
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
Incompatibility The relationship of mutual exclusiveness between sets of words that are members of the same
superordinate category (không thể cùng xuất hiện với nhau)
red, green, etc. are incompatible lexemes
Terms for fruit, flowers, weekdays, and musical instruments illustrate other incompatible sets
f. What are the two ways of ‘expressing a concept’? What implications do they have for
learning/teaching/translating languages?
(1) First, we may lexicalize (词汇化) it, i.e. give it a specific name, e.g. a mare,enlarge a photo synthetic. (tạo ra từ
tương đương ở ngôn ngữ còn lại)
(2) Secondly, we may describe it in a circuitous or roundabout way, i.e. by “circumlocution” (in the literal sense of
the word), e.g. a female horse, make a photo larger, or cause a photo to become larger analytic. (giải thích vòng
vòng (bằng L1))_______________________________________________________________________________
We may apply it in teaching vocabulary implicitly____________________________________________________
Dùng learners’ dictionary để hỗ trợ cách thứ 2 trong giải thích từ vựng___________________________________
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5. Semantic Features
a. What is a ‘semantic feature/ component’? Give one example.
Semantic features (语义特征) or semantic components (语义成分) are the smallest elements of meaning in a word. The
meaning of words may be described as a combination of semantic features._______________________________
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
Father: [+human], [+male], [+mature], [+parental]___________________________________________________
b. What are the two approaches to the contrastive analysis of lexical fields? What is the suggested
procedure for the first approach as illustrated by the analysis on pp. 91-92 and Table 4.4 on p. 103?
From componential analysis (构成成分分析) to translational matching: We may produce an independent specification
of L1 and L2 lexemes (词位) (and senses) for the same field. This may be done with a native speaker supplying the L2
inventory, and each lexeme being analyzed componentially. Then follows a matching procedure: those L1 and L2
lexemes or senses receiving the same features are by definition translation equivalents______________________
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From tentative translation to componential analysis (构成成分分析): We may utilize translation equivalence (翻译等值).
This approach starts with tentative (tạm thời) translations and the subsequent componential analysis as a check on
their “fit.”____________________________________________________________________________________
Đưa bản dịch tạm thời, lôi hết semantic features ra, rồi so sánh xem trùng bao nhiêu______________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Đọc nghiên cứu và xem nó chọn approach nào --> link với cái
mình đã học
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
Đọc từ điển để lôi hết các semantic features của các từ ra rồi đánh dấu
III. Three Active Areas
Read section 4.3 (pp. 93-102), what ideas/points/concepts do you find interesting? Why?
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (both strong and weak) since it reminds me of my socioliguistic course________________
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* Notes:
- Những phần in đậm của Morphology đều có thể làm TC
- Sematics thì khó hơn một chút vì có nhiều lớp nghĩa (mối quan hệ giữa các thành phần)
- Folk etymology: những từ không chính thống, nhưng được hiểu bởi một nhóm người (đọc trại đi)
- Nếu mún đọc nghiên cứu về metaphor: liên hệ phần semantic motivation; associative meaning
- Hàng ngang giới hạn từ chọn, hàng dọc để mình thay thế nó
2411ENGL1415 Contrastive Linguistics (Eng-Vie) – Ms Hoa Ninh
- Discussion tuần sau: trước khi so sánh, tác giả có nêu rõ định nghĩa về từ không hay nêu các loại từ khác nhau? ;
how are concepts of “collocation”, “idiom” and “phrasal verbs” related to each other in the 4.2.2.1? Which
concept is the broadest
