CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

[02/11/22] LESSON 1: Theory

What is it? Why use it? What are the

Official definition:

1) WHAT? – a branch of linguistics (that is a BIG thing) – same as morphology, lexicology, psycho-
linguistics (how we process sentences, cognitive processes when speaking English, or a
different language): Only by comparison can one distinguish, process involves contrast and
comparison

Comparison: can be conducted inter-/intralingually [scope] on a synchronic/diachronic [time]

basis  4 types of contrastive analysis to compare [scope+time]
*Interlingual: between languageS, for example: Vietnam vs. English
Intralingual: within one language, for example: different dialects of the same language
Synchronic: specific point in time`````````````````````````````
Diachronic: over time, throughout history
Intra-synchronic: same language, specific points of time
Intra-diachronic: same language, over history
Inter-synchronic: between languages, specific points of time
Inter-diachronic: between languages, over history

a. Synchronic intralingual: morphology, lexicology, phonology, grammar (in which, syntax),

semantic, pragmatics (in context) of Late Modern English – compare constituent forms within
a language during a specific point of time.
b. Diachronic intralingual: 4 stages – Old  Middle  early Modern  late Modern English –
compare the development of a language, noticing the changes between each period
c. Diachronic interlingual: same language family (ex: English = West-Germanic language)  rise
of historical linguistics, proto-language – prototype? Mother languages then creates more
languages. It is only called a proto language when it has other languages formed from the
main branch. Sister languages must share sufficient similarities, by looking at the historical
formation

½ population speaks this language family: Indo-European family

What’s Vietnamese’s language family?

d. Synchronic interlingual: 3 sub-types = 3 different purposes

i. 1st: Find the common features of all languages in the world, for example: have the
same word classes (noun, adjectives, etc.)  discover language/linguistics universals.
ii. 2nd: Find the typical differences between languages, for example: inflectional and
analytic isolating languages, non-tonal and tonal languages  linguistic typology
(classify according to their grammatical devices)
iii. 3rd: compare usually 2 languages, but sometimes more, find similarities and
differences in the structures (morphemes  words  sentences  …)  contrastive
linguistics
LESSON 2:
[Why C.A?]

- Theoretical need: hypothesis being formed, new beliefs

- Practical need: new theories/hypothesis being tested to be reconfirmed  confirm or deny. Can’t
simply look at differences only to teach/understand another language.
Example: Covid vaccine: do you need it? Is it effective?
Factors affecting how effectively a person learn a language? – Gender? Age? Background?
How much exposure to the language? Brain functions, or psychological? Beliefs?  all the
skills are interconnected, extensive training, practice = can make it

- History: Developed in the US duing WW2, when flows of immigrants come to the US
Immigrants had a language barrier, but they need to make money for themselves and their
children’s survival.  Teachers hypothesized: a need for a better ways to study English 
pointing similarities and differences to predict common errors

- Psychological theory: underlying approach to language teaching was associative learning of

Behaviorism: Stimulus – Response (need – signs to show what we need), but it couldn’t look into
psychological processes but can only record what is shown, performed.
Not the Pavlov dogs again D: They can only record they react to the stimuli, but whether they
REALLY understand it or not? Not sure.
Student processes the information  understand phonology, syntax and lexicon 
comprehension

(?) Do we encounter a lot of Behaviorism throughout the day? – Kinda? A lot? Stimulus = need,
Response = way to respond to that need. Ex: Hungry (S)  Say sth to someone (R): “Hey, I’m hungry”

In language behavior: S = Communicative need, R = Utterance in 2nd language. The need for
quick and effective SLA + The popularity of Behaviorist Psychology and Structural Linguistics =
birth of C.A 1940s-1950s

 Basically, there are quick and slow learners  just theory won’t improve everyone’s English
proficiency

[BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND HYPOTHESES UNDERLYING C.A]

- Main difficulties: interference from mother’s tongue (L1) affects students’ English (L2) learning
abilities.

- C.A predicts the difficulties  L2 learners are aware of the differences between L1 & L2. Example:
Vietnamese is analytic, English is in inflectional

- Interference – Transfer

 Positive transfer – facilitation: comparing

 Negative transfer – interference

(?) What can C.A predict?

(?) How accurately are C.A’s predictions regarding the learning problems encountered by L2 learners?

[PREDICTIVE POWER OF C.A]

Error analysis: two types of errors: inter-lingual & intra-lingual errors

Inter-lingual: He come. (Vietnamese is analytic, predicted common mistakes)  C.A can only
predict this type, approx. 1/3 errors possibly made by natives

Intra-lingual: He is comes, (blend of English structures)  insufficient language knowledge 

approx. 2/3 errors

 CA lost some of its pedagogic impact

I FORGOR TO TYPE, CHECK PICTURES

[LEXICAL C.A BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE]

Q: What types of languages are E and V?

- English = synthetic {inflectional}, Vietnamese = analytic {isolating}

Lexicology? A lexical item? Lexeme? Lexicon?

Lexeme = word, Lexicon = vocabulary, Lexicology = study of words, Lexical item =

[LEXICAL MORPHOLOGY]
Q: What is the smallest meaningful unit in English and Vietnamese?
- Morpheme & hình vị
Q: What is the main function of Vietnamese bound morphemes?
- Reduplicative elements (từ láy: đẹp đẽ)
Q: How to make new word in English?
- Conversion, Affixation, Compounding, Shortening, Back-formation, Echo-ism
(Onomatopoeia), Reduplication
… in Vietnamese?
- Conversion (giải trí)/Homophones, Compounding, Shortening, sound imitation
(Onomatopoeia), Reduplication
- Prior to analysis off word formation processes in Vietnamese, it’s important to identify a word in
Vietnamese.
How many words? Cái xe đạp nhẹ lắm! – 5 = light peddling, 4 = light bicycle
Từ ghép chính phụ - xe đạp; Từ ghép đăng lập – giải trí

COMPOUNDING
Compounding in Vietnamese: Subordinate and Coordinate Compounds
Subordinate Compounds Coordinate Compounds
mướp đắng, hàng nhái, chợ đen, bố mẹ, bát đĩa, làng xã, nhà cửa
Common patterns:
Native + Native: quần áo, cầu cống
Sino (Hán-Nôm) + Native or Native + Sino: Ca (S) hát, thì (S) giờ, danh (S) tiếng
Sino + Sino (a lot): bán nguyệt, trường giang, song hỉ, tổ quốc, phu thê, nhân ái, …

CONVERSION
Trông thế mà Hoạn Thư lắm!:
Chân vịt: paddle of the boat  extended meaning: từ nhiều nghĩa, giống nghĩa gốc, cùng từ loại
Ốc: screw  extended meaning: looks like the snail

Conversion:
Muối: salt & pickle
Thịt (con) gà: meat & butcher
SHORTENING
Clipping: (môn Vật) Lý
Blending: quan (tâm lo) ngại, tuyên (huấn) giáo (dục), ban văn (hóa) xã (hội), văn (hóa) nghệ (thuật)

REDUPLICATION
Exact reduplication in English: Pretty pretty, blah blah, night night
Full reduplication in Vietnamese: khăng khăng, lù lù; đo đỏ, ra rả: full + only tonal change

Partial reduplication in English:

 Ablaut reduplication: chit chat, bingo bango bongo (i  a  o)
 Rhyme combination: pseudo-morpheme (or cranberry morpheme, kinda funny, bound
morpheme with no semantic or syntactic meaning): lovey dovey, razzle dazzle

Partial reduction in Vietnamese:

 Initial reduplication with alternate rhymes:
 Reduplication with alternate final consonant:
 Rhyme reduplication with alternate initial consonant:

 Modern Viet vocab consists of:

 Mono-morphemic words: vườn, bố, bàn, đẹp,…
 Multi-morphemic words (compound, reduplication): ruộng vườn, bố mẹ, bàn ghế, đẹp đẽ,…

Q: What is the majority of multi-morphemic words in Vietnamese?

- Compounds  Derivatives

[LEXICAL SEMANTICS]

GRAPHEMIC MOTIVATION: written form of a word and its referential meaning

- Jap and Chin.: same writing, different meaning, even different pronunciation
- English & Vietnamese do not have graphemic motivated words because E & V is are not logographic
languages
- Chinese and other logographic languages have: rain and

MORPHOLOGICAL MOTIVATION: Relationship between morphological make-up of a word and its

referential meaning
- Derivatives and compounds are morphologically motivated words: they add more morphemes in to
make new words
Ex.: class + room, music + ian
SEMANTIC MOTIVATION: Relationship between the primary meaning of a word and its associative
meanings (extended, figurative meaning, etc.)
Ex.: chân – chân tay, chân bàn; E: head
Morphological motivation of German, English and Vietnamese
GERMAN ENGLISH VIETNAMESE
Erdteil Continent Châu lục
(Erd + Teil = earth + part) (Latin: continuous land) (great land)
Handschuh Hippopotamus Hà mã
(Hand + Schuh = Hand shoe) (Greek: horse + river) (river + horse)
Scheidung divorce ly hôn
(separate + fem. –ing ending)
Ursache Cause Nguyên nhân, nguyên do
 Vietnamese has morphological motivation because looking at each morphemes you can interpret
the meaning

Globalization + Exposure = Borrowing

Modern English and Vietnamese borrow words freely from languages of the most diverse origins:
English: sputnik (Russian), tomahawk (Algonquian Indian), ao dai, banh mi (Vietnamese)
Vietnamese: ghi-đông, pê-đan (French), hà mã (Chinese ~ 70% of Vietnamese), pizza, spaghetti
(Italian)
Meaning of the word with other meaning of the word?

SENSE RELATIONSHIP – Semantics – Reference & Sense Relationship

- Reference: see then named, words are created when refer to something in reality; Relationship
between words & the objects, events, qualities, etc. they stand for.
Ex.: table – refers to an object with 4 legs and a flat surface; orange – color, fruit
- Sense: Relationship between a word and other words in the vocabulary of a language
(similar/opposite meanings)
Ex.: content, happy, cheerful – synonymous: same
sunny >< rainy: “antonymous”: different/opposite

Sense relationship: Syntagmatic semantic relations & Paradigmatic semantic relations

(1) Syntagmatic: how words form into sentences, how words are syntactically related = chain
Ex.: Today, it is sunny OR It is sunny today, but never It today is sunny.
(2) Paradigmatic: how to “roughly” understand a word, like connotation? = choice
Ex.: Paradigm of weather words (cloudy, sunny, gloomy, windy,…)  conscious choice of
which word in those paradigm that fits the context
The man cried: Sentences should follow a certain sequence,

boy laughed
Horizontal relations: how words are syntactically
The (determiner) + man (n.) + cried (v.)
related
Noun phrase = S Verb = predicate Vertical relations: how the context influence choice

Syntagmatic semantic relationship = COLLOCATION: dictates how words are ordered in a sentence,
which words that goes together in terms of chain
Pragmatic semantic relationship = SYNONYMY, ANTONYM, HYPONYMY

Collocations differ greatly between languages

Ex.: Vì… nên / “Because… so”; to wash + many noun (phrases)= mean te same things, but NOT
giặt mặt, rửa tóc
Q: What kind of errors Vietnamese beginners of English are likely to make when using the “Because…”
construction in English?
A:

SYNONYMY & ANTONYMY

I. Classifications of Syn.
a. Ideographic synonyms: words conveying the same notion but different in shades of
meaning (connotations)
Ex.: hope (for sth. good), expect (good & bad, or neutral), anticipate (oft. negative/
anxious)
Dự định, dự kiến, mưu toan, mưu đồ
b. Stylistic synonyms: words conveying the same notion but different in stylistic
characteristics
 Ex.: help, aid, assist, dormitory – dorm (formality increases, complete = more formal)
ngồi – an tọa, dòng biển – hải lưu (Sino-Vietnamese is more formal)
c. Absolute/perfect/complete synonyms: rare occurrence, share similar meanings but
different shades of meaning and stylistic characteristics
Ex.: screenwriter – scriptwriter, Prime Minister – P.M
Vừng – mè
d. Evaluated connotation: Convey speaker’s attitude toward the referent (neg./pos.)
Ex.: well-known – famous – notorious – celebrated; new – novel
(ground-breaking/revolutionarily new, outstandingly new)
Trình – bẩm – phát biểu – nói – khua lưỡi – múa mép – ba hoa thiên đế - tán
e. Connotation of intensity degree: strongly/intensely an action is performed/take place
Ex.: dislike  hate  detest  loathe

II. Sources of synonyms in English

a. Borrowings
ask (native) – question (French) – interrogate (Latin)
MC, toa-lét
b. Dialectical words: đóng góp trong chuyện làm giàu tiếng
Flat – apartment, cinema – movie theatre, pavement – sidewalk
Dứa – thơm; bát – chén
c. Euphemisms: nói giảm nói tránh, formality
Bathroom/washrooms – toilet

d. Shift of meaning
Hand – worker: extended meaning
e. Word formation
Laugh – laughter
Đẹp – đẹp đẽ
III. Sources of synonyms in Vietnamese, that doesn’t exist in English
a. Affixation
Máu – máu me, nhà – nhà cửa, chia – chia rẽ
b. Sound alteration
Mặc dầu – mặc dù, tránh – lánh, nhanh nhẹn – lanh lẹn
c. Phraseology
Chạy – chạy như cờ long công, chạy như ngựa
Nhanh – nhanh như cắt, nhanh như gió
Giống – giống như in
d. Word order alternation and affixation
Quét dọn nhà cửa – quét nhà dọn cửa; quần áo – quần với áo, quần quần áo áo; thuốc
lá – thuốc lá thuốc lẩu
Poly-semantic words: many meanings words
Ex.: Lành – người lành tính; món ăn lành; cái áo lành; vết thường đã lành – meaning in E = good
Mở - mở cửa, mở màn (>< hạ màn),…
Collations gives more ideas to the word

IV. Classification of antonyms

a. Gradable/Polar antonyms in E-V: polar members of a gradual opposition which may
have intermediate elements & always imply comparison which is clear from context
Ex.: Freezing >< Warm
Lạnh >< nóng
 b. Complementary (non-gradable) antonyms: complementary = binary opposition, may
include only 2 members. Denial of one member means assertion of the other
Ex.: single – married; permit – forbid
Độc thân – kết hôn; cho phép – cấm đoán
c. Relational antonyms (converse tém): relationship between members is reciprocal.
Converses denote the same subject as viewed from different points of view
Ex.: student – teacher; to teach – to learn; water – fire
Tư sản – vô sản; nước – lửa, địa chủ - nông dân
d. Affixation
Ex.: un-; im-; …
Vô; bất; di…

HYPONYMY (to a loose extent, it is close to lexical field): inclusion

Referring to the notion of an X is a kind of Y.
Ex.: a bicycle is a hyponym of transportation; rose is a hyponym of flower
Several lexemes can be co-hyponemes of the same superordinate (general terms)
Ex.: a bicycle, a plane, a train are co-hyponyms of transportation; a dog, a cat, a platypus are
co-hyponyms of transportation
Lexical fields and lexical gaps
Rich pronoun system in Vietnamese >< Limited pronouns in English = Lexical gap
Many types of noodles in Vietnamese >< English simplification all strings food = Lexical gap
(phở, bún, miến, hủ tiếu, bánh canh, bánh đa…)
Kinship terms >< cousins = Lexical gap
(chị họ, em họ, anh họ) >< (unclear gender)
Bánh mì (overall) >< loaf, rolls, etc.
 The contrasts are not lexicalized in English = Lexical gap: Absence of a word in a particular lexical
field of a language.
STOP
Q: How do we express this concept?
A: Rely on 2 lexical devices:
1st: Lexicalize it, give it a name [stop sign]  Synthetic expression: usually used when the
referent is lexicalized
2nd: Describe/explain it [object that signs drivers to stop]  Analytic expression: used
whenever some notion has to be expressed & yet there isn’t a ready-made word for it in the
target language’s lexicon (lexical gap)

Lexical field: closely linked to hyponymy

Referring to a group of related words or phrases organized into a system within which each item
interrelates with and may define the other items = trường từ
Meaning transference: Metaphor – Similarity & Metonymy:
Metonymy – Association: it’s not just about similarity but rather what’s in it
Nhà hang xóm, cạn ly
English and Vietnamese have some metaphor and metonymy in common:
Wing: cánh
metaphor: cánh chim; metonymy: right wing, left wing – cánh hữu/tả
Pupil (English): con ngươi (Vietnamese), đồng tử (Sino-Vietnamese), la pupilla (Italian), la
pupila (Spanish); la pupille (French)

I. Patterns of metaphor
a. Appearance: eye of the storm – mắt bão
b. Position: back of the chair – lưng ghế; head of the bed (headboard) – đầu giường
 c. Function: answer key/key to success
d. Quality, characteristics: big question mark – dấu chấm hỏi lớn; sour – cng chua chát;
heavy smoker – nghiện thuốc lá nặng
e. Size: pool of love, sea of trouble; bể khổ, núi việc
II. Patterns of metonymy
a. Container of contained
Ex.: The Oval Office was busy.
Lớp NNHĐC sáng thứ tư có thể về sớm.
b. Possessor for possessed/attribute
The red dress is killing it on the dance floor
Cô ấy là một cây bút trẻ tài năng.
c. Geographical names for products
Wall Street claimed the decision as a victory
(Thuốc lá) Thăng Long
d. Names of inventors for inventions
Denise played Mozart.
Suốt 10 năm tôi không đọc Nguyễn Du.
e. Materials for products
Glass of water
Đồng (bronze/copper)
f. Represented entity for representative
The Times hasn’t arrived at the Press Conference yet.
No one is sure what Switzerland will say.
Báo Nhân dân đến rồi nhưng Lao động chưa đến.
Không ai dự đoán đc động thái của Bắc Kinh.
g. Whole for part
Fill the car w/ gas / Bơm xe
Use the bathroom
Một đêm văn nghệ
h. Part for whole
Get your ass over here; set of wheels = car
Có vai vế trong làng
i. Place for institution
The White House decided to normalize the relations with Cu-ba
Nhà Trắng quyết định bình thường hóa mqh với Cu-ba