Negative questions in English and Vietnamese - A contrastive analysis

coffee or tea? ≈(Didn’t John drink coffee or tea?) →John did not drink coffee. →John did not drink tea. E.g.3: Which car wouldn’t you like, the black one or the white one? →you wouldn’t like the black car →you wouldn’t like the white car A contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese equivalents Introduction What distinguishes a negative clause from a positive clause is the presence or absence of a negative marker. Negative can be defined as a state in which a negative marker is present, whereas positive can be said to be a state of having no negative marker. Huddleston (1984) identifies two types of negation: clausal and subclausal. Clausal negation, sometimes called sentence negation, produces a clause which is both syntactically and semantically negative, as in "She isn't happy". In this sentence, negation is marked by "n't", one of the two most common markers in English, the other being "not". Subclause negation, by contrast, is often called word negation, since it is negation within the limit of a word or phrase. Within the scope of this study, the writer only wants to focus on the analysis of structures (sentence negation) of four types English negative questions (Yes/No questions, tag- questions, wh- question and alternative questions), other types of questions will be ignored. We also would like to give the comparison of the use of “not” (Subclause negation) in English negative question and negative words in Vietnamese equivalents. 4.2 Structures 4.2.1 Negative structure in Yes/No questions As mentioned above we can also state Yes/No questions in the negative by using subject operator “not”. And they have two forms: negative full form or negative short form. In order to form a negative question, the auxiliary is placed before the subject, and the word not is placed after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted form of not follows immediately after the auxiliary. Questions in Vietnamese are usually formed by adding the negators: “không”, “chưa”, “chẳng” or “chả” which are normally place after the subject and before the predicate in combination with “ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ phải không/ đấy chứ” which occur in final position. Sometimes “chẳng phải/ không phải/ chả phải/phải chăng/ chẳng phải là / không phải là / chả phải là” in presubject position is used in combination with “à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao” in final position. “Chẳng lẽ (nào)/(có) lẽ nào”/ có đúng là in presubject position can be used in combination with negator “không/ chẳng/ chưa/ chả” before the predicate. E.g.1: Didn’t you come there? E.g.2: Hasn’t she left? E.g.3: Have I not asked you again and again to be here on time? Bạn chẳng đến đó là gì? Cô ấy chưa đi à? Chả phải là tôi đã nhiều lần đề nghị anh đến đây đúng giờ hay sao? It should be noted that there is no universally accepted contraction for am not. In spoken English, am I not? is often contracted to aren't I?. However, although the expression aren't I? is considered acceptable in informal English, it is not considered to be grammatically correct in formal English. In formal English, no contraction should be used for am I not. In several negative Yes/ No questions, the negative particles and the non assertive form can combine to produce a negative form (any, anything, anyone, ever, etc.) it can be replaced by a structure with a nuclear negator (no, nothing, no one, none, never, etc.) in which the predicator remains positive in form (without not) and non-assertive words are replaced by nuclear negator in the same positions. This form of negative questions is rendered into Vietnamese in the same way as the form with not plus non-assertive words. E.g.1: Haven’t you ever been to HCM city? = Have you never been to HCM city? Cậu chưa bao giờ tới thành phố HCM sao? E.g.2: Didn’t anybody attend the meeting? = Did nobody attend the meeting? Không /Chẳng có ai tham dự buổi họp cả hay sao? Yes/ No questions expressed by interrogative structures can be oriented according to the kind of answer the speaker expects and are said to have neutral, positive or negative orientation. Negative Yes/No interrogative without non-assertive or assertive forms can be used with a negative orientation, he or she assumes that the answer also negative E.g1: Aren’t you going to study tonight? (speaker assumes the answer is no – the listener is not going to study tonight) Tối nay anh không học chứ gì/ sao? E.g.2: Won’t he teach her how to drive? (speaker assumes the answer is no- he won’t teach her how to drive) Anh sẽ không dạy cô ấy lái xe chứ? Negative Yes/No interrogative without non-assertive or assertive forms can also be used with a positive orientation, when the speaker is expecting or hoping for the answer “Yes” E.g.: Don’t you remember that girl we met in New York? Anh không nhớ cô gái mà chúng ta gặp ở New York sao/ à ? The functions of English negative Yes/No questions have been discussed above. Sometimes we use negative questions with “be” and “do” for emphasis, especially with descriptions. These kinds of questions are “exclamatory questions” with these, the speaker expects agreement instead of a negative answer E.g.1: Wasn’t that a lovely play? (speaker expects the listener to agree- Yes, it was a lovely play) Vở kịch ấy mà không hay ư/ sao? (which means :Đó là một vở kịch thật hay! or: Vở kịch hay đến thế còn gì!) E.g2: Doesn’t the bribe look beautiful? (speaker expects the listener to agree- Yes, the bribe looks beautiful) Cô dâu trông vậy mà không xinh ư? (which means: Cô dâu trông xinh nhỉ/ quá! or: Cô dâu xinh quá còn gì nữa! Negative questions can express feelings surprised and suggestions lobbying, criticizing others, admirers or invitation. E.g.1: Haven’t you done your homework? (the deadline is close) (You have not done your homework? The deadline is approaching!) Mày vẫn chưa làm bài tập về nhà à/ hay sao? (Tao cũng đến lạy mày!) (Surprised) E.g.2: Don’t you think we should try again? (We may not win this time) (You don’t think we should try one more time? Perhaps this time we will win.) E.g.3. Won’t you help me? (=Please help me) Cậu không nghĩ là chúng ta nên thử lại à/ sao? (Sao cậu không nghĩ là chúng ta nên thử lại nhỉ?) Anh không giúp tôi sao?=Anh hãy giúp tôi nhé (Recommendation) E.g.4: Wouldn’t it be better to find out what has happened first? (First identify what happened is not a good point?) Liệu tìm ra chuyện gì xảy ra trước tiên có tốt hơn không? (Lobbying) E.g.5: Can’t you see that your work is below standard? (Do you not know that your work substandard) Cậu không thấy là công việc của cậu dưới mức yêu cầu à? (Criticism) E.g.6: Isn’t this a wonderful concert? (This concert is wonderful) Đây là buổi hòa nhạc tuyệt vời đấy chứ? (Amazing) E.g.7: Won’t you come in for a few minutes? Anh sẽ vào trong một lát chứ? Anh không vào được một chút hay sao? (Thôi vào đi!Tôi thực sự muốn anh vào) (Invitation) According to Quirk (1980) negative orientation is complicated, this negative orientation is a combining of a positive and a negative attitude, which may be distinguished as old assumption (positive) and new assumption (negative). Because the old assumption tends to be identified with the speaker’s hopes or wishes, negatively orientated questions often express disappointment or annoyance. E.g.: Can’t you answer the questions? (I’d have thought you’d be able to, but apparently you can’t) Mày (thực sự) không trả lời những câu hỏi đó được sao/ ư? Negative Yes/ No questions with assertive forms are used with a positive orientation: E.g.1: Didn’t someone call last night? E.g.2: Hasn’t the boat left already? Tối qua không có ai gọi đến ư? (Tôi nghĩ là có) Thuyền rời bến rồi à/ ư ? Negative Yes/No questions with non assertive forms or nuclear negators are often used with negative orientation: E.g: Hasn’t the boat left yet? Thuyền vẫn chưa rời bến ư? Table 1: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Yes/ No question English structure Vietnamese equivalents Auxiliary + S + not + …. ? (uncontracted form) Auxiliary + n’t + S + C …...? (contracted form) S + “không”/ “chưa”/ “chẳng”/ “chả” + …..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ phải không/ đấy chứ ? Chẳng phải/ không phải/ chả phải/phải chăng/ chẳng phải là / không phải là / chả phải là + S +…+ à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao? Chẳng lẽ (nào)/(có) lẽ nào/ có đúng là + S+ “không”/ “chưa”/ “chẳng”/ “chả” +…..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ được sao/ được ư/ đấy chứ ? 4.2.2 Negative structures in Tag- questions An affirmative tag questions is formed by a negative statement which is often followed by an affirmative tag question, in order to ask for confirmation of the negative statement, or in order to ask for more information. On the contrary, negative Negative tag questions are formed by an affirmative statement which is often followed by a negative tag question, in order to ask for confirmation of the affirmative statement. In the following examples, the tag questions are underlined. Contractions are usually used in negative tag questions. For example: Affirmative statement Affirmative statement with tag question   I am awake.   I am awake, am I not?   You are awake.   You are awake, aren't you?   She is awake.   She is awake, isn't she?   We are awake.   We are awake, aren't we?   They are awake.   They are awake, aren't they? These examples illustrate how the subjects and verbs of the preceding statements are repeated in tag questions. For instance, in the first example, the subject I and the verb am is repeated in the tag question. In the second example, the subject you and the verb are are repeated in the tag question. In spoken English, the expression aren't I? is often used as a tag question. However, this is not considered to be grammatically correct in formal, written English. In Vietnamese, tag questions are used to confirm speaker’s belief, sometimes, the fixed expression can be substituted by “(có) đúng không”, “(có) phải không”, “không phải”, “không đúng” combining with particles like à/ cơ à/ hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư/ vậy sao. For the Simple Present and the Simple Past of the verb to be, tag questions are formed using the verb itself. For instance, in the following examples, the verbs is and were are used in negative tag questions. E.g.1: She is very beautiful, isn't she?E.g.2: They were ready, weren't they? Cô ấy đẹp, phải không? Họ đã sẵn sàng, đúng không? For the Simple Present and the Simple Past of verbs other than the verb to be, the auxiliary to do is used in tag questions. For instance, in the following examples, the auxiliaries does and did are used in negative tag questions. E.g.1: He rides a bicycle, doesn't he?E.g.2:   They ordered pizza, didn't they? Anh ta đi xe đạp (có) phải không? Họ gọi bánh Piza, phải không nhỉ? For all other tenses and conjugations, the first auxiliary is used in tag questions. For instance, in the following examples, the first auxiliaries have, would, should and can are used in negative tag questions. E.g.1: You have worked all night, haven't you?E.g.2: He would have helped us, wouldn't he? E.g.3: They should get more exercise, shouldn't they?E.g.4: She can speak five languages, can't she? Cậu đã làm việc cả đêm, phải không? Anh ấy đã có thể giúp chúng ta, phải không nào? Họ nên có nhiều bài tập hơn, đúng không? Cô ta có thể nói năm ngoại ngữ,không đúng vậy sao? This type of the question also expresses speaker’s doubt or emotive value by adding “phải chăng” or “sao” E.g.1: John sent me a postcard, didn’t he? E.g.2: Marry marries James, doesn’t she? Phải chăng John gửi bưu thiếp cho tôi? Mary cưới James không phải vậy sao? Table 2: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Tag- question. English structure Vietnamese equivalents Doubt or emotive value Positive statement, negative tag? Positive statement, negative tag? Positive statement, +“(có) đúng không”/ “(có) phải không” + à/ cơ à/ hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư.? Positive statement, + “chăng” / “sao”? 4.2.3 Negative structures in Wh- questions Wh- questions usually begin with Wh- word. As Quirk, R et al (1973:196) pointed out: “Wh- questions are formed with the aid of one of the following interrogative words (or Q-words): who/ whom, whose, what, which, when, where, how and why.” The speaker hopes to have the answer according to the kind of questions. In Vietnamese, this type of questions is formed with interrogative pronouns such as: ai (who/ whom), của ai (whose), gì (what), cái nào (which), khi nào (when), đâu, ở đâu (where), như thế nào, bằng cách nào (how), vì sao, tại sao, thế nào (why), bao nhiêu (how much, how many), bao lâu (how long)… In Vietnamese questions, interrogative pronouns are located in the place of the word, which it replaces. It is not necessary to invert it to the beginning of the sentence like in English. In some cases, the interrogative pronoun is inverted to the beginning of the sentence, or the word, which the interrogative pronoun replaces, is also inverted to the beginning of the sentence to emphasize. As discussed above, negative wh- questions are rare except for Why- questions, “who”, “what”, “which”….etc. are only used for requesting information, such kind of question is formed by adding “n’t” after auxiliary verb, all come after wh-words. However, negator “not” can be put in a post - subject position in its full form or pre- subject position in its short form. (wh- words can operate in various functions, however, within the scope of this study, the author only focus on wh- questions that play as objects in sentences) sE.g.1: What can’t you forget? E.g.2: Which book doesn’t he want to read? E.g.3: Who isn’t the member of class AV6B Điều gì mà cậu không thể quên? Anh ấy không muốn đọc sách nào? Ai không phải là thành viên của lớp AV6B? In the previous chapter, it is said that this kind of question is not merely a means of requesting information, it has much more sense than other questions when going with “why”. This kind of question can be rendered into Vietnamese by putting Q-element “tại sao”, “vì sao( mà)”, “tại làm sao”, “tại vì sao” “thế nào (mà)”, “bởi vì sao”, “sao mà”, “là sao”, “là thế nào” these words can combine with “vì, do, tại, bởi” to show reasons. And in Vietnamese questions, we usually use particles “nhỉ, hả, sao, ư, ạ” at the end of the questions to show the relationship between the speaker and the addressee or to express our attitude towards something. E.g.1: Why didn’t you go to work? E.g.2: Why haven’t you finished the report yet? Vì sao cậu không đi làm? Tại sao cậu không đi làm? Bởi vì sao cậu không đi làm? Sao mà cậu vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo? Vì sao mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo Thế nào mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo Vì thế nào mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là vì sao? Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là thế nào? Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là sao nhỉ? Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là sao ạ? As you can see from above examples, in English questions wh- words often have to come initially, however, in Vietnamese ones, it is not necessary to invert interrogative words to the beginning or at the end of the questions. Besides, “why” in negative question can be used to express surprise or complaint: E.g.1: Why don’t they give her a lift? E.g.2: Why can’t you be quiet? Vì sao họ không cho cô ấy đi nhờ nhỉ? /Họ không cho cô ấy đi nhờ là sao? Tại sao mày lại không yên lặng được nhỉ? Surprise Complaint “Why don’t”/ “why doesn’t”/ “why not” + S + bare infinitive can express suggestion or advice: E.g.1: Why don’t you go there by taxi? (implied: You should go there by taxi) E.g.2: Why don’t we take a break now? (implies: Let’s take a break now) Sao bạn không đi taxi đến đó? Sao bây giờ chúng ta không nghỉ đi nhỉ? “Why didn’t” conveys criticism, showing that what work should have done but it didn’t: E.g: Why didn’t you apply for that job? (you should have applied for that job) Sao mày không xin làm việc đó? Tại sao mày không xin làm việc đó? (Lẽ ra mày đã phải nộp đơn xin làm việc đó rồi) We can see that in both languages, Vietnamese and English Q- words are the main elements in questions and other are pre- suppositions. Contexts play important roles in questions because they can limit the content of Q-words. But in English questions, wh- words always come first, on the other hand in Vietnamese ones, they can come first, jump in the middle or come at the end of the questions. (However, in some situations, the different positions of interrogative pronouns in Vietnamese are accepted according to traditional grammar which focuses on structure, the modern or funtional grammar that focuses on meaning sometimes does not accept it) Givón (1990) observes that languages employ at least three, non-exclusive, devices to signal a question: (i) intonation; (ii), the addition of morphology or independent lexical items ("Q-markers"); (iii), a different word-order. This final device, whereby the questioned constituent appears in a position different from that in which it is interpreted thematically, is usually referred to in the generative literature as 'wh-movement'. This is because most English question words (who, why, what, where, when etc.) begin with the sequence 'wh..' and because, on many generative analyses, the questioned constituent is considered to have been "moved" from some underlying, thematic position. Crosslinguistically, one observes at least four different types of language. First, there are languages without any obvious surface movement (these no movement languages are also known as wh-in-situ languages in more technical literature); in such languages, questioned constituents exhibit the same distribution as their non-interrogative counterparts. A second type of language (full movement) is that in which the wh-phrase is fronted to the beginning of the highest clause in direct questions: English is such a language. Third, there are languages where the wh-phrase is fronted to the beginning of its own clause, but no higher (these are also known as partial movement languages). Finally, there are languages in which the wh-phrase appears in a focus position immediately to the left of the verb. This last kind of wh-movement (focus movement) is found only in strict SOV languages. In this general taxonomy, Vietnamese seems to belong to the first category (no movement), since with only two types of exception involving adjuncts, wh-phrases invariably appear in the same position as their non-interrogative counterparts. And one English question word may refer to more than one Vietnamese question word (Why- “tại sao”, “vì sao( mà)”, “tại làm sao”, “tại vì sao” “thế nào (mà)”, “bởi vì sao”, “sao mà”, “là sao”, “là thế nào”, “do đâu”, “vì đâu”, “vì cái gì”). In English questions, auxiliaries are obligatory, but they are not in Vietnamese ones. Furthermore, there is subject- verb agreement in English questions while it is not necessary in Vietnamese ones because Vietnamese verbs have no inflection. In English questions, time expression are very necessary, they are closely related to verb forms (tenses), according to Quirk (1973) “ Time is a universal, non-linguistic concept with three divisions: past, present, and future; by tense we understand the correspondence between the forms of the verb and our concept of time”, whereas, in Vietnamese they are optional according to the context (this point will be discussed in the next part). In Vietnamese questions, modal particles “ạ, hử, hả, nhỉ, ấy, đó, thế..” are often used to express the familiarity and different attitude between the speaker and the addressee. In Vietnamese questions, people tend to use modal particles in the final position of the sentence. But in English, they can use intonation and stress to express attitude in the way that Vietnamese use end particles. They also have intonation and stress patterns for meaning and questions etc. According to some traditional grammar views, in English questions, correct grammar and order of the words are very important, on the contrary, in Vietnamese ones meaning is more important than grammar. Table 3: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Wh- question (who/ whom): ai, (whose): của ai, (what): gì, (which): cái nào (when): khi nào, (where): đâu, ở đâu, (how): như thế nào, bằng cách nào, (why): vì sao, tại sao, thế nào, (how much, how many): bao nhiêu, (how long): bao lâu …... Vietnamese modal particles : à/ cơ à/ hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư… English structure and example Vietnamese equivalents Q-word + auxiliary+not+ S +V + O? Q-word + auxiliary+ S + not+V + O? Q-word + S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ O+ (particle)? S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ O+ Q-word +(particle)? 4.2.4 Negative structures in alternative questions English alternative question gives more than one alternative choice already presented in the question. According to Quirk (1973), there are two types of alternative question, the first resembling a Yes/No question, and the second a wh-question. The first type differs from Yes/No question only in intonation, instead of the final rising tone, it contains a separate nucleus for each alternative, a rise occurs on each item in the list, except the last, on which there is a fall, indicating that the list is complete. These alternative choices in the list which are separated by conjunction “or”. And there are also these kinds of questions in Vietnamese. Instead of using “or”, the Vietnamese use conjunctions like: hay, hay là, hoặc. E.g: Did John not drink coffee or tea? ≈ (Didn’t John drink coffee or tea?) John không uống trà hay cà phê? The second type of alternative question is wh- alternative questions, in this type of questions the part of the whole clause is focused too. E.g: Which car wouldn’t you like, the black one or the white one? Cậu không thích chiếc xe nào, chiếc màu trắng hay chiếc màu đen? Chiếc xe nào cậu không thích, chiếc màu trắng hay chiếc mầu đen? In Vietnamese, the order of words in alternative questions is similar to the order of word in statement, however the Vietnamese usually use one of the connections like: hay, hay là, hoặc, before the last alternative in this kind of sentence. However, in English the question subject operator or Q- words is a must. They always come first while they may be at the beginning or in the middle of the question before the last alternative. Alternative choices, which are limited, usually refer to all the need of the speaker, which is expected to reply by the addressee. Table 4: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative alternative question English structure Vietnamese equivalents Negative Yes/ No question, a OR b? Negative wh- question, a OR b? S + không /chẳng/ chả +…… +a hay/ hay là/ hoặc b? Q-word + S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ a+ hay/ hay là/ hoặc b? S + không /chẳng/ chả +…….+ Q-word, a+ hay/ hay là/ hoặc b? 4.3 Subclause In the previous part, we have just presented a contrastive analysis of the structure (clausal negation) between English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents. And in this part we would like to discussed the Use of “not” in English negative question and negative words in Vietnamese equivalents 4.3.1 Use of “not” in English negative question and negative words in Vietnamese equivalents Negation is a process of sentence. In English, the negative sentences involve the operator, requiring the insertion of “not” (or the affixed contraction –n’t) between operator and predication. However, the negation happens not only by inserting “not” between the operator and the predication, but also includes negative pronouns such as: no one, nobody, nothing etc, or simply “not + subject phrase or negative adverbs (scarcely, hardly, seldom, rarely, etc)”. We can also use some verbs, prepositions or prepositional phrases, determiners which have negative meaning and make up negative sentences without using negative words. However, in this study the writer wishes only focus on the use of “not” in English and make a comparison between “not” in English negative questions and other negative adjuncts in Vietnamese ones. “Not” is equivalent to “không” in Vietnamese, both show their negative when used. The position of “not” and “không” in English and Vietnamese negative sentence is often similar, they are both placed before the verbs. But in negative questions, they are different “không” in Vietnamese is not placed before the subject meanwhile “not” can be place before or after subject (negative full form and negative short form) E.g.1: Isn’t she beautiful? E.g.2: Do you not remember them? E.g.3: Why don’t you open the windows? Cô ấy không xinh à? Bạn không nhớ họ sao? Tại sao cậu lại không mở cửa sổ ra nhỉ? Vietnamese speakers never use “không” before subject as English : Không cô ấy xinh à?, “không” can be only placed before verbs in Yes/ No questions when it has to go with “phải là” E.g.1: Didn’t you love him? Không phải là mày đã yêu hắn ta đấy chứ? In English “not” can be contracted to “n’t” and added to the operators but “không” in Vietnamese is not contracted at all. In Vietnamese negative questions, “không” usually go with “ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ đấy chứ/ phải không” which occur in final position to form questions. Sometimes “không” can also combine with “phải/ phải là” in presubject position is used on with “à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao” in final position. E.g.1: Don’t you drink coffee? Cậu không uống cà phê phải không? So, in Vietnamese we have to use “không” with other particles to form questions but it is not necessary in English. However, to some extend “không” differ from “not” when it used in negative polarity question E.g.1: Họ biết cô ta không? (neutral polarity) E.g.2: Họ không biết cô ta à? ( negative polarity) Do they know her? Don’t they know her? In the (e.g.1), “không” is a negative particle used for Yes/ No question. The most common marker of lexical or sentential negation in Vietnamese is “không”, when it appears in final position, where it indicates a question, other negative elements with near-parallel distribution and function include (more literary) “chẳng” “chả” (‘no, not’) and “chưa” (‘not yet’). Sometimes in order to emphasize the negative aspects, the word “hề” is added after “không”, “chẳng”, “chả”, “chưa” However, there are some differences between “không” and “chưa”. According to Diep Quang Ban (1987), “chưa”, is related to time and regarded as “incompleted negation” while “không” refers to “completed negation”. Besides, in conversational language some negative words that imply impoliteness like “đếch”, “cóc” are also used. E.g.1: Hasn’t she come yet? E.g.2: Why haven’t you done your homework? E.g.3: Why didn’t you do your homework? Cô ấy chưa đến à? Tại sao em lại chưa làm bài tập? Tại sao em không làm bài tập? In (e.g.1) we must use “chưa”, but in (e.g.2 and e.g.3) “không” is acceptable in both situations. However, in more traditional treatments of Vietnamese grammar, it is often denied that Vietnamese has tense at all. This is made quite explicit in Nguyễn Đức Dân’s assertion “Trong Tiếng Việt không có phạm trù thì (‘There is no tense in Vietnamese.’)” (Nguyễn Đức Dân 1998: 116). Moreover, verbs in Vietnamese do not change their forms according to person or tense like in English. Normally, tenses in Vietnamese are distinguished by an adverb of time, a time-marker or by the context. In Vietnamese some words : “ sẽ/ sắp/ sắp sửa (future/ near future), “đã/ vừa/ mới/ vừa mới/ mới vừa (past/ recent past)”, “đang (progressive) are subcomponents (time-markers) in the verb phrase. They are always placed before the verb. They belong to the group of subcomponents expressing the time of action. However, the time-marker can be omitted when the meaning of a sentence is clearly indicated by an adverb of time. As said above, English people tend to express time and attitude in tenses. Vietnamese does it with time expressions like "at that time" and "nowadays". It doesn’t need these much in English because the tense tells us all. Presumably, what is meant here is that tense-marking is almost always optional in Vietnamese; this contrasts with its obligatory presence in independent clauses in English languages. Chapter 3: Common mistakes made by Hanoi commercial and tourism college (HCTC) students in using English negative questions and suggested solutions Introduction Learning a foreign language is very difficult because of its complication. Each country has their own cultures so the way they speak is different from people in foreign countries. To use a foreign language well while communicating with foreigners is not an easy work because learners tend to make questions as in their native language that leads to a lot of mistakes. As Lado (1957:2) puts it “Individuals tend to transfer their forms and meanings and their distribution of forms and meaning of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture”. However making mistakes is very common in the learning process. A long time ago, teachers were often afraid of their students making mistakes. They tried to make their students remember correct forms by heart and use language accurately. However, it is now widely agreed that language is no longer learnt by this method. Nowadays learners have to obtain the rules, try them out naturally in everyday communicative activities. Therefore, making mistakes is natural and unavoidable. Teachers should not be afraid of mistakes made by students. On the other hand, mistakes can make us recognize what they have and have not learnt. Also, from these mistakes we can be sure what our students really need to know. More importantly, teachers can apply the most suitable method to help them achieve their own targets. Research background and Methodology 2.1 The subjects The study is conducted at the Hanoi commercial & tourism college (HCTC) where English is a compulsory subject in the curricula. During a two year course, English major students have 1045 formal classes of English for Business I, II, III (Business Basic, Business Objectives, Business Opportunities) and a variety of syllabuses for ESP such as English for Tourism, English for Business World, English in Correspondence, Secretarial English, …all of which is taught in a formal setting. Within the scope of this study, the subjects of this study were 50 first year students who were learning English as their major. All of these students belonged to the same class (AV6B) of which I was in charge. 2.2 Instrument This study makes full use of questionnaire as its main instrument for two reasons. On the one hand, it is the quickest way to collect the data. On the other hand, the questionnaire can be administered to all of our students at the same time that enables us to carry the study on the whole class. As for the content, the questionnaire (See appendix for the complete questionnaire) are carefully designed which best meet our purpose of study. The first two questions are designed in order to find out the frequency and the aim of using negative questions of students. In the next question, we ask students to form negative questions using suggested words (there are four types of negative questions are presented). And the last question, students are requested to translate the negative questions into English and Vietnamese. Those questions are designed with the only aim to find out the cognitive ability (reaction) in using negative questions in English and Vietnamese in term of structures and word using. Grammar mistakes also analysed but translation skills will not be mentioned. Procedures The study underwent the following steps: Sheets of survey questionnaire were delivered to the subjects The finished sheets were collected The collected data were analyzed and synthesized to yield results Conclusion were drawn from the results Findings For the first questions, only 10% of students often use negative question, it seems to be reasonable, because in Vietnamese the negative questions are not popular as other types of questions, and as discussed above Vietnamese people tend to transfer their forms and meanings of their native language to English. For question “In which situation(s) do you use English negative questions?”, 72% of students use negative questions when they think the other person will answer in agreement with them, 64% of students use negative questions when they are very sure and only want to check information, 28 % use negative questions to ask for confirmation, and 18% for the last choice. There is 20% students use negative question for other purposes, they can be used for lobbying or invitation… For all questions that are requested to form negative, no students use the full form negative. Only 30 students (60%) can form the tag negative questions, the other make mistake in distinguishing the negative tag question and positive tag question, there are 3 students who only put question mark after negative sentences when they are asked to form negative tag questions (they probably confuse between tag question and declarative question). The most common mistake in negative wh-question is that the students put “auxiliary + not” after subject (wrong word order). This mistake is also repeated in alternative questions. Especially, there are two students who can not do the fourth type of negative question. Forming negative questions by using subject operator inversion may probably be hard work since the word-order for questions in Vietnamese is almost the same as that for statements. Sometimes, “không” is not a negator but a words used for question. Learners are inclined to omit the operator or dis-order: For example: “What he doesn’t like?” instead of “What doesn’t he like?” or “Why you didn’t come to work last week?” instead of “Why didn’t you come to work last week?” The biggest mistake for learners of English is subject- verb concord: For example: “She like coffee, don’t she?” instead of “She likes coffee, doesn’t she?” As mentioned above, in the last part of the questionnaire - translation, the author only wish to find out whether students can form the negative questions in English and Vietnamese as well. For those students who did the first part of the questionnaire correctly, it is not very difficult to do the second part. However, there exist some mistakes for students who have not understood about English and Vietnamese negative questions thoroughly. In the first part, English-Vietnamese translation, almost students use right structures. But in Vietnamese-English translation, the mistakes are the same as the previous questions such as: wrong word order and subject- verb concord. However, because of limited time and scope of the study, the author can not carry out a bigger survey to figure out all the mistakes that students made. There still exist more mistakes of the students when they practise and use English negative questions. We do expect that we will have an opportunities to make further investigation on this topic in further studies. Some suggestions to correct common mistakes Generally, during the process of learning English, Vietnamese learners may face with some problems and difficulties when dealing with English negative questions. Vietnamese students are very much influenced by their mother tongue. However, it is obviously known that mastering a language is a great problem, so making error is not our fault, but our developmental process. By realizing the mistakes, we will know what we still need to improve. Language teacher should not be disappointed when their students make mistakes. On the other hand, we should try to find reasons for these problems. Teachers should pay particular attention to structural, usage similarities and differences. We should make learners aware of the contrastive analysis between the two languages so that they can avoid and correct their mistakes. In the hope of assisting Vietnamese students to overcome the above mentioned mistakes and avoid making mistakes, some types of exercises are suggested below. Teachers can ask students to do these kinds of exercise and then give them the feedback, at the same time teachers should emphasize the forms, structures and situational meanings when we use English negative questions. Exercise 1: Following the model of the examples, rewrite the following affirmative statements as questions, negative statements, negative questions without contractions, negative questions with contractions, and affirmative statements followed by negative tag questions. For example:       I have read this book.      Have I read this book?      I have not read this book.      Have I not read this book?      Haven't I read this book?      I have read this book, haven't I?      He has found the answer.      Has he found the answer?      He has not found the answer.      Has he not found the answer?      Hasn't he found the answer?      He has found the answer, hasn't he?1. They have eaten the cookies.2. She has told the truth.3. He has run fast.4. We have watered the plants.5. You have hurried. Exercise 2: Change the following affirmative statements into negative questions. Do not use contractions in this exercise. For example:      He must be at work now.      Must he not be at work now?      They might call us later.      Might they not call us later?1. You should be wearing a warm hat.2. He could have decided to stay at home.3. They might have forgotten the message.4. She will see you again next week.5. They would enjoy riding on the ferry.6. He may decide to go camping.7. They could have been playing football yesterday.8. We shall visit our friends.9. She must have wanted to join us.10. He should be getting more sleep. Exercise 3: Use suggested words to form negative Yes/No-questions. She/ can/ work? Would/ working/ he? They/ awake? Exercise 4: Use suggested words to form negative Tag-questions. She/ like/ coffee? She/ very/ nice? They/ should/ get/ more exercise? Exercise 5: Use suggested words to form negative Wh-questions. What/ he/ like? Why/ you/ come/ work/ last week? Who/ tell/ the truth/ in the previous court? Exercise 6: Use suggested words to form negative alternative-questions. Would/ he/ like/ chocolate/ vanilla/ icecream? Which colour/ would/ she/ like/ black/ white? You/ come/ party tonight? Exercise 7: Add negative tag questions to the following affirmative statements. For example:      They are lucky.      They are lucky, aren't they?      You know what I mean.      You know what I mean, don't you?      We will tell him the truth.      We will tell him the truth, won't we?      She could try harder.      She could try harder, couldn't she?1. You are cold.2. They passed the test.3. I can do this well.4. You live near the school.5. He went downtown.6. We should call them.7. She likes coffee.8. They could help us.9. I won the race.10. You were reading.11. He rides a bicycle.12. We would need more time. Exercise 8: Translate these sentences into English Anh không nói được Tiếng Anh à? Họ không đến dự sinh nhật cậu sao? Tại sao anh ta lại không đến thăm vợ của mình nhỉ? Cô ấy không nói được Tiếng Anh hay Tiếng Pháp Mẹ James không đồng ý cho anh ta cưới Mary phải không? Exercise 9: Translate these sentences into Vietnamese Won’t you help me? Did he not like tea or coffee? They should get more exercise, shouldn't they? Which ice cream wouldn’t you like, chocolate, vanilla or strawberry? Where can’t we go to? Exercise 10: Make a situational dialogue Situation: A is an owner of a shoes shop, A is persuading a customer B to try and buy a pair of shoes. Make a conversation between A & B, remember to use as many negative questions as possible. (Teachers can give the appropriate situational dialogue, and then ask students to work in pairs. After practising, teachers can ask some pairs to present their conversations and ask for comments from other students. Finally, they can give their own remark) Part 3: Conclusion Summary of the study The study has analyzed and discussed a contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese. The main contents of the topic are presented in three chapters in part two. The structures of English negative questions ( negative Yes/No-question, negative Tag-questions, negative Wh-questions, and negative alternative-questions) have been described and compared with Vietnamese equivalents to find out the similarities and differences to help learners fully understand them in both languages. Moreover, the information status and some semantic aspects have been investigated to certain extent to lay the foundation for the work of contrastive analysis. And another more important part in my study is to find how to use “not” in English negative questions and “không”, “chưa”, “chẳng”, “chả” in Vietnamese equivalents. The position of “not” and “không” in English and Vietnamese negative sentence is often similar, they are both placed before the verbs. However, in negative questions, “không” in Vietnamese is not placed before the subject meanwhile “not” can be place before or after subject (negative full form and negative short form). The differences in position of “not” and “không” in two languages sometimes lead students to commit mistakes. To help learners to avoid these mistakes, some solutions are suggested for both teachers and learners. The author also drawn out some forms of exercises to practice. I hope that my study on the contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese equivalents can help other learners and I myself know how to use English negative questions correctly and profoundly. Moreover, this study also helps us to improve the language competence in order to avoid mistakes and have a deep understanding about negative questions as well. However, because of limited time and experience, I am not being able to give more details for my subject, the mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable. All the constructive criticism and valuable comments are highly appreciated. Implication for teaching and learning Teaching and learning English, to some people, is an easy task, but to some others, it is really a hard-solving problem. The reason for any difficulties facing these people can be various, may be they lack a “natural ability” or they do not have suitable methods for teaching and learning. Generally speaking English negative questions are not the same as its Vietnamese equivalents, so for students, they must be aware of the structures and know how to use English negative questions for different purposes. Therefore a lot of practice is needed to master in order to be successful and effective in using English. Besides, mistakes are inevitable during the learning process. However, those mistakes are not strange, the important thing is that students can find the causes of those mistakes to correct them and try their utmost to avoid them. The responsibilities of language teachers are giving lectures and helping students to understand and use the language correctly and effectively. For each type of lessons, teachers can apply different teaching methods. It is a must to focus on structures and lexical devices when introducing English negative questions to Vietnamese learners. Moreover, teachers should not worry about the mistakes of their students, on the contrary, they should let their students know that the mistakes are common and unavoidable. Because no one can master everything, so do our students. Guiding students to correct the mistakes is more important and helpful. However, in order to achieve the success, it is necessary to have attempts of both teachers and learners. Suggestions for further studies This paper has investigated the contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese negative questions, and the author has subjectively drawn out some findings about the structures and lexical devices that are used in English and Vietnamese negative questions. The author has put a lot of efforts on this study and also got much help from teachers, friends and family. However, for such a large topic as this, it requires much more efforts, time and knowledge to cover, therefore, the study can not avoid imperfection and limitation. Though, for further research, the author hopes this study to be a useful reference material and suggest that: A study on the semantic and pragmatic approach to English and Vietnamese negative questions A study on the lexical devices used in English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents Bibliography Vietnamese Diệp Quang Ban (2002), Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt (tập 2), NXB Giáo dục. Diệp Quang Ban (2004), Ngữ pháp Việt Nam- phần câu, NXB Đại học Sư phạm Hà nội. Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1999), Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, NXB ĐHQG Hà nội. Nguyễn Đức Dân (1998), Logic và Tiếng Việt, NXB Giáo dục. Cao Xuân Hạo (2003), Câu trong Tiếng Việt- Ngữ pháp chức năng quyển 2, NXB Giáo dục Cao Xuân Hạo (2004) Tiếng Việt – Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, NXB Giáo dục. Nguyễn Phú Phong (2002), Những vấn đề ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, NXB ĐHQG Hà nội. Nguyễn Thị Thìn (1994), Câu nghi vấn tiếng Việt: Một số kiểu câu nghi vấn thường không dùng để hỏi : Luận án PTS KH ngữ văn Trường ĐHSP Hà nội I Nhiều tác giả (1998), Từ điển Tiếng Việt, Trung tâm từ điển và Nhà xuất bản Đà Nẵng. English Alexander, L. G (1975), English Grammatical Structure- A General Syllabus for Teachers, Longman Alexander, L. G (1992), Longman English grammar, London Longman D. R. Ladd (1981), A First look at the Semantics and Pragmatics of Negative Questions and Tag Questions, Proceedings of Chicago Linguistics Society (CLS) vol. 17, p. 164-171 Finegan E (2004), Language- Its Structure and Use, Thomson. Frank, M, (undated), Modern English, A practical reference guide, New Jersy: Prentice Hall. Givón, Talmy (1984,1990), Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Huddleston, R( 1984), Introduction to the Grammar of English, Cambridge U.P. James, C (1980), Contrastive analysis, Essex: Longman Lado, R (1957) Linguistics across cultures, University of Michigan Press. Lê Thị Ánh Tuyết (2001), Graduation Paper: English Wh- Questions and their equivalents in Vietnamese, VNU-CFL, Hanoi. Longman (1994), Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman Group Ltd., England. Nguyễn Quang (1998), Graduation Paper: The negative sentence in English and Vietnamese- A contrastive analysis, VNU-CFL, Hanoi. Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S et al.. (1972), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman Quirk, R (1972), A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S (1973), A University grammar of English, Longman Websites Appendix 1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is conducted with a view to investigating the common mistakes made by Vietnamese students in using English negative questions. The information is to use for research purpose only and your responses are completely anonymous. Thank for your cooperation Your name (optional)……………………………….. Part 1: Please answer the following items. We would urge you to be as accurate as possible since the success of this investigation depends upon it. How often do you use English negative questions? □ very often □ often □ not very often □ never In which situation(s) do you use English negative questions? □ when you think the other person will answer in agreement with you □ when you are very sure and only want to check information □ when you want to ask for confirmation □ when you want to request information □ other (Please list here and give examples):……………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………….... ……………………………………………………………………………………… Use suggested words to form negative questions. She/ can/ work? (Negative Yes/ No questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Would/ working/ he? (Negative Yes/ No questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… They/ awake? (Negative Yes/ No questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… She/ like/ coffee? (Negative Tag- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… She/ very/ nice? (Negative Tag- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… They/ should/ get/ more exercise? (Negative Tag- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Why/ you/ come/ work/ last week? (Negative Wh- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Who/ tell/ the truth/ in the previous court? (Negative Wh- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… What/ he/ like? (Negative Wh- questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Would/ he/ like/ chocolate/ vanilla/ ice cream?(Negative alternative questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Which colour/ would/ she/ like/ black/ white? (Negative alternative questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… You/ come/ party tonight? (Negative alternative questions) ………………………………………………………………………………… Translation 4.1 English-Vietnamese translation Didn’t you tell the truth? ………………………………………………………………………………… You like coffee, don't you? ………………………………………………………………………………… Why didn't you come to work this week? ………………………………………………………………………………… Wouldn’t you like tea or coffee? ………………………………………………………………………………… 4.2 Vietnamese-English translation Cậu sẽ không giúp đỡ cô ấy sao? ………………………………………………………………………………… Anh đã làm việc cả đêm phải không? ………………………………………………………………………………… Cô ấy không thể trả lời câu hỏi nào? ………………………………………………………………………………… Jane không thích chiếc áo sơ mi nào, cái mầu xanh hay cái mầu đỏ? ………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your cooperation!