Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

HCMC University of Education

Department of English

Functions of English Adjectives and Their Equivalents in Vietnamese Language

Instructor: Nguyn Ngc V

Student: H Thanh An

HCMC, December 2010

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

Abstract
As we know, many studied have been conducted on various linguistic contrastive
analysis (CA), focusing on different fields of language such as Morpheme CA, Word CA,
Phrase CA, Sentence CA, etc. This paper is the one of them. However, the topic I want
to discuss here is about the contrast between English and Vietnamese adjectives with
their semantic and syntactic functions. There will be an overview of English and
Vietnamese adjectives, a distinction between them, a short discussion on educational
implication and an overall conclusion.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

Introduction
When teaching English for high school students, we can easily find that they
often make mistakes in the acquisition of English adjectives. They are confused about
how to use adjectives in English due to the interference of their mother tongue. So, what
is an adjective? In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to
modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent
(Wikipedia). Adjectives are various and divided into many different types, namely
descriptive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives, etc. We can
see this in both Vietnamese and English. However, there are also differences in the
meaning and order of them in a sentence that we call semantic and syntactic functions.
That is what we will discuss in this paper.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

Adjectives in English
Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. (English
adjectives include big, old, and tired, among many others.)
A given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four
kinds of uses (Wikipedia)
Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they
modify; for example, happy is an attributive adjective in "happy people".
In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others,
they follow their nouns.

Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism

to the noun or pronoun they modify; for example, happy is a predicate
adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy."

Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a

larger adjective phrase), and typically modify either the subject of a
sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example,
happy is an absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not
look where he was going."

Nominal adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a
noun is elided and an attributive adjective is left behind. In the sentence, "I
read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

happy", happy is a nominal adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy

book".
For semantic function, adjectives can describe feelings or qualities, e.g. a lonely
man or honest people. They also give nationality or origin, e.g. French, German, etc.
They can tell us more about a things characteristics, size and measurement, also
material, colour and shape, e.g. a wooden table, a tall man, a red shirt, a square
envelop, etc. We can also use adjectives to express a judgment or value, e.g. a
fantastic film..
For syntactic function, basically, English adjectives have two most popular
positions in a sentence. One is before a noun when the adjectives modify for the noun
coming after them:
E.g.

a thin bear
a long snake
a white rubber

And the other is after linking verbs (be, seem, feel, look, taste, smell, sound,
appear, get, become, grow, stay, keep, turn, prove, go, remain, resemble, run, lie),
functioning as predicates.
E.g.

My Dad is tall.
The rubber is white.
It seems amazing.
He felt tired last night.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

In a sentence, we can also find adjectives followed indefinite pronouns such as

something, nothing, anyone and anybody.
E.g.

Have you found something new?

In some cases, adjectives also come after a noun or pronoun they modify for.
E.g.

The river is 4,000 kilometers long.

If many adjectives appear at the same time, they are suggested being used as
following order:

Pre-determiners: all, both, half, double;

Determiners: articles (a, an, the); demonstrative adjectives (this, that,
these, those); possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, their, our);
possessive case (Adams, Tims, etc.); other demonstrative words
(another, any, each, enough, much, neither, either, no, some, which,

whose, etc.);
Ordinal adjectives: first, second, last,
Cardinal adjectives: one, two,
Size adjectives: small, big, huge, tiny,
Adjectives of quality/ characteristics/ opinion: good, bad, kind,
Age adjectives: young, old, new, ancient,
Length/ shape adjectives: long, round, flat,
Color adjectives: yellow, black, red,
Origin adjectives: Chinese, French, Eastern,
Material adjectives: wood, brick, leather,
Past participles/ present participles: broken, working,

Adjectives in Vietnamese

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

As adjectives in English we have just discussed, adjectives in Vietnamese are

words that describes a person or thing.
For semantic function, adjectives in Vietnamese are nearly as same as those in
English. They also describe feelings, things characteristics, size, shape, measurement,
etc. They express a judgment or value, either.
E.g. bun, gin, vung, trn, hay, th v
For syntactic function, not so complicate as English, Vietnamese adjectives
almost always come after nouns.
E.g.

Con gu m
Con rn di
Cc gm trng

Noticeably, Vietnamese adjectives do not occur right after the verb but the
subject.
E.g.

B ti cao.
Cc gm trng.
Anh ta mt.

In some cases, we can find that a noun also stand before an adjective, for
instance, xanh l cy or hu cao c. In these cases, we have to see that these are
adjective phrase with xanh and cao are the main words. The nouns l cy and c
here are the modifiers of which the main function is to make clear the meaning for the
adjectives.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

As in English, if there are many adjectives appear in a sentence, they can be

followed this suggesting order:

Universal quantifier: tt c, c
Numerative: mt, hai, i, nhng
Classifier: ci, con
Head noun: bn tay, tri cam
Subhead noun: thit b
Material: thic, g
Origin/ Nationality: Trung Quc
Size: ln, nh
Shape/ Length: vung, di
Age: c, mi
Quality/ Opinion: hp dn, hu dng
Colour: en,
Ordinary number: th nht, th hai, u tin
Determiner: , kia
Possesive: ca ti, ca anh

E.g. tt c nhng ci thng thic Trung Quc c mu nu kia u ca ti

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

Discussion
After comparing and contrasting semantic and syntactic function of adjectives in
English and Vietnamese, some findings stand out.
For semantic function, we can easily recognize that adjectives in both English
and Vietnamese are nearly the same. They are both kind of words that modify or make
clear the meaning for nouns or pronouns in the field of feelings, quantities or
characteristics of people or things. They can also be used as a noun when referring a
color or shape. However, in Vietnamese, adjectives like poor or rich are not used to
describe a group of people with the same characteristics as adjectives in English do.
For syntactic function, when being a modifier, adjectives of English and
Vietnamese occur at two opposite site of the noun. English adjectives usually come
before the nouns, and this situation is the reverse of that in Vietnamese. According to
linguists, it is because of Vietnamese grammars flexibility which is influenced by
Eastern-oriented culture, following the natural and logical thinking of human beings.
That is why, when producing phrases in general and noun phrases in particular,
Vietnamese people have a great tendency to put what they first think of or what is more
important at the beginning places.
Furthermore, thanks to the flexible grammar of Vietnamese, the order of
adjectives can be changeable (mt ngi nh 4 tng mu trng or mt ngi nh mu
trng 4 tng), meanwhile the situation cannot be found in English (a four-floor white
house is a fixed phrase). Besides, as predicates of sentences, English adjectives
always appear after copular verbs. Thats in direct contrast with Vietnamese where
adjectives are almost always preceded by the subject only.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

Ex:

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The tree is very tall Ci cy rt cao.

For another thing, the order of adjectives in a noun phrase is a convincing

example. In languages, the more modifying, more important and more direct the
adjectives are, the closer they are to the head noun. The only single difference between
them is, as mentioned above, that they are on opposite directions, one towards the left
and one towards the right.
Ex:

a nice, pretty and intelligent girl mt c gi thng minh, xinh p v t t

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

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Implication
English becomes a popular language nowadays. It is mainly used in many
aspects of daily life, for example, study, work or simply entertainment. If we want to join
this modern worldwide society, the first one we have to do is to master English
language. In the process of learning English, one of the most common errors with
adjectives that Vietnamese students often face with is misplacing the adjectives due to
their word-by-word translation from Vietnamese to English. The follow is some
examples I point out from classroom reality:
First, students are not aware of the adjectives in English can also be used
as a noun, for instance, rich or poor. If they know that, they forget to use the article
the before the adjectives because they are so confused that red is an adjective but do
not need the to become a noun.
Second, that is the placement of adjectives in a sentence. In a classroom,
if we say ci o mi, our students can easily translate it into English a shirt new. Or
when we say anh ta rt gii, they may say he very good.
Similarly, students often organize adjectives confusingly because they dont know which
one will come before the others. For instance, it is suitable to say a nice pink plastic
doll, meanwhile students tend to say a nice plastic pink doll.
Then, weve already known that English morphology changes according to
the position of word in a sentence but it does not occur in Vietnamese. Therefore, if it is
safe to say chm ch l mt c tnh tt in Vietnamese, however, we cannot find
studious is a good characteristics in English.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

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There are some problems that students may face when studying English. I have
just pointed them out here so that it can help for our language teaching in high school.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

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Conclusion
In conclusion, there are some similarities and also noticeable differences
between the semantic and syntactic function of adjectives in English and Vietnamese.
The common point is the attitude on which adjectives are based to form noun phrases.
The major grammatical contrasting points are that English adjectives occur before
nouns and after linking verbs and that conversely Vietnamese adjectives come after
nouns and are preceded by no verbs but nouns. However, it is not too difficult for
students to understand and remember when comparing and contrasting two languages.

Functions of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese Language

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Reference
Din n mng ngn ng (2007). V tr ca tnh t trong ting Vit. Retrieved from
http://ngonngu.net/diendan/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=576
English4today.com: online English grammar (2010). Function of adjectives. Retrieved
from http://www.english4today.com/englishgrammar/
grammar/ADJECTIVES3.cfm
Kosur, M. Heather. (2009). Language study. English Adjectives and Adjectives Phrase.
Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/english-adjectives-andadjective-phrases-a104606
Wikipedia. (2010). Adjective. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective