TTLA: A comparative study of causative structures with the verb "Make" in English and "Làm" in Vietnamese.

1. Full name of doctoral candidate: Do Thi Phuong Thuy 2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth: February 1, 1985 4. Place of birth: Thai Binh Province
5. Decision on admitting doctoral students: Decision No. 3013/2019/QD-XHNV dated July 30, 2019, of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
6. Changes to the training process (if any): 2 extensions
7. Thesis title: A comparative study of causative structures with the verb "make" in English and "làm" in Vietnamese.
8. Specialization: Comparative and Contrastive Linguistics 9. Code: 9229020.03
10. Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Con
11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:
(1) Purpose and research subject of the thesis

(2) Research methods used

(3) Main results and conclusions
3.1. Main results
- Describe
Semantically, the thesis clearly distinguishes between the influencing and resulting situations, and the semantic differences between the components in the structure. In particular, the thesis highlights the semantic relationship between the components in the causative structure. Regarding syntactic characteristics, the thesis analyzes the relationship between the four variant structures and the typical structure of the causative structure with "make," and the two variant structures of the causative structure with "do." The thesis clearly analyzes the syntactic morphological characteristics of each participating component in the causative structure. Specifically, the thesis delves into the syntactic characteristics of the two predicates mentioned above, demonstrating their ability to connect with the remaining components in the causative structure. Their ability to appear in simple, compound, and complex sentences shows the richness of their functionality in both English and Vietnamese sentences.
- Comparison and contrast
In terms of semantic similarities, both causative structures contain two causal and effect situations that are related to each other in terms of time, space, logic, and the components of the situations. Both causative structures produce four types of results in the causative subject. Causative structures express a cause-and-effect relationship, are not coercive, can be direct or indirect, and have both positive and negative intent. Similar in syntax, both structures share the same basic structure [N1 V1 N2 V2]. Many similarities in the syntactic morphology of the components participating in the structure are also analyzed and clarified in this thesis.
In terms of semantic differences, the causative structures "make" and "làm" differ significantly in the proportion of causative and passive subjects, their perceptual and intentional nature, the nature of the two causative predicates, the position of the passive subject, and the method of emphasizing the passive subject. Furthermore, the causative structures "make" and "làm" also differ in their ability to conceal the cause and effect. Regarding semantic relationships, the two semantic features that differentiate these two causative structures—the coercive meaning and the direct-indirect nature—have also been analyzed and clarified. The differences largely lie in syntactic characteristics, with the number of variant structures and their relationship to the typical structure. It is this difference in syntactic structure that creates the distinction between direct and indirect causation in the two languages. Between the two causative structures, there are still many differences in the morphological characteristics of the causative and passive subjects, the causative predicate, and the resulting predicate, both in terms of position and structure. Furthermore, the syntactic differences between these two causative structures are clearly demonstrated in the ability to link and the relationship between the object complement and the resulting complement. Due to their different linguistic typologies, English is quite clear in combining and using adverbs of tense, while Vietnamese is much more complex.
3.2. Conclusion
The thesis successfully achieved its research objective of describing the semantic and syntactic features of causative structures with the verb "make" in English and "do" in Vietnamese, then comparing them to identify similarities and differences between the two languages ​​and explaining them from a syntactic typological perspective.

12. Future research direction: Comparative study of causative structures with the predicate "make" in English and "làm" in Vietnamese from a pragmatic perspective.
13. Publications related to the dissertation:
(1) By Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Syntactic features of making causative constructions in Vietnamese”, International Graduate Research Symposium, Vol.1, pp. 357-371, ISBN: 978-604-384-167-1
(2) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Semantic Characteristics of Events in Make Causative Constructions”, Journal of Humanitites and Social Sciences, Vol.28 (4), pp. 39-46, e - ISSN: 2279 – 0937, p-ISSN: 2279-0845.
(3) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2024), “Semantic Relationships in MAKE Causative Structures”, Journal of Research & Method in Education, Vol.14 (1), pp. 13-16, e - ISSN: 2320–7388, p- ISSN: 2320-737X
(4) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Syntactic characteristics of components in causative structures in Vietnamese”, Journal of Language and Life, (6/341), pp. 51-59, ISSN 0868 - 3409.

 

 

(1) Thesis purpose and objectives
- Clarify the semantic and syntactic features of syntactic constructions with make and make in 2 languages
- Demonstrate and explain the similarities and differences of syntactic constructions in languages ​​from the perspective of syntactic typology.
(2) Research methods
- Descriptive method (with methods of distribution analysis, direct element structure analysis, expressive meaning structure) is used to investigate the semantic and syntactic characteristics of constructions with make and lam.
- The contrastive method is used to point out the similarities and differences in syntax and semantics of relevant constructions.
(3) Major results and conclusions
Part 1: Description
In terms of semantics, the thesis has clearly distinguished between causing events and result events, the semantic difference between the components in the constructions. In particular, the thesis has highlighted the meaningful relationship between the components in the two constructions. With syntactic characteristics, the thesis has analyzed the relationship between the typical structures and the 4 variants in causative constructions with make and 2 variant structures of the causative constructions with lam. The thesis has clearly analyzed the morphological and syntactic characteristics of each component. In particular, the thesis delves into the analysis of the syntactic characteristics of the two predicates, which demonstrates the ability of these two predicates to connect with the remaining components in the constructions. With the ability to appear in both simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences, it shows that the ability of these two types of causative constructions to operate in English and Vietnamese sentences is quite rich.
Part 2: Comparision and contrast
In terms of similarities in semantic characteristics, both types of causative constructions contain two events that are related to each other in terms of time and space, logic and elements of logic. Events are the components that create the construction. Both types of constructions create four types of results: new action, new state, new process and new posture. Causal constructions represent a cause and effect relationship are not coercive, and can be direct or indirect, [+-dynamic] and [+-intentional], and assume a certain success in the result. In syntactic characteristics, both make and make have the same basic structural type [N1 V1 N2 V2] in which V1 is make or make, V2 is infinitive or adjective. In addition, many similar morphological features of the components participating in the structure were also described and analyzed.
In terms of different characteristics in semantics, the two causative constructions have many differences in the classification rates of causes, caussees, [animate] and [volitional], about the nature of the two causative predicates, the position of the causes and the method of emphasizing the causes. Regarding semantic relationships, the two semantic features that create the difference between these two constructions are specifically coercive meaning and directness which have also been analyzed and clarified. The difference lies largely in the syntactic characteristics with the number of variant structures and their relationship with the typical structure. It is this difference in syntactic structure that creates the difference in distinguishing the direct and indirect causation in the two languages. In the two causative constructions, there are still many differences in the morphological characteristics of components... In addition, the difference in the syntax between these two causative constructions is the possibility of connection and the relationship between the two types of complements has been clarified. With different linguistic typological characteristics, English is quite clear in combining and using temporal adverbs, while Vietnamese is quite complicated.
Surgery
The thesis has accomplished the research goal of describing the semantic and syntactic characteristics of causative constructions with the 2 causative verbs make in English and lam in Vietnamese, then comparing them to point out the similarities and differences in the two languages ​​and explain them from the perspective of syntactic typology.

(1) By Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Syntactic features of making causative constructions in Vietnamese”, International Graduate Research Symposium, Vol.1, pp. 357-371, ISBN: 978-604-384-167-1
(2) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Semantic Characteristics of Events in Make Causative Constructions”, Journal of Humanitites and Social Sciences, Vol.28 (4), pp. 39-46, e - ISSN: 2279 – 0937, p-ISSN: 2279-0845.
(3) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2024), “Semantic Relationships in MAKE Causative Structures”, Journal of Research & Method in Education, Vol.14 (1), pp. 13-16, e - ISSN: 2320–7388, p- ISSN: 2320-737X
(4) Do Thi Phuong Thuy (2023), “Syntactic characteristics of components in causative structures in Vietnamese”, Journal of Language and Life, (6/341), pp. 51-59, ISSN 0868 - 3409.