ABSTRACT OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS
Author's name:Nguyen Lien Huong
Thesis title:A comparative study of the semantics of Vietnamese and English cultural vocabulary (based on data from several word groups).
Dissertation field: Linguistics
Major: Comparative Linguistics Code: 62.22.01.10
Name of the postgraduate training unit: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
1. Purpose and scope of the thesis
The research objective of this thesis is to explore semantics in relation to culture and cognition. This is one of the fundamental issues in linguistics in recent times, especially in the cognitive linguistics trend, which is attracting the attention of many researchers. The topic focuses on describing, analyzing, and comparing the semantics of referential and non-referential word groups in reality, clarifying the similarities and differences between word groups in the two languages and cultures of Vietnam and English. The specific research objective of the thesis is to understand the cultural semantic and cognitive characteristics of Vietnamese speakers in comparison with English through a number of keywords and cultural vocabulary.
The subject of this thesis is the vocabulary of both languages, focusing on a comparative analysis of cultural semantics using a corpus of several noun groups from both languages. Since nouns are words used to name objects and phenomena, they are very close to human life. Within this scope, we will focus on comparing two groups: the cultural semantics of words with specific references (e.g., land and water; house and person… in Vietnamese with their English counterparts: land and water, man and house…); and the cultural semantics of words with non-specific references (e.g., dragon, ghost and fairy… in Vietnamese with their English counterparts: dragon, ghost and fairy… in English).
2. Research methods used
This dissertation employs an interdisciplinary research approach, combining methods from linguistics and cultural studies. The main methods used are: analytical-synthetic methods, semantic component analysis, and cultural component analysis. In addition, the dissertation incorporates statistical and comparative methods to explore similarities and differences in semantic and cultural vocabulary between Vietnamese and English, Vietnamese and English cultures, and the perceptions of Vietnamese and English speakers.
3. Main results and conclusions
3.1. Main results
- From a theoretical standpoint, this research will supplement the comparative semantic study of Vietnamese-English vocabulary, using Vietnamese as the source language for comparison. The thesis also shows the influence of linguistic and cultural differences on the spiritual life of people, which is governed by how people experience and perceive the objective world, thereby demonstrating the potential of interdisciplinary research.
Currently, due to the need for learning and cultural exchange, foreign languages in general, and Vietnamese and English in particular, especially in the field of foreign language teaching, the results of this thesis also make important theoretical contributions to the field of teaching methodology. Understanding the cultural characteristics and perceptions of a community through keywords, highlighting the relationship between language and culture, as well as how people perceive and conceptualize the objects and situations of the objective world, will provide educators with a theoretical basis for compiling curricula and proposing effective teaching methods.
- In terms of practical contributions to research, the thesis has clarified the similarities and differences in the semantic and cultural vocabulary of two groups of words, referential and non-referential, in Vietnamese and English. This clarifies the feelings, thoughts, and cultural characteristics of the two unrelated peoples and languages, belonging to two different language types. The thesis will serve as a basis for establishing a system of words carrying cultural meanings. The research results will provide a foundation for further research related to the comparative semantics of Vietnamese-English or other languages.
- At the same time, we hope that the results achieved in this thesis will be useful for the study, teaching, and research of Vietnamese and English languages, providing materials for the study of cultural identity. Analyzing the similarities and differences in the semantic features of words, as well as cultural characteristics and modes of perception in Vietnamese and English, will first help learners understand the causes of cultural differences, thereby helping them to have the knowledge and ability to analyze and handle linguistic issues more effectively.
3.2. Conclusion
Just like the spiritual culture of a nation, the more developed a language becomes, the more civilized the language of a nation becomes, the richer and more diverse its semantics, and the deeper its cultural expression and inherent cultural value. Structurally, spiritual culture comprises many constituent parts, and semantics also has many types and layers of meaning existing within different areas of language. Within the realm of lexical meaning, the spiritual cultural attribute is even more pronounced. The distinguishing cultural attribute lies not only in the essence of meaning but also in the structure of content, especially the meaning of typical cultural keywords.
In the basic vocabulary, land and water belong to the first group of words referring to natural phenomena, closely related to humans. In every environment, humans seek shelter from rain and wind, and a place to live – that is a house. These are words with real-world objects of reference, belonging to the first basic vocabulary of any language. In contrast to words with real objects of reference are words without real-world objects of reference. Words like dragon, ghost, and fairy are entirely imaginary and not real. Analyzing and describing the meanings of these two groups of words in a comparative analysis between Vietnamese and English clarifies the differences in culture, language, and perception between the two nations.
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS
The author's name: Nguyen Lien Huong
Thesis title: To compare cultural and lexical semantics of Vietnamese and English key words (based on some group of words)
Scientific branch of the thesis: Linguistics
Major: Contrastive – comparative Linguistics Code: 62.22.01.10
The name of postgraduate training institution: University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Hanoi
1. Thesis purpose and objectives
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate semantics in the relationship with culture and cognition. This has been one basic issue in linguistics recently, especially in the tendency of cognitive linguistics, which attracts much attention from numerous researchers. The thesis focuses on describing, analyzing, comparing and contrasting the semantics of word groups, which have reference and don't have reference in reality, in order to clarify the similarities and differences between word groups in two languages, two cultures: Vietnamese and English. The specific goal of this thesis is to understand the characteristics of cultural linguistics and cognition of Vietnamese people in comparison and contrast with English through a number of key words or can be called cultural key words .
The subject of this thesis lies in the vocabulary bank of two languages and it focuses on contrastive analysis of cultural semantics on the material of some noun groups of both languages because nouns are used to name things and phenomena, which are very familiar with human lives. In this scope, we would like to go further in contrasting two groups: the semantics of cultural vocabulary of words with specific references (land and water, house and people... in Vietnamese with land and water, man and house... in English); the semantics of cultural vocabulary of words with non-specific references (dragon, ghost and fairy... in Vietnamese with corresponding words in English: dragon, ghost and fairy... in English).
2. Research methods
The thesis uses interdisciplinary approach, combining the methods of linguistics research with the cultural studies. The main methods used are: methods of analysis - synthesis, methods of analysis of semantic elements and cultural elements. In addition, the thesis incorporates statistical and comparative methods to find out the similarities and differences in semantics in cultural vocabulary between Vietnamese and English, Vietnamese culture and English culture, cognitive styles of Vietnamese and English people.
3. Major results and conclusions
3.1. The major results
Regards to the theoretical basis of this research, this research will add to the study of semantic comparison of Vietnamese-English vocabulary, with Vietnamese as the original language for comparison. The thesis also shows that the influence of the differences in language and culture on the spiritual life of man is governed by the way in which people experience, perceive the reality world, showing the potentials of interdisciplinary studies.
Currently, because of the demand for learning and exchanging cultures and foreign languages in general, Vietnamese and English in particular, especially in the field of teaching foreign languages, the results of the thesis also have important theoretical contributions to the teaching methodology. Understanding the cultural and cognitive characteristics of a community through keywords, indicating the relationship between language and culture as well as the way in which people perceive and conceptualize things, and the phenomenon of the reality world will help educators have more theoretical basis to compose curriculum, propose methods, and effective teaching methods
Regarding the contribution to the scientific research, the thesis has made clear the similarities and differences in the semantics of cultural vocabulary of the two groups of words with references and without references in Vietnamese and English, so as to make clear the way of feeling, thinking, characteristics of cultures of two ethnics, two languages, which are unrelated, are of two distinct types. The thesis will serve as a basis for establishing a system of words that carry cultural meaning. Research results will be the premise for subsequent studies, related to contrastive semantics of Vietnamese - English vocabulary or other languages.
At the same time, we hope that with the achievements of the thesis, it will be useful for learning, teaching and researching Vietnamese and English, providing materials for the study of cultural identity. An analysis of the similarities and differences in the semantic characteristics of words as well as the cultural characteristics, the cognitive way in Vietnamese - English first helps learners understand the causes of cultural differences, from which they will have the knowledge, ability to analyze and handle language problems more effectively.
3.2. Conclusions
Just like the spiritual culture of the nation, the more developed the language is, the more civilized the language of the community, the richer and the more developed the semantics are, the content of cultural expression and itself is deeper. In terms of structure, mental cultural structure has many components, and the semantics also have many types, meaning scaffoldings that exist in different areas of the language. Within the meaning of vocabulary, cultural attributes are even bolder. Cultural distinctions are not only in the nature of meaning but also in the structure of the content, particularly in the meaning of typical cultural terms
In the basic vocabulary groups, land and water are among the first natural phenomena that are close to men. When living in each environment, people find a place to stay away from rain, wind, for living, which is called house. These are the words that have reference in reality, the first basic vocabulary that any language has. The opposite of the group with references is the word group with no references in real life. Words such as dragon, ghost, fairy are words that are entirely imagined, do not exist in reality. The analysis and description of the meaning features of these two groups in comparison between Vietnamese and English clarify the differences between culture, language and cognitive way of the two nations
Author:Nguyen Lien Huong
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