A Comparative Study Of Chinese And Vietnamese Spatial Prepositions

Chinese and Vietnamese are both classified as analytical languages. They all rely on word order and functional words or form word to express the grammatical meanings as well as grammatical functions. In many perspectives, both languages possess not only lots of similarities, but also many differences. Some Chinese space prepositions representing the starting point, ending point, premises and direction in space, such as "从、在、到、向"(from, in, to, forward) with the corresponding prepositions in Vietnamese have a very high frequency of use. This thesis focuses on selecting four universal and common space prepositions, namely "从、在、到、向"(from, in, to, forward) in Chinese as well as the corresponding prepositions in Vietnamese as the study object. The study will analyze to identify their similarities and differences in semantics and grammatical functions combining with the errors and biases often made by Vietnamese students. From the multi angles, the thesis aims to find out the reasons causing some interference in using and mastering the above-mentioned space prepositions of Vietnamese students. On this foundation, this article will propose several teaching strategies, the difficulties encountered in translation, as well as the teaching and practicing of translation.This study is divided into seven chapters:Chapter Ⅰ:Introduction. This part briefly introduces the aims and the significance of the study, the research state of preposition in Chinese and Vietnamese as well as the research state of comparison and contrast between Chinese-Vietnamese space proposition. On the theoretical basis, this chapter states the research methods, research content and scope as well as the data sources.Chapter Ⅱ,Ⅱ,Ⅳ,ⅤV respectively identify the similarities and differences in semantics and syntax between the four Chinese space prepositions“从、在、到、向”and the four Vietnamese corresponding ones. After comparing and contrasting, it has been concluded that the four Chinese space prepositions“从、在、到、向”and the four Vietnamese corresponding ones are not simply a one-by-one corresponding relation but a multiple corresponding one. In Vietnamese, the semantic meaning of“从、在、到、向”can be expressed by several prepositions, thus, there is no doubt that it will bring many difficulties for Vietnamese students in studying and mastering the semantic meanings of these form words. From the perspective of semantic function, it can be seen that the corresponding semantic relation between them both have crosses and differences. By comparing and contrasting the grammar, it is noted that the syntactic position of Chinese prepositional phrases constituted by“从、在、到、向”and the Vietnamese corresponding ones are not completely identical. At the same time, their syntactic functions as well as restrictions in selecting the following objects can be regarded as "same in different".Chapter VI focuses on discussing the teaching and translation of space preposition. First, this part introduces the errors and biases encountered by Vietnamese students in studying“从、在、到、向”.Next, from the view of the negative transfer of mother tongue as well as the limited understanding of the target language of beginners, it identifies the reasons causing these errors in studying and translation of Vietnamese student, ultimately, giving teaching strategies and proposals.Chapter VII briefly concludes the whole thesis, pointing out the study achievements, restrictions and the upcoming research orientation.Through the comparison, contrast and analysis of space preposition in Chinese and Vietnamese, this study is hoped to bring a more in-depth insight into the semantic and syntactic features of space preposition in these two languages.