A Comparative Research On The Vague Expression Of Quantity In Chinese And Vietnamese

Based on the cognitive linguistics theory, the theory of three grammatical planes, this paper uses the method of comparative linguistics to compare different vague expressions of quantity in Chinese and Vietnamese on four aspects, including structures of vague quantity, semantic, pragmatics and cultural features. The purpose of thisstudyis tofind out the similarities and the differences of the vague expression of quantity in Chinese and Vietnamese. And on this basis, we make further exploration on the essential characteristics of vague quantity and thelanguage factors, culturaland cognitivefactors that affect vague quantity.In this paper, vague quantity in Chinese and Vietnamese is divided into two categories, including vague real quantity and vague virtual quantity. According to the quantity extension and the features of quantity expression, vague real quantity is divided into four categories, including the vague quantity with the definition of intermediate value, the vague quantity with the definition of one sided limit and the vague quantity with the definition of two sided limits; virtual quantity is divided into two categories, including vague big quantity and vague small quantity.The main content of this paper concludes five chapters. The first chapter introduces the current status of research on vague expression of quantity in Chinese and Vietnamese and points out the existing problems. In this chapter, we also introduce the related concepts that are used during our study. The second chapter and the third chapter analysis different expressions of vague quantity in Chinese and Vietnamese and on this basis make a comparison between them. The fourth chapter makes an exploration on the similarities and differences of Chinese and Vietnamese culture which are reflected through vague quantity expression. In the fifth chapter, we summarize the essential characteristics of vague quantity, the similarities and the differences of the vague quantity expression in Chinese and Vietnamese.According to the results of this comparative study, we find that vague quantity expression in Chinese and Vietnamese are quite similar and there are not many differences between them. Most of the differences between them are caused by the differences of the internal grammar rules of the two languages. According to the similarities and the differences of the vague quantity expression in Chinese and Vietnamese, we have come to the conclusion that the vague expression of quantity in different languages is quite common and there is a similarity between different nations’cognitive model of vagueness.