Comparative Research Of Commonly Used Chinese And Vietnamese Adverbs

Adverbs in Chinese and Vietnamese language function as a subset of function words. In communication, the frequency of usage of these function words is rather high. The usage is complicated; and the grammatical meaning cannot be easily mastered. Presently, defining the nature, scope, classification, general characteristics, etc of these function words present a series of problems. The academe has not yet reach a common understanding on these problems. Because of these, the meaning and sentence structure of both Vietnamese and Chinese function words have similarities and differences This is the reason why I believe that there is a significance in probing into the adverbs of both the Chinese and Vietnamese language.This thesis aims to built upon the predecessors' research on both the Chinese and Vietnamese adverbs . First of all, the thesis will give an overview on the present condition of the existing research. The thesis will expand on the definition, classification, and function of both Chinese and Vietnamese function words. The research will then proceed to analyze certain frequently used Chinese adverbs. These adverbs include adverbs of degree, adverbs of time, adverbs of scope, adverbs of negation. From the perspective of the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic structure of the sentence, the thesis will provide an in-depth discussion on the similarities and difference of the collocation, position (in a sentence), and modifier of both the Chinese and the Vietnamese adverbs. From this, thesis will bring to light the general guidelines in defining the syntax and functions of the adverbs of these 2 languages. The researcher hopes that comparative research of both the Chinese and the Vietnamese adverbs will be of help in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.