Running ahead: IMPERATIVES

English and Vietnamese imperatives: A contrastive analysis Lm Thi Hng Oanh University of education

Abstract It can be said that the appearance of imperatives occupies a large frequency in our daily language. When we want to give order, or ask someone to do something, we use imperatives instinctively. However, different language has different ways to form its imperatives. Especially, when English and Vietnamese do not share the same language type, these differences become more clearly. This causes many problems for Vietnamese students in learning English as a second language. By doing this research, I, a teacherto-be of English, hope that the students will have common knowledge about the ways to form, the similarities as well as the differences in imperatives of English and Vietnamese so that they can avoid making mistakes in transition between two these languages.

Introduce Imperative sentence, according to Cao Xuan Hao (1991), is the sentence that has illocutionary value, affects second person, and requires this person to make a unilateral or a co-operating action. Imperative sentence is also a mean to order, request, or require someone to do something. When using imperative sentence, the speaker expects that the hearer will obey.

Keep silent for a moment. Read the instructions carefully! Dont make so much noise .

Hy gi yn lng mt lt ! Hy c k hng dn! ng c n o nh vy!

Beside the basic use, the imperative sentence is also used to advice, instruct, allow, wish, invite and suggest informally, or warn (Eastwood, 1994, p.22). Why dont you spend a year working before you go to college? Take off a year from your studies and learn something about the real word. Go along here and turn left at the lights. Yeah go on then Have a nice holiday. Come to have lunch with us! Look out! Theres a car coming. According to Merianne Celce Muricia and Diane Freeman (1999:228), it seems that we quite surprise when we find out that the imperative sentence doesnt have subject or, in another word, there is no obvious subject noun phrase. The basic form of imperative sentence is the base form of the verb. It is a second-person form . Many traditional grammarians also think that subject in imperative sentence is the understood you. Both in English and Vietnamese, when we see imperative sentences without subject like Be quiet! or Dont do that again, we all know clearly that the speaker (firs t person) is directing to the listener (second person) who is standing in front of him. It means that although there have no subjects, both speaker and listener understands who is the person mentioned in the sentence.

Imperatives in English and Vietnamese 1. Words are often used in imperative sentence: +words have affirmative meaning: According Thomson & Martinet (1986: 245), and Eastwood (1994: 19), in English, if we want to express an emphasis (persuasion, unpleasantness, or angry), or we want the listener to carry out an action immediately, we can put do before imperative verb Do hurry! (Nhanh ln i no!) Do be careful. (Hy tht thn trng!) In English imperatives, we also meet the verb let (a) Let us stand together in this emergency. (b) Let us not be alarmed by rumors. (c) Let me think. Let me explain. (d) Let the voters choose the government they want. Let them decide. According to Thomson & Martinet (1986), by using let us as in (a) and (b), the speaker intends to solicit the listener from carrying out an action by certain way or expresses a decision to accept an offer. Some tradition grammarians believe that let us is an inclusive imperative, in which the imperative action is directed toward and affects both the speaker and listener (Marianne Celce_Murcia and Diane Larsen_Freeman,1999,p.233) . Let me in sentence (c) means that the speaker requires the listener to let himself do something. Meanwhile, let them in sentence (d) is directed toward the third person. The structure let them is no longer common in modern English. Instead of using the structure let them decide, people use structure they are to decide.

Similarly, in Vietnamese, according to some linguists such as Cao Xuan Hao or Hoang Xuan Tam, to express imperative meaning, we can use expletives hy or i Hy cn thn! (Be careful!) i nhanh ln no! (go quickly!) According to Nguyen Kim Than (1999), in informal language, expletive hy has a phonic variant hng (hng gm!, hng t t!). The expletive hy can be adjunct for many verbs at the same time. For example: Hy on kt nhau, thng nht hnh ng! In common principles of Vietnamese grammar, hy is placed before verbs as above examples. However, in modern Vietnamese, the main verb can be separated from hy and adjuncts can be put after hy. For example, Hy dng cm tin ln! Nowadays, in modern Vietnamese, we still see the appearance of hy in imperatives. However, according to Professor Nguyen Kim Than (1999), hy is often put in front of verb, and so, creates directive sentence. These ways of speaking are often used to express an encouragement with unruffled voice, or express petition. It makes the speech become quite noble so it is rarely used in daily speech. Using hy much will make your speech become artificial so hy is offering its place to i. In Vietnamese grammar, the author Diep Quang Ban said that adding expletives no, thi, i thi, i no after the main verb would make the nuance of imperatives become more plentiful. That they will become strong or weak depends on the different contexts.

+words have negative meaning:

In English imperatives, we use dont to express negative meaning (e.g Dont be silly/ Dont tell her about that.) According to Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey K.Pullum in Cambridge Grammar of the English language, negative imperatives may have the negation associated with the verb (verbal negation) or incorporated within some other elements: Dont say anything that could compromise you. Imperatives with verbal negation may contain an overt subject; the subject can precede or (more often) follow dont Subject + don t You dont be so cheeky. Dont + subject dont you be so cheeky.

Therefore, negative form of any imperatives is also expressed by the structure: Dont + infinitive. According to Eastwood (1999), dont is the sign to realize the negative implication in imperatives. It seems that in Vietnamese imperatives, we have more various ways in express the negation in imperatives. We have expletives: ng, ch, khng, khng c to express the same meaning as the structure: Dont+ infinitive in English. According to the li nguist Diep Quang Ban (2005), if there are expletives ng, ch , khng, khng c placed before main verb in imperatives, the sentence will have negative meaning (ask the hearer not to do something) ng qun chun b bi trc khi n lp! Khng c i tr! According to this author, in the contrary meaning, hy with pos itive meaning does not appear in front of negative words: khng, chng, cha to avoid contradiction. The words: ng, ch have negative meaning and dont

appear in front of negative words: khng, chng, cha to avoid superfluous repetition, or create a phenomenon two negative resolve a positive

+words express sentimental nuance As we all know, in English, there is only a personal pronoun you to indicate second person. According to some linguists (Thomson & Martinet, or East,), pronoun you rarely appears in imperatives unless the speaker proves his rude or wants to make distance with the hearer (You go on! / You shut up!). That you appears in imperatives can also make an order emphatic or even aggressive. Therefore, to express the respect and friendliness to the hearer, people often use model verb can, could, or must (Can you go on? / You must go on. / Could you keep quiet for a while?). According to Eastwood, in warning, reminding and good wishing, people use tag question. A positive tag is used after a positive imperative. For example: Get out your books, will/ would/ can/ could you? Its meaning is the same as: Will you get out your books? However, the tag question will make the sentence less formal. A negative tag will express a greater feeling (e.g Doctor: Keep still, wont/ cant you?). This sentence shows that the doctor especially concerns that the patient should keep still, or annoyed because the patient cannot keep still. Also in this part, he wrote that in warning, reminding and wishing, the tag won't you? is used after a positive imperative and will you? after a negative. Have a nice holiday, won't you? Don't forget your key, will you?. In offers and invitations the tag will you? or won't you is used (Have a chocolate, will/won't you?). These tags make the sentences more emphatic.

Besides, to make the imperatives more formal and polite, people use the word please. The appearance of please makes the distance between the speaker and hearer become closer. It also makes the order in imperatives become milder and friendlier (Please give me a glass of water! ). Meanwhile, in Vietnamese, there are many pronoun used to indicate second person such as b, m, anh, chi, chu,Each pronoun is used for different people and in different contexts. Therefore, according to the author Diep Quan Ban (2005) , imperatives used in respectful relationship are often attached with xin, cho, (Xin ng hy ch cho mt lt ! / Xin ng hy ch mt lt! / ng hy ch mt lt !). In another passage, he wrote that to make the imperatives more sentimental, we can use suitable pronouns for the subject, or add sentimental words at the end of the sentence. For example, with the subject anh / em, close relationship will be exposed clearly; the subject my / tao will express the liberty. The word at the end of the sentence will create respectful or satirical nuance (Anh hy ngi xung y! Em i nhanh i! ). As in English, we also add xin vui lng /vui lng into imperatives to make them become respectful and polite (Vui lng chuyn gip ti l ng! Please pass me the sugar!)

2. Some other ways to make imperative sentence Beside above structure, according to Thomson & Martinet (1986), we can use the structure to subject+ shall+ infinitive to make imperative actions. This structure is often in passive voice and used in writing, e.g The Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be elected annually. They also stated that imperatives in English could have form subject+ will+ infinitive,

e.g When the alarm rings, passengers and crew will assemble at their boat stations. This form of imperative is formal. The informant expects and believes that the hearer will obey these requests or orders happily. Authorities often use this structure to write documents to give order or instruction. Another form of imperative is subject+ may not+ infinitive. This structure is used to forbid someone from doing something, e.g Candidates may not bring textbooks into the examination room. As in English, Vietnamese also use above forms to make imperatives. However, according to Diep Quang Ban, there are some other means to make imperative sentence. These means have to obey some serious conditions. Therefore, they are not common and are rarely used to make imperatives. The common means used in imperatives are structure: model verbs cn, nn, phi, or adverb c placed before main verb; or h, gim, gip placed after main verb. These words are used with the purpose the speaker wants the hearer to do what was asked in the sentence. These words are used with following conditions: - They are used to do the imperative action that is happening (not used to describe past, present, or future events). - The subjects of these words have to be the hearer Anh nn ngh ngi mt lc! (You should take a rest for a while!) Anh c ngi y. (You stand here!) Anh a h (gim, gip) ti ci m ng kia. (please pass me the hat over there!) If it does not satisfy above conditions, the structure containing these words cannot do the imperative function.

Anh y cn ngh ngi mt thi gian (He needs to take a rest for a while!). This is declarative sentence N c ngi nh vy sut m h (Did he keep sitting like that over night?). this is interrogative sentence. Lan chuyn gim gi qu ca anh n ti ri. (Lan has already sent your present to me!) Beside above words, some words that have imperative meaning like xin, mong, ngh, yu cu, ra lnh, cm, mi, khuyn are also used to make imperatives but they have to satisfy using conditions of performative sentence. Such verbs are called performative verbs. The condition to use these performative sentences is that they have to be used to express imperative action that is happening and its subject is the speaker. Chng ti mong cc bn s n d cuc vui vi chng ti . (we hope that you will come to our party). To sum up this, we see that in different language, imperative action is expressed differently, especially, when English and Vietnamese do not share the same language type. However, through above analysis, we can see some similarities between them. Both English and Vietnamese use specialize words to express

imperative meaning. We easily realize that the sentences contained the words do, let, dont in English and hy, ng, ch, khng c in Vietnamese have similarity in the meaning and structure. (1) Dont bother me anymore! (1) ng lm phin ti na! (2) Let me explain it again! -(2) Hy ti ging li ln na!

These sentences are similar in semantic meaning and grammatical structure.

- Both English and Vietnamese use some expletives to make imperatives more gentle and polite. We can see it clearly in daily spoken language of English when they use please to suggest, require, or ask someone to do something. It is completely similar with vui lng in Vietnamese imperatives Please give me a glass of water! Vui lng ly h ti cc nc! Let me be alone! Hy ti mt mnh!

However, beside some similarities, imperatives in English and Vietnamese have many differences. This causes many problems for Vietnamese students to learn English. According to an article, these difficulties caused by some following reasons: - The structure of some imperatives in English and Vietnamese does not have subject but predicate that often begins with imperative verb. However, in reality, people often freely use pronouns, proper nouns, or other nouns as subject to increase the expressiveness of imperatives in Vietnamese. On the contrary, in English, the appearance of pronoun you wi ll make imperatives become heavy and rude, and make a distance between the speaker and hearer. Besides, indefinite nouns such as somebody, anyone also create notice or emphasis in English imperatives. (a) Anh hy ngi xung y! (This imperative expresses informal relationship between the speaker and hearer) (a)You sit down here! (This imperative expresses unpleasantness, rudeness, and contempt of the speaker for the hearer) (b) Somebody help me! (Ai gip ti i! )

(c) Jane stay here and Bill come with me! (Jane hy y cn Bill th hy i vi ti! ) This difference may make the students confused and make mistake in transmitting from this language to another or change the sentimental nuance of the sentence. As a teacher, we can help students overcome this problem by giving them clear explanation, pay their attention to the difference in the sentimental nuance of the sentence. We also remind them that if subject is not to create notice or emphasis as in (b) and (c), we can omit it when transmitting the sentence from Vietnamese to English, and can add the suitable subject to increase expressiveness when transmitting the sentence from English to Vietnamese. - Moreover, in English, people can use some particular structures to express imperative meaning: + tag question: (a) Keep still, cant you? + subject+ shall+ infinitive : (b) The chairman, secretary and treasurer shall be elected annually. + subject+ will+ infinitive: (c) When the alarm rings, passengers and crew will assemble at their boat station. + subject+ may not+ infinitive: (d) Candidates may not bring textbooks into the examination room.

However, such structures cant be used to ask, order, or instruct someone to do something in Vietnamese. Instead of these structure, we often use specialize words such as hy/ i/ khng c or phi/ c. Anh c tip tc ung thuc nh vy! Phi/ Hy bu c ra Ch tch, Th k v Th qu mi mi nm! Hnh khch hy/ phi tp trung ti bn tu khi c ci bo ng! Th sinh khng c mang ti liu vo phng thi! Because some structures are not common in imperative Vietnamese, students may misunderstand when meet these sentences. For example, in sentence (a), students may misunderstand it as interrogative: can you keep still? (Anh c th tip tc ung thuc nh vy khng? ) In sentence (b), students may misunderstand it as passive voice. And in sentence (c), students may misunderstand it as declarative. To help them overcome this problem, teacher should explain these unusual structures clearly, instruct them the usage, and especially, teach them to depend on the context to guess the meaning of the sentence. For instance, in sentence (a), the context is that the doctor says to a patience: keep still, cant you? We can guess its meaning: Anh c ung thuc nh vy! another difference between English and Vietnamese imperatives is

that in Vietnamese, we can use some words that have imperative meaning like xin, mong, ngh, yu cu, cm, mi, khuyn to make imperative sentence Mong cc bn n d cuc vui vi chng ti! Xin cc bn vui lng n ng gi!

However, in English, we cant put the words ask, wish, sug gest, request, invite, advice as the role of imperative verbs at the beginning of a sentence. Conclusion Imperatives have an important role in our life. We use them frequently and instinctively. However, beside some similarities, English and Vietnamese imperatives have many differences in structure. According to Celce_Murcia and Larsen_Freeman (1999), mastering the form, meaning and using of English imperatives is a challenging to students who learn English as a second language. It requires much efforts, and regular practice for the students to overcome this problem. In reality, many teachers often do not pay much attention to clarifying the differences in English and Vietnamese imperatives for students. However, we should know that, this is also a reason that causes confusion for students in learning foreign language. Therefore, we have to grasp these differences clearly to sympathy and help students learn English better.

References

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