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the language and to act in the culture and receptively when attempting to
grasp and understand the language and culture as practiced by natives.
(1957, in Gass and Spelunker 1983, p.1). In the 1960s and early 1970s,
Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language
Acquisition. Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) this extension of the
notion of CA attributed the ability to predict errors to a CA of two languages,
a predictability that practitioners associated with the degree of similarity
between the two systems. Robert Lado wrote: .. those elements that are
similar to this native language will be simple for him, and those elements that
are different will be difficult..
The Contrastive Analysis emphasizes on the influence of the mother tongue in
learning a second language in phonological, morphological and syntactic
levels. Contrastive Analysis is not merely relevant for second language
teaching and learning but it can also make useful contributions to machine
translating and linguistics typology. It is relevant to the designing of teaching
materials for use in all age groups. Chaturvedi (1973) suggests the following
guiding principles for contrastive study: (1) To analyze the mother tongue and
the target language independently and completely.(2) To compare the two
languages item-wise-item at all levels of their structure. (3) To arrive at the
categories of a/ similar features b/ partially similar features c/ dissimilar
features for the target language. (4) To arrive at principles of text
preparation, test framing and target language teaching in general.
2- Some notes on euphemisms.
It is clear that language can be considered as an invaluable treasure that tell
very much about the world of which human beings are real masters. Indeed, it
is man that has played the key role in creating and developing such languages.
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director receives the corpse and sees to it that the dead body is soon buried.
Euphemisms are not always used to deny death or to avoid talking about it.
Instead at times, euphemistic terms are used to reveal a more subtle or deeper
religious or cultural meaning when describing death or dying, such as an
everlasting sleep, passed or called home .. Probably in many
societies, death is something feared or that is closely related to the aspect of
religion. However, there are different religions in the world, such as:
Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism,.. Hence, there are a
great number of euphemisms which have been created to deal with the subject
fro different religious points of view.
3- Euphemisms for DEATH in English.
In English, death has become a four-letter obscene word; one that is not to be
used when talking to people in normal daily polite conversations. In an
attempt to find more socially acceptable terms and also to keep death at arms
length by masking its reality, people may use various euphemisms mild,
indirect or vague terms. The practice of using such words for death is likely to
have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word death was to
invite Death; where to draw Deaths attention is the ultimate bad fortune. It
may be said that one is not dying but fading quickly because the end is near.
People who have died referred to as having passed away, deceased or
departed. Moreover, euphemisms are also used to show the commemoration
and respect to the death and sympathy for his/her relatives and friends.
Therefore, when dealing with topics related to death or dying, people go to
great lengths to avoid using the words die, dying, death, dead. However, in
English speaking countries, Christianity is the most popular religion. It is
believed that when Jesus died on the cross he was giving up his life for other
peoples sins and demonstrating the love of God. When Jesus rose again he
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proved that it was possible to overcome death and live with God for all
eternity. Christians were free from the burden of original sins if they followed
Jesus teachings and examples and believed in him as the Son of God.
Therefore, for them, death is regarded as being reunited with the Father God
or simply going home. For them to die means: Asleep with Jesus/ Christ; fall
asleep in the arms of Jesus; gone to his heavenly Father; in the arms of
Father; come to Jesus; departed to God; met his/her Maker; go home; called
home; answer the last call; go to ones last home;. After death, the
soul of a dead man will, in some shape or form, goes to the land of death,
which is sometimes considered a happy place, but sometimes a place of
sadness. Often, the land of death seems to be a continuation of this current life
but in another type of existence. Thus, people are less apt to die and more apt
to pass on or pass away or depart this life. It could be Heaven, a wonderful
garden of paradise where he/she will live for ever with God and Jesus. Or it
could be Hell which is believed to be a real place where people suffer eternal
torment and punishment for his/her deeds on earth. In short, the good will
goes to Heaven and the wicked one goes to Hell. Both Heaven and Hell are
everlasting. Therefore, Christians say, someone has gone to an everlasting or
eternal place, they mean, someone died. However, people always wish that
the soul of the dead, not regarding what he/she has done on earth will be
allowed to go to Heaven (the Kingdom of God). There are such euphemisms:
Gone to Heaven; join the angels; pass over Jordan; climb the Golden Stair;
cross the Great Divide; kneel at the Big gate; knock on Heavens door; cross
on the Stygian; singing with angels; left this world; gone to a better world;
pass over to other side;. Some people also refer to the departed as a
sleeping person who is enjoying a very long sleep by using such euphemisms
as: Fall asleep with Jesus; a full/big sleep; close ones day; gone to ones rest;
laid to rest; be at rest; People in English-speaking countries also have
non-religious euphemisms to deal with the subject of death, such as: No
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longer with us; be no more; cease to breathe; cease to live; close ones eyes;
left us; lost; breathe ones last;.
4- Euphemisms for death in Vietnamese.
In the Vietnamese language, there is also a long list of euphemisms for death
or dying, which are in common with the one in the English language. The aim
of those words is to lessen the pain and sorrow of the deceaseds family,
relatives and friends and to shoe sympathy for them. Therefore, in daily life
conversation, Vietnamese people are likely to use such words as: Ra i;
mts; t trn; khut ni; t th; qua i; khng cn na;
ngng th, tt th; nhm mt; an ngh, yn ngh, ri b
chng ta; khng cn bn chng ta na, trt hi th cui
cng;..Vietnamese also use euphemistic expressions which have
equivalences in the English language. However, such words are often among
Vietnamese Christians: V vi Cha; i gp cc thin thn; ng
trong vng tay ca Cha; ln thin ng; gp ng sng to;
sang th gii bn kia; ri b th gii ny;. Nevertheless,
language is the symbol of culture, while culture is the track of language (Xing
Fuyi, 1990). The culture of a nation can be reflected in its language. And
religion is not out of the case. In Vietnam, the national religion is Buddhism,
which also has great influence on its population as well as on its language.
There are view points on death for Buddhists. Experiencing the death of a
loved one, or witnessing the death of others, can be one of the most profound
events in ones life. Because death is usually unexpected, it often leaves
family members and friends with unfinished business with the deceased.
Since filial responsibilities are weighed heavily in the Vietnamese culture,
and proper death rituals according to ones abilities are important, death
rituals give the bereaved a final chance to make it right by the deceased and
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thus provide a sense of continuity as well as final closure. Buddha says life is
suffering, caused by desires. To end the suffering, one must end desires.
From a greater perspective, death causes pain because of ones desires for
life. People fear death because they hold onto life. Here, the folly of
attachment is brought into the sharpest relief, because one know the body is
sure to die as it was born. Death is all around. People will die. Understood
this way, the only sensible course of action seems to be to seek that state
where death cannot follow: Nirvana, the state of being awake. To Buddhism,
however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body one
inhabit in this life, but the spirit will still remain and seek out through the
need a attachment, to a new body and a new life. Hence, the goal is to obtain
release, to achieve Nirvana. Thus, Vietnamese people
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Reference:
1- Bloomfield, Leonard. 1993. Language. NewYork. Holt-Rinehart &
Winston.
2- Cao Xun Ho. 2001. Ting Vit: Mt s vn v
Ng m-Ng Php v Ng Ngha. Nh Xut bn Gio
dc. Nng.
3- Fisiak, J. et al. 1984. Contrastive Linguistics and The Language
Teachers. Pergamon Press. Oxford.
4- Graham Thurgood. 1990. Contrastive Analysis- An Overview.
California State University Press.
5- James C Livingstone. 1996. Anatomy of the Sacred An Introduction
to religion. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
6- James C. 1980. Contrastive Analysis. Longman Group ltd.
7- Lado Robert. 1957. Linguistics Across Cultures. University of
Michgan Press. Ann Arbor.
8- Lewis M. Holfe & Mark R. Woodward. 1984. Religion of the World.
7th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
9- Nguyn Vn Tu. 1975. T v Vn t Ting Vit Hin i.
Nh Xut bn Gio dc, H Ni.
10- Nickel,G. 1971. Paper in Contrastive Linguistics. Cambridge. CUP.
11- Victoria Fromkin
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