HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
HOMONYMY IN ENGLISH - VIETNAMESE
Instructor : Nguyen Ngoc Vu Student: Doan Quynh Nhu Class: 4A
HCMC, 31/12/2010
D o a n |2
Abstract
When speaking and listening, have you ever misunderstood or felt difficult in choosing or understanding words? Of course, yes. What is the reason? From my point of view, there are many reasons and one of them is confusing words because any language has confusing words. This is the reason making us embarrassed embarrassed because because those confusing words words
make us misinterpret someone’s meaning or be difficult to understand. Sometimes, there are mistakes funny, otherwise, they are terrible. And homonym is one of the reasons causing this phenomenon. phenomenon. I find it very interesting. Being an English teacher-to be, I want to search and analyze the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese homonym. This is very useful for my teaching and I hope that I bring an exciting thing to you. Literature review
What is homonym? The word "homonym" comes from the conjunction of the Greek: prefix homo- (meaning same) and suffix -onym (meaning name). Thus, it refers to two or more distinct words sharing the "same name". (Wikipedia) A homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling or pronunciation (or both) but have different meanings. The state of being a homonym is called homonymy. (English semantics) Examples of homonyms: In English, stalk which can mean either part of a plant or to follow someone around; to, two and too are homonyms because they are pronounced the same, despite their spelling differences.
In Vietnamese, đường (railway) đường tàu Thống Nhất; đường (sugar) mua một cân đường; sao (star) ông sao trên trời ; sao (why) sao anh lại làm như thế; sao (copy) đi sao giấy khai sinh; sao ( dehydrate) sao thuốc nam .
D o a n |3
In English and Vietnamese, homonym appears mainly between word-word. How
Cơ sở ngôn ngữ học và tiếng Việt about between word-phrase, phrase-phrase? phrase-phrase? It is very rare. ( Cơ sở t he sons raise meat; or jack in 188). For instance, the sun’s rays meet // the
the box // jack -in-the-
box. However, they are also different because of the classification of homonym. Now, we are going to have a deep look into the types t ypes of homonym in English and Vietnamese to see how they are similar and different. Then we will find some various points between homonym and polysemy. Finally, that is a summary about what we can learn and apply to our study and teaching as well. Homonym in English
Several similar linguistic concepts are related to homonymy. The term 'homonym' is ambiguous because because there are a number of ways that two meanings can share the 'same name' and because the term is used in different ways by educated speakers, and these variant meanings are recorded by dictionaries. The terms "homograph" and "homophone" are however usually defined the same way as meaning "same spelling" and "same sound" respectively. The first, homonyms are words that have the same (sound and written) form but have different meanings. For example, the noun bank 1 (a financial institution) and the noun bank 2
/ in RP. We will take bear (the shore of a river), both being pronounced / bear for another example: the noun bear, which refers to a large heavy animal with thick fur; the verb bear 1,
D o a n |4
which means give birth to, and the verb bear 2, which means tolerate; all being pronounced 1
/ in RP . /
The second, homographs are words that have the same written form but have different meanings and sound forms. Example one: classified as two homographs are the verb lead
/ in Does this road / road lead to town and and the noun lead lead /led/ in Lead is a heavy mental. mental. / and Another example: Classified as two homographs homographs are the bare infinitive form read / /. the past tense form read /
The third is homophones. Before giving definition of homophones, we will read this to see what homophones are.
They don’t look alike they’re not spelled the same. That’s how it is in the homophone game. Homophones, homophones! Can you find the homophones? Oh, I went to the ocean to see the sea. Homophones, homophones! Last night a knight was looking lookin g at me. Homophones, homophones! Can you find the homophones?
1
Received Pronunciation (RP), also called the Queen's (or King's) English, Oxford English, or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional reg ional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms.
D o a n |5
We can realize that homophones are words that have the same sound form but have different meanings and written forms. Such words include the noun hour (a twenty-fourth part of a day and night) ni ght) and the possessive adjective our (belonging to us), both being pronounce
/ in RP. Another two homophones / homophones are the noun place, place, which means a particular area or position in space, and the noun plaice, which means a type of fish; both being pronounced
/ in RP. (See appendix / appendix for more examples) examples)
Consider the following table and identify homonyms, homophones and homographs via their main features. (English ( English semantics) Written form
Sound form
Meaning
Homonyms
+
+
-
Homophones
-
+
-
Homographs
+
-
-
+: the same or nearly the same -: different or opposite Homonymy in Vietnamese
Vietnamese is a root-isolating language. On the other hand, this language is uninflected. For this reason, those words are homonyms which always have the same spelling and sound in any context. This is very different from English since it is an inflectional language. Accordingly, Accordingly, these words are homonyms in this form but not in another form such as verb meet (present form) and noun meat are homonyms, both have the same spelling / /
D o a n |6
but verb met (past form of meet) and noun meat are not homonyms. Another example: example: the noun saw (a tool that is used for cutting wood), noun sore (a painful, often red place on your body where the skin is cut or infected) and verb saw (become conscious of something)-past form of see are homonyms, these words are pronounced / /. As a result, Vietnamese Vietnamese language classifies homonym homonym in different way. There are two types of homonym: homonym among words and homonym among words and syllables. Firstly, homonym among words has two subclasses: Lexical homonyms are those words belonging to the same word-class. Example l ike
đườ ng ng 1 (road)-đườ ng ng 2 (sugar), or đườ ng ng kính1 (a type of sugar)- đườ ng ng kính2 (diameter), they are nouns. Another example: c ất1 cất nhà (build a house)-c ất2 cất tiền vào t ủ (lay by one’s money in wardrobe)-cất3 cất rượ u (distil spirit), they are verbs. Another subclass is lexical-grammatical homonyms. That means those words are homonyms belonging to different word-class. For instance, ch ỉ1 cuộn chỉ (thread) (noun), ch ỉ2 chỉ tay năm ngón (point) (verb) , chỉ3 chỉ còn có dăm đồ ng (only) (adverb). This homonymic phenomenon is very interesting in Vietnam through proverbs and word-plays like: ng. (bác1 is a noun and bác 2 is a verb). Or Bác1 bác 2 tr ứ ứ ng
Bà già ra chợ Cầu Cầu Đông Xem một quẻ bói lấy chồng chồng lợi 1 chăng? Thấy bói gieo quẻ nói rằng: Lợi 2 thì có lợi 3 nhưng răng chẳng còn
D o a n |7
At the first glance, maybe listeners will be angry. But when they realize these words have the same sound but different meaning, listeners burst out laughing and are not angry.
Lợi1 is an adjective which means useful; however, lợi2 and lợi3 are nouns which mean gums. Secondly, homonyms homonyms among words and syllables s yllables are those words not belonging to the same level of lexicon.
For example “ Nhà cửa để lầm than con thơ trẻ lấy ai rèn c ặp” the
syllable than (coal) and word l ầm than (complain) are homonyms; the syllable rèn (forge) and word rèn cặp (educate) are also homonyms. This phenomenon does not have in English because Vietnamese language language does not have the contrast between roots and affix; words are formed by the combination of syllables. Or only words also make us confused and funny like
“Bữa qua1 , qua 2 nói qua 3 qua 4
mà qua 5 hổng qua6 . Hôm nay, qua7 hông nói qua8 qua 9 mà lại qua10.” Bữa qua 1 means
yesterday; qua2, qua3, qua5, qua7, qua 8 means you and qua 4, qua6, qua9, qua10 means arrive. These words are homonyms. Distinguish between homonymy and polysemy A well-known problem in semantics is how to decide whether we are dealing with a single polysemous word (like plain) or with two or more homonyms (like port 1, as in The ship left port, and port2, as in He drank port). In other words, how do you know words are homonyms or polysemy pol ysemy?? Some sources state that homonym meanings must be unrelated in o rigin (rather than just different). Thus right (correct) and right (opposed to left) would be polysemous and not be homonyms. Bank in river bank and Bank of England are homonymous: they share no
D o a n |8
meaning whatsoever; they function as two totally unrelated words. R iver bed and hospital bed seem to be somehow semantically linked: it is a case of polysemy.
Implications for language teaching
It is important to learn the different spellings, pronunciations and meanings meanings of words
in the beginning stage of language learning or you could say something you don’t mean or understand something something to be what it is not. Homonyms are words like bank. All of these nouns are pronounced the same so you
really need to understand the context of the sentence or you won’t know whether someone is talking about a financial institution, or a shore of a river. The word sound is most often first learned as noise. It is very basic vocabulary vocabulary that all beginners know. But sound also means means something else as healthy. Examples like these are easier to spot in writing, since nouns generally need an article in front of them, but in everyday speech if you cannot understand every word and only catch certain basic vocabulary, vocabulary, you could completely misunderstand the message. This is also why learning the pronunciation pronunciation of conjugations of verbs is important at the beginning stage. stage. Obviously for words that are spelled the same, same, it easy to look up their definition(s) and pronunciation(s) in the dictionary. But for words that are not spelled the same, yet are pronounced the same, it can be a bit trickier. Knowing more about homonymy, we can explore to know how to teach vocabulary excitingly and also decrease difficulties for learners. Supposing we can make a sentence like this “Our bear cannot bear cannot bear to be bare be bare at any hour.” And ask them to listen and repeat. Then we will explain.
D o a n |9
Conclusion
This phenomenon is very interesting and useful for our teaching and learners as well. To us, we should explore many ways to help them study easier and find it exciting. In addition, we also give them some tips to help them learn better. To learners, they should know this and pay attention to pronunciation. Moreover, they should take notice of context when they translate or listen.
D o a n | 10
Appendix
+ Heroin /'herouin/ (n) = (dược học) thuốc gây mê làm từ moocphin, dùng trong ngành dược để gây ngủ hoặc giảm đau, hoặc do người nghiện ma túy dùng; hêrôin + Heroine /'herouin/ (n) = nữ anh hung Cite /sait/ (v) = trích dẫn + Site /sait/ (n) = địa điểm, khu đất ( để xây dựng). + Sight /sait/ (n) =
khe ngắm, tầm ngắm; quang cảnh, cảnh tượng;
(v) = quan sát, nhìn thấy +Principal /'prinsəpl/ (n) = hiệu trưởng trư ởng (trường phổ thông); (Adj) = chính, chủ yếu. + Principle / 'prinsəpl/ (n) = nguyên tắc, luật lệ Hi (Chào) and High (trên cao, cao, cao)
Hi, how are you? (Chào, bạn có khỏe không?) At 12 o'clock the sun is high in the sky. (Vào 12 giờ trưa, mặt trời lên cao.) In (trong) và Inn (quán rượu) Come in and have a cup of tea. (Hãy vào nhà và dùng một ly trà.) 'Inn' is an old-fashi oned word for 'pub'.('Inn' là từ kiểu xưa của từ 'pub') '' is an old-fashioned word for 'pub'.
New (mới) và knew (đã biết) I love your new dress! (Em thích chiếc áo đầm mới của chị.) I knew the answer as soon as she asked the question. (Tôi biết được câu trả lời vừa khi cô ta đặt câu hỏi.) We (chúng tôi) và Wee (nhỏ, bé) We (my husband and I) would love you to come and stay.(Chúng tôi (ông xã của tôi và tôi) mong muốn bạn đến chơi và ở lại.) Scottish people say 'wee' for 'small' or 'little'. (Người Xcốt -len dùng từ 'wee' thay từ 'small' hoặc 'little'.) Need (cần thiết) và Knead Knead (nhào bột) We're hungry so we need some food.(Chúng tôi đói bụng vì thế chúng tôi cần thức ăn.) To make bread you have to knead the dough (a mixture of flour and water). (Để làm bánh mì, bạn phải nhào bột nhão.)
So (vì thế) và Sew (may vá) It's raining so you need to use your umbrella.(Trời đang mưa vì thế bạn cần sử dụng chiếc dù.) Will you sew a button on this shirt for me please? (Bạn vui lòng đính chiếc nút vào chiếc áo này cho tôi nhé?)
D o a n | 11
Reference
Chừ, Mai Ngọc, Vũ Đứ c Nghiệu, and Hoàng Tr ọng Phiến (1997). “Cơ sở ngôn ngữ học và tiếng Việt”. Ho Chi
Minh city: Education Publishing House.
“Hiện tượng đồng âm”. Truyencuoi http://www.truyencuoi.vn/?menu=view_s http://www.truyencu oi.vn/?menu=view_story&tl=108&truyen= tory&tl=108&truyen=289 289
“Homonym”. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 21, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
“Những cặp từ gây khó khăn trong tiếng anh”. Globaledu http://www.globaledu.com.vn/Thong-Tin-C http://www.globaledu .com.vn/Thong-Tin-Chi-Tiet/2712/Nhung-cap hi-Tiet/2712/Nhung-cap-tu-gay-kho-khan-trong-tu-gay-kho-khan-trongtieng-Anh
“Lối chơi chữ trong đối và thơ”. nguoivienxu.vietnamnet. http://nguoivienxu.vietnamnet.vn/chuy http://nguoivienxu.vietna mnet.vn/chuyentiengmede/2004 entiengmede/2004/03/54108/ /03/54108/
“Luyện nói tiếng anh”. globaledu http://www.globaledu.com.vn/Thong-Tin-Chi-Tiet/2225/2225
Tô Minh Thanh (2009) “English Semantics”. Ho Chi Minh City: National University.
