A special sentence is a sentence with a structural irregularity. Therefore, although it has been mentioned in Vietnamese grammar since very early, its semantic and rhetorical values have not been analyzed and explained convincingly.
Hence, we want to study special sentences from the perspective of modal theory, applying the research results of modern lexical to clarify the syntax problems that the structuralist tendency still misses. The article establishes the elements indicating modal in a special Vietnamese sentence as the initial basis for explaining the modal meaning of the above sentence. The article's research results will give an accurate view of the expression of modal meaning means of Vietnamese special sentences, thereby opening the direction of applied research of this type of sentence.
Keywords : means of modal expression, modal, modal meaning, special sentence, the particle of modal
1. INTRODUCTION
For a long time, when researching sentences, linguist Charles Bally (1865–1947) distinguished a sentence consisting of lexis (lexis or dictum) and a modal expressing the speaker's attitude. He affirmed that the modal is the soul of the sentence, the text, and the whole communication.
In recent years, research results on modal have received more and more attention because they have broadened the semantics concept of sentences, explained the mechanism of implication generation, and touched on the explanatory powers that lexical constructs omitted. Among these, it's impossible not to mention the ability to explain the existence value and impact on communication activities of sentences with structural irregularities such as special sentences in Vietnamese.
In this article, we want to give a way to explain special sentences from the perspective of modal theory, apply research results of modern lexical to clarify the syntactic problems that structuralist tendency is still omitted in this type of sentence.
2. SOME BASIC THEORY ISSUES
2.1. Modal meaning and means of modal expression
2.1.1. Modal meaning
Modal meaning is an essential part of the utterance. The modal meaning is complex, subtle, abstract, and more elusive than descriptive.
To establish the concept of modal meaning, it is necessary to put it in the meaning structure of the utterance. Modal meaning participates in the actualization process, turning the potential content of the situation into a real statement. Modal meaning indicates, for example, whether the problem stated in the utterance is a reality or a possibility, the speaker's degree of commitment to the reliability of the information, what is the speaker's attitude and feelings when speaking. For example, with the situation «it comes», we can express different modal contents:
(1) It comes.
(2) Whatever it is, it will come.
(3) Maybe it comes.
(4) Does it come?
(5) It came for real.
The information describing the potential form entirely coincides with the statements mentioned above. Still, the modal part helps the listener determine the correct content the speaker wants to convey.
Modal meaning can generally be understood as the significant component of a sentence expressing the attitude, intention, purpose, or relationship between the speaker and the listener, between the speaker and the situation reflected in the sentence, between the content is reflected in the sentence with objective reality.
2.1.2. Means of modal expression
We also find that each language has a typical and varied means of modal expression. Many authors have gathered and classified the means of expressing lexical modal, especially in their mother tongue. In addition to the phonetic factor, modal research often represents modal verbs, modality verbs, mood, modal affixes, adjectives and modal adverbs, structure with modal verbs, clauses, modal particles...
From the viewpoints raised by previous linguists about the means of modal expression in Vietnamese, such as Hoang Trong Phien, Bui Trong Ngoan, Nguyen Van Hiep, etc., we find that there is a specific difference in listing the means of modal expression in Vietnamese. We absorb the above points of view to systematize the means of modal expression in special sentences of Vietnamese in three aspects: phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar as follows:
2.1.2.1. Phonetic means
The phonetic means used to express the state in a sentence are intonation phenomena that the speaker intentionally uses in a sentence, such as intonation, stress, and tone to express attitudes, feelings, and evaluations...
In addition to being a means of classifying speech, intonation also has a special meaning in expressing all the diverse emotional nuances of speech. The subjectivity and stance of the speaker are revealed quite clearly and logically through intonation.
Saying, «Good job!" with the word «good» pronounced more intensely and longer than the other word helps the speaker express the opposite meaning with the word «not good» by a sarcastic attitude.
The phonetic means (intonation, stress, tone) expressing the modal are often easy to identify in communication. In written texts, recognizing the phonetic means saying the modal must be associated with the context and punctuation marks.
2.1.2.2. Lexical means
Lexical means are commonly used and play a significant role in expressing modality in non-transformative languages like Vietnamese. We agree with Nguyen Van Hiep's point of view on the system of lexical means of expressing modality, including:
Group 1. Adverbs as auxiliary components of morpheme
Group 2. Modal predicates as central elements in verb phrases
Group 3. The predicates indicating the propositional attitude in the structure
Group 4. Modal locutions
Group 5. Performative predicates in the performative sentences (with conditions on the person, on the indicator,...)
Group 6. Interjections
Group 7. The modal particles at the end of the sentence and the idiom are equivalent
Group 8. Evaluative predicates and evaluative combinations
Group 9. Particles
Group 10. Interrogative pronouns are used in negative-refutation sentences conjunctions used in questions
Group 11. Interlaced words indicate modal
Group 12. Conditional sentence, subjunctive
Of course, the system listed by author Nguyen Van Hiep as above is universal, the above means not always appear fully in special sentences.
2.1.2.3. Grammatical means
In transforming languages, the tense and mood of the verb play an active role in expressing modal meanings. For non-transforming languages like Vietnamese, the most commonly mentioned grammatical means are reversing the word order, changing the structure of sentences to fulfill the speaker's intention to emphasize a certain point in the speak.
The following sentences have the same content but different structure, leading to different expressive meanings:
(6) I'm tired.
(7) Are you tired?
(8) I'm not tired!
(9) I'm so tired!
Sentence types classified according to speaking purposes such as declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative have specific signs. Based on these particular signs, listeners can recognize the corresponding sentence structure: Interrogative, Imperative Intonation, Negative, Affirmative.
In using language, the speaker can use the form of one sentence but for the purpose of another type of sentence. In such cases, the modal meaning is expressed through other means.
The means of modal expression in natural language are rich and diverse, classified into three main groups: phonetics, grammar, and lexical as above. However, Vietnamese is an isolated language that does not transform, so the means of modal expression are almost exclusively represented in the group of lexical, grammatical means that have complementary properties. At the same time, the phonetic side is very fuzzy, especially on text. Hence, this article only states and analyzes the signs indicating the modal clearly, having a scientific basis based on the investigated corpus system.
2.2. Overview of Vietnamese special sentences
2.2.1. Vietnamese special sentences definition
The special single sentence is the object mentioned by many Vietnamese grammar textbooks very early on. See, the type of name itself has raised this type sentence's unique and unusual characteristics compared to a typical simple sentence.
Regardless of the theoretical approach, the authors agree that a special sentence has only one core, and the core has only one main component, irrespective of subject and predicate. At the same time, it should also be clarified that a special sentence is a sentence that cannot be analyzed according to the basic syntactic structure like other ordinary sentences.
Special sentences can be analyzed based on different criteria. Author Nguyen Van Hiep in Vietnamese Syntax introduces two ways of classifying as follows:
— Semantic classification: (1) Sentences reveal physiological state directly; (2) Onomatopoeia; (3) Sentences introducing the situation; (4) Calling chants; (5) Sentence expression — evaluation.
— Classification according to the typical level of special sentences: (1) Onomatopoeia and exclamation; (2) Exclamation about names; (3) Calling sentences and introducing situations; (4) Emotional sentences — evaluation; (5) Event evaluation sentence. (From Nguyen Van Hiep, Vietnamese Syntax, pp.376–378)
Besides, many grammarians such as Diep Quang Ban, Do Thi Kim Lien, Nguyen Thi Thin... classify and name special sub-types of sentences based on the word type of the main element in that sentence. Here, we choose this third classification to apply special sentence analysis modal theories that are not influenced by the semantic features of the classification criteria.
2.2.2. Special sentences classification
2.2.2.1. Special noun sentences
The core of a sentence is taken up by a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun.
(10) — Theft!
(11) — Bomb!
The sentences above announce the appearance of things and phenomena when speaking within the space that the speaker can observe (the space of existence). Accompanying the announcement is the expression of surprise, joy, or fear... of the speaker.
(12) — Da Nang, March 29, 2013
2.2.2.2. Special predicate sentences
The core of a sentence is made up of verbs, adjectives, verb phrases, and adjective adjectives.
(13) — So cold!
(14) — Too boring!
The above sentences have the syntactic center of adjectives that both announce the state and perform the act of exclamatory: complain, plaintive.
(15) — All on fire!
(16) — Visiting time overs!
These sentences are composed of verb phrases announcing the appearance and disappearance of things when speaking in the space of existence.
(17) Dirty, smelly, itchy, irritated, annoyed. Curses, quarrels, sighs. (Nam Cao)
The two sentences above have the core of the sentence is an isometric conjugation consisting of a series of predicates describing a person's physiological and psychological state within a specified space at the time of description.
2.2.2.3. Special interjection sentences
Special interjection sentences, also known as special modal sentences, have the most significant number and frequency of occurrence in many special sentences.
(18) — Wow!
(19) — Ew!
Unlike special noun sentences and special predicate sentences, special interjection sentences often reveal modal and pragmatic content: expressing attitudes, feelings, subjective judgments of the speaker, or performing language acts.
3. Means of modal expression in special Vietnamese sentences
3.1. Mean of modal expression in special noun sentences
Nouns are words that mean entities. Most special noun sentences are simple nouns with little or no accompanying elements to supplement modal meanings.
When applying modal means to survey special noun sentences, we found that phonetic signs are very faint and do not define the modality of special noun sentences, which are mainly two groups of lexical and grammatical means.
3.1.1. Lexical means
Considering 12 groups of lexical means pointed out by author Nguyen Van Hiep, we can see that there are only groups of 6 (interjections), group 7 (the modal particles at the end of the sentence), and group 9 (the auxiliary words) is more likely to appear in special noun sentences.
— Interjections: oh, golly, oh my god, hey, ya, eh...
(20) Oh, whorls!
(Nguyen Nhat Anh, Yellow flowers on the green grass)
(21) Oh, cinnamon! Where does Thieu have that?
(Nguyen Nhat Anh, Yellow flowers on the green grass)
(22) –Hey, Duy. Kim Phu said that you have just been arrested.
(Ma Van Khang, Orphan in the middle of life)
Interjections combined with nouns express the speaker's surprise, joy, or excitement.
— The modal particles at the end of the sentence and the equivalent phraseological combination: ah, uh, uh, okay, really, should, still, then,
(23) Prison is so. (Vo Thi Xuan Ha, Year two thousand and x)
(24) A little bit more. (Nguyen Thi Cam, Xa said)
(25) Mr. Tham, too. (Ho Phuong, Father and Son)
A sentence with a modal particle at the end of the sentence will indicate the level of evaluation, comment, commitment... It can be a reluctance to accept, a complaint... For example, in sentence (23), ‘’Prison», there is a modal particle at the end of a sentence indicating the speaker's reluctance to accept the ongoing or previous situation. Still, it also means advising the listener to accept that fact. The interpretation can be as follows:
(23') Never mind, bear with it, I'm in prison, so I must endure it.
Similarly, the particles indicate different commitment and evaluation levels. If ''only'' indicates the assessment of the situation at a little level, ''also'' is an affirmation, a definite commitment of the speaker to the listener.
— Particles: had, only, these, each, any, even, main, exactly...
Particles in sentences, especially nouns, are essential tools to express the speaker's evaluation and opinion about the content of the clause mentioned in the utterance.
(27) Over 3 years. (Switzerland, The Shadow)
(27) All northerners. (Bui Ngoc Tan, Sea and Kingfisher)
Suppose in a typical sentence, the auxiliary has a role and other means of modal expression to express the speaker's meaning nuances for that utterance. In that case, when other modals are absent in a special sentence, the auxiliary plays a role in determining the modal meaning in the sentence. Considering example (26), we see that «over» determines the entire purpose of the sentence's content. «It's been three years», the speaker's attitude and feelings are entirely placed in the particle «over» where «three years» is just a neutral timeline stated and the particle «over» done. Therefore, the sentence's content is to show the speaker's attitude of «waiting for a long time».
3.1.2. Grammatical means
Special noun sentences are often recognized in the following form structures:
— Special sentences with nouns using exclamation structure.
The exclamational structure has the function of expressing a certain level of emotion, unusual mood, attitude, and assessment of the speaker towards the object, thing, or phenomenon stated in the sentence. Survey results show that special sentences are primarily used in combination with exclamation structure. The special type of sentence combined with the exclamation structure can enhance the ability to express the state and the impact of the special noun sentence on the recipient.
(28) Talented and dirty, oh ho ho! (Tran Thi Ngoc Lan, Mother Earth)
(29) Brilliant! Brilliant! I'm Tu Hoach, I went to catch crocodiles here. People consider crocodiles wading in their river! One in the lifetime (Son Nam, Catching wild crocodile in U Minh Ha)
Unlike special interjection sentences, special noun sentences not only directly express the speaker's feelings and mood through exclamation words but also accompany a noun or noun phrase explaining the reason for the speaker's exclamatory.
(30) Life! Oh, my life! (Nam Cao)
(31) Vu Nhu To (looks out, howls)- It's burned! Real burning! Oh, evil party! Oh, resentment! Oh my God! Why do you give me the talent? Oh, big dream! Oh, Dan Thiem! Oh, Cuu Trung Dai! (Nguyen Huy Tuong, Vu Nhu To)
— Special noun sentences using imperative form
Unlike many European languages, in Vietnamese, the formal signs of the imperative sentence are not clearly expressed. This type of sentence is easily confused with the declarative sentence in many cases. However, examining special noun sentences, we find that, in many cases, special noun sentences exist in the correlative form structure, which makes them valuable for expressing modals utterly different from the use of nouns to call. Consider the following examples:
(32) Mo! The iron mother's voice stopped the sneaky, hasty steps. (Ho Thi Ngoc Hoai, Private Sorrow of Thi Mau)
(33) Knocking the end of the whip on the ground, the commander shouted in the hoarse voice of a smoker:
— That guy! I thought you died last night, still alive? (Ngo Tat To, When the light is out)
In example (32), only the proper noun «Mo» plus the correlative structure completes the grammatical status of a special noun sentence, helping the author express the semantic content of preventing and forbidding the indiscreet daughter's fallen behavior. Not only that, the intonation characteristic of the imperative structure is also solid and sharp, which has contributed to expressing the mother's extreme anger. The modal is revealed even more clearly when placed in the context of a mother discovering her child's second failure when the pain and humiliation in the first failure are not far away. Same in example (33).
— Special noun sentences using the affirmative form
The structure of the affirmative form in a special sentence appears with quite a significant frequency. The sign of recognizing the affirmative structure is the period (.) at the end of the sentence.
(34) They peck at each other, chirping, bawling, bustling, frenzied. The hen, the rooster, the mother, the chicks, the black chicks, the red ones, the small ones, the big ones. They made an oddball before her eyes. (Tran Thi Ngoc Lan, Mother Earth)
(35) The hiccups suddenly rushed through the window. Grandmother. Grandma cried. Grandma is crying, dad! Dad, grandma cried. (Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Traces of birds in the sky)
— Special noun sentences using the interrogative structure
The interrogative structure used in special sentences is that the noun is legitimate. When appropriately used, legitimate interrogative sentences are the true purpose of finding information and answering that information. The reason here is that we use the concept of legitimacy to distinguish it from statements that have the form of interrogative sentences but do not have the corresponding purpose.
The interrogative structure is identified through the question mark (?) at the end of the sentence which often indicates the subjective modal between the speaker and the communicator, or the object mentioned in the sentence. Such as:
(36) — Let it be so. What is your relationship with him?
— Friend.
— Friend? (Nguyen Thi Cam, Xa said)
(37) — Who do you say is the offender? — I twisted.
— You?
— You lied! I shouted. (Ma Van Khang, Orphan in the middle of life)
The father's repetition of the word «friend» shows his skepticism and distrust of the daughter's answer after witnessing with her own eyes the damaged scene of herself and her son in her house.
The interrogative structure in special sentences is often used to find an answer to a specific interrogative question and express skepticism and uncertainty about previously provided information.
The interrogative structure's ability to show modality in sentences, especially nouns, is quite clear. Special noun-interrogative sentences also appear a lot in everyday language:
(38) Go clean the house and wash the dishes!
— Me???
Types of means of identifying modal meaning, although not appearing in bulk in sentences, especially nouns, the identification signs are obvious and have high expressive value.
3.2. Mean of modal expression in special predicate sentences
The most general meaning of a predicate is to indicate the existence, appearance, and disappearance of a thing or phenomenon. For that reason, the signs indicating the main modal of the sentence, especially the predicate, are the lexical means and the formal structure, the phonetic symbols do not show clearly or do not have a significant impact on the distinction of meaning, so we don't mention.
3.2.1. Lexical means
Applying the lexical means of expressing modal into the corpus of special predicate sentences, we find the following groups of modal signs:
— The modal particles at the end of the sentence and the equivalent phraseological combination: ah, uh, eh, okay, yet, should, still...
A special predicate sentence is a type of sentence in which the content is described in a concise, minimalistic way, in which the predicate is the syntactic center expressing the meaning of the situation. Among the means of expressing the state of a sentence, especially a predicate, the modal particle is used a lot and promotes the highest efficiency. Modal particles that appear with a high frequency are eh, well, really, too…
(39) After leaving school for a long time, he didn't come back. I'm guessing your mom picked you up. But I thought that I would have to say something to her if I picked it up. Suffered yet !
(Ho Thi Ngoc Hoai, Private Sorrow of Thi Mau)
(40) Is Lao Nghia pitiful? Crazy! He's crazy!
The twenty-year-old also realized:
— Crazy!
…. The fifth uncle nodded and said:
— Too crazy! (Lo Tan, Medicine)
(41) I took the buffalo to plow in Hoc Ke, and Sieng came to lie on the edge of the field. Never have I seen it hunt cheetahs, mink, or wild chickens by itself. Dad said dogs don't catch small animals. True eh ! (Nguyen Minh Son, Wild Cat Territory).
At the end of the sentence, the modal particles accompanied by the predicate indicate the speaker's evaluation, recognition or affirmation, agreement... to the situation mentioned in the sentence.
— Adverbs as auxiliary components of the predicate: have, will, are, just...
Adverbs express the meaning of the relationship between process and feature with reality, defining the sense of perceiving and reflecting the processes and characteristics in fact. Such as:
(42) Already told you! (Nam Cao, Chi Pheo)
The adverb already in the sentence (42) denotes an event that happened before the time the author spoke, the thing happened at a time point in the past. In this case, we have added meaning to the verb «to tell» and confirmed that the incident happened in the past. Not only that, the adverb also contains the speaker's arrogant and condescending attitude about the ability to see things before it happens. Similar to the following example:
(43) Will be fine . Right. Every habit begins with the unconscious. The unconscious exists and becomes a habit… (Nguyen Thi Thu Hue, Port)
Thus, in a special predicate sentence, the adverb expresses the meaning of the time when the thing happened and contained the speaker's attitude, assessment, or prediction before the situation mentioned in the sentence. That modal meaning makes the adverbs, like already, will become timeless. For example:
(44) Well done! (Nguyen Trung Thanh, Pinus Kesiya Forest)
(45) Rarely laugh . Laugh to stretch bones, relieve headaches.
(Bui Ngoc Tan, Sea and Kingfisher)
— Interjections: hey, oops, ouch, gee, oh, ah, ooh, eh, ugh, aw, yo, wow, brr, sh, and yippee…
Interjections with the characters are words used to express emotions, essential in accompanying the predicate to represent the modal. The special predicate sentence mainly reveals the subjective modal meaning.
(46) After eating, she held her chopsticks across her mouth and breathed:
— Ah, delicious! (Kim Lan, Picked Wife)
(47) Alas, it hurts . (Ho Thi Ngoc Hoai, Private Sorrow of Thi Mau)
(48) Wow, that's great (Ôi chao hay quá) ! (Ho Phuong, Father and Son)
In the examples from (46) to (48), the interjections have resonated with the real meaning of specific predicates, clearly expressing the modal meaning of a particular sentence. It is an attitude of satisfaction, happiness in the example (46), or lamentation in the statement (47), surprise, surprise but joy in the example (48). Therefore, the speaker's subjective modal and the exclamation purpose of the speaking activities have been revealed through the signs of interjections.
3.2.2. Grammatical means
— Special predicate sentences use exclamation form
Special predicate sentences in the exclamation form are often formed by adjectives for the purpose of expressing feelings directly.
(49 ) Luckily! I didn't miss a good opportunity. (Vu Trong Phung, Industry of Marrying Europeans)
(50) The following day, listening to Chien's words, Uncle Nam sat on the board and looked at the two children for a long time. For a moment, he said:
— Wisely! She compacts the housework, so her country's work is expanded, her family background is stable so that the country is peaceful... (Nguyen Thi, Children in the family)
(51) So busy! Farmers never run out of work. (Ma Van Khang, Fall of leaves in the garden)
The structure of exclamation in adjectives and adjective phrases helps the speaker express the subjective modal with many different psychological and emotional states.
— Special predicate sentences use the imperative structure
An imperative sentence is a sentence in which the speaker states a wish, suggestion, command... and requires the listener to perform. Adjectives and adjective phrases in special predicate sentences have [- mobility] and [- intention], so special verb sentences are primarily established in the imperative structure.
(52) Met put his spear on the floor, his voice resounding:
— It's started. Ligh it up . All the old, the young, the man, the woman, each must find a spear, a lance, and a machete. Those who don't have it, let whittle five hundred thorns. Ligh it up ! (Nguyen Trung Thanh, Pinus Kesiya Forest)
(53) Soldier — Shut up! Madness army, shut up now, or mouth will be broken. Don't you know thousands of people died because of Cuu Trung Dai, their mothers lost their children, their wives lost their husbands because of you? People hate you more than the devil. Shut up now!
Soldier — Shut up!
Vu Nhu To — What enmity do I have with you?
Ngo Hach — Lead it to the execution ground. Don't let it talk nonsense with the prime minister to waste time.
Soldiers — Go to the execution ground! (Nguyen Huy Tuong, Vu Nhu To)
Removing out most of the sentence's components, the special predicate sentence in the imperative form only has verbs combined with strong intonation or exclamation mark (!) at the end of the sentence. The special predicate sentence in the imperative form usually has the modal meaning of the speaking action (ordering, urging, requesting...) combined with the attitude emphasizing the urgency of the action mentioned in the content of the situation and highlighting the role of the speaker in interpersonal relationships.
— Special predicate sentences use interrogative structure
Special predicate sentences using the interrogative form often express the speaker's skepticism or surprise with the content of the matter mentioned earlier in the conversation or internal monologue.
(54)… Cuu Trung Dai builder more than half followed the rebels. The situation is very dangerous. […]
Vu Nhu To — Nonsense.
Eunuchs — Nonsense? Nonsense? What does Cuu Trung Dai do? Why are these rebels? An Hoa Hau is looking for a few palace maids to break the body into hundreds of pieces. Don't you know what's wrong?
Vu Nhu To — Nonsense . (Nguyen Huy Tuong, Vu Nhu To)
(55)- Mai, there is a reason why I want to leave here…
— Go…??? What is the reason? (Vo Thi Xuan Ha, Year two thousand and x)
— Special predicate sentences use affirmative structure
Unlike special noun sentences, the most general meaning of special predicate sentences is to indicate the existence, appearance and disappearance of things, and phenomena. For the same reason, the modal meaning is revealed even more directly:
(56) [...] Tu holds Quy on the hand. Rush through the sand. Then drop her on the morning glory flower. Green. Purple. Smooth the girl skin. Quy leaned in to hug her lover, experiencing the pain of happiness for the first time. (Phan Thi Thu Loan, Tears of a fishing village)
(57) Desolate. Dark. Rust. Dust. Humidity. (Bui Ngoc Tan, Sea and Kingfisher)
(58) It's dead . Hanged.
Why?
Is it even possible to die?
What about the wife? (Nguyen Thi Thu Hue, The City Without Winter)
— Special predicate sentences use the structure of negative, rebuttal
(58) Brothers laugh. Cloud laughs. Sailors just laughed. Don't be sad.
(Bui Ngoc Tan, Sea and Kingfisher)
(59) Midori shook her head. Don't like it much . (Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood)
The modal of speaking is revealed quite clearly through the act of negation. The content of the matter mentioned in the previous statements was rejected by words or combinations that do, don't... refuted. The speaker's attitude about the act of refutation is resolute with high conviction.
3.3. Mean of modal expression in special interjection sentences
Interjections are words used to express the speaker's emotions (surprise, pain, joy, anger...) or to call or respond.
Interjections have two main types:
—Interjections express emotions: oops, ouch, gee, oh, ah, ooh, eh, ugh, aw...
—Interjections in response: a, oh, hey, yes, da, yeah...
Interjections can be used alone as a special single sentence, or they can be used in combination with other words as an object. Here, we consider the case where the interjection itself forms a special sentence.
3.3.1. Phonetic means
Interjections themselves constitute special interjections. However, the answers with words like yes, ok... or exclamations with the words «oh my god, oh my... are not «anything can be answered». The same lexical form but emitted with different amounts of sound will express completely different, even opposite, modal content. In writing, they have only one way, but in words, there are many «ways of saying» to express the true destination of that modal meaning. Therefore, phonetics is a crucial factor creating a modal distinction.
According to Do Tien Thang (Preliminary Vietnamese phonetic, Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi 2009), Vietnamese phonetic in minimalist sentences can be generalized into six strokes: short, long, high, extreme, low, jute. Comparing the above six strokes with the context of the special interjection sentence, we notice the difference in modal meaning.
Same interjection oh when put in context with different intonation expressions:
(60) Romeo — …Oh! That's the one lover!... Behold, she rests her cheek on her hand! Oh! I wish I were the glove to caress those cheekbones!
Juliet — Oh! (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
(61) Alas! Oh my god, in this crisis, why do you still bring back the debt of life. I don't know if I can make it through this time (Kim Lan, Picked wife)
(62) Alas! What a beautiful new landscape.
The structure of exclamation and the lexical means (alas) are the same in the three contexts. Thus, the modal meaning of the two statements above can only be distinguished through intonation. In context (60), the statement «Alas!" Juliet's is pronounced earnestly with a longer length than the inherent length, expressing surprise and emotion when hearing words of love from Romeo. For example (61), the exclamation «Alas!" of the poor people when witnessing the scene where Trang brought Thi home in the middle of a dark and starving day was pronounced short, clearly showing the situation that was happening in the direction of dissatisfaction; at the same time expressing the speaker's skepticism towards that fact. In context (62), «Alas!" is an utterance expressing a person's surprisingly strong emotion, astonishment before a situation. The pronunciation is longer than the inherent length of the word, and the content indicates a modal similar to that of the utterance (41).
Similarly, consider the statement “Oh my God!” in the following contexts:
(63) Oh my god! He wants to be honest, he wants to make peace with everyone! (Nam Cao, Chi Pheo)
(64) Oh my God! … what have I done? I hurt you! (Switzerland, The Shadow)
(65) Beyond the age of thirty… who still gets married! Who's still going to get married! YES! But if you get married, who will you marry?... The men are all dead, but they're going to marry a fatherless guy. Who will marry a guy whose only job is to cut his face and get hurt? Oh my God ! Shame, shame! Oh grandpa and grandma! She screamed like a foolish woman. (Nam Cao, Chi Pheo)
(66) It mocks. Oh my God! Thi is going crazy, oh my god! (Nam Cao, Chi Pheo)
(67) Oh my god! He couldn't feel the fire in his ten fingers anymore. He heard fire burning in his chest, burning in his stomach. His blood was salty at the tip of his tongue, his teeth had already bitten his lips. He didn't scream. Mr. Quyet said: «Communists don't even complain».... Tnu didn't bother, didn't even cry. But my god! Burn, burn your guts here!... (Nguyen Trung Thanh, Pinus Kesiya Forest)
The distinction between modal meanings through six intonation is even more evident in a particularly minimalist sentence made up of interjections.
(68) Beyond the age of thirty… who still gets married! Who's still going to get married! YES! But if you get married, who will you marry?... The men are all dead, but they're going to marry a fatherless guy. Who will marry a guy whose only job is to cut his face and get hurt? Oh my God ! Shame, shame! Oh grandpa and grandma! She screamed like a foolish woman. (Nam Cao, Chi Pheo)
(69) A: Are you going to clean the house right away?
B: uh — uhh — uhhh ! (prolonged)
The difference in the length of the two statements in the two contexts mentioned above creates a difference in status. Suppose the short duration in utterances (68) shows the conviction that what he says is true. In that case, the long term in declarations (69) shows B's reluctance and reluctance to accept A's recommendation.
Thus, when pronounced with different intonation strokes, special interjection sentence utterances with the same lexical means and formal structure will show different modal meanings.
3.3.2. Lexical means
According to grammarians, interjections are vanity words with no lexical meaning. In addition, when existing in a special sentence form, interjections cannot be combined with any other words. Therefore, in terms of lexical means, the interjection itself indicates the modal of a special interjection sentence. According to author Nguyen Van Hiep, interjections belong to group 6 in groups expressing Vietnamese modal.
The difference in the modal meaning of a special interjection sentence comes from the indicative meaning of the interjection itself that makes it up. Consider the following cases:
Interjections ah show disdain, mocking at the content of the clause mentioned earlier:
(70)- Licensing three and a half floors, now… grows another five and a half floors after 16 violations were handled.
— Ahhh! Just cut and grow again. Uncle! Probably home of the ogre. Hey, why don't they just beat it up? (According to Saigon Liberation newspaper, April 13, 2007, page 130, 11th-grade textbooks)
The interjection «ew» expresses fear and disgust:
(71) A: I just killed a snake on the kitchen counter.
B: Ew!
The interjection «huh'' in the following statement shows a different modal meaning:
(72) — If you say so, I will listen to you. Come on. I'm going home with you.
— Huh! I can't comeback. (Ho Bieu Chanh, Deep feelings between father and son)
In the above statement, Huh is an utterance that helps the speaker draw attention and show disapproval and dissatisfaction with the content of the clause mentioned earlier.
Thus, the content indicating the modal of a special interjection sentence depends on the choice and use of the interjection in each specific context.
3.3.3. Lexical means
Special interjection sentences result from using interjections in combination with exclamation structure. Consider some of the following materials:
(73) Yes, sir. Medical literature and martial arts are all talented. Wow! (Nguyen Tuan, Letter of a prisoner on death row)
(74) …Wow! So, parents ate money from rich people in their previous lives. Now people sell their children to pay off their debts. Can't do anything else! (To Hoai, A Phu couple)
(75) Well, well, well! (Lu Xun, Medicine)
Special interjection sentences result from the grammaticalization of interjections in the Vietnamese lexical system. However, the grammaticalization process in the special interjection sentence is unusual because the interjection is only combined with the exclamatory mode structure. The structure of exclamation is recognized through interjections and exclamation phonetic on the text marked with an exclamation mark (!).
Interjections are words used separately and have no syntactical relationship with other words. Interjections combined with exclamation formulas create exclamation sentences. Among the types of sentences classified according to the purpose of speaking, the exclamatory sentence type has the function of expressing a particular state of emotion, an unusual mood, or a speaker's high-level attitude and assessment towards the object, work, specific phenomenon. The use of exclamation form structure to perfect the sentencing status of interjections helps the special interjection sentences be supplemented with expressive values, improving the ability to express the state inherent in the content of the interjection.
4. DISCUSSION
An overview of research results on the means of expressing modality in Vietnamese special sentences shows that: phonetic and grammatical means appear frequently. However, it only plays a decisive role in determining the modal definition of a sentence, especially in some cases, the rest of these two groups of means almost only supplement the lexical means in creating the modal meaning of the sentence. The group of lexical means can express the most effective modal, in which each type of means exists with specific characteristics within each particular sub-type of the sentence. This also contributes to representing the typological attributes of Vietnamese in many ways.
Among the groups of lexical means expressing modality, the modal particles at the end of the sentence, the auxiliary words, and the interjections have the most frequency. They are the clearest sign of identifying the modal meaning in the three types of special sentences.
Regarding the impact of the means of expressing modality, we initially noticed that the special sentence mainly describes the modal of the speaking activities and the subjective modal through identifying signs that are three groups of means from lexical mentioned above. The special interjection sentence has a special sign that the interjection itself represents a variety of meaning types of the sentence. In addition, special sentences have phonetic and grammatical means that express modal meanings more clearly than other types of sentences.
Within the scope of this research, we have not had the opportunity to analyze the modal meanings deeply but focus on surveying and listing the groups of means appearing in Vietnamese special sentences, so we hope to continue further analyzing the impact of the above means in another publication.
References:
- Diep Quang Ban, Vietnamese Grammar, volume 2, Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2008.
- Diep Quang Ban, Dictionary of Linguistic Terms, Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2010.
- Mak Halliday, AnIntroduction to Functional grammar, Routledge, 2014
- Cao Xuan Hao, Vietnamese preliminary functional grammar, Education Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004.
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- Nguyen Van Hiep, Vietnamese Syntax, Vietnam Education Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009.
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- Nguyen Thi Luong, Vietnamese sentences, University of Education Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009.
- Frank R Palmer, Mood and Modal, Cambridge University Press, http://books.google.com.vn/, 2001.
