Vietnamese is strange yet familiar

With a thickness of nearly 300 pages, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese (recently published by Tre Publishing House) is the latest book by Associate Professor Trinh Sam, a leading expert in research and teaching of linguistics in our country today.

From the reality of existence and development of modern Vietnamese, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese (including 23 concise articles) has successively brought readers to interesting and profound discoveries of Vietnamese through the approach of cognitive linguistics.

Vietnamese people's habit of using language as a survival instinct

According to author Trinh Sam, cognitive linguistics is a branch of science that studies language as an activity of the mind, focusing on how people use thinking and perception to create and receive language . Cognitive linguistics considers language not only as a system of rules but also closely linked to the human worldview . When using language, people also use it at the cultural level and cognitive level of all aspects of social life.

That is why Vietnamese people have many idioms about the use of language, for example: Words do not cost money to buy/Choose your words to please each other, Words bring blood… The Chinese also have a saying: “ One word spoken , four horses can hardly catch up ”, meaning that once a word is spoken, it cannot be taken back. The above idioms aim to emphasize the importance of being careful when speaking and using language… That is a manifestation of cognitive linguistics.

From an academic perspective, "Strange yet familiar Vietnamese" is a very noteworthy research that the author has widely published to readers.

PHOTO: HA TUNG SON

In the light of epistemology in the scope of linguistics, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese is a book that deals with the language usage habits of Vietnamese people associated with the development process of history and civilization of the country.

In the article The conceptual domain of rivers and water in the perception of Vietnamese people and the article The conceptual domain of rivers and water in the perception of Southern people , the author has put forward convincing hypotheses. Since ancient times, Vietnamese people have closely attached their lives to rivers and water, that is why the expressive language of Vietnamese people is inseparable from water as a decisive element of survival. Therefore, Vietnamese people also have the characteristics of softness, suppleness, flexibility, and fluidity like water. From that practical perspective, Trinh Sam came to the conclusion: the ability to adapt and balance is the secret to survival of Vietnamese people through the ages. That is why rivers and water play a role as a very popular entity in the linguistic life of our people. From there, the author of Strange but Familiar Vietnamese made a very interesting comment: walking on the shore but still using the word "dung loi" - "dung loi" to visit each other, "dung loi" from the office, "dung loi" from the classroom; walking on the shore but still asking for a ride (to cross the river), on the shore but still using "ben" (bus station)...

The strange yet familiar Vietnamese language shows that language always reflects aspects of perception, knowledge, culture and level of civilization of people in a constantly developing society.

Theory drawn from practice

That is the very convincing research direction of Associate Professor Trinh Sam in Strange but Familiar Vietnamese. Writing about linguistic theory, he does not rigidly impose scientific judgments on the actual language use of Vietnamese people. Therefore , Strange but Familiar Vietnamese is a practical lesson in cognitive linguistics, helping readers understand more about the linguistic life of the society in which we live.

In the article President Ho Chi Minh's linguistic style from the perspective of cognitive linguistics , the author started from President Ho Chi Minh's language usage habits with very clear criteria such as what to write, who to write for, how to write. That was something that President Ho Chi Minh solved almost perfectly, thereby creating his linguistic style. In this elaborate article, the author mentioned the outstanding issues of Ho Chi Minh's linguistic style from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Those are the issues: conceptual metaphor and the study of Ho Chi Minh's language; embodiment theory and the study of Ho Chi Minh's language; the outstanding features and the study of Ho Chi Minh's language. From the specific textual evidence in his linguistic heritage, author Trinh Sam finds that: with the 3 premises set out above, it can be noted and seen that this is an explanatory approach, which will certainly make the research picture of President Ho Chi Minh's thought in general, and his linguistic style in particular, more rich and comprehensive.

That is to say, cognitive linguistics is an effective key to open new doors in the study of language style from a specific author to the language of an entire nation. That is also the most significant contribution of Associate Professor Trinh Sam through Vietnamese, Strange but Familiar.

Associate Professor Dr. Trinh Sam, author of the book "Strange yet familiar Vietnamese"

PHOTO: NVCC

The intimate connection between language and culture

In Vietnamese, strange but familiar, the author has gone from the habit of rhetorical devices in the use of language of Vietnamese people such as metaphor, metonymy... to thereby understand more about the meaning of Vietnamese language including from speech to literary works and poetry. That is clearly shown when referring to a specific case: the poem of author Nguyen Kim Huy, a brilliant writer from Da Nang, was very delicate in using metaphor: "Poetic metaphor, the type of metaphor that appears in literature, more or less bears the personal mark of the author: Anh hoang hon, Dai Lai also hoang hon/Chieu thuong dot hai co tam… Dai Lai hoang hon anh also da suo/Hai con duong do duong da duong ( Hoang hon Dai Lai , Nguyen Kim Huy)". That is the light of poetry and also the light of culture that is radiated from the beauty of linguistic style.

Based on the theory of cognitive linguistics, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese has pointed out that language is a mirror reflecting the way people perceive the natural and social world. Social culture includes the field of language that people use every day through speech and written text. The higher the culture, the more refined and beautiful the language. Strange but Familiar Vietnamese has successfully demonstrated that truth.

Reading Vietnamese, strange yet familiar, readers will also be exposed to other interesting topics within the framework of cognitive linguistics. For example: conceptual metaphor, cultural interaction, linguistic thinking, interesting Vietnamese...

Associate Professor Dr. Trinh Sam, former lecturer of the Faculty of Philology - Quy Nhon University of Education (now Quy Nhon University), lecturer of the Faculty of Philology - Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. He has devoted his life to researching and teaching linguistics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. From the practice of researching and teaching languages, Trinh Sam wrote Strange but Familiar Vietnamese as a publication and also to disseminate the latest knowledge that he has updated. Trinh Sam's writing style is concise and concise, the issues and ideas are presented clearly and specifically, suggesting to readers the love for Vietnamese as a mother tongue from the academic perspective of cognitive linguistics. From there, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese contributes to suggesting to readers more understanding of Vietnamese, more love for Vietnamese, and seeing the richness and beauty of Vietnamese. And so, Strange but Familiar Vietnamese is one of the important published works that Tre Publishing House has included in the book series Rich and Beautiful Vietnamese with many useful and interesting things.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tieng-viet-la-ma-quen-185251121101658901.htm