A Semantic Exploration Into The Directional Events In Vietnamese

Abstract

This study explores the semantic properties of directional events in Vietnamese through the analysis of approximately 500 sentences extracted from the miscellaneous genres and texts in Vietnamese. Grounded in Halliday’s (2014) systemic functional grammar framework, the analysis examines the interplay between verbs and circumstances in predicates in expressing directional events. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how directional events are constructed in Vietnamese by utilizing authentic language data. The study addresses the complexity of directional event semantics by exploring diverse perspectives on event classification and cognitive constructions. Given the challenges of analyzing a non-inflected language like Vietnamese, the research advocates applying Halliday's framework to enhance coherence in analyzing directional events. The results offer valuable insights into the semantic aspects of directional events in Vietnamese, benefiting linguists, language educators, and researchers interested in the broader implications of directional events cross-linguistically.