Authors:	Siebenhütter, Stefanie
Title:	Vietnamese được in linguistic research : a critical literature survey
Online publication date:	8-May-2023
Year of first publication:	2018
Language:	english
Abstract:	This paper discusses the Vietnamese polyfunctional element được, which can be seen as belonging to a class of its own among the Vietnamese mood and modality markers. Of interest in this paper is the possibility that được represents one manifestation of a regional phenomenon, as similar elements can be seen in the surrounding Southeast Asian languages such as Lao, Zhuang, and Thai. This phenomenon, a type of split in modal functions from a typological perspective, has already been addressed in several studies. The focus lies on the interplay between sociocultural factors and linguistic functions and the broad array of meanings that được can convey. It is argued that the meaning of được can only be properly understood with sufficient cultural knowledge as shared by the language community. This means that the correct interpretation of được is always context-dependent – probably even more so than other polyfunctional elements. In linguistic research the analysis of typological data did not provide any new insights. Accordingly, this paper discusses the ongoing struggle in linguistic research to analyze multifunctional terms like được. This appraisal concludes that the multifunctional được will be a fruitful topic for future sociolinguistic investigations to determine whether including sociocultural data can help to understand this areal phenomenon.
DDC:	400 Sprache 400 Language 490 Andere Sprachen 490 Other languages
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 05 Philosophie und Philologie
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8956
Version:	Accepted version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Document type specification:	Scientific article
License:	In Copyright
Information on rights of use:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Journal:	International journal of diachronic linguistics and linguistic reconstruction 15
Pages or article number:	261 288
Publisher:	Peniope
Publisher place:	München
Issue date:	2018
ISSN:	1614-5291
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen