Vietnamese được in linguistic research : a critical literature survey

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.