Copulas in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese: A contrastive linguistic approach

Abstract

This article investigates copulas in English and their functional equivalents in Vietnamese from a contrastive linguistic perspective. Based on the theoretical frameworks of contrastive linguistics and functional grammar, the study analyses and compares the syntactic structures, semantic categories, and pragmatic functions of copula across the two languages. English copulas such as be, become, and seem are examined in parallel with Vietnamese expressions like là, trở thành, có vẻ, trông, and dường như. The analysis reveals that despite the structural differences - English favoring fixed syntactic patterns while Vietnamese allows greater syntactic flexibility and context-dependent interpretation - both languages employ linking expressions to perform core communicative functions: identification, description, evaluation, and state change. The study also proposes a classification framework mapping English copulas to their Vietnamese counterparts based on syntactic behavior and functional equivalence. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of predicative structures in typologically different languages and offer pedagogical implications for grammar instruction, translation practice, and the development of contrastive linguistic materials, especially for Vietnamese learners of English and English-Vietnamese translation.