PRAGMATIC REFERENCE OF HUONG RIVER IN “AI DA DAT TEN CHO DONG SONG” BY HOANG PHU NGOC TUONG

Abstract

The authors of this article practiced the Reference Theory in Pragmatics to study
the methods of reference and kinds of referents in which Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong uses his
work called “Ai da dat ten cho dong song”. The result shows that there are 142 references
in his work, including: reference of proper nouns, reference of definite noun phrases,
reference of indefinite noun phrase, and reference of pronouns. Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong
succeeded in using different referents to fully describe The Perfume River. To apply this
Reference theory into writing requires diverse lexical resource, and outstanding use of
rhetorical devices, like prosopopoeia and comparison. These references clearly draw The
Perfume River from different perspectives, from the romance side, where people can see
The Perfume River as poem, to the reality side, enormous and powerful. The Perfume River
is also a perfect match to Hue, the city of history and culture. Furthermore, these references
proves the extraordinary linguistics ability of Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong