The study reveals that at present structural approaches influenced by European and American structuralists such as Saussure and Bloomfield, and functional approaches influenced by Dik’s functional grammar and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar seem to be the dominant grammatical models for the analysis of the Vietnamese simple clause. | MAJOR CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO THE ANALYSIS OF THE VIETNAMESE SIMPLE CLAUSE Nguyen Thi Tu Trinh*,1, Phan Van Hoa2, Tran Huu Phuc3 Department of English, College of Transport II, 28 Ngo Xuan Thu, Lien Chieu, Danang, Vietnam 2 Department of International Education, University of Danang, 41 Le Duan, Hai Chau, Danang, Vietnam 3 University of Foreign Language Studies, University of Danang, 131 Luong Nhu Hoc, Khue Trung, Cam Le, Danang, Vietnam 1 Received 07 April 2017 Revised 31 October 2017; Accepted 29 November 2017 Abstract: Clause as a grammatical category has been at the centre of attention throughout most of the history of linguistics in Vietnam and has caused a lot of troubles for analysis and interpretation. Great efforts have been made to shed light on this matter. There is, however, no consensus among Vietnamese linguists on clause analysis and interpretation because each of them seems to work on clause analysis in a variety of approaches using different frameworks. In this paper, we aim at investigating some major contemporary approaches to the analysis of the Vietnamese simple clause with our critical appraisals of each approach to provide readers with an overview of Vietnamese clause studies. The study reveals that at present structural approaches influenced by European and American structuralists such as Saussure and Bloomfield, and functional approaches influenced by Dik’s functional grammar and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar seem to be the dominant grammatical models for the analysis of the Vietnamese simple clause. Keywords: comtemporary approaches, simple clause, structural approach, functional approach 1. Introduction In recent years there has been a dramatic revival of interest in Vietnamese clause analysis. Many approaches are applied to analysis and interpretation of Vietnamese clauses. Yet, there is by no means a concensus among scholars and researchers. According to Nguyễn Văn Hiệp (2012), there is disagreement about Vietnamese .
