VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES HOANG THI MINH ANH AN INVESTIGATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS (Sự khác biệt về giới trong cách tiếp nhận lời khen) M.A Thesis Minor program thesis FIELD; English Linguistics CODE: 60.15 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES HOANG THI MINH ANH AN INVESTIGATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS (Sự khác biệt về giới trong cách tiếp nhận lời khen) M.A Thesis Minor program thesis FIELD: English Linguistics CODE: 60. HA CAM TAM vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICA'LE OF ORIGINALITY OF THESIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANT} CONVENTION: PART 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims af the stutly.
Scope of ihe study. 4, Method of the study. Organization of the study. ew mw PART 2: DEY ELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Overview of speech acts.2 Compliment ani compliment respanse: 1.1 Complimenting as a speech act 1.2 Funetion of compliment.1 Definition af politeness.2 The face-saving view of politeness, 1.3 Politeness in complimenting and responding to compliments 1.4 Gender and politeness 1.4 Previaus studies af gender in compliment aml compliment responses.
Several studies have shown that there are some differences between males and females in their realization paticrs af compliments and compliment tespons Two important studies that focus on gender differences in complimenting and responding to compliments are those by Holmes (1988) and Herbert (1990). ‘They found that the syntactic pattems and lexical choice used by nen and women were differenl Based on the findings, they assumed that females use compliments for keeping solidarity while males regard compliments as potential face threatening acts (FI'As). ‘hey examined kinds of topics and situations, as well as pondor-based distributions: Although a lot of research has been camied out on compliments and compliment responses, the study on relationship between genders in compliment responses is still something now in Vietnam. The purpose of this sludy is to oxarning tho sociolinguistic s of gender differences in compliment responses, in other words, whether the social variables of the interlocutors, namely, social status, gender and age, have any influence on the compliment response strategies the respondent may employ.
Aims of the study This study examines the differcnees uf linguistic strategies bebween British women’s and men’s compliment responding, exploring the fanction of the positive speech acts as positive strategies. The study provides an analysis concerning the differences between the same genders and the different genders in compliment responds strategies. ‘rhe reason why mon and women differ in language uss is thal they often different rolz in sucicly. Scope of the study ‘The study focuses on the differences of linguistic strategies between British male and female subjects in the workplace in responding to compliments in some daily situations in terms of linguistic strategies.
‘The data we can obtain from the Discourse Completion Tests will show us only nonverbal Gender is the main variable in the present study. There are four types of compliment situations with regard to the gender of complimenters and respondents: male - male, male- femalc, and female - male, female - female. In cach of the situations designed in the questionnaires, there are two possibilities of the gender group. That is to say, the two LIST OF TABLES TABLE NO.
TITLE PAGE 26 Table 3.1: Compliment response strategies by males 28 Table 3.2: Compliment rzsponse strategies by females Table 3.3: Compliment response strategies by genders 29 interlocutors in each situation might be of the same gender or might be of different gonders, This may influc ce the production or selection of compliment responses stralcgics. The study is based on the analytical framework established by Herbert (1986), but modified by the author for the present study. Mcthod of the study ‘This study focuses mainly on analysis of the data collected ftom the survey questiommaite. The questionaire is designed to clicit the informants’ compliment responses in the situations under study.
The data collection of this research is done by using the Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs). It is believed that DCTs constitute important starting points for further research since they facilitate the collection of large amount of data. Each discourse scquence presented a detailed description of the situation, specifying the gender and social status of the complimenter. ‘Che participants’ task was supply Lhe responses to the situalion given.
The data we can ablain from the DCTs will show us only “discourse in written form”, 5, Organization of the study This research includes three parts, Part 1 introduecs the rationale, the aims, the scope and the method of the study. Part 2 is the development of the study, ‘There are four Chapters in this part, Chapter one will review briefly the related Iheories, such as speech acts, politeness, review of the studies on compliments and compliment responses, Chapter two discusses the methodology of the study, which ineludes the research questions, design of the study, the selection of subjecls, instruments, situation design, analytical framework and the procedures of data collecting and analyzing. In Chapter Three, this paper will show the results of the study. In Chapter Four, this paper will give discussions and the major findings of the results obtained in the research.
And finally in Part 3, this paper will briefly surmmarive the mnajor discaveries of this study, indicate the limitations and implications of the study and point out the directions for fuather research. LIST OF TABLES TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE 26 Table 3.1: Compliment response strategies by males 28 Table 3.2: Compliment rzsponse strategies by females Table 3.3: Compliment response strategies by genders 29 PART 2: DEVELOPME CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapler provides an overview of the theoretical background of the research. These theories include theories on speech act, politeness, The theories will build up the theoretical tramework of this study.1 Overview of speech acts Although many theories have studied speech act theory, generally all of them share the common thome thal specch acts are the actions that arc involved when some one says something According to Searle (1969:24), language is part of a theory of action, and speech acts are those verbal acts such as promising, threatening and requesting that one perform in speaking, George Yule (1996:47) defines that actions performed via utterance are generally called speech acts, and in English.
are commonly given more specific labels such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request. The circumstances in which actions are performed via utterances are called the speech events, In many ways, it is the nature of the speech event that determines the interpretation of an utterance as porforming a particutar spocch act, For example, on ä winlry day, the speaker reaches for a cup of tea, believing that it has been freshly made, takes a sip, and produces the utterance “This tea is really cold”. ‘his utterance can be interpreted as a complaint. Changing the circumstances Lo really hol summer day with (he speaker buing given a glass af iced tow by the hearer, taking a sip and producing the same utterance “This tea is really cold”, This utterance is likely to be interpreted as praise.
Lf the same utterance can be interpreted as different kinds of specch acl, then obviausly no simple one ufferance 10 ane action correspondence will be possible, It also means that there is more to the interpretation ofa speech act than can be found in the utterance alone, According to Austin (1962), the action parformed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts: locutionary act, Mlocutionary act, and petlocutionary act. Rationale Tn everyday life, Ihere are a number of speech acts we can choose to show posilive politeness, for example, greetings, hanks, ftiendly address terms and expressions of concern. “A compliment is one of them, which notice and attend the hearer’s interests, wars, needs, gouds.” (Holmes: 1988) Since 1970s, linguists have attached the study of speech act, such as Apology, Request, Compliment & Compliment Response, Refusal and Complaint, eto. ‘These studies show that, the social and situational factors, which will exert their influences on the use of the specch acls, include gender, agz, level of zducation, social distance, sovial relationship, style, and ethnicity and so on.
Compliments, as a positive speech act, will be inevitably influenced by these social factors. Although pragmatists and sociolinguists have cxarnined the relationship between gender and language for the last thirty years, there is little consensus about this telationship. As far as fermale speech is concerned, arguments continue to focus on whether or not female speakers express powerlessness in their speech or whether they express a form of speech only different ftom that of males by using, for example, more polite speech style. Of the social causes of gender differentiation in speech style, one of the most critical appears lo be the level of education.
Tn all studies, if has been shown thal the greater the disparities between educational opportunities for boys and girls, the greater the diffrences between male and female speech (Spolsky, 2000). ‘The more recent feminist theory has focused on the soctal construction of gendcr, nol exclusively in childhood bul for a whole lifetime, and this seems to be more powerful in explaining gender differences in language use. Compliments arz positive speech acts, which are sensitive to bol social cơnslrainls and individual variables, Social thetors such as age, gendar, etimicity, level of education, social status and social relationship between the interlocutors will insvitably influence the compli anting behaviar of ail interlocntors. interlocutors in each situation might be of the same gender or might be of different gonders, This may influc ce the production or selection of compliment responses stralcgics.
The study is based on the analytical framework established by Herbert (1986), but modified by the author for the present study. Mcthod of the study ‘This study focuses mainly on analysis of the data collected ftom the survey questiommaite. The questionaire is designed to clicit the informants’ compliment responses in the situations under study. The data collection of this research is done by using the Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs).
It is believed that DCTs constitute important starting points for further research since they facilitate the collection of large amount of data. Each discourse scquence presented a detailed description of the situation, specifying the gender and social status of the complimenter. ‘Che participants’ task was supply Lhe responses to the situalion given. The data we can ablain from the DCTs will show us only “discourse in written form”, 5, Organization of the study This research includes three parts, Part 1 introduecs the rationale, the aims, the scope and the method of the study.
Part 2 is the development of the study, ‘There are four Chapters in this part, Chapter one will review briefly the related Iheories, such as speech acts, politeness, review of the studies on compliments and compliment responses, Chapter two discusses the methodology of the study, which ineludes the research questions, design of the study, the selection of subjecls, instruments, situation design, analytical framework and the procedures of data collecting and analyzing. In Chapter Three, this paper will show the results of the study. In Chapter Four, this paper will give discussions and the major findings of the results obtained in the research. And finally in Part 3, this paper will briefly surmmarive the mnajor discaveries of this study, indicate the limitations and implications of the study and point out the directions for fuather research.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AT Appreciation Token App Appearance CA Comment, Acceptance cH Comment History D Disagreement DCTs Discourse Completion Tests ESA Face saving act FTAs Face threatening acts NA Ne Acknowledgement Par. Possession, TU Praiso Upgrade Qual. Question Rea Roassignmuctt Ret. Return RI Request Interpretations sD Seale Down PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Tn everyday life, Ihere are a number of speech acts we can choose to show posilive politeness, for example, greetings, hanks, ftiendly address terms and expressions of concern. “A compliment is one of them, which notice and attend the hearer’s interests, wars, needs, gouds.
