VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LAKGUAGE POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT co NGUYEN THI THU HA PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN ENGLISH (FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) (DAI TU NHAN XUNG TRONG TIENG VIET VA TIENG ANH MY, XET TU GOC DO VAN HOA) M. Minor Thesis Field: Linguistics Code: 60 2215 HÀ NỘI — 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT 4E NGUYÊN THỊ THU HÀ PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN ENGLISH (FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) (DAI TU NHAN XUNG TRONG TIENG VIET VA TIENG ANH MỸ, XÉT TỪ GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HOA) M. Minor Thesis Field: Linguistic Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyén Van Độ HÀ NỘI —2009 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGIN.
hình nhe ABSTRACT. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS PART 1: INRODUCTION 1. 2, Aims and Significance of the study. Methods of the study 4, Scope of the study 5.
Designof the sudy. Chapter 1: Theoretical Background. LL, Culture and language 1.4, Overview of the Vietnamese and American English addressing gjsfem. Overview of lhe Vietnamese addressing syslem LALA Personal pronount.
Qverview of the American English addressing system, 1. Chapter 2: The study.1, Methadology and procedures. SPERCIT ACTS ACROSS CULTURES, We perform speach acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, ot refusal and so on. In general, a speech act is an utterance that serves a fiction in cormmunicalion, To commumicate is to oxpross a corlain altitude, and the type of spesch act boing per firmed corresponds lo the type of altitude being cxpr ed.
As an acl of commumeation, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being expressed. For instance, in a birthday party, the speaker mects young lady and produces the utteranee “You have a wonderful smile” or “1 really like ‘your shart”. hese utferances are likely considered as compliments. By contrast, ina funeral, for cxamnple, these utterances atc produced, willbe ironical.
Hence, the same ullorance can be interpreted as different kinds of speech act up fo contexts or certain situation. A speech act might contain just one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or scntonees: "P?2n sorry T forgot your birthday. [ just let it slip my mind." According to the social-interactionist view, a specch act is a language phenomenon that results from acts of speaking or writing when someone (Speaker) says (or writes) something lo somone else (Hearer) ul a cerlain time in a certain context. According to Austin (1962), speech acts are grouped into three ways: | Locutionary act: ‘The act that constructs an utterance by following grammars and vocalizing the sentence.
For cxampls, if a person says fo you, “You can’t do thal,” the locutionary act is to construct a sentence that literally means that you canmot do that by making relevam. + Mlocutionary act: The acl thal actually forms an acl in utaring the ence. Tn the same example, the ilocutionary act is to prohibit you fiom doing that | Perlocutionary act: ‘The act that tries to accomplish by uttering it. ‘That is, by saying the sentence, he stopped you from doing thal Among locutionary, ilocutionary, and perlocutionary acts, Austin (1962:120) especially focuses on the importance of illocutionary and extends his analysis by making a distinction between illocutionary and perlocutionary acts: “dlocutionary acts ure conventional acts while perlocutionary acts are not canventional”.
In order to perform an illocutionary act, - To investigate cnltmre features of Vietnam and America lying in the use of the first personal pronoun “I” at work, This is both significant and useful for Vietnamese leamers of English and foreigners who have little knowledge of Vietnamese culture = To find out similarities and differenees in the use of the first personal pronoun T? of the Vietnamese and American, Accordingly, all findings of this study, expected for being implicated in translation strategies and making a useful contribution to the further study, help Vietnamese learners of English avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding while working with Americans So, the study is aimed to solve these two research questions 1. Whal are sinlaritios and differences in the use of addressing lerms in general and the first personal pronoun “I” in particular of the Vietnamese and American? 2. What are cultural features lying inthe use of first personal pronoun “I” to address? 3, METHODS OF THE STUDY ‘The study begins by exploring theoretical background relating to the topic. The rolationship between culturcs and languages is the first hypoth that confirms a fact thal.
language cannot separate from culture and via verse. Speech acts, especially the ecutionary acts, is the second hypothesis that makes contribution to addressing terms. ‘the third hypothesis is politeness dat is cxtremely important communication strategy cannol bx ignored, especially in the case of wing addressing terms. Besides, interlocufor’s parameters like age, gender, or occupational status, etc.
also impacts on the way they use addressing E ng With the data collected ftom American and Vietnamese informants, the researcher has necessary linguistic input and reliable information of addressing and the use of personal prououns, Then, the rescarcher takes advantages of analyring and stalistic methods to analyze collected data. On that basis, we draw out conclusion and some general comments about similarities and differences in using addressing term and personal pronouns between the Victnamese and American by synthesizing method. SCOPE OF THE STUDY A great number of studies focus on characteristics of Vietnamese addressing forms in comparison with that of other cultures. However, investigating the first personal pronoun “I” in Vietnamese and Amorican English is still a new lopic in Vietnam, Thorefore, Ihe study aimed lo concentrate on the impacts of socio-cultures on the way the Victnarnese and American address, especially the usage of personal pronouns, the combination between the first personal pronoun “1” with other addressing terms and trends of using the first personal pronoun “I”at work place as well, which arc useful for Vietnamese learners of English who have difficulties in using addressing forms in general and the first personal pronoun while working with Amoricans Addressing is an interesting phenomenon in cross cultural commmmication ‘Therefore, analysizing similarities and differences of using the first personal pronoun “1” betwoon the Victnamesc and American al work fom cultural perspeotive are scriousty analyzed.
DESIGN OF THE STUDY The study will consist of three main parts; Introduction, Development aud Conclusion, Part 1: Introduction consists of Rationale; Aims and significances of the study, Methods of the study: Seape of the study and Design of the study. Part 2: Development concludes two chapters, Chapter 1 presents Theoretical background which will provide Culture and Tangnages, Speech acts, Linguistic politeness and Overview of the Victnarese and A crican Fnglish addressing s crn that lay the fourdations for the next chapter. In chaptar 2, the findings of the study will be presented and discussed, Part 3: Conclusion presents similarities and differences in using addressing forms in goncral and the first personal pronoun in particular as well as implications for English language teaching and translation strategies. ABBREVIATIONS ELT English language teachin RA Frequencies of addressing Fist name FuN Full name KT Kinship terms IN Last name Number NAT Neutral addressing term ‘Title TIN Titk + Last name “ 1.
SPERCIT ACTS ACROSS CULTURES, We perform speach acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, ot refusal and so on. In general, a speech act is an utterance that serves a fiction in cormmunicalion, To commumicate is to oxpross a corlain altitude, and the type of spesch act boing per firmed corresponds lo the type of altitude being cxpr ed. As an acl of commumeation, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being expressed. For instance, in a birthday party, the speaker mects young lady and produces the utteranee “You have a wonderful smile” or “1 really like ‘your shart”.
hese utferances are likely considered as compliments. By contrast, ina funeral, for cxamnple, these utterances atc produced, willbe ironical. Hence, the same ullorance can be interpreted as different kinds of speech act up fo contexts or certain situation. A speech act might contain just one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or scntonees: "P?2n sorry T forgot your birthday.
[ just let it slip my mind." According to the social-interactionist view, a specch act is a language phenomenon that results from acts of speaking or writing when someone (Speaker) says (or writes) something lo somone else (Hearer) ul a cerlain time in a certain context. According to Austin (1962), speech acts are grouped into three ways: | Locutionary act: ‘The act that constructs an utterance by following grammars and vocalizing the sentence. For cxampls, if a person says fo you, “You can’t do thal,” the locutionary act is to construct a sentence that literally means that you canmot do that by making relevam. + Mlocutionary act: The acl thal actually forms an acl in utaring the ence.
Tn the same example, the ilocutionary act is to prohibit you fiom doing that | Perlocutionary act: ‘The act that tries to accomplish by uttering it. ‘That is, by saying the sentence, he stopped you from doing thal Among locutionary, ilocutionary, and perlocutionary acts, Austin (1962:120) especially focuses on the importance of illocutionary and extends his analysis by making a distinction between illocutionary and perlocutionary acts: “dlocutionary acts ure conventional acts while perlocutionary acts are not canventional”. In order to perform an illocutionary act, iv 2. The survey questionnaire 2.
The iufÐrmianifs.2, Data analysis: Findings and Diveussion 2. Consideration of sclecting addressing lsrins 2.2, Frequencies of using addressing term. Frequencies of combining personal pronoun with other addressing terms 223. "D> title” (Tôi — chức dud.4, Factor (factors) preatly impacting on the way people address at work.
Trends of using the dyad “I - You" at work 2.3, Limitations of the sttedy seo. Main simikarilies ane differences in using addressing terms and persanal pronouns of the Victuamese aud American at Work,. Implications for Euglish language teaching and translation strategics. 1 ABBREVIATIONS ELT English language teachin RA Frequencies of addressing Fist name FuN Full name KT Kinship terms IN Last name Number NAT Neutral addressing term ‘Title TIN Titk + Last name PART 1; INTRODUCTION 1.
RATIONALE Addtessing foum which is an interesting language phenomenon is a significant tool expressing interlocutors’ attitude, ideas and power, etc. in communication ‘here are numerous addressing systems in different languages and different eullures as well, One must admit that Vietnamese addressing system is much more interesting, delicate and complicated than that of American English. Therefore, not only do foreigners but Vietnamese also get confuscd when using addressing forms to communicate with cach other, Victuamese addressing system expresses the most clearly Vietnamese culture features that originate fom traditional sense of family and community. As American English addressing system, Victramesc ane classifies inlo thrce main lypes, one of which is personal pronouns, However, the usage of personal pronouns between the Vietnamese and American is dissimilar because of different cultuzal features.
In fact, the first personal pronoun “I” of American English has its counterparts in the Victnames? system dozens of linguistic forms of various grammatical subclasses, which causes difficulties for both the Vietnamese and the American while using this dyad. Wilh the hope of helping Vietnamese learners of Tnglish in general, and Vietnam ¢ who work with speaking English forcigners avoid culture shock whan inleracting: the author has decided to investigate the use of the first personal pronoun in Vietnamese and American English ftom cultural perspective. 2, AIMS AND SIGNEFICANCE OF THE STUDY The aims of the study are - To present basic characteristics of the Vietnamese and American English addressing, system + ‘To concentrate on how the Viemamese and American address as well as factors afiveting on their choice of using addicssing terms PART 1; INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE Addtessing foum which is an interesting language phenomenon is a significant tool expressing interlocutors’ attitude, ideas and power, etc.
