VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG THANH SEXISM IN VIETNAMESE FOLK POEMS ON LOVE AND MARRIAGE Kỳ thị giới tính trong ca dao Việt Nam về tình yêu, hôn nhân và gia đình M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI, 2017 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG THANH SEXISM IN VIETNAMESE FOLK POEMS ON LOVE AND MARRIAGE Kỳ thị giới tính trong ca dao Việt Nam về tình yêu, hôn nhân và gia đình M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà HANOI, 2017 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Sexism in Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage” has been carried out at the University of Languages and International Studies under the guidance of Dr.
Nguyen Thi Thu Ha. The work is original and has not ever been submitted in part or full by me for any degree at another University. I further declare that the material obtained from other sources has been duly acknowledged in the thesis. Nguyen Phuong Thanh December 2017 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing the thesis, I have received a lot of precious lessons, necessary support and timely encouragement from my teachers, family and friends.
First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, who has always been willing to give me valuable advice and patience so that I can successfully complete the thesis. My sincere thanks are also sent to all of the teachers at the University of Languages and International Studies for their useful lessons during my two-year learning here. Last but not least, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to my family and friends for everything.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The current investigation is an attempt in CDA, conducting data analysis into 2000 Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage, basing on Fairclough‟s three- dimensional framework with the grounding of Systemic Functional Grammar by M. The research aims to unveil the underlying sexist ideologies behind language, generally manifesting the domination of men over women in the feudal time. To achieve the aims, experiential values of words and grammar are deliberately exploited. The research has reached some findings.
Gender bias was clearly seen when women undertook varying roles both in the domestic and social sphere, but most of them were subordinate to men‟s. In terms of linguistic means which make great contributions to the discursive construction and representation of social relations, transitivity and semantic features display sexism the most. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF FIGURES. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims and research questions. Research methods and scope.
5 CHAPTER 1: LITERARUE REVIEW AND CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND. Gender and language studies. Language and Sexism. Confucianism and its implications for gender equality in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese women‟s status in patriarchal society. Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage .11 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY. Definition of CDA. Key notions of CDA .15 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Main tenets of CDA. Fairclough‟s analytical framework. Halliday‟s systematic functional grammar and CDA. Procedure of data analysis .22 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Women in the family setting. Women as caretakers for children. Women as caretakers for in-law family‟s members. Women as caretakers for house chores.
Women as helpers for men. Women waiting for men. Women as inferiors. Women badly treated.
Women as dependent beings. Women in the social setting. Women in low social hierarchy. Women as dependent beings.
Suggestions for further research. 44 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS CDA : Critical Discourse Analysis CL : Critical Linguistics LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Three lines of meaning in the clause Figure 2: The grammar of experience: types of process in English vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Both women and men make up the whole world and are important workforce and integral elements of the economic development and the advance of society. However, over hundreds of years struggling in many parts of the world, women‟s rights finally became human‟s rights as voiced by Hillary Clinton at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in China, 5 September 1995.
She said, “Women‟s rights, in other words, have been recognized as important components of two scholarly disciplines and movements – international human rights and law and development. Neither international human rights nor law and development can afford to ignore women‟s rights and remain true to their core objectives” (Cao, 2016). In Vietnam, the acknowledgement of women‟s rights has been amounted to after the people achieved the independence from feudalism and colonialism. The Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam which was announced in public at the Ba Đình Square on September 2, 1945 served as a stroke in people‟s rights in general and women‟s rights in particular.
Before this event, there was no explicit feminist movement in Vietnam and feminism was an unpopular topic and rarely mentioned (Duong, 2001). However, it is apparent that during millennium Chinese occupation, Vietnam was profoundly influenced by Confucianism, which lowers Vietnamese women‟s status. Central to Confucian doctrine was that men were superior and women inferior. It clearly supported a patriarchal social order, putting women in a lower social rank compared to men.
Those ideologies have been imprinted into people‟s mind till now. The treasure of Vietnamese folk poems has been seen as the nationally- possessed cultural heritage, making their contributions to diversifying mental life of the people. They are sometimes described as a tool which is drawn on to represent reality and experiences of the people such as human relations, productive labour and daily activities, even national war. Concerning human relations, the number of folk poems about experiences in love and marriage exceeds the others all the time and 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com exhibits behaviors among people.
With their powerful language, folk poems are not a neutral vehicle. Words are employed to hold people in respect but demonstrate blatant disregard for others. Therefore, I manage to do a thesis called “Sexism in Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage” to partly disclose a social-cultural problem underlying the discourse. The study approached the folk poems from a linguistic stand point, aiming to systematically show the hidden gender ideologies and the linguistic means basing on linguistic theories and framework.
This feature may set the study distinguished from literary analysis in which meanings are more often derived from personal interpretation and emotions. Aims and research questions The current paper is devoted to a critical discourse analysis of positive and negative evaluation of men and women carried out in Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage. The aims of this research are to clarify the ideologies embedded in the discourse and to investigate linguistic means in which the ideologies are expressed. In fact, the two aims are closely interrelated and they will be achieved simultaneously throughout the process of data analysis.
Moreover, this analysis of the literature momentum of the Vietnamese people is expected to raise people‟s critical awareness of the persisted gender inequality and partly help with gender balance through language. The study attempts to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the sexist ideologies in Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage? 2. How are these ideologies linguistically reflected in Vietnamese folk poems on love and marriage? 3.
Research methods and scope This research adopted the approach of Critical Discourse Analysis. It analyzed 2000 selected folk poems on love and marriage which were collected in two anthoplogies of Vietnamese folk poems by Vũ Ngọc Phan and Phúc Hải. The analysis decoded gender dominance in folk poems that linked to the society. The qualitative 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com method of data analysis was applied for the research.
After data collection, the analysis of verbal elements is performed basing on Fairclough‟s three-dimensional framework Description-Interpretation-Explanation with Systemic functional grammar by M. Halliday as a ground. The analysis procedure will be further explained in the methodology chapter. Significance In response to massive development and advancement in the globe, the issue of language and gender has been an appeal for linguists.
Therefore, the current research in part provides readers with a critical view on the issue. CDA often serves as an advocatory side for the people who suffer from discrimination in gender. This study adds one more to a pile of linguistics investigations, critically reflecting on the social problem. Vietnamese folk poems have a life expectancy of thousand years but are faded over the time.
To awaken the interest in this literature monument, the study offers a chance to summon it up and cultivate its vitality generations after generations. Design The research consists of three parts: Part A, INTRODUCTION, outlines the background of the research. In this chapter, a brief account of relevant information is provided about the rationale, aims, scope, significance, methodology and design of the research. Part B, DEVELOPMENT, includes four chapters: Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND, presents literature review and contextual background.
Importantly, it gives an overview of some previous research on the same subject. Chapter 2, THEORY AND METHODOLOGY, refers to basic concepts, the framework, the data as well as the method to collect and analyze the data to facilitate the research process. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 3, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS, presents and discusses the findings of the data analysis, organized by themes, then supported by linguistic analysis. Part C, CONCLUSION, draws important conclusions and makes suggestions for further research.
4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERARUE REVIEW AND CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND This chapter offers an opportunity to have an insight into the controversial issue of language and gender. At the same time, a quick look at studies on language and sexism is taken. Gender and language studies The issuance of “Language and woman‟s place” by Lakoff (1975) first established the relationships between gender and language. The publication triggered a controversy on women‟s and men‟s different language use (Nguyen, 2017).
In her study, Lakoff attributed gendered language to basic assumptions about outstanding language use of women. However, a range of studies protested Lakoff‟s findings about women‟s language. For example, “Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation” by Zimmerman and West (1975) or a study entitled “Man made language” by Spender in 1980 assumed that language differences were due to power domination. Then gender and language studies could be classified in the direction of two approaches – dominance and difference.
Fishman, Zimmerman and West were involved in the former. The later was associated with Tennen (1985). Although the two approaches agreed that cultural difference and male dominance were the reasons for different language use, they both saw gender as naturally determined (Nguyen, 2017). Another approach of this domain of linguistics in the 1980s and 1990s was post-modernism, referring to the general philosophical movement incorporating all fields of knowledge such as art, architecture, and also feminism (Nguyen, 2017).
Hall (2004) affirmed, “In the early 1990s, the field of language and gender began to shift to what many scholars now identify as an ideological understanding of linguistic gender.