Rationale for the research Language is an important part of our daily communication and we indicate the various communication patterns which are used in meetings and during negotiations. Whereas greeting is a part of everyday conversation, it is important to know how to use it properly with confidence. It’s important for anyone to feel confident when greeting someone because they will quickly form a first impression that may be hard to change later. If we start a conversation doubting ourselves and unsure of what we are saying, this will affect our performance for the rest of the conversation.
But if we can effortlessly use the right greeting expressions, we will feel more confident during the rest of the conversation. It is clear that greeting someone with confidence will make the communicators more comfortable and form a first positive impression. On the other hand, greeting with the stumble around and unsure of what we are doing, we may misjudge our true level of English and speak to them more differently than we would like. Greeting is affected by the differences in culture of each country, it is used widely in many countries in the world in various ways.
While gestures are normally used in some Western countries such as: kissing, nodding, hand- shaking, waving, hugging., oral greeting is priority used in some Asian countries as the ancestors said: “greetings are more precious than the feasts”. It is different culture that there will be some main problems people usually face when they communicate each other. A good greeting helps to maintain the conversation and leads the communicators to take interest in talking to each other. Greeting (in terms of suitable greeting expression in different contexts) 1 can help us convey our friendliness, respect, politeness, etc.
The way people greet someone can tell us information about culture, custom, religion, etc. Specially, basing on greeting, we can also indicate something about the social status, age-range of the greeter. In this paper, I concentrate on English expressions of greeting with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents. I want to point out the similarities and differences between them and some implications for teaching to help the communicators have a deep look into greeting in two languages.
Aims of the research The thesis analyses the different expressions of greeting in English with reference to Vietnamese, with a view to helping Vietnamese learners of English to raise their awareness of using the expressions of greetings in English properly, thus improving their learning capability when using English in daily conversation. Objectives of the research This graduation thesis is designed to pursue these following specific objectives: First of all, the study describes the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English. Secondly, it points out the similarities and differences of the greeting expressions in English and Vietnamese on term of pragmatic. Finally, some suggested implications for teaching and learning the different expressions of greetings in English will be given so that teachers and learners can avoid making mistakes in their teaching and learning process.
Scope of the research Greeting is one important part of language, especially is the initiator of conversation. How greeting is used in different cultures, particularly between English and Vietnamese people is my great concern. The study concentrates mostly on greeting expressions in English with reference to Vietnamese, which will be the foundation for the writer to point out some differences and similarities between them. In addition, the questionnaires have been given to collect the data of greetings on time, age, hierarchical order, social status, marital status .and some forms of greetings which are used in communications as questions, exclamations, congratulations, invitations.
Significance of the research Theoretically, major similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese speakers when greeting someone will also be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to add some certain theoretical background to studying English. Practically, the study can help Vietnamese learners greet someone properly. Moreover, the communicators will feel greeting more self-confident when they start talking to someone. It is the first signal for them to get a successful purpose in negotiation with the partner.
Futhermore, it may enable the learners thoroughly understand that the ways of greeting in foreign language as compared with mother tongue are very necessary. So that they can reach communicated goal and also use greeting form into consideration. Structural organization of the thesis The study is devided into five chapters: 3 Chapter 1 is the introduction which deals with briefly expressions of greeting in communication and their function. Chapter 2 is the literature review.
This chapter presents a thorough and in depth studies which are done by previous researchers. This will also present the synthesis of the theoretical and conceptual framework to apply for conducting the researches. Chapter 3 is the methodology which points out the research-governing orientations and research methods. Chapter 4 is the findings and discussions.
By analyzing the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English, some differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese as well as implications for teaching and learning will be pointed out. Chapter 5 is conclusion. It refers to recapitulation and concluding remarks. Furthermore, the chapter points out the limitation of the study and provides some suggestions for further studies.
4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Review of previous studies Greeting is really an interesting issue in our daily life. There are many famous Vietnamese and foreign linguists and scholars having done researches on this linguistic field. A number of foreign researchers are interested in making researches of greeting expressions such as: Dr.
Maysa'a Kadhim Jibreen in “The Speech Act of Greeting: A Theoretical Reading”. He has given definition of greeting, classification and structures of greeting in term of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic.(1997) in "An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbooks and Real Life Settings". He has pointed out in general classifications of greeting. In Vietnam, a great number of studies on greeting expression have attracted learners of English such as Nguyễn Thị Bích Hằng (2009) in “English analysis: English and Vietnamese Greetings”, Huyền Vũ (2009) in“Cách chào hỏi của người Việt và người Mỹ”, Trần Thị Bích Hạnh (2010) “Vietnamese and English Greetings: A contrastive analysis”, and Huỳnh Thị Thanh Châu in “Greetings in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis”.
Hoàng Thị Kim Dung in “A cross-cultural study of addressing forms in greetings in Vietnamese and English.” (2010), the study shows the similarities and differences in two countries through their cultures in order to help the learners avoid cultural shocks or cross- cultural conflicts involving the addressing forms in greetings in global communication. Trần Anh Vương in the research “Ways of greeting and a comparison between Vietnamese and English greetings” studies on greeting and greeting culture in English and Vietnamese. He also points out the 5 similarities and differences between them. However, his research is rather wide.
He infers both verbal and non-verbal greeting. Generally, they have analyzed and compared almost all aspects of greeting. As a significant aspect of politeness phenomenon, greeting has been studied in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, yet there has been no systematic investigation of their use across different languages from pragmatic perspective. I want to reach communication goal and also have greetings put into consideration.
A person in different relationships has different ways to greet. The speakers may be grandparents, parents, uncles or aunts, brothers or sisters, children, nieces or nephews or relatives. The speakers may be in high or low rank in office, they may be older or younger compared to interlocutors. Therefore, the study enables learners to understand thoroughly the ways of greeting in the foreign language in comparison with their mother tongue.
In my paper, I only deal with the characteristics of the ways of greetings in Vietnamese and English and the similarities and differences in using them in communication. Review of theoretical background 2. Language and communication in greeting Language is the remarkable system that allows people to communicate an unlimited combinations of ideas using a highly structured stream of sounds. Or “language is the system of special signals which people use to communicate and it is the basic means of communication and developing thought of people.
People use language to impart tradition, culture, history and experiences from the old generation to the young generation.” It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in an agreed way. And there is no doubt that language is a system for communicating. 6 The way in which the words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the language’s grammar. The actual meaning of words and combinations of words are defined by the language’s semantics.
When people want to tell each other something, language appears. Apparently, language is the means of communication. Without language, people cannot exchange information, experiences and share feelings, thought with each other. People use language to express their thought, feelings, ideas, experience.
It is the reality of thought. Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior. It is the activity or the process of expressing ideas, feelings or exchanging the ideas, information with someone. It is clearly seen that the way we communicate and the way we understand another person’s communication are the result of our knowledge and past experiences.
That means communication can take place anywhere and is carried out by anybody. In communication, interlocutors show their attitude, relationship, mood, understanding, confusion and a whole range of other things and convey a range of meanings in different cultures, from insults to approval or even attraction. The participants do anything to make others understand what they mean. The successful communication means that the person receives the massage being intended.
To communicate successfully, the communicators must understand the other’s needs, feelings, and ideas Language plays an important role in conveying people’s thinking and expressing their feeling and attitude in daily communication, meanwhile, greeting expression belongs to the language system. When meeting, people greet each other by expressions (saying some words). So greeting is the activity of giving speech or words to welcome someone. It is an important part of communication, even compulsory.
Participants are both speakers and listeners 7 involved directly in conversation. And using the way of greeting can help us know interlocutors’ emotion, feeling as well as their knowledge, culture, politeness and respect to each other. People who are involved in conversation should depend on objects and other features of communicative situation such as age, sex, family relationship, social status and power. People use language to communicate while greeting is a process of communication.
So greeting involves language which is known as greeting language. It is one of the key changes to communicate effectively with different people in different cultures. Culture in greeting Culture is the combination of all the physical and behavioral aspects of a society. Culture includes all knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other tradition and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Culture is also a historically transmitted, socially constructed system of beliefs, premises, symbols and their meanings that pertain to a group of people. So we can consider culture a tool that our families and societies instil in us to get through life. In Vietnamese, cross culture is defined as the contact, the affective exchange, the interaction among cultural aspects of different ethnics. In English, culture is like an iceberg, most of which is deep within the ocean just much of culture is deep within people.
The tip of the iceberg is easy to see. This includes the visible aspects and taboo of communication in other cultures. The remaining huge chuck of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects of a culture such as the values, traditions, experience and behaviors that define each culture.