Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHÙNG THỊ ĐỨC A VIETNAMESE –ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON THE USE OF RESPONDING TO ENGLISH GREETINGS (Nghiên cứu Giao thoa Văn hoá Anh- Việt trong việc sử dụng lời đáp lại các lời chào của tiếng Anh) Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI - 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHÙNG THỊ ĐỨC A VIETNAMESE – ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON THE USE OF RESPONDING TO ENGLISH GREETINGS NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA ANH –VIỆT TRONG VIỆC SỬ DỤNG LỜI ĐÁP LẠI CÁC LỜI CHÀO CỦA TIẾNG ANH M. Mino Programme Thesis Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYÊN, MA. HANOI - 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS RETENTION OF THE STUDY PROJECT REPORT. iii PART I: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the study. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT.
4 Chapter One: Literature Review. Language in communication. Language and culture. Cross-cultural communication.
Cross-cultural pragmatics. An overview of greetings in English and Vietnamese. Definition of greetings. Functions of greetings.
Characteristics of greetings. Addressing forms in greetings. Addressing forms in Vietnamese greeting. Addressing forms in English greetings.
Types of greetings .Greetings in passing. 17 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Greeting before a conversation. Greetings in Business. Greeting at a social event ( at a party).
Greetings in the classroom. Responding to a greeting in the light of Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. 21 Chapter two: RESEARCH AND METHODOLODY. 24 Chapter three: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Considerations when responding to greeting. The strategies of responding to greetings. Findings and results. Suggestion for using responses to greetings in English.
40 PART III: CONCLUSION. II TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale In recent years, English has become an international language used widely all over the world. It is not only the language of communication and media but also the language of knowledge and culture.
Mastering English is considered an obligated condition for everyone in Vietnam and it is implied to be a “passport” for a good job because English serves their job and their promotion. Therefore, people pay more and more attention to learning English. They no longer do grammar and translation exercises only but listening skill and speaking skill have been invested more time and better attention as well. As a result, English has been learnt more properly and used more effectively.
However, in reality, Vietnamese learners of English often make mistakes in communicating with English speakers. This is mostly caused by the effect of Vietnamese culture and the limitation of understanding about English culture. One of the most important parts in almost every conversation is greeting which generally plays an important role in communication and functions as a start of a conversation or indentify the appearance of speakers or to express the respect to the listener. In addition, greetings help to establish, maintain a relationship and facilitates the conversation.
Greeting is the first step of the communication. The continual step is responding to the greeting, a decisive agent assuring the success of the communicating. Thus, it is essential to take great interest in not only what and how we greet each other but also what and how we respond to greetings. Although greetings and responses are, to some extent, formulaic, choosing a relevant response to a greeting is not an easy job.
In fact, many Vietnamese people failed to continue their conversation in English due to not only language ability but also understanding about the culture of target language, English. In many cases, when being greeted by a foreigner, many English learners feel confused to find out a good and relevant response, some people cannot respond their partner’s greeting immediately. Realizing the important role of responding to greetings, the author has chosen to study Vietnamese and English cross-cultural communication in term of responding to greetings with the expectation of finding out the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English responses to greetings then suggest relevant responses to greetings in specific TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 situations, which partly helps English learners in Vietnam have more confidence and achieve more success in communicating in English. Aims of the study The ultimate goal of this research is - to investigate the specific situations of responding the greetings among learners of English with certain variables (i.
age, gender, social hierarchy, etc.) - to provide readers general information about English and Vietnamese greetings and the way they reply a greeting in their own language - to compare and contrast replying strategies in English and Vietnamese in order to bring about the similarities and differences in the way Vietnamese and English people reply a greeting - Therefore, the research questions are: What are the verbal strategies used by Vietnamese and English people to reply a greeting? What are the similarities and differences in responding to greeting in English and Vietnamese? III. Scope of the study - Although the role of paralinguistic and non-verbal factors in real-life communication is fully conscious, the study focuses on the verbal aspects of the act of replying a greeting only. - The study is confined only to strategies of replying a greeting in Vietnamese and Anglophone culture. The Vietnamese Northern dialect and the English language spoken in Great Britain are chosen for contrastive analysis.
- Conducting survey questionnaires enables the author to collect the data from a large population in a short period of time. Recorded and videotaped face-to face conversations are impossible due to the limitation of time, geographical distance and financial difficulties. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Methodology In order to carry out this study theoretically, the author has based on careful studies and analysis of linguistic, semantic and pragmatic materials with the great support of my supervisor through her valuable remarks and comments as well as reference to both home and foreign publications Thus, in order to achieve the objectives of a cross- cultural research, the main method of study is the qualitative and quantitative one.
The survey questionnaire is designed for Vietnamese people about their ways of replying greetings in their target language and English people about their ways of replying greetings in their mother tongue. The survey was designed with different situations basing on the routines and daily conversations. Their cultural and linguistic matters will be analyzed by the statistics, data, and description collected. Besides, some comments and suggestions are also given by personal observations or consultation with the supervisor.
Design of the study This study consists of three main parts. Part I - Introduction- In this first part, all the theoretical background and academic routines are discussed. In part B – Development focuses on the 3 chapters. In chapter I, cross-cultural and responding to a greeting are defined cultural pragmatics and replying a greeting are mentioned.
In this chapter, the author distinguishes the differences and the similarities between responding to greeting in English and Vietnamese. In the next chapter, the research methodology is discussed with analysis and findings from the survey questionnaires conducted by the Vietnamese and English. Part III is the conclusion of the study, here, the author summarize all the main ideas, the important findings as well as some suggestions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter One: Literature Review 1. Language in communication In the history of human’s evolution, language is seen as the most amazing achievement because it creates the distinguishing between man and beast.
Since language has become a part of the development of man and his society, it is impossible to distance language from people. Language includes a system of verbal forms of communication which conveys meaning by other means of human communication and a system of non-verbal cues such as body motions, facial expressions, etc. According to Schmidt and Richard (91980:161), “language is to build bridges, to consolidate political regimes, to carry on arguments, to convey information from one person to another, to entertain and in short, to communicate”. Hence, “language is a human system of communication which uses structured vocal sounds and can be embodied in other media such as writing, print and physical signs” (The Oxford Companion To The English Language.
(1992) say “communication is any process in which people share information, ideas and feelings that involve not only the spoken and written words but also body language, personal mannerisms and style, the surrounding and things that add meaning to a message”. In this sense, communication is considered a transactional process of creating and sharing meaning, through verbal and non-verbal behavior, between two or more persons. In Malinowski’s words (in Hudson R. 1980:109) “language functions as a link in concerted human activity, as a piece of human behavior”.
In this way, communication has “the phatic function” as communication is used not only for exchanging information but also establishing, reinforcing and maintaining a social relation to confirm each other’s presence. In this sense, Verderber (1990:60) claimed 4 uses of language. Firstly, language is to designate, label and define thoughts, feelings, objects, people and experiences in order that they may be shared with other people. Secondly, language is used to evaluate what it defines as language plays a role to control over the perceptions and behaviors of people.
TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 5 Thirdly, we use language to discuss things outside our immediate experience. Finally, we can use language to reflect on or to talk about language because it is self- reflexive. Talking about the functions of communication, Verderber also defined three functions of communication i. psychological function, social function and decision-making function.
In brief, it is difficult to distance language from communication. Thanks to language, communication becomes more successful and effective. In turn, communication helps language express all features and characteristics. Language and culture Language and culture are the two factors which are interrelated because people share not merely language but also culture.
Thus, “What is culture?” It is difficult to define this concept. Culture normally refers to the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior, language, ideas, customs and so on. However, culture is the way we act, the context in which we exist, think, feel and relate to others. In Kottak’s words (1979:4) culture that complex whole which include knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Another definition that is the most widely –cited by Goodenough (1992:217) A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves In this definition, culture is seen as a shared background (e. national, ethic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values. Therefore, culture is also absorbed through the socialization process. Goodenough stated “the relation of language to culture is that of part to whole” and according to Goshgarian, “Language shapes our perception of reality” The socio-cultural context reflects the social and cultural practices of a community through language.
It is not difficult to interpret culture through language because language reflects cultural identity which people meet daily in their lives. Additionally, thanks to language, cultural values and ideas, human culture would be persevered by generations to generations. In its turn, culture has a great influence on the way in which language is used. Culture itself navigates guidelines or practices for linguistic behavior.
To add this sense, TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.