VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ DỊU THE USE OF BODY LANGUAGE IN INAUGURAL ADDRESSES MADE BY THE US PRESIDENTS VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU NHẬM CHỨC CỦA CÁC TỔNG THỐNG MỸ M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.201 HANOI – 2014 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 THỊ DỊU THE USE OF BODY LANGUAGE IN INAUGURAL ADDRESSES MADE BY THE US PRESIDENTS VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ TRONG CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU NHẬM CHỨC CỦA CÁC TỔNG THỐNG MỸ M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.201 Supervisor: Dương Đức Minh, PhD HANOI – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Nguyễn Thị Dịu, declare that the thesis entitled ―The use of body language in inaugural addresses made by the US presidents‖ reports the result of the study conducted by myself. The minor thesis is submitted to Department of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for the Degree of Master of Arts. It has not been published anywhere. Student’s name Nguyễn Thị Dịu In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate‘s thesis, I certify that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge.
Supervisor Duong Duc Minh, PhD Date: Hanoi, April 22, 2014 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Duong Duc Minh, PhD for his patient guidance, and careful correction in my thesis. I am indebted to my teacher, Nguyen Thi Hang for her useful materials advices. My special thanks are to my boyfriend, Nguyen Van Tien who have encouraged and helped me a lot during this study. Finally, my heart- felt gratitude goes to my family members, especially, my mother for their assistance and encouragement in my training course.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT To date, there have been a lot of researches to build the suggestion that nonverbal communication, especially the body language has the important role in the second language communicative competence of the communicators. The most common sense is that the body language can convey equal, or even more meanings in the communication processes. A supposition is that if the communicators can have the gist of all the body languages used in communicating situations, the processes of communicating can have the best results. This study has the aim to make investigations of the body language used by the US Presidents in their inaugural addresses, which can provide the readers with the clear and specific examples of body languages used in official situations.
The findings of this research can also enlighten the possible applications of body languages into social communication of English language, especially for education. The further applications of body languages into communication will also be included in the latter part of this research. From such expectations of the findings, the author will use the methods of translating the speeches made in the inaugural addresses of the Presidents Bush and Obama for elaborated analysis, so that all dimensions of the body languages used by the two presidents will be enlightened. The main findings of this study include the two significant aspects of body languages used by the Presidents in their important events: they have more tendencies to use hand gestures than smiles to build attraction of the audiences, and more importantly, they have the stable uses of dominant hands in associations with describing the good things with positive valances, and the non-dominant hands in describing the bad things with negative valances.
In the this study, the author made summary of the main findings of this research, as well as the emphasis of the different roles of hands and smiles used in communication, the uses of the left and right hand gestures with positive and negative valences, and the implication of the uses of body languages in cross-cultural communication for better effectiveness. Finally, the author also made suggestions for the possible further studies in the same research field of body language in communication. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The Illustrator used in communication. 7 Figure 2:Transition signals used in interpersonal communication.
Emblems used in communication. 8 Figure 4: Affect Display of personal emotion. Various Facial Expressions of the communicators. Four distance zones in interpersonal communication.
Comparisons of the uses of left and right hands of the two Presidents. 27 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Spoken clauses used by the two presidents in the analysis. Number of right and left-hand gestures during clauses with positive and negative emotional valence.
Test of understanding level of the respodents. Test of rate of remembering. Test of correlation between the uses of body movements and the understanding of the audiences. 30 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii List of figures. iv List of tables. v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale for the Study. Aims of the Study. Significance of the Study. Scope of the Study.
Organization of the Study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Introduction to Body Language or Nonverbal Communication .1Definition of body language or nonverbal communication. Elements of nonverbal communication.
Theories, Structures and Significance of Nonverbal Communication. Theories of Nonverbal Communication. Ray Birdwhistell's Theory on Kinesics (1970). Edward Hall‘s Theory on Proxemics.
Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen‘s Theory on Kinesics (1969) .2 Functions of Nonverbal Communication. Structure and Properties of Nonverbal Communication. Significance, Benefits and Limitations of Nonverbal Communication. Relationships between verbal and nonverbal communication.
Studying fields of nonverbal communication. Significance of nonverbal communication in social activities. 19 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Applications of body gestures in nonverbal communication.
19 CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICAION OF THE US PRESIDENTS. The uses of Hands and Smiles of the Presidents in Inaugural Addresses. The Uses of Left and Right Hands of the Presidents for Positive and Negative Valences. Implications for The Use of Nonverbal Behavior in Cross-cultural Communication.
Suggestions for Further Studies. I Appendix 1: President Bush‘s 2001 Inaugural Address Transcript. I Appendix 2: President Obama‘s 2009 Inaugural Address Transcript .V vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the Study Throughout the history of the world, languages used to be the main tools for the communities to cooperate, survive and develop.
Such tools may vary from this type of creature to the others. For instance, the oceanic creatures such as the dolphins and seals have their sounds to make lingual connections with the others in their communities; for mammal animals such as the lions and the dogs, they may bark or grind as the signals of communicating. In another example of the birds, they may sing to call for help or dating of their kind. Each type of create has its own specific type of language, and the world may have thousands of languages to be recognized.
However, the most significant and supreme one is the language systems of the humans. Since ancient times, the language systems of humans have associated with a number of crucial elements, such as the movements, gestures, sounds or symbolic items. To date, there have been a lot of hypotheses of the origin, the spot of time, the methods and conditions of the appearances of languages in the world, and the first one to be used in the world is still a great topic for debates. The origins of languages have been in efforts of scientists to figure out the first appearing one, and the progress is still very long for the world to continue.
There have been a number of approaches that scientists have used as tools to find out the true. The first approach is the ―Continuity theories‖. The assumption of this type of theories is that the languages cannot be the single form as the starting point to the ending ones used in today‘s context. Our primate ancestors should have generated a lot of pre-linguistic systems as the foundation for the later developments of lines of languages.
Based on the demographic, ethnic, living and communicating conditions, each language can have their separate developments from those systems in their evolutions. In another type of theories, the "Discontinuity theories", which have the assumption that languages integrated unique characteristics, and that they should have had their appearances in the long progress of human evolution. Another important approach is that the languages can be formed in the combinations of the genetic codes and the social interactions, through appearances, experiences and modifications (U1bek, 1998). However, the common important agreement 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com of those theories is that language is the multifunctional tool, which can critically help the developments of human communications.
It can serve humans with countless cultural, communal, and societal functions. Firstly, with the cultural functions of languages, it can help the particular society to preserve and transfer the cultural elements from this generation to the others. For instance, the Vietnamese people have the customs to teach the children the traditional values such as patriotism, respect, and worshipping the ancestors; the American kids can learn the traditional values by themselves to individualism and freedom in social activities. Secondly, by the main tools o shared identities, languages can help individuals in the society to build linkages to the others.
Each individual should have their own perception of the significance of contribution and donation to the values of the communities. Last but not least, as for the social functions of languages, it has been recognized as the primary tools for human interactions at all times. In any language, conversation should be recognized as the most important tool for mankind to exchange information. This element has the role as the fundamental form of communications in social interactions.
For each ethnic group, the traits and methods of interactions may vary. As an example, the body, signal and behavioral languages of the Western people may have specific differences from the ones of the Vietnamese people. A comprehensive, effective and applicable investigation of all aspects of languages uses and traits may have great contributions to the understanding of the learners of specific language, such as English. More particularly, the implications and findings of this study have been expected to help the English learners to identify and get rid of the potential cultural shock and failures in social communications.
Nonverbal communication, another main tool in making interactions of human social courses, has the important role in the second language communicative competence. However, there has been little attention made as efforts to identify and apply the possible techniques for the English teachers and learners to this essential element in language uses (Gregersen, 2007). Such indispensable role of the nonverbal communication in the human communicative process will be identified and exampled in this study. The findings of this study will aim at all elements of nonverbal communication process, such as the gestures, facial expressions, and gaze behaviors used officially used by the US Presidents in their inaugural addresses.
They will have the common outcome of 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com constitute the interplay of body language, so that the English learners can avoid the possible obstacles and deploy the potential conditions to facilitate their long progress to approach the world wide uses of English language.