VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* LÊ THỊ KHÁNH LINH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON PERSONAL NARRATIVES IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE TALK SHOWS SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CHUYỆN KỂ VỀ CÁ NHÂN TRONG CÁC CHƢƠNG TRÌNH TRUYỀN HÌNH TALK SHOW MỸ VÀ VIỆT NAM M. COMBINED PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* LÊ THỊ KHÁNH LINH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON PERSONAL NARRATIVES IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE TALK SHOWS SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CHUYỆN KỂ VỀ CÁ NHÂN TRONG CÁC CHƢƠNG TRÌNH TRUYỀN HÌNH TALK SHOW MỸ VÀ VIỆT NAM M. COMBINED PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà, PhD HANOI – 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP This is to certify that the thesis entitled “A contrastive analysis on personal narratives in American and Vietnamese TV talk shows” has been written by me and the work in it has not previously been submitted for a degree. In addition, I also certify that all information sources and literature have been indicated in the thesis.
Hanoi, 2016 Lê Thị Khánh Linh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà, for her invaluable encouragement and useful comments and advice during the whole process of this master thesis. Without her immense help, this study could not have been completed. Also, I am thankful to all my lecturers as well as staff at Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU for their great support and suggestions.
Finally, my special thanks go to my beloved family and friends for their love, care and support during my MA course, especially on the completion of this thesis. Hanoi, 2016 Lê Thị Khánh Linh ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT As narratives play a principal role in human life, much research has been conducted to enrich the insight into this subject. However, not many studies about oral narratives can be found, especially in the realm of cross-linguistic research. This study, therefore, aims to illuminate the similarities and differences between personal narratives in American TV talk shows and those in Vietnamese ones in terms of their generic structures and evaluative strategies.
The study is guided by three research questions regarding these features of narratives in the two languages. To address these questions fully, two models of narrative structure and evaluation were adopted and developed. Fifteen extracts from five American TV talk shows and the other fifteen from five Vietnamese ones were collected as the thesis corpus and subsequently analyzed, through descriptive as well as contrastive methods, to seek the answers to the research questions. The findings from the thesis illustrate how narrative structure and evaluation in American and Vietnamese talk shows resemble each other at the first glance, but significantly differ when it comes to interactional aspects and expression of personal identity.
These differences may be resulted from various factors, including communicating style, history of the shows in the two countries and cultural issues. It is hoped that the theoretical contributions and practical applications of the thesis would be of help for linguists, teachers, learners and those who are concerned. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES.
vi LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS .vii Chapter I: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Outline of the thesis. 3 Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Conversational Personal Narratives. TV talk shows.
Defining TV talk shows .2 Semi – institutional feature. Narratives in TV talk shows. Related cultural concepts. Previous studies on Vietnamese narratives.
23 Chapter III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data collection procedure. 29 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. 30 Chapter IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSION.
FEATURES OF PERSONAL NARRATIVES IN AMERICAN TALK SHOWS. Structure of personal narratives in American talk shows. Evaluative strategies in American personal narratives. FEATURES OF PERSONAL NARRATIVES IN VIETNAMESE TALK SHOWS 54 4.
Structure of personal narratives in Vietnamese talk shows. Evaluative strategies in Vietnamese personal narratives. COMPARISON OF STRUCTURES AND EVALUATIVE STRATEGIES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE PERSONAL NARRATIVES. Comparison of structures between American and Vietnamese narratives.
Comparison of evaluation between American and Vietnamese narratives. Summary of the thesis. Summary of the findings. Suggestions for further study .I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of American TV talk shows.
26 Table 2: List of Vietnamese TV talk shows. 27 Table 3: Frequency of narrating components in American talk shows. 33 Table 4: Techniques of narrative ongoing responses in American talk shows. 42 Table 5: Distribution of evaluative strategies in personal narratives in American talk shows.
47 Table 6: Frequency of narrating components in Vietnamese talk shows. 54 Table 7: Techniques of narrative ongoing responses in Vietnamese talk shows. 61 Table 8: Distribution of evaluative strategies in personal narratives in Vietnamese talk shows. 65 Table 9: Ongoing responsive turns in American and Vietnamese narratives.
75 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS Chart 1: Narrative components in Vietnamese and American TV talk shows. 73 Chart 2: Proportion of ongoing appreciation devices in American and Vietnamese narratives. 76 Chart 3: Distribution of evaluative strategies in personal narratives in Vietnamese and American talk shows. 78 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Names of American hosts and guests OW: Oprah Winfrey JT: Justin Timberlake WH: Whitney Houston DB: Dakota Blue JKR: Joanne Katherine Rowling LK: Larry King RM: Ricky Martin JBJ: Jon Bon Jovi JL: Jay Leno GB: Garth Brooks EL: Evangeline Lilly JD: Johnny Depp JR: Jason Reitman DL: David Letterman MW: Michelle Williams MH: Marg Helgenberger ED: Ellen DeGeneres EW: Emma Watson CGM: Chloe Grace Moretz TH: Tom Hanks Names of Vietnamese hosts and guests TBL: Tạ Bích Loan LMH: Lương Mạnh Hải PQ: Phú Quang GM: Giáng My NC: Nguyễn Cường MV: Minh Vy TĐK: Trần Đăng Khoa QL: Quyền Linh S: Mr.
Shoulder PNA: Phi Ngọc Ánh MT: Mỹ Tâm PD: Phương Dung THT: Thủy Tiên CT: Công Tố CP: Chi Pu QĐ: Quang Đăng LQV: Lê Quốc Vinh TN: Trúc Nhân ĐT: Đức Trí TT: Tiên Tiên viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Human beings are story tellers by nature; “narrative is present in every age, in every place, in every society” and it is “international, transhistorical, transcultural; it is simply there, like life itself” (Barthes, 1977: 79). There is no denying that narratives, through the long history of human race, have effectively functioned as a principal and constant means of human expression, of real or made up stories, of personal, institutional or social matters. Storytelling not only depicts accounts of events by reporting or recapitulating them but also conveys certain personal perspectives and attitudes towards what happened or what would happen.
Among various forms, narratives performed by language have typical features that vary from culture to culture, resulting in its diversity all over the world. Linguists and people interested, therefore, are highly inspired to approach narratives from many directions at different levels. One of the common areas employing narratives is TV talk shows. In recent years, this programming genre has proved its attraction through increasing audience ratings; and it is narratives that contribute to the success of these shows.
Though stories can be of numberless issues, from individual experiences and family matters to social concerns, there exists two-way communication: stories are elicited and encouraged by hosts and shared by guests. Directed to be broadcast, however, TV talk shows still portray people‟s spontaneous interaction and contain interesting linguistic properties to be explored. Thus, considerable inroads in narratives appearing in talk shows are a necessity for broadening human knowledge and revealing the way to exploit it to the full. Nevertheless, it is the fact that while ample papers have been conducted into the discourse of narratives in press like news, short stories, or novels; very little has been done involving spoken version.
Insufficient consideration in how humans orally produce a story, like in TV talk shows, has left a gap to be filled. That has driven me to carry out the present study to analyze and compare characteristics of narratives in Vietnamese and American TV talk shows, with the hope to provide conceptual understanding and helpful implications in the use of the two languages. Entitled “A contrastive analysis on personal narratives in American and Vietnamese TV talk shows”, the paper is expected to be a beneficial reference for those who are concerned like show hosts, translators, and especially language teachers and learners. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Aims of the study The fundamental purpose of the current thesis is to contribute to a comprehensive insight into linguistic features which characterize narratives, particularly those in TV talk shows. To realize this, generic structure and evaluative elements of narratives in American and Vietnamese TV talk shows are to be taken into consideration. The research then focuses on identifying, analyzing and justifying the similar and different points in narrative structure and evaluation in the two languages. Additionally, for teachers and learners of English as well as concerned people, it aims at providing some helpful guides for better understanding and further advancements in their intercultural communication.
Scope of the study There are a plenty of issues in the analysis of oral narratives like content, language, voice, spatial and temporal factors; there also exist numerous fields that exploit narratives such as education, health care, advertising and mass media. Within the scope of this study, only personal narratives about life and career of celebrities in American and Vietnamese TV talk shows are investigated. In more details, the emphasis is on presenting and analyzing narrative structure – how parts of stories are ordered and expressed; and narrative evaluation – what evaluative devices are principally utilized to indicate participants‟ attitudes towards their stories. Based on this paper, further studies would be extended and developed in suitable directions.
In details, the study focuses on answering the following research questions: 1. What generic structure and evaluative strategies characterize personal narratives in American talk shows? 2. What are generic structure and evaluative strategies employed in personal narratives in Vietnamese talk shows? 3. How are personal narratives in American and Vietnamese talk shows similar and different in terms of structure and evaluation? 1.
Significance of the study The accomplishment of the current study is believed to make significant theoretical and pedagogical contributions. First, interpretations of the findings will enrich our knowledge on narratives employed in TV talk shows, and ours on narrative language in general. The shared and 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com distinct traits of narratives in Vietnamese and American shows also generate relevant explanations from cultural perspective. Second, with regard to teaching and learning English as a second language, the research would help teachers and learners grasp the similarities and differences in storytelling in their native and target languages.
Hence, negative pragmatic transfer can be avoided, and learners can have more native-like narrative style. Furthermore, as TV talk shows are a great source of authentic materials, it is absolutely possible to recognize learners‟ improvements in their practical communicative skills. Outline of the thesis As required, the paper will have such main parts as follows: Chapter I: INTRODUCTION, presents statement of the problem and rationale for the study, aims, scope, significance, and outline of the study.