VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGLAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST. TE STUDIES LẠI THỊ THANH ENGLISII AND VIETNAMESE BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS: ACOMPARATIVE STUDY FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVES {So sánh thu khiéu nại bằng Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt trong lĩnh vực kinh daanh trên cư sở lý thuyết ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống) M. MINOR TIIESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS. CODE: 60 22 15 ILA NOT- 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGLAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LẠI THỊ THANH ENGLISII AND VIETNAMESE BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS: ACOMPARATIVE STUDY FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVES {So sánh thu khiéu nại bằng Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt trong lĩnh vực kinh daanh trên cư sở lý thuyết ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống) M.
MINOR TIIESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS. CODE: 60 22 15 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN HUYEN MINH, M. HANOT- 2010 ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract List of tables ‘Table of contents PART I: INTRODUCTION General introduction and rationale of the Study Swe p Aims of the sluity kẻ Scope of the study Method of the study ` Design of the study PART I: DEVEOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. Theories of discourse WO 1.
The concept of discourse 1. Functions of language 1. Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar sa 1.4, Business Complaint Letter 1. Definition and Purpose of Business Complaint Letters 1.
Three contextual parameters of business complaint Isliors 1. The structure of'a business complamt discourse comparison between English and Vietnamese letters 17 PART ONE INTRODUCTION 1, General introduction and rationale of the study Il is generally acceplod that in the lest few docadas of the 20" contury, there has been a great source of research on language; however, their attentions were only paid to the form of the language systems, which are studied and explained apart ftom their fimetions in relation fo social situations. Besides, them concern was basically with structural theories, which show that small units were arranged and combined into larger ones. The recent research, on the other hand, has fallen into the tendency toward discourse analysis, which focuses on factors affecting the communication and also the functioning of syntactic, pragmatic and social aspects.
Unlike the former studies, these ones pay attention to the meaning of not only the sentences but also utterances and discourses. ‘The preference of the sludy is inspired fiom the fact that the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar has been widely accepted as an essential tool in language comprehension for communication According to Kggins (1994: 1 cited in ‘Thao, Phuong 2003: 2), ‘Systemic Furcctional Lingnislics is inersasingly being recognizad as providing a very usefill descriptive and interpretive ñamewotk for viewing language as a strategic, meaning-making resource”, Lallidayan linguists used the functional model of grammar to interpret how peopts use language and how language is structured for use, This theory, in fact, has been proved as a great model of language for analysts when analyzing texts especially at discourse level Tn Vietnam, there have been a greal number of siudigs in the area of discourse analysis these days. However, the number of those works based on Systemic Funetional Perspectives does not seem to reflect the potential variety. Especially in the last few decades, Vietnani has besn seen ils expanding relationship with many other nations in economics, scientific and technieal fields; English language as an international language, therefore, has been widely used in every field, especially in business communication in gongral and business (ransaelion in particular.
Ths issues of business communication as woll as business Iransaction thus should be unsurprisingly a tick source for linguists in analyzing discourse. An inspirational source that helps me to prompt the choice of the analysis of business correspondence is the fact that this kind of letter is truly suitable and essential in Vielnamese background recenlly It cannot be denied that business comespondence plays an important role in business communication. Besides, it is a fact that defects seem to be unavoidable in carrying out business transactions; cven for the best-managed organizations this scons to be in the same case. Letters of complaint, therefore, can be made and understood as customers’ inevitable reaction, In Vietnam, customers have gradually had the tendency to write complaint letters, however, this has nol become their habit anda amber ofeustomers, in fact, still hesitate to do this although they know they have the night to do.
In addition, knowing how to write an effective business complaint letter is really a challenge for many people, My own observation shows thal even the students of business have limiled knowledge and expatience in writing complaint letters not only in English but also in Vietnamese. In the hope of working out some solutions to help Vietnamese people as well as Vielnamese students, lo some extent, overcome their difficulties in wriling business complaint letters, the study is an attempt to analyze some basic discourse features of business complaint letters from Systemic Functional Perspectives. Based on this, similarities and differen botween Bnglis letlars and Vietnarness ones will bs identified. Aller thal, some suggestions will be drawn ont to improve the studying and teaching writing business complaint letters in English.
Aims of the study “The object of the study focuses on only one kind of business letters, namely, the Iellers of business complaint in both Rnigtish and Vieinamess. Due to the conslrainls in ime and limited knowledge in Business English, this thesis will not deal with all aspects of complaint letters but concentrate on analyzing transitivity pattem, mood, thematic patter, and cohesion of letters in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. ‘The study aims at + Presenting and describing (transitivity pattern, mood pattern, thermatie pattern and cobesion in both English and Vietnamese business complaint letters; - Identifying the similarities and differences in both Lnglish and Vietnamese busin complaint letlers in terms of transilivily pallern, mood pattem, thertalic pattern and cohesion; analysis of business correspondence is the fact that this kind of letter is truly suitable and essential in Vielnamese background recenlly It cannot be denied that business comespondence plays an important role in business communication. Besides, it is a fact that defects seem to be unavoidable in carrying out business transactions; cven for the best-managed organizations this scons to be in the same case.
Letters of complaint, therefore, can be made and understood as customers’ inevitable reaction, In Vietnam, customers have gradually had the tendency to write complaint letters, however, this has nol become their habit anda amber ofeustomers, in fact, still hesitate to do this although they know they have the night to do. In addition, knowing how to write an effective business complaint letter is really a challenge for many people, My own observation shows thal even the students of business have limiled knowledge and expatience in writing complaint letters not only in English but also in Vietnamese. In the hope of working out some solutions to help Vietnamese people as well as Vielnamese students, lo some extent, overcome their difficulties in wriling business complaint letters, the study is an attempt to analyze some basic discourse features of business complaint letters from Systemic Functional Perspectives. Based on this, similarities and differen botween Bnglis letlars and Vietnarness ones will bs identified.
Aller thal, some suggestions will be drawn ont to improve the studying and teaching writing business complaint letters in English. Aims of the study “The object of the study focuses on only one kind of business letters, namely, the Iellers of business complaint in both Rnigtish and Vieinamess. Due to the conslrainls in ime and limited knowledge in Business English, this thesis will not deal with all aspects of complaint letters but concentrate on analyzing transitivity pattem, mood, thematic patter, and cohesion of letters in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. ‘The study aims at + Presenting and describing (transitivity pattern, mood pattern, thermatie pattern and cobesion in both English and Vietnamese business complaint letters; - Identifying the similarities and differences in both Lnglish and Vietnamese busin complaint letlers in terms of transilivily pallern, mood pattem, thertalic pattern and cohesion; PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: TITEORETICAT.
Introduction This chapter aims at discussing literature m order to construct a theoretical framework for this study. ‘To begin with, the concept of discourse, functions of language, and discourse context are dealt with, An overview on Systemic Functional Grammar focusing on transitivity, mood, theme-theme and cohesion are then mentioned. Finally, the definition, purpose, three contextual parameters and structure of business complaints are also presentedin this chapier 1. Theories of discaurse 1.
The concept of discourse Linguistics history has m many differonl approachos in which language is studied. There was a time when language was viewed as a biologically determined phenomenon and its social aspect was neglected. Linguists then tried to examine the essential linguistic units of words and individual sentences in terms of grammatical rules Sentences (hus were devoted to be studicd oul of their social context, However, people have come to realize that using language to communicate successfully with other people should be more important than only producing grammatically comect sentences. It is not always the casc that grammatically correct sentenecs arc meaningful and incomplete sentences are uninferpretable.
‘he fact seems to be different. People do not always produce complete sartences, yet. they slill gain snccess in soctal communication and vies versa. This proves that language must be learnt and comprehended in its social context that leads to a modem approach of language in which the concept of discourse is examined.
In spite of the fact that the term of discourse has been widely used in a variety of linguists? sluities, the precise definition of discourse remains an clusive one, Yet, iL may be basically defined as the Janguage in use for conmmunication.AK Halliday, as a w cope of the study Businass Tellers are the primary and usefil tools of exchanging ideas, facts, recommendations, proposals and so on within a business or between a business and other businesses and individuals, which give chances to businesses to operate efficiently and productively. Rffeclive letter writing involves the use of grammar and vocabulary, discourse cohesive devices and the communicative strategies, As mentioned above, due to the constrain in time and knowledge and the limitation of a minor thesis, the research carmol, oxplore all the aspects of this broad arca, bul. only the transitivity pattem, mand pattern, thematic pattem and cohesion of the letters. ‘The investigation and analyses have been based on the data in 30 business complaint Ietters written by both ngtish and Vietnamese walive speakers (15 in Tinglish and 15 im ‘Vietnamese; both types of letters are numbered from 1 to 15 for more convenient reference) which| presume to be sufficient data, ‘These data are collected from textbooks, internet, and authentic Frgtish and Vietramese business complain! lellers written by businesses and customers as well as other business associates.
Method of the study The sludy is confined 10 the description, arwlysis and comparison in terms of transitivity, mood, thematic pattern and cohesion. In order to achieve the goal, the approach is inductive, which is based on the data as well as authentic business complaint letters. Firstly, a large number of business complaint letters will be carefully sclected fom textbooks, internet and authentic sources. Because of the fact that there seems to be no fixed formal for this kind of correspondence, the Tellers were randomly chosen as data, providing they are of business complaints.
In addition, the authenticity is highly appreciated by the authors; most of the letters are, therefore, mainly chosen from authentic sources as mentioned above Secondly,# cerlain number of the sotecied tsllers will be deseribod and analyzed in tems of wansitivity, mood, thematic pattem and cohesion. ‘Thirdly, the data obtained will be analyzed and compared in order to find out the similaritics and differences in both Fngtish and Victnarnesc business complaints. Finally, the research results will be discussed to figure out some suggested ideas to help Vietnamese people write efffsctive business complaints in English vi CHAPTER 2: ANALYSIS OF BLSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE, 2.
