VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* TRẦN THỊ HUỆ COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS (Tính tập thể và tính cá nhân trong quảng cáo của Mỹ và Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* TRẦN THỊ HUỆ COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS (Tính tập thể và tính cá nhân trong quảng cáo của Mỹ và Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201. Nguyễn Hòa Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that this thesis, which is entitled “Collectivism and Individualism in American and Vietnamese Print Advertisements”, is created from my original work. I have firmly declared the contribution of others to my thesis such as data analysis, practical strategies, and all other research that was employed or reviewed in my thesis. This thesis is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Hanoi, 2019 Trần Thị Huệ i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been finished without the assistance I received from many people and organisations. I would like to express my thankfulness to: my supervisor, Prof. Nguyễn Hòa for being immeasureably helpful for my work and for his detailed advice, invaluable comments and suggestions. Without his endless support this thesis would have been impossible.
the Post-Graduate staff and my classmates at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for providing me with basic knowledge about how to structure a research project and the opportunity to improve my research knowledge and skills. my family for their wholehearted support and motivation. Without their support and collaboration, this thesis would have been impossible. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The present study seeks to identify the cultural values of individualism and collectivism reflected in print advertisements between Vietnam and America from three domains of linguistic performance: first person pronoun use, communication styles (high vs.
low context communication, direct vs. indirect communication styles, and self-contrual), and face & facework (self-face vs. other-face concern, and negative vs. There are two hypotheses being put forward in the thesis: APAs are dominated by IDV (hypothesis1), and VPAs are dominated by COL (hypothesis 2).
In order to test these two hypotheses, qualitative case study is applied in the study to analyze the advertising samples in the aspects of COL and IDV. After the qualitative analysis of three linguistic domains, the following findings can be concluded: Vietnamese print advertisements are more collectivistic. Meanwhile, American print advertisements seem to employ both individualism and collectivism at the same level. Besides, the data indicate that, in advertising context, print advertisements act as a means of communication, in which the advertisers- writers may employ both IDV and COL based on different situations.
The findings of the study are expected to be of help in better understanding the relationship between cultural values of IDV/ COL and print advertising, and in better designs of print advertisements. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABBREVIATIONS COL Collectivism IDV Individualism VPAs Vietnamese print advertisements APAs American print advertisements iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Characteristics of the independent -self and the interdependent-self 7 Table 2: Differences between individualistic communication styles & collectivistic communication styles 21 Table 3: The frequency of first person pronoun in APAs and VPAs 30 Table 4: Average count of explicit and implicit messages in APAs and VPAs 32 Table 5: The percentages of direct vs. indirect directive and commissive speech acts in VPAs and APAs 38 Table 6: The frequency of “show off” words in VPAs and APAs 40 Table 7: The frequency of first-person pronoun and second-person pronoun in VPAs and APAs 43 Table 8: Distribution of positive and negative politeness strategies in APAs and VPAs 45 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Model of psycho- cultural linguistics 12 Figure 2: Brown and Levinson’s (1987: 60) model for politeness strategies 28 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.iv LIST OF TABLES.v LIST OF FIGURES. Aims of the study.
Scope of the study. Organization of the study. Significance of the study……………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS. Review of theoretical background for the study.1 Collectivism versus individualism.2 Attributes of Individualism and Collectivism.3 The self-concept .4 Advertisements and print advertisements.8 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.1 Definition and Function of Advertising.2 Classification of advertising.3 Components of advertising.5 Individualism and Collectivism in print advertisements.
Individualism- collectivism in linguistics. Reviews of previous studies.……………………………………………………………………16 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Design of the study. Data and Procedure.
First person pronoun use.1 High and low context communication.2 Direct and indirect communication styles….3 Self-Contrual: self-enhancement & Self-effacement.3 Face and Facework.1 Self-face & Other-face concern.26 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.2 Negative and positive politeness strategies.29 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. First person pronoun use.1 High and low context communication.2 Direct and indirect styles.3 Self- construal: Self-enhancement & self-effacement. Face and Facework.1 Self-face concern versus Other-face concern.2 Negative and positive politeness strategies. Limitations and recommendations for further study.
Vietnamese print advertisements. American print advertisements.XI viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.advertisements Table I: The frequency of first person pronouns. XXI Table II : Number of explicit and implicit messages in VPAs.XXI Table III: Number of explicit and implicit messages in APAs.XXXIII Table IV: Distribution of direct and indirect speech acts in VPAs.XLIV Table V : Distribution of direct and indirect speech acts in APAs .XLIX Table VI: The frequency of “show off” words in in VPAs and APAs.LV Table VII: The frequency of first-person pronoun and second-person pronoun .LV Table VIII: Distribution of different types of politeness strategies in VPAs.LV Table IX: Distribution of different types of politeness strategies in APAs.LIX ix TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.advertisements CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of five main parts: rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study, organization and significance of the study. Rationale With the development of economy and social culture, advertising is of paramount importance, because advertisements not only reflect the orientation of the economy, but also manifest cultural values.
It can be said that people live in an advertising environment and an advertising time. Television and print are traditional media that have been usually used for implementing advertising. In spite of the fact that social media has recently become very common, prints (newspapers and magazines) still remain important media for advertising because prints are still perceived as one of the most believable and trustworthy sources of information and accessibility to local and ethnic audiences (Nyilasy et al. Moreover, print advertisements are regarded as special discourses with their own characteristics, as well as products of cultures and languages.
There are similarities as well as differences between Vietnamese and American advertising. These differences derive from their respective cultures. Hofstede‟s studies reveal that western nations such as the United States, France, the United Kingdom, etc. present high level of IDV, conversely eastern countries like China, Japan, Vietnam tend to be collectivistic.
When it comes to IDV & COL reflected in print advertisements, there are many researches concentrating on this theme. Yet, these previous researches‟ samples are rarely Vietnamese print advertising, and most of those studies are based on cultural-psychology analysis. Furthermore, economic development and the process of globalization can be considered to be the forces driving cultural values to change. In general, different values could make different languages, different cultures and other things between those cultural value 1 (LUAN.advertisements TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Thus, from the perspective on cultural values, people can study very well the print advertisements, so do a better understanding of a country's culture. These phenomena interest me a great deal. I come up with a question: In the age of globalization and cross-cultural communication, VPAs and APAs manifest either individuaism or collectivism or both of them. It is this question that inspires and motivates me to do research on this theme.
Aims of the study IDV and COL are considered to be primary cultural values across cultures. Conventionally, it is believed that American culture pertains to IDV, but Vietnamese culture is a collectivistic culture. This conventional thinking might be still suitable or no longer appropriate according to different contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test the following hypotheses in the case of print advertisements: Hypothesis 1: APAs are dominated by IDV.
Hypothesis 2: VPAs are dominated by COL. Scope of the Study To limit the scope of the study, this thesis focuses on the linguistic manifestations of cultural patterns in the aspect of COL/ IDV in 43 APAs and 43 VPAs. The research‟s data is collected from American magazines such as The economist, Forbes, Women‟s health, and from Vietnamese newspapers and magazine namely Thời báo kinh tế Việt Nam, báo Phụ nữ and Forbes Việt Nam. Organization of the study This thesis is organized into five chapters: Chapter 1- Introduction, chapter 2- Literature reviews, chapter 3: research methodology, chapter 4: findings and discussion, chapter 5: conclusion.
This introductory part presents the rationale, aims 2 (LUAN.advertisements TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.advertisements of the study, scope, and organization of the study. Next, chapter 2 introduces the related literature reviews. In this chapter, the author gives the brief introduction to theoretical background related to COL vs. IDV, the self- concept, attributes of IDV and COL, advertisements & print advertisements, IDV & COL in print advertisements, and IDV & COL in linguistics.
The author also reviews some previous studies. Chapter 3 explains the research methodology. It deals with the design of the study, data collection & procedure, and analytical framework. Chapter 4 reports the findings and dicussion.
The thesis ends with chapter 5- Conclusion, which discusses recapitulations, the possible implications. It also presents some limitations of the study and recommendations for further research.5 Significance of the study This study is hoped to explore and discover the interrelation of cultural values of IDV&COL and print advertisements. Theoretically, this study provides a support to theories of IDV&COL manifested in linguistics. From the analysis of three domains of language (first person pronoun use, communication styles and face & facework) when approaching the theme, IDV & COL might be found behind words.
Practically, this study is carried out with the expectation of giving some suggestions for advertisers, which may contribute to their advertising success. Besides, this paper may also give the fresh angle for cross-culture learning and teaching.advertisements TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.advertisements CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS This chapter is made up of three main parts. Firstly, it will start with critically reviewing the concepts of COL versus IDV, self-concept, attributes of COL and IDV, advertisements and classification, components of advertising, and IDV and COL in print advertisements and linguistics. Secondly, it will review and discuss previous studies related to IDV & COL in advertisements in order to identify the gap in the literature.
Finally, this chapter ends with summary. Review of theoretical background for the study 2. Collectivism versus individualism In the book “Cultural Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values” by Geert Hofstede, IDV & COL were proposed as two poles of a one- dimensional construct to explain societal differences in social behavior at cultural level (Hofstede, 1980). According to Hofstede, IDV pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after himself and his or her immediate family.
COL as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people‟s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty ( Hofstede, 1998:346).