Luận văn thạc sĩ sympathizing utterances in english and vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN SYMPATHIZING UTTERANCES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH Binh Dinh, 2020 e MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QU[.]

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN SYMPATHIZING UTTERANCES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH Binh Dinh, 2020 e MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN SYMPATHIZING UTTERANCES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE Field: The English Language Code: 22 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH Supervisor: Dr Trƣơng Văn Định Binh Dinh, 2020 e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN PHÁT NGÔN THƠNG CẢM ANH-VIỆT Chun ngành: Mã số: Ngơn ngữ Anh 82 202 01 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ TIẾNG ANH Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: TS Trƣơng Văn Định Bình Định - Năm 2020 e i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the master thesis entitled: "Sympathizing Utterances in English and Vietnamese " is the result of my own research The thesis contains no document previously published or written by others except where the reference is made in the thesis The thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Binh Dinh, June 2020 Author’s signature Nguyễn Thị Vân e ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been completed if I did not have a support of many different individuals First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Trương Văn Định for his enthusiasm, patience, motivation and friendliness In the process of conducting this thesis, he helps me to shape the study and always give me valuable advice I am also grateful to all lecturers in English master course, who gave me a lot of useful knowledge and comments as well as valuable documents, which helped me so much in completing this research Last but not least, I would like to send my thanks towards my family and my friends who always encouraged, supported and helped me to complete this thesis e iii ABSTRACT This research aims to investigate the sympathy strategies and modality markers displaying politeness in English and Vietnamese and to find out the similarities and differences between the two languages The data were collected from English and Vietnamese movies as well as English and Vietnamese publications This study is carried out on the framework of Brown & Levinson‟s politeness theory (1987) Modality markers and linguistic forms displaying politeness in sympathizing utterances are presented in the study The collected data were classified into sympathy strategies and types of modality markers with a view to pointing out the English-Vietnamese similarities and differences in offering sympathy in the light of politeness As regards types of sympathy strategies in sympathizing utterances in English and Vietnamese, the English and Vietnamese often use sympathy strategies such as “sympathizing”, “consoling”, “encouraging”, “sympathizing & advising” and “sympathizing & encouraging” When offer sympathy to a griever, the English and Vietnamese often “encouraging” the griever in the hope that the griever will soon escape the depressing situation However, there are some differences in the use of sympathy strategies of the English and Vietnamese First, the English prefer “sympathizing” while the Vietnamese resort to “consoling” Second, the English favor “sharing feelings” while the Vietnamese are biased on “advising” Meanwhile, in American culture, a culture that values personal freedom, it is taboo or impolite to talk about privacy Third, the English not use the strategies of “advising”, “offering feelings & encouraging”, “sharing feelings & advising”, “consoling & reassuring”, “consoling & committing” and “consoling & e iv encouraging” while the Vietnamese never mention the strategies “assisting”, “praising & consoling & sharing feelings & encouraging”, “sharing feelings & assisting”, “sympathizing & sharing feelings” and “sympathizing & sharing feelings & assisting” As for the types of modality markers in sympathizing utterances in English and Vietnamese, the study shows that the English and Vietnamese have some similarities in the use of MMs in sympathizing utterances First, both the English and Vietnamese use “sympathy markers”, intensifier” and “solidarity marker” with the first having by far the highest proportion However, there are some differences in the use of MMs in sympathizing utterances performed by the English and Vietnamese First, the English use more MMs than the Vietnamese Second, the English use “politeness marker”, “playdown”, “downtoner” and “rezo-MM” with a proportion twice as high as the Vietnamese while the Vietnamese resort to “‟plus‟ committer” and “hedge” with a proportion twice as high as the English Third, the Vietnamese use “„minus‟ committer with a frequency by far higher than the English e v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGUIRES xii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objectives 1.2.1 Aim of the study 1.2.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the Study 1.5 Scope of the Study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speech Act Theory 2.1.1 Definition of speech acts 2.1.2 Classification of Speech Acts 2.1.3 Speech Act of Sympathizing 10 2.2 Politeness theories 11 2.2.1 Definition of Politeness 11 2.2.2 Rules, principles and theories of politeness 13 e vi 2.2.2.1 Lakoff‟s rules of politeness 13 2.2.2.2 Leech‟s principles of politeness 14 2.2.2.3 Brown & Levinson‟s Politeness Theory 15 2.3 Modality Theories 18 2.3.1 Definition of Modality 18 2.3.2 Classification of Modality 20 2.3.3 Modal Linguistic Devices in English 21 2.3.3.1 Phonetic devices 21 2.3.3.2 Grammatical devices 22 2.3.3.3 Lexical devices 24 2.3.4 Modal Linguistic Devices in Vietnamese 25 2.3.4.1 Phonetic Devices 25 2.3.4.2 Grammatical Devices 25 2.3.4.3 Lexical devices 26 2.4 Previous studies 27 2.5 Summary 29 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE 30 3.1 Research methods 30 3.2 Research procedures 30 3.3 Data collection 31 3.4 Data analysis 31 3.5 Validity and reliability 31 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 4.1 Sympathy Strategies in English and Vietnamese 33 4.1.1 Sympathy Strategies in English 33 4.1.1.1 Assisting 35 4.1.1.2 Consoling 35 e vii 4.1.1.3 Consoling & advising 35 4.1.1.4 Consoling & assisting 36 4.1.1.5 Consoling & encouraging 36 4.1.1.6 Encouraging 37 4.1.1.7 Praising & consoling & sharing feelings & encouraging 37 4.1.1.8 Sharing feelings 38 4.1.1.9 Sharing feelings & assisting 38 4.1.1.10 Sharing feelings & consoling 39 4.1.1.11 Sympathizing 39 4.1.1.12 Sympathizing & advising 40 4.1.1.13 Sympathizing & sharing feelings 40 4.1.1.14 Sympathizing & sharing feelings & assisting 40 4.1.2 Sympathy Strategies in Vietnamese 41 4.1.2.1 Advising 43 4.1.2.2 Consoling 43 4.1.2.3 Consoling & advising 44 4.1.2.4 Consoling & assisting 44 4.1.2.5 Consoling & reassuring 45 4.1.2.6 Consoling & committing 45 4.1.2.7 Consoling & encouraging 46 4.1.2.8 Encouraging 46 4.1.2.9 Offering feelings & encouraging 47 4.1.2.10 Sharing feelings & advising 47 4.1.2.11 Sharing feelings & consoling 47 4.1.2.12 Sympathizing 48 4.1.2.13 Sympathizing & encouraging 49 e ... strategies in sympathizing utterances in English and Vietnamese, the English and Vietnamese often use sympathy strategies such as ? ?sympathizing? ??, “consoling”, “encouraging”, ? ?sympathizing & advising” and. .. strategies “assisting”, “praising & consoling & sharing feelings & encouraging”, “sharing feelings & assisting”, ? ?sympathizing & sharing feelings” and ? ?sympathizing & sharing feelings & assisting” As for... markers in sympathizing utterances in English and Vietnamese, the study shows that the English and Vietnamese have some similarities in the use of MMs in sympathizing utterances First, both the English