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Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting categories in terms of a cross cultural perspective final assignment SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 3 1.1. Rationale for the study 3 1.2. Aims of the study 3 1.3. Objectives of the study 3 1.4. Scope of the study 4 1.5. Significance of the study 4 1.6. Structural organization of the study 4 SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2.1. Review of previous studies 5 2.2. Review of theoretical background 6 2.2.1. Language and communication 6 2.2.2. Cultural traits in greeting 7 2.2.3. Overview of speech acts 8 2.2.3.1. Definition of speech acts 8 2.2.3.2. Components of Speech acts 8 2.2.3.3. Politeness Theory 9 2.2.4. Crosscultural communication 10 2.2.5. Overview of Greetings 11 2.2.5.1. Greeting as a speech act. 11 2.2.5.2. Definition of Greetings 11 2.2.5.3. The pragmatic functions of Greetings 12 2.2.5.4. Types of greetings 13 2.2.6. Summary 15 SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1. Researchgoverning orientations 16 3.1.1. Research questions 16 3.1.2. Research setting 16 3.1.3. Research approach. 16 3.2. Research methods 17 3.2.1. Major methods and supporting methods 17 3.2.2. Data collection techniques 17 3.2.3. Data analysis techniques. 17 3.3. Summary 17 SECTION 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 18 4.1. The categories of greeting in English and Vietnamese 18 4.1.1. Based on the structural and functional dimensions 18 4.1.1.1. Direct greeting 18 4.1.1.2. Indirect greeting 19 4.1.2. Based on the strategic dimensions 21 4.1.2.1. Greeting on the run 21 4.1.2.2. Speedy greetings 21 4.1.2.3. The chat 21 4.1.2.4. The long greetings 21 4.1.2.5. The intimate greeting 21 4.1.2.6. The business greeting 22 4.1.2.7. The introductory greeting 22 4.1.2.8. The regreeting 22 4.2. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting categories in terms of a cross cultural perspective. 22 4.2.1. Similarities 22 4.2.2. Differences 22 4.2.2.1. The differences about the structural and functional dimensions of greeting categories. 22 4.2.2.2. The differences about the strategic dimensions of greeting categories 24 4.3. Implication in using greeting categories for Vietnamese learners of English. 24 SECTION 5: CONCLUSION 25 5.1. Recapitulation 25 5.2. Concluding remarks 25 5.3. Limitation of the research 26 5.4. Suggestion for further studies 26
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Objectives of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study .4 1.6 Structural organization of the study .4 SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background .6 2.2.1 Language and communication 2.2.2 Cultural traits in greeting 2.2.3 Overview of speech acts 2.2.3.1 Definition of speech acts 2.2.3.2 Components of Speech acts 2.2.3.3 Politeness Theory 2.2.4 Cross-cultural communication 10 2.2.5 Overview of Greetings .11 2.2.5.1 Greeting as a speech act 11 2.2.5.2 Definition of Greetings 11 2.2.5.3 The pragmatic functions of Greetings 12 2.2.5.4 Types of greetings 13 2.2.6 Summary 15 SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Research-governing orientations 16 3.1.1 Research questions 16 3.1.2 Research setting .16 3.1.3 Research approach 16 3.2 Research methods .17 3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods 17 3.2.2 Data collection techniques 17 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 17 3.3 Summary 17 SECTION 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .18 i 4.1 The categories of greeting in English and Vietnamese .18 4.1.1 Based on the structural and functional dimensions 18 4.1.1.1 Direct greeting 18 4.1.1.2 Indirect greeting 19 4.1.2 Based on the strategic dimensions 21 4.1.2.1 Greeting on the run .21 4.1.2.2 Speedy greetings 21 4.1.2.3 The chat .21 4.1.2.4 The long greetings .21 4.1.2.5 The intimate greeting 21 4.1.2.6 The business greeting 22 4.1.2.7 The introductory greeting 22 4.1.2.8 The re-greeting .22 4.2 Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting categories in terms of a cross- cultural perspective 22 4.2.1 Similarities 22 4.2.2 Differences .22 4.2.2.1 The differences about the structural and functional dimensions of greeting categories .22 4.2.2.2 The differences about the strategic dimensions of greeting categories 24 4.3 Implication in using greeting categories for Vietnamese learners of English 24 SECTION 5: CONCLUSION 25 5.1 Recapitulation 25 5.2 Concluding remarks 25 5.3 Limitation of the research 26 5.4 Suggestion for further studies 26 ii SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study In recent years, English has become an international language used widely all over the world It is not only the language of communication and media but also the language of knowledge and culture Mastering English is considered an obligated condition for everyone in Vietnam and it is implied to be a “passport” for a good job because English serves their job and their promotion Therefore, people pay more and more attention to learning English They no longer grammar and translation exercises only but listening skill and speaking skill have been invested more time and better attention as well As a result, English has been learnt more properly and used more effectively However, in reality, Vietnamese learners of English often make mistakes in communicating with English speakers This is mostly caused by the effect of Vietnamese culture and the limitation of understanding about English culture One of the most important parts in almost every conversation is greeting which generally plays an important role in communication and functions as a start of a conversation or indentify the appearance of speakers or to express the respect to the listener In addition, greetings help to establish, maintain a relationship and facilitates the conversation As in Vietnam, greetings play an important role as these sayings “Lời chào cao mâm cỗ” or “ Dao liếc sắc, người chào quen” It means that Vietnamese are extremely serious in greeting In fact, many Vietnamese people failed to continue their conversation in English due to not only language ability but also understanding about the culture of target language, English In many cases, when being greeted by a foreigner, many English learners feel confused to find out a good and relevant response, some people cannot respond their partner’s greeting immediately With all the above necessity, the author has chosen the topic “ A study on English and Vietnamese greetings from a cross – cultural communication perspective” with the expectation of finding out the cultural similarities and differences between Vietnamses and English greetings which partly helps Vietnamese learners of Engish have more knowledge and skills in greetings, achieve more success in communicating in English 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims at investigating the greetings in English and Vietnamese, compare and contrast to point out the similarities and differences of greetings categories in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective, to provide Vietnamese learners of English necessary knowledge and skills in greetings 1.3 Objectives of the study To achieve the aims above, the following objectives can be put forward: - Pointing out the categories of greeting in English and Vietnamese - Identifying the similarities and differences of greeting categories in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective - Providing the Vietnamese learners of English some implications in using greeting categories 1.4 Scope of the study Academically, the greeting categories which are analyzed in this study are English and Vietnamese in spoken form The models of greeting categorized and analyzed in this study include only the greetings that are commonly found in daily communication and expressed to other(s) orally Moreover, greeting is one important part of language, especially is the initiator of conservation How greeting is used in different cultures, particularly between English and Vietnamese is my great concern Therefore, the study focused on the cultural similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greetings; greetings in different social encounters 1.5 Significance of the study Theoretically, major similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese speakers when greeting someone will be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to add some certain theoretical background to study English Practically, the findings of the study will increase readers’ awareness of crosscultural differences in order to avoid culture shock and to guarantee successful communication As a teacher of English, the author feels duty-bound to raise her students’ awareness of conventional behaviors in common situations and to incorporate the study of cultural behaviors as an integral part of each lesson 1.6 Structural organization of the study The thesis consists of chapters as follow: Section is the Introduction of the study which shows the reasons why the topic is chosen, what the research aims at as well as the scope, the significance and the structural organization of the study Section is the Literature review and Theoretical background of the study This chapter will give the brief review of related literature and theoretical background of every matter mentioned in the study Section is the Methodology in which the main steps and techniques applied in the study such as data collection, description and comparison the greetings between two languages is provided Section is the Findings and Discussions In this chapter, it presents and analyzes the collected data from questionnaires as well as gives the similarities and differences of using greeting categories in English and Vietnamese Besides that, the study offers some implications for Vietnamese learners of English in greetings are drawn out Section is the Conclusion of the study which presents the recapitulation of the study, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further study SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies Greeting is really an interesting issue in our daily life It plays an important role in communicative competence necessary for being a member of any speech community There are many famous Vietnamese and foreign linguist and scholars having done researches on this linguistic field Ebsworth (1992) also indicated that greeting can be seen in the different ways which cultures choose to perform these speech acts Greetings in American or British English are often produced by a serial turn taking of the communicative partners It was recognized that American greetings have a greater variety because Americans make use of more creative language It lies in the fact that greetings as part of cross-cultural communication may vary from lexical choices to substantial differences in cultural norms and values Greetings in American English consist of a range of linguistic and non-verbal choices which may include a simple wave or smile, a single utterance, or a lengthy a series of conservational turns Nodoushan (2007) provided some examples and explanations for the most common used greetings in American English He divided the greetings into two different types based on time: in time-free and time-bound Nodoushan (2007) also claimed that Americans tends to be more informal in their daily life greetings Except on official occasions such as reception of distinguished guests, American society has a certain amount of informality in introductions and greetings On most occasions one need not be ‘particularly conscious of social status, Americans generally ignore it’ (p.359) In spite of the informality, however, there are rules of good manners and social patterns that should be followed There are rules of introducing people to each other A younger person is generally introduced to an old person, a man to a woman, a guest to the host or hostess, and a person to the group Nodoushan (2007) Dr Maysa’a Kadhim Jibreen in “The Speech Act of Greeting: A Theoretical Reading” He has given definition of greeting, classification and structures of greeting in term of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic William K (1997) in “An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbooks and Real Life Settings” He has pointed out in general classifications of greeting In Vietnam, a great number of studies on greeting expression have attracted learners of English such as Nguyen Phuong Suu (1990) focused on investigating similarities and differences in the way Vietnamese and Australian speaker greet and address in their own language and the underlying factors that govern their choice of linguistic forms used in greeting and address terms in order to find out what pragmatic transfer and interference exists in Vietnamese- English interaction The Australian subjects consider the length of time they have been known each other and the context of interaction the most important factors in greeting and addressing, whereas the Vietnamese speakers are likely to see the age, the address as the most important factor in greeting and addressing someone (Suu, 1990, pp.78-79) Nguyen Thi Bich Hang (2009) in“ English analysis: English and Vietnamese Greetings”, Huyen Vu (2009) in “Cách chào hỏi người Việt người Mỹ”, Tran Thi Bich Hanh (2010) “Vietnamese and English Greetings: A contrastive analysis ”, Huynh Thi Thanh Chau in “Greetings in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis” and Hoang Thi Thanh Dung in “A cross-cultural study of addressing forms in greetings in Vietnamese and English”, (2010), the study shows the similarities and differences in two countries through their cultures in order to help the learners avoid cultural shocks or cross-cultural conflicts involving the addressing forms in greetings in global communication Tran Anh Vuong in the research “Ways of greeting and a comparison between Vietnamese and English greetings” studies on greeting and greeting culture in English and Vietnamese He also points out the similarities and differences between them However, his research is rather wide He infers both verbal and non-verbal greeting However, it seems there is a lack of a research which deals with the differences between English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural communication perspective That is the reason for this research to be done 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Language and communication Language is the remarkable system that allows people to communicate an unlimited combination of ideas using a highly structured stream of sounds Or “language is the system of special signals which people use to communicate and it is the basic means of communication and developing thought of people People use language to impart tradition, culture, history and experiences from the old generation to the young generation” It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in an agreed way And there is no doubt that language is a system for communicating When people want to tell each other something, language appears Apparently, language is the means of communication Without language, people cannot exchange information, experiences and share feelings, thought with each other People use language to express their thought, feelings, ideas, experience It is the reality of thought Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior It is the activity or the process of expressing ideas, feelings or exchanging the ideas, information with someone It is clearly seen that the way we communicate and the way we understand others’ communication are the result of our knowledge and past experiences That means communication can take place anywhere and is carried out by anybody In communication, interlocutors show their attitude, relationship, mood, understanding, confusion and a whole range of other things and convey a range of meanings in different cultures, from insults to approval or even attraction The participants anything to make others understand what they mean The successful communication means that the person receives the massage being intended To communicate successfully, the communicators must understand the other’s needs, feelings, and ideas Language plays an important role in conveying people’s thinking and expressing their feeling and attitude in daily communication, meanwhile, greeting expression belongs to the language system When meeting, people greet each other by expressions (saying some words) So greeting is the activity of giving speech or words to welcome someone It is an important part of communication, even compulsory Participants are both speakers and listeners involved directly in conversation And using the way of greeting can help us know interlocutors’ emotion, feeing as well as their knowledge, culture, politeness and respect to each other People who are involved inconversation should depend on objects and other features of communicative situation such as age, sex, family relationship, social status and power Language is used to communicative while greeting is a process of communication So greeting involves language which is known as greeting language It is one of the key changes to communicate effectively with different people in different cultures 2.2.2 Cultural traits in greeting Culture is the combination of all the physical and behavioral aspects of a society Culture includes all knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other tradition and habits acquired by man as a member of society Culture is also a historically transmitted, socially constructed system of beliefs, premises, symbols and their meanings that pertain to a group of people So we can consider culture a tool that our families and societies instill in us to get through life In Vietnamese, cross cultural is defined as the contact, the affective exchange, the interaction among cultural aspects of different ethnics In English, culture is like an iceberg, most of which is deep within the ocean just much of culture is deep within people The tip of the iceberg is easy to see This includes the visible aspects and taboo of communication on other cultures; the remaining huge chuck of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects of a culture such as the values, traditions, experience and behaviors that define each culture The connection between the human capacities for culture and language has been notes as far as classical antiquity, the relation between language and culture is more complex than the coordinate title language and culture would suggest Language is, of course, an integral part of culture, defined simplistically as the totality of beliefs and practices of a society Furthermore, the semantic content of language is always related to the entities, events, states, processes, characteristics and relations within culture, and culture depends in large measure on language in order to function and to perpetuate itself It is not strange, therefore, that most of the serious mistakes in translation are the result of not recognizing the intimate relations between language and culture Greeting expression is a phenomenon of language And as language is believed to be woven into every fabric of every human culture, it can be said that greeting expression is an element of culture Although there are plenty of disagreements on the definition of culture and the relation between language and culture, a majority of people agree that culture overwhelms language and language reflects culture Nevertheless, cultural features vary from region, even when they speak the same language That is why their reflections in language are different Greeting expression is not an exception It is influenced by cultures Each country has its own culture So cross-cultural among countries can make greeting expression have plenty of dissimilarities between Vietnamese and English cultures Cultures rooted in people’s awareness so deeply that they cannot be changed easily in a short time Each culture still has its own characteristics and dignity These dissimilarities between two cultures often create a phenomenon called cultural shock when people from the two cultures endeavor to communicate The ways of greeting in Vietnamese and English are surely affected by cultural features To partially help avoid the cultural shock in this area, this research will discuss some main characteristics of the way of Vietnamese and English people’s greeting It can also help us know more about the way we can make a polite greeting 2.2.3 Overview of speech acts 2.2.3.1 Definition of speech acts The notion of “speech acts” and its theory were initiated by the British philosopher Austin (1962), and then were further developed by others such as Searle (1969,1976), Leach (1983), Levinson (1983), Yule (1996,1997) And all these speech act theorists share the view that there is a close link between speech acts and language functions Austin (1962:147-149) points out many functions performed by utterances as part of interpersonal communication Particularly, he says that many utterances not communicate information, but are equivalent to actions They are “words that things” in the world and in saying something the speaker does something Besides, Austin originally (1960:52) used the term “speech acts to refer to an utterance” and the “total situation in which the utterance is issued” (Thomas, 1996:51) Sharing with Austin’s ideas, Richards, Platt, J and Platt, H.(1992:342) defines, “speech acts is an utterance as a functional unit in communication” Also, Yule (1996:47) states, “Actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts” These speech acts are commonly given such specific labels as apologizing, complaining, complimenting, inviting, promising or requesting etc Thus, their common assumption is that when conversing people use grammatical and lexical units not only to produce utterances, but also to perform actions These speech acts, considered as minimal units of human communication, are performed in actual situations of language use – as Searle (1969:16) says, “… Speech acts are the basic or minimal units of linguistic communication” 2.2.3.2 Components of Speech acts According to Austin’s theory (1962), the act is performed under any of the three forces; what we say has three kinds of meaning which Trung (2013:105) called three components namely locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary Locutionary Force : is what produces the act of “saying something”, i.e., the act of uttering a certain sentence with a meaning Illocutionary Force: In performing a locutionary act, we may also perform such an act as questioning, promising, warning, ordering,etc Thus, the words have the force of a question a promising, a warning, an ordering, etc Austin made a distinction between a locutionary act and an illocutionary act as one between the act of saying and the act in saying something, respectively The latter is the inherent function of the speech act, which might be established by simply looking at the act itself in relation to existing belief Perlocutionary Force: is one that produces the consequential effects on the speaker or hearer's feelings, thoughts or actions 2.2.3.3 Politeness Theory Politeness, an issue which has a great impact to human being and deeply influences to human interaction, will be now discussed right in this part because “Politeness is basic to the production of social order, and a precondition of human cooperation any theory which provides an understanding of this phenomenon at the same time goes to the foundation of human social life.”(Brown and Levinson, 1987) Concept of politeness Many linguists share their understanding and their concern on the concept of politeness Brown and Levinson (1990:2), in their introduction to “Politeness- Some Universal in Language Usage", emphasize that “the issues of politeness raise sociological speculations of this scale;they also touch on many other interests and many other fields" Hill et al (1986:349) define politeness as “one of the constraints on human interaction,whose purpose is to consider other's feelings establish levels of mutual comfort,and promote rapport" The notion of politeness has been largely discussed.Lakoff (1975:64) sees politeness as “a system of interpersonal relational designed to facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherentin all human interchange" According to Nguyen Quang (2005:185),“Politeness refers to any communicative act (verbal and / or non-verbal) which is intentionally and appropriately meant to make others feel better or less bad." Politeness strategies Linguists have stated different ways of expressing politeness strategies Among them, the most influential theory of politeness is put forward by Brown & Levinson According to Thomas the Brown and Levinson's "has been extraordinarily influential and very widely discussed"(Thomas,1995) Although there might besome criticism, such as a few overlaps and borderlines between positive and negative politeness,their theory can reliable serve as a theoretical framework for cross-cultural research Positive politeness strategies Positive politeness is directed to hearer's positive face, his “perennial desire that his wants should be thought of as desirable”(Brown & Levinson 1987,101).By using positive politeness strategies,the speaker conveys that they are co-operators with the address and that they have a common ground Brown and Levinson (1987) list 15 positive politeness strategies With first eight of the strategies,the speaker claims common ground,“indicating that S and H belong to the same set of persons who share specific wants, including goals and values"(p.103) The latter strategies are used to convey that speaker and hearer are co-operators and have the same goals Consequently, if speaker requires something from the hearer, he can use the strategies to hint that by attending to the speaker,the hearer is acting in his own interest as well Negative politeness strategies Negative politeness in Brown&Levinson (1987:129) is considered as “regressive action addressed to the addressee's negative face: his want to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded' Agreeing with Brown & Levinson on definition of negative politeness, Nguyen Quang (2003) emphasizes "Negative politeness is in any communicative act which is appropriately intended to show that speaker does not want to impinge on the addressee's privacy,thus enhancing the sense of distance between them" In short, “negative politeness”involves the speaker and hearer's independence This is also known as the “formal politeness strategy”which creates the distance between the speaker and hearer In most English speaking countries, people are more inclined to employ negative politeness strategies However, what politeness strategy is preferred by what culture suggests a problem In many Oriental Languages, including Vietnamese, negative politeness is not always put in a high place.Vietnamese people tend to use positive politeness to show concern to others and narrow the distance between the speaker and the hearer 2.2.4 Cross-cultural communication In cross-cultural communities, there is some reaching across boundaries.We try to build bridges of relationship between our cultural communities by sharing, listening, learning, and being open to changing It is also means that: (i) Two or more cultures are considered or related to (ii) Often cultures are compared or contrasted with one another,and one culture is dee med superior or inferior to another (iii) Power differentials are still not addressed, it only allows for limited learning or exchange between cultural groups (iv) Cultural differences may be understood or acknowledged, but are also managed in a way that does not allow for individual or collective transformation Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among The discussion above shows that from pragmatic perspective, greetings can be regarded as illocutionary acts Illocutionary force can be conveyed through these illocutionary acts However, the understanding of the covert meaning of greetings by the interlocutors in daily conversation lies in the routinization of such expressions Greetings as Linguistic Routines of Politeness Firth (1972:29-30) suggests that greetings should not be treated as spontaneous emotional reaction to the coming together of people For the most part they are highly conventionalized and follow patterned routines Espousing Firth's view, Laver (quoted in Qian,1996) makes a further study of greetings in the linguistic patterns of conversation He asserts that greetings as conversational routines are part of the linguistic repertoire of politeness They are tools of polite behavior and their use is guided by a polite norm Based upon his assumption, he employs Brown and Levinson's politeness theory to explain the function and use of greetings As Laver (quoted in Qian,1996) comments, the central concept Brown and Levinson employ in their model is that of face after Goffiman (1967) As mentioned earlier, face refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize They distinguish negative face the want that one's action be unimpeded by others) and positive face (the want that one's wants be desirable to at least some others) If the strategic ends of speakers in conversational act are to be achieved, various politeness strategies must be used to maintain the participants' negative face or to enhance their positive face In the process of greetings, such maintenance of enhancement of face has to be taken into consideration For instance, in English, greetings such as ‘Hello!',“How you do?” and “I am pleased to meet you” have to be used to maintain or even enhance the hearer's positive face, depending on the status of the participants and the social setting In Vietnamese, some greetings are frequently used for the sake of politeness in social interactionas well For example, “Hello!” and “Good morning!” as greeting expressions seem to be directed towards the hearer's positive face Greetings such as “What are you doing?”and “Where are you going?” seem to maintain the speaker's positive face The examples above illustrate some routine expressions used in social greetings Both participants normally take each other's positive or negative face into consideration In short, greetings are important conversational routines in the negotiation of social relationship and they are constrained by com mon social factors In the following section,the use of greetings and some analytical frameworks accounting for the factors that affect the use of greetings will be discussed 2.2.5.4 Types of greetings There are many ways to say “hello".Generally, according to Bruce Tillitt(2006), the author of the book “Speaking naturally” can be classified into two 11 major types basing on the formality of the communicating contexts: formal greetings and informal greetings A greeting seen as a formal or informal one is determined by the particular context in which the greeting is uttered Besides, the formality of a greeting is dependent on the choice of vocabulary and structure Sometimes, you say a quick hello as you are passing somebody At the other times, a greeting can lead to a conversation In addition, friends and family members greet each other in a casual way Business greetings are more formal It can be defined that greetings forms in the Vietnamese culture is a longestablished aspect that could be viewed from different angles culture, including the direct greetings and indirect greetings Besides, like other languages where greeting forms are uttered with the direct greeting words such“Hello!”,"Salut",ete or according to different times of the day “Good morning!",“Good afternoon!”,“Good evening!", greetings in Vietnamese use of“direct”greeting words/phrases“Chào",“Xin chào"widely English greetings are similar to greetings in almost every language because they are formulaic and used in each case with different purposes Furthermore, English greetings are varied including “Hi!”,“Hello",“Good morning!”,“How are you?”,“How you do?”,etc, in other words, there are many ways to say “Hello” in English to lead to a conversation.Thus, it is difficult to make a format for English greetings Firth (1972) categorizes greetings in English into three linguistic forms: an interjection, a question or an affirmation On the other hand, they can be divided into two types of greetings: formal greetings and informal greetings The formal greetings like “How you do?” or "How are you?" are mainly used by the members of elder people or when meeting someone the first time.The less formal (informal) greetings are used more commonly in the younger generations or routines In addition, when discussing the functions of languages, many linguists agree that there are many language devices to express a communicating purpose For example, to express a greeting, people not have to greet direetly with"Hello!”, “Hi!” or “Good morning!" They can greet indirectly via thanking, questioning, reminding, congratulating, complimenting, inviting and so on The “indirect greetings"are mostly used in informal contexts As a result,greetings might be classified basing on situations, where the greetings are uttered Therefore, the classification of greetings should be based on the contexts which can be named as follow: Greetings in passing This is an informal case because you not always have time to stop and have a conversation Just remember to smile as you say hello A small wave is also polite Sometimes you pass the same person a second time on the same day You can say "hello again"or just smile However, it is polite to greet a person you know formally or informally,which depends on your relationship with him/her Greeting before a conversation You sometimes stop and talk for a minute as you say hello.This type of greeting is followed by a conversation Close friends often hug when they greet each 12 other,especially after a long time without seeing one other This situation can happen to those who meet each other for the first time or those whose relationship is close Between very close friends, it is common to use name in an informal greeting Sometimes, nicknames or short forms are used The below conversation is a well-illustrated example to know more about this greeting in this situation Between very close friends it is uncommon to use names in a casual greeting Sometimes nicknames or short forms are used Greeting in Business Proper etiquette is important in business greetings, thus, using formal and polite language for greeting should be noticed Greeting at a social event (at a party) At a social even(at a party) it is necessary to open your networking Therefore,it is polite to greet many people.This is called “mingling” You may greet those you know and those you will meet for the first time Greeting at a friend's house When you go into a friend's home, it is polite to greet not only the host but also other people You may meet your relatives, your friends or your roommates.You sometimes greet those whom you have never met before Say hello and introduce yourself Greeting in the classroom In the classroom, you are to greet your teachers and classmates Generally, studying environment does not always require formality in communicating, even with teachers but for newcomers to the class, greeting them formally rather than informally It is polite to greet a new student that joins your class Introductions immediately follow this type of greeting 2.2.6 Summary In this chapter, the theories that related to greeting and other previous studies have been reviewed.Theories of language,communication,cross-cultural communication, definition of speech acts, classifications of speech acts, politeness theory including positive and negative politeness strategies, etc have been sufficiently deal with in the chapter Briefly,what have been mentioned in this chapter is the theoretical background for discussing and finding in the chapter SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY The previous chapter has established the framework of the theoretical background from which the speech act theory, politeness principles and other issues related to the matter of this thesis have been introduced This chapter focuses on introducing the methodology of the thesis; in other words, the methods of collecting data for analysis This chapter also aims at exploring the following issues respectively: research questions, research participants, research procedure, data collection instruments and data analysis method 13 3.1 Research-governing orientations 3.1.1 Research questions In order to achieve the objectives, the following research questions are raised for exploration: What are the similarities and differences between greeting categories in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective? What are the implications for using greetings to Vietnamese learners of English? 3.1.2 Research setting The research is conducted with references from the diverse reliable sources such as books, M.A thesis in which related to the ways of greeting in English and Vietnamese Besides that, the author also used the survey which will help the author find out the similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese categories As a whole, participants in this study are copies were sent by the author's American friend She helped to deliver them to her colleagues in Language Link Center and her friends working in offices in Hanoi She was supposed to provide American informants with all the information related to the study and carefully instructed them to fill out the survey 50 copies were sent to the author's colleagues and students in The Hanoi College of Industrial Economics.The results that the author received are 31 respondents in English and 31 respondents in Vietnamese All of respondents at the age are from 20 to above 50 With questions in a survey questionnaire in English and Vietnamese so that the information needed for the study can be collected such as the ways, the situations of greetings 3.1.3 Research approach The main aim of the study is pointing out the similarities and differences between greeting categories in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective to provide the Vietnamese learner of English necessary knowledge and skills in greeting In addition, some implications for using greetings in English to Vietnamese learners of English need giving Therefore, to achieve the aims stated,quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in the study, which mainly use qualitative methods Using qualitative methods to analyze and compare the main features, the model and using the greeting in English and Vietnamese Descriptive and the comparative analysis are carried out throughout the study All the considerations and conclusion are largely based on the analysis of the collected data and references The descriptive method is used in the first stage to make details the features of greeting in English and Vietnamese based on the examples collected from many different sources such as books, newspapers, internet, dictionaries, etc 14 The comparative analysis method is used to clarify the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting from a cross-cultural perspective 3.2 Research methods 3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods Describing and analyzing the greeting categories in English and Vietnamese, exploring the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese, and finding out the common mistakes made by Vietnamese local people when greeting foreigners In order to meet the demand, some methods are used as follow: The main method employed in this study is the descriptive method with quantitative and qualitative approach Quantitative method can involve collecting quantitative information, involves gathering mass of raw data from different powerful sources Qualitative method is used to describe and interpret the main features of English greeting Analytical and comparative methods assist to the major method in this study Analytical method will be used to analyze statistics that are available after carrying out the deseriptive research Comparative method is used to find out similarities and differences in the ways English and Vietnamese people use to greet in their daily conversation 3.2.2 Data collection techniques For achieving the aims and objectives of the study with high reliability,two data collection techniques have been employed: selected materials and survey questionnaires 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques The selected materials related to greeting categories in English and Vietnamese played an important role in terms of supplement data for the study In order to identify the similarities and differences between greeting categories in English and Vietnamese from a cross-cultural perspective, the author collected the data from the survey questionnaire and the examples from the books, M A theses After that, the author analyses and gives out the cultural similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting categories Furthermore, Google search engine was used to select materials Up to now, it has become the most popular and effective ways to find reliable and diverse sources of materials 3.3 Summary A brief description of the method is presented in this chapter and this also shows the way we reach the aim of the research.The features of English and Vietnamese greeting categories will be pointed out Furthermore, the study gives out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting categories by the comparative method I use qualitative research design and analytical method to 15 collect data as well as analyze them The combination of these methods will be the best tool to research the goal of the research SECTION 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 The categories of greeting in English and Vietnamese 4.1.1 Based on the structural and functional dimensions Based on the structural and functional dimensions of greeting, we can divide gretings into two types: direct greetings and indirect greetings 4.1.1.1 Direct greeting Direct greeting is the greeting which contains verbs of greeting and greeting words, such as, (“greet",“welcome", greeting words like"Hello”, “Hi",“Hey”, etc.in English or "chào", “kính chào” in Vietnamese) According to Pham Thi Thanh Dr., they are "ritualistic greetings” used to open or end a meeting so that parties can express politeness, modesty, courtesy of the role of communication" (as cited in Ngan, 2005) In English, when the English native speaker meet their relatives, teachers, friends…they may greet them directly by using"Hi/Hello!"or “Hi /Hello + first name!"or "Good + part of the day" such as "Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening!" When they meet strangers who are coming toward to them, they greet “Welcome!"or "Hello!" to make friend with them While as the greeting in Vietnamese, it includes performative verbs such as “chào", “kính chào" In Vietnamese, greetings are diversified due to participants, age and social hierarchy Especially,Vietnamese people attach great important to social positions There are some relationships constituting the warp and woof of social life which are those between parent and child, husband and wife, senior and junior etc These relationships are asymmetrical, or what is called the hierarchical order.This is the reason why different people have different ways to greet.The direct greeting expressions (expressions which contain verbs of greeting and greeting words) are formed as follow: · “Speaker +chào + listener!” Eg: “Con chào bố!” This structure is often used in communicative situation that is ritual or social relation It is popular with children to adults, people have lower position to people that have higher position The speakers often used neutral pair pronoun “cháu-ơng, bà, cơ, dì, chú, bác”or"em- anh/ chị or“em- thầy/cô”, e.t.c to address in greeting but they not need know their name This manner expresses the respect of people in communication “(Xin)chào +listener(ạ)!” Eg: “Chào cô ạ!” These forms are very general in greetings It is noticeable that a person who is younger or lower position has to greet first to show the respect to the person in higher 16 position In Vietnamese, the way to address the listener is various It depends on who you are talking to Sometimes when we talk to older person, we need to add an intensifier “dạ",“ạ” to be more politeness “Chào+object!” Eg: Chào Mai! This greeting is simpler than two previous kinds of greetings due to the equality of age and social status In Vietnamese, there are many direct greeting expressions that are used widely They are used in both formal and informal situations depending on the choice of the greeters 4.1.1.2 Indirect greeting According to Searle(1969), a greeting is defined as an illocutionary act which is simpler than other speech acts due to the lack of propositional content (as cited in Gass & Neu 1996.p.90) However, in reality, people usually greet each other by using questions, interrogation, exclamations, invitations, congratulations, compliments, etc as indirect way Greetings by using questions: In English,when a person meets someone for the first time,he/she often says: "How you do?” and the usual reply is also "How you do?" This question is the greeting though its structure is the question It is used for the first meeting in the introduction This greeting is used when introducing each other so it is often followed by saying “it is nice to meet you, etc.” E.g.: “How you do?” Besides that, the question "How are you?" is often used in greeting, with the aim of asking about heath of the hearer.To be polite, the hearer should respond “I am fine, thanks”or "I am well, thank you, and you?" although at that moment he/she is not very well, he/she may be tired or bored The expression “How are you?","How are you feeling now?""How are things?",“How's it going?","how are you getting on?",“How have you been?"are used as greetings to ask about somebody's health The other questions such as:“what is new?”,“what's up?”etc., are used in informal situations They are used among young generation: students, pupils, etc.You should not say "Hey, what's up?” to a person who’s rather older than youto your teacher or your boss You should use it to greet your friends who are at the same age and social status For Vietnamese,the way asking information is also the way of greeting, asking for information is one way to show the concern of the speaker to the listener within a specific level of their relationship Mainly, their linguistic forms are questions (both close and open questions),and these questions concern about every topic, affairs such as heath, job, weather, family affairs, etc even personal problems There are some common topies for asking: - Asking about health: “Dạo cô vân khỏe chứ?” 17 -Asking about work: “Ơng bà làm ăn khấm khơng vậy?” -Asking about the on-going action: “Bác chưa ạ?” This way is used in the ritual greeting It is used to greet the people who are in the family, the clan and the same village It is not necessary for listeners to answer these kind questions Greetings by using exclamations: This greeting often happens when two people see after a long time It goes with happiness or surprise as well as intonation and gesture The English people may greet the others to wish someone be happy and lucky E.g: -Peace with you! Whereas, the Vietnamese people have the same way in greeting by enclosing the exclamation words: “Kìa!, Ơi, Trời, Ê ” E.g.: “Ơi! Có phải Mai khơng? “Kìa! Cô Hồng!" Greetings by using compliments: According to Professor Quang,this salutation is “used to start a conversation, to win the popularity of someone or to show the admiration.….” (as cited in Ngan, 2005) The politeness strategies support and maintain the relationship between participants Greeting by a compliment makes parties pleased and maintains the relationships.This way often focuses on some normal topics such as: weather, cloths, appearance of partner E.g.: In Vietnamese: “Hôm xinh thế?" In English: "Alright mate!" Greeting by using congratulations: It is used when speaker has known about the listener's good news or success before,such as promotion or being to beco me mother or father, it expresses the interest to object communication This greeting is carried out between two people who have relationships with each other or at least interested in the same situation indirectly E.g.: In Vietnamese: “Chúc mừng anh nhé!" In English: "Congratulation on you!" Greetings by using invitations: The performative verb “mời” is obligatory in such greetings This kind of greeting is very common in Vietnamese daily life When a family is having a meal, a guest comes unintentionally People invite them to “xơi cơm”.….in order to show their hospitality Therefore, an addressee doesn't intend to accept the invitation Instead, they refuse and thank to the host: “Vâng, cám ơn bác”or “Vâng người tự nhiên ạ! ” 18