(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) a cross cultural study on hedges showing power distance in contemporary english and vietnamese novels

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ KIM ANH A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON HEDGES SHOWING POWER DISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NOVELS (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa phương tiện rào đón thể khoảng cách quyền lực tiểu thuyết Anh Việt đương đại) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 HANOI – 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ KIM ANH A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON HEDGES SHOWING POWER DISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NOVELS (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa phương tiện rào đón thể khoảng cách quyền lực tiểu thuyết Anh Việt đương đại) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Supervisor: Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, Ph.D HANOI – 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the work presented in this study report has been implemented on my own I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A Degree in English Linguistics and has not been submitted in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification Besides the mentioned references, no other person’s work has been used in this thesis without due acknowledgement Hanoi, 2017 Trần Thị Kim Anh Approved by SUPERVISOR Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, Ph.D Date: ………………… i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have given me valuable guidance, great support and encouragement during my research and thesis writing I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for their contribution First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor Dr Huynh Anh Tuan, who helped me in many ways, from the selection of the topic for this research to academic thesis writing Thanks to his invaluably constructive suggestions and comments during my research, the thesis has been successfully completed I am greatly grateful to his expertise, enthusiasm, kindness, encouragement and support Special thanks also go to my friend Nguyen Thi Sinh, who aided me to send the two English novels from the UK Without her help, the data collection procedure could not be finished I would like to take this opportunity to thank Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, who provided me with adequate support throughout the duration of my study Last but not least, I would like to say thanks to my colleagues in the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology, who took on my work when I was absent from the office to attend the lessons and gave me time to complete the course ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study is conducted to investigate power distance manifestation through the use of hedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels from the perspective of crosscultural communication The analysis is carried out on the basis of the research data on hedges identified in the four selected novels: “Clever girl” by Tessa Hadley, “Into the darkest corner” by Elizabeth Haynes, “Bến không chồng” by Duong Huong and “Nhắm mắt thấy Paris” by Duong Thuy This study is implemented by the combination of descriptive, comparative and contrastive methods The findings indicate that both low and high power distance are manifested in the use of the four hedge categories, including modal, performative, pragmatic-marker and quantificational hedges In the English novels, all the groups of age, gender and social status share low power distance by using hedges which mitigate the imposition on interlocutors, utterance propositions expressing an epistemic judgment and strengthen the solidarity between interlocutors In contrast, in the Vietnamese novels, the power distance is very high in terms of age and social status; the gender power distance stands at equal or low level For the younger and lower subgroups, the hedges are often used to show modesty or humble attitude and respect for the interlocutors or to make uncertain statements For the older and higher subgroups, the hedges are used to strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions made by the speaker iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research 1.2 Aim of the research and research questions 1.3 Significance of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Research methodology 1.6 Design of the research CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Hedges and hedging 2.1.1.1 Development of the concept of hedges and hedging 2.1.1.2 Taxonomy of hedges 2.1.2 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions - Power distance 13 2.1.3 Cross-cultural communication 15 2.1.4 Politeness theory and hedging 18 2.1.5 Contemporary novels 19 2.2 Related studies on hedges 20 2.3 Chapter summary 23 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Research questions 26 3.2 Research approach 26 3.3 Research method 26 3.4 Research data 27 3.5 Data collection 28 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels 3.6 Data analysis method 29 3.7 Analytical framework 30 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 The hedges showing power distance identified in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of age, gender and social status 4.1.1 Modal hedges 32 34 4.1.2 Performative hedges 40 4.1.3 Pragmatic-marker hedges 45 4.1.4 Quantificational hedges 49 4.2 The similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of age, gender and social status 4.2.1 The similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of age 4.2.1.1 Similarities 53 53 53 4.2.1.2 Differences 54 4.2.2 The similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of gender 4.2.2.1 Similarities 55 4.2.2.2 Differences 55 4.2.3 The similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of social status 4.2.3.1 Similarities 56 4.2.3.2 Differences 57 55 56 4.3 The answers to the research questions 58 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 60 5.1 Concluding remarks 60 5.2 Implications of the findings 61 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 62 REFERENCES APPENDICES 64 68 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PDI Power Distance Index HPD High Power Distance LPD Low Power Distance N/A Not Applicable EMVs Epistemic Modal Verbs EMAdjs Epistemic Modal Adjectives EMAdvs Epistemic Modal Adverbs EMNs MSVs Epistemic Modal Nouns Deontic Modal Verbs (shifting the responsibility away from the speaker to the necessity or obligation) Mental State Verbs PVs Performative Verbs PM Pragmatic-marker IPMs Interpersonal Pragmatic-Markers PPMs Propositional Pragmatic-Markers QAs Quantity Approximators FAs Frequency Approximators DAs F Degree Approximators Female M Male Y Younger O Older E Equal L Lower H Higher DMVs vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels LIST OF TABLES Table Taxonomy of hedges by Salvager-Meyer Table Taxonomy of hedges by Yu 11 Table Taxonomy of hedges established for the present study 12 Table 33 Table Categories of hedges showing power distance used by groups of age, gender and social status in English and Vietnamese novels Modal hedges identified in the English novels Table Modal hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 37 Table Comparing modal hedges across the groups in the novels 39 Table Performative hedges identified in the English novels 41 Table Performative hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 42 Table 10 Comparing performative hedges across the groups in the novels 44 Table 11 Pragmatic-marker hedges identified in the English novels 46 Table 12 Pragmatic-marker hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 47 Table 13 Comparing pragmatic-marker hedges across the groups in the novels 49 Table 14 Quantificational hedges identified in the English novels 50 Table 15 Quantificational hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 51 Table 16 Comparing quantificational hedges across the groups in the novels 52 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels 35 (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels LIST OF FIGURES Figure Figure Hyland’s classification of scientific hedges PDI in England and Vietnam 14 viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels In terms of the popularity of the categories, modal hedges are the most prominent category by both female and male subgroups in the English novels, but they occupy the first position only in female subgroup in the Vietnamese novels, performative hedges rank first in male subgroup In terms of pragmatic-marker hedges, both interpersonal and propositional pragmaticmarkers are identified in the English novels with various types and tokens and show a sense of sharing, intimacy or solidarity between the interlocutors, but interpersonal and propositional pragmatic-markers emerge in the Vietnamese novels with a limited number for only female Interpersonal pragmatic-markers show a sense of sharing, intimacy or solidarity between the interlocutors while propositional pragmatic-markers make uncertain statements Nevertheless, propositional pragmatic-markers have a small number of tokens, thus they not reflect the high power distance In terms of quantificational hedges, all approximators of quantity, frequency and degree in the English novels share the same function of mitigating the imposition on the interlocutors It is noted that no quantificational hedges are found in the gender group in the Vietnamese novels Taking the politeness strategies into consideration, the low power distance in the English novels is in close relation to both positive and negative politeness strategies, whereas in the Vietnamese novels, female applies both positive and negative politeness strategies; male uses only negative politeness strategies 4.2.3 The similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of social status 4.2.3.1 Similarities The result analysis shows few similarities in the use of hedges showing power distance in the English and Vietnamese novels in terms of social status Firstly, the data for the equal subgroups is not found in all the English and Vietnamese novels, thus they have 56 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels no contribution to the previous result analysis Secondly, epistemic modal nouns not appear in the group of age in all the novels 4.2.3.2 Differences Regarding the quantity of hedges, the social status groups in the Vietnamese novels have a more number of tokens than in the English novels In terms of the popularity of the categories, modal hedges are the most prominent category by both the lower and higher subgroups in the English novels, but they occupy the first position only in the higher subgroup in the Vietnamese novels, performative hedges rank first in the lower subgroup With reference to the modality, the age group in the English novels orients to only the epistemic modality while in the Vietnamese novels, both of the epistemic and deontic modality are found In terms of performative hedges, only tokens of mental state verbs are identified in the higher subgroup the English novels, but the lower and higher in the Vietnamese novels concentrate on performative verbs rather than mental state verbs Especially, performative verbs perform different functions when they are employed by the lower and higher The forms like xin phép, xin lỗi, lạy, đội ơn, van, xin by the lower show humble attitude and respect for the interlocutors meanwhile the forms like cấm, duyệt, đề nghị by the higher strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions In terms of pragmatic-marker hedges, both interpersonal and propositional pragmaticmarkers are entirely absent from the English novels Only tokens of interpersonal pragmatic-markers emerge in the lower subgroup in the Vietnamese novels Propositional pragmatic-markers emerge in both the lower and higher subgroups, but they perform different functions They mitigate the utterance propositions expressing 57 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels an epistemic judgment in the lower subgroup, but they strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions in the higher subgroup In terms of quantificational hedges, none of tokens are identified in the English novels They experience an opposite tendency in the Vietnamese novels The forms like chỉ, khá, đôi khi, moderate the utterance propositions in the lower subgroup while the forms like chỉ, định, người, luôn, dĩ nhiên, strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions in the higher subgroup From the above differences, an obvious observation made is that the social status group in the English novels establishes low power distance while high power distance exists in the social status group in the Vietnamese novels Additionally, the low power distance in the English novels is in close relation to negative politeness strategies; the high power distance in the Vietnamese novels is in combination of positive and negative politeness strategies 4.3 The answers to the research questions The present study is conducted to address two following research questions: (i) Which hedges showing power distance are used in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels? (ii) What are the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels? To answer the first question, four hedge categories emerge from the data in the English and Vietnamese novels They are modal hedges (realized by epistemic modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns and deontic modal verbs), performative hedges (realized by mental state verbs and performative verbs), pragmatic-marker hedges (realized by interpersonal and propositional pragmatic-markers) and quantificational hedges (realized by quantity, frequency and degree approximators) All the hedges identified in the four novels express power distance, at a low level or a high level The result 58 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels analysis indicates that in the English novels, all the groups of age, gender and social status share the low power distance while in the Vietnamese novels, the power distance is very high in the groups of age and social status For the gender group, the power distance stands at equal or low level Regarding the last question, the findings indicate that in the Vietnamese novels, in which high power distance exists, the groups of age and social status tend to use the following subcategories: deontic modal verbs shifting the responsibility from the speaker to the necessity or obligation, or asking for the permission; performative verbs; propositional pragmatic-markers; quantity approximators, frequency approximators and degree approximators For the younger and lower subgroups, they are used to show modest or humble attitude and respect for the interlocutors and to make uncertain statements For the older and higher subgroups, those subcategories are used to strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions made by the speaker For example, the form performs two opposite functions: to show modest or humble attitude by the lower and younger, to strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions by the older and higher In contrast, in the English novels, in which low power distance exists, the groups of age, gender and social status tend to use more epistemic modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns; mental state verbs; interpersonal and propositional pragmaticmarkers; approximators of quantity, frequency and degree All of the groups use those hedges to mitigate the imposition on the interlocutors, to mitigate the utterance propositions expressing an epistemic judgment, and to bring about a sense of sharing, gesturing friendliness or strengthening solidarity between the interlocutors In terms of politeness strategies, both positive and negative politeness strategies are identified in the groups of age, gender and social status in the English and Vietnamese novels 59 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION This chapter briefly presents the concluding points of the research, which gives several implications for teaching and learning English The limitations of the study are also indicated in this chapter to offer useful suggestions for future studies 5.1 Concluding remarks The findings indicate that both the low and high power distance are manifested in the use of the four hedge categories identified in the English and Vietnamese novels, including modal hedges, performative hedges, pragmatic-marker hedges and quantificational hedges The result analysis reveals that in the English novels, all the groups of age, gender and social status share the low power distance while in the Vietnamese novels, the power distance is very high in terms of age and social status For the gender group, the power distance stands at equal or low level The findings also point out that in the Vietnamese novels, the groups of age and social status tend to use the following subcategories: deontic modal verbs shifting the responsibility from the speaker to the necessity or obligation, or asking for the permission; performative verbs; propositional pragmatic-markers; quantity approximators; frequency approximators and degree approximators For the younger and lower subgroups, they are used to show modest or humble attitude and respect for the interlocutors and to make uncertain statements For the older and higher subgroups, those subcategories are used to strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions made by the speaker For example, the form performs two opposite functions: to show modest or humble attitude by the lower and younger, to strengthen the importance of the utterance and the subjective propositions by the older and higher 60 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels On the contrary, in the English novels, the groups of age, gender and social status tend to use more epistemic modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns; mental state verbs; interpersonal and propositional pragmatic-markers; approximators of quantity, frequency and degree All of the groups use those hedges to mitigate the imposition on the interlocutors, to mitigate the utterance propositions expressing an epistemic judgment, and to bring about a sense of sharing, gesturing friendliness or strengthening solidarity between the interlocutors One thing should be noted that the four novels in this study describe stories of women and the psychology of people in love and in other relationships set in current time, dealing with the concerns of modern day life without elements of fantasy, yet there still exists a high power distance in the Vietnamese novels The results of this study seem to reflect partially the status of English and Vietnamese cultures 5.2 Implications of the findings The analysis of pragmatic functions of the hedges in the present study reveals the importance of politeness and the manifestation of power distance in the success of any communication It can be seen that politeness realization is appreciated in both English and Vietnamese cultures though there exist different standards of politeness across cultures Leaners of English are thus supposed to satisfy the need of not only linguistic competence but also cultural awareness It is suggested that teachers of English can create specific situations in which different politeness strategies are employed to explain the manifestation of power distance through the use of hedges Students then need to make necessary comparisons to find out the similarities and differences in the use of hedges To put theory into practice, learners should catch opportunities to get involvement in communication with native speakers, enabling them to make gradual improvement in their learning process In addition, being aware of how power distance is manifested in the use of hedges helps us have a better understanding of the speaker’s intentions because the speaker is 61 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels at one end of hedging strategy and at the other end is the listener Thanks to the listener’s receptions of those intentions, misunderstanding, culture shocks and breakdown in communication will be minimized and avoided With the above-mentioned information, it is believed that learners are able to improve their pragmatic competence and then to adopt appropriate strategies in different communication situations 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research Although the present study is taken into careful consideration, it has several limitations on the scope of the research, the data and the author’s bias They are indicated in this part to offer reasonable suggestions for future studies Firstly, the description of hedge system cannot be easily complete In this study, the exploration finds that the majority of hedges identified are lexical To get a complete picture of hedges showing power distance, further studies need to investigate prosodic and syntactic hedges In addition, hedging and intensification are two dimensions in the modification of discourse and speech acts The study of one without the other makes the study far from completion This study just concentrates on hedging; future research is needed for intensification Secondly, the lack of data is a big problem This study is conducted based the collection of the data from four novels (i.e., two English novels and two Vietnamese ones) That quantity seems inadequate for the findings to be generalized to any larger number of English and Vietnamese novels Besides the limited number of novels, among the four novels, there are much more female than male writers (i.e., three females and one male) That imbalanced distribution may or may not have effects on the use of hedges Therefore, later studies try to be implemented on a larger scale of the data and keep balance on writer gender 62 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels Thirdly, due to the lack of studies conducted with a general view on hedges to be used as the references in Vietnam, the present research does not have enough sources to base itself on and to provide analysis as well as discussion about hedging devices in Vietnamese Future studies should provide hedge categories in Vietnamese Regarding the codification of the data, since much of the hedge identification is pragmatically-driven and context-based, coding cannot be done automatically by computer software It is done manually through case-for-case hedge recognition, which can result in some errors in coding Although the data has been double-checked, coding errors are unavoidable Finally, the author’s bias needs to be taken into account when selecting the aspects of power distance to be analyzed Though a great deal of literature reviewed shows that the three aspects investigated in the study (age, gender and social status) are prominent aspects to be considered, there is quite limited number of research or/and no prominent studies on the manifestation of power distance in the use of hedges Hence, the present study does not have enough sources to base itself on or support the view as well as the research methodology Moreover, power distance is only one of the six cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (2010), it is suggested that future research should investigate the manifestation of the rest of dimensions with more valid methodologies 63 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels REFERENCES English Adams-Smith, D (1984) Medical discourse: Aspects of author's comment English for Special Purposes, 3, 25-36 Brown, G., & Levinson, S (1978) Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena In E N Goody (Ed.), Questions and politeness: Strategies in social interaction (pp 56-310) Brown, G., & Levinson, S (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage Channel, J (1990) Precise and vague expression in writing on economics In W Nash (Ed.), The Writing Scholar: Studies in Academic Discourse Channel, J (1994) Vague language Contemporary novels retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/novel Crystal, D., & Davy, D (1975) Advanced Conversational English Fraser, B (1988) Types of English discourse markers Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 38, 19-33 Gudykunst, W B (2001) Asian American ethnicity and communication 10 Gudykunst, W.B (2003) Intercultural communication; Introduction In W.B Gudykunst (Ed.), Cross-cultural and intercultural communication,163-166 11 Hadley, T (2013) Clever girl 12 Hau, D T (2014) Hedges showing power distance in American and Vietnamese contemporary novels from the perspective of cross-cultural communication 13 Haynes, E (2010) Into the darkest corner 14 Heymer, F (2008) Successful promotion of consumer goods in Vietnam: An exploratory investigation of Vietnamese consumers and culture 15 Hofstede, G H (1984) Culture’s consequences, international differences in work-related values (Abridges ed.) 64 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels 16 Hofstede, G H (2001) Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.) 17 Hofstede, G H (2003) Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival 18 Hofstede et al., (2010) Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (3rd ed.) 19 Holmes, J (1988) Doubt and certainty in ESL textbooks Applied Linguistics, 9, 20-44 20 Huyen (2012) A study on hedging devices in conversations in Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell 21 Hyland, K (1994) Hedging in academic writing and EAP textbooks English for Special Purposes, 13 (3), 239-256 22 Hyland, K (1996a) Writing without conviction? Hedging in science research articles Applied Linguistics, 17 (4), 433-454 23 Hyland, K (1996b) Talking to the academy: Forms of hedging in science research articles Written Communication, 13, 251-281 24 Keller, E., & Warner, S T (1976) Gambits 1: Openers 25 Lakoff, G (1972) Hedges: A study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts Chicago Linguistic Society Papers, 8, 183-228 26 Levine, D R., & Adelman, M B (1993) Beyond Language: Cross-cultural Communication 27 Markkanen, R., & Schröder, H (1997) Hedging: A challenge for pragmatics and discourse analysis In Markkanen, R., & Schröder, H (Eds.) Hedging and discourse: approaches to the analysis of a pragmatic phenomenon in academic texts (3-18) 28 Markkanen, R., & Schröder, H (1989) Hedging as a translation problem in scientific texts In C Laurén & M Nordman (Eds.), Special languages: From human thinking to thinking machines (171-175) 65 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels 29 Markkanen, R., & Schröder, H (1992) Hedging and its linguistic realization in English, German and Finnish philosophical texts: A case study In M Nordman (Ed.), Fachsprachliche Miniaturen (121-130) 30 Mulder, M (1975) Reduction of power differences in practice In G Hofstede & M S Kassem (Eds.), European contributions to organization theory 31 Myers, G (1989) The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles Applied Linguistics, 10 (1), 1-35 32 Myers, G (1992) Textbooks and the sociology of scientific knowledge English for Specical Purposes, 11 (3-17) 33 Meyer, P G (1997) Hedging strategies in written academic discourse: Strengthening the argument by weakening the claim In Markkanen, R., & Schröder, H (Eds.), Hedging and discourse: approaches to the analysis of a pragmatic phenomenon in academic texts (21-41) 34 Nguyen Quang (2006) Lecture note on Cross-Cultural Communication 35 Pindi, M., & Bloor, T (1986) Playing safe with predictions: Hedging, attribution and conditions in economic forecasting Written Language, BAAL CILT 36 Roger and Steinfatt (1999) Intercultural Communication 37 Salager-Meyer, F (1991) Hedging in medical discourse: 1980-1990 Interface, 6(1), 33-54 38 Salager-Meyer, F (1993) Imprecision and vagueness (hedging) in today's medical discourse: courtesy, coyness or necessity? The ESPecialist, 14(1), 1-15 39 Salager-Meyer, F (1994) Hedges and Textual Communicative Function in Medical English Written Discourse English for Specific Purposes, 13, 149-170 40 Schifffrin, D (1987) Discourse markers 41 Scollon, R & Scollon, S W (2001) Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach, (2nd ed.) 66 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels 42 Truong, Q & Nguyen, T V (2002) Management Styles and Organisational Effectiveness in Vietnam Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 10 (2), 36-55 43 Wilamová S., (2005) On Expressing Negative Politeness in English Fictional Discourse 44 Yu, S (2009) The pragmatic development of hedging in EFL Learners Retrieved from http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk/handle/2031/5731 45 Zuck, J G., & Zuck, L V (1986) Hedging in news writing In A.-M Cornu, J Van Parjis, M Delahaye & L Baten (Eds.), Beads or bracelets? How we approach LSP, Selected papers from the fifth European symposium on LSP (172-180) Vietnamese Nguyễn Thiện Giáp, (2000) Dụng học Việt ngữ Dương Tuyết Hạnh, (2007) Hành vi nhờ kiện lời nói nhờ tiếng Việt Vũ Thị Thanh Hương, (2002) Khái niệm thể diện ý nghĩa việc nghiên cứu ứng xử ngơn ngữ Tạp chí Ngơn ngữ, 1, 8-14 Dương Hướng, (1991) Bến không chồng Vũ Thị Nga, (2002) Rào đón hội thoại Việt ngữ Vũ Thị Nga, (2010) Khảo sát hành vi rào đón giao tiếp tiếng Việt Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn, (2007) Một số chiến lược phản bác thường dùng tiếng Việt, Tạp chí Ngơn ngữ (7), 39-45 Nguyễn Quang, (2004) Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa giao văn hóa Dương Thụy, (2010) Nhắm mắt thấy Paris 67 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels APPENDICES Appendix 1: Analytical framework for categories of hedges showing power distance used by groups of age, gender and social status in the English and Vietnamese novels Appendix 2: Analytical framework for the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in groups of age, gender and social status in the English and Vietnamese novels 68 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels APPENDIX Analytical framework for categories of hedges showing power distance used by groups of age, gender and social status in the English and Vietnamese novels Power distance English novels Hedge categories Age Younger Gender Equal Older Female Male Vietnamese novels Social status Lower Equal Higher Age Younger Equal Gender Older Female Male Social status Lower Equal Higher EMVs EMAdjs Modal EMAdvs EMNs DMVs MSVs Performative PVs Pragmaticmarker IPMs PPMs QAs Quantificational FAs DAs Note: EMVs = Epistemic Modal Verbs, EMAdjs = Epistemic Modal Adjectives, EMAdvs = Epistemic Modal Adverbs, EMNs = Epistemic Modal Nouns, DMVs = Deontic Modal Verbs (shifting responsibility to necessity or obligation); MSVs = Mental State Verbs, PVs = Performative Verbs; IPMs = Interpersonal Pragmatic-Markers, PPMs = Propositional Pragmatic-Markers; QAs = Quantity Approximators, FAs = Frequency Approximators, DAs = Degree Approximators 69 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels (LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.study.on.hedges.showing.power.distance.in.contemporary.english.and.vietnamese.novels