Wishes on the occasion of birthday, wedding and new year’s holiday (or christmas) in british and vietnamese culture: a comparative study. Phạm Thị Anh Đào Trường Đại học KHXH&NV Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Văn Độ Năm bảo vệ:2010 Abstract: This thesis discusses some similaritties and differences in English and Vietnamese ways of extending a wish. The focus of the analysis is on the content of expressions used in wishing and non-verbal components of wishes, social factors having influence on extending a wish and some cultural differences in extending wishes in Vietnam and Britain. The data for this analysis are provided by the survey questionnaires that elicit wishes on three occasions (birthday, wedding, and New Year/Christmas) to five different addressees, (a close friend, a colleague, an acquaintance, a brother/sister, and a boss). 50 informants (25 English and 25 Vietnamese native speakers) have taken part in this elicitation. The content of expressions used in wishing has been analyzed in relation to social-cultural and social factors, such as age, occupation, gender, and living area. The findings of the study indicate that the Vietnamese give the highest priority to family membership when they convey their wishes, whereas the English prioritize social relationships. The analysis of the data has revealed differences in the rating of occasions for wishing; thus Christmas is the most special occasion to the English for extending one’s wishes whereas to the Vietnamese such occasion is wedding. The English and the Vietnamese also differ in the ways they complement their wishes; this varies depended on occasions and role relationships. Keywords: Văn hóa Việt; Văn hóa Anh; Lời chúc; Giao tiếp. Content: iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 0.1. Rationale of the study 1 0.2. Aims of the study 1 0.3. Scope of the study 2 0.4. Methods of the study 2 0.5. Design of the study 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3 1.1. Speech acts and wishing 3 1.1.1. Speech acts and their classification 3 1.1.2. Wishing as a speech act 6 1.2. Politeness, face and wishing, a face-threatening act 7 1.2.1. Politeness 7 1.2.2. Face 8 1.2.3. Wishing as a face-threatening act 10 1.3. Relationship of language, culture and communication 10 1.3.1. Definition of language 10 1.3.2. Definition of culture 11 1.3.3. Definition of communication 11 1.3 4. Relationship of language, culture and communication 12 1.3.5. Wishing as a need of communication 13 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14 2.1. Subject 14 2.2. Instrument of data analysis 14 v 2.3. Methods of data analysis 15 CHAPTER 3: DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS 16 3.1. SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRESAND INFORMANTS 16 3.1.1. Structure of survey questionnaire 16 3.1.2. Grouping of informants 17 3.1.2.1. Age 17 3.1.2.2. Gender 17 3.1.2.3. Living area 18 3.1.2.4. Occupation 18 3.2. VIETNAMESE FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRES 18 3.2.1. Comment on the content of Vietnamese wishes in three situations 18 3.2.1.1. Vietnamese birthday wishes 18 3.2.1.2. Vietnamese wedding wishes 21 3.2.1.3. Vietnamese New Year wishes 24 3.2.2. Comment on priorities in wishing 26 3.2.3. Comment on social factors governing the way of extending a wish 27 3.2.4. Comment on components of the act of Vietnamese wishing 27 3.3. ENGLISH FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRES. 28 3.3.1. Comment on the content of English wishes in three situations 28 3.3.1.1. English birthday wishes. 28 3.3.1.2. English wedding wishes 30 3.3.1.3. English Christmas and New Year wishes 32 3.3.2. Comment on priorities in wishing 33 3.3.3. Comment on social factors governing the way of extending a wish 34 3.3.4. Comment on components of the acts of English wishing 35 3.4. COMPARISON OF THE ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE WAYS OF WISHING. 35 3.4.1. Major similarities 35 3.4.1.2 Occasions 35 3.4.1.2. Priorities in wishing 35 vi 3.4.1.3. Social factors governing the way of extending a wish 36 3.4.1.4. Accompaniments to wishes 36 3.4.2. Major differences. 36 3.4.2.1. Occasions 36 3.4.2.2. Priorities in wishing 37 3.4.2.3. Social factors governing the way of extending a wish 37 3.4.2.4. Accompaniment to wishes 37 CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS FOR ELT 38 4.1. Learning a culture 38 4.2. Learning to avoid culture shock. 38 4.2.1. Some problems in culture shock. 38 4.2.2. Some potential culture shocks in wishing. 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 REFERENCES 42 ENGLISH SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES VIETNAMESE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 0. 1. Rationale of the study English nowadays is considered the international language; it is the most widely spoken language which is used in many fields such as economics, trade, tourism, diplomacy, politics, and press. In Vietnam, as a result of the open door economic policy, the number of people learning English for various purposes is on the rise. English is not only taught as an important subject at thousands of foreign languages centers but it is also a compulsory subject in various primary and high schools. Although English has been taught in Vietnam for many years, not until recently has the focus of improving linguistic competence for learners been on syntax, lexical and phonological components of the language. Many people still believe that being good at English means being good at linguistic components. Thus, cultural factors are paid little attention to. However, today, in our modern world in which globalization is expanding, the need of integrating and communicating across nations is indispensable. Successful communication requires not only purely linguistic competence but also the knowledge of social norms, social values and relations between individuals known as communicative competence. Communicative competence presupposes ability to use the language correctly and appropriately. This pragmatic competence is as crucial as linguistic competence. The lack of it may lead to impoliteness, misinterpretation, cultural shocks, and even communication breakdown. Hence, the knowledge about cross culture communication is really essential. On this basis, this study is done to help Vietnamese learners of English to understand English ways of expressing wishes. The focus of the study will be on similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English forms of wishing. 0. 2. Aims of the study The thesis focuses on studying the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese ways of wishing in respect to the following aspects: 2 - To investigate the content of expressions used in wishing and non-verbal components of wishes. - To find out social factors having influence on extending a wish and some cultural differences in extending wishes in Vietnam and Britain. - .To help Vietnamese learners of English have more awareness of English wishing and of how to use it appropriately. - To offer some suggestions to ELT (English Language Teaching) 0. 3. Scope of the study The study mainly focuses on verbal communication and the analysis of the data collected from the survey questionnaires on extending a wish. Similarities and differences between the English and the Vietnamese in assessing the interference of social factors in wishing are discussed. Also some common accompaniments and nonverbal cues together with wishing are taken into account. 0. 4. Methods of the study The main method of the study is the quantitative one with techniques: - Consulting reference books - Discussing with teachers and friends - Conducting survey questionnaire - .Studying relevant publications - Resorting to personal observation. 0. 5. Design of the study: This study is divided into three main parts: Part A: Introduction – including the reasons of the study, aims of the study, methods, scope of the study and the design of the study. Part B: Development, including 4 chapters - Chapter 1: Literature review - Chapter 2: Research methodology - Chapter 3: Discussion on findings - Chapter 4: Implications for ELT (English Language Teaching) Part C: Conclusion 42 REFERENCES In English. 1. Austin, J. L. (1962), How to do things with words, CUP, London-Oxford-New York. 2. Brown, H. D. (1986), Learning a second culture in culture bound edited by Joyce Merril Valdes, CUP. 3. Brown, G and Yule, G. (1989), Discourse Analysis, CUP. 4. Do Thi Mai Thanh, (2000), Some English – Vietnamese Differences in Requesting, M.A Thesis, CFU-VNU, Hanoi. 5. Goffman, E. (1967), Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face – to Face behaviours, New York: Garden City. 6. Ha Cam Tam, 1998, Requests by Australian native speakers of English and Vietnamese speakers of English. M. A, Thesis, La Trobe University, Australia. 7. Jackson, H and Stockwell, P. 1996, Investigating English Language-nature and function of Language, Stanley Thrones Publishers.Ltd. 8. Lakoff, R. (1973), The Logic of Politeness: Minding your P’s and Q’s in Discourse, Guy Cook, 1990, CUP. 9. Mey, J. L. (1993), Pragmatics: An introduction, Blackwell Publishers, London. 10. Nguyen Hoa, (2001), An introduction to Semantics, VNU, Publishing House. 11. Nguyen (Van) Quang, (1998), Vietnamese – American cross – cultural differences in Extending and Encountering Compliment – as seen from communicative activities, PhD. Thesis. 12. Nguyen (Van) Quang, (1994), Intercultural Communication, Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages. 13. Nguyen Van Do, 1996, Politeness Phenomena in Vietnamese and English culture and some implication in teaching languages, Hanoi Foreign Studies University. 14. Richards, J. C. (1985), Speech acts and Language Learning. In Richards(ed), 1985-The Context of Language Teaching, CUP. 43 15. Richards, J. C, Platt, J. and Weber, H. (1990) – Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, Longman. 16. Richard, E. P & Larry, A. S. (1994), An introduction to Intercultural Communication, Thomson Publishing House. 17. Searle, J. R. (1969), Speech Acts – An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 18. Wierzbicka, A. (1985), Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts, Journal of Pragmatics. 19. Wierzbicka, A. (1991), Cross – Cultural Pragmatics – The Semantics of Human Interaction, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 20. Yule, G. (1997), Pragmatics, Oxford University Press. In Vietnamese. 1. Diệp Quang Ban (1972), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt, Nxb Giáo Dục. 2. Phan Kế Bình (2001), Việt Nam phong tục, Nxb Văn hóa thông tin. 3. Hữu Đạt (2000), Văn hóa và ngôn ngữ giao tiếp của người Việt, Nxb Văn hóa thông tin 4. Cao Xuân Hạo (chủ biên) (19990, Ngữ Pháp Chức năng Tiếng Việt – Câu trong tiếng Việt, Nxb Giáo Dục 5. Nguyễn Quang (2002), Giao tiếp và Giao tiếp giao Văn hóa. Nxb Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. 6. Trần Ngọc Thêm (1996), Tìm hiểu về bản sắc văn hóa Việt Nam, Nxb Hồ Chí Minh. 7. Trần Ngọc Thêm (1998), Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam. Nxb Giáo Dục . Wishes on the occasion of birthday, wedding and new year’s holiday (or christmas) in british and vietnamese culture: a comparative study. Phạm Thị Anh Đào Trường Đại học KHXH&NV. of the study: This study is divided into three main parts: Part A: Introduction – including the reasons of the study, aims of the study, methods, scope of the study and the design of the study. . whereas to the Vietnamese such occasion is wedding. The English and the Vietnamese also differ in the ways they complement their wishes; this varies depended on occasions and role relationships.