LUẬN VĂN (Slogans Trương Thành Khải)

1 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Nowadays, language is universally acknowledged as the most powerful and vital means of communication We cannot imagine what would happen if language disappeared from the social life of human beings Obviously, we can, in daily life, communicate with each other through language in order to express what we want Language is, therefore, employed for many purposes in various fields among which is propaganda or impingement through written slogans so as to influence people’s opinions, emotions, attitudes and behaviors We cannot help seeing socio-cultural propaganda slogans whenever we go out in the street, or on the package of products such as: “Tobacco seriously damages health”, “Keep your country nice and clean!” “Dừng lại hai để nuôi dạy cho tốt”, “Nộp thuế nghĩa vụ quyền lợi công dân”, “Bảo vệ môi trường trách nhiệm toàn xã hội” This way of propaganda is considered to be very effective because they are easy to be seen, read, remembered, understood, and acted upon In fact, this is always true with the famous proverb of the Vietnamese “Trăm nghe không thấy” (Seeing is believing) Propaganda advertising, a special form of spreading well-designed messages, has a large number of types with various forms In order for lines, policies, and topical news of an organization or a government to be effectively propagated, propagandists have to use a variety of ways of which is slogan Unlike spoken slogans, written slogans are much paid attention because they are easy to be seen, read, understood, remembered and acted upon easily Although the aims as well as the formats of propaganda slogans in both languages are partially similar, their grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features are different to a certain degree As an English teacher as well as a Vietnamese learner of English, the author finds this issue interesting Not only does it arouse our curiosity but it urges us to discover this matter as well The author thinks if this can be studied, there will be a great contribution in teaching foreign languages in general and compiling the materials of propaganda slogans in particular Although a lot of propaganda slogans are heard and found everywhere everyday, no researches on the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features have so far been investigated systematically The study of propaganda language through slogans is, therefore, necessary and should be conducted specifically and scientifically For the reasons as mentioned above, the author has come to a decision to choose the topic “A Contrastive Investigation into Linguistic Features of Sociocultural Propaganda Slogans in English and Vietnamese” as a study 1.2 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY The research of socio-cultural propaganda slogans (hereafter, S.C.P.Ss) on the linguistic features will make a substantial contribution to profound understanding and using of the propaganda slogans in English and Vietnamese The similarities and differences between the two languages analyzed in the study may be of great benefit for Vietnamese learners of English in general and copywriters in particular 1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.3.1 Aims The aim of this study is to provide learners with a good knowledge of propaganda slogans as well as to help them with best choices of words and structures in order to compile slogans effectively to their expectations The author simultaneously tries to point out the similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese slogans in terms of the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features so that Vietnamese learners of English can use S.C.P.Ss exactly in communication 1.3.2 Objectives With the above-mentioned purposes, the specific objectives of the study are: - Analyzing the nature of propaganda slogans - Describing and commenting on the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss in English and Vietnamese - Comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss in terms of grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS To achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following research questions have been raised: What are the grammatical features of S.C.P.Ss and their similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese? What are the semantic features of S.C.P.Ss and their similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese? What are the pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss and their similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese? 1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study focuses on the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss and their similarities and differences Besides, the analysis of data for this study is only based on the written slogans in panels, banners and posters 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The study is organized into five chapters as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, consists of the rationale, the justification, the purposes, the objectives, the research questions, the research scope, and the organization of the study Chapter 2, Theoretical Background, includes literature review and theoretical background Chapter 3, Research Design and Methodology, is composed of the research design, data collection, and data analysis Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, focuses on analysis and discussion in terms of the grammatical, semantic and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss in English and Vietnamese based on the fact-findings Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, gives conclusion and some implications for learning and compiling slogans Some suggested ideas for further researches are also presented in this section CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW The problem of advertising and advertising slogans in English and Vietnamese has been discussed a lot in linguistics However, researches on this field got its real start some 20 or 30 years ago [45] To my knowledge, many researches on advertisements and advertising slogans can be listed in the chronological order as follows: Leech cited in Richards [33, p.88], in his work of verbal advertising language, describes advertising language primarily in terms of its grammatical structure and vocabulary in a sample of 617 television advertisements In addition, the distinctive property of advertising language has been closely identified with the use of clauses, phrases, and words Crystal [12, p.90] acknowledges that the aim of advertising is to draw attention to people He is also concerned with various forms of advertising as well as advertising style Asher [2, p.42] considers the language of advertising is language that is used in efforts to persuade people and to modify their behaviors In addition, he pays much attention to the advertising register, language in media, etc Dyer [16] examines commercial advertising as a form of communication that constantly impinges on our daily life in contemporary society Also in this book, the rhetorical devices are put into investigation Thorne introduces a book titled Mastering Advanced English Language in which advertising language is taken into consideration As an indispensable part of the advertising language, slogans are considered to be crucial if an advertising campaign is to succeed, because it is the slogan that will stick in the people’s minds [36, p.261] In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Phuoc Da [14] in her research “An Investigation into Lexical Choice and Its Propaganda Effects through Brief News” emphasizes the importance of word choice in language to convey messages because she considers what is implied is more important, if veiled and understated, than what is actually said or written Also in [25] Ngo Thi Hong in her thesis “An Investigation into English Lexical Choice in Trade Advertisements”, pays much attention to the lexico-semantic and stylistic features of English lexical choice in trade advertisements In the book titled “Học sử dụng tiếng Anh lĩnh vực quảng cáo thương mại” translated by Le Huy Lam and Pham Van Thuan [49], the characteristics, syntactic features, rhetorical devices of advertising language are focused Mai Xuan Huy [45] discusses advertising language in his book titled “Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo ánh sáng lý thuyết giao tiếp” He says that the messages on such issues as health, family planning, environment, traffic safety, smoking, etc…do not pertain to commercial advertising These issues serve the interests of the whole society and a community, so he equates them with the call or propaganda Tran Thi Ngoc Lang [48] in “Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo – Một lĩnh vực đặc thù phương ngữ xã hội” emphasizes the significance of words in advertising and reckons that the language in advertising is essentially connected with the vernacular Phan Thi Uyen Uyen [37] takes some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language into consideration in the thesis “An Investigation into Some Commonly Used Stylistic Devices in Advertising in English and Vietnamese Newspapers” As a small part of the book “Phong cách học tiếng Việt”, Dinh Trong Lac and Nguyen Thai Hoa [47, p.110] consider that “Quảng cáo thể loại ngôn ngữ nhằm truyền đạt thông tin” (Advertising is a language genre with the aim of propagandizing information) As mentioned above, there have been a great number of studies on advertisements in general and advertising slogans in particular, but only commercial advertising is specially paid attention to for one side or the other Therefore, to my knowledge, it seems that no researches have so far been concentrated exclusively on propagandic advertising slogans, especially the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of propaganda slogans 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Definitions of Terms 2.2.1.1 Definitions of Propaganda Propaganda is a special form of communication and has a history of thousands of years Nevertheless, the notion or definition of propaganda has evolved with time According to [57], “Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.” Some definitions of propaganda cited by Jowett and O’Donnell [26, p.6] are as follows: Leonard (1948) defines propaganda as “The attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behavior of individuals towards ends considered unscientific or of doubtful value in a society at a particular time” Terrence (1962) remarks “Propaganda, to be effective, must be seen, remembered, understood, and acted upon, … adapted to particular needs of the situation and the audience to which it is aimed” Pratkanis and Turner (1996) regards the propaganda as “Attempt to move a recipient to a predetermined point of view by using simple images and slogans that truncate thought by playing on prejudices and emotions” Jowett and O’Donnell [26] provide a concise, workable definition of the term as follows: “Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist” The Vietnamese Dictionary [56] defines “Tuyên truyền giải thích rộng rãi để thuyết phục người tán thành, ủng hộ, làm theo.”(Propaganda is explaining commodiously so as to convince everyone to approve, advocate, and imitate.) In sum, although there are so many definitions of propaganda as listed above, their main purpose is driving at influencing people’s awareness in order to conduct a general goal for the sake of social progress The writer can also say that propaganda of various ages and forms plays an indispensably important role in educating people’s attitudes and behaviors, and in this thesis, the definition of Terrence (1962) is considered as a lodestar 2.2.1.2 Definitions of Slogan There are many definitions of slogans that can be listed as follows: According to [20, p.2145], the word “slogan” is derived from slogorn that was an Anglicisation of the Scottish and Irish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host" + gairm "cry") in the war in the early 16th century Then Slogome is the mingling of the languages of Xento residents and screaming According to the time, this term has been changed into sluggorne, slughorn and slogurn Up to now, slogan is the latest product and has been turned into a more modern notion, whose message is conveyed shorter under a small group of chosen words or a catchphrase Crowther [11] defines: “Slogan is a word or a phrase that is easy to remember to attract people’s attention or to suggest an idea quickly.” Besides, Nguyen Lan in his dictionary [50, p.935] writes “Slogan is a sentence summarizing an important task at a particular time, given out so as to encourage the public.” Another source of material from Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy circulating at Danang department of propaganda and training “Thông tin cổ động” [51, p.40] has a definition of slogan as follows: “Khẩu hiệu hình thức tuyên truyền – cổ động cách cô đúc, ngắn gọn, rõ ràng dễ nhớ mục đích đấu tranh cách mạng nhiệm vụ cách mạng toàn dân hay ngành, đoàn thể, giới địa phương giai đoạn, thời kỳ cách mạng thời gian định (Slogan is a form of propaganda which is condensed, concise, clear, and easy to remember on the aim of revolutionary struggle and revolutionary task of the whole population or of a branch, an organization, a set or a locality in each phase of time, in each revolutionary period, or in each particular time.) Ngo Thi Hong [25, p.12] considers “Slogans are easy to remember and tend to stick in people’s mind” Talking about slogans, Lenin in “Thông tin cổ động” [51, p.40] says, “The most important of slogans is topical.” From a variety of definitions and viewpoints mentioned above, we can see that slogans, in form, are groups of words or short sentences A few words are employed, but can express many things In content, slogans are manipulating, reminding, persuading, warning, propagandizing, and educating the masses 2.2.1.3 Definitions of Socio-cultural Slogan According to Goodfriend [19], he claims that slogans serve the society in the sense that they carry certain ethical and moral value Socio-cultural slogans relate to all things that have impacted on the society and that aim at changing beliefs or inherent particularities of a culture 2.2.2 Functions of Propagandistic Advertising It is undeniable that language is the most important communicative medium of human In terms of communication in general, language performs various functions It is used to manifest sentiments and thoughts; to inform onlookers of important events or information of which they have no knowledge so as to enhance their awareness of a healthy lifestyle or law of a government In terms of advertising language in particular, it is used in efforts to persuade people and modify their behaviors [2, p.42] 10 Jakobson cited in Mai Xuan Huy [45] presents six language functions arranged in order including emotive, conative, poetic, referential, phatic and metalingual function Among these functions are conative and referential ones for advertising Briefly, the conative function can be described to persuade the viewers or readers to believe and to act upon in a certain moral way; the referential function is used to convey information This is, in fact, true in Thorne’s statement He says that the main function of advertising is to persuade known as conative function and its subordinate function is to provide information as referential function [36, p.259] Consequently, propagandistic advertising function is aiming at providing readers with topical issues, informing them of key information, persuading them to act in a certain way, and making them believe in some claims Through slogans, all of them draw people’s attention to a general viewpoint of an organization or a government 2.2.3 Language of Propaganda Propaganda language has a powerful influence on people and their behaviors It is manifested through texts or discourse so as to propagandize burning issues in society under the simple or complex forms like phrases and sentences The language choice to convey messages or information at a particular time is of great significance Its language must be brief, attractive, persuasive, honest, condensed and officially associated with the national language so that it can be read, understood, remembered, and acted upon easily Hence, the language used in written slogans must be very carefully chosen in order to get special effects The use of written slogans can, and what is more, make the propagandistic content more memorable, for writing is not transient, as speaking is, it can be reconsidered 86 4.3.2.2 Differences a Population and children-rights slogans In Western cultures, we hardly see a slogan on population because the government are encouraging people to have more children According to the figures (Geography Book Grade 10, p.87), the birth-rate in Western countries is decreasing or increasing slowly As can be known, the Western people not like to have children because they will lose their jobs; they cannot go on holiday; or they turn out to be older Meanwhile, in Vietnam pursuant to the former conception “each day brings its own bread”, women are free to bear children As a result, the population of Vietnam was increasing dramatically In the face of this situation, the policy of family planning was initiated in 1961, and population slogans also came into being Nowadays, the Vietnamese youth have been aware of the hardness of a big family, so they have reduced to give birth However, we still see equivocal population slogans everywhere such as: (233) Dù gái hay trai, hai đủ [166] (234) Mỗi gia đình có hai [176] (Each family has only one or two children.) Obviously, in these slogans, it can be seen that the authorities not wholly compel people to reduce the birth-rate to the lowest level Similar to the theme of population, slogans on children’s rights are nowhere to be seen in Western countries One proof is that they not have many children due to the low birth-rate, so children are well taken care of On the other hand, Vietnamese children, especially poor and ethnic children, are in need of help from the public These slogans are found everywhere as messages of paying much more attention to children for the sake of our young generation (235) Trẻ em nghèo cần giúp đỡ cộng đồng xã hội.[198] (236) Tạo hội phát triển bình đẳng cho trẻ em.[195] (Create development opportunities for all children equally.) (237) Trẻ em hạnh phúc gia đình, tương lai đất nước.[197] 87 (Children are the happiness of a family, the future of a country.) b Tax slogans Whenever we make a tour of the city in Vietnam, slogans of taxes cannot avoid being looked at They are long-term slogans The reason is that Vietnamese people are not aware of what taxes are paid for or even evade taxation The taxdodgers not know that their tax paying is to make a contribution to the building of the country and to serve the social security On the contrary, we seldom come across a tax slogan in the street in Western countries The Western people pay taxes self-consciously, so they not need to encourage people to pay taxation by slogans as in Vietnam For example, (238) Nộp thuế nghĩa vụ quyền lợi công dân.[117] (Paying taxes is duty and interests of every citizen.) (239) Nộp thuế để xây dựng đất nước giàu mạnh, xây dựng sống ấm no, hạnh phúc.[119] (Paying taxes is to build the country prosperously, to shape a life of comfort and happiness) c Energy slogans As well as themes mentioned above, the energy is not an exception Propagandists of both languages take much interest in energy, yet the scope of propaganda is the not the same Energy slogans in English are found to be 8, whereas in Vietnamese there is only one Perhaps, the need of energy in Western countries is more than that in Vietnam In sum, due to the difference of living conditions, human’s awareness, cultural features, and manners and customs, S.C.P.Ss of each country are more or less of difference on propagandistic level, quantity, themes of propaganda Moreover, S.C.P.Ss depend on the concrete situations and suitable located positions 88 4.3.3 Similarities and Differences in Frequency of E&V S.C.P.Ss investigated In this section, the results of the quantitative analysis of the data, which are the frequency of English and Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss in terms of pragmatic category will be presented in table 10 comprising of occurrences in raw number and in percentage As has been mentioned, the total number of English S.C.P.Ss investigated is 200, and that of Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss is under investigation is 200 Table 4.10 Frequency of slogans in English and Vietnamese Slogans English Vietnamese Occurrence Percentage Occurrence Percentage Health 40 20% 22 11% Environment 35 17,5% 64 32% Safety 95 47,5% 35 17,5% Public places 13 6,5% 20 10% Energy 4% 0,5% Domestic violence 3% 12 6% Population 0% 16 8% Children’s rights 0% 11 5,5% Tax 0,5% 17 8,5% Tourism 1% 1% It can be concluded from the table that the predominant occurrence of safety slogans in English and Vietnamese at 47,5% and 17,5% respectively The analysis of the data in English gains the fewest slogans of taxes which makes up a very small percentage of 0,5%, whereas in Vietnamese the fewest slogans of energy account for a very small percentage of 0,5% Tourism slogans in English and Vietnamese are evenly distributed 1% Among 200 slogans in English, there are 40 health slogans, taking the percentage of 20% and 35 environment slogans, taking the percentage of 17,5% There are no slogans on population and children’s rights in English, whereas in Vietnamese, the figure shows 16 population slogans, making up 89 8%, and 11 slogans on children’s rights, making up 5,5% Besides, slogans on public places are found to make up 10% in Vietnamese, whereas in English they are slogans fewer with 6,5% Furthermore, what can be drawn from the table is that slogans on domestic violence in Vietnamese is nearly doubled those in English in the ratio 12 to 6, which makes up 6% versus 3% In addition, that contrast and comparison can also be shown in Figure 4.2.below Figure 4.2: Chart of Frequency of Slogans in Terms of Pragmatics in English and Vietnamese Percentage 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 English Vietnamese A: Health B: Environment C: Safety D: Public places E: Energy F: Domestic violence G: Population H: Children’s rights I : Taxes J: Tourism A B C D E F G H I J In sum, although the culture of each country has less or more differences, the propaganda contents and intentions of slogans are basically the same Nowadays, when the people’s living standard has been in increase, people turn out to pay much attention to more practical themes or more burning issues Consequently, slogans of these themes or issues have been raised a great deal to educate everyone to tend to the common goal of the community and the whole society The expression in form and in content of each slogan completely depends on the cultural characteristics and behavioural culture of each nation The disproportion of the propaganda frequency 90 shows that people’s awareness is of significant To reach a society of equality, democracy, civilization, and humanity, the most important thing is that people must execute non-commercial slogans bring seriously 91 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSION 5.1.1 Summary of the Development of the Study It is possible to conclude from the findings of thesis that the socio-cultural propaganda slogans give a great contribution to raising people’s awareness of executing lines and policies of the parties and governments In order to gain this, slogans must be highly impressive and forceful thanks to linguistic features This study is done with the hope to discover the similarities and differences the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss in English and Vietnamese To begin with, the rationale as well as the purpose of the study is explicitly introduced in Chapter This is also where the research questions and the scope of the study are found as an overall introduction to the research The paper then continues with a presentation of basic and necessary literature review which lays the theoretical background for the thesis Simultaneously, this chapter covers some concepts related to propaganda slogans The classification of linguistic features is also mentioned in this chapter While with Chapter is designed to depict the methods and procedure of the paper, Chapter presents the findings of the research where grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss bring into focus Generally, all the research questions have been solved by means of the theoretical background and the analysis and contrast of the data 5.1.2 Summary of the Findings 5.1.2.1 Similarities Basically, the socio-cultural propaganda slogans in English and Vietnamese share many characteristics in common 92 Firstly, in terms of grammatical feature, noun phrases, imperatives, and declaratives are found in both languages As for full phrases, they are all constituted with determiners and modifiers In some cases, they are omitted from simple sentences or complex sentences Although a few words are employed, copywriters also use the forms of contrary, comparison, and repetition in their slogans which make them more persuasive and readers more curious In addition, it is the shortness of the slogans that make readers easy to read, remember, understand, and imitate As for sentences, simple sentences with complete thoughts in both languages contain not only finite verbs but also modality verbs Similarly, compound sentences of the two languages bring in them with ellipsis, parallelism, and repetition Secondly, in terms of semantics, the words in the same categories create various themes, known as semantic fields of slogans The fundamental similarity is that the meanings of slogans are expressed through the transitivity structures or verbal processes Both languages provide readers with a more complete knowledge of the meanings of slogans through modality and directive meaning Thanks to the modality meaning, slogans are considered pieces of advice, reminders, encouragements, prohibitions, etc As the essence of the slogans is to encourage people to take action due to a general goal, copywriters have to resort to the directive meaning to express the intentions of propagandists Thirdly, as for pragmatic feature, behavioral culture is mentioned with the aim of showing behavioral awareness of people in both languages 5.1.2.2 Differences Although there are some similarities of linguistic features in both languages, they have the following differences On the grammatical aspect, while in English, noun phrases often go with articles, but there is no article in Vietnamese Adjectives in English coming before nouns pertain to determiners, yet they follow the head nouns in Vietnamese as an 93 ending component or postmodifier As for imperatives, the subjects of Vietnamese imperatives in some cases are retained Moreover, Vietnamese ones often contain a phrase of purpose or cause at the beginning or the end of each slogan Meanwhile, the form of English imperatives is rather simple Their subjects are almost omitted This shows that Vietnamese copywriters specify the problem more specific than English copywriters On the contrary, English imperatives often have the phenomenon of alliteration, rhyme, word repetition, enumeration, and parallelism in their slogans, which makes slogans easy to be remembered and parodied As for sentences, simple sentences in Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss are almost employed with the copular “là”, whereas English S.C.P.Ss contain many kinds of lexical verbs English slogans are found to have compound and complex sentences with connectives, whereas there is no compound sentence found in Vietnamese slogans Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss are found to have word parallel construction in compound sentences to express ideas of the same level of importance Besides, Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss have one kind of repetition named circle repetition, but there is none in English S.C.P.Ss Semantically, differences exist between English and Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss Sets of words in Vietnamese slogans are found two themes more than those in English ones The majority of words used in Vietnamese slogans have explicit meaning This helps readers look back on the themes quickly, and they can master the propagandists’ intentions easily As for interpersonal meaning, there are no modal verbs expressing necessity in English S.C.P.Ss, and expressing probability or prediction in Vietnamese ones Moreover, the number of modal verbs in Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss is a half of those in English ones In order to express the imperative and prohibitive factors in their slogans, English copywriters employ the interjection “please” at the beginning or end of each slogan more often than Vietnamese ones As small the word is, its value in meaning is great Although perceivers of these slogans have to execute their assignments, they find to be respected 94 Pragmatically, many Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss slogans violate Grice’s relation and manner maxims by using periphrasis and expressing unnecessary prolixity In addition, the degree of people’s awareness of the environment protection, tax paying, family planning, road safety, etc, in both languages is not the same That is why the number of slogans collected is different There are even no propaganda themes on family planning and children’s rights in English slogans 5.2 IMPLICATIONS FOR COMPILING SLOGANS In the open mechanism of the economy when Vietnam is actively joining the global and regional market, the raising people’s awareness of socio-cultural propaganda themes is essential Also with this reason, in order to help Vietnamese learners of English in general and slogan compilers in particular gain a deeper insight into the linguistic features as well as how to write propaganda slogans in an effective way, the authour would like to put forward some implications for compiling slogans Firstly, this thesis is done with the hope that some grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of S.C.P.Ss in English and Vietnamese are revealed And the researcher also hopes that the findings in this research will make a contribution to helping readers have a better understanding of slogans Undoubtedly, the effect of slogans has been proved to raise higher because there is a proof that there has been a decrease in violating laws among people Secondly, in order to make people pay more attention to what they are being propagandizing, the form and the content of slogans must be harmonious The sentence patterns should be employed with imperatives, simple sentences instead of compound or complex sentences Stylistics such as alliteration, rhymes, parallelism, repetition, ellipsis in sentence patterns should be taken into consideration as much as possible Moreover, in order to help readers master the intentions of copywriters as well as the implicature of each slogan, the usage of words should be carefully chosen The words must be condensed, clear, and popular The usage of punctuation 95 marks in slogans is also a matter because it helps readers realize the slogan compilers’ intentions Last but not least, if imperatives in both languages are employed, the word “please” in English or “xin vui lòng” in Vietnamese should be put at the beginning of the sentences This creates a deeply pragmatic meaning Although readers must execute what to be told, they find it interesting to be respected 5.3 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY There is no doubt that this research reveals certain shortcomings or limitations on account of the time restriction as well as the shortage of reference materials related to the field under investigation Firstly, the source of some English slogans is hard to be seen in daily life in England, the United States, and Australia because of the high awareness of executing laws of people here Secondly, although socio-cultural propaganda slogans are very necessary for authorities in all ages, no linguist has studied the matter in terms of grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features Lastly, the limited competence of the researcher can also been counted as another limitation facing the research For these limitations, the researcher would be grateful to receive any comments from teachers, readers, and those who pay much attention to this topic 5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH At this stage, it can be said that the analysis of the linguistic features of English and Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss is just on the way to be completed The authour does his best to point out the similarities and differences of the features of English and Vietnamese S.C.P.Ss in terms of grammar, semantics, and pragmatics Although the researcher has strong ambition and passion for analyzing them, there are some other aspects with which have not been dealt in this paper because of the 96 limitation of time, the lack of reference and materials as well In order to help learners have their knowledge of socio-cultural propaganda slogans and apply them in communication as well as compiling appropriately and effectively, the following points should be paid much attention for further researches: - The linguistic features of political slogans in English and Vietnamese, - The pragmatic features of visual slogans in other means of communication, - The lexical choice in English and Vietnamese socio-cultural propaganda slogans, - Stylistics in English and Vietnamese socio-cultural propaganda slogans, - Linguistic features of slogans in English and their Vietnamese translational equivalents 97 REFERENCES In English [1] Anh, H Kim (2008), An Investigation into Stylistics Devices in English and Vietnamese Proverbs, M.A Thesis, University of Danang [2] Asher, R E., (Ed In Ch.) (1994), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Vol 10, Pergamon Press [3] Bain, A., (2008), A First English Grammar, Biblio Bazar LLC [4] Baker, C.L (1995), English Syntax, Cambridge, The MIT Press [5] Biber, D (1999), Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, London: Longman [6] Brinton, L J (2000), The Structure of Modern English: A Linguistic Introduction Illustrated edition, John Benjamins Publishing Company [7] Burnard P., (2005), Counselling Skills for Health Professionals, Ashford Colour Press [8] Bybee, J., Perkins, R., Pagliuca, W (1994), The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press [9] Chalker, S (1992), Current English Grammar, Macmillan Education London, England [10] Cobuild, C (2001), English Grammar, Nxb Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh [11] Crowther, J (1995), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press [12] Crystal, D (1987), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge University Press [13] Cu, Dang Ngoc (2003), A Contrastive Analysis on Linguistic Features of Proverbs through Parallelism in English and Vietnamese, M.A Thesis, University of Danang [14] Da, Nguyen Thi Phuoc (2004), An Investigation into Lexical Choice and Its Propaganda Effects through Brief News, M.A Thesis, University of Danang 98 [15] Downing, A., Locke, P (1995), A University Course in English Grammar, Phoenix ELT [16] Dyer, G (1996), Advertising As Communication, Routledge, London and New York [17] Frawley, W (1992), Linguistic Semantics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publisher [18] Galperin, I.R (1971), Stylistics, Higher School Publishing House, Moscow [19] Goodfriend, A (1971), The Dilema of Cultural Propaganda The Annals of the American Acadamy of Political and Social Science (398) 104-112 [20] Gove, P.B (2003), Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam – Webster Inc., Publishers, Massachusetts, USA [21] Greene, J., Coulson, M (1995), Language Understanding, 2nd, Current Issues, Open University Press [22] Halliday, M.A.K (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar Second edition London: Edward Arnold [23] Halliday, M.A.K (2004), An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Third edition Oxford University Press Inc [24] Hoa, Nguyen (2001), An Introduction to Semantics, Nxb Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội [25] Hong, Ngo Thi (2004), An Investigation into English Lexical Choice in Trade Advertisements, M.A Thesis, University of Danang [26] Jowett, G.S., O’Donnell, V (2006), 3rd, Propaganda and Persuasion, Sag Publications Inc [27] Lock, G (1999), Functional English Grammar: An Introduction Second Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press [28] Lyons, J (2002), Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press [29] Matthiessen, C.M.I.M (1995), Lexicogrammatical Cartography: English systems, Tokyo: International Language Sciences Publishers 99 [30] Palmer, F.R (1986), Mood and Modality, Cambridge University Press [31] Perkins, M R (1983), Modal Expressions in English, Longman Press [32] Quirk, R (2002), A University Grammar of English, Nxb Giao Thong Van Tai [33] Richards, B., et al (2000), “The Dynamics of Advertising”, Harwood Academic Publishers [34] Roberts, P (1956), Patterns of English, Harcourt, Brace and World Publishers [35] Terrence H.Q (1962), Propaganda and Psychological Warfare, New York: Random House [36] Throne, S (1977), Mastering Advanced English Language, London [37] Uyen, Phan Thi Uyen (2006), An Investigation into Some Commonly Used Stylistic Devices in Advertising in English and Vietnamese Newspapers, M.A Thesis, University of Danang [38] Yule, G (1997), Pragmatics, Oxford University Press [39] Yule, G (2006), Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced With Answers, Oxford: Oxford University Press In Vietnamese [40] Diệp Quang Ban (2009a), Ngữ pháp Việt Nam – Phần câu, Nxb Đại học Sư phạm [41] Diệp Quang Ban (2009b), Ngữ pháp Việt Nam, Nxb Giáo dục Việt Nam [42] Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (2009), Dẫn luận ngôn ngữ học, Nxb Giáo dục [43] Nguyễn Văn Hiệp (2008), Cơ sở ngữ nghĩa – Phân tích cú pháp, Nxb Giáo dục [44] Bùi Mạnh Hùng (2003), Bàn vấn đề phân loại câu theo mục đích phát ngôn, Tạp chí Ngôn ngữ số 2/2003 [45] Mai Xuân Huy (2005), Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo ánh sáng lý thuyết giao tiếp, Nxb Khoa học xã hội 100 [46] Đinh Trọng Lạc (1999), 99 Phương tiện biện pháp tu từ tiếng Việt, Nxb Giáo dục [47] Đinh Trọng Lạc, Nguyễn Thái Hòa (2008), Phong cách học tiếng Việt, Nxb Giáo dục [48] Trần Thị Ngọc Lang (2005), Một số vấn đề phương ngữ xã hội, Nxb Khoa học xã hội [49] Lê Huy Lâm, Phạm Văn Thuận (2004), Học sử dụng tiếng Anh lĩnh vực quảng cáo thương mại, Nxb Tổng hợp Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh [50] Nguyễn Lân (2000), Từ điển - Từ ngữ Việt Nam, Nxb Tổng hợp Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh [51] Phân viện báo chí Tuyên truyền (2004), Thông tin cổ động, – Học viện trị Quốc Gia Hồ Chí Minh [52] Lê Văn Sự (2006), Cẩm nang Ngữ âm – Từ vựng – Cú pháp tiếng Anh, Nxb Văn hóa thông tin [53] Trần Tâm (2010), Lung tung slogan du lịch!, Báo Thanh Niên, ngày 28/03/2010 [54] Nguyễn Kim Thản (2008), Cơ sở ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, Nxb Khoa học xã hội [55] Hoàng Văn Vân (2002), Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm cú tiếng Việt mô tả theo quan điểm chức hệ thống, Nxb Khoa học xã hội [56] Viện ngôn ngữ học (2006), Từ điển tiếng Việt, Nxb Đà Nẵng In Internet [57] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda (9.43 a.m Feb 21, 2010) [58] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora (10.43 p.m Apr 19, 2010) [59] http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/anaphora.htm (9.00 p.m Apr 27, 2010) [60] http://www.saga.vn/kynangquanly/vanhoakinhdoanh/8020.saga (5.05 p.m Oct 24, 2010) [...]... Hãy thay đổi nhận thức và hành vi để phòng chống tác hại của thuốc lá.[144] (Change your perception and behaviour to prevent harmful effects of tobacco), or Đừng làm tổn thương tình cảm, sức khoẻ của thành viên gia đình bạn [157] (Don’t hurt feelings and health of your family members) Hence, imperatives typically have no subject, consisting of the residue only as well as no tense, number or modality ... The Vietnamese Dictionary [56] defines “Tuyên truyền giải thích rộng rãi để thuyết phục người tán thành, ủng hộ, làm theo.”(Propaganda is explaining commodiously so as to convince everyone to approve,... and behaviour to prevent harmful effects of tobacco), or Đừng làm tổn thương tình cảm, sức khoẻ thành viên gia đình bạn [157] (Don’t hurt feelings and health of your family members) Hence, imperatives... the family’s happiness.) (106) Giao tiếp ứng xử lịch sự, nhã nhặn, thân thiện phong cách người văn minh [66] (Friendly and courteous communication and behaviour are styles of civilized people.)