MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE

MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************** TẠ THỊ THU HẰNG MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE (Hình tượng người mẹ hát tiếng Anh tiếng Việt theo quan điểm ngôn ngữ học chức hệ thống) M.A Combined Program Thesis Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************** TẠ THỊ THU HẰNG MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE (Hình tượng người mẹ hát tiếng Anh tiếng Việt theo quan điểm ngôn ngữ học chức hệ thống) M.A Combined Program Thesis Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông Hanoi – 2016 DECLARATION I declare that this MA thesis, entitled Mother in English and Vietnamese Songs from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective, is entirely the result of my own work The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or tertiary institution, and to the best of my knowledge, neither does it contain material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text Signature Tạ Thị Thu Hằng i ABSTRACT Song lyrics and rhymes serve as an important part of English teaching curricula in a variety of countries Of all topics, songs about mother have drawn attraction of listeners and learners as they not only entertain people but also educate them in terms of linguistic knowledge and moral values Until now, there has not been much research on mother image under the light of linguistics These provide me with the motivation to carry out the research “Mother in English and Vietnamese Songs from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective” The study is conducted to figure out the similarities and differences in the way mother image is represented in English and Vietnamese in view of systemic linguistic perspective In other words, the study aims to give readers a brief description and analysis of mother image in English and Vietnamese songs Within the framework of an M.A thesis, the research cannot cover all aspects of mother image in English and Vietnamese; we therefore limit it to a manageable scope: analyzing mother image in songs in terms of transitivity system Two principal methods employed in the study are descriptive and comparative analysis Through descriptive method, six types of transitivity process in each language were identified In fulfilling the focuses of the study, comparative method is applied to the identification of prominent features of mother image in English and Vietnamese songs The paper also provides conclusions on the images to which mother is compared, and these images are closely associated with cultural and historical factors Insights gained through this study lend themselves to suggestions for designing exercises based on songs for teaching English as well as linguistic theory ii ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Lâm Quang Đông for transferring me his specialized knowledge, his inspiring me the love in linguistics as well as his valuable suggestions, advice and correction throughout my study I also take this opportunity to thank all my lecturers in the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures, which have surely contributed to the foundation of my thesis Finally, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my family for their support, encouragement and understanding, without which my theis would not have been accomplished Hanoi, January, 2016 Ta Thi Thu Hang iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv v LIST OF TABLES AND PICTURES vi INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale 2.Aims and research questions .3 2.1.Aims 2.2 Research questions 3.Scope and significance of the study 3.1.Scope 3.2.Significance .4 4.Methodology and procedures 4.1.Methodology 4.2.Procedures: data collection and analysis CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS 1.2.APPLICATION OF TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM IN LITERARY ANALYSIS CHAPTER II: DATA ANALYSIS - TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS 18 2.1.TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN ENGLISH SONGS 18 iv 2.2.TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN VIETNAMESE SONGS 22 CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION - A COMPARISON BETWEEN MOTHER IMAGES IN ENGLISH SONGS AND IN VIETNAMESE SONGS 24 3.1 SIMILARITIES 25 3.2.DIFFERENCES .48 CONCLUSION .63 1.RECAPITUALTION 63 2.SUGGESTIONS FOR DESIGNING EXERCISES 64 3.LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 66 REFERENCE 67 v LIST OF TABLES AND PICTURES Table 1: Three lines of a meaning in a clause Table 2: Process types, their meanings and characteristic participants Table 3: Material process type Table 4: Mental process type Table 5: The principal types of relational process Table 6: Behavioural process type Table 7: Verbal process type Table 8: Existential process type Table 9: Participants functions Table 10: Range functions Table 11: Circumstantial elements Table 12: Transitivity patterns in English songs Table 13: Transitivity patterns in Vietnamese songs Table 14: Comparison examples between English and Page 11 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 17 18 19 23 62 Vietnamese songs Picture 1: Difference in feeling expression between 60 Westerners and Easterners Picture 2: Difference in thought expression between 61 Westerners and Easterners Picture 3: Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education 62 vi INTRODUCTION Rationale “Music gives you happiness and sadness But it also, also heals your soul” (From the song “Let the music heal your soul”) Music is a very colorful thread woven into the entire fabric of our life Singing songs with melodic rhythm is a subtle way for people to share their happiness and sadness Moreover, music lyrics and rhymes serve as an important part of English teaching curricula in a variety of countries As an obvious example, in Taiwan, songs and rhymes are expected to fulfill different purposes in elementary education, especially in English teaching (Teng, 2013) In a lot of well-known English textbooks such as Headway, New English File and Solutions which are in use in Vietnam, songs are used as a part of exercises Another example is in the famous English teaching program ESL Podcast, music is often played at the beginning and the end of each audio For instance, to teach the vowel /i:/, instead of saying ““Today we are going to discuss about the way to pronounce /i:/”, a piece of music introduced: We are three Shall have some tea She will come And so will he If by chance We see a bee We’ll say buzz off Don’t bother me (two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight) (Chorus) Fiddle de fiddle de Fiddle dee dee Fiddle de fiddle de Fiddle dee dee (Bee Movie script, 2007) According to Gardner (1983: 20), a Harvard psychologist, “music intelligence is equal in importance to logical mathematical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence” In linguistic area in Vietnam, the effectiveness of music in enhancing listening skill is also studied at Phuong Dong University by Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, 2006 or by Nguyen Thi Quyet 2005 supplied learners with language knowledge of structures and meanings in English and Vietnamese nursery rhymes Of all topics, songs about mother have drawn attraction of listeners and learners as they not only entertain people but also educate them in terms of language knowledge and moral values Until now, there has not been much rhythm of lullaby as well as feel the mother’s adorable emotion for her child The image of the child on his/her mother’s back is derived from the reality that the mother is looking after her baby and working at the same time In reality, the place mentioned in the song suffered from bombardment of the enemies and always coped with the enemies’ scheme: hunting, killing and eliminating villages The life was overwhelmed with difficulties and challenges but mothers still strived to maintain steady life pace, enhanced production to ensure food for soldiers fighting against the enemies It seems that in each rice seed, mothers save love for country The mental process with verb “thương” is repeated three times The phenomenon are, namely, “Akay” (her son) , “bộ đội” (soldiers) and “làng đói” (starving village) “Mẹ thương Akay Mẹ thương đội Mẹ thương làng đói” The hardship of the mother is more and more emphasized in two contrasted images “small mother’s back” and “big mountain’s back” “Lưng núi to mà lưng mẹ nhỏ” The relational process expresses the attributes of the mother‘s back and the back of mountain The first carrier is “lưng núi” with the attribute “to” and the second carrier “lưng mẹ” with the attribute “nhỏ” Two contrastive attributes provoke readers that the nature is so gorgeous and magnificent; meanwhile, the person is so humble In Vietnam, the ethnic mother’s back is closely associated with her child in a wide variety of daily activities She both carries her child on her back and does other things Although her back is not as big as “the back of mountain”, it is more enduring and proud because the mother’s back bears the hardship to bring up the child as well as serves the country Ta-oi ethnic group experience the hardship time during the American 54 war Resistance is poor and hard, the love for child, the love for country motivates the mother to overcome all challenges The mother diligently shells corn and seeds in the hope of “Hạt bắp lên đều” (Corn grows well) She dreams of full life in her villages More meaningfully, it is the dream of the child future “Mai sau lớn vung chày lún sân” The actor “Con” performs the action “vung chày” – a material verb Especially, the circumstance of manner is transference of meaning “lún sân” – hyperbole The picture of the child’s future is so stunning It seems that the power of the child in the future is converged the power of the mother and the Vietnamese people The author carves a significant image of Ta-oi mother in particular and Vietnamese mother in general It can be seen that because of the nature of the war, a just war to protect country from the invasion of foreign countries, all Vietnamese people regardless of which ethnic group they belong to are willing to take part in the Resistance Besides the song “Lời ru nương” (Lullaby on terrace field), other plentiful songs praise mothers’ credit for protecting country during the France war Resistance and American war Resistance For instance, the song “Đưa cơm cho mẹ cày” by Hàn Ngọc Bích was composed when the author was evacuating to Hà Tây, a province in the North of Vietnam “Lúa xuân thêm Ngô khoai xanh tươi Ai giỏi giang tay cày …Mẹ đảm Con chăm ngoan” (From the song “Đưa cơm cho mẹ cày”) 55 In the first two lines, the carriers are “lúa xuân” and “ngô khoai” The attributes “thêm bông” and “xanh tươi” reveal the readers a productive crop To yield such a crop, it is the great contribution of the mother Two next relational processes praise the diligence and versatility of the mother The relational processes with adjectives used aim at describing mothers’ hard work and satisfactory results: “đảm đang” (during this period, there was “three responsibilities” movement in which Vietnamese women assumed responsibility for the household, production and fighting in their menfolk’s place), “giỏi giang” Besides being responsible for farming, the mother bring up the child who is described the relational process with the attribute “chăm ngoan” The story “Đưa cơm cho mẹ cày” (meaning “bring rice for mother in the field”) is entirely realistic in the 70-80s of the last century of Vietnam In those years, farmers had to cultivate different fields in other villages so they did not have enough time to take their buffalo to home and have lunch Therefore, their lunch often took place right near the field After school, the children would take rice balls with sesame, which were wrapped in the spathe for their mothers While mothers were having lunch under the shade of tree, these children would look after buffalo To sum up, talking about mother image in Vietnamese songs, besides similar characteristics to English songs that are discussed above, the readers witness numerous different points In almost all Vietnamese songs during the wartime, mothers are recognized as the great contributor for the Resistance By realistic activities, they have made direct or indirect contribution to the victory of the Vietnamese people It is the reason why they are granted as heroic mothers 56 Of all English songs selected, half of them are about mothers in American civil war and the other half are about mothers in the World War II while most Vietnamese songs are mothers during the French and American war Resistance It is likely the difference in the nature of war leads to distinct ways of depicting mother image in songs of each language The civil American war reformed political institution of the country; the Second World War was caused by rights conflict among capital countries; whereas, Vietnamese people fought to seize the independence, to keep foreign invaders away from their country Furthermore, most Western countries have been independent after 1945; yet Vietnam kept fighting until 1975 Vietnam, a country has suffered heavy losses due to war, if had not been for mothers’ contribution, the victory may have been far away 3.2.2 Mother image in peacetime It is easily realized that in all Vietnamese songs, mother is described with the noblest virtues In other words, it is a perfect picture without any flaws Most authors have strived to select the best qualities of mother to compose their songs Actually anyone is likely to make some mistakes However, such things involving mothers are nearly avoided in fifty Vietnamese songs Most Vietnamese describe mothers as a flawless picture In contrast, in English songs, these authors are not hesitant to give realistic details of mother image in daily life There is a wide range of ways for mother to express her love to her child Not all of them are welcomed by her child On occasion, the child can have the uncomfortable feeling that his or her mother is so serious “Mama” sung by Spice Girls is a typical example "Mama" was written by the Spice Girls with songwriting partners Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard Its lyrics deals with 57 the difficulties in relationships between mothers and teenagers that appears during adolescence They have ever confided, “We wrote 'Mama' when I was going through a bad phase with my mum The sentiments are really that your mum's probably the best friend that you've got Whether she's an overprotective mother or a bit of a landmine, she probably knows you better than yourself in some ways.” “She used to be my enemy and never letting me be free Catching me in places that I know I shouldn’t be” (From the song “Mama” – Spice Girls) Puberty time is a sensitive period and not all mothers are psychological enough to treat their children right In some cases, they always want to keep their children under control In the song, the mother is so over-protective that her child mistakenly considers her as an enemy The relational process “used to be” shows that the sad story happened in the past The identified is “she”, as the mother, and the identified “my enemy” Thanks to the relational process, the readers partially guess what happened While the girl is keen on being at prohibited places, she is banned by her mother It seems that her mother never takes her eyes off the child It can be concluded that the child is outspoken to share her past attitudes to her mother Later, when she is grown-up enough, she realizes that her mother turns out to be the best friend because “all that you did was love” Such details are not reflected in Vietnamese songs In addition, there are some images of Western mothers, which are hardly seen in Vietnamese songs Let us take an example from the song “Mom” by Berlin “And mommy’s dancing Cooking in the kitchen Cigarette’s burning in the astray next to the roast” (From the song “Mom” ) 58 Three material processes are used in the verse In the first line, the actor “mommy” is performing daily tasks “cooking” with another interesting action “dancing” However, the following material process with the images of a cigarette “burning” seem to be rarely present in Vietnamese songs of mother The image of mother with cigarette is far different from the traditional image of woman in Vietnam To some extent, it is rather biased to see a mother with cigarette like that It can be come to conclusion that in English songs, not only the noblest virtues of mothers reflected, but also even these aspects which are not really perfect appear in the songs The possible reason that leads to this difference may come from difference in the way of thinking and expressing emotions The ways of expressing emotion between Westerners and Easterners share little common points For most Westerners, there is clear boundary between happiness and sadness while many Easterners often hide their feelings Such difference can be illustrated as in the picture below Picture 1: Difference in feelings expression between Westerners and Easterners (Source: Yang Liu, 2015 East meets West) 59 Involving the way of thinking or solving the problem, Western people often go straightforward while Eastern people may beat about the bush Picture 2: Difference in thoughts expressions between Westerners and Easterners (Source: Yang Liu, 2015 East meets West) In his book “Cultural thought patterns in Intercultural education”, Kaplan (1966) also presents differences in thoughts of people in different regions through a series of following pictures Picture 3: Cultural though patterns in inter-cultural education (Source: Kaplan, 1966 Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education) 60 Therefore, mentioning a phenomenon, the Western state directly; yet the Eastern will give a hint through another image This can be seen clearly through the way the authors describe the hardship of mothers A table of comparison will be given, which helps the readers easily realize the difference in two ways of depicting: direct and indirect In English songs “Five kids, three jobs, how you ever did it? Tryna make a living, hustle got me reminiscing” (From the song “Mama, can you hear me?”) In Vietnamese songs “Con cò lặn lội, bờ sông” (From the song “Nhớ mẹ quê”) “Một lầm lũi canh ba thức giấc, đêm khuya vắng lầm lũi thân cò” (From the song “Con cò”) “Work three jobs, all through the weekdays” (From the song “I love my mama”) Table 14: Comparison examples between English and Vietnamese songs In English songs, the author directly uses the participant “mother” in the material processes to depict the qualities of the mother However, we see a different participant in Vietnamese songs to describe the mother, “con cò” (the stork) Actually, in terms of stylistic device, it is called metaphoric image In Vietnamese folk verses, there are a huge number of works with the presence of the participant named stork It turns up in different situations Sometimes, it is describe to be tramping around the edge of pond (“lặn lội bờ ao”), or flying in the sky (“bay lả bay la”), hunting for food at night (“đi ăn đêm”) “Cái cò lặn lội bờ sông, Gánh gạo đưa chồng tiếng khóc nỉ non 61 “Con cò bay lả bay la Bay từ cửa miếu bay cánh đồng” “Con cò mày ăn đêm, Đậu phải cành mềm lộn cổ xuống ao” (From the book “Ca dao tục ngữ Việt Nam”) It is not contingent when the stork image is used as the participant in transitivity system to illustrate the qualities of Vietnamese people in the past Even in the modern composition, the image of the stork is still adopted as a cultural symbol of Vietnamese people The stork is a familiar and close to Vietnamese farmers They usually stand in the field or at the edge of rice field to contemplate farmers working In terms of characteristics, the stork belongs to the group of tender and gentle animals Moreover, it diligently hunts for food It can be realized that this kind of animal has some common points with farmers It is the reason why it symbolizes Vietnamese people in general and Vietnamese women in particular Therefore, in two songs mentioned above, the image of stork stresses the hard work of mother In data analysis part, we have witnessed little difference between transitivity number of English and Vietnamese songs While the material process leads the first rank in English transitivity system, it is the relational process, which plays the most important role The reason is that the frequency of stylistic devices in Vietnamese songs, namely, simile and metaphor which are normally expressed through relational processes 62 CONCLUSION RECAPITUALTION The study so far has concentrated on describing mother images in English and Vietnamese songs, which has brought about the similarities and differences The transitivity patterns with the presentation of material process, mental process, relational process, verbal process, behavioral process and existential process are studied In some specific cases, time and location are looked at to find out what manifests in each type of song Besides, stylistic devices are also taken into consideration At the last step, a comparison is drawn upon the result found in the investigation to find out the similarities and differences between them Despite two separate languages, we have discovered a lot of common features between mother image in English songs and mother image in Vietnamese songs We have divided into two aspects: mother image in wartime and mother image in peacetime During the wartime, though in various countries, any mother cannot stop worrying about their children and look forward to their safe return In vice versa, the children are inspired by their mothers to be resilient during the wars in which they can sacrifice at anytime Back to normal life, they are great mothers with the roles of the caretaker, the teacher and their children’s loyal friend In the role of a mother, they are dedicated and sometimes patient to suffer with stress caused by their own children As a teacher, they show their children right from wrong and guide them to the best things in life with important moral values More importantly, they will never abandon their children under any circumstances, even when their children 63 make unforgivable mistakes It cannot be denied that they are not only features of mothers in English speaking countries or in Vietnamese, but also features of all mothers in the world Dedication, patience and tolerance make a mother wherever they are All processes classified according to the theory of Halliday are found out in English and Vietnamese songs Similarly, stylistic devices named simile, metaphor are used in both languages However, the frequency of usage and the rank are not the same Along with similarities, differences shown between mother images in English and Vietnamese songs have uncovered the history context, the ideologies lying behind each language In the period of wartime, not only accepting to leave their children as mother in English songs, Vietnamese mother directly or indirectly engage in the war Many of them are transporters and protectors for soldiers who are taking over secret missions Others stay in the rear to supply food to soldiers in the battlefield Vietnam has experienced four thousand years of building and maintaining the countries with hundreds of wars Vietnamese people fight to drive the invaders off their territorial sovereignty so the engagement of all classes at every age is necessary, especially these women In the peacetime, the way these authors carve the mother image is diverse, which is the result of difference in culture SUGGESTIONS FOR DESIGNING EXERCISES In reality, songs are widely used to design exercises in teaching listening skills or pronunciation However, we find out that it is feasible to design exercises of some certain subjects for learners in higher education because of the variety in terms of structures and stylistic devices used Following are some examples of exercise in a specific subject 64 • In Functional Grammar for Master students Task: Analyze the following text in terms of clause and clause complex, transitivity, mood and theme Provide comments on the above aspects Which type of process is used most? Can you give explanation? “Mẹ dòng suối dịu hiền Mẹ hát thần tiên Là bóng mát cao Là mắt sáng trăng Là ánh đuốc đêm lạc lối Mẹ lọn mía ngào Là tiếng dế đêm thâu Là nắng ấm nương dâu Là vốn liếng yêu thương cho đời” (From the song “Bông hồng cài áo” ) • In Semantics for University and Master students Task: Identify linguistic means used in the following songs “Your love is like a river peaceful and deep 65 Your love is like a secret that I never could keep When I look into your eyes I know that’s true God must spent a little more time on you Never thought that love could feel like this Then you change my world with just one kiss” (From the song “A little more time on you”) LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES The study has been the first trial to discover the similarities and differences between mother images in English and Vietnamese songs; however, it has been limited to some aspects investigated only The following studies, if possible, various aspects should be analyzed such as THEME and MOOD in clauses Besides some stylistic devices mentioned in the study, other stylistic devices can be used as tools to compare such as metonymy, anaphora or litotes The study focuses in comparing English and Vietnamese songs as genre; therefore, further research should be made on other related genres such as poems or proses 66 REFERENCE In English Brad Shaw (1998) Figures of speech Retrieved from http://theologue.wordpress.com/tag/figures-of-speech/ Gardner, H (1983) Music intelligence Harward University: USA Gerot, L & Wignell, P (1994) Making Sense of Functional Grammar Antipodean Educational Enterprises: Sydney Halliday, M.A.K & Matthiessen, C M I M (2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar London E Arnold Halliday, M.A.K & Matthiessen (1994) Introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.) London E.Arnold Halliday, M.A.K (1994) An introduction of functional grammar London E Arnold Kaplan, R.B (1966) Cultural thought patterns in Inter-cultural education Blackwell Publishers Lakoff & Johnson (1920) Metaphor we live by John Benjamins Leech.N.L (1969) A linguistic Guide to English Poetry London: Longman ltd 10.Nunan, D (1992) Introducing Discourse Analysis Penguin: London 11.Saeed (2003) Semantics Blackwell publisher 12.Swales, J (1990) Genre analysis English in academic and research settings Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13.Teng Y C (2013) Analysis of songs and rhymes in children English text books Retrieved from www.naer.edu.tw/ezfiles/0/1000/img/18/100-09.pdf 14 Thompson, G (1996) Introducing Functional Grammar New York, NY: ST.Martin’s Press, Inc 15.Yang Liu (2015) East meets West Taschen America Llc In Vietnamese 67 16.Cù Đình Tú (1953) Phong cách học đặc điểm từ vựng Tiếng Việt NXB Đại học Trung học chuyên nghiệp: Hà Nội 17.Hoàng Văn Vân (2005) Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức hệ thống Science and Society Publishing house 18.Nguyễn Hòa (2004) Understanding English semantics VNU Publishing house 19.Võ Đại Quang (2005) Semantics The culture and information Publishing house 68 [...]... contribution to providing an insight into the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese mother image in the issues investigated 2 Aims and research questions 2.1 Aims The study aims to: - Describe and analyze mother image in songs from systemic functional linguistics perspective; - Identify similarities and differences in linguistic means to depict mother image in English and Vietnamese songs; - Offer... teaching and learning English through songs 2.2 Research questions In order to achieve these aims and objectives of the study, the following questions will be addressed: 1 How are mothers depicted in English and Vietnamese songs from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics? 2 What are the linguistic means to express such meanings? 3 Scope and significance of the study 3 3.1 Scope Within the... of mother image in English and Vietnamese songs; therefore, we limit it to manageable scope: analyzing mother image in terms of transitivity system, and figures of meanings or stylistic devices in depicting mother image 3.2 Significance By investigating representational meaning of mother image in English and Vietnamese, this study, to some extent, could provide an aspect of linguistic features of mother. ..research on mother image under the light of linguistics All reasons mentioned above motivate me to carry out the research Mother in English and Vietnamese Songs from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective What should be carried out in the thesis will be an inquiry of both of the structure and meaning of mother image in order to find out the similarities and differences between them... Finally, in using language, we organize our messages in ways which indicate how they fit in with the other messages around them and with the wider context in which we are talking or writing Similarly, Martin, Matthiessen and Painter (1997) define functional grammar as a way of looking at grammar in terms of how grammar is used In the field of linguistics, formal grammar, which is an alternative to functional. .. will be shed under the light of systemic functional linguistics Through the investigation of one hundred songs, we see that mothers in English and Vietnamese songs are depicted in both the wartime and peacetime This similarity allows us to make division of comparison into mother image in wartime and mother image in peacetime 3.1 SIMILARITIES 3.1.1 Mother image in wartime No one can deny the harshness... following ranks belong to the behavioral, verbal and existential processes, respectively CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION - A COMPARISON BETWEEN MOTHER IMAGES IN ENGLISH SONGS AND IN VIETNAMESE SONGS 24 In this chapter, by the comparative method, similarities and differences between mother images in English and Vietnamese songs will be made Both similar and different aspects will be shed under the light of systemic. .. process, and verifying who or what is affected or seems to be affected by each of these processes All processes identified are categorized and illustrated as percentages From these results, similarities and differences of mother images in English and Vietnamese songs are presented 5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS 1.1.1 Development of Systemic Functional Linguistics Systemic. .. as principal method in the study 4 The descriptive method aims at describing mother through transitivity system, mood patterns and then synthesizes the result to find out the similarities and differences in the depiction of mother images in the two languages In fulfilling the focuses of the study, the comparative method is applied to present prominent features of mother images in English and Vietnamese. .. 7 Role I’m speaking as your employer Table 11: Circumstantial elements (Halliday, 2004) 17 CHAPTER II: DATA ANALYSIS - TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS In this chapter, we will study linguistic features of English and Vietnamese songs under the light of systemic functional language Specially, we make the effort to explore mothers’ hard work and dedication to bringing up their children ... Mother in English and Vietnamese Songs from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective What should be carried out in the thesis will be an inquiry of both of the structure and meaning of mother. .. English and Vietnamese mother image in the issues investigated Aims and research questions 2.1 Aims The study aims to: - Describe and analyze mother image in songs from systemic functional linguistics. .. LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************** TẠ THỊ THU HẰNG MOTHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SONGS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE