A VIETNAMESE ENGLISH CROSS CULTURAL STUDY ON GESTURES FOR GREETING

thạc sỹ, luận văn, ngoại ngữ, tiếng anh, khóa luận, chuyên đề

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

- -Bùi Thị Thu Thủy

A VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON GESTURES FOR GREETING

nghiªn cøu giao v¨n hãa vÒ cö chØ

chµo hái viÖt - anh

Field : English linguistics

Course : K11 MA Minor Thesis

Supervisor: Assoc Prof, Dr Nguyen Quang

Haiphong, July 2005

I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor, Assoc Prof., Dr Nguyen Quang (Foreign Languages College, VNU- Hanoi) for his invaluable guidance and instructive comments throughout this study.

I am greatly indebted to my teachers (Foreign Languages College, VNU- Hanoi, Department of Post Graduate Studies), especially Dr Nguyen Van Chien (Institute for Southeast Asean Studies) for their lectures on the area of valuable knowledge which enlightened the arguments in the study.

I also wish to acknowledge my friend, Nguyen Quoc Sinh for his helpful suggestions and constructive ideas, which have been useful for the accomplishment of the paper.

I also wish to thank my student, Tran Thi Thien Thanh for her encouragement and valuable help

My acknowlegement goes to the informants, Vietnamese and English native speakers, who spent their precious time completing the questionnaires.

Finally, and the most, I owe my deep thanks to my parents and my husband, who gave me constant support and enormous encouragement throughout my M.A.course.

Haiphong, July 2005

Bui Thi Thu Thuy

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

List of tables

Page

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1 2 Aims of the study 2 3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 3 6 Comments on the survey questionnaires 3

7 Comments on the informants 4 8 Design of the study 6

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 7

Chapter 1 Theoretical background 7

1.1 Communication and cross-cultural communication 7 1.1.1 Communication and nonverbal communication 7 1.1.2 Nonverbal communicative competence 8 1.1.3 Cross-cultural communication 8

1.2 Gestures 9

1.2.1 Gestures defined 9

1.2.2 Gestures classified 10

1.2.3 Gestures across cultures 11

Chapter 2 Greeting gestures 14

2.1 Greetings 14

2.2 Greeting gestures across cultures 15

2.2.1 Some dead gestures 15 2.2.2 Contemporary greeting gestures 15 2.2.2.1 Handshaking 15

2.2.2.2 Hugging / Embracing 19

2.2.2.4 The High five 20

3.1 Greeting gestures as perceived by the Vietnamese informants 23

3.1.2 Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures 273.1.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture 273.2 Greeting gestures as perceived by Anglicist informants 29

3.2.2 Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures 333.2.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture 343.3 Major cross-cultural similarities and differences 34

Table 1: Informants' background

Table 2: The use of greeting gestures ( for both the Vietnamese and English native

speakers)

Table 3: Greeting gestures most frequently used by the Vietnamese

Table 4: Frequency of greeting gestures in use (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 5: Greeting gestures in terms of age (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 6: Greeting gestures in terms of gender (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 7: Greeting gestures in terms of Marital status (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 8: Greeting gestures in terms of Social status (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 9: Greeting gestures in terms of communicative environment (Vietnamese subjects) Table 10: Factors affecting greeting gestures (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 11: Handshaking in certain situations (Vietnamese subjects)

Table 12: Handshaking in terms of gender (Vietnamese males)

Table 13: Handshaking in terms of gender (Vietnamese females)

Table 14: Handshaking in terms of age (20 < X < 40)

Table 15: Handshaking in terms of age ( X  40)

Table 16: Greeting gestures most frequently used by English native speakers

Table 17: Frequency of greeting gestures in use (Anglicist subjects)

Table 18: Greeting gestures in terms of age (Anglicist subjects)

Table 19: Greeting gestures in terms of gender (Anglicist subjects)

Table 20: Greeting gestures in terms of Marital status (Anglicist subjects)

Table 21: Greeting gestures in terms of Social status (Anglicist subjects)

Table 22: Greeting gestures in terms of communicative environment (Anglicist subjects) Table 23: Factors affecting greeting gestures (Anglicist subjects)

Table 24: Handshaking in certain situations (Anglicist subjects)

Table 25: Handshaking in terms of gender (Anglicist males)

Table 26: Handshaking in terms of gender (Anglicist females)

Table 27: Handshaking in terms of age (20 < X < 40)

Table 28: Handshaking in terms of age ( X  40)

Table 29: Greeting gestures used most frequently by the Vietnamese and English native speakers

Table 30: Factors affecting greeting gestures ( Vietnamese and Anglicist subjects)

PART A - INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Language is an important part of our functional activity and we indicate, often indiagrammatic form, the varying communication patterns used in meetings and duringnegotiations Language studies have traditionally emphasized verbal and written language,but recently have begun to consider communication that takes place without words Insome types of communication people express more nonverbally than verbally, for example,

in expressing human emotions and attitudes Nonverbal communication including gestures,postures, facial expressions, touching behaviors, vocal behaviors, etc is said to conveyanything up to 90 percent of our message, and plays an important role in our daily life.Along the line of reasoning, nonverbal communication appears even more powerful thanthe verbal interaction Thus, it is essential that study on nonverbal communication be paidmore attention to

Gestures are found fascinating things, at once wholly expressive and curiously mysterious The flick of the wrist, the wave of a finger, or simply the movement of an eyelid can say more than a speech, and sometimes a subtle gesture can express a feeling more gracefully than words (Armstrong & Wagner, 2003:1) Gestures used for greetings, in particular,

play an important part in communication in that they help to establish and maintain arelationship in an initial meeting

In Vietnam in the last few years, ELT has concentrated on communication with emphasis much on communicative competence rather than on simply linguistic competence As Vietnam has adopted an open-door policy, the number of people who wish to master English for international communication and further study overseas is increasing However, it is observed that ELT in Vietnam, as a matter of fact, has focused too much on the verbal aspects of communication (which is necessary but not sufficient) while ignoring nonverbal communicative competence Consequently, learners fail to communicate effectively across cultures due to the misinterpretations of nonverbal cues extended by native speakers.

Therefore, with an effort to rise awareness of both teachers and learners about theimportance of nonverbal communication, to improve learners’ communicativecompetence, to help them communicate effectively in initial meetings and avoid culture

shock in cross- cultural communication “A Vietnamese-English Cross-Cultural Study on

Gestures for Greeting” is chosen as the topic for my study.

2 Aims of the study

The aims of the thesis are:

 To study different kinds of gestures for greeting with illustrations

 To analyze some greeting gestures that causes misinterpretations,misunderstandings and culture shock in English - Vietnamese cross-culturalcommunication

 To raise potential cross-cultural interactants’ awareness of the differences inEnglish-Vietnamese nonverbal communication in general and the use of gesturesfor greetings in particular

3 Research questions

 What is the greeting gestures commonly used by English native speakers?

 What is the greeting gestures commonly used by the Vietnamese?

 What are the potential areas of culture shock in nonverbal greetings?

4 Scope of the study

Gesture is a large aspect of nonverbal communication According to its functions it isdivided into such categories as Greeting/ Parting, Approval/ Disapproval, Offensive andProfane, Just for Emphasis, etc In this study, attention will be focused on some gesturesfor greeting, which are commonly used in initial meetings They are handshaking,nodding, waving, hugging, high-5, patting on one's shoulder/ back, bowing, wai andraising eyebrows Of the nine gestures, priority is given to handshaking as it is mostfrequently resorted to in all cases while we carry out the survey and analyze the data.Smile is also a very popular gesture of greeting, however, due to the limitation of a minorthesis, it is not mentioned in the paper

Furthermore, in the pilot survey questionnaires it is found that such parameters asoccupation and area of living appear almost constant in all situations Thus, I have decided

to ignore them and focus only on age and gender while analyzing data Major similaritiesand differences between the English and Vietnamese native speakers when performinggestures will also be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to avoid misinterpretations,misunderstandings and culture shock in Cross – Cultural Communication and help toperform an effective communication as well

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims stated, a microlinguistic contrastive analysis (CA) is carried outthroughout the study

Since this study dwells largely on the practical aspects of cross-cultural communication,the main method employed is quantitative All the considerations and conclusions arelargely based on the analysis of the statistic data and references The major approachesare:

6 Comments on the survey questionnaires

The survey questionnaire consists of seven questions in six of which the informants arerequested to tick () where they think appropriate for using greeting gestures The mostnine common gestures are given: handshaking, waving, high-five, hugging, patting onshoulder / back, nodding,bowing, raising eyebrows and wai

In addition, the informants are asked to tick the parameters chosen among age, gender,occupation, marital status, social status, length of time they have known each other, andenvironment, which they generally take into consideration when greeting someone andrank them in a level scale of importance

The informants are also required to show their own greeting gestures when meetingpeople of old age, same age and young age; same sex and different sex; higher, equal andlower status; in different environments

The seventh question seen as the DCT questionnaire focuses on the ways of handshaking,which is found the most common of nine gestures given The informants are requested toexpress how they shake hands when meeting the followings:

 Those who are their close friends

 Those who are persons they dislike

 Those who are their colleagues of the same age / same sex

 Those who are their colleagues of the same age / opposite sex

 Those who are their acquaintances who are 10 years older than the informants

 Those who are their acquaintances who are 5 years older than the informants

 Those who are their brother / sister

 Those who are their uncle / aunt

 Those who are their boss of 10 years older / 5 years younger

7 Comments on the informants

Of 75 questionnaires delivered to the Vietnamese who live in the North of Vietnam, 50copies are selected for comparison and analysis together with 50 copies out of 55 returned

by the English native speakers who are living and working in Australia As the Englishsurvey questionnaires were administered in Melbourn, Australia, the majority ofinformants are Australians and the rest are British, American, New Zealand, and Canadianpeople

It is essential that certain knowledge of the informants' background be discussed for theanalysis of the data Thus, the following parameters are taken into account:

Table 1: Informants' background

(N= 50)

Anglicist (N= 50)

Male(N=33)

Female(N=17)

Male

(N=33)

Female(N=17)

Informants who spend most of

their time in urban areas

Informants who spend most of

their time in rural areas

8 Design of the study

The paper consists of three parts

Part A, Introduction, covers rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods,

comments on the questionnaires, comments on the informants, and design of the study

Part B, Development, is composed of three chapters:

+ Chapter one, Theoretical background, provides theoretical discussions to background

the topic in focus

+ Chapter two, Greeting gestures, presents comments on gestures for greeting: definition,

significance and classification with focus on handshaking

+ Chapter three, Data analysis and findings, analyses greeting gestures perceived by the

Vietnamese and English native speakers, as well as the ways of handshaking in certainsituations, discusses findings on similarities and differences, especially areas of potentialculture shock between the two cultures in cross- cultural communication

Part C, Conclusion, offers the overview of major findings and suggestions for avoidance

of culture shock and communication breakdown among Vietnamese-English cultural interactants

PART B - DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1 Theoretical background

As named, this chapter will review the theories of communication and nonverbalcommunication in some researchers' points of view and its importance in humaninteraction Various definitions about gestures as well as categories are illustratedlyintroduced in this chapter

1.1 Communication and cross-cultural communication

1.1.1 Communication and nonverbal communication

Overall, human communication is the process of creating and sharing meaning and isdefined as the exchange of ideas, information, feelings, etc between two or more persons(Richards et al 1992:64) and “That process involves not only the spoken and writtenword, but also body language, personal mannerisms and style, the surroundings-anythingthat adds meaning to a message” (Hybells and Weaver II, 1992 : 4)

Commonly used, the term communication refers to information sharing First, a message

forms within us Then we send that message which stimulates meaning in the mind ofanother person An individual takes something in -something said or done- and by someinternal process he or she then attaches meaning to what is taken in When communicationoccurs inside a single person, the sharing of thoughts and feelings with the self is calledintrapersonal; between two or more persons, communication is interpersonal

Hybells and Weaver (1992:7) also assume that ideas and feelings that make up the messagecan be communicated only if they are represented by symbols that stand for something

else All our communication messages are made up of two kinds of symbols: verbal and nonverbal Verbal symbols are limited and complicated They include concrete symbols that stand for a particular thing such as chair and abstract symbols such as hungry or hurt.

Nonverbal symbols are anything we communicate without using words such as facialexpressions, gestures, posture, vocal tones, appearance, and so on As with verbal symbols,

we all attach certain meanings to nonverbal symbols A yawn means we are bored or tired;

a head nodding indicates agreement or greeting; not looking someone in the eye may mean

we have something to hide, etc Whether or not we are aware of them, nonverbal symbolsare extremely important to messages Some communication scholars believe that over 90percent of the messages we send and receive are made up of nonverbal symbols

As a matter of fact, nonverbal communication uses nonverbal symbols or, in other words,nonverbal cues Nonverbal communication differs from verbal in that it concerns itself

with the entire range and scope of communication over and above the use of words Inother words, whatever the message, the channel, or the nature of intensity, of intentionality

- where words are not evolved, the communication is nonverbal Knapp & Hall 18) have identified the following functions of nonverbal communication as (i) repeating

(1997:13-what is said verbally,(ii) contradicting verbal messages, (iii) complementing a verbal

message, (iv) regulating verbal communication, (v) subtituting for verbal messages, and(vi) often accenting / moderating what we are saying

From all mentioned above it can be concluded that nonverbal communication, theinformation we communicate without using words, is extremely important in humaninteraction

1.1.2 Nonverbal communicative competence

Communicative competence is known as the ability not only to apply the grammaticalrules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know

when and where to use these sentences and how communicate and with whom In other

words, communicative competence needs linguistic knowledge, interaction skills andcultural knowledge as well It is clear that when someone wishes to communicate withothers, they must recognize the social settings, their relationship to the other(s), and thetypes of language that can be used for a particular occasion

Nonverbal communicative competence is understood as the ability to use nonverbal cueseffectively As mentioned above, over 90 percent of the message is transmitted by nonverballanguage (e.g gestures, facial expressions), therefore, a good communicator is supposed toknow what nonverbal cues are appropriate to use, in which context and how S/he needs totake her/ his partners' age, gender, social status, the setting where the communication takesplace, etc into consideration in order to produce effective communication Besides, culturaland cross-cultural factors should be paid much attention to so that misinterpretations,misunderstandings and communication breakdown can be avoided

It is realized that there are often more problems in cross-cultural communication than in

communication between people of the same cultural background Each participant mayinterpret the other's speech or behavior according to his or her own cultural conventions

and expectations Thus, if the cultural conventions of the participants are widely different,

misinterpretations and misunderstandings can easily arise, even resulting in a totalbreakdown of communication Consider the following example:

Two engineers, one from America, and the other from Germany, worked together in theprogram of exchanging engineers for purposes of product familiarization One day, atwork, to compliment the German colleague on his new idea, the American made a circlewith his thumb and forefinger, a sign used throughout North America to mean "O.K." TheGerman abruptly put down his tools and walked away He refused any furthercommunication with the American Finally, it was discovered that, to a German, whensomeone forms a thumb and forefinger in a circle, as the American had done, it signifies

“You asshole.”(Axtell, 1998)

1.2 Gestures

1.2.1 Gestures defined

There have been a number of definitions about gestures given by researchers and scholars

Hybells and Weaver II (1988:345) state that, gestures are made up of hands and arm movements Sharing the same idea, Verderber (1990:87) claims that gestures are movements of hands, arms and fingers which are used to describe or intensify something However, some researchers argue that gestures are the use of hands, arms, head and legs (Carr, 1998: 78), or gestures are movements of the face or body which communicate meaning (Richards, 1992: 157), for example: nodding the head can be understood as

agreement, tapping feet, drumming fingers may indicate boredom or nervousness, avoiding

a look may be interpreted either as dishonesty or as shyness

In "Nonverbal communication across cultures" (Forthcoming:163) Nguyen Quang provides a full definition of gestures as follows:

Gestures can be understood as the movements of arms, legs and body which are used independently or with words in communication in order to emphasize or replace words, to control or display one's feelings and attitudes, and to express one's thought.

In brief, gestures perform many functions which may replace speech (during dialogue orwhen speech is not used at all), regulate the flow and rhythm of interaction, maintainattention, add emphasis and /or classify to speech, help characterize and memorize thecontent of the speech

1.2.2 Gestures classified

Gestures have been classified differently by researchers in the way of gesture origin,functions, or parts of the body Axtell (1998: 4) divides human actions and gestures into

three broad categories: instinctive, coded and acquired.

Instinctive gestures are those we do almost unconsciously For example, we may slap our

own forehead with the heel of the hand (Figure 1) when we forget something or remember something The performance of this gesture may illustrate that we have said or done something silly and inappropriate Another common instinctive gesture is when one

crosses one's arm in front of the chest, which is a signal of defensiveness or, on the other hand, perhaps the person is merely chilly (see Figure 2)

Figure 1: A slap on head Figure 2: An arm crossing

Coded, or technical, gestures are created by pre-established agreement The best-known

coded language today is the Sign Language for the Deaf-Mute (see Figure 3)

Figure 3 American Sign Language

Acquired gestures, according to Axtell, are socially generated and many of them have no

known origins (e.g., the "O.K." sign) or no reason (e.g., the hand waving, as in hello andgood bye)

Figure 4: the O.K sign Figure 5: the Waving

Acquired gestures seem to be loosely and informally collected among seperate societieswith no particular logic except that they are widely used and understood among a certaingroup of people (Axtell, 1998:5) Taking this sense into consideration, acquired gesturesconvey many meanings and differ across cultures, which are accepted in one society butconsidered very rude or even insulting in other The nature of these is the main subject ofdiscussion in the following section

1.2.3 Gestures across cultures

There are no universal gestures As far as we know, there is no single facial expressions, stance or body position which conveys the same meaning in all societies

R L Birdwhistell

(cited from Knapp & Hall, 1997: 43)Identical / acquired gestures, as have been previously discussed, are community- specific.They often mean different things among different societies For instance, the Thumbs-upcan be seen as a gesture of approval, which is widespread, commonly practiced in NorthAmerica and most of Europe and also seen in other parts of the world as an importedWestern gesture (see figure 7) In the U.S., Britain, Australia the thumbs-up gesturecommonly used by hitch-hikers who are thumbing for a ride and it is also an O.K signal.However, it should be cautious about using this gesture in Nigeria as it is considered a veryrude and insulting signal Lack of awareness of this easily leads to misunderstandings,communication breakdowns, and even culture shock among people from different cultures

Figure 6: The Thumbs-up Figure 7: The Thumbs-up as a general

meaning of "good" or " positive "

Victory or "V " sign (see figure 8), performed by holding two fingers upright to signal

"victory" or "peace", is also a very popular gesture in most parts of the world Its originstarted in World War II, followed by the Peace Movement of the 1960s Politicians canoften be seen flashing this gesture at political rallies, signifying their belief that theircandidates will win The "V" gesture is perhaps the only gesture that unites politicians andprotestors (see figure 10) However, the "V" gesture has multiple meanings that depend onwhether the palm faces away from or toward the body The "V" gesture with the palm outhas positive meaning as mentioned above, but with the palm in, the "V" gesture, whichtranslates roughly to mean "Up yours!" used to insult other(s) (see Figure9)

Figure 10: Former Texax governor Ann

Richards makes the "V for victory" gesture during her political campaign in 1990

Figure 8: the "V" (with palm out) Figure 9: the V (with palm in)

Similarly, the "Horns", or "Hook 'em Horns" gesture, has different meanings (both positiveand negative) in different areas in the world It is shown by the index and pinkie fingersextended from a fist and the gesture resembles a horned animal From its origin, the hornsare used primarily in southern Europe and near Mediterranean, especially in Spain,

Portugal, and Malta to mean that a wife is cheating on a husband Therefore, in such places

if one is shown this gesture by his friends, neighbours or colleagues, he must feel insultedand furious as he is signaled that his spouse is being unfaithful (see Figure 11)

In Italy and Malta, on the other hand, the gesture also hangs on as a symbol to keep awayfrom evils and bad luck In the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countrieswhere hard rock made its indelible mark, it is seen as a rock 'n' roll symbol For thousands

of avid Texas football fan, on the other hand, this is the time-honoured rallying gesture forthe University of Texas Longhorns football (see Figure 12)

Figure 11: "You are being cuckolded " Figure 12: The University of Texas

The sign for O.K (see Figure 4) in Anglicist culture is interpreted good/ well-done, but inJapanese: money; in France: zero; and in some Mediterranean countries: a gay man

In brief, there are millions of gestures in the world and even more interpretations Fromthese examples it is undeniable that cultural misinterpretations of gestures can produceembarrassing results and that one's cultural background should always be consideredbefore coming to conclusions about his or her gestures Within this study we will focus ongestures for greeting to find out the significance of greeting gestures as well as theirdistinguishing usage across cultures The nature and extent of this diversity will be madeclearer in the following chapter

baseball team making the "Hook 'Horns "

gesture during their victory celebration at

a college World Series

Chapter 2 GREETING GESTURES

In brief, greetings, in almost every language, obviously help to establish and maintain arelationship in an initial meeting and to facilitate the conversation People, while meetingone another, perform greetings verbally, verbally and nonverbally, or just onlynonverbally It is commonly seen somewhere people say “Hello” or “Hi”, “How are you?”,smiling brightly or nodding slightly However, a waving from distance when people are in

a hurry, a handshaking, a nodding seem to be popular gestures while people greet eachother, as gestures can say more than a speech, and sometimes a subtle gesture can express afeeling more gracefully than words

Take a handshake between Palestinian leaderYasir Arafat and Israeli Prime MinisterYitzak Rabin as an example Via internationaltelevision, the world observed that a simplehandshake was the subject of greatdeliberation and discussion between twoleaders and U.S president Bill Clinton

Figure 12: Rabin and Arafat shaking hand

According to a survey it appears that greeting gestures are initially used whenevercommunicative situations take place In the following section we are introducing a variety

of greeting gestures some of which are dead, and many seem to vary from culture toculture in use However, to the extent of the study, only some popular greeting gestures arelooked into

2.2 Greeting gestures

2.2.1 Dead gestures

Throughout the human history hundreds of gestures including greeting ones disappearedand hundreds are found new This is mainly because there have been changes in social andindustrial development and partly due to the extinction of ethnic minorities and sometribes A visible dead gesture is “koutou”(an old Chinese gesture used when someone metthe emperor), which is described as followed: (i) right sleeve brushing the left arm fromtop to the fingers; (ii) left sleeve brushing the right arm from top to the fingers; (iii) benddown, one knee on the floor, right hand on the back and left hand hitting the floor

Figure 13: The Koutou (i) (ii) (iii)

The Vietnamese greeting gestures 'hand clasping' and 'arm folding' with body bendingcommonly used by people of low class when meeting someone richer and in a higherposition are hardly found nowadays Similarly, "tip hat" with body bending and "handkissing " are no longer popular in Western countries

2.2.2 Contemporary greeting gestures

There are hundreds of estimated contemporary gestures of greeting from East to West,however, here we consider the nine more familiar and common ones:

2.2.2.1 Handshaking

There is a Western saying: “The Gods hear men's hands before their lips” This indicatesthe great significance of nonverbal communication in general and hand gestures includinghandshaking in particular A handshake and the ways of shaking hands can provide youwith as much information about your interactant as a psychological profile This is becausethe body cannot lie no matter how much a person may try to cover up his/ her trueintentions Thus, you can discover whether s/he is warm or cold, friendly or unfriendly,sincere or insincere, trustworthy or deceitful, dominant or submissive, etc

Beisler (1997:194), in his study on handshaking and its interpreted messages states

“Shaking hands often gives an immediate clue to a person's attitude to the encounter There are multiple variations of hand shaking, involving the angle at which the hand is held, the force of the grip, how long it lasts, the number of shakes, the use of two hands, the direction of the force, and the distance between the people.”

Ways of shaking hands depend on many factors, the more common and typical of whichare relationship between interactants, environment and culture Generally, how peopleshake hands is categorized depending on three followings:

- ways of giving hands to shake (e.g.: palm-up , palm -down , )

- way of grasping interactant's hand(s) ( e.g : firm , weak, gentle, )

- length of handshaking time

Though handshaking is considered as a universal greeting gesture there has been a variety

of handshakes from different points of view According to Nguyen Quang (Theforthcoming), there are 12 basic types of handshakes :

The All - American (Figure 15) :

This is the handshake used by most leaders,politicians, and corporate executives Theperson delivering it will look you right in theeye, fully engage your hand, smile and pumpyour hand two or three times This handshake expresses a feeling of self confidence Theperson using it will be open, trust worthy and willing to listen

The Lingering Handshake (Figure 16):

This one is firm with a warm grasp and twomore pumps The end of the handshakepauses or lingers The lingering quality maydenote openess and sincerity, or it maysuggest that the person has something up his/ her sleeve This kind of hand shaking seems

to be very popular in Vietnam and some South-Eastern countries

The Push-Off / The Stiff -Arm Thrust (Figure 17):

This one may refer to a firm and warm grisp, but at theend your hand is pushed or flicked away The Push-Offcan range from a slight stiff-arm to a flat-out rejection.According to Nguyen Quang (2005: 225) this handshakemay imply such implications as (i) the person has astrong need to establish his or her own territory and agenda; (ii) he/ she does not want toappear friendly and close to the other; (iii) he/ she belongs to low-touch group/ sub-culture/ culture

The Pull-In / The Arm Pull (Figure18):

This is a somewhat manipulate handshake This personholds on to your hand to pull you closer or direct youthrough a door or towards a chair Thus, this handshakereflects his willingness to be close and friendly to theother Besides, he may belong to high-touch group/sub-culture/ culture

The Two-Handed Shake / The Double-Handed Shake (Figure19) :

This one normally used to imply sincerity, intimacy and deep friendship to receiver There

are different thoughts on this handshake between Western and Vietnamese cultures It isobserved that whereas the Vietnamese prefer giving the double-handed shake only to

person of older age or higher social status, the Western arelikely to person of even younger or lower social status Toone who is older or ranks higher the Euro-American useone hand only This because in Vietnamese culture, thiskind of handshake implies the respect to other while it doesnot in Western cultures except for sincerity and intimacy.Nguyen Quang (Forthcoming), divides this handshake into four categories : the Shake-and-Cover, the Glove Handshake, the Shake-and-Support, the Shake -and-Grip.The first twoare normally used by politicians to imply a quick sincerity and intimacy The rest,according to Nguyen Quang, are rarely used by Westerners but quite common in CentralVietnam for the expression of respect and formality

The Topper / The Palm-Down Thrust (Figure 20):

This handshake appears to be the most aggressive and overconfident as it makes thereceiver unequal The dominant party in this handshake has his/ her palm facing down in

relation to the other person The hand on top says : I'm

in charge, I'm the Boss", so it can limit his/ hereffectiveness with other people

The Palm-Up Thrust : Contrary to The Topper, this

handshake implies the starter's modesty, even lowering himself/ herself

The Twister (Figure 21):

In this one, the receiver grabs your hand normallybut aggressively twists it under his/ her hand at theend This person is saying " We may be coming intothis as equals, but in the end I'll be on the top." Thisperson can turn on you, so he/ she may not be agood team player or a good security risk

The Finger Squeeze / The Knuckle Grinder (Figure 22) : This handshake is considered

to be aggressive through which the receiver may think the starter is a rude, impatient and

controlling This is a very insecure type of personwho equates brute strength with personal power.They use their hands as weapons to dominate andoverpower others

The Palm Pinch (Figure 23):

In this one, the starter just offers you two or threefingers It is usually given by a woman who hasn'tlearned how to shake hands properly or who has a fear

of intimacy This person will tend not to be very good

at international skills

The Dead Fish (Figure 24):

This is known as the most boring handshake,especially with one whose hand is cold and clammy,that's why it is called " dead fish" This individualtends to be somewhat passive or apathetic and fail tocommunicate with others Dead Fish handshakers may

be the ones who are of high social status appearing tooverpower others

The Born Crusher (Figure 25):

This handshake is somehow like The FingerSqueeze It may refer to a too strong, controllingcharacteristic It will hurt your hand and it is foundmore common for men

2.2.2.2 Hugging / Embracing (Figure 26)

The hug gesture is a personal of greeting used when parting

or reuniting to show warmth and affection The hug is described as the arms are wrapped around the torso of a companion, usually, the action is reciprocated

( Armstrong, 2003:16)

Hugs are given and received upon arrival and departure, butthey are also multi-faceted gestures that help fulfill the desire for close human contact.Hugs can express comfort, joy, and even passion The duration and intensity of a hug will

be determined by the relationship of those embracing as well as the situation that evokesthe embrace Conveying tender feelings of love, comfort and familiarity, according to thefunctions, hugs can be categorized as followings: Love hugging, Friendship hugging,Politeness hugging,Greeting hugging and Farewell hugging

Hugging standards vary from culture to culture In Latin America, the abrazo, a long,

intense hug followed by several claps on the back, is the norm, while hugs in Asiancultures are more reserved, giving just a quick squeeze In Russia, good male friends,especially among the older generation, will start with a strong , firm handshake and then

continue forward into the so-called bear hug even with strangers Most North Americans

and Europeans find this intimate form of contact with strangers uncomfortable and keephugging to a minimum apart from family and close friends and the Vietnamese find thesame

Hugging with a kiss on the cheek, to some extent, is a popular gesture of greeting amongfamily members and friends in Europe, America, Africa and Pacific countries, while it isseen uncommon in Asia and Middle East

2.2.2.3 Waving (see Figure 5)

This gesture is performed by the hand raised and moved from side to side This commongesture of friendly greeting and farewell has its origins as a distress symbol, since it is one

of the simplest and most obvious ways to make oneself visible from a distance As it issuch a good way to draw attention, it also grew to be a common greeting, calling attention

to oneself as one approaches

Hand waving is understood worldwide and used in a variety of situations and locals

to greet others.

2.2.2.4 The High -5 (Figure 28)

When the palms of two people are slapped together high in the air, it is high-5 This

gesture originated in American team sports; when one playermade a good shot, blocked the other team's goal, etc ,another player congratulated him with a high five - the fivefingers of each player's hands slapped above their heads.Nowadays, since this gesture is still used to celebrate asporting victory, it is seen most often in stadiums, onbasketball courts, and on playing fields

Apart from that, as time passed, the high five crossed over and gained popularity as agesture of greeting in the last decade of the twentieth century The high five gesture isgenerally seen in USA , and it is quickly welcomed in other countries by the young It isalso seen in streets , at schools, universities where friends meet one another

2.2.2.5 The Bow

Bowing is a submissive gesture that shows utmost respect and humility towards the figure

to whom one bows By bowing the body is bent forward at the waist The higher the rank

of the person facing you, the lower you bow This gesture originated from very early day

as a show of respect to Royalty in most aristocracies

Around the world, the bow gesture can be observed in the theatre, performed by both actorand actress, composer and musician at the beginning as a greeting and at the end of theshow as a thanks to an appreciative audience

Contrary to Western cultures, in which bowing is uncommon outside the theatre and thecountries where sovereigns reign, in Oriental cultures, especially in Japan, South Korea,Thailand, India, Laos, bowing is considered the formally standard and traditional greeting.The person of lower rank bows first and lowest

Japanese bow is called Ojigi in which the body is bent

at the waist, two arms keep straight with the palmstoward two upper legs The more respect one wants toshow the more s/ he bows

Figure 29: The Japanese bow

The Namaste is an Indian greeting wherein the hands are

pressed with palms together as if in prayer accompanied by aslight bow

Figure 30: The Namaste

The same gesture, conveying the same meaning,

is also used in Thailand is called the Wai.

Figure 31: The Wai

In Vietnam bowing (V¸i chµo) as a greeting gesture is found most often in the country

and among the old generation However, it is also observed commonly in the theatre and inbusiness to show one's respect and humility to his/ her encounter

2.2.2.7 The Patting (Figure 32)

A pat on back/ shoulder is an informal greeting that

is better used between friends, colleagues of thesame age, or social status

A pat on a woman on her rear end is not appropriate, andwill likely get your face slapped In Vietnamese culture,the old generation in the countryside are used to patting on

a small child's rear end while meeting her/ him to show the love to her/ him This seems to

be rude, impolite action and may cause misinterpretation and even culture shock toAnglicists

2.2.2.8 Raising eyebrows (Figure 33)

This gesture is not very common in any culture, however, it is used to greet people of thesame or lower age, in informal contexts

Chapter 3 Data Analysis and Findings

Gestures of greeting, as mentioned in the previous chapter, are extremely important andmany of them are widespread and common in use It is not surprising to find out that all theinformants both Vietnamese and English use gestures while greeting others (see Table 2).Whether or not they realize the importance and meanings of gestures, it is undeniable thatgestures always remain a part of our communicative life However, because of cultural-specific features that may strongly affect individual's preference of gestures there aredifferences in using gestures between Western and Oriental people in general, andVietnamese and English native speakers in particular The following section analyses datacollected from the English and Vietnamese surveys for the discovery of the mostfrequently used gestures and the factors affecting the choice of gestures It also looks intothe ways of handshaking, which is found the most common of nonverbal greeting forms,with different communicative partners

Groups The Vietnamese The English native speakers

Male 33 (100%)

Female 17 (100%)

20<X<40 27 (100%)

X 40 23 (100%)

Male 33 (100%)

Female 17 (100%)

20<X<40 30 (100%)

X 40 20 (100%)Greeting

Table 2 : The use of greeting gestures

3.1 Greeting gestures as perceived by the Vietnamese informants

3.1.1 Data analysis of greeting gestures

Greeting gestures, including the nine below, appear to be used very differently in terms ofgender and age

M ale Female 20 to 40 Above 40

Chart 1: Greeting gestures most frequently used by the Vietnamese

As seen from Chart 1, of the gesture used most, nodding obviously ranks 1st (72%), followed by handshaking (66%), and waving (54%) However, when meeting, the Vietnamese, especially among males and the older, do shake hands and wave more often while females and the younger prefer nodding (72.7% vs 52.9% , 82.4% vs 66.7% in gender and 73.9% vs 59.3%, 73.9% vs 70.4% in age respectively) Patting on one's shoulder or back is another preference of young males which is found in almost double proportion (21.2% vs 11.8% in gender and 22.2% vs 13%

in age respectively) Other gestures like hugging, high-5, which are seen as the Western gestures, are used by very few Vietnamese informants Another noticeable feature is that males most resort to such forms of greeting gestures as handshaking, waving, hi-5, patting, raising eyebrows compared to females (72.7% vs 52.9%, 54.5% vs 52.9%, 3% vs 0%, 21.2% vs 11.8% and 12.1% vs 11.8% in gender respectively), whereas females most resort to hugging and bowing in comparison with males (11.8% vs 9.1%, 11.8% vs 0% in gender respectively).

Greeting gestures in terms of frequency ( see Table 4)

Always Frequently Sometimes Never

Chart 2: Frequency of greeting gestures in use ( Vietnamese subjects)

The data indicate that of the nine gestures given, handshaking, nodding and waving are byfar more often used than the others Though handshaking, as estimated above, is not mostlyused, it is the most often used : 32% cases always shake hands , 28% do it frequently, andonly 8% never shake hands Nodding and waving occupy the second and third places in thelist of frequency Patting and raising eyebrows are sometimes found in certain situations.Furthermore, it is also noticed that hugging, high-5, bow and wai are hardly used inVietnamese culture: 72% informants never use hugging, 80% never use high-5, whileabout 80% never use bowing and wai

Greeting gestures in terms of age ( see Table 5)

It is remarkable that age appears a considerably important factor affecting the use ofgreeting gestures

For those who are 10 years older, both male and female informants prefer bowing as a way

to show respect (45.5% and 64.7%), while for those who are a few years older or of thesame age they would rather shake hands However, to greet people of all ages, malesalways do shake hands mostly twice as much as females (e.g 93.9% vs 52.9% and 72.7%

vs 35.3% respectively) Besides, males also use waving a little more than females (15.2%

vs 11.8%, 36.4 % vs 35.3% respectively) Nodding, on the other hand, is used to greetpeople of various ages, from under 20 to over 60 with the smallest proportion of 15.2% andthe highest - 70.6% The data discover that instead of shaking hands females take a headnodding as a greeting gesture As a result, the percentages of females using nodding arealways higher than males, especially while meeting younger people (70.6%vs 51.5%,64.7% vs 51.5% in gender respectively) Another attentively noticeable feature is that,high-5, patting on one's shoulder or back, hugging and raising eyebrows are used mostly

by males to greet those who are of the same age, and the younger only, but never used togreet those who are 10 years older

Greeting gestures in terms of gender ( see table 6)

It can be seen in the statistics that gender has great influence on the consideration of propergreeting gestures Among people of the same sex, men outnumber women in shakinghands, patting on other's back/ shoulder , taking high-5 and hugging (84.8% vs 52.9%,39.4% vs 17.6%, and 21.2% vs 11.8% respectively) Among those of opposite sex, thesegestures, except handshaking, are used only by males Females tend to avoid touchingbehaviors and they prefer waving (29%) and nodding (82.4%) instead It is considered that

if a man clasp a girl's hand/ arm or pat a new girl friend or female colleague on her back orshoulder deliberately, he is seen to be impolite and take liberties with her Furthermore,hugging between male and female is seen completely inappropriate in Vietnamese culture.Thus, nodding and waving seem to be the neutral actions and perfectly acceptable for allpartners of both sexes Males and females, the young and the old, but not much with thehighest proportion of 17.4% use Wai and bowing gestures

Greeting gestures in terms of Marital status (see Table 7)

It is evident from Table 7 that marital status is a less important factor than gender There isvery little difference between the married and the single in using gestures for greeting Theproportion of handshaking, waving or patting rises and falls very slightly, and theproportion of the rest remains nearly the same However, single males use high-5 andraising eyebrows while the married do not ( 3.03% vs 0% and 9.1% vs 0% respectively).Furthermore, hugging is preferable to young single females, but not to young married ones( 5.9% vs 0% respectively)

Greeting gestures in terms of social status (see Table 8)

Studying Table 8, greeting gestures are found to be distinguished by social status as it istaken into consideration by the Vietnamese Handshaking is considered a standard gesture

so it is used by majority of the informants (68.4% on average) to greet people of not onlyhigher status, but also of equal and lower status A small proportion of informants use wai(F 9.1% , M 17.6%) and bowing (F 42.4%, M 29.4%) as respectful gestures of greetingwhile meeting those of higher status It is not surprising to find that no one use high-5,hugging, and patting on other's shoulder/ back while meeting people of higher status Theyseem to be appropriate to those of equal and lower status Waving, especially nodding areneutral gestures, thus they are acceptable to all kinds, and used most by females to greetpeople of equal and lower status ( 70.6%)

Greeting gestures in terms of communicative environment (see Table 9)

Table 9 indicates that communicative environment including very formal, formal, informaland very informal has different gestures of greeting in correspondence The data show that

in very formal, especially in formal contexts, handshaking is given priority over the restwith the highest proportion while high-5, patting on back/ shoulder and raising eyebrowsare almost never used (e.g 90.9% vs 3.03%, 88.2% vs 0% in gender and 92.6% vs 3.7%,73.9% vs 0% in age respectively) Although bowing and wai are preferable gestures ofgreeting in these contexts they are hardly performed in informal and very informal ones.Waving, nodding are used more in informal situations with the five times higher proportionthan formal situations There is a remarkable gap between the proportions of hugginggesture used by females in very formal and very informal contexts (0% vs 47.05%) Thesame gap is discovered among males while they use patting on back/ shoulder for greeting

in formal and informal contexts ( 3.03%vs 42.4%) Another noticeable feature is that ininformal and very informal contexts young males resort to all gestures of greeting, whereasold females, do not use high-5, wai and bowing

3.1.2 Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures ( see Table 10)

Age Length of T Gender Environment S Status M Status Occupation Others

M ale Female 20 to 40 Above 40

Chart 3: Factors affecting gestures of greeting (Vietnamese subjects)

As mentioned in 3.1.1, to most of the Vietnamese informants age is of great importance Infact, in their responses, age is ranged as the most important factor which determines whichgestures are properly used (98%) Other factors such as length of time they have knowneach other (66%), gender (50%), communicative environment (48%), and social status(46%) are also taken into consideration The small proportion of marital status ( 4%) andoccupation ( 14%) implies that these are not important factors Some informants state thatthey do not appreciate occupation and others even do not mention marital status in the list

of importance Others factors such as kinship and culture added to the list, account for4%.

3.1.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture

As mentioned in the scope and according to the statistics, of the nine analyzed gestures above, handshaking appears the most common for greeting To get a better view on this gesture, we have decided to investigate how people do shake hands in certain communicative situations The matter is looked into in two parts : in terms

of communicating partners' parameters and in term of informants' parameters.

In terms of communicating partners' parameters ( See Table 11)

The data show that while meeting a close friend most of the Vietnamese informants use aone-handed shaking (70%), while a few of them use two hands to shake Besides, many ofthem shake hands so firmly/ tightly (70%) and over a half of them linger his/ her hand forlong (56%) This behavior indicates sincerity and intimacy between friends 40% of theinformants also pump the partner's hand more than three and four times as a sign offriendliness and pleasure to meet friends On the contrary, to the person they dislike theyprefer no handshaking (48%) or a loose and quick handshake (38%) No informants uselingering or two-handed shaking to greet the one they dislike They do not use two hands

to shake to greet colleagues of the same age, or acquaintance of 5 years younger, either.Another noticeable feature is that being different from colleagues of the same sexVietnamese colleagues of opposite sex tend to have a weak and quick handshake whilegreeting, instead of a firm and lingering handshake (18% vs 48%) As the Vietnameseconsider gender as a crucial factor, especially in term of touching behaviors Age (asmentioned in 3.1.2) is the most important factor which has influence on imposing the way

of handshaking as a gesture of greeting It can easily be seen that to people of 10 yearsolder, no matter who s/he is, two-handed shaking is the preference chosen by most to showtheir respect (50% to close relative, 64% to acquaintance, 80% to boss) If they use onehand, it should be a firm/ tight handshake( 56%) The minor proportions of pumpedhandshake (2%), weak/ loose handshake(6%) and quick handshake (4%) indicate that theseways of shaking hands are inappropriate to greet someone much higher in age Socialstatus also considerably affects handshaking form That can explain the difference betweenthe rates of people of the same age but higher in post doing two-handed shake (64%vs80%) Among people of kinship no handshake is preferable (above 50%) Instead ofhandshaking, they often take a slight bow to the old, pat on the back/ shoulder, or nod the

head and smile while meeting someone of the same or younger age, etc If they want toshake hands, a tight, lingering, one or two- handed shake is popular.

In terms of informants' parameters

In terms of gender parameters (see Tables 12, 13), there are differences in way of graspinginteractant's hand(s) and length of handshaking time between males and females It isevident that male informants generally seem to have more firm and lingering handshakesthan female informants (51.5% vs 41.2%, 18.2% vs 11.8%), and males most resort topumped handshake, while shaking ( e.g 21.2% vs 5.9%) However, there is surprisinglycontrary rate when females meet their close friends, or people of kinship ( e.g 76.5% vs66.7%, 76.5% vs 45.5%) The females' dominance of lingering, and tight handshake overthe males' shows that they appear more open, friendly and sincere in such cases Anotherstriking difference is that a more prevailing rate of no handshake goes to females thanmales except for the cases of close acquaintance (e.g 58.5% vs 42.4%, 29.4% vs 6.1%)

In terms of age parameters, the data show that informants under 40 more resort to weakand quick handshakes even when they meet their close friend, compared to those above 40(e.g 3.7% vs 0%, 7.4% vs 0%) They also tend to pump the interactant's hand in mostcases while informants above 40 are hardly found pumping while shaking Anothernoticeable difference is that the younger prevail over the older in the rate of nohandshaking (e.g 22.2% vs 8.7%, 51.9%vs 39.1%), which indicates the older appear moreformal than the younger

3.2 Greeting gestures as perceived by Anglicist informants

3.2.1 Data analysis of greeting gestures

Male Female 20 to 40 Above 40

Chart 4: Greeting gestures most frequently used by English native speakers

Overall, Chart 4 indicates that, the three following gestures of greeting are used more often than the rest : handshaking (86%), waving (60%), and hugging (46%) Nodding which accounts for 34% ranks 4th in the table More particularly, females and the older actually do shake and wave hands more than males and the younger ( 88.2 % vs 84.8%, 70.6% vs 54.5% in gender, and 90.0% vs 83.3%, 70.0% vs 53.3%

in age, respectively) In contrast, higher percentages of high-5, nodding, patting on back/ shoulder and raising eyebrows are employed by male informants ( 15.2% vs 11.8%, 39.4% vs 23.5%, 30.3% vs 23.5% and 9.1% vs 0%, respectively ) Another noticeable feature is that bowing and wai are more used among females and the older, whereas high-5, which is known as a gesture of sport, becomes more common among males and the younger The gesture that females and the older far more outnumber males and the younger is hugging ( 76.5% vs 30.3% in gender and 70.0% vs 30.0 % in age, respectively) The almost double proportion of hugging implies that this gesture is another preference of greeting for females and the older, only after handshaking.

Greeting gestures in terms of frequency ( see Table 17)

Always Frequently Sometimes Never

Chart 5: Greeting gestures in terms of frequency (English subjects)

From the data in Chart 5, it can be easily seen that handshaking, waving and hugging are used with much higher frequency by the Anglicist informants than the rest With the percentage of 32% of informants who use it all the time and 48% usually use it, handshaking is ranged the first in the list of frequency Waving is more often used than hugging in scale ( 24% vs 8%, 44% vs 40%) Furthermore,

nodding and patting on one's back/ shoulder are less often used when 20% informants state that they never use nodding and 30% informants never use patting High-5 and raising eyebrows reported to be the informal gestures of greeting among males and the young, thus, are much less often used ( only 2% use them frequently while 56% never use high-5 and 62% never raise eyebrows while meeting others ) Similarly, bowing and wai, which are seen the borrowing gestures from Oriental cultures are sometimes used by a few informants, accounting for a modest proportion (16% of wai and 26% of bowing).

Greeting gestures in terms of age (see Table 18)

The data in Table 18 show that age has great influence on the use of greeting gesturesamong both males and females, the old and the young

Handshaking that is seen as a standard gesture of greeting in Anglist societies, is used byboth sex when meeting people of all ages However, the data indicate that people over 40use it more than ones under 40 ( 95% vs 86.7%, 75% vs 46.7%, 65% vs 43.3% ) Besides it

is more used for greeting people of older age than ones of the same age (88.2% vs 58.9%and 90.9% vs 60.6%) The striking difference is that to greet the older people waving,hugging, nodding and bowing are completely acceptable while high-5 and raisingeyebrows are found inappropriate and used by no one Those are most commonly used bymales under 40 only when meeting people of the same age or younger Another surprisingfinding is that only males under 40 use wai, but females do not ( 3.03% vs 0%) It is shownthat, females above 40 prefer doing a bow, especially to greet the much older ( 11.8% vs3.03% in gender and 10% vs 3.3% in age respectively) They also use hugging almosttwice as much as males under 40 while meeting people of the same age and the younger( 47.1% vs 24.2 %in gender and 40% vs 26.7 % in age )

Greeting gestures in terms of gender (see Table 19)

As indicated in the table, gender brings considerable changes in the use of gestures forgreeting

The percentages of handshaking tend to decrease when people of opposite sex meet eachother ( 81% vs 45.5 % in gender and 63.3% vs 50%, 85% vs 55% in age, respectively).The same tendency is found with the proportion of high-5 The evident difference is thatwhile hugging is not a preferable gesture between males (15.2%), but becomes morecommon between females (64.7%) or between people of opposite sex (48.5%) The same

difference is discovered with the rate of patting on one's back/ shoulder Surprisingly,however, the proportion of bowing, wai and nodding almost does not change ( 3.03 % vs3.03%, 5.9% vs 5.9%) when greeting people of the same sex or opposite sex

In short, there are differences in using such greeting gestures relating to touching behaviors

as handshaking, patting, hugging and high-5 Except for hugging, which appears preferable

to females of the same sex , and males of opposite sex, the rest most resort to males of thesame sex Other gestures like nodding, waving , bowing and wai are considered the neutralones, thus, they seem to be used equally by both sexes

Greeting gestures in terms of Marital status (see Table 20)

The table indicates that marital status has not much influence on the use of greetinggestures The proportions of handshaking, nodding, wai, bowing and raising eyebrowsremain almost the same among the young and the old, males and females whether they aremarried or single However, it seems that single people use hugging more often than themarried ones ( 30.3% vs 27.3%, 52.9% vs 35.2% in gender, 36.7% vs 20.0% in age,respectively) except for the people above 40 The same tendency is found among singlemales when they use waving and patting on one's back/ shoulder ( 37.3% vs 30.3%, 21.2

% vs 18.2% ) Another striking feature is that high-5 and raising eyebrows are never used

by the married at all while they are used by the young single males in a minor proportion( 0% vs 3.03%)

Greeting gestures in terms of Social status (see Table 21)

The results show that social status plays an important part in the use of proper gestures forgreeting To greet people of higher status handshaking gesture outnumbers the rest with thehighest percentages (93.9%-100%) In addition, waving, nodding and bowing are anotherpreference while high-5, patting on one's back/ shoulder and raising eyebrows are not used

at all Hugging is only used by females (11.8%) and those above 40 (10%) in this case,whereas wai is used by males (6.1%) and those under 40 (6.7%)

In comparison with gestures used to greet people of higher status, the rates of waving, high-5, hugging, patting, nodding and raising eyebrows used to greet ones

of equal and lower status account for a much higher proportion, especially waving and hugging ( e.g 30.3% and 36.4% vs 3.03%) These gestures appear to be the behaviors of intimacy, equality and friendship However, high-5 and raising eyebrows are used only by males and those under 40 In contrast, the rates of bowing and wai, which are seen as respectful behaviors, do not change much in these cases(e.g 3.03% vs 3.3%, 11.8% vs 10%, respectively) This can be

understood that bowing and wai in are completely acceptable to greet people of any post

Greeting gestures in terms of Communicative environment (see Table 22)

Overall, the gestures are used differently and properly in each communicative environment.

Handshaking appears prevailing in all communicative contexts, but its overwhelming proportion of 87.9% used by males and 100% by females shows that handshaking is the best preference of greeting gestures to perform in very formal and formal contexts Bowing and wai are also the next choices, especially when people meet each other in very formal communicative environment (e.g M 9.1% , F 17.6%) High-5, patting on one's back/ shoulder and raising eyebrows appear the impolite gestures, thus, they are inappropriate to be used in such formal contexts Hugging is seen acceptable but rather used by males than females, the older than the younger and accounts for small proportion (5.9% vs3.03% in gender, 5.0% vs 3.3% in age) Besides, waving and nodding are used only among females and those above 40

People seem to be more friendly and open in informal and very informal contexts, which means they use more waving, high-5, patting on interactant's back/ shoulder, and nod a head to his/her and less handshaking, bowing and wai in their responses This can be seen clearly from the data , for example, the percentage of waving used

by males in very formal context is 0% but it rises to 39.4 % in informal and 33.3%

in very informal contexts The striking difference is that an over ten times higher percentage of hugging is employed by people communicating in formal context than ones in informal and very informal contexts ( 33.3%, 39.4% vs 3.03%, 58.9%, 64.7% vs 5.9% in gender and 36.7%, 33.3% vs 3.3%, 60%, 70% vs 5.0% in age, respectively) In fact, hugging is a very popular gesture of greeting in Western cultures, especially among family members and friends Raising eyebrows is found uncommon even in informal contexts, and used only by males and those under 40.

3.2.2 Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures ( see Table 23)

Age Length of T Gender Environment S Status M Status Occupation Others

M ale Female 20 to 40 Above 40

Chart 6 : Factors affecting greeting gestures (English subjects)

Chart 6 indicates that on average, age is the most important factor, ranged the first (76%) The next considerations are length of time interactants have known each other (72%), gender (62%) and communicative environment (50%) The small proportion of social status and occupation (16%) implies that they are equally not important factors to affect the use of gestures for greeting Marital status is seen the least important with the percentage of 10% However, it can be seen from the table that males more highly appreciate these factors than females ( e.g 81.8% vs 64.7%

in age, 72.7% vs 70.6% in length of time, 54.5% vs 42.2% in environment ), and people above 40 take much more consideration into length of time, gender and environment then those under 40 (95% vs 56.7%, 70% vs 56.7% and 60% vs 43.4%).

3.2.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture

In terms of communicating partners' parameters ( see Table 24)

As can be seen from the statistics, the English native speakers prefer a firm and quickhandshake in almost every greeting case The prevailing use of firm handshake overweak/loose handshake considers it as a standard form of greeting, even to a person theydislike (e.g 62% vs 12%, 40% vs 28%) They tend to have a tight handshake with a closefriend, a person higher in age or social status Lingering handshake is used with twicehigher percentage when they meet a close friend or a person of close kinship such asbrother, uncle, etc, (52% vs 20%, 36% vs 18%) Most of the English informants use onehand while shaking They also use two-handed shake when meeting a close friend, a

person higher in age or social status, or a person of close kinship at a low rate of under andover 10% They normally do not shake hands with family members but do hugging orwaving instead.

From what have been presented, it is concluded that to English native speakers a firm andquick one-handed handshake is appropriate in all cases, with person of all ages and posts

In terms of informants' parameters ( see Tables 25-28 )

It is indicated in Tables 25, 26 that there are differences in the way of grasping interactant'shand and length of handshaking time among informant males and females Males tend toshake hands more firmly and quickly than females (e.g 63.6% vs 58.8%, 27.3% vs 5.9%)

In addition, while lingering and pumped handshake is most resorted to males, it is hardlyfound to females (15.2% vs 0%, 18.2% vs 0%) Another striking feature is that males'constant dominance of one-handed shake is almost over females' Though two-handedshake is not commonly used by the English, it is more used by females than males in case

of meeting someone of close relationship (e.g 41.2% vs 15.2%, 23.5% vs 12.1%).Similarly, a more prevailing rate of no-handshake goes to females than to males, which isestimated eight out of tens cases ( e.g 23.5% vs 9.1%, 17.6% vs 3.03%), as hugging andwaving are found another prefrences of theirs

3.3 Major cross-cultural similarities and differences

Although gestures of greeting generally exist in most societies, it is found that a gesture iscommon or appropriate in one culture but quite inappropriate or even ridiculous in anotherdue to cultural-specific features Therefore, there are certain similarities and differences inthe way Vietnamese and English native speakers use greeting gestures

From the data analysis in 3.1 and 3.2, it is discovered that both Vietnamese and Englishnative speakers consider age, length of time, gender, environment and social status in turn

as the five most important factors affecting the use of greeting gestures while occupationand marital status are not paid attention to Furthermore, in Vietnamese and Anglicistcultures, handshaking is one of the most preferable gestures, which is used by males andfemales of any age in any communicative environment Nodding, and waving are alsopopular gestures, while patting and high-5 are generally uncommon in formal contexts ornot chosen to greet people higher in age and social status Fortunately, these similaritiesbring about a good result that help people from the two cultures more easily establishand maintain effective interactions

However, the differences in using greeting gestures between the Vietnamese and Englishnative speakers are still remarkable