An investigation into cultural meaning of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores = Tìm hiểu ý nghĩa văn hóa của lời tỏ tình trong các bài dân ca tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt. M.A Thesis Linguistics: 5 04 09

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LU'U THI THANH TU AN INVESTIGATION INTO CULTURAL MEANING OF LOVE DECLARATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FOLKLORES A f j^ ^ f t A ' > ^ (TIM HIEU Y NGHIA VAN HOA CUA LOi TO TINH TRONG CAC BAI DAN CA TIENG ANI1 VA TIENG VIET) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 5.04.09 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Do HANOI, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Part one: Introduction 1.1 Justification 1.2 A i m and objectives o f the study 1.3 Scope o f the study 1.4 Methods o f the study 1.5 Design o f the study Part two: Development Chapter one: Theoretical background 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The relationship between language and culture 1.2.1 Nature, culture, language 10 1.2.2 Communities and their effects on language users 11 1.3 Tropes 13 1.3.1 Simile 13 1.3.2 Metaphor 14 1.4 Folklore as a genre 14 1.4.1 Introduction 14 1.4.2 Love declarations in folklore as a genre 15 1.5 Summary 18 Chapter two: Love declarations in English folklores 19 2.1 Introduction 19 2.2 Nature, Culture and Language used in love declarations 19 2.3 Tropes o f love declarations in English folklore 25 2.3.1 Simile used in love declarations in English folklore 25 2.3.2 Metaphor used in love declarations in English folklore 25 2.4 Summary Chapter three: Love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 26 27 Introduction 27 Cultural images used in love declarations 28 3 Tropes o f love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 36 3.3.1 Simile in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 37 3.3.2 Metaphor in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 38 3.4 Summary 40 Part three: Conclusion 41 3.1 Comparison between English and Vietnamese love declarations in folklore 41 3.1.1 Similarities 41 3.1.2 Differences 42 3.2 Summary of the thesis 42 3.3 Implications from the study 43 3.4 Suggestions for further study 43 References 45 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1,1 JUSTIFICATION The communication of love is an important aspect of interpersonal relationships across cultures But saying "I love you" can be ver>' delicate walk, with much gra\ area, regarding what can and should be communicated about love, when, b\ whom and to whom Love is sometimes felt but not expressed, other times, love is expressed only nonverbally; and still other times, it is communicated verbally, with or without nonverbal manifestations In English and Vietnamese, the way people choose to express love is not the same as it is afTected by cultural values Love declarations include in themselves people's viewpoints which are presented quite differenth in the two languages Hence, what needs to be carried out in this study will be an investigation of cultural meaning of love declarations in folklores of the two languages in order U) llnd out the similarities and differences between them, fhc thesis also attempts to explain what are behind the differences uncovered in the investigation Our thesis is entitled "An investigation into the cultural meaning of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores" The choice of the thesis is generated from two reasons: Firstly, as Swales (1990: 34) stated that "the concept of genre has maintained a central position in folklore studies ever since the pioneering work in the earl\ nineteenth century" The functionalist in folklore would rather stress socio-cullural value For Malinowski (I960, cited in Swales 1990:35) "folklore genres contribute to the maintenance and survival of social groups because the\ serve social and spiritual needs" Perhaps inevitably, to assign cultural \alue also requires the in\estigator to pa\ attention to how a community views and itself classify genre This idea will lead to the tact that love declaration is a mode of social communication and is onl\ a genre among others, therefore, we would like to investigate love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores to see the similarities and diftcrences of this genre in the two languages SecondK lo\e declarations, as mentioned above, relleel human's ideolog\, so we wish to see how the ideologies represented in the two languages We optimistically hope that the thesis will help students of English, and students of culture as it could provide an insight into the similarities and differences of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY A popularized view of emotion is that it is a physiological process associated with the nervous system Located all the core of the nervous system is a universal and essential set of emotional states One of these could be said to be love Ever>body experiences the state of being in love at least once in a life time While the universality of some emotional state may not be in dispute, how person interprets and manifests those emotional experiences will differ across cultures Hence, this paper aims to advance an understanding of emotion expression as a de-essentialised domain and to view it as "a cultural and interpersonal process of naming, justifying, and persuading by people in relationship to each other" (Lutz, 1998:5) We will take "love declaration" in Vietnamese and English folklores as a point of access into cultural communication systems L3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY Within cultural meaning, our anahtieal task was therefore: a) describing the locution "I love you" in love declaration wiih reference to its occurrence and non-occurrence, where it occurs, with whom?, in what language(s) and dialcct(s), in which verbal forms, about which topics, as part of what interactional sequences, and with what observable consequences; and b) interpreting the participants understandings of the lo\e declaration given the patterned contingencies under a) above It is through holding the phenomena of emotion expression as a constant that we will search the cultural \ariabilit> in order to understand the general forces and particular features of emotion expression Our focus here will be on the performance of communication patterns u ithin intimate personal relationships Our interest then falls on the expression of lo\e within intimate/personal relationships Our expectation is that the expression of love will be of those communicative activities that give force and meaning to intimate personal relationships In intercultural relationship it is our h>pothesis that love declarations also function to locate and gi\e voice to cultural idcntit\ Put simpl\ to say or not to sa\ "I lo\e you" can also be communicating much atx)ul communal understandings of socialit}, of person, and their strategic activities Within the scope of the thesis, the author investigates 100 love declarations in English folklore and 100 love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 1.4 METHOD OF THE STUDY To fulfill the aim of the study, the main methods used are descriptive and comparative The study deals with love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores, therefore, a great number of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklore were collected then 50 love declarations in each language have been carefully selected, after that we try to analyse the love declarations in terms of cultural meanings, genre and tropes and then synthesize the result to find out the similarities and differences of people's auitudes in the two languages In fulfilling the focuses of the study in comparing the two languages' love declarations, descriptive method has been applied to present prominent features of love declarations in the two languages, the results achieved, in turn, are then compared and contrasted to see the similarities and differences between the two languages in expressing love The fundamental theories that are applied in the study is the cultural stud> of Robert Lado (I960): Claire Kramsch (2000): and the linguistic study of poetry by Leech (1968) and other Vietnamese researchers such as Dinh Gia Khanh Chu Xuan Dien and others 1.5 DESIGN OF THE STUDY The study is divided into three parts Part 1- Introduction- introduces the justification, the aims, the objectives, the method the scope and the design of the study Part II- Development- consists of three chapters: Chapter one presents the theoretical background to the stud\ the relationship of language and culture and language cultural identit> introduced b> Claire Kramsch (2000) and Robert Lado (1960) and some Vietnamese researchers such as Vu Ngoc Phan Lu Huy Nguyen, Dang Van Lung and Tran Thi An It also presents the theoretical background of tropes written b\ Leech (1969), Dennis Freeborn and some Vietnamese researchers such as Dinh Gia Khanh et.al (2003), Chu Xuan Dien (2003) Le Van Chuong (2004) etc This chapter also consider folklore as a genre based on the idea presented b\ Swales (1990) Chapter two describes love declarations in English folklore from two perspectives: culture, and versification In terms of culture, the description will be concerned with the relationship between language used in love declaration and culture/cultural identit) And last but not least, in studying the versification, tropes are taken into consideration, and we bring about an insight into the aspects such as metaphor, simile Based on the above perspectives, we try to find out people's attitudes and feelings lying behind the expression of love declaration in English folklore The resources for love declaration in English folklore are taken from traditional ballads, tales, love songs and sayings Chapter three describes corresponding perspectives of love declaration in Vietnamese Folklore Part three- Conclusion- compares cultural meanings of love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores to establish the similarities and differences of emotion expressions across the two languages We also summarize the issues studied in the thesis, the implications and suggestions,for further slud> PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 INTRODUCTION "Language is the principle means whereby we conduct our social lives When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways" (C Kramsch, 2000) As the study deals with love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores, this chapter is concerned with establishing a theoretical framework for the study, as a way to start, we will present some aspects of the theorj of language and culture such as the relationship between language and culture/ cultural identity etc Besides, as the thesis deals with love declaration in folklores, it will be better when other aspects of concepts such as genre, cohesion, tropes are also taken into consideration 1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE According to Claire Kramsch language is the principle means we conduct our social lives When language is used in contexts of communication it is bound up with culture Firstly, the words people utter refer to common experience The> express facts, ideas, or events that are communicable because the\ refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share Words also rellect their authors' attitudes and beliefs, their points of view etc In lx)th cases "language expresses cultural realit\" (C.Kramsch, 2000) But members of a community or social group not only express experience: they also create experience through language The\ give meaning to it through the medium the\ choose to communicate w ith one another, for example, speaking on the telephone or face to face, writing a letter or sending an e-mail message The wa> in which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings that arc understandable to the group the\ belong to for example, through a speaker's tone of voice, accents, conversational st\le, gestures and facial expressions Through all as verbal and non-verbal aspects, "language embodies cultural realit>" (C Kramsch 2000) Finally, language is SNStem of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value Speakers identity themselves and other through their use of language: the\ \iew their language as a s>mbol of their social idenlit\ I he prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection o f their social group and their culture Thus we can say that "language symbolizes cultural reality" We shall deal with these three aspects o f language and culture by considering the following poem by Emily Dickinson Essential oils- are wrimgThe attar from the Rose Be not expected by Suns- aloneIt is the gift ofScrews- The General Rose- decayBut this- in Lady's Drawer Make Summer- When the lady lie In Ceaseless Rosemary (Adaptedfrom C Kramsch, 2000) L I N a t u r e , culture, language One way o f thinking about culture is to contrast it with nature According to C Kramsch "Nature refers to what is born and grows organically; culture refers to what has been grown and groomed" Emily Dickinson's poem expresses well the relationship o f nature, culture and language A rose in a fiower bed, says the poem, a generic rose is a phenomenon of nature Beautiful but faceless and nameless among others o f the same species Nature alone cannot reveal nor preserve the particular beaut) o f a particular rose at a chosen moment in lime Powerless to prevent the biological " d e c a \ " and the ultimate death o f roses and o f ladies, nature can only make summer when the season is right Culture, by contrast, is not bound by biological time Like nature, it is a "gift", but o f difTerent kind Through a sophisticated technological procedure, developed especiall\ to extract the essence o f roses, culture forces nature to reveal its "essential" potentialities The word "screws" suggests that this process is not without labour B\ crushing the petals, a great deal o f the rose must be lost in order to get at its essence The technolog) o f the screws constrains the exuberance of nature, in the same manner as the teehnolog\ o f the world Culture makes the rose petals into a rare perfume, purchased at high cost, for the particular, personal use o f a particular lad> fhe lad> ma) die but the fragrance o f the rose's essence can make her immortal, in the same manner as the language o f the poem 10 immortalizes both the rose and the lady, and brings both back to life in the imagination of its readers The poem itself bears testimony that nature and culture both need each other The poem wouldn't have been written if there were not natural roses: but it not be understood if it didn't share with its readers some common assumptions and expectations about rose gardens, technological achievements, historic associations regarding ladies, roses, and perfumes Similarly, let us consider the poem "Tat nuoc d^u dinh" a Vietnamese folklore to see the relationship between culture, nature and language: ''Horn qua tat nm'rc ddu dinh Bo quen chiec tren canh hoa sen Em duac thi cho anh xin Hay la em de lam tin irong nha anh sirt chi dmrng td Vo anh dura co me gia dura khdu anh si'rt chi del Idu Mai nhd cd dy ve khdu cho citng Khdu rdi anh se tra coiig, Den Idy chdng anh se giup cho Giup cho mot gdnh xdi vd Mot Ian heo, mot vd nrau (dm Giup em ddi chieu em nd/n, Ddi cinm em dap ddi chdm em deo Giup em quan tdm tien treo, Quan nam tien cir&i Igi deo budng cau " According to Vietnamese culture, "ganh xoi \6", 'con Ion beo' "vo rugu tam" 'doi chieu', 'doi chan', 'quan tam tien treo' 'quan nam tien ciroi' 'buong cau" are s\mbols of a wedding Those who share Vietnamese culture ina> understand that the man in the poem borrows cultural s\mbols to express his love to his woman So let us come to the next concept L2.2 Communities and their effects on Language Users According to C Kramsch, "Social conventions, norms of social appropriateness, are the product of communities of language users" As in the Dickinson's poem, poets and II is impossible to isolate "trdu" from "cau" or isolate those who are in love from each other: Dem khuya thiep mdi hdi chdng Cau xanh an vdi trdu vdng ximg chdng ? - Trdu vdng nhd Idn cau xanh Duyen em sdnh vdi tinh anh tuyet vdi Or: Lfdc gi anh hoa vdi Em hoa trdu Igc tdt tuai lai ndng Or: Anh ve cudc ddt trdng cau Cho em trdng ke ddy trdu mot ben Mai sau trdu no Idn len Cau trdi Idm nen cua nhd It is said that the relationship of "trdu" and "cau" reveals the relaticmship of wife and husband or the relationship between those who are in lo\e If this relationship is broken, the emotion of wife and husband, the emotion of lovers no longer exists: Ao cudi chua het nep td Cd ddu xdch ndn ve nhd cd ddu Phai chdng cau dd chdn trdu Ddi bd dd gay nhip cdu sang sdng Or: Dem qua em ndm nhd ngodi Em tem mudi mot nnrdi hai mieng trdu Chd chdng chdng thdy chdng ddu De cau long hat de trdu long vdi 32 Trdu long vdi at dd trdu nhgt Cau long hat at da cau gid Minh khdng lay ta dt dd minh thiet Ta khdng Idy minh, ta biet lay ? Rang den ciing cd phai Md hdng nhgt, tdc ddi thua Tinh ddy tinh ddy cung vira Chdng cdn ken chon, he lira ban? Beside the cultural image of "do mac" or "trdu, cau" used in love declarations, the author has found out that time and circumstances for making love declarations are familiar to the life of the Vietnamese The circumstances get influence from the cultural values of Vietnamese people In general, festivals, parties and meetings are good time and circumstances for making love declarations between man and woman However, the best circumstance for them to make love declarations is when they the farming work : "Cd trdng Ida Ida, Lai ddy ddp ddt, trdng cd vdi anh Bao gid cd chin, cd xanh Anh cho mot qua de cldnh mdm con" The circumstance for making love declaration pla\s an important role in expressing love and its success It is a familiar working situation where people work, meet each other, talk with each other and fall in love with each other: " Cd cat co mot minh " Or Hdi cd tdt nude quang mdy " Or: Hdm qua tdt nude ddu dinh " Or: 33 Cd cat cd ben sdng, Cd mudn an nhdn thi long sang day Sang ddy anh ndm cd tay, Anh hdi cdu ndy: Cd idy anh khdng? The circumstance for making love declarations is also a peaceful sight of the country-: Con cd bay la bay la Bay tir ciraphu bay cdnh ddng Or: Dem trdng anh mdi hdi ndng" In fact the circumstance for making love declarations in Vietnamese folklores is peaceful, quiet and romanlic, which is suitable for making love declarations Dem trdng anh nidi hdi ndng Tre non du Id dan sdng nen chdng? Dan sdng thiep cimg xin vdng Tre vira du Id non chdng hoi cluing? Beside the cultural images, the circumstances for making lo\e declaration, the wa\ in which people express their love is influenced b> culture values It is clear to see that Vietnamese people intend to use indirect wa\s to express love That is the reason why the author has found out that indirect love declarations account lor a great percentage and have higher art \alue than directed lo\e declarations Expressing love implicitly means that the true feeling and love of people are hidden in the images and language used by speakers However, love declarations between man and woman are different in levels Firsll> the author has found out the wonder of the man in the following folklore: Bdv gid man mdi hoi ddo I 'iron hdng dd cd vdo hav chua.^ 34 Man hdi thi ddo xin thua, Vu&n hdng cd Idi nhung chua vdo The man is so interested in the feeling of the girl, that is the reason why he uses the image ''Virdrn hdng'', indicating the heart or love or feeling of the girl to ask the her whether she has a boyfriend or not, whether he can become the her boyfriend The purpose of the man when asking the girl about her love is to implicitly confirms his love, because if he doesn't love the girl why he is so interested in the girl's feeling Another man shows his consideration to a woman he loves in other difterent folklore: Bd chiec ghe sau cheo mau anh dai Keo khuc sdng ndy bd bui tdi tdm The man does not call the name of the woman directly but calls her "chiec ghe sau" and urges the woman to sail quickly as it is dangerous in this river Ihe man wants to explain why he urges the woman However, his main purpose is to express his love to the woman Those who share the same cultural values understand his love declaration In Vietnamese folklore we can not only find subtle and secretive love declarations but also reckless ones: Gid dua can budn ngu len bd Mimg cd rang cho ngu nhd mot dem The man asks "whose mosquito net" but he means the woman in the net And when he asks the woman for a night, he impliciib proposes his love The other man uses indirect way to express his lo\e: Dmrng xa thi that Id xa Muan minh Idm mdi cho ta mot ngudi 35 MQI ngirdi mudi tdm, ddi muai Mot ngudi vira dep vira tuai nhu minh The man asks the woman to help him find a girlfriend who must be the same age as the woman, and must be as beautiful and lovely as the woman How can he have that total coincidence? The woman intelligently understands that the man is declaring his love to the woman Another finding that the author has found in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore is that the majority of love declarations are made by male, however, we can find some declared by female This indicates that nothing can prevent women from expressing their love to their men To sum up, the cultural images used in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore are varied But the most frequently used cultural images that are found by the author are the images of "trdu-cau", "ben nude- dd" "chiec do", "thuyen- ben" Fhey are used conventionally and thanks to these characteristics, love declarations in Vietnamese folklore interest readers of all ages Beside that, the way Vietnamese people propose their love in folklore makes love declarations typical, vivid and romantic 3.3 TROPES IN LOVE DECLARATIONS IN VIETNAMESE FOLKORE Love declarations are a tj^pe of art in Vietnamese folklore and it is undeniable that there exist many tropes in them as tropes help to give the hearers impression that the speaker intends to We now will look at some popular IN pes of them which are used in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore In fact the tropes discussed in this paper are limited and they are only generally considered, as the\ are ver\ prominent in poems and are special use of language, it would stimulate many interesting lessons Due to the limitation of the thesis, we only consider them briefl\ and generall\ 3.3.1 Simile in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore To come to an explicit explanation of what to be described lo\e declarations in Vietnamese folklore lend to use rather few simile to express love In using simile 36 Vietnamese people use direct comparison with the conjunction such as - •giSng nhu" "nhula", "nhuthi": Ddi ta nhu lira mdi nhen Nhu trdng mdi mqc, nhu den mdi kheu Or: Tinh anh nhu nude ddng cao Tmh em nhu ddi lua ddo tdm huang Or: Than em nhu tdm lua ddo Cdn nguyen hay dd xe vudng ndo cho Tlidn em nhu tdm lua ddo Ddm ddu xe le vudng ndo cho Or: Ddi ta nhu lua ddng ddng Dep duyen nhung chdng duac long me cha Ddi ta nhu chi xe ba Thdy me xe it ddi ta xe nhieu Ddi ta nhu the tdm Ciing an mot Id, cimg ndm mot nong Ddi ta nhu the ong Con qudn quit, ngodi 37 Ddi ta nhu the bdi Chdng ddnh vg kit chdng sai ndo Beside simile used in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore Vietnamese people use another trope, that is metaphor to express their ideas, their love, their proposals, we now will consider how metaphor are applied in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 3.3.2 Metaphor in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore Metaphor is the most popular trope found in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore, as people tend to use such sophisticated comparison to show their ideas and describe thing vividly What should be commented is that, love declarations are often expressed through the cultural images of "thuyen- ben", "cau- trdu" "man- ddo" The words such as "thuyen" is often used for men and the word such as "ben" is for women The image of "cau", "trdu" are also used to implicitly reflect people's marriage proposal The following examples are love declarations between men and women: Thuyen la linig ben sdng Cd Idng dai khdch hay khdng hdi thuyen'.^ Or: Thuyen cd nhd ben chdng? Ben thi mot dg khdng khdng dai thuyen In another case, love declarations of Vietnamese people are expressed with the image o\^ "cau" "trdu": "Mieng trdu dn ket Idm ddi Ld trdu Id vg cau tuai Id chdng Trdu xanh cau trdng chay hdng 38 Voipha vdi nghia, thuSc ndng vdi duyen " Or: Trdu vdng nhd idn cau xanh Duyen em sdnh vdi tinh anh tuyet vdi The following examples are love declarations which are described through i metaphorical expression: Cho anh mot mieng trdu vdng Mai sau anh trd cho ndng ddi mdm Yeu chdng Idy duac Con Igv ho ddi, budng cau ho gid Or: Tir ngdy dn phai mieng trdu Mieng dn mdi dd dg sdu ddm chieu Mot thuang, hai nhd, ba sdu Cam dn chdng duac, dn trdu cdm hai Generally speaking, most love declarations of Vietnamese people in folklore are composed with the use of metaphor in them These metaphorical expressions are used with cultural images which are familiar with Vietnamese people Those who share Vietnamese culture understand why Vietnamese people tend to use man\ cultural images such as "thuyen- ben " "cau- trdu " "man- ddo " to express their lo\e declarations 39 3.4 SUMMARY In this chapter we have attempted to examine love declarations of Vietnamese people in folklore in terms of cultural images In terms of tropes, we look at metaphor, simile From the result achieved, we try to draw out people's attitudes and sentiments behind the use of language The following part, the conclusion, will be the comparison of love declarations in folklore between the two languages 40 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 3.1 A COMPARISON BETWEEN LOVE DECLARATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIENAMESE FOLKLORES 3.1.1 Similarities Through our study, some similarities are drawn from the comparison between English and Vietnamese love declarations as follows: Both English and Vietnamese love declarations aims at expressing love between men and women, asking for a marriage, through that express their auitudes and sentiments about love Love declarations in both English and Vietnamese folklores are severed to propose a wedding Both languages show people's attitudes with the use of many cultural images which are understood by people of that culture It is possible to come to conclusion that, the association of love of both groups are based on the differing values given to the understanding in both cultures This is a view of culture that focuses on the ways of thinking, behaving and valuing currently shared b\ member of the same discourse community Differences Besides, through the investigation into love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores, we have so far uncovered the differences of philosophs l\ing behind each nation's love declarations as follows: In terms of cultural meaning, we have found out the following points in the study: In our stud\, we have found out that there is a close relationship between love expressions and the factors like cultural images, nature That is the reason wh\ English people often associate love with lite, absence, happiness, relationship between man and woman, beautv, voulh, the heart, the kiss, marriage, famil_\, jealous), hatred and fidelit\ 41 Beside that, when expressing love, English people tend to speak explicitly, hence they use a lot of the word "love" in their love declarations Whereas, in Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese people intend to use indirect ways to express love That is the reason why the author has found out that indirect love declarations account for a great percentage and have higher art value than directed love declarations Expressing love implicitly means that the true feeling and love of people are hidden in the images and language used by speakers In terms of cultural meaning, Vietnamese people tend to use normally typical cultural images such as "cay da- bin nude- do", "trdu- cau", "chiic do", "thuylm- bin", "man- ddo " to express their love In Vietnamese love declarations, people tend to show their feelings through working conditions at the current time while in English love declarations, people simply express their love explicitly In the study of tropes, it is found that Vietnamese people show their interest in using the metaphorical language to avoid explicit explanation as the\ tr\ to reveal their attitudes, their feelings in love declarations while English people tend io use explicit love declarations, and the metaphor, if being used mainl\ aims at creating \ ivid imagination In summar>, in order to propose their love, the English and Vietnamese people's choice is love declarations (in the thesis we onl\ focus on lo\e declarations in folklore), however, the ways in which they express love are ver\ different We have gone through the study of those differences in them, hoping that the stud\ contributes to the insights which should be taken by ones who are interested in the field 3.2 SUMMARY OF THE THESIS The study so far has concentrated on describing the lo\e declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores, it also has brought about the similarities and differences between them The relationship of language and culture are considered, in addition to that, cultural images, the community of language users, nature, culture and language are also taken into consideration 1-urthermore, folklore as a genre and lo\e declaration as a genre are studied And last but not least, tropes in love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores are looked at to find out what is popular in each language's love declarations After that a 42 comparison is drawn upon the result found in the investigation to find out the similarities and differences between them, of which, we mainly concentrated on the differences 3.3 IMPLICATIONS FROM THE STUDY The comparison of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores is based on the comparison of the genre between the two languages, with the linguistic feature as materials, it is shown that linguistics is ver> helpful in analyzing a Iiterar\ text in uncovering the ideologies lying behind each language A suggestion that can be made from the study is that in showing their love, declaring their love and proposing their marriage, English people and Vietnamese have very different ways and one from this culture may find it strange if encounters similar situations in the other The use of language is important, however, to have a correct response in a certain situation, people should learn how to react correctly in another language and it is only done perfectly through a thorough understanding of the standard behaviour in that society Thus, the way a man declares his love to a woman, vie versus should be learnt b\ language learners as a part of the target language culture that s/he should learn The ways English and Vietnamese people express and declare their love are different in many ways, therefore, learners should know the difTerences between the use of two languages to avoid difficulties in acquiring the language competence to reach to a high level of proficiency in communication To researchers, the result of the study is fresh and could be taken as clue for another studies related to the field such as the culture, sociology, linguistics etc as it brings about insights into the use of language, the behaviour of each culture in declaring love, the feelings showing that each language manifests in their love declarations etc 3.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY This study has been the first trial to uncover the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese love declarations in folklore, however, it has been limited to the some aspects investigated only, the following studies, if possible, should be in the love declarations of the modern time of the two languages so that we can ha\e a deeper understanding of the two societies 43 Also, further study should be of English and Vietnamese love declarations of husband and wife so that we can reach to more thorough understanding of the ideology in love declarations of the two languages The study focuses in comparing English and Vietnamese love declarations as a genre, therefore, further research should be made on other related genres such as love songs in the two languages 44 REFERENCES In English Brown, G & Yule,G (1991) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: CUP Cook, G (1995) Di.scourse and Literature: The Interplay of Form and Mind Oxford: OUP Freeborn, D (1996) Style, London: Mac Milan Hillier, H (2004) Analysing Real Texts: Research Studies in Modern Language New York: Palgrave Hoa, Nguyen (2000) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Hanoi: VNU Publishing House Jaworski, A & Coupland, N (1999) The Discourse Reader London and New York: Routledge Kramsch C (2000) Language and Culture Oxford: OUP Leech N L (1996) A Linguistic Guide to English Poetiy London: Longman ltd Nunan, D (1992) Introducing Discourse Analysis London: Penguin Robert, L (1960) Linguistics Across Cultures Ann Arbor: The llniversit\ of Michigan Press Strauss, C & Quinn, N (1999) A Cognitive Theo/y of Cultural Meaning 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