1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TA THI THANH HIEN A POLITENESS STRATEGY IN EXPRESSING SYMPATHY BY AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS (CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ TRONG VIỆC DIỄN ĐẠT SỰ CẢM THÔNG CỦA NGƯỜI MỸ VÀ NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM) MINOR MA THESIS Linguistics 60 22 15 Supervisor: Prof Assoc Tran Huu Manh, PhD HANOI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TA THI THANH HIEN A POLITENESS STRATEGY IN EXPRESSING SYMPATHY BY AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS (CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ TRONG VIỆC DIỄN ĐẠT SỰ CẢM THÔNG CỦA NGƯỜI MỸ VÀ NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM) MINOR MA THESIS Linguistics 60 22 15 Supervisor: Prof Assoc Tran Huu Manh, PhD HANOI, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and significance of the study … 1.2 Objectives ………………………………… 1.3 Overview of the study……………………… CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speech acts ………………………………… 2.2 Politeness…………………………………… 2.2.1 Theory of politeness……… 2.2.2 Social factors affecting politeness …………………………………8 2.2.3 The notion of face ……………………………………………… 2.2.4 The notion of positive and negative politeness……………… …….9 2.3 Directness and indirectness………………… 10 2.3.1 Direct speech acts………… 10 2.3.2 Indirect speech acts………… 11 2.4 Cooperative principles……………………… 12 2.5 The speech act of comfort………………… 14 2.6 Politeness in expressing sympathy………… 14 2.7 Sympathy and antipathy…… ………………………………………… 17 CHAPTER 3: METHODLOGY 19 3.1 Research methods of the study…………… 19 3.2 Research questions………………………… 19 3.3 Research design…………………………… 19 3.3 Selection of subjects……… 19 3.3.2 Data collection instruments…… 20 3.3.3 Data collection procedure… .23 3.4 Analytical framewor………………………… 24 3.4.1 Internal modification……… 24 3.4.2 External modifications…… 25 3.4.3 The Head Act formula…… 26 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 29 4.1 The choice of strategy……………………… 29 4.2 The choice of External modification or Supportive Moves 30 4.3 The internal modifications……………………… ………….31 4.4 The realization of sympathy expression……… 32 4.5 Summary of major findings………………… 33 4.6 Discussion of findings……………………… 34 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 37 5.1 Conclusion…………………………………… 37 5.2 Implications…………………………………………………………… 38 5.3 Suggestions for further study……………… 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B IV APPENDIX C .VIII APPENDIX D………………………………………………………….…….XII