(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study on implicature in english and vietnamese funny stories m a thesis linguistics 60 22 15

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG NHUNG A STUDY ON IMPLICATURE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FUNNY STORIES (Hàm ngôn truyện cười tiếng Anh tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: M.A Đào Thu Trang HANOI-2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG NHUNG A STUDY ON IMPLICATURE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FUNNY STORIES (Hàm ngôn truyện cười tiếng Anh tiếng Việt) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: M.A Đào Thu Trang HANOI-2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP……… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURE………………………………………………… vi PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1 Rationale………………………………………………………………………… Aims of the Study……………………………………………………………… Scope of the Study Method of the Study Organization of the Study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Overview of Discourse Analysis 1.1.1 Definition of Discourse 1.1.2 Discourse versus Text 1.1.3 Discourse Analysis 1.1.4 Context in Discourse Analysis 1.2 Word Meaning 1.3 Sentence Meaning 1.4 Utterance Meaning 1.5 Implicature 12 1.5.1 The Notion of Implicature 12 1.5.2 The Cooperative Principal and Maxims 13 1.5.2.1 The Maxim of Quantity 13 1.5.2.2 The Maxim of Quality 14 1.5.2.3 The Maxim of Relation 15 1.5.2.4 The Maxim of Manner 16 1.5.3 Non- Observance 16 1.6 Overview of Funny Stories 17 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 19 2.1 Research question 19 2.2 Data collection 19 2.3 Data Analysis 19 2.3.1 Maxim of Quantity 19 2.3.2 Maxim of Quality 24 2.3.3 Maxim of Relation 27 2.3.4 Maxim of Manner 30 2.4 Discussion 34 2.4.1 Result and Discussion of the Result……………………………………… 34 2.4.2 Similarities 35 2.4.3 Differences 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Major Findings 37 Implications to Language Teaching and Learning 37 Limitation of the Study and Suggestions for Further Study 40 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX 1: ENGLISH FUNNY STORIES I APPENDIX 2: VIETNAMESE FUNNY STORIES V LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURE Table 1: Breaking maxims in English and Vietnamese funny stories……………………34 Figure 1: Breaking maxims in English and Vietnamese funny stories…… PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Language is one of the most important areas of human development It is the mechanism by which people communicate, and the means by which people convey their emotion However, in our day-to-day conversational exchanges, for some reasons, people not always directly express their ideas As Jenny Thomas states in her book “Meaning in Interaction” that speaker frequently means much more than their words actually say (Thomas 1995: 1) The hearer interprets a meaning that is not clearly stated in the utterance of the speaker Utterances, standing alone out of context, make us confused in our communication However, being put into the context, words and phrases can be interpreted in a way that makes people understand the intentional meaning of the utterances The reason is that we as speakers and hearers, according to the American philosopher- linguistics Paul Grice, operate under the cooperative principal, which means that both speaker and hearer converse with good intentions In other words, the speaker utters words and phrases in order to deliver a message to the hearer, who interprets a meaning with the knowledge that there is a message behind the utterance In order to show what goes on in conversation, Grice introduced four conversational maxims A speaker might fall to observe a maxim but still get the intended meaning through to the hearer Falling to observe a maxim is often referred to as “breaking a maxim” In funny story, these maxims are constantly broken to create humor Funny stories are a crucial part of every culture and every society From the past to now, it has been an entertaining form to make people feel cheerful and happy Sometimes, it can be used as a means of weapon to fight against the negative things in the society However, different types of humor are more appealing to different people based on their personal sense of humor and background And people from different countries have their own sense of humor, therefore understanding funny stories means that you have to uncover many things relating to their nations Sometimes we wonder why some unfinished and meaningless sentences can make people laugh To achieve this interpretation successfully, readers have to understand intended meaning from the characters and the authors Being a teacher of English as a foreign language, I strongly believe that the use of humor in funny story would significantly improve second language learning However, to understand the meaning of implicature in English funny story is a challenging task In order to create more interests in the English learning and build a deep understanding of inplicature 10 mechanism to English learners, the study on “Implicature in English and Vietnamese funny stories” is inspired and carried out Aims of the study The purposes of the research study could be clearly identified as followings: - To provide background knowledge of implicature - To uncover the implicature in terms of maxim conveyed in the English and Vietnamese funny stories under study - To point out implicature in some English and Vietnamese funny stories in terms of maxims - To draw out the implication in English language teaching and learning Scope of the study This research is limited to analyze implicature in some selected English and Vietnamese funny stories This research only touches a small aspect of implicature: maxim Within the scope of the study, no attention is paid to any other features of funny stories Method of the study The main method of the study is qualitative one executed with descriptive and contrastive analysis with the following techniques: + Collecting data containing funny stories with mechanism of implicature + Basing on the data collected, we sort out the samples into categories in terms of maxims + On the basis of the analysis of mechanism of implicatures in English and Vietnamese funny stories, we predict the difficulties that Vietnamese learners have to deal with Organization of the study The study consists of three parts They are: Part A: Introduction This part contains rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study, and methods of the study Part B: Development This is the main part of the thesis and has two chapters Chapter 1: Literature review 11 In this chapter, review on some field of semantics, pragmatics and discourse such are given in the first place Later part deals with concept of implicature and a brief background knowledge about funny stories Chapter 2: The study This part gives the detailed description of the study, which includes data collection, data analysis and presents the results and discussion Part C: Conclusion This is the last part of the thesis which summarizes the major points and gives the implication as well as giving suggestions for further study 12 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Overview of discourse analysis 1.1.1 Definition of discourse In the history of linguistics, different linguists use the term “discourse” in a number of different ways According to Crystal (1992: 25) discourse is “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, an argument, joke or narrative” Cook (1989: 156) shares the similar idea with Crystal, he states discourse as “stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive” Cook also suggests that “What matters is not its conformity to rules, but the fact that it communicates and is recognized by its receivers as coherent” Discourse is supposed to be meaningful and thus to be used to communicate with one person in a way that another person does not have the necessary knowledge to make sense of In Nunan‟s opinion, discourse is considered “communicative event involving language in context” (1993:118) In general, discourse is defined differently but they have something in common Discourse is understood as language in use, which can reflect people‟s point of view and value systems 1.1.2 Discourse versus text There has been a lot of confusion between the two terms discourse and text For some linguists, these two terms seem to be used almost interchangeably As Halliday & Hasan (1976: 2) state in their book “Cohesion in English” A text is a unit of language in use, it is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or a sentence… A text is best regarded as a semantic unit: a unit not of form but of meaning Thus it is related to a clause or sentence not by size but by realization, the coding of one symbolic system in another A text does not consist of sentences; it is realized by, or encoded in, sentences They use “text” to refer to “discourse” They see text as a “semantic unit” characterized by cohesion 13 Some other linguists draw a clear distinction between them They argue that discourse is language in action while a text is the written record of that interaction As Crystal‟s point of view, he states that discourse is “a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence” whereas a text is “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written or signed language identified for purpose of analysis” Nunan (1993: 6) appears to share the same view when he uses “the term text to refer to any written record of a communicative event in context” and discourse refers to “interpretation of the communicative event in context” To sum up, it can be see that there is disagreement about the meaning of these two terms However, all seem to agree that both text and discourse need to be defined in terms of meaning and the coherent texts/ pieces of discourse are those that form a meaningful whole 1.1.3 Discourse analysis Discourse analysis is developed by different works of different scholars One of the most prominent scholars is Yule (1997: 139), he states in his study of language that “In the study of language, some of the most interesting questions arise in connection with the way language is used, rather than what its components are…We were, in effect, asking how it is language –users interpret what other language-users intend to convey When we carry this investigation further and ask how it is that we, as language users, make sense of what we read in texts, understand what speakers mean despite what they say, recognize connected as opposed to jumbled or incoherent discourse, and successfully take part in that complex activity called conversation, we are undertaking what is known discourse analysis” It is understood that discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the context in which it is used In summary, discourse analysis considers the ways that the use of language presents different views of the world and different understanding It examines how the use of language is influenced by relationships between participants, as well as its effect on social relations 1.1.4 Context in discourse analysis Context is an important concept in discourse analysis As Nunan (1993: 7) defines “context refers to the situation giving rise to the discourse, and within which the discourse is 45 Nha lại thưa: -“Bẩm bà lớn, làng huyện sẵn đồ lễ tiễn quan ạ!” Bà huyện mừng rỡ hỏi: -“Họ lễ thầy!” Nha lại ân cần thưa: -“Bẩm… toàn gạo, muối” English version See off the mandarin One mandarin loved maney but badly behaved to the people He had to move to another place Waiting for so long, he could not see any people to see him off His wife ccomplained: - “How bad the people are! Their mandarin is moving to another place., why are not there any people to see him off? His servant replied: - “Yes! Madam, the villagers are going to give him some presents” - “What are they giving?” - “Yes…rice and salt” The yamen‟s clerkdom violated the maxim of manner because his utterance was obscure Firstly, it is necessary to know one of Vietnamese customs to see the death off with rice and salt It meant that the people hated mandarin so when he left the village, they gave him rice and salt In the feudalism, the mandarin treated the people, especilly, farmers badly and they were very angry with the mandarin This story derives from the culture of the nation, which may be so obscure or difficult to perceive Consequently, encyclopedia knowledge of traditional custom of the nation of the target language is very necessary to grasp their jokes or else their competence in understanding the jokes will fail To understand of this joke, the readers have the coincidence of participants‟s background knowledge For example, in English funny stories, there are amount of jokes about the elder, doctors and lawyers The elder are laughed at absent-mindedness, weakness Doctors and lawyers are criticized of their lying Following the systems of values, they are respected, so Vietnamese readers not find these stories humorous, an a following example, How Deaf? An old man is talking to the family doctor 46 -"Doctor, I think my wife's going deaf." The doctor answers, - "Well, here's something you can try on her to test her hearing Stand some distance away from her and ask her a question If she doesn't answer, move a little closer and ask again Keep repeating this until she answers Then you'll be able to tell just how hard of hearing she really is." The man goes home and tries it out He walks in the door and says, - "Honey, what's for dinner?" He doesn't hear an answer, so he moves closer to her - "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still no answer He repeats this several times, until he's standing just a few feet away from her Finally, she answers, - "For the eleventh time, I said we're having MEATLOAF!" The differences in culture between the two nations manifest themselves as a big challenge for Vienamese learners of English Therefore, Vienamese learners of English are aware of culture while studying, particularly exchanging ideas in English in order to avoid ambiguity and also make yourselves as clear as possible In the Appendix, the author gives forties English and Vietnamese funny stories to help teacher of English and Vietnamese students to teach and study implicature basing on maxims The author divides these stories into different categories so that the teachers and students easily collect funny stories depending on the aims of lessons Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study All the above things, because of the limitation of time and sources of material, are not very good to meet the demand of the readers Because my material consists of a small amount of data, there can be no generalization as to which maxims are most frequently broken in funny stories in general Furthermore, the author only focuses on the humor mechanism basing on maxims in English and Vietnamese funny stories, this study has just touched a small aspect of short funny stories The author is fully aware that there are some important matters remain unanswered Interesting points which need further research are: - A contrastive analysis study on implicature in English and Vietnamese funny stories in terms of themes - A pragmatic study on humor in English and Vietnamese funny story 47 - Some major cross-cultural differences and similarities in phenomena which cause laughter in English and Vietnamese funny story Although great efforts have been made on the research, shortcomings and mistakes are unavoidable The author with sincere gratitude will appreciate any comments and advices from the readers 48 REFERENCES English Austin, J.L ( 1962), How to Do Things with Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press Bouton, L.F (1998), A cross-cultural study of ability to interpret implicatures in English, World Englishes Brown, Gillian & Yule, George ( 1983), Discourse Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cook, Guy ( 1989) Discourse, Oxford: Oxford University Press Crystal, D (1992), Introducing lingluistics, Harlow: Penguin Dorrell, P What is Humor from www.1729.com Website: www 1729.com/wiki/whatishumor.html Dao Tuyet Thao, A Collection of Funny Stories from the Internet, Halliday, M.A.K,& R Hasan ( 1976) Cohesion in English, London: Longman Hatch, Evelyn ( 1992) Discourse and Language Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10 Hudson, R.A ( 1980) Sociolinguistics, Cambridge Cambridge University Press 11 Incongruity from LaughLab.Co.UK from Website http://www.richardwiseman.com/LaughLab/incon.html 12 Jokes from Reader’s Digest Website http://www.rd.com/all-jokes.do 13 Jokes from World-English.org website http://www.tienganhonline.net/pages/worldenglish.htm 14 Kearns, Kate (2000), Semantics, NewYork: St Martin‟s Press 15 Levinson S C (1983) Pragmatics, Cambridge University Press 16 L‟Hill English Funny Stories 17 Lyons, J (1994) Language and Linguistics An Introduction, Cambridge University Press 18 Lyons J (1995) Linguistic Semantics An Introduction, Cambridge University Press 19 Mc Carthy, Michael (1991) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Nguyen Hoa (2000), An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Hanoi National University 21 Nguyen Hoa ( 2004), Understanding English Semantics, Hanoi National University 22 Nguyễn Quang (2000) Intercultural communication, Hanoi National University 49 23 Phuong Thao, Phan (2005) A study on historical, political and social background of English humor through English jokes, M.A thesis, Unpublished 24 Nunan, David ( 1992) Research Methods in Language Learning, UK: CUP 25 Nunan, David (1993) Introducing Discourse Analysis, London: Penguin Group 26 Ross, A (1998) The Language of Humor, London: Routledge 27 Russell, J Jokes from www.Englishcouncil.org Website : www Englishcouncil.org/learnerenglish-central-magazine-jokes.htm 28 Superiority, from Laughlab.Co.UK Website http://www.richardwiseman.com/LaughLab/super.html 29 Thanh Truc, Nguyen (2004) Major linguistic and cultural barriers to learner of English at Qui Nhon college in appreciating American one-and- two liners, M.A thesis, Unpublished 30 Thomas Jenny (1995) Meaning in interaction: an introduction to pragmatics - London ; New York : Longman 31 Van Dijk, T.A ( 1972) Some Aspects of Text Grammar, The Hague: Mouton 32 Why We Laugh from www.anglorama.com.pl Website: www.anglorama.com.pl/html/laugh.php 33 Widdowson, H.G ( 1987) Teaching Language as Communication, Oxford: Oxford University Press 34 Yule George (1996) Pragmatics, Oxford University Press Vietnamese 35 Đỗ Hữu Châu (2001).Đại Cương Ngôn Ngữ Học, tập 2, Ngữ Dụng Học Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Dục 36 Đinh Gia Khánh (1995) Văn Học Dân Gian Việt Nam, Nhà Xuất Bản Đại Học Giáo Dục 37 Xuân Bách (2009) Kho tàng truyện khôi hài dân gian Việt Nam, Nhà Xuất Bản Thanh Niên 38 Tam Tam (2009) Tuyển tập tiếu lâm truyện cười, Nhà Xuất Bản Thanh Niên 50 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: ENGLISH FUNNY STORIES I The Maxim of Quantity Room For Two For our honeymoon my fiancée and I chose a fashionable hotel known for its luxurious suites When I called to make reservations, the desk clerk inquired, "Is this for a special occasion?" "Yes," I replied "It's our honeymoon." "And how many adults will there be?" she asked A new trick The conjurer was arranging a new stage trick, and on the day before its introduction he asked his young son to help him “ When I ask for a boy to come on the stage, you must come at once But you must not anything or say anything that will make the audience think that you know me” The boy said he understood everything and when the conjurer asked for help, he came forward quickly and was invited on the stage When he got there, the conjurer said: “ Look at this boy! He has never seen me before, have you, my boy?” “ Yes, father!” answered the boy The still A farmer gave two city fellows permission to hunt on his land, asking only a small favour in return “You‟ll find a still up yonder”, he said “I‟d like you to bring me a jugful or two” The hunter located the still easily enough, but as they approached, bullets started whizzing past their ears They fled down the hill and found the farmer “Your still is being raided”, they gasped “Oh, that‟s probably the old man Turner” the farmer said “Who‟s he “the hunter wanted to know “My neighbour” the farmer replied “He owns the still” It is not my dog There is a woman sitting on a park bench and a large dog lying on the ground in front of the bench A woman comes along and sits down on the bench Man: Does your dog bite? Woman: No (The man reaches down to pet the dog The dog bites the man‟s hand.) Man: Ouch! Hey! You said your dog does not bite Woman: He does not but that is not my dog Second Marriage 'If I were to die first, would you remarry?" the wife asks "Well," says the husband, "I'm in good health, so why not?" "Would she live in my house?" "It's all paid up, so yes." "Would she drive my car?" "It's new, so yes." 51 "Would she use my golf clubs?" "No She's left-handed." II Maxim of quality Death in the Family! A brunette walks over to her Blonde friends home and finds her crying "What happened why are you crying?" The Blonde tells her that her mother has passed away The neighbor makes her some coffee, comforts her and then leaves The next day the neighbor goes back over to the house and finds the blonde crying again Once again, she asks her why she was crying? This time the blonde replies hysterically "I just got off of the phone with my sister, her mother died too! 2.Native language An English asked her neighbour: “ Why did the Brown start learning French all of a sudden?” “ They adopted a French baby and fear that they won‟t understand it when the baby begins speaking” Looking around I was walking into the store the other day when I saw this blind man with his seeing eye dog Suddenly, the man grabs the dog‟s leash, and starts swinging the dog around his head I walked up and said “Hey, what the hell are you doing"? The blind man said “Oh nothing, just looking around." The Crying Horse One day a guy walks into a bar The bartender says "if you can make that horse over there laugh you can have free drinks for the rest of the night" So he says "ok" and walks over to the horse and whispers something in his ear and he starts laughing and the bartender gives him free drinks for the rest of the night The next night the same guy comes back in and the bartender says "if you can make that horse over there cry i will give you free drinks for the rest of the night So he walks over there and does something and the horse starts crying, and the bartender gives him free drinks Then the bartender asks what the man did to make the horse laugh and what he did to make him cry The man says "To make him laugh I told him I had a bigger dick than he does and to make him cry I showed him" Who needs women A man walks into the bar and orders shots of whiskey and the man drinks one and pours the other shot in his hand, the man did this times before the bartender finally asks him -why is it you drink shot and pour the other in your hand The man replies, I'm getting my girl friend drunk! III Maxim of relevance Last request A murderer, sitting in the electric chair, was about to be executed 52 “ Have you any last request?” asked the chaplain “Yes” replied the murderer “ Will you hold my hand” Maid to order! A fresh-faced lad on the eve of his wedding night goes to his mother with the following question: "Mom, why are wedding dresses white?" The mother looks at her son and replies, "Son, this shows the town that your bride is pure "The son thanks his mom and goes off to double-check this with his father "Dad why are wedding dresses white?" The father looks at his son in surprise and says "Son, all household appliances come in white!" Why does it sing beautifully? A woman whispered to her husband: “Hey, listen! Does the bird sing beautifully?” “My dear! It doesn‟t have a partner or chicks, is not tied up with works, doesnot have to buy fashionable clothes for its partner, then why it sings beautifully” Blonde House Fire A blonde's house is on fire She calls 911 and says, "My house is on fire." The dispatcher says, "Well, can you tell me how we get there?" "Duhhhh, in the big red trucks, of course." Pronounce it please! Two tourists were driving through Louisiana As they were approaching Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch As they stood at the counter, one tourist asked the "blonde" employee: "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are at VERY SLOWLY?" The blonde girl leaned over the counter and said "Burrrrrrrr, Gerrrrrrr, Kiiiiing" IV Maxim of manner Dumb and beauty Man says to God: “ God, why did you make woman so beautiful?” God says: “ So you would love her” “ But God” the man says, “ Why did you make her so dumb”? God says, “ So she would love you” Retaliation In a small town, farmers of the community had gotten together to discuss some important issues About midway through the meeting, a wife of one of the farmers stood up and spoke her piece 53 One of the farmers stood up and said, “What does she know about anything? I would like to ask her if she knows how many toes a pig has.” Quick as a flash, the woman replied, “Take off your boots sir, and count them yourself!” Lawyer’s heart An elder patient needed a heart transplant and discussed his options with his doctor The doctor said, “ We have three possible donors; the first is a young, healthy athlete who died in an automobile accident, the second is a middle-aged businessman who never drank or smoked and who died flying his private jet The third is an attorney who died after practicing law for thirty years Which you want? “ I‟ll take the lawyer‟s heart” said the patient After a successful transplant, the doctor asked the patient why he had the chosen the donor he did “ It was easy” said the patient “ I wanted a heart that hadn‟t been used” Getting married “ Honey” said this husband to his wife, “ I invited a friend home for super” “what? Are you crazy? The house is in a messy, I did not go shopping, all the dishes are dirty, and I don‟t feel like cooking a fancy meal” “ I know all that” “Then why did you invite a friend for super?” “Because the poor fool‟s thinking about getting married.” Second Opinion A doctor and his wife were having a big argument at breakfast "You aren't so good in bed either!" he shouted and stormed off to work By midmorning, he decided he'd better make amends and phoned home After many rings, his wife picked up the phone "What took you so long to answer?" "I was in bed." "What were you doing in bed this late?" "Getting a second opinion!" APPENDIX 2: VIETNAMESE FUNNY STORIES I Maxim of quantity Nói cho có đầu có Một lão nhà giàu có anh đầy tớ tính bộp chộp, thấy nói nấy, gặp đâu nói đó, khơng suy nghĩ chín chắn Lão gọi anh ta, bảo: - Mày tính bộp chộp lắm, ăn nói chẳng có đầu có cả, người ta cười tao lẫn mày Từ rày, nói phải cho rõ ràng, có ngành có ngọn, nghe khơng? Anh đầy tớ Mộ hôm, lão mặc đồ tơ may, sửa chơi, ngồi hút thuốc, thấy anh dầy tớ đứng chấp tay, trịnh trọng nói: - Bẩm ơng, tằm ăn dâu, nhả tơ, người ta mang tơ bán cho thợ dệt, thợ dệt dệt thành 54 lụa, ông mua may thành áo Hôm nay, ông mạc vào, ông hút thuốc, tàn thuốc áo rời vào áo ông, áo ông cháy Lão giật mình, nhìn xuống, áo cháy miếng to bàn tay Rắm ạ! Một bà huyện đến chơi nhà chị em, có anh đầy tớ theo hầu Ðương ngồi trị chuyện đơng đủ, bà huyện vãi rắm Anh đầy tớ đứng hầu sau lưng, vội bưng miệng cười Lúc bà lớn tẽn lắm, khơng dám nói Về đến dinh, bà gọi anh đày tớ vào buồng mắng hồi: - Ðồ ngu! Ðồ ăn hại! Khơng thể thống cả! Như người ta mày nhận mày, có khơng? Ðằng mày lại nhe mà cười khỉ! Bà lại đánh tuốt xác bây giờ! Anh đầy tớ sợ vía, vội lui ra, chạy mạch đến nhà kia, minh với người: - Bẩm bà! Cái rắm bà đánh lúc ạ! Không phải thịt lợn sề Ông hàng thịt làm thịt lợn sề bán, nhà có đứa bép xép, ơng phải dặn trước: - Mày đừng có nói thịt lợn sề nhé! Một lát có người đến mua thịt Đứa mau mồm nói trước: - Đây khơng phải thịt lợn sề đâu! Người sinh nghi xem thịt lợn sề khơng mua Ơng hàng thịt giận quát mắng con: - Ai bảo mày nói để người ta sinh nghi! Một lát có người đến xem thịt hỏi: - Sao bì dày thế, thịt lợn sề? Ông hàng thịt chưa kịp trả lời, thằng hấp tấp bảo bố: - Đấy người ta nói trước khơng phải đâu “Lợn cưới, áo mới” Có anh tính hay khoe Một hôm, may áo mới, liền đem mặc, đứng hóng cửa, đợi có qua người ta khen Đứng từ sáng đến chiều chả thấy hỏi cả, tức Đang tức tối, thấy anh, tính hay khoe, tất tưởi chạy đến hỏi to: - Bác có thấy lợn cưới chạy qua không? Anh liền giơ vạt áo ra, bảo: - Từ lúc mặc "áo mới" này, chẳng thấy lợn chạy qua Sợ chó Người nghèo lại muốn làm sang Một hơm, có khách đến chơi Anh ta sang hàng xóm nhờ bé đến bưng cơm nước hộ Anh ta dặn dò cách thức xong nhà trước ngồi đợi Đợi buổi, chưa thấy bé sang, thấy bé thập thị ngồi cửa Anh ta oai, gọi to: - Sao không vào bưng cơm nước ra, kẻo khách đói bụng, chờ đến nữa? Lúc giờ, bé lễ phép thưa: - Xin lỗi ông miễn cho, tơi sợ chó nhà ơng q nên từ đến đứng chưa dám vào II Maxim of quality Thầy bói xem voi Nhân buổi ế hàng, năm ơng thầy bói mù chuyện ngẫu với Thầy phàn nàn hình thù voi Chợt nghe người ta nói có voi qua, năm người 55 - chung tiền biểu người quản tượng xin cho voi đứng lại để xem.Thầy sờ vòi, thầy sờ ngà, thầy sờ tai, thầy sờ chân, thầy sờ đuôi Ðoạn năm thầy ngồi lại bàn tán với Thầy sờ vịi bảo: Tưởng voi nào, hóa dài đỉa! Thầy sờ ngà bảo: Khơng phải, cứng địn càn chứ! Thầy sờ tai bảo: Ðâu có! Nó to bè bè quạt thôi! Thầy sờ chân cãi lại: Ai bảo? Nó sừng sững cột nhà! Thầy sờ lại nói: - Các thầy nói khơng Chính tua tủa chổi xể cùn Năm thầy, thầy cho nói đúng, khơng chịu ai, thành xô xát, đánh toạt đầu, chảy máu Nói láo bị Anh chủ nhà hay nói láo, có thằng đày tớ lanh nói đỡ cho ảnh hồi, Bữa ảnh nói với người ta : "Tôi bị trận dông lớn chừng, đến đỗi giếng bay đàng xóm !" Họ nói khơng có lẽ Thằng đày tớ cắt nghĩa : "Sự thiệt, giếng chủ tơi có rào chặn hàng sơ li, hơm trận dơng trốc hàng sơ li quan bên này, nên coi hình giếng bay qua bển" Bữa uống rượu say, khoe tài với sanh em bạn : "Tôi vào trai gái với vợ thằng khác ấy, rủi về, cỏn sợ đem giấu thùng ngang; thẳng dở ra, thùng khơng, tơi độn mất" Thằng đày tớ nói :"Sự thiệt, hơm tơi có theo, thấy thím biểu chủ tơi ngồi, lấy thùng úp lại, tơi ngồi ngồi, gần bên lỗ chó, tơi kêu nhỏ, chủ tơi nghe, mang thùng lại dựa vách, chum lỗ chó mà Thằng khác cầm đèn lại dở thấy thùng trống" Anh ta ỷ có đày tớ nói đỡ cho, ăn quen nói láo hồi Bữa người ta đập chuột cống, lớn heo con, làm lạ xúm lại coi, lại nói : "Chuột bây lớn mà người lấy làm lạ, bữa hôm đập chuột lớn bị" Họ nói :"Cái láo to đa !" Anh ta biểu hỏi thằng đày tớ coi Thẳng nói : "Láo bực tơi cịn đỡ đặng, trừ có láo bị, tơi đỡ khơng nổi" Thế có ghê khơng? Hai anh nói khốc gặp Một anh nói : - Ðời tớ gặp nhiều chuyện nguy hiểm Một lần tớ vào rừng gặp hổ dữ, tay không đánh với hàng nửa ngày Nhưng cuối tớ bị hổ xé mảnh nhỏ Thế có ghê khơng ? Anh nói : - Chưa ghê tớ Một lần tớ gặp trăn Nó đớp hai chân tớ nuốt gần hết, tớ giang thẳng hai cánh tay ngàng lại Nhưng đến phút cuối cùng, vừa đau vừa mỏi, tớ đành buông xuôi hai tay cho nuốt tụt vào bụng, gọi người làng cứu Mình Một anh lính giải nhà sư lên tỉnh Anh ta có tính hay quên, lúc đi, nhẩm nhẩm 56 lại: "Khăn gói đây, đây, trát đây, sư đây, Khăn gói đây, " Nhà sư thấy thế, lừa tên lính vào quán, mua rượu, thịt chó cho ăn uống bữa thật say, lấy dao cạo trọc đầu anh ta, tháo gông đeo vào cổ Xong trốn Tỉnh dậy, anh lính sốt lại lượt, miệng lẩm nhẩm: "Khăn gói đây, ô đây, (sờ vào túi) trát đây, (sờ lên vai) gơng đây." Bỗng kêu to: - Cịn nhà sư đâu rồi? Anh ta cuống quít, đưa tay vị đầy, thấy đầu trọc lóc mừng reo lên: - A, nhà sư rồi! Bỗng sực nhớ điều gì, than thở: - Quái! Mình đâu mà khơng thấy Trứng ngót Có gái nhà chồng, mẹ chồng bảo luộc rau Lúc bỏ rau sống vào nồi, rau đầy nồi Nước sơi, rau chín, rau cịn nạm Vớt thấy ít, ta ngồi khóc Mẹ chồng hỏi, cô ta kể đầu đuôi, mẹ chồng cười nói: - Nó ngót ạ! Ít hơm sau, nhà có khách, mẹ chồng bảo đem mười trứng luộc Cô ta ăn bớt hai Thấy trứng không đủ mười quả, mẹ chồng hỏi, cô ta nói: - Nó ngót mẹ ạ! III.Maxim of relevance “Mat roi” Một người chơi xa, dặn con: Ở nhà có hỏi nói bố chơi nhé! Sợ mải chơi quên mất, nên cẩn thận lấy bút viết vào giấy, bảo: Có hỏi đưa giấy Con cầm giấy bỏ vào túi áo ngày chẳng thấy đến hỏi Tối đến, sẵn có đèn lấy giấy coi, chẳng may vô ý giấy cháy Hơm sau có người đến hỏi: “Thầy cháu có nhà khơng?” Nó ngẩn ngơ hồi lâu sờ vào túi khơng thấy liền nói: - Mất rồi! Khách giật hỏi: “Mất bao giờ?” - Tối hôm qua! - Sao mà mất? - Cháy! Điếc làng Hai ông bà điếc sanh đặng đứa gái điếc, rầu vơ phước, phần già chẳng nói làm gì, cịn tật nguyền điếc lác biết gởi cho để gởi thân cho nhờ? Mà nghĩ lại lớn ruộng nhiều trâu có có rể Vậy, thấy có đứa trai lịch cách xa vài làng, vô tới lui làng kêu mà gả, chẳng ngờ điếc Cưới hỏi xong xạ, với cha mẹ vợ, cha biểu đứa gái nói coi cày bừa đám ruộng bên lề đường Nó nghe liền vác cày cày Có ơng quan ngang qua đó, mà quan kinh nhậm đứng lại hỏi thăm đường vơ dinh quan phủ Nó chẳng lành chớ, điếc nghe khơng rõ, tưởng ơng quở cày cày bậy ruộng ông ; nên vọt miệng mắng: “Ruộng tơi tơi cày, ơng nói ruộng ơng? Ơng ngang q ghẹ cà!” Ơng quan thấy dễ biểu qn rượt đánh Nó đâm đầu chạy nhà, vợ ngồi nấu cơm bếp, đạp cho - đạp chúi vào bếp: “Ruộng nào, đâu mà mày bậy cho tao cày làm người ta đánh tao cờ bơ cờ bất, mày lếu” 57 Con vợ nói: “Dữ khơng? Đợi phút chờ người ta nấu dọn cho mà ăn không à, làm bất nhơn làm vậy?” Kế thấy mẹ chợ leng teng bưng rổ về; gái méc, nói chồng độc đạp làm Bả thấy giận quạu quọ ngờ nói chợ tiền mà ăn bánh ăn hàng hết May đâu tát đìa quảy vịt về, bả liền chạy nói: “Tơi ăn bánh ăn hàng đâu mà nói thêm nói thừa cho tơi!” Ơng nghe khơng rõ, tưởng bả nói bắt cá cho ai, nói: “Nào tơi có bắt cá cho đâu, đặng bỏ vịt đem mà nói cho ai? Có chứng lão cày Bà hỏi lão mà coi!” Nắm tay bả dắt đồng lại hỏi lão cày: “Chớ lão thấy bắt cá mà cho không?” Chẳng may lão cày lảng tai, tưởng nói lão có khuấy chơi lấy quần giấu (thấy ơng đóng khố hiểu làm vậy) nói: “Nào! Tơi sớm mai tới cày hồi tơi có qua chi mà biết quần ông để đâu mà giấu? Ông già khéo nghi bậy không!” Chốc tao sang Một lão trọc phú ngồi tiếp khách, có người vào đưa giấy, đứng đợi trả lời Lão vốn dốc đặc, sĩ diện với khách làm mặt biết chữ, giả vờ mở giấy xem trả lời: -Cứ đi, chốc tao sang Tên người nhà gãi đầu gãi tai bấm: - Ông chủ sai sang mượn ngựa đem ngay, mời ông sang đâu ! 4.Ba trọc Anh chợ mua lợn Dọc đường về, gặp lính lệ hỏi: - Anh kia, lợn giá bao nhiêu? Anh ta thấy thầy quyền ý đến lợn, liền lễ phép thưa: - Dạ thưa, quan Tên lính cho anh bạt tai, mắng: - Mày láo à? Dám nói lợn quan à? Anh van lạy lính tha tội cho Đi đoạn đường lại gặp khách Chú khách lại hỏi giá lợn Anh ta tức liền bảo: - Bị vố trắng rồi, khơng nói Chú khách đánh cho gậy, bảo: - Mày lại chế nhạo tao trắng a? Anh ta bỏ chạy Về gần đến làng, lại gặp hai ông sư tiểu tiểu hỏi giá lợn Anh càu nhàu - Trọc ba trọc (ba lượt ) rồi, tơi khơng nói Chú tiểu đỏ mặt, đấm anh ta, bảo nhạo sư May hai ơng sư can, Sợ sét bà Xưa có thầy đồ ngồi dạy học nhà người đàn bà goá Bữa ăn cơm, bà cho thầy ăn vừa sét bát thơi Một hơm, trời mưa sấm sét Người đàn bà sợ run cầm cập, thầy đồ thản nhiên khơng Người đàn bà thấy hỏi: - Thầy không sợ sét ư? 58 Thầy đồ đáp: - Tôi không sợ sét trời, sợ sét bà Cứ ngày ba sét ba lượt tơi chết đói IV.Maxim of manner Giàn hoa lý đổ Một ông thầy đồ sợ vợ, lần bị vợ cào cấu cho sứt mặt, đến công đường, quan huyện hỏi: - Sao mặt thầy lại xây xát thế? Thầy đồ thưa: Cười 24H (24h.com.vn - Bỗng nhiên hôm qua ngồi hóng mát, giàn hoa lý đổ xuống, st khốn! Quan khơng tin hỏi lại: Cười 24H (24h.com.vn - Thầy giấu tôi, hơm qua vợ thầy cào gì? Thầy nói thật tơi sai tên lệ lơi cổ vào dạy, giống đàn bà phải trị thẳng tay, khơng “được đằng chân lân đằng đầu” cho mà xem Không ngờ quan bà đứng tư thất nghe thấy quan ơng nói vậy, giận lắm, hầm hầm bước Quan ơng thấy quan bà líu lưỡi lại, bảo thầy đồ: - Thôi thầy tạm lui giàn hoa lý nhà đổ Có ngày khơng có mặt trời Một năm vào mùa hạ, có viên quan ngồi bàn việc cơng, phàn nàn thời tiết nóng nực chuyện hóng mát nơi tốt Một người nói, có đình vườn hoa mát nhất, có người nói điện lớn ngơi chùa râm mát Dân chúng đứng bên nghe thấy nói: - Các quan cần nơi mát mẻ chẳng nơi mát cơng đường nha môn Mấy viên quan hỏi lại họ biết, họ nói: - Cơng đường nơi có ngày, khơng có mặt trời lẽ lại khơng mát Quan rẻ thối Có ơng quan huyện thấy cần phải hành hạt để xem dân tình huyện Chọn ngày lành tháng tốt quan lên đường Ðể cho oai, quan bắt dân phi phải khiêng võng địn thật đẹp Lại thêm lọng xanh cậu lính vác cho vẻ Ngày phiên chợ huyện Quan muốn dạo chợ Sắp đến đầu chợ, quan nghe nhà bên phố, tiếng chồng bảo vợ: - Bà mày hôm không mua thịt thịt rẻ Một quan phải hai người người gánh Quan thịt rẻ thối đường mà mua Nói xong chị ta cịn đay lại: "Quan rẻ thối" Quan huyện biết lão chửi xỏ mình, tức q khơng biết trị Thấy lính hầu dân phu đắc ý cười tủm, quan tức quát chạy thẳng, không dạo chợ Bẩm chó Nhà nho thấy quan lại tham nhũng lịng khinh Một hơm, quan đến nhà chơi, số có bạn đồng song thủơ trước Ông ta bảo người nhà dọn rượu thết Người nhà bưng mâm lên, ông ta đứng dậy thưa: - Chả rồng đến nhà tôm, ngài có bụng yêu nhà nho bạch đến chơi, có chén rượu nhạt xin ngài chiếu cố cho Các quan cầm đũa, gắp Các quan ăn thấy ngon miệng, liền khề khà hỏi: đĩa gì, bát 59 Nhà nho thong thả nói: - Ðây chó, chó, bẩm tồn chó Hai vợ Một chàng có hai vợ Tối lại ngủ phòng trong, kế cửa vào giường vợ cả, vợ bé ngủ giường nhà Đêm nọ, trời khuya, vợ bé hứng tình xn, khơng ngủ dược cất giọng hị: Đêm khuya gió lặng sóng n Lái có muốn, ghé thuyền sang chơi Cơ vợ bé ý muốn gọi chồng Anh chồng nghe biết song ngồi sợ gặp phải vợ cả, hị lại: Muốn sang bên cho vui Mắc đồn lính gác khó xi đị Vợ cịn thao thức, liền hát: Sông cấm mà lo Muốn xuôi nộp thuế đị xi Nếu phải nằm với vợ lớn cịn đâu mà đến với vợ bé Anh chồng liền đáp lại: Chẳng bn chẳng bán thơi Qua đồn hết vốn cịn xi nỗi gì! ... PART C: CONCLUSION Major findings In this study, the author investigates some broken maxims in English and Vietnamese funny stories The data analysis reveals that both English and Vietnamese funny. .. words are regarded as the smallest indivisible meaningful units of a language which can operate independently Every word combines lexical and grammatical meanings The grammatical meaning can be... 25 English funny stories 20 15 10 Quantity Quality Relation Manner Chart 1: Breaking maxims in English and Vietnamese funny stories As can be seen from the chart, both English and Vietnamese funny