THÔNG TIN TÀI LIỆU
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY HOANG NGOC DIEP STRUCTURE AND METHODS EXPRESSING LAUGHTER OF VIETNAMESE MODERN JOKES Major: Vietnamese Language Code: 9220102 SUMMARY OF VIETNAMESE LITERATURE DOCTORAL THESIS NGHE AN - 2021 The thesis has been completed in Vinh University Scientific Instructors: Prof.Dr DO THI KIM LIEN Dr NGUYEN HOAI NGUYEN Criticizer Criticizer Criticizer The thesis will be presented in front of the Thesis Evaluation Committee at University level Location: Vinh University Time: At o'clock, date 2021 Details of the thesis are available at: - The National Library - Information Center - Nguyen Thuc Hao Library, Vinh University PREFACE Rationale for the topic 1.1 Vietnamese jokes (VJs) are abundant, diversified and complicated folk stories, also called by different nouns such as tales of ribaldry, humorous stories, satirical stories, funny anecdotes Laughter in jokes is generated from funny things, i.e humorous things, within aesthetic category, reflecting thoughts, sentiments and attitudes of human beings with the behaviours or actions in the contrary to the nature and ideas of daily life 1.2 Under the form of spoken language, jokes are usually short, have close structure and mainly consist of exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters VJs can be divided into two periods: Folk jokes (FJs) and modern jokes (MJs) FJs were born long time ago and have become a part of folk literature but MJs have just appeared recently and are attached to the era we are living If FJs are brought into teaching in schools and are studied quite completely, MJs are still an empty land until now Therefore, research works are really necessary to contribute in determining position, roles and values of Vietnamese modern jokes 1.3 In comparison with FJs, MJs have many distinct characteristics in terms of text organization method, text structure, characters' callouts, interactions in conversational pairs and connection among conversational pairs to become key points, knots to create laughters and in terms of diversity and uniqueness in the use of laughing methods In addition, nowadays, the consideration in meanings of laughter is attached with context, inter-relationship between communicating roles and comparison with implications that the speaker wants to orient to the listener As a result, laughter, laughing methods and its meanings in Vietnamese modern jokes are both diversified in forms, and deep, profound, deeply imbued ethnic identities in contents Through Vietnamese modern jokes, typical characteristics of language culture are reflected more boldly and clearly From the above reasons, we choose the Thesis topic of Structure and methods reflecting laughter of Vietnamese modern jokes Research purposes and duties 2.1 Research purposes Research shows structural mechanism, attractive and lively laughing methods affecting the listeners (recipients) of Vietnamese modern jokes Thereby, the Thesis helps listeners to know how to acquire and create jokes in a cultural and educational way; contributes in determining position, roles and values of MJs in the development routine of Vietnamese culture; contributes in the study of textual language and conversational language of characters from a pragmatic point of view 2.2 Research duties - Overviewing research situation of foreign and domestic authors in jokes (FJs and MJs); establishing theoretical basis of the topic - Describing and analysing structural features of Vietnamese modern jokes, denoting how to organize dialogues, conversational pairs and conversations associated with context to create laughing key points and knots in Vietnamese modern jokes - Analysing, describing and explaining methods expressing laughter and effectiveness of laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes - Identifying typical features of Vietnamese language and culture reflected in Vietnamese modern jokes Research object, scope and sources of linguistic materials 3.1 Research object Research object of the Thesis is the method of creating laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes The Thesis analyses structure of jokes from the perspective of conversation, identifies key points, knots creating laughter, semantics and method of expressing laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes through exchange - response conversational pairs 3.2 Research scope According to statistics, Vietnamese modern jokes have been compiled into books and are transmitted by mouth quite diversifiedly Vietnamese modern jokes compiled into books are also lack of consistency, lack of selection in topics, purposes, mixing of foreign jokes and time of jokes, etc Therefore, we have screened and selected 1045 jokes to study structure, methods of expressing laughter and Vietnamese linguistic and cultural characteristics of Vietnamese modern jokes 3.3 Sources of research linguistic materials Sources of linguistic materials used in the Thesis are 1045 Vietnamese modern jokes Materials are collected from sources: 1/ jokes collected from field surveys, including 51 jokes; 2/ jokes collected, compiled and published into books by authors, including 994 jokes Research methods - Field survey method We collect linguistic materials by two ways: 1/ Taking direct notes of jokes told to each other in daily life; 2/ Referring and selecting good jokes in books and some newspapers - Statistical method We perform statistics of Vietnamese modern jokes from published books Jokes are collected, classified by topics, then typical jokes are selected - Descriptive method Descriptive method is used to consider structural characteristics of modern jokes; focus in highlighting interactions between conversational pairs, connection of conversational pairs with the context to create laughing key points - Interpretive language analysis method Interpretive language analysis method is used in linguistic materials analysis, including large-to-small units: conversations, conversation sections, conversational pairs and dialogues, etc to clarify structural method, laughing methods and typical linguistic - cultural characteristics in Vietnamese modern jokes Besides the above methods, the Thesis also uses modelling and comparative methods to solve the Thesis' duties Contributions of the Thesis 5.1 Scientific significance The Thesis is a systematic research work on Vietnamese modern jokes from the perspective of conversational theory of Pragmatics The Thesis's results contribute in supplementing conversational theory and orientation in creating and acquiring jokes from linguistic perspective 5.2 Practical significance The Thesis is a reference document, a material for extraction, an evidence for the research and teaching of Pragmatics (conversational language) at University level and connotative meaning part at high school From pointing out structural characteristics of Vietnamese modern jokes, determining laughing methods and meanings of laughter along with linguistic - cultural typical characteristics in Vietnamese modern jokes, the Thesis initially affirms the position, role and values of Vietnamese modern jokes in the development routine of Vietnamese culture Structure of the Thesis In addition to Preface, Conclusion, Appendix and References, the Thesis contents are developed into chapters: Chapter Overview of research situation and theoretical basis of the topic Chapter2 Structure of Vietnamese modern jokes Chapter 3: Laughing methods of Vietnamese modern jokes Chapter 4: Linguistic-cultural typical characteristics in Vietnamese modern jokes Chapter OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION AND THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE TOPIC 1.1 Overview of research situation 1.1.1 In foreign countries Since the 19th century, especially in the late twentieth century, EuropeanAmerican researchers were interested in jokes In the late twentieth century, along with the development of economy, technology, natural and social sciences, cultural interference, etc., the research on jokes received more attention from many authors In 1987, Chafe - an American behavioural scientist, published the work: Humour as a disabling mechanism/method The author believed that, when speaking, the speaker could construct jokes in the form of "not taking responsibility for himself", which disabled his relationship with the listener, that "I didn't say but you deduced that" In 2007, Chafe published the book The Significance of Lack of Seriousness: the feeling behind laughter and humour also referred to the anomaly - the key to create laughter In 1990, Davies published the book Humour belongs to every nation all over the world: comparative analysis In this work, the author went deep in studying jokes of many different ethnic groups all over the world and found out that, among jokes of these different ethnic groups, they had common characteristics (in terms of structural rules, semantic key to create laughter) but there were still differences depending on the culture, thinking characteristics, and symbolism of each ethnic group From the linguistic point of view, Ritchie (2004) in the work Analysis on the language of jokes analysed linguistic means to create laughter in English jokes, such as homophones, polysemantics, antonyms, etc Especially, authors studying Russian folk culture mentioned jokes very early, such as Prop (1928, 1970) Vinogradov (1944, 1963), Khrapchenko (1970), Bakhtin (1965), Belinsky (1955), Secnushevski (1949), Crapsov (1956), V.Gurannich (1961), etc Lupse gave an affirmative opinion that "the contradiction between the important and the meaningless is the basis of comedy"; and Florenz said that "the comedy lies between the valuable important and the bragging to be valuable" The Russian critic Belinsky said that "comedy is the flower of civilization, the fruit of developed public opinions" And Secnussevsky wrote that "When mocking evil, we become superior to it." 1.1.2 In the country a From the perspective of folklore Before the August revolution, researches on jokes were very limited During this period, we could mention Dang Thai Mai's article The humanity meaning in jokes of our country in the past published by Tri Tan Magazine in 1943 After 1954, the number of authors publishing articles and textbooks on jokes in folklore increased more and more In 1958, folklore researcher Van Tan with Vietnamese laughter, including two volumes (upper volume 166 pages, lower volume 176 pages), collected jokes and mentioned values of jokes In 1960, Nguyen Hong Phong, Truong Chinh, Do Thien, Dang Viet Thanh, Hoang Tuan Pho with Vietnamese folk jokes also collected folk jokes From time to time, it could be mentioned the folklore textbooks of researchers, such as: Dinh Gia Khanh, Chu Xuan Dien (1973), Folklore, "Jokes" part; Hoang Tien Tuu (1990), Vietnamese Folklore, Jokes part; Le Chi Que - Vo Quang Nhon Nguyen Hung Vi (1990) with Vietnamese Folklore and Vu Ngoc Khanh (1996) with Journey to the Land of Smiles were all called folk jokes in the treasure of Vietnamese jokes Especially, in 1996, in the Thesis "Comedy in folk jokes", Nguyen An Tiem went deep in fully, systematically studying and deeply analysing b From the perspective of linguistics Research on jokes from linguistic point of view appeared later In 1980, Nguyen Khac Vien with the article Laughter in Uncle Ho's linguistic style through Vietnamese works analysed structure of sentences in Vietnamese texts written by Uncle Ho and affirmed that Uncle Ho used two ways to make laughs: linguistic and non-linguistic methods In 1987, from the article Ambiguous phenomena in laughing art, Nguyen Duc Dan concluded that: "Ambiguous phenomena are not only used in short jokes and short smiles, they are also used to construct jokes." In 1998, in Pragmatics, Nguyen Duc Dan mentioned conversational theory Especially, with the book World laughter, in the preface of the book, the author briefly presented jokes in the linguistic perspective He wrote "“Every joke has three basic parts: preparatory part, directing part, and closing part (creating laughs) In 1993, Do Huu Chau with General Description of Linguistics, Volume Pragmatics, paid more attention to literary texts, including jokes Since the book General Description of Linguistics approached language on a pragmatic aspect, the study on characters’ callouts in specific works or conversations in daily life were really noticed In 1999, Do Thi Kim Lien with Semantics of callouts mentioned the semantics of questions and the means of expressing questions and responses In the semantic part of conversational text, the author mentioned functional meaning of conversational text and method of constructing functional language and quoted jokes to illustrate There were some theses and articles writing about jokes; Among them, it should mention the thesis of Nguyen Hoang Yen The conversational implications in folk jokes In this work, the author referred to the collection of jokes Vietnamese folk laughter published by Truong Chinh - Phong Chau in 2004 The thesis of Tran Chau Ngoc (2011) Vietnamese jokes from the perspective of conversational theory also came from the perspective of conversational research, but the author selected the material of Vietnamese folk jokes selected by Truong Chinh and Phong Chau Some articles about jokes of some previous authors as mentioned above also based on materials of folk jokes From the researches of the above authors, it can be affirmed that there is no work that comes deeply into studying Vietnamese modern jokes Therefore, we determine a new direction of approaching modern jokes differently from previous authors 1.2 Theoretical bases of the topic 1.2.1 Some general issues of jokes 1.2.1.1 Concept of joke The dictionary used for school students is Popular Vietnamese book that defines "Joke noun folk tales using laughing forms for entertainment or slightly criticizing (synonymous with ribaldry)” 1.2.1.2 Classifications of jokes a Folk jokes Folk jokes (also known as tales of ribaldry - Laughter forest) are stories that appear or are used by people, without names of compiling authors, transmitted in folklore for a long time, then edited completely by researchers and printed into books According to Nguyen An Tiem, folk jokes have thickness of thousands of years b Vietnamese modern jokes The Thesis determines basic points of Vietnamese modern jokes as follows: Firstly, Vietnamese modern jokes are stories composed and born in the period of national renewal, especially from 2000 onwards This is the period when the national industrialization and modernization career has been focused and developed rapidly and strongly The market mechanism appears everywhere in all areas of socio-economic life of people Its negative sides along with bad habits and vices of people and the society in this period have been reflected in jokes; Secondly, on the way of modernization of literary types, Vietnamese jokes can’t help not being influenced by the modernity of literature Vietnamese jokes born in this period have different styles from folk jokes; Thirdly, in comparison with folk jokes, modern jokes are created shortly; the contents reflect all aspects of modern life; the method of deployment is mainly through direct exchange - response callouts of participating characters; each joke is like a conversation The language and semantics of callouts play key roles and are direct methods of causing laughter Meanwhile, folk jokes are mainly on narrative, descriptive and explanatory sentences of authors (or tellers); jokes are often long, have many characters, many events and many details, and are more cumbersome than modern jokes Fourthly, scope, objects, topics, subjects, space and time, etc of modern jokes are also expanded and more diverse than those of folk jokes Except for a few jokes with authors' name published in some newspapers or journals, most modern jokes are anonymous, composed and "published" orally, then collected by a few authors, compiled and printed into books Generally, in terms of composition and transmission, modern jokes are a continuation of folk jokes Therefore, as materials for the Thesis, we select jokes which have names of the authors collecting, compiling and which are printed into books by publishers since 2000 1.2.1.3 Characteristics of modern jokes a Function: Creating thoughtful laughter b Structure: Vietnamese modern jokes compose of parts: (1) Preface Author’s note, directing words (narrative statement); (2) Body - basically exchange response conversational pairs of characters; (3) Closing part: inferred from outside, or a response (logically in structural form) c Meanings: Jokes always have two meanings: (1) direct meaning (also called explicit meaning) and (2) deductive meaning (reasoning meaning) This is the meaning which the questioner or the answerer wants to express, but the meaning inferred from the reader (or listener) We call it deductive meaning d Target: Entertaining, criticizing, educating, admonishing, sarcasm, accusing or attacking, satirizing We call it target meanings which the (usually anonymous) narrators want to express 1.2.1.4 Factors governing jokes a First, the author's language b Second, conversational language c Third, context d Fourth, meanings and reasoning manipulations in jokes e Fifth, targets of jokes 1.2.2 Some issues of conversation 1.2.2.1 Concept of conversation and conversational text a Concept of conversation Since 1962, the research on conversation is associated with many contents such as: speech language, semantics of words placed in context for correct understanding (explicit and implicit meanings), the use of semantic action forms, etc It is a large topic segment and widely interested by many linguists all over the world Vietnamese linguists, when discussing about conversation, also basically agree that: Conversation is the most common and basic communication activity of human beings It is a twoway communication, with the interaction between the speaker and listener in the circulation of words b Conversational text Conversation expressed through jokes has been formalized in text form Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to distinguish conversational text (including jokes) with other texts such as: political, scientific, journalistic, administrative - civil service text 1.2.2.2 Factors governing conversation a Communicating roles and ways of using pronouns Communicating roles are those involved in communication process that use language to produce speech The relationship between communicating roles is the relationship between the communicators for speech output and speech reception in conversation process In conversation in general and in Vietnamese modern jokes in particular, communicating roles often use pronouns to express in interactions and response pairs through each specific topic b Conversational units From-small-to-large conversational units include: speaking act, dialogue, conversational pair (exchange-response pair), conversation section, conversation 1.2.3 Some issues of meanings and lexical - semantic means expressing meanings 1.2.3.1 Some issues of meanings 1.2.3.2 Concept of meaning and lexical - semantic means expressing meanings a Concept of meaning According to Dictionary explaining linguistic terms, meaning is understood as: Reflection of objects of reality (phenomena, relationships, qualities, processes) into perception, becoming a linguistic element by creating a permanent and continuous relationship with a certain chain of sounds by which the reflection of reality in perception is realized This reflection of reality participates in the structure of words as the interior side, content side in the relationship with sound side as a material shell not only necessary to express meanings and communicate to others, but also necessary for its formation, arising, existence and development; All functions of linguistic units; all expressed and reflected by these linguistic units are their content side b Lexical - semantic means expressing meanings Firstly, in the first period, since 1962, authors studying vocabulary - semantics often referred to groups: b1) Poly-semantic words; b2) Homonyms; b3) Synonyms; b4) Antonyms; b5) Metaphor Secondly, in the later period, with the birth of conversational theory under Pragmatics, semantic researchers are interested in meanings in functions (word, phrase, speech, text) They are meaning by deduction and meaning by reference Since then, on the same surface structure, meaning is different due to context and 11 2.2.2 Components of jokes In addition to the title, Vietnamese modern jokes compose of components: preface, body and closing part Through the survey, we realize that each component has two forms: (1) Jokes with introduction, narrative words, directing words, explanation of the author to start, end or alternate between characters’ callouts which we call the author’s note (2) Jokes with only direct exchange - response characters’ callouts, without directing words of the author which we call direct callouts Table 2.2 Table of survey on author’s note and direct callouts Volume volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Qty Author’s note Qty Ratio % Direct callouts Qty Ratio % 1045 834 211 79.8 20.2 2.2.2.1 Preface a Author’s note: Preface has directing note of the author which is usually a short and simple introduction It can be narrative words, telling words or directing words Preface having the author’s note accounts for large quantity (79.8%) in Vietnamese modern jokes Table 2.3 Statistical table of author’s note in preface Quantity Preface with author’s note Ratio 1045 (jokes) 834 (jokes) 79.8% b Direct conversation words: At preface of the story, characters directly talk to each other by exchange-response conversational pairs with no directing words, introduction or telling words of the author, but only the characters talk Preface has direct callouts; the characters go straight into conversation They account for fewer quantity than preface with author’s note Table 2.4 Statistical table on direct callouts at preface Quantity Preface with direct callouts Ratio % 1045 (jokes) 211 (jokes) 20.2% 2.2.2.2 Body of jokes Body of jokes has two forms: Firstly, having intermingled author’s note to explain, narrate and direct in conversation process of the characters (this form accounts for fewer number); Secondly, there are no intermingled author’s note, but only direct exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters (this form accounts for higher number) a Author’s note: Body of jokes has intermingled author’s note to explain, narrate, direct during the conversation of the characters, and acts as a factor generating laughter Table 2.5 Table of survey on body of jokes with author’s note Volume Qty volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 Body of jokes with author’s note Quantity Quantity Ratio % Required Not required 426 40,8% 199 (46.7%) 227 (53.3%) 12 b Direct conversation words: Are jokes without intermingled author’s note but only with direct exchange - answer conversational pairs of the characters Exchange – answer and conversational motion are factors directly creating laughter Table 2.6 Table of survey on body of jokes with direct callouts Body of jokes with direct callouts Volume Qty Qty Ratio % volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 619 59.23 2.2.2.3 Closing part Closing part of jokes has two forms: Firstly, closing by the author’s note (this form accounts for fewer number); Secondly, closing by exchange - response callouts of conversational characters (this form accounts for dominant number) a Author’s note: Closing part of jokes has the author’s note to explain, narrate or clarify a certain issue or content mentioned above and laughter is generated from these words Table 2.7 Table of survey on closing part of jokes with author’s note Closing part of jokes with author’s note Volume Qty Qty Ratio % volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 20 1.9 b Direct callouts: Closing part of jokes does not have the author’s note to explain, narrate but only has exchange - response callouts of conversational characters Laughter is generated from characters’ callouts Table 2.8 Table of survey on closing part of jokes with direct callouts Closing part of jokes with direct callouts Volume Qty Qty Ratio % volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 1025 98 2.2.3 Relationship between title and components of jokes Through 1045 Vietnamese modern jokes, we realize that the relationship between title and components of jokes is the general - specific relationship Title is an overview of the entire contents of jokes In the contrary, specific (content) component interprets, represents what is stated in the title (Table 2.9 Model Diagram of Vietnamese modern jokes) 2.3 Typical characteristics of characters’ callouts and conversational units of Vietnamese modern jokes 2.3.1 Typical characteristics of characters’ callouts in Vietnamese modern jokes According to Nguyen Duc Dan: “In two-way communication, one party talks, the other party listens and responds At that time, the communicating roles of the two parties change: The listener becomes the speaker and the speaker becomes the listener That is conversation The most common and basic communication activity is conversation In the text of jokes, we consider speeches of the characters as characters’ callouts; the identifier is usually followed by a colon (:) and a head-line dash (-) 13 Table 2.10 Table of survey on number of characters’ callouts Volume Total Number of callouts volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 3865 2.3.1.1 Typical characteristics of short callouts To determine short callouts, we base on Le Xuan Thai's article Uncle Ho's literature sentences, as the basis to divide and survey the number of words in each callout of the characters in Vietnamese modern jokes in forms: (1) short callout (from to 10 words); (2) medium callout (from 11 to 20 words) and long callout (from 21 words upwards) Table 2.11 Table of survey on number of words (syllables) in characters’ callouts Volume volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Number Qty of callouts Short callout Qty % 1045 1857 48.0 1432 37.1 576 14.9 3865 Medium Long callout callout Qty % Qty % Longest callout 126 Short callout is one of callouts composing typical characteristics of Vietnamese modern jokes Because, jokes are stories about funny things If using too many long callouts, it will blur information, distract attention of listeners, readers or sink key laughing point of the jokes 2.3.1.2 Typical characteristic of characters' callouts with the shade spoken language According to Vietnamese Dictionary: “Spoken language is a normal language for talking, used in daily life, and has stylistic characteristics opposite to writing style “cậu”, “tớ” are spoken pronouns between friends” a Callouts using layers of words and phrases with natural daily life style Are callouts between characters with natural nature, not formal It may be due to habits, nature of the relationship between the communicators, due to the mood at the time of communication or the communication context, etc They can speak freely, without any constraints in words or strict rules like other types of written text b Callouts using idioms, proverbs, poems, folk songs, etc Idioms, proverbs, poems, folk songs, etc., when entering into characters’ callouts in jokes, are mostly refracted and modified to become a type of speaking and are verbalized in communication and conversation During the survey of jokes, we come across a number of jokes using (either original, or extracted, modified, parodied, etc.) idioms, proverbs, poems, folk songs, etc in characters’ callouts Table 2.12 Table of survey on callouts using layers of words and phrases with natural daily life style and callouts using idioms, proverbs, poems, folk songs No Content Number of jokes (conversations) Number of callouts Callouts using layers of words and phrases with natural daily life style Callouts using idioms, proverbs, poems, folk songs, etc Quantity 1045 3865 3807 58 Note Accounting for 98.5% of total callouts Accounting for 1.5% of total callouts 14 2.3.1.3 Typical characteristic of characters' callouts with implicative meaning The author of Semantics of callouts believes that: “Implicative meaning is the true meaning of a speech that can be inferred on a specific surface structure, associated with a specific context…” And "The method of constituting implicative meaning is a method of using word elements or combining these words according to irregular rules in the context to create dual meanings (explicit and implicative meanings)" When studying jokes, we realize that the character's callouts have implicative meaning in three following forms: a The speaker uses implicative meaning, the listener does not understand and responds explicit meaning b The speaker does not use implicative meaning, the listener responds implicative meaning c The speaker uses implicative meaning, the listener also uses implicative meaning 2.3.1.3 Typical characteristics of callouts with contradictory meanings between exchange callouts and response callouts Callouts with contradictory meanings between exchange callouts and response callouts originates from contradiction in semantic logics, sentences with vague meanings, abnormal meanings or opposite meanings We commonly called contradictory meanings In jokes, there are forms of exchange - response callouts that are purely descriptive and rely only on the content of jokes to generate laughter And jokes between exchange callouts and response callouts due to the phenomenon of contradictory meanings or opposite meanings to express laughter are often philosophical In addition to the meaning of entertainment, satire, criticism, and education, they also have the meaning of practicing linguistic thinking, ability of analysing, synthesizing, and deducting for listeners and readers 2.3.2 Typical characteristics of conversational units of Vietnamese modern jokes 2.3.2.1 Typical characteristics of exchange - response conversational pairs of Vietnamese modern jokes Conversational pair is the basic unit of conversation and is composed from dialogues In each conversational pair, there is always two linguistic actions: exchange and response When studying and researching Vietnamese modern jokes, we find out structural forms of exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters during conversation: (1) Conversational pair with the structure in narrative exchange - narrative response form; (2) Conversational pair with the structure in question - narration form; (3) Conversational pair with the structure in question – re-question form 15 Table 2.13 Table of survey on number of exchange - response callouts and exchange - response forms No Volume volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Ratio: Qty and forms of exchange response callouts Total Sp1 (exchange Sp2 (response Total number of callout) callout) callouts Narrative Question Narrative Question exchange exchange response response callout callout callout callout 1045 3865 Total number of exchange - response callouts: 1093 1048 28.3% 27.1% Exchange callouts: 2141 (55.4%) 1392 332 36.0% 8.6% Response callouts: 1724 (44.6%) Based on the forms of exchange - response callouts in jokes, based on the number of the above surveyed and statistical exchange - response callouts, we go into analysing the number of each form of callouts From evidences, we analyse and describe structural forms of conversational pairs and offer statistical table on the number of callouts of each structural form based on comparison between numbers of exchange and response callouts of Sp1 and Sp2 2.3.2.1 Conversational pairs with the structure of narrative exchange narrative response form Literature terms dictionary defines that: Narration is the basic aspect of the narrative method, is the introduction, generalization, explanation, description of characters, events, situations, and things from viewpoint of a certain narrator." Exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters in Vietnamese modern jokes have structure of narrative exchange - narrative response form, which means that the exchanger (Sp1) gives a narrative callout and the respondent (Sp2) also responds by a narrative callout (Table 2.14) 2.3.2.2 Conversational pairs with the structure of question exchange narrative response form Dictionary explaining linguistic terms states that: “A question, an interrogative sentence, is a sentence indicating a question and ends with a question mark when being written (?) Means expressing interrogative sentences are: question intonation (highlight on the word you want to ask), question word (what, where, what, why, etc.), word order For example: Where are you going? Will you eat? What you want?" Exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters in Vietnamese modern jokes have structure of question exchange - narrative response form, which means that the exchanger (Sp1) gives a question (interrogative) callout and the respondent (Sp2) also responds by a narrative callout (Table 2.15) 2.3.2.3 Conversational pairs with the structure of question exchange narrative response form Exchange - response conversational pairs of the characters in Vietnamese modern jokes have structure of question exchange - re-question response form, which 16 means that the exchanger (Sp1) gives a question (interrogative) callout and the respondent (Sp2) also responds by a question callout (to re-question Sp1) (Table 2.16) 2.3.2.2 Typical characteristics of conversations in Vietnamese modern jokes Do Huu Chau believes that: “A conversation is the largest, covering conversational unit determined by criteria of: Conversational characters, unity of time and place, unity of descriptive topic and signs that define conversation boundaries In the survey of Vietnamese modern jokes, we realize that conversational part in the text of jokes basically has two or more characters and the characters, when conversing with each other, use at least one exchange - response conversational pair and up to 19 exchange - response conversational pairs Table 2.17 Table of survey on number of conversations Volume Total jokes volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 Total number of conversations 1034 (98.9%) Note 11 a Conversation with one exchange - response conversational pair Conversation with one exchange - response conversational pair consists of one exchange callout of Sp1 and one response callout of Sp2 to create a complete conversation in the text of jokes Table 2.18 Table of survey on conversations with one exchange - response conversational pair Volume Total number of conversations volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 Conversations with one exchange response pair Quantity Ratio % 386 36.9 b Conversation with two exchange - response pairs Conversation with two exchange - response conversational pairs has exchange callouts of Sp1 and response callouts of Sp2 Between Sp1 and Sp2, there is an interaction making the conversation move and creating a complete conversation in the text of jokes Table 2.19 Table of survey on conversations with two exchange - response pairs Volume Total number of conversations volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 Conversations with two exchange response pairs Quantity Ratio % 447 42.8 c Conversation with three exchange - response conversational pairs upwards Conversation with exchange - response conversational pairs upwards has at least exchange callouts of Sp1 and response callouts of Sp2 Between Sp1 and Sp2, there is an interaction making the conversation move until the end and creating a complete conversation in the text of jokes 17 Table 2.20 Table of survey on conversations with exchange - response pairs upwards Ratio Number of conversations Number of No with exchange - response pairs upwards converTotal % Volume 11 19 sations pairs pairs pairs pairs pairs pairs pairs pairs volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Ratio % 1045 130 46 18 12 1 211 12.4 4.4 1.7 1.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 20.2 20.2 2.3.3 Conversational types of the text in Vietnamese modern jokes 2.3.3.1 Dual conversation Dual conversation is the main type of conversation and attracts most consideration of conversational theory Dual conversation is the foundation for studying multiple conversation Nguyen Duc Dan believes that: “Without special notes, the term conversation is understood as dual conversation” When studying Vietnamese modern jokes, we realize that: Dual conversation is the main type of conversation and appears mostly Table 2.21 Table of survey on conversation of dual type Volume Total jokes Total number of conversations volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 1034 Dual conversation Ratio % Quantity 962 93.0 2.3.3.2 Triple conversation Triple conversation is a type of conversation where there are three communicating characters appearing at the same time, in the same space and towards the same topic This type accounts for fewer number in conversations of Vietnamese modern jokes Table 2.22 Table of survey on conversation of triple type Volume Total jokes Total number of conversations volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes 1045 1034 Triple conversation Ratio % Quantity 57 5.5 2.3.4.3 Multiple conversation “Multiple conversation is the type of conversation taking place between over communicating characters” Among conversations in Vietnamese modern jokes, multiple conversation is when there are callouts of many characters possible in the same space, time, context or not the same but basically with the same topic in the conversation This type accounts for fewer number in conversations of Vietnamese modern jokes Table 2.23 Table of survey on conversation of multiple type Volume volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Total jokes 1045 Total number of conversations 1034 Triple conversation Quantity Ratio % 15 1.5 18 Chapter LAUGHING METHODS OF VIETNAMESE MODERN JOKES 3.1 Concept of method and methods of creating meanings and laughter 3.1.1 Concept of method According to Vietnamese Great Dictionary, method is: noun Mean and form of implementation: struggling method - a combination of many different methods 3.1.2 Methods of creating meanings and laughter We use the concept of methods of creating meaning and combine with lexicalsemantic means as presented in Item 1.2.3.2 to go deep into presenting how to create a "knot" of meaning to create laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes 3.2 Statistics and analysis, description of methods of creating meanings and laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes 3.2.1 Quantitative statistics Based on the concept of meaning above, we carry out statistics on the methods of creating meanings in Vietnamese modern jokes to go deep into analysing and describing as follows: 3.2.1.1 Statistical results on methods of creating meanings in Vietnamese modern jokes Table 3.1 Statistical table on methods of creating meanings and laughter NO 10 11 Total Number of appearing times 418 287 117 87 43 32 25 16 13 11 1045 Methods of creating meanings Method of using "obliquely" with the reference Deducting method Method of using homophones Metaphor method Method of using antonyms Method of using synonyms Method of using poly-semantic words Method of using emulative words Method of word separation Method of using slang Method of word and phrase inversion 11 methods Ratio % 39.88 27.46 11.19 8.32 4.11 3.06 2.39 1.53 1.24 1.05 0.76 100% 3.2.1.2 Statistical results on methods of creating laughter in volumes of Vietnamese modern jokes Table 3.2 Statistical table on methods of creating meaning and laughter in volumes Methods of creating meanings and laughter Volume Students' jokes (V1) Students' jokes (V2) Occupational jokes Qty (1) Obliquely with the reference (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Deducting Homonym MetaphorAntonym Synonym Polyseman tic 185 58 26 39 17 14 18 12 154 64 30 26 11 1 172 78 52 13 17 (8) Emu lation (9) (10) (11) Word Slang Word separation Inversion 2 19 Special jokes Traffic jokes Legal jokes Wife and husband laugh together Jokes collected by authors Total: Ratio % 155 118 105 51 55 48 46 47 33 11 34 11 105 46 30 51 18 11 11 104 418 285 117 39.88 27.46 11.19 87 43 32 8.32 4.11 3.06 1 1 10 10 25 16 13 2.39 1.53 11 1.24 1.05 0.76 3.2.2 Analysis, description of methods of creating meanings and laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes 3.2.2.1 Method of using words "obliquely" with the reference Vietnamese modern jokes use forms of words "obliquely" with the reference to create laughter as follows: a "Obliquely" with the reference due to the exchanger (Sp1) b "Obliquely" with the reference due to the respondent (Sp2) c "Obliquely" with the reference due to the exchanger (Sp1) and respondent (Sp2) 3.2.2.2 Deducting method Vietnamese modern jokes use deducting forms to create laughter as follows: a Deducting from callouts of Sp1 b Deducting from callouts of Sp2 3.2.2.3 Method of using homophones Vietnamese modern jokes use homophones to create laughter as follows: a Homophones with the same word level (including: Homophones of the same categories; homophones of different categories; homophones of different categories due to writings; homophones of pure Vietnamese words and Sino-Vietnamese words) b Homophones with different word level (including: homophones of morpheme and word; homophones of morpheme of borrowed words from IndoEuropean origin with morpheme (of compound word) and single word; homophones at phrase level; homophones at sentence level) 3.2.2.4 Metaphor method Vietnamese modern jokes use metaphor to create laughter as follows: a) Metaphor b) Additional metaphor c) Personification metaphor d) Materialization metaphor 3.2.2.5 Method of using antonyms Vietnamese modern jokes use antonyms to create laughter as follows: 20 a Using antonym units at word level b) Using antonym units at phrase level c Using antonym units at sentence level 3.2.2.6 Method of using synonyms Vietnamese modern jokes use synonyms to create laughter as follows: a Partial synonyms b Entire synonyms 3.2.2.7 Method of using poly-semantic words Vietnamese modern jokes use poly-semantic words to create laughter as follows: a Poly-semantic words used by Sp2 b Poly-semantic words used by Sp1 3.2.2.8 Emulation method Vietnamese modern jokes use emulation to create laughter as follows: a Emulation of words (or word composing parts) b Emulation of phrases 3.2.2.9 Method of word separation Vietnamese modern jokes use word separation to create laughter as follows: a Separation of morphemes (sounds) composing compound words (or reduplicative words) into independent words b Separation of fixed phrases or locutions into two independent words 3.2.2.10 Method of using slang Because Vietnamese syllables have a structure of three parts: first consonant, rhyme and tone, two syllables standing next to each other can interchange three parts (first consonant, rhyme, tone) to create new syllables In daily communication, Vietnamese people often use slang to make a difference in sound, so that if the listeners are not "vigilant" and not interpret based on "rules", they cannot understand the meaning immediately However, until when they understand, they will have to laugh Therefore, using slang is a way to create laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes 3.2.2.11 Method of word and phrase inversion In Vietnamese modern jokes, word and phrase inversion takes place through exchange - response pairs of two characters, creating a laughing key point for the readers Word and phrase inversion occurs when a certain compound word (with two or three syllables) in the communication is changed in order to give a new meaning different from the original meaning Vietnamese modern jokes use forms of word, phrase and clause inversion to create laughter 21 Chapter LINGUISTIC - CULTURAL TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN VIETNAMESE MODERN JOKES 4.1 Concept of culture and relationship between language and culture 4.1.1 Concept of culture Culture is the concept of wide connotation with many different interpretations Vietnamese dictionary offers interpretations (viewpoints) about the concept of culture Here, we choose the most general interpretation: “Culture is the general entity of material and spiritual values created by human beings in the historical process” 4.1.2 Relation between language and culture Language and culture have close relationship, interacting and influencing each other Language is a mean and tool to transmit knowledge and is a part of culture and thinking The general viewpoint is that culture consists of many elements of national characteristics, but language is the leading element with the deepest national shades National culture does not exist outside the language; because, language is the foundation and the basis of culture In the work Finding out Vietnamese cultural identities, along with the article on pragmatics and culture, Tran Ngoc Them emphasizes: “If language, together with working, creates human beings, language itself, together with working, is the origin of all cultures.” On the surface, language is both a cultural component and a product of thinking On the other hand, language is always an effective tool and mean to promote social progress, contributes in building a civilized society and promoting culture towards civilization From this basis, it is necessary to affirm that the set of language, thinking and culture has a very close relationship with each other 4.2 Linguistic - cultural typical characteristics in Vietnamese modern jokes 4.2.1 Witty "humour" First of all, "humour" refers to cheerfulness, witty laughter of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese laughter, and shows a dominant feature in Vietnamese mind that is refracted in modern jokes The space of Vietnamese laughter is wide Laughter appears everywhere Where there are life activities or gathering of people, there is laughter Laughter can be meet in any environment, in any situation: laughter in communication with many people in the society, laughter in high and low-class occupations, laughter in the countryside, laughter in the city, from urban places to remote, solitary places, etc Vu Ngoc Khanh in Journey to the Land of Smiles has summarized 250 types of smiles 250 words indicating laughter show that Vietnamese laughter is always generated from all situations, all forms of life activities, social activities and Vietnamese laughter always brings the deep imprints of Vietnamese culture Therefore, studying jokes is studying national laughter, analysing and explaining the method of creating laughter of the Vietnamese people from the perspective of language Since then, it can be affirmed the witty "humour" via language is one of typical characteristics that clarify smiling mind of Vietnamese people, an expression of national culture 4.2.2 Wisdom, erudition Considering wisdom and erudition in Vietnamese modern jokes, we desire to clarify the unique characteristics in the way of perceiving surrounding world, in terms of "language picture about the world", an expression of Vietnamese culture which is refracted in modern 22 laughter The most visible expression is that modern jokes exploit quite thoroughly the word playing methods to create laughter, an intellectual "game" of Vietnamese people in exploiting available and unique potentials of the national language such as using slang, homonyms, word inversion, repeated words, synonyms, antonyms, etc This has been shown through laughing methods presented in chapter On the other hand, the way of thinking of Vietnamese people is not only expressed in words playing, an elegant and intellectual hobby, a traditional habit, but also expressed deeply in the way of implication, deduction to conceal their thoughts In modern jokes, in addition to jokes with explicit meanings, most of jokes have implicit meanings The listeners and readers have to think to realize the key and target of jokes This reflects the way of thinking of Vietnamese people, and at the same time, reflects a typical characteristic of the intellect and culture of Vietnamese people 4.2.3 Softness, flexibility Softness and flexibility are determined on the following bases: a The long-standing agricultural civilization has formed many good qualities for Vietnamese people such as hard-working, industriousness, diligence, etc., but also formed normal small-scale peasant psychological traits such as self-satisfaction, low self-esteem, fear of collision, lack of confidence, not daring to overcome oneself, etc The consequences of these psychological traits are that in speaking and expression, Vietnamese people choose to talk roundabouts, talk with precautions, avoidance, and talk in half way, etc Therefore, Vietnamese laughter and laughing ways are always moderate, discreet and subtle; because they don't want to fall into the situation of "Laughing with ten teeth open", or "He who laughs today may weep tomorrow" b Vietnamese people choose loving and love appreciating lifestyle according to the guideline that a series of reasons is not equal to a little love, or a hundred deviations are chocked to be equal, etc Certainly, those who appreciate love are easy to ignore and ready to forgive others' faults; If being forced to criticize, they are very soft, skilful and discret c In communication, Vietnamese people are usually gentle and prefer sweet words (sweet words absorb to the bone), so they behave in a willows are weak yet they bind other wood manner; Therefore, they often take precautions or smooth tongue while talking and smiling 4.2.4 Profound satire If satirical laughter in folk jokes only directs to certain classes of people in the society such as acolytes, sorcerers, fortune-tellers, nobles, mandarins, etc., satirical laughter in modern jokes has wider and more diversified scope, objects, topics, themes and space, etc As Nguyen Cong Hoan said, it is "countless" and has all levels and colours, because it is raised from all classes of people, all occupations, throughout all regions and areas Laughter is raised to criticize, ridicule, reject the bad, the low, promote the beautiful and lofty, encourage actions for the good at present and for a bright future That is also the aesthetics of modern jokes The satire of modern jokes also comes from cultural source of Vietnamese people of "spare the rod, spoil the child"; that is, love and hate are clear and decisive It is also the living philosophy of "love others as much as yourself"; If you love other people, you must make them see their limitations, mistakes, and weaknesses to overcome, improve, and incline to the good Through explaining profound satire as an expression of Vietnamese culture in modern jokes, we want to demonstrate that humanity spirit 23 CONCLUSION Through studying jokes in the world and in Vietnam, researchers used to discuss such issues as: criticizing bad habits of all classes from upper class to poor common workers; praising the ingenuity, shrewdness, intelligence of superior minds anywhere and at any time who come to mock ignorant but snobbish people; respecting and appreciating those who know how to respect, share, and behave with humanity and charity in the society Jokes contribute in relaxing, creating fun and entertainment and have educational value to make people improve, live more usefully, know how to distinguish between smart behaviour and poor clumsiness, etc After clearly determining reasons, purposes, duties, and roles of Vietnamese modern jokes, the Thesis collects and selects linguistic materials of Vietnamese modern jokes with a total of 1045 jokes, of which field surveyed, recorded 51 jokes and 994 jokes from works (with names of authors collecting) have been published Since then, we draw comments about general characteristics of Vietnamese modern jokes: In terms of structure, each joke has a common structure: a) Title ; b) Body consists of parts: b1) Conversation opening by author’s note which is the factor creating space - time context (possibly absent); b2) Conversation body which is mainly callouts, normally undertaken by at least conversation pair and maximum 19 conversational pairs They are reflected through communicating roles, including: exchange role (Sp1) and response role (Sp2); b3) Conversation ending which possibly does not appear explicitly but reflects implicit meaning due to deducting from outside (due to self-thinking of the reader or listener) through laughing methods In terms of meaning contents, characters' callouts are often reflected shortly in two forms: the first form which creates a laughing "key" for jokes with only one conversational pair; second form which has two or more conversational pairs, creating a laughing "key" always from the last conversational pair In some cases, the conversational final pair is shortened into only dialogue with three exclamation marks (!!!) In parallel with materials analysis and callouts statistics, the Thesis goes into presenting basic theoretical issues as theoretical premise to go deep into reasoning and proving through two main chapters, which are: 3.1 Factors governing jokes which researchers need to distinguish are author’s language (writing subject) and conversational language (character's callouts); the context of incidents; explicit meaning and deducting manipulation 3.2 Issue of conversational theory and related issues such as: conversational units including conversation, conversational section, dialogue, linguistic act; conversational maxims mentioned by the previous pragmatists The Thesis also takes that as the basis to study, including maxim of quality, quantity, manner and relationship; The structure of Vietnamese modern jokes consists of title Jokes’ contents are developed into three parts: Conversation opening, conversation body, conversation ending In terms of expressing method in Vietnamese modern jokes, the Thesis firstly discusses the concept of method and methods of creating laughter in Vietnamese modern jokes differently with folk jokes On that basis, the Thesis draws out the following main methods: 4.1 The method of using words "obliquely" with the reference accounts for the highest number of 418 jokes The method obliquely with the reference is from the 24 exchanger side, from the respondent side or from both sides This method has been interested in research since pragmatics was born, has been directed to language in functions, because before that, structural grammar always looked at static language Meanwhile, when language is considered in association with reference, the true meaning and explicit meaning that the writer wants to send to the recipient attract notice, consideration in research, and are shown more clearly, making the readers feel interested in a subtle and profound way 4.2 Deducting is the second most-commonly-used method in Vietnamese modern jokes This method bases on implicit meaning, does not appear on the surface of characters' callouts but inferred from the end of jokes created by all conversational pairs in the story This method creates meaning and expresses true meaning that the joke writer wants to send readers This method has 287 jokes 4.3 Homophone is the third most-commonly-used method in Vietnamese modern jokes Metamorphic languages such as Russian, English and French also use this method However, Vietnamese is an isolated language, so homophone method is easier, more convenient, and more suitable for playing words that two characters create conversational pairs This method has 117 jokes, divided into subgroups (same-level homophone and different-level homophone) Same-level homophone is divided into homophone of same word categories and different word categories Different-level homophone group is divided into two forms: homophone between morpheme and word and homophone between free phrase and idiom 4.4 Metaphor method has the fourth number with 87 jokes, after the method of using words obliquely with the reference, deducting method and homophone method This is a method of translating meaning of words based on similarity or homology in a certain aspect of two objects (characteristics, actions) With common criteria, we have identified subgroups of Vietnamese modern jokes: metaphor, additional metaphor (or feelingconversion metaphor), personified or materialized metaphor 4.5 The above main methods are most commonly used The remained methods are used less commonly, which are: (5) antonym method (43 jokes), (6) synonym method (32 jokes), (7) poly-semantic-word method (25 jokes), (8) simulated-word method (16 jokes), (9) word-separating method (13 jokes), (10) slang method (11 jokes), (11) word/phrase/clause inversion method (8) All of these 11 methods have made particular characteristics, contributing in creating typical characteristics of Vietnamese jokes and expressing Vietnamese culture In terms of linguistic and cultural characteristics, despite of being born later than traditional folk jokes, Vietnamese modern jokes are still deep with cultural shades of Vietnamese people Because of being associated with speech, daily working methods, eating, wearing and travelling habits, behaving way of tropical monsoon residents, Vietnamese people create jokes with own imprints Thus, we draw the following main conclusions: Laughing consciousness of Vietnamese people is expressed through witty "humour"; the way of dissecting reality and specific thinking way of Vietnamese people are revealed through erudite wisdom; the behaving way of love others as much as yourself is expressed through softness and flexibility; profound satire - education through jokes and laughter to remind and educate people towards a good and civilized life 25 PUBLISHED WORKS OF THE AUTHORS Hoang Ngoc Diep (2014), Structural - semantic characteristics of characters' callouts in Vietnamese jokes, Vinh University Journal of Science, Volume 43, No 2B, p - 12 Hoang Ngoc Diep (2020), Identification of Vietnamese modern jokes, Language & Life Journal, No 5A (297), p.79 - 84 Hoang Ngoc Diep (2020), Words playing in Vietnamese modern jokes, Language & Life Journal, No (302), p.108 - 113 Hoang Ngoc Diep (2020), Some Vietnamese linguistic - cultural characteristics in Vietnamese modern jokes, Scientific Journal, Vinh University, Volume 49, No 1B/2020, p.22 - 31 Hoang Ngoc Diep (2021), Metaphor - A method of meaning transfer in Vietnamese modern jokes, Language & Life Journal No (308), p 119-124 ... Vietnamese modern jokes 4.2.1 Witty "humour" First of all, "humour" refers to cheerfulness, witty laughter of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese laughter, and shows a dominant feature in Vietnamese... Vietnamese modern jokes through exchange - response conversational pairs 3.2 Research scope According to statistics, Vietnamese modern jokes have been compiled into books and are transmitted... Vietnamese linguistic and cultural characteristics of Vietnamese modern jokes 3.3 Sources of research linguistic materials Sources of linguistic materials used in the Thesis are 1045 Vietnamese
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