A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SITCOMS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THẢO A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SITCOMS MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Binh Dinh - 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THẢO A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SITCOMS Field: Code: The English Linguistics 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THẢO PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU NÉT NGHĨA LIÊN NHÂN TRONG CÁC BỘ PHIM HÀI KỊCH TÌNH HUỐNG MỸ VÀ VIỆT NAM CHUN NGÀNH: NGƠN NGỮ ANH MÃ SỐ: 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN I STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that the thesis “A contrastive analysis of interpersonal meaning in American and Vietnamese sitcoms”, is entirely my original work I have not used any sources other than those listed and identified as references I further declare that I have not submitted this thesis at any other institution in order to obtain a degree Quy Nhon, July 2019 Signature Nguyễn Thị Thanh Thảo II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien for her enthusiastic and continuous support of my thesis and for her patience, encouragement, and immense knowledge Thankfully, it is her dedication that gives me motivation to fulfill this research I am also grateful to my friends for their constant encouragement and their help during the period of carrying out the research work Last but not least, my thanks go to my family, my parents and my brother for their love, caring, preparing me for my future and supporting me spiritually throughout my life III ABSTRACT This study mainly concentrates on the contrastive analysis of interpersonal meaning in American and Vietnamese sitcoms based on the framework of systemic functional grammar by M.A.K Halliday Based on eight sitcom episodes of American and Vietnamese, the present study aims at discussing the interpersonal resources realized by mood, modality, and grammatical interpersonal metaphor and identifying the similarities and dissimilarities of interpersonal features in American and Vietnamese sitcom conversations The quantitative and qualitative methods were also employed to determine the proportion of the linguistic resources used in American and Vietnamese sitcoms The outcomes show that although there are differences in the ways of expressing mood, modality, and grammatical metaphor, the primary similarities between American and Vietnamese sitcoms are providing information in the communication, showing the attitude, opinion, and judgement, and expressing the implication of speakers in the interaction through the interpersonal realizations: Mood, modality, and grammatical metaphor IV TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT .III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF TABLES VI LIST OF FIGURES VII CONVENTIONS VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 The Organization of the Study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Sitcom as a genre 2.2 Overview of Systemic Functional Grammar 2.2.1 Mood system 11 2.2.2 Modality System 18 2.2.3 Interpersonal grammatical metaphor 21 2.2.4 Perspectives of interpersonal meaning in Vietnamese 22 V 2.3 Previous studies related to the research 24 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 29 3.1 Research method 29 3.2 Data collection 29 3.3 Data analysis 30 3.4 Reliability and Validity 30 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 32 4.1 Mood in ASs and VSs 32 4.1.1 Mood in American sitcoms 32 4.1.2 Mood in Vietnamese Sitcoms 41 4.1.3 A comparison of Mood in ASs and VSs 50 4.2 Modality in ASs and VSs 53 4.2.1 Modality in ASs 53 4.2.2 Modality in VSs 59 4.2.3 A comparison of Modality in ASs and VSs 63 4.3 Interpersonal grammatical metaphor 65 4.3.1 Interpersonal grammatical metaphor of mood 66 4.3.2 Interpersonal grammatical metaphor of modality 73 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 81 5.1 Main findings 81 5.2 Implications 82 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 82 5.3.1 Limitations of the study 82 5.3.2 Suggestions for further study 83 REFERENCES 84 APPENDIX IX APPENDIX XVII VI LIST OF TABLES Table Name of Tables Page Number 2.1 Relation of Mood selection to Mood structure 12 2.2 Speech functions and commodities exchange 16 2.3 Speech function pairs 16 2.4 Speech functions and typical mood of clause 17 2.5 System of types of modality 19 2.6 Modal verbal operators 20 2.7 Modal adjuncts 20 2.8 Examples of mood metaphor 21 2.9 Expressions of modality in Vietnamese 23 4.1 Mood in ASs 32 4.2 The occurrence of interrogative structures in Ass 36 4.3 Percentage of affirmative and negative imperative in 39 ASs 4.4 Proportion of Mood structure in VSs 41 4.5 Distribution of interrogative mood structures in VSs 45 4.6 Distribution of imperative structures in VSs 48 4.7 Modal operators used in ASs 54 4.8 Modal operators used in VSs 59 4.9 Frequency of metaphor of mood in Ass 66 4.10 Distribution of metaphor of mood in VSs 69 4.11 Frequency of values of metaphor of modality in Ass 74 4.12 Distribution of values of metaphorical modality in VSs 76 VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure Name of Figures Page Number 2.1 Metafunctions in relation to field, mode and tenor 4.1 Distribution of full and elliptical declarative in ASs 35 4.2 Distribution of full and elliptical interrogative in ASs 38 4.3 Distribution of full and elliptical imperative in ASs 40 4.4 Proportion of full and elliptical declarative in VSs 44 4.5 Distribution of full and elliptical interrogative structures 47 in VSs 4.6 Proportion of full and elliptical imperative structures in 49 VSs 4.7 Frequency of mood in Ass and VSs 50 4.8 Frequency of modality in Ass 53 4.9 Distribution of modal adjunct in ASs 56 4.10 Frequency of modality in VSs 59 4.11 Proportion of modal adjuncts in VSs 62 4.12 Distribution of modality in Ass and VSs 64 4.13 Frequency of values of modal operators in Ass and VSs 65 4.14 Metaphorical mood in Ass and VSs 72 4.15 Distribution of value metaphor of modality in Ass and 79 VSs xi 41 Robin: (i) No, (ii) Kelly works with the news breakers [The Apartment Ted/Lily/Marshall] (Ted walks out of his room, well-dressed) 42 Lily: (i) Oh, no, Ted, you’re blazer! 43 Ted: (i) What, what, what ? 44 Lily: (i) Somebody spilled gorgeous all over it (ii) Love it! 45 Ted: (i) Thank you 46 Barney: (enters) (i) And his hair was perfect 47 Lily: (i) Hey we're wearing the same shirt! (ii) Oh, no that's just my shirt (iii) reflected in yours 48 Barney: (i) One of the twenty-four similarities between girls and fish is that (ii) they're both attracted to shiny objects (iii) You really never read my blog, you? 49 Ted: (i) Alright, Tin-Man, Let's hit it 50 Marshall: (i) Alright, well, have fun at your little disco, guys xii RESULT OF ANALYSIS MOOD CHOICE, MODALITY, AND GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN AS-2 Turn no./ Speaker Cl# 1/Narrat or 2/Son i i Wh-interrogative: full 3/ Daughter i Declarative: full (+) ii Declarative: full (+) i Declarative: full(+) ii i Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full(+) ii Declarative: elliptical (+) Imperative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: full (+) 4/Narrat or 5/Narrat or 6/Robin 7/Ted 8/Robin 9/Barney 10/Ted i ii i ii i i ii i ii 11/ Barney Mood choice Realization of modality Finite Modal modal adjunct operator Median: inclination Mood adjunct: intensity Gram met Minor Metaphorical interrogative Metaphorical modality Mood adjunct: time Metaphorical modality √ √ Wh-interrogative: full Polar interrogative: full i Declarative: full (+) ii Declarative: full (+) iii Declarative: full (+) Mood adjunct: time Comment Metaphorical adjunct: modality desiderativ e Mood xiii adjunct: usuality iv 12/Ted i 13/Barne y i Declarative: full (-) Metaphorical declarative √ ii i Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) ii Declarative: full (+) iii iv Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) 15/Ted i Declarative: elliptical (+) 16/Robin ii iii iv i Declarative: full (+) *Non-finite clause Declarative: full (+) i Declarative: full (+) ii iii i Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: full (+) 14/ Robin 17/Barne y 18/ Robin 19/Barne y 20/Robin 21/Narra tor 22/Narra tor i High: probability Metaphorical modality Mood adjunct: time √ ii i ii Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) i ii Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: full (+) iii i Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: intensity Metaphorical modality Median: probability Median: inclination Metaphorical interrogative xiv ii Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: elliptical (+) Imperative: full (+) 23/Claire i ii iii 24/Mars hall 25/Lily i 26/Lily i 27/Lily i Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (-) ii Declarative: full (+) iii iv v Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) i Declarative: full (+) ii i ii Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (-) Declarative: full (+) i Declarative: full (+) ii iii iv Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) v vi vii 28/Mars hall 29/Lily 30/Mars hall i 31/Ted i Imperative: full (+) Imperative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) 32/Barne y i Declarative: full (+) ii iii Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Metaphorical modality Mood adjunct: intensity Median: obligation Mood adjunct: probability Median: obligation Mood adjunct: probability Low: probability Mood adjunct: time xv 33/Ted 34/ Robin i ii i ii iii 35/ Ted 36/Robin iv i ii Declarative: full (+) √ Metaphorical declarative 38/Robin ii iii iv i 39/Ted i Declarative: full (+) ii Declarative: full (+) i Polar interrogative: full 40/Barne y 41/Robin 42/Lily 43/Ted 44/Lily 45/Ted 46/Barne y 47/Lily i ii i i i ii i i i ii Median: probability Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) 37/Barne y i ii iii iv i √ Mood adjunct: degree Metaphorical modality Low: ability √ Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: full (+) Imperative: full (+) √ Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) √ Mood adjunct: intensity xvi 48/Barne y 49/Ted 50/Mars hall iii i *Non-finite clause Declarative: full (+) ii iii Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full: tagged (-) i i Imperative: full (+) Imperative: full (+) Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: usuality Metaphorical imperative xvii APPENDIX AN EXTRACTED TRANSCRIPT OF VIETNAMESE SITCOM (VS-1) Đức Hạnh: (i) Aiya aiya Đức Minh: (i) dzậy ba? Đức Hạnh: (i) dọp bẻ Đức Minh: (i) Ba chi khó dzậy ba, (ii) đơn giản mà ba Đức Phúc: (i) Mọi người làm dzậy? Đức Hạnh: (i) từ từ để đứa cháu dzơ đội hình (ii) anh thông báo nè Đức Phúc: (i) Thông báo dzậy? Đức Hạnh: (i) Đứng đội hình đàng hồng coi, (ii) tập sao? Đức Hạnh, Đức Minh, Đức Mẫn: Hai ba…Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you… Đức Phúc: (i) dzậy trời, (ii) đâu phải ngày sinh nhật em đâu (iii) Tự nhiên đem dàn giao hưởng bị lỗi tới chi vậy? 10 Đức Hạnh: (i) Tại ăn mừng phòng mới, (ii) hổng lẽ tui hát gì? (iii) Hổng có mừng phòng hết (iv) Đây hoa nè, (v) nhận 11 Đức Phúc: (i) Vậy anh thích khơng? (ii) để tui đổi phịng cho 12 Đức Hạnh: (i) Thơi bỏ đi, (ii) hưởng nha 13 Đức Mẫn: (i) Mà phòng đẹp thiệt (ii) Con thấy nội giỏi (iii) Nội sáng tác kiệt tác (iv) Quả nhiên bà nội (v) Đáng lẽ hồi trẻ nội phải làm kiến trúc sư tài ba phải không ba? 14 Đức Hạnh: (i) Nội nấu ăn ngon 15 Đức Phúc: (i) Ơng trả lời xàm dzậy 16 Đức Hạnh: (i) nghĩ sao, (ii) mẹ làm làm kiến trúc sư (iii) Mẹ có nấu (iv) ăn 17 Đức Phúc: (i) chuyện đứa đừng nói cho đứa trường biết nghe chưa, (ii) xấu hổ 18 Đức Minh: (i) Trời ơi, khơng nói sớm? (ii) nguyên trường hổng biết (iii) bị dzợ đuổi khỏi nhà xviii 19 Đức Phúc: (i) Cái dzụ zậy? (ii) Ai nói? 20 Đức Hạnh: (i) Anh với mẹ khơng nói (ii) Anh với mẹ có ăn (iii) uống thơi 21 Đức Phúc: (i) Em biết rơi (ii) Ai nói? 22 Đức Minh: (i) hông biết 23 Đức Mẫn: (i) Con hơng biết 24 Đức Hạnh: (i) có cần tui gọi điện lên hỏi thầy Quyền hiệu trưởng hông? 25 Đức Phúc: (i) Thôi khỏi 26 Đức Hạnh: (i) dzậy? (ii) đâu dzậy? (iii) Ê… [Cảnh trường] 27 Cơ Diệu Hiền: (i) đó, tui dạy trường thầy Phúc (ii) chồng Kim Chi mà 28 Đức Phúc: (nói với thầy hiệu trưởng) (i) Em chào thầy 29 Cơ Diệu Hiền: (nói chuyện điện thoại) (i) mà biết hông? (ii) tui du học, (iii) tui mướn nhà Kim chi (iv) tui (v) Mà tự nhiên thầy Phúc nói (vi) nhà thầy Phúc,(vii) hai dzợ chồng tranh chấp dzới (viii) Chắc tui phải nhờ tòa giải dzụ (ix) Chời, thầy Phúc hả? (x) Hơi bị tội nghiệp (xi) Giận (xii) dzề nhà mẹ ruột (xiii) Ở nhà kho đó, (xiv) thấy thương chưa? (xv)Tại dzì ba thầy Phúc dzẫn cịn giận thầy Phúc (xvi) dzì dzụ li dị đó, (xvii) tội 30 Đức Phúc: (vỗ tay) (i) Hay 31 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) bà điên hả? (ii) tự nhiên hai dzợ chồng người ta li dị mà hay bà nội 32 Đức Phúc: (i) Tui nói hay mà 33 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) Em xin lỗi thầy Phúc 34 Thầy Quyền hiệu trưởng: (i) Chúc mừng thầy, (ii) tuyển thơng tín dziên, (iii) đưa tin trung thực, (iv) “Hai người chẳng biết làm sao…(v) lẽ gặp mặt, (vi) lẽ làm ngơ” 35 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) Th… thầy Phúc (ii) em xin lỗi thầy 36 Đức Phúc: (i) Xin lỗi xong hả? (ii) Nhờ đó, (iii) thầy Quyền tất người trường biết sống đời tư tui xix 37 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) E em… khơng có ý đâu thầy 38 Đức Phúc: (i) khơng có ý (ii) mà cịn nói dzậy hả? 39 Cơ Diệu Hiền: (i) Em lựa cột này, (ii) kín đáo rồi, (iii) mà không hiểu (iv) thầy Quyền ngang qua (v) mà nghe được, (vi) dzới lại có thầy Quyền biết thầy, (vii) đâu có biết đâu thầy 40 Đức Phúc: (i) Một thầy Quyền biết, (ii) trường biết 41 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) Ủa thầy Quyền nhiều chuyện dzậy thầy? 42 Đức Phúc: (i) Cô người nhiều chuyện 43 Cô Diệu Hiền: (i) Em xin lỗi thầy Phúc, (ii) mà thầy Phúc ơi, (iii) em hứa (iv) ngồi thầy Phúc thầy Quyền khơng biết đâu thầy 44 Đức Phúc: (i) đủ [Cảnh phòng tập nhạc] 45 Kim Chi: (i) Trời ơi, đầu to, mà óc nho dzậy trời? (ii) Nghĩ quài hổng ò (iii) Uiii, đây? (iv) Làm lại lần nữa, (v) dần (vi) Uhmmm sai rồi, (vii) zậy? (viii) không lẽ cách ông trời trừng phạt mình? (ix)Tại dzì bỏ chồng, (x) bỏ con, (xi) số phận hay chứ? (xii) Huhu khơng cam tâm, (xiii) khơng cam tâm xx RESULT OF ANALYSIS MOOD CHOICE, MODALITY, AND GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR IN VS-1 Turn no./ Speaker Cl# 1/Đức Hạnh 2/Đức Minh 3/Đức Hạnh 4/Đức Minh i i i i ii 5/Đức Phúc 6/ Đức Hạnh i i ii 7/Đức Phúc 8/Đức Hạnh i i ii 9/Đức Phúc i ii iii 10/Đức Hạnh i Mood choice iv Gram met Minor √ Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Imperative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: full (-) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Comment adjunct: evaluative Declarative: elliptical (+) ii iii Realization of modality Finite Modal modal adjunct operator Mood adjunct: probability Declarative: elliptical (-) Declarative: full (+) Metaphorical interrogative xxi 11/Đức Phúc 12/Đức Hạnh v i ii i ii 13/ Đức Mẫn i Imperative: full (+) Polar interrogative: full Imperative: full (+) Imperative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: Full (+) Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: intensity ii Declarative: full (+) iii Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Low: ability v Declarative: full: tagged High: obligation 14/ Đức Hạnh i Declarative: full (+) 15/ Đức Phúc i Declarative: full (+) 16/Đức Hạnh i Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (-) Declarative: full (+) iv ii iii iv 17/Đức Phúc i ii 18/Đức Minh i ii iii Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full: tagged Declarative: elliptical (+) Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: full (-) Declarative: full (+) Mood adjunct: probability Mood adjunct: probability Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: intensity Mood adjunct: intensity Metaphorical modality xxii 19/ Đức Phúc i ii 20/ Đức Hạnh 21/Đức Phúc i ii Declarative: full (+) iii i Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: full (-) i Declarative: full (-) i ii 22/Đức Minh 23/Đức Mẫn 24/ Đức Hạnh 25/Đức Phúc 26/Đức Hạnh i i i ii 27/Cô Diệu Hiền 28/Đức Phúc 29/Cô Diệu Hiền Wh-interrogative: full Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: full (-) iii i ii i i ii iii iv v vi Mood adjunct: intensity Metaphorical modality Metaphorical modality Metaphorical interrogative High: obligation Imperative: elliptical (-) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Wh-interrogative: full √ Declarative: full (+) Embedded clause* Declarative: full (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full Mood adjunct: time Comment adjunct: evaluative xxiii vii viii ix x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi xvii 30/ Đức Phúc 31/Cô Diệu Hiền i i ii 32/Đức Phúc 33/Cô Diệu Hiền 34/Thầy Quyền hiệu trưởng i i i ii iii (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full: tagged Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Polar interrogative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full: tagged Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) High: obligation Mood adjunct: probability Mood adjunct: degree Mood adjunct: time Mood adjunct: intensity Comment adjunct: evaluative xxiv iv v vi 35/Cô Diệu Hiền i ii iii 37/Cô Diệu Hiền 38/ Đức Phúc i Declarative: elliptical (-) Declarative: elliptical: tagged Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (-) Embedded clause* Embedded clause* Declarative: full (+) i iii iv v vi vii i ii 41/Cô Diệu Hiền 42/Đức Phúc Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical: tagged Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (-) ii 40/Đức Phúc √ i ii 39/Cô Diệu Hiền Declarative: elliptical (+) Mood adjunct: probability Mood adjunct: probability i ii 36/ Đức Phúc Wh-interrogative: full Declarative: elliptical (+) i i Declarative: elliptical: tagged Declarative: full (+) Declarative: full (+) Polar interrogative: full Declarative: full (+) Mood adjunct: time Mood adjunct: intensity xxv 43/Cô Diệu Hiền i ii iii 44/Đức Phúc 45/Kim Chi iv i Declarative: full (+) √ Declarative: full (+) Embedded clause* Declarative: elliptical (+) i ii iii iv v vi vii Metaphorical interrogative Declarative: elliptical (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Wh-interrogative: elliptical viii ix xii xiii Declarative: full (-) xi xvii xviii Median: probability Mood adjunct: Probability Declarative: full (+) Declarative: elliptical (+) Polar interrogative: full Declarative: full (-) x √ Metaphorical interrogative Metaphorical modality Metaphorical modality √ √ ... contrastive analysis of interpersonal meaning in American and Vietnamese sitcoms based on the framework of systemic functional grammar by M .A. K Halliday Based on eight sitcom episodes of American and Vietnamese, ... mood, modality and interpersonal grammatical metaphor from the perspectives of functional grammar In addition, the realization of interpersonal meaning in both American and Vietnamese sitcoms. .. conveyed in the dialogues of American and Vietnamese sitcoms in terms of mood, modality and interpersonal grammatical metaphor of mood and modality -To compare and contrast to find out the similarities