In this chapter, similarities and differences of puns identified in both English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines are presented. Emphasis is laid on comparing the differences of puns in newspaper headlines in the two
3.6.1. Similarities
English and Vietnamese puns in newspaper headlines have their communicative purposes in common. Puns in newspaper headlines aim to produce humorous and amusing effects, e.g.
- “The Eggs Factor” – (The X-Factor) - June 9th, 2013 – The Sun - “Fake me out” – (Take me out) – March 17th, 2012 – Daily Mirror - “Giấu đầu lòi đuôi” – August 2nd, 2009 – Tuoitre.vn
- “Còn ... nói còn tát” – December 5th, 2013 – vietgiaitri.vn
Except from exerting humorous effect, English and Vietnamese puns in newspaper headlines also make sharp irony, satire and criticism, e.g.
- “Rich Bitch” – September 29th, 2008 – newyorker.com
- “Ho!Ho!Ho Santa Spitz bears gifts for Lis’folks” – December 26th, 2013 – New York Post
- “Phú quý sinh vợ nhỏ” – May 26th, 2011 – afamily.vn
- “Đừng sống kiểu “Vợ cả, vợ hai, cả hai đều là vợ cả” – September 12th, 2016 – baomoi.com
In addition, it can be seen from the data that punning methods are used flexibly in both English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines. Journalists in the two cultures exploit the abundance of available phenomena in languages such as homonymy, paronymy, transference of meanings and idioms to create puns in newspaper headlines.
Homonymic puns:
- “It’s business and it’s fishy” - September 9th, 2006 - www.theguardian.com
- “Bia chui” - May 27th, 2015 - tuoitre.vn Paronomic puns:
- “It’s all Gun wrong! Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal are suffering with title jitters” - February 13, 2014 - www.dailystar.co.uk
- “Hàng Việt Nam chất lượng …cáo” - May 30th, 2013 - tuoitre.vn Meaning transference-based puns:
- “The lion sleeps tonight” - January 23, 2012 - Philadelphia Metro
- “Chiếc loa phường cũng nên "về hưu"?” - January 18th, 2017 – dantri.com
Idioms-based puns:
- “Luis Suarez has last laugh: Too many people in England laughed at me”
- June 20, 2014 - http://www.itv.com
- “Gắp lửa bỏ tay mình” - May 28th, 2015- Phunuonline.com.vn 3.6.2. Differences
It is apparent from Table 3 that puns in English newspaper headlines based on the similarity of sounds such as homonymic, paronymic, homophonic puns are more numerous than their Vietnamese counterparts.
While the figure for homonymic puns in newspaper headline is 14% in English, the quantity in Vietnamese ones is only 5%. Paronymic puns in English newspaper headlines account for 66%, exceeding the number in Vietnamese, which is only 11%. Significantly, 10% of English headlines use homophonic puns but none of Vietnamese use this punning method.
On the other hand, there are remarkable results in Vietnamese data. The number of Vietnamese newspaper headlines predominates over English ones in terms of meaning transference-based puns and idiom-based puns. Meaning
transference puns in Vietnamese newspaper headlines outnumber those in English, at 44% and 5% respectively. The percentage of Vietnamese idiom- based puns is 40%, while the figures in English only account for 5%.
Differences between modes of thinking and social values may create differences in the way of using punning methods of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines. According to Shao, Q., Wang, Z., & Hao, Z. (2012), in some traditional oriental cultures, collective interests take more priority than individual interests. Therefore, people in countries such as China and Vietnam are more likely to conceal their true inner thoughts and feelings. They would rather express their feelings in a roundabout way or beat around the bush.
Meaning transferences and idioms are suitable means to serve that purpose.
These means are superior to others because they add deep implications into several words. For instance, the headline “Đất lành chim đậu, nhưng chim chưa đậu đã nhậu hết cả chim” is posted by nld.com.vn on March 24, 2016.
“Đất lành” (fertile land) is a figurative image to imply favorable conditions for economic development. “Chim” (bird) refers to enterprises that want to invest and develop in Vietnamese markets. The article points out difficulties that enterprises have to cope with administrative formalities in Vietnam.
However, Shao, Q., Wang, Z., & Hao, Z. (2012) also stated that “in western culture, individuality is more important and paid much attention to”
and western people tend to express their thoughts and feelings in a direct way.
Perhaps punning methods based on the similarity of sounds are easier to visualize. For example, on August 25, 2016, the article “Great Fall of China”
appeared in the famous newspaper The Economist. At first glance, readers can associate “Great Fall of China” with “Great Wall of China” because of the nearly similar sounds and spellings between “fall” and “wall”.
In addition, typologically, English and Vietnamese belong to two different types of language, and their spelling principles differ, so this leads to inevitable differences. Homophonic puns, i.e. words that sound the same but are spelt differently, are a distinctive feature in English, while it may not occur in Vietnamese in which words that sound the same are mostly spelt the same. Since the Romanized alphabet of the Vietnamese ensures almost one- to-one correspondence between pronunciation and spelling, there is hardly homophony in Vietnamese language.