As mentioned above, the identification of speech acts including offering is closely related to syntactic, lexical and contextual elements. It is based on this close relationship that offering could be distinguisged from other speech acts and categorized as a FTA or a FEA, which in its turn regulates the Politeness Markers
(including Strategies and Social Deixis) used in the offering. As a result, linguistic politeness study in speech acts including offering is closely associated with the social and linguistic context. This is in line with Watts’ [88, p. 168] assumption that linguistic realization patterns do not in themselves denote politeness, but rather that they lend themselves to individual interpretation as “being polite” in instances of ongoing verbal interaction. In this section, the use of P. Ms. is illustrated through the example tokens of offering under the specific situational contexts.
Pragmatically, in this study the speech act of offering is said to consist of a Head (Act of) offering and additional elements of Internal Modification and External Modification. The Head offering is the minimal unit, which is the core of the sequence of offering. Let’s take the case of: ‚Here, let me help you with her.‛, the part in the bold italics is the Head offering and the other part is the External Modification (Rabinowitz J. F. [69, p.111]).
The English coding system used in this research is based on Blum-Kulka et al’s coding manual [8] and Rabinowitz’s coding system [69]. Modifications are made where the classification or the names of the strategies are found irrelevant for the Offering and some minor relevant addition is then made by the author. The Direct Strategy of the speaker’s Necessity is removed whereas such Direct Strategies of the speaker’s Ability and Willingness and the Conventionally Indirect Strategies querying the hearer’s Wish and Necessity are added to the coding system.
The Vietnamese coding system used is constructed on the linguistic realization patterns of offering from native Vietnamese speakers in this research or from the previous research, my authentic speech observation as well as those withdrawn from Vietnamese films, and short stories.
4.3.1. Alerters
As the names suggest, these items are used to attract the offeree’s attention before or after the actual offering is made. Therefore, they may exercise some influence on the Head offering either strengthening or softening it depending on a certain situational context. In English and Vietnamese they fall into two basic categories:
4.3.1.1. Vocatives
In offering as well as in other speech acts, the speaker invariably expresses the nature of the existing relationship between her/him and the addressee by person- referring forms including vocatives.
Murphy B. and Neu J. [63, pp. 317-349] commenting on the personal reference in English states that the use of personal reference terms is an effective face-saving device in expressing politeness. In modern English, the alternative use of such status terms as Sir, Madam, Titles (TTs), Title plus Last Name (TLN) and First Name (FN), or endearment terms of honey, love, sweetheart, baby, or kin terms, could be used to indicate different degrees of formality and intimacy between the interlocutors.
(4.35) Husband to wife:
‚I could read you the story, baby?‛ [AP1, p.4]
Head Offering
Wife: “Yes, tell me the story, Ray. I want to hear the story.”
In Vietnamese, such sentence-initial vocative formulae as: Th-a/bẩm/báo cáo (Honorific Vocative: Hon.Voc.) + Second Personal Direct Object in upward speech or Second Personal Subject + ơi/hỡi (Vocative Pragmatic Particle: Voc. Pr. P.) in downward, equal speech could be used as a Preparator (PR) to pave the way for the following speech act, including offering and also to avoid rudeness in communication (Hoang Dan [102, p. 34], Tran Lan Phuong [124, p. 68]).
(4.36) A to his new elder teacher, who is struggling with the faulty video in class but can’t manage to fix it:
‚Th-a cô, em có thể giúp cô không ạ?‛ [DCT 40]
PR Head Offering
“Ms, can I help you?”
(4.37) A to her younger sibling, who is cleaning a large lounge on her own though her exam is coming soon:
‚Bé ơi! Đi học bài đi! Để đấy chị lau phòng cho.‛ [DCT 56]
PR PR Head Offering
“Hey! Go study your lessons! Let me do it for you.”
The Vietnamese language lacks a closed system of Personal Pronouns that can be used as noun substitutes in all situational contexts like those in English where, for example, the Personal Pronouns I or You can be used for self-address and second personal reference or vocative in all social contexts. Therefore, the Vietnamese language has developed an intricate system of person reference in which proper nouns and common nouns are used extensively as alternatives to pronouns to express the relationships between interlocutors and their attitudes, especially Kin Terms (KTs) used for non-relatives could express solidarity and hierarchy and then positive politeness in Vietnamese culture (Nguyen Duc Hoat [36]). Tran Lan Phuong also assumes “these person referring terms are vital in an utterance to show politeness” [124, p. 107], otherwise the utterance may sound abrupt, lacking intimacy in downward speech and even impolite in upward speech.
Used at the initial position, the person-referring terms including vocatives function as the Preparator for the speaker’s ensuing speech acts including offering to create or maintain the closeness in relationship with the hearer (Vu Tien Dung [103, p. 70]). Let’s consider the following situational context in which such KT as chị (elder sibling) could be used with the Proper Noun (e.g. FN Lan) and the Vocative Pragmatic Particle in the vocative as the Preparator/Alerter to further soften the illocutionary force of the ensuing offering.
(4.38) A offers to help his/her close elder next-door neighbor carry one of the heavy bags:
‚Chị Lan ơi! Để em xách đỡ chị một tay nhé?‛ [DCT 27]
PR Head Offering
“Mrs. Lan! Let me lend you a hand?”
4.3.1.2. Attention getter
- Formulaic Entreaty (ies) {F. Ent(s).}
Formulaic Entreaties are used to attract the attention of the hearer.
+ In formal situations, Formulaic Entreaties could be expressed by such an expression of apologizing as excuse me for the likely imposition of the following Head act. Let’s take the case of the following speech act of offering:
(4.39) A offers to help his new 5-year-elder teacher fix the faulty video during the lesson:
‚Excuse me, I know how to fix it. Would you like some help?” [DCT 12]
F.Ent./PR PR Head Offering
In this case, the Formulaic Entreaty makes the offering in English sound formal marking the Social Distance between the offerer and the offeree. The offerer may try to soften his/her offering with this type of Attention Getter.
+ Similarly, in Vietnamese formal situations, the Formulaic Entreaty xin lỗi (excuse me) could also be found in Vietnamese speech acts in general and in offering in particular to show the offerer’s deference in upward non-intimate speech to establish the relationship with the offeree before the offerer’s launching his or her offering to show politeness (Hoang Dan [102, p. 16], Vu Tien Dung [103, p. 70], Tran Lan Phuong [124, p. 71]).
(4.40) A offers to help his new 5-year-younger teacher repair the broken-down video in the class:
‚Xin lỗi, tôi có thể giúp cô sửa máy vi-đê-ô này đ-ợc không?” [DCT 17]
F.Ent./PR Head Offering
“Excuse me, can I help you fix this video?”
+ In English informal situations, Imperatives with such verbs of perception as look, listen could be used in cases the offerer wants to attract the attention of the offeree and to convey a sense of urgency of the offering. As a result, these Imperative constructions could strengthen the illocutionary force of offering.
(4.41) A to a little crying girl who has got stung by a bee at the swimming pool:
‚Listen! Just let me cover your injury with this anti-septic cream.‛
F.Ent./PR Head Offering [87, p. 248]
+ In Vietnamese informal situations of offering, the common devices này (here), nào (listen/look) could be used to show intimacy and to encourage the
offeree to accept the offering in an urgent way. These informal Formulaic Entreaties as a result could strengthen the offering.
(4.42) A approaches the little next-door girl who is crying because a dog tore off the head of her doll:
‚Nào, để cô sửa lại cho.‛ [ASO]
F.Ent./PR Head Offering
“Here, let me fix it for you.”
- Formulaic Greetings (F.Grs.)
In English, greetings like hello or good morning could be used to initiate a formal offering.
+ In more formal situational contexts; hello, good morning could be accompanied by the Title + Last Name (TLN).
(4.43) A to his elderly next-door woman, who is having trouble opening her heavy door:
‚Hello, Mrs. Ward. Do you need some help?‛ [87, p. 248]
F.Gr/PR Head Offering
+ In less formal cases; hey, hi could also be used with First Name (FN).
(4.44) A to his close friend with an armload of books and groceries, who is trying to unlock his door, while some of the items are spilling from the bags as he fumbles for his key:
‚Hi, Carl. It looks as if you could use a hand. Let me hold those for you.‛
F.Gr/PR PR Head Offering
[87, p. 248]
In Vietnamese, greetings could be used by the speaker as a Preparator for his/her following Head acts by attracting the hearer’s attention and establishing , maintaining or enhancing his/her relationship with the hearer (Dao Thi Thuy Nga [116, p. 52], Hoang Dan [102, p. 34]). As in other speech acts, the following formulae of greeting could be used to avoid abruptness in offering in Vietnamese:
+ Chào (Greet) + Second Personal Object: in equal, downward speech.
(4.45) A soldier to a little girl B in a village cottage where the soldier and his brothers-in-arm have stayed overnight:
A:‚Chào em! Em thích con búp bê này chứ?‛
FGr./PR PR
“Hi! Do you like this doll?”
B:‚Vâng ạ.‛
“Yes, certainly.”
A:‚Tặng em đây! Em gái anh tặng anh. Anh giữ nó trên suốt đoạn đ-ờng
Head Offering GR
đi! Giờ anh tặng lại em.‛ [VF 6]
GR
“Here you are! This is my younger sister’s gift. I’ve kept it all the time on the way here. I want to offer it to you now.
+First Personal Subject + chào (Greet) + Second Personal Object + HP (ạ): in upward speech to show the offerer’s deference to the offeree for politeness (Pham Thi Thanh [132, p. 73])
(4.46) A offers to help her close 10-year-elder next-door neighbor carry her heavy bags home:
‚Cháu chào cô ạ! Cô đi đâu về mà mang đồ nặng vậy? Cho cháu giúp
F.Gr./PR PR Head Offering
cô một tay nhé?‛ [DCT 43]
“Good morning! Why are you carrying such heavy bags? Let me lend you a
hand?”
+ Talking about the addressee’s affairs or on-going activities as a way of greeting to show the addresser’s care towards the addressee in order to establish, maintain or enhance his/her relationship with the addressee to prepare for the following Head Acts in general and Head offering in particular (Hoang Dan [102, p.
16, 34], Vu Tien Dung [103, p. 56], Dao Thi Thuy Nga [116, p. 52]). This usage could be illustrated in the same context as (4.46) as follows:
(4.47)‚Cô đi đâu về mà lỉnh kỉnh thế? Để cháu giúp cho một tay ạ.‛
F.Gr./PR Head Offering [DCT 19]
“Why are you carrying these too heavy bags? Let me lend you a hand.”
4.3.2. Perspective(s)
While Blum-Kulka S. classifies Perspective according to the pronoun used in the Head Act, Perspective of the offering in this thesis is understood as a choice made by the offerer as to whose want or wish is emphasized in the offering. Perspectives of the offering are coded as follows:
- Hearer (H) Perspective:
(4.48) A to B as his acquaintance when A sees B off at the station:
‚Would you like me to see you home when you return?[AN 1, p. 190]
The same could be true for Vietnamese.
(4.49) A to her intermediate friend at her house, who is going to leave when it rains:
‚Cậu có muốn dùng áo m-a tớ không?‛ [VF 8]
“Do you want to borrow my coat?”
- Speaker (S) Perspective:
(4.50) A to her room-mate, who’s got a hard-hearing problem and wants to hear the piece of news from A’s newspaper:
‚I’ll read aloud to you.‛ [91, p. 190]
Similarly for Vietnamese:
(4.51) A to her grandfather, who has asked A to read a story to him:
‚Cháu đọc truyện cho ông nghe nhé!‛ [VF 1]
“I’ll read the story to you!”
4.3.3. strategy category of Offering
A strategy is defined as the way the Head Act of a speech act in general and of offering in particular is realized with regard to linguistic forms and means. Three major Strategy Categories of offering in Australian English and Vietnamese involving seven major strategies used in this thesis are ranked according to the
decreasing level of directness as designed by the length of the inferential part of the illocutionary force and are mutually exclusive. The Social Deixis and Pragmatic Particles used by native Vietnamese speakers are also described together with these Strategy Categories of offering in Australian English and Vietnmese as the Politeness Markers of offering in these languages.
4.3.3.1. Direct Strategy Category (DC)
Direct offerings are those which the offerer chooses to express the illocutionary force of an offering explicitly. The offerer can say what s/he wants to offer (an item) to the offeree or what s/he wants to do for the offeree (a service) using such linguistic realization strategies as: Imperative, Statements of Obligation, Ability or Willingness.