Luận văn collectivism and individualism in american and vietnamese print advertisements

ABSTRACT The present study sccks to identify the cultural values of individualism and collectivism reflected in print advertisements between Vietnam and America from three domains of l

YIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, TIANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGLAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES:

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES:

TRAN THI HUE

COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

(Tỉnh tập thể và tính cá nhân trong quảng cáo của Mỹ và Việt Nam)

MA MINOR PRDOGRAMXME TIIESIS

Held: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201.01

Hanoi, 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IANOT TNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUTHES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES:

TRAN THỊ HUỆ

COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

(Tinh tập thé va tinh cá nhân

trong quảng cáo của Mỹ và Việt Nam)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME TIIESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hòa

Hanoi, 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this thesis, which is entitled “Collectivism and Individualism in American and Vietnamese Print Advertisements”, is created from my original work I have firmly declared the contribution of others to my thesis such as data analysis, practical strategies, and all other rescarch thal was employed or reviewed

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been finished without the assistance I received from

many people and organisations I would like to express my thankfulness to:

& my supervisor, Prof Nguyén Hoa for being immeasureably helpful for my work and for his detailed advice, invaluable comments and suggestions Without his

endless support this thesis would have been impossible

+ the Post-Graduate staff and my classmates at the University of Languages and

International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for providing me

with ‘Basie’ Kaowledge ‘abot how! We athictureca deseatehy project and the

opportunity to improve my research knowledge and skills:

& my family for their wholehearted support and motivation

Without their support and collaboration, this thesis would have been impossible.

ABSTRACT

The present study sccks to identify the cultural values of individualism and

collectivism reflected in print advertisements between Vietnam and America from

three domains of linguistic performance: first person pronoun use, communication

styles (high vs low context communication, dircol vs indirect communication styles, and self-contrual), and face & facework (self-face vs other-face concern, and negative

vs posilive strategies) There are two hypotheses being pul forward in the thesis: APAs

are dominated by IDV (hypothesis1), and VPAs are dominated by COL (hypothesis 2)

In order to test these two hypotheses, qualitative case study is applied in the study to

analyze the advertising samples in the aspects of COT and IDV

After the qualitative analysis of three linguistic domains, the follawing, findings can

be concluded: Vietnamese print advertisements are more collectivistic Meanwhile,

American print advertisements seem to employ both individualism and collectivism at

the same level Besides, the data indicate thal, in advertising context, print

advortisements act as a means of communication, in which the advertisers- writers may

employ both IDV and COL, based on different situations The findings of the study are

expected Lo be of help in beller understanding (he relationship between cultural values

of ILV/ COL and print advertising, and in better designs of print advertisements.

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Chararferistics oŸ the mdependent -self and the interdependent-self 7

Table 2: Differences between individualistic communication styles & collectivistic

Table 3: The frequency of first person pronoun in APAs and VPAs 30

Table 4: Average count of explicit and implicit messages in APAs and VPAs 32 Table 5: The percentages of direct vs indirect directive and commissive speech acls in

Table 6: The Íequeney of “show off” words in VPAs and APAs 40

Table 7: The frequency of First

person pronoun and sccond-person pronoun in VPAs

Table 8: Distribution of positive and negative politeness stralegies in APAs and

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2: Brown and Levinson’s (1987: 60) model for politeness strategies 28

1.2 Aims of dhe study

1.3 Scope of the study

1.4, Organization of the siudy co noi

1.5, Significance of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS

2.1, Review of theoretical background for the study,

2.1.1 Collectivism versus individualismn

2.1.2 Alributes of Individualista and Collectivism

2.1.3 The self-convept

2.1.4 Advertisements and print advertisements

vi

edt

2.1.4.1 Definition and Function of Advertising

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Design of the study

3.2 Data and Procedure

3.3 Analytical framework

3.3.1 First porsom pronoun use

3.3.2 Communication styles

3.3.2 1 Iligh and low context communication

3.3.2.2 Direct and indirect commumication styles

3.3.2.3 Sell-Contrual: sel{-crhancement & Sctf

-elTacemenit

3.3.3 Face and Facework

3.3.3.1 Self-face & Other-face concem

vĩ

l§

4.2.3 Sell- construal: Sclienhancoment & self-ellacemen 39

4.3.1 Self-face concem versus Other-faoe conoern .48

4.3.2 Nepative and positive politeness strateaies Thiet

'Table 1: The frequsncy of first petsoN p[OiiOux icon

Table I : Number of explicit and implicit messages in VPAs

‘Table LIL: Numnber of explicit and implicit messages in APAS

Table TV: Distibulion of direct and indirect specch avis m VPAs

Table V : Distribution of direct and indirect speech acts in APAs

Table VI: The frequency of “show off” words in in VPAs and APAs

Table VIE: The frequency of first-person pronoun and second-person pronoun 6

Table VIM: Distribution of dillerent types of politeness strategics in VPAs

Table IX: Distribution of different types of politeness strategies in APAs

LV

-LV

ca

LIX

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five main paris: rationale, aims of the study, scope of the

study, organization and significance of the study

1.1 Rationale

With the development of economy and social culture, advertising is of paramount

importance, because advertisements not only reflect the ericntation of the economy, but also manifest cultural values It can be said that people live in an advertising

environment and an advertising time Television and print are traditional media that

have been usually used for implementing advertising In spile of the faci thal social media has recently become very common, prints (newspapers and magazines) still semain important media for advertising because prints are still perceived as one of

the most believable and trustworthy sources of information and accessibility to local

and ethnic audiences (Myilasy et al 2011) Moreover, print advertisements are

regarded as special discourses with their own characteristics, as well as products of cultures and languages

There are similarities as well as differences between Vietnamese and American advertising These differences derive from thew respective cultures Hofstede’s studies reveal that western nations such as the United States, France, the United

Kingdom, ete present high level of TDV, couversely eastern countries like China,

Japan, Vietnam tend to be collectivistic When it comes to IDV & COL reflected in print advertisements, there are many researches concentrating on this theme Yet,

these previous tosearches” samples arc rarcly Vicinamese print advertising, and most of those studies are based on cultural-psychology analysis Furthermore, economic development and the process of globalization can be considered to be the forces driving cultural values to change In gonoral, different values could make different languages, different cultures and other things between those cultural value

systems, Thus, from the perspective on cultural values, people can study very well the print advertisements, so do a better understanding of a country's culture

‘These phenomena interest me a great deal | come up with a question: In the age

of globalization and cross-cultural commnmication, VPAs and APAs manifest either individuaism or collectivism or both of them It is this question that inspires and

anotivates me to do research on this theme

1.2, Aims of the study

TDV and COT are considered to be primary cultural values across cultures Conventionally, it is believed that American culture pottains lo IDV, but Vietnamese culture is a collectivistic culture ‘This conventional thinking might be still suitable or no longer appropriate according to different contexts Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test the following hypotheses in the case of print

advertisements:

Hypothesis 1: APAs are dominated by IDV

Hypothesis 2: VPAs are dominated by COT

1.3, Scope of the Study

‘To limit the scope of the study, this thesis focuses on the linguistic manifestations

of cultural patterns in the aspect of COL/ IDV in 13 APAs and 43 VPAs The vesearch’s dala is collecled from American magazines such as The economisl, Vorbes, Women’s health, and from Vietnamese newspapers and magazine namely

Thời báo kinh tế Việt Nam, báo Phụ nữ and Forbes Viét Nam

1.4 Organization of the study

This thesis is organized into five chapters: Chapter 1- Introduction, chapter 2- Literature reviews, chapter 3: research methodology, chapter 4: findings and discussion, chapter 5: conclusion This introductory part presents the rationale, aims

iy

of the study, scope, and organization of the study Next, chapter 2 introduces the related literature reviews In this chapter, the author gives the brief introduction to

4 reports the findings and dicussion The thesis ends with chapter 5- Conclusion, which discusses recapitulations, the possible implications Th also presents some

limitations of the study and recommendations for further research,

1.5 Significance of the study

‘This study is hoped to explore and discover the interrelation of cultural values

of INV&COL and print advertisements Theoretically, this stady provides a support

to theories of IDV&COL manifesicd in Imguisucs From (the analysis of three

domains of language (first person pronoun use, communication styles and face &

facework) when approaching the theme, IDV & COL might be found behind words

Practically, this study is carried out with the oxpectation of giving some suggestions for advertisers, which may contribute to their advertising success Uesides, this

paper may also give the fresh angle for cross-culture learning and teaching.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS

This chapter is made up of three main paris Firstly, it will start with critically

reviewing the concepts of COL versus IDV, self-concept, aitributes of COL and IDV,

advertisements and classification, components of advertising, and IDV and COL in

print advertisements and linguistics Secondly, it will review and discuss previous

studies related te IDV & COL in advertisements in order to identify the gap in the

literature Finally, this chapter ends with summary

2.1 Review af theoretical background for the study

2.1.1 Collectivism versus individualism

In the book “Cultural Consequences: International Differences in Work Related

Values” by Geert Hofstede, IDV & COL were proposed as two poles of a one-

dimensional construct to explain societal differences in social behavior at cultural level Hofstede, 1980) According to Hofstede, IDV pertains to societies in which

the fies belween individuals are loose, everyone is expecled to look afier bimsell

and his or her immediate family COL as its opposite pertains to societies in which

people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which

throughout people’s lifetime continuc to protect them in exchange for unquestioning,

loyalty ( 1lofstede, 1998:346)

Hofstede’s definition reads IDV/ COL is a bipolar dimension, with IDV on one end and COL on the other In cultures that tend toward IDV, an “I” consciousness prevails competition ralher thar: cooperation is encouraged; personal goals lake precedence over group goals, people tend not to be emotionally dependent on organizations, while in cultures that tend toward COL, a “ we” consciousness prevails: identity is based on the social system, the individual is emotionally dependem on organizations and institutions, the culture emphasizes belonging to organizations, organizations invade private life and the clans to which individuals

belong; and individuals trust group decisions and institutions, and every individual

hhas right to his or her private property thoughts, and opinions (Samovar ct al, 2000: 68) When put in a situation that demands a decision, people from cultures that

stress TOV are ofien al odds with people [rom collectivislic cultures While the

former take the latter as ignorant to democracy, not respecting personal views, the

latter see the former as so arrogant like the loudest bird as to be shot first

IDV-COL is the major dimension of cultural variability used to explain intercultural differences and similarities in communication across cultures It is also the dimension with the clearest individual-level equivalents of the cultural- level

tendenvies (Gudykunst and Eim, 1997: 56}

TDV-COI, is an important theme of the area of orpss-cultural psychology Hofstede is given credit for contributing greatly to clarifymg the concepts of IDV and COT, whi

concerted

are mosl widely quoted Although Hofstede's work w:

primarily with cultural differences, subsequent researchers have become interested

in IDV -COL at the individual level as well (Kim, 1994; ‘Iriandis, 1994) There are

a number of ways to measure IDV and COL, and these measures (Triandis,

MeCrusker, and Hui, 1990) suggest the existence of “cultural syndromes” (riandis,

1993) — defined as shared attitudes, beliefs, norms, roles and self-definitions, and values, centered around a theme found among those who speak similar dialect, and

live in the same historical period and geographic region

An individualistic cullure is described as one in which the goals and needs of the individuals take precedence over in-groups such as extended family, community, work organizations etc., whereas individuals in a collectivistic culture view personal goals and needs as subordinate to the goals and needs of these in-groups However,

it has been noted that differences exist within individualist or collectivist cultures Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk and Gelfand (1995) made a further distinction between TDV and COL, arguing that both TOV and COT may be either horizontal that is emphasizing equality or it may be vertical- that is emphasizing hierarchy,

Basivally, IDV emphasizes the importance of individual identity over group identity, individual rights over group rights, and individual needs over group needs TDV promotes sel(-cllicieney, individual responsibilities and personal autonomy Tn contrast, COL emphasizes the importance of “

e” identity over “I” identity, group

rights over individual rights, and in-group-otiented needs over individual wants and desires COL promotes relational interdependence, it-group harmony, and in-group collaborative spirit,

2.1.2 Attributes of IDV and COL

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in COL and IDV since

Holsiede’s sludy (1980) Delimtions and aliributes of COT and IDV are also

differently offered by many researchers According to Waterman (1984), IDV and COL shure four fealures: the first one is personal identily; the second one is freedom of choice relatmg to freedom of others, the tlurd one 1s personal responsibility for happiness and misery; and the last one is universality, which refers to respect for others’ principles Ho and Chiu (1994) point out some principal constituents of IDV and COL such as personal liability, value of the individual, independence and individual triumph

The defining altribules of IDV and COT suggested mì the Triandis (1995)

monograph were as follows: Fust, the self-conception (our views of ourselves) is

one of four main atiibules of TV & COL Colleclivisis define themselves as parls

or aspects of a group; individualists focus on self-concepts that are autonomous from groups Thus the contrast between interdependent and independent selves

(Markus & Kilayama, 1991) is one of the delitnryg alltbutes.

Table 1: Characteristics of the independent-velf and the interdependent-self

(Ting- Toomy,1999, P 70),

Relational autonomy Relational connectedness

Universalistic-based principles Particularistic-based principles

The second attribute is the goal of individuals and group Collectivists have

personal goals Ihal overlap with the goals of their in-groups, and if there is a

discrepancy between the two sets of goals, they consider it obvious that the group goals should have priority over their personal goals Individualists have personal goals thal may or may not overlap with the goals of their in-groups, and il there is a discrepancy between the two sets of goals, they consider it obvious that their

personal goals should have priority over the group goals (Schwartz, 1990)

‘The third one is behavior determinant Among collectivists, social behavior is best predicted from norms and perceived duties and obligations (Ronlempo & Rivero, 1992; Miller, 1994) Among individualists, social behavior is bost predicted from attitudes and other such internal processes as well as contracts made by the individual

The last one is maintenance of relationships Among, collectivists, relationships

are of the greatest importance, and even if the cosls of these relationships exceed the

benefits, individuals tend to stay with the relationship Among individualists, when the costs exceed the benefits, the relationship is often dropped (Kim, Triandis,

Kagiteibast, & Yoon, 1994)

Based on some attributes of IDV/ COL that all co-act and co-oceur in a culture,

components and fumevons of advertisements, T will invesligale dhe cultural values of

COL & IDV thất are cxprcssed in print advcrtisemenw via the analysis of thươc domains namely first personal pronoun use, communication styles and face &

facework The:

3 domains arc used to build up the analytical framework which

will be discussed in greater detail in chapter three

2.1.3 The self-concept

Baumeister (1999) defines the self-concept as "the individual's belief about

tumaelf or herself) meluding the person's allbutes and who and whal the self is" Tt

can be understood that the term self-concept is used to refer to how someone thinks

about, evaluates or perceives themselves According to Carl Rogers (1959), the self

coneept is made of the following three different constituents The first cortstnfulenil tá

self-image which is the view you have of yourself It concludes physical description,

social role, personal trails, and existential statements The second one is self-esteem

or self-worth which involves a degree of cvaluation and we may have cither a positive or a negative view of ourselves ‘The last one is ideal-self which refers to what you wish you were really like If there is a mismatch between your self-image

and your ideal-scll, this is likely to affecl how much you value yourscl

2.1.4, Advertisements and print advertisements

2.1.4.1 Definition and Function of Advertising

‘There are some kinds of definitions of advertising, According to the American Marketing Association (1948), the “advertising is any paid from of non-personal presentalion and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an ideniified sponsor” Besides, Albert Davis Lasker, father of modem advertising, said that advertising was “salesmanship in print” Today, one of the most popular definitions of advertising which is widely cited was put forward by Courlland T Bovee and William F’Arens in 1989 ‘hat is “Adverting is the non- personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about the products,

services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media”, (Frith, Katherme ‘I, & Wesson, David, 1991, p 217- p 223)

Krom these above definitions advertising can be defined as a carrier of culture which embodies distinctive cultural attributes and meanings Advertising spreads all kinds of messages, knowledge, and concepts Tt provides people with a reference system of value, impacting on our thoughts and judements ‘Ihe advertisers make the most of their own total image, especial the product image, in order to gain the

public understanding, trust, and support, so they use a series of persuasion and

influence route of transmission, KroeberRiel (1993) enumerates the functions of

advertisements in some groups as follows: Firstly, advertisements provide

information source about products and services Secondly, they motivate consumers

to buy products Thirdly, they strengthen purchasing motivation Furthermore, they provide socialization function Lastly, they provide entertaining function

2.1.4.2 Classification of advertising

Advertising, can be classified into various categories according to different criteria Generally, according to Vestergaurd and Schroder (1985), there are two kinds of advertising, commercial advertising and non-commercial one “If taken media as

the standard of classificalion, the advertising can be classified into thres major

categories, namely, broadcast media advertising (television radio advertising), print media advertising (newspapers/ magazines advertising), and olher media advertising

(billboards/ cinema’ transit/ direct mail advertising) (Muller, 1998, p.173)

The concer of this thesis is the print commercial advertising This is because print advertising has a broad reach (great number of readers), and great possibility

of secondary readability Meanwhile, a business advertisement is one which is made for commodities or services Its purpose is to make a profit, As it is the time for commodity economy, business advertising plays a very important role both in business circle and people’s daily life As a result, it would be more meaningful and

attributive to cur soeiety to study print comuneroial advertising Two main printed media are the newspapers and magazines, which transmit topic information at

certain time

2.1.4.3 Components of advertising

In general, an advertisement is constituted of different components; they are either verbal or non-verbal The verbal components include the headline, sub-headline, the body copy, slogan and trademark (including bemd name, corporale name and visual symbol), Pictures, illustrations, color, advertising music, advertising sounds and layout belong to the nonverbal elements Of course, each element plays an important part in successful advertising For example, the headline attracts reader's

attention, make take buying action However, an advertisement has no need to

include all the nonnal elemenls Sometimes, an advertisement only includes a few clements in started on the clements A complete print advertisement is usually composed of headline, body copy, slogan, illustrations, pictures, colors, trademarks

‘The present study examines the extent to which IDV and COL are reflected in the language of the print advertisements After analysis of collected print advertisements, the author finds that the headline, slogan and body copy are more

convener Lo interpret and analyze, and thus these thrce clerucnis are employed in

the present stady Advertising master David Augwei once said: “Advertising is the life of the words” Tn other word, language is the essential element of advertising, as

a tool of communication, and it can inject the cnthusiasm and soul in the decisive role in advertising

2.1.5 Individualism and collectivism in print advertisements

Advertising is one kind of social action, cultural fruit, and the crystallization of human wisdom Nowadays, with the rapid development economic and fierce market competition, advertising is indispensable tool for business enterprise, and it acts as

vanguard of silo Tn cullural environment, advertising reflecis certain cullure, That

10

is to say, culture offers the background for advertising In advertising, a lot of information involves just like the cultural knowledge, moral ideas, consumption

concept, 48 well as cnlerprise cullure So advertisements have cullure features and

sense Therefore, making advertisement process is also affected by different cultural

factors which consist of IDV and COL IDV&COL are extremely significant to

contemplate while creating messages of every advertisement Living in am

individualistic or collectivistic culture also strongly influences the individual’s comprehension and perception of advertising message The reason is that

individuals grow up ina particular culture and become accusLomed to thal culture’s

indigenous value system, belief, and perception process, Consequently, individuals exposed to an advertising message corresponding with their culture are likely ta

comprehend it beter and possibly cimpathize with it, this comprehension and

empathy could lead to persuasion, including the decision to buy the advertised

products As mentioned above, IDV and COL illustrate the ties between individuals

and wilh lheir group or sociely Meanwhile, advertisements are considered to be a

means of communication between product suppliers and customers A successful

adverlisemen, is crealed when an appropriate relationship belweeu supphers and customers ig ¢stablished through the messages im advertising These messages

should be created by people who deeply understand customers’ culture, because the

way Ihey use language communication slyles (high-low conlext vormmurication or

direct- indirect communication), the way they express politeness strategies, as well

as writing style will have important impacts on customers’ perception of

advertisement

2.1.6 Individualism and collectivism in linguistics

Kasold (1984) stated that a national language encourages the development of social identity Furthermore, there is a causal linkage of language influencing

beliefs, derived from the Whorf (1940) (or Sapir-Whorl) hypothe:

Urat language

influences cognition, Another feasible connection between language and cultural

values is offered by Triandis (1972) in the analysis of subjective culture He shows

that values are created from basic cognitive structures that come from lower-level abstractions of language, such as words, morphemes, and phonemes

Nguyễn Hoa (2018) in his study “cultural values: some implications for culture-

related linguistic research and intercultural communication” indicates that many current cultural studies use quantitative methods to conduct empirical researches, they pay less attention to linguistic functions He also suggests a model of psycho-

cultural linguistics that expresses the relation between three disciplines: cultural

anthropology, linguistics and social psychology (Nguyén Héa, 2018: 08)

Figure 1: Model of psycho- cultural linguistics

tural antl

inter

TH T110 2

Based on the above model, a pragmatic framework for analyzing language in use

is offered by Nguyén Hoa, including a three-step procedure: Describing,

interpreting and explaining (proposed by Fairclough) His framework considers

speech acts to be the minimal unit of analysis, focusing on the following items and their linguistic realizations such as speech acts (asserting, defining, or redefining,

modifying, challenging and/or supporting identities), implicature (indirect speech

acts), textual organization of speech acts into larger units of discourse (moves, exchanges, and discourse), the use of pronouns (I versus We cultural identity) and

modality,

E.SKashima and Kashima (1998) and Y.Keshima and Kashima (2003) concentrated on the linkage between personal pronouns and IDV ‘hey proposed (hat explicit use of pronouns ina language places actor in Ihe limelight, conversely, drop of pronouns de-emphasizes the actor and stresses contextual implications It

means that the concentration on actors rather than context illustrates a characteristic

of TOY (Oysermen, Coon, & Kemmelneier, 2002) Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between pronoun usage and individualistic manifestation in process of

communication

2.1.7 Speech act

Specch act theory is pul forward by John Austin the lale 1950s A spocch act is

an utterance that has performative fimotion in language and communication (Austin,

are acts of communication To communicate is 10

1962) In general, speech ac

express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act that is performed corresponds

to the type of attitude being expressed For example, a statement expresses a belief,

a request expresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the hearer identifies, in accordance with

the speakers infention, the altitude being expressed

Speech act theory broadly explains the ullerances as having three parls or aspects:

locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts A locutionary act is the act of uttering something containing literal meanings from syntactic, lexical, and phonological aspect An illocutionary act is the act porformed in saying something which means we say something when we do it A perlocutionary act is the effect or

the consequence of saying something (Austin, 1962)

Types of speech acts can be distinguished on the basis of structure and general function A fairly simple structural distinction between three general types of speech acts is provided, in Linglish, by the three basic sentence types ‘fhere is an

easily recognized relationship between the three structural forms (declarative,

interrogative, imperative) and the three gencral communicative functions (statement,

question, command/request) “You wear a seat belt” (declarative), “do you wear a

al bel” (imperative) (Yule 2008:54) Apart from distinguishing speech acts according to their general function, they can also be

seat bell” (interrogative), “Wear a

distinguished with regard to their structure A speech act can be direct or indirect

speech act

Direct speech act

‘A specch act is scon as a dircot speech act when thore is a direct relationship between the structure and the communicative function of the speech act, or there is

a dircel cougrucrice between locutionary and iHoculionary forces For example:

‘Communicative function | Structural form Example

Command request Imperative Do the dishes (please)!

Indirect speech act

Searle (1979) introduced the idea of indirect illocutionary act which also known,

as indirect speech act This is speaker's act of conmnunicaling with hearer more (hari

what is actually said It relies on the knowledgeable background information about

the conversation shared by both speaker and hearer In ather words, indirect speech

acts is the act of conducting an illocutionary act indirectly For example:

Communicative function | Structural form | Example

Statement Tnterrogative | Is ice cold?

dishes

Command’ request Declarative | I would like you to wash the dishes

Interrogative | Can you wash the dishes?

2.2 Reviews of previous studics

Firth and Wesson (1991) evaluated the content of print advertising trom the United States and Lngland with regard to manifestation of cultural values ‘the study’s resull showed that magazine advertisements in the United States employed more individualistic factors than British advertisements However, social class differences are more obvious in British advertisements than that in American adverlisoments, From the rescarch’s findings, it has conclusively beon suggested

that it would be inefficient to make standardized intemational advertising

Han and Shavit (1994) investigated American and Korean advertising and realized that individualistic appeals are used more in American advertisements than

in Korean advertisements In contrast, callectivistic features are employed more in

Korean advertisements than in Amencan ones This finding is similar lo the

prediction and congruent with each country’s culture since Korea is considered to

be a collectivistic culture The study revealed that Koreans considered

individualistic messages to be more persuasive than collectivistic messages for some products, while Americans found individualistic messages were considered to

be more persuasive than colleclivistie messages by for all products These findings

make people consider whether the cultural value of COL may be giving way to IDV,

at loast within some product categories and among young adults in Korea Morcover, these findings could offer motivation to study more to deeply understand

adverlising content in both imdividualisiic and colleetwvislie cultures, as well as the

shift in cultural values in societies aud advertisements

Tn 2014, Nguyen Anh T.oan conducted a study entitled “Cultural values and

advertising appeals in intemational advertising- a comparison of Finland and Vietnam print advertising” The research’ framework is based on Pollay’s concept

of values applied to Hofislede’s cullural framework to analyze of 36 VPAs and 36

linish print advertisements from eight product categories with regard to the

relationship between advertising appeals and cultural values The researcher found

thal Fimmish advertising’s analysis indicates thal uniqueness is the mosl found appeal that represents individualistic values, as well as the findings disclose that the

appeals related to TDV are dominant in Finnish results while only popularity which

is onc of the most found appeals demonstrates colleclivistic values On the other

hand, Vietnam is a collectivistic culture; thus family is the most common appeal in

this cultural dimension Furthermore, the results reveal value paradox on both

Finnish and Victuamose cases, especially Finnish results provide value paradox on four cultural dimensions, namely, masculinity femininity, power distance, and

long — short-term orientation Yet Vietnam only has one vale paradox

phenomenon on uncertainty avoidance dimension This study implies that the cultural values in advertising should be paid more attention to, and it gives more

insights for international advertiser ta plan their marketing and advertising strategy

2.3 Summary

So far the literature reviews have shown that, there are a diverse range of viewpoints related to IDV&COL, and they have been already existed for a long

tanec Based on those long standing belicls, Americans should be individualists, bul

Vietnamese should be collectivists Besides, it can be seen that most previous researches are based on the perspective on IDV&:COL in a bipolar continuum After

16

taking all those points into consideration, I was persuaded to conduct the present study in order to test whether those long standing beliefs are appropriate for APAs

& VPAs or not

Furthermore, recent studies has points out that in spite of the fact that there have

been many studies that examined cultural values inchiding IDV&COL manifested

in advertisements with a comparison between two or more than two countries, it is

sull insufficient because there are so many countries which have not been covered yel, especially in Southeast, Asian countries which have been growmg so fast

recently Asian countries were also opted for conducting cross-cultural studies with

the purpose of comparing Westem and Easter cultural characteristics, or exploring

distinel trails in cilher Asian culture or Western culture Aceording to Nyilasy and his partners (2011), Japan and China were investigated most frequently, followed by Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and so forth Furthermore, Nyilasy et al (2011) also disclosed thal Southeast Asia countries were regularly chosen Lor study because of their fast development of economy recently However, there have been not many

vesearches thal focus on print advertising im Vietnam im terms of the cultural

dimensions of IDV & COL manifested in advertising from the aspect of linguistic study, instead, most of previous studies mainly based on cultural- psychology

analysis Therefore, this study addresses these gaps and extends previous studies by

examining 1V&COL reflected in print advertisements and makes a comparison

between APAs and VPAs The next chapter presents the methodology for this study

and explains why such methodology is used to examine the IDV- COL in APAs and

'VPAs.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter introduces the research methodelogy for this study Design of the

study, data and procedure, and analytical framework are explained

3.1, Design of the study

This research combined both quatitative and qualitative case study to investigate the cullural dimension of IOV-COT im the APAs and VPAs A qualilative method

with inductive approach is appropriate to address the investigated issue for two

reasons First, the object of analysis is text from print advertising, this kind of

wrilten Lex is clear for the researcher to observe and describe data throughout the xesearch Denzin and Lincoln (1994) disclosed that qualitative method is a

common approach to address issues, and it has gotten favor of most of linguists when choosing the linguistic rescarch method, In order to investigate the linguistic manifestation of IDV and COL in the advertising, some basic linguistic aspects will

‘be examined through qualitative method such as grammatical structures, vocabulary,

and textual factors Second, qualitative research, on the other hand, uses the

inductive approach that seeks to trace general principles, theories or truth from the

data (Muharttoyo, 2007) Meanwhile, this research also takes the first step in

examining ihe Hnguistic demoustrations im print advertising wilh regard to the cultural dimensions of IDV and COL, after that some certain conclusions could be given Tn Ihtis study, the case is 43 VPAs and 43 APAs, and the boundaries of the case are ther IDV and COL ernbedded in linguistic features

3.2 Data and procedure

In order to compare the depiction of IDV- COL in American and Vietnamese advertising, samples of national print advertisements from newspapers and magazines in each country were randomly collected between 1° March 2018 and

25 May 2019 The Forbes, The Economist and The Women’s Health were selected

for the Amencau sample, Forbes Vidi Nam, Then bao kar tế Việt Nam and báo Phụ

18

nit were sclocted for the Vietnamese sample, These newspapers and magazines can

be considered to be main streams of information in both countnes After sorting all commercial advertisements oul and leaving oul non-commercial adverlisings, a total

of 86 magazine and newspaper advertisements were drawn with 43 advertisements from each country

A four-phase study was planned for the investigation In order to examine the data correctly and drive the study on track, it is of paramount importance to deeply

understand the core notions such as IDV, COL, print advertising Therefore, al the

first phase, all these concepts are reviewed based on the previous studies At the second stage of the study, an attempt is to be made to create an appropriate

theore! tramework according Lo the aliributes of TV, COL, functions and

components of print advertising In the third step, 1 make a close observation of the

advertising texts, and apply descriptive method to explore linguistic features reflecting IDV and COL from collected dala im agreement with the theoretical

framework ‘hen collected data are analyzed honestly by the author Finally, after

collecting and analyzing the dala, conclusions, limilations and some implications

for further study will be indicated

3.3 Analytical framework

As was pointed out in chapter two, according to the attributes of IDV/ COL, pnnt advertising’s functions and characleristies, T decided to conduct this research with linguistics-bascd analytical framework which includes the following 3 domains: Kirst person pronoun use, communication styles and face & facework,

3.3.1 First persian pronoun use

Language is often described as the mirror of culture, in international business, language is important for information gathering and evaluation ‘The culture- language relationship can be looked at in twa ways: language influences culture,

and language is an expression of outlure The First perspective shows that Ihe

19

worldview of people depends on the structure of language they speak and its characteristics ‘I'he second one indicates that language reflects culture Which language a person spoaks is part of ihe eullure which he or she grew up in, and the language reflects all manifestations of culture, expressions and values ‘These values cannot be easily translated because words expressing values have abstract meanings

Words musi be seen as labels of values The present research focuses on the rate at

which first person pronouns used in texts of print advertising and its manifestation

of IDV & COL Several researchers have found that the use of first person singular

pronoun (“1”) wilhin a parlicular language manifests ihe independent or

individualistic self, meanwhile the use of the first person plural pronoun (“We”) represents the interdependent or collectivist self (0g., Brewer & Gardner, 1996;

Gardner, Gabriel, & T.ce, 199; Na & Choi, 2009), Tn this research, T will court! the

presence of first person singular pronouns (1, my) and first personal plural pronouns

(we, our) in each country’s advertisements, so that the level of IDV and COL will

be roprosented respectively

3.3.2 Communication styles

According to Norton (1978), “the way one verbally and paraverbally interacts to signal how Jiteral meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or understood” pertains to different communication styles (p 99), More specifically, in 2011

‘Martin and Nakayama examined the communication style with regard to several features of communication process, they started the sludy with analyzing high- and low-context styles Aftor that, they investigated dircet/ indirect styles, claborate/ exact/ succinct styles, personal/ contextual styles, and instrumental/affective styles The construcls of TDV vs COT lead to the difforenees between communication

styles (Ting-[oomey, 1999, Triandis, 1995) øs follows: (Nguyễn hỏa, 2019)

Table 2: Differences between individualistic communication styles & callectivistic

Comecting the above communication slyles with the purposes and characteristics

of print advertisements, low- high context, direct-indirect, self-cnhancement versus

self- effacement are identified numerous differences in communication styles from

culture to culture

3.3.2.1 High and low context communication

One of the primary differences between cultures has been the concept of high- and low-context cultures, proposed by Edward.T Hall He says, ‘‘I have observed that racaning and context are inextricably bound up with each other”? (Hall, 2000: 36)

He also recommends that the meaning, context and the code (the words themselves) should be considered all together when communicating in order to deeply

understand communication

Ilall explains high context and low context in the following way: “A high context communication or message is onc in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message A low context communication is just the opposite (i.e., the mass of the communication

is vested in the explicit code).” (Hall & Hall, 1990, p.6) It can be understood that the notion of high and low context served as a means of realizing various cultural

tendencies Hall maintains that although ail cultures contain some characteristics of

bolht high and low variablos, most can be placed along a seale showing their ranking

on this particular dimension.

Cultures that have extensive information networks among family, friends, colleagues and clients and who are involved in close personal relationships are

high-vontext cultures, while low-conlexL people compartmentalize their personal

relationships, their work, and many aspects of day-to-day life, consequeutly, each time they interact with others they need detailed background information

(Hall&Hall 1990 p.7) Take Vietnam and the United States for example, Tn bigh-

context cultures such as Vietnam, people do not require or expect much in-depth, backpround information, they tend to be more aware of their surroundings and their

envirorment, and do not rely very much on verbal commmicalion as their maim

information source The context of the message is well understood by both sender and receiver This is because they keep themselves informed about everything

which Has to do with people whe are important in their hyes The meaning is not

necessarily contained in words In high-context cultures, information is provided

through gestures, the use of space, and even silence Meaning is also conveyed

through slatus (age, sex, education, family background, lille, and affiliations) Tr Vietnam, communication between people is to a large extent dependent on the

context, iLis unnecessary to verbalize everything On the other land, in low-contexL cultures such as America, people tend to compartmentalize interpersonal contacts,

‘The Halls (1990) say this lack of a large pool of common experiences means that

“cach lame they interact with others, they need detailed background information.” Tr

low-comtext cultures, most of the information are contained in the verbal message,

and very little is embedded in the context or within the participants In America,

people are more prone to making very explicit statement and have little capability

wilh nonverbal forms of expression

After that, im 2000, Hall slated that there might be no culture only belonging to one pole of the context construct ( only IDV or only COL), and features of both high- and low-context communication are embedded in most cultures in different contexts, or even within the seme contextual situation Consequently, wilh the aim

of exploring level of IDV and COL in American and Vietnamese advertising

through low versus high context communication, I will focus on cxplioit and implicit meanings in both countries’ print advertisements With conventional wisdom, explicit messages involve TDV, on the contrary, implicit mossages involve COL A few characteristics have been identified as typical high or low context attributes when examining advertising content These can be used when conducting

research within the subject, Marieke de Mooy (2005) has presented a framework [or

categorizing high and low context advertisements Low context advertisements

contain mare factual information about the product, often accompanied by a visual

ypresentalion or explanation of facls about the producl or brand, called product

messages ‘he message often includes product name, company, brand logo, ingredients, price, availability, discounts/ reward, contacts and news about ihe product The message needs to be clear, unambiguous, direct and denolative By contrast, high context commercials include implicit messages whose meanings

should be identified in certain context and metonymy’s messages (De Mooij, 2005) 3.3.2.2 Direct and indirect communication styles

One of the most unportant and most studied distinctions between collectivistic

and individualistic cultures is the indirect/direct dichotomy Simply put, direct

communication refers to that much of the message is stated directly rather than

implied Direct communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected Contrarily, in indirect communication,

much can be assumed and inferred People communicate in subtle, imdirecl ways

that arc often missed by people from direct cultures As often is the casc, indirect communication is closely related to high-context cultures and direct communication

1o low-conlext cullures

There are many researches highlight how individualists prefer direct

communication while colleciivists prefer indiree! communication From Hofstede’s

view of point, people from collectivistic cultures favor indirect communication style,

on the contrary, Gudykunst (1996) states that individualists favor direct

23

conunwnication partly becausc thoy can assert contvol ovor their relationships As mentioned above, print advertisements are written documents that are regarded as racans of commurigation between advertised products? sellers and customers Searle states that all linguistic communication involves linguistic (speech) aets In other words, speech acts are the basic or minimal units of linguistic communication

So thal when investigating the cultural values of TDV and COT in terms of direel and indirect styles, ! will focus on analyzing directness and indirectness of speech

acts used for motivating customers to buy products (requesting, promise, inviting,

offering and suggesting acls) it advertising lext

3.3.2.3 Seif-contrual: self-enhancement & self-ettacement

Markus and Kitayama (1991) frame self-construals as what people “believe about

the relationship between the self and others, and, especially, the degree lo which

they soc themselves as separate from othors and as connected with others” (p 226)

‘The view of self as connected to others is an interdependent self-construal, while a belief in a self-separate and distinct from others is an independent self-construal Kim, Aune, Kim, and Watanabe (1999) argue that self-construals are a mediating

process between culture and communication behavior

Tl was predicated thai independent sell’ and inlerdependent self would differently affect the evaluation of self-enhancing, presentation and self-effacing presentation

Markus and Kitayama (1991) proposed that two types of sel[-construals,

independent-sclf and ¡nterdependem-solf, are dominantly developed im individualistic culture and collectivistic culture, respectively People with

independent-sel tend to view themselves as separate from others and self-sufficient

Because the norm for independent self is to achieve uniqueness and self- actualization, people with independent-self strive to know themselves and to express their own unique strengths Both seli-enhancemenl ad self-e[Tacement serve to maintain a positive self-image, and they are often used as communication

strategies in interpersonal relations

Miller otal (1992) proposed that three types of sclf-presentation messages arc especially often used by individuals to enhance the self in communication ‘'hey include bragging, and positive und negative presentations People who use bragging presentations often use superlatives like ‘best’ versus ‘good’, compare themselves with others, show less surprise on their accomplishment, and attribute success to hard work less People who use bragging presentations also often exaggerale that they are outstanding individuals and they deserved their outcomes People using positive presentations use expressions that imply their achievements, but they typically emphasize their own efforts than ability, slzess their responsibilities of the job, and attribute the success to others’ help In contrast, those who use negative presentations typically emphasize their lack of ability or talents and express a

focling of cmbarrassment ahoul a particular performance

According to Ting- Toomey (1991), in the self-enhancement style, it is important

lo draw allention lo or exaggerate oue's credentials, outstanding accomplishments,

and special abilities In the self-humbling style, it is important to downplay oneself

via modest talk, restraint, hesitation, and self-deprecation concerning one's

perfonnance or effort, Individualistic culture such as the U.S may cncourage its

members to be loud and proud, to sell themselves and boast about their achievements Collectivistic culture like Vietnam, however, seems to be not

comfortable with the idea of selhng onesell

3.3.3 Face and Facework,

Face is a social construct to describe the public image of one's self that results from the conmnunicative slralegios used to cereale, maintain, or challenge such an image Brown and Levinson’s (1987) identify two types of face that people try to maintain in interaction Negative face deals with the desire for autonomy: not to be imposed on by others Posilive (ace encompasses the desire to be aucepted and have what one wants approved by others Lim and Bowers (1991) expanded on the idea

of positive Eaco, proposing that thore are two distinct positive face wants: the desire

to be included (fellowship face) and the desire to be respected (competence face)

Facework is broadly defined as the actions taken to deal with the face-wants of one or another It involves the enactment of verbal and nonverbal moves, self- presentation acts, impression management interaction and face strategies which can

be used to diffuse, manage, enhance, or downgrade self or others face It concems a set of communicative behaviors that people use to regulate their social dignity and

to support or challenge the olher’s sovial dignity (Ting-Toomey, 1994) Fase work

theory provides a means of understanding the context of interaction and the ways in

which advertisers choose speech pattems based on perceptions efface needs, face

throats, and comtexiual features of power, culture, and social distance Models of

face work as face concern, politeness are presented to Jluminate how IDV and COL

are expressed

3.3.3.1 Self-face & Other-face concern

Kace-negotuation theory emphasizes three face concerns Self-face is the concern for one’s own image, other-face is the concern for another’s image, and mutual-face

is concern for both parties’ images and/or the “image” of the relationship (Ting-

Toomey & Kurogi, 1998) Oetzel ct al.(2003) found that the independent scli-

construal correlated positively with self-face and interdependent self-construal positively correlated with other-fave Language and cultural values are inextricably linked According to Kashima and Kashima 1998, Proncun-drop is a linguistic phenomenon in which person deixis, the pronouns that index writer and reader such

as ‘T/ WR? and ‘you’, are omitted ini verbal commurrication wilhoul inlerrupting the

flow of interaction Kashima and Kashima (1998, 2005) predicted that the linguistic practice of pronoun-drop should be linked to the cultural practice of discouraging

the speakers from highlighling and emphasizing oneself as a prominent [igure

against the contextual background (including the listener) Accordingly, Kashima and Kashima (1998, 2005) reasoned that the writers of pronoun-drop language

26

would be oriented towards COL, while the speakers of non-pronoun-drop language would be oriented towards LV (ie., scoring high on Hofstede IDV scale)

Based on the theory of self-face concem vs other- face concern and pronoun dropping, writing style of advertisers will express their intention of more

conceming either themselves or readers via the way they use writer- oriented style

(with LAMe approach) or reader-oriented style (with You approach) ‘I'he present research focuses on a grammatical feature of language and face concem

Specifically, iL is suggested that the rate al which particular personal pronouns (7,

We, You) are used in a language and levels of face concer are rated,

3.3.3.2 Negative and positive politeness strategies

Naturally, business communication is very persuasive One important element of persuasive language is the cmployment of politeness strategics that arc in line with the need of market People who encounter polite linguistic elements which display

respect or consideration for others are more willing to pay attention to that polite

language ‘Therefore, since it is of critical importance for advertisers to attract

readers” attention and to maintain social and emotional relationships with their

customers they are expected to employ politeness strategies with much care in their adverliscments

Lakoff (1975) holds the view that politeness has been developed Lo reduce Erietion

in communication, and Hill, Ide, Ikuta, Kawasaki, and Ogino (1986, p 349) define

it as “one of the constraints on human interaction, whose purpose is to consider others’ feelings, eslablish levels of mutual comfort, and promote rapport” Ta everyday interaction, a large extent of polite strategies is exchanged among people

in order to maintain effective communication The crucial point in every interaction thon can be studied by the amount and type of politeness strategios used by writers and readers in order to construct appropriate interpersonal relationships (Woods, 2006)

tạ

In their theory which is widely known as the most comprehensive and influential model in pragmatic politeness, Brown and Levinson (1987) believed to base their

li

notion of 0” ơn that of Goffman (1955) For them, the two types of desires

which are attributed by one interactant to the other, that is, “the desire to be

cunimpeded in one’s actions (negative face) and the desire to be approved of (positive face)” are the components which mainly compose the notion of Lace (cited

in Johnstone, 2008, p.146) According Brown and Levinson (1987: 60), writers

‘want to maintain each other's face in interaction lowever, sometimes the writer is forced to make ‘face-threatening-acts (Acts that threal someone’s face) in order Lo

get what he/she wants liven though face-threatening-acts cannot be sometimes

avoided, there are certain strategies to minimize the threat Brown and Levinson list

five options a speaker can choose from im case ø [acc Hưealening sot should be

performed: each strategy requiring a different amount of face saving effort

Figure 2: Brown and Levinson’s (1987: 60) model for politeness strategies

Lesser

Estimation 7771 Without vedressive action, baldly

` negative 4.0ff record

5, Don't do the FTA

Greate

The risk of face loss grows the further down from politeness strategy 1 to 5

First, Bald- on record: Direct speech acts contain the imperative without any

miligating devices, follow Grice’s Maxims of Cooperation, are relevant, brie!’ and

BB

avoid ambiguity and do not communicate more than is required and thus no concern for face wants is expressed When urgency or efficiency is necessary, a face- threatening act can also be done without redross Second, positive politeness: Brown and Levinson (1987) list 15 positive politeness strategies With first eight of the strategies, the writer claims common ground, “indicating that writer and reader belong to the same sel of persons who share specific wants, including goals and values” (p 103) ‘Ihe latter strategies are used to convey that speaker and hearer are co-operators and have the same goals Consequently, if speaker requires something

from the hearer, he cant use the strategies 1o hint thal by ailending to the speaker, the

bearer is acting in his own interest as well ‘{hird, in terms of negative politeness, Brown and Levinson list following tO strategies that make use of negative politeness Fourth, offrccord siralcgy is applied by giving hinls, providing contradiction, irony, metaphor, understate or overstate, and also providing

ambiguity, vagueness, overgeneralization and ellipsis Moreover writers choose

avoidance strategy to avoid doing face (hreatening acts In Brown and Lovinison's opinion, negative politeness is considered more polite and formal than positive

politeness

3.4, Summary

As mentioned before, qualitative case study method was chosen to explore IDV

& COL between APAs and VPAs The data collection and procedure were

presented in detail, Finally, analytical framework of this study involves three

domains namely first person pronoun use, communication styles, and face & facework In the next chapter, the study’s findings and discussion will be

represented.