Language in Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories is feminine rich,suitable to reproduce the spiritual, emotional life of female characters.Studying the characters’ interior monologue in thei
Trang 11 Rationale
1.1 Utterance is a premise-meaning concept, the central object of pragmatics.
And pragmatics, instead of studying language in the static form, with the rigid,invariant rules and structures, focus on how language used for communication,and consider the relationship between utterances and their context, betweenutterances and their users This approach allows pragmatics to recognizepatterns, functional principles and language’s variety
1.2 In communication, utterances are organized in two types: dialogue and
interior monologue Dialogue always shows the interactive relationshipbetween the speaker and the direct listener, their visual presence during theprocess of communication Therefore, it is the important resource forpragmatics to find out the functional principles and the operatingcharacteristics of the language In communicatin, interior monologue oftenoccurs implicitly, is directed not to anybody ouside except the subject ofinterior monologue It is an exchange, that the speaker uses to communicate tohimself - a special audience That is why study of interior monologue from theconversation theory is almost vacated
1.3 Interior monologue exists quite common in the actual use of language to
communicate, but it is present obviously and particularly only in dramas,novels, short stories Interior monologue reproduced in dramas, novels, shortstories… obviously can not ensure the absolute impartiality, and the origin ofthis form of word, but on a certain level, the writers must always respect thecharacteristics of nature, the arise principles and its functions So, when theconditions to materialize the interior monologue are not enough in real life,interior monologue in the artworks is a reliable source for the study of it can
Trang 2achieve the initial basic results To study this form word in literary works isalso to study the methods of organizing language of the writers, to contribute
to forming the language style of the author
1.4 After 1975, Vietnamese literature stepped to a new period of
development, with the powerful conversion of ideas and creation methods.The writings focused on the lives of individuals and war consequences inpeacetime In this innovation, short stories is the genre that has gained themost achievements
Nguyen Minh Chau is one of the pioneering writers of literary innovationprocess His short stories, right from the early '80s (20th century), haverevealed clearly the desire to explore the inner life of people in the new age,especially soldiers returning after the war The character’s interior monologue
is a means of language that he used very effectively to reflect this true scope,contributed to the unique style of the author
In comparison with Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep and NguyenThi Thu Hue are the writers of the next generation In the ‘90s (20th century),they are two famous short stories authors Nguyen Huy Thiep’s short storieslanguage are very sharp, showing prominently in the dialogue of hischaracters Language in Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories is feminine rich,suitable to reproduce the spiritual, emotional life of female characters.Studying the characters’ interior monologue in their stories will allow thestudy of this form of speech becomes more comprehensive and morecomplete
From the theoretical and practical issues above, we have chosen the topic
"Study the characters’ interior monologue in short stories of Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Nguyen Thi Thu Hue”.
2 History of the study
Trang 32.1 The premise results of the study on the interior monologue (monologue intérieur)
Although monologue appeared very early (associated with the occurrence
of drama - a theatrical art form) but interior monologue began only to benoticed in the late 18th century and has really been focused on study from theearly 20th century The dissertation generalizes the results of interiormonologue study on two scopes: in Vietnam and abroad
2.1.1 The results of interior monologue study abroad
Foreign researchers focus to study the interior monologue on two issues:The first problem is to determine the existence status of interior monologue innovels and short stories We can generalize the study of this problem into twobasic trends: interior monologue as a technique, a method of the writer in theconstruction of works (Wiliam Flin Thrall & Mario Klarer’s point of view)and interior monologue as a form of speech, the characters use to performcommunication (VB Kasevich’s opinion)
The second problem is the determination of interior monologue, distinguish
it from the concept of consciousness stream Some authors identified thesetwo concepts, typically Motilova Tamara However, most of researcherssuggests that interior monologue and consciousness stream are two differentconcepts, although they have a close relationship
2.1.2 The results of interior monologue study in Vietnam
In Vietnam, specific studies on interior monologue have very limitedquantities However, authors such as: Dang Anh Dao, Nguyen Thai Hoa, TranDinh Su have some particular emphasis given to interior monologue whenthey refer to the innovation of stories metrics and modern novels Besidespointing out the role of interior monologue to the stories metrics, the authors
Trang 4monologue (Dang Anh Dao), speaker’s role, listener’s role and signs of nature
of actions in interior monologue (Nguyen Thai Hoa) etc
Many Vietnamese linguists have studied interior monologue as a form ofhuman speech Do Huu Chau said that the speech exchange process takesplace in interior monologue due to the dichotomy of personality: the listenerpersonality and speaker personality Studying the form of narration, Mai ThiHao Yen has paid attention to the types of language action appear in thenarration of interior monologue etc
The study results of previous authors on interior monologue are importantpremise suggestions for this dissertation However, the lack of study oninterior monologue as a specific subject, considering it as a form of humanspeech used to communicate makes the interior monologue can not reallyreveal all functional characteristics as well as its role as appearing in literature.Our dissertation was developed to initially solve these problems
3 Subjects of the study and sources of data
3.1 Subjects of the study
The dissertation surveys and studies the interior monologue which is donedirectly by characters in 94 short stories by Nguyen Minh Chau (NMC),Nguyen Huy Thiep (NHT) and Nguyen Thi Thu Hue (NTTH)
3.2 Sources of data
This study is implemented on the short stories by NMC, NHT, NTTH inthe stage of ’80s – ’90s in the 20th century
4 Aims of the study
This dissertation aims are:
- Identification and definetion of the interior monologue characters inNMC, NHT, NTTH short stories
Trang 5- Totalization and description of the speech acts in the interior monologue
of the character and the factors governing the choice of speech acts when thecharacter makes an interior monologue
- Description of the groups of interior monologue and indication of thefactors governing the semantics meaning of words
- Generalization of the salient features of interior monologue in the NMC,NHT, NTTH’s short stories, indication of the role of interior monologue in thetheory of conversation in general, the important role of interior monologue forthe representation of the basic aspects of a literary works such as: character,language style of writers, the work content and story metrics in particular
5 Methods of the study
The dissertation combines the following research methods:
- Statistics - classification - description
- Semantic meanings - activities analysis
- Analysis - generalisation
- Comparison
6 Contributions of the study
Conducting the dissertation Study the characters’ interior monologue in short stories of Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Nguyen Thi Thu Hue,
we determine the contribution of the dissertation on the following aspects: Firstly, the dissertation mainly focuses on a deep study of the interiormonologue in light of the theory of conversation and pragmatics, research it as
a form of speech which is used to communicate
Secondly, from the achieved results, the study will confirm some issues ofconversation theory (the role of the audience factor, the governing of outer-language factors to the use of language, the nature of the speech act ),
Trang 6such as cultural study, poetics, literary theory, sociology, psychology Thirdly, the important aspects of literary works such as: character,language style of authors, story metrics will be seen from the functionalcharacteristics of the interior monologue - a form of communication vialanguage.
The dissertation includes four chapters:
Chapter 1: Theoretical background
Chapter 2: Speech acts of the character’s interior monologue in Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep and Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories
Chapter 3: Semantic meanings of the interior monologue in Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep and Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories Chapter 4: Role of interior monologue in Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep and Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories
Trang 7Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Some concepts of conversation theory related to the interior monologue
Interior monologue is a form of organizing language into speech to makecommunication Therefore, the interior monologue still has close relationshipwith the basic concepts of the theory of conversation The analysis ofconcepts: conversation, utterance turn, contextual communication, speakerrole and listener role create the theoretical premise to clarify the functionalcharacteristics of interior monologue
1.2 Interior monologue in short stories
1.2.1 Monologue, interior monologue, and stream of consciousness
1.2.1.1 The concept of monologue
The dissertation distinguishes two interpretations of monologue: theatricalmonologue - speech of the characters on stage (mostly drama), not directlytowards the other speaker to get answers and understanding monologue in abroad sense - all the statements and documents by the author (the speaker andthe writer) present continuously, full content of them that do not directly (orvery little) receive feedback from the receiver In two interpretations here,theatrical monologue has a close relationship with interior monologue
1.2.1.2 The concept of interior monologue (monologue intérieur)
After presenting the typical definitions of interior monologue of the initialauthors, the dissertation offers a definition of interior monologue to work on:
Interior monologue is a form of speech which is used by speaker to communicate with oneself, do not directly toward the second hearer It usually takes place implicitly within the speaker’s inner feelings, reflect the
Trang 8thoughts, feelings, reactions of the speaker in a certain context, with a suitable syntactic structure.
1.2.1.3 Interior monologue and stream of consciousness
The distinction between interior monologue and stream of consciousness isexpressed mainly in three aspects: formal structure, contents and forms ofexpression
1.2.2 Characters’ interior monologue of and the author’s words
In interior monologue, character’s words could be "role-borrowed" by theauthor to express his thoughts, reviews, perceptions about life In the interiormonologue of the characters, we can notice the characteristics of the language,the tone of the writer However, at a certain level, the characters still existquite independently with the author as an individual, has a separate spirituallife, emotion, cognitive needs and characteristics Thus, despite of the author
"intrusion", interior monologue directly made by characters that is still thepersonal statements of character should be analyzed and investigated
1.2.3 Types of interior monologue of the characters in short stories
In short stories, interior monologue of the character exists in two forms:directly interior monologue and indirectly interior monologue Thedissertation focuses only on directly interior monologue
1.3 Criteria to identify the interior monologue of characters in Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories
The dissertation offers four criteria for determining the interior monologue
of characters in short stories by NMC, NHT, NTTH: formal criteria, structuralcriteria, contextual criteria and subjective criteria Based on this criteriasystem, we has identified 467 interior monologues of characters in 94 shortstories of three authors
1.4 Summary
Trang 9Determining that interior monologue is a form of speech what is used toperform communication, the dissertation has employed a number oftheoretical concepts of dialogue that are necessary to analyze and determinefunction of interior monologue in short stories: conversations, exchange,utterance turns, communication context, speaker role, listener role Thanks tothese concepts, the dissertation has identified and distinguished the limits of
an interior monologue turn (also called an interior monologue) and initiallyshowed some characteristics of this tacit form of speech on communicationaspect
The appearance of interior monologue and its content closely associateswith two concepts: monologue and approach of consciousness However,interior monologue is not an intermediate phenomenon between monologueand approach of consciousness The existence of interior monologue in shortstories has an independent position, plays an important role, has a popularnature when writers want to reflect the tacit emotions and awareness ofcharacters
In short stories, interior monologue is a form of speech that characters use
to communicate with himself So identifying interior monologue, thedissertation has based on a system of criteria mainly pertaining to theimportant concepts of the theory of conversation and pragmatics, such as form
of narration, vocative words, speech acts, context The fully meeting thesecriteria confirms the speech status of interior monologue
Above is the theoretical basis as the nature premise for us to develop thesecond, third and fourth chapter of the dissertation
Trang 10These are the actions done when uttering something, such as creating a promise, making a question, giving a name [quoted in 5, p.89] When giving a
monologue in a specific context, the character makes a speech act, in order toachieve a certain goal Their effectiveness is the effectiveness of the language,directly impact the subject of the monologue
2.2 Distinguish speech acts in dialogue and speech acts in monologue
Dialogue and interior monologue from the side of speech acts, has thedistinction on: the ability to express the nature of speech acts, the direction offit between words and world and effectivness of utterance, the role ofperformative verbs in the expression of specific action
2.2.1 Ability to express the essence of the speech act
In the dialogue, the nature of speech acts can be shown visually andclearly Responses, actions, attitude of the listener after receiving theexchange from the speaker are the most typical and particular manifestationsfor speech act types
Trang 11In the monologue, speakers use utterances to effect in themselves somechange of thoughts, emotions, actions However, this interaction occurs insidethe speakers, not visually, clearly as in dialogue.
2.2.2 Direction apply and effect of the speech acts
When using speech acts in the dialogue, direction of impact and effect ofutterances are given mainly towards the listeners Meanwhile, in the interiormonologue they are applied on the subject and effect the subjects’ (speakers’)perceptions, emotions, action-orientation of the
2.2.3 The role of performative verbs for the representation of speech acts
In dialogue, performative verbs have specific roles, such as: express thecorresponding illocutionary acts, emphasize the responsibility to implementthe illocutionary force of the speaker, express some speakers feelings,attitude…
In interior monologue, the performative verbs are rarely used in the internalstructure of the utterance but usually stand out in order to make the description
of the author to lead, signal the appearance of the monologue Also, they arenot able to emphasize the pragmatic nuances of the language as in dialogue
2.3 Criteria for determining speech acts in interior monologue
To determine speech acts of utterance in interior monologue, thedissertation has based on three criteria: performative verbs in utterances ininterior monologue, linguistic means of expressing the action and illocutionarypoint
From three criteria above, the illocutionary point is the most important fordetermining speech acts
2.4 Statistics, analyzing speech acts of interior monologue in Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Nguyen Thi Thu Hue short stories
Trang 122.4.1.1 Statistics results and appearance frequency of interior monologue
Survey process and identification of the interior monologue in the shortstories of the three authors show that the frequency of interior monologue isdifferent Specific results are shown in Table 2.1
Table 2.1: Appearance frequency of interior monologue
No Source Number of pages in
surveyed story
Total of interior monologue
Appearance frequency of interior monologue
NMC’s characters have the most introspective conversation with thefrequency of 0.358 times per page Characters in NTTH short stories need lessmonologue with the frequency of 0, 339 times per page NHT's charactermade fewest interior monologue number of uterances: 0.192 times per page
2.4.1.2 Statistics results of speech acts of interior monologue
Table 2.2 (see original text, p 75) has listed 40 types of speech acts ofutterances in interior monologue with specific data for each type of acts Three
common speech act groups are: cognitive action group (typically is ask, confirm); expressive action group (typically is insult) and causative action group (typically is ordered action) Speech act group which is uesed to
establish relations (greeting, asking, congratulating, introducing ) does notappear in the 467 utterances of surveyed interior monologues
Trang 132.4.2 Conditions for use of speech acts of interior monologue
Conditions for making speech acts of the dialogue and identifying them arealways realized in the conversational relationships between speakers andlisteners In interior monologue, conditions for making illocutionary acts aremainly carried out from the speakers
2.4.3 Conditions for use of typical speech acts of interior monologue in short stories by Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Nguyen Thi Thu Hue
Based on the number of occurrences of each type of acts, we focuse only
on analyzing the typical types of acts, which have the number of occurrences
of more than 10 times Accordingly, the typical speech acts are: asking,asserting, predicting, concluding, evaluating, insulting, negating, ordering,showing exclamation These actions are described in turn with the conditions:the speakers’ experience (cognitive experience and psychological experience),the content and effect to the speaker, attitude and the response of the speaker.The description of each type of speech acts shows the differences betweendialogue and interior monologue in performing specific speech acts
2.5 Factors governing the choice of speech act of the interior monologue
The typical speech acts in the interior monologue of character such asasking, asserting, evaluating are quite frequently used and accounted for alarge number in NMC, NHT and NTTH short stories Their appearance is notparticular, individual, and random but in a certain degree it has maxims andpopularity They are the speech acts that are capable of operating function inthe monologue field In other words, when using speech to communicateoneself, the characters/speakers choose just a little number of appropriatespeech acts under the control of some specific factors
Differently from dialogue, speech acts in utterancess of interior monologue