Bước đầu nghiên cứu đối chiếu văn hóa Mỹ-Việt thông qua các cuộc đối thoại hàng ngày

This study was carried out with the theoretical background of Contrastive Analysis, Conversation Analysis and viewpoints on Language-Culture relationship as frameworks in order to invest

Bước đầu nghiên cứu đối chiếu văn hóa Mỹ-Việt thông qua các cuộc đối thoại hàng ngày

Nguyễn Thị Hoàng My

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS Trần Xuân Điệp

Năm bảo vệ: 2012

Abstract: Mastering a new language does not only consist of the ability to master its

system of forms, linguistic but also the competence to understand the way that language used in certain contexts, compared to the mother tongue Besides the distinctions of phonology, syntax, and lexicon systems, languages differ from one another because of the drive of culture Since communication is meaning-based, conventional, appropriate, and interactional and structured (Richards, 1983:242), speakers of a foreign language must take into account the importance of knowing and understanding the culture if they wish to communicate successfully in the target language without breakdowns or unwanted hostility in cross-cultural interactions This study was carried out with the theoretical background of Contrastive Analysis, Conversation Analysis and viewpoints

on Language-Culture relationship as frameworks in order to investigate the similarities and differences between the U.S and Vietnamese cultures through everyday conversations

Keywords: Ngôn ngữ; Tiếng Anh; Ngôn ngữ đối chiếu; Hội thoại

Content

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

The study on everyday conversations, specifically the topic of friendship, made by American and

Vietnamese students, has been selected to investigate as it was one of the great interests to the researcher and of great help to language insiders and outsiders Thereupon, a contrastive analysis

of the ways American and Vietnamese deal with disparate cases is regarded practical, necessary and worthy for a mutual understanding

2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study was aimed at pointing out the answers for the two questions:

(1) What are the similarities between American culture and Vietnamese culture reflected through the topic “Friendship” in daily conversations?

(2) What are the differences between American culture and Vietnamese culture reflected through the topic “Friendship” in daily conversations?

3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study was aimed at promoting communicative competence through everyday conversations between the U.S and Vietnamese cultures Thereupon, the main objective of this study was to analyze and reflect the similarities as well as differences between the two targeted cultures

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Due to the constraint of time and personal ability, the writer had no ambition for covering a wide

range of everyday conversations; instead, some featured situations related to Friendship were

chosen to take into consideration This study was intended to discover how university students of American and Vietnamese cultures reacted to the same circumstances The database of this study consisted of elicited written questionnaires and audio-tapes of natural conversations

5 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The study has been carried out based on a combination of different methods of quant itative and qualitative approach which are as follows:

- Document;

- Synthesize;

- Analyze and contrast

6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The study is comprised of three parts:

Part I, “Introduction”, includes the rationale, objectives of the study, research questions, research

methods, the scope and the design of the study

Part II, “Development”, consists three chapters:

- Chapter 1 – Theoretical background - presents the preliminary knowledge of some basic

theories and a review of related literature to the study

- Chapter 2 - Methodology - describes the research method, data collection instruments,

and detailed information about the research procedures

- Chapter 3 - Findings and Discussions - analyzes the initial data collected and interviews Part III, “Conclusion”, a recapitulation of the research including the theoretical frameworks,

methodology and major findings, together with the limitations and suggestions for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 A brief overview on Contrastive Analysis

1.1.1 Definition

The term „Contrastive Linguistics‟ was first suggested by Whorf (1941), meaning of „a

comparative study which emphasizes on linguistic differences‟ However, not until the

publication of „Linguistics Across Cultures‟ by Lado, R (1957) was the in-depth excavation into

this field commenced

As Fisiak (1981:1)‟s redefinition, CA is „a sub discipline of linguistics concerned with the

comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities between them.‟

Robert Lado (1957) noted: „Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the

distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture- both productively and when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and culture as practiced by natives.‟

1.1.2 Macro-linguistic Contrastive Analysis

Macro-linguistic CA is a formal description of how people communicate, including cultural and behavioral features associated with languages based on the interrelationships

Macrolinguistics in CA can be characterized by (James, C 1980:98):

(i) A concern for communicative competence rather than linguistic competence (ii) An attempt to describe linguistic events within their extra-linguistic settings (iii) The search for units of linguistic organization larger than the single sentence

Also, James, C (1980:101) paraphrased six variables first mentioned by Hymes (1974) into „who

says what to whom, where and when, how and why.‟

1.2 An brief overview on Conversation Analysis

1.2.1 Conversation

According to C Goodwin and Heritage (1990:283), social interaction was elucidated as „the

primordial means through which the business of the social world is transacted, the identities of its participants are affirmed or denied, and its cultures are transmitted, renewed and modified.‟

1.2.2 Conversation Analysis

„Conversation Analysis‟ is seen as a unique way of analyzing language and social interaction

Conversation analytic approach has become most influential for its contributions to provide deep

insights that can unravel many linguistic problems (Levinson 1983: 364) In order to provide real-life data from different subjects, audio taping technologies have been employed to record naturally occurring actions in real-world settings, combined with direct observation and notes by researchers

1.3 Language and Culture

1.3.1 What is ‘language’?

Kramsch, C (2004) defined language as „the principal means whereby we conduct our social group‟ Another view from Sapir (1921) was that „language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols.‟

Fulfilling many other tasks, language was denoted with three major functions as stated by Krech (1962) Firstly, language plays a role of the primary vehicle of communication, such as expressing thoughts, greeting, conducting religious services and so on Secondly, it reflects the personality of an individual and his cultural properties and also forms the shape of personality and culture in return Last but not least, language enables the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group

1.3.2 What is ‘culture’?

Tylor, E (1871) first gave the definition of culture which has been widely quoted: „Culture… is

that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.‟

Goodenough proposed that „A society‟s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or

believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they can accept for any of themselves‟ (as cited in Wardhaugh, 1992:216)

From Banks‟s point of view (1988:126), it was „a cluster of attributes such as values, beliefs,

behavior patterns and symbols unique to a particular human group.‟

It is Nguyen, Q (1998) who defined the term „culture‟ was “a shared background resulting from

a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values.‟ In other

words, culture is the heritage from generation to generation

1.3.3 The relationship between language and culture

Language is employed to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties It is such a definite assertion that language is one part of culture and under the impact of culture That is not to mention about the fact that language is influenced, shaped by culture and reflects culture Without language, culture would not be possible The understanding of a culture and its people

can be enhanced by the knowledge of their language Different languages will create different limitations; therefore, a person who shares a culture but speaks different languages, will have different world views

1.4 An overview on Friendship

1.4.1 Definition

Friendship is of the voluntary relationship which includes the practices of starting up, sustaining and ruining, together with the expectations that friends have for each other Linguistically speaking, in the attempt to translate the original word into our own mother tongue, we encounter

an enormous problem: there are a huge number of corresponding connotations That leads to a way to uncover cultural differences: review the philological roots of those verbal equivalents and trace their implications

1.4.2 Types of friendships

In the old Greeks‟ time, the great philosopher Aristotle initiated the very first classification of

friendships in his book Nicomachean Ethics

- Friendship of utility: This kind of friendship based on the usefulness that people see in

each other that they think they can take advantage of

- Friendship of pleasure: The name suggests the key factor for the existence of

friendship: pleasure It depends on the amount of pleasure, informally „fun‟, that the involvers get from the relationship In other words, they enjoy each other‟s companionship

- Friendship of the good: also known as Friendship of Virtue This friendship is based

on the respect and admiration that the participants have for each other

At present, the concept of „friendship‟ can vary across a different, new scale Wikipedia, for example, provides the following levels of friendships:

- Acquaintance: not a true friend; sharing of emotional ties is absent Normally,

acquaintances are the ones we see once in a while after a long time

- Best friend (or close friend): The kind of friendship owns the strongest ties between

the participants

- Bromance: A mixed term of „brother‟ and „romance‟ is newly established to denote the

close relationship (non-sexual) between men

- Casual relationship: Two people sticking together for the purpose of sexual or

near-sexual affinity, not for the demand of sharing a formal relationship

- Comrade: A very common term in military service or political connotation.

- Internet relationship: A form of friendship or romance which takes place over the

Internet These friendships are also based on the thought that they may never meet in real life, they know each other for who they are, instead of the mask they may use in real life

- Open relationship a relationship, usually between two people, that agree each partner

is free to have sexual intercourse with others outside the relationship

- Pen pal: People who have a relationship via postal correspondence They may or may

not have met each other in person and may share either love, friendship, or simply an association between each other

1.4.3 Friendship in the U.S culture

A study done by Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and Matthew E Brashears (American Sociological Review, 2006) suggested that American society was believed to be witnessing a significant reduction in the quantity and quality of close friendships

Diep, T.X (US and Vietnamese cultures in contrast through everyday conversations, 2009)

pointed out some features of American people towards making friends

- Firstly, Americans respect other people‟s privacy and hope those people do the same thing for them They hesitate to make questions that may invade others‟ personal issues Nevertheless, once they can get rid of their reluctance and understand each other thoroughly, they will certainly become best friends and cherish their friendship

- Secondly, Americans are often quite initiative in striking up a conversation with strangers, which creates an intimate atmosphere They are prone to keep the conversations at savoir-vivre level with topics on traffic, weather or news on public media

- Thirdly, in spite of being open in starting a talk-in-interaction, Americans are rather critical towards the politeness

- Fourthly, despite being widely known for their sociality and friendly appearance, American people only consider their relationships as a circle of acquaintances

1.4.4 Friendship in Vietnamese culture

Diep, T.X (2009) also asserted that Vietnamese people easily open their heart to other people as soon as they can overcome their reservation and find the interlocutor trustworthy In spite of the fact that there may not many clearly-stated taboo topics for conversations, the Vietnamese people are usually careful about the choice of conversation contents Moreover, in contrary to the U.S

culture, in Vietnamese culture, it may be easier for two Vietnamese people to become close even

if they only share a few interests or characteristics in common

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

Research approach

The study was based on a mixed model paradigm It was because the paradigm owned appropriate nature and characteristics for the research topic, questions and context Therefore, the employment of both the two research methods in this sort of study has proved to uphold validity and reliability of the findings

2.1 Data collection instruments

2.1.1 Survey questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed with four real-life situations with suggested solutions The purposes of the survey questionnaire are 1) to explore how American and Vietnamese people with the different cultures react to the same situations, 2) to compare the data collected from audio tape to enhance the reliability of the study

2.1.2 Audio taping

Audio taping of naturally occurring talks is the main instrument in the process of data collection

as the study emphasized on interactive conversations The purpose of these tapes is to re-confirm the results obtained from the survey questionnaire

2.2 Participants

Apart from the direct informants, since the study was intended to investigate two cultures, the writer called for the help from six assistants (two in two disparate states of the U.S: Georgia and Indiana, and four in Hanoi) Assistants in the U.S included one Vietnamese student studying in Wesleyan College (Macon, Georgia) and the other in Wabash College (Crawfordville, Indiana) Assistants in Hanoi were four students enrolling in two universities: National Economics University and Thang Long University

2.2.1 Survey questionnaire

Copies of the survey questionnaire were delivered to 80 informants: 40 American and 40 Vietnamese college students whose age ranged from 17 to 25 All informants in the U.S were native American, and in Hanoi were native Vietnamese American informants from different departments selected were joining same classes with the writer‟s assistants Meanwhile, Vietnamese informants were students from two different universities; 20 of whom also were attending same classes with each of the writer‟s assistants

2.2.2 Audio taping

Among 80 informants, the six assistants observed and randomly recorded their natural conversations in real-life on four mentioned situations Each assistant in the U.S was in charge of recording two situations; each assistant in Hanoi took care of one situation

2.3 The procedure of data collection and analysis

2.3.1 Survey questionnaire

In the U.S, due to the strict school regulations, in both colleges, an online version of the survey questionnaire was sent via a mass email to the selected informants After getting replies from informants, assistants were to work out the numbers of answers for every question, then sent via email to the writer

In Hanoi, a hardcopy of the questionnaire was given to informants during their recess by their classmates (assistants) Next, the four assistants collected the answered questionnaire papers and did the same work as the U.S assistants Lastly, they sent the calculation via email to the writer

2.3.2 Audio tapes

The data were collected from mundane talk occurring in natural settings in 2012, in Georgia and Indiana (the U.S) and in Hanoi (Vietnam) In the U.S, the assistants decided the situations of which they were in charge of recording corresponding real-life conversations Each situation was observed and recorded without the notice of the informants In Hanoi, the assistants took care of their own recordings of assigned situation in which the recordings were also unknown

The collected audio tapes, then, were sent to the writer to transcribe analyze However, due to the spontaneousness in occurring of the talks and time constraint, each assistant could only tape one conversation for one situation That made, in total, two recordings for each case, one in English language and one in Vietnamese language

The English corpus consisted of four tapes, all of which were recorded in the U.S (including Georgia and Indiana) All informants were native speakers of English from North America and studying as undergraduates These data were claimed to come from actual interactions between native speakers of English in natural everyday settings Generally, they were transcribed on the basis of the conventions used in conversation analysis This, according to Psathas (1995: 45),

was appropriate and allowable in conversation analysis, as „Data may be obtained from any

available source, the only requirement being that these should be naturally occurring, rather than produced for the purpose of study.‟ By and large, the data could be assumed to consist of

naturally occurring interactions, and were very much similar to those happen in everyday exchanges between native speakers

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Data analysis of the survey questionnaire

3.1.1 Question 1

What would you do if your neighbor turns the music so loud at night that you cannot sleep?

A Complain directly to the neighbor or shout out towards the neighbor‟s house

B Ignore the noise and find ways to get back to sleep

C Phone and make a request that the neighbor turn down the volume; or call for the landlord‟s help; or the police

D Others (please specify): ………

Table 1 Answers for question1 of Vietnamese students and American students

As can be seen clearly, for most Vietnamese students, the first option was of the best choice (24 over 40 informants) Meanwhile, American students had a different thought of this question, shown in the number of whom choosing option C (26 students), twice as many as Vietnamese (10 students)

3.1.2 Question 2

You are invited to drink something you do not like You have refused several times but the inviter insists that “It is a popular drink here and everybody is enjoying it.” What would you do?

A Re-confirm your refusal until the inviter quits

B Agree to take the drink but not try it

C Take the drink and try it

D Others (please specify): ………

Table 2 Answers for question 2 of Vietnamese students and American students

The above result shows that for the second question, there were striking differences in the number of students choosing option A and C between the two nationalities 30 out of 40 American were consistent with their refusal of not to drink the thing they did not like (option A) Meanwhile, the similar number of Vietnamese informants selected C which was to be compliant with the offer: take the drink and try it eventually