Use of Addressing Forms to Express Informality in English and Vietnamese

The objectives of the study are to investigate major similarities and differences in using addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese cultures, with some possible

in English and Vietnamese

Trịnh Thị Việt Hương

Trường Đại học KHXH&NV Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thúy Hương, M.A

Năm bảo vệ: 2011

Abstract: This research aims to study the addressing forms to express informality in

English and Vietnamese Address forms are the terms people use to address the person they are talking to Its use depends on the relationship and the relative status of individuals involved in conversation The objectives of the study are to investigate major similarities and differences in using addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese cultures, with some possible factors that affect the choice of addressing terms and suggest some implications for ELT about AFs between English and Vietnamese in order to help learners of English avoid misunderstandings and miscommunication

Keywords: Từ xưng hô; Giao tiếp; Tiếng Anh; Tiếng Việt

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives: 1

1.3 Research questions: 1

1.4 Research methodology: 2

1.5 Significance of the study: 2

1.6 Structure of the thesis : 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Culture, language and communication 4

2.2 Addressing forms 7

2.2.1 Addressing forms and their definitions 7

2.2.2 Features of addressing forms 8

2.2.3 Factors affecting the choice of addressing forms 9

2.3 The use of addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese 10

2.3.1 The concept of informality 10

2.3.2 The use of addressing forms to express informality in English 11

2.3.3 The use of addressing forms to express informality in Vietnamese 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14

3.1 Research questions revisited 14

3.2 Selection of participants 14

3.3 Data collection instruments 15

3.4 Data collection procedures 16

3.5 Data analysis 17

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSTIONS 18

4.1 Results of the study 18

4.1.1 Vietnamese responses 18

4.1.2 English responses 24

4.2 Discussion of the findings 31

4.3 Major similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English languages and culture in using AFs to express informality32 4.4 Implications for English language teaching ……… .… 35

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 37

5.1 Findings of the study revisited 37

5.2 Limitations of the study 38

REFERENCES………39

ABSTRACT

This research aims to study the addressing forms to express informality in English and Vietnamese Address forms are the terms people use to address the person they are talking to Its use depends on the relationship and the relative status of individuals involved in conversation The objectives of the study are to investigate major similarities and differences

in using addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese cultures, with some possible factors that affect the choice of addressing terms and suggest some implications for ELT about AFs between English and Vietnamese in order to help learners of English avoid misunderstandings and miscommunication

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the research

I have decided to undertake a study on Use of Addressing Forms to Express Informality in English and Vietnamese

2 Aims and objectives of the study

In brief, the study would seek to answer the following questions:

- What are the major similarities and differences in using addressing forms to express informality in English and Vietnamese?

- What are the factors that affect the choice of AFs in two cultures?

3 Methods of the study

In order to collect data for this study, a survey questionnaire is delivered to 50 respondents in total, 25 Vietnamese and 25 English native speakers Then, the results obtained from questionnaires discussed and some useful suggestions for teaching English languge were recommended

4 Signification of the study

The study is hoped to be a useful source for both pedagogical and research purpose Specifically, equipped by the outcomes of the study, language teachers and learners may find the subject matter no longer complicated but motivating uses of AFs to express informality in English so that English learners can understand deeply addressing forms and can be confident

in using addressing forms successfully

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter addresses a review of the literature related to culture, language and communication and addresssing forms

1 Culture, language and communication

2 Addressing forms

2.1 Addressing forms and their definitions

2.2 Features of addressing forms

2.3 Factors affecting the choice of addressing forms

3 The use of addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese

3.1 The concept of informality

3.2 The use of addressing forms to express informality in English

3.3 The use of addressing forms to express informality in Vietnamese

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter is devoted to presenting the methodology of the current research, including the research design, the participants, the data collection instruments and procedure, and data analysis

In the preceding chapter, the literature on the research topic was reviewed for the theoretical basis of the study In order to lay a practical background for the study, the research was carried out with strictly justified methods of data collection and analysis

The study was carried out in 4 months from May to September of 2011 among 50 respondents in total, 25 Vietnamese and 25 English native speakers

3.1 Research questions revisited

To clarify the use of addressing forms to express informality, the study raised specific questions below:

1 What are the major similarities and differences in using addressing terms to express informality in English and Vietnamese?

2 What are the factors that affect the choice of AFs in expressing informality in two cultures?

3.2 Selection of participants

The study was carried out with the participation of 50 respondents in total, 25 Vietnamese and 25 English native speakers respondents The informants were asked to give information about their age, and nationality (for English native speakers respondents) because these factors may affect their choice of addressing forms The information they supply is useful for the explanation of differences in the responses

3.3 Data collection instruments

In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating the possible addressing forms that express informality in two cultures, possible factors that affect the choice of addressing formss in two cultures, the frequency of addressing forms, the study used the methods of data collection: questionnaire (conducted in late June)

The questionnaires were made up of two parts: the respondents‟ background information and the questions

The respondent‟s background information: with two items for the Vietnamese version and three items for the English version (one more item of nationality) the main purpose of this part is to limit the research scope For example, the information given by the respondents with their responses would help the researcher to see if the gender has any impacts on the choice of AFs or not

The questionnaires:

In the first questionnaire:

- Q1: to seek information on possible AFs that the respondent use to express informality

- Q2: to provide respondents types of relations in which AFs are used

- Q3: to provide respondent the categories of settings that respondents use the AFs (based on the Q1)

In the second questionnaire:

- Q1: provides the respondents with a list of AFs with which AFs are used and categories of frequency that they used (based on results of the Questionnaire 1)

- Q2: the level influence of the factors on the choice of AFs

3.4 Data collection procedure

The procedure of data collection could be put into three stages as follows:

Stage 1: Designing questionnaires

 Piloted English & Vietnamese versions

 Edited the questions & designed the second version

Stage 2: Delivering questionnaire 1

 Distributed Vietnamese version (by the researcher)

 Sent English e-version by email & get back via internet

Stage 3: Designing and delivering questionnaire 2

 Questionnaire 2 was develop & distributed to two groups of respondents in the same manner

2.5 Data analysis

In this stage the researcher encoded the respondents‟ questionnaires then listed the study points: first point (1st P): possible AFs, 2nd P: categories of relations (based on the 1st P), 3rd P: categories of settings (based on the 1st P)

4th P: list of AFs and frequency that respondents used (base on the 1st P in the first questionnaire)

5th P: the factors affecting the choice of AFs

The Data collected were tabulated and calculated The results then were analyzed to find out the similarities and differences in using AFs to express informality between cultures

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, data was analyzed and discussed, the findings of the study are the answers for three research questions proposed in the introduction

Results from the questionnaires

4.1.1 Vietnamese responses

4.1.2 English responses

4.2 Discussion

The previous section has presented in detail the data collected by means of two questionnaires This section will present discussion of those data

The use of AFs to express informality in Vietnamese:

5 Results show that a greater percentage of the participants prefer the use of “pronoun”; this is followed closely by “bare kinship term”, and “first name terms” This, however, varies depending on such factors as „manner of communication‟, „age‟ and „gender‟ and „setting‟ that the participants involved For instance, table 1 and table 2 show that there is a tendency

on the part of participants to address one another with P– a term for informal occasions or setting, hence the greater percentage for the use of such form Further analysis of the data suggests that those that would use AFs at home or public settings are those who often or very often use P with the others

6 Regarding the frequency of AFs use, the majority of Vietnamese choose very often and often as their frequency of expressing informality More importantly, the choice of AFs to express informality is clearly affected by such factors as „manner of communication‟, „age‟,

„gender‟ “length of time people have known the other” and „setting‟ Three other factors seem

to have little influence on the choice of AFs, namely “finance power”, “education”, and

“social status”

7 The use of AFs to express informality in English:

8 Among AFs that are often used to express informality in English, „pronouns‟ are the most popularly used AFs in English; next come „standard short form of name‟, „terms of endearment‟ „Bare title‟, „slang‟, „nick name‟ are less favoured

9 Data collected from the English native speakers respondents show that the settings where AFs expressing informality are more commonly used in English are “public settings” and “home” “Work place”, “library” are less likely to be suitable settings for informality

“Age” is the settings that do not affect much on the choice of AFs of English native speakers respondents However, female English native speakers have tendency on using more AFs to express informality than male

10 Concerning factors that affect the choice of AFs in English, it is noted that the most common factors that affect the choice of AFs are “length of time you have known him/her”,

“manner of communication” and “settings”

11 4.3 Major similarities and differences in the use of AFs to express informality in Vietnamese and English speaking cultures

12 As mentioned earlier in Chapter 2, the Vietnamese addressing system is quite different from that in English This section will reflect the similarities and differences in the use of AFs

to express informality in Vietnamese and English

In terms of the number of AFs used to express informality

Data collected from the two groups of respondents shows that the Vietnamese AFs, in comparison with those in English, are quite different First and foremost is the personal pronoun In Vietnamese, there is a diversity of second-person pronouns expressing different

levels of informality (52% of informants very often use, 48% often use) For instance Vietnamese can use “mày/ chúng (bọn) mày; con/thằng này/kia” to show either intimacy like

“Mưa rồi, mày ạ!” or contempt like “con kia, mang nó vào đây” On the contrary, in English, there is only one second-person pronoun “you”, and it can be used in every communicative circumstances Analysis of the data suggests that the use of „bare kinship terms‟ in Vietnamese (32% of informants very often use, 68% often use), to some extent, is more common than in English (8% of informants very often use, 20% often use) For example, in Vietnamese language, a stranger person can be addressed by Bk such as “Cô/chị/bà/bác/dì ơi, cho cháu/em/con 3 lạng nạc vai” hay “Cháu/em thay dầu xe hộ cô/bác/chị/anh với”, but it is not the same in English

In both English and Vietnamese languages “first name terms” are used to address people In Vietnamese, “first name terms” do not only signal familiarity but also some kind of respect Vietnamese never use names to address superior persons, such as parents or older people, when in English speaking cultures people often call their family members by names such as “John, Kate”

Beside using pronouns more frequently, Vietnamese people also use “nick name” to express their informality However, in Vietnamese language, “nick name” is used alone or in combination with a personal pronoun For example, if you want to meet someone you can ask

by saying: “Dương vịt ơi, mày có thấy con Hoa đâu không” English addressing systems, like Vietnamese one, use nickname as a short or cute name used by friends or relatives to show intimacy

One noticeable point between Vietnamese and English native speakers respondents is that English native speakers respondents use “standard short form of name” but it is not in Vietnamese English native speakers respondents have tendency to use “standard short form

of name” (with 80% of participants may use) such as “Chris” for “Christian” or “Jill” for

“Jillian”

One more noticeable phenomenon is that in both Vietnamese and English languages used „terms of endearment‟(72% of Vietnamese informants use and 64% of English languages use) are extensive used To express fondness and influence, both English and Vietnamese often employ terms of endearment like „honey‟, „dear‟, „sweetie‟, „love‟, „darling‟, „baby‟,

„cutie‟, „cưng‟, „anh yêu‟, „(đằng) ấy‟, „cậu‟, „bồ‟, „bạn‟, „nhóc/nhỏ‟ etc

Reasons for the differences between English and Vietnamese addressing forms may be the fact that Vietnamese culture is centered on the family Therefore, AFs used in

communication are very complicated and often indicate the family relationship However AFs

in English to express informality are larger

In terms of frequency

Tables 4 and table 10 show the most commonly used AFs in Vietnamese and English Pronouns are the most commonly used AFs in both languages To be more specific, in English, pronouns, first name terms and standard short form of name are more favored than other AFs and nick name; slang; bare title; bare kinship term can take part in communicative events in some way However, Vietnamese tend to use bare kinship term, pronouns, first name more often than other AFs

In terms of factors influencing the choice of AFs

The factors that speakers of both languages think to affect their choice of AFs are „manner of communication‟ and „length of time people have known the others‟ (100% of informants in both two groups) Age is considered the most important factor in using AFs in Vietnamese culture (100% of Vietnamese informants) and Vietnamese always base on age to choose the suitable AFs but in English speaking cultures, „age‟ does not influence the choice

of AFs very much (only 48% of informants) Besides, when factors and settings change, both English native speakers respondents and Vietnamese respondents tend to change AFs in communicating with the partner Last but not least is the influence of gender on the choice of AFs in both languages Vietnamese has influence on „gender‟ (64% of respondents) but English native speakers has less influence on „gender‟ than Vietnamese (32% of respondents)

4.4 Implications for English language teaching

It is undeniable that there are many pedagogical implications based on the findings of this study for English language teaching (ELT) in Vietnam The current ELT method being applied is the learner centered method However, along with this new method is the old nonnative environment In order to help students develop communicative competence in this intercultural world, teachers are required to provide students with necessary knowledge and skills of not only languages but also social communications, including the use of address terms As mentioned above, English and Vietnamese share some similarities as well as differences in the use of address terms to express informality So as to help students understand and be able to use the address terms to express informality correctly, the lessons

on AFs should present the different AFs with their pragmatic meaning and usages Besides, to help students understand the differences in AFs use between the two languages, teachers should facilitate students to access as many authentic materials as possible such as films, story books and newspapers In addition, social cultured factors must be noticed in teaching AFs