The lexical features of english used in travel brochures in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ THU HƯƠNG THE LEXICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH USED IN TRAVEL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ THU HƯƠNG

THE LEXICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH USED IN

TRAVEL BROCHURES IN VIETNAM

(Đặc điểm của từ vựng Tiếng Anh được sử dụng trong

các quảng cáo du lịch ở Việt Nam)

MASTER’S THESIS PROGRAM I

Major: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ THU HƯƠNG

THE LEXICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH USED IN

TRAVEL BROCHURES IN VIETNAM

(Đặc điểm của từ vựng Tiếng Anh được sử dụng trong

các quảng cáo du lịch ở Việt Nam)

MASTER’S THESIS PROGRAM I

Major: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm

Hanoi - 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by myself and it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, for any other degree or professional qualification This study is my own work, except where stated otherwise by references

Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study would have been impossible without the kind assistance of many people

to whom I would like to express my appreciation and sincere thanks

I owe a great debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, who constantly provided me with invaluable recommendations, prompt feedback and meticulous attention Her great understanding and unfailing encouragement inspire

me to complete the research in a diligent manner

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the lecturers of the Post Graduate Department for their tremendous help and for conveying comprehensive knowledge

to me and my classmates during the past two years

Finally, special thanks are due to my family, friends and colleagues for their boundless love and firm support

ABSTRACT

Considering the increasing popularity of Viet Nam as an attractive travel destination

in the world, numerous promotional materials have been created by incorporating words and images to entice potential foreign customers to come to Viet Nam The present study is conducted in order to reveal the lexical features of English used in travel brochures written by Vietnamese to manifest and demonstrate the persuasive promotional function of the tourism discourse It is also necessary to consider Vietnamese English in these brochures as a variety of English in the Expanding Circle The data in this study include nine travel brochures and were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively The results of this study suggest that there are four out of five analyzed lexical features of travel brochures in Viet Nam occurring frequently, namely lexical borrowing, descriptive adjectives, modal verbs and personal pronouns Nativized word formation processes were not detected in these travel brochures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LISTS OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

1.6 Organization of the thesis 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 English as a global language 3

2.2 World Englishes today 5

2.3 Different models of World Englishes 7

2.3.1 A dualistic view of the status of English 7

2.3.2 A trinalistic view of the status of English 8

2.3.3 A monist view on the status of English 9

2.4 Varieties of English in Southeast Asia 10

2.4.1 Phonological features 11

2.4.2 Syntactic features 12

2.4.3 Discoursal features 13

2.4.4 Lexical features 13

2.5 English for tourism 14

2.6 Travel brochures as a special kind of genre 16

2.7 Theoretical framework 17

2.7.1 Lexical borrowing 17

2.7.2 Nativized word formation processes 19

2.7.3 Descriptive adjectives 22

2.7.4 Modal verbs 24

2.7.5 Personal pronouns 25

2.8 Review of previous studies 26

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 Data corpus 30

3.2 Data collection 30

3.3 Data analytical framework 31

3.4 Data analyzing procedure 32

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 34

4.1 Lexical borrowing 34

4.1.1 Transliteration 34

4.1.2 Loan translation 36

4.1.3 Loan blend (hybrids) 38

4.2 Nativized word formation processes 38

4.3 Descriptive adjectives 38

4.3.1 Miscellaneous descriptive (MD) 39

4.3.2 Evaluative/ emotive (EE) 41

4.3.3 Adjectives which describe the size, quantity and extent (SQE), time descriptors (T), color descriptors (C) and location descriptors (L) 44

4.3.4 Superlatives 45

4.4 Modal verbs 46

4.5 Personal pronouns 47

4.6 Others 49

4.7 Discussion 50

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52

5.1 Recapitulation 52

5.2 Limitations of the study 53

5.3 Recommendations for further studies 53

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 The Corpus of nine travel brochures 30

Table 3.2 Analytical framework 31

Table 4.1 Examples of transliteration in Vietnamese travel brochures 35

Table 4.2 Examples of loan translation in travel brochures 38

Table 4.3 Descriptive adjectives used in the travel brochures 39

Table 4.4 Twenty most frequent MD group descriptors 41

Table 4.5 Twenty most frequent EE group descriptors 43

Table 4.6 Ego- targeting adjectives/ no of instances per 100 words 44

Table 4.7 The number of modal verbs “will” and “can” in each brochure 46

LISTS OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 The Life Cycle of Non- Native Englishes 6

Figure 2.2 Kachru‟s Concentric Cirles 8

Figure 2.3 The English Umbrella 9

Figure 4.1 Descriptive adjectives used in the travel brochures 40

Figure 4.2 Personal pronouns “you”, “we” and their corresponding 48

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Tourism industry is now one of the biggest industries in the world and travelling is always in great demand There is a growing tendency for people to travel abroad and Vietnam is a favourite destination for foreigners As a result, the necessity of propagandizing Vietnam tourist destinations arises Travelers require accurate information about the destinations and they are not able to test- drive a destination before purchase; therefore, one of the most effective ways of propagation is using travel brochures written in English It is clear that English language plays an integral role as the powerful tool for communication in global community, for understanding and exchanging ideas among people all over the world In tourism industry, English is used as a means to communicate, negotiate and execute transactions with tourists by tourism employees

Dann (1996, p.2) found that tourism is an “act of promotion with a discourse of its own”; indeed, “the language of tourism attempts to persuade, lure, woo and seduce millions of human beings, and, in doing so, convert them from potential into actual clients” The language of tourism becomes an important tool in the image creation process; consequently, an understanding of this language is crucial According to Fluck (1885) domination of specialized professional vocabulary is one of the features of the language used in tourism A lot of studies have been conducted on the language and the discourse of tourism texts; however, little has been done on the linguistic features of brochures written by people in Expanding Circle countries like Viet Nam As such, this study attempts to analyse the lexical features of English used in travel brochures in Viet Nam

1.2 Aims of the study

The aim of this paper is to gain insight into the English lexical features of travel brochures written in Viet Nam, since there has been no previous research on this topic The study is conducted to investigate the lexical aspects of travel brochures as

a promotional text and in the context of Viet Nam, a non- native English speaking country in Southeast Asia

1.3 Research questions

The study seeks to address the following research question:

What are the lexical features of English used in travel brochures in Vietnam as a global language perspective?

1.4 Scope of the study

This study focuses on the prominent English lexical features in travel brochures in Vietnam The corpus of this paper was limited to nine travel brochures collected from the internet and printed brochures written by Vietnamese

1.5 Significance of the study

This study will be of benefit as the findings on lexical features can be applied as a model for the writers of the genre to create effective travel brochures This study will also be useful for further studies examining other aspects of travel brochures and those examining English lexis of other genres

1.6 Organization of the thesis

This paper has been divided into five chapters

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: states the rationale for the study, the aims and

purposes, the research question, the significance, the scope and the structure of the research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: provides definitions of key concepts

and lays the theoretical background for the study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLODY: describes the selection of subjects, data

collection, data analytical framework and data analysis procedure

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS: present, analyse, synthesize and

discuss the findings obtained from the collected data

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION: summarizes the main issues discussed throughout

the paper, points out limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further

research This part is followed by the References and Appendix

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 English as a global language

In his book English as a Global English, Crystal (1997) asserts that “A language

achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized

in every country” (p.2) Indeed, English is spreading throughout the world to the unprecedented extent that it is labelled „English as a global language‟ Ferguson (1982, in Kachru 1992, p.xv) claims that there has never before a single language which has spread [as a lingua franca] over most of the world, as English has done this century […] The spread of English is as significant in its way as is the modern use of computers Kachru (1992, p.67) also highlights “the unique international position of English, which is certainly unparalleled in the history of the world For the first time a natural language has attained the status of an international (universal) language, especially for cross- cultural communication The English language is given a global status, firstly because of varying degrees of English usage across the globe: English is spoken by large numbers of people as a mother tongue (like in the USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, several Caribbean countries and a sprinkling of other territories); English has been made the official language of many countries (e.g Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore and Vanuatu), to be used as medium of communication in such domains

as government, the law courts, the media, and the educational system; and English has been made a priority in many countries‟ foreign- language teaching (e.g China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Brazil) These developments, says Crystal (1997), coupled with economic developments on a global scale, new communications technologies, the explosion in international marketing and advertising and mass entertainment, have also supported the continued expansion of English as a global lingua franca

In 1991, Rushdie reported that „the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago‟ Crystal (1997) also claims in his book

„English as a global language‟ that when even the largest English- speaking nation, the USA, turns out to have only about 20 percent of the world‟s English speakers, it

is plain that no one can now claim sole ownership The language now belongs to those who use it as their first language, and to those who use it as an additional language, whether in its standard form or in its localized forms Because of the spread of English on a world scale, an inevitable consequence is the emergence of new varieties of English in different territories where the language has taken root These varieties are often termed „new Englishes‟ since the 1960s Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens wrote in 1964 that „English is no longer the possession of the British or even of the Americans, but … exists in an increasingly large number

of different varieties But the most important development of all is seen in the emergence of varieties that are identified with and are specific to particular countries from among the former British colonies In West Africa, in the West Indies, and in Pakistan and India … it is no longer accepted by the majority that the English of England, with RP as its accent, are the only possible models of English

to be set before the young.‟ (Halliday, McIntosh, & Strevens 1964: 293) Kachru and Smith (1985:210) explains that „Englishes‟ symbolizes the functional and formal variation in the language, and its international acculturation Patil (2006) explains that “when English migrates to foreign countries, it diffuses and internationalizes, acculturates and indigenizes, and adapts and diversifies The new users absorb, re-orient, appropriate and transform it They liberate it to embody the energies of their respective sensibilities”

New varieties of English retain some cultural and linguistic characteristics of the

“Standard English” (Kachru, 1992) but additionally represent and include many aspects of the culture and language of the country in which the new English functions Kachru (1992) claims that New Englishes carry “repertoires of sociocultural identities” Varieties of Englishes firstly include the Englishes of countries of the inner circle like Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Caribbean English, and, within Britain,

Irish, Scots, and Welsh English Varieties among the countries of the outer circle have also grown in distinctiveness in recent decades like South Asian English, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka There are also varieties of Englishes in the former British colonies in West Africa and East Africa Other emerging varieties have been noted in the Caribbean and in parts of Southeast Asia, such as Singapore This paper aims at analyzing the features of English in Vietnam,

a country in Southeast Asia

2.2 World Englishes today

According to Kachru (1992), the term “World Englishes” symbolizes the functional and formal variations, divergent sociolinguistic contexts, ranges and varieties of English in creativity, and various types of acculturation in parts of the Western and non-Western world This concept emphasizes “WE-ness,” and not the dichotomy between us and them (the native and non-native users)

When English enters a new sociocultural setting and comes into contact with other languages, “nativization” and “Englishization” (Kachru, 1992) occur These two faces of English focus on the reciprocal effects of language context: the effect on English in a localized context (nativization), and the effect on local languages in the same situation (Englishization)

Englishization refers to the manifest influences of English on other languages in a given repertoire; levels of languages from pronunciation through literary genres may be affected in discernible ways (Kachru, 2011) For instance, Kachru (2006) pointed out that Englishization can extend to the level of grammar, as in the adoption of impersonal constructions in Indian languages; or the use of passive constructions with a “by” equivalent in Korean, both of which have been traced to English

According to Saghal (1991), nativization, also termed “indigenization” by Moag (1982, p.235), is the process of transferring a local language to a new cultural environment Honna (2003) (cited in Patel, 2006) explains that when English migrates to foreign language, it diffuses and internationalizes, acculturates and

indigenizes, and adapts and diversifies, resulting in localized or nativized items The adaptation of English in particular social- cultural settings leads to qualifying descriptors such as “Indian English”, “Singaporean English”, “Philippine English”,

“Hong Kong English”, and many other descriptors around the world The greatest degree of nativization takes place at the lexical level In the new cultural setting, English confronts many new realia closely intertwined into the regional cultures and English may lack suitable equivalents to express or represent them As a result, English accepts and receives the words used by the natives Crystal (2003) claims that nativisation at the lexical level in New Englishes is realised through various creative processes such as borrowing, semantic shift, affixation, compounding, clipping, abbreviation, blending and hybrid compounding

There are many stages in the nativizing process Moag (1982) proposed the cycle of non- native varieties with five stages: transportation, indigenization, expansion in use and function, institutionalization, and restriction of use and function The first four processes are considered significant constituents of the life cycle and the fifth one does not apply in all cases

life-Figure 2.1 The Life Cycle of Non- Native Englishes (Kachru, 1992)

The first phase “transportation” refers to the arrival of English in a place it has not been used before At the second phase of “indigenization”, the new variety of

variety, and from other indigenized varieties elsewhere Kachru (1977) has used

“nativization” in much the same sense In the initial phase of indigenization process, English- speaking newcomers come into contact with items of the local material and nonmaterial culture for which there are no equivalents in their home environment or language (Kachru, 1992), which results in lexical borrowing The second phase of indigenization process comes when members of the local colonial elite begin to use English for communication among themselves (Kachru, 1992) The third stage

“Expansion in Use and Function” marks the increase in the use of local variety with the broadening of its function to new domains, particularly education, the media, and government services According to Kachru (1992), this process sees the role of English shift from that of a foreign to a second language In the fourth stage, the nativized variety is institutionalized Several factors play an important role in the process of institutionalization In the final stage, there will be restriction of the use and function of English by state regulated policies, resulting in a decline in its usage within the country

2.3 Different models of World Englishes

The study of the varieties of English has been the subject of much debate, research and publication Different linguists have proposed several models to classify the World Englishes, mainly including “New Englishes”, “Three Concentric Circles of English”, “English Umbrella”, “World English”, and “English as International language” Chen (2011) proposes three groups of classifying the classifying varieties of Englishes: dualism, trinalism and monism

2.3.1 A dualistic view of the status of English

According to Chen (2011), in this dualistic view, Englishes are divided into two kinds: original English and new Englishes The new Englishes refer to the English varieties in non- English speaking countries as many English varieties have emerged in these countries and gained legal existence Platt, Weber and Ho (1984: 2-3) hold that a New English necessary fulfills the following criteria: (1) It has developed through the education system (2) It has developed in an area where a

native variety of English was not the language spoken by most of the population (3)

It is used for a range of functions among those who speak or write it in the region where it is used (4) It has become localized and nativized by adopting some language features of the native language, such as sounds, intonation patterns, sentence structures, words and expressions

2.3.2 A trinalistic view of the status of English

The three-circle Model of World Englishes proposed by Kachru in 1985 includes the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle These circles represent

“the type of spread, the forms of acquisition and the functional spheres in which English is used across civilizations and linguistic communication” (Kachru, 1985, p.12)

Figure 2.2 Kachru’s Concentric Cirles (Crystal, 2003)

The Inner Circle refers to the traditional bases of English, wherein English is the native language or the mother tongue, like the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand The assortments of English in the Inner Circle are said to be „norm- providing‟, which means that English language norms are developed in these countries – English is the first language there

Most of the states in the Outer Circle are former settlements of the UK or the USA (mainly New Commonwealth countries), such as Malaysia, Singapore, India, Ghana, Kenya and others English plays an important “second language” role in a multilingual setting and has become a part in the nation‟s institutions The English used in the Outer Circle is considered as „norm-developing‟

Countries included in the Expanding Circle use English as a foreign language or lingua franca for international communication and English assumes no historical or governmental role The territories in the Expanding Circle include China, Japan, Greece and Poland These countries do not have a history of colonization by members of the inner circle, nor have they given English any special administrative status The English used in this circle is regarded as „norm- dependent‟ because it relies on the standards set by native speakers in the Inner Circle

2.3.3 A monist view on the status of English

Figure 2.3 The English Umbrella (Yoneoka, 2001)

Yoneoka (2001) proposed “The English Umbrella: Model of a Multicultural Language System” based on the image of an umbrella The central stem or core (1) represents a basic “easy” English – a basic lexicon and syntax and a generalized set

of phonemes At the tips of the umbrella (2) located the English varieties, including native varieties like British or Australian, ESL like Singaporean or Indian English, and myriad EFL varieties The tips of the umbrella connect to the centralized core via the spokes (3), which serve as the communication network and support systems

Upon the spokes lies the fabric covering (4) which is the background socio- cultural systems and the top is an idealized “standard” English (5) According to Chen (2011), advantages of the umbrella model over the concentric circles are that it is egalitarian and generic – for its division of core elements in all Englishes, flexible and dynamic – for its concern on the sociocultural system and communications network

Kachru‟s Three- circle Model of World Englishes is widely regarded as the most useful and influential approach to describe the diffusion of English Therefore, this paper employs the Kachru‟s Three-circle Model to analyze the features of English used in Viet Nam in relation to the varieties of English in Southeast Asia

2.4 Varieties of English in Southeast Asia

The new Englishes in Southeast Asia emerged from their respective colonial histories Because of their typologically different background languages and different colonial pasts, English in Southeast Asian arena is at different stages of development and hence forms of Englishes are located at different points on a life- cycle (Bolton 2002a: 19; Llamzon 1986) Following Kachru‟s three-circle Model, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei can be classified as “outer circle” countries where English is used as a second language Whereas, countries where English is a foreign language, namely, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, fall into “expanding circle” countries

Southeast Asian includes eleven multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilinguistic countries, ten countries of which are members of ASEAN, except for Timor-Leste Although English is the second language in some countries (in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines), and the foreign language in the remaining countries, English is attaining the status of the most prominent language in the region and plays a major role in many spheres of life, in “our cultures, our languages, our interactional patterns, our discourse, our economies and indeed in our politics” (Kachru, 1997: 91) In ASEAN, English became a de facto lingua franca of ASEAN

countries (Krasnick, 1995) The position of English as the sole working language of ASEAN was officially sanctioned in 2009 with the signing of the ASEAN Charter Article 34 „Working Language of the ASEAN‟ reads: “The working language of ASEAN shall be English” Thus, a good command of English deems necessary to compete with the labor force of other ASEAN countries and to get free mobility in the ASEAN countries Furthermore, Ministries of Education throughout ASEAN has made English a compulsory subject in the national curricula of many countries When English is used in environments different from its origin, it adjusts and changes to suit its new environments The New Englishes in Southeast Asia is not

an exception English in Southeast Asian has developed to the extent that a number

of local varieties have evolved and the New Englishes in Southeast Asia exhibit their own linguistic characteristics The characteristics of Southeast Asian English have been revealed in various publications such as those by Bautista (1997b), Crewe (1977), Gonzalez (1983), Llamzon (1969), Platt and Weber (1980), Said and

Ng (2000), Tay (1993b), and Tongue (1979) A brief account of some phonological, lexical, syntactic and discoursal features of Southeast Asian Englishes is presented below

2.4.1 Phonological features

Southeast Asian varieties of English share several striking phonological features One of the most noticeable one is the tendency to use syllable- timing caused, by the avoidance of reduced vowels (Kirkpatrick, 2008) In this case, the syllables take approximately equal amount of time to pronounce whether it is stressed or not, which results in the absence of schwa Kirkpatrick (2008) attributes this to the fact that many of the speakers‟ first languages have a tendency to syllable timing On the contrary, in native English, syllables are audibly lengthened or shortened based on stress (stress- timed language) Illustration in which people use full vowels in unstressed syllables could be seen in the example below

(1) They OFficially announced the winner

(2) I first came TO Thailand two years ago

Another outstanding feature of Southeast Asian phonology is the shift in stress placement Pronouns are regularly stressed and heavy end stress is also common For example:

(3) HE has been to Myanmar twice

(4) Many people speak ENGLISH

Others phonological features shared by Southeast Asian include the substitution of stops /t, d/ for certain fricatives /θ, ð/ (thin  /tin/; then  /den/), the simplification

of consonant clusters in final position, the replacement of monophthongs for diphthongs (“make” is pronounced with /e/), the lack of length contrast and tenseness contrast in vowels (bit/ beat are pronounced in the same way: /bit/)

2.4.2 Syntactic features

The shared syntactic features of Southeast Asian Englishes first can be seen in the non- marking of third person present simple and past tense forms Southeast Asian tend to leave out the tense markers and adverbs may be used to signal the time reference For instance, in the sentence “I talk to her yesterday”, the adverb

“yesterday” is used to mark past tense instead of the tense marker “-ed” Kirkpatrick (2008) also added the relative lack of the use of complex tense forms such as Past Perfect or Past continuous

The distinction between count and non- count nouns in Southeast Asian Englishes is not as institutionalized as in Inner-Circle Englishes Some forms such as furnitures, equipments, luggages, a research or one evidence can be frequently found In these examples, non- countable nouns are used as if they were countable

The copula construction may be left out in the progressive as in “he dancing”, in the passive construction as in “she hurt”, as a linking verb as in “I hungry” This is because many Southeast Asian languages do not have a copula construction comparable to “she is beautiful” or “she is a doctor”

Some other features may be specific to each variety of English in Southeast Asia For example, McArthur (1998) and Schneider (2003/2004) have pointed out the following syntactic features of Malaysian English: missing noun inflectional

endings (mostly the plural -s and sometimes the genitive -s); missing sentence constituents (object, subject, auxiliary verb, copula, preposition) giving the impression of phrasal “telegraphic” speech; variant complementation patterns following verbs; wrong concord in noun phrases; innovations in phrasal verbs; and the use of reflexive pronouns to form emphatic pronouns

2.4.3 Discoursal features

One striking feature in the analysis of discourse features of Southeast Asian English

is the use of the pragmatic particles “la(h), leh, hor, etc”, especially in Singaporean and Malaysian English These particles have no semantic content in isolation They are used at the end of the sentences in informal contexts to express interactional meaning Take „lah‟ in Singaporean English for example, „lah‟ is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite

In Southeast Asian multilingual communities, the use of code- mixing and code- switching is common In Malaysia, code- switching may be used among accomplished bilinguals for rhetorical and accommodation purposes However, among speakers who are not highly competent in English, code- switching is used

as a repair strategy In the Philippines, code- switching can be extensively used in daily life conversations, in motion pictures, television, daily newspapers or weekly

magazines The following example shows the mixing of Malay and English: She wanted to beli some barang- barang “She wanted to buy some things”

2.4.4 Lexical features

Kachru, Yamuna, and Cecil (2006) argue that the most obvious features in Southeast Asian varieties are the loan words and the loan translation Haugen (1970) puts them under the term lexical borrowing, which includes loan words, loan translation and loan blend Loan words are different for each society and culture because of the differences in the realia or referents in the culture, e.g., kinship titles, local food terms, indigenous values For example, some loan words in Singaporean English include “abang” (elder brother, male cousin), “hanram” (prohibited) or

“tang hoon” (rice flour, any kind of powder) Loan translation is a form of borrowing from one language to another whereby the semantic components of a given term are literally translated into their equivalents in the borrowing language For example, in Philippine English “for a long time” is the loan translation of “since before yet”, or “I‟m teasing you” is the loan translation of “joke only” Loan blend (or hybrids) is also common in Southeast Asian varieties In this case, a compound

is formed of words from different languages For example, “buco juice” (the juice

of a young coconut) or “pulot boy” (a tennis ball boy) can be found in Philippine English

In 2015, Nor, Zamri and Awab published a paper in which they examine the lexical features of Malaysian English and recognized the following aspects: local language referents, semantic expansion and word formation processes Firstly, the local terms have been assimilated into the spoken as well as written English in the country Second, semantic expansion of words like “cut” carries both the original meaning of

“slicing” and the meanings of “overtake” and “reduce” in Malaysian English And word formation processes in Malaysian English include affixation of local lexis

using English suffixes such as the English plural –s inflection or the progressive – ing marker; compounding which involves the creation of compounds from existing

English words such as “shophouses” (a row of shops usually with accommodation

on the top floor); reduplication such as “weird- weird” and “walk-walk”; repetition

like “You go in first la, you go in first la”; and conversion which involves a lexical item converting its word class to another, as in “Want any song, I can song for you”

In general, some prominent lexical features of Southeast Asian English include loan words, loan translation, hybrids, semantic expansion, and some word formation processes

2.5 English for tourism

Language is a “highly organized and encoded system employs many devices to express, indicate, exchange messages and information, represent and so forth” (Garner and Hancock 2014: 465) The language of tourism attempts to seduce

millions of people into becoming tourists and subsequently to control their attitudes and behaviour Tourists, in turn, contribute further to this language through the communication of their experiences Lam (2007) considers tourism English as a special register of English that is different from general English and that serves some specific purposes such as to catch reader‟s attention, inform and attract As a principal marketing tool, tourism brochures are found to be loaded with language and images to maximize their persuasive power Weightman (1987) believes that the language of travel brochures becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as the tour brochure directs expectations, influences perceptions and thereby provides a preconceived landscape for the tourist to discover Bhatia (1993) also argues that texts in promotional genres including travel brochures tend to share certain linguistic features in much the same way as advertisements A well- known study

by Leech (1966) reveals the following aspects of advertising language Firstly, the modal verbs “will” and “can” are common words in advertising language Secondly, the most common generic sentence type for advertisements is the imperative which

is used to suggest or invite someone to do something Thirdly, another characteristic

of advertising language is the use of the first and second personal pronouns Lastly, adjectives occur frequently in advertisements and tend to be the most striking component of advertising language However, the imperative which belongs to syntactic features will not be analysed in this paper

Concerning tourism context, there is a large volume of published studies describing the English language of travel brochures Iborra and Garrido (2001) and Boonchayaanant (2003), scrutinized the modal verbs and reported that the modal verbs “will” and “can” in tourist texts convey the same meaning as those in advertisements Researchers also agree that personal pronouns in tourism texts have similar function as those in advertisements Boonchayaanant (2003) and Iborra and Garrido (2001) suggest that the pronouns “you”, “your”, “we” and “our” are generally used in tourism texts With regard to the use of adjectives, Pakkinen (2005) agrees that one of the prominent language features of promotional texts is

the use of adjectives, wherein, subjectively evaluative adjectives are more effective than factual adjectives

Francesconi (2004) claims that the language of tourism depicts the tourist destinations and services in persuasive, encouraging and alluring manner, and makes them visual with dynamic images and vivid colors Consequently, travel brochures are crammed with descriptive and evaluative adjectives, superlatives, and intensifiers to influence and even manipulate the attitude and behavior of prospective tourists

In an analysis of the move and linguistic features of tourist texts, Iborra and Garrido (2001) found that adjectives were frequently used to describe age, size, or origin; few superlatives were used; the mostly used personal pronoun was “you” to address the readers directly and to attract the visitors‟ interests; the modal verb “can” was frequently used to indicate possibilities and complex noun phrase is also another typical linguistic feature of tourist texts

Henry and Roseberry‟s study (1996) also agrees that the personal pronoun “you” was frequently used in addressing the readers to create friendly atmosphere; the modal verbs “can” and “will” were used to show promise and opportunity and there was a frequent use of adjectives, especially the superlative forms

2.6 Travel brochures as a special kind of genre

Travel brochure is an interesting form of print media intended for tourists, offering information on locations and events As Molina and Esteban (2006) remind us, a brochure is a form of printed promotional material designed to communicate with existing or potential tourists Traditionally, it has been used as the main marketing instrument to enhance awareness of destinations, provide information and generate desire to purchase (Chiou et al 2008, Getz & Sailor 1993, Zhou 1997, Yuksel & Akgul 2006) Travel brochures often strive to include a wealth of information, including both language and images to portray the destination in a positive light and

as an attractive destination for tourists And all these information is intended to help travellers make informed decisions because some individuals tend to plan various

aspects of a vacation in advance (Walter & Tong, 1977) Therefore, information from various sources, especially those from brochures gives tourists the opportunity

to reduce the risk of uncertainty and disappointing experiences (Jackson, White, & Schmierer, 1996; Rhoehl & Fesenmainer, 1992) Travel brochures have a distinctive function in that they can act as “a substitute for a product which cannot be physically seen or inspected prior to purchase” (Holloway 2004: 17) Weightman (1987: 230) claims that the language of travel brochures becomes “a self- fulfilling prophecy” as “the tour brochure directs expectations, influences perceptions and thereby provides a preconceived landscape for the tourist to „discover‟” So “the directed landscape becomes the real landscape” So influential the linguistic and visual means employed in travel brochures are that many papers attempt to investigate how the words and images contribute to the persuasive power of promotional materials Travel brochures in Viet Nam without exception utilize specific lexis to persuade and attract more and more visitors

2.7 Theoretical framework

Travel brochure in Viet Nam is a text featuring lexical aspects of an Expanding Circle English variety and features of a tourism text Consequently, English xlexical features of travel brochures in Viet Nam are in line with those reported by Haugen (1970); Nor, Zamri and Awab (2005) (part 2.4.4) and Leech (1966), Iborra and Garrido (2001), Henry and Roseberry (1996) (part 2.5) English lexical features of travel brochures in Viet Nam are brimmed with lexical borrowing, nativized word formation processes, descriptive adjectives, personal pronouns and modal verbs

2.7.1 Lexical borrowing

Every language has its “untranslatable” words, which have no accurate equivalent

in the target language These are “culture-bound” terms, deeply rooted in culture, including some areas of culture such as food, drink, clothing, musical and artistic terms, certain sports, dances, time division, jobs, positions, professions, or institutions When one language has semantic gaps in its lexis and needs to borrow a term to express the necessary idea or concept, lexical borrowing is employed as a

result of this language contact and culture contact As Ying (2012) puts it, borrowing is a natural process of language change whereby one language adds new words to its own lexis by copying those words from the donor language and the words borrowed are called loan words or borrowings He refers to three levels of borrowing: transliteration, loan translation and loan blend Fantini (1985) mentions two levels of borrowing: “pure borrowing”, where the word retains all its native features, and “adjusted borrowing”, where the word adapts to the structural criteria

of the host language Other researchers, Bloomfield (1933) and Olmsted (1986), distinguish between three levels of linguistic integration: words used but retaining foreign phonology, words partially integrated into the borrowing language, and words fully integrated and indistinguishable In another major study, Haugen (1970) points out three types of borrowing: “loanword”, which shows morphemic importation without substitution; “loan translation”, which involves a semantic change and the combination of native terms to undergo an extension of meaning, and “loan blend”, which refers to the hybrid form which is made up of part importation and part substitution Similarly, this studies, basing on the lexical borrowing categorization of Ying (2012), recognizes three types of lexical borrowing: transliteration, loan translation and loan blend (or hybrids)

Transliteration is close to the idea of “pure borrowing” of Fantini (1985) and

“loanword” of Haugen (1970) Transliterated words are phonetically similar to the donor language form and the borrowing language form These words are used in the borrowing language with the closest possible sounds and the closest possible meanings to the original words

Loan translation is defined by Bloomfield (1933) as a form of borrowing from one language to another whereby the semantic components of a given term are literally translated into their equivalents in the borrowing language Moreover, the native word has no phonological similarities to the foreign word

Kachru (1983: 163) refers to hybrid formation as a characteristic feature of language contact situations He further states that such hybridized lexical items are

used in all non-native varieties of English and represent linguistic evidence for the nativization process of English A hybrid consists of two or more elements and at least one element will be from a local language Hybrids are formed due to the extensive use of two languages in informal discourse Hybrids can be single word mixes or multi- word mixes Kachru (1983) categorizes hybrid forms according to the units and elements which operate their structure The first group is hybrids wherein the modifier is from English and the head is from a local language such as

the hybrid forms “Evening bajan” and “Eternal upavasi” in Indian English The

second group is hybrids wherein the English item functions as a head such as

“ahimsa soldier”, “durri weaving” or “sarvodaya leader”

2.7.2 Nativized word formation processes

Nor, Zamri and Awab (2015), in their study of the lexical features of Malaysian English, pointed out that word formation processes also contributed to the nativization of English The processes involved were affixation, compounding, reduplication, repetition and conversion In addition, in a corpus- based study, Lee (2010) reveals different creative processes employed by Malaysian speakers to construct meaning in informal conversations, including borrowing, semantic expansion, loan translation, compounding, blending, affixation, reduplication

Affixation

Affixation involves the combination of an affix (either a prefix or a suffix) with another word (either a noun or an adjective) to form a new word that may result in a change in the word class Nor et al (2015) takes the example of “datukship” which proves an interestingly productive process of suffixation in Malaysian English:

Noun „datuk‟ + Suffix „ship‟= datukship, as in lordship

Compounding

Compounding is the process of taking two or more existing words and combining them to form a new lexical item that could carry a totally different meaning from the original words The meaning of each word is decipherable from the meaning of

the combined words and they are accepted in the acrolect form The combinations might not be found in other varieties of English and the words are used in a different way For example, in Singaporean English, “tuition” (noun) is compounded with “teacher” (noun) to produce “tuition teacher” (noun) Its native equivalent is “private tutor”

Nor et al (2015) refers to the example of “last time” from Malaysian English In this case, the adjective “last” and the noun “time” are compounded to form “last time”, which functions independently as an adverbial of time referring to the past,

as in the example: “ Last time I got Honda you know.” On the contrary, in native English, “last time” does not stand as an independent compounded lexical item Instead, the word “last” is usually preceded by the definite article “the” and functions as an adjective to describe the noun “time”, as in the example: “The last time I met him was three days ago.”

Reduplication

Reduplication is a process in which the initial syllable or the entire word is doubled, exactly or with a slight phonological change, in order to add some extra meaning to the basic words Reduplication is not a regular process of word formation in English, and it is often used in children‟s language such as “boo-boo”, “choo-choo”

or for humorous or ironic effect such as “goody- goody”, “pooh-pooh” (Brinton, 2000) However, reduplication is a productive process in the Malaysian language

As a result, by means of reduplication, a lot of expressions in Malaysian English are created for those that do not have equivalence in English Nor et al (2015) presents

the example of Malaysian English utterance “I want this one (shoe) … got shiny shiny …” The reduplication “shiny shiny” comes from the Malay reduplication

“kilat kilat”, as in “Aku mahu kasut yang ini, ada kilat kilat ”, intensifying the brightness of the shoes

sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern is repeated to make it the basic unifying device While repetition is employed to urge a continuity of action, reduplication produces a new morpheme with added meaning Nor et al (2015) illustrates their point with the examples “sweet sweet” and “come down, come down” The reduplication “sweet sweet” is a Malaysian English lexical item

on its own, whereas “come down, come down” is simply repeated to urge for continuity of that particular action of coming down Nor et al (2015) also argue that

if verbs are repeated three times, the meaning to indicate continuity or progressiveness of the action in that particular situation is further intensified For example, “enjoy” is repeated three times as in “I enjoy, enjoy, enjoy …” to intensify the feeling of enjoying

Conversion

Conversion is the functional shift of one part of speech to another without the addition of a suffix It is sometimes said that a zero derivational suffix is added Bauer (1983:226) considers conversion is a totally free process and any lexeme can undergo conversion into any of the open form classes as the need arises As Brinton (2000) puts it, what happens semantically when a word is converted may be quite varied For example, in the V > N shift, an action is treated as an object or thing, though the emphasis may be on the action (e.g., an attack, a kick), the result of the action (e.g., an award, a break), or the person performing the action (e.g., a cook, a spy) The A > V shift gives the inchoative („to become X‟) or the causative („to cause to become X‟) meaning The shift N > A expresses the quality associated with some entity, while A > N treats a quality as an entity (and hence quantifiable) (Brinton, 2000)

The N > V shift is perhaps the most varied In this shift, the verb may denote the thing which is moved to a location (e.g., to paint, to water) or from a location (e.g.,

to milk, to skin), or the location to which the thing is moved (e.g., to bottle, to box)

or from which it is moved (e.g., to mine); it may also refer to the instrument of the

action (e.g., to lock, to comb, to nail), the time of the action (e.g., to spring, to fall), the place of the action (e.g., to sink, to drain), or the range of the action (e.g., to overlap) (Brinton, 2000) Nor et al (2005) confirms the frequent use of the N > V shift in Malaysian English, and they call this process “verbalization of nouns” Bhat (1994) (cited in Nor et al., 2015) states that nouns may be used in the categorial conditions of verbs by themselves, by adding an auxiliary, or by adding verbalizing affixes or by making other types of changes in them

Semantic expansion

Semantic expansion includes standard English lexemes that have the original meaning as well as an extended semantic range of meanings not originally in native English A notable instance is the use of the words “aunty” and “uncle” In native varieties, these two words are kinship terms normally used in reference to siblings

of one‟s parents In Malaysian English, these two words are used as kinship terms

as well as reference towards the elderly of no blood- relationship or an older person

of long- standing acquaintance, commonly used by young Malaysians as a term of respect Hajar (2011) draws the example of the noun “terror” in Malaysian English, which carries the meaning “terrific” with a positive evaluation In this case, the lexical category of a noun is shifted to that of an adjective and the meaning is expanded to include “terrific”

2.7.3 Descriptive adjectives

Adjectives play an integral part in the English language because they are responsible for classifying events or entities or describing their qualities and they provide some means of modifying or elaborating the meanings of nouns (Fellaum, Gross and Miller, 1993) Adjectives are effective tools to convince the readers that the product is second to none Moreover, the use of adjectives and superlatives in the tourist brochures are closely related to conative function, which is aimed to influence the emotions, attitudes and beliefs of the readers (Jørgensen, 2004) Detailed examination of the language of tourism by Mochini (2005) showed that although the language of tourism is highly informative, its main role still lies in its

persuasive force, which is achieved through the discursive and linguistic strategies used in the texts The three linguistic strategies related to the use of adjectives are euphoria (Persson, 2012), ego- targeting (Maasalmi, 2013) and the creation of isotopies (Mochini, 2005) Euphoria is concerned with the use of positive and glowing adjectives, such as „awe-inspiring‟, „unsurpassed‟, „unrivalled‟ or

„dazzaling‟ in order to appeal to the readers (Cappeli, 2006, as cited in Persson, 2012) According to Maasalmi (2013), ego- targeting is a technique used to emphasize the grandeur of an attraction with adjectives like „best‟, „special‟, or

„top‟ used to emphasize how great and unique a particular attraction is and these best qualities are there just for the special „you‟ An isotopy refers to a theme, established by a group of semantically related key words, in an attempt to create the intended level of meaning (Wales, 1989, as cited in Mochini, 2005)

Biber et al.‟s (1999) semantic grouping divides adjectives into two groups: descriptors and classifiers Whereas classifiers‟ main function is to delimit or restrict a noun‟s referent by placing in a category in relation to other referents, descriptors are prototypical adjectives denoting such features as color, size and weight, chronology and age, emotion and a wide range of other characteristics Furthermore, because the idea behind this study is that the lexical features of brochures tries to affect potential customers, this paper mainly focuses on descriptive adjectives which are used to make the text more appealing

Descriptive adjectives are divided into five groups by Biber et al (1999: 508-509):

1 Color – denoting color, brightness: black, white, bright, blue, brown, green

2 Size/ quantity/ extent – denoting size, weight, extent: big, deep, heavy, huge, long, large, short, thin, wide

3 Time – denoting chronology, age, frequency: annual, daily, early, new, recent

4 Evaluative/ emotive – denoting judgements, affect, emphasis: bad, beautiful, best, fine, good, great, nice

5 Miscellaneous descriptive: appropriate, cold, empty, free, hard, open, private, strange, strong, sudden

Maasalmi (2013) added one more frequent group of adjectives found in travel brochures This group of adjectives seem to be essential for tourism discourse

6 Location – denoting location, distance or describing the physical aspects,

setting or the atmosphere of a location or attraction: outdoor, sandy, remote

This study follows Biber et al (1999) semantic grouping which is slightly modified with one more category added by Maasalmi (2013)

In addition, superlatives are an important feature of tourist texts Dhitthita (2009) confirms that superlatives are used to accentuate the highlights of tourist attractions and emphasize the significance of the place, so as to increase the degree of persuasion Superlatives express the highest value of the described entities, distinguishing it from others, and emphasizing their uniqueness Furthermore, superlatives are not only persuasive but also informative in the way that they tell the potential tourist that something is the most popular, the best preserved or the oldest

in the destination

2.7.4 Modal verbs

Iborra and Garrido (2001) reports that the modal verb (e.g “will”, “shall”, “should”,

“would”, “can”, “could”, “may”, “might”) is one of the distinguished features in advertising Leech (1966) also reveals that the modal verbs are usually used to show promise or benefits that the product offers However, he points out that modal verbs are rare in the language of promotional texts because they weaken the claims in which they appear The modal verbs such as “may”, “could” are notable examples

of this Nevertheless, the modal verb „can‟ and „will‟ are two exceptions which are used to encourage consumers to act, but instead of directly advising them to purchase a product or a service, advertisers provide information about their use and availability (Vestergaard & Schroder, 1985, 68-69) In tourism context, Henry and Roseberry (1996), Iborra and Garrido (2001) and Boonchayaanant (2003), investigated the modal verbs and found that the modal verbs in tourist texts convey the same meaning as those in advertisements They agree that “will” and “can” are most commonly found and they are used to show promise and opportunity

Leech (1966, 125-126) reports that the modal verb “can” has two possible meanings

in the language of advertising If “can” follows an animate subject, usually the first person pronoun “you”, the modal verb “can” implies that the product or service gives the addressee an ability or power to do something If “can” is preceded by an inanimate subject, the sentence concentrates on how the advertised product or service benefits the audience or what it offers them

With regard to the modal verb “will”, Leech (1966, 125) claims that “will” in the future tense states a promise to the consumers In addition to expressing futurity,

“will” can also be used as a way of showing that the statement is unerring Leech (1966) gave the following example: “You‟ll love Carnation Caramel Custard” With the use of the modal verb “will”, this sentence can be understood as “You cannot help but like Carnation Caramel Custard”

The first person pronoun “we” is used to signal a sense of solidarity with the customer and thus include the audience The use of “we” and their corresponding such as “our” or “us” helps to create a feeling of solidarity when discussing the environment, or when identifying themselves as part of the nation On the other hand, “we” is used to exclude the people spoken to and refer only to the advertisers The use of „we‟ leaves the reader an impression that the advertisers are obedient and provide good service

The use of direct address and the second person pronoun “you” can engage their audience in an apparently conversational, equal relationship (Delin, 2000), for the purpose of creating an impression of intimacy and establishing a one-to-one relationship As Cook (2001, 159-160) puts it, the pronoun “you” is “part of a high-

involvement strategy which attempts to win us over by very direct address; they step uninvited into our world, expressing interest in our most intimate concerns” With respect to the first person pronoun “I”, Cook (2002) claims that “I” can be the adviser, the expert, the relator of experiences and motives leading to purchase of the product In terms of the third person pronouns, “he” and “she” are usually used to refer to someone who the recipient knows or someone who is presented in the promotional texts (Myers, 1994) Compared with Cook‟s opinion (2001), “he” and

“she” are people who do not use the advertised product or service and the third person pronoun is used in promotional texts to distance them The third person pronoun “they” is non- personal and is used when talking about “the great undistinguished mass that fails to use the product” or an appealing new group of people whose member the recipient will want to be (Mayers, 1194)

Boonchayaanant (2003) and Iborra and Garrido (2001) reveal that the pronouns

„you‟ are used to address visitors and attract visitor‟s interests, while „we‟ generally refers to the tourist organization These pronouns make the language more warm and friendly in tone, build a closer relationship between the tourist organization and the reader and strengthen its appeal to the readers Therefore, this study narrows focus on the first person pronoun “we” and the second person pronoun “you”

2.8 Review of previous studies

There are several previous studies which offer useful knowledge on various features

of travel brochures

Dhitthita (2009) studied the attraction move in tourist leaflets for the purpose of looking at the prominent linguistic features, particularly focusing on modal verbs, imperatives, personal pronouns, and adjectival pre- modifiers The results of the study reveals that the most common modal verbs found from the corpus were “can” and “will”, which were used to show possibility and provide necessary information

In order to inform some important information to tourists and also to suggest tourists to visit attraction or join activities there, the imperatives “turn”, “take”,

“contact”, “call” and “get” were frequently used Furthermore, the top five personal