A cross cultural study on hedges showing power distance in contemporary english and vietnamese novels

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ KIM ANH A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON HEDGES SHOWING POWER DIST

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN THỊ KIM ANH

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON HEDGES SHOWING POWER DISTANCE

IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NOVELS

(Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa về phương tiện rào đón thể hiện khoảng cách

quyền lực trong tiểu thuyết Anh và Việt đương đại)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

HANOI – 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN THỊ KIM ANH

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON HEDGES SHOWING POWER DISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NOVELS(Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa về phương tiện rào đón thể hiện khoảng cách

quyền lực trong tiểu thuyết Anh và Việt đương đại)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Supervisor: Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, Ph.D.

HANOI – 2017

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the work presented in this study report has been implemented on my own

I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A.Degree in English Linguistics and has not been submitted in any other form for thefulfillment of any other degree or qualification Besides the mentioned references, noother person’s work has been used in this thesis without due acknowledgement

Hanoi, 2017

Trần Thị Kim Anh

Approved bySUPERVISOR

Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, Ph.D

Date: ………

Many people have given me valuable guidance, great support and encouragementduring my research and thesis writing I would like to express my sincere gratitude andappreciation for their contribution

First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor Dr.Huynh Anh Tuan, who helped me in many ways, from the selection of the topic for thisresearch to academic thesis writing Thanks to his invaluably constructive suggestionsand comments during my research, the thesis has been successfully completed I amgreatly grateful to his expertise, enthusiasm, kindness, encouragement and support

Special thanks also go to my friend Nguyen Thi Sinh, who aided me to send the twoEnglish novels from the UK Without her help, the data collection procedure could not

be finished

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies,University of Languages and International Studies, who provided me with adequatesupport throughout the duration of my study

Last but not least, I would like to say thanks to my colleagues in the Institute forNuclear Science and Technology, who took on my work when I was absent from theoffice to attend the lessons and gave me time to complete the course

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This study is conducted to investigate power distance manifestation through the use ofhedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels from the perspective of cross-cultural communication The analysis is carried out on the basis of the research data on

hedges identified in the four selected novels: “Clever girl” by Tessa Hadley, “Into the

darkest corner” by Elizabeth Haynes, “Bến không chồng” by Duong Huong and

“Nhắm mắt thấy Paris” by Duong Thuy This study is implemented by the combination

of descriptive, comparative and contrastive methods The findings indicate that bothlow and high power distance are manifested in the use of the four hedge categories,including modal, performative, pragmatic-marker and quantificational hedges In theEnglish novels, all the groups of age, gender and social status share low power distance

by using hedges which mitigate the imposition on interlocutors, utterance propositionsexpressing an epistemic judgment and strengthen the solidarity between interlocutors

In contrast, in the Vietnamese novels, the power distance is very high in terms of ageand social status; the gender power distance stands at equal or low level For theyounger and lower subgroups, the hedges are often used to show modesty or humbleattitude and respect for the interlocutors or to make uncertain statements For the olderand higher subgroups, the hedges are used to strengthen the importance of the utteranceand the subjective propositions made by the speaker

3.6 Data analysis method 29

Vietnamese novels in terms of age, gender and social status

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HPD High Power Distance

LPD Low Power Distance

EMVs Epistemic Modal Verbs

EMAdjs Epistemic Modal Adjectives

EMAdvs Epistemic Modal Adverbs

PVs Performative Verbs

IPMs Interpersonal Pragmatic-Markers

QAs Quantity Approximators

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4 Categories of hedges showing power distance used by groups of age, 33

gender and social status in English and Vietnamese novels

Table 10 Comparing performative hedges across the groups in the novels 44

Table 12 Pragmatic-marker hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 47Table 13 Comparing pragmatic-marker hedges across the groups in the novels 49

Table 15 Quantificational hedges identified in the Vietnamese novels 51Table 16 Comparing quantificational hedges across the groups in the novels 52

LIST OF FIGURES

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The first chapter is a brief introduction of the motivation for conducting the research,the aim of the research, the key research questions explored to achieve the goal;provides the theoretical and practical significance of the research, the scope of theresearch, followed by the research methodology This section ends with an outline ofthe research design with a brief overview of each chapter

1.1 Rationale for the research

It is widely accepted that each culture has its own level of tolerance to inequality ofpower On the basis of Mulder’s study (1975), Hofstede (1984) introduced the culturalvariable power distance to describe cultural value differences towards the distribution

of power It focuses on how a culture views power relationships between individuals.The manifestation of power distance can be revealed through using variouscommunication devices in both spoken and written languages, in daily life and even inliterature One of the means to show such manifestation is the use of hedges

Being an important linguistic phenomenon, hedging has recently received a goodconcern of linguists Based on the first introduction of hedge as a linguistic term byLakoff (1972), both conceptual and empirical studies have been conducted on thesubject Researchers have focused on different issues regarding definition, form,category and function of hedges However, Yu (2009) indicates that those previoushedge studies mainly focus on genres of academic and scientific writings, several ofspoken discourse and hedge comprehension while less attention is paid to hedges inliterature (i.e., novels), one of the prominent types of discourse in which values,beliefs, ideologies and cultural dimensions of a particular nation or a social class can bepresented through language

This thesis, therefore, provides comprehensive research on power distance dimension

in close relation to the utilization of hedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese

novels with a systematic analysis of (1) the manifestation of power distance by usinghedges and (2) the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing powerdistance in the novels.

All of the above-mentioned information has encouraged me to conduct the study

entitled “A cross-cultural study on hedges showing power distance in contemporary

English and Vietnamese novels”.

1.2 Aim of the research and research questions

The aim of this research is to find out the similarities and differences in the use ofhedges showing power distance in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels Inparticular, the study fulfills the following tasks:

- To identify hedges showing power distance used in contemporary English and

(ii) What are the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance

in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels?

1.3 Significance of the research

Theoretically, the study provides criteria and guidelines for identification andclassification of hedges showing power distance in both English and Vietnameselanguages Based on the pragmatic function analysis of hedges, the study gives a validexplanatory framework underlying hedge choices for power distance manifestation

Practically, the research findings can contribute to Vietnamese understanding of theway English people use hedging expressions to show power distance Accordingly,

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Vietnamese learners of English are able to avoid culture shocks in cross-cultural orintercultural communication, to improve their pragmatic competence and then to adoptappropriate strategies in different communication situations.

1.4 Scope of the research

Although communication comes with paralinguistic factors (e.g., loudness,) and linguistic factors (e.g., facial expressions), within the limit of a minor thesis, thisresearch focuses on the verbal mode of hedges showing power distance in the four

extra-contemporary English and Vietnamese novels including “Clever girl” by Tessa Hadley,

“Into the darkest corner” by Elizabeth Haynes, “Bến không chồng” by Duong Huong and “Nhắm mắt thấy Paris” by Duong Thuy In this study, power distance is examined

in terms of age power, gender power and social status power though it is expressed in avariety of aspects On the basis of the politeness theory, the study explains how powerdistance actually works through the use of hedges

1.5 Research methodology

To explore power distance manifestation through the use of hedges in the selectedcontemporary English and Vietnamese novels, this study is conducted from theperspective of cross-cultural communication Accordingly, the research sheds light onthe similarities and differences in the way people of each cultural background usehedges to show power distance

The research data is composed of hedges taken from conversations in the four selectednovels The collection of hedging expressions is implemented with the combination ofsemantic, grammatical and pragmatic criteria All of the identified hedges are thenclassified on the basis of the categories developed by Yu (2009) and in groups of age,gender and social status After being processed, the data is arranged in overalldistribution for analysis and discussions later

The research data is then qualitatively interpreted and discussed in order to explore themanifestation of power distance This pragmatic analysis is undertaken based on thepoliteness theory.

Finally, to find out the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing powerdistance in the selected English and Vietnamese novels, comparative and contrastiveanalysis methods are employed in the study

1.6 Design of the research

The study is composed of five chapters:

Chapter 1 “Introduction” gives a brief introduction of the motivation for the research,the aim of the research, the key research questions, the theoretical and practicalsignificance of the research, the scope of the research and the research methodology

Chapter 2 “Literature review” attempts to establish a theoretical background for thepresent study and presents an overview of previous works related to hedges

Chapter 3 “Research methodology” explains the specific approach and methods forconducting the research, data collection, data analysis and attempts to establish ananalytical framework of the study

Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussion” presents research findings and provides fulldiscussions about the findings

Chapter 5 “Conclusion” includes a summary of the research results, implications of thefindings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a theoretical background and an overview of previous worksrelated to hedges for the study The former provides a detailed discussion about hedgesand hedging, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, cross-cultural communication, politenesstheory and hedging, and contemporary novels The latter briefly reviews related studies

on hedges in various areas in order to find out the knowledge gap and then raise arationale for the present research

of politeness theory and hedging This section ends with a definition of contemporarynovels

2.1.1 Hedges and hedging

2.1.1.1 Development of the concept of hedges and hedging

It seems challenging to give definitions of hedges and hedging covering all approaches.This part presents the development of the concept of hedge and hedging to show clarityand agreement as to what counts as a hedge and hedging

The notion of “hedge” and its use as a linguistic term can be traced back to Lakoff

(1972) when he published his article “Hedges: A Study in Meaning Criteria and theLogic of Fuzzy Concepts” He used the term to refer to words or phrases that “makethings fuzzier or less fuzzy” (1972: 195) He indicated the possibility that hedges may

“interact with felicity conditions for utterances and with rules of conversation” (1972:

213) However, he was concerned with the logical properties of hedges, not interested

in the communicative value of the use of hedges Lakoff’s definition focuses onclarifying the semantic basis, on which the notion of hedge rests; therefore, hisdefinition of hedges has remained a basis for many analyses of the hedgingphenomenon Supporting Lakoff's concern, another definition of hedge has beendeveloped by Brown and Levinson (1987: 145) as "a particle, word or phrase thatmodifies the degree of membership of a predicate or a noun phrase in a set; it says ofthat membership that it is partial or true only in certain respects, or that it is more trueand complete than perhaps might be expected"

The term has moved far from its origins since it attracted the interest of pragmatists anddiscourse analysts It is now used not only for expressions which modify the categorymembership of a predicate or noun phrase, but also for other syntactic constructions.After the mention of a fact that certain verbs and syntactic constructions may convey

hedged performatives (e.g., I suppose that…) (Lakoff, 1972), the idea of hedged

performatives has then become one direction of the expansion of the term According

to Markkanen and Schröder (1997), hedges are considered as modifiers of thespeaker’s/writer’s commitment to the truth-value of a whole proposition, not as makingindividual elements inside it more imprecise

The concept of “hedge” is broadened in the furthest direction in which hedges are

treated as the realization of an interactional or communicative strategy called hedging.When Markkanen and Schröder (1989, 1992) make a discussion about the role ofhedges in scientific writing, they see the hedges as modifiers of the writer'sresponsibility for the truth value of the propositions expressed or as modifiers of theweightiness of the information provided, or the attitude of the writer to the information

In addition to the functional point of view, several researchers argue that hedges mightperform social functions Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) see hedges as strategies tominimize the threat to face that is hidden behind acts of communication According to

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Pindi and Bloor (1986), hedges are used in academic writing to signal distance, toprotect one’s own reputation, to avoid absolute statements that may put researchers in

an embarrassing situation, to express the extent to which writers commit themselves tothe truth value of their statements and to allow researchers to be more open to otherpossibilities of interpretation On the basis of Brown and Levinson’s (1978, 1987)work, Myers (1989) argues that hedges can be better understood as positive or negativepoliteness strategies to deal with social interactions (i.e., solidarity with readers,unspeakability of direct criticisms and deference towards the scientific community)

It can be seen from the above discussions that the term “hedge” is defined in various

ways, from a pure linguistic direction to other directions widened with pragmatic,discoursal, interactional, communicative and social connotations This developmentcan be divided into three stages Firstly, Lakoff’s originally linguistic concept works on

a local level modifying words or phrases within a proposition with its focus on content.Secondly, the term is investigated mainly in linguistic and pragmatic aspects modifyingthe truth value of the whole proposition and the speaker’s/writer’s commitment orattitude to the propositional content with its focus on the speaker/writer-contentrelationship Thirdly, the term is pragmatically and socially explored to modifyingrelationships between interlocutors or social relationships in a wider context with itsfocus on interpersonal and social relationships It is concluded that a good way to fully

understand the concept of “hedge” is to take all those elements into consideration.

Therefore, hedges might be defined, in this study, as a word, particle, phrase orlinguistic means having functions to:

- Modify the membership degree of another linguistic unit (e.g., a predicate or anoun phrase) in a set; it reveals that membership is partial or true only in certain respects, orthat it is more true or complete than perhaps might be expected

- Perform a speech act, i.e used as a hedged performative (e.g., I think that …).

- Modify the weightiness of the information given, the speaker’s attitude or his/hercommitment to the propositional content of a statement or the speaker’s responsibility forthe truth value of the propositions expressed.

- Reduce the risk of negation and disagreement; contribute to good interpersonal relationship or good interactional behavior in communication

- Assist in saving the speaker’s or the hearer’s face, protecting the speaker’s reputation,projecting the speaker’s personality, strengthening solidarity with the addressee, showingmodesty, gaining respect and approval from other people

Based on the way of defining a hedge in this study, hedging can be described as a

linguistic phenomenon, which is composed of strategies to:

- Convey the speaker’s certainty or doubt towards a statement and show the degree of confidence the speaker assigns to his/her claim

- Allow the hearer to evaluate the truth value of the assertion

- Show politeness where it marks a statement as being provisional, pending acceptance

by the community or the hearer and mitigate face-threats

- Provide speaker-hearer interaction and act as a bridge which links the speaker’s intentions and the hearer’s receptions of those intentions

2.1.1.2 Taxonomy of hedges

Yu (2009: 55) indicates that “the taxonomy of hedges is rather arbitrary” because

“there are no unified criteria for the classification of hedges” This part, thus, provides

an overview of several prominent categorizations of hedges available in the literatureand a proposal of taxonomy for the present study

Salvager-Meyer (1994), in a study on how medical writers modulate their discourse indifferent rhetorical sections of research paper and case reports, examined the frequencyand types of hedging techniques used in the different rhetorical sections of researchpaper and case reports and how communicative purpose of each rhetorical section

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influences the use of hedging conventions He undertook a rigorous contextual analysis

in both formal and functional criteria to identify hedges and propose a taxonomy ofhedges He attempted to establish a five-type taxonomy of hedges as in table 1

Table 1 Taxonomy of hedges by Salvager-Meyer (1994: 154-155)

- All modal verbs expressing possibility - Might, can

Shields - Probability adverbs and their - Probably, likely

derivative adjectives

Approximators rounders of quantity, degree, frequencyand time which express heed and Somewhat Often

coyness

Personal Expressions of the author’s personal I believe

expressions doubt and direct involvement To our knowledge

Compound - Treble hedges - It would seem likely that.

hedges - Quadruple hedges - It would seem somewhat

unlikely that …

Hyland (1996a) established different categories for scientific hedges (i.e., in the field ofcell and molecular biology) from a social, pragmatic, and discoursal point of view Hiscategory model for hedges is illustrated in figure 1

Figure 1 Hyland’s classification of scientific hedges (1996a: 438)

He developed a fuzzy category model, in which two main types were mentioned,

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The content-oriented hedges, subdivided into accuracy-oriented hedges and

writer-oriented hedges, mitigate the relationship between propositional content and a

representation of reality According to Hyland (1996a), the accuracy-oriented hedges

concern the writer’s focus on propositional accuracy or in other words, they involve thewriter’s desire to express propositions with greater precision Again, accuracy-oriented

hedges are separated into two small types: attribute and reliability hedges The former

enables writers to specify more accurately how far their results approximate to an

idealized state They are represented by adverbs (e.g., generally, almost, quite).

Whereas, the latter indicates the writer’s confidence or uncertainty in the truth of a

proposition and is realized by modal verbs (e.g., may, might, can, could), modal adjectives (e.g., likely, possible), modal adverbs (e.g., apparently, maybe), and modal nouns (e.g., chance, probability) The writer-oriented hedges, according to Hyland

(1996a), concern the writer’s focus on self-protection against the consequences of poorjudgment They can be realized by employing the absence of writer agency withimpersonalized and passive constructions as the preferred forms

Regarding the reader-oriented hedges, Hyland (1996a) implies that they help reduce

the risk of negation on subjective grounds and confirm the attention writers give to theinteractional effects of their statements Thus, they can be realized through the use of

personal pronouns (e.g., I, we), questions, appeals to testability and suggestions for

alternatives

Unlike the two above-mentioned category models for hedges, a different taxonomywas developed by Yu in 2009 when he conducted a cross-sectional research on thepragmatic development of hedging with Chinese-speaking EFL learners Based on theinteractions between grammatical, semantic and pragmatic properties, the model iscomposed of four broad types: modal hedges, performative (mental) hedges,pragmatic-marker hedges, and quantificational hedges This taxonomy can besummarized as in table 2

Table 2 Taxonomy of hedges by Yu (2009: 104)

Modal hedges - Modal adjectives - Probable, likely

Performative Mental state predicates with I think that …

epistemic meaning and modalized

From the above overview of three taxonomies of hedges by Salvager-Meyer (1994),Hyland (1996a) and Yu (2009), several main points need to be taken into consideration

as follows First, the classification of hedges in Salvager-Meyer (1994) is based on acombination of functional and syntactic criteria, trying to match grammatical formswith functional categories Hyland’s taxonomy of hedges (1996a) is based on a widersocial, pragmatic and discoursal point of view and he tries to match the hedge functionswith grammatical forms Both of the hedge taxonomies established by Salvager-Meyer(1994) and Hyland (1996a) make a significant contribution to the hedge categorizations

in academic and scientific writing (i.e., medical discourse and textbooks on cell andmolecular biology) However, the differences in taxonomies of hedges reflect the lack

of unified criteria for hedge classification This may also reflect hedges as highlycontext-dependent and pragmatic in nature Therefore, to offer a satisfactoryclassification of hedges, it is necessary to provide a careful description of the propertiesand characteristics of hedges In agreement with that point of view, Yu’s (2009)taxonomy of hedges is established on the basis of the complex interactions betweengrammatical, semantic and pragmatic features of hedges

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The present study investigates hedges in the novels in which it is necessary to put theinteractions between characters into a particular context and pragmatically examined innature, thus the grammatical, semantic and pragmatic criteria should work together forhedge classification Accordingly, a taxonomy of hedges established for the presentstudy is adapted from the categorization developed by Yu (2009).

Nevertheless, the power distance manifestation in this study is explored through the use

of hedges, there needs to be a distinction between epistemic and deontic subtypes ofmodal hedges which clearly clarify the level or the kind of power distance In addition,

it is essential to distinguish mental state verbs from performative verbs in performativehedge category Regarding pragmatic-marker hedges, pure textual pragmatic markersare rarely used as hedges; in case they are, such cases are often realized through theirimplicit propositional or interpersonal functions Textual modifications are thus notinvestigated in this study From the above account, the taxonomy proposed for thisstudy has the final terminologies as shown in table 3:

Table 3 Taxonomy of hedges established for the present study

- Epistemic modal adjectives - Probable, likely

Modal hedges (Those four epistemic hedges

express possibility andindefiniteness)

- Deontic modal verbs (shifting the - Must, should

responsibility away from the speaker

to the necessity or obligation)

Performative - Mental state verbs - I think that …

hedges - Performative verbs - May you permit me …

Pragmatic- - Interpersonal pragmatic-markers - If you like, You know

marker hedges - Propositional pragmatic-markers - Admittedly, In fact

Quantificational - Quantity approximators - Some, little

hedges

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2.1.2 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions - Power distance

Geert Hofstede, a Dutch social anthropologist and psychologist, has studiedinteractions between cultures His cultural dimensions theory provides a systematicframework for the assessment of the differences between nations and cultures He firstfocused his research on the 40 largest countries, and then extended it to 50 countriesand 3 regions That initial analysis identified systematic differences in national cultures

on four dimensions: power distance , individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance

and masculinity-femininity, and was published in Culture's Consequences book in

1984 Michael Harris Bond and colleagues conducted independent research amongstudents in 23 countries, using a survey instrument developed with Chinese employeesand managers in 1991 The results from that study led Hofstede to add a fifthdimension to his model: long-term orientation - short-term orientation, initially calledConfucian dynamism, to cover aspects of values not discussed in the original paradigm

In 2010, Minkov's World Values Survey data analysis of 93 countries finally ledHofstede to identify a sixth last dimension: indulgence versus restraint To sum up,Hofstede’s theory is based on the idea that value can be placed upon six culturaldimensions, including power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinityversus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term versus short-term orientation, andindulgence versus restraint

The present study investigates the manifestation of power distance through the use ofhedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels, the power distance dimension

is thus clearly presented and discussed in this part

The term power distance was first mentioned by Mulder in 1958 It is a measure of

power imbalance between more powerful individuals and less powerful ones in asociety Mulder (1975) indicated that individuals with more power tend to increase ormaintain the distance between themselves and the less powerful while individuals withless power tend to decrease the distance between themselves and the more powerful

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On the basis of Mulder’s studies, Hofstede (1984, 2001) introduced the culturalvariable power distance to describe attitudes towards the distribution of power Hedefined it as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions ororganizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

In this study, power distance refers to the way in which power is distributed and theextent to which the less powerful accept that power is spread unequally It is examined

in terms of the power relationships of three aspects: age (younger/older/equal), gender(female/male) and social status (lower/higher/equal positions)

Hofstede’s power distance index (PDI) for over 70 countries (2010) indicates that therange of inequality varies from culture to culture with the lowest score of 11, theaverage score of 53 and the highest score of 104 According to his analysis (2003),there are various differences between low power distance (LPD) and high powerdistance (HPD) cultures Those which have LPD emphasize individual credibility andexpertise, democratic decision-making processes, equal rights and relations, andequitable rewards and punishments based on performance, whereas HPD exists incultures in which decision-making processes are automatic; credibility and experience

is judged on a status-basis

The paragraphs below provide an overview of power distance assessment in England

and Vietnam Figure 2 shows a comparison of PDI between England and Vietnam

70

30 0

(Country)

Figure 2 PDI in England and Vietnam

As can be seen from Figure 2, England scores 35 on the cultural scale in terms of PDI.

In comparison with Arab countries in which the power distance is very high (PDI = 80)and Austria where it is very low (PDI = 11), England belongs to the group of LPDcountries On the other hand, the PDI of Vietnamese culture stands at 70, which, inaccordance with Hofstede’s assessment, is known as a HPD country

In the words of Hofstede (1984, 2001), English culture views individuals as more orless equal, tends to diminish status, and distributes power more evenly than HPDcultures His research shows that the PDI score at first seems incongruent with thewell-established and historical class system and it exposes one of the inherent tensions

in English culture – between the importance of birth rank on the one hand and a deepseated belief that where people are born should not limit how far they can travel in life

A sense of fair play drives a belief that people should be treated in some way as equal

In Vietnam, people accept a hierarchical order, in which everyone has a place, needs nofurther justification and avoids losing the other’s face Due to the importance of savingface, indirect speech is seen as one of the distinctive features in Vietnamese society.Hierarchy in an organization is regarded as reflecting inherent inequalities Gudykunst(2001) and Heymer (2008) point out certain criteria of hierarchy that can be identified,including age, gender, money status and qualification Challenges to the leadership arenot well-received According to Nguyen and Truong (2002), the HPD characteristic isshown both in daily life and in business of Vietnamese people

2.1.3 Cross-cultural communication

Culture, communication and the correlation between them remain a topic of greatinterest to a number of linguistic researchers Studies on that correlation have led totechnological terms of intra-cultural communication, cross-cultural communication,intercultural communication and transcultural communication Among those four kinds

of communication, there is a widespread agreement on the understanding of cultural and transcultural communication The former describes communication

intra-15

between people who live in the same country and come from the same culturalbackground The latter is communication between people who live in the same country

or in different countries but come from different cultural backgrounds, where there is

an explicitly influential acculturation from one to another

In contrast, there is no widespread agreement on the understanding of cross-culturalcommunication and intercultural communication Further, there is sometimes anambiguity in the use of those two terms This part thus provides a careful discussion onthe terms and attempts to make a distinction between them The conceptualization ofcross-cultural and intercultural communication varies from researcher to researcher.Among them, five popular definitions are presented in the following discussion

To begin with, Scollon & Scollon’s definitions (2001) of intercultural communicationand cross-cultural communication receive much attention from other researchers Theytake intercultural communication to signal the study of distinct cultural or other groups

in interaction with each other It means that the comparative analysis of the groups orsynthesis between them arises in this framework as part of the interaction of members

of different groups with each other, and the analyst’s role is to stand outside of theinteraction and to provide an analysis of how the participants negotiate their cultural orother differences Concerning cross-cultural communication, they take it to signal theindependent study of the communicative characteristics of distinct cultural or othergroups In the cross-cultural framework, comparative analysis or synthesis is made bythe analyst or researcher That means in research designed within the cross-culturalparadigm, the members of the distinct groups do not interact with each other within thestudy but are studied as separate and separable entities In actual instances, thedistinctiveness of the groups under analysis is often presupposed It can be seen fromtwo above definitions that there exists a clear difference between cross-cultural andintercultural communication

Levine and Adelman (1993) define cross-cultural communication as (verbal and verbal) communication between people from different cultures; communicationinfluenced by cultural values, attitudes and behaviors; the influence of cultures onpeople’s reactions and responses to each other Their definition reveals that theirunderstandings of cross-cultural communication resemble the conceptualization ofintercultural communication.

non-Another definition of cross-cultural and intercultural communication belongs to Rogerand Steifatt (1999) They define cross-cultural or intercultural communication as theexchange of information between individuals who are unalike culturally because theyare in approval of the idea that cross-cultural and intercultural communication are oftenused interchangeably This understanding results in ambiguity in the use of two terms

On the contrary, Gudykunst (2003) states that cross-cultural communication focuses oncomparison of some phenomena between cultures He argues further that it is essential

to understand cross-cultural communication before taking intercultural communication.Understanding cross-cultural communication is to understand what each culture values

in terms of interacting with others His idea makes no distinction between two terms

In Nguyen Quang’s Lecture Note (2006), he describes cross-cultural communication ascommunication between people who live in different countries and come from differentcultural backgrounds while intercultural communication is communication between peoplewho live in the same country but come from different cultural backgrounds

In this study, to make a clear and full understanding of cross-cultural communicationand to distinguish it from intercultural communication, the author approves thedefinition developed by Scollon & Scollon (2001) Cross-cultural communicationdefined by Scollon & Scollon (2001) then serves as the research approach for thepurpose of investigation into the manifestation of power distance through the use ofhedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels

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2.1.4 Politeness theory and hedging

Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) is seen as the most comprehensivetheory about linguistic politeness The theory emerges from three elements: face, facethreatening acts and politeness strategies “Face” is defined as the public self-imagewhich everyone wants to preserve when engaged in communication It consists of two

relevant aspects: positive face, on the one hand, showing “the positive consistent

self-image or personality (crucially including the desire that this self-self-image be appreciated

and approved of) claimed by interactions” and on the other hand, negative face as “the

basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction, such as tofreedom of action and freedom of imposition” (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 61)

In accordance with the notions of negative and positive face, Brown & Levinson(1987) proposed the theory on positive politeness and negative politeness strategies

Positive politeness is, in general, a way how to show solidarity and express sympathy

towards the addressee In other words, positive politeness strategies try to minimize the

distance between interlocutors by expressions of friendliness and solid interest in thehearer's need to be respected The possible face threat is reduced thanks to the fact that

the speaker desires for at least some of the hearer’s wants On the contrary, negative

politeness is oriented towards the hearer’s negative face In other words, negative politeness strategies enable the speaker to maintain his/her face and avoid conflicts by

keeping the distance between the speaker and the hearer such as in refusal,disagreement, or critique

Regarding politeness in Vietnam, Nguyen Thien Giap (2000: 34) defines it as a socialconvention that is composed of subtlety, toleration, modesty and sympathy Sharingthis point of view, Vu Thi Thanh Huong (2002) indicates four elements of politeness,

including respect, modesty, subtlety and delicacy According to her concept, respect and modesty are expressed through linguistic behaviors that satisfy social

communication principles and present the hierarchical order in position and age

Therefore, they belong to conventional politeness Subtlety and delicacy are expressed

by linguistic behaviors which mitigate imposition, avoid hurts and gain more

ratification from the interlocutors They are then called politeness strategies.

In this study, the concept of politeness is investigated in combination of politenessstrategies by Brown & Levinson (1987) and conventional politeness

Taking the relationship between hedging and politeness theory into account, Wilamová(2005) describes hedging devices as the pragmatic markers which reinforce the impact

of the message and hence, they appear to be associated mainly with the negativepoliteness Brown & Levinson (1987) also consider hedging as one of the negativepoliteness strategies because it is used to redress different types of face threatening acts(e.g., criticism, complaints, requests, suggestions) or to strengthen the force of otheracts that may be seen as beneficial to the addressee (e.g., promises) Additionally, itmay be used to stress the speaker’s commitment to the truth of his/her utterances or tosuggest that he/she does not take full responsibilities for the truth of his/her utterances

In such cases, hedging is in close relation to negative politeness strategies because itmakes distance between the speaker and the content of the utterance and the listener.For positive politeness strategies, they achieve hedging effects when they try tominimize the distance between interlocutors; therefore, hedging is regarded as bothpositive and negative politeness strategies in this study

2.1.5 Contemporary novels

Anthony Burgess, an English novelist, defines a novel as an invented prose narrative ofconsiderable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with humanexperience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group ofpersons in a specific setting Within its broad framework, the genre of novel hasencompassed an extensive range of types and styles, including: picaresque, epistolary,gothic, romantic, realistic, historical-to name only some of the more important ones(cited from https://www.britannica.com/art/novel)

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In this study, the concept of contemporary novel is taken into consideration Itdescribes stories set in current time, deals with the concerns of modern day life anddoes not bring in any elements of fantasy Being a kind of realistic fiction,contemporary novels focus on giving people a window into some corner of everydayexperience and showing them what it will be like to walk in someone else’s shoes.Some of the stories may be politically motivated or designed to raise social awarenesswhile others exist purely for the purposes of entertainment.

The four contemporary novels investigated in the present study tell the stories ofwomen and the psychology of people in love and in other relationships

2.2 Related studies on hedges

There have been many studies on hedges in the literature both in the world and inVietnam In the following literature review of hedge studies up to the date, attention ispaid to four major areas of research The first area of hedge research is located inacademic and scientific writing, in which hedges are often examined in general within

a corpus The second area occurs with spoken discourse, where hedges are ofteninvestigated individually as a discourse marker or pragmatic marker The third area ofhedge research, quite small in number, relies on comprehension rather than productionmaterials, examining the understanding of hedges The fourth area, limited in quantity,

is set out for hedges in literature

To begin with, Yu (2009) indicates that the majority of hedge studies are found to beconcerned with academic and scientific writing, including genres such as economics(Pindi and Bloor, 1986; Channel, 1990), medical discourse (Salayer-Meyer, 1991;1993; 1994; Adams-Smith,1984), molecular genetics articles (Myers, 1989), news-writing (Zuck & Zuck, 1986), and hedging in textbooks (Myers, 1992; Holmes, 1988;Hyland, 1994) Hedge studies are conducted most often with academic and scientificwriting because these genres are comparatively hedge-dense areas Hyland (1996a)states that in science, hedges play a critical role in gaining ratification for claims from a

powerful peer group by allowing writers to present statements with appropriateaccuracy, caution and humility Hedges help negotiate the perspective from whichconclusions can be accepted In other words, the use of hedges is obligatory inacademic writing and scientific articles Myers (1989) has similar observations whichargue that hedges are part of wider system of politeness designed to redress the threatresearch claims may contain to the face of other scientists While writers seek to gainrecognition in their field by making the strongest claims they can, such claims arelikely to challenge existing assumptions of the discipline A variety of devices are,therefore, employed to mitigate claims and minimize these impositions Hence, theavailability of hedge data is best obtainable in academic and scientific genres.

As far as the methodology is concerned, hedge studies in academic and scientificwriting are usually corpus-based Researchers establish a corpus composed of anumber of academic and scientific papers, statistics are then provided for the frequency

or density of hedges occurring in these papers, and a general taxonomy of hedges isalso presented In addition, hedges in this area have their own characteristics Forexample, according to Meyer (1997: 38), the commitment to an academic statementcan be mitigated “by pretending that the author is not putting toward the claim ofhis/her own accord, but that the facts actually speak for themselves, or compel theauthor to claim what he/she is claiming” Another instance of the feature of hedges inthis area is the strategy of shifting responsibility to method Related to this strategy, thefact-finding process reveals the double character of hedging in a most convincingmanner, including both strengthening and weakening the argument

Besides studies on academic and scientific writing, hedges have also received a greatdeal of attention in spoken discourse in which hedge categories, their properties orfunctions are examined in general Several popular researchers in this field are Crystaland Davy (1975), Keller and Warner (1976), Schifffrin (1987) and Fraser (1988) Inaddition, many analysts of spoken discourse also target individual items, examining asingle hedge at a time in detail Studies in this area reveal that any linguistic expression

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functioning as a hedge is due both to its semantic connotations and to its pragmaticproperties Identifying any linguistic expression as a hedge is thus a complicated taskwhich requires context-based case-for-case analyses.

In spite of small number, there are also studies on hedge comprehension Perhaps,Channel (1994) is the most well-known in this area, who reported a series of studies onthe meaning of approximator + number He concluded the study with threegeneralizations Firstly, number approximations were understood to designate intervals

of numbers Secondly, as a general rule, the length of the interval increased as afunction of the size of the exemplar number Thirdly, the nature of the item beingapproximated affected the length of interval for which the approximation seemedappropriate In Vietnam, hedges were mentioned in terms of several different aspectsand levels when researchers carried out their studies on a particular speech act,pragmatic phenomenon, propositional content strategy or politeness strategies, forexample, Nguyen Quang (2004), Duong Tuyet Hanh (2007), Nguyen Quang Ngoan(2007), Vu Thi Nga (2002, 2010) However, there has not been any research conductedwith a general view on hedges to be used as the reference database in Vietnam

The following discussions show some findings in a few of Vietnamese researchprojects conducted in literature area (i.e., novels)

In the research entitled "A study on hedging devices in conversations in Gone with the

wind by Margaret Mitchell", Huyen (2012) investigated the linguistic devices of

hedges and major pragmatic functions of identified hedges in the conversations in thenovel The findings indicated that there were four main categories of hedging devicesemerging from the data namely modal hedges, performative hedges, quantificationalhedges and pragmatic-marker hedges They performed three functions, includingspeaker orientation, accuracy orientation and hearer orientation The study revealedthat the pragmatic functions of hedges were partly portrayed because it was restricted

to linguistic realization of hedging

Another research on hedges was conducted by Hau (2014), namely “Hedges showingpower distance in American and Vietnamese contemporary novels from the perspective

of cross-cultural communication” She identified and described the linguistic devices ofhedging showing power distance in terms of their syntactic, semantic features andpragmatic functions Simultaneously, she discovered the similarities and differencesbetween the hedge showing power distance in American and Vietnamese novels fromperspective of cross-cultural communication The findings of the research showed thatthere were five categories of hedging devices showing power distance emerging fromthe data of two American novels and two Vietnamese novels, namely, modal hedges,performative hedges, quantificational hedges, pragmatic-marker hedges and otherminor hedge patterns (subjunctives, tag questions/rhetorical questions, expressionsborrowing from idioms and impersonalization) The findings also revealed that age,gender and position had certain influences on using hedges showing power distance.However, they were just illustrated through her personal judgment with statements andsome popular examples extracted from the novels, not clearly collected and analyzed

on the basis of the statistical data in terms of age, gender and position Therefore, themanifestation of power distance in terms of those aspects did not satisfy the reliabilityand convincing principles

Based on the gap of previous studies on hedges, the present study attempts to give avalid explanatory framework which underlies the classification of hedges for powerdistance manifestation and to find out the similarities and differences in the use ofhedges showing power distance in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels

2.3 Chapter summary

This chapter provides a detailed theoretical background and an overview of previousworks related to hedges for the study The first part makes a careful discussion abouthedges and hedging, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, cross-cultural communication,politeness theory and hedging, and contemporary novels

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In this chapter, distinct definitions of hedges and hedging are presented clearly Hedgesare considered as a word, particle, phrase or linguistic means which have fivefunctions: (1) Modify the membership degree of another linguistic unit in a set; (2)Perform a speech act; (3) Modify the weightiness of the information given, thespeaker’s attitude or his/her commitment to the propositional content of a statement orthe speaker’s responsibility for the truth value of the propositions expressed; (4)Reduce the risk of negation and disagreement; contribute to good interpersonalrelationship or good interactional behavior in communication and (5) Assist in savingthe speaker’s or the hearer’s face, protecting the speaker’s reputation, projecting thespeaker’s personality, strengthening solidarity with the addressee, showing modestyand gaining more respect and approval from other people.

Hedging in this study is described as a linguistic phenomenon, which is composed ofstrategies to: (i) Convey the speaker’s certainty or doubt towards a statement and showthe degree of confidence the speaker assigns to his/her claim; (ii) Allow the hearer toevaluate the truth value of the assertion; (iii) Show politeness where it marks astatement as being provisional, pending acceptance by the community or the hearer andmitigate face-threats and (4) Provide speaker-hearer interaction and act as a bridgewhich links the speaker’s intentions and the hearer’s receptions of those intentions

In this chapter, four broad hedge categories are established for the present study,including: modal hedges, performative hedges, pragmatic-marker hedges andquantificational hedges

The development of Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory is also clearly presented,followed by a careful discussion about cross-cultural and intercultural communication

to make a distinction between two terms The present study approves the definition ofcross-cultural communication developed by Scollon & Scollon (2001) It signals theindependent study of the communicative characteristics of distinct cultural or othergroups The members of the distinct groups do not interact with each other within the

study but are studied as separate and separable entities It serves as the researchapproach for the purpose of investigation into the manifestation of power distancethrough the use of hedges in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels In thischapter, Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies (1987) and conventionalpoliteness are applied for the pragmatic analysis of hedges’ functions The relationshipbetween politeness strategies and hedging is also clarified.

The second part reviews four important areas of hedge studies up to the date, includingacademic and scientific writing, spoken discourse, hedge comprehension and literature.Based on the gap of previous studies on hedges, the present study raises a motivationfor research to find out the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showingpower distance in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels from the perspective

of cross-cultural communication

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter gives a detailed account for the research approach and method used tooffer the answers to the research questions It is also fulfilled with the informationabout research data, criteria and guidelines for data collection, and data analysismethod The chapter ends with an analytical framework which can be considered as anoutline of data analysis for the present study

3.1 Research questions

This present research addresses two questions:

(i) Which hedges showing power distance are used in contemporary English and

Vietnamese novels?

(ii) What are the similarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance

in contemporary English and Vietnamese novels?

3.2 Research approach

In order to investigate power distance manifestation through the use of hedges in theselected contemporary English and Vietnamese novels, this study is conducted fromthe perspective of cross-cultural communication The research aims at shedding light

on the similarities and differences in the way people of each cultural background usehedges to show power distance

3.3 Research method

In this study, a comprehensive understanding of hedges showing power distance in thecontemporary English and Vietnamese novels from cross-cultural communicationperspective is implemented by the combination of descriptive, comparative andcontrastive analysis methods

After the hedge categories are collected and processed, they are arranged in overalldistribution in terms of age, gender and social status Then they are described and

interpreted in order to explore the manifestation of power distance To find out thesimilarities and differences in the use of hedges showing power distance in the selectedEnglish and Vietnamese novels, comparative and contrastive analysis methods areemployed in this phase.

3.4 Research data

The data used in this study is composed of hedges taken from conversations in the fourselected contemporary novels (including two English novels and two Vietnameseones), telling the stories of women and the psychology of people in love and in otherrelationships

Clever girl (2013) by Tessa Hadley is the life story of an ordinary, middle-aged

English woman - Stella It is seen as a powerful exploration of family relationships andclass in modern life, witnessed through Stella’s experiences Unfolding in a series ofsnapshots, this moving novel follows the story of Stella from her childhood, growing

up with a single mother in a Bristol bedsit in the 1960s, into the mysterious shallows ofher middle age

Into the darkest corner (2010) by Elizabeth Haynes tells the story of Catherine, who

has enjoyed her single life and experiences big changes when she sees Lee He seemsalmost too perfect to be true But she then realizes that there is a darker side to him Hisstrange behaviors make Catherine frightened However, no one trusts her when sheshares her demons Isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, she plans

on escaping Four years later, when she meets Stuart, Catherine hopes that she might behappy with her new love and safe from harm Unfortunately, soon after that, shereceives a phone call informing her of Lee’s impending release Everything thenchanges

Bến không chồng (1991) by Duong Huong is the story about females living in a

northern village where males are away to serve the war against the French colonial

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