Preferred language used by british and vietnamese hosts of television programmes

Preferred language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of television programmes.. This paper shed light on characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese TV programme h

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Tra Mi, currently study in group QH08.1.E20, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Nguyen Tra Mi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This graduation paper would not have been completed without support from

a number of people I have been given great support from my teachers at University

of Languages and International Studies, family, friends and colleagues They have,

in many ways, contributed to the work that I present here

First and foremost, I would like to express my very affectionate and deeply-felt thanks to my supervisor, Ms Phan Thi Van Quyen for her giving effective instructions, invaluable advice during the preparation and completion of this graduation paper I owe her a debt of gratitude that cannot be measured

My particular thank goes to Ms Molly Penelope Taylor and

Ms Louise Holloway, two English teachers whom I work with at ILA Hanoi, for their support with the collection of data They have not only helped with transcription of the paper’s material but also improved my knowledge and understanding of British culture

I am immensely grateful to my parents and my friends who nonstop encourage me to continue the research Without their love and support, the study would not have come to fruition

Nguyen Tra Mi

ABSTRACT

Mi, N.T (2012) Preferred language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of

television programmes A Bachelor’s Thesis submitted to Vietnam National

University, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies

The development of television broadcasting has brought a variety of British

and Vietnamese programmes to viewers Using language, the hosts play the

representative role and convey the message of the programmes This paper shed

light on characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese TV

programme hosts, as one of the attempts to help the audience apprehend the

programme content

For the accomplishments of these purposes, the study carried out in the light

of intercultural communication and is based on the authentic data collected

The findings of the study provide evidence that the languages used by British

and Vietnamese hosts have certain similarities and differences Each of the two

languages pertains to its culture and reflects the essential values of the society

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

List of tables, figures and abbreviations v

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Culture 5

2.1.1 Definitions of culture 5

2.1.2 The interrelationship between language and culture 6

2.2 Communication 6

2.2.1 Definitions of communication 6

2.2.2 Classification of communication 7

2.2.2.1 Verbal communication 7

2.2.2.2 Non-verbal communication 8

2.2.3 Intercultural communication 8

2.3 Television as a form communication 8

2.3.1 Television as a form communication 8

2.3.2 Hosts of TV programmes 9

2.4 Characteristics of the language used by hosts of TV programmes 9

2.4.1 Greetings and address forms 10

2.4.2 Honorifics 11

2.4.3 Ellipsis 12

2.4.4 Expressive language 13

2.4.4.1 Periphrasis 13

2.4.4.2 Idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings 14

2.5 Related studies 14

CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research methods 16

3.2 Selection of subjects 17

3.3 Data collection procedure 17

3.4 Data analysis procedure 18

CHAPTER 4 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Programme greetings & leave-takings 19

4.1.1 Greetings 19

4.1.2 Leave-takings 21

4.2 Address forms 24

4.3 Honorifics 28

4.4 Ellipsis 29

4.5 Expressive language 32

4.5.1 Periphrasis 32

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION 5.1 Conclusion 38

5.2 Implications 39

5.3 Limitations of the study 40

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 41

References

Appendices

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

Table 1: List of Vietnamese common greetings and their meanings

summarized by Nguyen Quang (2006) Table 2: List of chosen British and Vietnamese TV programmes

Table 3: Formats of programme greetings used by British and Vietnamese

hosts Table 4: Formats of programme leave-takings used by British and

Vietnamese hosts Table 5: Use of address forms by British and Vietnamese hosts

Table 6: Honorific labels used by Vietnamese hosts

Table 7: Proportion of interviews & conversations in the collected British

and Vietnamese programmes Table 8: Features of conversations by British and Vietnamese hosts

Table 9: Ellipsis by British and Vietnamese hosts in interview and

conversations Table 10: Use of periphrasis tools by British and Vietnamese hosts

Diagram 1: Classification of communication

Diagram 2: Formats of programme greetings used by British and Vietnamese

hosts Diagram 3: Formats of programme leave-takings used by British and

Vietnamese hosts Diagram 4: Use of address forms by British and Vietnamese hosts

Diagram 5: Use of periphrasis tools by British and Vietnamese hosts

GGE: Gordon’s Great Escape T357: Du lịch 3-5-7 (Travel 3-5-7)

OH: Hà Nội của chúng ta (Our Hanoi) TV: Television

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION

1.6 Rationale

There was a time, about 20 years ago, when print media played an important role in providing people with information Now this role has been taken over by television

The last decade of 20th century and the first decade of the 21th century observed the rapid development of television, which seemed to be beyond expectation The numbers of television channels and programmes have been increasing so fast that many people do not know exactly how many of them exist, even in their country

No one can deny that television has changed the way we live Television is considered a "view into the world" It plays a positive role in society Television channels cater to the requirements of almost every individual Television (TV) programmes offer everything for everyone In fact, entertaining, education, information are the aspects, which fulfils everyone's wishes

However, it is clear that the more choices of TV programmes there are, the more difficult it is for these programmes to attract viewers The key factors that make a TV programme interesting and attractive are not only the programme’s theme, pictures, sound, but also the host, “a person who present the content of television programmes”

Different from news readers in the past, hosts nowadays are considered to be the ones that can decide the success of the programmes The reasons are that they can create the atmosphere of the programmes, arise the viewers’ feeling, leave both positive and negative impression on the mind of the audience, orientate the audience, change the way the audience think and their attitude towards problems, as well as encourage the audience to show their feeling and act in certain situations If the programmes are watched by or shown to foreigners, the manner and style of the hosts can be the way through which foreigners may understand and be aware of the culture of a nation

In order to fulfil their duties, TV hosts must have not only good general background knowledge about the theme of the programme they are presenting, but also skills in how to give life to programme, to deal with problems that may occur during programme The most important skill, which is considered to be the decisive factor of success, is the ability to use language fluently and effectively including good voice, wide range of vocabulary and good use of collocations and sentence patterns in suitable situations

Being a TV host is believed to be one of the most interesting jobs in Vietnam nowadays But obviously, many of Vietnamese hosts are not professional and qualified They might major in reporting or editing Some of them are artists or winners of beauty contests who have limited background knowledge of and experience in conducting a TV programme This may make audience, especially highly educated people, disappointed

For all of the facts mentioned above, the researcher decides to conduct a research on typical features of the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of

TV programmes with the hope to find out similarities and differences and try to give detailed cultural-based explanation

1.7 Aims of the study

Firstly, the study aims at discovering typical features of the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes

Secondly, the study’s target is also to find out the similarities and differences between the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes

Thirdly, the study focuses on the explanation of these similarities and differences

Finally, the researcher hopes to find out ways to imply the study’s results in translating and interpreting practice

In brief, the research is aimed to seek answers for the following questions:

1) What are typical features of the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes?

2) What are similarities and differences between the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes?

1.8 Scope of the study

Due to the scale of a graduation paper, this study only focuses on investigating the features of the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of

TV programmes

In the world wide context of intercultural exchanges, cultural TV programmes help encourage cross-cultural understanding Therefore, TV programmes chosen for study are those of culture, travel and entertainment from BBC and Channel 4 (Britain) and VTV and Hanoi TV (Vietnam) The reason for this choice of sources is that they are among the best-known and most prestigious channels in each country This enables the researcher to compare and contrast the languages used by their hosts

Since language is a socio-cultural phenomenon, it is evident that language changes as time goes by To ensure that the research results are up-to-date, the researcher chooses TV programmes of culture, travel and entertainment from BBC, Channel 4, VTV and Hanoi TV produced within 5 years only (from 2007 to 2011)

1.9 Methods of the study

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed in order to achieve the aim of the study Materials under investigation are programmes that focus on culture and entertainment recorded from British and Vietnamese television The hosts’ speech in different programmes will be analysed statistically and contrastively

1.10 Design of the study

Besides Table of Contents, References, and Appendix, the main part of study consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – provides an introduction to the issue and an

overview of the paper including the reasons for conducting the study as well as the research questions that need to be dealt with, the scope of the study and the significance of the study once it is completed

Chapter 2 – Literature review – presents the background of the study,

including definitions of key terms, the theoretical background and discussions of related studies

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes the setting of the research, the

research design, participants, instruments of the study, and the procedure employed

to carry out the research

Chapter 4 – Findings and discussion – presents, analyses and discusses the

findings that the researchers extrapolated from the data collected and more importantly, highlights the connections between these findings and other related studies in the available literature

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes the main findings discussed in the

paper and provides recommendations to solve the identified problems Also outlines the limitations of the research, and makes some suggestions for further studies

At the end of the paper is the inclusion of the references and appendices

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents the theoretical background of the study, including the understandings of the interrelationship between culture and language, classification

of communication and how television is regarded as a form of communication Features that are likely to be the characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese TV hosts are considered as key concepts Related studies would be discussed at the end of the chapter Finding all relevant documents is impossible; however, the reasonability and validity of those that are mentioned can be guaranteed

2.1 Culture

2.1.1 Definitions of culture

Tylor (1871) defined culture as a “complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Through this point of view, culture is a set of ideas, beliefs and ways of behaviours of a particular community

According to Banks (1989), modern researchers believed that the most important features of culture are “the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies” At the core of culture lies the way people “perceive, interpret, and use” the material objects that their culture produces Banks emphasised that people who belong to a culture often share the same or similar perspective on and interpretation of values and symbols, artefacts and behaviours, which makes them clearly different from those of other cultures

Hofstede (1984) calls culture “the collective programming of the mind” and agrees with Banks that it differentiates one society from another Further from perceiving and interpreting, expressing and responding are added by Lederach (1995) to the concept of key elements in culture It is learned from Lederach’s definition that culture means “the shared knowledge and schemes” developed by a group of people

2.1.2 The interrelationship between language and culture

Language belongs to the visible part of the cultural iceberg as below:

Picture 1: Illustration of the iceberg analogy developed by Edward T.Hall in 1976

A part-whole relationship ties language to culture, which makes the former the conveyor of the later, while the later is the guidelines for the former As presented by German-American anthropologist Franz Boas, “the shared language of

a community is the most essential carrier of their common culture.” Language use is indeed one way of establishing and expressing culture; in particular, the language use of a speaker reflects his perspective on and interpretation of his culture Besides, the changes and development of language and those of culture are in parallel Boas claims that by understanding the language of a category of people, researchers have already hold the key to comprehension of the culture these people share

2.2 Communication

2.2.1 Definitions of communication

Communication is defined as the interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information Everett Rogers defines communication as “the process of transmitting

ideas, information and attitudes from the source to a receiver for the purpose of influencing with intent” In Schramm’s (1954) words, communication means “the transmission of information, ideas, emotions, skills through the use of symbols, words, pictures, figures and graphs”

Following Shannon’s (1948) theory of communication, the main elements are source, sender, channel, receiver, destination, message, and feedback

2.2.2 Classification of communication

The way people communicate depends on the content and context of the message that they want to send As a result, communication may be verbal (the use

of words) or non-verbal (the use of actions and behaviours)

Diagram 1: Classification of communication (Recruited from http://www.typesofcommunication.org/)

2.2.2.1 Verbal communication

Verbal communication is the use of words, both oral and written, in transmitting the proposed message It has the greatest significance for people’s interaction, which serves four essential purpose of communication: conveying information, asking for help, influencing listeners, and entertaining

Communication

Verbal communication

Oral (Vocal)

communication

Written (Non-vocal) communication

Non-verbal communication

Facial expressions

Body language

Eye contact etc

Verbal communication is used effectively in interpretation of abstract concepts, thanks to which problem areas can be easily addressed and explained

2.2.2.2 Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication involves any type of communication that does not use words This leads to a wide range of categories; for instance, facial expression, body language (gestures and postures), eye contact, vocal sounds, etc Non-verbal sound elements created during verbal communication such as voice tone, speed pace, etc are also classified as non-verbal communication

2.2.3 Intercultural communication

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia defines intercultural communication as “a form of global communication” that attempts to understand the ways of action, communication and perception of people from different countries with different culture backgrounds The targets of intercultural communication are social attributes, thought patterns, and the cultures that belong to different categories of people Intercultural communication is applied in several fields such as anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, psychology and communication studies

2.3 Television as a form communication

Communication required three main elements: sender, message, receiver Most TV programme have a host or MC who plays the role of a sender, he or she contributes very much to conveying the content of the programme (message) to the audience (receiver) Therefore, a TV programme is regarded as a form of communication

2.3.1 Television programmes

A television (TV) programme is a discrete part of content broadcast on television, which could be a single episode or a periodically recurrent series TV programmes could be either recorded or broadcast live Different types of TV programmes may or may not require a host

With the help of the far-reaching television industry development and the growth of Internet, TV viewers can now easily watch programmes of a wide range

of genres from several channels in different languages For instance, many Vietnamese viewers could simply browse the Web to choose their favourite British programmes to watch The audience need good background knowledge of language and culture to appreciate the contents of such TV programmes Unless they understand the cultural basis of the languages of the hosts, they will not be able to make sense of the language used in the foreign TV programmes

2.3.2 Hosts of TV programmes

A television host is a person responsible for introducing and hosting TV programmes Hosts may be TV editors, journalists, or experts who present a programme about their field of expertise (for instance, chef Gordon Ramsay in Channel 4’s Gordon’s Great Escape) Some are celebrities who are invited to host programmes due to their stardom

Hosts of TV programmes are required to play different roles at the same time He/she is supposed to present the programme and to keep it to its carefully designed guidelines He/she creates the atmosphere of the programme Apart from introducing and interviewing the guest speakers, he/she may also play the leading role in the programme

Hosts have many responsibilities The first and foremost mission of a host as

a sender is to deliver the content and the message of the programme to the audience Therefore, a good host is required to have good background knowledge and to excel

in various skills, especially language skills

2.4 Characteristics of the language used by hosts of TV programmes

Hosts are “faces” of TV programmes Since the host acts as a messenger who sends the content or messages of the programme to audience, he/she needs to make

a careful choice of language, which not only is the most suitable to the show but also leaves the best impression Furthermore, the preferred language used by a host reveals a lot about his/her culture background

Language used by a TV host is a combination of preparation and improvisation The host is supposed to present prepared speech, such as the

introduction and conclusion of the programme These statements are obligatory and must be clear, straightforward and coherent Improvisation means the practice of talking and reacting in response to the situations that occur beyond the script The language used by hosts in such situations must meet social standard of communication and behaviour

2.4.1 Greetings and address forms

Greeting refers to the act of communication in which people present themselves to each other on purpose right before a conversation begins This is a highly important custom in every culture, which might be expressed verbally (using words) and/or nonverbally (using gestures)

In television, this term can also refer to the act of greeting the general audience performed by the hosts at the introductory part of a programme

Address forms belong to the language that people use to address each other According to Nguyen Quang (2006), this is one of the aspects of culture that people

do without asking questions about, which reflects “customs, relationships and communication style”

There is a difference between the frequency of using address forms by people from English-speaking countries such as Britain, America, Australia, etc and people in Vietnam Unlike Anglicist who generally don’t use formal address forms very often, Vietnamese people always do

In Vietnamese language, it is required that people pay attention to how to address each other The reason is that this shows their respect to older people or those of higher social statuses and reflects how close the relationship between them

is A legend says that all Vietnamese people are connected to each other Therefore, address forms are family-based, which means Vietnamese people tend to familiarised social address forms This leads to the list of common greetings below,

in which kinship terms are used as social address forms

(Note: Chào means Hello)

Table 1: List of Vietnamese common greetings and their meanings summarized by Nguyen Quang (2006)

Common greetings Meaning

Chào ông to an older or important man (grandfather)

Chào anh to a younger man (brother, husband)

Chào chú to a man younger than your father but older than you

(uncle)

Chào bà to an old or important woman (grandmother)

Chào chị to an older woman (sister)

Chào cô to a younger woman (aunt)

Chào em to a child, male or female, someone subordinate to you; or

someone close, such as a husband or a very good friend

Chào bạn to a friend of your age

For a Vietnamese TV host, address forms is among what they should bear in mind, since address forms belong to language and language has an interrelationship with culture Careful use of address forms is required for the language of the host to

be considered appropriate

2.4.2 Honorifics

Nguyen Quang (2004) emphasises the importance and the diversity of honorifics system in a speech community such as Vietnam, where the society is highly hierarchical

i.e Xin được mời hai bác quá bộ đến dùng bữa cơm muối với gia đình tôi ạ

He claims his observation that in most cases, speakers use honorific labels to show their respect for listeners and abase themselves at the same time (Examples of the former are bold and of the later are underlined in the illustrating utterance above) As a result, no exception is made for Vietnamese TV hosts

i.e Xin được hân hạnh trân trọng kính mời ông NG V.I, Tổng Giám Đốc

Công ty THP lên phát biểu

Comrie (1976) has classified honorifics according to three axes:

 Speaker – Addressee (addressee honorifics)

i.e Dạ, kính cụ nếm thử món này ạ

 Speaker – Referent (referent honorifics)

i.e Rất mong có ngày được tới thăm quý xá của anh chị

 Speaker – Bystander (bystander honorifics)

i.e Tôi đã xin ý kiến sếp rồi nên mới dám quyết định đấy chứ

Intercultural communication studies reveal the fact that honorifics are appropriate and obligatory in the language of one community, but they can appear

to be redundant or be used mockingly in that of another Thus, the use of honorifics

is considered one of the most important cultural characteristics of each speech community

2.4.3 Ellipsis

Due to the fact that hosts may have to improvise when talking to or interviewing guest speakers or audience members, ellipsis takes place frequently in their language Ellipsis is defined as “the omission from a clause of one or more words that would otherwise be required by the remaining elements” In terms of conversational language, this phenomenon often occurs in four following types when there is the need to avoid repetition

 reduce of information (Wh-) questions

A: Someone left a message for you

B: Who?

(Who left a message for me?)

A: Jim's having a party

B: When?

(When is Jim having a party?)

A: The concert tickets were kind of

expensive

B: How expensive?

(Exactly how expensive were they?)

A: You'll need more time for

tomorrow's homework

B: How much (more time)?

(Exactly how much more time will

I need?

 reduce of Yes/No questions by means of omission

(BE and some auxiliary verbs are often removed)

Is anyone absent?  Anyone absent?

Have you had lunch yet?  (You) had lunch yet?

 informal variation on yes (yeah, uh-huh, um-hmm, yep) and no (hm-umm, huh-uh, nope, nah)

 short expressions of agreement

A: I’ve been working hard

B: Me, too / So have I

(I’ve also been working hard.)

A: I haven’t been working hard B: Me, neither / Neither have I

(I also haven’t been working hard.)

A: I'm almost ready to leave

B: So are the rest of the people in

the room

(The rest of the people in the room

are also almost ready to leave.)

A: I'm not going to be finished until

after 5:00

B: Neither are any of the others

(None of the others are going to be finished until after 5:00)

2.4.4 Expressive language

2.4.4.1 Periphrasis

The appropriate word choice at right times would not only make the language of a TV host more lively and attractive but also express his/her cultural stature Instead of producing a neutral expression, the host could paraphrase it by means of descriptive and/or evaluative words and comparative structures (simile and metaphor) This method is called periphrasis, which involves different ways of expressing ideas For instance:

Neutral: The world will concentrate on South Africa when the best national

football teams compete for the World Cup

Expressive: The eye of much of the world will be on South Africa when the

best national football teams battle it out for the coveted

World Cup

Neutral: Carmen Roberts reporting from Japan, a country trying hard to

get back without problems

Expressive: Carmen Roberts reporting from Japan, a country struggling to get

back onto an even keel

2.4.4.2 Idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings

Idiomatic expressions refer to popular phrases or sayings that cannot be understood by the individual words or elements They are also non-standard speech, slang or dialect, such as "Blow your top!” (meaning: Lose your temper!) Proverbs are short statements that give advice about life, while sayings are well-known phrases or statements that express ideas about life and are regarded as truth by most people These expressions could be quoted by TV hosts, for example: “Các cụ có câu “Ốc tháng mười, người Hà Nội”, thật là chuẩn!”

2.5 Related studies

Xuan Hoa (200) emphasises that the appearance of television reporters is of great significance Beside delivering information, a reporter needs to express his/her personality through perspective and attitude The essence of television is the coordination between sound and image; hence, it is an advantage for reporters to accomplish the task above Hoa aims to state the general role of presenters in the field of television

Le Hong Quang (2004) asserts that news anchors represent the editor board

of the news programmes The anchors take the responsibility of leading audience coherently from news to news in order for the bulletin to be a logical series, not merely a random mixture of news An important skill that the anchors must seize is how to not only convey the news but also talk to audience as naturally as in a conversational context However, this work only exploits the aspect of news programme in particular

Winterman (2010) quotes Guardian TV writer Gareth McLean’s words in his article that "the best hosts are the ones who let their guests take centre stage - not themselves." Since Winterman believes that the nature of talk shows has been

changing from an “in-depth evening conversation” to a “cosy afternoon chat”, he agrees with Mirror's TV columnist Kevin O'Sullivan that encouraging participants and audience to feel comfortable is what makes a good host

Taken as a whole, results from the previously described studies have two common features Firstly, each of them states the role and characteristics of television presenters in general or from a specific aspect (news programme, talk shows) Secondly, the authors have confirmed the importance of presenters to television programmes

CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Following chapter 2 which has summarised the background knowledge required, chapter 3 describes the research design, selection of subjects, instruments

of the study, and the procedure employed to carry out the research This is an essential preparation for the following chapter – findings and discussion

3.1 Research methods

To conduct the study, the researcher has employed two methods namely quantitative and qualitative ones The combination of these two methods has offered the researcher valid data

Regarding the aim of the study, the researcher has found that quantitative is the most feasible method to deal with the research problems The reason lies in the reality of social sciences: quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships

The goal of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses that are directly related to phenomena The process of measurement is the core of quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships

Besides, qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern such behaviour Not only what, where, when but also why and how of decision-making need to be investigated, which is the importance of qualitative method Therefore in many occasions, smaller but focused samples are more necessary than large samples

3.2 Selection of subjects

Because, this study focuses on investigating the preferred language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes, it was the TV programmes from these two countries that were chosen as the subjects for data collection and data analysis They are British and Vietnamese TV programmes from BBC and Channel

4 (Britain) and VTV and Hanoi TV (Vietnam) that focus on culture, travel and entertainment will be selected as materials These TV programmes have the same or similar format and can be viewed on channels of both British and Vietnamese TV

Table 2: List of chosen British and Vietnamese TV programmes

TV channel Programme Genre

Lạ và quen (Strange and Familiar) (SF) Travel

Hanoi TV Hà Nội của chúng ta (Our Hanoi) (OH) Culture –

Entertainment

3.3 Data collection procedure

The data collection procedure consists of two successive stages as followed:

Phase 1

This stage has concentrated on collecting video clips of culture, travel and entertainment TV programmes as listed in 3.2 The researcher has downloaded a total of 100 video clips from the Internet as well as recorded from TV

Phase 2

In this second stage, the researcher has watched and written down of 320 utterances by hosts of British programmes and 320 utterances by hosts of Vietnamese programmes Afterwards, she has identified and compared the characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese hosts in these programmes These characteristics have been presented in tables to exemplify the researcher’s analysis

3.4 Data analysis procedure

Since it is essential to select a suitable approach to the issue, the data analysis begins with critical reading of the collected documents as well as the concerning fields The analysis results were compared with both the theories and the previous findings

The collected data were analysed statistically following the procedures:

Phase 1: Transfer the data into tables

To make the analysis comprehensible, kinds of sentence patterns are transferred into tables in parallel column under the same criteria, followed by detailed explanation

Phase 2: Analyse the data

The researcher has identified the characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese TV hosts from all utterance they made that have been transcribed At the same time, important examples of each characteristic have been noted down to illustrate the later analysis Afterwards, comparison and contrast was carried out in order to define the similarities and differences between them

CHAPTER 4 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The tasks of chapter 4 are to analyse all the collected data and discuss the results in order to specify the answers to the research questions This chapter will also work out the relationship between the findings and theoretical background of the potential characteristics of British and Vietnamese TV hosts The first research question “What are typical features of the language used by British and Vietnamese hosts of TV programmes?” was answered by interpreting the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the analysis of 320 utterances by British hosts and

320 ones by Vietnamese hosts From the results, the researcher has identified the characteristics of the languages used by British and Vietnamese hosts In the end, chapter 4 presents certain ways to imply the study’s results in practice

4.1 Programme greetings & leave-takings

4.1.1 Greetings

In a programme, when the host appears, he/she is often required to greet his/her audience in a certain way Their programme greetings are usually fixed statements The researcher has identified 5 formats of programme greetings:

(1) Welcome to + name of the programme

i.e

Host / Programme Greeting

Dermot Murnaghan /

(2) Welcome distinguished guests to + name of the programme

(3) Hello + welcome to + name of the programme

i.e

Host / Programme Greeting

Michelle Jana Chan &

Rajan Datar /

Fast Track

Hello and welcome to Fast Track

(4) Hello + introduction of host’s name + name of the programme

i.e

Host / Programme Greeting

Michelle Jana Chan /

Thưa quý khán giả (dear distinguished guest), đất trời

Hà Nội vẫn còn nồng ấm trong hương xuân vị Tết, và ngày truyền thống của những người thầy thuốc Việt Nam cũng đang tới gần Chương trình Hà Nội của chúng ta ngày hôm nay sẽ đi theo chủ đề đặc biệt này

Proportions of the 5 formats of programme greetings are presented in the table below

Table 3: Formats of programme greetings used by British and Vietnamese hosts

British Vietnamese

Format (1) - Welcome to + name of the programme 30% 0%

Format (2) - Welcome distinguished guests to +

Format (3) – Hello + welcome to + name of the

Format (4) – Hello + introduction of host’s name +

Format (5) – Dear distinguished guests + brief

Diagram 2: Formats of programme greetings used by British and Vietnamese hosts

As can be seen from the data, the formats of programme greetings used by British hosts are different from those used by Vietnamese hosts Format (1), (3) and (4) are used by British hosts at 30%, 20% and 50% relatively British hosts are observed not to use format (2) and (5) Meanwhile, one fourth of Vietnamese hosts’ programme greetings follows format (2) and the rest of them follows format (5) Vietnamese hosts are observed not to use format (1), (3) and (4)

It is persuasive enough to conclude that programme greetings by British hosts are short and simple, which serve as a brief programme introduction only In the meantime, Vietnamese programme greetings appear to be longer and more formal In both two formats of programme greetings that Vietnamese hosts apply, the phrase “distinguished guests” is obligatory in order to show their respect to the audience

4.1.2 Leave-takings

Leave-takings are necessary at the end of the programmes when the hosts thank their audience for watching, express their hope that the audience will stay tuned Similar to programme greetings, leave-takings are usually fixed statements The 4 following formats of programme leave-takings have been identified:

Format (2) Format (5)

(1) Expression of hope of audience’s staying tune + Goodbye

i.e

Host / Programme Utterance

Dermot Murnaghan /

Eggheads

Join us next time on Eggheads to see if a new team of

challengers will be just this successful Until then, goodbye

(2) Notification of programme ending + Thanks and/or Wishing +

Expression of hope that audience stay tuned (+ Goodbye)

i.e

Host / Programme Utterance

Michelle Jana Chan /

Fast Track

Insider Guide

That’s all for this month’s insider guide Thanks for

checking them Happy travelling, until next time

Well that’s a quick look at some of my top tips over the coming month I hope something inspires the trip Happy

travelling and until next time Goodbye

(3) Notification of programme ending + Expression of hope that audience stay tuned

(4) Notification of programme ending + Acknowledgement to audience and

sponsors + Provision of contact information + Goodbye to you

distinguished guests + Expression of hope that audience stay tuned

i.e

Host / Programme Utterance

Thanh Vân /

Hà Nội của chúng ta

Thưa quý khán giả, chương trình Hà Nội của chúng ta

xin được tạm dừng tại thời điểm này Xin trân trọng

cảm ơn công ty quảng cáo truyền hình Duy Anh, nhà tài

trợ Khóa Con Voi, nhà tài trợ Áo dài Thanh Châu và nhà

đồng tài trợ Quán ăn Nga số 9 phố Phạm Sư Mạnh đã

giúp đỡ chúng tôi thực hiện chương trình này Mọi liên

hệ xin quý khán giả có thể gửi về địa chỉ hộp thư

hanoicuachungta@hanoitv.vn hoặc gửi thư về chuyên mục Hà Nội của chúng ta, Đài PTTH Hà Nội số 5 Huỳnh

Thúc Kháng, Đống Đa, Hà Nội Xin cảm ơn quý khán

giả đã lưu tâm theo dõi và chia sẻ Xin kính chào tạm biệt và hẹn gặp lại trong chương trình lần sau

Proportions of these 4 formats of programme leave-takings are presented in the table below

Table 4: Formats of programme leave-takings used by British and Vietnamese hosts

British Vietnamese

Format (1) – Expression of hope of audience’s

Format (2) – Notification of programme ending +

Thanks and/or Wishing + Expression of hope that

audience stay tuned (+ Goodbye)

Format (3) – Notification of programme ending +

Format (4) – Notification of programme ending +

Acknowledgement to audience and sponsors +

Provision of contact information + Goodbye to you

distinguished guests + Expression of hope that

audience stay tuned

The data reveals that among the collected utterances, format (2) is applied by British hosts at 66.7%, twice as frequently as format (1) (33.3%) British hosts are observed not to use format (3) and (4) In the meantime, format (3) and (4) are utilised at the rate of 2:3 by Vietnamese hosts They are observed not to use format (1) and (2)

Similar to programme greetings, leave-takings by British hosts are mostly simple statements Meanwhile, Vietnamese leave-takings can be rather lengthy and overformal due to the inclusion of acknowledgement to the audience and the sponsors of the programme and the provision of contact information as in format (4)

What is more, it is worth noticing is that the expression of hope of audience’s staying tune appears in all four identified formats of leave-takings Since the TV programmes collected belong to periodically recurrent series, besides saying goodbye, it is necessary that the hosts show their expectation that the audience would watch the next episodes Difference in terms of formality between British and Vietnamese programme leave-takings is also reflected in the application of this element

i.e

British: Until next time, goodbye

Vietnamese: Xin kính chào tạm biệt và hẹn gặp lại trong chương trình

lần sau (Dearly goodbye and see you in the next episode.)

4.2 Address forms

The following types of address forms have been used in the collected programmes:

 title + full name

i.e Vâng thưa Phó Giáo sư – Tiến sĩ Nguyễn Nhược Kim, cháu Thanh Vân

xin được hỏi ông là ( ) (OH – Phố Quốc Tử Giám)

 title

i.e Xin được hỏi nghệ sĩ là điều gì đã khiến nghệ sĩ nảy sinh ra ý tưởng để

thành lập nên hãng phim truyện Hà Nội? (OH – Phố Thụy Khuê)

 kinship term + name

i.e Cô Mai ơi với món thịt trâu gác bếp này thì mình thường ướp với những

gia vị gì ạ? (SV – Thịt trâu gác bếp)

 kinship term

i.e Húng lừu này là có những cái gì hả bà? (SV – Lạc rang húng lừu)

 name

i.e Tell me, Quiz Me Hardy, how did your quizzing go then in the Admiral

pub? (EH – Series 12, episode 74 – Quiz Me Hardy)

Ok Robert, the first question is yours and this is it

(EH – The Edinburgh Gang Show)

 pronoun

i.e Come on guys, I’ve just taken a heart!

(GGE – Gordon eats a beating snake heart in Vietnam)

Look at you! I’m so proud of you, you know that

(GGE – Gordon cook for Cambodia royalty)

Table 5: Levels of formality of address forms

3 relatively informal

4 neutral

5 relatively formal

6 very formal

The table below reports the proportions of these 6 levels of formality of address forms used by British and Vietnamese hosts in communication with guest speakers

Table 5 & Use of address forms by British and Vietnamese hosts

British Vietnamese

Diagram 4: Use of address forms by British and Vietnamese hosts

The data reveals that British hosts generally do not use address forms that are

of high levels of formality 72.5% of the address forms used by them in interviews and conversations with guest speakers are at the second-lowest level (2 - name) of formality and 27.5% at the lowest one (1 – pronoun)

Vietnamese use address forms at different levels of formality – from the second-lowest (2 - name) to the highest (6 – title and full name) – in communication

with guest speakers Address forms at level (3) – kinship term – accounts for the highest percentage of 76%

In communication with a guest speaker, if he/she has been given an academic

or occupational title, the host should address him/her with that title plus his/her full name To avoid repeating the long form of address in the same utterance, the host can reduce it into title only so that formality is still maintained, or he/she can address this person with kinship term During friendlier and less formal conversations between Vietnamese hosts with guest speakers, the hosts can address them using kinship term with or without names

Contrary to British hosts, there are few cases in which Vietnamese hosts could address guest speakers with their name or full name only Unless the guest speakers are at the same age as or on an equal footing with the host, addressing them with name or full name is considered rude and impolite

In fact, there is no distinction of formal and informal second-person pronoun

in modern English The pronoun “you” (singular and plural) can be used as address form for everyone from an individual to a general group of audience Meanwhile, true pronouns exist in Vietnamese but they are rarely used in polite speech Kinship term is used instead as address form

It is noticed that Vietnamese hosts address a general group of audience in two ways as below:

 distinguished audience (quý vị khán giả) (formal)

i.e Có một tin vui mà Thanh Vân rất muốn được chia sẻ cùng với quý vị khán giả (OH – Phố Quốc Tử Giám)

 you (các bạn) (friendly)

i.e Các bạn thân mến, không mất quá nhiều thời gian để khám phá con phố

Mã Mây, và bù lại các bạn có thể thu thập được rất nhiều thông tin về những

ngôi nhà cổ của Hà Nội hiện nay (SV – Khám phá 36 phố phường Hà Nội)

It is cultural background that distinguishes the greetings and address forms used by TV hosts of one country from those of the other Vietnamese culture is influenced by Confucian scholarship, which regards politeness and reason as the

core of the standards of behaviour This has resulted in the way Vietnamese people

in general and Vietnamese TV hosts in particular give their undivided attention to greeting and addressing people appropriately, basing on their social status Meanwhile, British culture is equality-oriented and respects personality The greeting word “Hello” and the address from “you” can be applied the same for everyone, no matter how high his/her status might be

4.3 Honorifics

Honorifics could only be collected from the utterances made by Vietnamese

TV hosts, since Vietnam is one of the communities that value hierarchical structure while Britain does not Together with address forms that are of high level of formality, honorifics have been serving as an effective tool for Vietnamese hosts to maintain politeness and formality

The following honorific labels have been spotted:

Table 6: Honorific labels used by Vietnamese hosts

i.e

À dạ vâng thưa ông Đặng Huynh, cháu Thanh Vân được biết là trước đây thì

ông có đảm nhiệm cương vị là chủ tịch UBND huyện Từ Liêm

(OH – Phố Lý Thường Kiệt)

Thưa quý khán giả, chương trình Hà Nội của chúng ta xin được tạm dừng

tại thời điểm này ( )Xin kính chào tạm biệt và hẹn gặp lại trong chương

trình lần sau

(OH – Phố Lý Thường Kiệt)

Chị Phương ơi mình ăn món cá này như thế nào ạ?

(SV – Cá lóc nướng ống tre)

Vietnamese hosts are observed to use addressee honorifics Honorific labels

as listed in the table above are applied in communication with both the general audience and the guest speakers to express respect to them

Among these labels, the most common one is “ạ”, which accounts for 27.52%; while the corresponding percentage of the least common one “dạ” is only 2.01% The percentages of “xin” and “quý” are approximately equal (24.83% and 24.5% relatively), which means more than double that of “thưa” (11.74%) and three times as high as that of “được” (7.05%) “Kính” accounts for a rather low

proportion of 2.35%

4.4 Ellipsis

Ellipsis is not found in the introduction, comments or conclusion during the programmes but mostly in interviews and conversations between the hosts and the guest speakers Therefore, the focus of this part is the occurrence of ellipsis in interviews and conversations

Table 7: Proportion of interviews & conversations in the collected British and Vietnamese programmes

British Vietnamese

Proportion of interviews &

The researcher has found four below type of ellipsis:

 informal variations of Yes/No

There is only one of yes spotted among the utterances by British hosts

Daphne: I think it’s two 1980 and 1984 ( )

Dermot: Yeah and the event? Yeah it’s the right answer

(EH – The Edinburgh Gang Show)

No informal variations of Yes/No were found among the utterances made by Vietnamese hosts

 short agreements

Despite the fact that short agreements are common in English language, not a single one was found among 320 British hosts’ utterances collected There were no short agreements among 320 Vietnamese hosts’ utterances as well

 reduce of information (Wh-) questions

Examples by British hosts:

Mrs Vi: We have to shop every day

Gordon: Why every day?

(Why do you have to shop every day?)

(GGE – Gordon visits a Vietnam food market)

Gordon: Now the base of the sauce is ?

(Now what is the base of the sauce?)

Cook: Ginger, garlic and onion

(GGE – Catching squid in Vietnam)

Examples by Vietnamese hosts:

Khế chị bán thế nào ạ? Bao nhiêu bốc, bao nhiêu bốc gạo hả chị?

(Chị lấy bao nhiêu bốc gạo hả chị?)

(SV – Thịt trâu gác bếp)

Mấy bánh rán em nhở? (Em ăn mấy bánh rán em nhở?)

(SV – Bánh gối)

 reduce of Yes/No questions

Examples by British hosts:

What kind of snake is that? A cobra?

(Is it a cobra?)

(GGE – Gordon eats a beating snake heart in Vietnam)

Ok, so, what d’you fancy? Rat? On toast?

(Do you fancy a rat?Is it on toast?)

(GGE – Gordon eats a beating snake heart in Vietnam)

Examples by Vietnamese hosts:

Sáu vị cơ ạ?

(Trong húng lừu này có sáu vị cơ ạ?)

(SV – Lạc rang húng lừu)

Ô, tổ ong ạ? Cháu lại cứ tưởng là cái củi để nhóm bếp

(Ô, đây là tổ ong ạ?)

(SF – Trên đỉnh Mẫu Sơn)

In brief, both British and Vietnamese hosts naturally omit parts of their

responding sentence to avoid repetition

To be more specific, 161 out of 320 collected utterances made by Vietnamese hosts belong to interviews and conversations Among which, the proportion of information questions and of Yes/No questions is 31.06% and 39.13% respectively There are no short agreements available On the side of British hosts,

218 out of 320 collected utterances belong to interviews and conversations Information questions accounts for 18.34% and Yes/No questions for 23.39% No short agreements have been found

Table 8: Features of conversations by British and Vietnamese hosts

on British side also appears to be rather low at 15% 50.98% of Yes/No questions that British hosts made are abbreviated, which is more than double the Vietnamese figure

Table 9: Ellipsis by British and Vietnamese hosts in interview and conversations

Reduce of information

(Wh-) questions Reduce of Yes/No question

Vietnamese hosts 6% 22.22%

British hosts 15% 50.98%

The data reveals a hint that formality affects the language of Vietnamese TV hosts more than that of British hosts In most cases, it is necessary for Vietnamese hosts to make full sentences to maintain formality, since in Vietnamese culture it is conventionally considered as politeness While British hosts can reduce a sentence

of theirs into one or two words only, Vietnamese cannot Even when parts of a sentence are omitted, formal elements such as address forms and honorific label remain

i.e

English: What kind of snake is that? A cobra?

Informal Vietnamese: Đấy là loại rắn gì? Một con rắn hổ mang?

Formal Vietnamese: Đấy là loại rắn gì hả anh? Một con rắn hổ mang ạ?

Vietnamese: Bao nhiêu bốc gạo hả chị?

Informal Vietnamese: Bao nhiêu bốc gạo?

(How much?)

4.5 Expressive language

TV hosts are observed to use idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings However, in instantaneous conversations or interviews between the host and audience or random people, these types of expressive language are not frequently employed, unless he/she own a fairly wide range of proverbs and sayings vocabulary or have carefully prepared While periphrasis is applied widely, there is only an inconsiderable number of idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings found among the collected utterances by British and Vietnamese hosts Therefore, this part only discusses periphrasis

4.5.1 Periphrasis

Both British and Vietnamese TV hosts make use of periphrasis to emphasise his/her idea or to express that idea Two periphrasis tools as below are utilised:

(1) descriptive and/or evaluative words

Examples by British hosts:

And taking on the might of our quiz goliaths today are Ralphie’s Raider

(EH – The Edinburgh Gang Show)

Well, Judith, crawling your way back in after you’re getting the first two

wrong

(EH – Series 12, episode 74 – Quiz Me Hardy)

The holy month of Ramadan this year begins on August 11 th , and for the

following 4 weeks, life in predominantly Muslim nations will take on a

different texture with fasting from sunrise to sunset

(FT – Insider Guide 6)

October and November are the best months to head to Madagascar,

sometime refers to as the 8 th continent and the heaven of endemic species

(FT – Insider Guide 8)

Examples by Vietnamese hosts:

Mùi rất là thơm các bạn ạ, đó là một mùi ngai ngái của rơm rạ hòa quyện

với mùi tre tươi, một mùi rất là Việt Nam

(SV – Cá lóc nướng ống tre)

Hà Nội đã vào thu, và trong tiết trời se se lạnh như thế này, nếu được được

thưởng thức một chiếc bánh gối nóng hổi, thơm giòn thì có lẽ không gì tuyệt vời hơn Hôm nay tôi và các bạn sẽ cùng khám phá điều tuyệt vời này

(SV – Bánh gối)

Thật vui là giữa lòng phố hiện đại vẫn thấp thoáng ẩn hiện dấu tích thiêng liêng của những khu làng cổ ngàn năm

(OH - Phố Thụy Khuê)

Và bây giờ Thanh Vân xin mời quý khán giả hãy cùng thưởng thức hương vị

của món bánh cuốn Thanh Trì mát nhẹ, thơm lành, giữa lòng phố Hà Nội

mùa hạ mới

(OH - Phố Lý Thường Kiệt)

(2) simile and metaphor

Examples by British hosts:

Every time I turn around you’re there You’re watching me like I’m, uh

like I’m your worst student

(GGE – Street children cookery school in Cambodia)