a discourse analysis of opening and closing speeches by masters of ceremonyon reality television showsin american english versus vietnames

a discourse analysis of opening and closing speeches by masters of ceremonyon reality television showsin american english versus vietnames

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole, or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement

ABSTRACT

The study is an attempt to find out the discourse features of opening and closing speeches delivered by the masters of ceremonies in American and Vietnamese reality television (TV) shows The data for analysis in this thesis are 160 examples of opening and closing speeches in American English and Vietnamese including 40 examples of each American opening speeches (AOSs), Vietnamese opening speeches (VOSs), American closing speeches (ACSs) and (VCSs) Vietnamese closing speeches in some popular American and Vietnamese reality TV shows The research is carried out based on the combination of a variety of methods namely qualitative, quantitative, statistics, descriptive, analytic, synthetic, comparative, contrastive and inductive The study focuses on finding out the similarities and differences between those speeches in terms of their layout, discourse features, syntactic features, lexical features and cohesive devices It also makes a comparison to discover the similarities and differences of these features between the two languages.The findings will be drawn after analyzing, comparing and contrasting the layout, lexical choice, syntactic features and cohesive devices

in AOSs versus VOSs and ACSs versus VCSs The results marked the significant influence of culture on the discourse features of both Vietnamese and American languages They can hopefully be beneficial not only for people working as masters of ceremonies (MCs) but also for students, teachers, users of American English and Vietnamese as well as interpreters

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RATIONALE 1

1.2.1 Aims 2

1.2.2 Objectives 2

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 4

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 6

2.1 THE PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE RESEARCH 6

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7

2.2.1 The Concept of Text 7

2.2.2 The Concept of Discourse 8

2.2.3 The Concept of Discourse Analysis 9

2.2.4 Spoken Discourse and Written Discourse 10

2.2.5 Formal and Informal Discourse 11

2.2.6 Cohesion and Coherence 12

2.2.7 General View of Reality Television Shows, Master of Ceremonies, Opening and Closing Speeches 17

CHAPTER 3: METHOD AND PROCEDURE 20

3.1 RESEARCH METHODS 20

3.2 SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION 21

3.3 DATA ANALYSIS 21

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24

4.1 THE GENERAL LAYOUT OF AOSS AND VOSS 24

4.1.1 Greetings and Introductions 24

4.1.2 The Body 26

4.1.3 Transition 30

4.2 LEXICAL CHOICE IN AOSS AND VOSS 32

4.2.1 The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning 32

4.2.2 Reality TV Show Technical Terms 36

4.2.3 The Use of Informal Language in AOSs and VOSs 40

4.3 SYNTACTIC FEATURES IN AOSS AND VOSS 42

4.3.1 Phrase Types 43

4.3.2 Sentence Types 52

4.3.3 The Use of Vocatives in AOSs and VOSs 60

4.4 COHESIVE DEVICES IN AOSS AND VOSS 62

4.4.1 Lexical Cohesion 63

4.4.2 Grammatical Cohesion 69

4.5 THE GENERAL OUTLINE OF ACSS AND VCSS 87

4.5.1 Transition 87

4.5.2 The Body 89

4.5.3 Departing 91

4.6 THE LEXICAL CHOICE IN ACSS AND VCSS 92

4.6.1 The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning 92

4.6.2 Reality Television Show Technical Terms 93

4.6.3 The Use of Informal Language in ACSs and VCSs 94

4.7 SYNTACTIC FEATURES IN ACSS AND VCSS 95

4.7.1 Phrase Types 95

4.7.2 Sentence Types 98

4.8 COHESIVE DEVICES IN ACSS AND VCSS 101

4.8.1 Lexical Cohesion 101

4.8.2 Grammatical Cohesion 104

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 112

5.1 CONCLUSION 112

5.1.1 The Layout of the AOSs, VOSs, ACSs and VCSs 112

5.1.2 The Influence of Culture on the Discourse of AOSs and VOSs, ACSs and VCSs 113

5.2 IMPLICATIONS 117

5.3 LIMITATIONS 119

5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 120

REFERENCES 121 QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN (Bản sao)

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Formal and Informal Greetings Used in Opening

Table 4.2 The Opening Speech Body’s Contents in AOSs and VOSs 26 Table 4.3 The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning 32

Table 4.5 Reality TV Show Technical Terms in AOSs and Their

Table 4.10 Reiteration of Lexican Items in AOSs and VOSs 67 Table 4.11 Grammatical Cohesion in AOSs and VOSs 70

Table 4.17 The Closing Speech Body’s Contents in ACSs and VCSs 93 Table 4.18 The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning in

ACSs and VCSs

92

Table 4.21 Reiteration in ACSs and VCSs 101 Table 4.22 Grammatical Cohesion in ACSs and VCSs 104

Table 4.27 Cohesion Devices in AOSs and VOSs 110

Jerry Seinfeld

Public speaking is considered the greatest fear a person can have That fear can be much greater than the phobia of snake, traveling by air or even death The quote by Jerry Seinfeld explains this very well in a humorous way Many people who are asked to give a speech in front of many people, some of them refuse to do it, others prepare it beforehand and read it publicly which won’t give the audience a good impression Estimated 75% of all speakers experience some degree of anxiety or nervousness when public speaking [20]

What are the causes of this fear? Aristotle said, “In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third, the proper arrangement of the various parts of the

It is obvious that language is one of the important elements deciding the success of making a public speech People can’t make a good speech before the audience if their language is not good enough In fact, this is even true for those working as the masters of ceremonies in general and of the reality events on television shows in particular

In order to have proper opening and closing speeches in American English and Vietnamese, the MCs must have a good impromptu speaking skill before the audience In an effort to help the people especially those of the

reality event TV shows improve their professional public speaking skills and the Vietnamese learners of English who are scared of public speaking confidently perform their public speaking as well as better their presentation skills for their future job, the discourse analysis of speeches given by masters of ceremonies was chosen as the subject matter of my master thesis The research is intended

to cover the layout, lexical features, syntactic features and cohesive devices in American English and Vietnamese opening and closing speeches as well as to make a contrastive analysis between them in order to find out their similarities and differences in American versus Vietnamese language It is carried out with the hope that the research result would be useful not only for the MCs in the reality TV shows but also for students and users of American English and Vietnamese who want to have good public speaking skills as well as for the interpreter of both languages

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.2.1 Aims

This study aims at carrying out the discourse analysis of the speeches opening and closing the events delivered by the masters of ceremonies in reality TV shows in American English versus Vietnamese The similarities and differences between master of ceremonies (MC) speeches in both languages will be also examined in an effort to help Vietnamese learners and users of American English as well as American learners and users of Vietnamese give a good and professional speech in both languages

1.2.2 Objectives

This study is intended:

- To identify and describe the discourse features in terms of the layout, lexical choice, syntactic structures, and cohesive devices of MC opening speeches in American English versus Vietnamese language

- To compare and point out the similarities and differences between American English and Vietnamese MC opening speeches in those terms

- To identify and describe the discourse features of MC closing speeches in American English versus Vietnamese language in terms of the layout, lexical choice , syntactic structures, and cohesive devices

- To compare and point out the similarities and differences between American English and Vietnamese MC closing speeches in those terms

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is confined to the impromptu informal opening and closing speeches which are not prepared beforehand given by the masters of ceremonies

or hosts in American and Vietnamese reality TV shows The genre of reality television consists of various subgenres (Appendix E) My thesis only focuses on the speeches given by the MCs in the staged reality TV shows which are classified as the TV competitions or game shows subgenres The lists of reality

TV shows for the corpus are shown in appendix A, B, C and D

- What are the similarities and differences of MC opening speeches in American English and Vietnamese in terms of their discourse features?

Closing speeches:

- What are the discourse features of MC closing speeches in American English and Vietnamese in terms of their layout, lexical choice, syntactic features and cohesion?

- What are the similarities and differences of MC closing speeches in American English and Vietnamese’s in terms of their discourse features?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The thesis will make a small contribution to help the people who are scared of public speaking feel more confident in terms of language Also, the research results will be very helpful for MCs in reality TV shows to do their job, for learners of English and Vietnamese to improve public speaking skills, for students and teachers at journalist major at universities as well as for interpreters to do the spontaneous interpretations

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

The study is organized into five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter includes the rationale, the aims and objectives of the study, the definition of terms, the research questions, the scope, the significance and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Background

The previous studies and concepts related to the issues under investigation will be reviewed in this chapter

Chapter 3: Methods and Procedure

This chapter concerns itself with the research method, procedure of data collection, description of samples, data analysis and research procedures

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

It is concerned with the discourse features of American English and Vietnamese opening and closing speeches in terms of the layout, syntactic features, lexical choice and cohesive devices in this chapter The similarities and differences in their discourse features are also finally clarified

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication

This chapter summaries the major findings of the research and gives implications for those who are working as MCs and points out the limitations

of the study There are also some suggestions for further research works related to the study

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 THE PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE RESEARCH

Discourse analysis is one of the aspects which attract the interest of many linguists and researchers all over the world Under the heading of discourse analysis, there have been a lot of studies dealing with a wide range

of its subfields such as coherence, cohesion, context, conversation analysis, information structure, speech act theory and theme-rhyme Many foreign scholars including Halliday and Hasan (1976), Brown and Yule (1983), Cook (1989), Hatch (1992), Nunan (1993)… have made great contributions to the field in different approaches and methods These publications focused on one

or another aspect of discourse analysis theory which gave us an overall picture of theoretical background to examine how language is in use

Discourse analysis has also drawn much attention of many Vietnamese

researchers Thêm published Hệ thống liên kết văn bản tiếng Việt (1999) in

which the cohesion devices in Vietnamese texts are discussed Dân (1998), Giáp (2000) and Châu (2002) studied discourse analysis from a pragmatic

view Hoa with An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (2002) did a research

into different aspects of discourse analysis such as cohesion, context, speech acts, and theme and presented some main approaches to discourse analysis

Besides, there were some research papers on political speeches such as

Some Discourse Features of Political Speeches in English and Vietnamese (2007) by Mai, An Investigation into Linguistic Features of Antithesis in Political Speeches in English and Vietnamese (2008) by Van, An Investigation into Syntactic and Pragmatic Features of Parallelism in English

and Vietnamese Political Speeches (2010) by An or An Investigation into Stylistic Devices in Political Speeches by US Presidents (2010) by Dung

Most of them studied the discourse or a small aspect of political speeches which are well-prepared in written texts by the politicians

Especially, Ngan successfully carried out a discourse analysis of opening speeches in English and Vietnamese (2008) However, her research only focused on formal opening speeches which were well-prepared in written text and read by the speechmakers

There has been no research so far in Vietnam, to my knowledge, offering a spoken discourse analysis of MC opening and closing speeches As

a result, I have decided on the interesting thesis titled: “A Discourse Analysis

of Opening and Closing Speeches by Masters of Ceremony on Reality Television Shows in American English versus Vietnamese” in order to study

the vivid discourse aspect of informal speeches delivered by American and Vietnamese masters of ceremonies on American and Vietnamese reality television shows

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which it is used This paper will deal with the following key concepts that related to discourse analysis

2.2.1 The Concept of Text

The term “Text” is defined differently by many linguists Cooks (1989) mentioned “Text” as a stretch of language which can be interpreted in its form, outside the context perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive

Meanwhile, Crystal (1992:72) stated that “text is a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written or signed discourse identified for purpose of analysis It is often a language unit with a definable communicative function,

such as a conversation, a poster.”

Halliday and Hassan (1976) viewed “Text” as a “semantic unit” characterized by cohesion or a framework that is logical and general They used discourse to explain “Text”: “A Text is a passage of discourse”

Brown and Yule (1983) saw Text as a technical term referring to “the verbal record of communicative act” or Widdowson (1994) as “the linguistic product of a communicative process Basically, Brown Yule and Widdowson shared the same viewpoint to “Text” to some extent Nunan also viewed “Text”

as a record of communicative event but for Nunan this record is in a written form and the communicative event may involve oral language or written language

In this thesis, the data of opening and closing speeches is collected and transcribed in text Therefore, I take the view of Widdowson that is close to the subject area of this thesis That is to say, “Text” is a linguistic product of communicative process

2.2.2 The Concept of Discourse

Since the term discourse analysis was first used in 1952, linguists have made great efforts to reach a unified definition of discourse; however, there

have, unavoidably, been opposite views from different schools Focusing on the form and syntax of discourse, some scholars considered discourse as a coherent unit including more than one sentence

According to Salkie (1995), discourse is “a stretch of language that maybe longer than a sentence” Similarly, Crystal (1992:25) defined:

“Discourse is a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative”

Sharing the same idea with Crystal and Salkie, Nunan (1993:5)

maintained: “Discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences which are perceived as being related in some way.”

Meanwhile, some linguists who emphasized the function of discourse

view a discourse as language in use Cook (1989:6) stated: “Language in use, for communication is called discourse.”

Besides, others stressed that discourse is beyond language in use That

is, discourse is more than language itself, reflecting non-linguistic phenomena, social interaction and people’s stance

Widdowson (1994:100) considered discourse as “a communicative process Its situation outcome is a change in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, intentions are made clear, its linguistic product is text”

In this paper, the term discourse is basically understood as a human

language in use for communication

2.2.3 The Concept of Discourse Analysis

The notion of discourse analysis is defined in many ways:

Stubbs (1983:1) defined “discourse analysis as (a) concerned with language use beyond the boundaries of a sentence/utterance, (b) concerned with the interrelationships between language and society and (c) as concerned with the interactive or dialogic properties of everyday communication.”

Hatch (1992:1) said that “discourse analysis is the study of the language of communication – spoken and written The system that emerges out of the data shows that communication is an interlocking social, cognitive, and linguistic enterprise”

Brown and Yule (1983) defined that “discourse analysis is the study of language use with the reference to the social and psychological factors that influence communication”

Hoa (2000) stated that “discourse analysis as a study of how and for

what purposes language is used in a certain context and the linguistic means

to carry out these purposes”

To sum up, the primary interest of discourse analysis in this study is to give an account of how forms of language are used in making speeches on the reality TV shows The analysis of discourse here would involve how and for what purposes language is used in certain contexts and the linguistic means to carry out these purposes

2.2.4 Spoken Discourse and Written Discourse

In discourse analysis, a distinction is often made between spoken and written discourse

In terms of lexical choice and density, written texts seem to use more complex and diversified words and abstract terms Halliday (1985) suggested that the spoken forms are in a sense more basic than the written forms and that, in writing, by turning verbs into nouns; for instance, we have altered the normal state of event Written discourse, according to Halliday, tends to be more lexical tense than spoken discourse Also, speakers can use nonsense

vocabulary, slang or contracted forms like (we’re/ you’ve) meanwhile the

writers cannot do these

They are also different in grammar Halliday (1985:79) argued that spoken discourse is not less organized He claimed that spoken discourse has its own kind of complexity In spoken discourse, clauses are long and spread out Hence, spoken discourse can be grammatically intricate as well

Spoken and written languages also differ in context Writing is more de-contextualized than speech This view is based on the perception that speech depends on a shared situation and background for understanding whereas writing does not depend on such a shared context The context of writing, therefore, has to be inferred from the text In addition, the words

themselves must carry all of the shades of meaning which in face-to-face interaction can be conveyed by non-verbal behaviors

There are also differences between them in speed and manner of production The speed of speech can be adjusted to be appropriate for the listeners and though a request for repetition is possible Speakers may interrupt or overlap each other as they speak Speakers can ask for clarification and they can correct what they have said Misunderstanding, further, can be cleared up immediately Also, spoken discourse is able to use intonation, gestures and body language to convey meanings Speakers can use pauses or “killers” like “er”, “well” or “you know”… to give them time to think about what they are going to say Whereas, the writers enjoy some advantages such as the ability of looking over what they have already written, pausing between each word, taking time to choose a particular word or phrase, using tables, formulas or charts for clarification and having no pressure in terms of monitoring and processing communication spontaneously

In summary, spoken language has certain features that are generally not shared by written one However, the differences between them are not absolute, and the associate with written language sometimes occur in spoken language and vice versa

2.2.5 Formal and Informal Discourse

Cook (1989:50) clamed that the division of language into the spoken and the written is clearly and sensibly based on a difference in production and reception However, when the structure of discourse is taken into consideration, more essential divisions into formal and informal communicative products gain importance What are characteristics of formal and informal discourse? Formal discourse is stricter in that it requires the use

of passive voice, lack of contracted forms together with impersonality, complex sentences structure and, in the case of the English language, vocabulary derived from Latin That is why formal spoken language has many features very similar to written texts, particularly absence of vernacular vocabulary and slang, as well as the employment of rhetorical devices to make literary-like impact on the listener

Informal discourse, on the other hand, makes use of active voice

mainly, with personal pronouns and verbs which show feelings such as “I think”, “we believe” In addition, contractions are frequent in informal

discourse, no matter if it is written or spoken Consequently, it may be said that informal communicative products are casual and loose, while formal ones are more solemn and governed by strict rules as they are meant to be used in official and serious circumstances

The relation of the producer of the message and its receiver, the number

of addressees and factors such as public or private occasion are the most important features influencing the selection of either formal or informal language Opening and closing speeches in this thesis are both formal and informal spoken spontaneous language They are not prepared beforehand but impromptu spoken in the reality TV shows

2.2.6 Cohesion and Coherence

a Cohesion

Basically, cohesion refers to the formal relationship that causes texts to

cohere or stick together According to Cook (1989: 14), “formal links between sentences and between clauses are known as cohesive devices” These formal

links are created by verb form, parallelism, referring expressions, repetition, lexical chains, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction

Meanwhile, Yule (1997: 125) considered cohesion as “the ties and

connections that exist within texts” He also explained that the analysis of

these cohesive ties within a text gives us some insight into how writers structure what they want to say, and they may be crucial factors in our judgments on whether something is well-written or not

In Nunan’s view (1993), a coherent text cannot miss text-forming devices-cohesive devices which are words or phrases that make explicit the temporal, special and logical connections among sentences in a discourse or

in a text Those are words or phrases which enable the writer/ speaker to establish the relationships across sentence/ utterance boundaries, and help to tie the sentences in a text together However, cohesion is not only the factor that makes a text or discourse cohere A text without coherence can be cohesive and vice versa, a text without cohesion can be coherent

Galperin (1977) defined cohesion as lexical, grammatical forms of connection between parts of the discourse It indicates the transition from a division of these contextual variants to another

In Vietnamese, Thêm (1985) categorized cohesion into two facets: content cohesion and form cohesion “Content cohesion” is expressed through

a system of form cohesion devices and “form cohesion” is embodied in content cohesion Thus, a cohesion discourse should include these facets which help to distinguish a discourse from disconnected jumbles

Besides being about the way in which information within sentences is organized according to the demands of a text, text syntax is also about the ways in which sentences are linked together into a cohesive whole Halliday and Hasan explained that cohesion is how words and expressions are connected using cohesive devices which can be identified into five groups: reference, ellipsis, substitution, conjunction and lexical cohesion The first three groups belongs to grammatical cohesion, the conjunction group is on the

borderline between grammatical and lexical cohesion In this study, I will follow this view because there have not been any works referring to cohesion

in such a detailed and systematic way as Halliday and Hasan (1976) to now

We shall now have a look at each of these cohesive devices in turn

i Reference

Halliday and Hasan defined reference as a semantic relation that ensures the continuity of meaning in a text It involves items that cannot be interpreted in their own right, but which make reference to something else for their interpretation

Halliday and Hasan also categorized reference as three groups: personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference

- Personal reference is by means of the personal pronouns, possessive

pronouns and possessive identifiers

- Demonstrative reference involves the demonstratives, the definite

articles and the adverb

- Comparative reference may be either general, expressing the

identity, similarity or difference between things, or particular, expressing a qualitative or quantitative comparison

ii Substitution

Substitution is basically a device which shows the relationship between sentences, where it is desirable to avoid repetition According to Halliday and Hasan (1976:88), substitution is a replacement of one item by another It is a relationship between linguistic items within the text such as words and phrases on the lexicogrammatical level There are three kinds of substitution:

- Nominal substitution involves the substitution of a noun as head of a noun phrase by one or ones, or the substitution of a whole phrase by the same

- Verbal substitution is by means of “Do” “Do” operates as head of a verbal phrase in the place occupied by the lexical verb and it often located at the end of the group

- Clausal substitution is by means of “so”, for a positive clause and

“not”, for a negative one

fulfill this function They may be divided into groups: additive, adversative,

causal and temporal

- Additive conjunctions simply add on a sentence as if it were

additional information or an afterthought

- Adversative conjunctions draw a contrast between the sentence they

introduce or are contained in and the preceding, sentence with which they

form a cohesive relationship

- Causal conjunctions make a causal link between two sentences

- Temporal conjunctions make a time link, usually of a sequential

nature, between one sentence and another

v Lexical Cohesion

Nunan (1993:28) stated that “lexical cohesion occurs when two words

in a text are semantically related in some ways” In other words, they are related in term of their meaning According to Jackson (1999:51), lexical cohesion “refers to the use of same, similar, or related words in successive

sentences so that latter occurrences of such words refer back to and link with previous occurrences” In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976), reiteration and collocation are the two major categories of lexical cohesion

Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which involves the repetition

of lexical item Reiteration includes repetition, synonym or near – synonym, super – ordinate and general word Reiteration fulfills a similar semantic function to cohesive reference (Halliday and Hasan, 1976)

Repetition is the most common form of lexical cohesive devices It is simply repeated words or word phrases threading through text While substitution and ellipsis avoid repetition, lexical repetition exploits it for stylistic effect

b Coherence

Coherence is the factor that decides whether a language product is a text or not (Beaugrande and Dresser, 1981) It is the semantic, implicit relation inside the text itself

Coherence refers to the types of semantic or rhetorical relationships that underlie texts Although drawing the attention of many generations of linguists, it has still been an elusive concept Coherence has been seen as one

of the prime conditions or characteristics of a text as Hatch (1992) said:

“Without coherence, a text is not properly a text” In order to make coherence

in a text, the move from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph must be smooth This smooth transition which contributes to the coherence of texts is conducted through a variety of ways in which cohesive devices play an important role

Coherent discourse is distinguished from random sentences by the existence of certain text-forming or cohesive devices Cohesive devices play

an important role the establishment coherent discourse Coherence can be

generally viewed in two aspects: text-based and reader-based coherence (John, 1986) the former refer to the features associated with the meaningful aspect of writer-reader/ speaker-hearer interaction It is the implicit link in the text which exists in how people interpret text rather than in the texts themselves (Yule, 1996)

In summary, cohesion involves the formal links which exist between sentences whereas coherence is built upon the semantic ties in discourse

2.2.7 General View of Reality Television Shows, Master of Ceremonies, Opening and Closing Speeches

a Reality Television Shows

Reality television (also known as reality shows) is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documentary actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where

a prize is awarded The genre, which has existed in some form or another since the early years of television programming, exploded as a phenomenon

around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series such as Big Brother and Survivor Programs in the reality television genre are commonly

called reality shows and often are produced in a television series Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as television news and sports television shows are usually not classified as reality shows

The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, often demeaning Japanese variety shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as

Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother

Reality television frequently portrays a modified and highly influenced form of reality, at times utilizing sensationalism to attract audience viewers and increase advertising revenue profits Participants are often placed in exotic locations or abnormal situations, and are often persuaded to act in specific scripted ways by off-screen "story editors" or "segment television producers", with the portrayal of events and speech manipulated and contrived to create an illusion of reality through direction and post-production

b Master of Ceremonies

A master of ceremonies is defined “a person who introduces guests or

entertainers at an occasion” in Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary - Seventh Edition

According to Wikipedia, to some extent, “A Master of Ceremonies (MC or compere) is the host of a staged event or similar performance An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving An MC may also tell jokes or anecdotes The MC sometimes also acts as the protocol officer during an official state function In hip hop music and electronic dance music, an MC is a music artist and/or performer who usually creates and performs vocals for his own original material (not to

be confused with a DJ who plays party music and creates music mixes)” [64]

c Opening and Closing MC Speeches

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles defines

“speech is a more or less formal discourse delivered to an audience, an

According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, speech is “the general word for a discourse delivered to an audience whether prepared or

Opening is defined “the beginning or first part of something” by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary It also says closing is “coming at the end of a speech, a period of time or an activity” [24]

The combination of the meaning of those words, opening MC speech can be defined a more or less formal discourse delivered to an audience by the master of ceremonies at the beginning or first part of the staged events or similar occasions Meanwhile, closing MC speech is the one comes at the end

of the events and closes them

The opening and closing MC speeches can be prepared beforehand and then spoken in the weddings, meetings, ceremonies etc or can be impromptu and spontaneously spoken in the game shows, talent search shows, and so on This thesis focuses on the impromptu speeches that are not prepared in written beforehand and delivered by the MCs on the staged reality TV shows

CHAPTER 3

METHOD AND PROCEDURE

This chapter presents the methods and the research procedures of the current study Firstly, it presents the research methods employed in this thesis The next step is to describe what the data sources are, how data were collected and how they were organized Finally, a description of data analysis

is presented in details

3.1 RESEARCH METHODS

This study aims at identifying discourse features of the opening and closing MC speeches in both Vietnamese and American English in terms of the layout, syntactic structures, lexical choice and cohesive devices In order

to reach this aim, we carried out our investigation based on the combination

of several methods as follows:

- Qualitative and quantitative approach: Qualitative method was used in describing and analyzing data to find out the distinctive features of the opening and closing MC speeches Meanwhile, by means of quantification,

we looked for patterns from the data and gave statistics in terms of frequencies of occurrence in percentage of discourse features of those speeches in two languages

- Descriptive method: It is obvious that our discourse analysis task is to characterize or describe languages based on the results of statistic measure Therefore, such method is a must

- Analytic and synthetic methods: Analytic perspective helps us evaluate the relative contribution of each constituent part, and then the synthetic approach helps identify how constituent parts interrelate and interact together in a kind of discourse

- Comparative and contrastive methods: The results of analytic and synthetic data analysis of opening and closing speeches in the two languages achieved, in turn will be compared and contrasted to see the similarities and differences of some discourse features of the two languages speeches

- Inductive method will be finally used to synthesize the findings and draw out the generalizations and conclusions

Depending on the set goals of the thesis, descriptive method was chosen as the dominant one which is most frequent used in the thesis

3.2 SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION

The samples were mostly taken from the following websites:

a wide range of reality television shows were listed in Appendix A, B, C and

D for the corpus

3.3 DATA ANALYSIS

After collecting data, firstly, AOSs were analyzed in terms of their layout, lexical choice, syntactic features and cohesive devices The similar task was conducted with VOSs Then, the analysis results of the AOSs and VOSs would be compared in order to find out the similarities and differences between them Here are the specific tasks:

For the layout, we focused on the general format developed by Ngan

(2009:21) namely Introduction Section, Body section and Conclusion Section The organization of a speech is very important because it not only

provides a frame for speech makers to give a well-organized speech but also helps to guide the audience or the listeners through the speech

For the lexical choice, we pointed out the use of adjectives expressing strong or extreme meanings and the use of informal language including slangs and informal contractions A list of reality TV technical terms was also developed in this section

For the syntactic features, the study examined the frequency of phrases types (noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases) and functional sentences (declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences)

For the cohesive devices, we focused on the lexical and grammatical cohesion based on Halliday and Hasan’s points of view The number of each type will be counted and followed by its frequency

Secondly, ACSs and VCSs were analyzed at the same time in terms of their layout, lexical choice, syntactic features and cohesive devices They were then compared to see the same and the different characteristics of ACSs and VCSs The same specific tasks done with AOSs and VOSs were conducted with ACSs and VCSs

Finally, a conclusion was drawn for both opening and closing speeches

3.4 RESEARCH PROCEDURE

To carry out the study properly, I followed these steps:

- Collecting data: The videos of the related Vietnamese and American reality TV shows were collected and downloaded from the Internet The opening and closing speeches from those videos were then watched and

transcribed by the author Two American native speakers were asked to watch the videos again and check the accuracy during the transcribing process

- Analyzing data: The discourse features of AOSs, VOSs, ACSs and VCSs were pointed out in terms of the layout, syntactic structures, lexical choice and cohesive devices

- Comparing and contrasting: A comparison was made to discover the similarities and differences of discourse characteristics between speeches in both languages and the possible explanations for those differences are also given

3.5 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

In conducting a scientific research, validity and reliability are two concepts of central importance Hence, I paid much attention to establish the validity and reliability of my thesis Firstly, all TV show data was downloaded fdrom the prestigious American and Vietnamese websites Moreover, these TV shows are big and national broadcasted with large audience that cannot be faked Two native speakers were asked to watch the videos again for checking and correcting any mistakes that we may have during the transcribing process The data are from the year of 2010 to 2013 which is not out of date Therefore, the data can be assured to be reliable and valid Secondly, I set out my work from the analysis of evidence, statistics, frequencies, then came to conclusions These jobs set up the reliable bases for making comparison of the features between two languages to discover their similarities and differences Finally, the research was carried out on the basic

of the theoretical background from reliable publications of experienced linguists as presented in Chapter 2

CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 THE GENERAL LAYOUT OF AOSS AND VOSS

In a discourse in general and the spoken discourse of speeches in particular, the layout plays an important role in presenting the ideas The speaking outline covers the main points, provides speakers a framework and aids the speech makers’ memory on a certain topic The clearer the outline is, the better understandable the speeches are

According to Ngan (2009: 21), an outline of a speech includes three parts: The Introduction, the Body and the Conclusion Similarly, after studying 160 samples, the general outline of Vietnamese and American opening speeches in reality TV shows appeared in three parts: Greetings and introductions, body and transition Let’s have a deeper look at each part

4.1.1 Greetings and Introductions

An opening speech in a TV show in both languages always starts with a greeting which is a signal to get the audience’s attention and to start a TV show The greetings are usually short and brief so that the audience will be able to pay attention and get ready for the coming show

There is an interesting point that the MCs used formal or informal greeting expressions to start their speeches

In AOSs, the speech makers usually use formal expressions to greet the

audience like Good evening Welcome to American Idol… We found this

structure in almost twenty-three AOSs which takes 57.5% However, other MCs use informal greetings as follow:

(2) Good evening, welcome to American Idol [A-2]

(4) What is up everybody? [A- 6,7,8,9,10]

(7) Chào mừng quý vị và các bạn đến với… [B-17]

(8) Xin kính chào quý vị và các bạn… [B-16] (9) Xin được hân hoan chào đón tất cả quý vị và các bạn đã đến với…

[B-1] (10) Thưa quý vị và các bạn thân mến, chúng tôi xin được chào đón tất

cả quý vị… [B-3]

(11) Thưa quý vị, Thanh Bạch xin gửi lời chào mừng đến… [B-20]

Another difference that can be found in MCs greetings in both languages is the notion of time and place As Them (1999: 160) indicates in Vietnamese agricultural culture, people like to be stable in their own space Thus, they tend to greet basing on their relationship with other people and space around them However, American people tend to greet on the notion of

time like good evening in their opening speeches The specific results are

clearly shown in table 4.1

Table 4.1: Formal and Informal Greetings used in Opening Speeches

Occurrence Rate Occurrence Rate

Besides, there is a small number of AOSs starting with an introduction about the show before greeting the audience, for instance:

(12) Put their lives on hole, saying goodbye to everything they know for this one shot at superstardom, but for one, it all ends tonight Who will become a hometown hero and how is just going home We will find out live This is American Idol

Good evening, welcome to American Idol [A-2] (13) Eight acts are hoping desperately that you voted for them last night But by the end of the show, only six of them will still be in the competition Once again, they face a double elimination Will your favorites make it through to next week We’re about to find out It’s the X-Factor results live

Welcome to the X-factor the results Everyone ready for the night? Alright Good evening I’m Mario Lopez [A-25]

Meanwhile, all VOSs start with a greeting right at the beginning of the

show without introducing the show

4.1.2 The Body

Table 4.2: The Opening Speech Body’s Contents in AOSs and VOSs

Opening Speech Body’s

Contents

Occurrence Rate Occurrence Rate The main content of the show 40 100% 40 100%

The sponsors and thanks to

The body presents the contents of the opening speeches as shown in the above table including the following ones:

a The Main Content of the Show

The main content spoken in the opening speeches can be about where and when the show is happening, what the show is about, why people do the show, who are in the show and how the show is ruled These are the core of the opening speeches which give audience an overview about the event that they are joining in Hence, in both Vietnamese and American, every speech contains this core because of its importance which is shown in table 4.2 Here are some examples:

(14) We are coming to you from the Nokia Theater LA live Seven thousand idol fans are ready to party here tonight This is the battle between Scotty and Lauren, the boy next door versus the southern bell Both love country music, both are teenagers and both wanna win it all [A-4]

(15) And I got a feeling tonight is gonna be a good night because it’s the Black Eyed Peas Episode And tonight’s show is gonna be powered by the revolutionary sight and sound of the global super group Our crews will through down to their biggest smash hits and the Black Eyed Peas themselves will be handing out the challenges [A-8]

(16) Và đây là tuần thi thứ năm với chủ đề Dance và Hip Hop Ngay bây giờ hãy cùng Trấn Thành và Vy Oanh chào đón những vị giám khảo của chương trình ngày hôm nay [B-7]

(17) Thưa quý vị, và đó cũng chính là điều đặc biệt mà chúng tôi muốn gửi đến tất cả quý vị và các bạn trong đêm nay Và ở mùa giải thứ 3 này, quý

vị biết không, chúng ta sẻ có những đêm liveshow với những chủ để riêng biệt

và theo đó thì các thí sinh của chúng ta sẻ được mặc sức sáng tạo trong các

phần dự thi của mình Và đêm nay, các thí sinh sẻ hóa thân vào nhân vật mà

mình đã chọn trong các bộ phim nổi tiếng trên thế giới [B-2]

b The Previous Show’s Review

The reality TV shows are serial TV programs with many episodes in every season There would be a relationship between the episodes in which the previous episodes are the background for the coming episode Thus, it is important for the MC to review the previous shows or episodes

The MCs can remind the topic or main content of the previous show For example:

(18) So last night, the top six performed unplugged versions of songs, followed by hits chosen by you at home in the Pepsi Challenge [A-23]

(19) Thưa quý vị, tuần vừa qua chúng ta đã chia tay với á hậu Hoàng

My Đó chính là một điều đáng tiếc Và đêm nay… [B-4]

Or they can emphasize the highlighted points of the previous show such as:

(20) So last night we saw amazing performances… [A-18]

(21) Thưa quý vị, như chúng ta còn nhớ ở trong cuộc chơi tuần trước thì người chơi ra về với phần thưởng của trò chơi phụ “Đổi hay không đổi”

có giá trị cao hơn cả người chơi có mặt ở phần thi đặc biệt… [B-13]

And this is almost the same in two languages

c Sponsors’ Information and Thanking

In order to have a big show on TV, the television station should have a budget to run the programs The businesses, enterprises or branches those who need to be advertised on television will support the shows financially So

it is important to advertise them during the show Opening speech is a good place to advertise them right at the beginning of the show

(22) Quý vị và các bạn thân mến, chương trình do Đài truyền hình

VN phối hợp với công ty Cát Tiên Sa thực hiện với sự tài trợ của nhãn hàng nước giải khát Vfresh trực thuộc công ty cổ phần sữa VN Vinamilk

Thưa quý vị, quý vị và các bạn ơi, chúng ta hãy cùng hòa mình vào trong không khí tưng bừng của lễ hội [B-3]

(23) Quý vị và các bạn thân mến, chương trình cặp đôi hoàn hảo do Đài truyền hình Việt Nam phối hợp với công ty Cát Tiên Sa thực hiện đang được truyền hình trực tiếp trên sóng của VTV3

Chúng tôi xin chân thành cám ơn nhãn hàng Hảo Hảo thương hiệu Vina Acecook đã đồng hành cùng chúng tôi trong chương trình này [B-6]

It is surprisingly that 25% VOSs contains the advertisements while there is nothing about the sponsors in AOSs

d Others

The other contents are thanking the audience, presenting the previous opening performances and voting for the competitors They account for a small number of from 5% to 10% in both VOSs and AOSs Let’s see the following examples:

(24) Xin được cám ơn sự ủng hộ nhiệt tình của quý vị khán giả cho

(25) Good evening Thank you very much Welcome to finale week at

(26) Quý vị và các bạn thân mến, quả là một tiết mục mở đầu rất ấn tượng, một sự kết hợp tuyệt vời giữa ánh sáng và những chuyển động cơ thể của các vũ công để tạo nên một hiệu ứng đặc biệt Đó là một sự hoang

dã đậm chất nghệ thuật cho tiết mục Hồng hoang với phần trình bày của

10 bạn trong top 12 thí sinh đêm chung kết của thử thách cùng bước nhảy

với phần biên đạo của một trong ba vị giám khảo đang ngồi bên dưới, đó là

(27) What is up everybody?

You just saw five new crews rock the stage together to Lil Waynes’ Six Foot Seven Foot as we kick off our biggest and best season of American

(28) Nếu như quý vị nào yêu thích cặp đôi nào hãy bình chọn cho cặp đôi đó Đừng để thí sinh mà mình yêu thích phải dừng lại quá sớm

(29) At the end of the show, the judges will save four and one crew will

be eliminated Then you, at home, can vote to help push your favorite crew

Those contents can be interchangeable due to the characteristics of each show or each program

4.1.3 Transition

Followed by the content of the show, it is important for the MCs to end the opening speeches and lead the audience to the coming activities or performances in the show

Transition is defined “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another” by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary –

Seventh Edition The bold texts are some examples of transitions changing from opening speeches to introduction speeches of the coming activities:

(30) Now, show some love to your judges [A-5]

(31) Ngay bây giờ, chúng ta sẻ cùng nhau làm quen rõ hơn với từng thành viên trong đội chơi người lớn [B-36]

In order to end the opening speeches, American MCs use the following

transition signals such as Right now…, Once again…, Now…, Ladies and

Gentlemen…, America…, And…, They are equivalent to the expressions Còn bây giờ…, Một lần nữa…, Thưa quý vị…, Và…, that have been frequently

used by Vietnamese MCs in most of their opening speeches Using transition signals makes it easier for the listener to follow MCs’ ideas They help carry over a thought from one sentence to another, from one paragraph to another,

or from one idea to another

After ending the body, the MCs will present the judges, competitors or the coming performances as well as the next activity in the show The following language is used:

(32) And where there’s talent, there’re judges Give it up for Howie

(33) Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our coaches [A-17]

(34) Còn bây giờ, kính mời quý vị và các bạn chúng ta cùng tìm hiểu đôi nét về thể loại nhạc kịch đương đại Broadway [B-1]

(35) Và trước tiên, xin cho phép Trấn Thành thông báo về thể lệ cuộc

Greetings and Introductions

The Show’s Contents

Transitions

formal than the ones in AOSs (table 4.1) due to the different cultural features

of Vietnamese collectivism and American individualism Secondly, some VOSs deliver information about the show’s sponsors meanwhile nothing about the sponsors is found in AOSs

4.2 LEXICAL CHOICE IN AOSS AND VOSS

4.2.1 The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning

As our research result on the layout, most contents in reality TV shows’ opening speeches are describing the shows Therefore, the adjectives are frequently found in AOSs and VOSs with the purpose of describing the show

or other concerning things Particularly, there are three kinds of dominant adjectives that are used in those speeches They are superlative adjectives, adjectives preceded by an intensifier and extreme adjectives tabulated in the following table:

Table 4.3: The Use of Adjectives Expressing Extreme Meaning

Adjectives expressing extreme

(36) Thưa quý vị, và bởi vì thời gian về đích cũng đã rất cận kề rồi cho nên các thí sinh của chúng ta đã phải nổ lực rất nhiều để có được kết quả tập