Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ giới tính trong hát phường vải nghệ tĩnh tóm tắt bản tiếng anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Vinh UNIVERSITY

NguyEn ThI Mai Hoa

GENDERED LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS
IN NGHE TINH PHUONG VAI SINGING

Specialization: Linguistic theory
CODE: 62.22.01.01
SYNOPSIS OF Ph.D THESIS in IN LINGUISTICS

Vinh - 2010


This thesis has been completed at: Vinh University
Supervisors:
1. Prof. Dr. Diep Quang Ban
2. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Nha Ban

Opponent 1:
Opponent 2:
Opponent 3:

Associate Pfro. Nguyen Thai Hoa
Prof. Dr. Hoang Trong Phien.
Associate Pfro. Pham Hung Viet

The thesis has been defended before the council of examining theses of national lelel at
Vinh University at 8 am of 18 December, 2010

This thesis can be
accessed to at the National Library,
Library of Vinh University, Library of Nghe An Province


PREAMBLE
1. Rationale
Nghe Tinh fork songs Phuong Vai (hát Phường Vải) is a type of special fork poetry
of Nghe Tinh Land which is closely attached to performance environment. The roles of
communication in Phuong Vai are male & female. In this connection, the gendered
language characteristics have direct influence on the contents and forms of the turns.
The study on the gender factors in the Phuong Vai singing will contribute to specify
the luaguage, cultural and human characteristics of the Nghe Tinh Land. Phuong Vai
singing used to be studied by the reseachers from the cultural aspects while less
attention is paid to the linguistics aspects. There has not been any research work
focussing on the gendered language characteristics in the Phuong Vai. The importance,
the newness and attractiveness of the gender factors in the Phuong Vai serve as a basis
for us to choose the topic “Gendered language characteristics in Nghe Tinh Phuong
Vai Singing”.
2. Background
The findings of studies on gender in the area of linguistics have shown the
significance and importance of gender factors in various aspects such as phonetics,
vocabulary, grammar and language style (E. Sapir, R. Lakoff, W. Labov, P.
Trudgill ...).
In Vietnam, researchers have applied common theory on communication in exploring
cultural characteristics related to the gender of communication’s roles, mainly focusing
on daily communication in several aspects: gender discrimination expressed in the
gendered language and language styles (Nguyen Van Khang, Vu thi Thanh Huong...).
These research works play a role in suggesting and providing theories for specific
studies, particularly the theory on gendered language in Nghe Tinh Phuong Vai

Singing for this study.
3. Study object, scope and sources of references
The object of this thesis is gendered language characteristics expressed in the turns of
the male/female roles in Nghe Tinh Phuong Vai singing with the source of materials of


1,745 turns. The study scope is to look into, describe, compare the language
characteristics of male/female communication roles in Phuong Vai singing in several
aspects like vocative words, speech acts in some singing steps, the usage of words, the
figures of speech.
4. Study goal and objectives
The goal of the study is to identify gendered language characteristics in Nghe Tinh
Phuong Vai singing, thereby to illustrate and clarify several theoretical issues on
communication language and gender, on the culture and people of Nghe Tinh Land.
In order to realize the above goal, specific objectives are set as follows:
- survey, describe, analyse the Phuong Vai’s turns that are sex-dissagregated to detect
the expressions of gendered language characteristics of communication roles via the
vocative words, speech acts, in some singing steps, the usage of words, the rhetorical
figures.
- identify similarities and differences in the gendered language characteristics of
Phuong Vai singing;
- adding materials for studing and teaching fork poetry.
5. Study methodology
Key methods used in this study are statistical, descriptive, analitical, inductive,
comparative.
6. Contribution of the thesis
This thesis touches upon a new topic (gendered language) on a classic object with
special characteristics (the Phuong Vai singing), therefore, its contents carry the
newness, not repeating other research works.
a. In theoretical aspects:

- Contributing to clarifying some characteristics of vocative words from gender
aspects, speech acts attched to the communication situations;
- Adding data and materials for studies on gendered language; providing theoretical
basis for studying on some aspects of Phuong Vai singing like procedures, the
performance environment, gender in communication roles, host/guest relationship...


- Affirming and adding remarks & comments on the gendered cultural characteristics
of Nghe Tinh Land and its people.
b. In practice:
- Providing materials for studying on gendered language, on fork poetry of Nghe
Tinh Land
- Adding teaching & learning materials on fork poetry and the contents related to the
art of using words.
- Making contribution to affirming the roles of Phuong Vai singing in creating
cultural values of Nghe Tinh Land.
7. Structure of the study:
Apart from the preamble and conclusions, the thesis is consisted of 4 chapters:
Chapter 1: Theoretical basis and several issues on Nghe Tinh Phuong Vai singing
Chapter 2: Gendered communication roles expressed via the vocative words in Phuong
Vai singing
Chapter 3: Gendered language expressed via some speech acts in Phuong Vai singing
Chapter 4: Gendered communication roles expressed via the wording methods in
Phuong Vai singing.
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BASIS AND SOME ISSUES
ON NGHE TINH PHUONG VAI SINGING
1.1. Communication and conversation
1.1.1. Communication and verbal communication
Communication is exchange of information between at least 2 persons with verbal
messages in a certain context aiming at self-expression (in terms of attitude,

sentiments, emotions, thoughts, view points…). In communication, language handles 2
main functions: transactional and interpersonal functions. In this thesis, interpersonal
function is a basis for showing the relationship between male/female roles of
communication.
When engaged in communication, the communication actors can exchange their
positions in order to take the roles of asking or challenging/responding, thus creating


the system of turns with asking or challenging/responding adjacency pairsin terms of
contents and forms. In the scope of this thesis, the roles of communication are looked
into in verbal conversation via asking or challenging - responding interactions.
1.1.2. Conversation movement and interaction
The concept of conversation to be examined in this thesis is mainly understood as
dialogue. Each singing phrase in the Phuong Vai is equivalent to one participant to the
conversation, mostly occuring in the form of solo phrase (of 1 participant) or exchange
(of 2 participants). According to Yule (1997), based on the floor (right to speak), the
conversation participants may have turns and have opportunity of turn-taking which is
governed by the local management system. The process of regulating the opportunities
of turn-taking by the local management system between the conversation participants is
very the process of the conversation including 3 factors: first taking floor , the
exchange, and the interaction between Sp1 (speaker) and Sp2 (listener) which is
arranged in the sequence of alternate asking or challenging/responding phrases
between the conversation participants, so called the coordination of the turns.
The interaction must observe certain regulations & rules. According to Grice (1975),
the cooperative principle of the conversation is specified into 4 principles of lower
level, called the maxims of conversation including the maxim of quantity, the maxim
of quality, the maxim of relation, the maxim of manner. When the speaker intentionally
breaks a maxim of conversation, it means that the speaker informs an implicit meaning
by implicature and the listener should be able to interprete this implicature.
The Phuong Vai is love exchange singing, therefore, most of the Phuong Vai’s turns

accoomodate conversational implicature. In this connection, the issues related to the
language of the communication roles are looked into based on the conversational
implicature.
1.2. Speech acts
Speech acts are those undertaken with utterance (appology/excuse, complaint, guide,
agreement, warning...). According to Searle, in order to undertake speech acts, 4
preconditions are needed: contents condition, preparatory condition, sincerity


condition, essential condition; 5 levels of speech acts are associated with 5 overall
functions of speech acts: declaratives, representatives, expressives, directives,
commissives. The speech acts touched upon in this thesis are based on Searle’s system
of categorization.
1.3. Language and sex/gender
Sex is a concept to show the physical (biological) differences between men and
women; gender is a concept to show the social relations, the social status correlation
between men and women in specific social context. Sex shows natural functions,
mostly unchanged while the factors related to gender change when the conditions
prescribing them change.
Sex factors have influence on language, creating differences between male and female
languages in 3 aspects: the pronunciation of each sex, language about each sex and the
language style. Those differences are shaped due to many causes: natural cause – the
human body structure, social cause with many factors such as culture, the power
distribution and social status, the labor division and social experiences of each sex...
sexed language characteristics due to the natual causes are mostly ‘unchanged’ while
the gendered language characteristics due to social causes tend to change for
development and adaptation.
1. 4. Language and culture
According to F.d. Saussure (1973), both culture and language are ‘social insitutions’;
language as well as cultural activities belong to spiritual activities. E. Sapir (2000)

affirms that language and culture are so closely related that people can hardly have
proper understanding about one of them without good knowledge of the other. In
Vietnamese fork poetry this relationship is clearly expressed: community culture of
Vietnamese people is the basis for the formation of the fork poetry; and on its turn,
fork poetry has significance in reflecting & recording the process of formation and
development of the community culture.
1.5. Social dialects


Being created based on the geographical, social features, historical characteristics,
dialects are normally looked into from 2 aspects: regional dialects (showing
geographical variant of the language) and social dialects (showing social variant of the
language). In this thesis, only social dialects are touched upon. In Phuong Vai singing,
the signs of social dialects are looked at in many aspects: the word usage (system of
Nghe Tinh local words, particularly the vocative words, words indicating space, time,
work...); the art of paronomasia/word-play/pun (slang, homonym, synonym...)
1.6. Nghe Tinh Phuong Vai singing and the study on gendered language
characteristics
The own geographical, climate, living practices, linguistic features have formed
relatively consistent Nghe Tinh style, particularly human style, which is expressed in
the aspects like low voice, rigid & conservative thinking, strong actions; behaviors in
favor of rustic simplicity; village community relationships defined based on the
cohesiveness of the community.
The Phuong Vai singing together with ‘hát ví đị đưa’/ barcarolle is considered as 1
of the 2 types of most typical and popular fork songs of Nghe Tinh land that have
relatively strict procedures. In order to look at the sex of the communication roles, the
materials on the Phuong Vai singing have been categorized into 3 groups of turns 1)
Group of turns in which the sex of the speech owner can be defined; 2) group of turns
in which the sex of the speech owner can hardly be defined; 3) group of turns in which
the sex of the speech owner cannot be defined. The group 3) is not looked into in this

thesis since the sex of the communication roles is not defined. The total number of
surveyed turns in this thesis is 1,745 including 767 male turns and 978 female turns.
1.7. Summary of chapter I
Communication in Phuong Vai singing has performance characteristics, thereby, the
linguistics functions of the Phuong Vai singing are mainly interpersonal functions. In
the Phuong Vai singing, communication roles are looked at in their interactions via the
form of asking or challenging/responding of the singing conversation. The choice of
the language of communication roles in the Phuong Vai is influenced with the factors


related to social attributes of the roles such as sex, age, occupation, personal
background, educational level etc...
In the conversation, each singing phrase (solo or pair of exchange) is considered as a
turn which is undertaken in the alternate roles procedure. This is the basis for defining
the concept of conversation mainly understood in this thesis as dialogue between 2
main communication roles: male (male camp) and female (female camp). On the other
hand, given the constraints, the thesis only studies the language of the Phuong Vai via
the system of turns in the text form, not in the performance context, therefore, it does
not look at the non-verbal factors, that are very important for fork cultural activities &
practices like the Phuong Vai.
CHAPTER 2: GENDER OF THE COMMUNICATION ROLES EXPRESSED
THROUGH THE VOCATIVE WORDS
IN THE PHUONG VAI SINGING
2.1.

Communication

roles

in

the

Phuong

Vai

singing

2.1.1. Identifying the communication roles
Loking at the roles, the participants to a Phuong Vai performance include the singer,
the facilitator, the listener. In terms of relationship in communication, the abovementioned participants are to be placed in three communication roles: the host, the
guest and the facilitator. In terms of gender relations, the participants are to be placed
in male and female roles. There are 978/1,745 female turns accounting for 56%, and
767/1,745 male turns accounting for 44% (Table 2.1).
Table 2.1. Classification/categorization of Phuong Vai turns by roles of communication
through the singing stages
Stage

Single Single Male
male

turns

in

the Female turns in the Total

female exchange
exchange

Female
Female
turns turns Male asking Male
or
responding asking
or responding


56

challenging
2
3

challenging
3
2

148

31

0

0

0

0

38

welcoming
Hát
mừng/ 12

36

0

4

4

0

56

Congratuations
Hát hỏi/ Asking 0
Hát đố hát đối/ 2

5
18

22
10

32
124

32
124

22
10

113
288

47

8

14

14

8

99

372

42

53

54

42

870

exposing
Hát tiễn/ Seeing 21

84

2

12

12

2

133

off
Total

649

86

242

243

86

1745

Hát
Prelude
Hát
Greeting

Posing
repartees
Hát
Inviting
Hát xe

dạo/ 82
chào/ 7
&

riddle,
mời/ 8
kết/ 307

Emotions

439

2.1.2. The interaction and inter-personal relationship between the roles of
communication in the Phuong Vai
The interaction is reflected through the mangement of the turns of the communication

roles and via the exchange management. The inter-personal relationship is based on
two axes: the axis of social power and social distance.
Looking at the social power, the male/female roles are distinguished in three aspects:
occupations and social status, the appreciation of social position is given only to male
roles; in terms of age, female roles are usually placed in a lower positions, more
modest in the relationship with the male roles (which is clearly reflected though the


vocative words); in terms of gender stereotypes, the speeches of male or female roles
refer to specific relationships: female roles are often associated with family
relationships while the male roles are often associated with social relations.
Looking at the social distance, the relationship between the male / female roles have
adjustments in the level of intimacy or distance. If social relations between the roles of
communication are almost unchanged/constant throughout the performance, then in
terms of the social distance, throughout the sequence of singing performance steps, the
emotion of the roles is advancing positively: from being strangers to being close &
intimate.
2.2. Gender expression via the system of vocative words in Phuong Vai
2.2.1. Briefing about the vocative words
The participants involved in communication are classified into 3 persons (singular and
plural): the 1st person indicates the speaker, the 2nd person indicates the listener and the
3rd person indicates another one being refered to/talked about. However, when
communication occurrs, only the first and second persons have vocative words,
therefore they are real vocative persons.
Looking at the relationships in communication, the original personal pronouns in
Vietnamese language do not indicate gender, i.e there does not exist the gender
category gramatically as well as biologically. The temporary personal pronouns may or
may not indicate sex. Thus, for Vietnamese language, the determination of the sex
(male or female) of the actors indicated by the personal pronouns depends upon the
context, text or logical judgements.

2.2.2. Vocative words in the Phuong Vai:
The system of diverse vocative words makes the repartees in the Phuong Vai to have
scholarly and fork characteristics at the same time.
Besides, in the Phuong Vai, there exists the system of turns in which the vocative
words are absent in either 1st or 2nd persons or in both persons including 452/767 male
turns (58.9%), 589/978 female turns (60.2%). As a language of the communication art,


the phenomenon of the vocative words absence in the Phuong Vai is popular and is not
considered impolite.
2.2.3. Some vocative patterns in reference to gender of the roles of communication
According to the survey findings, male roles use 23 vocative words, words
combinations at the 1st person; 47 vocative words, words combinations at the 2 nd
person. The female roles use 21 vocative words, words combinations at the 1 st person,
37 vocative words, words combinations at 2 nd person. There is also a system of
common vocative words including group of truly personal words: tôi, ta (I), đôi ta (we
both)...; group of words which are not truly personal, to be used as temporarily
vocative words: mình (I), ai (who), cố nhân (old friend), tri âm (soul mate), bạn
(friend), người (person)… The survey results show that the vocative words in male
turns are more diverse and flexible than in female turns. However, if comparing them
in terms of the standards of communication, the vocative words of female roles are
more standards-oriented than the male roles.
2.2.4. Vocative pairs in the interaction of the communication roles
With four aspects of the relationships between the roles of communication: equal
power/ peer relationships with distances, equal power relationship and solidarity,
unequal power relationships with distance, unequal power relationship and solidarity,
this thesis examines the interactions between the roles of communication in two
groups: system of lexical words in function of personal pronouns with 319/771 (*)1
turns in male turns (41.4%), 393/982 (**) 2 turns in female turns (40%) and the system
of absent vocative words with 452/771 turns in male turns (58.6%) and 589/982 turns

in female turns (60%).
The results of the survey on the pairs of lexical words in function of personal pronouns
show: (1) With simple, rustic vocative words, the vocative way of men is generally in
favor of solidarity relationship; the vocative way of women, with formal, standard
vocative words, inclines to power relationship. (2) Through their vocative ways, men
want to narrow down the distance, while women want to keep it.


The results of survey on the vocative words with absent persons show that: (1) the
phenomenon of absence of vocative word at 1st person is more popular than at the 2nd
person and it is not the even for the 2 roles of communication: the vocative word
addressing one-self are more often absent for women while vocative words addressing
others are more often absent for men. (2) For the vocative words with suffiencient
persons, the absence of vocative words is mainly found in solidarity relationships than
in power relationships.
2.2.5. Culture of Nghe Tinh people expressed via their vocative ways
In the Phuong Vai, Nghe Tinh people express their cultural identity through the
formation of the "I/self” which is harmonized with the "we", at the same time showing
personal characteristics through the vocative way. Specifically: (1) Using vocative
words at the first person, singular at a high rate to show the singer's courage; (2) Using
indicative vocative words which contributes to define & speficy the roles of
communication in the Phuong Vai without mixing them with the community &
collective, at the same time to demonstrate the capacity of the Phuong Vai’s
participants in responding flexibly; (3) Incoporating personal names of the roles of
communication in the turns for the sake of provdiing information on identity, and
showing the capacity of flexible response of the participants as well as the
attractiveness of the unpredictability of the performance.
2.3. Summary of chapter II
In the Phuong Vai, the roles of communication are taken by two camps: female (as
hosts) and male (as guests). The gender of the communication roles is best expressed

via the vocative words. With a system of rich, diverse and relatively flexible vocative
words that are free of pattern, the Phuong Vai has distinctive features as compared with
other types of fork songs of Nghe Tinh like hát ví, hát dặm3…, as well as folk songs
from other regions. Also, the vocative way also reflects the ego of the communication
roles: being smart, witty, self-confident & courageous.
The inter-personal relationship between the roles of communication in the Phuong Vai
is also expressed in two axes: the axis of power and axis of distance. However, it tends


to express the equality, solidarity to narrow down the gap/distance between women and
men. This is clearly shown in several aspects: using vocative words, expression of
ideas, thoughts, emotions through the stages and steps of a singing performance...
Especially, as hosts, the female role is usually in proactive position, being relatively
confident in communication, while the male role, as guests, is put into passive position,
lacking self-confidence and sometimes proved to be confused & embarrassed. It can be
said that the equality and the attitude of women promotion are the fundamental
difference between the language of communication in Phuong Vai and the language of
conventional communication.
CHAPTER 3: GENDERED LANGUAGE EXPRESSED
VIA SOME SPEECH ACTS IN THE PHUONG VAI
3.1. Introduction
Based on the combination of the classification criteria of JR Searle and the
communication objective set for each singing step, this thesis categorizes speech acts
for Phuong Vai turns into 4 groups: (1) representatives, occupying pretty large
proportion: 62.3% for male turns, 33% for female turns. (2) expressives, 13.5% for
female turns and 8.9% for male turns. (3) directives, occupying relatively high
proportion with 41.3% for female turns and 17.6% for male turns. (4) commissives,
occupying low percentage with 118 turns (6.8%) (in which the female role has 83 turns
accounting for 70%, male role has 35 turns accounting for 30%).
3.2. Speech acts in some singing steps of the Phuong Vai singing performance

- The act of presentation in ‘hát dạo’ (prelude) step includes two 2 contents: selfintroduction, explaining the background and purpose of communication (mainly for
male roles with 62/71 turns, accounting for 87.3%); acknowleging the presence of the
guests through the signals that are perceived by the senses or through observation,
receiving information (mainly for female roles with 26/32 turns, accounting for
81.3%).


- The act of greeting, welcoming in the ‘hát chào mừng’ step inludes the following
contents: introduction of the scenery & people of the Phuong Vai, welcoming, showing
happiness with the scenery & people and conveying congratulations... This group of
speech acts often occurs in female roles with 69/82 turns (84.1%)
- The act of asking questions in the ‘hát hỏi’ (asking) step comprises the following
contents: the exploitation of information and understanding of the guests (the family
background, history, reason, purpose (mainly occuring in female roles with 19/22
turns), the questions (to host) about the family/marrital status occur only in male roles
(12 turns). The questions to get to know the attitudes, emotions equally occur for male
and female roles (27% for men, 24% for women). Concerning the way of asking, men
often use direct questions, showing proactiveness, daring attitude & confidence, while
women only use this way of asking to learn about the family background, history. In
order to express emotions, women usually use metaphor with discreet, subtle &
delicate attitudes.
- The act of posing riddle, challege/ repartees in the ‘hát đố hát đối’ is mainly the
challenges set by female roles to the male roles (including136/150 female turns,
accounting for 90.7%). The following contents are usually touched upon: asking about
practical knowledge, bookish knowledge, asking about things & phenomena that do
not exist in reality.
- The act of inviting in the ‘hát mời’ step appears mostly in female turns with 66 turns,
including the following contents: inviting to come in the house (35 turns, 53%);
inviting to perform (8 turns, accounting for 12.1%) , inviting to chew betel, drink,
smoke (23 turns, representing 34.9%). The male roles only perform the act of

responding to the invitation.
- The act of showing/exposing love, vows, blaming in the ‘hát xe kết’/emotions
exposing step includes:
The contents of exposing love describe the nuances of emotions, express the opinions
on love, marriage, share the dreams, the feelings of uncertainty about the love, the
happiness of the couple; promoting and honoring personal values. The proportion of


love exposing turns is higher in male roles than in female roles which demonstrates the
proactive and self-confident attitudes of men and the timid, reserved attitudes of
women.
The contents of vows: With 51 female turns, 33 male turns, the act of vowing in the
‘hát xe kết’ step focuses on affirming the faith, cohesiveness, determination to preserve
love, despite all difficulties and challenges.
The contents of blaming include blaming oneself, others, parents, matchmakers. This
act occurs in female roles more often than in male roles with 45/74 female turns,
accounting for 61% (29 male turns, 39%).
3.3. Summary of chapter III
Being associated with specific time and space of the singing performance, the speech
acts in the Phuong Vai are placed in conversations with the significance of love
exchange. The sequence of singing steps in the Phuong Vai performance and the
contents of turns in corresponding speech acts show that this is a kind of ‘hát ví’ for
working people, similar to other festive ‘hát ví’, but it has relatively systematic
manner, thus creating fundamental differences between the Phuong Vai and other types
of ‘hát ví’.
From the perspective of communication relationship, the determination of the hostguest roles affects the proportion of the turns (of speech) and well as the contents of
speech acts: with 978/1,745 turns, occupying a high percentage of 56%, female turns
are concentrated in ‘lời trao’/asking & challenging, particularly in the singing steps of
communication procedures (hát chào hát mừng/greetings & welcoming, hát đố hát đối/
posing riddle & challenge); male turns (767/1,745) occupying a low percentage of

44%, are concentrated in ‘lời đáp’/reply. From a gender perspective, there are
remarkable differences in the ways of expressing the moods, feelings, attitudes
between the male and female roles: the male turns usually demonstrate frank,
outspoken way in expressing emotions & sentiments, thus showing proactive attitude
and dominant position in the step of ‘hát xe kết’ while the female turns express the
daring attitude and self-confidence in the steps of “hát chào hát mừng, hát đố hát đối’,


but the timid, reticent & reserved attitudes in the step of ‘hát xe kết’ when touching
upon the couple’s love.
CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSION OF GENDER OF COMMUNICATION ROLES
VIA THE WORDS USAGE IN THE PHUONG VAI
4.1. Usage of several gender specific words:
Statistical, comparative methods are used to find expressions of gender differences
in some words groups: determinative words indicating gender, words indicating the
kinship relationships, words indicating appearance, words indicating talent, quality,
style, manner, words indicating work (see the table 4.1).
Table 4.1: Words on gender in the Phuong Vai
Gender
Word groups
Indicating gender
Indicating kinship relationship
Indicating appearance
Indicating talent, quality...
Indicating work

Indicating men
# words
# turns

Indicating women
# words
# turns

39
12
4
14
19

30
21
46
23
22

110
173
6
18
48

80
167
106
31
38

The survey results show:
- The words indicating gender are diverse with more words indicating men than

women; there do not occur the words having negative meanings indicating women
such as ‘đĩ rạc’/whore, slut, ‘mụ ăn mày’/beggar woman, ‘con đĩ’/prostitue, harlot...
The men indicating words mainly occur in female turns (61%) while the women
indicating words mainly occur in male turns (65%).
- The gendered words indicating kinship relationships are modest in quantity but have
higher usage frequency; there are less words indicating men than women.
- The gendered words indicating appearance have high frequency of occurence. The
number of words indicating women’s appearance is 11.5 times higher than for men
(and the frequency is 17.7 times higher); these words are not evenly distributed in male
and female turns: the words descrbing men’s appearance mainly occur in female turns


(83%) while the words describing women’s appearance mainly occur in male turns
(75%).
- The gendered words indicating talent, quality, manner have low usage frequency and
the number of words indicating women is higher than men. The vocabulary describing
men mainly occurs in female turns (15/18 turns, accounting for 83%) while words
describing women mainly occur in male turns (26/31 turns, accounting for 84%), thus
ensuring the objectivity and reflecting the respect that the participants to Phuong Vai
show to each other.
- There are few gendered words indicating work, however they express quite clearly
the gender characteristics: women mainly engage in fabric weaving work (18 words/33
turns) while men mainly take care of studying job (14 words/48 turns).
4.2. Usage of the gendered speech symbol system
In terms of the structure, the gendered speech symbol system in the Phuong Vai
consists of single and twin symbols in which the twin symbols are of larger quantity
and higher frequency of occurrence than the single ones. In particular, there are pairs of
symbols/images with low frequency, but carrying own disctintive features of the
Phuong Vai like: Butterfly - silkworm, buttons – buttonholes, buttons - shirts.
In terms of the significance, this thesis focuses on two symbols of birds and flowers.

The symbol of bird is used for both men and women, appearing as single and twin
forms with a high frequency (46 turns). In the single form, talking about men, the
symbol of bird often occurs in the introduction by the lyrical subject; talking about
women, the symbol of bird mainly occurs in the men’s description and evaluation
about the appearance of the lyrical object. In the twin form, the symbol of bird is used
to describe the couple, showing the balance, harmony, the nobleness of their love.
The symbol of flower is of relatively high frequency of occurrence. There is only one
case in which the symbol of flower is associated with men in the female turns
conveying congratulations. Most of the symbols of flowers are associated with women
with various nuances: describing their beauty, affirming their values, narrating


different stages in the life of a woman (flower reaching nubility, blooming,
blossoming, faded flower)
4.3.

Usage

of

the

system

of

words

indicating

time

and

space

4.3.1. Time indicating words
To examine the time factor in the Phuong Vai, this thesis focuses the survey on the
words indicating time being grouped based on the time series of past - present - future
(Table 4.2).
Words indicating the past time: occuring mostly in male turns, concentrating at the
‘hát xe kết’ step, in which the words indicating near past occupy a low percentage
while those words indicating distant past (definite or indefinite) occupy a larger
percentage with relatively diverse expressions of strong local identity like bấy chầy
(since then), bấy lâu/so long, khi tê, ngảy rày (long since), ri lâu (for a long time)...
Table 4.2. Words indicating time in the Phuong Vai
Time
Past
Past – present
Present
Future

# male turns
17
19
87
26

# female turns
27

12
109
50

Words indicating the past - present time: The frequency in male turns is higher than in
female turns, concentrating in the last stage of singing to blame (blaming the change,
betrayal): bấy lâu/mấy lâu (so long) – bây giờ/now, năm xưa/in olden times, in the old
days – giờ/now, ...
Words indicating the present time: the most popular are the words indicating present
time, expressed via the adverbs like ‘nay’/now, ‘bây giờ’/for the time being ... There
are also words describing the present time in association with the appearance of the
communication subject: mới/just (tới/come, arrive, bước ra/step out, bước vào/step in,
gặp/meet), vừa lúc/just as, vừa khi/just when...; the words combinations describing the


space with the time movement: đầu hôm đến sáng/ since the nightfall till the morning,
năm ngoái lại giờ/since last year till now...
Words indicating the future time: This group of words does not occupy a large
percentage, concentrates in the steps of hát mời/inviting, hát xe kết/emotions exposing
và hát tiễn/seeing off, closely associated with the expression of vows, feelings, dreams,
hope (rày mai (nay mai/in the near future ), vài ba năm nữa/in a few years, (đến/till)
tháng hai/February, (đến/till) giêng hai/first and second months of lunar new year...);
reminding/making carefull recommendations,

making a

date

before

saying

goodbye/farewell (mai/tomorrow, sáng mai/tomorrow morning, trưa mai/noontime
tomorrow, midday tomorrow, tối mai/tomorrow evening, mai ra/tomorrow moring… )
4.3.2. Words indicating the space
The words indicating the space being examined are primarily to show psychological
space with four groups: aerospace/outerspace, community living space, private space,
the space associated with geographical locations (see Table 4.9)
Table 4.9: Space indicating words in the Phuong Vai
Space
Outerspace
Community living space
Private space
Space associated with geographical locations

# male turns
47
326
14
58

# female turns
66
455
24
79

-Words indicating outer space: the aerospace mainly is psychological space, which is
connected, in some cases, with religion, spirituality, in other cases with emotions
lyrical characters: sky, earth, moon, star ...

- Words indicating community & collective living space: it is mainly the limited &
narrow living space (house, lane, road). Besides, having joint feelings of Vietnamese
people about the harmony of the pituresque landscapes, being closely attached to Nghe
Tinh holly land with beautiful mountains & rivers, the boys and girls of the Phuong


Vai are inspired with the natural beauty, thus arousing in them the desire & aspiration
of love.
- Words indicating the private space: this type of space does not occur often in the
Phuong Vai and is often associated with the future time – desire expressed through the
word combinations such as wish, when, ever in the turns expressing the strong & deep
feelings of love between men and women in the steps of hát xe kết, hát cưới hỏi which
is considered as the "breakthrough" in showing burning desire for happy couples:
chung chăn/sharing blanket, chung nằm/sharing bed, chăn chung gối kề/sharing
blanket, adjacent pillows, tay gối đầu kề /adjacent heads (female turns); chăn ấm, gối
êm/warm blanket soft pillow, chung nhà/living in the same house, nằm một nơi/lying in
the same place ... (male turns).
- Words indicating the space, closely associated with geographical locations: These
words have a relatively high frequency of occurrence (58 turns of male turns, 79 turns
of female turns), including geographical names of famous mountains like núi Hồng
Lĩnh (non Hồng, Ngàn Hống), Hoành Sơn, Bằng Sơn, Hùng Sơn, Nội Sơn, Tam Sơn,
núi Dồi...; of rivers like sông Lam (Lam Giang, Lam Thuỷ, sông Rum), sông Giăng,
sông Vịnh, sông Lường..., of market places, pagodas, temples, bridges, wharf, ports; of
villages, communes and districts associated with specific names of the Phuong Vai’s
artists, thus preventing Phuong vai from being indefinite and showing own features of
the singer.
4.4. The art of punning and ‘citation of classical phrase’
The rhetorical figures used in the Phuong Vai are very diverse. However, this thesis
just selects only two figures of higher frequency of occurrence: the art of punning and
‘citation of classical phrase’, which play an important role in creating own nuances &

features of the Phuong Vai as compared to other types of ‘hát ví’.
4.4.2. Art of pun
In the Phuong Vai, punning is a dominant rhetorical figure, used in 210 turns
(including 121 female turns accounting for 57.6%; 89 male turns accounting for
42.4%). It is expressed in many forms (see Table 4.11).


Table 4.11. Rhetorical figures in the Phuong Vai
Figures of punning

#

male #

turns
Exploitation of phonetic phenomena of words & phenomena of 38

turns
43

Sino-Vienamese characters
Exploitation of lexical – semantic phenomena
37
Exploitation of Grammatical phenomena
5
Posing riddle based on the vers of poem ‘Kieu’ (of Nguyen 5

60
5
6

Du)
Combination of figures
Total

female

7
121

4
89

Looking at the above figures, the pun is a difficult type of art, requiring high intellectual,
broad knowledge and understanding, being combined with the sensitivity and capacity in rapid
response to “create” (for the person who poses the riddle/challenge) or to "read" (from the one
who solves the riddle/challege) the implicit meaning/implicature in every sentence. The survey
results show that the rate of pun/word-play in the female turns (accounting for 57.6%) is
higher than in the male turns (42.4%); and in the steps of hát đố, hát đối, the female camp
often gains the proactive position in posing the riddle/challenge, which shows the wisdom,
intelligence, the sharp mind in applying the art of puns as well as the sensitivity in the
situation handling of the girls in the Phuong Vai.

4.4.3. Art of ‘citation of classical phrase’
Among the surveyed corpus, the language guides occur 252 times, mainly reflecting
the topics of career, marriage and family, love, history and social issues...
- Using idioms, proverbs: do not occupy a large percentage (25%), but citation of
classical phrase occurs in most of the topics: expressing the life perspective (tham phú
phụ bần/going after the rich, abandoning the poor, ăn xổi ở thì/ live from hand to
mouth/by makeshifts); expressing the challenges in life, especially the unhappiness and

disadvantages in couple’s love (chớp bể mưa nguồn/lightning and heavy rains, đá nát
vàng phai/crushed stone, faded gold implying big challenges); expressing the fate in


love and marriage (phá chuông đúc tượng/breaking the bell to statue implying
replacements with something of lower values, mười hai bến nước implying the ups and
downs in a woman’ life...)
- Classical references: occupy a high proportion (75%), occuring in most of the topics:
expressing the studying & education, the couple’s love (Kim Trọng - Thuý Kiều, Ngưu
Lang - Chức Nữ, nguyệt lão/ the old man in the moon, God of marriages); expressing
the history (about Hàn Tín, about Nghiêu Thuấn, about Bà Trưng Bà Triệu ... ).
The citation of classical phrase make the Phuong Vai to carry the strong literary
identity and high artistic values, thus contributing to bring romantic nuances to the
couple’s love and to realize the ideal standards, the concepts & dreams of Nghe Tinh
people on happiness of the couple’s love. It at the same time highlights the
characteristics of the Phuong Vai girls: although they lack of education, but still gain a
proactive position in the steps of hát đố, hát đối, through using literary classical
references in a sharp, sophisticated manner, thus creating tough ‘challenge phrases’
that confuse the opposing camp many times.
4.5. Summary of chapter IV
Through using the gender-specific words & symbols system, the artisitic tools, the
communication roles in the Phuong Vai convey & reflect not only rich emotions and
the internal life, but also the sharp mind, the intelligence and the talent in making
flexible repartees. The words & symbols system carries neutral or possitive nuances
towards diealization, showing the attitude of honoring the beauty and talent of people,
including men and women, according to feudal standards (talented men, beautiful
women). In the Phuong Vai, there are almost no words carrying negative meanings
showing gender discrimination & stigma. Besides, the high prequency of turns using
some quite common language arts in daily communication of Nghe tinh people such as
slangs, homonym, idioms, proverbs, and literary classical references… reflects clearly

the wisdom of the Phuong Vai’s artists. These factors themselves create special values
of the Phuong Vai.
CONCLUSIONS


1. The Phuong Vai is one of the "speciality"of the Nghe Tinf culture, which has gained
much attention and interest of the reseachers and has been studied from different
aspects. Later on, the Phuong Vai of Nghe Tinh is studied in a more systematic, diverse
and in-depth manner. The previous studies findings show that the issue of the Phuong
Vai in the relationship with gendered communication roles had never been touched
upon before and this is a central topic of this thesis. Based on linguistic theory, the
study results on some specific aspects, associated with the communication roles such as
vocative words, speech acts, rhetorical figures, serve as a basis for making some initial
remarks about the similarities and differences in the communication language of men
and women in the Phuong Vai.
2. The results of surveying on the system of vocative words in the Phuong Vai show
that the definition of the communication positions is still much influenced with gender
factors. In the informal interactive communication environment of the Phuong Vai, the
vocative ways of male/female roles are quite diverse, reflecting the influence of the
gender factors. Firstly, in terms of the communication standards, female vocative
words are more standards-oriented than male ones. The standards clearly reflect the
principle of modest vocative way in the communication language of women, which is
considered gender-specific. Secondly, being created based on the social hierarchy, the
pairs of vocative words in the Phuong Vai mostly sustain the principle of inequality in
social relations between the conversation participants: the female role seems to be selfdefined or is taken for granted to be in a lower position, while the male role seems to
be self-defined or is taken for granted to be in a higher position on the ladder of power.
The Phuong Vai is a type of fork songs carrying scholarly characteristics thanks to
contribution of the Confucian scholars besides the efforts of the folk artists. In other
words, the Confucian scholars wanted to incorporate the

contents and forms of

the scholarly literature into the folklore in order to emphasize the scholarly
charactiristics, while the folk artists, via the Phuong Vai, wanted to emphasize the fork
characteristics in some types of art, which are considered to be products of the
scholarly literature such as paronomasia/words-play/pun, literary classic refenrences…


However, when discussing characteristics of both "scholarly" and "folk" of the Phuong
Vai, through analyzing survey results on the vocative words, we have come up with
opposite remarks: representatives of the rustic & simple forklore (normally female
roles) tend to reach the scholarly standard through using the vocative words showing
the elegance, and respect for power relationship while the educated people (normally
male role) seem to come back to the rusticity and fork manner via using simple &
demotic vocative words, local dialects expressing the solidarity relationship. The
meeting point/common ground for the two above-mentioned trends helps the
communication roles to narrow down the gap & distance, thus creating the harmony,
closeness and cohesiveness in love emotions.
3. The speech act also clearly shows the gender factor. In the Phuong Vai, a speech act
can be used in many singing steps and in each singing step, different speech acts can be
used. However, most of the singing steps are connected with specific communication
purposes. Therefore, they correspond with specific speech act groups (the act of
greeting & welcoming in the step of greeting and welcoming, the act of asking in the
asking step, the act of posing riddle/ challenge in the step of riddle & challenge, the act
of inviting in the step of invitation... Being influenced by both factors: the position of
the communication participant (host/guest) and gender factors (male/female), the rate
turns in the speech act groups as well as in each singing step of the communication role
is not corresponding. As hosts, the girls have a chance to win the proactive position
with a higher propotion of turns in most of the speech acts for the rites of hospitality
welcoming, inviting... The male roles have higher rate of turns in the speech acts for

the rites of responding to the greeting and invitation. This rate is consistent with
Vietnamese communication cultute in the rites of hospitality. Or in the step of hát xe
kết, the proportion of male turns is higher than female in the act group of presenting,
wishing while the proportion of female turns is higher in the act group of promising,
vowing, which reflects the proactiveness of men and the passiveness of women in love
exchange in the patrilineal society. Only in the step of hát đố hát đối/riddle & repartee
which is considered the most difficult singing step, female roles completely dominate