nghiên cứu giao tiếp giao văn hóa về hành động nói đùa giữa bạn bè vả người thân trong hai nền văn hóa việt và văn hóa anh

1
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES -
ULIS, HANOI
Faculty of POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
*******************


ĐỖ THỊ HỒNG THUỲ


A cross-cultural Communication study on Joking between Friends
and Relatives in Vietnamese and English cultures

NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO TIẾP GIAO VĂN HOÁ VỀ HÀNH ĐỘNG NÓI
ĐÙA GIỮA BẠN BÈ VÀ NGƯỜI THÂN TRONG HAI NỀN VĂN HOÁ
VIỆT VÀ VĂN HOÁ ANH


M. A MINOR THESIS



Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15




_ Hanoi, September 2010_

2

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES -
ULIS, HANOI
Faculty of POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
*******************


ĐỖ THỊ HỒNG THUỲ


A cross-cultural Communication study on Joking between Friends
and Relatives in Vietnamese and English cultures

NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO TIẾP GIAO VĂN HOÁ VỀ HÀNH ĐỘNG NÓI
ĐÙA GIỮA BẠN BÈ VÀ NGƯỜI THÂN TRONG HAI NỀN VĂN HOÁ
VIỆT VÀ VĂN HOÁ ANH


M. A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Văn Độ

_ Hanoi, September 2010_


5





ABBREVIATIONS


ESL English Second Language
VET Vietnam
ENG English
St. Situation
vs Versus
M Male
F Female
S Single
Mar Married
U Urban
R Rural

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LIST OF TABLES AND FINGURES
page
Table 1: The five general functions of speech acts (Yule, G. 1996)…… 8
Table 2: The informants’ status parameters……………………………….20
Table 3: Means realized in telling joke……………………………………21
Table 4, 5, 6: To the friends (English speakers)……………………………… 23
Table 7, 8, 9: To the relatives (English speakers)………………………………25
Table 10, 11: To the friends (English speakers)……………………………….27
Table 12: To the friends (English speakers)……………………………….28
Table 13: To the relatives (Vietnamese speakers)…………………………29
Table 14, 15: To the relatives (Vietnamese speakers)…………………………30
Table 16: Means in telling joke as seen from informants’ parameter (English speakers)
……………………………………………………………………………30
Table 17: Means in telling joke as seen from informants’ parameter (Vietnamese
speakers)………………………………………………………………………………….31

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Table of contents
page
* Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………… i
* Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………….…ii
* Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… iii
* Table of contents……………………………………………………………………………….iv
* Abbreviation……………………………………………………………………………………v
* List of tables and charts…………………………………………………………………… vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….….1
1. Rationale………………………………………………………………………………….…….1
2. Aims of the study ………………………………………………………………… 2

3. Scope of the study …………………………………………………………………………… 2
4. Research questions ……………………………………………………………………….….2
5. Methodology………………………………………………………………………………….3
6. Design of the study …………………………………………………………….……3
PART B – DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………….… 5
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……………………………… …5
1.1 Cross-cultural communication……………………………………………………….… 5
1.1.1 What is culture? 5
1.1.2 Cross-cultural communication…………………………………………………….……6
1.2 Speech acts…………………………………………………………………………… … 6
1.2.1 Definition of speech acts……………………………………………………………….…6
1.2.2 Classifications of speech acts……………………………………………………… 7
1.3 Joking as a speech act………………………………………………………………… 9
1.3.1 Definition of joke…………………………………………………………………… …9
1.3.2 Joke as a speech act………………………………………………………………… 9
1.4 English sense of humour………………………………………………………………… 10


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1.4.1 Sense of humour………………………………………………………………………….10
1.4.2 English sense of humour……………………………………………………………… 11
1.5 Joking in English and Vietnamese culture………………………………………… 12
1.5.1 Laughter in everyday life…………………………………………………………… 12
1.5.2 Joking in English and Vietnamese………………………………………………….13
CHAPTER II: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………………… 19
2.1 Description of the questionnaires……………………………………………….19
2.2 Description of the subjects……………………………………………………….19
2.3 Data analysis…………………………………………………………………… 20
2.3.1 The informants’ awareness of the sense of humour and joking…………… 20
2.3.2 Means realized in telling joke………………………………………………….21

2.3.3 Use of means in joking as seen from communicating partners’ parameters 21
2.3.3.1 English findings…………………………………………………………………………21
2.3.3.1.1 In friend relation…………………………………………………………………… 21
2.3.3.1.2 In relative relation………………………………………………………………… 23
2.3.3.2 Vietnamese findings………………………………………………………………… 26
2.3.3.2.1 In friend relation…………………………………………………………………….26
2.3.3.2.2 In relative relation………………………………………………………………… 28
2.3.4 Use of means in telling jokes as seen from informants’ parameters……… 30
*English findings……………………………………………………………………………….30
*Vietnamese findings………………………………………………………………………… 31
2.5 Major similarities and differences findings between English and Vietnamese…31
2.5.1 Similarities……………………………………………………………………………… 31
2.5.2 Differences……………………………………………………………………………… 32
2.6 Some implications in using humour in the teaching foreign language…………32
Part C. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………… 36
1. Major findings……………………………………………………………………………… 36
2. Suggestion for further study……………………………………………………………….36
References …………………………………………………………………………….…37




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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Communication is the interpersonal action which for exchanging the information
among the members in a social community. Communication action could be carried out in
different ways. However, communication through language is the highest and the most

important communicative means of human beings. Language is formed from the
linguistic units such as morphemes, words, phrases, clauses and sentences. As Crystal
(1992: 212) claims that language is “the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or
written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression”.
Language does not occur in isolation, language and culture are believed to be
interrelated. Supporting that point of view, Goodnough (1957) states that “the relation of
language to culture is that of part to whole”. It is said that language and culture are
interwoven with each other so one could not be properly understood or appreciated with
out the knowledge of the other. Unlike language, culture does not hold fixed rules.
Culture is different from society to society, even from individual to individual. Thus,
what is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another one. Similar to the
dressing, housing etc, language is also a way of making cultural identity. On the other
hand, culture influents the way in which language is used. That is reason why language
learners need acquire the linguistic system as well as aware of the cultural dimension of
that language.
In our country in the last few years, teaching and learning foreign languages in
general and teaching and learning English in particular has become a topical issue
drawing concerns of many researchers. As Vietnam adopted an open-door policy, there
are many people wishing to learn and master English to communicate with foreigners.
However, the teaching and learning processes in Vietnam still seems to focus much on
linguistic competence - producing correct utterances rather than social or contextual
appropriate ones. This is the reason why learners may be proficient in grammar and
vocabulary, but still fail to communicate effectively because they lack of communicative
competence.


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With an effort to improve learners’ communicative competence, a large number of
English -Vietnamese cross - cultural studies concerned with the realization and the usage
of such the sensitive speech acts such as requesting, inviting, thanking, greeting, giving

and receiving compliments, etc. This suggests a cross-cultural study of one of the most
sensitive illocutionary act in English and Vietnamese that is joking. This paper is hoped to
be another contribution as it is a research on some English - Vietnamese similarities and
differences in joking. I have chosen the speech act of joking as the object to be
investigated in my study with the hope that it will help avoid, or at least, reduce cultural
conflicts in joking in cross - cultural communication.
2. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are:
- To investigate the ways of telling jokes.
- To compare and contrast the range of telling joke strategies in the two
languages in order to clarify similarities and differences in the way Vietnamese and
English people telling a joke in their own language and culture.
- To contribute to increasing cross - cultural awareness among foreign language
teachers and learners in the speech act of telling a joke.
3. Scope of the study
- This paper is confined only to the verbal aspects of the act of joking. Although
the author is fully aware of the role of paralinguistic and non - verbal factors in real-life
communication, they are beyond the scope of this study.
- This study is aimed to investigate the English -Vietnamese cross - cultural
interaction on speech act of joking between friends and relatives. Its central focus is on
which strategies used in joking in both languages English and Vietnamese.
- The data are mainly taken based on conducting survey questionnaires that
consist of six situations in which the act of joking occurs. Recorded and videotaped face-
to-face conversations are impossible due to limitations of time, geographical and financial
difficulties.
4. Research questions
The study will focus on dealing with the following questions:


12

1. What are similarities and differences in the ways English and Vietnamese
people telling jokes between friends and relatives in their own languages and cultures?
2. How is the application in using humour in the teaching of foreign language?
5. Methodology
The main method of this study is the quantitative one. In order to set up the
theoretical framework for the study, the author refers to both Vietnamese and English
publications. All the considerations, remarks, comments and conclusions in this thesis
are based on following practical approaches:
+ referring to relevant publications
+ conducting survey questionnaires
+ analyzing the data collection
+ consulting with supervisor
+ discussing with colleagues
6. Design of the study
This study is divided into three parts:
Part A: INTRODUCTION: All the academic routines required for an M. A Thesis are
presented.
Part B: DEVELOPMENT: This part consists of two chapters
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Cross-cultural communication
1.1.1 What is culture?
1.1.2 Cross-cultural communication
1.2 Speech acts
1.2.1 Definition of speech acts
1.2.2 Classifications of speech acts
1.3 Joking as a speech act
1.3.1 Definition of joke
1.3.2 Joke as a speech act
1.4 English sense of humour
1.4.1 Sense of humour

1.4.2 English sense of humour


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1.5 Joking in English and Vietnamese culture
1.5.1 Laughter in everyday life
1.5.2 Joking in English and Vietnamese
CHAPTER II: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
2.1 Description of the questionnaire
2.2 Description of the subjects
2.3 Data analysis
2.3.1 The informants’ awareness of the sense of humour and joking
2.3.1 Means realized in telling joke
2.3.2 Use of means in joking as seen from communicating partners’ parameters
2.3.2.1 English findings
2.3.2.1.1 In friend relation
2.3.2.1.2 In relative relation
2.3.2.2 Vietnamese findings
2.3.2.2.1 In friend relation
2.3.2.2.2 In relative relation
2.3.3 Use of means in telling jokes as seen from informants’ parameters
*English findings
*Vietnamese findings
2.4 Major similarities and differences findings between English and Vietnamese
2.4.1 Similarities
2.4.2 Differences
2.5 Some implications in using humour in the teaching foreign language
Part C. CONCLUSION
1. Major findings
2. Suggestion for further study

References
APPENDICES





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PART B - DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Cross-cultural communication
1.1.1 What is culture?
Most people believe that it is impossible to master a language without having
knowledge of its cultural background. We often use the word “culture” in daily life
however, when we try to define what culture is, it is indeed difficult. In fact, different
authors have different definitions of culture.
One of the most widely known definitions of culture is Goodenough’s definition.
The author states that culture is “a society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to
know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so
in any role that they accept for any one of themselves.”
(cited in Warhaugh, 1992: 217)
Obviously, culture is an essential kind of knowledge which everyone needs to own
to act within a society. And this knowledge is gained through social actions that you take
part in as a member of the society. Furthermore, cultures are not the production of
individuals. They are the continuously evolving productions of people interacting with
each others. If you were the only human on earth, there would be no need for language or
culture.

Different culture groups think, feel, and act differently. However, there are learned
behavior patterns that are shared by all humanity collectively. No matter where people
live on the world, they share these universal traits. For example, we all communicate by
using a verbal language consisting of a limited set of words and grammatical rules; we all
use age and gender to classify people, etc. As Nguyen Quang (1998: 3) states that culture
is “a shared background (for example, national, ethic, religious) resulting from a
common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values.”
In short, culture is a powerful human tool for survival. It consists of the full range
of learned human behavior patterns that we acquired in a society. Different societies have


15
different cultural characters. These differences cause the variety of human languages and
cultures.

1.1.2 Cross-cultural communication.
Kramsch (1998: 81) affirms that cross-culture is “the meeting of two cultures or
two languages across the political boundaries of nation-states.” It is evidently that
different societies also exchange and share culture. Cross-cultural exchange often results
in what scholars call acculturation when the members of one culture adopt features of
another. For example, Vietnamese Americans change their ways of life when they move
from Vietnam to America. They change their taste of food, types of dressing, ways of
communication, etc., to get use to the new environment.
Apart from that, cross-cultural communication is the “communication (verbal and
non-verbal) between people from different cultures; communication that is influenced by
cultural values, attitudes, and behavior; the influence of culture on people’s reactions
and responses to each other.” (Levince, R.D & Adelman M.B, 1993: xvii). Normally,
people know how to behave appropriately within their own culture and society. However
when they move to another country, this social behavior rules change. For instance, it is
quite usual for Vietnamese to greet by saying “where are you going?”. On the other

hand, such utterance may be perceived as annoying curiosity by native English speakers
because for most Western cultures, the individual and personal privacy comes first. Thus,
it is necessary for Vietnamese people to avoid this way of greeting when moving to
Western countries.
1.2 Speech acts
1.2.1 Definition of speech acts
In order to carry out the purpose in communication, people not only produce
utterances containing grammatical and lexicological factors, but also perform actions
through these utterances. These actions performed via utterances are called speech acts.
For example, the following utterance: “I promise I will come tomorrow” not only
conveys information but it also constitutes the act of promising.
The British philosopher J. L Austin in his book “How to do things with words”
(1962) is the first to draw attention to the functions performed by utterances as part of


16
interpersonal communication. John Austin (1962: 94) defines speech acts as the actions
performed in saying something.
Searle (1969: 16) affirms that when we speak a language we are performing
speech acts, “acts such as making statements, giving commands, asking questions,
making promises and so on”. He suggests that these acts are performed suitable for
certain rules for the usage of linguistic elements.
Although two authors introduce two different definitions of speech acts, generally
they share the common point that speech acts are the actions that are involved when one
says something. In brief, a speech act is simply an action performed by means of
language.
1.2.2 Classifications of speech acts
Author John Austin (1962: 109) in his book “How to do things with words”
believes that a single act usually contains three related acts: Locutionary act, Illocutionary
act and Perlocutionary act.

+ Locutionary act is the action performed by uttering a well-formed, meaningful
sentence.
+ Illocutionary act is the communication force or intention of the speaker or writer
which accompanies the utterance, e.g. promising, warning, conceding, denying, etc.
+ Perlocutionary act is the effect of the utterance on the hearer or the reader who
may feel amused, persuaded, warned.
Sharing the same point of view, Yule, G (1996: 48) also claims that whenever we
produce an utterance, we perform three related speech acts: locutionary act, illocutionary
act and perlocutionary act. When we utter the sentence “It is very hot here”, we are
likely to produce a locutionary act. Moreover, we mostly do not make utterances without
having any purpose. In the example above, we do not simply say that sentence but also
intend to require the listener to open the door or turn on the air - conditioner. This kind of
acts is called illocutionary act. These acts are performed for communicative function.
The third classification of speech acts, namely perlocutionary acts in the sentence “It is
very hot here” is that we all wish the act of opening the door, turning on the air-
conditioner to be done.


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After Austin, there are many other pragmatists who inherited and advanced his
speech acts theory. We have to mention Searle’s (1969: 70) classification. It is one of the
most influential and widely used classifications. He provides five basic types of speech
act as follows:
+ Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that bring about states of affairs,
including namings, firings, hirings, pardons, etc.
+ Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker
believes to be the case or not including assertions, descriptions, reports, statements, etc.
+ Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state the speaker’s psychological
state or attitude, including apologies, compliments, greetings, thankings, etc.
+ Directives are those kinds of speech acts that attempt to get the hearer to do

something, including questions, requests, orders, etc.
+ Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that speaker commits themselves to
some future act, including promises, threat, refusals, vow, etc.
Similarly, Yule, G. (1996: 55) presents five types of speech acts that are shown as
in the table below:
Speech act types
Direction of fit
S = Speaker
X = Situation
Declarations
Representatives
Expressives
Directives
Commissives
words change the world
make words fit the world
make words fit the world
make the world fit the words
make the world fit words
S causes X
S believes X
S feels X
S wants X
S intends X
Table 1: The five general functions of speech acts (Yule, G. 1996)
Furthermore, according to Yule, G. (1996: 55), speech acts are classified based on
the relationship between the structure and functions. The author claims that there are three
structural forms (declarative, interrogative, and imperative) and three general
communicative functions (statement, question, command or request). They can be
combined to create two other types of speech acts: direct and indirect speech acts. Yule,

G. (1996: 54) writes: “Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a
function, we have a direct speech act. Whenever there is an indirect relationship between
a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.” For example:


18
a. Could you please stop smoking?
b. Don’t you feel cold?
The utterance (a) can be understood in the structurally direct way that speaker gets
the addressee to stop smoking. The utterance (b) is not only used as a question but also as
a request, hence it is considered to be indirect speech act.
1.3 Joking as a speech act
1.3.1 Definition of joke
The Oxford Word Power Dictionary defines joke as “something said or done to
make you laugh, especially a funny story”. Share the same point of view, Macmillan
Dictionary gives the definition that “something you say or do that is intended to make
people laugh”. It is easy to realize that the same joke can work brightly in one context
and fail in another. Therefore, it is important to understand others responding to humour
when someone intends to tell a joke. The joke normally includes a “punch line” (the point
of a joke or humourous story) that will end the sentence to make it humourous. A joke or
a humourous story can work or not depending on the discovery of the punch line from the
responders. A joke can also be a single phrase or statement that employs sarcasm such as
the joke:
A man is talking to God
The man: God, how long is a million years?
God: To me, it is about a minute.
The man: God, how much is a million dollars?
God: To me it's a penny.
The man: God, may I have a penny?
God: Wait a minute.

Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired
response to a joke is generally laughter and smile. However, jokes have other purposes
and functions that are common use in comedy or satire.
1.3.2 Joke as a speech act
In the article “Joke – Telling as a tool in ESL” the author Susan Trachtenberg
(1979) agues that “a joke is a speech act which requires a great deal of communicative
competence on the part of the speaker and the hearer. The comprehension no less than


19
the telling of a joke also requires a fair degree of sociolinguistic familiarity with the
target culture”. The author also claims that like other speech act, the telling of jokes
involves “certain formulate” which differs from language to language and from culture
to culture. Jokes are loved and enjoyed by all. Most people believe that jokes are a part of
virtually every culture and every society. Therefore, understanding the language and the
culture will help you to understand the jokes, enjoy listening to the jokes and appreciate
the humour of the jokes.
Pocheptsov, G. G, in the book “Language and Humour” states that “the most
general phenomenon underlying many, not to all, linguistically based jokes, anecdotes
etc. is ambiguity” (1974: 16). The ambiguity is produced by various linguistic meanings.
The author claims that commonly there are two basic participants in the plot of a joke.
One produces an ambiguous sentence, usually not intending to be so. The other
participant interprets the ambiguous sentence in a different sense. And then the erroneous
interpretation may be unintentional or intentional. For instance, the following joke
contains the unintentional erroneous interpretation from Jonny.
Irate Mother (at dinner): “Jonny, I wish you’d stop reaching for things. Haven’t
you a tongue?”
Jonny: “Yes, Mother, but my arm’s longer”
Author Pocheptsov, G. G figures out linguistic humour as displayed in jokes
contains “three scenic components”. They are the observers, the readers and the listeners.

In fact, all three can be called recipient. When a joke is made and whether or not it works
depends not only on the quality of the joke but also on the “quality” of the recipient.
Therefore, before telling a joke, the joke-teller should consider the factors that come from
the hearer or the reader such as their age, their attitude towards particular types of jokes
and specially their sense of humour.
1.4 English sense of humour
1.4.1 Sense of humour
In the book “The Language of Humour”, Alison Ross defines humour as
“something that makes a person laugh or smile” (1998: 1). Obviously, when you think of
a joke the first thing that comes to your mind is laughter. In fact, people of all ages and
cultures respond to humour. The majority of people are able to experience humour, i.e., to


20
be amused, to laugh or smile at something funny and thus they consider having a sense of
humour. However, an individual finds something humourous depends upon a host of
variables. They include geographical location, cultures, maturity, level of education, the
intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick or cartoons
such as Tom and Jerry. Satire may rely more on understanding the target of humour and
thus tend to appeal to more mature audiences.
Alison Ross (1998: 8) states that the humour will often have the following
elements:
 There is a conflict between what is expected and what actually occurs in the joke.
 The conflict is caused by an ambiguity at someone level of language.
 The punch line is surprising as it is not the expected interpretation, but it resolves
the conflict.
The reason for not finding such a joke funny might be that you do not perceive the
ambiguity. Or it might be because the double meaning is repeated that you acknowledge it
is a joke but not a funny one.
1.4.2 English sense of humour

Mike Story and Peter Childs (1997: 13) in the book “British Identity” affirm that
“British people are often considered to be withdrawn and reserved”. The English appear
to be deeply serious people. Since the English often hide what they mean, often tend
towards understatement. One of the well - know characteristics of English is their sense of
humour.
As Nguyen Do (lecture of British cultural values and norms, 2010) a vital element
in all aspects of British life and culture is the renowned British sense of humour. The
important of humour in all situations, including business contexts, can not be
overestimated. Humour is frequently used as a “defence mechanism”, often in the form of
self - depreciation or irony. It is can be highly implicit and in this sense is related to the
English indirect communication style.
In the article “Exploring Englishness - Part 2”, Taylor (2004) states that “of all
the characteristics, good and bad, for which the English are known in the outside world,
our sense of humour is one of the best - known and most positively regarded”. For the
English themselves, they always consider that they have a lot of humour. This is evidence


21
by the incredible number of English humourous films, publication and radio comedy
shows. Comedy acts and television programmes typical of English humour include Monty
Python, Benny Hill and Keeping up Appearances that have become quite popular outside
of United Kingdom.
In turn, Taylor (2004) also explains why the English people so sensitive to
humourous possibilities and I think it is convincible. The reasons lie on partly in English
history, partly on English character and English society. When comparing English history
with Continental history you are attracted by some major overall differences. To begin
with, there has been no civil war in England for centuries so the English have not
experience horror and bloodshed in their own country on the other hand with other
Europe people have suffered a lot. A lack of a violent domestic history is probably
essential to the development of an “expansive and good - natured national sense of

humour” (Taylor, 2004). Another thing that is English’s incremental progress towards a
liberal democracy, with stable gains for individual right. This is in contrast to other
nations in Europe, in which, historically gains have been made in government. The
awareness of progress and most importantly the sense of individual right create English
humour tendency to be comfortable, cheerful and forgiving. In addition, the English
character also contributes. English people are “fairly imaginative and socialised to enjoy
humour” (Taylor, 2004). It means that English people are able to see and seek out the
funny aspects of things.
1.5 Joking in English and Vietnamese culture
1.5.1 Laughter in everyday life
Laughter, the intended human reaction to jokes, has highly value in everyday life.
We often laugh because we're happy, but laughing can also make us happy and healthy.
According to Anonymous (2002) in the article “Laughing Matter”, all types of laughter
should be a series of short vowel like syllables such as 'ha-ha-ha' or 'tee-hee-hee' that are
about 210 milliseconds apart. Laughter releases endorphins that have pain - relieving
properties similar to morphine and are probably connected to happy feelings, and the
release of sex hormones.
The benefits of laughter are also suggested at />health/. Firstly, laughter helps to protect against disease. The real world is full of troubles.


22
As laughter is so often associated with happiness, people start to feel good when they
laugh in time of trouble. Secondly, laughter also helps to reduce stress. In today’s world
we often suffer from stress and anxiety. Laughter can keep your spirits bright enough so
you can see the positive side of problem even when things get hard. When laughter
relieves tension, the muscles in your body relax, which is very useful for physical health.
In Vietnamese culture, laughter also is high appreciated. Every Vietnamese people
know the idiom “Một tiếng cười bằng mười thang thuốc bổ”.
(Laughter is equal with ten medical prescriptions).
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Duc in his article ““Một tiếng cười bằng mười

thang thuốc bổ” presents that “scientists have recorded a minute joyful laughter having
effect as forty-five minutes taking rest”. In this article, he also points out four benefits of
laughter that are reducing stress, fostering body’s strength, increasing resistance for your
body. Especially, laughter helps to make a nice skin of face. When you laugh, your skin –
muscle curves rhythmically so laughter helps to reduce the wrinkle or to dim your
wrinkle. In brief, as laughter reducing stress which associated with a number of diseases,
laughter has a high value and laughter is a source of a healthier and longer life in both
English and Vietnamese culture.
1.5.2 Joking in English and Vietnamese
In everyday life, joking takes place frequently, especially between friends and
relatives because we meet these people many times than others. Hoang Phe (2004: 351)
defines that “đùa là làm hoặc nói điều gì để cho vui, không phải là thật” (joke is
doing or saying something to make fun and is not true). Jokes are the best ways to
strengthen your relationship between friends. Funny friend jokes can help to make peace
with friends, to mitigate the shame or simply to make fun. However, it is not true that
everybody also has the sense of humour. So, when telling a joke with others, the joke-
teller has to know the jokes’ recipients’ sense of humour.
England and Vietnam have basic differences in culture background that lead to the
differences of the sense of humour. Firstly, Vietnam and England come from two
different historical background and location. Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia where
people live mainly on agriculture with undeveloped economy. Vietnamese people favour
family orientation than individualism in contras with English people who favour


23
individualism. Thus, community activities early appeared and rapidly developed in
Vietnamese daily life. In the past, Vietnamese people had suffered from the oppression of
the Feudal system for a long time. On the other hand, England locates in the Northwest of
Europe. It is surrounded by North Sea, Ireland Sea, Atlantic Ocean and the English
Channel. There is no civil war in England for centuries with a stable political system with

fairly individual right. In addition, with the Industry Revolution of the early nineteenth
century, England has become one of the most developed countries in the world.
Due to the cultural and social differences, the characters of people in two cultures
are different. Therefore, the sense of humour of Vietnamese people and the sense of
humour of English people are also different. It is easy realized in English and Vietnamese
funny stories. The researcher has examined twenty English funny stories and twenty
Vietnamese stories between friends and relatives randomly. This work helps researcher
not only to find out the matters that often occur between husbands and wives, parents and
children and between friends but also the means of making laugh in these jokes. The
English funny stories mostly based mostly on two books “British Laughter” (L. A. Hill,
2002) and “Bilingual English-Vietnamese Funny Stories” (Thu Huong, 2006). Among
twenty funny stories, there are ten funny stories between husband and wife, five funny
stories between friends and five funny stories between parents and children. After
examining the jokes, the results show that “husband and wife” jokes mainly mention to
the adultery (having sex with others illegally), other jokes talk about the husbands’
complaint about the wives’ characteristics and vice versa. These jokes often use taboos
with sexual content with surprised results to create fun.
E.g., Newlyweds
Some newly married friends were visiting us when the topic of children came up.
The bride said she wanted three children, while the young husband said two
would be enough for him.
They discussed this discrepancy for a few minutes until the husband thought he'd
put an end to things by saying boldly, "After our second child, I'll just have a
vasectomy."
Without a moment's hesitation, the bride retorted, "Well, I hope you'll love the
third one as if it's your own."


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In addition, the researcher realizes that friends often joke about many things in life

but often about the partners in the future or the complaint about their husbands and wives,
or about stupid things, etc. Dirty jokes that employ the taboos, often sexual content or
vocabulary hold prominent rate. Funny stories between parent and children often contain
the surprised and funny explanation of fathers or mothers when answering the children’
questions.
e.g., Training
- Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be an Arctic explorer.
- That’s fine Dick.
- But I want to go into training at once.
- How can you do it?
- I want a dollar a day for ice- cream so I’ll get used to the cold.
Among twenty Vietnamese funny stories, there are six “husband and wife” funny
stories, five friend funny stories and five funny stories between parent and children. These
funny stories mostly taken from the book “The best tieu lam funny story” (Tam tam:
2009). The funny stories between husband and wife mostly have the content about the
adultery, sex and husbands or wives’ complaint about each other.
e.g., Thanh thản ra đi
Hai vợ chồng nọ có 5 đứa con: 4 đứa đầu thì trắng trẻo xinh đẹp, chỉ có đứa út
đen đủi, xấu xí tệ. Người chồng nghi ngờ lắm nhưng không giám nói ra. Đến lúc
lâm chung, mới ra hiệu gọi vợ lại hỏi:
- Tôi sắp đi đây, trước khi chết tôi hỏi thật bà một điều. Thằng út….
- Thằng út làm sao?
- Nó có thật sự….là con của tôi không?
- Đến giờ phút nầy thì tôi cũng không giấu giếm gì ông. Thằng út…mới thật sự là
con của ông.
Ông chồng, tai đã lãng đãng, máy đã “treo”… mỉm cười ra đi.
(Peacefully gone
A couple has five children: the first four ones are white and beautiful; only
has the last boy is black and ugly. The husband is so in doubt but he fear to talk

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out. When he is at the death’s door, he asks his wife: I’m nearly to die, before
death I want to know. The youngest boy……
- How is the youngest boy?
- Is he my own child?
- At that time I don’t want to hide anything. The youngest boy is indeed your own
child.
The husband has bad hearing with “hung” machine … smile and gone.)
Funny stories between parent and children mostly contain humorous advice of
father or mother for the children.
e.g., Nó sẽ thấy
Một cô gái ngoan đạo nói với mẹ về người yêu của mình:
- Anh ấy yêu con nhưng không tin có thiên đàng hay địa ngục gì cả. Vậy con có
nên lấy ảnh không hả mẹ?
Bà mẹ đáp tỉnh khô:
- Cứ việc lấy! Rồi nó sẽ thấy cả hai!
(He will see
A obedient girl talks to her mother about her lover:
- He loves me but he doesn’t believe that Heaven or Hell is true. So, should I
marry with him?
The mother answer:
- Just get married! He will see both!)
The funny stories between friends mostly contain the vulgar factors or allusion to
make fun in an ironical voice.
e.g., Chơi khăm
Ba cô thư ký trò chuyện với nhau về việc mình đã chơi khăm sếp. Cô thứ nhất: -
Một hôm tớ dùng băng dính dán hết các ngăn kéo của sếp lại. Thế là lúc cần mở
ngăn kéo, sếp vã mồ hôi, bực tức quát tháo ầm cả lên.
Cô thứ hai: - Một lần lục trong ngăn kéo của xếp thấy có mấy bao cao su, tớ liền

lấy kim chọc thủng tất, xong rồi để lại nguyên xi. Dứt khoát phải có một tên bị
lãnh đạn…


26
Cô thứ ba không kịp nói gì, mặt mày cứ tái mét, rồi lăn đùng ra ngất xỉu tại chỗ
giống như bị trúng… đạn vậy!


(Dirty trick
Three secretaries are chatting about playing dirty trick on their boss. The first
one: - One day I stick the drawers, then he sweats profusely to open them and he
shouts loudly.
The second one: - Once I search the drawers and find some condom. I pierce all
of them and leave it in old position. I’m sure that at least a person will be
“tricked”.
The thirst one can not say anything with pale face and then to fall into faint like
being “tricked”!)
From the studying the funny stories, the researcher figures out that between
friends and couples the English and the Vietnamese speakers also use vulgar factors in
joking. However, the Vietnamese people use vulgarity more frequently than the English
people. The reason seems lie on the effect of Vietnamese folklore funny stories. In the
Feudal period, Vietnamese people had suffered from the oppression of governments.
Therefore, through funny stories, the farmers often express the indignation and the
attitudes to resist the Feudal ideas. The Feudal rites avoid vulgar factors in the untrue
performance; so poeple often use vulgar factors in their work to make more satirical
effect. This habit still affects on the way of joking of Vietnamese people in daily life. In
contras, English people often joke in more formal way. The English funny stories mostly
base on word-play so they require the analysis to understand the puncline. The English
people with the famous sense of humour often see the world in open way. They have a

special ability to laugh at themselves. The Vietnamese people seem to be easy getting
angry when someone teases about their body or their characters.
In impersonal observation and interlanguage study in English and Vietnamese in
terms of telling a joke, there are some common ways used in English and Vietnamese:
bons- mots, allusion, vulgarity and simile. Pocheptsov, G. G. in the book “Language and
Humour” (1974: 48) states that bons- mots are simply appropriate and humorous sayings.


27
Bon- mot mentioned here is also linguistically based. Allusion “in humour involve extra-
linguistic knowledge, in other words knowledge about the world. The double meaning
may involve reference to a saying or quotation” (Ross, A., 1998: 11). However, if the
listener does not share the same awareness of the joke-teller, the ambiguity can not be
recognized or it does not make fun. Simile is the way we compare two things and the
funny made by “the image is bizarre or awkwardly incongruity” (Ross, A., 1998: 35).
Theoretical discussions have been provided, the next chapter analyses the data
from survey questionnaires in specific situations and discusses the main findings from
both sources (English and Vietnamese) to see how different and similar they are in telling
jokes.

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CHAPTER II: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
2.1 Description of the questionnaires
The data taken from the survey questionnaire are used as the linguistic input. The
questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part contains three open questions to
examine the informants’ awareness of the sense of humour and joking. The second part is
designed to investigated how informants verbally joking with friends and relatives in
given situations. Situational questionnaire contains six situations that are divided into two
parts. Part A holds three situations related to friends and part B holds three situations
related to relatives. The communicative partners are:
 The informant’s close friend
 The informant’s dislike person
 The informant’s classmate (opposite
sex)

 The informant’s classmate (same
sex)
 The informant’s 10 years older
 The informant’s grandmother/ father
 The informant’s mother/ father
 The informant’s uncle/ aunt
 The informant’s grandchild
 The informant’s son/ daughter
 The informant’s brother/sister
 The informant’s cousin
 The informant’s wife
2.2 Description of the subjects
There are two groups of informants. One is the Vietnamese and the other is the
English native speaker. The Vietnamese informants all live in Northern Vietnam. The
English native speaker mostly come from England, some of them come from Australia
and America. The English native speaker group includes of twenty people. It is the
author’s assumption that the status parameters of the informants may affect the way
people communicate, therefore informants from both groups were asked to provide
information about their:
 Age