english and vietnamese business complaint letters - a comparative study from systemic functional perspectives = so sánh thư khiếu nại bằng tiếng anh và tiếng việt trong lĩnh vực kinh doanh trên cơ sở lý thuyết

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LẠI THỊ THANH

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVES

(So sánh thư khiếu nại bằng Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt trong lĩnh vực
kinh doanh trên cơ sở lý thuyết ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống)

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15

HÀ NỘI - 2010


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LẠI THỊ THANH

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY FROM
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVES

(So sánh thư khiếu nại bằng Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt trong lĩnh vực
kinh doanh trên cơ sở lý thuyết ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống)

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15
SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN HUYỀN MINH, M.A.

HÀ NỘI - 2010


v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration

i

Acknowledgements

ii

Abstract

iii

List of tables

iv

Table of contents

v

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. General introduction and rationale of the Study

1

2. Aims of the study

2

3. Scope of the study

3

4. Method of the study

3

5. Design of the study

4

PART II: DEVEOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Introduction

5

1.2. Theories of discourse

5

1.2.1. The concept of discourse

5

1.2.2. Functions of language

6

1.2.3. Discourse context

7

1.3. Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar

8

1.3.1. Transitivity

9

1.3.2. Mood

12

1.3.3. Theme- Rheme

13

1.3.4. Cohesion

14

1.4. Business Complaint Letter

16

1.4.1. Definition and Purpose of Business Complaint Letters

16

1.4.2. Three contextual parameters of business complaint letters

17

1.4.3. The structure of a business complaint discourse – comparison between English and
Vietnamese letters

17


vi

CHAPTER 2: ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS IN ENGLISH

AND VIETNAMESE
2.1. Introduction

19

2.2. Analysis of English Business Complaint Letters

19

2.2.1. Transitivity

19

2.2.2. Mood

23

2.2.3. Theme- Rheme

25

2.2.4. Cohesion

26

2.3. Analysis of Vietnamese Business Complaint Letters

27

2.3.1. Transitivity

27

2.3.2. Mood

29

2.3.3. Theme-Rheme

31

2.3.4. Cohesion

32

CHAPTER 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS
3.1. Similarities

34

3.2. Differences

35
PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

1. Conclusion

38

2. Implications for writing business complaint letters

38

3. Implications for teaching writing business complaint letters

39

4. Suggestions for further studies

40

References

41

Appendices


iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Process types in English letters
Table 2.1: Mood system in English letters
Table 2.2: Modality in English letters
Table 3: Theme system in English letters
Table 4.1: Cohesion in English letters
Table 4.2: Lexical Cohesion in English letters
Table 5: Process types in Vietnamese letters

Table 6.1: Mood system in Vietnamese letters
Table 6.2: Modality in Vietnamese letters
Table 7: Theme system in Vietnamese letters
Table 8.1: Cohesion in Vietnamese letters
Table 8.2: Lexical Cohesion in Vietnamese letters
Table 9: English and Vietnamese complaint letters in comparison in terms of Cohesion


1

PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
1. General introduction and rationale of the study
It is generally accepted that in the last few decades of the 20 th century, there has
been a great source of research on language; however, their attentions were only paid to the
form of the language systems, which are studied and explained apart from their functions in
relation to social situations. Besides, their concern was basically with structural theories,
which show that small units were arranged and combined into larger ones. The recent
research, on the other hand, has fallen into the tendency toward discourse analysis, which
focuses on factors affecting the communication and also the functioning of syntactic,
pragmatic and social aspects. Unlike the former studies, these ones pay attention to the
meaning of not only the sentences but also utterances and discourses.
The preference of the study is inspired from the fact that the theory of Systemic
Functional Grammar has been widely accepted as an essential tool in language
comprehension for communication. According to Eggins (1994: 1 cited in Thao, Phuong
2003: 2), „Systemic Functional Linguistics is increasingly being recognized as providing a
very useful descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic,
meaning-making resource‟. Hallidayan linguists used the functional model of grammar to
interpret how people use language and how language is structured for use. This theory, in
fact, has been proved as a great model of language for analysts when analyzing texts

especially at discourse level.
In Vietnam, there have been a great number of studies in the area of discourse
analysis these days. However, the number of those works based on Systemic Functional
Perspectives does not seem to reflect the potential variety. Especially in the last few
decades, Vietnam has been seen its expanding relationship with many other nations in
economics, scientific and technical fields; English language as an international language,
therefore, has been widely used in every field, especially in business communication in
general and business transaction in particular. The issues of business communication as
well as business transaction thus should be unsurprisingly a rich source for linguists in
analyzing discourse. An inspirational source that helps me to prompt the choice of the


2

analysis of business correspondence is the fact that this kind of letter is truly suitable and
essential in Vietnamese background recently.
It cannot be denied that business correspondence plays an important role in business
communication. Besides, it is a fact that defects seem to be unavoidable in carrying out
business transactions; even for the best-managed organizations this seems to be in the same
case. Letters of complaint, therefore, can be made and understood as customers‟ inevitable
reaction. In Vietnam, customers have gradually had the tendency to write complaint letters;
however, this has not become their habit and a number of customers, in fact, still hesitate to
do this although they know they have the right to do. In addition, knowing how to write an
effective business complaint letter is really a challenge for many people. My own
observation shows that even the students of business have limited knowledge and
experience in writing complaint letters not only in English but also in Vietnamese.
In the hope of working out some solutions to help Vietnamese people as well as
Vietnamese students, to some extent, overcome their difficulties in writing business
complaint letters, the study is an attempt to analyze some basic discourse features of
business complaint letters from Systemic Functional Perspectives. Based on this,

similarities and differences between English letters and Vietnamese ones will be identified.
After that, some suggestions will be drawn out to improve the studying and teaching
writing business complaint letters in English.
2. Aims of the study
The object of the study focuses on only one kind of business letters, namely, the
letters of business complaint in both English and Vietnamese. Due to the constraints in time
and limited knowledge in Business English, this thesis will not deal with all aspects of
complaint letters but concentrate on analyzing transitivity pattern, mood, thematic pattern,
and cohesion of letters in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. The study aims at:
- Presenting and describing transitivity pattern, mood pattern, thematic pattern and
cohesion in both English and Vietnamese business complaint letters;
- Identifying the similarities and differences in both English and Vietnamese
business complaint letters in terms of transitivity pattern, mood pattern, thematic
pattern and cohesion;


3

3. Scope of the study
Business letters are the primary and useful tools of exchanging ideas, facts,
recommendations, proposals and so on within a business or between a business and other
businesses and individuals, which give chances to businesses to operate efficiently and
productively. Effective letter writing involves the use of grammar and vocabulary,
discourse cohesive devices and the communicative strategies. As mentioned above, due to
the constrain in time and knowledge and the limitation of a minor thesis, the research
cannot explore all the aspects of this broad area but only the transitivity pattern, mood
pattern, thematic pattern and cohesion of the letters.
The investigation and analyses have been based on the data in 30 business complaint
letters written by both English and Vietnamese native speakers (15 in English and 15 in
Vietnamese; both types of letters are numbered from 1 to 15 for more convenient reference)

which I presume to be sufficient data. These data are collected from textbooks, internet, and
authentic English and Vietnamese business complaint letters written by businesses and
customers as well as other business associates.
4. Method of the study
The study is confined to the description, analysis and comparison in terms of
transitivity, mood, thematic pattern and cohesion. In order to achieve the goal, the approach
is inductive, which is based on the data as well as authentic business complaint letters.
Firstly, a large number of business complaint letters will be carefully selected from
textbooks, internet and authentic sources. Because of the fact that there seems to be
no fixed format for this kind of correspondence, the letters were randomly chosen as
data, providing they are of business complaints. In addition, the authenticity is
highly appreciated by the authors; most of the letters are, therefore, mainly chosen
from authentic sources as mentioned above.
Secondly, a certain number of the selected letters will be described and analyzed in
terms of transitivity, mood, thematic pattern and cohesion.
Thirdly, the data obtained will be analyzed and compared in order to find out the
similarities and differences in both English and Vietnamese business complaints.
Finally, the research results will be discussed to figure out some suggested ideas to
help Vietnamese people write effective business complaints in English.


4

Besides, discourse analysis in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar helps to
establish the framework of the theoretical background.
5. Design of the study
This study is comprised of three parts:
Part One of this study is an introduction presenting some background information
and the rationale of the study. The aims, the scope and method of the study are also dealt
with in this chapter.

Part Two consist of three chapters.
Chapter One is aimed to present the theoretical background of the work. Some
essential concepts closely related to the study are carefully discussed one by one. Firstly,
some theories of discourse including the concept of discourse, functions of language, and
discourse context. Next, in terms of Systemic Functional Grammar, some concepts such as
transitivity, mood, theme- rheme, and cohesion consisting of reference, substitution,
ellipsis, lexical cohesion, and conjunctive cohesion are presented. Finally, the definition,
purpose, three contextual parameters and structure of business complaint letters are also
discussed in the chapter.
Chapter Two attempts to analyze business complaint letters in both English and
Vietnamese in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. In this chapter, the four chosen
terms of transitivity, mood, theme-rheme and cohesion which consists of reference,
substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion and conjunctive cohesion are carefully analyzed to
help figure out the differences and similarities of business complaint letters in the two
languages in the next chapter.
Chapter Three is concerned with the discussion of the similarities and differences
between English and Vietnamese business complaint letters in terms of transitivity, mood,
theme-rheme and cohesion.
The last part is set up to summarize the whole research. Some useful implications
for studying and teaching writing effective business complaint letters are also drawn out in
this chapter.


5

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Introduction
This chapter aims at discussing literature in order to construct a theoretical
framework for this study. To begin with, the concept of discourse, functions of language,

and discourse context are dealt with. An overview on Systemic Functional Grammar
focusing on transitivity, mood, theme-rheme and cohesion are then mentioned. Finally, the
definition, purpose, three contextual parameters and structure of business complaints are
also presented in this chapter.
1.2. Theories of discourse
1.2.1. The concept of discourse
Linguistics history has seen many different approaches in which language is
studied. There was a time when language was viewed as a biologically determined
phenomenon and its social aspect was neglected. Linguists then tried to examine the
essential linguistic units of words and individual sentences in terms of grammatical rules.
Sentences thus were devoted to be studied out of their social context. However, people have
come to realize that using language to communicate successfully with other people should
be more important than only producing grammatically correct sentences. It is not always
the case that grammatically correct sentences are meaningful and incomplete sentences are
uninterpretable. The fact seems to be different. People do not always produce complete
sentences, yet they still gain success in social communication and vice versa. This proves
that language must be learnt and comprehended in its social context that leads to a modern
approach of language in which the concept of discourse is examined.
In spite of the fact that the term of discourse has been widely used in a variety of
linguists‟ studies, the precise definition of discourse remains an elusive one. Yet, it may be
basically defined as the language in use for communication. While Cook (1989) and some
other linguists try to make a distinction between discourse and text, the others, however,
prefer using the term interchangeably.
According to Cook (1989), while a text can be defined as “a stretch of language
interpreted formally, without context” (Cook 1989: 158 cited in Van, Hoang Van 2006: 14),
discourse can be known as “stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and
purposive” (Cook 1989: 156 cited in Van, Hoang Van 2006: 14). M.A.K Halliday, as a


6

proponent of the idea of interchanging the term discourse and text, claimed that a text is a
chunk of language that is actually spoken or written for the purpose of communication by
real people in actual circumstances (Bloor, 1995). From Halliday‟s perspective, discourse
can be understood as a unit of meaning and it is functional. „It is functional in the sense that
it occurs in a context of situation. In terms of size, a discourse may be realized by a word, a
phrase, a clause or a sentence; a paragraph, a cluster of paragraphs, a book, or even the
whole library of books” (Van, Hoang Van 2006: 17)
In this thesis, the author will use the term of text to refer to any written record of
communicative event, regarding it as the product of discourse which serves as the process
of verbal creation for communicative purposes. The analysis of business complaint letters,
therefore, is the analysis of the product.
1.2.2 Functions of language
It is a fact that there are a number of classifications of linguistics functions. G, Brown
and G. Yules (1987) viewed language in the two major functions such as transactional and
interactional function. From the transactional view, language serves in the expression of
content. Linguists acknowledge that the most important function of the language is the
communication of information. In order to convey the factual information, the speaker or
writer should put their mind in the efficient transference of information, so that the
recipients are able to get the correct informative details. Concerning interactional function,
language is used as a tool to establish and maintain social relationships. In other words,
interactional function involves the expressions of social relations and personal attitudes.
Actually, most of the written language is mainly used for transactional function. For a
business complaint letter, its purpose is not only to transfer factual information concerning
the unexpected business events or situations suffered by the writer as an individual
customer as well as a business but also to express their unpleasantness and desire for
sympathy and suitable solutions from the reader as well as the recipient. The language in
business complaints, therefore, performs both transactional and interactional function.
According to Halliday (1985), language has three main functions from the view of
sociology such as ideational, interpersonal and textual.

The ideational function serves for the expression of „content‟ or cognitive meaning
that shows the speaker‟s experience of the real world that also involves the inner of his


7

consciousness. One aspect of this function at the level of clause is the system of transitivity
including the concept of roles, processes and circumstances.
The function of interpersonal serves to “establish and maintain social relation: for the
expression of social roles created by language itself” (Van, Hoang Van, 2006). In this way,
sentences are created basing on the systems of mood to carry the cognitive and logical
content of proportions and display the speaker‟s relationship with others to the recipients.
The roles created by language then may be questioner, informer, commander and so on.
The textual function focuses on “providing links with language itself and with the
features of the situation in which it is used” (Van, Hoang Van, 2006). Basing on thematic
system, this function enables speakers or writers to create linguistically linked texts or
connected passages of discourse that is situationally relevant.
In brief, in accordance with Halliday, the function of language is divided into
ideational, interpersonal and textual, of which the linguistic realization are gradually
examined in the thesis.
1.2.3. Discourse context
As a matter of fact, context is a very important concept in discourse analysis. In
Systemic Functional Linguistics, there is a close relationship between language and its
social context. This relationship is a dynamic, two-way relationship: language construes
and is construed by its social context (Halliday & Martin, 1993) In more details, the
language that is likely to be used can be predicted by the context and vice versa the context
in which an interaction is situated can be inferred from the language that is used. Context as
a non-linguistic element refers to the situation which gives rise to the discourse, and within
which the discourse is embedded. (Nunan, 1993)
Context in Systemic Functional Linguistics is derived from Malinowski‟s context of

situation and context of culture.

Halliday and his followers divide the elements of

situational contexts into three aspects such as field, tenor and mode.
* Field of discourse refers to “what is it that the participants are engaged in, in which
the language figures as some essential component?” (Halliday 1985: 12). Eggins (1994: 52)
also said that field indicates “what the language is being used to talk about”. It includes the
subject matter of the text, the people and things involved, the nature of activities, the
qualities or attributes of the involved entities and the activity circumstances.


8

* Tenor of discourse examines “the role relationships between the interactants”
(Eggins 1994: 52). In other words, it refers to who is taking part, what is the nature of the
relationship of the participants, what are their statuses and roles, including the speech roles
they are taking on in dialogue and “the whole cluster of socially significant relationships in
which they are involved” (Halliday & Hasan 1989: 12; cited in Van, Hoang Van 2006: 40).
* Mode of discourse, according to Halliday & Hasan (1989: 12 cited in Van, Hoang
Van 2006: 40) refers to the medium of the language activity, to “what is it that the
participants are expecting the language to do for them in that situation.” Mode of discourse
includes the channel of communication (spoken or written or some combination of the two)
and also the rhetorical mode or purpose of a text, what is being achieved by the text in
terms of such categories as persuasive, expository, didactic, and the like.
Field, mode and tenor of discourse are in dialectical relationship. According to Hatim
and Mason (1990), “these three variables are independent: a given level of formality (tenor)
influences and is influenced by a particular level of technicality (field) in an appropriate
channel of communication (mode).”
1.3. Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar

Some of the ways that help to distinguish Systemic Functional Grammar from other
kinds of grammar is that it is a meaning-oriented model and the language in its perspective
examined as a social phenomenon rather than an individual phenomenon. It has been
constructed specifically for the purposes of text analysis to enable us to say useful things
about spoken and written texts (Halliday, 1994).

In Systemic Functional Linguistics,

meaning is essentially equated with function, and the language is viewed as a form of
“doing” rather than a form of “knowing” and the central category of this model is the
system consisting of interlocking options available for the users.
Looking back at the history of language study, it can be seen that language has been
approached in different points of views. While a number of linguists tried to account for
formal aspects of the grammar of language isolated from meanings, the others began their
analysis with language forms then discovered how the forms represented the meanings.
Systemic linguists, on the other hand, managed to identify a close relation between the
meaning and the wording which, for them, not an arbitrary one. Furthermore, they also
claimed that the form of grammar is closely related to the meanings encoded. The model of
Functional grammar; consequently, was taken as a tool to analyze the language in this way.


9

The term of functional is explained by Halliday in his Introduction to Functional
Grammar (1994) that „this grammar is based on the functional conceptual framework rather
than a formal one‟. In more details, the grammar in his view is functional in three closely
related senses: in its interpretation of texts, of the system and of the elements of linguistic
structures. Language is functional in the sense that language is used by people to satisfy
human needs and to achieve social goals. Thus, Systemic Functional Grammar is
semantically oriented. It is concerned with language in use: How do people use language to

make meanings, and how is language structured to make meanings? (Eggins: 1994).
In short, what makes functional grammar different from other models of grammar is
that its theory is built on the principle viewing language as a means to carry out human
communication. It sets its own roles of analyzing, describing and explaining the rules that
govern language use on two closely related aspects of form and meaning by observing
language in communication. (Hao, Cao Xuan, 1999). The basic unit of Systemic Functional
Grammar is the clause equivalent to the traditional „simple sentence‟. All of the three
functions of language in accordance with Halliday are reflected in the structure of the
clause. In the following sections, three types of meaning of the clause and their realizations
in the lexicogrammar of English will be examined: The experiential meaning and its
realizations through the system of transitivity (process types), the interpersonal meaning
and its realization in the mood and modality system and the textual meaning and its
realization in the theme system. Furthermore, the issue of cohesion is also dealt with as
another preliminary theory for the later data analysis.
1.3.1. Transitivity
The transitivity system, which is very central to the ideational function of language,
accounts for choices made in relation to the clause element. At the layer of transitivity
system, the clause is analyzed for its potential to represent both the outer and the inner
worlds of human beings, which is what the ideational metafunction does. Contextually,
transitivity system is the field of discourse, which relates to what goes on in the social
action. In more details, based on what the discourse is about, analysts can predict the choice
of processes that are being made to achieve interactants‟ communicative goals, and based
on process types used in discourse, analysts can figure out the meanings interactants are
trying to communicate. As a result, transitivity is sometimes referred as process type. In
accordance with Halliday (1994: 107), each process consists of three components in


10

principle such as the process itself, the participants in the process and circumstances

associated with the process. The different types of process are classified basing on our
awareness of our inner and outer experience. In English, there are three main types of
process that are material describing the external or physical world, mental portraying our
consciousness and relational relating one fragment of experience to another. In addition to
the three main types, there are three subtypes of process namely behavioral, verbal and
existential.
“Material process is the process of doing: action and event such as working,
walking, coming. Related to the process itself, there may be one, two or even three
participants. When a process has one participant, this role is referred to as Actor (performer
of the action); when it has two participants, these roles are referred to respectively as Actor
and Goal (affected by the action); and when it has three participants, these roles are Actor,
Goal and Receiver (benefiting from the process). The material process can be represented
in the form of active or passive (Van, Hoang Van 2006: 48). For examples:
The boy

hit

the dog

Actor

Process: Material

Goal

He

gave

a book

to her

Actor

Process: Material

Goal

Receiver

(Van, Hoang Van 2006: 48)
“Mental process is the process of sensing such as thinking, loving, wanting, hoping”
(Van, Hoang Van 2006: 49). It is divided by Halliday into three classes: cognitive
(thinking. knowing, understanding etc.). affective (liking, fearing etc.) and perceptive
(seeing, hearing etc.). Mental process involves two participants: Sensor (one who thinks,
feels, senses and wants), and Phenomenon (one that is thought of, felt, sensed and wanted).
E.g.,I (Sensor) believe (process: Mental) you (Phenomenon)
It (Phenomenon) hurts (process: Mental) my ears (Sensor)

(Halliday 1994:118)

Relational process is the process of being, having and being at, which is typically
realized by the verb be or some of the so-called copular verbs; e.g., become, appear, seem
etc. This process comes under three subtypes: (i) the intensive; (ii) the circumstantial and
(iii) the possessive. Relational process consists of two modes: attributive and identifying.


11

An attributive relational process has two participants: the Carrier and the Attribute
(showing the quality or the class the Carrier belongs to). For example,
He

is

good-looking

She

is

a teacher

Carrier

Process: Relational

Attribute

In the mode of identifying, relational process has two equating participants; one
identifying the other, which are referred to respectively in two pairs of terms such as
Identified/ Identifier and Token/Value. For example,
He

is

the best doctor

Identified/ Token

Process: Relational

Identifier/ Value

Circumstantial process expresses being in terms of circumstantial elements such as
time, place, distance, reason. The relation between the participant and its circumstantial
element is that of Carrier and Attribute; e.g., the water (Carrier) is (Process: Relational:
circumstantial) in the bottle (Attribute/ Circumstance: location). Possessive process
expresses being in terms of ownership and the relation between the two terms can be
characterized as Possessor and Possessed, but for generalization and convenience they are
still referred to as Carrier and Attributive; e.g. He (Carrier/ Possessor) had (Process:
relational) a beautiful house (Attribute/ Possessed).
Behavioral process is the process of physiological and psychological behavior such
as breathing, crying, drinking. It is the intermediary between material and mental process.
Typical of this type of process in English is that there is usually one participant refered to as
Behaver, which is always a conscious being, e.g., the baby (Behaver) is crying (Process:
Behavioral).
Verbal process is the process of saying such as saying, speaking, talking, or of any
kind of symbolic exchange such as showing, indicating. A verbal process does not require a
conscious participant and it can contain one participant referred to as Sayer, two
participants referred to respectively as Sayer and Target, and Sayer and Verbiage, and
even three participants such as Sayer, Target and Recipient. Sayer is anything capable of
putting out the signal; target is the entity the verbalization is directed to, Recipient is the
one benefitting from the verbal process and Verbiage is the name of the verbalization itself
(Van, Hoang Van 2006: 49)
These are some examples to illustrate:


12

1) She (Sayer) spoke (process: Verbal) English (Target) to me (Recipient)
2) The manager (Sayer) will outline (process: Verbal) his plan of campaign (Verbiage)
Existential process is the process of existing, indicating that there is or there was
something. This process typically employs the verb be or synonyms such as exist, arise,
occur. In this type of process, there is one participant, the Existent and one or two
circumstantial elements; for example, there is (process: Existential) a man (Existent) at the
door (Circumstance).
1.3.2. Mood
Mood is the exchange system realized by the choice between declarative,
interrogative and imperative clause types. Each type of mood is basically associated with an
illocutionary act. When we want to exchange information, we can make a choice of
indicative mood rather than imperative, which is used to express directives such as
commands or requests. In order to question, we generally choose interrogative mood rather
than declarative which is used to express statements. In short, mood is divided into two
types, namely indicative involving declarative and interrogative and imperative which are
available to perform different tasks in social communication.
According to Halliday, in order to interpret clauses in their function as an exchange,
the clause is divided into two parts: the Mood and the Residue. The former consists of the
Subject and Finite, the order of which determines the selection of mood in the clause. The
later, the Residue, as the remainder of the clause includes functional elements of
Predicator, Complement and Adjunct. The following is an example:
She

is

doing

her homework

in the room

Subject

Finite

Predicator

Complement

Adjunct

Mood (declarative)

Residue

Modality is considered a complex area of English grammar, which has to do with
different ways in which the language user tries to exchange his messages including
expressing attitudes and judgments of various kinds. Specifically, modality is the category
by which speakers show their attitudes towards the event expressed in the proposition.
When modality is used to argue about the probability or frequency of proposition, it is
referred to as modalization. When it discusses the obligation or inclination of proposals, it
is considered modulation. In other words, modalization expresses the choices of degree of


13

certainty or usuality through the use of modal operators and mood adjuncts; i.e. high (must,
always, certainly), median (may, usually, probably) or low (might, sometimes, possibly).
Modulation expresses the degrees between obligation and inclination, which can be realized

in various ways such as using modulated verbal operators (must, have to, should, etc.) or
the expansion of the Predicator typically by a passive verb like you are supposed to know
that, or adjectives, e.g. I‟m anxious to help them.
1.3.3. Theme - Rheme
In order to explore the textual meaning of the clause, the two notions of Theme and
Rheme are employed. The Theme serves as the departure point of the message, which in
English coincides with the initial element of the clause; and the Rheme is the remainder of
the message. A theme may be realized by a nominal group, a prepositional phrase, an
adverbial group, or even a clause in the case of predicated theme. Furthermore, a theme
may be single (represented by just one constituent), or multiple (having a further internal
structure of its own), and unmarked which is the usual or typical and often conflating with
the subject in declarative, or marked theme known as unusual.
With regard to the three-dimensional metafunctional structure of the clause, themes
can be identified in three different types namely topical, interpersonal and textual in the
realization of the three types of clause elements. A topical theme is the one that is conflated
with an experiential element of the clause, which can be Actor, Goal or Circumstance. An
interpersonal theme is any combination of a modal theme consisting of a modal adjunct,
vocative element (any item used to address) and a mood-making element (a finite verbal
operator, or WH-interrogative or imperative Let‟s.). A textual theme represents meaning
that is relevant to the context or co-text. It may have any combination of three textual
elements: a continuative element (yes, no, well etc.), a structural element (and, but etc.) and
a conjunctive element (also, therefore, etc.).
The following is an example of Theme-Rheme structure:
oh
continuative
textual

soldier, soldier,

won‟t

you

marry me

vocative

finite

subject

Rheme

interpersonal
Theme

topical (experiential)


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Concerning the system of markedness, themes are divided into two types, namely
unmarked and marked themes. Unmarked theme is generally understood as „usual and most
typical‟ while marked considered „untypical or unusual‟. In relation to the system of mood,
a theme is called unmarked when it conflates with the Mood structure constituent that
typically occurs in the first position in the clause. For example, in declarative clauses, an
unmarked theme is a constituent that conflates with the Subject, while a marked theme is
the one functioning as some element of the Residue such as Complement, Adjunct, or
Predicator. Here are some examples:
She

loves horror films

Unmarked Theme

Rheme

Usually

she loves horror films

Marked Theme

Rheme

1.3.4. Cohesion
According to Halliday and Hasan, (1976: 4), cohesion „refers to relations of
meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text.‟ It should not be surprising
that without cohesion, a text will become a combination of unrelated sentences. Thus,
cohesion, in fact, is a part of the language system. Halliday (1994: 309) pointed out that
there are four ways by which cohesion is created in English: reference, ellipsis, lexical
organization and conjunction.
Reference expresses the relationship of identity, which exists between units in
discourse. Halliday (1994: 309) claimed that a participant or circumstantial element
introduced at one place in the text can be taken as a reference point for something that
follows. In the simplest case, this means that the same thing comes in again. Thompson
(1996: 148) also defined reference as „the set of grammatical resources which allow the
speaker to indicate whether something is being repeated from somewhere else in the text or
whether it has not yet appeared in the text.‟ This can be understood in the way that the
repetition has to be based on either in the text or out into the world. As a reason for this

reference involves two kinds namely edophora (reference found in the text) and exophora
(reference based on the context of situation). The former divided into two: anaphoric
(pointing the reader or listener „backwards‟ to a previously mentioned entity, process or
state of affairs) and cataphoric pointing the reader or listener forwards.)


15

In English, three items that have the property of reference are personals (indicated
through personal and possessive pronouns, possessive adjectives), demonstratives
(expressed through this, that, these, those, here or there) and comparatives (through
adjectives or adverbs such as same, identical, similar, equally, more etc.)
Ellipsis, as another form of anaphoric cohesion in the text, is used in the sense that
something is omitted in a structure but the missing part can always be retrieved from
another structure within a sentence (non-cohesive) or beyond a sentence (cohesive). This
kind of cohesion can be divided into nominal (omission of the head of nominal groups),
verbal (omission of Residue), and clausal ellipsis (omission of a clause or a part of a
clause).
According to Halliday (1994), Ellipsis and substitution are variants of the same
type of cohesive relation: ellipsis is the omission of one item and substitution is the
replacement of one item by another. There are some grammatical environments in which
only ellipsis is possible, some in which only substitution is possible and some, such as I
preferred the other (one), which allow for either. Like ellipsis, substitution has three types:
nominal (the substitution of the Head of a nominal group usually realized by one, ones and
same), verbal (the substitution of the Head of a verbal group usually realized by do) and
clausal substitution (what is presupposed is not an element within the clause but an entire
clause, usually realized in two words: so and not).
Lexical cohesion is another kind of cohesive relation in which the cohesive effect is
obtained by the selection of vocabulary. In more details, when two words in a discourse are
semantically related, cohesion will occur undoubtedly. According to Halliday and Hasan

(1976), lexical cohesion is divided into two types of reiteration in which two lexical items
are related by having a common referent and collocation, which is achieved through the
association of items that regularly co-occur). The former involves repetition, synonym,
antonym, super-ordinate meronymy and general word. The latter consists of three types:
resultative (the relation of one item leading to the outcome of another item: kill –die, rainwet etc.), modificational (the relation holding between an item and one of its inherent
qualities: run-fast, clear-voice etc.) and contextual (expectation can be made between the
process and the participant: house-build, doctor-examine etc.)
Conjunction differs from the earlier-mentioned in the sense that it is not an
anaphoric relation but a cohesive device since it signals relationships that can only be fully


16

understood through reference to other parts of the discourse. In English conjunction is
expressed by (i) adverbs e.g., but, so, then, next, therefore etc., or (ii) prepositional
expressions; e.g., on the contrary, in contrast etc. or other reference items; e.g., as a result
of that, as a consequence etc. Regarding to this, there are four main types of conjunction in
English namely adversative (however, yet, but, in contrast etc.), additive (and, or, nor
etc.), temporal (then, next, afterwards, after that etc.) and causal conjunction (thus,
hence, therefore, as a result of that etc.)
In summary, it is undoubtedly accepted that cohesion plays a very important role in
discourse analysis. With five main types of reference, substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion
and conjunction (or four main types in accordance with Halliday (1994) as mentioned
above), cohesion can make a text a text or can create the texture or discourse.
1.4. Business Complaint Letter
1.4.1. Definition and Purpose of Business Complaint Letters
Business letter is a formal means of communication between two people, a person
and a corporation, or two corporations. The purpose for business writings is to inform
readers of information you want to get across or possibly persuade the readers to do
something. There are many different types of business letters such as acknowledgement,

adjustment, complaint, inquiry, order, and sales letter etc. This thesis is aimed at complaint
letters.
Complaint letters are written when one encountered problems in a business
transaction, like purchasing defective goods or being dissatisfied in services; e.g., statement
that contains errors or even discourteous treatment etc. It is an attempt to let the reader
know that an error has been found and needs to be corrected as soon as possible. It voices
out feelings of having felt injustice or disrespect.
The purpose of a complaint letter is to inform business errors and require immediate
adjustment from the involved corporation; e.g., replacing or exchanging a product
purchased, completing the promised service, adjusting the bill or money refunded etc. A
simple phone call or email messages sometimes do not help to get results; therefore, the
writer should know how to create an effective complaint letter. In order to do this, it is a
„must‟ to identify a definite purpose to write letters and outcome that writers want to
achieve, and indicate those ideas clearly in the letter of complaint.


17

1.4.2. Three contextual parameters of business complaint letters
Field: The field of a business complaint letter is nothing than the field of business
communication. This kind of letter is about the writer or customer‟ complaints about their
dissatisfactions caused by business errors.
Tenor: In the letter of complaint, the writer or customer is trying to inform of
business errors and expecting immediate adjustment from the involved corporation or a
solution from a higher authority, the language; therefore; needs to be clear and convincing.
In addition, the letter needs to sound formal because the relationship between the writer and
reader is actually between a customer as an individual or corporation and a corporation or a
higher authority whose responsibility is to solve the problem.
Mode: The mode of business complaint letters we are studying is in the form of
written discourse.

Field, tenor and mode are seen as determining the features of the ideational,
interpersonal and textual component of discourse respectively. How these three contextual
parameters decide upon the three components of complaint letters, which are realized
through the system of transitivity, theme and mood, will be discussed in the next chapter.
1.4.3. The structure of a business complaint discourse – comparison between English
and Vietnamese letters
A business complaint letter, like other types of letters, consists of a number of
optional and compulsory parts. Analyzing the format of business complaint letters in two
different kinds of English and Vietnamese reveals some similarities and differences as
noted below:
Formality
Letterhead

Business complaint in English

Business complaint in Vietnamese

The name and address of the writer are The official name and motto of the
normally written on the top either left- country are typed
hand or right-hand side of the page.

in the top middle,

which is considered compulsory in any
Vietnamese legal document

Title

It is considered optional. All the letters in Most Vietnamese business complaints in
our investigation has no title.

our investigation have the title of „Đơn
khiếu nại‟, „đơn xin khiếu nại‟ in capital
letters below the motto, which is
considered the standard form.


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Dateline

The date of writing letter is typed either The date is noted at the bottom on the
on the left-hand or right-hand side of the right corner above the writer‟s signature.
page and either right below the writer‟s
address or addressee‟s address.

Addressee‟s

All letters in our investigation have the The name of the addressee as an

address

name and address of the addressee (and organization or a part of an organization
also the position if the addressee is an is normally shown in the salutation:
individual) noted on the left below “Kính gửi”; If the addressee and the
writer‟s address and maybe above or respondent refer to different people, the
below dateline.

name and address of the respondent is
then usually mentioned in the first part of

the letter.

Subject line

It is an optional part and often started with It is optional and often cited below the
an abbreviation “Ref:…” (usually below title.
the dateline)

Salutation

It is often started with “Dear sir”, “Dear It is started with “Kính gửi:…” followed
Madam”, “Dear sir or Madam” or Dear by the targeted reader‟s name.
followed by the readers‟ name or title.

Body

The body often consists of three or four The body often consists of three or four
paragraphs where the writer gives the paragraphs where the writer gives the
reason for writing, necessary information reason for writing, necessary information
about the complaint and what the writer about the complaint and what the writer
expect as a result of the complaint.

expect as a result of the complaint.

Compliment

The common ones are “Yours sincerely” It is usually closed with the place and the

ary close

when the targeted addressee‟s name is date for writing the letter.
cited in the salutation, and “Yours
faithfully” if the targeted addressee‟s
name is unknown.

Writer‟s

The writer‟s full name is typed below the The writer‟s full name is typed below the

name and

handwriting signature.

signature

handwriting signature.


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CHAPTER TWO
ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS COMPLAINT LETTERS
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
2.1. Introduction
This part is an attempt to present the result of our analysis of business complaint
letters in terms of transitivity, mood, theme, which are the realizations of the three functions
of language such as ideational, interpersonal, and textual respectively, and cohesion. In
order to figure out a comprehensive demonstration of how the theory of systemic functional
grammar has been applied and reflected in business complaint letters, we have usually had
two broad questions engraved in our mind during the analyzing process:

In what aspects are the English and Vietnamese business complaint letters alike and
in what aspects are they different?
Do the similarities and differences reflect any of their relations to the three
parameters of field, tenor, and mode? And how are they related to each other?
2.2. Analysis of English Business Complaint Letters
2.2.1. Transitivity
Our exploration of the fifteen business complaint letters shows that the processes
used by English people in this kind of letter are typically of four types: material, relational,
mental and verbal. The results are summarized in the following table:
Table 1: Process types in English letters
Process types

Quantity

Rate of

(in number)

occurrence

Material process

97/ 235

40.8 %

Mental process

38/ 235

16.2 %

Relational process

56/ 235

24.3 %

Verbal process

38/235

16.2%

Behavioral process

1/ 235

0.4%

Existential process

5/ 235

2.1 %

As can be seen from the table, material processes or the processes of doing are
dominantly used in the letters with the rate of 40.8%. This prevailing choice of material
processes proves that the writers of English business complaint letters pay more attention to

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the matter of describing the actions and events rather than thoughts, feelings, behaving,
being, existing or verbal exchange. The following are some of the examples in which
material processes are used.
E.g., 1) I am writing to complaint about the holiday we were given.

(Complaint 2)

2) I had recently applied for an account detail book and had given a written
application for the same.

(Complaint 4)

3) In fact, I had specifically checked with your Customer Services Manager before I
made the said transaction.

(Complaint 12)

In addition, in 72.9% of these material processes, the Actor is mentioned and 97.1%
of these mentioned Actors, of which the human Actor occupies 82.4%, are located in the
initial position. This means that the majority of material processes are represented in the
form of active and what the writers give more emphasis is the doer of the actions as the
human agent. However, of the total numbers of the Actors mentioned in material process,
2.9% are not located in the initial position, which falls into another aspect under the mood
analysis that will be discussed in the following part. Here are some of the examples in
which Goal or Recipient of material process are used replacing the Actor in the initial
position of the clauses with the main focus fallen into the others rather than the doers of
actions.

E.g., 1) It is also important to be able to take away leaflets on interesting products so that
more research can be done before deciding which system to buy. However, by the
time I attended the exhibition all the leaflets had been taken.

(Complaint 12)

2) I was informed that I would be issued a new account detail book at the earliest,
latest by the 8th of May.

(Complaint 4)

Occupying 24.3% of the total occurrence, relational processes rank second in the
scale of frequency. It should be noted here that this paper took into consideration all the
three different types of relational process, namely intensive, possessive and circumstance.
Our analysis showed that in this kind of letters, the writers had a preference for intensive
type which occupies 69.6% with the pattern of “x is a”. This preference can be due to its
use in the notion of being including the expression of an entity having some quality
ascribed to it or something having an identity assigned to it, which can be considered
appropriate and typical notions in this kind of letter. The second choice for relational