Typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life a contrastive analysis

Typical cultural features in English and
Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life: a
contrastive analysis



Nguyễn Văn Nghĩa



Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Phạm Xuân Thọ
Năm bảo vệ: 2010


Abstract. The study aims to discover the typical cultural features embedded in English and
Vietnamese fables about philosophies of life. Fifteen fables in each language are chosen as the
subjects of the study. They are the fables with characters as animals, humans or both animals and
humans. The results of study reveal that most of the settings and objects in the fables bear rural
identities of distinctive cultures, meanwhile none of the fables have urban settings. Human
characters also embed the typical cultural features. They are affected by the natural and social
conditions. Characters as animals are distinctively those of the East or West. The results of the
study also manifest the fact that in most of the dialogues/ conversations in the fables, the
characters use direct language to communicate with each other. The last typical cultural feature
found in the study is the way the philosophy of life is expressed in the fables. Most of the
English fables state the philosophies at the end of the stories, whereas the philosophies of life are
hidden in most Vietnamese fables. Fables in English and Vietnamese share such typical cultural
features as those of the settings and the characters. There are, however, many differences
between these typical cultural features, and the biggest differences lie in those of characters and
the way the philosophies are expressed.

Keywords. Truyện ngụ ngôn; Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu; Văn hóa; Tiếng Anh; Tiếng Việt

Content

Table of contents Page

Certificate of originality of study project report i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
Abbreviations vii
List of tables viii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1. Rationale of the study 1
1.2. Aims and research questions 2
1.3. Significance of the study 2
1.4. Scope of the study 3
1.5. Organization of the study 3

Chapter 2: Literature View 4
2.1. Culture 4
2.2. Fables as a type of literature 8
2.2.1. Fable 8
2.2.2. Fables about philosophy of life. 10

Chapter 3: Methodology 11
3.1. Subjects 11

3.1.1. English fables 11
3.1.2. Vietnamese fables 11
3.3. Data collection and data analysis procedures 12

Chapter 4: Results and discussions 14
4.1. Typical cultural features of English fables about philosophy of life.
14
4.1.1. Features of the settings and objects. 14
4.1.2. Features of the characters. 17
.4.1.3. The features of the language used by the characters. 20
4.1.4. Features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed 23
4.2. The TCFs in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life
24
4.2.1. Features of the settings and objects. 24
4.2.2. Features of the characters 26
4.2.2.1. Characters as humans 26
4.2.2.2. Characters as animals 28
4.2.3. Features of the language 30
4.2.4. Features of the way the philosophies of life are expressed 32
4.3. The similarities and differences of the TCFs in English and Vietnamese fables about
philosophy of life
34
4.3.1. Similarities 34
4.3.2. Differences 35

Chapter 5: Conclusion 37
5.1. Major findings 37
5.2. Limitations and suggestions for further research 38
5.3. Pedagogical implications 38
References 39

APPENDIX I




1.1. Rationale of the study

The first thing to mention when it comes to choosing the topic of this thesis is that culture
itself is a broad and complicated subject matter. There are plenty of aspects in this field. As
usual, each of them is touched upon individually from different angles, depending on the
interests of certain authors. Therefore, it is not surprising that different authors give different
definitions of culture. In addition, it is agreed that getting a deep understanding about any aspect
of culture is a really hard job. This is because culture is not tangible, and it is only perceptive to
human sense. For different individuals, the perceptions are not the same. Thus, there is a variety
of presentations on the subject matter.
However complicated it is, culture is still an important factor in our life. It distinguishes
humans from animals. The way people behave and treat each other makes them different from
other living beings. It is also agreed that although the world is coming toward common standards
in many fields like science, technology and business, there are by no means a uniform in culture
among the regions or nations in the world. It is cultural identities that distinguish groups of
people. Nowadays, in the world of integration, humans are searching for a common
understanding of one another. Culture is really a bridge that brings people closer together. The
need to discover certain cultures has become more urgent than ever before.
Another reason that inspires the author to carry out this study is the attractiveness of fables, in
this case, fables in English and Vietnamese. Fables are one type of folk literature with stories
containing characters as either animals or humans. Stories of this type tell a variety of subject
matters like the explanations of phenomena in real life or the teasing of bad habits of humans.
Each story is a moral lesson and through the words and behaviors of characters, we can draw
certain philosophies of life. The readers become thoughtful after reading such a fable.
Among fables of various themes, those about philosophies of life appear to be the most

remarkable. These are the most attractive of all types of fables. The world of animals or humans
- mostly in the past, speaks of the moral lessons which are still relevant in present life. Apart
from the moral lessons, another attraction in fables is the cultural features embedded in each
story. The settings, characters, language, and the way characters treat one another reveal the
cultural identities of certain nations, regions and these are the most attractive parts of fables.

1.2. Aims and research questions
Conducting the study, the author sets several limited aims. First of all, the study is to find out
the typical cultural features (TCFs) in fables in English as well as in Vietnamese. As a matter of
fact, there are a number of cultural features in fables, but the author’s focus is only on the typical
ones. That is, only the most remarkable features are taken into account. The second thing this
study has to do is to contrast these typical cultural features in the fables in the two languages,
finding out the similarities and the differences. In order to do so, the study will have to search for
the answers to the following research questions:
1. What are the typical cultural features in English fables about philosophy of life?
2. What are the typical cultural features in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?
3. What are the similarities of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables
about philosophy of life?
4. What are the differences of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables
about philosophy of life?

1.3. Significance of the study
The study is of great significance to not only culture researchers but those whose interests are
in applied linguistics as well. To those who are interested in cultures, the findings of the study
will manifest the TCFs in the fables in two languages, namely English and Vietnamese. The
readers and the learners of English language will have a chance to perceive the TCFs in each
language. In addition, the study also presents a contrastive analysis between these features. The
audience will get a deep understanding about the similarities and differences between
Vietnamese culture and Western one. For learners of English as a second language, the study
helps them become aware of cultural elements in the process of learning, which has not been

paid much attention to so far. Meanwhile, this is very important in English learning because
learners are able to perceive why speakers or writers use different language in different contexts.
Being aware of cultural elements is also a good way to avoid cultural shocks when they
communicate with people from English – speaking countries.

1.4. Scope of the study
As stated earlier, culture is a broad field with various aspects. This study, however, only
focuses on the TCFs in a limited number of fables in English and Vietnamese. It is also known
that fables consist of lots of themes. Yet, due to the shortage of such factors as time, materials
and finance, this study only exploits those about philosophy of life, which are very common in
the world of fables.

1.5. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, which includes the
rationale, aims and research questions, scope as well as the organization of the study. The second
chapter is the literature view in which the author presents an overview of the publications related
to the topic of the research. The methodology used in the study is presented in the third chapter.
It includes a description of the data collection and data analysis procedures used in the study.
The findings of the study are presented in the fourth chapter, Results and Discussions. The final
chapter presents a summary of the findings, limitations of the study as well as suggestions for
further research.


References

Vietnamese
Nguyễn Văn Độ. (2004). Tìm hiểu mối liên hệ ngôn ngữ - văn hoá. Nxb Đại học quốc gia Hà
Nội
Nguyễn Xuân Kính . (2003). Tổng tập văn học dân gian người Việt. Tập 10 -Truyện ngụ ngôn.
Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội

Trần Ngọc Thêm. (1995). Cơ sở văn hoá Việt Nam. Nxb Hồ Chí Minh
Trần Quốc Vượng . (1996). Văn hoá học đại cương và cơ sở văn hoá Việt nam. Nxb Khoa học
xã hội

English
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Hymes D. (1964). Language in culture and society: A reader in linguistics and Anthropology.
University of Pennsylvania, pp. 36, 455 – 461
Kramsch C. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford University Press
Lado R. (1957). Linguistics across culture. The university of Michigan
Nguyen Q. (2009). Cross-cultural communication (Handout). Hanoi, Vietnam
Nguyen V. D. (2007). Language, culture and society (course package). Hanoi
Nunan D. (1992). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge University Press
Risager K. (2006). Language and culture: Global flow and local complexity. Cromwell Press
Ltd. Great Britain

Website:
“Aesop’s fables”. Retrieved on December 12,2009 from
“Culture”. Retrieved on December 23, 2009 from
“Fable”. Retrieved on December 20, 2009 from
“Fable”. Retrieved on January 27, 2010 from
“Philosophy of life”. Retrieved on December 26, 2009 from http: // www.swami-
krishnananda.org
“Philosophy”. Retrieved on January 29, 2010 from http://Ditionary. Reference.com
“Philosophy of life”. Retrieved on January 12, 2010 from http: //www.onu.edu.com
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Guide