A contrastive analysis of ways of greetings in english and vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF WAYS OF GREETINGS
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC CÁCH CHÀO HỎI TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

LÊ THỊ TÌNH

Hanoi, 2016


LÊ THỊ TÌNH

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

2014 – 2016


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF WAYS OF GREETINGS
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC CÁCH CHÀO HỎI TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

LÊ THỊ TÌNH

Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr Lê Văn Thanh

Hanoi, 2016


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project
report entitled A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF WAYS OF GREETING
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where
the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due
acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

Hanoi, 2016

Le Thi Tinh

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lê Văn Thanh
(Signature and full name)
Date:……………………

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and
support from a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
Assoc. Prof. Dr Le Van Thanh, my supervisor, who has patiently and
constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose
stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly
through my growth as an academic researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to all my lecturers in English
Department of Post Graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University for their
precious assistance, enthusiasm, valuable knowledge which enlightened the
arguments in the study.
My acknowledgement goes to the informants, Vietnamese and English
native speakers, who

spent their precious time completing

the

questionnaires.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family,my students
especially my parents, my boyfriend, and my friends for the sacrifice they
have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.
Hanoi, October 2016
Le Thi Tinh

ii

ABSTRACT
According to "...three billion people will
be speaking or learning English within a decade." English is the language of
globalization. It's the language of international business and politics. It is the
primary language used for most computers and for the inner workings of the
Internet.
English is the dominant international language in communications,
science, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy. English is an
important tool for operating on the world stage. The ability to speak and
understand English is mandatory in certain fields, professions, and
occupations. Therefore, more and more people want to master the English
language. In order to do this, we should be not only good at four skills but
also improve knowledge about sociolinguistic. As we know that different
cultures have different ways of communication. The learners of the second
language so often have difficulties in using the target language
appropriately. Greeting is one of these problems. Greeting is considered as
an important aspect in cultural life of each nation. In Vietnam, greeting
plays an important role as these sayings “Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ”. It
means that Vietnamese are extremely serious in greeting. According to
Professor Dr. Lê Quang Thiêm, the greeting presents not only feature of
language but also culture, custom as well as person’s dignity. From these
factors, this paper aims at doing a contrastive analysis in Vietnamese and
English greetings to help English learners communicate successfully.

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: greeting classified ...........................................................14
Table 2: Verbal greetings classified ............................................................. 19
Table 3: Nonverbal greeting difined............................................................. 30

Table 4: The uses of greetings (Verbal and Nonverbal) ...............48
Table 5: Frequency of greetings in use (English and Vietnaese
subjects) 80 participants (40 Vietnamese & 40 English) ..............81
Table 6: Factors affecting greeting (English subjects) 40
participants ....................................................................................82
Table 7: Factors affecting greeting (Vietnamese subjects) 40
participnats ....................................................................................83
(Figure 1: Greeting in feudalism in Vietnam) ...............................13
(Figure 2: Greeting in England) .....................................................14
(Figure 3: time pass greeting) ........................................................15
(Figure 4: Greeting in Vietnam) ....................................................15
(Figure 5: formal/ informal greeting) ............................................20
(Figure 6: Greeting on the run) ......................................................22
(Figure 7: speedy greeting) ............................................................23
(Figure 8: The chat) .......................................................................24
(Figure 9: The long greeting) .........................................................25
(Figure 10: The intimate greeting) .................................................26
(Figure 11: The introductory greeting) ..........................................27
(Figure 12: The all business greeting) ...........................................28
(Figure 13: The re-greeting) ..........................................................29
(Figure 14: The handshaking) ........................................................32
(Figure 15: The hugging/Embracing) ............................................33
(Figure 16: waving)........................................................................34
(Figure 17: the high – five) ............................................................35
(Figure 18: bowing) .......................................................................36

(Figure 19: The patting) .................................................................37
(Figure 20: Nodding) .....................................................................37
(Figure 21: The raising eyesbrows) ...............................................38
(Figure 22: Mentioned Time Greeting) .........................................49
(Figure 23: Combine word and gesture in communication) .........54
(Figure 24: signal “yes” or “ no” with hand gestures) ..................54

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(Figure 25: frawn at someone) .......................................................55
(Figure 26: hugging) ......................................................................55
(Figure 27: contradicting) ..............................................................56
(Figure 28: Contradiction occurs intentionally in humor or
sarcasm.).........................................................................................56
(Figure 29: roll the eyes) ................................................................56
(Figure 30: stick out our tongue) ...................................................57
(Figure 31: shrug) ..........................................................................57
(Figure 32: meaning of silence) .....................................................58

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................. iii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .......................................... iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................1
1.1 Rationale of the research .........................................................1
1.2 Aims of the research.................................................................2

1.3 Objectives of the research .......................................................3
1.4 Scope of the research ...............................................................3
1.5 Significance of the research .....................................................4
1.6 Structural organization of the thesis ......................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................6
2.1. Review of previous studies .....................................................6
Review of previous studies ............................................................6
2.2 Review of theoretical background..........................................7
2.2.1 Speech act definition ..............................................................7
2.2.2 Definition of greeting.............................................................8
2.2.3 The pragmatic functions of greeting .................................10
2.2.3.1 Greetings as Illocutionary Acts .........................................10
2.2.3.2 Greetings as Linguistic Routines of Politeness .................11
2.2.4 Greeting classification..........................................................13
2.2.5 The role of greeting in communication...............................16
2.2.6 The situations for studying ..................................................17
2.2.7 The common verbal greetings ..............................................19
2.2.7.1 Formal and Informal Greetings .......................................19
2.2.8.2 Greeting on the run ............................................................21
2.2.8.3 Speedy greeting ................................................................22
2.2.8.4 The chat ............................................................................24
2.2.8.5 The long greeting .............................................................25
2.2.8.6 The Intimate greeting .......................................................26
2.2.8.7 The Introductory greeting ................................................27
2.2.8.8 The All- business greeting ................................................28
2.2.8.9 The re-greeting .................................................................29
2.2.9 The common nonverbal greetings ..................................30
2.2.9.1 Handshaking ......................................................................32
2.2.9.2 Hugging / Embracing ........................................................33
2.2.9.3 Waving ................................................................................34

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2.2.9.4 The high – five ....................................................................35
2.2.9.5 The bow ..............................................................................35
2.2.9.6 The patting..........................................................................36
2.2.9.7 Nodding ..............................................................................37
2.2.9.8 The raising eyesbrows ........................................................38
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .............................................39
3.1 Research-governing orientations..........................................39
3.1.1 Research questions ...............................................................39
3.1.2 Research setting ....................................................................39
3.1.3 Research approach ...............................................................40
3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data
analysis ..........................................................................................41
3.2 Research methods ..................................................................43
3.2.1 Major methods vs. supporting methods...............................43
3.2.2 Data collection techniques` .................................................43
3.2.3 Data analysis techniques ......................................................46
3.3 Summary .................................................................................46
CHAPTER 4: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ..........................47
4.1 Findings ...................................................................................47
4.1.1 Informants’ awareness of greeting. ....................................47
4.1.2. The similarities and differences in greeting between
English and Vietnamese. ..............................................................48
4.1.2.1 The similarities ..................................................................48
4.1.2.2 The differences ...................................................................49
4.2 Discussion................................................................................53
4.2.1 The connection of verbal and non-verbal greetings in
English and Vietnamese and their effect in communication. ....53

4.2.2 Factors affecting greeting. .................................................59
4.3 Implication of the study.........................................................61
4.3.1 Causes and sollutions of culture shock .............................61
4.3.2 Suggest to avoid the sensitive situations when greeting in
English and Vietnamese ..............................................................63
CHATER 5: CONCLUSION ......................................................65
5.1 Recapitulation .......................................................................65
5. 2 Limitation of the study .........................................................67
5.3 Recommendations/Suggestions for a further research ......68
5.3.1 Recommendations ................................................................68

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5.3.2 Suggestions for further researches.....................................68
REFERENCES .............................................................................70
APPENDICES ..............................................................................81
ENGLISH SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES …………………....84
CÂU HỎI ĐIỀU TRA TIẾNG VIỆT .........................................96

viii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
We have all heard this warning:
“You never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.” That’s a very
true statement. Every culture is different, and has different styles of
etiquette. Every day deals are lost through misunderstandings, even between
relatively similar cultures. These misunderstandings do not have to be huge
to have an effect on your business. However, a poor first impression could

leave your prospective partner or customer with a bad feeling. Knowing the
right etiquette can help you avoid this and save you a great deal of wasted
time and money.
Greeting is an important part of communicative skills .Many
countries have their own style of greeting, and there is nothing more offputting than try to kiss someone who is only expecting a handshake, or
holding out your hand pointlessly while the other person bows. In many
countries, it is also polite to give small gifts when meeting someone. Make
sure you find out the local customs and avoid giving an overly expensive
gift that the other person will feel the need to reciprocate. In many Southeast
Asian cultures, business cards are usually exchanged and no one is taken
seriously who does not have a business card. The cards must also be treated
with respect, and not shoved immediately into a pocket.
1.1 Rationale of the research
As you see, one of the issues leading to a failure of communication is
differences in culture. Thus, improving a wide knowledge about
sociolinguistics is a key thing for learners to develop their communicative
competence in the target language, beside listening and speaking. In daily
life, people tend to use the illocutionary act rather than the locutionary act.
Therefore, in different contexts, learners have difficulties in using the target
language appropriately. A greeting is not an exception. It is considered as
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the important thing in cultural life of each nation. Countries has separate
ways of greeting. According to In Western
countries such as France, Spain, they kiss each other on both cheeks,
starting with the left.) or Italy (air-kissing on both cheeks, starting with the
left), kissing on both cheeks is the way people here greet each other while in
the Middle East, Muslims often hug persons of the same sex when greeting
each other. About Asians like us, the peoples are quite reticent. So, the way

they greet each other is discreet and respectful. In Vietnam, greeting plays
an important role in daily life. Adults often teach their babies to greet others
when they are very young. Greeting brings valuable meaning. Meaning of
greeting is mentioned clearly in a song “Lời chào của em” which was
composed by Nghiêm Bá Hồng . According to Professor Lê Quang Thiêm,
the greeting presents not only feature of language but also culture, custom as
well as person’s dignity.
According to Goffman, greetings provide the means of the opening
conversations appropriately, establish and maintain social relationship (as
cited in Li, 2009, p.1), for example “hello” or “hi”. In addition, the basic
functions of greeting are also to identify the presence of communicators and
to show their concern. However, modes of communication in all languages
are not the same. That is the reason why the study of Contrastive Analysis:
English, Vietnamese Greetings is carried out.
1.2 Aims of the research
The main aim of this study is to discuss Contrastive analysis of
English and Vietnamese Greetings. It is hoped that this analysis will provide
as much information as possible on the most common greetings, frequences
of greetings in use, factors affecting greeting in English and Vietnamese to
help learners of English as a foreign language to achieve effective
communication.

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1.3 Objectives of the research
The aims of the thesis are:
- To study typical ways of greeting in English and Vietnamese by verbal
greetings and nonverbal greetings with illustrations.
- To recognize the similarities and differences of ways of greetings in

English and Vietnamese.
- To find out factors affecting greetings which cause misunderstandings
and culture shocks in English and Vietnamese.
1.4. Scope of the research
- Academic scope:
Due to the duration of time and the length as well as the references
available, the study just mentions ways of verbal and nonverbal greeting in
English, and Vietnamese not mentions written greetings and taboos in
greetings of the two languages. Data I collected and used based on
dictionary, culture articles on the Internet, previous study related to the
study about greeting, books of famous phylologists like Mr Le Quang
Thiem, and results gained from questionaires. Moreover, I did not have
enough time and equipment to record and transcrip nonverbal greetings.
- Social scope:
My participants are foreigners who are using English as their mother
tongue in Vietnam and Vietnamese. Hanoi is an ideal place to meet
foreigners. Therefore, it is easier to ask them to fill out my questionaires in
some famous places. Hanoi and Thai Binh province are the two places I
chose to carry out the study. Moreover, I am a teacher of Hanoi University
of Business and Technology, and have many friends and relatives and my
students working and studying in a variety fields, so they help me to
complete my questionaires.

3


1.5 Significance of the research
This study will also provide valuable information about Vietnamese
customs in greeting. By achieving ways of greeting in English and
Vietnamese, our young generation can widen their knowledge about a

variety of language of Vietnamese language and others. From here, they can
make more meaningful and impressive small talks in important events.
Finally, it will also serve as a future reference for researchers on the subject
of Vietnamese customs.
1.6 Structural organization of the thesis
The study consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 covers rationale, aims,
objectives , scope, significance, and structural organization. Chapter 2
includes two main parts. The first one is literature review which provides
short summary of previous studies and gives strengths and weaknesses of
them. The second one is theoretical background which gives theoretical
discussions to background the topic in focus. Chapter 3 mentions
methodology of the study which shows research questions and research
methods which were used to support for the study. Chapter 4 is designed for
Finding and Discussion part which analyses greeting gestures perceived by
Vietnamese and English native speakers, focuses on some factors effecting
on greetings and certain situations, and discusses the findings on similarities
and differences, especially areas of potential culture shock between the two
cultures in cross- cultural communication. Implication of the study
identifies some application from the study to find out the similarities and
differences when greeting in English and Vietnamese in major cross-culture
and suggestions to avoid culture shock. These are discussed in Chapter 5.
Chapter 6 is Conclusion of the study. It summarizes the study and discuss
the limitation as suggested for further studies.

4


5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Review of previous studies
Review of previous studies
Research 1: Contrastive Analysis: English and Vietnamese Greetings
- Nguyen Thi Bich Hang University of Education. The study indicated the
contrastive analysis of ways of greeting between English and Vietnamese by
listing ways of greeting of each countries, and then compared them. The
study listed many ways of greeting of each country and concerned with the
topics of greeting in each nation. However, the study did not indicate the
frequency of greetings in each language and each situation.
Research 2: Vietnamese and English Greetings: A contrastive
analysis - Tran Thi Bich Hanh, Ho Chi Minh city university of pedagogy.
The study indicated 8 common situations for greeting, then list ways of
greeting in English and Vietnamese by separate aspects not follow the same
situations, then analyzed and give table of the contrast between Vietnamese
and English greeting strategies. However, the study has not refered factors
affecting greeting in English and Vietnames clearly.
Research 3: Greeting

in Vietnamese and English a contrastive

analysis- Dinh Tran Minh Trang, Ho Chi Minh city university of education.
The study is also listed ways of greeting in Vietnamese and English.
However, it has not refered frequency of greeting and factors affecting
greeting in English and Vietnamese.
Research 4: CÁCH CHÀO HỎI CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT VÀ NGƯỜI
MỸ: Những nét Tương đồng và dị biệt, Vũ Minh Huyền. The study, the
author used the situations that Eisenstein and his colleagues –a groups of
people who studied about language used like record, observation, interview
and role play to analyze and give similarities and differences of greeting

strategies.However, the study did not use real datas from native English
speakers, just used results of Eisentein and his colleagues.
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2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Speech act definition
According to Yule (1996), speech act is one of the central phenomena
that any general pragmatic theory must account for. On my occation , the
action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related
acts: locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutioary act. The first one, locutionary
act is the basic act of utterance, of producing a meaningful linguistic
expression . The second one, illocutionary act is the function of the
utterance that speaker has in mind that is what kind of speech act the
utterance counts as. And the last one, perlocutionary act refers to the hearer
recognition of the illocutionary act.
Comunicating is the way to express a certain attitude, and the type of
speech act being perform coresponds to the type of attitude being expressed.
For example, a statement express a belief, a request expresses a disire ad an
apology express regret. As an act of comunication, a speech act succeeds if
the audience idetitifies, in accordace with the speaker’s intention, the
attitude being expressed. Since langugage has been an intentional behavior ,
it should be treated like a form of action.
The speech act is used to express meaning, an utterance with the
speaker’s intention. Normally, the speech act is a sentence , but it can be a
word of a phrase as long as it follows the rules necessary to accomplish the
intention. Whe one speaks, one performs an act. Speech is not just used to
predicate something, but it actually does something. Though making a
statement may be the pragmatic use of language , there are all sort of other
things we can do with words. We can make requests, ask questions, give

orders, give thanks, do greetings, make promises and so on. Speech act
stresses the intent of the act as a whole. Understanding the speaker’s
intention is essential to capture the meaning.

7


According to Dr. Maysa'a Kadhim Jibreen-Department of English
/College of Education/University of Al-Qadisiya, Greeting expression can
be treated as speech acts. Because it is set up to perform someone’s
intention and express the attitudes of the participants, for example: to open
an effective conversation or successful communication, to show respective
attitude, etc.
According to LI Wei (2010), from pragmatic perspective,greeting can
be regarded as locutionary which has a meaning and illocutionary act.
Illocutionary act is conventional act and differs mainly in its immediate
purpose or illocutionary act. However, the understanding of the convert
meaning of greeting by the interlocutions in daily conversation lies in the
routinization of such expressions.
“Greetings are important as well as frequent in everyday social
interactions all over the world. Appropriate greeting behavior is crucial for
the establishment and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. As a
significant aspect of politeness phenomenon, greetings have been studied in
disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics and discourse
analysis, yet there has been no systematic investigation of their use across
different languages from both pragmatic and sociolinguistic perspectives.
Fortunately, Brown and Levinson (1978) have attempted to analyze the
functional application of politeness to the performance of FTAs (Face
Threatening Acts) in order to claim politeness phenomenon as universals in
language use. Laver (quoted in Qian, 1996) has summarized social factors

on the choice of greetings in his descriptive framework.
2.2.2. Definition of greeting
According to Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary, Greet is to say
hello to somebody or to welcome them.
According to Vietnamese – Vietnamese dictionary of
chào (greeting) là tỏ thái độ
8


kính trọng hoặc quan tâm đối với ai bằng lời nói hay cử chỉ, khi gặp nhau
hoặc khi từ biệt.
According to two linguists, Schegloff and Sacks (1973), greetings are
considered as a speech event constituted by two parts side by side.
According to Searle (1969), a greeting is defined as an illocutionary
act which is simpler than other speech acts due to the lack of propositional
content (as cited in Gass & Neu, 1996, p. 90)
Nguyễn Hoàng Sơn, (2014), Lời chào đi trước, Nhà xuất bản Kim
Đồng: “Lời chào là “phương tiện” tình cảm mở đầu cho việc làm quen với
người lạ. Với người quen, lời chào làm tăng thêm tình cảm gắn bó mật thiết
với nhau. “ ( Greeting is a sympathetic mean to make acquaintance for the
first time with a stranger. With a person you know well, greetings helps to
develop our close relationship.)
According to a song named “lời chào của em” ( my greeting)
composed by musicianNghiem Ba Hong- a Vietnamese musician, definition
and meaning of the term “ greeting” are also mentioned clearly” Đi đến nơi
nào lời chào đi trước/ Lời chào dẫn bước con đường bớt xa/ lời chào thành
quà khi gặp các cụ già/ Lời chào thành hoa làm nên bao việc tốt.”(Going
anywhere, greetings come first/ greetings make us feel the long distance of
the road we are walking shorten/ greetings become valuable gift for old
people/ greetings become beautiful flowers of kind activities.)

A greeting is a friendly way of opening a conversation or as a way of
letting the other person know that we have seen them – Mr Duncan, an
English teacher born in Stafford (United Kingdom), who after working for 4
years in China as a teacher of English conversation, returned to the UK and
decided to create free videos (uploaded to YouTube) to teach English to
anyone.

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2.2.3 The pragmatic functions of greeting
2.2.3.1 Greetings as Illocutionary Acts
As Firth (1972:30) comments, greetings are ‘a system of signs that
convey other than overt messages.’ But how do people take the covert
messages (i.e. the intention or goodwill of the speaker) from this intricate
sign system? Austin’s Speech Act Theory is helpful for the explanation of
this phenomenon.
The basic assumption of Austin’s theory is ‘to say something is to do
something’ (Austin, 1962:12). According to him, utterances are the
production of words and sentences on particular occasions by particular
speakers for particular purposes. They are not ends in themselves, but means
to ends – means to affecting listeners in certain ways. They are speech acts
for achieving certain communicative goals. He asserts (Austin, 1962:120)
that speech acts consists of locutionary acts which have a meaning,
illocutionary acts which have a certain force in saying something, and
perlocutionary acts which achieve certain effects by saying something.
Illocutionary acts are conventional acts and differ mainly in their immediate
purpose or illocutionary force. There are thousands of possible illocutionary
acts, such as requests, orders, complaints, promises, etc. According to
Austin (1962), there are six types of illocutionary acts:

Assertives, used for expressing a belief, eg. ‘John is in the library.’
Directives, used to get the addressee to do things, eg. ‘Please close
the door.’
Commissives, used to commit oneself to some future action, eg. ‘I’ll
wash the dishes.’ and ‘Can I do anything for you?’
Expressives, used to express certain feelings toward the hearer, eg.
thanking, apologizing, congratulating, greeting, etc.
Effectives, used to cause changes in institutional state of affairs, eg.
‘You’re dissmissed.’ and ‘You are hereby sentenced to five years in prison.’
10


Verdictives, used to determine institutional state of affairs, eg.
‘Strike’ said by a baseball umpire. According to the above classification of
illocutionary acts, greetings fall into the category of ‘expressives’ and are
therefore should not be taken literally. When an English speaker asks you
‘How are you?’ or ‘How is your work?’, he is not necessarily concerned
much about your physical condition or work, but showing his politeness.
Another interesting example of the expressive aspect of such routines
is the use of the Chinese expression ‘Have you eaten?’. When a Chinese
speaker makes such an inquiry, he is seldom really concerned about whether
you are full or hungry, but intends to make you feel that he is being
considerate to you .The conventional answer is ‘yes’, though often a white
lie, for the negative answer would put the greeting person in an awkward
situation. Actually such a greeting expression is not an invitation but a
means to show the speaker’s warm attitude and consideration towards the
hearer.
The discussion above shows that from pragmatic perspective,
greetings can be regarded as illocutionary acts. Illocutionary force can be
conveyed through these illocutionary acts. However, the understanding of

the covert meaning of greetings by the interlocutors in daily conversation
lies in the routinization of such expressions.
2.2.3.2 Greetings as Linguistic Routines of Politeness
Firth(1972:29-30) suggests that greetings should not be treated as
spontaneous emotional reaction to the coming together of people. For the
most part they are highly conventionalized and follow patterned routines.
Espousing Firth’s view, Laver (quoted in Qian, 1996) makes a further
study of greetings in the linguistic patterns of conversation. He asserts that
greetings as conversational routines are part of the linguistic repertoire of
politeness. They are tools of polite behavior and their use is guided by a

11


polite norm. Based upon his assumption, he employs Brown and Levinson’s
politeness theory to explain the function and use of greetings.
As Laver (quoted in Qian, 1996) comments, the central concept
Brown and Levinson employ in their model is that of ‘face’ after Goffman
(1967). As mentioned earlier, face refers to that emotional and social sense
of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize. They
distinguish negative face (the want that one’s action be unimpeded by
others) and positive face (the want that one’s wants be desirable to at least
some others). If the strategic ends of speakers in conversational act are to be
achieved, various politeness strategies must be used to maintain the
participants’ negative face or to enhance their positive face. In the process
of greetings, such maintenance of enhancement of face has to be taken into
consideration.
For instance, in English, greetings such as ‘Hello!’, ‘How do you do?’
and ‘I am pleased to meet you.’ have to be used to maintain or even enhance
the hearer’s positive face, depending on the status of the participants and the

social setting.
In Chinese, some greetings are frequently used for the sake of
politeness in social interaction as well. For example, ‘Hello!’ and ‘Good
morning!’ as greeting expressions seem to be directed towards the hearer’s
positive face. Greetings such as ‘What are you doing?’ and ‘Where are you
going?’ seem to maintain the speaker’s positive face.
The examples above illustrate some routine expressions used in social
greetings. Both participants normally take each other’s positive or negative
face into consideration.
In short, greetings are important conversational routines in the
negotiation of social relationship and they are constrained by common
social factors. In the following section, the use of greetings and some

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analytical frameworks accounting for the factors that affect the use of
greetings will be discussed.
2.2.4 Greeting classification
“Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings
intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to,
and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social
status (formal or informal) between individuals or groups of people coming
in contact with each other.”- Greeting definition Wikipedia. Greeting habits
are highly cultureand situation - specific and may change within a culture
depending on social status and relationship. The phenomenon exists in all
known human cultures, though. Greetings can be expressed both audibly
and physically (verbal and non-verbal), and often involve a combination of
the two and greetings are often used to begin a conversation. Some epochs
and cultures from different countries and kingdoms have had very elaborate

greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king. Secret societies have clandestine
greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.
Some epochs and cultures from different countries and kingdoms
have had a very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king. Secret
societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize
common membership.

(Figure 1: Greeting in feudalism in Vietnam)

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(Figure 2: Greeting in England)
According to D.R Nguyen Quang “All the components of the message that,
when taken together, constitute the communication which is not verbally
coded but both vocally and non-vocally channeled. Nonverbal greeting is
composed of paralinguistic factors (nonverbal - vocal channel), such as rate,
volume, etc., and extra-linguistic factors (nonverbal-non-vocal
such as body language (gestures, postures,

facial

channel),

expressions…) object

language (including clothing, jewelry…) and environmental language
(proxemics, settings…)”.
Table 1: greeting classified

Verbal greeting can be defined as“The spoken word and includes
actual

words,

intended

and

inferred

inflection”.(By Live strong.com newspaper).
For example:

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meanings,

tone

and

vocal