An investigation into starting and closing telephone conversations between friends and relatives in American English and Vietnamese

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

LE THI QUY

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STARTING AND CLOSING
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES IN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE
NGHIÊN CỨU PHẦN MỞ ĐẦU VÀ KẾT THÚC CUỘC HỘI THOẠI QUA
ĐIỆN THOẠI GIỮA BẠN BÈ VÀ NGƯỜI THÂN TRONG TIẾNG ANH
MỸ VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

Hanoi - 2010


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

LE THI QUY

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STARTING AND CLOSING
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES IN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE
NGHIÊN CỨU PHẦN MỞ ĐẦU VÀ KẾT THÚC CUỘC HỘI THOẠI QUA
ĐIỆN THOẠI GIỮA BẠN BÈ VÀ NGƯỜI THÂN TRONG TIẾNG ANH
MỸ VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT
M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Supervisor: NGUYEN THI THOM THOM, M.A

Hanoi - 2010


iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .................................................................................................... i
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................... vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1
1.Rationale............................................................................................................. 1
2.Aims and Significance of the study ..................................................................... 2
3.Scopes of the study ........................................................................................... 3
4.Methods of the study........................................................................................... 3
5.Design of the study ............................................................................................. 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 5

1.1Theoretical Background .................................................................................... 5
1.1.1Communication and telephone communication .......................................... 5
1.1.2Conversation and telephone conversation ................................................... 7
1.1.3Characteristics of a telephone conversation discourse ............................... 9
1.1.4The characteristic of a telephone conversation interaction ........................ 10
1.2Prior research on telephone conversations. ...................................................... 10
1.2.1Telephone openings ................................................................................. 11
1.2.2Telephone closings ................................................................................... 13
1.3Summary ........................................................................................................ 14
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY .............................................................................. 16
2.1Data collecting procedure ............................................................................... 16
2.1.1Instruments .............................................................................................. 16
2.1.2Participants .............................................................................................. 17


5

2.2Data analysis ................................................................................................... 17
2.2.1Findings from the data corpus .................................................................. 17
2.2.2Findings from the survey questionnaire .................................................... 25
2.2.3The similarities and differences of starting and closing telephone
conversations in American English and Vietnamese ...................................... 30
2.3Summary ........................................................................................................ 33
PART C: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 34
1.Summary of the findings ................................................................................... 34
2.Limitations of the study .................................................................................... 36
3.Implications and suggestions for further research .............................................. 37
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 39
Website: ............................................................................................................... 41
1. ................................................. 41

APPENDIX #1 ....................................................................................................... I
COMMON FRAMEWORK ................................................................................... I
Note: AmE: American English .................................................................. II
APPENDIX #2 ...................................................................................................... II
TRANSCRIPTION (American native speakers) ................................................... II
III
APPENDIX #3 .....................................................................................................XI
TRANSCRIPTION (Vietnamese native speakers) ............................................... XI
APPENDIX #4 ................................................................................................... XX
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For American Native Speakers) ....................... XX
APPENDIX #5 ............................................................................................... XXIII
BẢN CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (Dành cho người Việt bản ngữ) ...................... XXIII


vi

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1. Frequency of the callees speak first .................................................... 26
Figure 2. Frequency of greeting the callers/ callees ........................................... 27
Figure 3. Frequency of asking what the caller/ callee doing .............................. 27
Figure 4. Frequency of the callees initiate final closing ..................................... 29
Figure 5. Frequency of expressing joy about engaging in the conversation ..... 29
Figure 6. Frequency of giving reasons to end the phone ................................... 30
Table 1. Occurrences of opening sequences ....................................................... 18
Table 2. Occurrences of closing sequence .......................................................... 22
Table 3. Sample of interaction with four phases analysis .................................. 23
Table 4. Frequency of acts in the openings......................................................... 25
Table 5. Frequency of acts in the closings .......................................................... 28
Table 6. Common opening patterns ...................................................................... I
Table 7. Common closing patterns ...................................................................... II

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AmE: American English
V1: Vietnamese
V: Vietnamese people
A: American People
T: Transcription