A Vietnamese - American cross-cultural study on disparaging

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG VÂN

A VIETNAMESE - AMERICAN CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON
DISPARAGING
NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA VIỆT – MỸ VỀ CÁCH THỨC
CHÊ BAI

M.A. Combined Programme Thesis

FIELD

: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

CODE

: 602215

HANOI - 2010


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG VÂN

A VIETNAMESE - AMERICAN CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON
DISPARAGING
NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA VIỆT – MỸ VỀ CÁCH THỨC
CHÊ BAI

M.A. Combined Programme Thesis

Field

: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

Code

: 602215

Supervisor

: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, M.A.

HANOI - 2010


4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of project report ........................................................................i
Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................ii
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................iii
Table of contents .............................................................................................................iv
Lists of figures and tables ................................................................................................v
Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................vi
PART A – INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1
1. RATIONALE ..............................................................................................................1
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY ..............................................................................................2
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .........................................................................................2
4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................2
5. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................3
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ..........................................................................................3
PART B – DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................4
1.1. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION ............................................................4
1.1.1. Language and Culture ........................................................................................4
1.1.2. Cross – Cultural Communication .......................................................................6
1.2. CROSS – CULTURAL PRAGMATICS ...................................................................6
1.3. SPEECH ACTS AND CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH ACTS ..............................8
1.4. POLITENESS ..........................................................................................................11
1.4.1. Politeness and the notion of Face .......................................................................11
1.4.2. Politeness strategies ...........................................................................................14
1.4.3. Social factors affecting politeness ......................................................................17
1.5. DIRECTNESS AND INDIRECTNESS ....................................................................18
1.5.1. Directness (D) and Indirectness (ID) as Communication Styles ..........................18
1.5.2. Socio- Cultural Factors Influencing the Use of Directness and Indirectness In


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Human Interaction .....................................................................................................20
1.6. DISPARAGING .......................................................................................................22
1.6.1. Disparaging as a speech act ..............................................................................22
1.6.2. Disparaging and criticizing ..............................................................................22
1.6.3. Popular topics for disparaging ..........................................................................23
CHAPTER 2 – METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................24
2.1. Survey research as the main method .........................................................................24
2.2. Subject of the study ..................................................................................................24
2.3. Data collection instrument ........................................................................................24
2.4. Data collecting procedures ........................................................................................25
2.5 Comments on the survey questionnaire ......................................................................25
2.6. Comments on the informants ....................................................................................26
CHAPTER 3 – STRATEGIES OF DISPARAGING ...................................................28
3.1. STRATEGIES USED IN DISPARAGING ...............................................................28
3.1.1. 14 main types of disparaging strategies .................................................................28
3.1.2. Integrative disparaging strategies ...........................................................................38
3.2. USE OF DISPARAGING STRATEGIES AS SEEN FROM COMMUNICATING
PARAMETERS ..............................................................................................................40
3.2.1. Data Analysis ........................................................................................................40
3.2.2. Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................50
3.3. USE OF DISPARAGING STRATEGIES AS SEEN FROM
INFORMANTS’PARAMETERS ....................................................................................54
3.3.1. Data Analysis ........................................................................................................54
3.3.2. Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................62
3.4. USE OF DISPARAGING STRATEGIES AS SEEN FROM THE TOPIC OF
DISPARAGING ..............................................................................................................67
3.4.1. Data Analysis ........................................................................................................67
3.4.2. Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................71
PART C – CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................74

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1.

REVIEW OF THE FINDINGS ......................................................................74

2.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY ...............................................................77

3.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY..................................................................77

4.

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ..............................................77

BIBLIOGRAPHY .........................................................................................................79
APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................83
ENGLISH SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES ....................................................................83
VIETNAMESE SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES ............................................................88