MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Vinh UNIVERSITY
NguyEn ThI Mai Hoa
GENDERED LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS
IN NGHE TINH PHUONG VAI SINGING
Specialization: Linguistic theory
CODE: 62.22.01.01

SYNOPSIS OF Ph.D THESIS in IN LINGUISTICS
Vinh - 2010
This thesis has been completed at: Vinh University
Supervisors:
1. Prof. Dr. Diep Quang Ban
2. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Nha Ban
Opponent 1: Associate Pfro. Nguyen Thai Hoa
Opponent 2: Prof. Dr. Hoang Trong Phien.
Opponent 3: Associate Pfro. Pham Hung Viet
The thesis has been defended before the council of examining theses of national lelel at
Vinh University at 8 am of 18 December, 2010
This thesis can be
accessed to at the National Library,
Library of Vinh University, Library of Nghe An Province
PREAMBLE
1. Rationale
Nghe Tinh fork songs Phuong Vai (hát Phường Vải) is a type of special fork poetry
of Nghe Tinh Land which is closely attached to performance environment. The roles of
communication in Phuong Vai are male & female. In this connection, the gendered
language characteristics have direct influence on the contents and forms of the turns.
The study on the gender factors in the Phuong Vai singing will contribute to specify
the luaguage, cultural and human characteristics of the Nghe Tinh Land. Phuong Vai
singing used to be studied by the reseachers from the cultural aspects while less

the expressions of gendered language characteristics of communication roles via the
vocative words, speech acts, in some singing steps, the usage of words, the rhetorical
figures.
- identify similarities and differences in the gendered language characteristics of
Phuong Vai singing;
- adding materials for studing and teaching fork poetry.
5. Study methodology
Key methods used in this study are statistical, descriptive, analitical, inductive,
comparative.
6. Contribution of the thesis
This thesis touches upon a new topic (gendered language) on a classic object with
special characteristics (the Phuong Vai singing), therefore, its contents carry the
newness, not repeating other research works.
a. In theoretical aspects:
- Contributing to clarifying some characteristics of vocative words from gender
aspects, speech acts attched to the communication situations;
- Adding data and materials for studies on gendered language; providing theoretical
basis for studying on some aspects of Phuong Vai singing like procedures, the
performance environment, gender in communication roles, host/guest relationship
- Affirming and adding remarks & comments on the gendered cultural characteristics
of Nghe Tinh Land and its people.
b. In practice:
- Providing materials for studying on gendered language, on fork poetry of Nghe
Tinh Land
- Adding teaching & learning materials on fork poetry and the contents related to the
art of using words.
- Making contribution to affirming the roles of Phuong Vai singing in creating
cultural values of Nghe Tinh Land.
7. Structure of the study:
Apart from the preamble and conclusions, the thesis is consisted of 4 chapters:

exchange, and the interaction between Sp1 (speaker) and Sp2 (listener) which is
arranged in the sequence of alternate asking or challenging/responding phrases
between the conversation participants, so called the coordination of the turns.
The interaction must observe certain regulations & rules. According to Grice (1975),
the cooperative principle of the conversation is specified into 4 principles of lower
level, called the maxims of conversation including the maxim of quantity, the maxim
of quality, the maxim of relation, the maxim of manner. When the speaker intentionally
breaks a maxim of conversation, it means that the speaker informs an implicit meaning
by implicature and the listener should be able to interprete this implicature.
The Phuong Vai is love exchange singing, therefore, most of the Phuong Vai’s turns
accoomodate conversational implicature. In this connection, the issues related to the
language of the communication roles are looked into based on the conversational
implicature.
1.2. Speech acts
Speech acts are those undertaken with utterance (appology/excuse, complaint, guide,
agreement, warning ). According to Searle, in order to undertake speech acts, 4
preconditions are needed: contents condition, preparatory condition, sincerity
condition, essential condition; 5 levels of speech acts are associated with 5 overall
functions of speech acts: declaratives, representatives, expressives, directives,
commissives. The speech acts touched upon in this thesis are based on Searle’s system
of categorization.
1.3. Language and sex/gender
Sex is a concept to show the physical (biological) differences between men and
women; gender is a concept to show the social relations, the social status correlation
between men and women in specific social context. Sex shows natural functions,
mostly unchanged while the factors related to gender change when the conditions
prescribing them change.
Sex factors have influence on language, creating differences between male and female
languages in 3 aspects: the pronunciation of each sex, language about each sex and the
language style. Those differences are shaped due to many causes: natural cause – the

of the 2 types of most typical and popular fork songs of Nghe Tinh land that have
relatively strict procedures. In order to look at the sex of the communication roles, the
materials on the Phuong Vai singing have been categorized into 3 groups of turns 1)
Group of turns in which the sex of the speech owner can be defined; 2) group of turns
in which the sex of the speech owner can hardly be defined; 3) group of turns in which
the sex of the speech owner cannot be defined. The group 3) is not looked into in this
thesis since the sex of the communication roles is not defined. The total number of
surveyed turns in this thesis is 1,745 including 767 male turns and 978 female turns.
1.7. Summary of chapter I
Communication in Phuong Vai singing has performance characteristics, thereby, the
linguistics functions of the Phuong Vai singing are mainly interpersonal functions. In
the Phuong Vai singing, communication roles are looked at in their interactions via the
form of asking or challenging/responding of the singing conversation. The choice of
the language of communication roles in the Phuong Vai is influenced with the factors
related to social attributes of the roles such as sex, age, occupation, personal
background, educational level etc
In the conversation, each singing phrase (solo or pair of exchange) is considered as a
turn which is undertaken in the alternate roles procedure. This is the basis for defining
the concept of conversation mainly understood in this thesis as dialogue between 2
main communication roles: male (male camp) and female (female camp). On the other
hand, given the constraints, the thesis only studies the language of the Phuong Vai via
the system of turns in the text form, not in the performance context, therefore, it does
not look at the non-verbal factors, that are very important for fork cultural activities &
practices like the Phuong Vai.
CHAPTER 2: GENDER OF THE COMMUNICATION ROLES EXPRESSED
THROUGH THE VOCATIVE WORDS
IN THE PHUONG VAI SINGING
2.1. Communication roles in the Phuong Vai singing
2.1.1. Identifying the communication roles
Loking at the roles, the participants to a Phuong Vai performance include the singer,

82 56 2 3 3 2 148
Hát chào/
Greeting &
welcoming
7 31 0 0 0 0 38
Hát mừng/
Congratuations
12 36 0 4 4 0 56
Hát hỏi/ Asking 0 5 22 32 32 22 113
Hát đố hát đối/
Posing riddle,
repartees
2 18 10 124 124 10 288
Hát mời/
Inviting
8 47 8 14 14 8 99
Hát xe kết/
Emotions
exposing
307 372 42 53 54 42 870
Hát tiễn/ Seeing
off
21 84 2 12 12 2 133
Total 439 649 86 242 243 86 1745

2.1.2. The interaction and inter-personal relationship between the roles of
communication in the Phuong Vai
The interaction is reflected through the mangement of the turns of the communication
roles and via the exchange management. The inter-personal relationship is based on
two axes: the axis of social power and social distance.

(male or female) of the actors indicated by the personal pronouns depends upon the
context, text or logical judgements.
2.2.2. Vocative words in the Phuong Vai:
The system of diverse vocative words makes the repartees in the Phuong Vai to have
scholarly and fork characteristics at the same time.
Besides, in the Phuong Vai, there exists the system of turns in which the vocative
words are absent in either 1
st
or 2
nd
persons or in both persons including 452/767 male
turns (58.9%), 589/978 female turns (60.2%). As a language of the communication art,
the phenomenon of the vocative words absence in the Phuong Vai is popular and is not
considered impolite.
2.2.3. Some vocative patterns in reference to gender of the roles of communication
According to the survey findings, male roles use 23 vocative words, words
combinations at the 1
st
person; 47 vocative words, words combinations at the 2
nd
person. The female roles use 21 vocative words, words combinations at the 1
st
person,
37 vocative words, words combinations at 2
nd
person. There is also a system of
common vocative words including group of truly personal words: tôi, ta (I), đôi ta (we
both) ; group of words which are not truly personal, to be used as temporarily
vocative words: mình (I), ai (who), cố nhân (old friend), tri âm (soul mate), bạn
(friend), người (person)… The survey results show that the vocative words in male

2.2.5. Culture of Nghe Tinh people expressed via their vocative ways
In the Phuong Vai, Nghe Tinh people express their cultural identity through the
formation of the "I/self” which is harmonized with the "we", at the same time showing
personal characteristics through the vocative way. Specifically: (1) Using vocative
words at the first person, singular at a high rate to show the singer's courage; (2) Using
indicative vocative words which contributes to define & speficy the roles of
communication in the Phuong Vai without mixing them with the community &
collective, at the same time to demonstrate the capacity of the Phuong Vai’s
participants in responding flexibly; (3) Incoporating personal names of the roles of
communication in the turns for the sake of provdiing information on identity, and
showing the capacity of flexible response of the participants as well as the
attractiveness of the unpredictability of the performance.
2.3. Summary of chapter II
In the Phuong Vai, the roles of communication are taken by two camps: female (as
hosts) and male (as guests). The gender of the communication roles is best expressed
via the vocative words. With a system of rich, diverse and relatively flexible vocative
words that are free of pattern, the Phuong Vai has distinctive features as compared with
other types of fork songs of Nghe Tinh like hát ví, hát dặm
3
…, as well as folk songs
from other regions. Also, the vocative way also reflects the ego of the communication
roles: being smart, witty, self-confident & courageous.
The inter-personal relationship between the roles of communication in the Phuong Vai
is also expressed in two axes: the axis of power and axis of distance. However, it tends
to express the equality, solidarity to narrow down the gap/distance between women and
men. This is clearly shown in several aspects: using vocative words, expression of
ideas, thoughts, emotions through the stages and steps of a singing performance
Especially, as hosts, the female role is usually in proactive position, being relatively
confident in communication, while the male role, as guests, is put into passive position,
lacking self-confidence and sometimes proved to be confused & embarrassed. It can be

turns), the questions (to host) about the family/marrital status occur only in male roles
(12 turns). The questions to get to know the attitudes, emotions equally occur for male
and female roles (27% for men, 24% for women). Concerning the way of asking, men
often use direct questions, showing proactiveness, daring attitude & confidence, while
women only use this way of asking to learn about the family background, history. In
order to express emotions, women usually use metaphor with discreet, subtle &
delicate attitudes.
- The act of posing riddle, challege/ repartees in the ‘hát đố hát đối’ is mainly the
challenges set by female roles to the male roles (including136/150 female turns,
accounting for 90.7%). The following contents are usually touched upon: asking about
practical knowledge, bookish knowledge, asking about things & phenomena that do
not exist in reality.
- The act of inviting in the ‘hát mời’ step appears mostly in female turns with 66 turns,
including the following contents: inviting to come in the house (35 turns, 53%);
inviting to perform (8 turns, accounting for 12.1%) , inviting to chew betel, drink,
smoke (23 turns, representing 34.9%). The male roles only perform the act of
responding to the invitation.
- The act of showing/exposing love, vows, blaming in the ‘hát xe kết’/emotions
exposing step includes:
The contents of exposing love describe the nuances of emotions, express the opinions
on love, marriage, share the dreams, the feelings of uncertainty about the love, the
happiness of the couple; promoting and honoring personal values. The proportion of
love exposing turns is higher in male roles than in female roles which demonstrates the
proactive and self-confident attitudes of men and the timid, reserved attitudes of
women.
The contents of vows: With 51 female turns, 33 male turns, the act of vowing in the
‘hát xe kết’ step focuses on affirming the faith, cohesiveness, determination to preserve
love, despite all difficulties and challenges.
The contents of blaming include blaming oneself, others, parents, matchmakers. This
act occurs in female roles more often than in male roles with 45/74 female turns,

Table 4.1: Words on gender in the Phuong Vai
Gender
Word groups
Indicating men Indicating women
# words # turns # words # turns
Indicating gender 39 110 30 80
Indicating kinship relationship 12 173 21 167
Indicating appearance 4 6 46 106
Indicating talent, quality 14 18 23 31
Indicating work 19 48 22 38

The survey results show:
- The words indicating gender are diverse with more words indicating men than
women; there do not occur the words having negative meanings indicating women
such as ‘đĩ rạc’/whore, slut, ‘mụ ăn mày’/beggar woman, ‘con đĩ’/prostitue, harlot
The men indicating words mainly occur in female turns (61%) while the women
indicating words mainly occur in male turns (65%).
- The gendered words indicating kinship relationships are modest in quantity but have
higher usage frequency; there are less words indicating men than women.
- The gendered words indicating appearance have high frequency of occurence. The
number of words indicating women’s appearance is 11.5 times higher than for men
(and the frequency is 17.7 times higher); these words are not evenly distributed in male
and female turns: the words descrbing men’s appearance mainly occur in female turns
(83%) while the words describing women’s appearance mainly occur in male turns
(75%).
- The gendered words indicating talent, quality, manner have low usage frequency and
the number of words indicating women is higher than men. The vocabulary describing
men mainly occurs in female turns (15/18 turns, accounting for 83%) while words
describing women mainly occur in male turns (26/31 turns, accounting for 84%), thus
ensuring the objectivity and reflecting the respect that the participants to Phuong Vai

while those words indicating distant past (definite or indefinite) occupy a larger
percentage with relatively diverse expressions of strong local identity like bấy chầy
(since then), bấy lâu/so long, khi tê, ngảy rày (long since), ri lâu (for a long time)
Table 4.2. Words indicating time in the Phuong Vai
Time # male turns # female turns
Past 17 27
Past – present 19 12
Present 87 109
Future 26 50

Words indicating the past - present time: The frequency in male turns is higher than in
female turns, concentrating in the last stage of singing to blame (blaming the change,
betrayal): bấy lâu/mấy lâu (so long) – bây giờ/now, năm xưa/in olden times, in the old
days – giờ/now,
Words indicating the present time: the most popular are the words indicating present
time, expressed via the adverbs like ‘nay’/now, ‘bây giờ’/for the time being There
are also words describing the present time in association with the appearance of the
communication subject: mới/just (tới/come, arrive, bước ra/step out, bước vào/step in,
gặp/meet), vừa lúc/just as, vừa khi/just when ; the words combinations describing the
space with the time movement: đầu hôm đến sáng/ since the nightfall till the morning,
năm ngoái lại giờ/since last year till now
Words indicating the future time: This group of words does not occupy a large
percentage, concentrates in the steps of hát mời/inviting, hát xe kết/emotions exposing
và hát tiễn/seeing off, closely associated with the expression of vows, feelings, dreams,
hope (rày mai (nay mai/in the near future ), vài ba năm nữa/in a few years, (đến/till)
tháng hai/February, (đến/till) giêng hai/first and second months of lunar new year );
reminding/making carefull recommendations, making a date before saying
goodbye/farewell (mai/tomorrow, sáng mai/tomorrow morning, trưa mai/noontime
tomorrow, midday tomorrow, tối mai/tomorrow evening, mai ra/tomorrow moring… )
4.3.2. Words indicating the space

of female turns), including geographical names of famous mountains like núi Hồng
Lĩnh (non Hồng, Ngàn Hống), Hoành Sơn, Bằng Sơn, Hùng Sơn, Nội Sơn, Tam Sơn,
núi Dồi ; of rivers like sông Lam (Lam Giang, Lam Thuỷ, sông Rum), sông Giăng,
sông Vịnh, sông Lường , of market places, pagodas, temples, bridges, wharf, ports; of
villages, communes and districts associated with specific names of the Phuong Vai’s
artists, thus preventing Phuong vai from being indefinite and showing own features of
the singer.
4.4. The art of punning and ‘citation of classical phrase’
The rhetorical figures used in the Phuong Vai are very diverse. However, this thesis
just selects only two figures of higher frequency of occurrence: the art of punning and
‘citation of classical phrase’, which play an important role in creating own nuances &
features of the Phuong Vai as compared to other types of ‘hát ví’.
4.4.2. Art of pun
In the Phuong Vai, punning is a dominant rhetorical figure, used in 210 turns
(including 121 female turns accounting for 57.6%; 89 male turns accounting for
42.4%). It is expressed in many forms (see Table 4.11).
Table 4.11. Rhetorical figures in the Phuong Vai
Figures of punning # male
turns
# female
turns
Exploitation of phonetic phenomena of words & phenomena of
Sino-Vienamese characters
38 43
Exploitation of lexical – semantic phenomena 37 60
Exploitation of Grammatical phenomena 5 5
Posing riddle based on the vers of poem ‘Kieu’ (of Nguyen
Du)
5 6
Combination of figures 4 7

people on happiness of the couple’s love. It at the same time highlights the
characteristics of the Phuong Vai girls: although they lack of education, but still gain a
proactive position in the steps of hát đố, hát đối, through using literary classical
references in a sharp, sophisticated manner, thus creating tough ‘challenge phrases’
that confuse the opposing camp many times.
4.5. Summary of chapter IV
Through using the gender-specific words & symbols system, the artisitic tools, the
communication roles in the Phuong Vai convey & reflect not only rich emotions and
the internal life, but also the sharp mind, the intelligence and the talent in making
flexible repartees. The words & symbols system carries neutral or possitive nuances
towards diealization, showing the attitude of honoring the beauty and talent of people,
including men and women, according to feudal standards (talented men, beautiful
women). In the Phuong Vai, there are almost no words carrying negative meanings
showing gender discrimination & stigma. Besides, the high prequency of turns using
some quite common language arts in daily communication of Nghe tinh people such as
slangs, homonym, idioms, proverbs, and literary classical references… reflects clearly
the wisdom of the Phuong Vai’s artists. These factors themselves create special values
of the Phuong Vai.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The Phuong Vai is one of the "speciality"of the Nghe Tinf culture, which has gained
much attention and interest of the reseachers and has been studied from different
aspects. Later on, the Phuong Vai of Nghe Tinh is studied in a more systematic, diverse
and in-depth manner. The previous studies findings show that the issue of the Phuong
Vai in the relationship with gendered communication roles had never been touched
upon before and this is a central topic of this thesis. Based on linguistic theory, the
study results on some specific aspects, associated with the communication roles such as
vocative words, speech acts, rhetorical figures, serve as a basis for making some initial
remarks about the similarities and differences in the communication language of men
and women in the Phuong Vai.
2. The results of surveying on the system of vocative words in the Phuong Vai show

used. However, most of the singing steps are connected with specific communication
purposes. Therefore, they correspond with specific speech act groups (the act of
greeting & welcoming in the step of greeting and welcoming, the act of asking in the
asking step, the act of posing riddle/ challenge in the step of riddle & challenge, the act
of inviting in the step of invitation Being influenced by both factors: the position of
the communication participant (host/guest) and gender factors (male/female), the rate
turns in the speech act groups as well as in each singing step of the communication role
is not corresponding. As hosts, the girls have a chance to win the proactive position
with a higher propotion of turns in most of the speech acts for the rites of hospitality
welcoming, inviting The male roles have higher rate of turns in the speech acts for
the rites of responding to the greeting and invitation. This rate is consistent with
Vietnamese communication cultute in the rites of hospitality. Or in the step of hát xe
kết, the proportion of male turns is higher than female in the act group of presenting,
wishing while the proportion of female turns is higher in the act group of promising,
vowing, which reflects the proactiveness of men and the passiveness of women in love
exchange in the patrilineal society. Only in the step of hát đố hát đối/riddle & repartee
which is considered the most difficult singing step, female roles completely dominate