HANOI - 2010

Vietnam national university, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHÙNG THỊ ĐỨC A VIETNAMESE – ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL
STUDY ON THE USE OF RESPONDING TO
ENGLISH GREETINGS


ABSTRACT iii
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
I. Rationale 1
II. Aims of the study 2
III. Scope of the study 2
IV. Methodology 3
V. Design of the study 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter One: Literature Review 4
1.1. Language in communication 4
1.2. Language and culture 5
1.3. Cross-cultural communication 6
1.4. Cross-cultural pragmatics 7
1.4.1. Speech acts 7
1.5. An overview of greetings in English and Vietnamese 12
1.5.1. Definition of greetings 12
1.5.2. Functions of greetings 12
1.5.3. Characteristics of greetings 13
1.5.3.1. Addressing forms in greetings 14
1.5.3.1.1. Addressing forms in Vietnamese greeting 14
1.5.3.1.2. Addressing forms in English greetings 15
1.5.4. Types of greetings 16
1.5.4.1.Greetings in passing 17
v
1.5.4.2.Greeting before a conversation 17
1.5.4.3. Greetings in Business. 18
1.5.4.4. Greeting at a social event ( at a party) 19
1.5.4.5. Greetings in the classroom 20
1.6. Responding to a greeting in the light of Cross-Cultural Pragmatics 21
Chapter two: RESEARCH AND METHODOLODY 23

result, English has been learnt more properly and used more effectively.
However, in reality, Vietnamese learners of English often make mistakes in
communicating with English speakers. This is mostly caused by the effect of Vietnamese
culture and the limitation of understanding about English culture. One of the most
important parts in almost every conversation is greeting which generally plays an
important role in communication and functions as a start of a conversation or indentify the
appearance of speakers or to express the respect to the listener. In addition, greetings help
to establish, maintain a relationship and facilitates the conversation.
Greeting is the first step of the communication. The continual step is responding to the
greeting, a decisive agent assuring the success of the communicating. Thus, it is essential
to take great interest in not only what and how we greet each other but also what and how
we respond to greetings. Although greetings and responses are, to some extent, formulaic,
choosing a relevant response to a greeting is not an easy job. In fact, many Vietnamese
people failed to continue their conversation in English due to not only language ability but
also understanding about the culture of target language, English. In many cases, when
being greeted by a foreigner, many English learners feel confused to find out a good and
relevant response, some people cannot respond their 
Realizing the important role of responding to greetings, the author has chosen to study
Vietnamese and English cross-cultural communication in term of responding to greetings
with the expectation of finding out the similarities and differences between Vietnamese
and English responses to greetings then suggest relevant responses to greetings in specific
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situations, which partly helps English learners in Vietnam have more confidence and
achieve more success in communicating in English.
II. Aims of the study
The ultimate goal of this research is
- to investigate the specific situations of responding the greetings among learners of
English with certain variables (i.e. age, gender, social hierarchy, etc.)
- to provide readers general information about English and Vietnamese greetings
and the way they reply a greeting in their own language

will be analyzed by the statistics, data, and description collected. Besides, some
comments and suggestions are also given by personal observations or consultation with
the supervisor.
V. Design of the study
This study consists of three main parts. Part I - Introduction- In this first part, all the
theoretical background and academic routines are discussed. In part B  Development
focuses on the 3 chapters. In chapter I, cross-cultural and responding to a greeting are
defined cultural pragmatics and replying a greeting are mentioned. In this chapter, the
author distinguishes the differences and the similarities between responding to greeting in
English and Vietnamese. In the next chapter, the research methodology is discussed with
analysis and findings from the survey questionnaires conducted by the Vietnamese and
English. Part III is the conclusion of the study, here, the author summarize all the main
ideas, the important findings as well as some suggestions
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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter One: Literature Review

1.1. Language in communication
   
because it creates the distinguishing between man and beast. Since language has become a
part of the development of man and his society, it is impossible to distance language from
people.
Language includes a system of verbal forms of communication which conveys meaning by
other means of human communication and a system of non-verbal cues such as body
motions, facial expressions, etc. According to Schmidt and Richard (91980:161),
  

       communication which uses structured vocal

Oxford Companion To The English Language. 1996:523)

definition that is the most widely cited by Goodenough (1992:217)

in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one
of themselves
In this definition, culture is seen as a shared background (e.g. national, ethic, religious)
resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes
and values. Therefore, culture is also absorbed through the socialization process.
              

The socio-cultural context reflects the social and cultural practices of a community through
language. It is not difficult to interpret culture through language because language reflects
cultural identity which people meet daily in their lives. Additionally, thanks to language,
cultural values and ideas, human culture would be persevered by generations to
generations. In its turn, culture has a great influence on the way in which language is used.
Culture itself navigates guidelines or practices for linguistic behavior. To add this sense,
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      he final arbiter of meaning, or linguistic

), language is one of the most important symbol systems
in any culture, thus, there is no surprise that language and culture should be taught and
learned in the foreign or second language classrooms as learning a new language means
learning a new culture.
1.3. Cross-cultural communication
Obviously, cultural components play an important role in conveying the message of
communication. People living in a cultural environment gradually learn the language,
beliefs and behavior of the group in which they re nurtured. They know and understand the
manners which are acceptable in their society. Thus, there is an understanding between
those who share the same culture. However, when people from different cultural
backgrounds, cross-cultural communication occurs. Jose, P (1992) states:
Things happen as entities from different cultures directly and constantly communicate.

dynamic process which involves different contributions of both speaker and hearer as well
as the context and the         
(1992:284), when mentioning pragmatics, it is obvious that researchers have to answer the

on knowledge of the real world?, How do speakers use and understand speech acts? And
How is the structure of sentences influenced by the relationship between the speaker and
          
communication are so important that they can be distance from interpreting the real
meaning of each utterance.
1.4.1. Speech acts
In attempting to express themselves, people do not only produce utterances containing
grammatical structures and words, they perform actions via those utterances. If you work

 is more than just statement. This utterance can be used to perform the act of ending
you employment. However, the actions performed by utterances do not have to be as
dramatic or as unpleasant as in this example. The action can be quite pleasant, as in the
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compliment performed by the acknowledgement of thanks in or the expression of surprise
for instance, ,  or even 
Action performed via utterances are generally called speech acts and in
English are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology,
complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request and greetings.
(George Yule, 1996)
            

his or her communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer. Both speaker and
hearer are usually helped in this process by the circumstances surrounding the utterance.
This circumstances, including other utterances, are called the speech event. In many ways,
it may be the nature of the speech event that determines t he interpretation of an utterance
as performing a particular speech act.

The examples below illustrate that the speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a
specific context, in order to perform a declaration appropriately.
E.g.
Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife.
.
* Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be
the case or note. Statements of fact assertions, conclusions, and descriptions, as illustrated
in the following examples:
E.g.
(a) The earth is flat.
(b) It was a warm sunny day.
* Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels. They express
psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow.
As illustrated in the following examples, they can be caused by something the speaker does

E.g.
(a) 
(b) Congratulations!
(c) Oh, yes, great, mmmm, ssahhh!

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* Directives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone else to do
something. They express what the speaker wants. They commands, orders, requests,
suggestions, and, as illustrated in the below examples, they can be positive and negative
E.g.
(a) Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black.
(b) Could you lend me a pen, please?
(c) 
* Commissives: commit the speaker to do something such as promises, threats, etc. In
using a commissive, the speaker undertakes to make the world fit the words via the speaker

Permissives
Advisories
Promises
Offers

Apologise
Condote
Congratulate
Greet
Thank
Bid
Accept
Reject
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Direct and indirect speech acts
A different approach to distinguishing types of speech acts can be made on the basis of
structure. A fairly simple structural distinction between three general types of speech act is
providing, in English, by the three basic sentence types. As shown in the below examples,
there is an easily recognized relationship between the three structural forms (declarative,
interrogative, and imperative) and the three general communicative functions (statement,
question, and command/request):
For example:
You wear a seat belt (declarative)
Do you wear a seat belt? (interrogative)
Wear a seat belt (imperative)
Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a function, we have a direct
speech act. Whenever there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a function,
we have an indirect speech act. Thus, a declarative used to make a statement is a direct
speech act, but a declarative used to make a request is an indirect speech act. As illustrated
in  is a declarative. When it is used to make a statement, as paraphrased


utterances leading up to and subsequently reacting to that central action. In most cases, a
 not made by means of a single speech act suddenly uttered.
1.5. An overview of greetings in English and Vietnamese
1.5.1. Definition of greetings
Greeting is one of the most frequently and openly speech acts used in everyday
conversation. In all languages, it has the same purpose: to establish contact with
another person, to recognize his or her existence and to show friendliness. (Tillitt,
1965:5).
1.5.2. Functions of greetings
According to Goody (1972: 40) greetings have three major functions. First, they open a
sequence of communicative acts between two persons, irrespective of their positions.
Second, they are a means of defining and affirming both identity and rank. Third, a mode
of deference manipulates a relationship in order to achieve a specific result because the
standardized forms of greeting contain an element of difference which is status enhancing.
Briefly, greetings in almost every language generally help to establish and maintain a
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relationship and to facilitate the conversation. However, the formulas for greetings are very
specific and usually do not carry any literal meaning. People say:  even
if it is a miserable day and may reply to  with even if they
are not feeling well.
Firth (19972:2) in studying functions 
the establishment or perpetuation of a social relationship, the recognition of the other

refusal of a greeting to someone known is a denial of him as a social entity.
1.5.3. Characteristics of greetings
Although greetings are used differently in each situation, they are formulaic. Laver (1981)
             e

           

maze. It is partly true and understandable because Vietnamese addressing system is one of
the most complicated features in Vietnamese language that even its people find it difficult
to. Normally, every form of addressing is based on a relationship such as family
relationship and job relationship. However, choosing a term to address someone in greeting
is a complicated job, which depends on the speaker-hear relative power such as age, status,
societal hierarchy and so on is strict in its application. Unlike many languages which have
           
English. The use of one term, furthermore, is not given a firm consideration
   (aunt) for example, can be very formal as it is used to represent a
relationship similar to family relationship. The impact of power and solidarity is obviously
found in the use of addressing terms, and hence, there is a great variation of address forms
that can be traced in Vietnamese, such as the use of title, kinship term, name, etc.
In Vietnamese, address terms are widely used in greetings. We can easily realize that a
greeting in Vietnamese is commonly begun with the greeting phrase. The next is an
address term which is selected basing on the relationship between the speakers and the


It should be noticed that the use of first name in greetings is often found in common cases.
In fact, the construction of Vietnamese names are not similar to most of the Western
names, which consist of first name and then family name or surname. They family name in
Vietnamese comes first. Rarely do Vietnames
15

. Full names are sometimes used in very formal situations and
accompanied by a title.
For example:
!
.

kinship term. The title is often used only in formal greetings uttered by those who are at

1.5.4. Types of greetings
             
Speaking naturallymajor types
basing on the formality of the communicating contexts: formal greetings and informal
greetings. A greeting seen as a formal or informal one is determined by the particular
context in which the greeting is uttered. Besides, the formality of a greeting is dependent
on the choice of vocabulary and structure. Sometimes, you say a quick hello as you are
passing somebody. At the other times, a greeting can lead to a conversation. In addition,
friends and family members greet each other in a casual way. Business greetings are more
formal.
It can be defined that greetings forms in the Vietnamese culture is a long-established aspect
that could be viewed from different angles of culture, including the direct greetings and
indirect greetings. Besides, like other languages where greeting forms are uttered with the

          
. In deed,
an addressing term, an announcement, a request, a complement, a remind or questions for
direction, health, meal, work etc. are used as the substitutes for a direct greeting in
particular contexts.
English greetings are similar to greetings in almost every language because they are
formulaic and used in each case with different purposes. Furthermore, English greetings
you do?
                
conversation. Thus, it is difficult to make a format for English greetings. Firth (1972)
categorizes greetings in English into three linguistic forms: an interjection, a question or
an affirmation. On the other hand, they can be divided into two types of greetings: formal
greetings and informal greetings. The formal greetings like  How
 are mainly used by the members of elder people or when meeting someone the
first time. The less formal (informal) greetings are used more commonly in the younger
generations or routines.

after a long time without seeing one other. This situation can happen to those who meet
each other for the first time or those whose relationship is close. Between very close
18
friends, it is common to use names in an informal greeting. Sometimes, nicknames or short
forms are used.
The below conversation is a well-illustrated example to know more about this greeting in
this situation. Between very close friends it is uncommon to use names in a casual
greeting. Sometimes nicknames or short forms are used. (Cor and Jen instead of Corey and
Jennifer)
A: Hi Corey.
B: Hey, Jennifer. Good to see you. (hug)
A: You too. How've you been?
B: Busy, you?
A: Pretty good. How's your new job?
B: It's okay. There's a lot to learn. What's new with you?
A: Not much. The kids are back at school.
1.5.4.3. Greetings in Business.
Proper etiquette is important in business greetings, thus, using formal and polite language
for greeting should be noticed. Formal greetings are suggested as below:
Good morning, Mr. Evans!
Good morning, Dr. Conners!
How do you do?
Good morning! How are you?
These following expressions should be useful in conversations
 Please have a seat.
 Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.
 He'll be right with you.
 Can I offer you something to drink?
 My pleasure
In the below conversation, the readers may find more interesting things about using the

A: Actually, Jane is my cousin. Our moms are sisters.
B: No way! You two don't look anything alike.
1.5.4.5. Greetings at a friend’s house
20
 not only the host but also other
people. You may meet your relatives, your friends or your roommates. You sometimes
greet those whom you have never met before. Say hello and introduce yourself. A
conversation may or may not follow.
 You can call me
 Thanks for coming.
 Thanks for having me.
 I've heard so much about you.
 It's nice to put a face to a name.
 You have a beautiful home.

A: Hi Mike. I've heard all about you. Jesse says you love to play guitar.
B: Yes I do, Mrs. Simpson. Nice to meet you.
A: We're glad to finally be able to meet you. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.
B: Is there anything I can do to help?
A: No, everything is pretty much ready. We're just waiting on the roast. I hope you like
roast beef.
B: Yes, of course. Jesse tells me you are a fabulous cook.
1.5.4.6. Greetings in the classroom
In the classroom, you are to greet your teachers and classmates. Generally, studying
environment does not always require formality in communicating, even with teachers but
for newcomers to the class, greeting them formally rather than informally. It is polite to
greet a new student that joins your class. Introductions immediately follow this type of
greeting.
 I'm from (city or country)
 I hear it's beautiful/hot/expensive there.

preferred of the second part, replying. The preferred of the replying is the expectation of
politeness, satisfaction and respect achieved by using appropriate ways to response the
greeting.