Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A Vietnamese – Filipino cross cultural study on greetings and responses

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This study is conducted with the hope to make some comparisons between the ways Vietnamese and Filipino people greet each other, especially among those working in companies. Main focus is going to be put on verbal language in the business circumstance. The results of this study may be useful for any Vietnamese student who wants to take a business course in The Philippines; or for the Filipino who want to study, travel or do business in Vietnam.

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Nội dung Text: Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A Vietnamese – Filipino cross cultural study on greetings and responses

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES CHU THỊ NGỌC A VIETNAMESE – FILIPINO CROSS CULTURAL STUDY ON GREETINGS AND RESPONSES NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA VIỆT NAM – PHI-LÍP-PIN TRONG CÁCH CHÀO HỎI VÀ ĐÁP LỜI M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2016
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES CHU THỊ NGỌC A VIETNAMESE – FILIPINO CROSS CULTURAL STUDY ON GREETINGS AND RESPONSES NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA VIỆT NAM – PHI-LÍP-PIN TRONG CÁCH CHÀO HỎI VÀ ĐÁP LỜI M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D. HANOI – 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................i DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... ii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 1.1. Research problem and rationale ...........................................................................................1 1.2. Aims of the study ................................................................................................................2 1.3. Significance ........................................................................................................................2 1.4. Scope ..................................................................................................................................3 1.5. Organization........................................................................................................................3 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND..........................................................................4 2. 1. Cross-culture communication .............................................................................................4 2.1.1. Culture .........................................................................................................................4 2.1.2. Communication and Cross-cultural communication ......................................................5 2.2. Definitions of greetings .......................................................................................................5 2.3. Functions and use of greetings .............................................................................................9 2.3.1. Function of greetings ....................................................................................................9 2.3.2. Use of greetings .......................................................................................................... 10 2.4. Review of studies on greetings in English and Vietnamese ................................................ 14 2.5. Factors affecting choice of greetings .................................................................................. 16 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 18 3.1. Research design ................................................................................................................. 18 3.2. Participants ....................................................................................................................... 18 3.3. Data collection .................................................................................................................. 19 3.3.1. Data collection instrument .......................................................................................... 19 3.3.2. Sending consent form and designing questionnaires .................................................... 19 3.3.3. Delivering questionnaires ........................................................................................... 21 3.4. Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 21
3.4.1. Data analysis instrument ............................................................................................ 21 3.4.2. Data analysis procedure ............................................................................................. 22 4.1. For the first dimension: power distance .............................................................................. 23 4.1.1. For question number 1: Greetings and responses to a director/ manager .................... 23 4.1.2. Question number 2: Greetings and responses to the staffs ........................................... 24 4.1.3. For question number 3: Greetings and responses to a „VIP‟ guest of the company ...... 25 4.1.4. For question number 4: Greetings and responses to a cleaner/ guard of the company . 26 4.2. Dimension gender ............................................................................................................. 27 4.3. Dimension age: Greetings and responses to an older or a younger student .......................... 29 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 35 5.1. Major findings of the study ................................................................................................ 35 5.1.1. Greetings and responses to director/ manager ............................................................ 35 5.1.2. Greeting and responses to the staffs in the company .................................................... 35 5.1.3. Greetings and responses to a cleaner/ guard ............................................................... 36 5.1.4. Greetings and responses in other cases ....................................................................... 36 5.2 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 38 5.3. Suggestions ....................................................................................................................... 38 APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................................... I APPENDIX B ...............................................................................................................................III LIST OF COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN THE STUDY .......................................................III APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................................. IV QUESTIONNAIRES FOR ........................................................................................................... IV VIETNAMESE – FILIPINO CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON GREETINGS AND RESPONSES IN BUSINESS ............................................................................................................................. IV
DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution. Hanoi, November 2016 Signature Chu Thi Ngoc i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ph.D. To Thi Thu Huong, who gave me enthusiastic instructions, patient guidance and precious comments throughout the process of carrying out this study. Had not been for her valuable support and her encouragement, I would not have finished my research. My sincere thanks are also to those working in companies in The Philippines as well as in Vietnam for their constructive comments as well as their participation which was essential to the completion of the study. Last but not least, I want to send my gratefulness to my family and my friends who have encouraged and support me during the process of doing this study. ii
ABSTRACT This research focuses on finding out what Filipino and Vietnamese working in companies often say to greet and respond in daily conversations. The framework used in this study was built mainly based on Hofstede‟s but with some adaptation; therefore, only four dimensions were applied to gain data. The four dimensions applied were power distance, gender, age, and acquaintance. Despite some minor differences, there were mostly similarities were found between answers from participants in two countries in particular situations. iii
LIST OF FIGURE AND DIAGRAM Figure 1: Hofstede‟s cultural dimensions Diagram 1: Laver‟s diagram of the Factors that Constrain the Choice of Formulaic Greeting Phrases in British English Table 1: A summary of greetings and responses to a director/ manager Table 2: A summary of greetings and responses to the staffs Table 3: A summary of greetings and responses to a „VIP‟ guest Table 4: A summary of greetings and responses to a cleaner/ guard Table 5: A summary of greetings and responses to an older colleague Table 6: A summary of greetings and responses to a younger colleague Table 7: A summary of greetings and responses to a male colleague Table 8: A summary of greetings and responses to a female colleague Table 9: A summary of greetings and responses to a first meeting colleague Table 10: A summary of greetings and responses to a well-known colleague Table 11: A summary of commonly used topics iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter aims to provide with the most general information about what is included in the study and how it is carried out. 1.1. Research problem and rationale Nowadays, the tendency of studying abroad is becoming more and more popular. Many Vietnamese students have been taking courses in famous universities in English-speaking countries like England, The United States, and Australia. There also appears a trend of coming to some Asian countries where English is spoken as an official language such as Singapore, The Philippines. As a country of the Southeast Asian area, The Philippines is the country that has quite a close relationship with Vietnam. Especially, in the globalization trend and the process of building an Asian Economic Community, the understanding of the countries in this area is really necessary. However, The Philippines has been familiar with most of Vietnamese only through some films or occasionally-held cultural exchanging programs. Although English is spoken widely in The Philippines, the ways the Filipino use English may be different from that people in other English speaking countries due to distinguished cultural features. Besides, there have not been many studies on relationship between the Vietnamese and the Filipino culture. Deep understanding is even more essential for students who want to learn and people who want to do business in The Philippines and work with the Filipino, and vice versa. Ferraro & Briody (2006) also cited what had been proved by other scholars about the importance of cultural understanding that „failures in the global business setting – including partnerships and joints ventures – most frequently result from an inability to understand and adapt to foreign ways of thinking and acting rather than from technical or professional incompetence‟ (Black, Gregersen, and Mendenhall (1992), Adler (2002); Thomas (2007); Maurer and Li (2006)). 1
From those above mentioned reasons, the study was conducted under the title ‘A Vietnamese – Filipino cross – cultural study on greetings and responses’ with the hope to find out the similarities as well as the differences in greetings and responses frequently used in these two languages, which is the very first cultural matter people should know when trying to understand a country and a culture. This study paid more attention on how people working in companies greet each other verbally from the cultural approach. 1.2. Aims of the study This study is conducted with the hope to make some comparisons between the ways Vietnamese and Filipino people greet each other, especially among those working in companies. Main focus is going to be put on verbal language in the business circumstance. The results of this study may be useful for any Vietnamese student who wants to take a business course in The Philippines; or for the Filipino who want to study, travel or do business in Vietnam. Besides, the findings in this study can be used as a reference for other researchers who have interest in language or culture field. To implement these aims, these three following questions will be used: 1. What are the common greetings and responses in English used by Filipino businessman in the company? 2. What are the common greetings and responses in Vietnamese used by Vietnamese businessman in the company? 3. What are similarities and differences in greetings and responses in these two languages? 1.3. Significance This study, on the one hand, hopes to provide the Vietnamese students‟ knowledge of the greetings and responses that the Filipino and the Vietnamese working in companies often use in their everyday business contacts; therefore, they can not 2
only widen their background knowledge but also make a careful preparation for their learning abroad and future working plans. On the other hand, enterprises probably find the findings of the study useful in their plan of doing business in Vietnam or in The Philippines. Moreover, as there has not been any research in investigating this issue yet, the research wishes to bring Filipino and Vietnamese people closer through their deeper understanding in culture. Hence, people from these two countries can get benefits in educational, economic and cultural exchanges. 1.4. Scope The study is going to compare the phrases of Vietnamese and Filipino greetings made by businessmen and staffs in their companies to see the similarities as well as the differences. Here, the Filipino greetings and responses are delivered in English while Vietnamese is used in Vietnam. 1.5. Organization The main body of this thesis consists of five chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction: presents the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope and the design of the study. The research questions are also raised in this chapter. Chapter 2: Theoretical background: provides the definition of major related concepts and reviews the related works that compose the theoretical background of the study. Chapter 3: Methodology: gives a more detailed description of methodology used. Who took part in, which method was used to collect and analyze data. Chapter 4: Findings and discussion: demonstrates the results after analyzing the collected data and gives brief summary answer for the research questions. Chapter 5: Conclusion: summarizes the whole research, gives some implications, and discusses the limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research. 3
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter introduces the different definitions of greetings and its functions. Moreover, this chapter will provide a deeper insight into the common greetings and responses used by Vietnamese and Filipino. 2. 1. Cross-culture communication 2.1.1. Culture There are hundreds of definitions of culture from different approaches. The writer found that Mahadi (2012) cited a series of different definitions of culture. He quoted Roohul-Amini‟s definition (1989) that "culture has multifarious meanings. Culture meant farming" (p. 15). From the sociological perspective, culture is the total of the „inherited and innate ideas, attitudes, beliefs, values, and knowledge, comprising or forming the shared foundations of social action‟. Likewise, from the anthropological and ethnological senses, culture „encompasses the total range of activities and ideas of a specific group of people with common and shared traditions, which are conveyed, distributed, and highlighted by members of the group‟ (Collins English Dictionary 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Edward Sapir (1956) considered culture as „a system of behaviors and modes that depend on unconsciousness‟. Whereas, Rocher (1972, 2004), an anthropologist, believes that „culture is a connection of ideas and feelings accepted by the majority of people in a society‟ (p. 142). Undeniably, culture is learned and shared within social groups and is conveyed by non-genetic ways (The American Heritage, Science Dictionary 2005). On the other hand, Hofstede‟s opinion of culture (2005) stated that „culture consists of the unwritten rules of the social game. It is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishing the members of a group or category of people from others‟ (p.3). He also claimed the elements of cultures consist of values, beliefs, and material products. 4
2.1.2. Communication and Cross-cultural communication According to Business dictionary, „communication is a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning‟. In other words, communication is considered as a means of connecting people or places. In business, it is „a key function of management – an organization cannot operate without communication between levels, departments and employees‟. According to Krauss (2002), verbal communication often used signs and symbols and it was the symbolic content of verbal communication that decided the extraordinary effectiveness. He also stated that language is only one of the symbol systems which are employed in human communication. Cross-cultural communication, also known as intercultural communication, is „the sending and receiving of messages across languages and cultures. It is also a negotiated understanding of meaning in human experiences across social systems and societies‟ (cited by Arent (2009)). In the globalization, awareness of cultural diversity become more and more necessary to help people avoid misunderstanding and achieve communication purposes. 2.2. Definitions of greetings Greetings are an important part of the communicative competence for being a member of any speech community. „They are often one of the first verbal routines learned by children and certainly; one of the first topics introduced in foreign language classes‟ (Duranti (1997, p.188). There are numerous definitions of greetings from different approaches such as ethnology, linguistics, sociology and ethnography, some of which were mentioned in this study. In the Cambridge dictionary, greeting is „something friendly or polite that you say or do when meet or welcome someone‟. In plural, it is „a message that says you hope someone is well, happy, etc.‟ Being investigated by another researcher, Firth‟s viewpoint as cited in Li‟s study (2010), greetings were „a system of signs that convey other than overt messages‟. 5
This can be understood that when greeting a person, the speaker can use both verbal and non-verbal language to convey the message. In one linguistic journal, Duranti (1997) reintroduced the definition of greetings by Firth (1972) and Goffman (1971) in ethological field that greetings in all societies were about continuity of relationships, but they said that the representation, conceptualization, and perception of continuity by humans seemed to be more complex than that found in other species. In another way of accessing definition of greetings, Williams (2001) reviewed on greeting exchanges from three perspectives: at micro level was linguistic aspect which focused on linguistic behavior, from sociolinguistic aspect which looked more at social interaction and at a broader level which interpreted the linguistic behavior of greetings along with interaction as representing culture. As being cited by William (2001), from the first point of view, linguistic definition introduced by two linguists, Schegloff and Sacks (1973), saw greetings as „a speech event composed of two parts side by side, serial, and sequential‟ such as Greeting- Greeting: (A: Hi B: Hi) Or greeting- request for information (A: Hi B: Do you have a class today?). Whereas, in the sociolinguistic approach, the famous sociolinguists Goffman (1971), saw greeting exchanges as „access rituals‟ consisting of two kinds, passing greetings and engaging greetings. In general, greetings were defined as „consisting of several interlinking behaviors: Verbal, non-verbal, term of address and social context‟. Besides, greeting phenomenon was referred to as ritual with verbal form (may be one of three linguistic units: question („How do you do?), interjection („Hello‟) or affirmation („Good morning‟)) and non-verbal form (composed of body language). Lastly, in anthropological linguistics approach, greetings were defined by Fieg and Mortlock (1989) as “ritualistic expressions” which are affected by social factors, particularly cross-cultural differences (as cited in Williams, 2001). 6
To sum up, each definition accessed to „greetings‟ from one aspect so that they gave us multi-dimensional review on this concept. Depend on the studying approach, particular ways of defining „greetings‟ should be applied. The researcher finds the latest definition of Goffman (1971) the most suitable with what are going to be dealt with in this research. Hence, the study will be able to investigate how people in two cultures greet each other using verbal language, based upon different social factors, especially among people in business context. In English, especially in business, people often use formal ways to greet each other. There are some common ways like - A: „How do you do‟ - B: I‟m doing well (very formal), - A: „How have you been?‟ - B: talk about their current life (people who have already met) - A: „It‟s nice to meet you‟ or „Pleased to meet you‟ (for the first time meeting) B: Me, too./ Pleased to meet you. - „Good morning/ good afternoon/ good evening‟ People can also use casual greetings like „hello/ hi‟ or use small talks: - A: „How are you?/ how are things?‟… - B: Good/ not bad/ Fine, thanks, and you?... - A: „What‟s up?/ what‟s new?/ What‟s going on?‟,… - B: Nothing/ not much (more than asking about wellness). What‟s about you? - A: How‟s it going? / How are you doing?... – B: It‟s going well/ I‟m doing well. How about you? - A: Long time no see (what‟s new?) - B: Long time no see, For The Philippines, they are the third largest group of English speaking people in the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom. Nolan (1996) once claimed that the Filipino style and tone of business had much difference from that in New York or London although plenty of Philippine business practices follow international models. 7
On the other hand, in a journal about this issue by Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo & Louisa A. Koranteng (2008), the Achebe‟s (1976) and Owusu-Ansah‟s hypothesis (1994) was applied. Those authors concluded that English general greetings used in a different (non-native) cultural context composed of not the same ethnographic factors perhaps resulted in different forms as well as pragmatic meanings from what belonging to native context. Hence, it can be inferred that although English is used in The Philippines as an official language, the use may be varied. In particular, Filipino also address superiors with the English „sir‟ or „ma‟am‟ in business context and find uncomfortable with a more informal approach. The word „po‟ meaning „sir‟ is added when talking to a superior or to an elder no matter which gender he or she is. In spite of this, Filipino show their respect to all without concerning station, superior or subordinate relationship to address their partner. Colleagues are said to be addressed by the first name. Mr., Mrs., or Miss or the titles such as Dr. (doctor), Engr. (engineer). Those greetings may be accompanied with non-verbal greetings such as „a hug and kiss between close female friend, holding hand between male friends, making eye contact, raising and lowering their eyebrows‟ („Cultural clues, do‟s and taboos: Communication guidelines for the Philippines‟) In Vietnam, greetings is considered an indispensable and important part in their everyday life. Vietnamese greet each other not only to welcome but also to establish and maintain relationship with people surrounding. According to Vietnamese dictionary (2013), to greet means to speak or use actions to show one‟s respect and closed behavior. There are two types of greetings in Vietnamese: direct and indirect greetings. In the first type, direct greetings are used to open or to end a meeting to express polite, modest and gentle behavior of speakers (Phạm Thị Thành, 1995). They often have the structures such as - Chào Sp2. - Chào Sp2 ạ! - Sp1 chào .Sp2 8
- Sp1 chào Sp2 ạ! They all include the word „Chào‟ and sometimes the word „ạ‟ at the end of the greetings to show respect to the listener. This structure is different from that in English in which greetings missing subject or modality. On the other hand, this feature is created because Vietnamese want to create closed relationship between speakers. In the second type of greetings in Vietnamese, indirect greetings are represented by more forms and used more frequently. Hence, this type shows Vietnamese typical features of traditional values. Indirect greetings may use questions about health, family or hometown to greet, for instance: „Khỏe không?‟ („How are you?‟) or „Công việc dạo này sao rồi?‟ (How‟s your work?‟); Indirect greetings can also use calling exclamations such as Ô, chị! („Oh, you‟!), A, mẹ đã về! („Ah, you‟re here, Mom‟) Or congratulation such as Chúc mừng bạn! („Congratulation!‟), or invitation like „Mời bác vào xơi cơm ạ‟ (have lunch/ dinner with us‟); or even comments like „Ai mà diện thế nhỉ?‟ (Who is this beautiful girl?‟). In the cities nowadays, instead of asking like „bác đi đâu đấy?‟ (where are you going?) or „bác ăn cơm chưa?‟ (have you had lunch?), people working in offices or companies tend to greet their colleagues by asking about health or the status of job. Responding to those greetings are answers from the listener. Similar to situation in The Philippines, Vietnamese can simply perform non-behavior actions like nodding; handshaking or a question or thanking to the aforementioned greetings. In some cases, the younger may bow to greet the older when greeting. 2.3. Functions and use of greetings 2.3.1. Function of greetings Greetings is the very first thing to appear in a conversation. Greetings was considered as the first step to „establishing rapport‟ (Pachter, 2013). According to Li (2010), greetings was considered under different aspects. First of all, when viewing in pragmatic viewpoint, Li (2010) chose to follow the idea that greetings could be 9
regarded as illocutionary acts (Austin‟s theory and it belonged to category of „expressive‟). This means that greetings should not be understood literally. Besides, Li (2010) treated greetings as linguistic routines of politeness. From this viewpoint, he chose to follow Brown and Levinson‟s politeness theory to explain the function and use of greetings. According to the two authors, greetings were restricted by social factors (adapted from model of Laver J. (1981) cited in Qian (1996)) and would be guided by polite norms in certain cultures. 2.3.2. Use of greetings 2.3.2.1. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions In business context, the Hofstede‟s cultural dimensions (1972) have been applied and cited in many studies especially ones in business marketing. The six dimensions he investigated were power distance, individuality, masculinity versus femininity, tolerance of uncertainty, and long term versus short term. Figure 1: Hofstede’s cultural dimension model (1972) a. Power distance The power distance dimension can be defined as „the extent to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally‟. In 10
large power distance cultures, everyone has his or her rightful place in a social hierarchy. Further, „the colder the climate, the smaller the power distance‟. According to Hofstede‟s study result conducted originally in 1972, the Philippines got 94 points for power distance index (0 – 100 points). This means that in The Philippines, the awareness of power distance is quite obvious and they are a hierarchical society. Similarly, in Vietnam, a hierarchy country (score of 70), the concept of power distance is also common among people. Hofstede considered hierarchy in an organization as a factor reflecting inequality, „subordinates are supposed to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat‟. b. Individualism It can be defined as „people looking after themselves and their immediate family only, versus people belonging to in-groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty‟. In other words, the fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is „the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members‟. The Philippines got 32 points for this dimension. It can be inferred that this country is collectivism oriented. This is manifested in a close long-term commitment to the member group, be that a family, extended family or extended relationships. The relationship between employer and employee is recognized in moral terms (similar to a family link), which to some extents, are the same as that practice in Vietnam society (score of 20). c. Masculinity The dominant values in a masculine society are achievement and success; along with quality of life, caring for other people is the values which domain in a feminine society. The main issue in this dimension is „what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine)‟. For this dimension, the score of the Philippines is 64 scores. It can be inferred from this rank that this society is a masculine society. Whereas, Vietnam scores 40 on this dimension and was said to be a „Feminine‟ country according to Hofstede‟s definition. In such masculine countries, Hofstede pointed out that people „live in 11
order to work‟. People in such kind of society emphasize equity, and solve competition, performance and conflicts by fighting them out. On the contrary, in feminine countries like Vietnam, people „work in order to live‟; therefore, instead of being decisive and assertive, managers in a feminine society strived for agreement and equality. Besides, Vietnamese are thought to pay more attention in solidarity and quality. d. Uncertainty avoidance This dimension can be defined as „the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations‟. According to the statistic, The Philippines got 44 points while Vietnam got 30 so that those two countries were considered having low preference for avoiding uncertainty, which meant that they remained a more relaxed attitude in which practice outweighed principles and in some cases could deviation from norms be accepted. Hofstede clarified that schedules in organizations were flexible, hard work was undertaken when necessary but not for its own sake, „precision and punctuality do not come naturally, innovation is not seen as threatening‟. e. Long term orientation This is a dimension which tells us „how every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future‟. The Philippines got very low score on this dimension with 27 scores, which means that „they are more normative than pragmatic‟. Filipino were considered to have great emphasis on traditions and tend to pay little attention to save for the future. In contrast, with the score of 57, Vietnam was ranked as a pragmatic culture. In Vietnam‟s society, people had a belief that the truth depended much on situation, context and time. f. Indulgence Hofstede defined „indulgence‟ as „the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses‟ based on the way they were raised. 12