Mastering a new language does not only consist of the ability to
master its system of form but also the ability to use its linguistic
units appropriately. This is because languages differ from one
another not only in their systems of phonology, syntax and lexicon
but also in their speakers' manners of patterning their discourse
and realizing speech acts.
Greeting and addressing people are, to varying extents, formulaic,
culture-specific and routinized in different languages, including
Vietnamese and English. The factors that govern the way one
person greets and addresses another varies across languages and
speech communities. The selection of one linguistic form over
another in greeting and addressing someone largely depends on
Speaker-Hearer relative power paradigm, the context of
interaction and other social factors.
Greetings and address terms by themselves do not carry much
referential meaning but accomplish pragmatic functions. Failure to
use them appropriately may result in communication breakdown
or unwanted hostility, particularly in cross-cultural interactions.
Since communication is meaning-based, conventional, appropriate,
interactional and structured (Richards,1983: 242 ff), speakers of a
foreign language must take into account these elements if they
wish to communicate successfully in the target language.
This study investigates the patterning of greeting and address
terms in Vietnamese and in English, identifying similarities and
differences between them. The factors that govern the way
speakers choose to greet and address are examined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219373 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Suu, Nguyen Phuong, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Nguyen Phuong Suu |
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