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Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness Vietnamese Expressions of Politeness VU MAI YEN TRAN* Abstract In Vietnam, address terms are indispensable features of polite conversation, as these relate to the age and social status of the speaker and hearer, and the interaction between them. This paper examines the use of a number of politeness strategies in interaction between young women from northern Vietnam. The data are recorded conversations and observations. The study examines the ways in which the participants address each other in Vietnamese. It found that they used the paired address terms “bà‐ tôi” and “mình‐
mình” to refer to those of the same age and social status, and the paired address term “chị‐em” to address females with age distinction. Moreover, it found that instead of saying something formally, young women can also express politeness non‐verbally; and the smile is their choice. An appreciation of these findings is essential for those with an interest in understanding how one might express politeness in interaction in Vietnam. 1. Introduction Politeness plays a very important role in our daily lives. In different social situations, we “as members of groups” are obliged to adjust the words that we use and the ways in which we behave to be polite “in more or less predictable ways in order to achieve social coordination and sustain communication” (Janney and Arndt, 1992: 22‐3). One reason why we do this is because accepted politeness can help us build lasting relationships. In fact, politeness is considered a “diplomatic strategy of communication” (Kummer, 1992: 325), since its use is constrained by the cultural values of a given society. In other words, what is considered polite in one society may be different from what is considered polite in another society; hence, people have different ways to express politeness (Haugh, 2006). In Vietnam, politeness is one of the key factors in the value system and, thereby, an indispensable part of effective communication. Politeness is expressed through respectful attitudes depending on who the hearer is, and how close the relationship between the speaker and the hearer is. In other words, a polite conversation is one that takes into account such factors as age, social positions and social contexts. To be polite when speaking Vietnamese, one can use appropriate particles like “dạ, ạ” at the beginning of a sentence, or address terms to indicate that one is speaking to a person of the same, higher or lower social status, and age. It is also a type of politeness strategy for a respondent to answer a question with “yes” if they want to avoid hurting the feelings of the person they are speaking to. Politeness can also be expressed by body language (e.g. a slight bow of the head, standing with hands clasped in front, listening attentively, or keeping eye‐contact without staring). This paper looks at the ways in which young women from the northern area of Vietnam express politeness as they talk to each other. It argues that their politeness strategies are a means by which one can identify as a member of a particular sociolinguistic group, and in so Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 13
doing build and sustain meaningful relationships. Hence, this paper seeks to contribute to our understandings of how young women might effectively express politeness in Vietnam. 2. Some Background Information 2.1 Vietnamese values In the Vietnamese value system respect is regarded as a key factor (Tuong, 2002). A person is expected to show his/her respect to relatives and non‐relatives of a senior age and/or higher social status. However, a person will also express respect to those of the same age and/or equal social position. A person can show resect for another by being polite. If a person is polite in interacting with people, he/she aims to make the addressee feel good by “being kind and friendly to minimize conflicts” (Srichampa, 2003: 137). Politeness is conveyed through a system of acceptable social behaviour and socio‐linguistic forms that govern the ways in which people interact (O’Sullivan, 2007). Culturally, polite behaviours include handshaking, hugging, eye contact and voice tones (Srichampa, 2003). Politeness also impacts on the choice between different address forms. As Holmes (1992) discussed, in many eastern and Asian societies, the norms of address usage indicate social status differences, and being polite involves using language which emphasises the age as well as position very explicitly. 2.2 Vietnamese system of address In Vietnamese, the system of address varies according to the age of the interactant, relationship, and status. The system of address includes personal pronouns, kinship terms, status terms, and proper nouns (Luong, 1990; Cooke, 1968; Nguyen, 1999; Cu, 2001). For the first person singular reference, there are five common pronouns (i.e. toi, tao, ta, to, minh), and five pronouns for plural forms with the addition of “chung” to the singular form (i.e. chung toi, chung tao, chung to, chung minh). The third person reference includes four commonly used pronouns in the singular form and three in the plural form. According to Ngo (2006: 4), “the use of Vietnamese personal pronouns pragmatically implies either intimacy/familiarity, among close friends of the same age, or a lack of deference and high degree of arrogance towards the addressee and/or third‐party pronominal referent of superior age”. Additionally, kinship terms are considered more important in the Vietnamese system of address than personal pronouns. In order to express politeness, one has to address the other person with a suitable choice of words. Luong (1990: 37) observed that “Vietnamese kinship terms are used not only for third‐party reference, but pervasively also in address and self‐
reference”. People who are relatives or non‐relatives can use kinship terms to indicate several degrees of meaning, from low to high respect, and from a high level of intimacy to distance. Since the aim of this study is to investigate the way in which young Vietnamese women express politeness, the use of different terms of address should be clarified to see the flexibility and diversity of the Vietnamese language. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 14
3. Research Design 3.1 Participants The participants in this research project are all young women from Vietnam, who recently came to Australia to commence their postgraduate studies. All three females voluntarily agreed to participate in the project. These three females were aged between 23 and 26 years (one was 23 and two were 26). Prior to participating, they were all informed about the research project, and about their rights to withdraw from the project at any time, without penalty, and without providing a reason for withdrawing. 3.2 Sources of Data The sources of data for this research project consisted of conversations and observations. These data were collected during a social get‐together at one of the participant’s houses in Brisbane, Australia in 2009. At that time, the conversations were recorded and observations were noted by the author. The recorded data were later transcribed for analysis. Note that the examples of Vietnamese talk are transcribed and presented in italics, the Standard English translations are presented in single quotation marks, and the non‐verbal expression of interest is represented in Standard English in square brackets. 4. Results and Discussion Recall that this research project aims to identify the ways in which young Vietnamese women express politeness during interaction. The collected data are carefully examined. 4.1 Forms of Address The conversation presented below takes place at Huong’s house, after Mai drops by for a visit. Huong and Mai are both 26 years of age. The following example begins with Mai addressing a question to Huong, in Vietnamese. Example 1: Addressing “bà” (you) and “tôi” and (I) Line Name Conversation 1 Mai: Bà đang làm gì đấy? 2 ‘What are you doing?’ 3 Huong: Tôi lên mạng tí thôi. Mai bà có kế hoạch gì không? 4 ‘I’m surfing the Internet. Have you got any plans for tomorrow?’ 5 Mai: Không bà ạ. Bà định làm gì à? 6 ‘Not yet. What are you going to do?’ 7 Hương: Ừ, tôi định rủ bà đi đâu đó. 8 ‘Yeah, I’m asking you if we can go somewhere.’ Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 9 10 11 12 Mai: Hương: 15
Bà muốn đi đâu? ‘Where do you want to go?’ Tôi định rủ bà đi Garden City hoặc Inala. ‘I intend to ask you to go to Garden City or Inala.’ In Example 1, Mai and Huong frequently use “bà” (you) and “tôi) (I) as a form of address. Every time Mai uses “bà” (lines 1, 5, and 9) to address her friend Huong, she is addressed in the same way (lines 3, 7, and 11). Similarly, Huong refers to herself as “tôi” three times after she hears Mai use the pronoun “bà”. “Bà” and “tôi” are address terms that are used in conversation between females of the same age. Neither “bà” nor “tôi” can be replaced by other pronouns as their use is conventional and decided to be appropriate to the relationship between Mai and Huong. Even though there are different ways to address the other, they are not chosen by these participants. As Ngo (2006) classified, there are five common pronouns (tôi, tao, ta, tớ, mình) that refer to the first personal pronouns; and the one that should be used depends on the closeness/distance of the relationship between people involved in the interaction. In addition, the only personal pronoun that is used in formal situations is “tôi”. It is considered the most neutral term one can use in formal situations. However, in Example 1, both Huong and Mai use “toi” (I) almost every time they address themselves to the other even though this is not a formal situation, as the two young women are friends who share the same age and background. Another thing to note is that the term of address “bà” (you) is not included in the list of personal pronouns, but is instead included as a kinship term (Ngo, 2006). The table of kinship terms provided by Crooke (1968) indicates that “bà” is used to refer to older females of one’s grandparents’ age or as a term of respect for women (usually married) senior to the speaker and who are of late middle age or older. However, the current findings show that the Mai and Huong use this address term quite often, even though they know that they are of the same age. It seems then that these close young friends use the term “bà” (you) to politely address each other in ordinary conversation. In the conversation below, Mai and Huong have stepped into Huong’s kitchen. Mai is asking Huong about “tapioca” – a food product that she appears to be unfamiliar with. In this example, Mai addresses all of her questions to Huong, and Huong addresses all of her answers to Mai. Note that in the course of producing this series of questions and answers both young women use the address term “mình” (lines 5, 7, & 9). Example 2: Addressing “mình” (we) Line Name Conversation 1 Mai: Cái hạt gì đây bà? 2 ‘What seed is it?’ 3 Huong: Họ gọi là bột báng. 4 ‘That is tapioca.’ 5 Mai: Thế mình mua về à? Hay mình tự làm cái hạt này? 6 ‘So do we buy it? Or do we make it ourself?’ Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hương: Mai: Hương: 16
Mình mua về mình nấu. Luộc lên cho nó nở ra. ‘We buy it from the market. After boiling, it will rise.’ Có nghĩa là mình mua về là nó thế à? ‘Does it mean that this seed is in that shape when we buy?’ Không phải đâu. Hạt nó nhỏ hơn. Nấu xong thì nó nở ra. ‘No, it isn’t. The seed is smaller, and it will be bigger after boiled.’ Another way that Mai and Huong address each other is through the first plural pronoun “mình” (we). In example 2, at lines 5, 7, and 9, both Mai and Huong use the pronoun “mình” to refer to themselves. In Vietnamese, “mình” is produced by the first singular person (I) to address her/himself. However, here “mình” is found to refer to “we” (lines 6, 8, and10), which is inclusive (Demosthenous, 2008), and in this instance is used to get the two interactants to do something together. Although the data indicates that Huong is the person that has performed the action of buying the tapioca, Mai includes herself with Huong in the group, as one that has performed that action, with “Thế mình mua về à? Hay mình tự làm cái hạt này? ” (line 5) or “So do we buy it? Or do we make it ourself?” (line 6). In responding, Huong uses that same personal pronoun as Mai. This helps sustain closeness and intimacy between these two young female friends. The term of address used by Mai and Huong does not follow what was set down in the Vietnamese system of address, as discussed in Cooke (1968), Luong (1990), Nguyen (1999) and Cu (2001). “Mình” (I) is used as the first person singular reference to address oneself to a person of the same age and close relationship; and that if someone wants to refer to her/himself and the other as “we”, s/he should add “chúng” before “mình” (chúng mình). Instead, they lend support to Ngo’s (2006) finding that people use “mình” not to address one of them (I) but to engage both of them (we) in the communication context, which is informal and intimate but still shows the respectful attitudes of the interactants. In the conversation, below, Mai and Huong are talking to Nam, a Vietnamese woman who is three years their junior. Nam is 23 years old. The women are talking about the nickname that Nam has given to Huong and saved in her cell phone. Note that the form of address changes if a person talks to a younger person. Nam knows that she is younger than Huong and Mai, and realises that she cannot address them as “bà” (you) and herself as (tôi) (I), as Huong and Mai do. Instead, Nam must refer to herself as “em” (I) and to Huong and Mai as “chị” (you, sister). Example 3: Addressing “chị” (you) and “em” (I) Line Name Conversation 1 Mai: Em lưu tên của ai đây? 2 ‘Whose nickname is it in your cell phone?’ 3 Nam: Hương “moi” đó chị. 4 ‘It’s Huong “moi” sister.’ [smile] 5 Mai: Hương “moi’ là Hương gì hả bà? 6 ‘Do you know what is meant by Huong “moi”?’ 7 Hương: Mà của ai vậy? Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Mai: Hương: Nam: Hương: Nam: Hương: Nam: 22 23 24 Hương: 17
‘But whose is it?’ Của bà đấy. ‘It’s yours.’ [smile] Tôi có biết gì đâu. ‘I don’t know anything.’ Em lưu cho dễ nhớ đó. ‘I saved your name in such a way to remember it more easily.’ [smile] Chị chịu. ‘I don’t know what “moi” means.’ Chịu rồi hả chị? ‘You don’t know, do you?’ Em giải thích đi! ‘You can explain it.’ Hương “moi”. Tại vì em tính đặt là Hương “mới” nhưng mà đọc hoài quen nên thành “mọi” luôn. ‘I intended to call you Huong “mới” ‘but it has been changed to “moi” as a habit. [smile]’ Hóa ra là vậy. Do không có dấu. That’s it. It’s due to the tone. [smile] At lines 1, 3, 13, 15, 17, and 21, where there is an exchange between Nam and Mai, or Nam and Huong, the address terms “chị” (you, sister) and “em” (I, younger sister) seem to be produced for the purpose of emphasising Nam’s politeness and respect for her two senior friends and for enhancing their closeness and intimacy. Cooke (1968: 125) proposed that Vietnamese kinship terms ʺare nouns, most of which have a primary meaning denoting blood kinʺ. Two such terms are “chị” (elder sister or female cousin) and “em” (younger sibling or cousin). However, the use of these terms, by the participants in Example 3, do not relate to the meanings listed in Cooke (1968). In fact, as Luong (1990: 37) observed, “Vietnamese kinship terms are used not only for third‐party reference, but pervasively also in address and self‐reference” between relatives and non‐relatives, to express different meanings, from “high disrespect to great respect, and from a high level of intimacy to extreme distance” (Ngo, 2006: 4). In the current context, the terms “chị” and “em”, are used by two older females (Mai and Huong) and one younger female (Nam) to refer to non‐relatives, and this reveals a high level of intimacy among the interlocutors. The choice of address and reference terms influences the attitudes and feelings of the speaker and the addressee. According to Homes (1992), politeness involves taking into consideration the feelings of others, which means that the more polite a person is, the more comfortable others feel. The way in which the participants use these address terms, based on the age distinction and level of intimacy (i.e., “bà‐ tôi”, “mình”, “chị‐ em”), forms good feelings and impressions and enhances the likelihood that they will be eager to continue contributing to the conversation. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 18
4.2 Non‐verbal Expressions The conversation presented below is between Huong and Mai. The following example begins with Huong addressing a question to Mai. It shows how non‐verbal expression can contribute to conversation, and particularly how effective the smile can be in producing politeness. Example 4: Smiling Line Name Conversation 1 Hương: Ngày mai bà muốn đi Garden City hay là đi Inala? 2 ‘Do you want to go to Garden City or Inala tomorrow?’ 3 Mai: Đi Garden City đi. 4 ‘Let’s go to Garden City’ 5 Hương: Ừ. Mai bà rủ Robert đi cho vui nhé? 6 ‘OK. Will you invite Robert to go with us?’ [smile] 7 Mai: Thôi. Ngại lắm. 8 ‘No.’ [smile] ‘How hesitant I am’ [smile] 9 Hương: Có gì đâu mà ngại chứ? Đi cho vui thôi mà. 10 ‘Why hesitant? [smile] Come on. Just for fun.’ In Example 4, the conversation between Huong and Mai gradually reaches a point of the informality wherein they both produce incomplete sentences (lines 7–10). Moreover, at line 7, Mai directly refuses Huong’s suggestion to invite an Australian man (“Robert” in line 5), to go out with them by saying “No” and reports that that she is “hesitant” to go with him. In the Vietnamese culture if someone refuses the offer or invitation of another by directly saying “No”, it is typical for that person to be seriously judged as impolite by other people. However, in this instance, while Mai says “No” to the suggestion, she shakes her head and smiles at the same time; and then explains the reason with another smile. Her smile shows her polite manner in refusing even though it is assumed that those who know each other very well do not need to be so polite. Similarly, when Huong asks Mai’s why she is hesitant, she does so while smiling. If she had not produced such a supportive and friendly smile, her question may have been interpreted in a negative way, Smiles can also have the best effect when the interlocutor wants to show their feelings and attitudes towards a prior utterance. In Example 3, above, Nam smiles three times as she tries to explain to Huong the meaning of her unusual nickname, which could have been misunderstood. She gets a positive response from Huong, since what she says is honest and friendly, as demonstrated with her smile. Homes (2008) discussed that the smile is a non‐verbal symbol that is used to express the feeling of respect as well as politeness in Vietnamese culture, and that the smile is a suitable response in situations when verbal expression does not convey enough of someone’s ideas and goodwill. A smile may show emotion, politeness, or hide true feelings. From the above example, without the smile, the interaction would not have been successful; the interlocutor could not have conveyed exactly what she wanted to say to the listener; and the conversation might not have led to a friendly interaction. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 19
In summary, from the recorded interview data and the author’s observations, various forms of address, and kinship and non‐verbal expression, particularly the smile, were used to build and sustain polite conversation between those of similar and different ages and social backgrounds. 5. Educational Implications It is interesting to understand how young females in the northern areas of Vietnam express politeness in daily conversation. This is because politeness influences how people communicate in Vietnamese in real life situations. It is for this reason that teachers should emphasise politeness strategies in the language classroom. In other words, politeness should be taught and included in the curriculum, as these play a very important role in Vietnamese language and culture. In learning Vietnamese, students should be made aware of the different forms of address, which consider the age, relationship and social status of the person they are talking to; since people of different ages have several ways of expressing politeness. Conversations among older people are more formal and polite as they use the standard ways in the forms of address. Young people tend to be more informal and demonstrate this through flexible and new ways in their talk of maintaining politeness. Moreover, non‐verbal expressions, especially the smile, are indispensable in showing one’s politeness in communication. Thus, verbal pronouns and non‐
verbal expression should be introduced and focused on as a part of the teaching and learning of Vietnamese. 6. Conclusion This study showed that politeness is still of major concern in Vietnamese society. It focused on the ways in which address terms are used to promote effective conversation between young females from the northern area of Vietnam. The common terms of address among these young Vietnamese females were “bà‐ tôi” and “mình”, which are commonly used to refer to persons of the same age, gender and educational background. The study also found that young females address each other in new ways, which do not fit any conventional rules in the language system, but convey an adequate level of informality and politeness. For females with a different age and social status, the kinship term “chị‐ em” seems to be favoured in any situation, and it is unchangeable in meaning and usage. Any age distance requires politeness. This is so regardless of how close or distant the relationship is, in terms of intimacy, and informality or formality of the discourse. By observing the use of such terms, people can guess how close the relationship between the speaker and hearer is, and they can make assessments about the personality and manners of the speaker. Since this study focused on the ways in which young females from the northern area of Vietnam express politeness, there may be a difference in the use of address terms and the flexible choices of lexical items in conversations among those of the same age from other areas. Additionally, another important thing that is considered effective in the politeness strategies of young females is facial expression, especially the smile. In informal conversation, these young Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 20
people tended to say directly what they wanted to say by producing questions in the form of words only, or imperatives or incomplete statements to which the smile was added. The smile together with their utterances appeared to create a great effect on the hearer. In much of the conversation, the speaker smiled and the talk ran informally and smoothly and politely enough. In fact, this non‐verbal form of expression appeared to contribute to the success of the interaction. In conclusion, it is argued that besides the linguistic choices of suitable words, behaviours and attitudes can draw the hearer’s attention and impression to what the speaker wants to convey. The effect of these factors on the form of a speech act is taken into account as matters of politeness (Homes, 1992). It is, therefore, suggested that linguists, socio‐linguistics, inter‐
cultural analysts and others with a concern about social changes in politeness strategies used by young Vietnamese females from the northern areas of the country, and young Vietnamese people in general, should investigate and consider the diversity of new norms in address terms – to distinguish the sociolinguistic variables between young Vietnamese people and others. Then, if there exists a new standard way with conventional meaning and usage in expressing politeness, it could be possible to fill the socio‐linguistic gap (between different regions with different language use and between the sexes) to avoid misunderstandings in interaction. This study has shed some light on the ways in which politeness is used by members of Vietnam’s new generation of women. * Author’s note Vu Mai Yen Tran is completing the Master’s program in Applied Linguistics at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Yen received her Bachelor Degree in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) at the College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang, Vietnam. She would like to work on different aspects of language teaching and learning and is particularly interested in teaching English as a foreign language. Contact email: [email protected] References Cooke, J. 1968. The Pronominal Reference in Thai, Burmese, and Vietnamese. Berkley: University of California Press. Cu, T. D. 2001. Phong Cach Hoc va Dac Diem Tu Tu Tieng Viet (‘Stylistics and features of Vietnamese stylistics’). Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc. Demosthenous, C. M. 2008. Race matters in talk in interracial interaction, Unpublished doctoral thesis, Griffith University, Australia. Nguyen, L. T. 2008. Communicating with Vietnamese People. Viewed 27 May 2009 at <http://www.vietnam‐
beauty.com/vietnamese‐culture/164‐communicating‐with‐vietnamese‐people. html> Haugh, M. 2006, Emic perspectives on the positive‐negative politeness distinction, Culture, Language and Representation, 3: 17‐26. Holmes, J. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Longman. Janney, R. W. and Arndt, H. 1992. Intracultural tact versus intercultural tact. In Politeness in Language: Studies in its History, Theory, and Practice. eds. R.J. Watt, S. Ide, and E. Konrad. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Kummer, M. 1992 Politeness in Thai. In Politeness in Language: Studies in its History, Theory, and Practice. eds. R.J. Watt, S. Ide, and E. Konrad. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21 Vu Mai Yen Tran: Vietnamese expressions of politeness 21
Luong, H. V. 1990. Discursive Practices and Linguistic Meanings: The Vietnamese System of Person Reference. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Ngo, T. 2006. Translation of Vietnamese terms of address and reference. Translation Journal. Viewed 17 May 2009 at <http://www.accurapid.com/journal/38viet.htm> Nguyen, T. H. 1999. Cac phuong tien tu tu va cac bien phap tu tu cua tieng Viet. (‘Tools and methods of stylistics in Vietnamese’). In Phong Cach Hoc Tieng Viet. (ed). L. T. Dinh, 161‐275. Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc. O’Sullivan, W. 2007. A study on politeness teaching to English learners in China. The International Journal of Language, Society and Culture 23: 47‐52. Srichampa, S. 2003. Politeness strategies in Hanoi Vietnamese speech. Mon‐Kmer Studies 34: 137‐155. Viewed May 28 2009 at http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/Documents/Publication/MKS/34/sophana2004politeness.pdf Nguyen, H. T. 2002. Vietnam: Cultural background ESL/EFL Teachers. The Review of Vietnamese Studies. 2: 1‐6. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1 (2010), 12-21