20 th Annual COTSEAL/SEASSI Conference – 7/2010 University of Wisconsin - Madison

The Vietnamese Address System: The Beauty or the Inconvenience?

By Tammie Tran UC Irvine

Outline

Vietnamese Address Forms - Introduction Types of Address Forms Grammatical Properties of Address Forms Factors Determining the Choice of Address Forms Geographical Variation and Changes Address Forms – the Beauty Address Forms – the Inconvenience Pedagogical Implications

The Viet Address System Introduction

The word forms used to refer to the addressees, the speaker, and third parties in social interaction (Cooke, 1968; Luong, 1990) Addresser - First person singular and plural forms Addressee - Second person singular and plural forms Third parties - Third person singular and plural forms

Types of Address Forms

Personal pronouns Tôi (I) Bạn (you) Anh ấy, chị ấy, nó (he/she/it) Proper nouns Hoa, Lan -- Chúng tôi (we) Các bạn (you) Họ, chúng nó (they) Kinship terms Ông (grandfather), bà (grandmother), anh/em (older/younger brother), - Used both for kin- and non-kin relationships

Types of Address Forms (2)

Social status terms (occupational titles) Bác sĩ Đức/Nguyễn (Doctor) Giáo sư Hòa/Phạm (Professor) Other nouns of human referents Bác bán phở (The person who sells noodle), anh đổ xăng (gas-station attendant), chị bán cơm (rice saleswoman) Applicable as addresses(?) Chị bán cơm ơi(?) More common for a third person reference

Grammatical Properties

Intralexical declension Gender √ Anh Chị (older brother; male young person) (older sister; female young person) Number Nó (it) Họ (they) √ In grammatical cases Bác ấy Xe của là --(Uncle/he is--) bác ấy --(his car--) Ø -- gặp bác ấy -- tặng cho (--met him) bác ấy --(--gave -- to him)

Grammatical Properties (2)

Interlexical declension In grammatical cases Bác ấy/bà ấy/họ là kỹ sư. Ø (He/she/they is/are (an) engineer(s)) Xe của bác ấy/bà ấy/họ (là) màu đỏ. (His/her/their car(s) is/are red) Tôi gặp bác ấy/bà ấy/họ hôm qua. (I met him/her/them yesterday) Tôi tặng một quyển sách cho bác ấy/bà ấy/họ. (I gave a book to him/her/them)

The choice of Address Terms

Based on Age ---> kinships To an old person – bác/chú (uncle) To a kid – em (younger person), cháu (niece/nephew/grandchild) Social status Bệ hạ (Majesty) Bác sĩ (doctor); giáo sư (professor) Formality Formal: ông, bà (gentleman, lady) Informal: anh, em (older/younger person) ---

The choice of address terms (2)

Based on Gender Anh (older brother; older male person) Chị (older sister; older female person) Relationships Blood – ba, mẹ (dad, mom) <-> con Intimate – chị (older sister/elder person/senior/close relationships) <-> em (younger sister/person/close relationships) Distant – anh <-> tôi (you – I (formal))

The choice of address terms (3)

Based on Attitudes (respectful or arrogant) Ông, anh (older male person); Mày (a second singular person form) Feelings A mother – a child: mẹ <-> con -> tôi <-> anh -- Mother: Đừng hỏi ý kiến mẹ / tôi nữa. Con / Anh muốn làm gì thì làm. (Don’t ask for my opinion any more. Do whatever you want.)

Variation

Geographical variation Northern Vietnam – Mẹ (mother) Central Vietnam – Mạ (mother) South Vietnam – Má (mother) Urban – “mẹ” – mẹ, má (mother) Rural – mầm, mợ, u, bu (mother) Historical change Tía, bá, thầy, cậu, cha,--ba, bố( father) U -- bu, bầm, mợ,--- mẹ (mother)

The Beauty

Vietnamese culture The expression of respect Appropriate terms for older/younger people Expression of hierarchy Social status Bệ hạ (majesty), hoàng hậu (queen) Individual’s personality Polite/elegant/gentle-- Anh/em/ông/tui (couple)

The Beauty (2)

Vietnamese culture Educational qualities Kin relationships Anh - em (you – I) (siblings) Mày - tau (you - I) (siblings) Non-kin relationships Chú - cháu (you – I) (old/young people) Tau – mày (you – I) (old/young people); Thằng/con(male/female) Expression of feelings Affection/love Em yêu/anh yêu (honey) Anh – em --- tôi – anh --- tau/mày (siblings)

The Inconvenience

Sociopragmatic meanings of address forms (Belz & Kinginger, 2002) The choice of address terms must be based on various sociopragmatic factors Each of the factors/relationships results sin different terms (e.g.maternal/paternal) Meaning loss in translation (Nida, 1964) - Tôi đâu đẹp như cô ta / người ta để cho anh quan tâm (I am not as beautiful as her/other people to get your attention) - Hôm qua không tới làm tôi / em / người ta chờ mãi. (I waited for you for a long time but you didn’t come)

The Inconvenience (2)

Gender relations (Salami, 2004) - Thầy/cô – male /female teacher - Cô/chú – uncle/aunt Confusion and embarrassment about people’s age (Afful, 2007) Guessing other people’s age -> insulting them Shift of address terms due to attitude, feelings (Akindele, 2008) - Mẹ <-> con/name/mày (mom-child) - Tôi <-> anh (mom-son) Consideration of age/relationships - Anh/chị (the elders) (junior to senior)(?)

The Inconvenience (3)

Different meanings in a single address form T/V distinction You <-> I (personal pronouns, proper names, kinship terms, status terms--) A personal pronoun –> 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd person -> interlingual code-switching in both young and old adults (Ho-Tu, 1997)

A Comparative Analysis T/V distinction Vietnamese

Different meanings

English

Personal prons Personal pronouns - Chủ nhật

con

đi học Không? (Do you go to you <-> I school on Sunday?) - Dạ không,

con

không đi học. (No, I don’t --) Chị - (older female) 1 st , 2 nd , & 3 rd person

Chị

đi về VN. (I/you/she goes to VN)

Pedagogical Implications

Teaching address system in context but not in isolation (Weaver, 1996) Authentic materials Specific relationships Telecollaboration (Belz, 2002)–> internet communication tools(email, synchronous chat)

Pedagogical Implications (2)

Grammar dimensions ( Larsen Freeman,1995) Form: Memory tasks; texts that instantiate the forms of addresses; contextualized examples Meaning: Recognition practice (when, where, why to use some specific forms) Use: Attention to forms that occur at high density; situational practices; role-plays

An example of form & meaning

Use: Exercises Activities

---- ---- ---- -----

Ông

Ông là --

Bà

Bà là - Bà thích ----- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Chào bạn (Hello)

Thank You Questions & Comments

References

Major references Belz, J. & Kinginger, C. (2002). The Cross-linguistic Development of Address Form Use in Telecollaborative Language Learning: Two Case Studies. Canadian Modern Language Review, Vol. 59, No. 2, 189-214, University of Toronto Press. Cooke, J. (1968). The Pronominal Reference in Thai, Burmese, and Vietnamese, Berkley: University of California Press.

Ho-Tu, D. (1997). Vietnamese-English Bilinguals in Melbourne: Social Relationships in the Code-Switching of Personal Pronouns - Tuc Ho Dac. International Journal: Language, Society, and Culture.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1995). On the teaching and learning of grammar: Challenging the myths. In F. Eckman et al. (Eds.), Second language acquisition theory and pedagogy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Luong, H. (1990). Discursive Practices and Linguistic Meanings : the Vietnamese System of Person Reference. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins Pub. Co. Nida, E.A. 1964. Toward a Science of Translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill Weaver, B. (1996). Teaching Grammar in Context. Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.