20th 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)
Chúng tôi (we)
Bạn (you)
Các bạn (you)
Anh ấy, chị ấy, nó
Họ, chúng nó
(he/she/it)
(they)
Proper nouns
Hoa, Lan --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 (older brother; male young person)
Chị (older sister; female young person)
Number
√
Nó (it)
Họ (they)
In grammatical cases
Ø
Bác ấy là --(Uncle/he is--)
Xe của bác ấy --(his car--)
-- gặp bác ấy (--met him)
-- tặng cho bác ấy --(--gave -- to him)
Grammatical Properties (2)
Interlexical declension
In grammatical cases
Ø
Bác ấy/bà ấy/họ là kỹ sư.
(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
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 –> 1st, 2nd, 3rd
person
-> interlingual code-switching in both
young and old adults (Ho-Tu, 1997)
A Comparative Analysis
T/V distinction
Vietnamese
English
Different meanings Personal prons
Personal pronouns
you <-> I
- Chủ nhật con đi học
Không? (Do you go to
school on Sunday?)
- Dạ không, con không
đi học. (No, I don’t --)
Chị - (older female) 1st, 2nd, & 3rd 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 ( LarsenFreeman,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 -Ông thích
--------------
---------
Chào bạn (Hello)
Thank You
Questions &
Comments
Bà
Bà là -Bà thích
------
-----------------
---------
-----------------
---------
---------
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 HoDac. 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.