Tag: (E) thứ bậc

(2020) Vietnamese — Ethnopragmatics

Vo, Lien-Huong, (2020). Thứ-Bậc (‘Hierarchy’) in the Cultural Logic of Vietnamese Interaction: An Ethnopragmatic Perspective. In Mullan, Kerry; Peeters, Bert; & Sadow, Lauren (Eds.). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis. Singapore: Springer. pp. 119–135.

 

Abstract:

This study reproduces part of a larger project in the ethnopragmatics of Vietnamese. It investigates thứ-bậc (‘hierarchy’) in the cultural logic of interaction, adopting Goddard’s (2006) ethnopragmatic research paradigm within the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework and using cultural scripts as the main analytical tool (Goddard and Wierzbicka 2005). Notwithstanding the meaning of ‘ranking’ in certain specific domains (such as competitions) and workplace power dimension, Vietnamese thứ-bậc is argued to be different from its counterparts in other cultures since it is commonly conceived of in terms of age difference (Tran 2016) and divided into three levels with special reference to relative age. In thứ-bậc, a greater emphasis is placed on age, which amounts to seniority, thus bringing authority, wisdom and due respect, than on other social factors. The exploration of thứ-bậc has revealed interesting aspects of Vietnamese pragmatics. Thứ-bậc is a system of cultural information available for thinking about socially and/or morally acceptable behaviour in interactions. Accordingly, it provides standards and prin- ciples for accepted verbal behaviour from a normative perspective. These standards and principles are realized through a set of normative values and communicative virtues underpinning the cultural logic of interaction, namely, lễ-phép (‘respectfulness’). The elaboration of thứ-bậc and its coexisting norms sheds light on Vietnamese cultural motives underlying Vietnamese verbal behaviour. It constitutes a basis for understanding the ethnopragmatics of Vietnamese. Although the cultural concepts presented in the study are not necessarily culture-specific, the way Vietnamese people conceive them, and perhaps, enact them in speech practice, is specifically Vietnamese. No doubt it lays the groundwork for further studies into Vietnamese interaction from the ‘insider’s perspective’.

 

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2016) Vietnamese – Ethnopragmatics

Vo, Thi Lien Huong (2016). The ethnopragmatics of Vietnamese: A study of the cultural logic of interaction focussing on the speech act complex of disagreement. PhD thesis, Griffith University.

Open access

Abstract:

This study investigates the cultural logic underpinning interactions in Vietnamese language and culture, adopting the ethnopragmatic research paradigm originating within the NSM framework. First, it seeks to elaborate the semantic and pragmatic content of key words for Vietnamese cultural conceptualization using semantic explications and cultural scripts. The key words could be roughly translated by means of the English words friend, colleague, boss and workplace. In this exploration, two overarching cultural schemas, namely quan hệ (‘relationship’) and thứ bậc (‘hierarchy’), are identified and several intertwined social categories, normative values and communicative virtues, underpinning the cultural logic of interaction, are explained. The study then seeks to discover how this cultural logic illuminates Vietnamese ideas about the management of ‘disagreement’ in interaction, under various scenarios and with various interlocutor types (e.g., older vs. younger, family members vs. outsiders).

The findings indicate that the conceptualization of quan hệ (‘relationship’) is affected by family-relatedness. Based on this, a distinction between người nhà (‘family people’) and người ngoài (‘outsiders’) is made. In addition, mutual understanding, shared experience and time length of acquaintanceship qualify an interpersonal relationship and characterize various subcategories among người ngoài (‘outsiders’), including người lạ (‘strangers’), người quen (‘acquaintances’), and người thân (‘close people’). Other sociolinguistic variables (such as gender, personality, and interest) also contribute to the conceptualization of quan hệ (‘relationship’). From a normative perspective, the cultural schema thứ bậc (‘hierarchy’) and its coexisting set of moral rules for behaviour, lễ phép (‘respectfulness’), provide standards and principles for accepted behaviour in Vietnamese interaction.

The findings also show that both cultural schemas inform the way of Vietnamese thinking about appropriate verbal performance in disagreement-type interaction. For example, in instances of disagreement over content accuracy, Vietnamese speakers tend to be more frank as this frankness indicates awareness of collective responsibility. In contrast, they show a propensity towards implicit disagreement with an evaluation. Furthermore, to a certain degree at least, disagreement over content accuracy in family interaction has a didactic orientation, inasmuch as it prepares family members for social interaction and spares them the possible risk of losing face.

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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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