Vietnamese Address Forms

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

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Chào bạn (Hello)

Thank You Questions & Comments

Bà Bà là -Bà thích ------

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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.