VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Vũ Thị Hà POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN GIVING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS IN THE VOICE VIETNAM 2015 AND THE VOICE US 2015 MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HANOI, 2018 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Vũ Thị Hà POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN GIVING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS IN THE VOICE VIETNAM 2015 AND THE VOICE US 2015 Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga, Ph.D HANOI, 2018 DECLARATION BY AUTHOR “I confirm that I, myself have written the thesis entitled “Politeness strategies in giving and responding to compliments in the Voice of Vietnam 2015 and the Voice of US 2015” and without making use of any sources or references other than those explicitly stated in the bibliography Passages extracted literally or as regard content from the sources and references listed in the bibliography are identified in the thesis as a citation or a paraphrase And the data used for analysis in the thesis is clearly derived This master thesis has not been previously published And if it is subsequently proved that I cheat, I am ready to take the responsibility, includingthe withdrawal of my academic degree.” Author’s Signature Vũ Thị Hà Approved by SUPERVISOR Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga, Ph.D Date: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude towards Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga, Ph.D my thesis supervisor- the one who has been very supportive and patient with me for the whole process Secondly, I want to convey great thanks to the teacher in the Department of English, the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences for their help, suggestions and support during this essay writing process Last but not least, I am thankful for all my family: my parents, elder brother and daughter who have encouraged and helped me a lot in terms of time and spirit to complete this thesis Without any of those above, this thesis will not be possible After all, I have tried to my best in writing this thesis, but I realize that it is still far for being perfect Therefore, I regard any criticism and recommendation fromreaders ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Research methods 1.7 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous Studies 2.2 Theoretical background 2.2.1 Communication and inter-cultural communication 2.2.2 Politeness and politeness strategies 17 2.2.3 Compliments and compliment responses 25 2.2.4 The voice show 30 2.3 Summary 33 CHAPTER 3: POLITENESS STRATEGIES OF COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLIMENT RESPONSES IN TWO TV PROGRAMS 34 3.1 Introduction 34 3.2 Analysis 35 3.2.1 The voice of Vietnam 35 3.2.2 The voice of US 51 iii CHAPTER 4: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCESBETWEEN TWO CULTURESIN GIVING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS 65 4.1 Similarities and differences in giving compliment in the Voice Vietnam and the Voice US 65 4.1.1 Similarities in employing positive politeness strategies to give compliment 70 4.1.2 Differences in using positive politeness strategies to give compliments 70 4.1.3 Applying the positive politeness strategy in giving compliment 73 4.2 Similarities and differences in responding to compliments in the voice Viet Nam and the voice US 78 4.2.1 Similarities in applying positive politeness strategies in responding to compliments 81 4.2.2 Differences in using strategies to respond to compliments 81 4.3 Summary 82 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 83 5.1 Recapitulation 83 5.2 Concluding Remarks 83 5.3 Implications 84 5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies 85 REFERENCES 86 iv ABSTRACT This research discovers the manner of giving and responding to compliments of the coaches, candidates, MC, etc… who directly participated in the Voice of Vietnam and the Voice of US 2015 and the polite strategies used by the characters in these programs This study was based on three theoretical frameworks: Rogers’s theory of Communication (1994); Herbert’s theory of compliment responses; Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness strategies To carry out this study, the author chose qualitative method as an analytical method Based on theoretical frameworks and practical linguistic data, the author has decided to focus on verbal compliments and complement responses of the participants After analyzing the data, the author will identify politeness strategies conducted by the Vietnamese and American in the show as well as point out the similarities and differences between them In conclusion, the author found out the connection between culture and communication Accordingly, some suggestions are made with the aim of helping learners improve their language skills and communication efficiency v LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Positive politeness strategies in delivering the compliment Table 4.2 Strategies in responding to compliments Table 4.3: Positive politeness strategy in delivering compliment responses vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: communication process Figure 2.2: Brown and Levinson’s (1987) strategies for performing FTAs Figure 4.1: Positive politeness strategies in delivering the compliment in the Voice of Vietnam Figure 4.2: Positive politeness strategies in delivering the compliment in the Voice of US vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale Many studies have demonstrated the important role of language in the development of modern society People use language as a main tool to communicate or interact with the society Communication is not only a process of sending and receiving information among people but also the foundation of all human relationship It is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbol, sign, or behavior (Alwasilah, 1986) Playing a very important part in our daily life, whether in work or in life, communication is a bridge between people and helps us understand each other During interaction process with another person, we can determine their levels of needs, thoughts, emotions, experience etc , in order to timely and conformably meet the goals and missions communication Through communication, people enter the social and cultural relationships, ethics and social norms Therefore, language, communication and culture cannot be separated in a society The difference between Oriental and Western culture creates the difference in social norms in communication, especially the politeness in communication In fact people in each society have their own rule to make the politeness in communication Being polite means being aware of and respecting the feelings of other people Politeness can and will improve your relationships with others, help to build respect and rapport, boost your self-esteem and confidence, and improve your communication skills One of the best expressions of politeness in communication is through compliments and compliment responses In the process of communicating with people, if you know how to use dexterity compliment and compliment (1) Thu Phương: Chính xác, Thu Phương thích tưng bừng tươi (2) Pharrell: you see? I told you You found the courage, and this is what happens Strategy 7: Presuppose/raise/assert common ground This strategy is realized through gossip, small talk, time switch, personal-centre switch In other words, the speaker finds the similarities between the speaker and the listener and then they give the compliment (1) Mỹ Tâm: hồi mà tuổi á, khơng hát hay đâu (2) Christs: music is about love and i'm gonna come back to it again – emotion i mean, that's the only thingi'm in this business for is just to be feeling something and feeling it from my gut and my heart and my soul Strategy 8: Joke (1) My Tam: Em tên Phong hả? oa, giọng hát em bão vừa qua (2) Blake: whoo, you blew my hair… is it still on? Whoo, it’s on, it’s on I check it, I just had it set this morning Your voice just cuts through, that’s what make you stand out in a crowed of all singers and that’s what you are up against Strategy 9: Assert or presuppose S’s knowledge of and concern for H’s wants One way of indicating that speaker and hearer are cooperators, and thus potentially to put pressure on hearer to cooperate with speaker, is to assert or imply knowledge of hearer wants and willingness to fit one s own wants in with them In the Voice Vietnam and the US voice, when the addresser employed this strategy to give compliments, they expressed their 75 understanding of the listener's wishes, going to the next round and becoming winner of the program (1) Quốc Vương Quốc Khánh thể liệt sân khấu … tinh thần thi đấu tốt (2)Blake: listen to me There's nobody like you in this competition there's nobody like you on my team, on any of these teams there isn'tand now it's your opportunity to not be in the background anymore this is your chance to become ashley the artist in in front of millions of people, by the way Strategy 10: Offer, promise Using this strategy in delivering compliments, addresser claimed that whatever addressee wants, the addresser wants for him and will help to obtain Offers and promise are the natural outcome of this strategy (1) Đàm Vĩnh Hưng: em với anh ngay, ngay, và (2) Pharrell: let's it let's go all the way with it 'cause you could win Strategy 11: Be optimistic (1) Mỹ Tâm: Khi chị nghe giọng hát chị biết chắn em người sáng lạng chị thấy em có tiềm rât lớn (2) Blake: She is all-american That girl can win Strategy 12: Include both S and H in the activity When giving praise and using this polite strategy, the addresser wants both the addresser and the addressee in the same team and they would work together (1) Thu Phương: Con đường cần xa nữa, giây phút, khoảnh khắc chị chờ đợi bỏi giọng hát em chị bổ trợ qua nhau, đứng phút cuối trận đấu 76 (2) Adam:if we refine this together, if it's at a right now, we can bring it to a 10, three more little notches it's gonna win Strategy 13: Give (or ask for) reasons (1) Đàm Vĩnh Hưng: đêm lại bất ngờ khơng nghĩ 16 tuổi lại có đủ chiều sâu diễn cảm đến nốt nhac chữ hát này, người trưởng thành, người trải (2) Blake: if you come over, you're the type of artist that i would want to protect throughout this process because i look for unique people that's what you are that's what i want on my team Strategy 14: Assume or assert reciprocity Applying this strategy in delivering compliments, addressers asks addressees to cooperate with him by giving evidence of reciprocal rights or obligations between speaker and listener (1)Tuấn Hưng: anh biết em hay hát hay đc anh tin em chọn anh, anh hứa anh cố gắng tất anh đề làm cho em thực tốt sân khấu (2) Blake: there's nobody like him on any team Nobody like you if you come over, you're the type of artist that i would want to protect throughout this process Strategy 15: Give gifts to H (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) When applying this strategy in giving compliment The addresser gave the gift of admiration, acknowledgment to the addressee's talent (1) Đàm Vĩnh Hưng: anh bấm lại muốn bày tỏ ngưỡng mộ anh dành cho em, mà biết em 16 tuổi ngưỡng mộ gấp bội lần 77 (2) Blake: to sing like you sing, so much heart, it's so hard to do, but you make it seem so easy so much emotion and just raw power is coming out 4.2 Similarities and differences in responding to compliments in the voice Viet Nam and the voice US Below was the way characters used strategies in responding to the compliment Table 4.2 strategies in responding to compliments Strategies Viet nam US Times % Times % Positive politeness strategy 130 42,76% 172 57,52% Say nothing 170 55,92% 120 40,13% negative 1,32% 2,35% The table above showed the difference between the utilization of strategies in responding to the compliments of participants in the Voice Vietnam and the Voice US As illustrated in the table, the total data of compliment responses were collected in twenty episodes of the Voice Vietnam and the Voice US In positive politeness strategies, the participants in the voice they tended to use more in the Voice Vietnam In two programs, the participants in the voice of the US used positive politeness strategy 42 times more than the participants in the Voice of Vietnam did In contrast, saying nothing as one strategy in responding to compliment in the voice of Vietnam 50 times higher than in the Voice US In other words, the speakers in the Voice US performed the compliment in positive politeness by applying various strategies that gave orientation toward the hearer’s positive face wants It could be seen as a solidarity strategy, emphasizing that both speakers 78 want the same thing and they have a common goal Meanwhile people in the Voice of Vietnam tended not to the FTA In the negative politeness strategy, participants in the Voice US employed this strategy in responding to compliment more than the participants in the Voice of Vietnam The negative politeness focuses on the hearer’s basic want to keep self-determination and to acknowledge the hearer’s negative face to be unimpeded and not to be imposed on It can be seen as a deference strategy The employment of negative politeness is influenced by the distance relationship, the subordinate status hearer (the complimentee) bear over speaker (the complimenter), and the informal situation of the conversation In the programs the speakers perform the compliment in positive politeness by applying various strategies that give orientation toward the hearer’s positive face wants It can be seen as a solidarity strategy, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing and they have a common goal Table 4.3: Positive politeness strategy in delivering compliment responses Positive politeness strategy The voice Vietnam The voice US Times % Times % Say ‘thank’ 112 86,15% 143 83,14% Emotionally-sensitive 2,31% 19 11,04% Comment history 2,31% 0,58% Praise upgrade 0,77% 0% Return 1,54% 1,75% Scale down 4,61% 1,16% Question 2,31% 2,33% 79 Using positive politeness strategies in both two programs, the participant applied the reception strategy with thanks many times The percentages of employing this strategy in responding to compliment were very high, respectively 86.15% in the Voice of Vietnam and 83.14% in the Voice US In Emotionally-sensitive strategy, the participants in the Voice of US employed over six times more than the participants in the Voice Vietnam, equivalent to 8,73% The feelings expressed here are often the excitement, happy, and even emotion of addressees send to the addressers Comment history and Return were two strategies used less, it fluctuated from to times in both strategies Those were the most skillful and neutral strategies in compliment responses, creating a balance and equality between the speaker and the listener, both are honored Confirming the content of praise is the way the person repeated and emphasized his superiority It proved the approval, and addressee thought that he or she was worthy of praise Even if not skillfully, he was considered arrogant Scale down is a way of expressing humility in communication This approach is inconsistent with refusing the compliments, because the listener may be very interested and satisfied with the compliment But to ensure politeness, avoid self-praise the addressees should have utilized the strategy of reducing the level of praise This is the way to receive praise in accordance with the humility, the traditional of Oriental culture Therefore, we can easily see that in the two programs, Americans tend to employ this strategy less than the Vietnamese does Giving questions in responding to compliments is a way of expressing sympathy with compliments and improving oneself in a more subtle way, so the question is politeness strategy in compliment response 80 4.2.1 Similarities in applying positive politeness strategies in responding to compliments The participants in both programs tend to apply the positive politeness strategies and say nothing to respond to compliments Especially the adoption of the strategy of saying thanks in giving the compliment responses This is the polite way to show the appreciation, so receiving the compliment, thank is valued as a sympathy, acknowledgment of praise and express appreciation for that praise The acceptance of praise is a characteristic feature of the West, it was imported and replaced by embarrassment, humility, or lack of appreciation of people in the East in general and Vietnamese in particular previously It is said that saying thanks seemed to be a little strange, flirtatious However, today, due to the import of Western culture, Vietnamese people tends to utilize this strategy more and more frequently in the media or in life than in the past In the scope of data, the author found that when receiving compliments, addressees often combine the strategies together: thanks and sharing of experience, thanks and express emotions, thanks and compliment the compliments, thanks and compliments, thank you and show humility The strategy of saying nothing is also applied quite a lot in both programs In the scope of data, giving compliment and compliment response are formed primarily in the relationship between the coaches and the contestants Thus, while responding to the compliments, the contestants often adopted the strategy of saying nothing, because this was their humble acceptance in front of the famous singers 4.2.2 Differences in using strategies to respond to compliments Beside those similarities, there are were some of the differences in using strategies to respond to compliments Americans are proud of their 81 personalities and differences In spite of their close ties to their families and communities, personal and human rights are most important to them So they always appreciate of individual feelings In contrast, Vietnamese people use less emotionally sensitive strategies because if they not use it clever, people think that you are not modest As discussion above, in American communication culture, when approaching or discussing a problem, Americans usually gave directly their own point of views on the issue Opposite to Vietnamese communication culture, Vietnamese people tend to use hedging strategies to express their views on a problem They believed that giving directly their point of view would make the listener feel dissatisfied In oriental culture, self-recognition of their talents is sometimes seemed self-praise, arrogant, so they often avoid that Therefore, in responding to the compliment, the participants in the Voice Vietnam tend to employ euphemisms or scale down strategies to express their modesty than the participants in the Voice US In the western culture, the people are often self-confident, so they tend to express their emotions or admit their abilities more than the Vietnamese 4.3 Summary Based on the data collected, the author used qualitative methods to provide specific data for each strategy of compliments and compliment responses In the process of giving and responding compliments, there are clear differences between the two cultures of the East and the West It directly affected the way of thinking and using language of both addressees and addressers However, there was some similarity in using strategies The similarity may be the culture itself, or it may also be culture import, particularly the Western culture import in Vietnam The strategies used primarily for making compliments and responses are positive politeness strategies 82 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation The aim of this study is to find out the politeness strategies applied in delivering compliment of the participants in the Voice of Vietnam season and theVoice of US season In other previous studies, researchers analyze primarily the strategies shown in the film, or the non-verbal strategy used in giving and responding to compliment In this study, the author focuses mainly on analyzing the ways of participants in the Voice of Vietnam and the Voice of US used politeness strategies in delivering compliment and compliment responses However, to some extent of the thesis, the author focuses on the positive politeness strategies in delivering compliment and responding to compliment To perform this study, the author utilizes descriptive quantitative method and contrastive methods to process and analyze data based on the theoretical frameworks of Rogers’s theory of Communication; Herbert’s theory of compliment responses; Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness strategies The study is divided into five chapters, but the most important ones are Chapter and Chapter Chapter focuses on the analysis of positive politeness strategies used in giving compliments and responses to the compliments of the characters of the twelve conversations in ten periods of the Voice of Vietnam and ten periods of the Voice of US In Chapter 4, the author counts the politeness strategies used in making compliments and responses in these periods From there, they found the similarity and difference in the way they gave compliments and compliment responses between the Vietnamese and Americans 5.2 Concluding Remarks The conclusions of the research are as follows: 83 The participants in these programs express the compliment in various ways All characters employ positive politeness in delivering compliments The speaker uses mixed strategies of notice to hearer, give ‘gifts’ to hearer, exaggerate, and use in-group identity marker in delivering compliment Exaggertation and give 'gift' strategies are used most in giving praise in both programs In positive politeness strategies of responding to compliments, the participants mostly use ‘say thanks’ strategy In addition to the positive politeness strategies, the participants apply quite a bit 'Say nothing' strategy in compliment responses Through the statistical tables above, reader can clearly see the similarity and differences in the way of delivering compliments and compliment responses of Vietnamese and American in the Voice Vietnam and the Voice US program The similarity and difference originate from the difference between Eastern and Western cultures In brief, the study has made a remarkable contribution to the investigation into the use of positive politeness strategies in delivering compliments and compliment responses in the Voice US season and the voice Vietnam season 5.3 Implications The study has some implications for language teaching and language learning as follows: In this paper, the frameworks by Brown and Levinson (1987), Herbert (1986), the framework is considered to be the key theories in the study of politeness strategies It is expressed not only in praise but also in other forms of communication Language and culture are a reciprocal relationship and compliment expresses that relationship So for English learners, they not only learn the language but also need to learn about Western culture The author 84 hopes that this study will help English learners have a clearer view of using language to express compliment and response like native speakers This will help them avoid cultural conflicts when exposed to the Western environment 5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies The study has identified the positive politeness strategies used in giving compliments and compliment response in the Voice US season and the Voice Vietnam season In addition, it found similarities and differences in using the strategies of the participants in twenty episodes of two programs There are still many cases on the study of compliments and compliment responses It is suggested to other researchers who are interested in politeness strategy study to a research focused on the same point about the act of complimenting and responding to the compliment in other programs or other sources such as interview, internet, drama and 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Massachusetts: Newbury Publisher, Inc Vietnamese Authors Phạm Thị Hà (2013) Characteristics of Gender Differences Language in Vietnamese Communication (Behavior of Compliments and Compliment Responses).Academy of Social Sciences Trần Quỳnh Giao (2010) Replying to Compliments in English and Vietnamese, The International Journal of Language Society and Culture, 5,4-9 Nguyễn Quang (1998) Cross-cultural Communication CFL - Vietnam National University – Hanoi 89 ... myself have written the thesis entitled Politeness strategies in giving and responding to compliments in the Voice of Vietnam 2015 and the Voice of US 2015 and without making use of any sources... discovers the manner of giving and responding to compliments of the coaches, candidates, MC, etc… who directly participated in the Voice of Vietnam and the Voice of US 2015 and the polite strategies used... questions of this study: - What kinds of politeness strategies were used to compliment in The Voice of Vietnam and The Voice of US in 2015? - What kinds of politeness strategies were used to respond to