A Study Of Pre-Sequences In Announcements In English Versus Vietnamese

ABSTRACT

This research offers an analysis of pre-sequences in announcements in English and Vietnamese. The study aims at examining pre-sequences in announcements and finding out similarities and differences of pre-announcements in English and Vietnamese. Besides, the study also suggests some implications of finding for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam. The study focuses on the investigation of the syntactic and pragmatic features of pre-sequences in announcements in English and Vietnamese based on the analysis of the data collected from English and Vietnamese conversational books, short stories and novels.

I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In everyday communication, people often have different purposes, one of which is giving announcements. In order to become successful news deliverers, people sometimes need to use some strategies because direct announcement is not always a good idea. It can result in face threatening acts or even be a waste of time just because the hearer has already got the information. Therefore, it is often necessary to use pre-sequences which can supply speakers useful hints to get their communication purposes successfully. In other words, pre-sequences can help the speakers prepare a good context for their coming announcements. However, the use of pre-sequences in announcements (pre-announcements) is not always the same. On recognizing of the need for such a study, I decide to choose “A Study of Pre-sequences in Announcements in English versus Vietnamese” as a topic of my research. It is hoped that this study will find out the similarities and differences between PAs in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and pragmatic to serve better communication as well as facilitate the process of teaching and learning English as far as this issue is concerned.

II. PRE-ANNOUNCEMENTS (PAs) IN ENGLISH VERSUS VIETNAMESE

1. Definitions of PAs in English and Vietnamese

According to Levinson (1997) [2, p349] a PA is an utterance used for “delivering on newsworthiness of potential announcement, for validating newsworthiness in order to check someone attention that comes before the main announcement.” It consists of a turn in which the announcing participant checks on the newsworthiness of the item, and may also consist of a turn in which the recipient allows or disallows the newsworthiness of the item before beginning a request-acceptance or question-answer sequence to elicit the announcement.

For example:

A: Did you hear the bad news? (Position 1)

B: No. What? (Position 2)

A: Dan died. (Position 3)

B: Oh (Position 4) [15, p34]

Position 1(Precondition check): checks on the newsworthiness of potential announcement in position 3.

Position 2 (Precondition validation): validates the newsworthiness and requests to tell.

Position 3(Action): announcement delivered

Position 4 (response): news receipt

In Vietnamese, Nguyễn Đức Dân (1998) [1] considers pre-sequence as lời mở thoại. According to him, “lời mở thoại” is “những lời nói được dùng trong một lúc nào đó để người khác cảm nhận được sẽ có một hoặc một chuỗi những lời nói tiếp theo.”

For example:

Nga : Cậu biết ca sỹ Thanh Lam không? (=pre-sequence in announcement)

Thảo : Tất nhiên

Nga : Cô ấy vừa xếp thứ nhất trong Top 10 ca sỹ được nhiều người yêu thích đấy. (=announcement) [1, p84]

2. The syntactic features of PAs in English versus Vietnamese

2.1. The syntactic features of PAs in English and Vietnamese

Based on the examination of 400 samples of PAs in English and Vietnamese from the cited sources, we can find that PAs in both languages can be categorized in many different structures such as interrogative, declarative, imperative, exclamative and phrasal ones.

2.1.1. Interrogatives

Interrogative structures are classified into different types in both languages. These types of structures are nearly similar to each other, but they are called differently.

English Vietnamese

Yes/No question General question (Câu hỏi tổng quát)

Wh-question Question with interrogative pronouns

(Câu hỏi có từ nghi vấn)

Declarative question Intonation question(Câu hỏi dùng ngữ điệu)

Tag question Hyppothesis question(Câu hỏi giả thuyết)

Or-question Choice question(Câu hỏi lựa chọn)

In order to have a clear comparison of the syntactic structures of PAs in English and Vietnamese, I am going to use the English names for the Vietnamese structures based on their similarities as mentioned above.

a. Yes/No Questions

Considered as one of the most typical types of questions, Yes/No questions are usually answered by Yes or No. In English, these questions are realized by the inversion of an auxiliary verb to the left of the subject. However, Vietnamese ones are often realized by the presence of some particles such as không, chưa, etc at the end of the questions. Yes/No questions can be found in the complete or incomplete forms in the two languages. Let’s have a look at the examples below.

(1) Mathilde: Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball?

A friend: Yes. Well?

Mathilde: Well, I lost it. [27]

(2) Makola: Want to know my news?

Kayerts: Yes.

Makola: Those men who came yesterday are traders from Loanda who have got more ivory than they can carry home. [22]

(3) Hòa : Em ngủ chưa?

Vợ Hòa: Có chuyện gì hả anh?

Hòa : Ngày mai anh đi công tác một thời gian. Anh đi làng Nhô. [5]

b. Wh-questions

Wh-questions in English and Vietnamese are easily realized by the presence of the question words including what (cái gì), when (khi nào), why (tại sao), which (cái nào), etc . Each question word will decide the information that the S wants to know. Therefore, the expected answers to this kind of questions are certainly not Yes or No, but utterances transferring the needed information related to the question words.

A Wh-question is generally built by the inversion of a Wh-phrase and an auxiliary to the front of the question in English and the presence of the question word in the front or the end of the question in Vietnamese. Following are some examples:

(4) - What's your name?
- Atka. . . .

- OK. He will live with you in the next years. [25]

(5) Dần : Anh Nguyên đâu?

Nguyên : Thế nào?

Dần : Có người chết trong miếu. [8, p566]

c. Tag Questions

Considered as a special structure in English and Vietnamese, a tag question is a statement followed by a mini-question, so-called a “question tag”. This tag can be seen as something small that we add to something larger in order to ask for confirmation. For example:

(6) Average Jones : You are Mr. Smith, aren’t you?

The visitor : Yes. Your hand if you please.

Average Jones : There’s something for you at the reception. [19]

(7) Liên : Chị là Trần Thị Cẩm Tú, đúng không?

Người đàn bà : Phải, tôi là Tú đây.

Liên : Có thư của Lê Văn Tuyên gởi từ chiến trường về cho chị đấy. [8, p298]

d. Declarative Questions

This type of questions takes the form of affirmative structures but is spoken with a rising tone. This rise is indicated with a question mark and imparts the force of a question to what would otherwise as a statement. The examples below will illustrate this.

(8) - Perhaps you are Nastasya Petrovna?

- Well, yes, I am!

- Very pleased to see you. . . . Your old friend Olga Ivanovna Knyasev sends this to you. [25]

(9) - Cậu biết rạp có phim mới?

- Không. Phim gì thế?

- She’s the man. [11, p77]

d. Alternative Questions

An alternative question is a question that presents two or more possible answers and presupposes that only one is true. It offers the H a closed choice between them and often ends with a falling intonation. Those possible answers are connected be the coordinator “or” and can be in the form of a phrase or a clause. The coordinated parts are usually found the same in structure. For example:

(10) The gray-haired man : Will you listen to me—or will I have to get a servant to hold you while I talk to you?

Ardita : What?

The gray-haired man : I have just received a telephone message from the shore [24]

2.1.2. Declaratives

a. Affirmative Statements

Existing in positive forms, affirmative statements transfer a certain amount of information to the H. There are a variety of affirmative structures in English and Vietnamese. For example:

(11) D: I forgot to tell you the two best things that happen to me today.

R: What were they?

D: I got a B+ on my math test .. and I got an athletic award. [18]

(12) Loan : Tớ có tin vui.
Bê : Đằng ấy đến thăm mình à? Tin gì vậy?
Loan : Tớ nhận được phiếu mua thịt rồi nè! [15]

b. Negative Statements

Giving the information in a negative way, negative statements are usually realized by the presence of not and an auxiliary verbs depending on the tense used in the sentence and the use of such words that không, không thể, etc in Vietnamese. Besides, some adverbs like never/hardly ever can be utilized instead of not to convey a negative meaning in English. Consider the examples below.

(13) Man : You’ll never believe this!

Woman : What? What happened?

Man : I won the lottery! [16]

(14) Hà Anh : Mình không biết tính chuyện này thế nào đây.

Vân Vi : Chuyện gì vậy hả?

Hà Anh : Ba má mình ép mình lấy chồng đó. [14]

c. Incomplete Statements

This type structures is characterized by the omission of a verb phrase or a clause in a sentence, making the H interested in the information that is going to be delivered. This ellipsis is only acceptable in a specific context and is often used when the S find it difficult to announce the news. The examples below will clarify the points.

(15) Father : Your mother…

Scarlett : Mother?

Father : Your mother died yesterday. [17, p2177]

(16) Lâm : Nguyên à, tớ muốn ...

Nguyên : Gì ?

Lâm : Tớ chỉ muốn thông báo cho cậu một chuyện thôi! Nghe không?

Nguyên : Nghe!

Lâm : Thương bị ốm rồi! [13]

2.1.3. Imperatives

In this kind of sentence, we cannot find a subject and a verb in any order. Instead, imperative structures are realized by the presence of a bare infinitive verb , a verb phrase in English or such words as đừng, không được, etc in Vietnamese at the beginning of the utterance and have no subject. They exist in both positive and negative forms. Following are some examples.

(17) Sarpanch : Wait!

Raghuji : What?

Sarpanch : Raghuji .. she is your daughter … [23]

(18) Vân Vi : Đừng có xỉu nghe!

Hà Anh : Chuyện gì vậy Vân Vi? Mi làm ta muốn tắc nghẽn mạch máu đó VânVi, nóí nhanh lên.

Vân Vi : Này, bác Hai ở nhà bị té do bị bệnh tai biến. Bác ấy bị liệt nửa người cả tháng nay. [14]

2.1.4. Exclamatives

Often produced in a loud voice, these structures are often used for expressing the S’s emotion and begun with the word “what” in English and ended with chao ôi, quá, làm sao in Vietnamese.

(19) The woman : What a nice thing I’ve heard about you!

The man : What have you heard?

The woman : It seems that you are behaving like a blackguard, getting drunk and contracting debts. [26]

(20) Mẹ : Trời ơi! Mẹ lo quá!

Bích Chiêu : Chuyện gì vậy mẹ?

Mẹ : Bà xảy ra chuyện rồi. Bệnh rất nặng, hiện nằm mê man ở ngoài ấy. Người ta mới điện vào báo tin. [12]

2.1.5. PAs in Expressions for Attention

The last category is PAs in the forms of expressions. They contain a word or a phrase. For example:

(21) Justin : Sir--

Mercadet : Go on! Tell me.

Justin : M. Violette has offered me sixty francs if I will let him speak with M. Godeau. [21]

(22) Nhành : Anh Lê, anh Lê ơi!

Lê : Gì mà cuống quýt lên thế?

Nhành : Anh Lê ơi, đường thông rồi. [8, p172]

2.2. Discussion

In order to have a general view on how similar and different the PAs in English and Vietnamese are as far as the syntactic features are concerned, let us consider the following tables.

Table 2.1. Relative Frequency of the PAs in English and Vietnamese in Terms of Syntactic Features.(200 samples for each language)

Structures	English Language		Vietnamese Language
Structures	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
1. Interrogative	103	51.5	94	47
2. Declaratives	65	32.5	61	30.5
3. Imperatives	15	7.5	20	10
4. Exclamatives	2	1	9	4.5
5. Expressions	15	7.5	16	8
Total	200	100	>200	100

Table 2.2. Relative Frequency of the subtypes of PAs in English and Vietnamese in Terms of Syntactic Features

+ Interrogatives	English Language		Vietnamese Language
+ Interrogatives	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
1. Yes/No Questions	62	60.19	58	61.7
2. Wh-Questions	6	5.82	4	4.2
3. Declarative questions	14	13.59	5	5.3
4. Tag questions	15	14.56	14	14.89
5. Or-questions	1	0.99	0	0
6. Incomplete questions	5	4.85	13	13.91
Total	103	100	94	100

+ Declaratives	English Language		Vietnamese Language
+ Declaratives	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
1. Affirmative statements	47	72.30	50	81.69
2. Negative statements	10	15.38	6	9.83
3. Incomplete statements	8	12.32	5	8.21
Total	65	100	61	100

+ Imperatives	English Language		Vietnamese Language
+ Imperatives	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
1. Affirmative	12	80	17	85
2. Negative	3	20	3	15
Total	15	100	20	100

+ Exclamatives	English Language		Vietnamese Language
+ Exclamatives	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
2	100	9	100

+ Expressions	English Language		Vietnamese Language
+ Expressions	Number	Frequency%	Number	Frequency%
15	100	16	100

2.2.1. Similarities

Based on the sample analysis, we can find that there are many similarities between PAs in English and Vietnamese.

First, it is clear that PAs are frequently used in both languages in the forms of such structures that interrogatives, declaratives, imperatives, exclamatives and expressions. The table 2.1 shows that among 200 collected samples for each language, the number of each type of PAs is not largely different. The five mentioned types in English rank in the same order as that in Vietnamese.

Second, when using interrogative structures as PAs in conversations, both English and Vietnamese people tend to make Yes/No questions and tag questions more often than other kinds.

Third, more affirmative imperative structures are made in English as PAs than negative ones, which is also similar in Vietnamese. 12 cases (80%) of affirmatives and 3 cases (20%) of negatives are realized in English. The order is the same in Vietnamese with 17 cases (85%) of the former and 3 cases (15%) of the later.

Last but not least, English and Vietnamese conversationalists have the same way of making declarative questions. They both use a statement with a rising tone resulting in the force of a question. For example:

(23) The professor : You know anything about Harvey Craig?

Jones : No.

The professor : He has disappeared.[19]

(24) Ông Kiên Trung : Các cháu rất muốn biết?

Lệ Phong : Vâng, thưa ông.

Ông Kiên Trung : Nhẫn Bình sắp đính hôn với cô gái mà ông đã nhắm cho nó.

[8, p152]

2.2.2. Differences

There are some differences in the syntactic features of PAs in English and Vietnamese.

First, in spite of the similarity in the interrogative structures of PAs related to Yes/No questions, tag questions and or-questions mentioned above, there are differences in other subtypes of questions. English speakers have a tendency to use more declarative questions (14 cases/13.59%) than Vietnamese ones (5 cases/5.3%). In contrast, less incomplete questions are used in English than that in Vietnamese (5 cases/4.85% versus 13 cases/13.91%).

Second, the number of occurrence of exclamatives as PAs is quite different. There are only 2 cases occupying 1% in English, but in Vietnamese, there are 9 cases accounting for 4.5%. Moreover, the structures of exclamatives are also different in the two languages. In English, exclamative structures are usually begun with How or What in the beginning of the sentences. In Vietnamese; however, more words are used in this kind of structures such as nhỉ, thay, làm sao, chao ôi, quá, thật là, biết mấy, ghê, thế, biết bao, etc. These words can be at the front, in the middle or at the end of a sentence. Let us consider the examples below.

(25) Average Jones: What a pity to say you this!

Mr. Prentice: I’m ready to hear you.

Average Jones: Mr. Tuxall has left for parts unknown, so the Harwick authorities inform me, probably foreseeing a charge of arson. [20]

(26) Dì Diệu : Tui vui quá mọi người ơi!

Mọi người : Gì vậy cô?

Dì Diệu : Tui sắp có con gái rồi nghen.

Mọi người : Nói chơi hoài, có thấy bầu bì gì đâu?

Dì Diệu : Bốn mươi mấy tuổi rồi, bầu bì gì nữa. Tui xin con nuôi. [7, p 90]

(27) - Anh có sao không? Tội cho anh Phê quá!

- Không hề gì. Phê thế nào?

- Sướt một bên sườn. [9, p558]

(28) Anh Suzuki : Thật là lạ đó nghen!

Cu Chót : Chuyện gì vậy anh?

Anh Suzuki : Tôi vừa gặp bà Ba đưa bé Thanh vô khách sạn. [6, p57]

Third, the formation of questions as PAs in English and Vietnamese is quite different. In English, it is the inversion of the subject and the auxiliary verb that makes a question. Nevertheless, Vietnamese communicators use no inversion. Instead, they utilize some particles like à, hả, ạ or adverbs such as có phải…không, có…chưa, có…không, đã…chưa, muốn…không, or question words like ở đâu, khi nào, etc in their utterances.

(29) D: Did you hear the terrible news?

R: No. What.

D: You know your Grandpa’s brother Dan?

R: Yeah.

D: He died. [18, p28]

(30) Mabon Sinton : Tôi rất hài lòng. Hôm nay, ông là người thứ hai đấy. Ông muốn biết ai là người thứ nhất không?

Nam tước Gorinh : Con lừa tự dắc láo xược nào dám đề nghị với cô trước tôi?

Mabon Sinton : Tommy Toratfot, tất nhiên. Hôm nay là một trong ngày mà Tommy đưa ra đề nghị. Ông ta vẫn ngỏ lời với vào thứ ba và thứ năm hằng tuần, trong suốt Mùa này. [20, p237]

(31) Đoàn : Ông Ké ở đâu đồng chí?

Trung đoàn trưởng : Tôi chưa gặp.

Đoàn : Ông Ké lên đây rồi mà! [9, p638]

In summary, there are both similarities and differences between the syntactic features of PAs in English and Vietnamese. The similarities are mainly resulted from the number of occurrence of some types of PAs whereas the differences are primarily due to the different ways of formation of the PA structures in the two languages.

3. Implications for the English Language Learning and Teaching

3.1. Implications for learners

First, learners should know different kinds of structures of PAs so as to have the correct choice for each communicative purpose. This is really necessary for learners to develop their communication skills.

Second, for successful communication in general and effective news delivery in particular, learners should know the frequent use of PAs to avoid FTAs as well as become polite communicators.

Finally, Vietnamese learners of English should know the similarities and differences of PAs in English and Vietnamese to study English better as well as have effective use in their daily communication.

3.2. Implications for teachers

First, teachers should give learners more opportunities to practice PAs in conversations. In order to do that, teachers need to create a teaching environment with a lot of real situations so that learners can practice how to use PAs effectively. For example, teachers can ask such questions as “what should you say if you have to give a very bad piece of news to your friends?” or “what should you say if you are not sure whether the H is the correct person for your news?”. When finding the answers for such questions, learners can have chances to try different ways of using PAs.

Secondly, teachers should help learners know how to use PAs effectively by showing the essential structures of PAs. Besides, it is also important for teachers to raise learners’ awareness of the similarities and differences of PAs in English and Vietnamese so that they can be more confident when using PAs.

REFERENCES

VIETNAMESE

[1] Nguyễn Đức Dân (1996), Ngữ dụng học, Nhà xuất bản Giáo Dục.

ENGLISH

[2] Mey, J. L. (1993), Pragmatics an Introduction, Blackwell Publishers.

[3] Terasaki, A. (1976) Pre-announcement Sequences in Conversation, University of California, Irvine.

[4] Wolska, M. (2007), Pragmatic and Discourse – Conversation Structure, Oxford university press.

SOURCE OF EXAMPLES QUOTED VIETNAMESE

[5] Trần Thị Bảo Châu (2000), Để gió cuốn đi, XN In Tân Bình.

[6] Hồ Hải Học (2002), Khắc khoải, NXB Thanh Niên

[7] Hồ Phương (2005), Ngàn dâu, NXB hội nhà văn.

[8] Nguyễn Ngọc Tư (2008), Giao thừa, NXB Trẻ, TP HCM.