Vietnamese Person Reference System as an Appraisal Resource

Abstract

The linguistic resources for communicating one's evaluative stance in respect of what is being discussed differ substantially in English and Vietnamese. An understanding of this difference may assist English language teachers to provide Vietnamese learners of English with resources to help them engage fully in the normal evaluative aspects of language use in English. One of the aspects of Vietnamese language which is significantly different from English is the system of person reference. This chapter describes the intricate system of person reference in Vietnamese, which consists of (1) common nouns-kinship terms, (2) people's names and (3) personal pronouns. In so doing the chapter also discusses how, in certain contexts, the choice of a person referring term implies an evaluative meaning of the addressor towards the addressees and the third party. This discussion is based the system of linguistic resources for appraisal in English mapped by Martin and White (2005), and further indicates how the Vietnamese system of person reference contributes to appraisal resources in Vietnamese.