1 2

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

UNIVERSITY OF DANANG The thesis has been completed at the College of Foreign
Languages, University of Danang.

TRẦN THỊ NGỌC DƯ Supervisor: NGŨ THIỆN HÙNG, Ph. D.

Examiner 1: TRẦN QUANG HẢI, Ph.D.

CONDITIONAL SPEECH ACTS Examiner 2: NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN, Ph.D.

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Field: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Code: 60.22.15
The thesis was defended at the Examining Committee
Time : June 26th 2012
Venue: University of Danang
M.A. THESIS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(A SUMMARY)

The original of thesis is accessible for the purpose of reference at

the College of Foreign Languages Library, and the Information
Resources Center, Danang University.

Danang - 2012
 3 4

Chapter 1 speech act domain with the topic: “Conditional Speech Acts in
INTRODUCTION English and Vietnamese”
1.1. RATIONALE The findings are expected to find out the similarities and
In everyday conversation, we communicate with each other differences of conditional speech acts so that it can help the learners
by using a variety of speech acts. Very often we use representative get success in communication and help us understand and have good
speech act in form of conditional sentences to express a logical manipulative skills of conversations in communication.
relation between the condition and the conclusion or the 1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
antecedent/premise and the consequence. However, in many cases, - To identify and describe the kinds of conditional speech
we employ conditional sentences not to express a descriptive acts in English and Vietnamese.
message about the logical relation between the real or unreal - To compare these kinds of conditional speech acts in
condition and the judgement about the likelihood of the possibility of English and Vietnamese to find out the similarities as well as
a state-of-affair. In fact, the condition described in these cases is differences in this kind of condition between two languages.
found to have a specific function other than a description of the - To suggest some implications for Vietnamese learners of
condition for a normal conditional sentence. Rather, the condition English
here is assumed to function as a modification of a speech act like 1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
representative, directive or question. This linguistic fact raise a This study focuses on conditional speech acts and their
question about a kind of conditional sentence or speech act linguistic feature in English and find out more than 180 instances of
concerning their linguistic features. conditional speech acts from English and Vietnamese short stories,
Being a young teacher of English at a college in Danang city, novels, and newspapers, magazines. And this paper focuses on
I always wonder how to inspire my students in learning English to analyzing conditional speech acts in some special view of the
get good result after a term. After a long time I realize that good phenomenon of conditionality.
knowledge and high score is not enough. We need to have good 1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
language behavior whenever we contact the foreigners and how can 1. What are the linguistic features of conditional speech acts
we use language to achieve our purpose? It depends on our ability in in English and Vietnamese?
communication. In this respect, I decide to do my research on the 2. What are the similarities and differences in conditional
linguistic features of conditionals in communication. We will support speech acts between English and Vietnamese?
some special view of the phenomenon of conditionality. The main 3. What are the effective solutions to use conditional speech
object will be simply to explain the functioning of conditionality in acts in English and Vietnamese in communication?
 5 6

1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY As far as in the Vietnamese language is concerned,

Chapter 1 “Introduction” conditional speech acts are very popular in short stories, magazines,
Chapter 2 “Literature Review” etc. For example, Nguyen Khanh Ha (2008) mentioned prototype
Chapter 3 “Method and Procedures” theory and prototype conditionals in Vietnamese. Le Thi Minh Hang
Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussions” (2009) examined the causal relation and conditionals. She has
Chapter 5 “Conclusions and Implications" explained and demonstrated all kinds of conditionals. Vu Thi Nga
has analyzed conditional hedges in Vietnamese communication
Chapter 2 utterances. She examined a lot of different communicative situations
LITERATURE REVIEW especially in Vietnamese literature.
2.1. PREVIOUS STUDIES 2.2.1. Conditional and speech acts
Conditional sentences have been carried out from various 2.2.1.1. The Notions of Conditional sentences
theoretical aspects In general, conditional sentences are considered as a popular
Yan (2010) examined conditionals from truth-functionality, connective used in grammatical category like other forms:
non-truth-functionality and suppositional theories and semantically in preposition, conjunction, etc.
these three domains According to Wikipedia, conditional sentences are
Sweester (1990) did not describe in length theory of categorized into two fields:
conditionals, but she supported some particular view of the - In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing
phenomenon of conditionality, and elucidated the functioning of factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences
conditionality in the content, epistemic, and speech act domains. - Syntactically, the condition is the subordinate clause, and
Searle (1969) states that there exist implicit functioning of the consequence is the main clause.
speech-act conditionals. Whereas Kitis (1999) studied conditional Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses
constructions as rhetorical construction used in discourse. or If Clauses.
According to Eun-Ju Noh (2000) in the light of relevance In the language magazines Le Thi Minh Hang has explained
theory, a certain range of indicative conditionals (as opposed to clearly the causal relation and conditions. It is a causual relation and
subjunctive conditionals) have been examined. And Vander Auwera its meaning: “Nếu...thì...” or “Vì.....nên...” It also helps us to
(1986) has showed the relation of conditionals in distinguish conditional sentences and conditional speech acts.
“Conditionals and Speech Act”.
 7 8

2.2.1.2. The Notions of speech act The underlying algebraic structure is Boolean (conjunction,
A speech act is an act that a speaker performs when making disjunction, negation as basic operations, lifted from truth values to
an utterance, including the following: other domains – cf. Keenan & Faltz (1985)).
A general act (illocutionary act) that a speaker performs, 2.2.4. Implicature and speech act theory
analyzable as including: the uttering of words (utterance acts), Grice has proposed the theory of "implicature" in a series of
making reference and predicating (propositional acts), and a lectures at Harvard in 1967. He recognized that the meaning of
particular intention in making the utterance (illocutionary force) communication is dependent not simply on what is said, but also on
Searle (1975) set up the following classification of what is implicated (implied). He also distinguished between the
illocutionary speech acts: assertives, directives, commissives, inferences that one could possibly draw from an utterance and the
expressives, declarations inferences .
Crystal (2002) quoting J.R. Searle, gives five such 2.3. SUMMARY
categories: Representatives, Directives, Commissives, Expressives, This chapter has presented the review of the literature with
Declarations previous studies on the topic of condtional sentences in general and
2.2.1.3. The Notions of conditional speech acts conditional speech act in particular. Also, such key concepts as
Michele de Oliveira (1999- 2000), speech act conditionals speech act theory, conversational implicature have been dealt with.
are utterances which have the apparent structure of conditionals but These are treated as preliminary information to carry out the
function semantically as speech acts (e.g., invitations, suggestions) contrastive analysis of conditional speech acts.
[19]
2.2.2. Speech-act conditionals Chapter 3
The truth of the antecedent is a sufficient condition for the METHOD AND PROCEDURES
performance of a speech-act involving the consequent 3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN
2.2.3. Speech Acts and Truth-Conditional Meaning The aim of this investigation is to examine and describe
Manfred KrifkaHumboldt-Universität, Berlin and Zentrum linguistic features of conditional speech acts in English and
für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin (Truth-conditional Vietnamese. This research was carried out through a descriptive and
meaning and speech acts, classical view (cf. Stenius (1967), Searle qualitative approach. This method was used to identify similarities
(1969): Illocutionary Force and Truth Conditions and differences in the ways of using conditional speech acts in
English and Vietnamese. Empirical evidence was used to justify the
result from the analysis.
 9 10

3.2. STUDY PROCEDURES a CSA in form of Conditional clause + Declarative /

3.2.1. Data Collection Declarative + Conditional clause in English
The relevant examples were collected and then they were 1) If clause + Main Clause (S + V)
listed in the “References” section and classified according to kinds of 2) If clause + Main Clause (S-V-C)
conditional speech acts 3) If clause + Main Clause (S-V-O)
3.2.2. Data Analysis 4) Main Clause + If clause (S-V-A)
- Conditional speech acts in English were analyzed and 5) Main Clause + If clause (S-V-O)
compared with those in Vietnamese 6) If clause + Main Clause (S-V-O-A)
- The study suggests some effective solutions for Vietnamese b CSA in form of Conditional clause + Declarative in
learners of English in using conditional speech acts in English and Vietnamese
Vietnamese in communication. Table 4.2 CSA in form of Conditional clause + Declarative in
Vietnamese
Chapter 4 Syntactic pattern E.g.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Nếu clause + Declarative clause ‘Nếu VFF mời, tôi sẽ nhận lời làm
4.1. THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF CONDITIONAL HLV ĐTQG’
SPEECH ACTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE Declarative clause + Nếu clause Sẽ có tri âm nếu bạn là tri âm
This chapter presents the linguistic features of conditional 4.1.1.2. CSA in form of If-clause + Interrogative
speech acts in English and Vietnamese and the similarities and (Question)/ + Interrogative (Question) + Iif-clause
differences of these linguistic units in terms of syntax and A typical interrogative sentence can be recognized with the
pragmatics. inversion of Subject and Auxiliary Verb and can be classified into 2
4.1.1. The Syntactic Constructions of CSA types such as Yes-No Questions and Wh-Questions.
A normal conditional sentence typically consists of two a. Yes-No Question/Confirming Question in English
componential parts in terms of syntax: the If-clause and the Table 4.3 CSA in form of If-clause + Interrogative in English
statement. In the corpus of my study, conditional speech acts were Syntactic pattern E.g.
found to occur with the statement in form of different structures of If clause + Aux + S + V? If I gave you ten thousand dollars, do
sentence such as declarative, interrogative and imperative. you think you could fix everything up?”
4.1.1.1. CSA in form of Conditional clause + Declarative Aux + S + V + If clause? “Father, would you mind if I went down
to the ranch Friday afternoon?”
 11 12

If clause + Wh-words + “Well, if that’s what you think, why 9) Đừng + V + (O) + Nếu clause
Aux + S + V? don’t you write to them and tell them? 10) Không nên + V + (O) + Nếu clause
Wh-words + Aux + S + V How can you have faith in him if you 4.1.2. Pragmatic functions of conditional speech acts in
+ If clause? didn’t love him?” english and Vietnamese
Illocutionary forces of CSAs and their Linguistic Realizations
c. Confirming Question in Vietnamese a. CSAs as Representatives and their Linguistic Realizations
Nếu clause + S + có + V + không? 1) Giving opinion
d. Informative Questions in Vietnamese 2) Asserting a fact
1) Nếu clause + S + có + V + không? 3) Warning
2) Nếu clause + S + (có) + V + Informative Question Word? Table 4.7 CSAs as Representatives and their Linguistic Realizations
3) S + (có) + V + Informative Question in English
4.1.1.3. CSAs in form of Imperative (Directive) Communicative Linguistic E.g.
The order of the if-clause and the main clause can be reversed function Realizations
according to the context of the speech act and the speaker’s intent in Giving opinion Declarative if college is where a man can go
phrasing the sentence like If clause + Bare Infinitive Clause sentence to find his relation to his whole
(V+(NP)) or Bare Infinitive Clause (V+(NP)) + If clause world, I don’t object.
a. CSAs in form of Imperative in English Declarative “I say if they’re big enough,
1) If clause + Bare Infinitive Clause (V+(NP)) Asserting a fact sentence they’re old enough.”
2) Bare Infinitive Clause (V+(NP)) + If clause Imperative If you ever feel sad,
b. CSAs in form of Imperative in Vietnamese sentence just remember that at this moment
1) Nếu clause + Hãy + V + (O) there’s a fat kid somewhere in the
2) Nếu clause + Xin + V + (O) world dropping his Ice-Cream.
3) Nếu clause + cứ + V + (O) Warning Warning it can be risky if you don't do it
4) Nếu clause + xin hãy + V + (O) right, according to CPA Michael
5) Nếu clause + hãy cứ + V + (O) Hanley, who ...
6) Nếu clause + xin ñừng + V + (O)
7) Nếu clause + không nên + V + (O)
8) Nếu clause + cần + V + (O)
 13 14

Table 4.8 CSAs as Representatives and their Linguistic Realizations In English

in Vietnamese 1) Inviting/calling for a Confirmation (80)- (82)
Communicative Linguistic E.g. 2) Eliciting Information (83)- (88)
Function Realizations In Vietnamese
Giving opinion Declarative Theo tôi ñể giải quyết vấn ñề ùn 1) Inviting/calling for a Confirmation (89)- (92)
sentence tắc, nếu là tôi, tôi làm cách khác. 2) Eliciting Information (93)- (95)
Một là: phát triển hạ tầng. Việc c. CSAs as Commissives and their Linguistic Realizations
này không thể làm ngay ñược. This conditional speech act can be recognized with various
Bằng chứng như ở Thái Lan, tôi ... sub-functions in presenting information cerning the speaker’s will or
Declarative Nếu bạn muốn thành công trong intention as shown below.
sentence ngành nghề kinh doanh theo mạng In English
Asserting a fact with thì chúng tôi chắc chắn rằng 1) Promissing/ Offerning Help
performative chương trình ñào tạo này là VÔ An action that is assumed to be beneficial to the hearer.(96)-
verb CÙNG CẦN THIẾT VỚI BẠN. (101)
Imperative Hãy luôn nhớ rằng nếu cánh cửa 2) Threatening
sentence này ñóng thì có cánh cửa khác The action mentioned in the proposition of the speech act was
with nhớ ñang mở by nature harmful or undesirable to the hearer. (102)-(104)
Warning Declarative Thai phụ nếu nghỉ ngơi nhiều và In Vietnamese
sentence nằm xuống quá thường xuyên có 1) Promissing/ Offerning Help (105), (106)
with có thể thể dẫn ñến nhiều biến chứng 2) Threatening (106), (107)
nguy hiểm. d. CSAs as Directives and their Linguistic Realizations
A directive speech act can also be hedged or modified with a
b. CSAs as quesions and their Linguistic Realizations conditional clause to modulate the force of a command, request or
The speech acts of this group can be classified within the order.
category of directives. However, to make clear the pragmatic In English
functions of CSAs, it is necessay to present these speech acts as a 1) Making Request/Order
separate type here to highlight their functions.
 15 16

An act of asking for permission can be hedged with a The speaker/addresser may hedge his/her claim with a
conditional clause that helps the speaker to fulfil this directive speech condition to reduce the impositional force and make the claim more
act in a more effective way. (108)- (110) acceptable. (135)- (148)
2) Giving Advice/Sugestions 3) Conditional Hedge as a mitigator of a Request/Advice
The speech acts can have the illocutionary force of getting the A sixth type of commentary pragmatic markers are markers
hearer do something that the addresser believe to be good and of mitigation, which signalt he speaker's desire to reduce the face loss
desirable for him/her. (111)- (113) associatedw ith the basic message (149)- (158)
In Vietnamese 4.2. SOME REMARKS ON THE SIMILARITIES AND
1) Making Request/Order (114)- (116) DIFFERENCES OF CSAs IN ENGLISH AND
2) Giving Advice/Sugestions (117)- (126) VIETNAMESE
e. Pragmatic functions of Conditional Clause in Conditional With the preliminary information from the descriptive
Speech Acts analysis now the study proceeds with the contrastive analysis to show
1) Conditional Hedges as Performative Markers some similarities and differences in terms of syntactic and pragmatic
Our speech acts are marked with a performative marker in features
form of a speech act verb, a perfromative adverb to make clear our 4.2.1. Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in
intention in making an act of communicative. syntactic features
In English Regarding the order of the clauses distributed in the structure
The analysis of the corpus of study shows instances of of CSAs in form of declarative sentence, we can see that CSAs in
conditional clauses as performative markers of such speech acts like English and Vietnamese allowed the reversal of the conditional
stating opinion with the speech act verbs say, asking with the speech clause and the main clause. This means either conditional clause or
act verb like ask ….(127)- (132) the main clause can assume the initial position in the structure of the
In Vietnamese superordinate clause.
The Vietnamese corpus of study did not yield instances of Table 4.17 Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms
performative markers with speech act verbs like those in English. of structure Conditional clause + Main clause (declarative)
Vietnamese was found to make use of such pragmatic markers such Structural Conditional Main clause
as xin ñược hỏi, xin ñược nói rằng, xin ñề nghị rằng. (133)- (134) component clause
2) Conditional Hedges as a Downtoner of a Claim of English If you go we’ll all have to go
Knowledge Vietnamese Nếu VFF mời tôi sẽ nhận lời làm HLV ĐTQG
 17 18

Table 4.18 Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms Informative If he says he thinks you Nếu bạn yêu, xin ñừng
of structure Main clause (declarative) + Conditional clause question can do it, don’t tell ngần ngại.
Structural Father.”
Main clause Conditional clause
component 4.2.2. Differences of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in
English I can send some chipped ice if you like syntactic features
Vietnamese Sẽ có tri âm nếu bạn là tri âm Although both English and Vietnamese were found to share
Regarding the employment of the interrogative structure, it is some similarities in employing all the three kinds of the sentence
noticed that both English and Vietnamese were found to use the structures such as declarative, interrogative and imperative, the
syntactic structure of both confirming question and informative employment of the grammatical devices to form the sentence
question in CSAs. structures were not the same.
Table 4.19 Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms 1) The use of modal auxiliary verb: interrogative clauses with
of structure Main clause (Interrogative) + Conditional clause Yes-No or Confirming questions in English and the mainly structure
Syntactic Có … không? Phải … không? in Vietnamese.
English Vietnamese
patterns Let’s consider some examples
Confirming “Father, would you mind if Nếu bây giờ có người uy If a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical
question I went down to the ranch hiếp bạn, muốn bạn die thì monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?
Friday afternoon?” bạn có sợ không? [15,ED, p.88]
Informative “Well, if that’s what you Nếu bạn có chanh, sao “Father, would you mind if I went down to the ranch Friday
question think, why don’t you write không sử dụng chúng ñể afternoon?” [15,ED, p.536]
to them and tell them?” làm ñẹp? If I gave you ten thousand dollars, do you think you could fix
everything up?” [15,ED, p.617]
Table 4.20 Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms The Vietnamese language showed to outnumber the English
of structure Conditional clause + Main clause (Imperative) one in imperative sentences with the use of the imperative markers
Syntactic patterns English Vietnamese such as xin, hãy, cứ, chớ, ñừng, and their combinations such as xin
Confirming If I haven’t already asked Nếu chưa ñăng ký, hãy hãy, xin ñừng, xin vui lòng, xin cứ, hãy cứ, hãy ñừng … as compared
question you to do so, please sign ñăng ký thành viên tại with the imperative structures initiated with do, don’t, just, please,
the guest book before you ñây hoặc xem phim let.
go. hướng dẫn tại ñây.
 19 20

Table 4.22 Differences of CSAs in English in terms of Imperative Không nên Nếu bạn mới biết lái thì không nên
markers mua xe quá cũ. [133]
Imperative Grammatical E.g. Cần Nếu bạn phải làm việc ñêm, ñồng hồ
structure devices sinh học của bạn bị thay ñổi thì cần
please If I haven’t already asked you to do chú ý ngủ ngày ñể ñảm bảo sức khoẻ.
so, please sign the guest book before [38]
Imperative
you go. [6] Cứ Nếu bạn muốn hãy cứ tin vào cổ tích.
sentence
Don’t If he says he thinks you can do it, [142]
initiated
don’t tell Father.”?” [15,ED, p.535] 4.2.3. Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in
with
let “And, Joe—if you need any money, Pragmatic features
imperative
let me know. ?” [15,ED, p.594] 4.2.3.1. Similarities in Illocutionary forces
marker
just And if you find her, just tell her what Table 4.24 Similarities of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms
I said. ?” [15,ED, p.594] of Illocutionary forces
Table 4.23 Differences of CSAs in Vietnamese in terms of Imperative Illocution English Vietnamese
markers if college is where a man can Nếu tôi là bạn, tôi sẽ không

giving opinion
Imperative Grammatical E.g. go to find his relation to his bao giờ cố giấu hay kìm nén
structure devices whole world, I don’t object những cảm xúc ñối với ai ñó...
Hãy Nếu chưa ñăng ký, hãy ñăng ký thành [15, ED, p.607] [69]
viên tại ñây hoặc xem phim hướng “If you say it’s her, it’s her,” Hãy luôn nhớ rằng nếu cánh

asserting a fact
dẫn tại ñây. [53] said Joe, and he pushed a cửa này ñóng thì có cánh cửa
xin Nếu các bạn có thể tham dự buổi họp twenty and a five across the khác ñang mở [34]
mặt này, xin cho tôi biết ngay lập tức table. [15, ED, p.573]
nhé. [55] If you wanta drive your head Ăn vặt một chút sẽ chẳng có
Xin hãy Nếu bạn thật sự yêu....xin hãy nhớ ñến into a pile a broken glass, there vấn ñề gì nhưng nếu bạn quá
warning
cả mùi hương nước gội ñầu của người ain’t nobody can tell you lạm dụng chuyện ăn vặt thì
ấy. [143] different. [36, p.26] chúng sẽ gây rất nhiều nguy
Xin ñừng Nếu bạn yêu, xin ñừng ngần ngại. [79] hiểm cho sức khỏe của bạn ...
[27]
 21 22

confirmation Can I Collect Nếu không hoàn thành KH same basic functions in softening or mitigating the illocutionary
inviting a

Unemployment if I'm fired? ñầu tư thì có ñược chi hết chi forces of such speech acts as request, asking, warning …
phí BLDA ? [137] 4.2.4. Differences of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in
Pragmatic features
What would you think if you Bạn nghĩ sao nếu chụp ảnh
information
eliciting

The significant differences in using Conditional clauses to

saw this at the store? không cần chỉnh tiêu cự?
signal the performative force with illocutionary forces in English and
[97]
Vietnamese is the actualization of the act of speaking denoted by a
If I get an upgrade, may Nếu bạn nào biết chỉ rõ cho
request/order

speech act verb. Here in this pragmatic aspect, English was seen to be
making

I cancel the upgrade within the tôi với nhé! [53] more explicit than Vietnamese in employing the speech act verb in
first month ... the conditional clause.
“If it hits you wrong, don’t Nếu bạn thấy rắc rối với 4.3. SUMMARY
giving advice/ suggestion

take no offense at it, will Frame xin hãy thử một bài This chapter has presented the descriptive and contrastive
you?” nhỏ nhỏ. [43] information of CSAs in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntactic
“I don’t take no offense ‘cept a features and pragmatic features. Such qualitative information of
bust in the nose,” said Joad. CSAs as the syntactic structures with declarative, interrogative and
“What did you figger?” imperative, and the pragmatic functions of CSAs in communication
[36, p.13] were highlighted in categories of illocutionary forces and hedging
I promise I'll never hide my Nếu bạn ngã, tôi sẽ luôn functions of conditional clauses.
promising

identity if I run a blog that calls bên bạn... [59]

you a skank. Chapter 5
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
If you throw a banana at me, I Đừng phản bội tôi, nếu không
threatening

The earlier chapter has presented the linguistic features of

will kill you cậu sẽ chết. [50]
conditional speech acts in English and Vietnamese. This chapter is
devoted to the conclusion on similarities and differences between two
4.2.3.2. Similarities in Functions of Conditional Clause languages in terms of the syntactic features and pragmatic features,
As the modifier of the conditional speech acts, conditional and some implications for Vietnamese teachers and learners of
clauses or conditional hedges in English and Vietnamese assumed the English to be more successful in teaching and in communication.
 23 24

5.1. CONCLUSIONS Second, both English and Vietnamese have at their disposal
The contrastive analysis of CSAs in English and Vietnamese various kinds of conditional clauses or hedges as modifier to soften
enables us to draw the following conclusions. or mitigate the illocutionary forces of a claim of knowledge, a request
In terms of syntactic features, CSAs in English and or order to reduce the risk of threatening the hearer’s face and to
Vietnamese were found to be similar and different in the following achieve the acceptability of the speaker’s speech acts.
points. Finally, while English is found to be more explicit in
First, CSAs in English and Vietnamese are similar in actualizing the performative force of a speech act with the speech act
employing various kinds of sentence structure of the main clause verb embedded in the conditional clause, Vietnamese explicate the
such as declarative, interrogative and imperative. Also, CSAs in both speech act with the performative verbs in the main clause instead.
English and Vietnamese allow the reversal of the order between the 5.2. IMPLICATIONS
conditional clause and the main clause where the conditional clause From the major findings about the similarities and
as the modification can be fronted or postponed after the main clause. differences in syntactic features and pragmatic features in CSAS in
Second, CSAs in English and Vietnamese are different in the English and Vietnamese, the study puts forward these following
extent of utilizing the grammatical devices to diversify the sentence implications.
structures in terms of interrogative and imperative mood. English was Regarding the English teaching, it is essential for teachers of
found to be richer in making use of various kinds of modal auxiliary English to spend some time analyzing the syntactic structures of the
verbs in interrogative sentences whereas Vietnamese had numerous conditional speech acts with reference to their communicative
imperative markers that signal the imperative sentences. functions.
In terms of pragmatic features, CSAs in English and The first thing to mention here is the differences in mood
Vietnamese were found to be similar and different in the following where the traditional or normal conditional sentences make use of
points. mostly declarative mood with the emphasis of the distant verbs with
First, both English and Vietnamese make use of CSAs in the shift of tense while conditional speech acts have more
fulfilling different communicative functions with such illocutionary employment of not only declarative but also other moods like
acts within the representatives, questions, directives and commissives interrogative and imperative. This makes the latter kind of
as giving opinion, asserting a fact, warning, inviting confirmation, conditional sentence sound more like speech act than the former.
eliciting information, making request, giving advice/suggestion, The second thing to be noticed here is the similarities in
promising, threatening. syntactic features like the utilization of various kinds of sentence
structures in English and Vietnamese enable the Vietnamese speakers
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of English to have positive transfer in CSAs. It is the teacher’s task to 5.3. LIMITATION
raise the students’ awareness of this kind of transfer to build up more The study has just touched the fringe of the issues of
confidence in using CSAs in English. conditional speech acts such as the syntactic structures with reference
The third thing for the teachers in raising the students’ to the mood structure of the sentence, and the basic illocutionary
awareness of the communicative functions of conditional clauses as forces and the hedging functions of conditional clauses. However,
hedges is to highlight the pragmatic roles of these as downtoners or these matters have not been looked into details to yield richer
mitigators of the illocutionary forces of the speech act the nature of qualitative information. Also, the pragmatic roles of the conditional
which is likely to threaten the hearer’s face. This is crucial to the clauses have not been further interpreted to yield more insightful
teaching of conditional speech act because the learners have tendency contrastive information in English and Vietnamese.
of interpreting conditional clauses as the premise which signals a 5.4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
logical relation between the if-clause and the main clause where the From the limitation of the study mentioned above and the
matter of truth condition or factivity is focused on rather than the issues of study that have been left unaddressed we would like to
matter of illocutionary force and the hedging function of conditional propose these aspects of pragmatic issues involving conditional
clause against this illocutionary force. speech acts:
With regard to the learners of English, they should be aware - A study of the pragmatic features of conditional clauses as
of other roles of conditional sentences other than a description of the polite markers in conditional speech acts in English and Vietnamese.
state-of-affairs or logical relation between the premise and - A study of speech act verbs in conditional clause in
conclusion. Accordingly, the students should feel free in making conditional speech acts in English and Vietnamese in the light of
different kinds of speech act with the modification of a conditional Relevance Theory perspectivesthings in order to improve themselves
clause as a contextual marker of speech act, a performative marker of and contribute to the development of our country.
conditional speech act, a conditional hedge that downtone, soften or
mitigate the illocutionary force of claim of knowledge, a request or a
warning.
To achieve this awareness and habit of using conditionals in
conversations rather than in narrative or describing a logical relation
between propositions, the students should equip themselves with
pragmatic knowledge about the speech acts and principles of
politeness.