Language Ideology in Vietnam

from Linguistic Landscape Perspective

by

Tu Thien Tran

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Applied Linguistics

Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies

University of Alberta

© Tu Thien Tran, 2021

Abstract
In light of scarce research on language ideology in post-reform Vietnam and the field’s current

literature which shows excessive focus on top-down ideologies (the view from above) indicated

in state-sponsored language policies and inadequate attention to bottom-up ideologies (the view

from below) embedded in actual language practice, this dissertation sets out to investigate

language ideologies of Vietnamese people as constructed and mediated through signage and

interview interaction. The combination of these two types of data renders a simultaneous

identification of ideologies in both language practice and metalinguistic talk.

The first dataset has been collected from three neighbourhoods in the city of Hanoi and

analyzed using a triangulation of ‘geosemiotics’ (the framework that studies meaning of signs in

the material world) (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) and ELLA (the ethnographic linguistic landscape

analysis) (Blommaert, 2013; Blommaert & Maly, 2016, 2019). The second dataset, which

includes interviews with local shopkeepers and residents in these neighbourhoods, has been

analyzed using the ‘language attitudes in interaction’ approach (Dailey-O’Cain, 2017; Liebscher

& Dailey-O’Cain, 2009) supported by the ‘positioning’ theory (Davies & Harré, 1990).

The results indicate that language ideologies become entangled with two reversing

ideological propensities in Vietnamese society defined respectively by a promotion of reform

and a revitalization of tradition. The findings demonstrate that language ideologies of

Vietnamese people mediate their endeavours to reconcile an embrace of regional modernity with

an awareness of upholding and renegotiating national and cultural identity. This dissertation

ii
contributes to knowledge on the multiplicity of language ideologies and realizes the potential of

using linguistic landscape as an effective interdisciplinary approach to language ideology and

identity construction. Moreover, it provides further insightful understanding of global English

and cultural flows in the globalizing Southeast Asia.

iii
Preface
This thesis is an original work by Tu Thien Tran. The research project, of which this thesis is a

part, received research ethics approval from University of Alberta Research Ethics Board,

Project Name “Language Practice, Language Ideology and Cultural Identity in the Linguistic

Landscape of Hanoi”, No. 00089599, May 23, 2019.

A version of Chapter 4 of this thesis will be published in the form of a book chapter as T.

T. Tran, “Language Ideology in the Linguistic Landscape of Hanoi” in the forthcoming

anthology entitled Linguistic Landscapes in Southeast Asia: The Politics of Signage and

Language (Routledge Publisher). Parts of Chapter 1 and 6 will be published in the form of a

book chapter as T. T. Tran, “Language Ideology in Vietnam” in the forthcoming book entitled

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics (Routledge Publisher).

iv
The fact that ideology is not at root a matter of reason does not license us to equate it with

irrationality. (Terry Eagleton, 2007, pp. 25-26)

v
Acknowledgement
The completion of this dissertation could not have been possible without valuable support of the

following persons and institutions. First, I would like to extend deep gratitude to my beloved

supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain, for her expertise, enthusiasm, and kindness. Her

meticulous reading of every single chapter, always returned with enlightening feedbacks, have

saved me from academic lacunae and negligence. Next, I am greatly grateful to the members of

my supervisory committee, Drs. Alla Nedashkivska, Xiaoting Li and Nga Nguyen, for their

insightful contribution, generous assistance, and substantial encouragement. I also thankfully

acknowledge Dr. Yvonne Lam for chairing my doctoral defense and Drs. Andie Palmer,

Elisabeth Le and Corinne Seals for serving in my exam committee, taking the time to read my

dissertation, and giving me precious feedbacks. Finally, I would like to send sincere thanks to the

Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies (University of Alberta) for their

academic and administrative assistance throughout my doctoral program.

vi
Table of contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii
Preface ......................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................ vi
Table of contents ......................................................................................................................... vii
List of tables .................................................................................................................................. x
List of figures ............................................................................................................................... xi
List of abbreviations.................................................................................................................... xii
List of maps ................................................................................................................................ xiii
Prologue .................................................................................................................................... xiv
Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Ideologies in language practice ................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Linguistic landscape and globalization ........................................................................................ 9
1.3 Ideologies of English in Vietnam .............................................................................................. 13
1.4 Language ideology and identity construction ............................................................................ 17
1.5 Structure of the dissertation ....................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 2 Language ideology and linguistic landscape studies ..................................... 25
2.1 Defining language ideology....................................................................................................... 26
2.2 Linguistic landscape as a field of research ................................................................................ 31
2.3 Language ideology in linguistic landscape research ................................................................. 36
2.4 Establishing research gaps ......................................................................................................... 43
2.5 Hanoi and national reform ......................................................................................................... 47
2.6 Introducing research questions .................................................................................................. 52
Chapter 3 Ethnographic linguistic landscape data and approach ................................. 55
3.1 Locating the research site .......................................................................................................... 56
3.1.1 Ancient quarter ....................................................................................................................................57
3.1.2 French quarter ......................................................................................................................................60
3.1.3 New quarter .........................................................................................................................................63
3.2 Ethnographic linguistic landscape data ..................................................................................... 65
3.3 Integrated ethnographic approach ............................................................................................. 79

vii
 3.3.1 Geosemiotics........................................................................................................................................80
3.3.2 ELLA ...................................................................................................................................................83
3.4 Analyzing linguistic landscape data .......................................................................................... 88
3.4.1 Elements of analytical frameworks ......................................................................................................88
3.4.2 A sample analysis ................................................................................................................................92

Chapter 4 Language ideologies in linguistic landscape data .......................................... 98

4.1 Internationality, modernity and cosmopolitanism ................................................................... 103
4.2 Revitalization of Hanoi’s tradition .......................................................................................... 111
4.3 Identification of Hanoi’s identity ............................................................................................ 115
4.4 Commodification of old Hanoi’s authenticity ......................................................................... 118
4.5 Historical memory and national identity ................................................................................. 123
4.6 Made in Vietnam and neo-nationalism .................................................................................... 129
4.7 Modern Vietnam and traditional culture.................................................................................. 133
4.8 Hallyu, Pan-Asianism and Vietnamese identity ...................................................................... 138
4.9 Summary of findings ............................................................................................................... 141
Chapter 5 Language ideologies in interview data ........................................................ 144
5.1 Analytical approach ................................................................................................................. 150
5.2 Language attitudes in interview interaction ............................................................................. 155
5.2.1 English and đổi mới ideology ............................................................................................................158
5.2.2 Vietnamese and nhà quê ideology .....................................................................................................170
5.2.3 Vietnamese and neo-nationalist ideology ..........................................................................................181
5.2.4 English and Vietnamese and reconciliation ideology ........................................................................192
5.3 Further discussion and summary ............................................................................................. 203
Chapter 6 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 215
6.1 Language ideology and identity construction in post-reform Vietnam ................................... 216
6.1.1 Language ideologies ..........................................................................................................................216
6.1.2 Identity construction ..........................................................................................................................219
6.1.3 Ideologies of English and Vietnamese revisited ................................................................................222
6.2 Implications and contributions ................................................................................................ 224
6.2.1 Linguistic landscape and globalization studies ..................................................................................224
6.2.2 Global English studies .......................................................................................................................229
6.2.3 Language ideology studies.................................................................................................................237
6.2.4 Language attitudes in interaction .......................................................................................................242
6.2.5 Nationalism studies ............................................................................................................................246
6.3 Limitations and future research directions .............................................................................. 250
6.4 Coda......................................................................................................................................... 253
Epilogue .................................................................................................................................... 254
References ................................................................................................................................. 255

viii
Appendix A Interview themes and suggested questions for shop owners ................................. 279
Appendix B Interview themes and suggested questions for local inhabitants .......................... 282
Appendix C Transcription conventions ................................................................................... 285

ix
List of tables

Table 3.1 Distribution of signs by quarters 68

Table 3.2 Distribution of signs by categories 68

Table 3.3 Distribution of signs by number of languages 68

Table 3.4 Elements of geosemiotics 89

Table 3.5 Elements of ELLA 90

x
List of figures

Figure 3.1 Languages at a tattoo parlour 69

Figure 3.2 English at a home-based beauty spa and a food stall 72

Figure 3.3 Sino-script at an old shophouse 75

Figure 3.4 Hangul and Korean-related elements at a four-story shophouse 77

Figure 3.5 Hashtag on the window of a boutique 86

Figure 3.6 English and Hangul at a noodle bar 92

Figure 4.1 Internationality, modernity and class 105

Figure 4.2 Western and cosmopolitan identity 107

Figure 4.3 Cosmopolitanism at a pub 109

Figure 4.4 Phenomenon of Hànộimới 111

Figure 4.5 Hanoi’s identity at a café 115

Figure 4.6 Phenomenon of phố cổ 118

Figure 4.7 Commodification of phố cổ at an eatery 121

Figure 4.8 National identity at a cà phê 124

Figure 4.9 Neo-nationalism and shop signs 130

Figure 4.10 Modern Vietnam at a càfê 134

Figure 4.11 Modernity and tradition at a restaurant 136

Figure 4.12 Pan-Asianism and modern Vietnamese identity 139

xi
List of abbreviations

DRV Democratic Republic of Vietnam

ELLA Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Analysis

LL Linguistic Landscape

SEA Southeast Asia

xii
List of maps

Map 3.1 Three neighbourhoods under research 57

Map 3.2 Ancient Quarter 59

Map 3.3 French Quarter 62

Map 3.4 New Quarter 64

xiii
Prologue
A young man left the countryside to go to work in the city. A few years later, he came back to

visit his parents. He had changed, and the people living nearby all recognized it. They asked

what happened to his voice. Some of them even mocked that drinking water of the city had

stiffened his tongue. One day when he was getting ready to return to the city, an old man

approached him and asked if he could take a puppy with him to the city. Realizing that the young

man looked really confused, the old man explained: ‘I just want to see if the dog can bark in the

city’s voice when you bring it back here in a few years.’ The young man burst into laughing but

felt hurtful inside.

An article published online on October 10th, 2010 by Tuổi Trẻ (a local Vietnamese

newspaper) says that this anecdote has been shared from personal experience by a young man,

whose nickname is Trần Quảng Nam, in a virtual forum on Vietnamese regional dialects. Since I

started writing this dissertation, I have come across quite a few personal narratives of this kind

most of which revolved around the storytellers’ dilemma in either keeping or changing their

regional accents when moving to live elsewhere in the city and the stigmatization they have

experienced when they chose the latter. Regardless of these urban myths’ dubious authenticity, it

goes without saying that their major theme has a lot to do with one of the most fervent

awarenesses of Vietnamese laypersons about their vernacular tongue. This awareness has been

deeply ingrained in folk wisdom and continues to be maintained with influences strong enough

to sway beliefs about language in the current society.

xiv
Chapter 1 Introduction

Vietnamese people take pride in their own language, albeit probably not just simply because of

its conventional role in the ‘imagination’ of nation and identity but also as a manifestation of

patriotism and a reminder of all the ordeals they have gotten over throughout historical ebbs and

flows in order to protect national independence and long-established tradition and culture. Such a

national spirit is represented in the folk saying phong ba bão táp không bằng ngữ pháp Việt Nam

(‘the upheavals of heavy winds and storms cannot compare to the challenges of Vietnamese

grammar’), which is shared widely among Vietnamese people – both lay and professional alike.

When it comes to their passion for the national language, this pride is often accompanied by a

fervent awareness of protecting, refining and promoting what is deemed, as the former

Vietnamese president Hồ Chí Minh puts it, the ‘utterly valuable treasure’ (của cải vô cùng quý

báu) of the nation and its populace. During the development of a modern Vietnamese nation-

state, a prudent upholding of the national language was manifested even during the hardest times

of history when there seemed to be many more urgent priorities to attend to.

In the summer 1966, amid American bombs dropping on Hanoi, under the shade of an

old Banyan tree near the iconic Hoàn Kiếm Lake (‘Sword-Returned Lake’)1, a provisional metal-

roofed canopy was erected to accommodate a national symposium on preserving the purity and

clarity of Vietnamese language which was participated by the then Prime Minister of Vietnam

1
Considered one of the symbols of Hanoi, Hoàn Kiếm Lake has its name associated with a locally known legend
about the King of Le Dynasty who, after having expelled the Chinese invaders, returned the sacred sword to a
mythical tortoise living in the lake.

1
Phạm Văn Đồng. The international Reuters News Agency captured this special event in its news

brief the next morning that while the White House was hastily planning new attacks in the capital

of North Vietnam, the Prime Minister had immersed himself in a discussion on language. Such

an anecdote2 indicates that Vietnamese language has been cast as a national symbol with

potentials to strike ‘a deep emotional chord’ in the populace and boost their patriotic and

nationalist fervour to its peak during the most critical times in the country’s history (Le &

O’Harrow, 2007, p. 434). This is a manifestation of the idea that Vietnamese and the

corresponding ideology of linguistic nationalism have played an important role in the

construction of modern Vietnam and its identity.

The Vietnamese folk saying chém cha không bằng pha tiếng3 (‘cursing someone is not as

bad as mocking their accent’) is probably one of the most conspicuous attestations to how the

issue of language diversity – which originates from the reality that peoples from different regions

in the country speak their own dialects with significantly different accents4 – has been attended

to and become aware of by Vietnamese laypersons. In a culture that has high opinion of dignity,

such a comparison bears witness to a special attention they pay to and a high respect they have

for regional dialects and cultures. However, it is an alternative interpretation of this very saying,

which can be rendered into something like ‘cursing one’s own self is not as bad as changing

one’s own accent,’ that actually defines how it has currently been perceived and brought into use

widely among contemporary Vietnamese people and in cultural narratives. Such a way of

2
This anecdote was adapted from a report entitled ‘Finding Causes and Solutions’ (Thử Tìm Nguyên Nhân và Giải
Pháp) presented by Phan Quang at the symposium on ‘Preserving the Purity and Clarity of Vietnamese in Mass
Media’ (Giữ Gìn Sự Trong Sáng của Tiếng Việt trên Các Phương Tiện Thông Tin Đại Chúng) organized in Hanoi in
2016.
3
A variant of this saying is chửi cha không bằng pha tiếng (‘cursing someone’s father is not as bad as mocking their
accent’). The choice in this dissertation is justified by the reasoning that chém cha is a fixed colloquial expression in
Vietnamese functioning as a vulgar curse that can be found in literary works of medieval writers such as Nguyễn Du
and Hồ Xuân Hương.
4
There are three main distinctive dialect regions in the North, the Centre and the South of Vietnam.

2
understanding this folk saying shifts the original meaning and its focus on respecting other

peoples’ accents to a different interpretation that emphasizes the protection of one’s own accent,

and this in turn reflects some major changes in the social structure of modern Vietnam.

First of all, it originates from a reality that an increasing number of people who have

moved from the countryside to the city and are inclined to acclimate to the new place by

emulating the city people’s accent, lest they be seen as ‘country rustics’ (nhà quê). Such an

imitation of the ostensibly prestigious urban accent is despised first by those living in the places

where they come from (this explains why these people when visiting home are apt to ‘come

back’ to their old accents) and then even by the people in the city who ascribe this adaptation

attempt to a deliberate disguise that indicates a disrespect of one’s own origin.

What seems to be even more remarkable is that, in line with the second interpretation,

this saying has also taken on a new meaning that casts the mixing of Vietnamese with a certain

foreign language (such as the mixing with English in spoken or written language) as a practice

that violates social and moral taboos and hence deserves to be condemned. Accordingly, the new

meaning of an old saying has instilled a belief that the practice of language mixing indicates a

disrespect now presumably not only for ‘one’s own self’ but also for one’s own country.

Needless to say, the accumulation of meanings in this folk saying makes it one of the most

vehement beliefs about language and a stronghold of linguistic protectionism that serves as a

guardian of Vietnamese language and determines the attitudes of Vietnamese people towards

languages other than their own.

It is the beliefs that mediate between language use and social organization, referred to as

language ideologies (cf. Kroskrity, 2006; Woolard, 1998), that are the subject of study in this

dissertation. Heretofore, the introduction may have made it discernible that getting to know the

3
language ideologies of Vietnamese people is a passage to understanding why they have a

vigorously inherent awareness of their own language as opposed to those of the others, and more

broadly, what Vietnamese language has contributed to the construction of their nation and

identity. Over the course of its history, apart from being known first and foremost for having

won some incredible wars to protect national independence, Vietnam has also made a remarkable

success – which has even been deemed a ‘miracle’ (Logan, 2000) – in resisting the Sinophication

and Francization of language and culture that lasted roughly one millennium and one century

respectively. The immanent awareness to protect their own language by Vietnamese people does

not seem to lose its robustness in postcolonial time, which is probably the reason making

Vietnamese one of the most successful national languages in Southeast Asia (SEA) today (Le &

O’Harrow, 2007).

Against the backdrop of this allegedly established and consistent language-ideological

tradition, this dissertation sets out to look into language ideologies in contemporary Vietnam

when the country, after more than three decades of launching its economic reform, is facing a

new reality whereby there has been a remarkable ascendency of English. More astoundingly, it is

the Vietnamese people themselves (or more precisely, some of them) who now see to it that

English has recently been in a status that deserves an official position as the second language in

this country (to be elaborated further below). As such, it is intriguing to know how Vietnamese

people are resolving the aforementioned ideological tradition of language protectionism and

nationalism to accommodate the hegemonic global language of English. Furthermore, it is no

less captivating to see what the new reality of accommodating, adapting and appropriating

English may render a reconsideration of an allegedly consistent and monolithic system of

4
language ideology in Vietnam, especially when this dissertation chooses to look at it through the

glass of language practices.

1.1 Ideologies in language practice

In my first ethnographic fieldwork session in Hanoi in the summer 2018, on my way to the city’s

Ancient quarter, which is also unofficially called by Hanoians as the ‘thirty-six guild streets’ (ba

sáu phố phường), I walked across the small historic square of Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục (Tonkin

Free School)5 – which is named after the former school that housed an influential patriotic

movement launched by Vietnamese intellectuals against French protectorate at the turn of the

twentieth century. Being located just over one hundred metres away from the venue of the

aforementioned 1966’s historic symposium on Vietnamese language, this square becomes a

symbol of the struggle for national independence and is therefore chosen to bear the name of one

of the first schools in modern Vietnamese history that promoted the teaching and learning of

quốc ngữ (literally means ‘national language’) – the Romanized writing system of Vietnamese.

Behind an elegant French-built fountain set amid the square lingering around all day by

old-timers and visitors alike, two slogans in Vietnamese whose content commemorates the

longevity of the socialist nation-state and the communist party run across the façade of a four-

storey building. Even though these two slogans are highlighted in bold large-sized, red-coloured

capital letters, passers-by can easily be distracted by numerous colourful commercial signs of

different sizes and shapes filling the frontside space of this white-painted building. Featuring

from the internationally recognizable trademark of KFC fast-food chain to regional Japanese and

5
During colonialism, it was at this place – which was by then called Place du Général Négrier – that some
Vietnamese patriots were publicly executed after having been convicted of treason against the colonial government.

5
Korean electronic brands and local recreational and dining services, these commercial signs are

mostly written in English instead of the Vietnamese quốc ngữ. Right there on the façade of a

building overlooking a historically symbolic space which borders the Ancient and French

quarters, two major parts of the current city, a message of patriotism and nationalism is put side

by side with icons of neoliberalism and market economy.

When inside the narrow streets of the Ancient quarter which were overwhelmed by

people, motorbikes and a cacophony of noises, I stopped in front of a small building which had

formerly been the office of an assembly responsible for the dissemination of quốc ngữ writing

system in the 1930s. A stone plaque engraved solemnly with Vietnamese text was attached onto

the building’s frontside entrance whose content commemorates this Romanized script and the

role it had played in contributing to the success of patriotic and nationalist movements in the

early half of the twentieth century, which thereby led to national independence and the inception

of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in 1945.

Across from this historic building, one might come across an outdoor food parlour whose

hand-written standing menu showcased a variety of local street foods. The menu features some

local dishes whose culinary and linguistic origins are significantly varied including bánh mỳ patê

(Vietnamese-style sandwich served with French-style pâté), xôi xúc xích (sticky rice served with

sausage), mỳ vằn thắn (wonton noddle soup), and phở (rice noodle soup). The list of drinks,

which is more humble but not less linguistically diverse, includes the locally favoured beverages

of trà đá (iced tea), càfê (coffee), and beer (written in English). Two young girls arrived on a

Vespa scooter, ordered two take-aways, paid the seller and rode away. A seemingly habitual

diner squatting on a low plastic stool nearby started a conversation with the seller after having

taken a sip of local bia hơi (draught beer): Hai đứa vừa rồi như kiểu lét le (‘Those two girls look

6
like lesbians’). The cook-cum-seller who was busy preparing an order she had just received from

her mobile phone did not care to reply. After having finished wrapping up the food and putting it

into a plastic box, she told a motorbike-taxi rider waiting nearby: Ship cái này đến địa chỉ ghi

trên giấy (‘Deliver this to the address on the paper’).

The snapshot that I have just captured can only describe a small angle of the vibrance

of language use available on signage in the bustling streets of Hanoi and a little bit of the lively

ambiance of accompanied language practice of local people that I could regularly observe during

my two ethnographic fieldwork sessions in the summers 2018 and 2019. In order to illustrate the

heterogeneity of their language practice, let me run through the examples above in turn. In bánh

mỳ patê, bánh mỳ and patê were borrowed from two French terms ‘pain de mie’ and ‘pâté’

respectively. Likewise, xúc xích was borrowed from the French ‘saucisse’ and vằn thắn from the

Chinese 雲吞 (yún tūn). The etymology of phở (the staple dish of Hanoi) is controversial but

there is a convincing theory that it came from the Chinese 粉 (fěn) (see Tran, 2021). Càfê is an

orthographic variant of the Vietnamese ‘cà phê’ that was also borrowed from the French ‘café.’

Similarly, bia, which was borrowed from the French ‘bière,’ has gradually been replaced by the

English ‘beer’ on shop signs in recent years. While lét le – which originates from the English

‘lesbian’ – is not used very popularly among the locals, ship is heard quite regularly in colloquial

spoken Vietnamese these days.

Looking back at the examples above, it is not hard to realize that the language practice

of ordinary people on a daily basis presents a reality whereby language mixing, hybridity and

appropriation are not unusual. This is a manifestation that the language practice of Vietnamese

people can diverge and become significantly different from the dominant beliefs about how

7
language should be used, as indicated in the ideologies of linguistic purism, conservatism and

nationalism mentioned above.

Half a century after the aforementioned 1966’s historic national symposium on

Vietnamese language, another one entitled ‘Preserving the Purity and Clarity of Vietnamese

Language in Mass Media’ (Giữ Gìn Sự Trong Sáng của Tiếng Việt trên Các Phương Tiện Thông

Tin Đại Chúng) was organized in Hanoi by the Institute of Linguistics and participated by the

Association of Journalists and the Radio Voice of Vietnam – three organizations which are seen

as the major stakeholders assigned with a common responsibility in upholding the national

language and its immanent purity. This symposium showcased more than two hundred reports

from linguists, journalists and other intellectuals and professionals most of which focus on how

to either rectify and standardize the use of Vietnamese in mass media or keep it from being

sullied by imprudent loans from foreign languages, especially English. The overall purpose of

this symposium is not only to reiterate an essential message of the former Prime Minister Phạm

Văn Đồng about the inherent purity, affluence and elegance of Vietnamese language but also to

present new challenges in upholding the integrity of these valued qualities in the time of

socioeconomic reform and under the massive influences of global integration. Being organized

in 2016, this symposium was a special event marking a thirty-year anniversary of applying the

economic reform policy – known locally as đổi mới (‘renovation’) – in the country.

As has thus far been elaborated, contrary to a reality characterized by the people’s

laissez-faire attitudes towards language practice, it seems that the ideologies of linguistic

preservationism and nationalism continue to shape the language-ideological landscape and the

current national discourses on language in Vietnam. This is an indication of plausible

discrepancies between dominant state-endorsed language ideologies as mediated in master

8
narratives and ordinary people’s language ideologies as represented in their daily practices and in

their own assessments of what those language practices should ideally look like.

Such a reality is the rationale behind the aim to study language ideologies as embedded in

the people’s language practice in this dissertation. With an intention to address this language-

ideological site, which thereby increases potentials to look into the multiplicity of language

ideologies, this research direction is guided by the theoretical premise that language ideologies –

preferably in the plural form (Kroskrity, 2006) – should not be seen as a coherent system of

beliefs about language. Instead, they comprise of piecemeal and contradictory beliefs that can be

expressed subjectively and explicitly through metalinguistic talk on the one hand, and

constructively and implicitly through language practice on the other (Woolard, 1998). In order to

identify language ideologies embedded in the latter site and fulfill the aforementioned research

aim, this dissertation investigates the use of language on signage in the public spaces of Hanoi

using linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) approach. Known as the study of language use on

signage, LL has been developed for more than two decades and is currently seen as a branch of

sociolinguistics (Blommaert, 2013). With its immense interdisciplinary values, this burgeoning

field of research has shown formidable potentials in analyzing the mediation of ideology, identity

and social diversity on signage in public spaces (Blommaert, 2013; Putz & Mundt, 2019;

Shohamy & Gorter, 2009; see also Scollon & Scollon, 2003).

1.2 Linguistic landscape and globalization

In one of the widely read books about Hanoi entitled Hà Nội Băm Sáu Phố Phường (‘Hanoi’s

Thirty-Six Guild Streets’), the eloquent local essayist Thạch Lam described the use of language

on shopfronts in this city at the turn of the twentieth century as follows:

9
 Bây giờ các biển hàng chữ Pháp chiếm đến chín phần mười trong các biển hàng. Nhiều hàng
tuy chỉ giao thiệp với khách hàng Việt Nam thôi, cũng để toàn chữ Pháp, cũng như ngày xưa
họ toàn dùng chữ Nho (p. 9).

These days shop signs written in French account for almost nine tenths of the total. Many of
these stores only serve Vietnamese customers, but they still write in French, just like they had
formerly used Sino-script6 (p. 9).

Almost a century has passed since this piece of essay saw the light of the day, reading Thạch

Lam today one has the feeling that his writing can still be relatable to the present situation of

language use on signage if French is substituted by English, even though, despite the ubiquity of

English shop signs, their number does not seem to measure up to the quantity mentioned in his

description.

Not unlike some other urban centres in SEA, the spread of English and its increased

visibility in the public spaces of Hanoi is an indication of the full swing of global integration that

this city is getting into. The use of English in the streets, accompanied by other social practices

of the people out there, may be seen as the impacts of globalization and its presumably one-way

flows of language, ideology and culture from the West as the Centre to a city in the Periphery.

Without much attention, it is not unusual to see young Hanoian boys and girls who don Adidas t-

shirts and Nike shoes humming along some Anglo-American music tunes coming from their

Apple AirPods while climbing up the stairs leading to a newly opened international school with a

cup of Starbucks coffee in hand. The latte index shows that the money one pays for a tall

Starbucks latte in Hanoi can buy him or her three to four cups of locally brewed coffee. But it

does not stop these youngsters from consuming and living in the Western style. The ostensible

6
The writing system of Sino-characters or chữ Hán (also called chữ Nho, which literally means ‘Scholars’
characters’) had been used in Vietnam before the invention of the Romanized script of quốc ngữ in the 17th century.

10
influences from the West, in terms of language, culture and hedonist lifestyle, on Vietnamese

people has become a topic in local cultural narratives especially when referring to young

generations who are deemed the most vulnerable group of all. This is a surmise for educationists,

culturalists and ideologues to voice their concerns over the issue of how to uphold tradition and

culture of this over one-millennium old city in the time of economic reform and global

integration.

That being said, it has now become something of a commonplace that globalization does

not only mean homogeneity and sameness, but also heterogeneity and difference. The economic,

cultural and ideological flows between the global and the local in our globalizing world have

become a subject of enquiry of major concern in social sciences. Robertson (1995) uses the

concept of ‘glocalization’ to capture the nature of the bidirectional force of globalization that

involves the ‘universalization of particularism’ and the ‘particularization of universalism’ (see

also Robertson, 1992). Nederveen Pieterse (2004) describes globalization as the process of

hybridization in which the outcome of mixing is referred to as a ‘global mélange’ (see also

Nederveen Pieterse, 1995). According to Giddens (1990), in the time of globalization, a certain

cultural practice after having been taken out or ‘dis-embedded’ from a specific context must

experience significant social changes before being placed or ‘re-embedded’ in another new

context (see also Giddens, 1991). Appadurai (1996) sees the flows of people, cultures, ideologies

in globalization as ‘disjunctive’ flows, which means they are never one-way flows from the West

to the rest of world. Instead, these flows are spatially inconsistent with various points of origin

and destination (see also Appadurai, 2001).

In general, these studies challenge the homogeneity and highlight the hybridity of extant

cultural forms in the age of globalization. In addition, there has been a common attempt to bring

11
to the fore the bidirectional process (and possibly multidirectional process in the case of

Appadurai’s theory) of globalization represented in numerous cultural practices in a variety of

social contexts. But above all, the literature of the field, even in the theory of Appadurai, shows

an apparent confirmation that globalization does not mean one-way influences from the West (as

the Centre) to the rest of the world (as the Periphery), but instead it runs both ways.

In Applied Linguistics, the erstwhile view of English’s global spread as a form of cultural

imperialism cannot have reflected appropriately transcultural flows of English and the reality of

how it has been localized in different contexts of use as well as how it has become entrenched in

local identities (see Park & Wee, 2012; Pennycook, 2007; Young, 2017). The study of LL in

general and in SEA in particular has thus far presented no shortage of case studies discussing the

inroads of English in urban spaces of the region as a manifestation of influences from

globalization, neoliberalism and Western cultures (see Huebner, 2006; Kasanga, 2012; Manan,

David, Dumanig, & Nageebullah, 2015; Phan & Starks, 2019; Taylor-Leech, 2012). While this

direction elucidates eloquently the homogenization process of globalization, it gives rise to a

research bias whereby inadequate attention has been paid to the reality that local appropriation of

linguistic resources, alongside reaction to globalization, has actually reinforced heterogeneity in

language, culture and identity.

With the objective to address such an insufficiency, this dissertation bears witness to a

coexistence of the bidirectional process of globalization and illustrates how homogenization and

heterogenization are (re)produced through language use on signage in the public spaces of

Hanoi, one of the oldest capital cities in SEA. In order to realize this purpose, this dissertation

uses two major categories of signage (see Chapter 4). The first one includes signs that reflect a

proclivity for international integration and a desire for modernity and cosmopolitanism. The

12
second one contains signs that are underlain by the ideologies of tradition and culture and hence

show a propensity to promote distinctive local cultural identity.

Based on this demonstration, I want to reason that the study of LL can contribute to the

understanding of globalization not simply as a homogenizing process with its tendency towards

global sameness and uniformity, but also as a ‘heterogenizing’ process represented by a

reclamation of local differences and diversities in language, ideology and culture. This finding is

intended to be a contribution to the current LL literature, especially in terms of realizing its

potentials in studying social changes and diversity. Furthermore, through the representation of

language ideologies in the LL of Hanoi, this dissertation also has in view the objective of adding

to the knowledge of unpredictable translocal flows –referred to earlier as ‘disjunctive’ flows

(Appadurai, 1996, 2001) – of language, ideology and culture in the age of globalization.

Alongside the previous studies of Blommaert (2010), Canagarajah (2012), and Pennycook and

Otsuji (2015a), to name just the most notable examples, the findings of this dissertation render its

engagement in a more insightful discussion on realizing possible future contribution of Applied

Linguistics to the field of globalization studies.

1.3 Ideologies of English in Vietnam

Hanoi after more than three decades of applying economic reform policy and boosting global

integration becomes a city whose physiognomy has experienced significant changes and the

current situation indicates that this transformation is still in the making. When I was still a little

boy who had just started my very first lessons in Vietnamese, I used to practice reading out loud

the names of the shops scattering the streets on my way back home from school. I can imagine

how hard it is these days for schoolboys and girls to be able to hone their Vietnamese

13
pronunciation skill as I had done when I was their ages, not just simply because shop signs are

many times multiplied but many of them are also written in English (and/or other foreign

languages) with or without being accompanied by Vietnamese.

The incumbent Minister of Information and Communications, in an open forum for

business start-up activities in 2018, made a proposal to the Vietnamese Prime Minister to

consider giving English the official status of the second language in the country. This proposal

triggers a national debate on the role and position of English in Vietnam and the issue as to

whether English should be given an official status or remain to be the ‘chief’ foreign language,

as it has often been referred to in the official documents of Vietnamese government in a few

recent years (Doan et al., 2018). Even though this proposal received many contradictory opinions

from such a nationwide debate, it was embraced by no shortage of proponents who reasoned that

Vietnam should learn from Singapore – a neighbouring country in SEA – where the official

status of English has created favourable conditions for economic development and global

integration. Roughly one year later in 2019, when this debate reached its climax, the ‘English as

the second language’ proposal was put on the discussion table of the country’s highest legislative

body – the National Assembly of Vietnam. A decision was made in the same year and this

proposal was repudiated, which means English has yet become an official language of Vietnam.

Even though this proposal had been rejected, the novel idea of giving English an official

status and the fact that such an unprecedented idea has generated a national debate involving

government officials, educationists, intellectuals and people from all professions and walks of

life is a testament that the position of English in Vietnam has become an issue of nationwide

concern. That the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has also considered the

preparation of sufficient conditions to turn English into the second language of Vietnam as one

14
of its fundamental objectives since 2016 is another testimony to the reality that English has

recently been given a remarkably unprecedented attention commensurate with its importance in

the society.

With respect to the fact that English used to be seen as the language of the former enemy

(Do, 1996), due to the involvement of the United States of America in the Second Indochina

War7 (lasting from 1955 to 1975), the anomalous idea of giving this language an official status in

Vietnam is a big milestone marking possible changes in attitudes towards English recently. It is

not to mention that English had also been deemed associated with capitalism in this socialist

country, especially in the period from 1950s to 1980s when Vietnam came under the Soviet

Union’s tutelage. This ideology has started to change since Vietnam decided to open its door to

the world at large for economic development purpose in 1986 – the year the reform policy of đổi

mới came into effect. Even after the application of this reform policy, in its preparation to join

the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, Vietnam was the first member

who challenged the exclusive role of English as the official language of this regional

organization with a recommendation to add French as its second official language, though this

proposal was turned down by other membership countries (Kirkpatrick, 2010).

The aforementioned evidence is somehow able to call our attention to contradictory

attitudes towards English in Vietnam, especially in the period starting from the North and South

Vietnam’s reunification (after the ending of the Second Indochina War) in 1975 to the present

when the country is getting into the full swing of global integration. With that in mind, this

dissertation sets out to cast some light into the development of English language ideologies in

Vietnam after the country has experienced more than three decades of reform with a transition

7
The Second Indochina War is also known widely as the Vietnam War. In Hanoi and North Vietnam, it is referred
to as the war of national salvation against the Americans (Ho Tai, 2001).

15
from a centralized to ‘socialist-oriented’ market economy. The objective is to find out about

ideological and attitudinal changes towards English that serve as the motives underlying its

ascendency in the post-reform period.

The attainment of such an objective is supposed to give credence to this dissertation’s

argument that changes in attitudes towards English cannot simply be attributed to the

overwhelming impacts of globalization and neoliberalism which are likely to be treated as an

unavoidably natural process. Instead, this language-attitudinal reformation should also be

considered based on how the ideologies of English are intermingled with and/or influenced by

broader (societal) ideologies that either have already been grounded in the society for an

extended period of time or are being continuously developed in the time of reform and

globalization. Such a research direction opens the possibility to see not only how English is

pursued and treated in awe but also why it also experiences a concomitant resistance in Vietnam

at the present time.

Based on the insights getting from tracking down the development of English ideologies

in Vietnam after more than thirty years of economic reform, another objective this dissertation

has in view is to contribute to the current theory of global English. Specifically, it is intended to

provide a more solid base to consolidate the argument that English is not an ideologically neutral

language, as it has often been mentioned in the widely-read book English as a Global Language

by David Crystal (1997) and reiterated in the discourses of transnational educational institutions

like TESOL and British Council (Pennycook, 2000; see also Canagarajah, 2000). Rather, I would

like to argue that the spread of global English and its position in a specific context, especially

with a country in the Expanding Circle8 of world English like Vietnam (to be discussed further in

8
Kachru (1990) divides the countries in the world into three groups based on their usage of English. The Inner
Circle (including countries such as the UK, the USA, Australia and Canada) has a large number of the population

16
the next section), is inevitably associated with, surrounded by and enmeshed in local language

ideologies.

Accordingly, the study of global English in this dissertation, as will be illustrated in the

following chapters, is approached from ‘ideological positions’ (Pennycook, 2000), and

understood as a ‘language-ideological issue’ (Park, 2009, p. 5). In tandem with its contribution to

the understanding of global English, this ideological approach to English renders the

accomplishment of other major objectives in this dissertation (as mentioned above) including the

identification of ideologies in language practice and the demonstration of bidirectional process of

globalization, both of which can benefit from a meticulous analysis of English usages from an

ideological perspective.

1.4 Language ideology and identity construction

Having attracted over a million followers on its YouTube channel apart from a big number of

local televiewers, the hip-hop music show entitled Rap Việt (Vietnamese Rap) became one of the

most successful TV shows in Vietnam in 2020. It is special not only because this is the first time

ever a ‘Made-in-Vietnam’ program dedicated to underground music has been produced and aired

for nationwide televiewers but also it is probably also the first domestic TV show, as I have

noticed, wherein the MC and judges and contestants could codeswitch rather freely between

Vietnamese and English. Not unlike rappers in other Asian countries, the participants of Rap

Việt mostly rapped under some stage names which are appropriated from English (sometimes

uses English as their native language. The Outer Circle (including countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong)
recognizes English as the official language to be used for certain purposes like administration and education. In the
Expanding Circle (including countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam), English is not given an official
status, but it is learnt widely as a foreign language.

17
with elements from Vietnamese and/or other languages) and their song lyrics are also heavily

mixed between Vietnamese and English contents. Yuno Bigboi – a contestant in the show – in

one of his performing sessions entitled Gu của anh là châu Á (‘My taste is Asian’) rapped as

follows:

I’m in love with Tokyo girls

With Indian girls
With Korean girls
With Thailand girls
With nét đẹp tự nhiên (‘With natural beauty’)
Từ cái nhìn đầu tiên (‘At the first sight’)
Love em Vietnamese girl khi em có tất vẻ đẹp anh mơ (‘Love you the Vietnamese girl who
has all the beauties that I’ve dreamed of’)

Setting aside musical substances, the lyrics of this rap song indicate that neither hip hop as an

African American music genre nor English as the global language carries with them

homogeneous influences from the Centre to the Periphery. Instead, it seems that they merge with

local materials and serve as a means to convey a content laden with Asian and Vietnamese

values. Following Pennycook (2007), the use of hip-hop music and English as the international

‘languages’ to promote local and regional values in Vietnamese rap music should therefore be

looked at in terms of identity performance and construction.

Returning to the main concern of this dissertation about language use on signage, we now

revisit the above-quoted description of the essayist Thạch Lam who, albeit not a LL practitioner,

noticed a reality that local shopkeepers preferred to use French even though they only did

business with Vietnamese customers. This is not much different from the fact that rapper Yuno

Bigboi chooses to send a message to his Vietnamese girl in English – or to be more precise with

a combination of English and Vietnamese content. The point I am after here is that language is

18
not just used simply to carry information but also to perform and construct identity. Apart from

choosing what to say, the addressers also make their own decision how to deliver it in the way

they see appropriate, which makes it possible for them to display and project the identities that

they wish to be identified with. Therefore, the use of English today on shop signs in Hanoi by

shopkeepers in order to address their local customers, both of whom are at home with

Vietnamese, should be interpreted in terms of how such a display of English can help both of

them construct their corresponding identities through the social practice of consumption.

Based on the intertwined relations between language, ideology and identity and the

theoretical premise according to which identity is not given but constructed through language

practice (Kroskrity, 2006; Makihara & Schieffelin, 2007; Rosa & Burdick, 2017), this

dissertation looks into the identity construction of Vietnamese people through their language

practices and ideologies. Since identity in this dissertation is perceived as constructively built, it

is not monolithic and fixed but should rather be seen as multiple and continuously in the process

of (re)construction. As such, the involvement of people in a variety of social practices can

project their corresponding identities which may presumably be seen at odds with each other on

the outside. Young Hanoian boys and girls may congregate outside the Saint Joseph Church in

the French quarter to celebrate Christmas Eve, but just one or two months later they may

themselves be seen kneeling reverently in a Buddhist temple in their neighbourhoods to pray for

an upcoming happy lunar new year. By the same token, when choosing to display English or

Vietnamese or both, proprietors of small local shops, not unlike the aforementioned rapper, are

actually ‘acting out’ their respective identities based on language choice and preference. For that

reason, language use on signage should be a site into which we can look to get to know the

identity construction of present-day Vietnamese people.

19
 As has been mentioned above, the display of foreign languages in the LL of Hanoi is not

unprecedented. In the past, it was not uncommon to see Chinese and French in public spaces, but

recently there has been a considerably increasing visibility of English. Apparently, there are

differences between the ‘display’ of Chinese and French in the past and the ‘favour’ of English at

present, since the former involves the languages of imperialism and colonialism while the latter

is all about the language of neoliberalism and global integration. However, there seems to be one

thing in common. In both cases, these ‘foreign’ languages were and are not simply written out

there in the streets because they functioned or are functioning as a means of communication

shared widely among local people. Instead, the number of local Vietnamese who could use

Chinese or French in the past and English at present are both rather limited with respect to the

total population. (Chinese and French were basically known to an elite coterie of Vietnamese, cf.

Marr, 1984.) With regard to the theory of world English presented by Kachru (1990), Vietnam is

the country in the Expanding Circle (mentioned above in Section 1.3) where English is not only

learnt popularly as a major foreign language but even pursued as a hegemonic language,

although it neither has an official status nor serves as a common means of communication among

Vietnamese people.

This is the rationale for this dissertation to simultaneously approach the practice of using

English in Vietnam as an identity-related issue. As such, English usages, apart from being

approached as a language-ideological issue (as discussed above), are contemplated in terms of

how they function as a vehicle for identity performance and construction. The display of certain

foreign languages in the public spaces of Hanoi has represented itself as a recurrent motif over

the course of modern Vietnamese history. Moreover, such a reality exists in parallel with the fact

that Vietnamese has retained its strong position as the language of officialdom and the major

20
means of communication among the populace. This is the backdrop against which we can think

about how present-day Vietnamese people reconcile the coexistence of English and Vietnamese

and construct their respective identities through these two languages. Such a research direction

not only facilitates an understanding of identity construction through English but also casts light

into the issue of how Vietnamese people (re)negotiate their cultural and national identities

through their own language in the time of socioeconomic reform.

Apart from focusing on language use on signage, this dissertation also takes into

consideration the expressions of language ideologies and identities in interview interaction in

order to effectively make use of the close connections between language, ideology and identity.

The former dataset was collected and analyzed using an ethnographic approach that renders the

‘reading’ of signs as a social practice, which provides favourable conditions to identify mediated

language ideologies and corresponding identity performances. The latter dataset includes

interviews with local shopkeepers and residents who took part in answering questions and

expressing attitudes about language use on signage in the public spaces of Hanoi. While the

interview enables an investigation of language attitudes in interaction represented through both

explicit and implicit expressions, this dataset also serves as a site upon which we can analyze the

identity performance/construction of interview participants.

The combination of language use on signage (language practice) and interview

interaction (metalinguistic talk) is intended to offer a holistic approach that facilitates a more

inclusive coverage of ideological manifestations and is thereby able to attend to the multiple

‘sitings’ (Woolard, 1998), or the ‘multi-sitedness’ (Philips, 2000), of language ideologies.

Drawing on such a combination of data sources, this dissertation asks what the language use on

signage and the interview interaction reveal about the language ideologies of Vietnamese people

21
and how the acquired knowledge of language ideologies enables an understanding of their

identity construction in the post-reform period (more detailed research questions will be

introduced in the following chapter and reiterated subsequently in Chapter 4 and 5).

While a triangulation of these two datasets opens possibilities to address the grounding of

language ideologies in more than one location, the addition of interviews with shopkeepers (who

are sign producers and/or owners) and local residents (who are presumed sign readers/viewers)

has also become a recently pursued research direction in the field of LL (see Albury, 2018;

Manan et al., 2015; Papen, 2015; Selvi, 2016). As has been demonstrated in these previous

studies, the endeavour to ‘go beyond the signs’ renders the identification of language ideologies

more feasible (cf. Hatoss, 2018).

The theoretical and analytical frameworks adopted in this dissertation for the LL session

are combined of geosemiotics – which deals with the social meaning of signs in the material

world (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) – and ELLA (the ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis)

(Blommaert, 2013; Blommaert & Maly, 2016, 2019). The analysis of interview data is carried

out using the ‘language attitudes in interaction’ framework, one which discusses the expression

of language attitudes as a form of social positioning (Dailey-O’Cain, 2017; Liebscher & Dailey-

O’Cain, 2009). In addition, the interview data analysis is also supported by a further reference to

Davies and Harré’s (1990) positioning theory and Bamberg and Georgakopoulou’s (2008)

identity-analytical framework, both of which are intended to engender a more insightful look into

the construction of identity in interview interaction.

22
1.5 Structure of the dissertation

In the next chapter, I will introduce the concept of language ideology and the research field of

LL before reviewing the literature of language ideology in previous LL studies and establishing

research gaps. Afterwards, I provide an account of the sociocultural background of Hanoi and

introduce the research questions. Chapter 3 presents the methodology of research. After

introducing three neighbourhoods under investigation, I explain the method of data collection

and give an account of collected LL data. Then I introduce the two theoretical and analytical

frameworks of geosemiotics and ELLA before explicating on how they have been put into use

for LL data analysis in this dissertation. Chapter 4 presents the results of LL data analysis. This

chapter is divided into eight sections each of which focuses on discussing one particular

language-ideological theme. These sections are arranged in a logical order which is intended to

illustrate the homogenization and heterogenization (the bidirectional process of globalization) of

language, ideology and culture in the LL of Hanoi. Chapter 5 presents the results of interview

data analysis. In this chapter, I go over some interview excerpts wherein the respondents express

their attitudes, either explicitly or implicitly, towards English and Vietnamese. The analysis of

these excerpts also elaborates on how these two languages take part in the interview participants’

identity construction. This chapter not only consolidates the results of LL data analysis but also

adds further findings that can provide more insightful and comprehensive understanding of

language ideology and identity construction in Vietnam today. In Chapter 6, I begin by

combining the results of Chapter 4 and 5 to answer the research questions of this dissertation and

present its overall findings. The subsequent sections discuss further implications and

contributions that this dissertation may have for the fields of LL and globalization studies, the

study of global English, the theory of language ideology, the analytical approach of language

23
attitudes in interaction, and lastly the restructuring of nationalism in Vietnam. Lastly, this chapter

ends with a discussion on the limitations of this dissertation before giving some suggestions for

further research.

24
Chapter 2 Language ideology and linguistic
landscape studies

After introducing the concept of language ideology and the research field of LL, this chapter

reviews the literature of language ideology in previous LL studies and establish research gaps.

Then it gives an account of the sociocultural background of Hanoi and presents the research

questions of this dissertation. More specifically, it is arranged in the following order.

First, I begin by introducing the concept of language ideology. This introduction

highlights how language ideology has moved from a peripheral topic in linguistics and

anthropology to a field of enquiry that can provide insights into language practice and social

structure.

Next, I proceed with an introduction of the burgeoning research field of LL and its major

developments in scope and methodology. This section illustrates how LL has moved from a

discipline that focuses restrictively on ‘written texts’ in public spaces to one with an ‘expanded’

perspective that takes into account other semiotic modes (including, for instance, images and

visual designs) in order to get more meanings from signs. Then I discuss the development of LL

in term of research methodologies and elaborate on how such a development can be divided into

two separate stages characterized by the use of different research approaches.

Afterwards, I review the literature of language ideology in LL research. This section

clarifies how the ideologies of power, nationalism and cultural identity become recognized as

25
some of the major factors shaping the LL of cities around the world. Then, I proceed to establish

research gaps based on the observation that LL studies have heretofore focused rather

exclusively on top-down, state-endorsed ideologies as indicated in official language policies and

there has not been adequate attention paid to bottom-up ideologies as mediated in the people’s

actual language practice.

Lastly, I present the research questions to be addressed in this dissertation after having

elaborated on the social background of Hanoi and its suitability as the research site for a LL

study on language ideology. Apart from introducing Hanoi as an over one-millennium-old

capital with its different cultural layers representing pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial and

globalization periods, this section highlights the fact that this city has always been considered the

emblematic head of the whole nation and the guardian of Vietnamese identity. This section also

discusses the historical milestone of đổi mới (the reform policy launched in 1986) and how it

becomes a major socioeconomic factor having had significant impacts on the present-day

Vietnamese society. Now let us begin with the concept of language ideology.

2.1 Defining language ideology

Language ideology has been a concept of controversy because its meaning, scope and application

are not easy to delimit. (This is understandable for it is linked closely with ideology – one of the

most controversial concepts in social sciences and humanities, see further in Eagleton, 2007 and

Thompson, 1990.) If one puts it simply that language ideologies are ideas about language, there

is immediately a paradox that ideas about language are never simply about language (Rosa &

Burdick, 2017). It is even argued that ideas about language are not about language at all, because

language use is tied to and governed by a variety of factors such as identity, power, morality,

26
aesthetics, and epistemology (Woolard, 1998). The notion of identity, for instance, is linked so

closely to language ideology that, in Lanza and Woldemariam’s (2009) words, ‘[w]hat we think

about language will be related to how we perceive ourselves and eventually how others perceive

us’ (p. 189). For this reason, language ideologies underlie and regulate language practice,

language shift and change. A particular analysis of language practice should always justify its

meaningfulness based on a certain point of view on language. And these viewpoints of language

are all ideological for they represent specific perspectives and develop in particular social,

political, and cultural contexts (Rosa & Burdick, 2017).

Even though language ideology has now become an issue of major concern in linguistic

anthropology, it used to be regarded as a peripheral topic in anthropology as well as linguistics

(Kroskrity, 2006). Boas, Bloomfield, and Labov, just to name the most prominent, continually

rejected the significance of what has been referred to now as language ideology (Rosa &

Burdick, 2017). The renowned anthropologist Franz Boas (1911) prioritizes linguists’ expertise

over local ideas about language. He refers to the linguistic consciousness of speakers as

‘secondary rationalizations’ that have no analytical value. The structuralist linguist Leonard

Bloomfield (1993) considers the local notions of language as merely one minor part in linguistic

data. In other words, language ideology is only one among the issues of linguistics and it is

actually ‘not a fundamental one’ (p. 22). In his view, speakers’ language ideologies only have

trivial effects on their speech. Even though the sociolinguist William Labov (1964)

acknowledges the role of ‘social attitudes’ towards language, he refuses to recognize that

speakers’ awareness leads to linguistic change or affects speech forms (Woolard, 1998). In the

meantime, in his viewpoint, language practice indicates preexisting identities instead of

continually constructing, reproducing, and transforming them (Rosa & Burdick, 2017).

27
 With regard to a long tradition being seen as a marginalized topic, the development of

language ideology into a field of enquiry is quite recent. It started with Silverstein’s (1979)

article which, according to Kroskrity (2006), ‘rescued linguistic awareness from ongoing

scholarly neglect’ (p. 499). In this article, Silverstein lays an emphasis on speakers’ awareness of

linguistic structure and defines language ideology as ‘a set of beliefs about language articulated

by users as a rationalization or justification of perceived language structure and use’ (p. 193). As

he argues, language change (such as the rejection of use the ‘generic he’ in English initiated by

American feminist movement in the second half of the twentieth century, see Silverstein, 1985)

stems from language ideologies or articulated beliefs about language.

However, Silverstein’s approach to language ideology privileges the role of cognitive

awareness over political and sociocultural processes in foregrounding certain linguistic structure

features (Phillips, 2015). For this reason, subsequent approaches to language ideology tend to put

greater emphasis on social, political, and cultural facets of language ideology. Irvine (1989), for

instance, defines language ideology as ‘the cultural (and subcultural) system of ideas about social

and linguistic relationships, together with their loading of moral and political interests’ (p. 255).

And according to Heath (1989), language ideologies are ‘self-evident ideas and objectives a

group holds concerning the roles of language in the social experiences of members as they

contribute to the expression of the group’ (p. 393).

Though these definitions may have their own emphases, it is not hard to realize that

different approaches to language ideology tend to focus on, as Woolard (1998) says, ‘a mediating

link between social forms and forms of talk’ (p. 3). To put it differently, language ideologies are

conceptualized as ‘models that link types of linguistic forms with the types of people who

stereotypically use them’ (Wortham, 2008, p. 43). Accordingly, in Gal’s (1989) viewpoint, social

28
groups hold differentiated language ideologies based on their various positions in political

economy. All in all, language ideologies construct linguistic forms and uses as well as the very

notion of person and social group; moreover, they also underpin fundamental social institutions

like nation-state, education, law and religion (Phillips, 2015; Woolard, 1998).

In order to capture its diversity, Kroskrity (2006) refers to language ideology as a ‘cluster

concept’ consisting of five converging dimensions (see below). As for now, I would argue that

this approach to language ideology facilitates a comprehensive coverage of overlapping but

distinguishable dimensions of this concept. Therefore, I adopt the language-ideology-as-cluster-

concept approach for this dissertation. According to Kroskrity (2006), this cluster concept

includes the following dimensions: ‘One, language ideologies represent the perception of

language and discourse that is constructed in the interest of a specific social or cultural group’;

‘Two, language ideologies are profitably conceived as multiple’; ‘Three, members may display

varying degrees of awareness of local language ideologies’; ‘Four, members’ language

ideologies mediate between social structures and forms of talk’; ‘Five, language ideologies are

productively used in the creation and representation of various social and cultural identities’ (pp.

501-509). These five dimensions make it clear a number of important points.

First, language ideologies are critically conceived as ‘derived from, rooted in, reflective

of, or responsive to the experience of interests of a particular social position’ (Woolard, 1998, p.

6). Accordingly, language ideologies are understood as closely tied to political and economic

interests and therefore serve as a tool in the struggle to acquire and maintain power. This is

significantly different from the neutral perspective that considers language ideologies as ‘shared

bodies of commonsense notions about the nature of language in the world’ (Rumsey, 1990, p.

346). The neutral view on culturally shared beliefs fails to recognize that cultural conceptions are

29
also ‘partial, contestable, and interest-laden’ even among homogeneous cultural groups (Woolard

& Schieffelin, 1994, p. 58), notwithstanding that ‘homogeneity’ is only relative, if not to say

imprecise, in the time of globalization.

Second, language ideologies should be viewed as naturally multiple because of social

divisions within a population such as class, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, etc. These differences

lead to divergent perspectives even among members of the same sociocultural group. In other

words, language ideologies are plural because they are ‘grounded in social experience which is

never uniformly distributed throughout polities of any scale’ (Kroskrity, 2006, p. 503).

Third, local language ideologies can be articulated and displayed explicitly but with

varying degrees of awareness from the members. Therefore, it is important that studying

language ideologies requires us to read not only from the members’ articulated beliefs but also

from their actual language practice.

Fourth, the idea that language ideologies mediate language use and social structure,

which has already been illustrated in the aforementioned Silverstein’s approach, emphasizes the

following focal point. Since language use is a social practice, ideologies underlying language use

are therefore determined by the society and a variety of social factors (such as identity, morality,

epistemology, etc.) that define its organization.

Finally, language ideologies are closely bound up with the notion of identity. Since they

are not static and can potentially be inconsistent (Lanza & Svendsen, 2007), language ideologies

do not index preexisting identities. Instead, they participate in the continual process of

(re)constructing identities.

In short, the cluster concept is chosen as an inclusive theoretical approach to render an

investigation of changes in language ideologies, which are seen as piecemeal and contradictory

30
beliefs about language, in post-reform Vietnamese society. The acquired knowledge of these

language-ideological changes is later used to shed light into the identity construction of

contemporary Vietnamese people.

2.2 Linguistic landscape as a field of research

The study of language use on signage in public places has attracted an increasing interest from

sociolinguists since the publication of Landry and Bourhis’s (1997) seminar on the

interrelationship between LL and ethnolinguistic vitality. The development of LL into a

burgeoning field of enquiry is an indication of renewed interest in space and place, which has

been witnessed in social sciences since the 1990s (Low & Lawrence-Zúñiga, 2003). LL was

originally defined as ‘the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in

a given territory or region’ (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 23). Since then, it has been expanded in

both scope and aims to become acknowledged as a new approach to multilingualism (Gorter,

2006), a multimodal approach to the study of signs in public spaces (Shohamy & Gorter, 2009;

Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010), and a sociolinguistic discipline that studies social diversity and

changes (Blommaert, 2013; Blommaert & Maly, 2016, 2019).

The scope of LL is no longer restricted to written texts in public spaces. It also studies

meanings of other semiotic systems in the environment (Shohamy & Waksman, 2009). With the

adoption of this broad perspective, LL takes into account semiotic modes other than ‘written

language’ such as images and visual designs (Scollon & Scollon, 2003), the transgressive art of

graffiti (Pennycook, 2009), sounds (Hu, 2018), smells (Pennycook & Otsuji, 2015b), and even

human bodies (Peck & Stroud, 2015; Pennycook, 2018; Scolon & Scolon, 2003) in order to

facilitate a better understanding of multiple layers of meaning in public spaces (Jaworski &

31
Thurlow, 2010; Shohamy, 2018; Shohamy & Waksman, 2009). While the narrow perspective

that strictly limits LL resources to just written language on signage is becoming less convincing

(Shohamy & Wakman, 2009), the issue as to how ‘inclusive’ LL should be has yet to be

seriously addressed or more precisely has been left unattended.

For this reason, the scope of LL has been expanded to include ‘the language in the

environment, words and images displayed and exposed in public spaces’ (Shohamy & Gorter,

2009, p. 1). However, the term LL is considered problematic since it has recently been used in a

general sense to include concepts other than just language visibility, which subsequently leads to

the suggestion to use ‘semiotic landscape’ as a replacement (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010; Puzey,

2016). In addition, LL has no longer been restricted as a field of enquiry that studies

multilingualism on signage in public spaces. It now covers a variety of subject matters including

but not limited to language policy and planning, language conflicts, minority languages and

tokenistic commodification, sociolinguistic scale and mobility (Blommaert, 2013; Gorter,

Marten, & Mensel, 2012; Spolsky, 2009; Van Mensel, Vandenbroucke, & Blackwood, 2016).

Therefore, on the one hand there have been attempts to bring forward a broader and more

workable definition with respect to the field’s development. Gorter (2018), for instance,

redefines LL as the study of ‘the motives, uses, ideologies, language varieties and contestations

of multiple forms of “languages” as they are displayed in public spaces’ (pp. 41-42). On the

other hand, there has been a mutual agreement among LL practitioners to let the field, which is

still in its infancy, develop openly in various directions without any limits on definitions and

meanings (Shohamy, 2018). And as for now, LL is welcomed as one sociolinguistic branch that

has immense interdisciplinary potentials to study how ideology, identity and social diversity are

constructed and mediated in language use on signage in public spaces.

32
 The development of LL hitherto can roughly be divided into two stages that are

characterized by two different approaches: the quantitative-distributive (see Backhaus, 2007) and

the historical-ethnographic (see Blommaert, 2013) (for a further discussion on these two

developmental stages see Blackwood, 2015; Blommaert, 2013; Blommaert & Maly, 2016;

Huebner, 2016; Pütz & Mundt, 2018; Shohamy, 2018; Van Mensel et al., 2016).

In the first stage, LL was mainly counting isolated ‘languages’ as they are shown on

signage in public places. The research questions and themes mostly concentrated on providing a

quantitative-distributive account of the situation of multilingualism in a specific city or town. In

his study in Tokyo, Backhaus (2007) defines a sign as ‘any piece of text within a spatially

definable frame’ (p. 66) and collects only signs with more than one language. Kasanga (2012)

counts the number of languages on each shopfront sign in central Phnom Penh with no concern

to the amount of text in each language. Other studies of the same type include those trying to

map the LL of, for instance, Zurich, Uppsala and Klagenfurt (Schlick, 2002), Rome (Griffin,

2004), Ankara (Selvi, 2016), and Athens (Nikolaou, 2017), to name just a few.

Apart from having some methodological problems including an inconsistency in defining

and counting signs and a subjectiveness and/or arbitrariness in assigning ‘languages’ to the texts

on signs (especially when it comes to brand names and hybrid business names), the quantitative

approach is also limited in its adoption of a modernist perspective on language whereby

languages are seen as fixed, bounded and isolated entities (see Van Mendel et al., 2016). The

modernist view which presupposes a correlation between a specific language and a respective

ethnolinguistic group is no longer viable in the age of globalization. In many cases, the

(in)visibility of language(s) misrepresents the ethnolinguistic diversity in a specific area. Leeman

and Modan (2009), for example, demonstrate that the ubiquity of Chinese in Washington DC’s

33
Chinatown is used as a ‘floating’ signifier to capitalize on Chinese language and values rather

than indexing a vibrant Chinese community, who have already moved out of the neighbourhood.

On the contrary, a very limited visibility of Spanish in some American towns and cities fails to

represent quite considerable amounts of Hispanic-American population living there (Betti, 2018).

These examples indicate that LL should go further than its quantitative analysis in order to get

more ‘meaningful’ interpretation of signs in public spaces.

In the subsequent stage, LL has gradually turned towards ethnography not only as a

methodology but also as a perspective, which is marked firstly by the tendency to analyze the

social meaning of signs based on their emplacement in the material world and in relation to

human actions (Scollon & Scollon, 2003). The ethnographic approach, which is more concerned

with a deep historical qualitative analysis of signs based on a rigorous reference to the physical

environment where they are located, tends to choose one specific neighbourhood as the research

site.

An archetypal study of this stage is Blommaert’s (2013) sociolinguistic analysis of

Berchem, a neighbourhood in the city of Antwerp (Belgium). The study takes a deep historical-

ethnographic approach to track the mobilities and complexities of residential communities and

the social changes at various scales that underlie sign display in this neighbourhood. In a

subsequent study in the neighbourhood of Wondelgemstraat in Ghent (Belgium), Blommaert and

Maly (2016) continue with their intention to develop a LL-specific ethnographic approach called

ELLA in order to study social diversity and mobility in the age of globalization. In the most

recent study in the inner city of Antwerp (Belgium), Blommaert and Maly (2019) emphasize the

importance of doing ethnography in virtual spaces and develop the later ethnographic version of

ELLA 2.0. Other studies that adopt ethnographic approaches and therefore can be counted in this

34
second wave of LL include Stroud and Mpendukana (2009) on the township of Khayelitsha

(South Africa), Lou (2016) on Washington DC’s Chinatown, and Maly (2016) on the coastal city

of Ostend (Belgium).

In summary, over the course of its development, LL has experienced significant changes

in its scope and aims, approaches and methods, and analytical tools, which taken all together is

described as a ‘critical turn’ in the field (Barni & Barna, 2015). The transition from the first stage

of quantitative-distributive approach to the next stage of historical-ethnographic one enables LL

to move from basically ‘describing’ to having been capable of ‘analyzing’ the sociolinguistics of

a particular research area. However, it does not actually mean that the quantitative-distributive

approach has retreated since even the authors who refrain from this approach – such as Jaworski

and Thurlow – still count languages on signs (Van Mensel et al., 2016). Since the quantitative-

distributive approach continues to be used and is even regarded as an established ‘tradition’ of

LL, this situation is critically referred to as the ‘conservative turn’ in the field (Blommaert,

2016).

I would agree with Blommaert that a return to use a purely quantitative approach would

limit the possibility to analyze the meaning of signs in public spaces. But it is also worth

acknowledging that the selection of one or a combination of appropriate approaches, after all,

should be justified based on the research questions one asks and the themes he or she pursues.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that a symbiotic approach that combines quantitative and

qualitative methods in LL still proves viable and necessary – as having been demonstrated in the

recent literature (see Blackwood, 2015). While the quantitative approach renders a synchronic

descriptive picture of multilingualism in a particular research area possible especially when one

wants to cover a large amount of data, the qualitative approach has more potentials to facilitate a

35
deep historical diagnosis of signs and hence provide better analytical insights into how

ideologies, identities and social structures are mediated through landscape signage.

2.3 Language ideology in linguistic landscape research

As indicated in Chapter 1, language ideology can be expressed not only subjectively through

metalinguistic talk but also constructively through language practice (Woolard, 1998). Drawing

on this theoretical premise, LL has been able to address insightful ideology-related issues by

focusing on translingual practice on signage (Pennycook, 2017; Zhang & Chan, 2017). These

issues include but not limited to language policy and contestation (Backhaus, 2009; Pavlenko,

2009; Shohamy, 2015), language and power (David & Manan, 2015; Lanza & Woldemariam,

2009), language and identity (Aristova, 2016; Manan, David, Dumanig & Nageebullah, 2015;

Trumper-Hecht, 2009), and attitudes towards minority languages (Marten, Mensel & Gorter,

2012; Muth, 2012). Even though public space is likely to be under the control of a certain

political power at a particular period of time, it is where a democratic society represents itself by

enabling different voices to be heard (Habermas, 1991; Rubdy, 2015). Therefore, by looking into

language use on signage in public spaces, LL has been able to identify the ideologies underlying

various sociopolitical positions and viewpoints (Leeman & Modan, 2009). In this section, I

review the literature on language ideology in LL research.

The visibility of some languages (with or without other accompanied semiotic resources

such as images and other visual modes) and the lack of others in public spaces carry ideological

messages concerning the values and/or priorities of certain languages over others, which makes

public space an arena for language battles (Lanza & Woldemariam, 2009; Shohamy, 2006). The

literature on the LL as the site of conflicts and protests is exuberant and centres around how

36
written language, be it on signs or other linguistic/semiotic artifacts, in the public spaces of

multilingual cities especially those characterized by political disputes does not reflect actual

language diversity but is employed as a vehicle for social contestation (see Blackwood et al.

2016; Pütz & Mundt, 2019; Rojo, 2016; Rubdy & Ben Said, 2015).

In one of the earliest studies of this type, Spolsky & Cooper (1991) demonstrate how a

deliberate omission of Arabic from official signage in the Old City of Jerusalem indicates an

intense ideological battle between the Jews and the Arabs and is a ruthless message from the

former to the latter that ‘this is not your state’ (p. 117). Subsequent studies carried out in Israel

show that the language battle between Hebrew and Arabic on signage ‘serves as an instrument

within a wider status struggle between the two national groups’ (Trumper-Hecht, 2009, p. 238;

see also Ben-Rafael, Shohamy, Amara, & Trumper-Hecht, 2006; Shohamy & Ghazaleh-

Mahajneh, 2012). Through their language conflict, the Jews and the Arabs not only produce and

propagate their language ideologies but also construct and define their respective identities in the

public spaces they share with each other.

Along the same line, the LL can also be the battlefield for sociopolitical protests in

Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey (Kasanga, 2014; Seloni & Sarfati, 2017), religious wars in Ethiopia

(Woldemariam and Lanza, 2014), and unresolved language conflicts leading to the erasure or

overpainting of language(s) on official signage in post-Soviet states (Pavlenko, 2009).

Furthermore, the field also looks into social unrest of smaller scales such as the use of

transgressive art of graffiti by local residents to raise their voice against the refurbishment and

selling of their flats in the neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg in East Berlin (Germany) (Papen,

2012). Through this study, Papen demonstrates that the LL can be the location of ideological

37
conflicts involving three different parties: the civil society, the private businesses, and the nation-

state.

A special attention in the field has also been paid to the (in)visibility, marginalization,

and erasure of minority languages in public spaces, which indicates that the LL is not only the

site of contestation but also of exclusion. Marten (2012) demonstrates how the centralist

language ideology of the Eastern Latvia state leads to the reduction of functions and the absence

of a minority language called Latgalian in the public spaces of Latgale. Despite positive attitudes

of the people towards it and how popularly it is used as a spoken language, Latgalian is

considered inappropriate for written purposes, which leads to its having been marginalized in

public spaces. This study concludes that language ideology of central authorities can give rise to

the neutralization of even widely spoken minority languages. In the same direction,

Thislethwaite and Sebba (2015) discuss an underrepresentation of Irish in the Irish town of

Ennis.

Another aspect of concern is the focus on whether the visibility of a minority language in

public spaces indicates its identity, status, and revitalization or is used mainly for tokenistic and

symbolic functions (Gorter, Marten, & Mensel, 2012). By reconsidering Leeman and Modan’s

(2009) study on the gentrification of Washington DC’s Chinatown, it is possible to see that the

increasing spread of Chinese as a minority language is used by urban developers as a ‘floating’

signifier to capitalize on Chinese language and values rather than promoting minority language

revitalization and empowerment. The increasing visibility of Chinese therefore does not index a

vibrant Chinese community since most of them have already moved out of the neighbourhood.

Accordingly, Chinese in this Chinatown has lost its status as a means of communication and

gradually become a commodified ornament. The findings of this study demonstrate how

38
commodifying Chinese language and values has become a part of the larger ideological process

of Chinatown gentrification.

By the same token, Troyer, Cáceda and Giménez Equíbar (2015) explore written

language displays in Oregon, a small town with thirty-five percent of Latino/Hispanic residents

in the USA, to identify a tokenistic presentation of Spanish in the limited domains of restaurants

and convenience stores. In addition, the LL as the site of exclusion has also been studied in other

geographical spaces including Japan (Tan & Ben Said, 2015), Bahrain, Congo and Singapore

(Kasanga, 2015), and Taiwan (Curtin, 2015).

And a remarkable literature on language ideology in LL research is dedicated to the

nationalist language ideology, how it is realized through the institutionalization of official

language policies, and what influences it has on the public display of written language. Here, it is

demonstrated that language ideology rationalizes not only dominant language(s) and linguistic

practices but also extant social structures in order to serve the struggle to acquire and maintain

asymmetrical power relations (Lanza and Woldemariam, 2009; Woolard, 1998). In a study

carried out in Petaling (Malaysia), David and Manan (2015) conclude that language policy on

signage in Malaysia embodies one-nation one-language ideology, which is represented through

the governmental attempt to essentialize Bahasa Malayu (the national language) and neutralize

the languages of rival groups such as Chinese and Tamils. For this reason, the nationalist

ideology embedded in official language policy has considerable direct influences on language

diversity in public spaces through two contrastive processes: centralizing (the national language)

and peripheralizing (the other languages).

The aforementioned nationalist ideology is realized most clearly in postcolonial nation-

states. In order to reinforce national independence and promote national identity, or what May

39
(2005) calls the ‘politics of state-making,’ there has been a tendency to eliminate languages of

the colonialists in the LL. Pavlenko (2012), for instance, recognizes the Ukrainian government’s

attempt to erase Russian in the LL of Kyiv (Ukraine). Nevertheless, even though Russian has

been removed from official signs, it continues to be present on commercial ones, which indicates

its position as a language of daily use in Kyiv. In this case, the official language policy indexes

the stringency of nationalist ideology rather than reflecting actual language diversity in

Ukrainian society.

In order to dig deeper into the discrepancy between language ideologies of the nation-

state and its people and how it is represented in the LL, a number of studies have focused

specifically on comparing language use on governmental and private signage (Albury, 2018;

David & Manan, 2015; Manan, David, Dumanig, & Naqeebullah, 2015; Pavlenko, 2012). The

results of these studies show that there is a discordance between the rigidity of nation-state

language ideology institutionalized in official language policy and the fluidity of language

ideology at grassroots levels. Albury (2018) identifies that despite the rigid top-down policy

using law enforcement to pedestalize the language of ethnic Malays over those of Chinese and

Indians, language diversity remains significant in the LL of Malaysia, which is a testimony to the

flexibility of language ideology at bottom-up levels. In a further effort to understand the people’s

discursive defiance to official language policy, Manan et al. (2015) identify some major reasons

including pragmatism, religion, and identity.

The argument that the versatility of bottom-up language ideology is driven by a

pragmatic motivation of the people in order to capitalize on languages other than just the official

one has also been demonstrated by Pavlenko (2012). In this case, Russian is favoured and

becomes a comfortably effective language for business in Kyiv. The bilingual Russian-Ukrainian

40
combination adopted by the people, which is in stark contrast with the state language policy,

reflects a ‘tacitly agreed-upon local norm’ (p. 51) stemming from a language ideology that

aspires to actual language competency and personal preference of language users. Moriarty

(2013) succinctly describes this discrepancy as contesting language ideologies between the

state’s modernist position of one-nation one-language and the people’s postmodernist practice of

multilingualism.

The discrepancy between the state and the people’s language ideologies becomes even

more complicated in studies that discuss the visibility of English in coexistence with the national

language and other native ones (David & Manan, 2015; Lanza & Woldemariam, 2009; Manan et

al., 2015). David and Manan (2015), for instance, identify one common problem facing

multilingual postcolonial countries in the time of globalization according to which the state is

inclined to wield the national language as a tool to promote nationalism. But it may also be put

under certain pressure to accommodate languages of other major ethnic groups and at the same

time recognize the role of English. Therefore, LL studies with an eye to language ideology have

simultaneously taken into consideration two major issues. On the one hand, it is the top-down

ideology endorsed by the state and mediated in official language policy that regulate language

use on public signage in order to serve the purpose of maintaining asymmetrical power relations.

On the other hand, it is the transgression, circumvention and resistance of language use on

signage at bottom-up levels represented most clearly by a special favour of English and other

high-cultural-capital languages, which is a true reflection of the postmodernist ideology of

multilingualism and the pragmatic needs of the market, also referred to elsewhere as

‘sociolinguistic pragmatism’ (David & Manan, 2015) and economic ‘good-reasons’ (Ben-Rafael,

2009; Lipovsky, 2018).

41
 The language ideology that turns English into an emblem of modernity and

internationality has also become the subject of enquiry in studies carried out in geographical

spaces from Global North countries such as France and Singapore (Lipovsky, 2018; Shang &

Guo, 2017) to Global South ones like Cambodia and Timo-Leste (Kasanga, 2012; Taylor-Leech,

2012). In a study in Ethiopia, a country without colonial past in Africa, Lanza and Woldemariam

(2009) discover that the English word ‘modern’ appears regularly in business names of tailors

and boutiques shops in Mekele. In this African country, English is also used as a sign of

modernity even by shopkeepers whose stores are located in small villages of the countryside. In

consistence with the need to embrace modernity, the favour of English in public spaces also

indexes a demand for an ‘imagined’ global identity (Kasanga, 2010; see also Bhatt, 2008).

In short, the review of LL literature indicates that public spaces are seen as platforms for

the establishment of power and identity (cf. Lanza & Woldemariam, 2009). Accordingly,

language use on signage tends to be manipulated by the power of dominant political groups and

languages of ethnic minorities are likely to be marginalized, erased, and excluded from public

view. The tendency to focus exclusively on influences of the nation-state, the nationalist

ideology, and cultural identity and how these factors, if taken together, play a decisive role in

shaping the LL is rather clear. However, the field has also identified a discrepancy in the

ideologies of the state and its people as illustrated in the differences of language use on official

and private signage, especially when taking into consideration the ubiquity of English,

sometimes alongside other languages with high cultural capital like French and Italian. This is a

prelude for this dissertation to have a more rigorous inquiry into how the people’s ideology and

identity are constructed and represented in the LL of their own living environment.

42
2.4 Establishing research gaps

The literature review shows that, when addressing the issue of language ideology, LL studies

have the tendency to focus rather exclusively on the ideology of state-making and how it is

represented in one way or another in official language policies on signage. The field has

heretofore developed elaborated discussions on how the ideology of linguistic nationalism

influence, regulate and shape the overall picture of written language in public spaces. There is a

common norm that language practice at grassroots levels is approached in a way so as to discuss

the people’s circumvention, transgression and resistance to official language policies rather than

providing insights into their actual kaleidoscopic language ideologies (see David & Manan,

2015; Manan et al., 2015; Moriarty, 2013; Pavlenko, 2012). Since it is more likely that previous

studies approached language ideology as a universally fixed concept associated with nationalism,

they have failed to address the existence of multiple language ideologies in the LL especially in

the dynamics of our globalizing world.

As having been demonstrated, language ideologies do not merely come from the ruling

class; they are also ‘ubiquitous set of diverse beliefs […] used by speakers of all types as models

for constructing linguistic evaluations and engaging in communicative activity’ (Kroskrity, 2006,

p. 497). However, this research direction has yet received adequate attention in the field of LL,

which can therefore be seen as a research gap that needs to be addressed. Taking a rigorous

account of language ideologies that govern the people’s language practice and how they are

mediated in their actual language use on signage is intended to overcome this shortcoming. Since

public space is a constitutive component of democratic society where the people’s wills are

articulated and their uninhibited voices are given a chance to be heard (Habermas, 1991; Rubdy,

2015), it is where the diversity of the people’s language ideologies comes into view and waits to

43
be revealed. Such a potential becomes even more feasible in the time of globalization when

residents within each urban neighbourhood are getting more heterogenous and dynamic than

ever.

When it comes to the issue of identity, LL displays a special interest in cultural/national

identity, which is understandably a direct consequence of the field’s biased engagement with the

nationalist ideology discussed above. In addressing the identity associated with English and its

being favoured in public spaces worldwide, LL studies tend to provide a general discussion on

the use of this global language to either perform or construct an imagined cosmopolitan identity,

which originates from the observation that English symbolically connotes internationality and

modernity (see Kasanga, 2010, 2012; Kelly-Holmes, 2014; Nikolaou, 2017; Selvi, 2006). Such

an overgeneralization overlooks the reality that English has been practiced differently in different

contexts and societies. Accordingly, it has also been localized and even becomes the language

associated with local identities (Park & Wee, 2012; Pennycook, 2007). Since the identity of

language users is neither inherent nor static, it is ceaselessly (re)constructed through language

practice and their accumulation of linguistic resources. Young (2017) argues that ‘people from

different parts of the world use different varieties of English in different ways to construct

identities for themselves’ (p. 505).

Therefore, the commonplace of English in public spaces worldwide should not be simply

interpreted as either a kind of ornamentation or alternatively being motivated by the purpose to

measure up to what often referred to as global identity. While this judgement runs the risk of

being oversimplified, it also overlooks the cultural diversity of ‘Englishes’ when it is practiced

differently worldwide. I believe that there exist multiple identities associated with English in

different contexts where it is not the first language or not even spoken at all on a daily basis.

44
Accordingly, a scrupulous emphasis on multiplex identities that language users wish to be

identified with when making English visible in public spaces is intended to provide a more

elaborative discussion than a simplified contention that English embodies modernity and indexes

an imagined global identity.

In addition, when discussing the combination of a local language and English on

bilingual signs, LL research to date tends to rationalize this language combination as a ‘division

of labour’ (Kasanga, 2010) wherein the local language fulfills informational function or carries

the message while English serves to perform or construct identity. By neutralizing the identities

associated with local languages and emphasizing the global identity relating to English, the field

has an inclination to consider globalization as the process of cultural homogenization while

neglecting the opposing process of cultural heterogenization, which thereby disregards cultural

diversity and local identity revitalization – ‘the central problem of today’s global interaction’

(Appadurai, 1996, p. 32).

In order to address such a research bias, this dissertation pays due attention to language

ideologies and identities associated with the native language, in our case Vietnamese, as well as

languages other than English, the intention being to provide a more comprehensive and precise

discussion on identity construction in the specific context of post-reform Vietnam. This direction

is consistent with the postmodern perspective on identity whereby both individuals and social

groups are considered having multiple identities that can be contradicted and contested (Jenkins,

2014; Lemke, 2008). This viewpoint on the hybridity of identities reflects better the complexity

of globalization whereby ethnic, national and cultural boundaries are becoming more versatile.

Since it is (re)constructed through a complicated web of affiliations such as ethnicity, nationality,

culture, race, language, etc. (Lemke, 2008), the term ‘identity’ in this dissertation is used to

45
cover multiple identities which come from engaging in different cultural and social connections

or moving between different cultural and social groups. It is an umbrella term that covers

cultural, social and national identity.

Drawing on the observation above, this dissertation sets out to pay primary attention to

the language ideologies of the people and concomitantly investigate how they as language users

(re)construct their identities at a time when globalization, alongside with a universal favour of

English in public spaces worldwide, allegedly generates a uniform cosmopolitanism. With Hanoi

being chosen as the research site, it is also intended to contribute a case study to the literature on

LL research in SEA which has already included Bangkok (Thailand), Phnom Penh (Cambodia),

Dili (Timor Leste), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Singapore (see Huebner, 2006; Kasanga,

2012; Taylor-Leech, 2012; Manan et al., 2015, Shang & Guo, 2017; Shang & Zhao, 2017).

The literature on LL research in Hanoi includes two recent studies both of which focus on

a small area in the city centre. Starks and Phan (2019) provide a semiotic discussion on the

stabilities and mobilities of visual and aural resources in a small park in the French quarter. Phan

and Starks (2019) offer an analysis of monolingual, bilingual and multilingual commercial signs

in the streets surrounding a lake in downtown Hanoi to elaborate on a mismatch between

language policies and de facto written language displays. What this dissertation chooses to do is

looking into language ideologies of the vox populi in order to understand their identity

(re)construction in the post-reform period. But before we can do that, let’s have a look into the

sociohistorical background of Hanoi together with an explication of its suitability for the

research aim of this dissertation.

46
2.5 Hanoi and national reform

In 2010, Hanoi (literally means ‘amid the rivers’) celebrated its millennial anniversary marking

the milestone when Thăng Long9 (‘the rising dragon’) was officially chosen as the capital of Đại

Cồ Việt (‘Great Viet’), the official name of Vietnam from 968 to 1054 AD. During more than

one thousand years of history, the city has been called by a number of different names including

Đông Kinh10 (‘royal capital of the east’), which was in fact a similar name to Tokyo (Japan)

despite the difference in two transcriptions of the same Chinese characters 東京 (dong jīng)

(Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002). As one of the oldest capitals in SEA, Hanoi has a diverse linguistic

history characterized by centuries of pre-colonization, colonization, decolonization, and a recent

wave of globalization.

The multilayered characteristic of Hanoi’s sociocultural milieu is represented in the

cultural landscape of the city which is comparable to a palimpsest, a manuscript with a

continuous emergence of new texts on the surface (Logan, 2000, Thomas, 2002, Van Horen,

2005). Prior to French colonialism (1873-1945), Hanoi had been under heavy influences of

Sinitic culture, notably Confucianism and Sinology. The eleventh century built complex of Văn

Miếu (temple of literature) – Quốc Tử Giám (imperial academy) in homage of Confucius and his

disciples, which still stands today and is referred to as Vietnam’s first university, bears witness to

how Confucian ideology had formed a fundamental basis for national education in the feudal

times (Sidel, 1998). Right after Vietnam declared its independence in September 1945, in an

endeavour to build a sovereign modern nation-state, the government of Hanoi chose Vietnamese,

9
The former name of Hanoi. Legend has it that on his boat trip from the old capital in Ninh Bình to the area that is
presently Hanoi, King Lý Thái Tổ (1009-1028) saw a dragon ascending into the sky. He decided to turn the area into
the capital city of Vietnam and named it Thăng Long – which means ‘The Rising Dragon.’
10
The name Tonkin that the French used to call North Vietnam during the colonial period came from the
pronunciation of Đông Kinh by foreign traders in the 17th and 18th centuries (Sidel, 1998).

47
with its Romanized writing system entitled quốc ngữ, as the national language. Supported by the

official language policy, Vietnamese has maintained its status quo as the national language and

the common means of communication for the majority of Vietnamese people ever since.

As the emblematic head of the whole nation, Hanoi takes pride in being the guardian of

Vietnamese identity and the hub of ideologues (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002; Logan, 2005). The

city has witnessed an enduring and uncompromising struggle of Vietnamese people to resist the

Sinicization and Francization of language and culture, which indicates their firmly consistent

ideology. The survival of Vietnamese identity after two millennia of foreign cultural dominance

is deeply surprising or even referred to as a ‘miracle’ (Logan, 1994). In postcolonial period, after

the French completely withdrew from the North in 1954 in the aftermath of the first Indochina

War, the colonial language has gradually disappeared in the public spaces of Hanoi. In the

meantime, Vietnamese has been developed into the symbol of patriotism and national identity

and continuously promoted for its contribution to the course of national liberation and the

building of a new sovereign nation-state. Even though reminiscences of linguistic contact with

Chinese and French can still be seen in both language practice and the cultural landscape, a

primordial linkage between Vietnamese, nation and cultural identity has been forged and

consolidated, which perhaps explains why it has presently become one of the most successful

national languages in the SEA region (Le & O’Harrow, 2007).

Even today the ideology of one-nation one-language is still evident in the government’s

endeavour to empower the status of Vietnamese and prevent it from being sullied by imprudent

foreign loans (see Nguyen, 2016). Thus far, three national conventions on preserving the purity

and clarity of Vietnamese with the participation of government officials have been held in Hanoi,

two of which took place during wartime (one in 1966 during the Second Indochina War and one

48
in 1979 during the Sino-Vietnamese War) and the most recent one in 2016 marking three

decades of reform (as discussed in Chapter 1).

In the new chapter of national independence, Hanoi continues its tradition as the centre of

politics, economics, and culture of the whole nation. A master narrative on the venerable cultural

identity of this one-thousand-year land and its people has taken shape. However, the gentility of

Thăng Long, the elegance of Tràng An11, and the tradition of Hanoi have been put into a new

challenge under the influence of đổi mới, a new discontinuity in the city’s history.

Đổi mới (literally ‘changing for the new’), the Vietnamese version of Soviet perestroika,

was a reform policy launched by the government in 1986 in order to save the economy which

was by then in serious recession with inflation as high as four hundred percent (Elliott, 2012).

This reform policy, which marked a transition from centralized to socialist-oriented market

economy, has had profound influences on various aspects of Hanoi’s socioeconomic life. Apart

from giving a green light to private economy and global integration, it also marked a breakup

with the Soviet Union – the socialist bloc that had significant ideological influences on the city in

the period from 1954 to the 1980s. Consequently, Russian immediately lost its status as the

primary foreign language to pave the way for English to gradually become the major language to

communicate with foreign business partners in the Western global system and later turn into a

‘gatekeeping tool’ in the post-reform society (Phan et al., 2014). Even though Vietnam became

the official member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in 1995, it was not

until 2000 that the Bilateral Trade Agreement was signed with the USA, which served as the

11
Tràng An, though not an official name of Hanoi, is used figuratively in literary works to refer to the capital,
especially when mentioning the elegance of the land and its people. Both Tràng An and Thăng Long these days
appear regularly in cultural narratives about the identity of Hanoians.

49
springboard for the country to become an official member of WTO in 2007 – a milestone

marking its full immersion in the global economy (Grinter, 2006).

The continuously transforming landscape in the post-reform period, especially since the

2010s, makes Hanoi one of the most rapid developing cities in the region with GDP (gross

domestic product) growth rate among the highest in the world (Ariffin, 2018). The streets of

Hanoi these days are visually stimulating, since they are ‘crammed with more details than a pair

of eyes is capable of registering at one time’ (Gross, 2015, p. 23). As a layered city, Hanoi’s

cultural landscape has recently become even more diverse with the addition of another layer of

globalization. The iconic Ngọc Sơn Temple12 is just a few steps away from the Chavassieux

Square13 and a newly opened McDonald’s restaurant. The city in reform has continuously been

expanded with the urbanization of surrounding suburban areas and the building of more high-rise

buildings to house a population which has recently reached over eight million (General Statistics

Office of Vietnam, 2019).

The Hanoi of post-reform and globalization witnesses a considerable increase in the

visibility of English and other foreign languages in the streets. Such a reality can be noteworthy

not just because this is basically a monolingual city with Vietnamese functioning as the official

and major language for daily communication and in domestic business. But more importantly, it

is because of a historical past. As mentioned in Chapter 1, in the aftermath of the Second

Indochina War, English had become entangled with anti-American ideology. Ideological

discrimination and prejudice towards English then not only kept people away from English

12
Ngọc Sơn is a precolonial construction located at a place surrounded by the legends relating to the development of
Hanoi. Three Chinese characters 寫青天 (‘writing on the blue sky’) in front of the temple symbolically represent the
educational tradition and the cultural identity of the city.
13
Chavassieux Square was built in 1901 by the French colonialists. The Square with its iconic fountain is situated
next to the Metropole Hotel Hanoi. Both constructions are symbolic vestiges of colonialism in Hanoi.

50
classes but also, according to Do (1996), led to the incineration of English books and the

destruction of certificates granted by English-speaking countries.

A decade after launching reform, a milestone supposedly marking a profound change in

attitudes towards English, in the Eighth Congress of Communist Party taking place in June 1996,

the use of English on commercial signage in the streets of Hanoi, according to Logan (2000),

was criticized as cultural pollution and categorized as one of the ‘foreign social evils.’ Earlier in

the same year, prior to the above Congress, a move against shopfront signage bearing foreign

names had been made in Hanoi and later spread south to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon),

the largest commercial centre of the country. The campaign was recorded by Jeremy Grant, in

the Financial Times (London) issued on 9 February 1996, that shopkeepers were requested to

remove all shopfront signs using foreign languages within a short notice of ten days or else they

would face a fine.

More than two decades have passed since 1996 when the alleged violations of business

owners in the use of foreign languages on shop fronts in Hanoi were addressed and remedied.

Walking the streets of the city today, one is surrounded by a myriad of shop signs, many of

which boast partial or whole content in English. The developing orientation towards a more

modern and cosmopolitan city is also designated by the visibility of other high-cultural-capital

European languages, such as French and Italian. Additionally, there is no shortage of street

advertisements using the languages of major Asian economies which are considered symbols of

modernity in the region such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This reality illustrates

how đổi mới has been executed by the government, a major accomplishment of which is the

diversification of economic relationships with potential counterparts regardless of differences in

ideological bases. It seems that the worry, according to Ton (2005), about ‘the mosquitoes and

51
flies’ accompanying foreign capitalist dollars has given way to the priorities for global

integration and economic development.

However, the LL takes its shape not only from top-down interference or management, but

also from the, if not to say ‘major,’ contribution at bottom-up levels or the people. Therefore, one

may be inquisitive about the participatory role of the people and what they have contributed to

bring the currently diverse LL configuration into shape. From the display of written language in

the streets, it seems that the LL of Hanoi, with visible influences from reform and globalization,

shows a proclivity for modernity and a pursuit of cosmopolitanism, a common motif for

globalizing cities in the region. Such a reality may suggest that Vietnamese people have

ostensibly prioritized economic development over the needs to preserve cultural tradition and

identity. Mindful of this pragmatic and/or ideological motivation, this dissertation carries out an

investigation into language displays in Hanoi’s public spaces in order to understand the people’s

language ideologies underlying the shaping of current LL configuration, which subsequently

becomes the premise to look further into how they are (re)constructing their own identities in

accordance with the course of national reform.

2.6 Introducing research questions

The aforementioned diversity of language use observed in the public spaces of Hanoi suggests a

less ‘xenophobic’ attitude towards capitalism and an inclination to open to the world at large to

reach economic efficiency and global integration, which makes it reasonable to ask whether

these changes indicate a possible alteration of language ideology and a reconstruction of cultural

identity. Specifically, this dissertation is going to ask the following questions: (1) What can the

use of language (with other accompanied semiotic resources) on signage in public spaces reveal

52
about the language ideologies of Vietnamese people? (2) How can these language ideologies

help understand the identities of Vietnamese people in the time of reform and globalization?

Based on the premise that language ideologies underpin language use (Makihara &

Schieffelin, 2007), the first research question is designed to look into the representation, whether

explicit or implicit, of the people’s language ideologies when they choose to make (in)visible

certain languages and display some particular arrangements of Vietnamese, English and other

foreign languages on signage. This is done alongside an analysis of other semiotic resources such

as images and additional visual displays on signs (to be elaborated in Chapter 3). With reference

to the linguistic history deeply reflecting its political relations (Denham, 1992; Doan et al., 2018;

Phan et al., 2014) and the unchallenged status of Vietnamese as the official language and the

symbol of national identity (see Nguyen, 2016), an analysis of written language in public spaces

with an eye to the visibility of English, and other foreign languages, helps understand more

thoroughly the (dis)continuity of language ideologies in present-day Vietnam.

While there is nothing special about the visibility of English in urban spaces worldwide

these days, the unprecedented ubiquity of English on commercial signage in Hanoi is worth an

attention, since it is the capital of a country whose aforementioned move against English and

other foreign language shop signs indicates that the post-war anti-American ideology had been

extended into the Western capitalist sphere and the English language. Likewise, the remaining of

Sino-script (chữ Hán), the addition of traditional Chinese characters (used by Cantonese Chinese

communities in Hong Kong and Taiwan), the resurgence of French after having been made

almost invisible from public view since the late 1950s, and lastly, but not the least, the inroads of

Japanese and especially Korean in public spaces serve as the backdrop against which the first

research question investigates possible changes in language ideologies of Vietnamese people.

53
 Since language ideologies also undergird the notion of personal and group identities and

therefore are productively used to construct social and cultural identities (Kroskrity, 2006;

Makihara & Schieffelin, 2007), the second research question explores the intersection of

language, ideology and identity. The display of written language in public spaces not only

indexes language ideologies of the people but also indicates their corresponding identities. In this

dissertation, the social practice of ‘displaying’ written language on signage by language users is

not perceived as reflecting their preexisting identities, but instead participating in a continuous

process of (re)constructing their social/cultural identities. This approach renders a look into the

identity construction of Vietnamese people in the dynamics of reform and globalization. The

literature of LL research has shown its potential in providing insights into the process of identity

construction in public spheres (see Aristova, 2016; Kasanga, 2010; Manan et al., 2015; Taylor-

Leech, 2012; Tran, 2021; Trumper-Hecht, 2009). This dissertation is intended to make further

contribution in this direction in order to elucidate the relation between language ideology and

identity construction.

54
Chapter 3 Ethnographic linguistic landscape data
and approach

This chapter focuses on research methodology. It discusses three neighbourhoods under

investigation, the procedure of ethnographic observation and LL data collection, and the

analytical frameworks used for LL data analysis. More specifically, it is arranged as follows.

First, I start by locating three neighbourhoods under investigation, introducing the

distinctiveness of their historical and demographic backgrounds, and explicating why they all

together make up a research site that can represent the diversity of Hanoi’s cultural landscape.

Then I proceed to describe the process of data collection and ethnographic observation

carried out in these three research neighbourhoods before providing an account of the collected

LL data. This account provides a bird’s-eye view of the visible languages in the data. It is

intended to show how the applied ethnographic approach can provide a historical look into

language use on signage through an identification of different language layers, trends, and

tendencies.

Afterwards, I elaborate on the two employed theoretical and analytical approaches and

later explicate why a combination of them provides better tools for the analysis of LL data in this

dissertation. Accordingly, this section not only introduces the two ethnographic approaches of

geosemiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) and ELLA (Blommaert, 2013; Blommaert & Maly,

55
2016, 2019) separately but also explain how they support each other in studying the meaning of

signs in public spaces.

In the last section, I introduce in detail elements in the two analytical frameworks of

geosemiotics and ELLA before moving on to illustrate how they are utilized to perform the

analysis of LL signs. For the purpose of demonstration, I present a sample analysis of a shop sign

taken from the collected data to illustrate how different analytical elements from these two

frameworks work together to facilitate a more insightful understanding of this particular sign.

Now I begin by introducing the three research neighbourhoods.

3.1 Locating the research site

The research site includes three neighbourhoods: the Ancient quarter, the French quarter and the

new quarter of Nghĩa Tân, which are differentiated by two main criteria: historical background

and demography. The choice of these three distinctive neighbourhoods aims to represent in the

most appropriate way the diversity of the historical, socioeconomic, and cultural landscape of the

whole city. A detailed description of each neighbourhood is provided hereafter.

56
Map 3.1 Three neighbourhoods under research (Source: Google Maps 2018)

3.1.1 Ancient quarter

The Ancient quarter (phố cổ)14 is the oldest residential and commercial area of Hanoi. It has a

history dating back to the eleventh century when the city was chosen as the capital of Vietnam.

The neighbourhood embodies the ethos of Kẻ Chợ15, the Market or Commoner’s City, which

together with the Citadel or Imperial City had made up two essential parts of the former ancient

city. This two-component structure is indicated in the Vietnamese term thành thị (town or city)

which is the juxtaposition of thành (citadel) and thị (market). Since the Citadel was mostly

destroyed by the French during the 1894-1897 period, the Ancient quarter with its thirty-six

14
The term Ancient quarter (phố cổ) is used to differentiate with the Old quarter (phố cũ) which is normally used by
local residents to refer to the French quarter.
15
The name Kẻ Chợ, literally means ‘People of the Market,’ has been used unofficially since the 13th century to
refer to the hustling marketplace which is presently the Ancient quarter. During the 16th and 17th centuries, this name
was used popularly by Western traders and merchants.

57
guild streets16 is what remains of the early Hanoi’s residential and commercial landscape and it is

still the heart and soul of the whole city today (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002; Logan, 2000; Waibel,

2004).

The layout of thirty-six guild streets took its shape in the fifteenth century with each guild

being inhabited by people coming from the same village, sharing the same profession, and

practicing the same trade (Huu Ngoc, 2009). This is reflected in the names of these streets many

of which combine the prefix hàng (goods) with the names of certain goods (for instance, hàng

đường, literrally means goods sugar, specializes in selling sugar and sweets). During the colonial

period (1873-1945), the physiognomic appearance of this quarter changed with the construction

of drainage system, the upgrading of street networks, and most importantly the dismantling of

the gates that closed one guild from the others (Logan, 2000; Weibel, 2004). The deletion of

physical boundaries between guilds has created favourable conditions for better linkages among

them and became the premise for significant subsequent changes in this quarter’s structure. In

the post-reform years, only a few of these guild streets can retain their former professions and

trades. Even within the remaining guild streets, there has been a significant restructuration with

traditional trades having shrunk to save space for new forms of business. In the silversmiths’

guild street of hàng bạc, for instance, one can find apart from stores that sell silver articles and

jewllery a bunch of cafés, boutiques, mini hotels, mobile phone accessories stores, etc.

16
Guild streets in the Ancient quarter of Hanoi possess many similarities in comparison with medieval guild streets
in Central Europe (Waibel, 2004).

58
Map 3.2 Ancient quarter (Source: Google Maps 2018)

Despite these changes, the Ancient quarter these days still retains its vibrancy and has

probably the highest density of trade activities in SEA with an estimation of over ninety-five

percent of retail outlets having a sales space of less than fifty square metres (Waibel, 2004). The

design of Chinese ‘shophouses’ (or ‘compartment’ houses), which is the most popular

architectural style in this neighbourhood, enables all the front portions contiguous to the streets

to become business outlets while the rear portions to be used for residence (Nguyen, 2008).

Therefore, the whole quarter is a large commercial-cum-residential neighbourhood which has the

most complicated web of traders, artisans, residents, frequenters, customers, and visitors. It is

where one may come across Hanoi people of different walks of life, from a rich middle-aged

lady coming here to enjoy a lazy afternoon in a trendy beauty spa to a student gathering with his

cohort for a cheap cold beer in an outdoor beer parlour or a hawker walking the streets all day to

sell one or two baskets of fruit.

59
 It was estimated that in 1995 the Ancient quarter had the most densely populated area in

SEA with a living space per person falling to a minimum of 1.5 square metre (Waibel, 2004).

According to a calculation in 2000, over half a million people moved in and out of this

neighbourhood daily (Logan, 2000). Even though a number of residents who could afford larger

houses in new and gentrified areas of the city have moved out of this quarter in recent years, the

hustle and bustle of the neighbourhood remains, if not to say grows even more intense. With a

proliferation of sidewalk cafés, restaurants, bars, pubs, and mini hotels, the neighbourhood has

turned into a favoured hangout place for local residents from other neighbourhoods and a popular

destination for an ever-increasing number of visitors.

3.1.2 French quarter

Hanoi enjoyed its official status as the capital of French Indochina, which was comprised of

Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina17, Laos and Cambodia, from 1887 until 1945. It was also the

period that witnessed the French performing their mission civilisatrice to design, construct and

consolidate urbanization with an aim to turn Hanoi into the Paris de l’Annam (Logan, 2000;

Nguyen, 2008). Similar to other colonial cities in Asia, Hanoi was developed into a ‘dual’ or

‘bipolar’ city with the indigenous town (presently the Ancient quarter) sitting side by side with

the modern town (presently the French quarter), a plan belonged to the renowned urbanist Ernes

Hébrard who was dubbed Haussmann in the colonies (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002). The

neighbourhood of what is often referred to now as the French quarter (local residents also call it

‘the old quarter’) is located to the south of Hoàn Kiếm Lake (‘Sword-Returned Lake’)18 within

17
Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina were used respectively by the French to call the North, the Centre and the South
of Vietnam.
18
Hoàn Kiếm Lake is an iconic site located in the city’s centre (see chapter 1).

60
the area of Hoàn Kiếm and Hai Bà Trưng districts19 (Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee,

2015; Nguyen, 2008). The quarter is characterized by wide streets with pavements on each side

and two lines of trees. A considerable number of housing blocks or detached villas used for

colonial settlers still remain.

In addition, the French quarter also includes an important area lying to the east and west

of Hoàn Kiếm Lake (Nguyen, 1996). Since this area is adjacent to the Ancient quarter, it is also

considered the buffer zone where the Ancient and French quarters meet and mix with each other

(Huu Ngoc, 2010). Because of the location near Hoàn Kiếm Lake and its symbolic Tortoise

Stupa20, this area has been not only culturally significant but also ideologically sensitive. It is

where iconic constructions of the feudal times were demolished and replaced by colonial-era

ones. During colonialism, the French reconstructed this area, erected iconic buildings and

statues, and showcased colonial symbols including the widely denounced placement of the

Statue of Liberty Illuminating the World (a small replica of the one in New York) on top of the

Tortoise Stupa (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002). After Vietnam declared its independence, the

national flag was seen flying on top of this stupa for the first time in 1948. What remains in this

area these days carries the spirit of a ‘little Paris’ with French-style buildings and parks being

kept either untouched or modified. The area also houses upmarket hotels, a theatre, a church, art

galleries, and commercial streets lined with posh malls, shops, and cafés.

19
The French quarter also covers an area in Ba Đình district near the former Imperial Citadel. This area, which is
presently the government district, is not covered in this dissertation.
20
The Tortoise Stupa (Tháp Rùa) was built on a small islet in the middle of Hoàn Kiếm Lake. For many Hanoians, it
is an unofficial symbol of the city comparable to the Eiffel Tower for Parisians or the Statute of Liberty for New
Yorkers (Huu Ngoc, 2010)

61
Map 3.3 French Quarter (Source: Google Maps 2018)

After the launching of reform, the French quarter has developed into a quasi-central

business district (Nguyen, 2008; Waibei, 2002). Apart from the concentration of international,

national and municipal offices and financial institutions, the neighbourhood also enjoys an

exuberant atmosphere of commercial activities thanks to wider street patterns and more spacious

business outlets. It is also a large residential area with residents consisting mainly of civil

servants, government employees, craftsmen, tradesmen, and shopkeepers. Possessing a strategic

location with favourable conditions in living and doing business, this neighbourhood is the

convergence of middle-class inhabitants in the post-reform period. However, high population

density in this neighbourhood is also a problem due to an overlap of commercial, home-

production and residential activities (Parenteau et al., 1995). French villas built before 1945 for

62
one household now accommodate from five up to more than ten households (Nguyen, 1996),

some of which even house small cafés, boutiques, and handicraft workshops inside. Therefore,

even though the French quarter has the physiognomy of a Western-imposed town, it is localized

in many respects and carries deep down inside the spirit of its local residents.

3.1.3 New quarter

The new quarter chosen is located to the west of central Hanoi. It has officially adopted the

administrative name of Nghĩa Tân from the municipal government since 1992. This quarter had

formerly been a suburban area inhabited by villagers. After the French colonialists withdrew

from North Vietnam in 1954, in an effort to expand the capital of the then new independent

nation-state to serve economic reconstruction and human settlement, factories and residential

apartments started being built in this quarter using financial aids from the Soviet Union.

Until the 1980s, the construction of this quarter as well as other parts of Hanoi, which

came under the Soviet Union’s tutelage with influences from Marxist socialist ideology,

belonged to an overall plan to build a ‘City of Socialist Man’ (Logan, 2000). The erection of an

ensemble of Soviet-style medium-rise apartment blocks whose flats were assigned to workers

and government employees in 1985 was a turning point marking the urbanization of this quarter.

Apart from these housing blocks, other elements that have contributed to its development into a

‘living quarter’ following the ‘microrayon’ (micro-region) concept of the Soviet Union include

parks and open spaces, a stadium for sports and cultural activities, and schools and

kindergartens. However, few commercial activities had been developed due to a suppression of

private economy and a deliberate elimination of ‘consumer town’ during the pre-reform period

(Dao, 1980). In 1996, ten years following the application of reform policy, a twenty-five-meter-

63
wide street connecting this quarter to the west of central Hanoi was opened, which has ever since

created favourable conditions for commercial activities and led to the neighbourhood’s

gentrification.

Map 3.4 New Quarter (Source: Google Maps 2018)

Nghĩa Tân has recently been known as a lively residential quarter located adjacent to

national and municipal institutions, universities and academic institutes, hospitals, malls and

supermarkets, and major arteries one of which connecting to Nội Bài international airport. The

neighbourhood with its advantageous location has now boasted a more varied and populous

residential community consisting of not just a homogeneity of government employees and

workers but also small business owners, shopkeepers, scholars, and students. Commercial

activities in the neighbourhood have also burgeoned. The first floor of old Soviet-style apartment

64
blocks has been renovated and turned into business outlets. A formerly half-day traditional

market now runs from early morning until dusk. Cafés, restaurants and convenient stores are

flourishing to cater for the needs of not just the quarter’s residents but also office workers,

university students and residents living in neighbouring high-rise apartments. A proliferation of

bookstores, fashion boutiques, hair and beauty salons, and mini hotels has also contributed to the

commercial vibrancy of this neighbourhood.

The new quarter chosen embodies the spirit of urban planning, infrastructural

construction, and economic development of Hanoi in postcolonial time under the socialist state’s

leadership. The development of this quarter exemplifies urban sprawl and the urbanization of

suburban villages surrounding the city centre. In addition, this new quarter has been developed

during two important historical periods following national independence: the pre-reform period

(1954-1986) with significant influences from the socialist Soviet Union and the reform-cum-

globalization period (1986-present) with a resilient revitalization of private economy and a more

open attitude of the society towards capitalism and the West. Therefore, Nghĩa Tân, together

with the Ancient and French quarters, forms a comprehensive picture representing in an

appropriate way the culturally diverse landscape of Hanoi throughout its major historical and

ideological chapters.

3.2 Ethnographic linguistic landscape data

The photographic data was collected in two different periods. The first phase of data collection

was carried out in the Ancient and French quarters in the summer 2018 and the second one took

place in the new quarter in the summer 2019. During these two data collection periods, I paid

recurrent visits to each neighbourhood to walk the streets and take photos of language use on

65
signage and perform ethnographic observation. The ethnographic observation section includes

but is not limited to taking fieldnotes of the places where photos of signage are located and

engaging in informal conversation with local residents to get to know not only about the specific

histories of these particular places and the people involved, but also about the broader historical

backgrounds of these neighbourhoods and the socio-demographic characteristics of the residents

there. In case of commercial signs, I might play the role of a customer to perform further

observation inside the stores to get more information on other relevant linguistic and non-

linguistic practices of business establishments whose signs are under investigation.

In addition, the ethnographic observation is also expanded to the cyberspace with

relevant consultation of websites and social media platforms of the commercial and non-

commercial establishments under research. The virtual ethnography is intended to deal with the

social practice of posting, sharing and disseminating texts, images and other semiotic resources

of those establishments online. Since such dissemination of information in the cyberspace may

involve more social actors who participate in digital practices and hence are not limited by

whether they have or have not been to the actual position of those establishments in the physical

world, it can accumulate further meanings that transverse the line between the physically local

and digitally translocal worlds. Further details as to how this virtual ethnographic segment

provides a more meaningful analysis of signs in the physical world will be discussed in Section

3.3.2 below.

Among three quarters under investigation, the French quarter covers a rather large area,

which therefore needs some delimitation to render the data collection feasible within the timeline

of this dissertation. In order to collect the photographic data and perform ethnographic

observation in this quarter, I started with an area to the west and east of Hoàn Kiếm Lake since it

66
was here in 1874 that the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam had granted the first French colonialists a

land area stretching 18.5 hectares known as Concession District (Logan, 2000; Nguyen, 2008).

From here, I continued southward along one of the major north-south streets called Phố Huế

(Hue Street), which links the French quarter with Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the Ancient quarter.

Being constructed during the colonial time under the name Rue de Hue, presently Phố Huế is one

of the major and most favourable shopping streets for local residents in the French quarter. This

street alongside an adjacent neighbourhood to its southwest is not only characterized by

commercial activity vibrancy but also local resident diversity, which is favourably aligned with

the intended research direction of this dissertation.

For the purpose of studying the people’s language ideologies, I focused on taking photos

of mostly but not limited to language use on commercial signs of privately owned stores. A total

number of 278 photographs have been collected, which are distributed among three

neighbourhoods as follows: 96 photographs are in the Ancient quarter, 132 in the French quarter,

and 50 in the new quarter (see Table 3.1 below). With respect to sign categories, 110 out of 278

belong to the category of cafés, restaurants, bars, and other types of food and beverage shops

(see Table 3.2 below). This is also the category that has the biggest number of signs under

investigation. The category of fashion and beauty, which includes clothes shops and boutiques,

beauty spas, and stores providing other services such as barber and tattoo, has 89 signs. Another

number of 54 signs are distributed among other business categories including convenient stores,

pharmacies, flower stores, private schools, stationery stores, home furniture and accessories,

laundries, tobacco stores, mini hotels, and guest houses, etc. And the remaining number of 25

photos consist of other types of language displays which can be categorized as non-commercial

signs. This group contains, for instance, signs on monuments and buildings, commemorative

67
plagues, street signs, etc. These language displays are taken into account since they are closely

linked to the people’s linguistic and non-linguistic practices and hence have possibility to

contribute further understanding of their language ideologies.

Table 3.1 Distribution of signs by quarters

Ancient quarter French quarter New quarter Total

96 132 50 278

Table 3.2 Distribution of signs by categories

Food and Fashion and Other types Non- Total

beverage shop beauty shop of shop commercial number of

signs signs signs signs signs

110 89 54 25 278

Table 3.3 Distribution of signs by number of languages

Monolingual Bilingual Multilingual Total

98 136 44 278

The languages in the collected data include Vietnamese, English, French, Korean, Japanese,

Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Arabic, Latin and Esperanto. The list would have

ended here if it had not been for the signs of a rooftop bar-cum-tattoo parlour in Figure 3.1

below. This single establishment showcases 21 languages on its shopfront. (There may probably

be one or two more languages, but they are either partially or fully blocked from view and hence

68
cannot be identified.) Apart from the languages listed above (including Vietnamese, English,

French, Chinese, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Hindi), its shopfront also showcases

other languages such as German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian,

Serbian, Slovak, Portuguese, Icelandic, and Afrikaans. The contents in most of these languages

mainly repeat either the term tattoo or piercing or sometimes both, but some languages also

cover other terms like rooftop bar, nightlife, and jewelry. Apart from this special case, there are a

total of 136 bilingual and 43 multilingual (more than two languages) signs in the collected data.

Of the latter group, 39 signs are trilingual and 4 are quadrilingual (see Table 3.3 above).

Figure 3.1 Languages at a rooftop bar-cum-tattoo parlour

69
 Now I proceed with a bird’s-eye view description of languages in the LL data.

Vietnamese is the most visible language in the collected data, which is predictable based

on its status as the national and official language and its role as the principal language of daily

communication and business transaction for a majority of local residents. The use of Vietnamese

consists of some main layers and indicates a few major tendencies as follows.

First, Vietnamese secures its position on a layer of mostly monolingual signs that belong

to a considerable number of old mom-and-pop stores scattered in the streets of three quarters.

The reality that these stores take pride in and capitalize on an established tradition and their

clientele mostly comprise of local patrons makes this Vietnamese layer rather stable. It seems

that recent changes in clientele composition, owing to an increase of expatriate and tourist

customers, have not necessarily led to the addition of English and/or other foreign languages

onto their shopfronts (see further in Chapter 4 and 5).

Second, Vietnamese is the most frequently used language on bilingual and multilingual

signs of different combinations and arrangements (such as English-Vietnamese bilingual signs or

English-Japanese-Vietnamese trilingual signs), which indicates sign owners’ deliberation not to

leave out the language of the majority in order to reach the widest circle of customers. When

Vietnamese is not seen on primary shopfront signs written in English or other foreign languages,

it tends to appear on additional window signs, and sometimes temporary notices, on which shop

owners provide practical information concerning opening hours, sale, recruitment, etc.

Third, Vietnamese is also added to shop signs as a way to demonstrate ‘obedience’ to

official language policy whereby business owners are required to use Vietnamese to show local

customers the types of business they run inside. For example, the use of cửa hàng (‘shop’) at the

tattoo parlour in Figure 3.1 indicates an adherence to this policy, even though the information

70
provided, which is a sort of ‘circumvention,’ is far from sufficient considering the fact that the

terms tattoo and piercing are not given in Vietnamese equivalents. In some cases, owners of

beauty spas, souvenir shops, restaurants, etc. display a small plaque located separately away

from the primary sign, normally in a lower and less visible position, on which the required

information about their business is presented in Vietnamese.

Fourth, a new layer of ‘stylized’ Vietnamese shows a tendency to leave out diacritical

marks in Vietnamese script and delete spaces between one-syllable words to form ‘novel’ multi-

syllable words that look ‘exotic’ for local readers. (Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language.) For

instance, the name tadioto of a local pub actually comes from the whole Vietnamese sentence

that reads ta đi ô tô (‘we go by car’). Also, Vietnamese name order of shopkeepers on shop signs

is likely to be reversed so that the surname comes after the given name. (The surname comes first

in Vietnamese.)

English is the second most visible language in the data. It proliferates with the decision to

adopt a market economy and ‘untie’ private businesses, the influx of migrants and tourists, and

the formation of middle class and nouveau riche. The proliferation of English stems from the

following proclivities and practices: the addition of English onto the shopfronts where signs in

Vietnamese have already existed, the replacement of Vietnamese and other languages on shop

signs by English, and above all the display of English on a new burgeoning layer of bilingual and

multilingual shop signs. On these bilingual/multilingual signs, English normally accompanies or

is accompanied by Vietnamese. In addition, it also goes with other languages such as French,

Italian, Korean, Chinese and Japanese in various types of combinations and arrangements.

71
Figure 3.2 English at a home-based beauty spa and a food stall

On the new layer of shop signs, the use of English also indicates the flows of ‘new’ goods

and services, many of which had previously been unknown or had rarely been seen available in

the local market before the launching of reform. A snapshot of LL configuration in Figure 3.2,

for instance, indicates how the English terms nail, spa and ship mix naturally with Vietnamese

on two separate shop signs: one ‘downmarket’ home-based beauty spa (which can be told based

on its location) and one ‘humble’ stall selling duck noodles. In the former case, nail and spa

mingle naturally with mi (‘eyelash’) and gội đầu (‘hairwash’) to compose the name and a menu

of services for Thanh Vân beauty spa. In the latter case, an additional sign located below the

food-keeping glass case shows a line that reads ship tại nhà (literally, ‘ship at home’) to inform

customers of its home delivery service.

72
 Apart from the tendency to display English words, linguistic units smaller than words are

also used to ‘hybridize’ with local language materials, which is represented, for instance, in the

name Hanoinia of a small T-shirt store in the Ancient quarter. In some cases, the impact of

English, though indirectly, may lead to changes in Vietnamese on shop signs. The name Dzung

Biez of a small boutique is an example. The Vietnamese name Dung (without ‘z’) – a popular

local name that refers to one of the four major virtues21 for women according to Confucian

values – of the shopkeeper has been given an extra ‘z’ (even though ‘dz’ is not a consonant

cluster available in Vietnamese) to avoid being assigned with an ‘unpleasant’ meaning if it

comes into the view of English readers.

French can be divided into colonial and post-reform layers. Since the French names of

streets and colonial buildings and monuments have basically been either erased or replaced by

Vietnamese during the postcolonial period, there is now a very limited visibility of colonial

French in public spaces. In the French quarter, one can see a monument carrying the name of

Louis Pasteur, a French scientist, who had had significant contribution in disease control and

healthcare improvement in the city during colonialism. It may probably because of this reason

that his commemorative statue still stands today. Alexandre Yersin – another colonial scientist

and friend of Annam people who was the first president of Hanoi University of Medicine – has

his name given to a street in the French quarter, but it has been ‘Vietnamized’ into Yec Xanh (an

effort to make it suitable for the readers of a monosyllabic language like Vietnamese). However,

colonial French has been borrowed and incorporated in Vietnamese through a variety of

exchanges in daily cultural practices one of which is cuisine. An outdoor food stall has a sign

that reads Bánh mỳ Patê (Vietnamese baguettes served with pâté) (see also Chapter 1). While it

21
These four virtues include Công- Dung- Ngôn- Hạnh (Work- Appearance- Speech- Behaviour).

73
is not hard to recognize the French origin of the word patê22, it is however not easy, even for

Vietnamese speakers, to realize that the term bánh mỳ itself has also been borrowed from the

French pain de mie.

The post-reform French layer is getting more vibrant lately. The French names La Fleur

d’Amour of a tea and coffee shop, La Table du Chef of a restaurant, and Métaphore Artisan

Fleuriste of a florist are some examples. This new layer also indicates a ‘colonial nostalgia’23

through the names that reminisce readers of a colonial past. Some examples are Porte D’Annam,

Indochine, and Club De L’Oriental. However, the resurgence of French does not mean that it has

come back as a language of communication, even though Hanoi has become a member in the

Francophone world and hosted the seventh summit of this organization in 1997 (the first one

ever held in Asia). A collection of signs and informational plaques serving that summit still stand

today in front of major historical sites in the city on which the languages were ‘carefully’

arranged so that French stands before and above English. However, at some of these places

lately, one can see a newer layer of informational plaques with a reversed language order that

prioritizes English over French.

Chinese can be divided into different layers that feature Sino-script (chữ Hán) and

traditional and simplified Chinese characters. The pre-colonial layer of Sino-script appears

mostly on old religious constructions (such as temples, pagodas, and communal houses) and

historical monuments of other types. This layer embodies the influences of Sinology and

Confucianism. Even though local people still take pride in this long-established Sinology

tradition, few of them can read and understand Sino-script these days, which explains a common

22
This is the conventional orthography of this word in Vietnamese. A less common variant is pa-tê.
23
Colonial nostalgia or colonial blues refers to the nostalgia for a colonial past by the ex-colonized (Peleggi, 2005;
see also Panivong, 1996 and Peleggi, 1996).

74
addition of informational plaques and signs in Vietnamese at these historical monuments. In

three neighbourhoods under investigation, there are just a few constructions left which show the

use of Sino-script in commercial activities. Five Sino-characters 同 樂 絹 𧞣 亭 (tóng lè juàn

yǎn tíng)24 (which means ‘Dong Lac Silk Undergarment House’25) on the front of a 17th century

built house in the Ancient quarter (see Figure 3.3) indicate that it used to be a shophouse selling

a type of traditional silk bodice – which resembles the Chinese dudou – for local women in the

old times.

Figure 3.3 Sino-script at an old shophouse

24
On the wall of this building, these Chinese characters are written in the ‘traditional’ order from the right to the left
(see Figure 3.3).
25
People living in the neighbourhood often calls it Dong Lac Communal House, which means that it is more likely
to be seen as a religious establishment rather than a former shophouse.

75
 Traditional Chinese characters are composed of two main layers. The older one is

associated with migrant communities, mostly from the two provinces of Guangdong and Fujian

(China), who had lived and run business in the Ancient quarter from the 15th century until the

outbreak of Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. Even though they have now evacuated, Chinese

inscriptions on shophouses are left behind. Meanwhile, some business forms inherited from these

Cantonese communities are still practiced today in the streets that they had formerly congregated

(for instance, shops selling accessories to practice calligraphy, stalls serving Cantonese-style

noodles and roast ducks, and clinics practicing medical treatment using herbs and plants).

Having taken shape lately, the new layer of traditional Chinese characters indicates a trend to

consume products and services from Hong Kong and Taiwan – two symbols of modernity in the

region. This Chinese layer is normally seen at the shops frequented by young locals such as

bubble tea houses from Taiwan and street food restaurants from Hong Kong. Similarly, a layer of

simplified Chinese characters also appears on shopfronts. However, in the collected data, this

layer is not as common as the aforementioned new layer of traditional Chinese characters and is

likely to be seen on the signs of small travel agencies.

Korean and Japanese are two other East Asian languages visible on shop signs as the

result of recent economic and cultural influences from both countries in the region. In

comparison with Japanese, Korean is becoming increasingly more visible, partly because of a

recent wave of pop culture from South Korea known as Hallyu (한류) and an increase of

economic ties and cultural exchanges between Hanoi and Seoul. Apart from Hangul visibility,

the display of Korean-related elements including Korean, K and Hàn Quốc (the Vietnamese term

for ‘Korea’) on shop signs, such as in Korean food, K-beauty, and Mỹ phẩm Hàn Quốc (Korean

cosmetics), has also become rather common (see Figure 3.4). Korean is seen in broader

76
categories of goods and services from restaurants and cafés to beauty spas, hair salons, fashion

boutiques, and bars and clubs. Meanwhile, Japanese is limited mostly to the category of cafés

and restaurants and a few cases of fashion boutiques and stores selling housewares and

electronics imported from Japan. Both Korean and Japanese on shop signs are likely to be

accompanied by English and/or Vietnamese.

Figure 3.4 Hangul and Korean-related elements at a four-story shophouse

77
 Russian has a very limited visibility in the data, despite its former status as the major

foreign language in the pre-reform period during which there were frequent flows of finances,

goods, people, and cultures between Hanoi and Moscow and other republics in the Soviet Union.

Russian only appears alongside Vietnamese on the shop signs of two convenience stores both of

which sell products imported from Russia as the content продукты из России (‘groceries from

Russia’) indicates. These two stores mainly sell a variety of imported food and some souvenir. In

another case, a Russian ethnic restaurant has its shop sign written in Vietnamese and English. By

the same token, a souvenir shop in the Ancient quarter displays on its sign the content ‘Russian

house’ written bilingually in Vietnamese and English. A few steps away in the same

neighbourhood, a small shop selling Russian Matryoshka and tumbler dolls – two iconic gift toys

for local children in pre-reform years – has recently shuttered its business. In the new quarter

where Soviet-style apartment blocks still stand, there are no shop signs either in Russian or with

Russian-related elements.

Italian is mainly used by small local shops in the categories of fashion, café and

restaurant. Italian on these shop signs is normally accompanied by English. Pane e Vino Italian

Restaurant and Wine Shop Hanoi is an example. In another case, a cocktail bar called Cosa

Nostra Coffee Food Cocktail has one of its corners set up like the working office of Don

Corleone, the renowned Godfather in Mario Puzo’s novel-turned-movie of the same name.

Italianism can also be seen in the name Mikenco by La Dolce Vita Co., of a small fashion store.

Mikenco, however, is a deliberation to replicate the name of Michael Kors – an international

American brand. Nevertheless, Italianism may probably have deeper roots in the city. The

outdoor space of Casa Italia in the French quarter showcases some Vespas, the Italian scooters

which have been admired for their elegance by generations of Vietnamese users and are still seen

78
in the streets of Hanoi today, while a small shop-cum-workshop in the Ancient quarter restores

and sells hundreds of antique fans of the Italian brand Marelli which are still being yearned for

because of their Italian-style decorative values rather than for cooling down summer heat in the

city.

Other languages in the data such as Thai, Spanish, and Hindi are all used at ethnic

restaurants mostly for their commodity identity. Arabic is seen on the door of a mosque which

was built towards the end of the nineteenth century to serve Muslim merchants from India and is

now home to Hanoi Muslim community. Esperanto appears on a sign located in front of an office

building where the movement to study this language was launched in the 1930s. This building

also housed the former office responsible for the dissemination of quốc ngữ writing system in the

1938-1945 period, which has contributed to the success of subsequent patriotic movements

leading to the inception of the DRV in 1945 (see Chapter 1). The Latin content Regina Pacis

(‘Queen of Peace’) is written on a statue in front of the French-built St. Joseph Cathedral –

another case of inscription that survives postcolonial erasure.

3.3 Integrated ethnographic approach

In order to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of signs, this dissertation takes a broad LL

perspective (as discussed in detail in Chapter 2) that renders the incorporation of semiotic modes

other than written texts (such as visual designs and images) into the analysis. In accordance with

such an expanded view on LL and for the purpose of an in-depth historical ethnographic analysis

of signs, this dissertation combine geosemiotics, a theoretical approach developed by Scollon

and Scollon (2003) in their work entitled ‘Discourse in place: Language in the material world,’

and ELLA, the analytical approach proposed firstly in Blommaert’s (2013) work named

79
‘Ethnography, superdiversity and linguistic landscape: Chronicles of complexity’ and elaborated

further in two subsequent case studies by Blommaert and Maly (2016, 2019). The suitability of

these two approaches and how they are brought into use in this dissertation are discussed in

detail below.

3.3.1 Geosemiotics

Geosemiotics is defined as ‘the study of the social meaning of the material placement of signs

and discourses and of our actions in the material world’ (Scollon & Scollon, 2003, p. 2). Not

only does it mark a spatial turn in the study of urban multilingualism, but geosemiotics also

serves as a rich analytical framework built on three major components, i.e., visual semiotics,

place semiotics and interaction order, each of which has its own significance for LL research.

First, visual semiotics, which is adapted from Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) and their

well-known work ‘Reading image: The study of visual design,’ provides a multimodal tool to

analyze signs in public spaces. The feasibility of developing a ‘language’ for visual presentation

that has an independent grammar of its own highlights the significance of visual semiotics.

Specifically, this means two things. On the one hand, linguistic mode is no longer the only

central mode that has priority over other modes in meaning making. On the other hand, a

semiotic mode other than language – such as the visual one – is able to communicate meaning

independently. Hence, visual semiotics renders the inclusion of visual resources (such as images,

colours, visual presentations, etc.) that work independently from written language and have

potentials to contribute additional meanings to the analysis. It therefore facilitates a better

understanding of signs through a vigorous consideration of the interplay between texts and

images. The preeminence of visual semiotics in ‘reading’ signs becomes even more significantly

80
relevant in our time when technical advances enable more semiotic resources to be added onto

signs in public spaces.

Second, central to geosemiotics is the question of how a sign acquires meaning from its

placement in the material world. Place semiotics permits us to look ‘outside’ the signage frame

and locate a sign in its social, historical and political context. Place semiotics considers

indexicality and context-dependency as the principal property of signs. The concern is not just

what we can read from a sign but how to read it because of the relationship between it and its

placement in the material world. It is the focus on the emplacement and situatedness of signs that

makes it most evident how geosemiotics deals with the spatiality of language and the meaning

that comes from place. Since a spatial orientation renders the analysis of ‘text’ in ‘context,’ it

also adds more meanings from a variety of semiotic resources (for instance, auditory and

olfactory resources) available in public spaces. With an emphasis not only on signs but also on

the place where signs are located, place semiotics also enhances the depth of LL analysis based

on insightful ethnographic knowledge.

Third, the study of signs in the material world cannot be fulfilled without considering the

role of humans, who take part in the bidirectional process of sign production and consumption.

Using the interaction order theory of Erving Goffman, geosemiotics considers the

owners/producers and viewers/readers of signs as social actors and puts them into a

multidirectional web of social interaction (which includes their interaction with signs and with

each other). The act that humans perform in public spaces, in our case putting up signs, is seen as

a social action which not only indexes their identity but also indicates the social, cultural, and

political structures among which they act on the others. In other words, interaction order enables

us to analyze the use of language on signage as a social action performed by proprietors who are

81
involved in a nexus of social interaction with presumed customers and all other possible social

actors who are either ‘present’ or ‘absent’ in public spaces.

In summary, geosemiotics with its three main components (visual semiotics, place

semiotics and interaction order) puts the triad of texts, places, and humans all together into the

analysis, which makes it the framework that addresses sufficiently interactional forces of

meanings in public spaces. The triangulation of theories in multimodality (Kress and van

Leeuwen, 1996, 2001), social semiotics (Halliday, 1978), and sociology (Goffman, 1959, 1963,

1971) enables geosemiotics to handle appropriately the interplay of multimodal texts, space and

place, and social actors in the study of LL. As an analytical framework, geosemiotics not only

addresses the complexity of public spaces but also acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of

LL research.

As mentioned above in the discussion on place semiotics, a geosemiotic analysis of LL

signs does involve ethnographic knowledge of the place where signs are located. Scollon and

Scollon (2003) argue that ‘the understanding of the visual semiotic systems at play in any

particular instance relies crucially on an ethnographic understanding [emphasis added] of the

meanings of these systems within specific communities of practice’ (p. 160). In other words,

when it comes to the study of LL, ethnographic knowledge of the place and its people is required

in order to understand the meaning of a particular semiotic system used on signs. Regardless of

such an acknowledgement, it has become discernible that geosemiotics does not introduce in an

explicit way an ethnographic approach of its own (cf. Blommaert, 2013). As a consequence, the

historicity of place and people is not given a due consideration in geosemiotics, which thereby

limits the possibility to identify different historical layers of the LL because the aim of the field

is providing not only a synchronic description of the place under investigation but also a

82
historical account of layers that makes the place a discourse in time (Blommaert, 2013). It is for

the purpose of filling this methodological gap and strengthening the analytical framework that

this dissertation uses a combination of geosemiotics and ELLA. Such a triangulation is a

deliberation to construct a more holistic and efficacious ethnographic approach to the study of

LL. A detailed discussion of ELLA and how it supports geosemiotics will be elaborated in the

upcoming section.

3.3.2 ELLA

ELLA is defined as ‘a combination of longitudinal fieldwork, detailed observations of changes in

the landscape, and an ethnographic-theoretical framework in which landscape signs are seen as

traces of (and instrument for) social action’ (Blommaert & Maly, 2019, p. 1). As a historical

ethnographic approach, it involves deep ethnographic observation and centres on a number of

significant points as follows.

First, signs should be analyzed based on three temporal dimensions, i.e., the past, the

present and the future, each of which facilitates a respective concentration on the following

elements: the history of signs and the social conditions under which they are manufactured and

put into use, the emplacement of signs and the possible relations they have with other signs, and

the uptake of signs and the intended effects they may have on presumed viewers or addressees.

This three-dimensional analysis prevents the limitation of focusing solely on a static and

synchronic snapshot of language use on signage but instead provides a historical account of

various dynamic layers making up the LL of a particular area. In other words, it renders the

analysis of a particular sign not as a synchronic object but a temporary outcome of historical

process. The purpose is to discover a continual process of formation, development, and

83
transformation of the LL (Blommaert, 2013). With its potentials to identify different historical

layers encapsulated in the LL, ELLA becomes an efficacious analytical approach to study social

changes and diagnose sociolinguistic diversity.

Second, signs mostly have specific rather than general meaning because they are located

in a specified physical space and operate within a certain demarcated spatial scope. The specific

meaning of a sign is not only defined by its location but also by the selective addressees it aims

at. Therefore, ELLA highlights the necessity to pay due attention to particularized details (or the

‘specifics’) of signs, which unequivocally justifies the requirement for a deep ethnographic

observation approach. Meanwhile, even though each sign has a specific meaning and function, it

is not entirely isolated from other signs especially those which share with it a particular space.

The relative independence of signs in space has a relevant implication: a specific sign should

also be analyzed in the coexistent relations it has with other signs that share a certain demarcated

space. This is a fundamental step to identify systemic relationships between signs, which serves

to understand two major points. On the one hand, the overlap and contradiction of signs indicate

the existence of various interacting social orders. On the other hand, the amendment, erasure, and

replacement of older signs by newer ones reveal various historical layers making up the LL of a

certain area. Such an approach enables us to see the profusion of signs in public spaces not as a

chaos but an order of complexity that requires a meticulous analysis.

Third, signs should be analyzed in a close connection with space because space is not

neutral. Space is a social actor that has material forces on what people can and cannot do once

they enter it. Being considered a ‘historically configured phenomenon’ (Blommaert, 2013),

public space has normative expectation for humans and social actions taking place under its

scope. The social action of displaying signs in public spaces is no exception. Therefore, for the

84
purpose of studying sign meaning, ELLA addresses the nexus of interaction between people and

space or more precisely, to use Scollon and Scollon’s (2003, 2004) concepts, between historical

body (the social actor with his/her experiences) and historical space (the space with its norms

and traditions). The historical body upon entering the historical space has to act according to

norms. Understanding the norms that have control over the social action of what language(s) to

use on signage and how to display a sign in public spaces appropriately provides essential

ethnographic knowledge to understand sign meaning based on its connection with involved

social actors. It is at this point that ELLA consolidates and develops geosemiotics.

Fourth and last, the next version of ELLA, as the name ELLA 2.0 indicates, highlights

the importance of virtual ethnography in LL research. The reality that a social action can be

performed and distributed in both online and offline spaces in our time makes cyber-ethnography

an essential move to get more meaning from signs in the physical world. A small hashtag or QR

code displayed on physical signs in the streets these days may refer readers to websites and

social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where a vast amount of

additional information is displayed. (The English content Share with us your shining moments at

#tunhamay on the window of a boutique in the French quarter in Figure 3.5 below is an

example.) Since the social practice of sharing information online may involve the interaction of

social actors who are less likely to be restricted by boundaries in the physical world, additional

meanings are expected to be constructed through a much more complicated web of online and

offline interaction. Such a reality has extended the public dimension of signs from a ‘local public

emplacement’ to a ‘translocal [and] online public sphere’ (Blommaert & Maly, 2019, p. 4).

Accordingly, ELLA 2.0 addresses this online public dimension based on website addresses

and/or social media accounts which either are available on signs in the physical world or can be

85
searchable by Google. For instance, Blommaert and Maly (2019) follow a website address

available on the sign of a religious establishment in Antwerp (Belgium) to find out how the

practice at a local church there is linked to a superdiverse network through social media

platforms and a YouTube channel with the participation of followers/subscribers worldwide.

Figure 3.5 Hashtag on the window of a boutique

As will be discussed further in Section 3.4 below and illustrated in the next chapter,

ELLA 2.0 performs an investigation of accumulated meanings coming from the online

dissemination of texts and images (including signs and other visual resources) of establishments

under research. Such investigation not only provides further insight into the meaning of signs in

the physical world but also renders an understanding of how social actions/practices related to

these establishments take on additional meanings because of the interaction in the digital world.

86
Because of the virtual reality’s versatility, ELLA 2.0 approaches online dimension in a very

flexible way depending on each specific case. As indicated in the sample analysis below, a

Google search of ‘Little Papa Pho’ showcases an interface wherein only information about Pho

restaurants in Korea, instead of Hanoi, can be retrieved. However, based on the resemblance

between the shop signs in Hanoi and Seoul (including a replication of linguistic and non-

linguistic contents), one can easily identify a connection between them and therefore understand

how such a ‘cultural exchange’ may reveal about ideological flows in the region. In another case

discussed in the next chapter, ELLA 2.0 analyses how the social action of taking photos in front

of an old newspaper office by local boys and girls in Hanoi takes on additional meanings when

their photos are posted, liked, and shared on social medial accounts. The accumulated meanings

developed in the online public sphere have subsequently influenced attitudes and actions of the

people in the offline world by encouraging more young adults nationwide to come and check-in

at this place, which turns that newspaper office (with all semiotic systems available at its gate

such as the sign featuring the newspaper’s masthead, the public news board, the wall and

window, etc.) into a symbol of Hanoi’s tradition.

In summary, ELLA elaborates on geosemiotics and develops a solid historical

ethnographic approach ‘tailor-made’ for LL research. The triangulation of ELLA and

geosemiotics facilitates an analysis of signs that looks not only inside language but also outside

language into the society. With this methodological triangulation, signs are not simply

approached as linguistic objects but also as ethnographic objects that have potentials to give

insightful information about social diversity and social changes (Blommaert & Maly, 2019). In

addition, such a triangulation provides efficacious tools to understand language use on signage

locally, historically and in the dynamic of globalization.

87
 With regard to this dissertation specifically, ELLA is also seen as an appropriate

approach for two main reasons. On the one hand, with its potentials to reveal different historical

layers in the LL, this is an advantageously suitable approach to be applied in the case study of

Hanoi because of its layered landscape with a diverse sociolinguistic history as discussed in

Chapter 2. On the other hand, as a citizen of this eight-million-people city, I have walked, cycled

and ridden my scooter through its hustling streets and witnessed gradual changes of the city after

its embrace of reform, which provides an ethnographic observation that can benefit the ELLA

analysis in this dissertation.

3.4 Analyzing linguistic landscape data

In this section, I explain how the two aforementioned frameworks are applied in the analysis of

LL data in this dissertation. First, I commence by introducing the elements in these two

analytical frameworks. Afterwards, for the sake of demonstration and in order to illustrate how

geosemiotics and ELLA complement each other when putting in use, I proceed with a sample

analysis of one shop sign taken from the collected data.

3.4.1 Elements of analytical frameworks

Table 3.4 outlines the elements of geosemiotic framework with respect to the three major

components of visual semiotics, place semiotics and interaction order which have been

discussed above in Section 3.3.1. The elements in the following table have been adapted from

Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) original framework.

88
Table 3.4 Elements of geosemiotics

Visual semiotics Place semiotics Interaction order

1. Inscription 1. Code preference (centre- 1. Interactive participants
(font/letterform, material margin, top-bottom, left- (sign owner, sign reader)
quality, layering/add-on, right, earlier-later) 2. Unit of interaction order
state change) 2. Emplacement (service encounter,
2. Composition of (decontextualized, platform event)
information (centred, misplaced, situated) 3. Interaction of perceptual
polarized) 3. Types of discourse spaces (visual space,
3. Modality and visual design (regulatory, infrastructural, auditory space, olfactory
(colour, colour commercial, transgressive) space, thermal space,
differentiation, image) haptic space)

Visual semiotics includes three main elements: inscription, composition of information,

and modality and visual design. Inscription deals with the fonts of inscribed letters, the physical

substances of signs, layering or ‘add-on’ signs (such as temporary notices), and the changes of

status in case of electronic signs. Composition of information discusses whether information

values – which refers to given-new and ideal-real information – are organized within signage

frame according to horizontal, vertical, or central-marginal structure. The element of modality

and visual design analyzes non-linguistic resources such as colours, colour differentiation and

images.

Place semiotics covers the elements of code preference, emplacement, and types of

discourse. Code preference discusses how languages are arranged in bilingual or multilingual

signs, which helps identify which language(s) is/are preferred and what meanings we can get

from these preferences with regard to the place where signs are located. Emplacement deals with

the use of decontextualized items such as international brand names and logos, the placement of

89
signs in ‘wrong’ places, and how signs get meaning from immediate physical environment. The

element of types of discourse discusses whether a sign is a regulatory public notice, an

infrastructural public label (such as a street sign), a commercial sign, or an advertising note

posted in a prohibited area.

Interaction order involves the elements of interactive participants, unit of interaction

order and interaction of perceptual spaces. The element of interactive participants focuses on

possible interactions and relationships between sign owners/producers and sign viewers/readers.

Unit of interaction order discusses encounters between sellers and customers and how shop signs

and other visual resources at business outlets support each other to co-construct a spectacle or a

‘platform event’ (Goffman, 1983). Interaction of perceptual spaces deals with possible meanings

that come from an interplay between visual and other semiotic resources (such as auditory,

olfactory, thermal, and haptic) available at the place where signs are located.

Table 3.5 introduces elements in the analytical framework of two ELLA versions (which

cover the analysis of signs with reference to physical and virtual spaces respectively). The

elements in the following table are based on the analytical approach developed in Blommaert

(2013) and Blommaert and Maly (2016, 2019).

Table 3.5 Elements of ELLA

ELLA ELLA 2.0

1. Three historical dimensions of signs (the 1. Virtual ethnographic information
past, the present, and the future) (websites, social media platforms, google
2. Systemic relationships among signs reviews, YouTube, etc.)
(overlap, contradiction, erasure, 2. Nexus of two public spaces (local
amendment, and replacement) physical space and translocal online
3. Historicity of place and people space)

90
 The ethnographic LL analysis of signs in the physical world focuses on three main

elements: three historical dimensions of signs, systemic relationships among signs, and

historicity of place and people. While the first element deals with historical dimensions within a

sign, the second one analyzes relationships between signs and identifies different layers of signs

in a neighbourhood or a certain demarcated area under investigation. The third element discusses

how historical knowledge of a place and its people can contribute to the understanding of signs.

In this dissertation, it is the historicity of not only the city as a whole but also the

neighbourhoods each of which has its own particularities in residential composition and

sociocultural background.

The virtual ethnographic observation and analysis involve two elements, i.e., virtual

ethnographic information and nexus of two public spaces. The former element focuses on getting

additional information of the establishments to which signs belong. This is done based on a

consultation of relevant websites and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,

Twitter, etc. (Many signs in the physical world today display information such as website

addresses and/or social media accounts.) This phase of virtual ethnography is intended to get to

know more about the social actions/practices related to the signs/establishments, those which are

not observable at their locations in the physical world. The acquired information serves as an

input for the latter analytical phase wherein a further discussion as to how signs and social

actions/practices related to the establishments in local physical space accumulate additional

meanings in translocal online space because of the participation and interaction of more social

actors. In other words, the analysis of the latter element, which is also the fundamental of ELLA

91
2.0, centres around getting more meanings from the nexus between offline and online, local and

translocal spaces.

3.4.2 A sample analysis

Now I combine these two analytical frameworks to perform a sample analysis of a shop sign

taken from the collected LL data. But I would like to clarify one thing first. The sample analysis

below is intended to illustrate how geosemiotics and ELLA support each other in the analytical

process. Therefore, the purpose here is not to delve deeply into a discussion on language

ideology which will be the focus of the subsequent chapter.

Figure 3.6 Vietnamese, English and Hangul at a noodle bar

92
 The shop sign of a noodle bar (see Figure 3.6) in the Ancient quarter is one of a kind

because, different from its counterparts, it showcases three different languages: Vietnamese,

English and Korean. The arrangement of languages indicates a preference for English. Even

though information is arranged so that the Vietnamese content Phở Bò 69 Hàng Nón (‘Beef

Noodle 69 Hang Non Street’) is read first (according to conventional left-to-right reading and

writing vector), the English content Little Papa is foregrounded with a much larger font in

comparison with both Vietnamese and Korean contents. The position of English above Korean

also indicates that it is the preferred code. But more importantly, if taking the centre-margin

composition of information into consideration, the position of Little Papa in the centre of the

sign underlines its significance. Such an inference is based on the sign’s emplacement in

Vietnam, a SEA country with Confucian tradition where, as Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) have

observed in Singapore, the emphasis on hierarchy and harmony in Confucian thinking makes

centring ‘a fundamental organizational principle in the visual semiotics’ (p. 195) and gives the

central position greater importance.

With regard to the use of colours, both linguistic and non-linguistic contents on the sign

are basically monochromatically black and set against a monotonous white background. The

only exception is the street number highlighted in red, the purpose of which is hard to identify if

we only stick to geosemiotics. But if we turn to ELLA and make a connection with other Pho

shop signs in the same neighbourhood where the tendency to call Pho eateries using street names

and numbers has been followed as a tradition, we can see an overlap in their naming practice.

The fact that there is an old small add-on sign, on which the content Phở bò 69 is showcased in

red letter font, located at the order counter confirms the use of the street number as its

‘unofficial’ name that was formerly known among local patrons. The reason why this old name

93
continues to be written on the new sign is justified by an attempt to inform local patrons that this

is still the same old eatery (a practical effort to avoid losing old customers). In addition to the

deliberation to keep the old name, the street number is also highlighted in red colour to reinforce

the tradition of this eatery in a neighbourhood where time-honoured noodle bars are preferable.

Hence, the whole content in Vietnamese is actually the past dimension of the sign (to address old

customers and capitalize on tradition) incorporated with the present layer in English and Korean

(to reach new potential customers and make use of new symbolisms as discussed below).

Consequently, this noodle bar concurrently maintains two ‘names’ on its sign that represent two

respective dimensions of the past and the present, which demonstrates how ELLA supports

geosemiotics in identifying different historical layers coexisting within a single sign.

It is now time to look at the linguistic contents in English and Korean. Except for Little

Papa which at this point can be considered the new name of this eatery, both the English content

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup and the Korean one 베트남 쌀국수 전문점 (‘Vietnamese Rice

Noodle Specialty Store’) indicate an effort to describe Pho for readers of these two languages.

However, the Korean content, which runs vertically and separately from the rest, that reads

홍대점 (‘Hongdae Branch’) is worthy of attention. As far as the emplacement element in

geosemiotics is concerned, this content is considered misplaced because Hongdae is a street

located in Seoul (South Korea). Such a ‘misplacement’ of these Hangul characters can be

explained by performing an ELLA 2.0 ethnographic observation in the cyberspace. A Google

search of this eatery’s name show that the name Little Papa is favoured by a number of Pho

restaurants in South Korea one of which is located in Hongdae Street – an iconic place of foods,

arts and modern cultures for South Korean youth. Apart from copying the name Little Papa and

the linguistic content Hongdae branch, an image of a trishaw – which appears on the sign in

94
Seoul as a symbolic evocation of Hanoi (to be explained further below) – is also replicated on

the sign in Hanoi. When Hongdae Branch is reproduced in a new context away from Korea, it

functions as a piece of symbolic text to be ‘displayed’ and signify ‘Koreanness’ and

contemporary regional modernity rather than to provide information and possibly to be read.

Such a signage reproduction can provide insights into the spread of Korean culture wave in

Vietnam and the contemporary ideology of regionalism in Asia. In addition, further elaboration

as to how the name of a Pho restaurant in an East Asian city can make its way to and be adopted

in the place which is known as the ‘hometown’ of Pho, where it is an iconic culinary staple

(Tran, 2021), may shed light into the flows of language and culture in globalization, as will be

discussed in the next chapter.

Now we look at the image of a trishaw on the sign. The trishaw is a means of transport

that has been introduced in Hanoi since the colonial time. The Vietnamese term xích lô – as it

has been called by local people – is the transliteration of cyclo. Even though in recent years the

trishaw has only been used for sight-seeing tours in downtown area and the Ancient quarter, it

has become Hanoi’s ‘unofficial’ iconic means of transport. Within the context of Seoul, the

juxtaposition of Pho and a trishaw is an amalgamation of icons; one supports the other in

constructing a ‘text’ about Vietnamese food and culture. When the sign is moved to Hanoi, the

‘text’ remains but its meaning has been made anew. On the one hand, it may indicate a return to

culture and tradition of local people, especially in the Ancient quarter where old trishaws keep

being pedaled along its narrow bustling streets as a nostalgic and pleasurable means of transport.

On the other hand, this reinvigoration of culture and tradition is put side by side with Korean and

English, the symbols of modernity in the region and worldwide, which may reveal about the

future dimension of this sign and, if speaking more broadly, probably of the city’s LL in general.

95
Such a future dimension indicates the need to address a growing number of expatriates and

foreign visitors some of whom are from neighbouring Asian countries. But it may also suggest a

tendency to open to the world, embrace modernity, and capitalize on English and Korean

symbolisms since the ethnographic observation shows that the clientele of this eatery are still

basically local residents.

We end the analysis by focusing on how a discussion of interaction order within the

space of this noodle bar with reference to historicity of the place where it is located contributes

further understanding to the practice of displaying shop signs in Hanoi’s Ancient quarter. First,

this eatery is half-open to the street because the structure of a ‘compartment’ house (see Section

3.1.1 in this chapter) enables the owner to use only the front portion for business. As a passerby,

one can see the cook, who as a convention is also the cashier, preparing food and diners eating at

the nearby tables. One can also smell the food, feel the warmth of the cooker upon which a big

pot of soup is evaporating, and hear the sound of service encounter talks. All the interaction of

perceptual spaces occurring in front of the eatery makes the shop sign just a ‘minor’ supplement

to the already ‘rich’ visual resources that are by themselves able to signify the types of food

served inside. Therefore, it can be said loosely that the shop sign is turned into something of no

more than a ‘decoration.’ In the past, many food bars like this did not have shopfront signs and

‘official’ names. The names actually came from what local patrons normally called them, either

by the first names of the owners or the numbers of the streets where they were located. The

‘former’ name Phở Bò 69 Hàng Nón (‘Beef Noodle 69 Hang Non Street’) of this noodle bar is an

example. The erstwhile tendency to downplay the role of shopfront signs also indicates an

important aspect in the social background of this neighbourhood. During the pre-reform period,

the whole quarter was basically a ‘village’ with limited mobility. Food bars and eateries mainly

96
served people living in the neighbourhood and sometime in the same streets. Now at a time when

the neighbourhood is frequented more often by people from outside, the display of a new shop

sign in this case is a ‘gentrification’ indicating a shift in clientele composition.

In short, the sample analysis above has demonstrated the importance of ethnographic

observation in understanding the meaning of signs and the necessity of combining geosemiotics

and ELLA for LL data analysis. The analytical approach that incorporated elements in these two

frameworks will manifest itself more clearly in the next chapter.

97
Chapter 4 Language ideologies in linguistic
landscape data

This chapter presents the results of LL data analysis. The findings and discussion here are

intended to answer two main research questions which have been introduced in Chapter 2 as

follows: (1) What can the use of language (with other accompanied semiotic resources) on

signage in public spaces reveal about the language ideologies of Vietnamese people? (2) How

can these language ideologies help us understand the identities of Vietnamese people in the time

of reform and globalization? Now I will present them in a more specific way for the purpose of

clarification.

The first research question can be broken down into more specific ones as follows: What

can the choice of languages (Vietnamese, English, and other languages), their arrangements on

signage, and their linguistic content tell us about the attitudes towards these languages and other

language ideologies of Vietnamese people? What can other semiotic resources (images, visual

designs, etc.) contribute to the understanding of these language ideologies? How can these

language ideologies help us understand the roles and positions of these languages in post-reform

Vietnam?

Similarly, the second research question can be broken down into the following: What can

the acquired knowledge about the roles and positions of Vietnamese, English, and other

languages (as asked and answered in the first research question) tell us about their participation

in the construction of Vietnamese identity? How can an investigation of language ideologies on

98
signage and the relation (and/or interaction) between them and broader societal ideologies help

us understand the identity construction of language users in post-reform Vietnam?

As mentioned in Chapter 1, this dissertation looks into the bidirectional process of

globalization (referred to as the universalization and particularization of languages and cultures)

and how it is represented in the use of language on signage. The aim is to highlight how the

study of LL can contribute to the understanding of globalization not simply as a homogenizing

process with its tendency towards global sameness and uniformity, but also as a ‘heterogenizing’

process represented by a reclamation of local difference and diversity in language, ideology, and

culture.

Thus far, when addressing the influence of globalization on language use, LL research

tends to put a rather exclusive focus on the inroads of English on signage in urban spaces

worldwide, mostly as the language of neoliberalism and sometimes as a form of cultural

imperialism (cf. Selvi, 2016), which mainly addresses the homogenization process of

globalization. There is a limited elaboration on how globalization may become a vehicle for

difference and diversity, which has been represented, for instance, in the way English is localized

and (re)embedded with different ideologies in different contexts of use as indicated in the

literature of Applied Linguistics (see Park & Wee, 2012; Pennycook, 2007; Young, 2017). It is

not to mention that both the visibility of local languages in public spaces and the ideologies

associated with them have not been given due attention in the field.

In order to address this imbalance and realize the aforementioned purpose, this chapter

will be arranged in a way so as to demonstrate and foreground the idea that language use on

signage in the LL of Hanoi not just reflects a propensity to cultural homogeneity and uniformity,

but also indicates other orientations that promote local culture and identity. Specifically, this

99
chapter presents the findings of LL data analysis in eight different sections in the following

order.

The first section analyzes a propensity to either use only English or put it in a dominant

position on shop signs. In the latter case, English is normally followed by Vietnamese and

sometimes alongside other foreign languages. These shop signs basically indicate a strong favour

of English as the language of neoliberalism and global market on the one hand, and showcase an

open-minded attitude towards multilingualism on the other. The analysis in this section is

intended to show an appeal to internationality and modernity and an embrace of an imagined

Western and cosmopolitan identity. This research direction, which has been pursued and

addressed in an abundant number of previous LL studies (see Huebner, 2006; Kasanga, 2012;

Manan et al., 2015; Shang & Zhao, 2017; Taylor-Leech, 2012), is not the primary focus of this

dissertation and hence will not be discussed at length in this chapter. Instead, the aim of this

section, apart from indicating the existence of a ‘globalizing’ process in the LL of Hanoi, is to

highlight that the orientation towards favouring English and multilingualism, with regard to the

specific case of this city, is consistent with the ideology of reform and opening up to the world

and how this ideology has been mediated through signage.

The remaining sections of this chapter centre around the ‘localizing’ process and how it is

represented in language use on signage through a number of ideological phenomena and themes.

The three earlier sections discuss a return to and revitalization of Hanoi’s tradition, culture, and

identity, which altogether explicate how the city and its neighbourhoods have become

acknowledged as the identity badge of local people. The four subsequent sections present the

following ideological orientations: an evocation of historical memory and national identity, an

emergence of neo-nationalism, a reconstruction of modern Vietnamese identity based on

100
tradition and culture, and a promotion of regional modernity and Asian identity. All of these

seven sections, which make up the main contents of this chapter, are intended to facilitate an

insight into the localizing process of language, ideology and culture in the LL of Hanoi. Such a

focus on the localizing process in this chapter renders it possible to address a major objective of

this dissertation by underlining the heterogenous consequences of globalization on the one hand,

and contributing a more elaborated discussion on a research direction that is less explored in the

field of LL on the other.

As mentioned in Chapter 3, the analysis of signs in this chapter uses a combination of the

two analytical frameworks of geosemiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) and ELLA (Blommaert,

2013; Blommaert & Maly, 2016, 2019). In each section, a number of signs in the collected data

which reflect a similar ideological theme, phenomenon and tendency will be grouped and

analyzed together so as to enrich the discussion and strengthen the argument. While a discussion

on a specified ideological theme may use signs coming from one or more neighbourhoods at the

same time, the analysis of each particular sign will be related to the specific neighbourhood

where it is located and supported by relevant information from ethnographic observation.

Whenever appropriate, ethnographic information collected from informal talks with local people

and other sources in the cyberspace is also discussed in order to have a better understanding of

signs (alongside other social actions/practices related to them) and hence consolidate relevant

arguments under discussion. Furthermore, the analysis of these signs is not only linked to their

specific neighbourhoods but, whenever appropriate, can also be related to broader societal

contexts involving the city, the country, and the region, which enables this dissertation to put the

analysis of language ideologies mediated through specific signs into the cultural and ideological

traditions of a globalizing city and country in SEA.

101
 In order to come up with the ideological themes presented below, the analysis of LL data

has been carried out according to a procedure that can be summarized loosely as follows.

Photographs of signs are firstly incorporated into Atlas.ti 8 (a qualitative analysis software) and

then classified on this software’s platform based on a variety of factors such as the use of

different languages (for instance, Vietnamese, English, Korean, etc.), the various layers of a

particular language (see Chapter 3), and the types of language combination and/or mixing.

Afterwards, based on ethnographic knowledge (which is also supported by background cultural

knowledge), each aforementioned broad category is re-classified into smaller groups

representing observable ideological tendencies. For instance, different layers of Vietnamese may

represent different ideological phenomena relatable respectively to the ideologies of nationalism,

modernist nostalgia, modernity, tradition, etc. Then I rearrange signs across the whole dataset

according to the ideological themes they represent, so that each of which may include a number

of signs originally belonged to different broad categories mentioned above. Accordingly, the

ideological theme of neo-nationalism may include, for instance, signs of both English and

Vietnamese categories.

However, the grouping of signs into delineated ideological themes below (which first and

foremost serves the purpose of presentation in this chapter) should not be seen as firmly fixed,

since a single sign can be assigned simultaneously to more than one ideological theme. As such,

a sign showing ‘Made in Vietnam’ content may be underlain primarily by the ideology of neo-

nationalism but can also indicate a favour for development and modernity (even though this

ideology is less significant than the former one). Therefore, the number of signs co-constructing

a particular ideological theme discussed below should be treated flexibly. That being said, it is

possible to affirm that some ideological themes involve more signs than the others. Among those

102
presented in this chapter, the ideological theme of neo-nationalism (see Section 4.6 below), for

instance, is constructed by a noticeable number of signs among which those with ‘Made in

Vietnam’ content are twenty-six. Meanwhile, the ideology of Western centrism, though may be

implicitly mediated through a number of signs showing a preference for English and/or other

European languages, is displayed explicitly on the only one sign which bears the name Loan Tây

(‘Loan the Westerner’) (see Figure 4.2 below). Now I proceed with the analysis of language-

ideological themes in the LL of Hanoi.

4.1 Internationality, modernity and cosmopolitanism

Vietnam had been in a ‘long night’ before đổi mới with a subsidy economy wherein a scarcity of

goods and services seriously affected the living standards and left its mark on the people’s

psychology. An underdeveloped manufacturing system due to enduring wartime influenced the

customers’ trust in domestic goods and services and people have therefore developed a strong

favour of foreign goods especially those from the West (cf. Vann, 2012). The rule of thumb for

modern local customers is that foreign goods are better than domestic ones and sometimes they

are even considered status symbols. Now that a new post-reform middle class is taking shape

(Bélanger, Drummond & Nguyen-Marshall, 2012), the fashion is to buy foreign goods and use

‘international’ (a term normally used to refer to ‘Western’) services, since foreign or imported

goods (hàng ngoại) have not only been associated with quality but also prestige and class. The

yearning for all things international opens up prospects for many types of business ranging from

foods and drinks to fashion, household utilities, cosmetic services, health care and education. In

the streets, stores that boast imported goods and services from Western markets such as Europe,

103
the USA and other developed economies proliferate. In order to strengthen their authenticity,

English is normally chosen to write on shopfronts and the term ‘international’ is foregrounded.

In education, for instance, there is a big market for locally owned international schools26

where parents of well-off families pay tuition fees much higher than public schools to send their

children to learn in bilingual environment where partial contents are taught in English. The

ethnographic observation in the cyberspace of a small locally owned kindergarten called Winston

International School (see Figure 4.1) indicates that language use and visual presentation on its

website foreground the promise to turn children into global citizens who possess valuable

English skills to be able to live and work internationally. Even though the website is in

Vietnamese, English is selectively chosen to display the ideal information relating to educational

philosophy and school curriculum. (In geosemiotics, the ideal information, which is

distinguished with the real information, tends to take up an upper position in the vertical

arrangement of information to visualize the promise of products and services, see Kress and van

Leeuwen, 1996.) This is also supported by the flashing images of smart Caucasian kids,

sometimes alongside their parents or instructors, that occupy an upper position in the vertical

information structure of the webpage. The ‘internationality’ is further strengthened by some

practical information such as a team of teachers from English-speaking countries like England,

America, and Australia, which is carefully presented in Vietnamese so as to ease parents’

decision-making process. All of these details bring international characters to the fore and target

the customers’ fascination with English language, a future life in Global North countries, and

especially the Western lifestyle.

26
In 2019, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) carried out an investigation in Hanoi and
made some ‘self-proclaimed’ international schools erase the term ‘international’ from their names due to their
inability to meet certain specified requirements.

104
Figure 4.1 Internationality, modernity and class
English is not only an embodiment of internationality based on its status as the global

language but also used as an evocation of modernity. The arrangement of English and

Vietnamese on the standing menu board of a restaurant in the French quarter in Figure 4.1

enables us to see rather clearly the ‘intended’ function of each language. English appears on the

top, which means it is read first (or in this case may simply be ‘displayed’ first), and it is

carefully selected so as to cover just the restaurant’s name Wine Collection and the English term

breakfast. Local customers need not read and understand this English content in order to know

that the forthcoming list of dishes written in Vietnamese are for breakfast. Under the list of these

local breakfast dishes, another English term – i.e., welcome – is chosen to end the menu. This

arrangement wherein the native language carries informative content while English, as the global

language, is more likely to serve a ‘symbolic’ function to evoke modernity and an imagined

cosmopolitan identity has been discussed rather sufficiently in previous LL studies (see Kasanga,

2010). Here in our case, considering the upmarket status of this restaurant in its neighbourhood,

it is not unreasonable to tell from the bilingual arrangement in this chalkboard menu that

Vietnamese is used to fulfill its function of presenting the names of breakfast dishes that the

restaurant has to offer for upscale local diners who in the meantime also require an element of

105
modernity and class which is brought about by a careful embellishment of a few English words

that they may or may not know.

The ideology of English as the language associated with upper class and prestige is also

mediated through signage and is shown more clearly in the following case. 3KU Restaurant27,

which had been moved to its new location in the new quarter for just a few months before the

photograph in Figure 4.1 was taken, has also had its name changed from the old one called 3KU

Quán (the Vietnamese terms quán and nhà hàng are equivalent to the English restaurant).

Despite the fact that the owners of this mom-and-pop restaurant do not know or speak any

foreign language, they explained to me that restaurant is no longer a ‘foreign’ word among those

working in food and beverage business in Hanoi, since there is an unofficially locally accepted

norm that restaurant indexes a level higher than its counterpart Vietnamese term nhà hàng (or

quán). Therefore, they believe that using restaurant helps upgrade their business at this new

location into a higher level, even though many things relating to it remain almost unchanged: the

same cooks, the same menu (in Vietnamese only), the same price and even pretty much the same

clientele who after being informed of the new location continue to come and dine at the new

place. Even though, according to their own observation, these old patrons may not notice the

linguistic move from quán to restaurant, the owners believe that the English term restaurant not

only better reflects the quality of foods and services they have to offer but also helps them select

new prospective (upper) middle-class customers in the neighbourhood. As a result, English has

been chosen here as a deliberate attempt to lend an aura of ‘class’ to the restaurant in discussion.

27
The name ‘3KU,’ which is coined by the owners in an effort to opt for an intriguing name, is read ‘BAKU’ based
on the pronunciation of number ‘3’ in Vietnamese.

106
Figure 4.2 Western and cosmopolitan identity

The use of language on shop signs to embrace modernity is normally accompanied by an

appeal to an imagined Western and cosmopolitan identity. A very small fashion store in the

Ancient quarter called Tracy Pham (see Figure 4.2) has the Vietnamese surname Pham written

without diacritics28 and positioned behind a self-chosen English-origin first name Tracy, which is

a reverse name order in Vietnamese. (The convention requires the surname to come first in

Vietnamese names.) Such a simulation of the names of Việt Kiều29 (‘overseas Vietnamese’) –

both by adopting a ‘cool’ foreign first name and reversing the name order – is becoming a trendy

practice30 that is followed by fashion shops and boutiques in order to evoke a relation to the

28
With diacritics, this Vietnamese surname is written as Phạm.
29
Việt Kiều refers to the diaspora of Vietnamese living mainly in North America and Europe.
30
There is a trend to reverse name order and adopt a ‘cool’ foreign stage name among young local pop artists.

107
Western style. This evocation is based on the connection between these hybrid names and the

worldwide Vietnamese diasporas especially those living in the United States of America.

Meanwhile, the deliberation to leave out Vietnamese diacritics, which is normally seen in

English texts, in the local context of use reflects a desire to be seen and identified in the wider

world.

In some cases, the yearning for an imagined ‘Western-specific’ identity is made explicit

through linguistic content. An example is the name Loan Tây (‘Loan the Westerner’) (see Figure

4.2) of a downmarket beauty salon in the Ancient quarter wherein a female name is juxtaposed

with the Vietnamese term tây (literally ‘occidental,’ more generally ‘from the West’ or

‘following Western style’) whose metaphorical connotations in the local context of use indicate a

symbolic ‘superiority’ of people and things from the West. Even though the English word beauty

under this name appears in a smaller font, it plays an important role in reinforcing the connection

with the Western style indicated by the Vietnamese term tây, which demonstrates an efficacy of

applying the ‘translanguaging’ practice of going between and beyond languages (Li, 2011).

108
Figure 4.3 Cosmopolitanism at a pub

As an illustration for his point about the affluence of cultural forms in globalization,

Nederveen Pieterse (1995) mentions the phenomena such as ‘Thai boxing by Morocco girls in

Amsterdam, […], Chinese tacos and Mardi Gras Indians in the United States, or Mexican

schoolgirls dressed in Greek togas dancing in the style of Isidora Duncan’ (p. 53). The idea of

eating Korean foods and drinking soju (a Korean liquor) in a white-painted Santorini-style

restaurant set at a bustling corner of Hanoi’s Ancient quarter (see Figure 4.3 – Santorini Chicken

and Soju Pub) is another example of ‘global mélange’31 that can also be added to the list above.

31
This term is used by Nederveen Pieterse (1995, 2004) to refer to the hybridity of cultural forms in globalization.

109
And it is not to mention that this restaurant chooses English, the global language that is likely to

be associated with cosmopolitanism, as the dominant language on its shopfront signs.

The combination of symbolisms from the foods of South Korea (a new icon of modernity

in East Asia) and the beauty of a European (Greek) island supported by the internationality of

English indicates how the idea of opening to the world and living globally is mediated in the

semiotics of a small restaurant frequented mostly by young local diners. Apart from the visibility

of English and Vietnamese, Hangul is also included into what can be called a large window sign.

On this window sign, the display of a shortlisted menu, which is an amalgamation of

international-cum-local foods and drinks including soju, cocktail, fried chicken, lẩu (the

Vietnamese term for hot pot), mill-feuille (a French pastry), shisha, and 떡볶이 (the Korean dish

of tteok-bokki), is a further confirmation of an open attitude not just to multilingualism but also

to multiculturalism. The variety of multicultural culinary practices inside is a testimony to the

spirit of ‘open door era’ (thời mở cửa) – as đổi mới is often called by Vietnamese people – when

local residents welcome different flows of languages and cultures with open-mindedness and

show a desire for cosmopolitanism.

Heretofore, the analysis in this section has made it perceptible how the quintessential

spirits of reform are represented in the LL of Hanoi. Accordingly, the people’s language

ideologies mediated in their use of language on signage indicate an obvious priority of global

integration and a fervid quest for modernity. Such a finding is in consistence with the tendency

to display English and associate it with modernity, the West, and cosmopolitanism in the LL of

globalizing cities worldwide (see Kasanga, 2012; Selvi, 2026). The findings in this section also

support previous social science research on the middle class in post-reform Vietnam whose

identity is closely related to consumption, modernity and cosmopolitanism (see Bélanger,

110
Drummond & Nguyen-Marshall, 2012). In the following sections, I concentrate on discussing

how other flows of language, culture and ideology, which taken together indicates a direction in

opposition to the homogenization of globalization, are represented in language use on signage in

the LL of Hanoi.

4.2 Revitalization of Hanoi’s tradition

When the office gate of Hànộimới (‘New Hanoi’), a local newspaper associated with

postcolonial Hanoi, becomes one of the most popular check-in points for young Facebookers and

#hanoimoi turns into a fashionable hashtag among Instagrammers, it marks a remarkable

ideological move when young Hanoians start to search for and become proud of the city’s

historical tradition and culture. The burgeoning popularity of this office gate (see Figure 4.4) as a

destination for young local residents and nationwide visitors made it a nominee for the most

inspiring places in Vietnam in the 2018’s We Choice Award (WCA)32.

Figure 4.4 Phenomenon of Hànộimới

32
The awards for the most inspiring people, events, and places of the year chosen by young Vietnamese. WCA is an
important channel to understand the life of young generations in present-day Vietnam.

111
 Located in a neoclassical building that housed the former colonial newspaper L’Avenir du

Tonkin33 (‘the future of Tonkin’) in the French quarter, Hànộimới office is special because it

overlooks the city’s landmark, the legendary Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the Tortoise Stupa – an

unofficial symbol of Hanoi. With regard to its location in a culturally and ideologically sensitive

area (as discussed in Chapter 3) where symbols of different times from the feudal to colonial and

postcolonial ones have continuously been erected, the name ‘New Hanoi’ given to a local

newspaper, whose office had formerly belonged to the French colonialists, reflects an attempt to

eradicate the vestige of colonialism. Such a name might be able to conjure up an image of a new

chapter in the city’s history in the minds of older generations especially those who directly took

back Hanoi from the French. With the young adults who have visited this office gate recently, it

may connote something differently or may simply be a historic site associated with a time-

honoured practice (to be discussed below) of preceding local generations that can still be

observable today.

Hànộimới is known as a destination that offers an open-to-public news board where

people can come and read daily news. This free service is unique to this newspaper and reading

news here has been a regular practice of many local generations. When I took the photograph for

this dissertation, an old man, whose bike stood against the wall, was immersing himself in

reading a newspaper article on the board (see Figure 4.4). In our talk later, he claimed that

reading newspaper here, for him and other old-timers, was not just to update news, it was also a

place for them to socialize and respect a tradition. It was here that they could have small talks

with their fellows on one or two socio-political issues that they had just read on the same

newspaper. The practice also reminds them of a period in the past when it was common for local

33
Tonkin was used as the name of North Vietnam during the colonial time.

112
residents to come here or other news boards located at their living quarters to read daily news.

Now when newspapers are delivered to people’s homes and reading electronic news has

gradually become the norm, many news boards throughout the city have been left unattended.

Some of them become notice boards where political advertising pictures are hung throughout the

year. However, the tradition still runs in front of Hànộimới office. An update daily keeps being

displayed each morning and a few old-timers keep walking or cycling here to maintain a long-

established tradition that is on the verge of dying.

But they are not alone. Young locals have made it one of the most popular destinations

for themselves in a few recent years, even though reading news is not the reason for their visits.

They come here to take photos with the news board in the background. Some pose in the

positions of their old fellows and pretend to be reading the newspapers. By so doing, they

maintain an old tradition of the city, but in a way different from their predecessors. And

somehow, the tradition is not dying. It survives or is reincarnated in a new form of practice in the

life of young generations. An in-depth analysis of these photographs is beyond the scope of this

dissertation, but the point I am after here is that the meaning of this new real-life practice can

only be fully understood if one keeps an eye on the virtual space of social media where these

photographs have been posted, shared, and disseminated and later become viral as mentioned

above.

With young Instagrammers, #hanoimoi is a retro photography concept with a background

featuring some authentic elements of Hanoi from the old yellow wall to the green window and

the unique news board upon which the city’s name is embedded in an old local newspaper’s

name. These things are simple, but they basically carry authentic images of the city.

Furthermore, the photos taken at this office gate are also posted with the #ootd (outfit of the day)

113
hashtag, which indicates that local youngsters and their new practice have developed a new

meaning for this office gate, one which is totally different from the old-timers. When this

practice is disseminated translocally in the cyberspace, Hànộimới office has been perceived as a

popular check-in point, a must-see destination for travellers, or even a newly discovered icon of

Hanoi among young people nationwide. This finding indicates that the social action of

revitalizing a time-honoured tradition by young locals has been (re)embedded with new layers of

meaning in the cyberspace, which thereby highlights the role of virtual ethnography in LL

studies and the importance of online-offline nexus consideration as discussed in Chapter 3 (cf.

Blommaert & Maly, 2019).

In addition to numerous photos taken in front of the news board that have been uploaded

on Facebook walls and Instagram feeds, Hànộimới also has its own life in the physical world

away from this office gate. Among the shop signs that take Hanoi into their names that scatter

the city’s LL, Hànội Café (see Figure 4.4) is a remarkable case in which the letter font for Hànội

is carbon copied from Hànộimới. Since this old ‘handwritten’ letter font is probably no longer

available, another newer ‘computer’ font is used for the word café. Likewise, the souvenir

counter in one of the most favoured local coffee chains has on its shelf a tote bag with the

masthead of Hànộimới newspaper printed on the front (see Figure 4.4). The reproduction of

Hànộimới in various contexts indicates a return to the city’s tradition. The social semiotics of

young people’s practice both in the physical and virtual worlds indicate an awareness of

upholding and promoting historical and cultural values that seems to have been forgotten since

the city started welcoming the new winds of reform.

114
4.3 Identification of Hanoi’s identity

The government of Hanoi has considered the issue of how to balance development and culture

for years after launching the reform policy. The economic boom together with an influx of

migrants has resulted in changes in demographic and culture, which raises concern over the

city’s core values and identity (Tran, 2010). Where to look for the ‘real’ Hanoi becomes a

difficult question even for those who have been living in the city for a long time. Many are

caught in the dilemma to choose between a city of modernity and one of tradition. The

ambivalence manifests itself in the city’s LL, where viewpoints of the people are indicated on

shop signs.

Figure 4.5 Hanoi’s identity at a café

Café Thái, an old heirloom coffee house located in the French quarter, captures the city’s

spirit on two wall paintings facing the street (see Figure 4.5). On one of these two frescos, the

Vietnamese content Hà Nội ở đây rồi! (‘Hanoi is right here!’), which is displayed in bold colours

on a monotonous yellow background, a simulation of the colour of Hanoi old houses, offers an

answer to the aforementioned question. Such an answer from this four-generation-old café is also

fabricated with the fibers of modernity and youth culture. To the right end of one fresco (in

115
Figure 4.5, it is the one on the left), two long lines of hashtags, which run vertically in a small

font, show briefly a list of Hanoi’s food specialties among which #thai1926 stands out in red

colour. The idea of these wall painting comes from the young owner of the fourth generation in

the family, which reflects a reality that, after being put in a matrix of globalization, there is a

tendency that people, both old and young alike, want to return to tradition. It is like they want to

come home after a long journey.

The answer of this café seems to be accepted by customers of different generations. Apart

from old patrons, the number of young customers who have recently frequented this café also

increases, which is linked very closely with the burgeoning visibility of these wall paintings in

Facebook and Instagram. Local coffee lovers find their ways here to retreat into an authentic

space of the city that has increasingly been swallowed by changes due to massive post-reform

infrastructure development. Although it has recently become a destination for a number of

domestic and foreign travellers, the use of language on shop signs, menus and other instruction

signs inside this café remains in Vietnamese as it has ever been. I was told in the talk with the

owner that he considered language use an important part that supported the tradition he wanted

to maintain. It is the distinctive tradition of not just his family business but also the local coffee

culture. Vietnamese is therefore seen as the language that embodies tradition and culture. The

awareness of protecting tradition is also figuratively hidden in the logo. A tortoise with two

heads was chosen in order to remind customers of an important icon of the city associated with

the legend of Hoàn Kiếm Lake (the legend about a mythical tortoise living in the lake, see

Chapter 1). Many things can change in the modern city, but its historical legends and traditions

survive. And they are the core elements that make up Hanoi’s identity.

116
 Thus far, the discussion in this section has indicated that globalization can reinforce local

cultural identity. This concluding remark becomes more relevant if one relates to the

neighbourhood where this café is located. As mentioned earlier, historically speaking, the French

quarter had been built into a modern town that sat side by side with the indigenous town

(presently the Ancient quarter), a plan to develop Hanoi into a bipolar city by the French

colonialists (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002). In the time of reform, the French quarter’s modern

infrastructure has attracted foreign investors and expatriates to base their offices and rent living

apartments. It has therefore developed into a quasi-central business district (Nguyen, 2008) with

a concentration of international, national and municipal organizations and an exuberant

atmosphere of commercial activities thanks to wider street patterns and more spacious business

outlets. Accordingly, the cityscape of this neighbourhood tends to be more influenced by

international protagonists than the Ancient quarter where local residents, salesmen and craftsmen

are key players (Wabei, 2004).

When the city is in its globalizing process, the interaction between the old and the new,

the local and the global becomes stronger here than in the Ancient quarter. The message from

Café Thái and the practice of young locals at Hànộimới office, both of which are located in the

French quarter, can be seen (against the backdrop of the homogenizing impacts of globalization

in the quarter) as a manifestation of the localizing process of globalization demonstrated by a

revitalization of tradition and a reinforcement of identity. In addition, the (re)production of the

name of Hanoi on shop signs and in the cyberspace of social media also demonstrates the rise of

this city as an important space of citizenship and the prime identity badge for its local residents

(cf. Holston & Appadurai, 1996). It is once again a testimony to how globalization can make

people become more aware of their local culture and identity.

117
4.4 Commodification of old Hanoi’s authenticity

In 2016, the municipal government of Hanoi extended the curfew hour for local stores, cafés and

restaurants in the Ancient quarter to 2 a.m. and subsequently ran a walking street of roughly two

kilometres around the neighbouring Hoàn Kiếm Lake to cater for the growing crowds of mostly

young locals who flocked to this old neighbourhood in the weekends for dining, hanging out and

other recreational activities. Notwithstanding a proliferation of modern recreational centres that

disperse across the post-reform city’s twelve urban districts, a fetish for the old neighbourhood

of ‘36 streets and guilds’ regardless of its downgraded infrastructure is a local phenomenon

involving consumption, taste and nostalgia. The ethnographic observation indicates that the

additional content of phố cổ (‘ancient quarter’) has recently been written onto shopfronts in this

quarter not only for its indexical function but also as an evocation of ‘old’ Hanoi and a floating

referent of high quality, authenticity and prestige. Let’s discuss two specific examples below.

Figure 4.6 Phenomenon of phố cổ

118
 The two menus-cum-shop signs in Figure 4.6 belong to a food stall that serves different

types of local sandwich known as bánh mỳ34. This outdoor eatery is basically located on the

pavement and opened for breakfast time only. Ingredients and logistic stuffs are stored behind a

brown door opening to the street, but it is the world hidden to customers. Breakfast diners sit on

small plastic stools lingering around an outdoor gas cooker and two frying pans. Here, the person

who receives orders, the cook, and the cashier are all rolled into one. The simplified dining space

and serving practice of this eatery render the offering of an affordable35 ‘eat-out’ breakfast for

normal people possible. The customers, many of whom choose the take-away option before

hurrying to work and school, are mainly residents in this neighbourhood. That the food stall is

opened to the street makes it convenient for its customers most of whom navigate by motorbikes

and can therefore order the foods while still remaining seated on their vehicles. The menu in

Vietnamese is located to the left, which means it is intended to be read first (in geosemiotics, the

conventional reading and writing vector is from the left to the right36) and the target customers

are local residents.

So why is the English menu there? From what has been discussed so far concerning the

setting, food and price, the use of English here plays a very practical function: for non-native

customers (mostly expatriates and tourists in the neighbourhood) to read, even though they do

not make up a considerable part of the clientele37. The owner’s pragmatic effort to use English in

order not to lose a new layer of potential non-local customers, despite having limited English

resources, is shown in the literacy problems from grammatical order (Bread Pate) to orthography

34
Bánh mỳ is an orthographic variant of bánh mì.
35
The average price of a sandwich here costs around twenty thousand Vietnamese Dong, which is less than half the
price of a normal breakfast item (like a noodle soup) that the locals pay for in this neighbourhood.
36
However, in some cultures, it is not unusual to read and write from the right to the left. Japan is an example.
37
During the ethnographic observation, I rarely saw foreign customers.

119
(Pate) and stylistics (Bread roll with everything). The choice to write Bread Pate (instead of

Pate Bread), for instance, indicates a word-by-word translation from the Vietnamese content

Bánh mỳ Patê without an awareness of, or a lack of knowledge about, grammatical order in

English. Even the choice of the term bread indicates a limited vocabulary since there are better

equivalents in English to refer to what is being sold such as sandwich, submarine and baguette.

It can be reasoned that the symbolism of English may still have certain effects on local

diners, but the ethnographic observation indicates that the patrons came and ordered without

even noticing that the menus were there. So even the menu in Vietnamese is a sort of

‘gentrification’ that targets an increasing number of new local customers who live outside the

neighbourhood but have recently become a part of the clientele. This is consistent with a self-

conscious display of the additional content of phố cổ (‘ancient quarter’) next to the eatery’s

address, which together reads Phố Cổ - 11 Hàng Cá (Ancient Quarter - 11 Hang Ca Street). The

addition of the neighbourhood’s name before the address is technically redundant, but in this

case is a deliberate promotion of symbolic values stemming from the evocation that the Ancient

quarter has a prestigious culinary tradition, which has recently been acknowledged and shared

widely among local residents. It is probably because this symbolism is seen as a ‘local’

phenomenon (to be discussed further below) that this content (Phố Cổ - 11 Hàng Cá) remains

untranslated in the English menu. Even though it is uncertain that this self-conscious

commodification of the neighbourhood’s prestige works with English readers, it is worthwhile to

note here that Vietnamese rather than English is chosen as the language carrying with it the

symbolic values the owner wants to capitalize on. In this case, Vietnamese is seen as the

language that not only embodies tradition and culture as previously mentioned but also

120
represents local identity and pride, which will be discussed further in the analysis of the

following shop sign.

Figure 4.7 Commodification of phố cổ at an eatery

Another eatery, which is also located in the Ancient quarter, serves rice – a staple dish of

Vietnamese. At lunchtime, its small inside space is normally jammed with local diners sitting

elbow to elbow behind small plastic tables filled with traditional local dishes. Despite its humble

and somewhat incovenient eating space, the eatery is frequented mostly by middle class

customers (many of them are from nearby neighbourhoods) who pay for what have long been

considered ‘the commoners’ rice’ (cơm bình dân) with an exorbitant price that can buy them a

decent lunch in more comfortable restaurants elsewhere. The owner’s deliberation to commodify

the advancing symbolic values of her neighbourhood as a desired consumption space for local

residents is indicated in the new layer of shopfront signs (see Figure 4.7, the signs in green)

121
which was added in 2019. The new content that reads Cơm Ngon Phố Cổ (‘Ancient Quarter’s

Delicious Rice’) adds the element of ‘ancient quarter’ – which is not available in the old sign38 –

to the shopfront and turns it into a concept of high taste and nostalgic consumption.

What is the justification for the local phenomenon that fetishizes this neighbourhood?

Back in 2004, the Ancient quarter was officially recognized as a National Heritage Site. By then,

a considerable number39 of its residents, who could afford more modern and spacious houses in

newly planned residential areas, had moved out of the neighbourhood. But in a few recent years,

there is a tendency that these very residents and/or their children, alongside an ever-increasing

number of residents from other neighbourhoods, are coming back to the old and narrow streets of

their former homes to indulge in recreational activities in the heritage space that is being

imagined as representing the city’s authenticity. The Ancient quarter, which had been enlivened

and valorized in the literary works of former local essayists40, is being reimaged as a

neighbourhood of prestige and a hub of connoisseurs. More broadly, a contemporaneous

narrative is being constructed whereby ‘old’ Hanoi is deemed an urban centre of noble

intelligentsia, high culture and elegant manner that has been or is being lost to the fast and

uncontrollable development of a ‘new’ globalizing city. That the bygone nobility and allure are

being retrieved and put against the backdrop of present-day ‘deculturation’ turn what the Ancient

quarter has to offer into a status marker and the consumption of things here a nostalgic taste of

prestigious tradition.

The retrieval of a ‘lost’ high culture in the past and how this concept is being

commodified through consumption can be seen even more clearly in modern dining spaces of the

38
The old sign reads Cơm Quế (‘Ms. Que’s Rice’).
39
According to Weibei (2004), there were from 10,000 to 15,000 residents moving out of this quarter in the 1997-
2004 period.
40
Some of these writers are Thạch Lam, Nguyễn Tuân, and Vũ Bằng.

122
French and new quarters where the concepts of ‘ancient quarter’s delicious dishes’ (món ngon

phố cổ) and ‘old Hanoi’s taste’ (hương vị Hà Nội xưa) are highlighted and sold to middle-class

customers. The concept of ‘ancient quarter’ here is selectively appropriated (leaving out

uninviting information about an overcrowded neighbourhood with downgraded living and

business spaces) and re-embedded as a referent of ‘high taste’ that is likely to be associated with

local middle-class diners some of whom rarely, or may not even want to, try the real but less

comfortable dining spaces in the Ancient quarter. The self-conscious desire to consume ‘old’

values in ‘new’ globalizing spaces relates closely to the imagination of a new middle class that is

taking shape after đổi mới and the elevation of ‘eat-out’ culture in the city. A tendency to return

to the old cities while not rejecting Western and global cultures associated with the new cities

has been seen as a characteristic in the construction of (globalized) middle-class identity (see

Gandhi, 2016; Salamandra, 2012). Here in this case, showing a self-conscious appraisal of local

traditions against the backdrop of global cultures through consumption reflects the idea of being

able to straddle the old and the new, and it is what defines the identity construction of new

middle-class Hanoians.

4.5 Historical memory and national identity

More than thirty years after the launching of reform, the difficult time predating this historical

milestone has recently been revisited and even becomes a historical and cultural topic attracting

local people, old and young alike, who had and had not lived through that period. The pre-reform

living space featuring old cassettes and televisions and humble wooden furniture has been

reproduced and turned into a nostalgic theme or concept that is being commodified in local

stores, which creates a mediated consumption phenomenon quite different from the orientation

123
towards modernity as discussed above in Section 4.1. In this section, I focus on discussing one

specific example.

Standing out from its counterparts, the retro-style coffee house called Cộng Cà Phê

(‘Cộng Café’) has a distinctiveness that comes from a combination of language use and other

visual resources.

Figure 4.8 National identity at a cà phê

In terms of language, it chooses cà phê41 (see Figure 4.8), the Vietnamese term for

coffee, instead of using café or coffee – the two terms favoured by other local coffee houses. The

deliberation to use the Vietnamese term here not only creates a difference for this coffee house

and enables it to claim a distinctiveness of local coffee culture but also renders the association

between Vietnamese and national identity possible (to be illustrated below). It is a remarkable

perspective since coffee used to be seen as an exotic drink in the country where tea had long

been the daily beverage of the majority42. The national identity is foregrounded in both the name

41
The Vietnamese term ‘cà phê’ was borrowed and transcribed from the French ‘café.’ A newer Vietnamese variant
of ‘cà phê’ is ‘càfê.’
42
Coffee was brought to and domesticated in Indochina in 1857 either by French landowners or missionaries
(Thurston, 2013). It was the drink of the French and native elite throughout the colonial period. Until the 1970s,
coffee remained scarce due to economic stagnation when Hanoi suppressed private economy in the North and
became involved in the Second Indochina War. Since the 1990s, after Vietnam surpassed Colombia to become the

124
Cộng and the logo’s visual design. Cộng is explained as the word that begins the country’s

official name that reads Cộng hòa Xã hội Chủ nghĩa Việt Nam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam)43.

In its logo, the linguistic content Cộng Cà Phê is set in a red background with a gold five-pointed

star resembling the national flag. The space outside of the café also showcases a real national

flag placed against the green wall background. The cup of coffee you ordered inside is decorated

with a five-pointed star and brought to you by a barista whose costume simulates military

uniform colour, a purposive reminder of a heroic chapter in Vietnamese history (the Vietnam

War) and an indispensable part that shapes the national character.

The whole atmosphere inside the café is embraced by a strong nostalgia for the so-called

‘subsidy period’ (thời bao cấp), which is referred to as the ‘long night’ before đổi mới (Bodemer,

2010). The subsidy period, which lasted from 1975 to 1986, was marked by a centralized

economy in which goods and services were rationed and subsidized by the government and

private economy was neutralized. It was also the time Vietnam experienced a severe economic

stagnation, which heavily influenced the people’s living conditions. The lack of a market

economy then made it hard to pursue even basic necessities. Memories of the past are made alive

inside the café with exhibition of memorabilia and furniture. Language items such as propaganda

slogans, poems, and sayings of that period are also displayed on the walls. The nostalgic interior

co-constructed by language, visual decoration, and embodied objects has captured the spirits of a

supposedly forgotten past. Customers, most of whom are young adults, have a journey back

through time to experience the nostalgic living space of a pre-reform family, which recalls

collective memory of a difficult time still evoking mixed feelings among the people.

second largest coffee producer in the world (Pendergrast, 2010), coffee has become more popular with normal
people and a native coffee culture has gradually taken shape.
43
This explanation is on the official website of this café. The term cộng, if standing alone, is equivalent in meaning
to plus in English.

125
 What is the connection between collective memory and national identity? Wang (2018)

argues that historical memory plays a key role in constructing national identity, since it serves as

a norm that defines a group and constitutes references to other groups. The phenomenon of

Ostalgie (‘Ost’ means ‘East’ in German), which is the modernist nostalgia for aspects of life in

the socialist past, among East-Germans is an example (see Bach, 2002). The evocation of

collective memory related to national history in this café is therefore a way to recall and share in-

group experiences among Vietnamese. It is this national memory that indicates their shared

culture and becomes an integral part of their identity.

After all, what do all these nostalgic sentiments mean for young Vietnamese generations

who are supposed to be the key protagonists of development and modernization in a country that

is getting into the full swing of reform and striving to narrow the gap with developed nations?

And is there anything contradictory when it is these very young adults who linger in Cộng Cà

Phê and many other ‘subsidy-era-theme’ cafés and restaurants can also be seen wandering in

lavish shopping malls or hanging out in chic night clubs in their very own neighbourhoods? The

answer to the second question is more likely a ‘no’ since nostalgia in Hanoi should not be

understood as a negative and dissident attitude towards the present (cf. Lu, 2002); instead, it

originates from a consciousness of rediscovering a historical past.

An exhibition entitled Life in Hanoi in subsidy era (1975-1986) hosted by the National

Museum of Ethnology in 2006 was used by the state as a platform for the people (especially

those of young post-reform generations) to relearn a difficult period in modern Vietnamese

history. It was intended to simultaneously celebrate successful achievements of the country and

its people after twenty years of applying the economic reform policy. Accordingly, remembering

a time past here not only creates a necessary incentive for the presently national course of reform

126
and modernization but also reinforces the people’s beliefs in the righteousness of the socialist

path of development44 that the country has been following. This exhibition became a

phenomenon with a record surge in the number of visitors and the time of exhibit being extended

from six months, according to the original plan, to eighteen months (Bodemer, 2010).

Subsequent to this successful event, a movement45 to not only rethink but also relive this

difficult past has gradually taken shape. Such a movement makes the nostalgic consumption in

Cộng Cà Phê (first opened in 2007), and other subsidy-era-theme cafés and restaurants, resonate

remarkably well with a broader national narrative whereby the ideology of nostalgia is not at

odds with those of reform and development but instead supports the current pursuit of modernity

(cf. Boym, 2001). Bearing on the idea that ‘the past, like the future, is an eternally unfinished

project, constantly under construction and constantly being revised’ (Tai, 2017, p. 3), the

nostalgia mediated in such a master narrative reflects an attempt to redefine the meaning of a

historical past in order to serve the national struggle for modernization at present whose aim is to

create a new and promising future for the people. In addition, against the backdrop of a post-

reform and globalizing society which is struggling to reconcile capitalist benefits with socialist

values and traditional morality, the nostalgia for a difficult subsidy period links the past and the

present and hence works as an enabler of national continuity (cf. Sedikides et al., 2008). Thus,

the subsidy era, according to Maclean (2008) (see also Were, 2017), has moved from a

previously unnamed period in the national history to one which has recently been referred to

44
The direction to develop a ‘socialist market economy’ has always been (re)emphasized in the speeches and
writings of Vietnamese government since 1986 in order to highlight the purpose to build a market economy along
the line of socialism rather than capitalism.
45
Many other exhibitions have subsequently been held in various types of showrooms around the city. There has
also been a surge in publications on the subsidy era in various forms (books, essays, newspaper articles, etc.) One
book entitled Thương Nhớ Thời Bao Cấp (‘Remembering the Subsidy Era’) has been sold very well.

127
among Vietnamese people as an essential period of transition to the present stage of

development.

In the Cộng Cà Phê located in the Ancient quarter, the ethnographic observation indicates

that foreigners, including tourists from other Asian countries, make up a small segment of

clientele. As the talks with a few of them reveal, this café simply offers a very different coffee

experience using visual resources that not only represent a period in Vietnamese history but also

purvey distinctive national essences. The feelings these tourists have when indulging in a

distinctive coffee space in Hanoi are different from the nostalgic solace of local patrons. But

there is one thing in common. It is the experience of ‘Vietnameseness.’ The promotion of

national identity in Cộng Cà Phê turns it into a cultural product that is now sold, purchased, and

consumed not only in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (the capital of South Vietnam) but also in

Seoul (Korea) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) where this coffee chain has its first branches

opened outside national borders. With respect to the modernist nostalgia among young

generations in Japan, Singapore, China (see Bergman, 2013; Iwabuchi, 2002; Lu, 2002;

Martinez, 2013) and possibly other Asian countries, the presence of this café in Hanoi and other

cosmopolitan cities of the region is an indication as to how globalization not only reinforces

local identity but also supports cultural and ideological flows among countries in the same

region. It once again indicates that the cultural flows in globalization are never one-way flows

from the West to the East and the rest of the world; they are flows with various points of origin

and destination (Appadurai, 1996, 2001).

128
4.6 Made in Vietnam and neo-nationalism

Among the fibers that make up the fabric of Hanoi’s fashion landscape, outlet stores sharing the

same name Made in Vietnam provides an important gateway to the understanding of local

customers’ psychology and ideologies. From a humble phrase indicating the products’ country of

origin (COO), Made in Vietnam has found its way to shopfronts in a few recent years and has

subsequently led to an elevation of consumer nationalism in the local market. What is worth

noticing is that it is not a trademark, which is indicated by significant differences of these stores

in style on the one hand, and a myriad of orthographic variations that this ‘business-name’ phrase

is printed on their shopfront signs (such as Made in Viet Nam, Made in Việt Nam, Made by

Vietnam, and even Ma de in Việt Nam46 – Ma and de are separated by a space) on the other hand.

Despite these linguistically varied presentations, which is mainly due to the sign owners’

own way of ‘understanding’ this phrase and/or their deliberation to ‘Vietnamize’ it, the wide

variety of these outlet stores all claim to sell fashion products made domestically in Vietnam for

export markets. Some stores make this claim explicit through the English terms like outlet,

factory, and original (see Figure 4.9) or the Vietnamese contents like thời trang xuất khẩu

(‘exported fashion products’) and thương hiệu quốc tế (‘international brands’), which also appear

in a variety of arrangements. In addition, the informal talks with some shop owners show that

there exists a small glossary of terms, which are mutually shared and used between local

shopkeepers and frequent buyers, that justify the authenticity and legitimacy of the products on

sale. (In general, these terms explain why these ‘export products’ are retained and sold in the

domestic market.) So basically, the special favour of Made-in-Vietnam products is not going

46
The writing of ‘Made’ into two words ‘Ma’ and ‘de’ can be read as an attempt to make it suitable for the readers
of a monosyllabic language like Vietnamese.

129
against the local customers’ craze for Western and foreign products (discussed in Section 4.1

above), since fashion items sold and purchased inside are all from well-known international

brands such as Zara, H&M, Adidas, etc. However, the burgeoning of this trend does not simply

indicate a practical need to wear international brands but is also backed up by relevant

ideological assumptions.

Figure 4.9 Neo-nationalism and shop signs

What are the reasons that lead to the priority of Made-in-Vietnam goods in the domestic

market? First of all, it was born out of the negative attitudes towards Chinese goods and the

movements to boycott them among local customers (Ngoc Lan, 2014). Sinophobic attitudes in

consumption mediated in public discourses have made a large number of local customers believe

130
that most of the goods produced in China and imported into the local market are not of good

quality. Furthermore, fears of threats lurking in the goods (especially foods) imported from

China to their health have become a heated topic among local customers and in the social media

(Mai Ha, 2012). The elevating favour of Made-in-Vietnam products therefore indicates the

ideology of consumer ethnocentrism, which is defined as the views held by customers in one

country about the superiority of their domestic goods compared to those from another country

(Shimp & Sharma, 1987).

The ethnocentric view of local customers on Chinese goods explains why some Made-in-

Vietnam stores in Hanoi add the names of whatever countries (for instance, Made in Cambodia,

Made in Thailand, Made in Turkey etc.) to their shopfronts except for China. However, during

my ethnographic observation, I found a rare case of a small boutique (see Figure 4.9) which has

on its shopfront sign the content that reads chuyên China cao cấp (‘specialized in high-quality

Chinese goods’). The deliberate addition of and emphasis on ‘high-quality’ presupposes that

normally, if not explicitly specified, Chinese goods are not of reliable quality. Meanwhile,

claiming to sell Chinese goods also indicates that the owner of this store and probably its

customers have already recognized that recently the goods (including fashion products) produced

in China had been tagged ‘Made in Vietnam’ either before or after entering the local market

(Nguyen, 2019), which makes the ideology underlying the advocacy of domestic (i.e., Made-in-

Vietnam) products become paradoxical and puts local customers in a dilemma.

The proliferation of Made-in-Vietnam stores and the supporting attitudes of local

customers towards them should be considered against the backdrop of a nationwide campaign

that was launched by the state in 2009 to encourage the people to use domestic products and

services – this campaign is entitled Người Việt Nam Ưu Tiên Dùng Hàng Việt Nam (‘Vietnamese

131
People Use Vietnamese Goods’). While the rise of economic nationalism in the world, triggered

by the global economic crisis in 2008, is seen as a mechanism to defend national interests

(Iliescu, 2017), it has its own distinctive characteristics in Vietnam, a country with a long period

of time under Chinese imperialism in the past. The awareness of a now-independent country

urges Vietnam and its people to develop domestic production and avoid being dependent on

China in terms of economy, despite the fact that China has recently become one of the major

suppliers of goods for its market (Do & Ha, 2013).

Accordingly, the local customers’ priority of domestic goods over foreign ones (not

excluding those from Western countries) has been promoted as a patriotic move to help improve

the national economy. Such consumer ethnocentrism and governmental protectionism are

symptoms of neo-nationalism, a new nationalism which is intrinsically linked to the global

market economy and the defense of national interests (Lee, Jon, & Byun, 2017). The fact that the

pseudo-brand Made in Vietnam is not written in Vietnamese can also be seen as a neo-nationalist

act to promote domestic goods using English as a medium, since it is considered the language of

neoliberalism and the global market.

The deliberation to boost a preference for domestic goods and capitalize on the ideology

of neo-nationalism can also be seen in the names of various stores that promote Vietnamese

values and identities through a conscious inclusion of V, Vin, and Viet elements in their business

names (see Figure 4.9). These ‘Vietnamese-centric’ elements, apart from asserting the domestic

origin of goods and services, send a message about patriotism and national pride to local

customers, as the store name Hồn Việt – which means ‘the soul of Viet(nam)’ – in Figure 4.9

indicates. Once the economic ethnocentrism has been built among customers, it may have certain

influences on their preference for domestic products. In many cases, it creates a moral obligation

132
to use domestic goods, even though foreign products are still regarded as status symbols in

Global South countries (Wang & Chen, 2004).

However, in Vietnam, the master narrative on encouraging people to use domestic goods

are gradually moving from asking them to show their patriotism in consumption to convincing

them of the good quality of domestic products (Bao Phuong, 2019). Vingroup, a Vietnamese

version of chaebol that owns the Vinmart convenient store in the new quarter (see Figure 4.9), is

a typical example of how a post-reform private business learns to improve the quality of their

products and services to increase competitiveness with foreign products on the one hand, and

thrives on neo-nationalism on the other. That Vietnamese is becoming the land of ‘Vin-

everything’ is an observation by Reed (2019) who notices that Vietnamese people now live in

Vinhome, buy groceries at Vinmart, send their children to Vinschool, drive Vinfast (cars), etc.

The list can go much longer and in the near future Vingroup is going to run its own air carrier.

With support from the state and the people, Vingroup succeeds in building an image that

represents the power of and confidence in domestic production, promoting national pride in the

global market, and securing national interests, all of which provide essential conditions to further

consolidate the ideology of neo-nationalism.

4.7 Modern Vietnam and traditional culture

In the LL of Hanoi, there is also an emergence of a new layer of Vietnamese which carries the

spirit of modernity but is rich in tradition and culture. Different from the tendency to use

monolingual English content, this layer reflects in a conspicuous way results of interaction

between the local and global cultures that the city has experienced over three decades of reform.

The examples below discuss this modernity-cum-tradition hybridity.

133
 RuNam Càfê (see Figure 4.10) is a local high-end bistro serving upper middle class and

nouveau riche customers, because the foods and drinks here are of considerable higher price

ranges. With its location in the heart of the French quarter, the bistro is housed in a renovated

colonial-style building with modern design, furniture and serving style. However, both the name

and philosophy of this bistro highlight Vietnamese tradition, culture and identity.

Figure 4.10 Modern Vietnam at a càfê

The name RuNam is a portmanteau of two Vietnamese elements lời ru (lullaby) and Việt

Nam (Vietnam). It is therefore assigned with the following meaning: ‘the lullaby from Vietnam.’

The letter N, which is printed in a font larger than the other letters in the word Nam, is a

deliberate adherence to the conventional orthographic rule which requires V and N to be

capitalized in the name of Việt Nam. Apart from meaning, the two-syllable novel word RuNam

lends an exotic sense to the name (based on the fact that Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language)

and enables it to mix harmoniously with the English words on shopfront signs to generate a

modern outlook. In addition, the use of càfê, a modern variant of the Vietnamese cà phê (as

134
discussed in Section 4.5 in this chapter), which is supported by the English slogan originally

from Vietnam, has the purpose to promote the Vietnamese identity. All these details show a

conscious respect for cultural tradition and indicate how Vietnamese is represented as the

language that not only embodies cultural tradition and identity but can also be ‘modernized’ to

carry the spirit of modernity.

The name of this bistro evokes early experiences in the childhood of each person using

the element of lullaby as a purveyor of national spirit and an embodiment of Vietnamese origin.

Apart from language, the image of a dragonfly in the logo adds more nuances to its name. The

following folk rhymes about dragonflies are familiar with every single local child from their

early ages:

Chuồn chuồn bay thấp thì mưa

Bay cao thì nắng, bay vừa thì râm
(If dragonflies fly low, expect rain
If high, expect sun; if averagely, expect cloud)

Apart from conveying an important weather forecast experience in a country with agrarian

tradition, these folk rhymes, which are also used widely as nursery rhymes, call to mind an

image of the countryside – the cradle of Vietnamese culture and the romanticized rural living

space of nostalgic middle-class urbanites in Hanoi (To, 2012). The logo with a flying dragonfly,

which is accompanied and supported by the slogan originally from Vietnam, expresses a desire to

bring a humble but authentic local culture to the outside world. This is justified by a segment of

diasporic Vietnamese nationals who make up the overseas clientele of Runam coffee products.

With these customers, the evocation of origin and identity coming from the name RuNam and

the dragonfly logo may become even stronger.

135
 In another case, the sound of a lullaby echoes in the name of a restaurant which is humbly

and thoughtfully constructed in the shape of an old Vietnamese kitchen set amid high-rise

buildings of a street in the French quarter (see Figure 4.11). Using the onomatopoeia ầu ơ (oh a-

ee) commonly heard in Vietnamese lullabies and the image of a traditional kitchen, this

restaurant takes diners back to the core elements making up the childhood of each person. The

shop sign features a big green banana leaf bending down to cover entirely the word ầu ơ, which

summons up a culinary symbol that is ordinary but essential in Vietnamese traditional cuisine.

Banana leaves had formerly been used rather popularly in the countryside to wrap and carry food

from market back home. Sometimes, they functioned as tablecloths upon which food was served.

The ‘banal’ banana leaf therefore embodies the authentic spirit of a traditional kitchen, home and

culture. Similar to RuNam Càfê, the evocation of culture and identity in this restaurant is once

again rendered possible owing to the use of the romanticized countryside as ‘the repository of

traditional values [and] national identity’ (Thomas & Drummond, 2003, p. 8).

Figure 4.11 Modernity and tradition at a restaurant

136
 The juxtaposition of Vietnamese elements (including the onomatopoeia ầu ơ and the

image of a banana leaf) and the English content Vietnam Kitchen also indicates an attempt to use

English as a medium to disseminate tradition and culture (not unlike the use of the English

content originally from Vietnam by RuNam Càfê). In such a way, the national spirit is

successfully captured and conveyed through a tool which is the emblem of modernity. By

harmoniously displaying a hybridization of locality and internationality and of tradition and

modernity, the restaurant owner manages to perform and construct a modern Vietnamese identity

built upon the traditional culture.

The location of these two commercial establishments in a metropolitan area of the French

quarter strengthens the argument given above (see Section 4.3) concerning how the

heterogenization process of globalization is represented more clearly in the neighbourhood that

experiences more intensely the flows of finances, people, and ideas from the outside world. In

the meantime, these two cases contribute more nuances to our understanding of this localizing

process. While Hànộimới and Thái Café showcase an endeavour to preserve the traditional

culture in its original form, RuNam Càfê and Ầu Ơ… Vietnam Kitchen renew it by hybridizing

the old and the new, the local and the international in order to construct a modern Vietnamese

identity. Within the broader context of the globalizing Asia, the practice of two commercial

establishments in this section, which indicates a reconciliation of culture and development in

post-reform Vietnam, resonates remarkably well with contemporary cultural phenomena in the

region as discussed in the following section.

137
4.8 Hallyu, Pan-Asianism and Vietnamese identity

Vietnam is one of the Asian countries that has been awash in Hallyu, the wave of popular culture

from South Korea. This burgeoning cultural wave gives rise to the inroads of Korean symbolism

and is shown first and foremost in the proliferation of K-style beauty spas, fashion boutiques,

restaurants and cafés in the cityscape of Hanoi (which has partially been shown in Figure 3.4 and

3.6 in Chapter 3 and Figure 4.3 in this chapter). On the signs of these stores, English rather than

Hangul is the preferable language, which means a number of things. First, even though the

impacts of Hallyu are rather remarkable in Hanoi, a very limited number of local residents can

read it. English is then used to reach a wider circle of local customers, which is also justified by

the addition of Vietnamese (the language of the majority) on these signs. In some cases, Hangul

is available but not necessarily to be read. Instead, it lends an aura of authenticity to the stores

(see Figure 3.4, Figure 3.6 and Figure 4.3). Second, English is used not only to increase the

intended readers but also to reinforce the modernity and internationality of these stores, which is

made possible owing to the symbolic value of English as the language of global market.

On the shop sign of a spa in Figure 4.12 below, the English content covers two important

elements (i.e., beauty and Korea) on which the owner wants to capitalize. Korean symbolism and

authenticity are evoked and strengthened by adding the Korean surname Lee (one of the most

popular surnames in Korea) following the Vietnamese first name Giang. The hybrid name Giang

Lee Korea reminds us of the practice of choosing the English name Tracy as discussed in Section

4.1 above. The difference here however is in the wish to be identified as a(n) Asian/Korean

rather than a Westerner, as the names Tracy Pham and Loan Tây (see Section 4.1) are intended

to show.

138
Figure 4.12 Pan-Asianism and modern Vietnamese identity

The blending of international, regional and local materials through a utilization of

English, Korean and Vietnamese elements conveys important ideologies relating to the post-

reform Vietnam. Not unlike other Asian countries, the spread of Hallyu in Vietnam is a

manifestation of Pan-Asian culture, a re-assertion of Asian identity, and a reaction to the

popularization and domination of Western cultures in the region (Dator & Seo, 2004). In

Vietnam, Hallyu also serves as a suggestive solution to its future development, since this cultural

139
wave carries exuberant images of a modern South Korea which is built on traditional cultural

values and Confucian ideology (Nguyen, 2014). As a country in the region sharing certain

cultural and ideological similarities, South Korea may be an example that Vietnam can learn

from in order to address the issue of reconciling modernity and tradition. The emergence of a

new layer of Vietnamese on shop signs discussed in the previous section (the cases of RuNam

Càfê and Ầu Ơ… Vietnam Kitchen) indicates that Vietnam is possibly adopting the same

approach. By following the example of an East Asian country which has been successful in

creating a harmonious combination of development and culture, Vietnam can (re)construct its

modern identity, one which is being shaped by an integration of a long-lasting Confucian

tradition, an almost one-hundred-year period of Westernization, and a recent touch of reform and

globalization.

Apart from Hallyu, the elements of some other Asian cultures that are considered

symbols of modernity in the region like Japan and Hong Kong can also be seen on signage. A

chic club in Figure 4.12 has its English name Wasabi Club surrounded by Japanese symbolisms,

from traditional paintings to lanterns and a Shinto temple gate inscribed with Kanji and Kana

characters the meaning of which young local club goers may not know, or care to know. All of

these symbols, not excluding the Japanese characters, are displayed there to conjure up an image

of the Asian metropolis of Tokyo or Yokohama and hence to evoke a sense of regional

modernity and cosmopolitanism among local customers. In a different case, the foregrounding

and commodification of Japanese values are rendered possible owing to the stylization of the

whole Vietnamese sentence ta đi ô tô (‘we go by car’) to turn it into a ‘novel’ word tadioto that

sounds like Japanese (see Figure 4.12). The effort to create a ‘Japanese-style’ word from local

140
substances enables the owner to capitalize on the outstanding symbolic merits of ramen, sushi,

Sapporo beer, and Yamazaki whiskies that this bar offers to its customers.

In a small fashion store, the symbolism of regional modernity is capitalized through the

name Lệ Hong Kong (Lệ is a female Vietnamese name) wherein the owner’s first name is

followed by the name of a cosmopolitan city in the region (see Figure 4.12). Similar to Giang

Lee Korea, the use of Hong Kong here is not to show a ‘real’ connection between the owner and

the city involved. Instead, it indicates a wish to be seen with an ‘imagined’ identity associated

with one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Asia. The equivalent content in Chinese 映丽香港

(yìng lì xiāng gǎng), which displays the ‘simplified’ script (the script used in mainland China)

rather than the ‘traditional’ one (as being used in Hong Kong), further explicates that the addition

of these Chinese characters only has an aim to enhance a symbolic association with the city

involved rather than indexing a real connection with it. Once again, after the case of Giang Lee

Korea, the yearning to have a modern Asian identity has been showcased on shopfronts, which

indicates that Vietnamese people are apt to take pride in the modern culture of their own Asian

region. Being modern in the post-reform Vietnam therefore does not mean becoming

‘Westernized.’ Instead, it is constructing its own version of modern regional identity, one which

combines harmoniously culture, tradition and modernization.

4.9 Summary of findings

Using the analytical frameworks of geosemiotics and ELLA presented in Chapter 3, this chapter

has demonstrated why the LL of post-reform Hanoi is not just a picture dominated by an

orientation to open to the world. Instead, there is an increasing tendency to preserve and

revitalize local cultural values and traditions. The language use on signage in public spaces and

141
the daily practice of people indicate an effort to reinforce national and municipal authenticities

and (re)negotiate the modern Vietnamese identity. In addition, this chapter consolidates the

argument concerning the inroads of cities as the space of citizenship and the prime identity badge

for individuals. It also demonstrates how a new Pan-Asianism, in the form of contemporary

Asian regionalism, is awakened as a reaction to globalization and the popularization of Western

cultures in the region. This is indicated in an embrace of the cultural wave of Hallyu, a

stimulation of cultural and ideological flows in the region, and a (re)construction of modern

Asian identity.

Through the LL of Hanoi, this chapter offers an inquisitive look into the development of

globalizing SEA whereby two reverse tendencies of modernity and tradition co-exist. Within the

context of Vietnam, the harmonious combination of the old and the new is what defines the

modern Vietnamese identity, one which is fabricated by traditional and modern fibers of the

local, the global and the Asian region.

The findings of this chapter also indicate rather clearly the ideologies of English as the

language that represents modernity and cosmopolitanism and how it tends to be associated

specifically with modern consumption and the identity of post-reform middle class in Vietnam.

In addition, the languages of developed Asian countries, especially those in East Asia, such as

Korea and Japan are likely to be seen as symbols of regional modernity.

Meanwhile, there is a tendency that Vietnamese appears on signage as the language that

embodies tradition, culture and identity of the neighbourhood, the city, and the nation. But

Vietnamese also mingles with English and other foreign languages on signage and has even been

‘stylized’ and/or ‘modernized’ so as to become the language that can carry the spirits of

international and regional modernity, despite the established tradition of linguistic purism in

142
Vietnam discussed in Chapter 2. This is a testimony to how the ideology of nationalism is

confronted by those of reform and development in the time of globalization and how this

confrontation may have influenced the way people use and perceive the roles and positions of

Vietnamese in the current society.

The next chapter will look more closely into the people’s attitudes towards English and

Vietnamese, the positions of these two languages in post-reform Vietnam, and the roles they play

in (re)constructing the people’s identities.

143
Chapter 5 Language ideologies in interview data

The analysis in the previous chapter has shown that there exists a rather clear ‘localizing’

process, in tandem with the ‘globalizing’ one, in language use on signage in Hanoi’s public

spaces. Meanwhile, the language practice as having been observed in the LL data also indicates

that the use of English and Vietnamese – the two most prominent languages on signage – are

associated with different tendencies whereby English is more likely to be related to

internationality, modernity and cosmopolitanism while Vietnamese is closely linked with

tradition, culture and national identity. However, the analysis of LL data alone cannot make it

explicitly certain whether these tendencies of language use are underlain by respective

differences in the people’s ideologies of these two languages, because in some cases even

Vietnamese can carry the spirit of modernity (see Section 4.7 and 4.8 in Chapter 4) and English

can also be used as a medium to convey ethnocentric and neo-nationalist contents (see Section

4.6 in Chapter 4). Additionally, the language ideologies constructed and mediated through

signage have yet made it obvious the roles and positions of English and Vietnamese and how

they take part in constructing the people’s identities in the current society. And lastly, even

though the LL data analysis has related the ideologies of English and Vietnamese on signage to

the broader ideology of đổi mới, it is not yet clear how the former is influenced by the latter and

furthermore how this process is partaken by the national rhetoric on development and

modernization in present-day Vietnam. For these reasons, it is necessary for this dissertation to

go beyond signs and incorporate interviews with local shopkeepers and residents.

144
 Hatoss (2018) suggests that the inclusion of interview in LL research renders the

investigation of language attitudes and awareness more feasible, and this research direction has

been pursued in a number of previous studies which choose to interview either shop proprietors

(Manan et al., 2015; Papen, 2015; Selvi, 2016) or local residents (Albury, 2018; Kasanga, 2012).

The former group of studies interviews people who are sign owners/producers and has

accordingly been able to get further insights into their language choices and preferences which

cannot be found based solely on sign analysis. The latter group interviews those who are

presumed sign readers/viewers and has therefore been able to look into their awareness of the

status of certain languages and their corresponding attitudes towards them. Results of these two

groups of LL studies have demonstrated that getting insights from shopkeepers and local

residents facilitates a more holistic understanding of signs, since it involves two main ‘actors’ of

the LL (the sign owners/producers and sign readers/viewers renders). Therefore, this dissertation

sets out to interview both the shop owners and local inhabitants in three chosen research

neighbourhoods. Being able to talk directly with the social actors who involve in the

bidirectional process of sign production and consumption opens a possibility to approach signs

as social actions and hence enables this dissertation to go beyond signs to understand the

people’s social practices.

More specifically, the interviews in this dissertation are intended to address the following

questions: What can the shop owners and local inhabitants’ discussion on the use of languages

(Vietnamese, English and possibly other languages) on signage tell us about their attitudes

towards and ideologies of these languages? How can these attitudes and ideologies help us

understand the roles and positions of these languages in the present-day society on the one hand,

145
and the participation of these languages in the construction of the people’s identities on the

other?

In order to realize this purpose, this dissertation uses a semi-structured and open-ended

interview that includes two respective sets of major themes, instead of a rigorous set of

questions, to guide the questioning of two groups of participants: the shop owners and local

inhabitants. The outlined set of questions as included in the Appendix are not fixed but subject to

appropriate rephrasing to adjust the formality levels to suit each individual participant. This

interview approach not only increases the researcher’s adaptability to different participants and

situations but also allows the participants to engage in more in-depth discussion on the chosen

themes and gives them more space to express their viewpoints, stances and attitudes. In other

words, this interview approach enables the construction of each interview as a ‘natural

conversation’ guided by a predetermined framework of questioning themes at hand. While I

begin each interview by asking some demographic information of the participants from both

groups, the subsequent interview themes for each group of participants can be briefly described

as follows.

The interviews with shop owners cover three main themes. The first one, which looks

into their motivations for choosing to use Vietnamese and/or foreign language(s), includes the

questions centring around things that explained their choices, for instance, of English and/or

other foreign languages on their shop signs. The second theme allows shop owners to elaborate

further on their language preferences and more importantly their views on or attitudes towards

Vietnamese, English and other foreign languages (if applicable)47. The third theme elicits shop

47
The interview indicated that two out of four shop owners, who had directly taken part in the production of their
shop signs, were responsible for both the linguistic contents and graphic designs of the signs. One of whom even
came up with the idea for the business logo. With the other two shop owners, one chose the linguistic content before

146
owners’ opinions on the influences of using foreign languages (on signage) on the Vietnamese

language, the LL of Hanoi, and cultural identity. The questions here aim to find out whether the

shop owners are aware of upholding the purity of Vietnamese (considering the reality that the

ideology of linguistic purism has been instilled in the society and continues to be mediated in

current national narratives), which then leads to further inquiries about their attitudes towards

multilingualism and their perception of other issues related to language use, language ideologies

and cultural identities.

The interviews with local inhabitants also cover three main themes. The first one aims to

identify whether they as presumed customers have any biases towards stores that use English

and/or other foreign languages on their signs. The questions here ask if they care about the use of

language(s) on shop signs before they decide to buy goods and use services at a certain place.

The second theme elicits their attitudes towards the display of English and other foreign

languages in Hanoi’s public spaces. The questions centre on asking not only about their

perception of the burgeoning visibility of foreign languages (mostly English) in their immediate

living environment but also their attitudes towards this phenomenon. Similar to the interviews

with shop owners, the third theme enquires about the local inhabitants’ opinions on the

influences of using foreign languages (on signage) on the Vietnamese language, the LL of Hanoi,

and cultural identity. The third-theme questions here basically have the same purpose in

comparison with those used for shop owners, even though during the interviews I could realize

that these questions had different effects on the two groups of participants. Participants who are

local inhabitants are apt to feel less constrained than shop owners when raising their voices over

the issue of purism, culture and identity, which is probably because they only take part in the

having the sign designed and printed, the other was responsible for the linguistic content in Vietnamese while the
English content was added with the support of a person outside his family.

147
‘consumption’ of signs while the shop owners directly engage in producing signs and using

languages on them and hence seem to be aware of their responsibilities for changes in the LL.

A total of eight separate interviews were performed and audio-recorded in the summer of

2019. Each interview was carried out with one participant who was interviewed directly by the

researcher. The number of interviews is divided equally between two groups of participants, four

for shop owners and four for local inhabitants. Of the interviews with shop owners, one is in the

Ancient quarter, two in the French quarter and one in the new quarter. The inhabitant group

includes two participants in the Ancient quarter, one in French quarter and one in the new

quarter. All participants are permanent residents of Hanoi, five of whom were born in the city

while the rest have at least 16 years of residency. The age range of interviewees varies from

twenty-three to seventy-two years old. Two out of eight participants have experiences both living

and working in the pre-reform period. Four others were born from 2 to 12 years before the

launching of this reform policy in 1986. The two left participants were born 2 and 10 years

respectively after this historical milestone. This varied age range renders the inclusion of

participants who represent appropriately the people of what can roughly be called pre-reform,

transition, and post-reform periods.

Most of the interviews were conducted in the settings that allowed the interviewer and

interviewees to have a view of shop signs in the streets of three neighbourhoods under

investigation. Three out of four interviews with shop owners were conducted right at their

business premises. The rest of the participants, with only one case who preferred to be

interviewed at his own home, chose to meet at the cafés located in their neighbourhoods. In all

cases, we managed to find seats, which were located either by the windows in the upper floor of

two-storey cafés or out in the balconies, that had a view of shop signs across the streets.

148
Throughout the interviews, the shop signs in view served as authentic examples and useful

prompts that facilitated interaction between the interviewer and interviewees and helped us

elaborate on the discussion. Two participants, after having accomplished their interviews, walked

with me through the streets of their neighbourhoods and exchanged talks on their perception,

feelings and attitudes towards language use on the shop signs showing up along both sides of the

streets. Even though this portion of exchanges was not recorded, I did take notes of our talks.

The notes contained information as to how local inhabitants, who are the presumed readers of

signs, interacted with signs and voiced their stances on language displays in the public space of

their living environment. In addition, these informal talks also add other valuable ethnographic

information relating to the neighbourhoods under investigation from emic perspective. All these

notes can later support the analysis and understanding of language attitudes of the involved

participants.

The total amount of recording time of eight interviews is approximately ten hours in

which the shortest interview lasts nearly one hour while the longest one lasts more than two

hours. The transcription of interview data was carried out in the platform of Atlas.ti 8, the

software for qualitative analysis which enabled me to select, navigate and work with specifically

chosen segments of an audio file in a way similar to picking out a quotation from a text. For the

purpose of interview data analysis, Atlas.ti 8 also facilitated the assigning of codes (or names) to

interested audio segments so that it would be easier to locate, identify, and link recurrent and

related themes and/or contents between different participants’ interviews.

Now I proceed to introduce the method of analyzing interview data used in this

dissertation before presenting the analysis of four chosen excerpts taken from the interviews with

the participants. The choice of these interview excerpts and how they are arranged will be

149
discussed in detail at the beginning of Section 5.2 below. This chapter will subsequently end

with a summary of findings and an extended discussion on the results of interview data analysis.

5.1 Analytical approach

The analysis of interview data in this dissertation adopts the language attitudes in interaction

approach developed by Liebscher and Dailey-O’Cain (2009) and Dailey-O’Cain (2017). The use

of language attitudes here refers to the beliefs and feelings about language held by individuals,

which is differentiated with the language ideologies shared by a group, community and society.

This section discusses the major points in this discourse analysis approach to language attitudes

and concomitantly elaborates on how it is put into use in this dissertation.

Firstly, the expressions of language attitudes in interaction are seen, approached and

analyzed as forms of positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990), a discursive and relational process

wherein participants in social interaction construct, negotiate and signal their ideological stance

– ‘an act of evaluation owned by a social actor’ (DuBois, 2007, p. 173) through which he/she

shows ‘attitude towards, feelings about, level of commitment to, or degree of belief or trust in

what is being said or what is going on’ (Jones, 2013, p. 5). Being considered a phenomenon of

conversation and an appropriate approach to the dynamics of social behaviour (Hirvonen, 2016;

Tirado & Galvet, 2008), the positioning approach renders the study of ideological stances as

being constructed in interaction and through intersubjective negotiation. A certain ideological

stance, which is conceived as indexing and being related to a particular position (the concept of

position refers to the standing that a person takes up for himself in social interaction based on

moral rights and duties and it is considered more dynamic and contingent than the notion of role

which is construed as static and unitary, see Harré, 2012; Hirvonen, 2016; Jones, 2013), does not

150
stay put; instead, it is changeable and dependent on context and situation-specific speech acts.

Therefore, approaching language attitudes as language-ideological stances (Dailey-O’Cain,

2017) can address the dynamics and contingency of language attitudes in interaction.

Accordingly, language attitudes are not seen as something fixed and stable but negotiable over

the course of interaction and dependent on contexts. In addition, language attitudes are not only

different between individuals but can also change (and become contradicted) within one

individual during social interaction.

Secondly, language attitudes in interaction are not only expressed explicitly through

metalinguistic talk on language but also implicitly through indirect expressions in conversation.

Therefore, instead of performing a content-based analysis that focuses solely on surface-level

assertions or direct expressions of language attitudes, this analytical approach also looks into

indirect expressions of language attitudes by considering the two other layers of

semantic/pragmatic and interactional information (Liebscher & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009). The

former concentrates on turn-internal semantic and pragmatic features ranging from the choice of

particular words to the manipulation of linguistic phenomena like entailment, presupposition and

implicature (which helps understand the meaning of actual speech acts), while the latter

encompasses interactional or discursive features existing between individual turns such as

pauses, pitch changes, laughter, etc. The combination of three different layers of analysis renders

it possible to cover in a comprehensive way direct and indirect expressions of language attitudes

embedded in interview interaction. In other words, this three-layered analysis is intended to

address both explicit and implicit positionings, which are referred to as the way people position

themselves or others directly and indirectly to a relevant social category (Liebscher & Dailey-

O’Cain, 2013). Other authors also highlight this distinction by suggesting a comparison between

151
deliberate/intentional positioning (the positionings that are explicitly referred to) and tacit

positioning (the positionings that are simply assumed) (see Harré & van Langenhove, 1991;

Hirvonen, 2016).

Thirdly, language attitudes should be analyzed not only in the immediate context of the

interview but also in the broader societal context which includes, for instance, the sociocultural

background of the city where the interview takes place. Both of these contexts are expected to

have influences on the interview participants’ expressions of language attitudes (to be discussed

further below). In this study specifically, it is important to locate language attitudes not only

within the sociocultural context of the city as a whole but also of each particular neighbourhood.

(The distinctive characteristics of a particular neighbourhood in which the participants live and

do business have certain impacts on how they position themselves with people living in other

neighbourhoods.) By so doing, we are able to make a connection between the language attitudes

positioned in the interview with the language ideologies mediated in the wider societal context,

since ‘individual [language] attitudes both shape and are shaped by wider [language] ideologies’

(Dailey-O’Cain, 2017, p. 173).

Fourthly, in order to elaborate on the third point above, in this study I take the element of

story-lines in the positioning triad48 developed by Davies and Harré (1990) into the analysis in

order to enable a closer look into the aforementioned link between language attitudes and

language ideologies. Being considered a unique contribution of the positioning theory to the

study of social interaction, the element of story-lines permits analysts to connect what is going

on in interaction not only to the private ‘stories’ participants bring with them to that particular

48
Two other elements are position and speech acts – the illocutionary force as discussed in the Speech Act Theory
of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). Both of them have been discussed respectively in the first and second points of
this section.

152
interaction but also to the mutual ‘stories’ shared by their culture or the ‘master narratives’

(Jones, 2013). The story-lines of a culture affect both the way a person acts and expects others to

act, even though he/she may be consciously unaware of the influences these master narratives

have upon him/her and therefore tends to take them for granted (Harré, 2012). Such cultural

story-lines are often mediated and naturalized in different types of discourses in the society. For

instance, the discourse on language and nation in Vietnam, which have established a primordial

link between Vietnamese and cultural identity since the inception of the DRV in 1945, may

naturalize the ideology of linguistic purism and consider upholding the purity of Vietnamese as

an indisputable responsibility of each individual. It goes without saying that this presumption can

have impacts on the people’s attitudes towards their national language. Meanwhile, the recent

discourse on đổi mới and development, which highlights the role of English as a medium to open

to the world at large and perform global integration, can change the people’s attitudes towards

English as well as the use and/or favour of this global language in daily life. Therefore, when

discussing the participants’ attitudes towards Vietnamese and English in interview interaction, it

is important to relate these attitudes to the ideologies mediated in the aforementioned discourses.

Fifthly, even though positioning serves as an advantageous interaction-based approach to

study social behaviour, whenever necessary the analysis of interview interaction in this

dissertation can also be supported by other concepts in order to give a more elaborate account of

language attitudes in interaction. These concepts include stance (DuBois, 2007 – as discussed

above), perspective – the position from which an individual views something (see Graumann &

Kallmeyer, 2002), and footing (Goffman, 1981). The concept of footing is used to indicate the

153
positions – which include principal, author, and animator49 – that a speaker commits to in

relation to his/her utterances. It is an important way to understand the responsibility a speaker

takes for the speech he/she produces (Deppermann, 2013). In interview interaction, a participant

may use, for example, indirect speech so that he/she can act as an animator who only reports

what other people have said and hence is less likely to be hold responsible for what has actually

been said. In short, the aforementioned concepts provide more useful tools to study the

positioning of language attitudes in interview interaction.

Sixthly and last, as a framework that analyzes identity in interaction, the positioning

approach renders the capture of identity negotiation based on discursive practice in changing

situations (Deppermann, 2013). This direction corresponds with the idea that identity is not fixed

but changeable even within a single individual. As mentioned earlier, the concept of positioning

offers a way to look into the dynamics and contingency of position and identity, as opposed to

the concept of role, which is conceived as static, unitary and pre-determined. An individual’s

identity, in Davies and Harré’s (1990) own words, ‘is always an open question with a shifting

answer depending upon the positions made available within one’s own […] discursive practice’

(p.46). In this study, the identities of interview participants are therefore observed based on how

they position themselves during the interview with regard to relevant master narratives and other

dominant discourses. According to Bamberg & Georgakopoulou (2008) and their identity

analytical framework, this is an important level of analyzing positioning since it looks into the

‘acts of identity’ through the moves in interview interaction. The objective here is to observe as

to how these moves position the speaker in relation to dominant discourses, of which he/she is

49
According to Goffman (1981), principal refers the individual whose beliefs are represented in the words to which
he or she is committed. Author is the one who composes the words, and animator is the one who produces the
utterance. In social interaction, these three roles can be performed by the same or different individual.

154
under the spell, and subsequently to see how he/she establishes ‘a sense of self/identity’ (p. 385)

through such a positioning.

In short, the language attitudes in interaction approach, which sees language attitudes as a

form of positioning, offers a three-layered analysis covering both explicit and implicit

expressions of language attitudes. Here, language attitudes are analyzed not only in the

immediate context of the interview but also in the wider societal context with reference to the

concept of story-lines in Davies and Harré’s (1990) positioning theory. By putting language

attitudes into the connection with wider language ideologies, dominant discourses and master

narratives, the analysis of interview data in this dissertation gives insights into the establishment

of the participants’ selves and identities. Last but not least, this analytical approach is also

strengthened by consulting other concepts that study social behavior in interaction such as

footing (Goffman, 1981) and stance (DuBois, 2007).

5.2 Language attitudes in interview interaction

As has been mentioned earlier in this chapter, the interviews aim to look further into the attitudes

towards Vietnamese and English (the two most visible languages in Hanoi’s LL), which helps

understand not only the roles and positions of these languages but also their participation in the

(re)construction of the people’s identities in post-reform Vietnam.

In order to realize this purpose, this section presents four different interview excerpts

which represent the ideological themes shared most commonly among the interview participants.

In addition, each of the following excerpt contains within itself expressions of attitudes towards

both Vietnamese and English. Such a juxtaposition is intended to highlight differences, and even

contrasts, in the people’s attitudes towards these two languages in the current society.

155
Furthermore, a focus on four specific excerpts renders a cogent and in-depth analysis of language

attitudes in interaction as introduced in the analytical approach in the previous section. That

being said, language-attitudinal expressions from other interview participants will also be

included in the last section of this chapter to further support, illustrate and elaborate on the points

discussed in the four following excerpts.

The selection of excerpts wherein attitudes towards Vietnamese and English are

juxtaposed is also intended to illustrate how the semiotic process of iconization – one of the three

main semiotic process50 taking part in the construction of language ideologies (Irvine & Gal,

2000) – is realized in the way whereby these languages are ‘iconized’ and linked to particular

social groups, categories, and values through interview interaction. As will be discussed in the

following analysis, the participants in these chosen excerpts cast these two languages with their

‘distinctive’ qualities and allow them to be iconically associated with corresponding social

categories and values that differ considerably with respect to the old and new society, the low

and high culture, and the traditional and modern identity. Being able to look into this iconization

semiotic process enables us to understand more clearly different roles and positions of these two

languages in the society and see how they are taking part in the construction of the people’s

identities.

The four chosen interview excerpts are presented in the following order. The first two

ones discuss changes in attitudes towards English and how it has become the language carrying

the spirit of đổi mới and the ideologies of internationality, modernity and cosmopolitanism, both

50
According to Irvine and Gal (2000), there are three semiotic processes taking part in the construction of language
ideologies. Iconization refers to the process in which a language is made into an iconic representation of a particular
social group or category. Fractal recursivity refers to ‘the projection of an opposition, salient at some level of
relationship, onto some other level’ (p. 38). Erasure refers to the process that makes a certain sociolinguistic
phenomenon invisible.

156
in business environment and everyday life. Besides, English also plays an important role in

constructing the interview participants’ identities, especially those of younger generations.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese is likely to lag behind in keeping up with the dynamics of reform and

representing the identities of certain groups of people and it even becomes recognized as old-

fashioned and obsolete. The third excerpt provides a considerably different viewpoint whereby

English is associated with superficialism and even ‘low culture’ while Vietnamese represents

self-confidence, stable development and national identity. Apart from indicating that language

attitudes can differ significantly between individuals, this arrangement, which foregrounds a

contradiction in language attitudes between the first two excerpts and the third one, is intended to

illustrate how the bidirectional processes of ‘globalizing’ and ‘localizing’ are represented in the

interview participants’ attitudes towards the ‘global’ language (English) and the local one

(Vietnamese). The fourth and last excerpt presents an attitude that acknowledges the roles of

both English and Vietnamese; accordingly, each language is assigned with its own delineated

functions in the current society. This is intended not only to indicate an emergent propensity

which reconciles the ideological differences and/or contrasts existing in the first three excerpts

but also to illustrate that this new language-ideological propensity is consistent with the current

orientation which combines modernity and tradition to reconstruct a new identity for Vietnam

and its young generations of people.

Because of their length and in order to ease the process of reading, each interview excerpt

will be presented in the following order. The original version of transcription in Vietnamese

comes first in its entirety and is then followed by the equivalent translation in English. For the

sake of aiding the description and reference during the analysis, the transcripts are organized

around the turn, which means each turn in the following excerpts is also numbered. As

157
mentioned earlier, using language attitudes in interaction (Liebscher & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009) as

the analytical approach, the analysis of each following interview excerpt covers not just the

explicit expressions of language attitudes but also the implicit ones that are mediated in

pragmatic/interactional features (see Section 5.1 above). Therefore, even though reaching

perfection in translation is almost impossible, the translation of these excerpts into English tries

to convey accurately the meaning in the source language on the one hand, and retain the

interactional features of interview data that later become the subjects of analysis on the other.

The rules for transcription in this dissertation are adopted from Dailey-O’Cain (2017).

First, my name, the interviewer’s, is abbreviated as TT. The names of the interviewees are

abbreviated accordingly based on their real names as HS, LM, NV and TN respectively. All the

interviews are carried out in Vietnamese; however, the interviewees, especially those who knows

or can speak English, may at times codeswitch to English during interview interaction. In the

transcript, these English words are bolded in both the original and translated versions to

highlight this language mixing and render any description of mixing later in the analysis more

convenient. The CAPITALIZATION of characters indicates sound loudness (the part of an

utterance spoken significantly louder than the surrounding talk), while the lengthening of either a

vowel or consonant sound is marked by repeating the letter that represents it (for instance,

‘Nooo, I don’t think so!’). Other transcription conventions (or symbols) are included in the

Appendix. Now we shall begin with the analysis of the chosen interview excerpts.

5.2.1 English and đổi mới ideology

Following the exchange on the symbolism of English on shop signs and how shop owners

capitalize on it, the interview with HS – an inhabitant in the new quarter – turns into a different

158
direction in which she claims that even in daily conversation, especially in working environment,

there is a tendency that more Vietnamese speakers are mixing English with Vietnamese. In the

following excerpt, she elaborates on the practice of using some English words in communication

of both spoken and written forms between her – who claimed earlier that she picked up English

mainly in work-related environment and through business transaction – and her colleagues in a

local medical firm with all of the staff being Vietnamese.

Excerpt 1. It sounds unprofessional

01 HS: ngày xưa cách đây tầm khoảng ừ (..) năm sáu năm (.) khi mà cái thế hệ học sinh du học bắt đầu quay ngược

trở về việt nam (.) có những người người làm việc được- có những người tồn tại được có những người không

(.) thì cái tiếng anh bồi (.) nó tạo ra một cảm giác rất dị hợm. (.) người ta rất ghét (.) NHƯNG đến bây giờ thì

(..) lại- nó LẠI trở thành một cái làm cho mình quên đi tiếng việt

02 TT: ừ

03 HS: có nghĩa là- ví dụ như em sẽ không có cái nhu CẦU nghĩ là *ơ tiếng việt là nó cái GÌ?*

04 TT: ừ

05 HS: giống như lần trước em. (..) ừ em phải làm một cái quyển company profile cho công ty (.) NẾU như em đặt

một cái chữ tiếng anh vào đấy là company profile. (.) em design ra nó rất ĐẸP (.) em dùng LUÔN cái từ

DESIGN nhớ? (.) bản thân bây giờ công ty em luôn dùng cái từ đấy. nếu mà em nói là *$chị ơi em thiết

kế?$* nghe nó cứ bị làm SAO? (..) tức là gì nếu như dùng một cái chữ nôm na (.) thì em đẩy lên em bảo *ồ ôi

chị ơi nếu em cho chữ hồ sơ năng lực vào quê LẮM í.*=

06 TT: ừ

07 HS: =nếu để chữ company profile THÌ nếu chúng ta hướng tới một cái đối tượng là- bây giờ vẫn là các giám đốc

bệnh viện (.) những người thế hệ cũ người ta sẽ KHÔNG hiểu nó là cái gì

08 TT: ừ

09 HS: vậy thì phương án của em là gì (.) bỏ luôn chữ ấy đi. (.) em bỏ luôn em đặt đúng cái logo vào trong í. chấm

HẾT? (.) và cái logo lại là gì. vietmedical. (.) tên là tên tây đấy?

10 TT: ừ. @@ (..) tức là- với những gì em nói í thì anh có thể hiểu là một bộ phận từ vựng trong tiếng anh nó đã vào

tiếng việt. [theo cái nghĩa=

159
11 HS: [chính XÁC

12 TT: =tức là (.) người ta dùng nó (.) một cách thông thường [rồi.=

13 HS: [chính xác.

14 TT: =và không có nhu cầu phải chuyển dịch nữa.

15 HS: chính xác. ngày xưa khi mà (.) viết email ở trong công ty thì (.) những cái email mà mang tính chất formal

(.) công văn này kia (.) không phải là công văn nhưng mà bây giờ có rất nhiều email nó mang tính chất là-

anh có thể- anh là- anh là giám đốc anh có thể confirm luôn (.) anh XÁC NHẬN anh PHÊ DUYỆT bằng

email được luôn. chứ không cần phải ký tươi nữa. đó? thì (.) cái hồi đầu í. là em luôn luôn là kính gửi xong ở

dưới là trân trọng (.) nhưng bây giờ là gì (.) ở trên là dear (.) dear anh dear chị xong dưới một đống là toàn

tiếng VIỆT (.) xong ở dưới là $thanks and best reGARDs chẳng hạn THẾ$ đúng không (.) bản thân ở trong

cái- cái chúng ta sử dụng hàng ngày (.) đã CẢM thấy cái chuyện đấy là việc tiếp nhận hoàn toàn bình thường.

16 TT: [cái đấy là

17 HS: [bây giờ chỉ nói đơn giản là cái từ logo (.) logo là cái gì hả anh (.) tiếng Việt em không BIẾT nó là cái gì luôn

(.) nhưng em cũng không có nhu CẦU để em đi tìm hiểu em sử dụng cho đúng nhớ? tức là cái tiêu chí đó

hoàn toàn mất đi rồi. (..) hay là tuyển dụng chẳng hạn (.) em sẽ ghi vào trong cái form tuyển dụng của công ty

luôn. em- tôi muốn tuyển một bạn content (.) contenter ((editor)) một bạn desSIGNer (.) photoGRAPHer

(.) videoGRAPHer (.) em không có phải là ờ một bạn biên tập hình ảnh (.) quay phim chụp ảnh (.) và TỰ

nhiên nhớ. trong- ở trong một cái góc độ làm nghề của em (.) nghe nó quê

18 TT: ừ

19 HS: NẾU anh dùng tiếng việt (.) tự nhiên cái level nó bị thấp xuống (.) nên anh phải dùng tiếng anh.

01 HS: formerly about um (..) five or six years ago (.) when a number of vietnamese students who had graduated

from overseas universities returned to work in vietnam (.) some of them managed to work in this

environment- some were able to adapt to the work here some weren't (.) the pidgin english then (.) it provoked

a sense of irritation. (.) people really hated it (.) BUT at present (..) has- this practice HAS become a factor

that makes us forget vietnamese

02 TT: mhm

03 HS: i mean- for instance i don't even find it NECessary to think *so, what is IT in vietnamese then?*

04 TT: mhm

160
05 HS: it’s like there was one time i. (..) um i had to create a company profile for my company (.) IF i put in there

the english words company profile. (.) when i had it designed out it looked really NICE (.) i used

DIRECTLY the word DESIGN you see? (.) now people in my company always use that word. if i said

*$sister i’ll design ((the vietnamese term))?$* it sounds like there is something WRONG? (..) what i mean is

when i had to tell the manager my opinion in a concise manner (.) i told her that *oh well sister if i put the

words company profile ((the vietnamese term)) in here it sounds REALLY awkward.*=

06 TT: mhm

07 HS: =but if we keep using the words company profile THEN and we want to reach the kind of readers who are-

who are now hospital directors (.) some of them belong to the older generations they WON’T understand

what it means

08 TT: mhm

09 HS: so what was my solution (.) i left these words out. (.) i left them out straight away and put just the logo in it.

that’s IT? (.) and what was inside the logo then. vietmedical. (.) it is an english name you see?

10 TT: um. @@ (..) it means- from what you have said i understand that a certain amount of english vocabulary has

been introduced into vietnamese. [in a way=

11 HS: [exACTly

12 TT: =that (.) people have used these words (.) in a quite natural manner [already.=

13 HS: [exactly.

14 TT: =and there is no need to look for the vietnamese equivalents anymore.

15 HS: exactly. recently when um (.) writing emails to people inside the company (.) with the emails that are formal

(.) official correspondence or similar sort of things (.) not exactly official correspondence but recently there

are many emails that are- you can- you are- if you are director you can confirm directly on them (.) you are

able to CONFIRM and APPROVE directly through emails. you no longer need to sign the printed documents.

you see? so (.) formerly. i always began an email with dear ((the vietnamese term) and ended it with regards

((the vietnamese term)) (.) but what i do now is (.) i begin with dear (.) dear brother dear sister then i write

the whole content of the body in VIETnamese (.) and finally i end it by $thanks and best reGARDs for

exAMple$ you see (.) right in the way- the way we use language everyday (.) we already SEE that this

practice is accepted in a totally normal way.

16 TT: [that is

17 HS: [now let’s take a simple word like logo (.) what is logo (.) i really don’t KNOW the vietnamese term for it (.)

but i don't find the NEED to look for an accurate vietnamese equivalent to use then? that is to say i absolutely

161
 don't care about it anymore. (..) or in writing job adverts for example (.) i will write in the recruitment form of

my company. i- i want to recruit a content (.) contenter ((editor)) a desSIGNer (.) photoGRAPHer (.)

videoGRAPHer (.) i find it unnecessary to write um a designer (.) a videographer or photographer ((the

vietnamese terms)) (.) and NATurally. from- from the perspective of my profession (.) it sounds

unprofessional

18 TT: mhm

19 HS: IF you use vietnamese (.) your level of professionalism is naturally lowered down (.) so you have to use

english.

In this excerpt, HS elaborates on how the attitudes towards language mixing have

changed from a provocative practice to one that is naturally accepted and has even become

essential in the workplace. Meanwhile, the examples that she uses throughout the excerpt also

reveal her attitudes towards English and Vietnamese and the influences that the former has

already had on the latter. I will start by analyzing how she positions herself within the recent

change of attitudes towards mixing English with Vietnamese.

In turn 1, upon mentioning the negative attitude towards this practice in the past, she

refers to it by the term ‘pidgin English.’ Within the context of Hanoi, tiếng bồi (‘pidgin’)

provokes negative connotations relating to the former pidgin French known as tây bồi

(‘Vietnamese pidgin French’) that used to be spoken by the local servants working in French

households during the colonial period. Relating the practice of language mixing to a pidgin

language, even though there has not actually been any kind of pidgin English existed in the city

recently, is therefore an allusion to how people formerly saw this kind of practice as

‘uneducated’ and worth denouncing. Here, it reflects a spontaneous reaction that not only

originates from stigmatized ideologies towards English and capitalism but also resonates with an

162
ideological tradition of ‘linguistic purism’ and a tendency to relate Vietnamese to patriotism,

culture and identity in the postcolonial period.

Afterwards, she also states explicitly that this practice provokes irritation and

subsequently reemphasizes that ‘people really hated it’ (turn 1). By using the Vietnamese

pronoun người ta (‘people’)51, which in this context refers to unspecified people not including

the speaker, she deliberately puts it that the negative attitude she has been talking about belongs

to other people rather than herself. This way of positioning enables her to act as an animator

(Goffman, 1981) who refers to what she is talking about as a witness, which thereby implicates

that she may not share the same perception, feelings, and attitudes with the people she has just

mentioned. It is worthwhile to note here that later in this excerpt, she continues to use this

pronoun (in turn 7), alongside the other Vietnamese pronoun chúng ta (‘we’ or ‘us’) (turns 7 and

15), as a pair to make a comparison between the language attitudes of older generations (or pre-

reform generations) and those of her generations including herself (or post-reform generations)

(see turn 7). By so doing, she has made a contrast between they/them and we/us and this will be

elaborated further in the analysis that follows.

Towards the end of turn 15, she raises a point that marks an important change in the

attitudes towards language mixing with a confirmation that reads, ‘we already see that this

practice is accepted in a totally normal way.’ While ‘totally’ strengthens the absolute certainty of

her belief, the use of the Vietnamese pronoun chúng ta (which corresponds to the inclusive

pronoun ‘we’ in English) in the proposition ‘we already see that’ shows that she does include

herself in it. This positioning indicates that she herself sees language mixing as a ‘totally normal’

practice. The use of the inclusive ‘we’ also means that the practice has become accepted not only

51
The absolute pronoun người ta in Vietnamese, which resembles on in French and man in German, has a variety of
meanings including ‘one, we, they, someone, people in general’ (Thompson, 1965, p. 252).

163
among those she has been working with but also in a bigger language-user community, not even

excluding the interviewer with whom she is talking. In other words, her stance not only confirms

that she has an open and positive attitude towards this practice in the workplace but also claims

that this attitude does not belong to her personally but other people as well.

More significantly, at the end of turn 19, she emphasizes the need for language mixing in

the working environment. Her firm remark that reads ‘so you have to use English’ indicates that

this practice in her consideration is no longer a subjective choice but an objective imperative.

Her stance is expressed through the use of the Vietnamese verb phải (‘have to’) (in this case, the

extended state verb phải in Vietnamese functions like the English modal verbs ‘have to,’ cf.

Thompson, 1965) and the second-person pronoun anh (‘you’). While ‘have to’ turns using

English into an external obligation rather than a personal choice, the use of ‘you’ (instead of the

first-person pronoun ‘I’) indicates that, not only her, but any person including the interviewer

will definitely do the same if they are put into the working environment like hers.

Thus far, the analysis summarizes briefly the development of this excerpt with respect to

the changing attitudes towards language mixing and how the interviewee positions herself as

someone who sees it as a normal and even necessary practice. Now, we focus more specifically

on how her attitudes towards English and Vietnamese are mediated in the excerpt through a

recital of her own experience with language use in the workplace. The subsequent analysis

discusses some specific examples of English versus Vietnamese words/phrases given by herself

and how she deals with her own language choice.

In turn 5, she recalls the real experience that she had when working with her manager to

design a company profile. By elaborating on her consideration to choose between the English

content ‘company profile’ and the equivalent Vietnamese term on the book cover, she reveals her

164
contrasting attitudes towards these two languages. While the English term is seen as looking

‘really nice,’ the Vietnamese one on the contrary sounds ‘really awkward’ (turn 5). (Here,

‘awkward’ is rendered as an equivalent of the Vietnamese term quê – which literally means

‘countrified.’ The ideology associated with this term in the local context of Hanoi will be

discussed in detail in the anlysis of the second excerpt in the next section.) Her attitude towards

the Vietnamese term for ‘design’ is also expressed rather explicitly that ‘it sounds like there is

something wrong’ (turn 5). This negativity is also foregrounded by the ironic voice and smile she

shows when pronouncing this term in Vietnamese, which indicates her belief that it is

inappropriate or even ‘awkward’ to turn to use some Vietnamese words whose English

equivalents have become established in everyday conversation. Her stance suggests that she has

a total sympathy for the people in her company who, as mentioned earlier in this turn, ‘always’

use the English term ‘design.’

Later in the excerpt, she reiterates this attitude when she emphatically claims that she

‘really’ does not know the Vietnamese term for the English ‘logo’ (turn 17). Again, it is to

illustrate that her aforementioned belief is even more appropriate with words that are borrowed

from English. Her priority of English over Vietnamese in the context of her workplace is also

highlighted when she continuously reiterates that she no longer cares to find and use Vietnamese

equivalents for the English terms she has already become familiar with through a series of

expressions such as ‘I don’t even find it necessary’ (turn 3), ‘I don’t find the need to’ (turn 17), ‘I

absolutely don’t care about it anymore’ (turn 17), and ‘I find it unnecessary’ (turn 17). Even

though it does not directly explain the use of language on signage, this language attitude of HS

(as a local resident and a presumed reader of LL signs) may well be related to the display of

165
some English terms like spa, nail, ship, restaurant, beauty, etc. on shop signs in the LL data that

we have discussed in Chapter 3 and 4.

Towards the end of the excerpt, more conscious judgements about two languages are

disclosed. Her elaboration in turn 17 and 19 indicates that English represents a higher level of

professionalism than Vietnamese in the working environment. Different from earlier expressions

in turn 5, the judgement ‘it sounds unprofessional’ (turn 17) not just indicates her personal

perception, it is more of a conscious reasoning introduced by the preceding adverbial phrase

‘from the perspective of my profession’ (turn 17). This expression turns her judgement (‘it

sounds unprofessional’) into a viewpoint or a stance that is shared commonly between her and

the people working in her profession. In other words, it is seen as a shared culture in the

workplace rather than just a personal judgement. Furthermore, this perspective is ‘naturally’

(turn 17 and 19) conceived rather than being guided by an explicit rule or convention.

Now we will look more closely at the ‘company profile’ example (turn 5 to 9) in which

she elaborates on the process as to how she reconciles a language choice conflict in order to deal

with the intended readers of different generations. After expressing her priority of English over

Vietnamese in turn 5, she raises her concern with a manager over the fact that using English

conversely cannot help them reach the intended readers who are of older generations (turn 7).

However, her final decision to use just a logo (turn 9) – a language-neutral presentation – does

not actually reflect this concern because if she really wants them to read, she can definitely put it

either in Vietnamese or bilingually.

Such a decision reveals an important point in her language attitudes which can only be

understood if we consider her age, her living and working places in the new quarter, and the

wider societal context of the city. HS was born before đổi mới but only started working over ten

166
years after the implementation of this policy when English has not only represented ‘the key’ and

‘the gatekeeping tool’ to open to the outside world (Denham, 1992; Phan et al., 2014) but also

embodied the imagined future identity of young generations (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2017). The

determination not to use Vietnamese on the cover of the company profile book in this case

demonstrates her firm commitment to a change in the language ideologies of her generations.

Meanwhile, the decision to also leave out English represents an effort to avoid confrontation

with the older generations who do not know English and possibly whose stigmatized ideologies

against English and capitalism as mentioned earlier may still linger on.

Based on the reasoning above, it is possible to say that English represents a new way of

thinking and working of younger generations in post-reform Vietnam, while Vietnamese

indicates the former way of life that is associated with older generations and the pre-reform

period. While the choice to use just a logo can be seen as a compromise from her and her

manager who represent younger generations, the visibility of company name in English

(Vietmedical) inside the logo and the way she emphasizes it – she raises her voice when

mentioning that ‘it is an English name you see’ (turn 9) – indicates a consistent commitment to

her attitude towards English and even a challenge to the ideological stance of older generations.

It is at this point that we can see a relationship between her attitudes towards English and

the wider language ideologies mediated in master narratives on đổi mới. Accordingly, English

(as mentioned above) is seen as a medium to open up to the world in order to gain advanced

knowledge in science and technology to serve the national course of development and

modernization and therefore is more likely to be linked to young generations who are the

protagonists of reform. Therefore, English not only represents an embrace of international

integration and modernity but is more likely associated with the identity of young post-reform

167
generations (to be elaborated further in the next excerpt). Here, English and reform are the

cultural story-lines that HS and the people of her generation take for granted and draw upon to

shape their language-ideological stances in a way not unlike her preceding generations who had

once seen a link between Russian and the course of socialist construction.

Next, we turn to discuss the influences of English on Vietnamese. As she mentions right

from the beginning of the excerpt, HS sees from her own experiences that language mixing

practice ‘has become a factor that make us forget Vietnamese’ (turn 1). The rest of this analysis

discusses how she illustrates this point by referring to relevant examples given by herself

throughout the excerpt. Further, her practice of code-switching to English is also considered in

order to have a more comprehensive understanding of language ideologies in this excerpt.

The most notable evidence enabling us to see her use of English in daily language

practice is the frequency of her going between two languages in this interview. In this excerpt

alone, she turns to use English twenty-three times, many of which are subconscious. It is rather

considerable and is in sharp contrast with the exiting ideology of linguistic purism in the country.

As represented through her own examples, English not only reduces the need for some

Vietnamese words in certain contexts (for instance, the word ‘design’ mentioned in turn 5) but

also makes people like her unaware of equivalent Vietnamese terms for some English-borrowed

words (for instance, the word ‘logo’ mentioned in turn 17). Furthermore, English also changes

the naming practice of some Vietnamese businesses (the name ‘Vietmedical’ in turn 9 is an

example), which is consistent with the practice of shop-naming as shown in the LL data in

Chapter 4. More significantly, English even has influences on communication practice in the

working environment (for instance, the practice of writing emails in turn 15 and composing

recruitment forms in turn 17).

168
 Now if we consider all the examples she has mentioned including her own subconscious

shifting to English, it is not hard to realize that mixing mostly happens at word level. The only

exception is when she writes emails. Here, English interferes into discourse level wherein it

begins and ends emails. But even then, the English used is basically formulaic and does not carry

main contents, since Vietnamese is always chosen for this function in the email body. It is quite

similar to the practice of using English for symbolic function in the bilingual shop signs that we

have witnessed in the LL data analysis (especially the case of the standing menu in Section 4.1 of

Chapter 4) wherein English is used to invoke modernity, prestige and class. And it also

corresponds with what Androutsopoulos (2012) refers to as the symbolic discourse function of

English when it is used in the headings, beginnings and endings of media texts. Based on this

observation, it is possible to infer that even though she claims explicitly that English is

synonymous with professionalism, the English she uses and refers to tends to carry more of

symbolism than indexing the ‘real’ professionalism in the workplace. To put it differently,

English here embodies the symbolism of professionalism, creates a sort of modern ‘style’ in the

workplace, and reflects the spirit of a newly acclaimed culture in the working environment,

which is probably represented most clearly among the people of post-reform generations whose

ideologies of English are significantly different from those of pre-reform generations as indicated

above.

In this excerpt, HS has talked about a significant change in attitudes towards English and

how it has been associated with young generations and the ideologies of reform, international

integration and modernity in the current society. Such an attitudinal change should be seen as

one of the major reasons underlying the burgeoning of English in Hanoi’s LL as indicated in

Chapter 3 and 4. In the following excerpt, we will look more closely into how English takes part

169
in the construction of youth culture and the modern and cosmopolitan identity of post-reform

generations, while Vietnamese becomes outdated and less exciting to them.

5.2.2 Vietnamese and nhà quê ideology

The subsequent excerpt follows a segment of interview interaction in which LM – the owner of a

small beauty clinic in the French quarter – explains that the name ‘Jollie’ (the letter ‘l’ is

doubled) on the sign of her store comes from her fancy nickname she has chosen because of her

admiration for the famous American actress Angelina Jolie. Being born and having grown up

after đổi mới, LM well represents the young middle-class generations who learned English in

their early ages at schools and have had more chances and better conditions to open to the

outside world.

Excerpt 2. It also sounds more modern

01 TT: thế khi mà em chọn lấy cái tên đấy cho vào cửa hàng í. thì em có nghĩ là cái tên Jollie nóóó. tốt hơn là lấy

một cái tên tiếng việt [không.

02 LM: [@@ (..) nhưng mà bởi vì vốn dĩ em thích tiếng anh rồi nên em CHẲNG bao giờ em

lấy tiếng việt cả

03 TT: [à.

04 LM: [chả bao giờ em nghĩ (.) em đặt tên thương hiệu của em là tiếng việt cả. dù cóóó (.) bây giờ hay là sau này

em có làm cái gì đi chăng nữa thì em cũng sẽ chỉ đặt $tiếng anh thôi$. @@

05 TT: à. (.) tức là kiểu mình nghĩ là tiếng anh nó sẽ kiểu. hợp với mình hơn đúng không.

06 LM: đúng rồi ạ. với cả nghe nó cũng hiện ĐẠI hơn chứ $em không thích tiếng việt$ [@@@

07 TT: [ok. ầ. được rồi. [[thế?

08 LM: [[nghe

tiếng Việt nó cứ bị kiểu (.) không được- không được (..) không được hay cho lắm í ạ. @@

09 TT: ừ. [đúng là bây giờ mà

170
10 LM: [ví dụ như bây giờ mà mở spa tên là @((tên riêng, ở lượt này và lượt thứ 12 người được phỏng vấn thử

tạo ra những cái tên cửa hàng khác nhau từ tên riêng của mình)) hay là ((tên riêng)) thì nghe nó buồn cười@

[@@ nghe quê. @

11 TT: [@

12 LM: hoặc là spa ((tên riêng)) hay spa ((tên riêng)) nghe nó cứ quê quê í ạ. [@@@@@.

13 TT: [ừ. nghe giống hãng taxi? @@@

14 LM: nên em phải đặt là jollie thì nghe nó kiểu hay hơn (.) còn bây giờ mọi người- ví dụ như đối tác của em ở

nước ngoài đi (.) hay là bạn bè của em mà ai ở nước ngoài người ta đều gọi em tên là jollie hết. không ai gọi

em tên là ((tên riêng)) cả. [@@

15 TT: [à. ok. thế là kiểu mình mà đặt cái tên tiếng anh đấy là- thực ra nó cũng có lợi

đúng không.

16 LM: đúng rồi ạ. có lợi ạ. thực ra bây giờ kể cả như các thương hiệu (.) ở việt nam mà anh thấy nó có- có tên tuổi

một tí í? chả có thương hiệu nào là tên tiếng việt cả

17 TT: không biết là cái lí do chủ yếu là do cái gì nhở?

18 LM: (…) [@@

19 TT [thực ra mình nhìn biển đúng là thấy [[chủ yếu các cửa hàng quần áo

20 LM: [[toàn là tiếng anh ạ (.) vầng (..) ừm đấy thí dụ như kiểu vincom

((tên của toà nhà cao tầng bên cạnh khu vực phỏng vấn)) các thứ này này người ta cũng có đặt tiếng việt đâu

ạ (.) mà rõ ràng là chủ là người việt (.) rồi các tập đoàn bất động sản? ví dụ như novaLAND rồi này kia các

thứ người ta cũng toàn đặt tiếng anh? không ai người ta đặt tiếng việt cả. (..) rồi ừ các trung tâm mua sắm

này hoặc là những cái (…) cái- cái- cái nơi lớn lớn bar- bar đi ví dụ như club này vũ trường bar (.) đa số

toàn chủ là người việt. nhưng toàn lấy thương hiệu là tiếng anh (..) [đấy nói chung

21 TT: [ừ. như kiểu thế là cho nó kiểu hợp xu

thế đúng không.

22 LM: em không biết được nhưng mà nói chung dân việt nam mình bị bệnh sính ngoại ạ. [@@@@

23 TT: [à à à. tức là khi mình làm

chủ mình ý thức là nếu mình đặt kiểu tiếng anh chẳng hạn thì khách hàng nó sẽ [[cảm thấy

24 LM: [[một phần là thế với một

phần cũng là do em cũng (.) học trường ngoại ngữ rồi em cũng thích tiếng anh nên đâm ra em cũng chỉ suy

nghĩ đến tiếng anh nhiều hơn ạ.

171
01 TT: so when you chose that name for your shop. did you consider whether the name Jollie iiit. is better than a

vietnamese [one.

02 LM: [@@ (..) but since i have always liked english so i DON’T ever think of using a vietnamese

name

03 TT: [ah.

04 LM: [i never think (.) i will take a vietnamese name for my business. eveeen (.) now or later whatever kind of

business that i may run i will also choose $just english$. @@

05 TT: ah. (.) does it mean that you think english is like. more suitable with you.

06 LM: right. and it also sounds more MODern and $i don’t like vietnamese$ [@@@

07 TT: [ok. yeah. alright. [[so?

08 LM: [[vietnamese

sounds like it is like (.) not- not (..) not really exciting. @@

09 TT: um. [now it seems true that

10 LM: [for example now if i open a spa called @ ((her name, in this turn and turn 12 she tries a different

combinations and arrangements of her real name to create possible business names in vietnamese)) or ((her

name)) it sounds funny@ [@@ and outdated. @

11 TT: [@

12 LM: or spa called ((her name)) or ((her name)) it sounds a bit obsolete. [@@@@@.

13 TT: [um. one of them sounds like the name of

a taxi company? @@@

14 LM: so i have to name it jollie ((dʒəʊˈli)) it sounds better (.) and now people- for example my foreign business

partners (.) or my friends who live abroad they all call me by jollie. no one calls me by ((her vietnamese

name)) at all. [@@

15 TT: [ah. ok. so it seems like that english name is- it is actually advantageous is that right.

16 LM: right. it has advantages. actually you can see that recently even brand names (.) in vietnam that- that are

known more or less? none of them is in vietnamese

17 TT: and what is the main reason for that?

18 LM: (…) [@@

19 TT [i can see it on shop signs myself [[most of the fashion shops

20 LM: [[they all use english (.) yeah (..) um for example vincom ((the name

of the modern building located right next to the venue where the interview took place)) and things like that

172
 they aren’t given any vietnamese names at all (.) even though the owners are absolutely vietnamese (.) and

then the real estate companies? for example novaLAND and similar stuffs they are all given english names?

no one uses vietnamese names. (..) and then um shopping malls or some (…) some- some- some rather big

places like bars- let’s say bars- for example clubs discotheques bars (.) most owners are vietnamese. but

they all take english names for their businesses (..) [so you see in general

21 TT: [um. is it a way to make it like suitable with the trend.

22 LM: i’m not sure but in general we vietnamese people have xenocentric mentality. [@@@@

23 TT: [ah ah ah. so it means that as a

shop owner you are aware that if you use like an english name for example the customers they may [[feel

24 LM: [[that is

one thing and another thing is because i also (.) studied in a foreign language college and furthermore i like

english so i tend to think more about using english names.

This excerpt shows my intention to elicit her responses about the benefits of using an

English name for her business in Hanoi’s context. Such an intention is indicated right from the

first question in turn 1 and is reproduced in subsequent questions in turn 15, 17, 21 and 23. As

the talk proceeds, the way she answers the questions, ranging from addressing them directly (turn

16, 24) to taking them to a different direction (turn 2, 22) or just returning them with laughter

(turn 18), indicates her stances and gives insight into her language attitudes. The following

analysis discusses how she refers to English as a vehicle for youth culture and a badge of modern

identity, what contrasting attitudes she has towards English and Vietnamese, and what reasons

she gives to explain for her favour of English. All these points will then facilitate our further

discussion as to how her language attitudes are related to wider societal language ideologies.

In turn 2, in answering the first question, she starts with the contrasting conjunction

nhưng mà (‘but’) to provide an argument which is in contrast with the presupposition in my

question. The subsequent content in her answer, which uses expressions such as ‘always’ (‘I

173
have always liked English’) and ‘don’t ever’ (‘I don't ever think of using a Vietnamese name’)

with ‘don’t’ being delivered with an increase in voice intensity, emphasizes that she has never

had a consideration as presupposed in my question in turn 1. Her positioning shows that English

has always been her first and only choice while Vietnamese has never been her consideration.

The existence of no such consideration may possibly be the reason explaining why she bursts

into laughter before giving the answer.

After her elaboration in turn 4 in which she reiterates that English has always been her

choice even in her future business and the opposite is true with Vietnamese, she answers my

question unhesitantly in turn 6 to confirm that English is more suitable with her before adding

that ‘it also sounds more modern’ (turn 6). This assertion, which comes immediately after her

answer ‘right’ to the question in turn 5, can be seen as the reason explaining why she considers

English as more suitable for her. In other words, this interactional sequence facilitates a logical

inference that English is believed to be more suitable because it represents in a better way the

image of her as a young modern person.

Later in turn 14, she emphasizes that the people of her circle including her friends prefer

addressing her with the name ‘Jollie.’ Despite its French origin, this name is associated with an

‘icon’ of American pop culture and becomes known to young Vietnamese people through the

medium of English. Therefore, it functions more like an English name for her, as indicated in the

way it is pronounced. (The IPA transcription in turn 14 shows that it is pronounced in the

English way. The accent on the second syllable may indicate an interference from Vietnamese.)

And the way she positions herself in relation to this reality indicates that she also likes being

addressed by this fancy name better, which is shown through the excitement in her voice – when

174
she mentions that no one calls her by the Vietnamese name at all – and the delighted laughter

following her utterance.

A shared preference for an adopted name from an American actress between her and the

people of her (young) age indicates that English is mutually favoured and chosen as the language

to represent the ‘culture’ of her group. In other words, English is seen as an identity tag for the

young local people who want to live a modern life, be seen as ‘cool’ and fashionable, and get

closer to the youth culture in the West and worldwide. This explains why in her talk she would

rather mention her friends and business partners from ‘abroad’ (turn 14) even though her

business mostly involves local customers. It is here that we can see more clearly (in comparison

with the first excerpt) how English takes part in constructing the modern and cosmopolitan

identity of young post-reform generations in Vietnam, which resonates with and sets more light

into the practice of business naming in the LL that we have discussed in Chapter 4 (especially

the case of Tracy Pham). Now, considering her preceding confirmation that reads ‘so I have to

name it Jollie’ (turn 14), it is possible to see that using English name is more likely to be an

obligation for her to be recognized as a member of that ‘youth culture’ rather than just to have a

name that ‘sounds better’ (turn 14).

Next, we will look more closely at her attitudes towards English and Vietnamese. After

expressing her high priority of English in turn 2, 4 and 6 as previously discussed, towards the

end of turn 6 she claims explicitly that she does not like Vietnamese. However, the smiling voice

when she says it and the laughter she places subsequently serve as mitigating devices allowing

her to make a less critical attitude. This is an indication of how laughter is used to manage the

delicacy of the moment in interaction (Gleen, 2013; Raclaw & Ford, 2017) (to be elaborated

below). In three subsequent turns (8, 10 and 12), she elaborates on her attitude towards

175
Vietnamese through such expressions as ‘not really exciting’ (turn 8), ‘funny and outdated’ (turn

10), and ‘a bit obsolete’ (turn 12). These expressions, which are all followed by laughter, again

mark an awareness to lessen the negative attitude in her words. This effort is also represented in

her hesitation to try and find appropriate words in turn 8 and her deliberation to use other

mitigating expressions such as ‘not very’ (turn 8) and ‘a bit’ (turn 12). All these mitigating

measures taken together seem to show that she does not have a severe and prejudiced attitude

against Vietnamese. Instead, Vietnamese is just no longer exciting to her, and more importantly

it cannot carry the spirit of youth culture and the modern and cosmopolitan identity that English

is believed to be able to do for her and the people of her generations.

It should be noted that when elaborating on her attitude towards Vietnamese, she uses the

term quê (‘countrified’) to refer to the use of some Vietnamese names as being ‘outdated’ and

‘obsolete’ (turn 10 and 12). The concept of quê (‘countrified’) or nhà quê (‘country rustic’) and

its ideological associations has a tradition of use dating back to the colonial time when the

colonialists called the common indigenous people nhà quê to show their contempt (Boudarel &

Nguyen, 2002). Later, this term has been used to refer to the rural people who come to do

business and live in the city but retaining the rustic manners of their former lives. Recently,

considering Hanoi’s expansion and development into an economic hub that attracts people in all

walks of life from neighbouring regions, this term is not only used to ridicule anyone who shows

an unsophisticated mannerism unfitting for the city’s ways of life but also laden with other

connotations from being ‘outdated’ and ‘backward’ to ‘ignorant’ and ‘uneducated.’ The

association of Vietnamese with nhà quê is an ideological indication of how Vietnamese lags

behind in the construction of modern identity for a segment of young local people. With her store

being located in the neighbourhood converged by ‘long-timer’ middle class inhabitants, it can

176
also be seen as an indication of how the French quarter’s social background may have impacts on

the way she positions herself (and her language use) with other people (and their language use),

especially those living in the neighbourhoods where there are more newcomer inhabitants. When

answering my question about her attitude towards shop owners who use Vietnamese on their

shopfronts in another part of the interview, she again replies that she finds it rather quê.

Later in turn 16, she uses the expression ‘you can see that’ to present an objective rather

than personal observation that Vietnamese has recently not been favoured by local businesses

especially those whose brand names are more or less locally known. Considering it as an

explanation for her preceding confirmation that an English name has its advantages, her

implication here is that English has been favoured over Vietnamese because it is associated with

success. Her elaboration in turn 20 makes this implication clearer. In order to illustrate that

successful local businesses normally take English names, she provides examples of an upmarket

apartment building in the neighbourhood (Vincom), a real estate company selling luxury

apartments (Novaland), and shopping malls and other businesses that provide modern

entertainment services such as night clubs, bars and discotheques. All these examples, which

centre around upmarket businesses and services in her own neighbourhood, indicate that English

from her personal perspective is associated with the successful life and identity of the middle

class to which she herself belongs. The association of English with prestige and class here

corresponds to the ideologies underlying language use on shop signs in the LL data wherein the

owners of 3KU Restaurant, for instance, choose English as a tool to select middle-class

customers for their eatery.

Thus far, the analysis focusing on her attitudinal positionings towards English and

Vietnamese has facilitated our understanding of her language-ideological stance whereby

177
English, apart from its association with youth culture, modernity and cosmopolitanism, also

represents prestige and middle-class identity. Now we look more closely into the reasons leading

to her favour of English.

In turn 18, when being asked to give a reason for the recent disfavour of Vietnamese she

has mentioned, she pauses for a while before bursting into laughter and does not say any word.

In this case, her laughter bears resemblance to what has been referred to as a device that helps

the speaker navigates the awkward moment in interaction (Raclaw & Ford, 2017). Her response

suggests the possibility that her favour of English may possibly be because she is following a

trend. Therefore, after hearing her elaboration in turn 20 the content of which, apart from what

have been discussed earlier, may also suggest the existence of a trend, I take another move in

turn 21 to ask her directly whether she thinks that the naming practice in fashion indicates a

trend. Her answer that reads ‘I’m not sure’ (turn 22) indicates that she neither explicitly admits

nor denies it. Such an ambivalent reply, wherein she avoids acknowledging explicitly the

existence of a trend, can be seen as being consistent with her earlier positioning that English has

become recognized as a language representing the identity of her social group so that using it

should no longer be seen as a trend.

But later in turn 22, she gives an explanation for the favour of English when she claims

that ‘in general we Vietnamese people have xenocentric mentality.’ Here, the Vietnamese

expression bệnh sính ngoại (‘xenocentric mentality’) is used most occasionally in the local

context to refer to the phenomenon of consumer xenocentrism (the preference of foreign

products over domestic ones, see Muller et al., 2015). However, this concept has also been

developed to cover all kinds of fetishism of Western things, from languages to cultures and

people and therefore is used to refer to the general phenomenon of cultural cringe (or cultural

178
xenophilia) that links closely with the internalized inferiority complex of peoples from countries

with colonial background. Because the ideology of xenocentrism is cast with criticism in

Vietnam, her laughter at the end of the utterance can be understood as a way to lessen the

negative attitudes associated with it, which is another indication of how laughter is used as a

‘delicacy-mitigating’ device (Raclaw & Ford, 2017). Furthermore, the expression ‘we

Vietnamese people’ enables her to seek a mutual agreement from the interviewer and present her

viewpoint in the form of a common belief that Vietnamese people are apt to yearn for Western

values. However, her positioning does not necessarily mean that she includes herself in it,

especially when the use of ‘in general’ indicates that it is not true with everyone who is

Vietnamese. But what is more important here is that she relates the recent burgeoning of English

to a broader ideological phenomenon which considers Western values as status symbol. Despite

her earlier reluctance to confirm the existence of a trend, it is possible to infer from what she has

elaborated here that the xenocentrism she mentions may serve as a backup for the burgeoning of

English and probably a trend that favours English and its symbolism.

In turn 24, she does not wait until I finish my question in which I want to ask whether her

choice of a foreign name is to make use of the aforementioned ideological phenomenon. Her

ability to make sense of my question without having to hear the rest of it, which is also supported

by a partial agreement in her reply (‘that is one thing’), suggests that she may have been aware of

it. However, right afterwards, she immediately reiterates her earlier attitude that she likes English

and tends to think about using it. But this time, she mentions her educational background as an

explanation for her ‘English-only’ ideology. As mentioned earlier, she was born and has grown

up and been educated in a period when there has been a surge in demand for learning and using

English in Vietnam, which is referred to as the ‘English language fever’ (Le, 2006). A change in

179
the educational policy of Vietnamese government has given English the status of the ‘chief’

foreign language (Doan et al., 2018) and made it a driver of social mobility. With LM and the

people of her generations, English not only takes part in constructing their identity as young

modern people but is also an indication of ‘educatedness.’ Being able to use English allows them

to avoid being lagged behind in the course of national reform and modernization.

In short, the first two excerpts indicate that English not only represents an embrace of

international integration and modernization but also takes part in building a youth culture and

constructing the modern and cosmopolitan identity of young post-reform Vietnamese

generations. These findings resonate remarkably well with what have been identified in the LL

data analysis in Chapter 4 concerning the ideologies of internationality, modernity and

cosmopolitanism associated with the use of English on signage. But more than that, these two

excerpts also show an attitudinal change towards English and how it has become a language

associated with and necessary to the course of national reform. This is an important background

rendering the understanding of English language ideologies in present-day Vietnam possible (to

be discussed further in the last section of this chapter). Likewise, the analysis of the first two

excerpts also sets light into how Vietnamese lags behind in its ability to embody the spirit of

reform and the desire for modernization of young generations, which cannot be seen based solely

on the analysis of LL data in Chapter 4.

In the following excerpt, I will present a significantly different attitude towards English

and its bourgeoning in public spaces. It not only gives an additional insight into the ideologies of

English as discussed in the first two excerpts above (as well as in Chapter 4) but also helps

understand more comprehensively the ideologies of Vietnamese and its position in the current

society.

180
5.2.3 Vietnamese and neo-nationalist ideology

Towards the middle of the interview, TN describes the proliferation of English on shopfronts in

the Ancient quarter where he lives as a sort of ‘herd behaviour.’ Based on his own observation as

a middle-aged inhabitant who has experienced changes in this neighbourhood in the post-reform

years, the stores which follow the trend to use English of this type have intermittently been

changed hands or repurposed. In his opinion, this reality indicates that these proprietors failed to

run their businesses efficiently, which is largely due to their inability to understand the market

and customers. The following excerpt continues that interaction and focuses more specifically on

language choice on shopfronts.

Excerpt 3. I believe that they just ape each other

01 TT: thế chứng tỏ là cái- cái sự lây lan- kiểu hiệu ứng dùng tiếng nước ngoài đấy nó chủ yếu là do làm THEO thôi

đúng không.

02 TN: ăn theo thôi (.) mà thậm chí bản thân CHÚNG NÓ cũng chả có cái chủ đích [gì.

03 TT: [ờ. @

04 TN: nhiều khi nó đặt tên nó cũng chả biết là cái gì. *nó là tây thì tôi cũng phải đặt tên tây* (.) đấy? (..) thế nhưng

mà- nghĩa là tôi cảm nhận là. chúng nó không có kiến thức và thậm chí rất là dốt về những vấn đề ấy. (.) à

vì- vì chúng nó đặt tên là vì- lí do chúng nó đặt tên tây là vì những cửa hàng khác nó đặt tên tây.

05 TT: ừ

06 TN: đấy (.) còn những thằng mà nó- nó hảo thủ í [thì nó lại tên việt nam.

07 TT: [ừ

08 TN: ví dụ (.) nhà may cao minh rồi nhà may chương [này

09 TT: [giá của nó đắt

10 TN: đúng KHÔNG? đấy? anh để í những thằng ấy sao- tại sao nó không đặt tên tiếng anh? bởi vì sao. nó là- nó

mang tính chất gọi là thương HIỆU=

11 TT: ừ

181
12 TN: =còn lại những thằng kia là (.) nào là lá LÚA rồi các kiểu lá sen lá ổi các thứ (.) vứt hết. chỉ là- nghĩa là-

nghĩa là- nếu mà đặt tên tây thì nó chỉ là sự học đòi theo nhau thôi (.) còn những thằng bản lĩnh không bao

giờ nó đặt

13 TT: [chứng tỏ

14 TN: [nghĩa là TÔI nghĩ rằng í. lí do chính mà chúng nó đặt là ngẫu NHIÊN và chúng nó (.) học đòi theo nhau

chứ chả có cái- cái mục đích gì đâu

15 TT: KHÔNG có mục đích cụ thể?

16 TN: không có mục đích cụ thể luôn. và tôi tin rằng những thằng ấy đú theo nhau.

17 TT: ừ

18 TN: đấy? nghĩa là nhiều khi cái ngôn ngữ (.) những cái đấy gọi là cái sự phản ảnh của đời sống (.) hàng ngày mà

đời sống hàng ngày thì văn hoá chúng nó kém (.) thì- thì- thì CẢ một hội nó giống nhau và chúng nó ấy với

nhau thôi

19 TT: @@

20 TN: đấy? (.) nó không có chiều sâu. thế nào cứ đưa đẩy nó vào

01 TT: from what you’ve said you mean that the- the spread- the kind of phenomenon of using foreign languages on

shop signs mainly reflects the tendency to FOLlow each other is that right.

02 TN: it is just following each other (.) even the owners THEMSELVES don’t have any practical purposes [at all.

03 TT: [yeah.@

04 TN: sometimes they don’t even know the meaning of the names they use. *i choose a foreign name because the

other shops use foreign names* (.) there you see? (..) but- i mean i feel that. they are lack of knowledge and

even ignorant of their choices. (.) ah why- why they use foreign names- the reason they use foreign names is

because other shops use foreign names.

05 TT: mhm

06 TN: you see (.) but the owners who- who own successful businesses [tend to choose vietnamese names for their

shops.

07 TT: [umm

08 TN: for example (.) cao minh tailor chương tailor ((the names of two successful local tailors)) [and the like

09 TT: [their services are

quite expensive

182
 10 TN: is that RIGHT? you see? you may notice that why these shops- why don’t they use english names? why.

because it is- it has something to do with building a BRAND=

11 TT: mhm

12 TN: =and the shops that have foreign names (.) such as RICE leaves and similar stuffs like lotus leaves guava

leaves ((examples of english names but mentioned in vietnamese)) and that sort of things (.) all these names

don't work at all. it is just- i mean- i mean- they use foreign names because they imitate each other that's it

(.) and the owners with self-confidence never use foreign names like that

13 TT: [it means that

14 TN: [i mean I think that. the main reason is that they use foreign names at RANdom and they (.) imitate each

other rather than having any- any practical purposes

15 TT: NOT a single concrete purpose?

16 TN: not at all. i believe that they just ape each other.

17 TT: umm

18 TN: you see? i mean that normally language (.) it is like a reflection of life (.) of everyday life and in this case it

indicates their low-level culture (.) since- since- since ALL of them are of the same cultural level they just

imitate their fellows

19 TT: @@

20 TN: that’s it? (.) it is a lack of deep consideration. they unreasonably tried to put foreign languages onto signs

This excerpt develops on his attitudes towards the use of English and Vietnamese on

shopfronts whereby the former represents a superficial trend, a lack of practical purposes and

business knowledge, and a ‘low-level’ culture, while the latter indicates an adherence to stable

and long-term development, an awareness of self-reliance, and a promotion of national identity.

The subsequent analysis shows how these ideological stances are expressed in interaction.

At the beginning of the excerpt, after I take the first turn to recapitulate what he has

discussed in the preceding interview segment and ask for his confirmation, he reiterates that the

English usage on shopfronts is ‘just following each other’ (turn 2). Later in turn 2 and 4, he

provides reasons to explain his point. These reasons vary from the proprietors not having ‘any

183
practical purposes’ (turn 2) to showing a ‘lack of knowledge’ and being ‘ignorant’ (turn 4) of

their own language choice. What is worth noticing is the way he presents each single reason and

makes use of appropriate linguistic expressions to render the conveyance of his respective

attitudes. In turn 2, for instance, apart from an increase in voice intensity to highlight that it is the

owners ‘themselves’ who have no practical purposes whatsoever, his reasoning is also

highlighted by the expression thậm chí (‘even’). Likewise, in the earlier part of turn 4, the

assertion ‘they don't even know’ emphasizes that the meaning of these English names is

surprisingly unknown to the proprietors themselves. Later in turn 4, the clause ‘I feel that’ serves

as a hedging expression marking an awareness to shift what he is going to say about the

proprietors’ ignorance in their language choice into a subjective personal perception. Here, his

choice of the Vietnamese verb cảm nhận (‘feel’), which is inclined towards a less rational

thought, will later be compared with other verbs that indicate more rational thoughts such as nghĩ

(‘think’) (turn 14) and tin (‘believe’) (turn 16) to elaborate on how the degrees of rationality and

certainty in his positionings increase with the development of this excerpt.

In turn 4, it is also worth attending to a change in his voice’s pitch when he says, ‘I

choose a foreign name because other shops use foreign names.’ By lending his voice to a

proprietor, TN facilitates an understanding that the reason is being given by the proprietors

themselves. This way of positioning permits him to deny the role of the person who actually says

it and hence increases the objectivity and persuasiveness of his reasoning. The interjection ‘there

you see’ (turn 4) that immediately follows this utterance renders the understanding of it as an

objective fact rather than a personal observation. This is also a way to seek for an agreement

from the interviewer and hence to negotiate the reasonability of his argument, as he continues

using interjections of this type later in turn 6, 10 and 18. By the end of turn 4, he reports the

184
previous ‘direct’ utterance in indirect voice that reads ‘the reason they use foreign names is

because other shops use foreign names.’ Such a repetition of the same content in both direct and

indirect speech once again reinforces the objectivity and persuasiveness of his reasoning.

As the interaction proceeds, he reconfirms the existence of the aforementioned superficial

imitation by repeating the same content that ‘they imitate each other’ in turn 12 and 14. In turn

14, the lack of conscious consideration in using foreign names is seen as ‘the main reason’ and

foregrounded by the phrase ‘at random.’ Here, the introductory clause ‘I mean I think that’

indicates an advancement in the rationality of his reasoning, if we compare with the use of the

expression ‘I feel that’ in turn 4. The arbitrariness and lack of consciousness in foreign language

usage is subsequently reemphasized by repeating for the second time (the first time in turn 2) that

the proprietors have no particular practical purposes. Overall, up to this point, he sees the use of

English on shopfronts as a superficial trend that lacks conscious consideration, knowledge, and

practicality.

Meanwhile, the segment from turn 6 to 12 develops on his attitudes towards Vietnamese.

Here, he specifies a tendency wherein Vietnamese names are associated with successful local

businesses, which is significantly different from what LM has expressed in the previous excerpt.

This is an attestation to the multiplicity of language attitudes and how they can vary between

individuals due to differences in a variety of factors involving their social backgrounds. After he

takes two locally acclaimed tailors as examples to illustrate his point in turn 8, I add some

information about these two tailors (‘their services are quite expensive’) in the following turn. In

return, he replies using two consecutive interjections ‘is that right’ and ‘you see’ (turn 10). These

interjections, apart from reconfirming his point and strengthening his reasoning, highlight the

fact that these tailors can sell their products at high prices. With regard to the reality that local

185
goods and services have normally been sold at a price range way lower than those of the same

types imported from Euro-American markets, his emphasis on high price ranges should be

understood as an illustration of success and an implication of prestige and class, the features that

are not conventionally associated with Vietnamese businesses.

The question afterwards (‘why don't they use English?’) (turn 10), which sounds more

like a rhetorical question, presupposes that English tends to be used in the stores that sell or

‘want’ to sell products at higher prices. Here, regardless of their upscale positions, the reason

why these two tailors do not choose English names is later related to the aim of brand building.

The Vietnamese term thương hiệu (‘brand’) (turn 10) which is underscored by an increase in

voice intensity, apart from indexing an adherence to stable and long-term development, has a

special connotation in its local context. Building local brands has recently been given due

attention by Vietnamese government and seen as an economic strategy to increase the

competitiveness of local businesses, especially when there has been an influx of foreign products

into the local market since the country implemented its open-door policy. Being mediated in

national discourses on đổi mới and development, the building of brand names by small and

medium local businesses is not only seen as a way to protect national interests and strengthen

national economy but also to promote national pride and identity (Pham, 2013) – an indication of

neo-nationalism. By relating the choice of Vietnamese (instead of English) to local brand

building and national identity construction, TN has therefore highlighted the link between

Vietnamese and national identity.

Towards the end of turn 12, he underscores that self-confident business owners ‘never’

resort to superficial foreign names. His judgement suggests that the proprietors’ deliberation to

stick to using Vietnamese is a demonstration of their faith and confidence in the national

186
language. And this positioning implicates that at a time when shop owners turn to use English

and capitalize on its values, using Vietnamese indicates a determination to base on domestic

resources and not to rely on those from the outside world. In other words, Vietnamese becomes

acknowledged as a manifestation of self-reliance. It is here that we can see an important point in

his language-ideological stance whereby he is inclined to make a distinction between Vietnamese

as ‘our’ language, one which symbolizes internal strength, and English as ‘their’ language, one

which is attached to external power. This justifies how the nationalist (or Herderian) language

ideology, which links a language with a nation and its people, is reproduced in the time of reform

whereby using Vietnamese is not only seen as promoting national identity but also protecting

national resources and developing national power. Together with his earlier perspective on brand

building, his stance here makes it more evident how the ideologies of ethnocentrism and neo-

nationalism, which we have already seen in the LL data analysis in Chapter 4, are mediated in

the national rhetoric of đổi mới and development and hence have influenced the interview

participant’s language attitudes towards Vietnamese.

In turn 12, he also uses a metaphorical expression that adds more nuances to his

contrasting attitudes towards the use of English and Vietnamese on shopfronts that he has so far

elaborated. When giving examples of shop signs in English, the names he mentions, which

include ‘rice leaves,’ ‘lotus leaves’ and ‘guava leaves,’ all have ‘leaves’ as a common element.

The content of these names suggests that they are just fictitious names he comes up with to

illustrate his point. But more importantly, using Vietnamese to provide examples of English

names is a deliberate attempt52 to make use of the metaphorical connotations of the term lá

(‘leaves’) that he expects to share with me as a Vietnamese speaker. In Vietnamese, the term lá,

52
Since he is capable of using English, the use of Vietnamese here is considered a deliberate intention.

187
especially when it enters the expressions such as hoa lá (‘flowers and leaves’) and hoa lá cành

(‘flowers, leaves and branches’), implicates an excessive focus on outside appearance or even a

pretentious display. Besides, the leaves are the part of the tree that have temporary existence,

which are normally contrasted with the stability and durability of the trunks or roots. Therefore,

the figurative image of ‘leaves’ here implies that the use of English on shopfronts is shallow,

pretentious and temporary.

His association of English with impermanence should be related to and understood in the

context of Hanoi’s linguistic background. Over the course of history, except for an extended

period of time under the Sinitic influence, the shift from one major foreign language to another

in the city has happened for a few times with the most recent move from Russian to English.

Regardless of different ideologies associated with these two languages in two distinctive

historical periods (characterized respectively by a restriction to the socialist world and an

opening up to the world at large), such a change cannot help leaving marks on the psychology of

the people, especially those who have had time living and working in the pre-reform period. A

volte-face turn from Russian and a plunge in Russian learners, despite its former status as the

major foreign language and a seemingly close and durable relationship with Russian language

and culture in pre-reform period, gives people a reason to think that the ‘English language fever’

(Le, 2006), which marks a sudden turn to favour English after the initiation of reform, is just a

temporary propensity. From such a perspective, the prevalence of a certain foreign language at

present is susceptible to change in accordance with possible future socio-political changes in the

city, as it had ever happened in the past.

Towards the end of the excerpt (turn 15 to 20), he elaborates on his attitude towards the

use of English on shopfronts. In turn 15, when I ask him to confirm his judgement that the

188
proprietors do not have any ‘concrete’ purposes with their English usage, he answers quickly and

firmly that ‘not at all’ (turn 16) and then adds that they just ‘ape’ each other. Different from

previous hedging expressions in turn 4 and 14, here he uses the clause ‘I believe that,’ which

indicates a more solid certainty, confidence and rationality in his positioning. In addition, the

Vietnamese verb đú (‘ape’) also conveys a more intense attitude compared to a series of the verb

học đòi (‘imitate’) that has previously been used, since it exacerbates the absurdity and

thoughtlessness in the proprietors’ language choice.

But even more strikingly, in turn 18, he considers using English a manifestation of a

‘low-level’ culture. Based on the elaboration after that, he wants to refer to these proprietors as a

social group who are of the ‘same cultural level’ (turn 18) because of their tendency to imitate

from their own fellows. The way he refers to this superficial imitation as a low culture and

addresses its members using ‘all of them’ (turn 18) permits him to position himself as not

belonging to this ‘sub-culture’ and even in a position that can judge and look down on it. It is

here that his attitude towards the superficialism of English usage is displayed most intensely and

we can also see quite clearly how the semiotic process of iconization (Irvine & Gal, 2000) is

represented in the way English is assigned to a specific social category.

With regard to the association of English with professionalism and educatedness that we

have seen in the interview excerpts of HS and LM, his language-ideological stance here is

significantly different. It also goes against the general tendency that relates English to prestige

and the reality in which it is fetishized in the LL worldwide (Kelly-Holmes, 2014). Therefore, in

order to understand his stance, let us try putting it into the context of the neighbourhood where

he lives. Different from other parts of the city, the Ancient quarter, due to the limitation of its

infrastructure with small business outlets and narrow streets, is basically dominated by small

189
retailer stores. After đổi mới, in order to adapt to the changes in customer composition which has

now included more non-local residents, many mum-and-pop stores add English onto their shop

signs. However, due to the proprietors’ limited access to English, their shop signs showcase

literacy-related problems of different types. (The case of the Bread Pate eatery in Chapter 4 can

be seen as an example53.) It may possibly be due to this ‘substandard’ English usage and the

inroads of this superficial trend in the neighbourhood that have led to his ‘negative’ language

attitudes. The fact that he turns to other neighbourhoods for ‘better’ examples of language use on

signage may support this judgement. (The two tailors he mentions in turn 8 are not located in the

Ancient quarter.) Mindful of this observation, the English associated with ‘low culture’ that he

refers to here should be limited to a superficial trend in English usage among just a certain

number of shop owners.

Moreover, his language attitude should also be considered against the backdrop of the

aforementioned ideologies of ‘pidgin’ and linguistic purism. As mentioned earlier in the analysis

of excerpt 1, the tendency to associate pidgin with ‘uneducatedness’ has originated since the

colonial time and this association seemingly remains applicable to ‘substandard’ language usage

today. But more importantly, the ideology of ‘purism’ in language and culture has continuously

been highlighted in master narratives since the inception of the DRV. It is mediated in the

movements to ‘uphold the purity and clarity of the Vietnamese language’ (giữ gìn sự trong sáng

của tiếng Việt) and, more broadly, in the national concerns over cultural encroachment from the

West. In 2011, in the 11th Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party marking nearly 30 years of

reform, the mixing of external cultural elements was considered the cause leading to the

53
During the ethnographic observation in this quarter, I had seen many other examples of ‘substandard’ English
usages on shop signs. In some cases, based on the content in Vietnamese, I can see that the English equivalent shows
a totally ‘different’ content. For instance, a liquor store boasts the English content ‘special alcohol-beverage’ while
the content in Vietnamese means ‘specialized in alcoholic drinks and beverage.’

190
degradation and deformation of national culture. Accordingly, in the current cultural story-lines,

purity in language use is promoted and associated with high culture and put in sharp contrast

with the low culture of language hybridity. The interaction in this excerpt and throughout the

interview shows that TN barely mixes English into his utterances except for some conscious

attempts to provide examples in English. Even though it can be arbitrary to consider it an

awareness of upholding the purity of Vietnamese, judging from his attitudes towards Vietnamese

he has elaborated on and comparing with the codeswitching practiced by two interview

participants (in excerpt 1 and 2), it can be a possibility.

In short, this excerpt indicates how the nationalist ideology is mediated in the interview

participant’s language-ideological stance. Accordingly, English represents external cultural

influences, or cultural ‘Others,’ and therefore its position is seen as superficial and temporary.

Different from LM, he confirms decisively that the burgeoning of English only shows a

superficial trend. But more importantly, going against the emerging inclination to relate

Vietnamese to the ideology of nhà quê (‘country rustic’), the interview participant in this excerpt

associates it with national identity and a neo-nationalist awareness of promoting national power

and status, which resonates remarkably well with the language ideologies identified in the LL

data analysis in Sections 4.5 and 4.6 of Chapter 4. This language-ideological perspective renders

it possible to not only explain for an undeniable prominence of Vietnamese on signage but also

give a more comprehensive understanding of the ideologies of Vietnamese as well as its status in

the current society, which will be discussed further by the end of this chapter (in Section 5.3).

Up to this point, the analysis of the first three excerpts has presented contrasting language

attitudes towards English and Vietnamese. Accordingly, the preference for English as the

language of internationality and cosmopolitanism is accompanied by the promotion of

191
Vietnamese as the language of national pride and identity. This finding illustrates rather clearly

the bidirectional flows of language, ideology and culture in post-reform Vietnam as having

already been demonstrated using the LL data in Chapter 4. In order to further understand these

different language-ideological stances and more importantly how they co-exist in the current

society, let us proceed to the next excerpt.

5.2.4 English and Vietnamese and reconciliation ideology

In the interactional segment leading to the following excerpt, NV – a local resident in the French

quarter – talks about her perception of language use on shop signs in her own neighbourhood

according to which she has become aware of an increasing visibility of English and other foreign

languages such as French on shopfronts. As the youngest of all participants, she works as a

barista for a modern coffee house in the neighbourhood where she lives. Before that, she had

done the same type of job for a traditional style café. Her experience working in these two

different environments is reflected in the following interview interaction.

Excerpt 4. I prefer them to use purely Vietnamese names

01 TT: thế thì (.) em có- khi nhìn vào những cái hàng nó là tiếng anh hoặc tiếng pháp kiểu đấy thì (..) em có- kiểu

thái độ của em. thấy nó như nào

02 NV: (…) [em thấy

03 TT: [SO với việc những cái hàng mà nó vẫn dùng tiếng việt. thí dụ như cà phê hằng cà phê lâm các kiểu

đấy?

04 NV: ààà (.) nghe- thực ra là cũng tuỳ (.) tại vì nếu mà- ví dụ (.) một cái quán như này ((một quán cà phê hiện đại

nơi diễn ra cuộc phỏng vấn)) mà nói tiếng anh thì em thấy tự nhiên nó sang hẳn lên [@@@.

05 TT: [ừ. [[có vẻ đấy nhỉ.

192
06 NV: [[đấy- đấy là (.)

$vầng$ còn nếu ví dụ- ví dụ cà phê trông như này mà cái gì cô BA cô biếc đấy thì em- em thấy nó lại (..) nói

như nào nhỉ. tức là nó chưa- nó không hợp lắm với cả cái- cái décor của cái quan đấy (.) ĐẤY?

07 TT: ừ hứ. tức là- thế- thế bây giờ lại nói về chuyện hợp nhớ? (.) khi nào dùng tiếng anh thì hợp khi nào dùng

tiếng việt thì hợp

08 NV: (3 giây)

09 TT: thí dụ trong cái phố nhà thờ này ((phố này nằm trong khu phố pháp với nhiều cửa hiệu hiện đại)). đúng

không. (.) thì mình nên dùng tiếng anh à?

10 NV: $KHÔÔÔNG$ (.) tại sao lại thế? (..) KHÔNG

11 TT: không phải hả.

12 NV: [vâng

13 TT: [thế ý em là như nào

14 NV: em không biết nữa nhưng mà ý là- nếu mà- ví dụ nhớ cái tadi- cái tadiiii (.) oto (.) ((tên một quán cà phê nằm

trong khu phố pháp gần đó)) nó là tiếng việt nhưng mà nó có một cái gì cách điệu nó rất tây (..) nó kiểu- nó

kiểu rất là la tinh hả? [hay là

15 TT: [ừ. nó không dùng dấu [[trông nó- trông giống

16 NV: [[phát âm lên nó cũng hay (.) mặc dù đấy là tiếng việt nhưng

kiểu nó lại- đấy nó- nghe nó rất là $nước ngoài$. @ [đấy?

17 TT: [tức là em vẫn thích yếu tố nước ngoài trong biển hàng

biển hiệu hơn đúng không.

18 NV: ừm cũng- cũng tuỳ ví dụ như là những cái nào mà mang hơi hướng- ý là cái concept của người ta là về (.)

cái ý tưởng mààà (.) tạo nên cái cửa hàng đấy là thuộc về- về cái- về những cái giá trị mà kiểu xưa cũ chẳng

hạn (.) thì là em thích là dùng thuần việt hơn (.) anh hiểu ý em không?

19 TT: à à (.) kiểu như cộng cà phê hả.

20 NV: vâng đúng rồi (.) đấy kiểu đấy

21 TT: [bây giờ anh

22 NV: [ví dụ như đặt- đặt là plus cà phê thì đương nhiên em thấy nó (.) em thích cộng hơn. nghe nó vẫn thuần thuần

hơn.

23 TT: tức là- tức là em đồng ý là có hai xu hướng. khi mà mình dùng tiếng anh thì là (.) mình kiểu hiện đại đúng

không. còn nếu mà- khi mà hướng về giá trị việt nam thì nên dùng tiếng- tiếng- tiếng việt.

24 NV: đúng rồi.

193
25 TT: thí dụ như bà mỹ ((cửa hàng ăn truyền thống có thể nhìn qua cửa số quán cà phê nơi diễn ra phỏng vấn)) này

thì như nào? (.) @bây giờ bà í chuyển thành tiếng anh anh thấy cũng được vì toàn khách tây.@

26 NV: KHÔNG em vẫn thích bà í để tiếng việt hơn

27 TT: vì sao?

28 NV: tại vì (.) em không biết mà tại bà mỹ này bán lâu rồi (.) nên em vẫn muốn bà í giữ là bà mỹ như ngày xưa (.)

mặc dù em chả ăn quán bà í.

01 TT: so (.) do you- when you see shop signs which use english or french like that (..) do you- i mean your

attitudes. how do you feel

02 NV: (…) [i find

03 TT: [in COMPARISON with shop signs that still use vietnamese. for example hằng café or lâm café ((the

examples of old coffee house names)) and the like?

04 NV: aaah (.) it sounds- actually it depends (.) because if- for example (.) if they use english for a shop like this

((the high-end coffee shop where the interview is taking place)) i think that it certainly makes the shop look

much more classy [@@@.

05 TT: [um. [[it seems reasonable.

06 NV: [[that- that is (.) $yeah$ but if for example- for example if they call a coffee shop

like this one by a name such as ms. BA ((an old-fashioned vietnamese name)) and things like that then i- i

think that it is against (..) how should i put it. i mean it hasn’t- it is not very suitable with the- the décor of

the shop (.) you SEE?

07 TT: uh-huh. it means- so- so let’s talk a bit about the suitability okay? when do you find it suitable to use english

and when it is suitable to use vietnamese

08 NV: (3 seconds)

09 TT: for example in this nhà thờ street ((a street in the French quarter lined with modern shops)). okay. (.) do you

think that we should use english?

10 NV: $NOOO$ (.) why is it like that? (..) NO

11 TT: you don't think so.

12 NV: [no

13 TT: [so what is your opinion

194
 14 NV: i don’t know but i think- like- for example the tadi- the tadiiii (.) oto ((tadioto is the name of a local bar

located in the vinicity of the same neighbourhood)) (.) it is vietnamese but it is sort of stylized therefore it

looks very occidental ((a translation of the term tây in vietnamese)) (..) it is like- it is like very Latino isn’t

it? [or

15 TT: [um. it doesn't use any diacritics [[it looks- it looks like

16 NV: [[its pronunciation sounds exciting too (.) even though it is vietnamese it

is like- it is- it sounds really $exotic$. @ [you see?

17 TT: [does it mean that you like foreign elements in shop signs better.

18 NV: um it- it depends for example with the shops that have the tendency- i mean the concept of the owners is

about- (.) the idea tooo (.) create those shops is about- about the- about sort of old values for example (.) then

i prefer them to use purely vietnamese names (.) do you understand what i mean?

19 TT: ah ah (.) you mean like cộng café ((a local brand that promotes vietnamese traditions)).

20 NV: yeah you are right (.) like that

21 TT: [now i

22 NV: [for example if they name- name it plus ((a translation of cộng into english)) café then i certainly feel that it

is (.) i like cộng better. it sounds purer.

23 TT: so- so you see that there are two tendencies. when they use english (.) they want to be sort of modern is that

right. and if- when they aim to return to vietnamese traditional values they should use the- the- the

vietnamese language.

24 NV: that’s right.

25 TT: for example how about the case of mrs. mỹ’s shop? ((an old vietnamese shop that could be overlooked from

the window of the café where the interview took place)) (.) @now if she changes the shop sign into english i

think that it is acceptable because her shop has many foreign customers.@

26 NV: NO i prefer her to use vietnamese

27 TT: why is that?

28 NV: because (.) i don't know but her shop has been here for a long time (.) so i still want her to keep the name

mrs. mỹ as it is (.) even though i don't eat there.

This excerpt discloses her language attitudes whereby English is believed to represent

modernity while Vietnamese embodies tradition. Despite her young age, she shows a rather

195
strong awareness of the relation between language, tradition and culture. That being said, she

also acknowledges that Vietnamese, if undergoing an appropriate process of stylization, can be

turned into a medium being able to carry the spirit of modernity. The following analysis

discusses in succession how these points are represented in the excerpt.

Let us start with the expression of her attitudes towards the use of English and

Vietnamese on shopfronts and how these two languages are ‘iconized’ as the embodiment of

modernity and tradition respectively.

At the beginning of the excerpt, it takes me two turns (turn 1 and 3) to elicit her answer in

turn 4. The exclamation ‘aaah,’ which appears right at the beginning of turn 4, indicates that the

question now makes sense to her. Since there is not actually any ambiguity in the question in turn

1 on her attitudes towards the use of foreign languages on shop signs, her hesitance in turn 2 is

worth an attention. Considering her answer that reads ‘actually it depends’ and the subsequent

explanation in turn 4, it is conceivable that her attitudes towards English depend on when, where

and probably how it is used. Hence, her hesitance can possibly be seen as an indication that she

may not have any preconceived attitudes towards English and the use of it on shopfronts. This

detail suggests that her stance can be markedly different from the other three participants whose

interview excerpts have been analyzed above.

As she elaborates later in turn 4 and 6, the use of English at the café where the interview

takes place is believed to make it look ‘much more classy’ (turn 4). With regard to the setting

and style of this place, what she implies is English fits in with and even enhances the elegant and

modern outlook of this café. On the contrary, Vietnamese, if it is used, will not suit its modern

décor and more broadly its modern style. The example of an old-fashioned Vietnamese name

196
(‘Ms. Ba’54) she gives in turn 6 highlights her stance that it is certainly inappropriate to stick to

using Vietnamese in modern places where English can function better. Therefore, up to turn 6,

her positioning indicates that English represents modernity while Vietnamese is limited in this

function, which can be thought of as the first half of her argument.

As the interaction proceeds, she adds the second half to her argument from turn 17 to 24.

After being asked if what she has talked about until then means she prefers seeing foreign

languages on shopfronts, she reiterates her earlier answer that ‘it depends’ (turn 18). However,

this time she reinforces her argument by elaborating on when it is preferable to use Vietnamese.

In turn 18, she claims that ‘purely Vietnamese names’ are more suitable with the stores whose

‘concept’ and ‘idea’ are about old traditional values. Her choice of the English word ‘concept,’

which is getting closer to a marketing term, makes it conceivable that using Vietnamese is to

construct and market a traditional ‘content,’ not just to generate a traditional outlook. In other

words, Vietnamese is believed to embody and be a part of tradition. Such a connection between

Vietnamese and the conceptual level of tradition is different from the link between English and

its modern outlook that she has mentioned before. This difference indicates that she may have a

deeper connection with Vietnamese, which serves as a backdrop against which we can look

further into her language attitudes as it will subsequently be revealed.

Her argument on using Vietnamese to embody tradition continues to be elaborated from

turn 19 to 22. In turn 22, she illustrates the inappropriateness of using English names at the shops

with traditional themes or concepts by trying to translate the name of a café from cộng in

Vietnamese to plus in English. Through this example, she wants to show how this translation

loses important connotations that have contributed to the traditional values of this café (see

54
The practice of giving names to children based on their birth order in the family.

197
Chapter 4 for the explanation of the name cộng). Therefore, she is able to demonstrate that

English is limited in its functioning in the places that promote tradition. Later, she adds that she

prefers the name cộng because ‘it sounds purer,’ which justifies that the use of English may

influence the purity of traditional content that this café carries. If looking back at her preference

for ‘purely Vietnamese names’ in turn 18, we can see her consistent belief in using Vietnamese

to reinforce the purity of tradition. So, it is possible at this point to combine the two halves of her

argument to see its entirety that English represents modernity while Vietnamese embodies

tradition. The firm agreement (‘that’s right’) in turn 24 about the coexistence of modernity and

tradition relating respectively to English and Vietnamese, which I summarize in turn 23, is her

direct confirmation of this argument.

The language ideology that associates English with modernity and Vietnamese with

tradition should be understood in and related to the social background of the neighbourhood

where she lives and works. As mentioned in the LL data analysis in Chapter 4, the development

of the French quarter after đổi mới makes it the meeting point of local and global cultures.

Therefore, it is here that local residents have been exposed to and experienced more strongly old

and new cultural flows than the other quarters, which leads to a more fervent awareness of

addressing the issue of tradition and modernity in their daily life. The assigning of each language

with a different function reflects how this interview participant reconciles the issue of culture and

development in a city that has decidedly opened its doors to the outside world and is getting into

full swing of reform. While Vietnamese continues to serve as an embodiment of culture and

identity, English opens opportunities for development and modernization. This stance, which

indicates how she reconciles the contrasting attitudes represented in three earlier excerpts,

198
renders both the respect for tradition and Vietnamese and the yearning for modernity and English

possible.

Now we turn to discuss her awareness of protecting tradition by using Vietnamese.

Towards the end of the excerpt in turn 25, I choose an old restaurant in the street, whose clientele

composition has recently changed because of an increase in non-local diners, that still uses

Vietnamese on its shopfront sign as an example to check on her stance that Vietnamese

represents old values and tradition. The firm answer ‘no’ with a marked increase in voice

intensity in turn 26 indicates her objection to the intention to use English at this restaurant and

her preference that the proprietor should remain using Vietnamese (‘I prefer her to use

Vietnamese’). After being asked for an explanation, she replies in turn 28 that she wants the

restaurant to remain as it has been for a long time, which suggests that her preference for

Vietnamese here comes from an awareness to maintain its tradition. Since Vietnamese on its

shopfront is a component of the restaurant’s tradition, it should be kept unchanged. Once again,

she brings to the fore the connection between Vietnamese and tradition and reconfirms that

Vietnamese not just represents tradition but is a part of it.

However, her awareness of using Vietnamese and protecting tradition is not limited to a

specific case but can be seen more broadly. After her silence in turn 8 upon being asked when it

is considered suitable to use English and Vietnamese, I take another turn to check whether she

thinks that it is better to use English in the street where the interview takes place. The reason I

asked this question is not just because this rather short street55 is lined mostly with modern and

upmarket boutiques, cafés and restaurants, but my ethnographic observation also shows that

English (alongside French) really dominates the shopfronts here56. Even though her reply ‘no’ in

55
This street is just over one hundred metre in length.
56
Vietnamese is only used on the shopfront signs of a café and an old restaurant.

199
turn 10 is given in a smiling voice, her disagreement is still shown rather intensely through a

combination of an increase in voice intensity and an extended vowel length. It is later followed

by an exclamation question (‘why is it like that?’) and a reinforced repetition of the reply ‘no.’

Her response shows that even though she understands that English fits in with modern stores, she

cannot help feeling discontented upon becoming aware of the possibility that Vietnamese may be

replaced by English in the streets. Such a simultaneous response indicates her deep-down

awareness of the official status of Vietnamese and its expected visibility in public spaces. When I

take another turn to reconfirm her disagreement, she replies quickly with a firm ‘no’ in turn 12.

After this interview was over, she walked with me through that street and showed a surprise after

having paid deliberate57 attention to the shopfronts and seeing for herself that there were just a

few shop signs in Vietnamese. Although this phenomenon is beyond the scope of this

dissertation, it is worthwhile to note the following point. Since it is not unusual to see that the

inhabitants’ perception may not reflect adequately the actual reality of visual multilingualism in

their living environment, it may be exciting to look into how their various levels of awareness

may have different influences on their language attitudes.

Even though the analysis so far indicates that she relates English to modernity and

Vietnamese to tradition, it does not mean that there is a rigid dichotomy between the two.

Despite her awareness of Vietnamese and tradition, the interaction from turn 13 to 16 reveals

that, from her perspective, Vietnamese can be ‘stylized’ to become the language being able to

carry the spirit of modernity.

After being asked to explain for her objection in turn 10 and 12, in turn 14 she gives an

example of a shop sign in the neighbourhood whose name tadioto is a ‘novel word’ coined by

57
It was the first time she did it deliberately even though she went past that street regularly.

200
joining a whole sentence in Vietnamese (for a detailed explanation, see Section 4.8 in Chapter 4).

She later describes such a stylization of Vietnamese as looking ‘very occidental’ and sounding

‘really exotic’ (turn 14 and 16). In the translation, I remain loyal to her use of the Vietnamese

term tây (‘occidental’) – which means ‘following Western style.’ This term has rather positive

connotations in the local context of use since it is associated with modernity and refers to

‘superior’ qualities of the people and things from the West, as it has already been demonstrated

in the discussion of the shop sign Loan Tây (‘Loan the Westerner’) in Chapter 4. Her word

choice here therefore indicates that stylized names with tadioto as an example are able to create a

modernity outlook (a characteristic normally associated with English) for Vietnamese.

This ‘loosening’ attitude towards the ‘modernized’ Vietnamese on shopfronts illuminates

an angle concerning how people of young generations renegotiate the linguistic purism ideology

that has had a tradition in post-colonial Vietnam. Despite bearing an awareness of the relation

between language and tradition, she shows a flexible attitude towards ‘renewing’ Vietnamese so

as to make it a medium of modernity. This attitude does not go against her awareness of

preserving tradition, but instead indicates her acknowledgement of the contemporaneous

function of Vietnamese. Accordingly, aside from embodying tradition, Vietnamese needs to be

modernized so that it can keep up with the development of a renovating society and construct the

modern identity of young generations. Within the broader context of Hanoi as a city in Asia, đổi

mới, apart from being a vehicle for development, also gives rise to a more fervent awareness of

the East and the West, the local and the global. The need to renew Vietnamese is analogous to

the necessity to modernize the local culture and bring it to the world, which has also been

demonstrated in the LL data analysis, especially in the discussion of RuNam Càfê and Ầu Ơ …

Vietnam Kitchen (see Section 4.7 in Chapter 4). This language-ideological stance is therefore an

201
extension of the aforementioned reconciliation ideology. It reflects a reality in which people of

young post-reform generations are straddling the Eastern and Western cultures and maneuvering

their way towards constructing an ‘indigenized’ modernity, a type of modernity for Asian

regions (see Iwabuchi, 2002). Such an indigenized modernity reflects not only a desire to

become global and have a cosmopolitan identity but also an awareness of (re)confirming local

and regional identities among young Asian people – an indication of a new pan-Asian ideology

that has also been discussed in Section 4.8 of Chapter 4.

In order to understand more about this reconciliation ideology, let us revisit her

expression ‘very occidental’ in turn 14. This expression, supported by her subsequent

elaboration, indicates her tendency to see Western values not only as standards to compare with

but also as a status to yearn for, which resonates remarkably well with the ideology of Western

centrism mentioned above. Such a craving for Western values makes it discernible that apart

from a respect for tradition and culture, she also displays an admiration for modernity and

modernization. Her ability to harmonize these seemingly contrasting beliefs and feelings allows

her to keep a reconciliatory language attitude in the way that she shows no prejudice against

either English or Vietnamese. Instead, each language has its own status and fulfills its own

delineated role in performing social practice and constructing local identity.

In short, in this excerpt, it has become more obvious that English is associated with the

ideology of modernity and assigned a demarcated role and position in the society that is aiming

for modernization. What are new here are the ideologies of Vietnamese whereby it not only

embodies tradition and culture but can also carry the spirit of modernity. This is indicated in the

tendency to modernize Vietnamese and turn it into a medium that conveys traditional contents in

modern forms and therefore reflects the ideology of regional modernity in SEA.

202
5.3 Further discussion and summary

Apart from the notable view of English as the language of modernity and cosmopolitanism,

which is presumably shared ‘universally’ with the global spread of English in the LL worldwide

(cf. Kasanga, 2012; Selvi, 2016), there are also some other recurrent ideological themes in the

interview data whereby English is seen as a lingua franca for international integration, an

essential and practical tool of modern life, a representation of a new way of thinking and living, a

medium to pursue advanced education and better life abroad, a vehicle to bring Vietnamese

values to the world, and a means to construct a modern Vietnamese identity. Furthermore,

English also embodies social mobility, high technology, educatedness, youth culture and

identity, new trends, class, and urban life. And when related specifically to consumption, it

represents either foreign or international goods and services (both of which are likely to be

understood by Vietnamese consumers as coming from the West) and therefore implies premium

quality and prestige.

As complicated and possibly wide-ranging as the ideologies of English (as listed above)

may be, the analysis of four interview excerpts in the previous section has made it discernible

that English in Vietnam becomes associated very closely with the course of national reform. The

open-door policy and the ideology of đổi mới prioritize global integration and economic

development, which has not only changed the former stigmas against English but also turned it

into a medium that facilitates opening up to the world at large, not excluding countries in the

West, for the purpose of modernization. The choice of English rather than any other ‘foreign’

languages in Vietnam and the reshaping of English ideologies from a language attached to a

203
specific country/enemy to a ‘world language’ that belongs to no particular ‘owner’ and therefore

can be at anyone’s disposal will be discussed further in the next chapter.

In this section, I include more interview excerpts from other interview participants

(whose names are abbreviated as CL, DN, HT and VN) not only to extend the discussion and

strengthen the major arguments presented in four previous excerpts but also to add more nuances

to the understanding of language ideologies as constructed and mediated in the interview data as

a whole. The following analysis elaborates further on how the interview participants’ attitudes

towards English and Vietnamese are fundamentally influenced by the ideology of đổi mới. In the

meantime, it also discusses how a more open attitude towards English (and multilingualism) is

accompanied by a promotion of Vietnamese, with the former representing the push for reform

and development and the latter the pull of tradition and identity. And lastly, it explicates the

ideology of reconciliation – which balances two existing propensities of modernity pursuance

and tradition preservation – and how it is shown in the way English and Vietnamese are assigned

with their demarcated and supplementary roles in post-reform Vietnamese society.

The interweaving of the ideologies of English and đổi mới is shown rather promiscuously

in the interview data. Apart from the young interview participants (as discussed in four excerpts

above), the older ones, not excluding those belonging to the generations who had studied Russian

in schools and experienced firsthand negative attitudes towards English during the pre-reform

period, also acknowledge that they now see English as the language of open-door era, one which

facilitates the country’s integration into the world economy. A middle-aged shop owner in the

new quarter considers the burgeoning of English on shopfronts in Hanoi as acceptable and quite

normal because of a substantial increase in the number of foreigners moving to visit, work and

live in Vietnam in the years after the initiation of reform.

204
 01 CL: với cả là hội nhập í

02 TT: ừ

03 CL: bọn tây nó sang bên mình ĐẦY í mà mà sao- mà sao mình cứ phải viết tiếng việt (.) để nó vào đấy xong rồi

nó hiểu thì có phải hay hơn không

01 CL: now that we are joining the world economy

02 TT: uh

03 CL: a LOT of westerners come to our country so why- why must we keep writing in vietnamese (.) isn’t it better

if we let them in and understand what they see

By assigning the use of English on signage for the purpose of enabling foreigners to read and

neglecting the reality that Vietnamese people are also, if not to say the main, intended readers, he

underscores that English functions as a medium through which the world gets to know Vietnam.

As such, an essential connection between English and global integration – the sine qua non of

đổi mới – has been rendered possible.

The ideology of reform and opening up to the world is not only represented in the

interview participants’ attitudes towards English, which as mentioned above is seen as the lingua

franca serving the purpose of global integration, but also expanded into their viewpoints on the

issue of multilingualism in general. Accordingly, using a foreign language other than English is

also considered necessary as long as it helps reach a wider circle of readers in order to promote

global integration for the purpose of economic development. After having added English into his

shop sign for a few years now, the oldest interview participant who owns a small coffee shop in

the Ancient quarter highlights the importance of using other foreign languages (such as

Japanese) as well.

01 TT: nếu để ý. bác sẽ thấy đài báo thường hay nói về việc (.) giữ gìn sự trong sáng của tiếng việt

02 DN: à rồi

03 TT: theo ý bác. việc dùng tiếng anh trên biển hiệu như hiện nay có ảnh hưởng đến tiếng việt không?

205
 04 DN: không ảnh hưởng gì. là bởi vì bây giờ mình mở rộng ra khắp thế giới rồi. không phải là chỉ anh quốc và mỹ

mà kể cả nhật (.) những thứ tiếng đó đều là quan trọng hết. chẳng qua tiếng nhật thì bây giờ chưa được phổ

biến lắm. nếu không mình cũng sẽ đưa vào

01 TT: if you’ve noticed. you can see that there are discussions in newspaper and on radio about (.) preserving the

purity and clarity of vietnamese language

02 DN: ah alright

03 TT: so in your opinion. does the use of english on commercial signs at present have any impacts on vietnamese?

04 DN: it doesn’t affect anything whatsoever. because we are now open to the whole world. not only to england and

the usa but also to japan (.) so their languages are all important. japanese isn’t very popular now. otherwise

i’ll also include it into my shop sign

With an unequivocal negation of the necessity to uphold the purity of Vietnamese and an open

attitude towards multilingualism, this excerpt mediates the ideology of open-door era that

resonates remarkably well with the tendency to write not just Vietnamese and English on shop

signs as already discussed in the LL data analysis in Chapter 4, especially the case of Santorini

Chicken and Soju Pub in Section 4.1.

The intertwinement of the ideologies of English and đổi mới in the context of present-day

Vietnam is probably shown most evidently in the way this international language is likely to be

seen basically as a driver or ‘tool’ for economic development rather than being associated with

the local culture. (The primary priority of đổi mới in Vietnam is economic development.)

Accordingly, the addition of a new layer of English in public spaces is remarkably perceived by

the interview participants not as enriching but instead diminishing local cultural values and

affecting Vietnamese identity, even though they are apt to agree that using English on signage

makes shopping streets look more modern. Notwithstanding her elaboration on the important

role of English in the current working environment and daily life, when expressing her opinion

on whether English may contribute to the affluence of language and culture in Hanoi’s public

206
spaces, HS claims explicitly that English is not the language that can represent Vietnamese

culture, and worse ‘it even causes the loss of Vietnamese identity features.’

01 HS: xét về mặt văn hoá thì nó không làm giàu cho văn hoá việt nam (.) chắc chắn là như thế. nó còn làm mất đi

nét việt nam

02 TT: tại sao lại mất? bây giờ thêm một lớp tiếng anh nữa thì càng phong phú chứ

03 HS: không. tiếng anh không phải là văn hoá của việt nam

01 HS: as long as culture is concerned it ((english)) doesn’t enrich vietnamese culture (.) it certainly doesn’t. it even

causes the loss of vietnamese identity features

02 TT: why is it like that? don’t you think that adding a layer of english can make it ((vietnamese culture)) richer

03 HS: no. english doesn’t represent vietnamese culture

In line with what has been mentioned in the excerpt above, LM makes a generalization

that the use of English by her as well as other Vietnamese people ‘develops the culture for

England’ (phát triển văn hoá cho nước anh). Accordingly, the expressions of these two interview

participants confirm their view of English as the language of ‘the Others’ (another indication of

the Herderian ideology that has been shown by TN in excerpt 3 above), notwithstanding their

prior acknowledgement of its importance to their daily lives and its functioning as a constituent

of their identity.

In order to explain for this seemingly contradictory treatment of English, these interview

participants explicate that they see English as an indispensable tool for economic development

especially when the national capability is still limited (due to the fact that Vietnam is not a

developed country). According to LM, English works as leverage for her private business, since,

as she explains afterwards, it enables her to approach and profit from new and modern

technology (related to plastic surgery) unavailable in the domestic market.

207
 01 LM: chỉ vì đất nước mình nó chưa phát triển

02 TT: ừ

03 LM: có dùng tiếng việt cũng KHÔNG phát triển được cho cái kinh doanh của mình thì mình mới @phải dùng

tiếng anh@

01 LM: just because our country isn't developed

02 TT: uh

03 LM: using vienamese is NOT good for developing my own business (.) so i @have to use english@

Therefore, despite being aware of its possible ‘impingement’ on Vietnamese culture and

identity, these interview participants turn to English since the topmost priority of them, and

probably also of post-reform Vietnamese people in general, is to develop their own business.

When such a trade-off between cultural preservation and economic development is made, we can

see rather clearly how English is associated with the latter.

And lastly, it is important to note the following point. Since English functions as a means

to reach the purpose of đổi mới, it is consequently seen as a vehicle for modernization,

Therefore, English can easily become associated with a yearning for modernity and an embrace

of imagined cosmopolitan identity among post-reform Vietnamese generations. That being said,

the link between English and this ‘youth culture’ at best is seen by some interview participants as

superficial and temporary, and at worst is spelt out as a ‘low culture’ (as indicated in the analysis

of excerpt 3 in the previous section) or even related directly to the enduring ideology of Western

centrism – a devout reverence of occidental cultural elements which originated in the colonial

time (Cao, 2003) and has recently been referred to in national rhetoric as a representation of

xenocentrism and a self-denial of traditional identity.

208
 Notwithstanding the practical role of English in the current Vietnamese society, most of

the interview participants, not excluding those who realize the importance of English in the

workplace as well as daily life, see to it that the inroads of English and especially its burgeoning

in the LL are more or less relatable to this ‘xenocentric mentality’ (bệnh sính ngoại). Some of

them voluntarily brought up this issue in their talks either directly or indirectly even before being

questioned about it. An inhabitant in the Ancient quarter claims that the significantly increasing

visibility of English on shop signs reflects a trend underlain by a pragmatic motivation of

shopkeepers to capitalize on a fetishization of English in the local context. Accordingly, English

is added and utilized as a means to increase the value of products owing to its evocation of class,

quality and elegance.

01 HT: nó như kiểu một cái phong TRÀO í. tức là (.) cứ thứ gì có dính tiếng anh trên đó được xem là sang xịn và

mịn

02 TT: ừ

03 HT: tức là (.) hầu hết những người muốn chêm tiếng anh vào biển hiệu là muốn nâng tầm bản thân và giá trị hàng

hoá của mình

01 HT: it's like a TREND. i mean (.) anything with english on its label will be thought of as high class, good quality

and elegance

02 TT: uh

03 HT: i mean (.) most of the proprietors add english to their shop signs in order to increase their own value as well

as the value of their goods and services

In other words, as she elaborates further after this excerpt, English is manipulated as ‘a faux

cover for uncertified quality’ (lấy hình thức để lấn át nội dung). While this excerpt illustrates

that English is associated with the zeal for modernity based on its accumulation of symbolisms in

the local context of use, it also shows how this world language and đổi mới are tied together to

convey the people’s passion for modernization.

209
 All in all, English is closely related to đổi mới in the way that the former, as elaborated

heretofore, is seen as a medium for global integration, a tool for economic development, and a

vehicle for modernization. Nevertheless, opposing reactions of the interview participants to the

ascendency of English in the local context has also been made known through the analysis

above. Next, we proceed with a further discussion of the interview participants’ attitudes towards

Vietnamese.

Since the country entered the full swing of reform, Vietnamese seems to lag behind in

keeping up with the spirit of modernity and representing the identity of young post-reform

generations who are apt to associate it with the ideology of nhà quê (‘country rustic’). As such,

using Vietnamese may ostensibly be seen as awkward, unprofessional, obsolete and possibly

even ‘uneducated.’ However, there is a likelihood that this ideology accompanies the ‘trend’ to

promote English and its symbolisms among Vietnamese youth and therefore has also been seen

by some other interview participants as superficial and temporary. Deep down, the interview

participants, not excluding those who are prone to favour using English and think of Vietnamese

as not being in a very good position to convey the sprits of reform and modernity, see to it that

Vietnamese is the language of tradition and culture. Their stance indicates an undisputable and

cemented link between Vietnamese and cultural identity, even though this is sometimes not

acknowledged explicitly and may even be obscured by the proclivity for modern and

cosmopolitan identity.

In the interviews, this link is probably represented most clearly in the participants’

attitudes towards the way some local people deal with their own personal names. CL, for

instance, shows a strong objection to the practice of some local shop owners who adopt and write

‘hybrid’ (normally combining English and Vietnamese) names on their shop signs (such as the

210
case of Tracy Pham in Chapter 4), despite his support of using English on signage as discussed

above. In his opinion, Vietnamese people should be proud of their surnames, since it is a way to

show respect for their own families. In the excerpt below, he displays a rather intense distaste for

this practice through the use of words and ironic intonation.

01 CL: một cái xấu nhất đấy là thí dụ như là *jenny nguyễn* này với cả *tommy ngô* với cả các thứ

02 TT: @@@

03 CL: đến dòng họ của mình mình phải tự hào về nó chứ. mà sao mình lại BỎ cái họ của mình đi để mình lấy

những cái của nước ngoài

01 CL: the most disgraceful thing is the use of names such as *jenny nguyễn* and *tommy ngô* and the like

02 TT: @@@

03 CL: we should at least be proud of our own family names. why do we ABANDON our family names to adopt

foreign ones

Despite misunderstanding the practice of adopting English (or foreign) first names, which is

understandable for someone who does not speak English and bases himself on the name order in

Vietnamese (in which the surname comes first), he manages to show an awareness of protecting

Vietnamese identity and therefore is also able to make an implication on the connection between

Vietnamese language and cultural identity. As he elaborates further in the interaction following

this excerpt, a surname is not just attached to one’s family but more broadly to national history

and hence a denial of it is a disrespect of national tradition.

The decision to stick to Vietnamese by another shop owner in the French quarter after all

the amendments and replacements of his shop signs enables him to proudly confirm that his

customers, and probably the local people in general, now see in this consistency a demonstration

of the stable tradition of not just his own store but also the city as a whole. As indicated in the

excerpt below, the deliberation not to include any foreign languages, whether it is English or

211
Japanese, into the shop sign renders a link between Vietnamese and the said tradition on the one

hand, and a promotion of the status of Vietnamese in the local context of use on the other.

01 VN: tôi không phát triển thêm bất cứ một cái gì. không tiếng anh không tiếng nhật (.) tôi chỉ giữ ĐÚNG tinh thần

này trước khi bàn giao cho thế hệ tiếp theo

02 TT: vâng

03 VN: nên đến bây giờ nhìn vào cái biển này. người ta thấy một cái truyền thống (...) và có thể nói là một sự bền

vững

01 VN: i won't add anything new whatsoever. no english no japanese (.) i'll keep everything EXACTLY as it is

before passing on to the next generation

02 TT: yeah

03 VN: so now looking at the shop sign. people see a tradition (...) and probably a stability

Thus far, it has become discernible that language ideologies in post-modern Vietnam are

influenced by the call for reform and development at one end and the preservation of tradition

and identity at the other end. The former creates more open attitudes towards English (and other

foreign languages) but may consequently slide into a promotion or even fetishism of this

international language. Meanwhile, the latter promotes Vietnamese as an embodiment of

tradition but can easily be gripped by the ideology of linguistic protectionism which is

represented in the downplaying or even negation of the role of foreign languages and their

participation in the construction of post-reform Vietnamese identity.

That being said, the language-ideological landscape as represented in the interview data

is characterized not simply by confrontation but also by reconciliation. Accordingly, while

English is seen as the leverage that helps accelerate global integration and take advantage of

resources from outside, Vietnamese embodies the ideology that promotes internal strength and

improves the country’s status. Within the social context of reform that prioritizes modernization,

212
the ideology of Vietnamese, which has been backed up by a tradition of linguistic purism (as

discussed in Chapter 2), has also experienced changes. Accordingly, Vietnamese is now seen as

a language that is not just simply associated with culture and identity but instead can be made

anew so as to reflect the spirits of modernity and global integration.

The ‘loosening’ attitude towards the ideology of linguistic purism and standardization is

indicated in the people’s willing to ‘modernize’ Vietnamese on shop signs (as exhibited in the

LL data in Chapter 4) and voice their tolerance and support for this practice (as expressed in the

interview excerpts in the previous section). Apart from NV’s support of the practice of

‘stylizing’ Vietnamese (see Section 5.2.4), even the oldest interview participant, who belongs to

a generation that may have more fervent consciousness of preserving the purity of Vietnamese,

sees that post-reform Vietnamese people should be more open-minded in terms of language use

and give a priority to economic development.

01 DN: mình nên mở lòng ra. còn nếu mình chỉ nghĩ rằng *tôi chỉ bảo lưu cái tiếng việt của tôi* thì kinh doanh của

mình sẽ kém đi. đúng không?

02 TT: vâng

01 DN: we should open our mind. if we keep thinking that *i want to protect my own language* then it may affect

our business. is that right?

02 TT: yeah

This advice from the oldest interview participant, which I have chosen to conclude this

section, bears witness to how the ideologies of Vietnamese language have also experienced

changes to get in tune with the broader societal ideology of đổi mới. Against the backdrop of a

tradition of linguistic nationalism and an establishment of the primordial link between

Vietnamese and national tradition that has been forged since the inception of the DRV in 1945

213
(see Chapter 2), Vietnamese has now become intertwined with not only culture and identity but

also national development and prosperity.

But above all, the reconciliation ideology is represented most clearly in the way the

interview participants assign each language with its own function whereby English and

Vietnamese are respectively associated with modernity and tradition. This not only reflects a

practical need to harmonize modern and traditional values in the current society but also

indicates the roles and positions of these two languages and how they work in tandem with each

other in constructing the people’s identities. In the following chapter, I will combine the findings

of LL and interview data analyses and provide further discussion on the contribution of this

dissertation to the understanding of language ideology and identity construction in present-day

Vietnam.

214
Chapter 6 Conclusion

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, I have presented results of the LL and interview data analyses. The

former concentrates on how language ideologies and identity construction are mediated in

language practice in the LL of Hanoi, while the latter revolves around how the involved people

expressed, whether explicitly or implicitly, their ideologies of English (the major foreign

language) and Vietnamese (the national language) and constructed their corresponding identities

through these two principal languages in Vietnam today. In this chapter, I want to recapitulate

the findings of this dissertation and elaborate on its academic contributions. In the first section, I

am going to combine the results of the last two previous chapters and present the major findings

of this dissertation concerning language ideology and identity construction in post-reform

Vietnam. The subsequent section discusses the other major findings and what implications they

have to contribute to the fields of LL and globalization studies, the theory of global English, the

study of language ideology, the analytical approach of language attitudes in interaction, and

lastly the understanding of nationalism in Vietnam. This chapter ends with a brief discussion on

the limitations of this dissertation which are accompanied by some corresponding suggestions for

future research.

215
6.1 Language ideology and identity construction in post-reform

Vietnam

I begin this section by presenting the major findings of this dissertation about language

ideologies of Vietnamese people as mediated in LL and interview data and then elaborates on

what these language ideologies may render an understanding of their identity performance and

construction. Afterwards, I continue with a further discussion on the ideologies of English and

Vietnamese, together with some other notable languages displayed in the LL of Hanoi, in order

to illustrate as to how these language ideologies have become entangled with and influenced by

the broader ideologies of reform and regionalism in current Vietnamese society.

6.1.1 Language ideologies

The language ideologies as mediated in the people’s language practice (LL data) and their talks

about language (interview data) are diverse and can at times be contradictory, which reflects

rather precisely different cultural and ideological flows in Hanoi and how they have become

more affluent since the city embraced economic reform and took gradual steps to enhance global

integration. Be that as it may, the findings of this dissertation indicate that there are two major

conspicuous ideological propensities as follows.

The first propensity shows a motivation for international integration and modernization

and a desire for modernity and cosmopolitanism, which are underlain by the ideology of đổi mới

whose priorities are placed on economic development and opening up to the world to narrow the

gap with developed countries and improve national status. While this reform ideology may be

seen as playing a pivotal role in shaping this language-ideological propensity, the analysis of

interview data shows that it is also accompanied by other ideological beliefs that have their roots

216
established in the society at least since the colonial period. The ideology of sính ngoại

(‘xenocentrism’) (see Chapter 5), which is closely linked to the colonial mentality (Muller et al.,

2015), can be seen as a factor having certain impacts on the ascendency of English on signage

and how it is especially favoured as a medium that promotes the trend of modern consumption in

the local market. This ideology, which is also mediated in a deferential attitude towards tây

(‘occidental’) elements, has precipitated a tendency to downplay Vietnamese and even associate

it with the lingering derogatory concept of nhà quê (‘country rustic’) whose implication is a

testimony that Vietnamese seems to fall behind in keeping up with the sprits of reform and

modernity.

The second propensity indicates the necessity of preserving traditional culture and

promoting national identity, which is underlain respectively by the ideologies of tradition and

nationalism. While the former is represented in a reinvigorated interest in traditional cultural

values of the city and its neighbourhoods, the latter is mediated in the nostalgia for a historical

past and the use of national memories as a vehicle to reinforce Vietnamese identity. Meanwhile,

there is also an emergence of the neo-nationalist ideology which is represented in the people’s

awareness of promoting the values of national resources, protecting national interests, and

improving national status and pride. The concept of thuần Việt (‘pure Vietnamese’), which was

originally used as a linguistic-purist term to refer to ‘vernacular Vietnamese’ words (as opposed

to ‘Sino-Vietnamese’ ones), has recently been expanded into an ‘umbrella’ term covering the

whole ideology of cultural purism. Accordingly, this term is now linked closely with an

awareness of protecting Vietnam from an encroachment of not just foreign languages (especially

English) but also Western cultural elements in general. Furthermore, it has also become

intermingled with the neo-nationalist ideology, which is represented in an attempt to promote

217
domestic production by encouraging Vietnamese people to purchase and consume ‘pure

Vietnamese’ goods and services, notwithstanding the fact that there have been inconsistencies in

defining the two concepts of ‘pure Vietnamese’ and ‘Made in Vietnam’ (see further in Chapter

4).

The two aforementioned ideological propensities reflect rather accurately the

development of Vietnam in the time of reform when ‘[t]he quest to preserve, to salvage, comes

precisely at the moment when the sense of inevitable global homogenization and subsequent

extinguishing of cultural diversity is at its most compelling’ (Thomas & Drummond, 2003, p. 2).

However, drawing on the two sets of LL and interview data, this dissertation also recognizes the

coming into being of another ideological propensity. Accordingly, there have been efforts to

reconcile the ideologies of modernity and tradition that define the two reversing propensities

mentioned above. Characterized by the ideology of reconciliation, this newly emergent

propensity is shown most conspicuously in the way the people (especially those of young post-

reform generations) see to it that English and Vietnamese can cohabit since each of which plays

its own delineated functions. By assigning English and Vietnamese as the languages of

modernity and tradition respectively, they render it possible that their admiration for modernity

and modernization exists in tandem with their respect for tradition and culture. Such a

reconciliation ideology not only facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of the roles and

positions of these two languages but also casts light into the process whereby they both take part

in constructing the identities of Vietnamese people in the post-reform period.

218
6.1.2 Identity construction

In terms of identity, Vietnamese people of post-reform generations want to use and be seen using

both English and Vietnamese, which is not only a manifestation that they can straddle both the

modern and traditional worlds but also an indication of their effort to construct an ‘indigenized’

modern identity – one which can harmonize Western modernization and Eastern culture.

However, the interpretation of Vietnamese identity based simply on these ideological

dichotomies runs the risk of being oversimplified, since it may oversee the reality that language

ideologies are composed of a complexity of beliefs that not only have already been grounded in

Vietnamese society for an extended period of time but also are being developed with continuous

cultural flows in the time of reform and globalization.

Therefore, I want to suggest that the identity of Vietnamese people today should be

understood not just simply based on the dyad of modernity and tradition but also by taking into

account a coalescence of elements involving the West and the East, the ‘Occidentals’ (tây) and

the ‘native Vietnamese’ (ta), and the cosmopolitan and the national. While the West, the

‘Occidentals,’ and the cosmopolitan relate to the ideology of modernity and hence have the

possibility to evoke the corresponding modern and international identities in the time of reform

and globalization, they are also intertwined with the other ideological beliefs that determine how

Vietnamese people have positioned themselves with respect to the West and the rest of the world

since the colonial time. Likewise, the East, the ‘native Vietnamese,’ and the national indicate

their consciousness of constructing an identity that is imbued with Eastern culture, vernacular

tradition, and Vietnamese essence, as they have relentlessly been trying to do throughout the

course of national history. But these very elements also reflect how Vietnamese people are

currently reconstructing their identities in accordance with their own reimagination of the global,

219
the regional, and the national, especially when the country is getting into the full swing of global

integration.

In addition, in order to elaborate further on the dyad of the East and the West and avoid

the oversimplification of relying solely on the dichotomy of the national and the global when

discussing identity construction, this dissertation also suggests that the understanding of

Vietnamese identity should also be contemplated with a rigorous reference to the sociocultural

context of Asia. Here, a regional cultural dimension we cannot overlook is that the longing for

modernization tends to go in tandem with the efforts to reinforce Asian identity, reinvigorate

pan-Asian tradition, and resist the overpopularization of Western culture. The rise of cultural

nationalisms (to be discussed further below) in the forms of Nihonjinron (theories on Japanese

culture and identity), Hindutva (a form of Hindu nationalism in India), and Confucianism (see

Desai, 2008) are regional ideological flows that, if taken as a whole, can promote the

establishment of ‘Asian values’ in the region.

And lastly, the findings within the framework of this dissertation show that the identity

construction of the people should also be considered in terms of the city and neighbourhood in

which they live and work. Specifically, the people in Hanoi refer to the long tradition and rich

culture of the city and its neighbourhoods as an essential part of their cultural identities. I

therefore would like to suggest that future LL studies with an eye on social and cultural identities

should pay more attention to the way the people relate not only to their cities as a whole but also

to the idiosyncrasies of their own neighbourhoods.

With respect to the specific context of Hanoi and the identities of its people, there is one

point that I want to discuss further in order to facilitate a better understanding of the identity

provoked by the derogatory concept of nhà quê (‘country rustic’). Over the course of its

220
development, Hanoi has always been the city where Vietnamese people from elsewhere

converge, hence the name kẻ chợ (‘the people of the market’ – see Chapter 3). That these people

come to this city to work and trade and make their livings while still retaining a close connection

with their hometowns (normally in the countryside) continues to be a reality even now. This

reality creates a situation wherein internal migrants live a ‘double life’ between their ‘two

worlds’ (Boudarel & Nguyen, 2002) – one in the city and one in the countryside.

Accordingly, these people carry with them a double identity. On the one hand, they

gradually construct an identity of an urban dweller based on the social connections that they have

made in the city. On the other hand, they have the tendency to identify themselves as the people

who come from the countryside. The latter identity is not just a ‘symbolic’ one but in many

aspects a ‘real’ one sustained by all the real-life connections they still keep with the countryside

in terms of family relationships (including those who still live in the countryside and those who

have already moved to the city), holiday celebrations and other spiritual/religious activities, and

sometimes even business and financial transactions (especially with those who are traders).

Keeping that ‘countryside’ identity is also ideologically important because they do not want

other people from the countryside to think of them as someone who forget their own origins –

one important moral and cultural taboo in Vietnamese tradition. And for some of them, staying

well-connected with the countryside is also practically important, since it will be their safe haven

where they would return to when things do not work in the city.

Therefore, the countryside may be geographically distant but is likely to be more

psychologically close to these people as it is associated with something more stable than their

changeable and potentially ‘temporary’ city life. Accordingly, some of them may feel less

attached to the city but instead more obliged to stick to the countryside and its way of life, which

221
explains the lingering of nhà quê identity. In line with this identity construction, I have

demonstrated how middle-class urbanites in Hanoi continue to ‘imagine’ and ‘reproduce’ a rural

living space in the city to address their nostalgia and maintain their continual connections with

the countryside (see Section 4.7 in Chapter 4).

6.1.3 Ideologies of English and Vietnamese revisited

In terms of the roles and positions of English and Vietnamese, this dissertation has identified

some major subsequent points. After more than three decades of reform with the establishment

of a socialist market economy in Vietnam, English has come to be associated with the ideology

of đổi mới and its aim for global integration. It is seen as not only a tool to open to and learn

from the outside world but also a medium to bring the local culture to the whole world. As

mentioned in Chapter 1, the proposal to give English an official position as the second language

in Vietnam was put on the discussion table of the highest legislative body of the country in 2019,

after it had generated a nationwide debate involving government officials, educationists,

intellectuals, professionals, and people from all walks of life. This national event bears witness to

a remarkable importance of English in the current Vietnamese society (to be discussed further

below).

Meanwhile, despite having lagged behind in its representation of modern identity for a

segment of Vietnamese people and even being associated with the disparaging ideology of nhà

quê, Vietnamese with its official status as the national language continues to be seen as a

solidified embodiment of tradition and culture. It seems that this reality is likely to change in the

future since Vietnamese is also experiencing its own process of modernization in order to catch

up with extensive social changes. But as for now, it continues to be attached to the

222
aforementioned function and takes part in constructing cultural identity of a majority of

Vietnamese people, while English is seen as the language of economic development and

becomes associated with the modern identity of young post-reform generations.

In order for English and Vietnamese to be cast with their respective roles and functions as

mentioned above, it is important to reiterate that the ideology of đổi mới, alongside its priorities

for development, has done its fair share in shaping the attitudes towards these two languages. Or

to put it more precisely, đổi mới, together with its accompanied ideology, is the substrate upon

which the ideologies of English and Vietnamese have taken shape. This is a justification for the

argument in Chapter 2 as to how beliefs about language are grounded in the society and serve as

the rationalization of social structure. In the current social context of Vietnam, apart from being

the main driver for a change in the ideologies of English (from the language of the former enemy

to the ‘chief’ foreign language, see Do, 1996 and Doan et al. 2018), the ideology of đổi mới and

its aim for modernization not only become guidelines for the people to recognize the roles and

positions of Vietnamese and English but also determine how these two languages should be put

into use.

Therefore, despite an established ideological tradition of linguistic purification and

standardization that have been closely attached to this national language, Vietnamese has

recently experienced, as previously indicated, the process of being ‘renovated’ so as to be able to

become a medium of modernity. Likewise, notwithstanding being seen as associated with

external cultures, English can still be used as a means to convey neo-nationalist contents. While

the renewing of Vietnamese indicates a desire for modernization, the appropriation of English

demonstrates a priority for economic development, both of which represent precisely the nuts

and bolts of đổi mới ideology.

223
 Other than English and Vietnamese, the roles and positions of other foreign languages in

the society have also been influenced by the ideology of đổi mới. The re-emergence of French

and the addition of Japanese, despite their links to the colonial past (the Japanese also occupied

Vietnam in the 1940s, see Chapter 5), are a testament for this open-door policy and how it leads

to the favour of multilingualism and multiculturalism. While the European languages other than

English, such as French and Italian, become entwined with the ideology of cosmopolitanism, the

languages of Asian countries, especially those of the East Asian region like Korean and

Japanese, enmesh with the ideology of regional modernity. The case of Hangul, which

accompanies the cultural wave of Hallyu, is an indication of how an Asian language has gained

ground to become an embodiment of modern ‘indigenized’ modernity and a new pan-Asian

culture in post-reform Vietnam.

6.2 Implications and contributions

In this section, I elaborate on the other findings of this dissertation and concurrently discuss its

contributions to the understanding, consolidation and illumination of certain theoretical and

analytical aspects in the studies of LL and globalization, the theory of global English, the enquiry

field of language ideology, the analytical approach of language attitudes in interaction, and lastly

the restructuring of nationalism in Vietnam and Asia.

6.2.1 Linguistic landscape and globalization studies

Against the backdrop of current LL literature which tends to focus on the homogeneity of

globalization and how this is represented in the ascendant visibility of English (as the global

language) in public spaces of the cities in the region (see Huebner, 2006; Kasanga, 2012; Manan

224
et al., 2015; Shang & Zhao, 2017; Taylor-Leech, 2012), this dissertation offers a look into the

opposite direction of globalization which is characterized by the diversity and idiosyncrasy of

language practice and ideology in the local context of use. As a result, it has pointed out two

rather conspicuous language-ideological tendencies in the LL of Hanoi: one towards global

uniformity, the other towards local diversity. This dissertation has accordingly made its

contribution to the field by highlighting the potentials of LL research in addressing the

bidirectional process of globalization referred to earlier as homogenization and heterogenization

(see Chapter 1 and 4). As a further implication based on this contribution, I would like to suggest

that in the future the field should take more rigorous consideration of the localization process and

focus more attentively on the particularities of language ideology and the specificities of local

context.

Beyond its contribution to the understanding of the bidirectional process of globalization,

this dissertation also supports Appadurai’s (1996, 2001) theory of globalization by consolidating

his argument on the unpredictable flows of cultures and ideologies. Accordingly, they are not

seen as one-way flows from the West to the East and the rest of the world, but instead as flows

with various points of origin and destination. Specifically, in Chapter 4, I have demonstrated that

the ideology of modernity in Vietnam, for instance, is determined by the ideas not only from the

West but also from other countries in East Asia. This explains why the concept of modernity in

Vietnam, as well as throughout the Asian region, should be seen as a type of ‘regional’ or

‘indigenized’ modernity which combines Western modernization and Asian values. Similarly,

the various directions of cultural flows in the region are also shown in the way Hallyu (the

cultural wave from South Korea) not only brings K-pop icons, K-beauty products and K-foods

but also phở (Vietnamese noodle soup) from Seoul back to Hanoi where it is the culinary icon

225
(see Chapter 3). The return of phở to its very own home casts new meanings to the consumption

of this noodle bowl in its local context so that it has now moved from a simply local specialty to

a dish that may embody the spirit of regional modernity and youth culture. Likewise, the

ideology of nationalism and its promotion of Vietnamese identity, which is mediated through the

nostalgia for a historical period of socialist construction referred to as ‘the subsidy era’ (thời bao

cấp), is not only shared among Hanoians but also spread to some other Asian cities such as Seoul

and Kuala Lumpur (see Chapter 4), even though the people there did not share such a historical

past and its concomitant emotions due to differences in political regimes and historical

trajectories. To reiterate, these examples demonstrate that globalization does not just carry with it

influences from the Centre (the West) but also increase the affluence of cultural and ideological

flows among cities, countries and regions in the Periphery (the rest of the world).

In order to elaborate further on the centrifugal and centripetal flows of languages,

cultures, ideas, goods and people in globalization, let us revisit the term ‘nails’ which appears on

shopfronts in the LL of Hanoi recently (see Chapter 3). To begin with, the model of beauty

salons specializing in manicure-only service has been developed by Vietnamese Americans and

nail care has become a Vietnamese ethnic niche in the USA labour market (Eckstein & Nguyen,

2011). According to these two authors, the US-style manicure salons, after having spread across

the states, have gone global to European markets and back to Vietnam in the form of ‘McNails’58

stores. However, in Vietnam, since these US-style manicure salons are exclusively for well-off

customers, nail-care service has been adapted in different ways (see the shop in Figure 3.2 of

Chapter 3 for an example) including manicurists hawking the streets offering door to door

58
According to Eckstein and Nguyen (2011), Vietnamese Americans transformed the nail-care industry in the USA
by turning it into a service affordable and attainable for the mass customers (instead of having formerly been found
only in upscale beauty salons). The development of nail-care salons and the services provided bear resemblances to
the manner of McDonald’s food chain.

226
service with more reasonable prices. Therefore, on the one hand, McNails, which was brought

into Vietnam from the USA by Vietnamese Americans, has been received as a beauty service

formerly unknown in the local market and then appropriated to suit the specific financial

situation of local customers. But on the other hand, Vietnam has recently become the main

supplier of manicure labour (domestically trained manicurists move to work abroad) and nail-

care materials (equipment for nail salons) for nail stores and chains abroad including the USA

(Eckstein & Nguyen, 2011). This is an indication that the flows of labour and material supplies

from Vietnam are making significant changes to the services and beauty concepts of nail-care

industry in the USA. In other words, the US-born McNails stores are being ‘Vietnamized’ right

in their homeland market with the flows of people, goods and aesthetic ideas from Vietnam.

In terms of research methodology, by combining geosemiotics (a perspicacious analytical

framework that attends to the dimensions of space, see Scollon & Scollon, 2003) and ELLA (an

astute ethnographic tool that handles the dimensions of time, see Blommaert 2013; Blommaert &

Maly, 2016, 2019), this dissertation manages to construct and put into use an effective

ethnographic approach to the study of LL that renders the investigation of each specific sign as

an ethnographic object whose spatial and temporal dimensions carry different layers of meaning.

Following this approach, the collection of LL data was not defined simply by the act of taking

pictures of signs but also characterized by an ethnographic observation process that facilitates the

understanding of signs in the idiosyncrasy of the places where they are brought into use. Inherent

to this ethnographic approach is an observation-cum-analysis portion performed at the data

collection stage.

Furthermore, this ethnographic approach also renders the collection of signs within and

across the neighbourhood(s) to be carried out with a stern awareness that signs should not be

227
seen separately but instead in their connections with each other. Such an approach facilitates the

recognition of not only different historical layers of signs but also the conceptual themes formed

and shared among them, which is crucial for the identification of different sign-mediated

language-ideological themes as presented in the findings of Chapter 4. I consider the presentation

of these findings in different ideological themes each of which discusses a number of ‘related’

signs, instead of focusing on each sign separately, as a new and useful trajectory in LL research

that this dissertation has initiated in order to provide not only a more insightful elaboration on

each theme but also a more holistic understanding of the LL as a whole. And lastly, apart from

applying an approach that combines ethnographic observation and informal on-the-spot talks

with the involved people during data collection, the use of an in-depth interview with the

proprietors and local residents in this dissertation demonstrates the decision to ‘go beyond the

signs’ in LL research is a necessary step. It renders the study of signs in their close relationship

with corresponding social actors and hence strengthens the possibility to analyze signs as a social

practice.

In addition, incorporating the dimension of virtual ethnography into this approach proves

to be a promising research direction that has potentials to address the fluidity of online-offline

space in LL research. Through this dissertation, it has become increasingly apparent that the

analysis of a sign in its specific physical space and in relation to social actors who are directly

involved in producing and ‘consuming’ it can be supported by an understanding of additional

meanings it gets from being disseminated in translocal space of the online world with the

participation of a boundless virtual community. In alignment with Blommaert & Maly (2019),

this dissertation contributes further to the construction of an ethnographic LL approach that can

handle effectively social mobility in the age when physical and virtual spaces intertwine and

228
become much harder to delimit. The analysis of Hanoi’s LL in Chapter 4 has demonstrated that a

social action performed in a local physical setting these days cannot be fully understood without

a consultation as to how it is dispersed and re-embedded with new meanings in the translocal

context of virtual spaces.

When this chapter is being written, photos of the Hànộimới office (see Section 4.2 in

Chapter 4) are taking on new meanings in a broader virtual discourse about how the city has

always been resilient when facing extreme challenges in history. Different from what has been

discussed, the new discourse is being built in social media by netizens in an endeavour to support

the measures from the municipal government to fight off the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-

19) and reassure eight million citizens of the city amid the catastrophic world pandemic. For

many of internet users who are living in the city and probably including those who were born

there but are now living elsewhere in Vietnam and abroad, the images of this newspaper office

gate now convey an important message about solidarity and are therefore used to call for the

strength of national unanimity in order to confront a new challenge. This is not unlike the way

their predecessors had managed to gather nationhood spirit in the past in order to overcome

difficult wartimes.

6.2.2 Global English studies

In accordance with Pennycook (2000), who argues that ‘in discussing the global spread of

English, we can’t escape ideological positions’ (p. 107), this dissertation makes it apparent that

English is not an ideologically neutral language (see also Canagarajah, 2000). Instead, the global

spread of English and its position in a specific context is always associated with, surrounded by

and enmeshed in local language ideologies. Based on such findings, this dissertation strengthens

229
the argument that the global spread of English should be approached as ‘a language-ideological

issue’ (Park, 2009, p. 5). This approach is especially relevant for a country in the Expanding

Circle (following Kachru’s (1990) three concentric circles of world English, see Chapter 1) like

Vietnam where English is not only learnt popularly but even pursued as a hegemonic foreign

language, although it neither has an official status nor serves as a means of communication

shared by the local people.

In alignment with the previous studies on English language ideologies in the Asian

context (cf. Park, 2009; Toh, 2015), this dissertation suggests that the position of English in

Vietnam cannot be understood based simply on the asymmetrical relationship between English

as the hegemonic global language and Vietnamese as the local language. Instead, one should take

into consideration the entwinement of an entirety of factors involving the economy, politics,

history, education, culture and identity. These interwoven social factors create an equivocal

attitude towards English whereby it is both pursued and resisted in this SEA country. Based on

the current theoretical frameworks that attend to the ideologies of English, especially the one

developed by Pennycook (2000), this section elaborates on the language ideologies underlying

the ambivalent position of English in Vietnam, which may hopefully contribute further

understanding to the theory of global English in the Asian context.

First of all, let us start with the ideological position of liberalism which tends to be

misleadingly claimed by its proponents as an ideologically-free approach to the global spread of

English. The ideology of liberalism, or laissez faire liberalism (Pennycook, 2000), sees English

as a neutral language that is free from ideological, political and cultural ties. While this ideology

serves as a catalyst to promote the spread and position of English in the postcolonial world, the

inculcation of it in Vietnam has created specifically favourable conditions for the ascendency of

230
English because of the idiosyncrasies of this country’s socio-political background. Historically

speaking, the appearance of a certain foreign language in Vietnam has mostly originated from

the political and cultural domination of this country by external powers, or else it was related

directly to the political liaisons the country had had with the outside world (Denham, 1992; Doan

et al., 2018; Phan et al., 2014). Therefore, notwithstanding the former presence of Americans in

South Vietnam (which by now has officially been considered as the past in the national rhetoric),

the ideology of English as the global language not being tied to a specific ‘proprietor’ renders it

easier for English to be accepted in Vietnam, since it neither raises specific concerns over

political and cultural interference from other powerful countries nor poses any other eminent

threats of other types from the outside world.

With regard to the possible influences of English on cultural identity, the liberal laissez-

faire ideology provides a solution, albeit probably a misleading one (see below), by suggesting

the complementary roles of English and the local language whereby they are seen to be used for

international and intranational communication respectively. Accordingly, this complementary

ideology disseminates the belief that the coexistence of English and the local language in

bilinguals (or sometimes polyglots) allows them to use the former for international identity

performance and the latter for national/cultural identity construction (cf. Kuppens, 2013).

In this dissertation, this complementary ideology is represented most clearly in the

tendency to associate English with modernity and Vietnamese with culture and tradition, which

has been referred to in Chapter 5 as the reconciliation ideology. This division of labour may look

fair and meritorious on the outside but actually conceals a major surreptitious effect wherein

English is given a privileged position as a vehicle for development and modernization while

Vietnamese is unchangeably tied to the ‘conservative’ and nondescript duty of preserving

231
traditional culture. Such a solution is misleading since it creates an inequality between English

and Vietnamese and can easily lead to the degradation of the latter by having it associated with

backwardness and stagnation (cf. Park, 2009; Pennycook, 2000). It explains remarkably well

why the interview participants (in Chapter 5) refer to Vietnamese as a language of

‘unprofessionalism’ and even relate it to the derogatory concept of nhà quê. Meanwhile, English

is given a prioritized position as elaborated below.

The idea of having a politically neutral language that is owned by no specific ‘proprietor’

and can be shared globally and adapted freely based on each individual country’s needs without

even affecting the national identity creates favourable conditions for the ascendency of English

in Vietnam. More importantly, this ideology has been especially well received since the

launching of đổi mới (as discussed throughout this dissertation) because of the need to have a

language that can enhance international integration process. The timely confluence of the liberal

ideology of English and the ideology of reform in Vietnam has made English a ‘natural’ choice

for the purpose of opening up to the world for economic development.

Having been mediated in the narratives of reform, the ideology of English as a driver for

development and modernization can easily be turned into an excessive promotion of English.

Accordingly, it can be seen as an advantageous and even superior language that helps the country

thrive both economically and intellectually, and probably also culturally for a segment of

Vietnamese youth. Such a deviation renders an uncritical treatment of English and turns it into a

language accompanying wealth, knowledge and civilization, which bears resemblances to the

ideology of colonial-celebration (Pennycook, 2000). (This ideology attributes English with

intrinsic qualities that help make the world at large better.) Even though Vietnam was not a

British colony, the ideology of Western centrism (see Chapter 4 and 5) developed as the result of

232
having been a former French colony, alongside the ‘inferiority complex’ (tâm lý tự ti) of a

country trying to narrow the gap of development with other countries in the world, can be seen as

the factors that have probably led to such an exaggeration of the position of English.

As mentioned above in Section 6.1.3 (see also Chapter 1), the government of Vietnam

turned down the proposal to give English an official position as the second language of this

country in 2019. The key proponents of this proposal believe that giving English an official

status may leave out the hurdles preventing Vietnamese businesses from going global and

competing internationally. Apart from the reason involving the language rights of fifty-three

ethnic minority groups59 (which account for about 15 percent of the population) whose first

languages are not Vietnamese and hence Vietnamese is already their second language, the

principal reason justifying the government’s disapproval is the reality that Vietnam is basically a

monolingual country. Since the majority of Vietnamese people are at ease with their own

language, there is not much need to communicate in English among themselves. As a result, the

number of people who can use English are still limited in both quantity and quality and tend to

concentrate in the cities. While the importance of English for the modern life in Vietnam is

undeniably a reality especially in terms of educational and vocational opportunities, the idea of

turning English into an official language lacks a practical consideration of the real situation of

English usage and the actual need for it, which bears witness to an overemphasis of the

inherently hegemonic power of this language for development.

Within the context of Asia, the idea of giving English an official status is not

unprecedented and has also become an issue of national concern in some countries like South

Korea and Japan. In Korea, the advocates who acknowledged the importance of giving English

59
Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups. Vietnamese is the language of the Kinh (or Viet) people who account for about 85
percent of the population (Vietnam National Census, 2019).

233
an official status even went so far as to recommend replacing Korean by English (Park, 2009).

More than that, the fetishism of English in Korean society even induces parents to have their

children undertake tongue surgery in order to make them speak English better60. Even though the

frenzy for English in Vietnam does not reach that level of excessive obsession, the pursuit of

English has gradually become more intensive especially from the perspective of education.

Recently, the display of public profiles of Vietnamese people, especially those of young

generations and in their school ages, in the media landscape has the tendency to highlight the

‘impressive’ test scores they have received in a kind of internationally recognized English tests

such as the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). These high English test

scores may serve as either a qualification to be seen as ‘talented’ or ‘well-educated’ persons or a

passport to a good future job even though that kind of job may not require these IELTS

certificate holders to use English for any tangible purposes. This is an indication of the ideology

of linguistic entrepreneurship whereby a good command of English is seen as increasing the

value of oneself in the world (De Costa et al., 2020).

The elaboration so far indicates how English has been given felicitous ideological

conditions to establish its position as a hegemonic language in Vietnam. However, it does not

mean that the ascendency of English in this country has not met with any ideological resistance.

While the global spread of English as a form of linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, 2000) may be

discussed worldwide because of its homogenizing effects, in a number of countries (like France

in Europe or Japan in Asia, to name just a few, see Lipovsky, 2018 and Toh, 2015), not

excluding Vietnam, it is likely to trigger concerns over the purity of the national language. With

60
According to Park (2009), this kind of surgery cuts off a certain band of tissue under the tongue which is believed
to help child learners pronounce better the retroflex consonant in English – a sound seen as particularly hard to
pronounce for Korean learners of English.

234
a long tradition of fighting against the assimilation of language and culture (see Chapter 1 and 2),

the ideology of linguistic purism in Vietnam tends to go in tandem with linguistic conservatism,

nationalism and a strong awareness of cultural identity. Therefore, protecting Vietnamese from

the influences of English in the post-reform period goes hand in hand with the reinforcement of

national identity. As a result, the ideology of thuần Việt (‘pure Vietnamese’) reinvigorates in

expanded national narratives on language and culture in which English and ‘external’ cultural

elements from the West are considered having negative influences on vernacular cultural

identity. Accordingly, the use of English among local people, especially when it does not serve

the purpose of communicating with foreigners, can be referred to in a variety of cultural

discourses as a representation of ‘xenocentric mentality’ (see Chapter 5) and a form of

‘hybridity’ that indicates either a contamination from foreign cultures or a denial of traditional

values. In Chapter 5, the interview participants have shown their resistant attitudes rather

obviously by referring to the favour of English on signage as an act of self-denial and a sort of

‘low culture.’ Mindful of these language attitudes, this dissertation reiterates that, in order to

approach the position of English in Vietnam holistically, it is important to contemplate the

complexity of how it is concurrently pursued and resisted.

However, a bias focus on the ideology of resistance runs the risk of overseeing how

English has also experienced a process of appropriation. In the light of postcolonial

performativity theory and its ideological implication, using English is seen as a way ‘to perform

English anew’ instead of being tied to the past history of its usage (Pennycook, 2010, p. 50).

Accordingly, the appropriation of English in Vietnam should also be seen as a form of

‘performance’ and approached as a way to construct new identities or create a new culture in

global English usage. In the LL data of this dissertation, there is no shortage of examples

235
illustrating the process of appropriation and the performance of new identities based on the

sociologies of the local context. The appropriated ‘English’ names Mikenco (Michael Kors) and

HNM (H&M) of two fashion boutiques in Hanoi not only indicate a desire for international

brands and a performance of modern consumer identity in the local market but also represent a

very practical purpose of avoiding copyright issues. A local food store finds a ‘cool,’ creative,

and probably economical way to spell it out for customers that it sells ‘Italian-styled pizza’

through the hybridized name Pizzý, which is a portmanteau of pizza and ý (the Vietnamese term

for Italia). And as indicated in Chapter 3, the combination ship tại nhà (‘ship at home’), which

informs customers of the eatery’s home delivery service, indicates that ‘ship’ is cognitively

perceived not as an English verb that goes with the preposition ‘to’ but instead seen as a service

that can be done ‘at’ the customers’ home.

In addition to the data of this dissertation, a lot more examples of different types can

easily be seen, especially on social media where the appropriation of sounds and meanings of

English vocabulary is showcased exuberantly. The use of thứ high, instead of thứ hai (Monday),

in a Facebook post gives more emotions (which are related to the English meaning of ‘high’ –

the euphoric feelings getting from using alcoholic drinks) for a youngster who spends a weekday

night in a local bar. Tuesday is used to refer to the third person in a relationship (sometimes the

homewrecker) in a ‘cool’ and probably less serious manner, which is rendered possible because

thứ ba (Tuesday) literally means the third in Vietnamese. And lastly, it is Make in Viet Nam (not

Made in Vietnam as we have discussed in Chapter 4). Before rushing into a discussion about this

English phrase, let me inform you that this is the name of a new business campaign launched by

a few leading technological companies in Vietnam most of whose CEOs are graduates from

some English-speaking countries. Whether it is a marketing idea to attract attention (based on a

236
‘substandard’ use of English) or a deliberation to create an English phrase in the local style (note

that the name of Vietnam is written in two separate words instead of one as it often appears in

English texts), this campaign’s name reflects an effort to address the dilemma caused by the

Sinification of the phrase ‘Made in Vietnam’ (some of the goods tagged ‘Made in Vietnam’ are

actually produced in China, see Chapter 4). Accordingly, an English phrase is appropriated, by

choosing understandability and/or acceptability over grammaticality, to be cast with an important

neo-nationalist message about commerce protectionism, internal force development, and above

all patriotism and national pride.

6.2.3 Language ideology studies

In this section, I would like to discuss the contribution of this dissertation to the understanding of

the multiplicity of language ideology, which is intended to consolidate the current literature in

this field, especially the ‘cluster concept’ proposed by Kroskrity (2006). As mentioned earlier in

Chapter 2, this dissertation sets out to address the research gap left unattended due to the reality

that LL studies tend to focus exclusively on the language ideology of the state and how it is

represented in the language policy on signage. There has been inadequate attention paid to how

the people’s language ideologies are mediated in their actual language use on signage. By having

avoided such a biased approach, this dissertation manages to identify both interindividual and

intraindividual differences in the people’s language ideologies. After elaborating on the

contribution of this dissertation to a further understanding of the multiplicity of language

ideologies, this section also discusses two other major implications for current theories on

language ideology. The first one focuses on how ordinary people show different awarenesses of

237
existing local language ideologies and the second one on how they use different language

attitudes/ideologies to construct their corresponding identities.

To begin with, both the language use on signage and the expression of language-

ideological stances in interview interaction show that the people’s language ideologies are of

varying degrees of confluence and diffluence with the dominant language ideologies. In order to

illustrate this diversity, I want to focus first on how the interview participants discern and

acknowledge the roles and positions of Vietnamese in the current society.

Regardless of its official status as the national language and how it is referred to in

national narratives not only as the embodiment of culture and identity but also as a medium for

socioeconomic development in the time of global integration, a small segment of the people

especially those of post-reform generations see to it that Vietnamese seems to lag behind in its

representation of modernity and some of them even relate it to the derogatory concept of nhà

quê. In other words, even though it has always been promoted by the state and continues to be

seen widely by the people as an embodiment of tradition, culture and national identity,

Vietnamese has become less likely to be chosen as a language representing the modern identity

of a certain segment of the people. This is an indication that the people’s language ideologies can

diverge from the dominant ones, not to mention that they can differ significantly between and

within individuals (to be discussed further below). A divergence of this type renders a

recognition of the diversity of language ideologies and attitudes in the post-reform period. By

using the term ‘divergence,’ I want to emphasize that the people’s language ideologies should

not necessarily be seen as a form of reaction to and put into an adversary relationship with the

dominant state-endorsed language ideologies (cf. Kroskrity, 2006) as it has been done in

previous LL studies (see Chapter 2). Instead, they should be seen as the language-ideological

238
variations that reflect independent and ‘valid’ viewpoints of the masses on language. Only by so

doing can we thereby challenge the tradition of delegitimating folk awareness of language in

anthropology and linguistics as already discussed in Chapter 2.

The findings of this dissertation also confirm that, due to their varying degrees of

awareness of local language ideologies, the people who belong to different or similar social

groups can displayed significantly varied or even contradictory language attitudes. The interview

data analysis indicates that the participants show significantly different ideological positions

towards English whereby it may be associated with prestige and class by some and looked down

on as an indication of low culture by others, notwithstanding a general ideological propensity to

relate this global language with development and modernization in the local context of Vietnam.

With respect to Vietnamese and the ideology of linguistic purism, the interview participants are

caught between two main language-ideological tendencies. While the first one acknowledges the

importance of upholding the purity of Vietnamese as a way to promote national identity, the

second one finds it no longer necessary since doing so may either have negative influences on

economic development or cause pragmatic problems for daily communication especially in

working environment.

Moreover, even within a particular individual, his or her awareness of local language

ideologies has also been displayed differently over the course of interview interaction, which is

rendered possible because this dissertation analyzes ideological stances as instances of

positioning. Such ideological stances are therefore not fixed and enduring, but always highly

context-dependent and changeable from one moment to the next. Accordingly, an interview

participant may somewhere in her interview imply that English represents the cultural identity of

her social group, but later claim explicitly that English belongs to ‘external’ cultures. While her

239
former language-attitudinal expression may indicate an individual awareness of the position of

English in her own personal experiences, the latter one shows how the ideology of Herderianism

has been inculcated into her generation through master narratives on language, nation and

identity. This intraindividual ‘inconsistency’ is not abnormal but instead indicates that the

language-attitudinal expressions of each individual have always been a combination of factors

involving how he or she addresses a personal awareness of language and concurrently

incorporates and reconciles influences from the dominant state-endorsed language ideologies

mediated in master narratives.

Apart from addressing the need to approach multiple language ideologies of both the

state and the people, I would also like to suggest that a rigorous contemplation of the relationship

between the language ideologies of these two groups is a useful research direction that promises

more insights but has yet been given adequate attention. Drawing on the LL and interview data

analyses, this dissertation has made it obvious that master narratives play an important role in

disseminating the dominant language ideologies before ingraining them in the society and

passing them through different generations of people. Therefore, these narratives should be an

important channel to look into how the dominant language ideologies have become naturalized

and unchallenged before exercising their influences on the masses in a way the people are

unlikely to be aware of them. In the LL data analysis, I have demonstrated that the nostalgia for a

difficult but peaceful historical past known as subsidy era in Hanoi, which reflects natural

feelings of local people when the country entered the new chapter of reform and globalization, is

also the ideological propensity whose purposes are not only to consolidate the people’s faith in

the state’s leadership and evoke their gratitude for đổi mới and its achievements but also to

involve the people in ‘reimagining’ the past and co-constructing the ideology of ‘memory.’ In

240
the interview data analysis, the interaction between the language ideologies of both groups has

also been represented evidently and I will discuss it in more detail in the next section.

Therefore, based on the findings of both Chapter 4 and 5, it is possible for this

dissertation to claim that the involved people have shown not only their practical consciousness

(the language-ideological awareness represented implicitly through language practice) but also

their discursive consciousness (the language-ideological awareness represented explicitly

through metapragmatic talk) of the naturalized state-endorsed language ideologies (cf. Kroskrity,

1998). By having pointed out how these two types of consciousness are represented in two

different datasets, this dissertation has demonstrated that an investigation of the relation between

the language ideologies of the state and those of the people can provide a more insightful

understanding of both the former and the latter. This should justify the aforementioned

recommendation for a more rigorous attention in this direction in future research.

In terms of identity, this dissertation has demonstrated how language ideologies are

‘productively’ used by people to construct their corresponding identities and how this identity

construction procedure is realized through the semiotic process of iconization (Irvine & Gal,

2000) (see further in Chapter 5). Following this semiotic process, people are apt to assign a

certain language with some particular features that represent certain social categories, which

thereby renders the utilization of that language as a medium to construct their identities

accordingly. In Chapter 4 and 5, it has been illustrated that both the use of language on signage

and the expression of language attitudes in interview interaction facilitate the iconization of

English and Vietnamese so that they can participate in constructing respective identities for

language users and interview participants.

241
 The association of English with the ideologies of development and modernization in post-

reform Vietnam let it be iconized not only as the language representing modern and

cosmopolitan identities but also as a valued possession that translates a few identity-related

features ranging from prestige to class and educatedness. Furthermore, apart from enabling

Vietnamese bilinguals (those who can use both English and Vietnamese) to display their

‘regional’ modern identity, which harmonizes the duality of modern and traditional identities,

English also functions as a compensation for the ‘inferiority complex’ (as mentioned above in

Section 6.2.2) which has recently led to a linkage of Vietnamese with the ‘countrified’ (quê) and

‘backward’ (lạc hậu) identities. Similarly, the association of Vietnamese with the ideology of

tradition and culture enables it to be iconized as the language taking part in the construction of

the people’s cultural identity. During this iconization process, the primordial connection between

language, culture and identity has been effectively naturalized in order to construct a monolithic

Vietnamese cultural identity. In addition, Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese and

traditional Chinese (used in Hong Kong and Taiwan) are also used accordingly by Vietnamese

people to construct their regional modern identity as indicated above.

6.2.4 Language attitudes in interaction

This section continues the discussion in the previous section on the relationship between the

people’s language attitudes as expressed in interview interaction and the naturalized state-

endorsed language ideologies as mediated in master narratives. Therefore, it serves as an

extended discussion on the contribution of this dissertation to the studies of language ideology as

having been initiated above. However, with its specific focus on how the aforementioned

relationship is represented in interview interaction, this section is intended to highlight what this

242
dissertation can contribute to the language attitudes in interaction approach developed in

Liebscher & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009 and Dailey-O’Cain, 2017. In order to realize this purpose, I

elaborate on how an attentive concentration on the relationship mentioned above not only

reinforces the possibility to analyze language attitudes in interaction – which thereby strengthens

the use of this analytical framework as a helpful interaction approach to the studies of language

ideology – but also contributes an effective way to look into the identity construction of

interview participants.

Based on the concept of story-lines in the positioning framework developed by David and

Harré (1990), this dissertation has demonstrated that the direction that puts the people’s language

attitudes into interaction with the dominant state-endorsed language ideologies presents itself as

a useful and effective analytical approach. The interview data analysis has shown that the

language-attitudinal positionings of the participants as expressed in interview interaction can

mediate the dominant state-endorsed language ideologies that have been embedded in a variety

of national discourses. Since these dominant state-endorsed language ideologies have been

naturalized (and hence become unchallenged), inculcated, established and then passed down

through different generations, they become a part of the cultural story-lines which are shared and

taken for granted by local people and therefore tend to influence their language-attitudinal

positionings. Accordingly, the act of relating the latter to the former not only renders a

realization and/or confirmation of the relationship between them but also facilitates a better

understanding of how the interview participants position themselves against the backdrop of

these dominant state-endorsed language ideologies.

In Chapter 5, I have demonstrated that the highly dominant ideology that relates language

to nation and identity, which has been established since the inception of the modern Vietnamese

243
nation-state and continues to be reinforced in master narratives in the time of reform, enables the

interview participants to make an unchallenged and naturalized association of Vietnamese with

tradition and cultural identity. Further, this ideology has also paved the way for them to see that

English represents a cultural other, notwithstanding the reality that some of them not only

acknowledge the importance of this global language in their daily life but have also built a

certain identity connection with it. Meanwhile, this ideology also takes the form of linguistic

nationalism or may even turn into a sort of chauvinist conservatism indicated in the way the

interview participants express an attitude of language protectionism that at best downplays the

role of English as an ‘external’ cultural element or at worst associates it with the disparaging

term of ‘low culture.’

The aforementioned relationship is also represented in the way the interview participants,

through their metapragmatic comments on language practice, can only show partially their

discursive consciousness of naturalized state-endorsed language ideologies. In order to illustrate

this point, let us revisit the concept of thuần Việt (‘pure Vietnamese’) and how it has been used

by the interview participants in Chapter 5. In the interview excerpt with NV, she mentions the

term thuần (‘pure’) two times (‘I want them to use purely Vietnamese names’ in turn 18 and ‘it

sounds purer’ in turn 22). As indicated in the analysis of this excerpt, she has a quite open

attitude towards the appropriation of Vietnamese; accordingly, it can be ‘stylized’ or ‘renewed’

to look and sound more modern. This is a testimony to her unawareness of the long-established

ideological tradition of linguistic purism represented in the concept of ‘pure Vietnamese.’

Therefore, the appearance of the ‘pure Vietnamese’ element in her interview interaction should

not be understood as a conscious expression coming from a person who is a proponent of the

ideology of linguistic purism. Instead, this should be seen as an indication that this concept has

244
been disseminated so widely in the local context of use that it has become instilled and

incorporated into her vocabulary as a term that means ‘using only Vietnamese’ (as opposed to

bilingual or multilingual language use) and brought out into use without even considering the

purist ideology that goes with it. With that in mind, I would like to suggest that the discursive

expressions of language attitudes of interview participants, especially those including the terms

that have a direct connection to dominant language ideologies, should be contemplated more

thoroughly by taking into account the expressions of their language attitudes, both explicitly and

implicitly, throughout the interview interaction instead of rushing into a conclusion based simply

on the corresponding language ideologies to which these terms conventionally refer.

In addition, because of the close relationship between ideology and identity and the

perception of identity not as something preexisting but instead continuously in the process of

(re)construction (see Chapter 2), the language attitudes in interaction approach can also be used

productively as a framework to analyze the identity construction of interview participants. Based

on the way they position themselves with respect to dominant language ideologies and how this

positioning functions as an ‘act of identity’ (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008), this

dissertation has offered an approach to look into the display, performance and construction of

their corresponding identities. The analysis in Chapter 5 has demonstrated that when an

interview participant shows her commitment to the English-only ideology, she gives us a ‘sense’

of how she wants to project herself as a modern person who may want to resist a certain tradition

she no longer sees fit. Alternatively, when one refers to the use of English in the workplace as an

indication of professionalism, she wants to perform the identity of a post-reform middle-class

professional who considers English as a novel icon of ‘educatedness’ rather than simply as a new

tool of communication for global integration and national reform. But on the contrary, when one

245
plays down the role of English in the society, it does not necessarily mean he has not seen for

himself the global spread of English as an indispensable reality. Instead, his reaction should be

seen as a way for him to ‘act out’ a resistance of English and a promotion of Vietnamese

language and culture. Through such a positioning of language attitudes, he renders the

construction of an identity that is associated with Vietnamese tradition and culture and

simultaneously dissociated from the interference of English and its accompanied cultural

elements.

6.2.5 Nationalism studies

While this dissertation supports Appadurai’s (1996) argument on the unpredictable flows of

ideas, ideologies and cultures in globalization (see also Appadurai, 2001), its findings show

evidence against another argument of his whereby the profound impact of globalization is seen

as having marked a decline in the role of nation-states since the late twentieth century. In his

opinion, the nation-state as a political form has been in a crisis and is described as standing ‘on

its last legs’ (Appadurai, 1996, p. 19). In the same line, the historian Hobsbawm (1992) claims

that the phenomenon of nationalism has been ‘past its peak’ and is on the verge of gradual

declining (p. 192). That being said, based on the findings of this dissertation about the

development of nationalism in the specific context of Vietnam, I would like to suggest that even

though nationalism may have experienced some forms of restructuring (to be discussed further

below) in the years after the launching of reform policy (see Luong, 2007), the ideology of

nationalism and its developing variations still play an important role in shaping the language-

ideological landscape and influencing the people’s language attitudes in Vietnam. This is an

indication that the status of nation and nationalism in Vietnam remains quite stably strong

246
regardless of massive changes caused by socioeconomic reform. The results of this dissertation

are in alignment with other studies that have been carried out elsewhere in the Asian regions (see

Vaish, 2012). Accordingly, even in a highly globalized SEA country like Singapore, the role of

nation-state proves to be dominantly influential.

Apart from shedding light into the status of nation-state in the time of large-scale

globalization of the world economy, the findings of this dissertation provide further insights into

the current development of nationalism in Asia. Resisting the view that nationalism is on the

verge of declining, the research literature in Asian context indicates that the development of

nationalism in this region at the turn of the twenty-first century should be seen as having actually

experienced a transition between its two forms from developmental nationalism to cultural

nationalism (Desai, 2008). In Desai’s elaboration, the former lays more emphasis on the

dimension of the political economy of nationalism and hence tends to promote the idea of

building a prosperous national economy or more generally a better future for the country.

Meanwhile, the latter shifts its focus to the dimension of the cultural politics of nationalism and

therefore aims at celebrating and glorifying elements of national culture and tradition.

Accordingly, the former normally goes with the promise of a ‘better tomorrow’ while the latter

has the tendency to recall the golden pasts and offer a ‘better yesterday’ (Desai, 2008, p. 400).

Such a transition is historical and reflects an ideological shift from developmentalism that

accompanies the dominance of state-driven policies to neoliberalism that goes along with the

influences of market-driven forces. Now, based on the findings of this dissertation, I would like

to present two major points relating to the representation of nationalism in current Vietnamese

society, which can hopefully contribute further understanding of the aforementioned transition

between these two forms of nationalism in Asia.

247
 On the one hand, in line with the findings of previous studies on the restructuring of

nationalism in Vietnam (see Luong, 2007), this dissertation contributes to an understanding of

the ascendency of cultural nationalism in the period following the application of reform policy.

Specifically, it has identified a revitalization of traditional culture which is represented rather

obviously in the LL of Hanoi. Accordingly, it brings to our attention how cultural traditions of

the country and the city have been reinvigorated and promoted through language use on signage

and social practice of the involved people. An emergence of the nostalgic discourses that have

been constructed to revitalize valuable cultural traditions and especially glorify a ‘golden past’ of

the city, which renders the reminiscence of a ‘better yesterday’ possible, is a feature (as

discussed above) indicating the inroads of cultural nationalism in Vietnam. In addition,

resonating with existing ‘counter-narratives’ on the downsides of globalization, some of the

interview participants in this dissertation also mention a recent degradation of traditional culture

and identity in current Vietnamese society. This is a testament to the fact that a promotion of

traditional culture in the form of glorifying the past has not only been realized in language use on

signage but also in the people’s metapragmatic talk about language and culture. If looking more

broadly into the social practices of Vietnamese people, as indicated in Luong (2007), there is a

revitalization of the past practices including the religious rituals and festivals which used to be

seen as superstitious and contradictory to the materialist ideology of Marxism-Leninism. Up to

this point, it is possible to come up with a tentative claim that there has been an indication of the

restructuring of nationalism in Vietnam, which is represented in a shift of focus onto the

dimension of cultural politics.

On the other hand, this dissertation indicates that cultural nationalism in Vietnam exists

in tandem with developmental nationalism, or at least this is seen rather conspicuously at present,

248
when the necessity of improving national status, or building a ‘better tomorrow’ for the country,

continues to be seen as the upmost priority guiding the whole national course of reform and

modernization. In alignment with the preference for đổi mới, the ideologies of development and

modernity become some of the key players in the ideological landscape of Vietnam. More

noticeably, an indication of developmental nationalism is seen in a recent emergence of neo-

nationalism (as represented in the LL and interview data analyses in Chapter 4 and 5) which

above all aims at protecting and promoting the national economy. Therefore, I would like to

suggest that, in the current situation of Vietnam, it is important to realize that developmental and

cultural nationalisms intertwine and have equally important roles in the future development of

the country. Accordingly, the dimensions of political economy and cultural politics come hand in

hand and support each other in performing two concurrent purposes that can be seen as two sides

of the same coin. The first one focuses on developing national economy and improving national

status, while the second one aims at promoting cultural traditions and reinforcing national

identity. Therefore, the two purposes of ‘economic growth and cultural development’ (tăng

trưởng kinh tế và phát triển văn hoá) normally go together in national discourses. In the official

documents of Vietnamese government recently, ‘building a progressive culture permeated with

national identity’ (xây dựng nền văn hoá tiên tiến, đậm đà bản sắc dân tộc) (cf. Luong, 2007) is

considered the beacon of the country’s future development. Here, the element of

‘progressive[ness]’ is placed ahead to highlight the priority for development, which is followed

right afterwards by the responsibility to protect national identity. Once again, this is a choice

reflecting rather accurately the current situation of Vietnam, and probably some other countries

in Asia as well, whose upmost priority for narrowing the gaps of economic development with the

249
West makes political economy an indispensably crucial dimension in the current construction of

nationalism in the country.

6.3 Limitations and future research directions

One of the major issues in the study of language ideologies is to take into account their

manifestations in both subjectively explicit and constructively implicit manners (Woolard, 1998).

The former indicates metadiscursive expressions of language ideologies and the latter refers to

language-ideological awareness mediated in language practice. Accordingly, it is suggested that

the groundings or sitings of language ideologies should be given a rigorous concentration. Since

language ideologies are believed to exist in more than one single site, hence the term multi-

sitedness (Philips, 2000), this dissertation has set out to investigate the expressions of the

people’s language ideologies not only in the site of ideological production (their language use on

signage) but also in the site of metapragmatic commentary (their talks about language) (see also

Chapter 1). Furthermore, as indicated in Kroskrity (1998) and has also been mentioned earlier in

this chapter, this research direction also renders a possibility to look into the process wherein the

people show their practical consciousness (their tacit knowledge represented through language

practice) and discursive consciousness (their explicit knowledge through metalinguistic talk) of

dominant language ideologies. As a result, it has facilitated an understanding of varying degrees

of the people’s language-ideological awareness and therefore demonstrated the multiplicity of

language ideologies.

However, the limited time frame of this dissertation makes it impossible to take into

account other language-ideological sites that may contribute to a more holistic understanding of

language ideologies in Vietnam today. One of these sites, for instance, is the social media which

250
has developed immensely and attracted a substantial number of Vietnamese users61 recently. The

virtual ethnography accompanying the LL data analysis in Chapter 4 has set light into the

possibility of using social media platforms as a site to see how clearly the people’s ideologies are

represented in their actual language practice. Moreover, through my observation of the public

debates taking place most intensely in social media platforms over the issue as to whether

Vietnam should give English the status of an official language, I have seen a kaleidoscopic

picture of metadiscursive expressions of attitudes and viewpoints on language with the

participation of a noticeable number of Vietnamese people from different professions and walks

of life who are apt to feel less pressure expressing themselves under their virtual identities. With

that in mind, I consider social media as a double-layered language-ideological site where

language ideologies are constructed and mediated in both language practice and metalinguistic

talk. I therefore would like to suggest that a further study on the people’s language ideologies in

this direction may have promising results (see Dailey-O’Cain, 2017 for a study on the ideologies

of English in social media).

Furthermore, even though this dissertation was set out to focus on the people’s language

ideologies, it has done so with reference to state-endorsed language ideologies. Accordingly, I

have managed to identify a relationship between the people’s language-ideological awareness –

which is represented in various degrees of their practical and discursive consciousness – and the

dominant language ideologies mediated in master narratives. However, the interaction between

the people’s and the state’s language ideologies identified in this dissertation is rather one-sided,

which means a research direction focusing on how dominant language ideologies may be

adjusted and reproduced because of efficacious influences from the people has yet been given a

61
According to the statistics of Vietnamese government, there are about 64 million internet users in Vietnam in
2019, which accounts for about 70 percent of the population.

251
deserved attention. The LL and interview data analyses in the two previous chapters, for

instance, have shown how tolerant and open-minded some people can be to the practice of

‘renewing’ their own language, which therefore indicates a language attitude that differs from the

dominant ideology of linguistic purism. However, the influences this language attitude has had

on the dominant language ideologies, which include an adjustment that casts Vietnamese as the

language of tradition and development (Nguyen, 2016, my emphasis), is the process that has yet

been discussed in this dissertation. Likewise, the analysis in Chapter 4 has demonstrated that the

ideology of neo-nationalism mediated in the national discourse of ‘Made in Vietnam’ is driven

rather substantially by the Sinophobia of Vietnamese people and how this attitude is manifested

in their social practice of goods consumption. But how such an English phrase has been

appropriated as a message of nationalism and patriotism by the people nationwide can affect a

modification of the dominant ideologies of English and how this modification can be reconciled

with the extant beliefs of English as a representation of an external culture and identity is the

research direction that needs further exploration.

But more importantly, in order to investigate the two-way process of interaction between

the people’s and the state’s language ideologies, let us not forget the aforementioned social

debate on the position of English in Vietnam. This is an especially important language-

ideological site to investigate this symbiotic process, since it is where the dominant language

ideologies – those which have been naturalized and taken for granted for years – are brought to

the discussion table, challenged and may subsequently become contending ones. Therefore, it is

worth noting that the social debates on language of this type should be considered a major

channel to look into the mobility of language ideologies, whereby even the most dominant and

highly naturalized language ideologies can be contested, adjusted and reproduced (see Park,

252
2009 for a discussion on the ideologies of English in South Korea in this direction). It is argued

that ‘contestation is a crucial facet of how particular ideologies and practices come to be

dominant’ (Briggs, 1998, p. 249). Accordingly, focusing on the social debates on language not

just helps understand language ideologies better by bringing the contending ones to the fore but

also creates an environment to demonstrate that ‘beliefs about language are multiple, competing,

contradictory and contested’ (Kroskrity, 1998, p. 117). That being the case, I would like to

suggest that a future research direction that looks into the interaction of the people’s and the

state’s language ideologies as a two-way process can be a promising one because it not only

provides a more holistic view of the language-ideological landscape of Vietnam but also renders

a possibility to see how language ideologies are grounded in and appropriated to sociopolitical

conditions and contingencies.

6.4 Coda

In this dissertation, the language practice and interview interaction construct and mediate the

ideologies and identities of post-reform Vietnamese people which reflect two major trends of

modernity pursuance and tradition preservation and an effort to reconcile these two aims. The

crux of the matter is that while the people of Vietnam are inclined to be flexible in dealing with

languages other than their own, they have quite consistent ideology of Vietnamese as the

language embodying national culture and identity. Such an insight not only unravels one of the

reasons why Vietnamese holds on to its status quo as one of the most stable national languages in

contemporary SEA and but also contributes substantial understanding of identity construction in

post-reform Vietnam.

253
Epilogue
Rapper Dế Choắt (‘Small Cricket’) won the Rap Việt competition in 2020 and has thereafter

become one of the leading rappers in Vietnam. He is seen as a uniquely special rapper in the

country not just because his stage name reminds of a humble character in a literary work read by

generations of Vietnamese children, but also because his rap songs are all written in ‘pure

Vietnamese’ lyrics. In an interview with local news media following his receiving of the first

prize of this competition, he talked about rap and Vietnamese language. As an explanation for

having always rapped purely in Vietnamese, he confided that his rap journey so far has been

defined by a relentless effort to make use of the depth of the national language. Then he

proceeded to claim that there are a lot of interesting things in Vietnamese waiting to be explored

by local rappers and as for him he wanted to do his share to ‘reproduce’ rap language in

Vietnam. Notwithstanding a rough outlook created by face tattoos and piercings and streetwear

outfits and a childhood full of ebbs and flows, Dế Choắt demonstrates a surprisingly vigorous

love for the national language. For this ‘Small Cricket’ continues his adventures through the new

territory of underground music fully equiped with an ardent appreciation of the beauty and

affluence of Vietnamese language, it is a testimony to how young, post-reform Vietnamese

generations are in good control of the balance between development pursuance and tradition

preservation. On that account, there should be cogent reasons to believe that Vietnamese will

continue to develop its status and solidify its position in the heart of the populace.

254
References

Albury, N. (2018). Linguistic landscape and metalinguistic talk about societal multilingualism.

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,1-17.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1452894

Androutsopoulos, J. (2013). English ‘on top’: Discourse functions of English resources in the

German mediascape. Sociolinguistic Studies, 6(2), 209-238.

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis,

MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Appadurai, A. (2001). Grassroots globalization and the research imagination. In A. Appadurai

(Ed.), Globalization (pp. 1-21). Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Ariffin, E. (2018, August 16). Smart city spotlight: Hanoi. The ASEAN Post. Retrieved from

http://theaseanpost.com

Aristova, N. (2016). Rethinking Cultural Identities in the Context of Globalization: Linguistic

Landscape of Kazan, Russia, as an Emerging Global City. Procedia – Social and Behavioral

Sciences, 236, 153-160.

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: Clarendon.

Bach, J. (2002). The taste remains: Consumption, (n)ostalgia, and the production of East Germany.

Public Culture, 14(3), 545-556.

Backhaus, P. (2007). Linguistic landscapes: A comparative study of urban multilingualism in

Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

255
Backhaus, P. (2009). Rules and regulations in linguistic landscaping: A comparative perspective.

In E. Shohamy and D. Gorter (eds.) Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 157-

172). New York and London: Routledge.

Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and

identity analysis. Text & Talk, 20(3): 377-396.

Bao Phuong. (2019, November 16). Hàng Việt cho người Việt, học Nhật Bản làm cho cha mẹ

mình dùng [Vietnamese goods for Vietnamese people: Learning to manufacture

commodities for our domestic market from Japan]. VietNamNet. Retrieved from

http://vietnamnet.vn

Barni, M. & Barna. C. (2015). The critical turn in LL: New methodologies and new items in LL.

Linguistic Landscape, 1(1-2), 6-18.

Bhatt, R. M. (2008). In other words: Language mixing, identity representations, and third

space. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(2). 177–200.

Bélanger, D., Drummond, L. B. W., & Nguyen-Marshall, V. (2012). Introduction: Who are the

urban middle class in Vietnam? In V. Nguyen-Marshall, L. B. W. Drummond & D.

Bélanger (eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban

Vietnam (pp. 1-17). Dordrecht: Springer.

Ben-Rafael, E. (2009). A sociological approach to the study of linguistic landscapes. In E.

Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 40-54). New

York, NY: Routledge.

Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., & Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape

as symbolic construction of the public spaces: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter (ed.),

256
 Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 7-30). Clevedon:

Multilingual Matters.

Bergman, J. (2013, November 22). Singapore’s new wave of nostalgia. The Wall Street Journal.

Retrieved from http://wsj.com

Betti, S. (2018). Notes on linguistic landscape: A look at several U.S cities. Cervantes Institute at

FAS, Harvard University.

Blackwood, R. (2015). LL explorations and methodological challenges: Analyzing France’s

regional languages. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1-2), 38-53.

Blackwood, R., Lanza, E., & Woldemariam, H. (eds.) (2016). Negotiating and contesting

identities in linguistic landscapes. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Blommaert, J. (2013). Ethnography, superdiversity and linguistic landscapes: Chronicles of

complexity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Blommaert, J., & Maly, I. (2016). Ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis and social change:

A case study. In K. Arnaut, J. Blommaert, B. Rampton & M. Spotti (eds.), Language and

Superdiversity (pp. 197-217). New York, NY: Routledge.

Blommaert, J., & Maly, I. (2019). Invisible lines in the online-offline linguistic landscape.

Tilburg Papers in Cultural Studies, 223, 1-9.

Bloomfield, L. (1993). An introduction to the study of language. Amsterdam and Philadelphia:

John Benjamins.

257
Boas, F. (1911). Handbook of American Indian languages. Washington, DC: Government

Printing Office.

Bodemer, M. B. (2010). Making ordinary people actors in national history: Hanoi life under the

subsidy economy in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Journal of the Finnish

Anthropological Society, 35(2), 56-67.

Boudarel, G., & Nguyen, V. K. (2002). Hanoi: City of the rising dragon (C. Duiker,

Trans.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Boym, S. (2001). The future of nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Canagarajah, S. (2000). Negotiating ideologies through English: Strategies from the periphery.

In T. Ricento (ed.), Ideology, politics, and language policies: Focus on English (pp. 121-

132). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations.

London: Routledge.

Cao, X. H. (2003). Tiếng Việt văn Việt người Việt [Vietnamese language Vietnamese literature

Vietnamese people]. Ho Chi Minh City: Tre Publishing House.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Curtin, M. L. (2015). Managing differential belonging via the linguistic landscape of Taipei. In

R. Rubdy & S. Ben Said (eds.) Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape

(pp. 101-122). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dailey-O’Cain, J. (2017). Trans-national English in social media communities. London:

Palgrave Macmillan.

258
Dao, V. T. (1980). On the transformation and new distribution of population centres in the

socialist republic of Vietnam. International Journal of Urban & Regional Research, 4(4):

503-515.

Dator, J., & Seo, Y. (2004). Korea as the wave of a future: The emerging dream society of icons

and aesthetic experience. Journal of Future Studies, 9(1), 31-44.

David, M. K., & Manan, S. A. (2015). Language ideology and the linguistic landscape: A study

in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Linguistics & The Human Sciences, 11(1), 51-66.

Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The social construction of selves. Journal for the

Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1): 43-63.

De Costa, P. I., Park, J. S., & Wee. L. (2020). Why English entrepreneurship? Multilingua, 1-15.

https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0037

Denham, P. A. (1992). English in Vietnam. World Englishes, 11(1), 61-69.

Deppermann, A. (2013). Positioning in narrative interaction. Native Inquiry, 23(1): 1-15.

Desai, R. (2008). Introduction: Nationalism and their understanding in historical perspective.

Third World Quarterly, 29(3): 397-428.

Do, H. T. (1996). Foreign language education policy in Vietnam: the emergence of English and

its impact on higher education. PhD thesis, University of Southern California.

Do, T. S., & Ha, T. H. V. (2013). Vietnam-China economic relations: 2009-2010. In P. E. Lam,

Y. Qin & M. Yang (eds.). China and East Asia: After the Wall Street crisis (pp. 225-239).

London: World Scientific.

Doan, N., Pham, T., Pham, M., & Tran, K. (2018). English as an International Language in

Vietnam: History and Development. Asian Englishes, 20(2), 106-121.

259
Dubois, J. W. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (ed.), Stancetaking in Disourse:

Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction (pp. 139-182). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Eagleton, T. (2007). Ideology: An introduction (New and Updated ed.). London and New York:

Verso.

Eckstein, S., & Nguyen, T. N. (2011). The making and transnationalization of an ethnic niche:

Vietnamese manicurists. International Migration Review, 45(3): 639-674.

Elliott, D. W. P. (2012). Changing worlds: Vietnam's Transition from the Cold War to

Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gal, S. (1989). Language and political economy. Annual Review of Anthropology, 18: 345-367.

Gandhi, A. (2016). Delicious Delhi: Nostalgia, consumption and the old city. Identities: Global

Studies in Culture and Power, 23(3): 345-361.

General Statistics Office of Vietnam (2019). Complete results of the 2019 Vietnam population

and housing census. Hanoi: Statistical Publishing House.

Graumann, C. F., & Kallmeyer, W. (eds.) (2002). Perspective and perspectivation in discourse.

Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.

Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places: Notes on the social organization of gatherings.

New York: Free Press.

Goffman, E. (1971). Relations in public. New York: Harper and Row.

Goffman, E. (1981). Footing. In E. Goffman (ed.), Forms of talk (pp. 124–159). Oxford:

Blackwell.

Goffman, E. (1983). The interaction ritual. American Sociological Review 48:1–19.

260
Gorter, D. (2006). Introduction: The study of linguistic landscape as a new approach to

multilingualism. In D. Gorter (ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to

multilingualism (pp. 1-6). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Gorter, D. (2018). Methods and techniques for linguistic landscape research: About definitions,

core issues and technological innovations. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt (eds.), Expanding the

linguistic landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic

resource (pp. 38–57). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Gorter, D., Marten, H. F., & Mensel, L. V. (eds.) (2012). Minority languages in the linguistic

landscape. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Grinter, L. E. (2006). Vietnam’s Thrust into Globalization: Doi Moi’s Long Road. Asian Affairs,

33(3), 151-165.

Griffin, J. L. (2004). The presence of written English on the streets of Rome. English Today,

20(2): 3-8.

Habermas, J. (1991). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a

Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge and Massachusetts: The Mit Press.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language

and meaning. London: Edward Arnold.

Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee (2015). Quy chế quản lý quy hoạch kiến trúc khu phố cũ

Hà Nội [Regulations on architectural management and planning of Hanoi old quarter].

Retrieved from http://hanoi.gov.vn

Harré, R. (2012). Positioning theory: Moral dimensions of sociocultural psychology. In J.

Valsiner (ed.), The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 191-206). Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

261
Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (1991). Varieties of positioning. Journal for the Theory of

Social Behaviour, 21(4), 393–407.

Hatoss, A. (2018). Language awareness in diasporic contexts. In P. Garrett & J. M. Cots (eds.),

The Routledge handbook of language awareness (pp. 418-434). London: Routledge.

Heath, S. B. (1989). Language ideology. In E. Barnauw (ed.), International encyclopedia of

communication (pp. 393-395). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Hirvonen, P. (2016). Positioning theory and small-group interaction: Social and task positioning

in the context of joint decision-making. SAGE Open, 6(3): 1-15.

Hobsbawm, E. J. (1992). Nation and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, reality.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hu, Y. H. (2018). Multilingual audio announcements: Power and identity. In M. Pütz & N.

Mundt (Eds.), Expanding the linguistic landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and

the use of space as a semiotic resource (pp. 132–149). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok’s linguistic landscape: Environmental print, codemixing and

language change. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3(1), 31-51.

Huebner, T. (2016). Linguistic landscape: History, trajectory and pedagogy. Manusya: Journal

of Humanities, 22, 1-11.

Huu Ngoc. (2009). Notes on the Old Quarter. Vietnamese Studies, 174(4): 5-24.

Iliescu, E. M. (2017). Economic nationalism’s viability under globalization. Romanian Review of

Social Sciences, 7(13), 10-20.

Irvine, J. T. (1989). When talks isn’t cheap: Language and political economy. American

Ethnologist, 16(2), 248-267.

262
Irvine, J. T., & Gal. S. (2000). Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In P. V.

Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of Language: Ideologies, polities, and identities (pp. 35-83).

Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.

Iwabuchi, K. (2002) Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese

transnationalism. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Jaworski, A., & Thurlow, C. (eds.). (2010). Semiotic landscape: Language, image, space.

London: Continuum.

Jenkins, R. (2014). Social identity (4th ed.). London: Routledge.

Jones, R. H. (2013). Position in the analysis of discourse in interaction. In E. A. Chapelle (ed.),

The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 1-6). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

Kachru, B. B. (1990). World Englishes and applied linguistics, World Englishes, 9(1), 3-20.

Kasanga, L. A. (2010). Streetwise English and French advertising in multilingual DR

Congo: Symbolism, modernity, and cosmopolitan identity. International Journal of the

Sociology of Language 206: 181–205.

Kasanga, L. A. (2012). Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of a Commercial Neighborhood in

Central Phnom Penh. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(6), 553-

567.

Kasanga, L. A. (2014). The linguistic landscape: Mobile signs, code choice, symbolic meaning

and territoriality in the discourse of protest. International Journal of the Sociology of

Language, 230: 19-44.

Kasanga, L. A. (2015). Semiotic landscape, code choice and exclusion. In R. Rubdy & S. Ben

Said (eds.) Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape (pp. 123-144).

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

263
Kelly-Holmes, H. (2014). Linguistic fetish: The sociolinguistics of visual multilingualism. In D.

Machin (ed.), Visual communication (pp. 135-152). Berlin: De Gruyter.

Kirkpatrick, A. (2010). English as a lingua franca in ASEAN: A multilingual model. Hong Kong:

Hong Kong University Press.

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London:

Routledge.

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (2001) Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of

contemporary communication. London: Arnold.

Kroskrity, P. V. (1998). Arizona Tewa Kiva speech as a manifestation of a dominant language

ideology. In B. B. Schieffelin, K. A. Woolard, and P. V. Kroskrity (eds.), Language

Ideologies: Practice and Theory (pp. 103-122). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kroskrity, P. V. (2006). Language ideologies. In A. Duranti (ed.), A Companion to Linguistic

Anthropology (pp. 496-517). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Kuppens, A. N. (2013). Cultural globalization and the global spread of English: From ‘separate

fields, similar paradigms’ to a transdisciplinary approach. Globalization, 10(2): 327-342.

Labov, W. (1964). The reflections of social processes in linguistic structures. In J. Fishman (ed.),

Reading in the sociology of language. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Landry, R., & Bourhis, R. (1997). Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical

study. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(1), 23-49.

Lanza, E., & Svendsen, B. A. (2007). Tell me who your friends are and I might be able to tell

you what language(s) you speak: Social network analysis, multilingualism and identity.

International Journal of Bilingualism, 11(3): 275-300.

264
Lanza, E., & Woldemariam, H. (2009). Language ideology and linguistic landscape: Language

policy and globalisation in a regional capital of Ethiopia. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter

(eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 189-205). New York, NY:

Routledge.

Le, M. H., & O’Harrow, S. (2007). Vietnam. In A. Simpson (ed.), Language and National

Identity in Asia (pp. 415-441). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lee, J., Jon, J. E., & Byun, K. (2017). Neo-racism and neo-nationalism within East Asia: The

experiences of international students in South Korea. Journal of Studies in International

Education, 21(2): 136-155.

Le, V. C. (2006). A historical review of English Language education in Vietnam. In Y. H. Choi

& B. Spolsky (eds.), English education in Asia: History and policies (pp. 167–180). Seoul:

Asia TEFL.

Leeman, J., & Modan, G. (2009). Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized

approach to linguistic landscape. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13, 332-362.

Lemke, J. (2008). Identity, development and desire: Critical questions. In C. R. Caldas-Coulthard

& R. Iedema (eds.), Identity trouble: Critical discourse and contested identities (pp. 17-

42). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Li, W. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discourse construction of identities

by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43: 1222-1235.

Liebscher, G., & Dailey-O’Cain, J. (2009). Language attitudes in interaction. Journal of

Sociolinguistics, 13(2), 195-222.

Liebscher, G., & Dailey-O’Cain, J. (2013). Language, space and identity in migration.

Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

265
Lipovsky, C. (2018). Belleville’s linguistic heterogeneity viewed from its landscape.

International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-27.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2018.1439494

Logan, W. S. (1994). Hanoi Townscape: Symbolic Imagery in Vietnam’s Capital. In M. Askew

& W. S. Logan (eds.). Cultural Identity and Urban Change in Southeast Asia: Interpretive

Essays (pp. 43-68). Geelong: Deakin University Press.

Logan, W. S. (2000). Hanoi: Biography of a city. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Lou, J. (2016). The linguistic landscape of Chinatown: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Bristol:

Multilingual Matters.

Low, S. M., & Lawrence-Zúñiga, D. (2003). The anthropology of space and place: Locating

culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Lu, H. (2002). Nostalgia for the future: The resurgence of an alienated culture in China. Public

Affairs, 75(2): 169-186.

Luong, H. V. (2007). The restructuring of Vietnamese nationalism, 1954-2006. Pacific Affairs,

80(3): 439-453.

Maclean, K. (2008). The rehabilitation of an uncontrollable past: Everyday life in Vietnam

during the subsidy period (1975-1986). History and Anthropology, 19(3): 281-303.

Mai Hà. (2012, August 26). Thực phẩm hàng hoá độc hại của Trung Quốc: Phải cấm cửa không

cho vào Việt Nam [Toxic foods and products from China must be banned from Vietnamese

market]. An Ninh Thủ Đô. Retrieved from http://anninhthudo.vn

Makihara, M., & Schieffelin, B. B. (2007). Cultural processes and linguistic mediations. In M.

Makihara and B. B. Schieffelin (eds.), Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and

266
 Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies (pp. 1-35). Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Maly, I. (2016). Detecting social changes in times of superdiversity: An ethnographic linguistic

landscape analysis of Ostend in Belgium. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(5):

703-723.

Manan, S. A., David, M. K., Dumanig, F. P., & Nageebullah, K. (2015). Politics, economics and

identity: Mapping the linguistic landscape of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. International

Journal of Multilingualism, 12(1), 31-50.

Marr, D. G. (1981). Vietnamese tradition on trial, 1920-1945. Berkeley and Los Angeles:

University of California Press.

Marten, H. F. (2012). ‘Latgalian is not a language’: Linguistic landscapes in eastern Latvia and

how they reflect centralist attitudes. In D. Gorter, H. F. Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.),

Minority languages in the linguistic landscape (pp. 19-35). Basingstoke: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Marten, H. F., Mensel, L. V., & Gorter, D. (2012). Studying minority languages in the linguistic

landscape. In D. Gorter, H. F. Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.), Minority languages in the

linguistic landscape (pp. 1-15). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Martinez, A. R. (2013, May 30). Why a great wave of nostalgia is sweeping through China. The

New Yorker. Retrieved from http://newyorker.com

May, S. (2005). Language rights: Moving the debate forward. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9(3):

319–347.

267
Moriarty, M. (2012). Language ideological debates in the linguistic landscape of an Irish tourist

town. In D. Gorter, H. F. Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.), Minority languages in the

linguistic landscape (pp. 74-88). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Muth, S. (2012). The linguistic landscape of Chisinau and Vilnius: Linguistic and the

representation of minority languages in two Post-Soviet capitals. In D. Gorter, H. F.

Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.), Minority languages in the linguistic landscape (pp. 204-

224). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nederveen Pietersen, J. (2004). Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Lanham, MD:

Rowman & Littlefield.

Ngoc Lan. (2014, August 15). Cụm từ ‘Made in Vietnam’ đang bị lạm dụng ra sao? [How has

the phrase ‘Made in Vietnam’ been misused?]. Zing News. Retrieved from

http://zingnews.vn

Nguyen, B. D. (1996). Preservation of the French colonial quarter in Hanoi, Vietnam. Ambio,

25(2): 115-117.

Nguyen, N. T. (2014). Hallyu in the contemporary culture of Vietnam. 건지인문학, 11, 273-288.

Nguyen, V. H. (2016, October 5-11). Giữ gìn sự trong sáng của tiếng Việt trên các phương tiện

thông tin đại chúng [Preserving the purity and clarity of Vietnamese language in social

media]. (Paper Presentation). National Conference on Preserving Vietnamese Purism,

Hanoi.

Nguyen, V. P. (2008). Hanoi case study. In F. Steinberg (ed.), Revitalization of history inner-city

areas in Asia: The potentials for urban renewal in Hanoi, Jakarta, and Manila (pp. 51-

104). Madaluyong: Asian Development Bank.

268
Nikolaou, A. (2017). Mapping the linguistic landscape of Athens: The case of shop signs.

International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(2), 160-182.

Panivong, N. (1996). Phantasmatic Indochina: French colonial ideology in architecture, film

and literature. Durham: Duke University Press.

Papen, U. (2012). Commercial discourses, gentrification and citizens’ protest: The linguistic

landscape of Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16(1): 56-80.

Papen, U. (2015). Signs in cities: The discursive production and commodification of urban

spaces. Sociolinguistic Studies, 9(1), 1-26.

Parenteau, R., Charbonneau, F., Pham, K. T., Nguyen B. D., Tran, H., Hoang, M. N., & Vu. T.

H. (1995). Impact of restoration in Hanoi’s French colonial quarter. Cities, 12(3): 163-173.

Park, J. S. (2009). The local construction of a global language: Ideologies of English in South

Korea. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2012). Markets of English: Linguistic capital and language policy in a

globalizing world. London: Routledge.

Pavlenko, A. (2009). Language conflict in Post-Soviet linguistic landscapes. Journal of Slavic

Linguistics, 17(1/2): 247-274.

Pavlenko, A. (2012). Transgression as the norm: Russian in linguistic landscape of Kyiv,

Ukraine. In D. Gorter, H. F. Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.), Minority languages in the

linguistic landscape (pp. 57-73). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Peck, A., & Stroud, C. (2015). Skinscapes. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1-2): 133-151.

Peleggi, M. (1996). National heritage and global tourism in Thailand. Annals of Tourism

Research, 23: 432-448.

269
Peleggi, M. (2005). Consuming colonial nostalgia: The monumentalisation of historic hotels in

urban Southeast Asia. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 46(3): 255-265.

Pendergrast, M. (2010). Uncommon grounds: The history of coffee and how it transformed our

world. New York: Basic Books.

Pennycook, A. (2000). English, politics, ideology: From colonial celebration to postcolonial

performativity. In T. Ricento (Ed.), Ideology, politics, and language policies: Focus on

English (pp. 107-119). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge.

Pennycook, A. (2009). Linguistic landscapes and the transgressive semiotics of graffiti. In E.

Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 302-312).

New York, NY: Routledge.

Pennycook, A. (2010). Language as a local practice. London & New York: Routledge.

Pennycook, A. (2017). Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of

Multilingualism, 14(3): 269-282.

Pennycook, A. (2018). Linguistic landscapes and semiotic assemblages. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt

(eds.), Expanding the linguistic landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use

of space as a semiotic resource (pp. 75–88). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2015a). Metrolingualism: Language in the city. London:

Routledge.

Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2015b). Making scents of the landscape. Linguistic Landscape,

1(3), 243–267.

Phan, L. H., Vu, H. H., & Bao, D. (2014). Language Policies in Modern-day Vietnam: Changes,

Challenges and Complexities. In P. Sercombe & R. Tupas (eds.). Language, Education and

270
 Nation-building: Assimilation and Shift in Southeast Asia. (pp. 232-244). Basingstoke,

Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Phan, N., & Starks, D. (2019). Language in public space and language policies in Hanoi Old

Quarter, Vietnam: A dynamic understanding of the interaction. Language Policy, 1-28.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-019-09526-z

Philips, S. U. (2000). Constructing a Tongan nation-state through language ideology in the

courtroom. In P. V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and

identities (pp. 229-257). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.

Philips, S. U. (2015). Language ideologies. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (eds.),

The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 557-575). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.

Puzey, G. (2016). Linguistic landscapes. In C. Hough (ed.). The Oxford handbook of names and

naming (pp. 395-411). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pütz, M., & Mundt, N. (eds.). (2018). Expanding the linguistic landscape: Linguistic diversity,

multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Reed, J. (2019, 26 June). The rise and rise of a Vietnamese corporate empire. Financial Times.

Retrieved from http://ft.com

Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity and heterogeneity. In M.

Featherstone, S. Lash & R. Robertson (eds.), Global Modernities (pp. 27-41). London:

SAGE.

Rojo, L. M. (ed.) (2016). Occupy: The spatial dynamics of discourse in global protest

movements. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

271
Rosa, J., & Burdick, C. (2017). Language ideologies. In O. García, N. Flores, & M. Spotti (Eds.),

The Oxford handbook of language and society (pp. 103-124). New York, NY: Oxford

University Press.

Rubdy, R. (2015). Conflict and exclusion: The linguistic landscape as an arena of contestation. In

R. Rubdy & S. B. Said (eds.) Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape

(pp. 1-24). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Rubdy, R., & Said, S. B. (eds.) (2015). Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic

landscape. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Rumsey, A. (1990). Wording, meaning and linguistic ideology. American Anthropologist, 92(2),

346-361.

Salamandra, C. (2012). The new old city: Nostalgia, representation and gentrification in historic

Damascus. In V. Bhame (ed.), The emerging Asian city: Concomitant urbanities and

urbanisms (pp. 75-84). London and New York: Routledge.

Schlick, M. (2002). The English of shop signs in English. English Today, 18(2): 3-7.

Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world.

London: Routledge.

Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2004). Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet.

London: Routledge.

Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. London, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Gaertner, L., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J. (2008). Nostalgia as

enabler of self-continuity. In F. Sani (Ed.), Self-continuity: Individual and collective

perspectives (227-239). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

272
Seloni, L., & Sarfati, Y. (2017). Linguistic landscape of Gezi Park protests in Turkey: A

discourse of graffiti. Journal of Language and Politics, 16(6): 782-808.

Selvi, A. F. (2016). English as the language of marketspeak: Reflections from the linguistic

landscape of Turkey, English Today, 32(4), 32-38.

Shang, G., & Guo, L. (2017). Linguistic landscape in Singapore: What shop names reveal about

Singapore’s multilingualism. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(2), 183-201.

Shang, G., & Zhao, S. (2017). Bottom-up Multilingualism in Singapore: Code Choice on Shop

Signs. English Today, 33(3), 8-14.

Shohamy, E. (2006). Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches. London:

Routledge.

Shohamy, E. (2015). LL research as expanding language and language policy. Linguistic

Landscape, 1(1-2), 152-171.

Shohamy, E. (2018). Linguistic landscape after a decade: An overview of themes, debates and

future directions. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt (eds.), Expanding the linguistic landscape:

Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource (pp. 25–37).

Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (2009). Introduction. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic

landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 1-10). New York, NY: Routledge.

Shohamy, E., & Ghazaleh-Mahajneh, M. A. (2012). Linguistic landscape as a tool for

interpreting language vitality: Arabic as a ‘minority’ language in Israel. In D. Gorter, H. F.

Marten & L. V. Mensel (eds.), Minority languages in the linguistic landscape (pp. 89-106).

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

273
Shohamy, E., & Waksman, S. (2009). Linguistic landscape as an ecological arena: Modalities,

meanings, negotiations, education. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic

landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 313–331). New York, NY: Routledge.

Shimp, T. & Sharma, S. (1987). Consumer ethnocentrism: construction and validation of the

CETSCALE. Journal of Marketing Research, 24, 280-289.

Sidel, M. (1998). Old Hanoi. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.

Silverstein, M. (1979). Language structure and linguistic ideology. In P. R. Clyne, W. F. Hanks,

& C. L. Hofbauer (eds.), The Elements: A Parasession on linguistic units and levels (pp.

193-147). Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Silverstein, M. (1985). Language and the culture of gender. In E. Metz & R. Parmentier (eds.),

Semiotic mediation (pp. 219-259). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Spolsky, B. (2009). Prolegomena to a sociological theory of public signage. In E. Shohamy & D.

Gorter (eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 25-39). New York, NY:

Routledge.

Spolsky, B., & Cooper, R. L. (1991). The language of Jerusalem. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Starks, D., & Phan, N. (2019). An exploration of statis and change: A park in the old quarter

Hanoi as a palimpsest. Social Semiotics, 1-21.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2019.1647818

Stroud, C., & Mpendukana, S. (2009). Towards a material ethnography of linguistic landscape:

Multilingualism, mobility and space in South African township. Journal of

Sociolinguistics, 13(3): 363-386.

274
Tai, H. H. (2017). Introduction: Situating Memory. In H. H. Tai (ed.) The country of memory:

Remaking the past in late socialist Vietnam (pp. 1-17). Berkeley: University of California

Press.

Tan, M. S., & Ben Said, S. (2015). Linguistic landscape and exclusion: An examination of

language representation in disaster signage in Japan. In R. Rubdy & S. Ben Said (eds.)

Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape (pp. 145-169). Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Taylor-Leech, K. J. (2012). Language Choice as an Index of Identity: Linguistic Landscape in

Dilli, Timor-Leste. International Journal of Multilingualism, 9(1), 15-34.

Thach Lam (1943). Hà Nội băm sáu phố phường [Hanoi’s thirty six guild streets]. Hanoi: Đời

Nay.

Thistlethwaite, J., & Sabba, M. (2015). The passive exclusion of Irish in the linguistic landscape:

A nexus analysis. In R. Rubdy & S. B. Said (eds.) Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the

linguistic landscape (pp. 27-51). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Thomas, M. (2002). Out of Control: Emergent Cultural Landscape and Political Change in Urban

Vietnam. Urban Studies, 39(9), 1611-1624.

Thomas, M., & Drummond, L. B. W. (2003). Introduction. In L. B. W. Drummond and M.

Thomas (eds.), Consuming urban culture in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 1-17). London:

Routledge.

Thompson, J. B. (1990). Ideology and modern culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Thurlow, R. W. (2013). Introduction. In R. W. Thurlow, J. Morris and S. Steiman (eds.), Coffee:

A comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverages, the industry (1-12). Langham: Rowman

& Littlefield.

275
Tirando, F., & Gálvez, A. (2008). Positioning theory and discourse analysis: Some tools for

social interaction analysis. Historical Social Research, 33(1): 224-251.

To, X. P. (2012). When the Đại gia (urban rich) go to the countryside: Impacts of the urban-

fuelled rural land market in the uplands. In V. Nguyen-Marshall, L. B. W. Drummond &

D. Bélanger (eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban

Vietnam (pp. 143-155). Dordrecht: Springer.

Toh, G. (2015). English in Japan: Indecisions, inequalities, and practices of relocalization. In R.

Tupas (ed.), Unequal English: The politics of English today (pp. 111-129). New York, NY:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Ton, T. T. (2005). Cultural Issues in Vietnam’s Transition. In W. T. Alpert (Ed.). The

Vietnamese Economy and Its Transformation to an Open Market System (pp. 13-31).

Armonk, New York and London: M. E. Sharpe.

Tran, N.T. (2010, October 8-10). Tính cách người Hà Nội: Hôm qua hôm nay và ngày mai [The

identity of Hanoians: Past present and future] (Paper Presentation). International

Conference on Hanoi Development, Hanoi.

Tran, T. T. (2021). Pho as the embodiment of Vietnamese national identity in the linguistic

landscape of a western Canadian city. International Journal of Multilingualism, 18(1), 73–

89.

Tran, V. N., Ngoc An., L Thanh. (2019, June 24). Hàng Trung Quốc gắn mác ‘Made in Vietnam’

đe doạ hàng Việt [Chinese goods labelled ‘Made in Vietnam’ competing with Vietnamese

goods]. Tuổi Trẻ, Retrieved from http://tuoitre.vn

Troyer, R. A., Cáceda, C., & Giménez Equíbar, P. (2015). Unseen Spanish in small-town

America: A minority language in the linguistic landscape. In R. Rubdy & S. B. Said (eds.)

276
 Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape (pp. 52-76). Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Trumper-Hecht, N. (2009). Constructing national identity in mixed cities in Israel: Arabic on

signs in the public spaces of Upper Nazareth. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic

landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 238-252). New York: Routledge.

Vaish, V. (2012). Introduction: Globalization of language and culture in Asia. In V. Vaish (ed.),

Globalization of language and culture in Asia: The impact of globalization process on

language (pp. 1-13). London: Continuum.

Van Horen, B. (2005). City Profile: Hanoi. Cities, 22, 161-173.

Van Mensel, L., Vandenbroucke, M., & Blackwood, R. (2016). Linguistic landscapes. In O.

García, N. Flores, & M. Spotti (eds.). The Oxford handbook of language and society (pp.

423-449). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wabei, M. (2004). The Ancient Quarter of Hanoi – A reflection of urban transition processes.

ASIEN, 92: 30-48.

Wang, Z. (2018). Memory politics, identity and conflict: Historical memory as a variable. Cham:

Palgrave.

Wang, C. L., & Chen, Z. X. (2004). Consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy domestic

products in a developing country setting: Testing moderating effects. Journal of Consumer

Marketing, 21(6), 391-400.

Were, G. (2017). Representing Doi Moi: History, memory and shifting national narratives in

late-socialist Vietnam. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 24(6): 672-686.

277
Woldemariam, H., & Lanza, E. (2014). Language contact, agency and power in the linguistic

landscape of two regional capitals of Ethiopia. International Journal of the Sociology of

Language, 228: 79-103.

Woolard, K. A., & Schieffelin, K. A. (1994). Language ideology. Annual Review of

Anthropology, 37: 55-82.

Woolard, K. A. (1998). Introduction: Language ideology as a field of inquiry. In B. B.

Schieffelin, K. A. Woolard, and P. V. Kroskrity (Eds.), Language Ideologies: Practice and

Theory (pp. 3-47). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wortham, S. (2008). Linguistic anthropology of education. Annual Review of Anthropology, 37,

37-51.

Young, R. F. (2017). World Languages. World Englishes and Local Identities, 36(4), 488-508.

Zhang, H., & Chan, B. H. (2017). Translanguaging in multimodal Macao posters: Flexible versus

separate multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(1), 34-56.

278
Appendix A Interview themes and suggested
questions for shop owners

Part 1. Respondent’s demographic information

1.1 How old are you? How long have you been living in Hanoi?

1.2 How long have you been running this shop? Do you own the shop by yourself?

1.3 Do you speak any foreign language? What foreign language(s) do you speak?

1.4 Who are the frequent customers of your shop? Can you tell me about their ages, social

classes, educational background, etc.?

1.5 Do you have foreign customers in your shop? If yes, what language(s) do you or your

employees use to communicate with these foreign customers?

Part 2. Respondent’s motivations for choosing to use Vietnamese and foreign languages on shop

signs

2.1 Can you explain the name of your shop? Why did you choose this name? Does this name

have any meaning to you personally?

2.2 Why did you choose to use Vietnamese and/or foreign language(s) on your shop sign?

2.3 What advantages do you have when you use Vietnamese and/or foreign language(s) on

shop sign?

2.4 Do you use foreign language(s) on your shop sign to keep up with the current trend? Or

are there any other reasons?

279
 2.5 What do you think of other stores in this neighbourhood that only use Vietnamese or

foreign language(s) on their shop signs?

Part 3. Respondent’s explanation for the arrangement of languages on shop sign. Questions of

this section aim to understand further the respondent’s language preference and his/her attitudes

towards Vietnamese, English, and other foreign languages (if available).

3.1 Did you choose the languages on shop sign on your own? Did you participate in

designing the sign? If yes, what did you do?

3.2 Why did you choose to arrange the languages on shop sign in that order? Further

questions will be asked accordingly depending on the actual arrangement of languages on

each specific shop sign (e.g., Why was English text put above Vietnamese one? Why did

you put English text to the left and Vietnamese one to the right? Why did you put English

text in the centre?).

3.3 Why did you choose to present the shop sign in this way? Further questions will also be

asked accordingly based on other details relating to the size, shape, and colour of the text

in each language (e.g., Why was English text in bigger font size than Vietnamese one?

Why did you put English text in red colour?).

3.4 Why did you have (the) same/different contents for the texts in Vietnamese and foreign

language(s)?

3.5 Can you explain the meaning of the logo and image (or other visual designs) on shop sign

(if applicable)?

Part 4. Respondent’s opinions on the effects of English and other foreign languages on

Vietnamese language, the linguistic landscape of Hanoi, and Vietnamese cultural identity

280
4.1 Do you think that using foreign language(s) on signage in public spaces has negative

effects on the purity of Vietnamese? Why (not)?

4.2 Can the presence of foreign language(s) in Hanoi’s public spaces affect the cultural

landscape of the city? Why (not)?

4.3 Why do we favour English these days (mentioning that it was different in Vietnam in the

past)? What do you think have changed in Vietnamese people?

4.4 Do you think that the favour of English and/or other foreign languages is a proof of

xenocentrism? Or are there any other reasons?

4.5 What do you think about the identity of Vietnamese people these days, considering the

increased visibility of English and other foreign languages in public spaces?

4.6 Do you think that the preference for English and other foreign languages in Hanoi’s

public spaces affects Vietnamese cultural identity? Why (not)?

281
Appendix B Interview themes and suggested
questions for local inhabitants

Part 1. Respondent’s demographic information

1.1 How old are you? How long have you been living in this neighbourhood?

1.2 Why did you choose to live in this neighbourhood?

1.3 Have there been many changes in the neighbourhood since you moved here?

1.4 Do you speak any foreign language? What foreign language(s) do you speak?

1.5 Have you ever been (or lived) outside Vietnam? Which countries have you been to?

Part 2. Respondent’s attitudes towards the use of Vietnamese and foreign languages on

shopfronts

2.1 Where do you often go shopping and hang out? Why do you prefer to go shopping and

hang out there?

2.2 What do you think about the stores in the neighbourhood that use foreign languages on

their shopfront signs? What about those using Vietnamese?

2.3 When you go shopping or hang out, do you care about the language(s) used on the

shopfront signs of shops, café, and restaurants? Why (not)?

2.4 Do you prefer to go into the shops, cafés or restaurants that use foreign languages on their

shopfront signs? Why (not)?

282
 2.5 How often do you go to shopping malls? What do you think about the use of English and

other foreign languages there?

Part 3. Respondent’s attitudes towards the use of English and other foreign languages in the

public spaces of Hanoi in general

3.1 What do you think about the increased visibility of English and other foreign languages

in public spaces?

3.2 In your opinion, why is English used so popularly in public spaces?

3.3 Are you in favour of the use of English and other foreign languages in public spaces?

Why (not)?

3.4 What are the benefits of using English in public spaces? Any drawbacks?

3.5 Do you think that using English and foreign languages in public spaces is to keep up with

a particular trend in the world? Or are there any other reasons?

Part 4. Respondent’s opinions on the effects of English and other foreign languages on

Vietnamese language, the linguistic landscape of Hanoi, and Vietnamese cultural identity

4.1 Do you think that using foreign language(s) on public signage has negative effects on the

purity of Vietnamese? Why (not)?

4.2 Can the presence of foreign language(s) in Hanoi’s public spaces affect the cultural

landscape of the city? Why (not)?

4.3 Why do we favour English these days (mentioning that it was different in Vietnam in the

past)? What do you think have changed in Vietnamese people?

4.4 Do you think that the favour of English and/or other foreign languages is a proof of

xenocentrism? Or are there any other reasons?

283
4.5 What do you think about the identity of Vietnamese people these days, considering the

increased visibility of English and other foreign languages in public spaces?

4.6 Do you think that the preference for English and other foreign languages in Hanoi’s

public spaces affects Vietnamese cultural identity? Why (not)?

284
Appendix C Transcription conventions

Symbol Definition and use

? Rising intonation

. Falling intonation

*asterisks* A change in pitch

$dollar signs$ A smiling voice

@at signs@ A laughing voice

(.), (..), (…) Pauses that last one, two, and three beats respectively (longer

pauses are marked by the relevant number of seconds)

- Putting behind a word for a false start

(single brackets) An unclear passage

((double brackets)) A commentary or descriptive passage of the analyst (such as

providing further explanation for a translation)

[single square brackets] Overlapping utterances

and

[[double square brackets]]

= Using one at the end of the interrupted turn and one at

beginning of the next turn of the same speaker to mark the

flow of speech

285