“[The] Northern [Dialect] sounds foreign to me”: Vietnamese heritage speakers’ investment and identities

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE

DOI: 10.18173/2354ꢀ1067.2016ꢀ0104

Social Sci., 2016, Vol. 61, No. 12, pp. 36ꢀ47

This paper is available online at http://stdb.hnue.edu.vn

“[THE] NORTHERN [DIALECT] SOUNDS FOREIGN TO ME”:

VIETNAMESE HERITAGE SPEAKERS’ INVESTMENT AND IDENTITIES

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha

Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education

Abstract. The trends of globalization and transnationalism have drawn researchers’

attention to the issues of heritage speakers as well as their investment and identities.

Speakers of Spanish, Chinese, Korean are thoroughly studied while not much

research has been done in the realm of Vietnamese heritage speakers and their

dialects. This study investigates Vietnamese heritage speakers’ investment and

identities in relation to the Vietnamese dialects they are exposed to. The findings

suggest that the participants constructed and reconstructed different identities and

their levels of investment in language learning varied due to their experience with

the social worlds.

Keywords: The Northern dialect, sounds foreign, Vietnamese heritage speakers,

investment, identities.

1. Introduction

Language teaching and learning is now closely linked to globalization and speakers

from diasporas, heritage speakers (HSs) in particular, become a topic that attracts a

wealth of research in the field of sociolinguistics [7, 1]. While the issue of identities and

investment of Spanish, Korean and Chinese HSs has been widely studied [4, 12,13, 14]

research on Vietnamese heritage speakers is still limited. As understanding the learners,

their investment and their identities is an essential part of heritage language (HL) teaching,

researching Vietnamese HSs will expand our subject knowledge as well as enrich the

existing literature on HSs in general. This research examines the investment and identities

of the Vietnamese HSs at a university in the US Pacific in relation to the dialects they are

exposed to. Using grounded theory, the study hopes to shed light on the HSs’ struggle in

claiming identities and how it manifests in their language investment in their learning of

the Vietnamese language as identities and investment directly influence HSs’ relationship

to the target language [11].

Received date: 7/8/2016. Published date: 25/10/2016.

Contact: Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, eꢀmail: hanguyen.hnue@gmail.com

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“[The] Northern [dialect] sounds foreign to me”: Vietnamese heritage speakers’ investment...

2. Content

2.1. Background to the study

Geographically and dialectically, Vietnam can be divided into three major regions:

the North, the Central and the South. Vietnamese, despite not being the only language

spoken, is the official language of the nation. The three main dialects in Vietnam feature

differences in vocabulary and pronunciation [8; 266].

After 1975, many Vietnamese people sought refuge in other countries, the USA

included. They started a new life in a whole new country whose language they did not

speak. In the US, these immigrants often lived in Vietnamese communities and most

of them did not speak any English. Many families have the children speak Vietnamese

as their home language; others have the children speak both Vietnamese and English

at home (usually to Englishꢀspeaking family members). However, there are also cases

where parents decide not to teach Vietnamese to their children due to the perceived

socioeconomic and academic benefits that people can get if they speak only English.

The participants in my study had Vietnamese parents and they all spoke Vietnamese

at home: Jane’s family came from Hue with Central dialect (Hue dialect) and two others

(Tony and Ellie) had Southern dialect (i.e., Sai Gon dialect).

At the university chosen, students are required to complete four semesters of foreign

language in order to graduate. The Vietnamese Program here offered four courses for

students: VIET101 and VIET201 in the Fall and VIET102 and VIET202 in the Spring.

Some students can be granted permission to start with VIET 102, VIET201 or VIET202

without taking the lowerꢀlevel courses. The exemption is decided on the basis of a

placement test. Jane was exempted from VIET101 so she only took three Vietnamese

classes (VIET102, VIET201 and VIET202) at university while Ellie and Tony took all

four courses.

The dialect used for class instruction was the Vietnamese Northern dialect. The

instructors included a native Vietnamese female lecturer, an American professor and a

Vietnamese teaching assistant, all of whom spoke the Northern dialect. The textbook used

was Elementary Vietnamese [10] with all conversations recorded in the Northern dialect.

In an informal discussion, the coordinator of the Vietnamese Program in this university

shared that he chose Northern dialect in teaching because it was the “standard” language

heard on TV, radio, newspapers, etc. Also, songs (except for regional folk music) in

Vietnamese are sung in Northern dialect, regardless of the singers’ dialects. The difference

between the dialects at home and in class gives rise to this study. I will examine the HSs’

investment in learning Vietnamese as well as how their investment was influenced by

different Vietnamese dialects they came in contact with. Also, I want to find out how they

constructed and reconstructed their identities in relation to these dialects.

2.2. Literature review

First and foremost, it is important to define the notion of HSs. There is no single

definition of HSs and it has mostly been associated with the speakers’ proficiency or

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their ethnic group. “A heritage speaker is an early bilingual who grew up hearing and

speaking the heritage language (L1) and the majority language (L2) either simultaneously

or sequentially in early childhood (that is, roughly up to age 5) but whose L2 became their

primary language at some point during childhood (typically after the onset of schooling)”

[1; 6]. This paper adopts the recent view on HSs as proposed by Leeman [9;103]:

Either all individuals with an ancestral or family tie to the language – even if they have

extremely limited or no proficiency in the language – or just those who have some

productive and/or receptive ability.

As the role of HL education is becoming pivotal in the context of globalization, the

issue of HSs and their identities emerges as a subject of debate among scholars. Many

argue that HSs’ identity issue is far more complex than just the relation between one’s

ethnicity and language since it is “how a person understands his or her relationship to

the world, how that relationship is structured across time and space, and how the person

understands possibilities for the future” [5; 36]. Identity, in other words, is not fixed; it is

fluid and subject to constant changes within people’s social worlds. It is also constructed

and reconstructed all the time based on individuals’ perception of themselves and their

images as seen by other members in the community [9].

HSs’ investment and their identities have been the focus of research recently.

Blackledge and Creese found that Bengali HSs’ identities are directly related to

history, language ideologies and can be imposed on them yet negotiated by them via

linguistic resources [2]. Leeman (2015) reviewed studies on HSs’ identities in the U.S

in surveyꢀbased research and ethnographic research and linked the issue to education

[9]. Other authors investigated the Chinese HSs’ identities and how their identities were

affected by the learners’ home dialects. The findings suggested that the HSs’ Chinese

identities were maintained but they were also shifted during their struggle when there

exists the gap between the instruction dialect and their home dialect [13]. The studies

mentioned, however, are on HSs of other languages rather than those of Vietnamese.

Not until recently have there been more studies on Vietnamese HSs. Do (2015)

investigated how second generation Vietnamese Americans negotiated their identities in

their communities of practice (CoPs). He found that language competence was not the

only factor deciding the HSs’ participation or their perceived legitimacy in using the HL in

their communities. He indicated that the participants, denied membership by “oldꢀtimers”

due to their limited proficiency, used imagined communities as a way to connect to and

identify themselves with the heritage culture. Additionally, Do examined how these HSs

negotiated their identities as language brokers (doing the translation and interpretation for

the family) when they encountered difficulties as their HL proficiency was not sufficient

for the tasks [6].

The limited amount of research on Vietnamese HSs implies the need for additional

research. An understanding of Vietnamese HSs’ identities and investment will enable

educators to better support the heritage learners and therefore positively contribute to

HSs’ language and culture maintenance.

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“[The] Northern [dialect] sounds foreign to me”: Vietnamese heritage speakers’ investment...

2.3. Methodology

The participants in this study consist of three people aged 22. To ensure their

confidentiality, they were given pseudonyms which are Tony, Ellie, and Jane. The

research data were collected when they were in their fourth semester learning Vietnamese

(VIET202) at a university in the USA.

Tony is a 22ꢀyearꢀold male student who majors in Law. After 1975, his parents went

to the US and he was born on a Pacific island. Tony took four Vietnamese courses over two

years at college because he wanted to talk to his family. Previously, he had only spoken

Vietnamese at home but mostly in phrases or simple sentences such as Có gì ăn không

má? (What is there to eat, Mom?), Ở thư viện (I’m at the library.) or Giờ con về (Now

I’m coming home). As Tony stated, he could not explain “more complicated things” and

usually had to shorten what he wanted to say.

Ellie is 22ꢀyearꢀold female born in California. She had spoken Vietnamese fluently

before taking classes at university. At home, she always talked to her grandmother in

Vietnamese. With her parents, she used Vietnamese with occasional codeꢀswitching to

English.

Jane is a 22ꢀyearꢀold female born in Hawaii. Her family was originally from Hue.

Her dad had come to the US as a refugee before her family reunited in New Orleans four

years later and then moved to Hawaii. At home, she used Vietnamese (Hue dialect) with

her mom and both Vietnamese and English with her dad.

2.4. Data Collection

The data were collected from a series of inꢀdepth interviews with the participants

(2ꢀ3 sessions/each), which were then transcribed and analyzed. Each interview session

lasted 15ꢀ30 minutes. I conducted the interviews in form of small talks in which I actively

engaged in the participants’ stories to encourage them to elaborate with more details. I

also chose to speak English to the interviewees not only to make them feel comfortable

to talk but also to minimize the potential influence of my dialect. In the interviews, I

was able to use my linguistic resource in Vietnamese to facilitate the participants’ talks.

I also reminded the participants that they did not need to answer questions if they felt

uncomfortable. Throughout the interviews, however, the participants were all willing to

talk about issues I asked.

2.5. Data Analysis

As HSs and their identities are a complicated issue [9], grounded theory is chosen

as the framework for data analysis as it allows for flexible data collection and data

treatment [3].

I followed the procedures of conducting grounded theory by Charmaz [3] and

started with conducting then transcribing the first interviews. I then did lineꢀbyꢀline

coding to obtain the initial codes before grouping similar codes into categories of

focused coding, which helped me to decide what to ask in the next interview with the

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participants. With the second interview transcribed, I repeated lineꢀbyꢀline coding and

focused coding. These focused codes then underwent axial coding where the focused

codes were compared, synthesized and related to dialect issue.

2.6. Findings

2.6.1. Learners’ investment

As revealed in the interview, the participants came to VIET202 with different levels

of linguistic and cultural capital. Also, their immediate families had a crucial impact on

their investment in learning the HL.

Although all three participants could speak Vietnamese before taking classes at the

university, Jane and Ellie were fluent and they used Vietnamese as their home language.

Jane also went to Sunday school ? so she had known how to read and write before enrolling

the Vietnamese courses. Likewise, Ellie always used Vietnamese to talk to her grandma

who did not speak English. With her mom and dad, she codeꢀswitched based on what

language they used with her. Tony, on the other hand, spoke Vietnamese at home “as

young as he could remember” but for him, his language was “simple” and “butchered”.

He had limited exposure as he did not have a community outside of the family (relatives or

friends) and he used some simple phrases or sentences “over and over” to his parents. Yet,

he considered himself holding a lot of Vietnamese values. Later in the interview, Tony

elaborated his idea of Vietnamese values as follows:

My family [. . . ] doesn’t want to hug, they don’t like to say congratulations, just keep

working hard in life and you know just make money and find. . . you know, support the

family. And that’s where I hold my values because I have no time for crying, I have no

time for stressing [. . . ] I just make sure I do what I have to without investing emotions,

without stressing, without crying, without getting mad about all this stuff. In that sense,

I think I hold Vietnamese values.

In the interviews, Tony repeatedly mentioned his wish to learn Vietnamese to

talk to his family, with no dialect preferences. As his family was the only resource

of language exposure he had outside of class, they exerted negative influences on his

language investment. Tony recalled asking his father the Vietnamese word for “snail”,

which he pronounced incorrectly but was not corrected by his dad. Later he told his mom

the word, she did not understand and she told him he had the wrong pronunciation. Tony

realized his dad’s disinterest in teaching or reinforcing his Vietnamese:

He just shows like he doesn’t want to, like, reinforce my Vietnamese, he just takes it as it

is. It’s horrible, you know, “I’m not gonna dig deep and correct you” kind of thing. If I

say something wrong he wouldn’t correct, yeah, unless it’s very bad.

Tony also cited other examples when he asked his parents about their Buddhist

prayer rituals and they told him not to bother. Or another time when he told his dad (in

Vietnamese) that he needed to leave early due to an emergency at work; his dad did not

understand but he pretended he did.

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“[The] Northern [dialect] sounds foreign to me”: Vietnamese heritage speakers’ investment...

In Tony’s case, the HS expressed the eagerness to learn both Vietnamese language

and culture to communicate more with his parents but his dad showed the lack of

enthusiasm for language transmission and reinforcement. By his “I’m not gonna dig deep

and correct you” attitude as perceived by Tony, he exerted the power of an insider and

considered Tony an outsider ꢀ the American in the family. The failure to be included in

Vietnamese conversations led to Tony’s frustration and abandonment of his effort to be a

Vietnamese: “I don’t identify myself with it [Vietnamese culture]”. The rejection led to

Tony’s resistance to invest in using the language to communicate:

I wanna learn but I don’t want to speak it because I’m not there yet kind of thing. It just

reminds me that my Vietnamese is not good, just makes me shy away from everything. I

don’t know why.

With further probing, it was found that ‘being there’ to Tony meant having good

pronunciation. However, the failure in seeking inclusion resulted in his lack of investment

in language learning. He decided not to take any other Vietnamese classes after fulfilling

the degree requirement because it was not his “priority” and he felt the lack of exposure

made it impossible for him to improve his language competence.

In Jane’s case, she started with considerable knowledge of Vietnamese as her family

encouraged her to retain the Vietnamese language and culture:

In the beginning, they were more focused on their children getting an American

education. Consider what they went through in the War time. . . so I guess they felt that

it was beneficial for us to get as much as we can from America so I guess they were not

that focused on Vietnamese but as we got older I think that they did want us to go back

to our culture and language. They brought us back to Vietnam for vacation and then go

back here and then I think that’s why they kept us in Sunday school so much because

they knew that coming here we’ll get a lot of American influence [. . . ] so they want us

to balance between giving us that opportunity but still have a tie back to our culture. As

I grow older, I think that they felt that we’re losing part of our culture so my dad got

more strict about us learning Vietnamese and learning about our religion [Buddhism].

It can be seen, Jane’s parents wanted their children to be educated and succeed in

the US without losing their Vietnamese values (i.e: language, culture and religion). This

affected Jane’s investment in learning the HL: she would go to Sunday school until the age

of 14ꢀ15, she would read Buddhism books to her dad as a way of practising the language

and she would talk to her relatives in Vietnamese when she came to visit them.

She also claimed that going to class just “enhance[d]” her knowledge. In her stories,

she remembered how she was “a bad child” and how she was against learning the language

at her Sunday school as “the teacher was mean”, which influenced her attitude towards

taking Vietnamese at college at first:

I started with 102 first, I skipped 101 and in 102 I felt like I didn’t really care much about

102 because I think that because of my knowledge in my Sunday school and I already

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had that feeling like “Urggg, I don’t want to learn this” and it was already a bad

experience so then when I came here and started to take 102, I was like “Urggg, again. . . ”

Initially, Jane was reluctant to learn Vietnamese due to her negative experience

at Sunday school (i.e: “Urggg, I don’t want to learn this” and “Urgggg, again. . . ”). The

previous “bad experience” seemed to prevent her from investing in learning Vietnamese

at college. However, Jane’s attitudes changed when she liked the teacher and when she

realized the benefit of learning.

But after co Han taught us, I really liked her so I think she made a... she made an effect

on

me wanting to learn more about Vietnamese and then at my office, too. Our patients are

mostly Vietnamese and I learnt that when I invested more time in 102 then I can talk to

those patients more and then I took 201 now.

At that time, Jane worked at a clinic where she met many Vietnamese Northerners

who did not speak much English. She used the Northern dialect learnt in class to talk to

these customers and to establish rapport with them.

Speaking to them, like, in their dialect make me want to learn Vietnamese in that dialect

better so when I go to my profession I can use that dialect with my clients because I feel

they speak to you more when you speak their dialect.

In other words, Jane projected herself as a Northerner when she talked to the clients

as she perceived using the Northern dialect would grant her membership to clients’ CoP.

Customers, thus, became an alternative investment to her language learning.

Ellie, although unable to read and write in Vietnamese before taking classes, was

a fluent Vietnamese speaker. She was also familiar with cultural practices of a typical

Vietnamese family:

I think a good amount compared to my other friends with different ethnicity. For example,

at home we still do the New Year tradition and đốt nhang [lighting the incense] and stuff

with the incense. I don’t know just like the little things you normally see in Vietnam you

cannot see at home with the mix of American culture.

In this extract, Ellie saw herself as being exposed to “a good amount” of Vietnamese

culture. She also set herself apart by comparing her family with other families where

American culture was present. Later, she cited examples of how the Vietnamese values

could be observed in her family from the food she ate, the way her family communicated

to the fact that they had a close family tie:

I would say like a lot of like from food to just like the way we like eat or the way like we

communicate with each other is still kind of like the Vietnamese tradition, like we still

try to keep the family close. And regardless of how old you are, you’ll never like kicked

out of the house, whereas here it’s like if you’re 18, you have to find your own place to

stay or something. Like that’s still the Vietnamese tradition like keeping it together, I

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