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Article published In:
Cultural Linguistic Contributions to World Englishes
Edited by Hans-Georg Wolf, Frank Polzenhagen and Arne Peters
[International Journal of Language and Culture 4:2] 2017
► pp. 234–253

Cultural conceptualisations in Vietnamese English [1] 1

| Monash University, Australia

The fact that English has been used as a means of global communication appears to bring about the association of English with multiple cultural conceptualisations regardless of its roles in different contexts. The purpose of the present paper is to explore and argue for the existence of ‘Vietnamese English’, a variety developed by Vietnamese users of English with its own lexical specifics and underlying cultural conceptualisations. The most important areas of the study will include: (1) lexical innovations in Vietnamese English found in the data of the Vietnam Heritage Magazine and locally developed English textbooks in Vietnam; (2) the cultural schemas, categories and metaphors that are entrenched in instances of lexical innovation; and (3) a sample of documenting entries for a yet-to-be-compiled Vietnamese English Dictionary based on the findings.

Keywords: Vietnamese English, lexical innovations, cultural conceptualisations
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.English in Vietnam and Vietnamese English
  • 3.Cultural Linguistics, cultural conceptualisations and World Englishes
  • 4.Data, methodology and procedure of analysis
  • 5.Lexical innovations in Vietnamese English
  • 6.Analysing Vietnamese English lexical innovations in light of Cultural Linguistics
    • 6.1Cultural categories
      • Category money
      • Category event
      • Category god(s)
    • 6.2Cultural schemas and cultural conceptual metaphors
      • tet/ lunar new year
      • market
  • 7.A sample of Vietnamese English dictionary entries based on the findings
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.4.2.06din
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