SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN VOCATIVE IN VIETNAMESE– LAO, COMPARISION WITH ENGLISH AND CHINESE

Abstract

Vietnam and Laos are two countries in Indochina peninsula, among Southeast Asian countries. The vocative words in Vietnamese-Lao include the Sino-Tibetan languages, Kra–Dai languages, Mon-Khmer languages, and Polynesian languages. We are considering the vocative words in Vietnamese-Lao in a panoramic view of the vocative words in Southeast Asian languages and comparing them with personal pronouns in Chinese and English.The culture and language of Vietnam and Laos have many similarities leading to many similarities in vocative words. The vocative words in the Vietnamese-Lao language has many similarities in the two types of relative noun. Both countries have many similarities in culture, leading to a cultural similarity in communication culture in form of address. It is a culture that values the family, treasuresaffection, communicates in the family and society by ranks and hierarchy.The differences between some linguistic and cultural factors in addressing of the two peoples of Vietnam and Laos are the unique characteristics of each language and culture. Such differencesderive from the population characteristics: Vietnam has a multi-island element while Laos is completely continental; from the different reception of Indian, Chinese and French cultures by the two peoples.