"Eating alone is painful" : an interdisciplinary and ethnographically inspired sociolinguistic investigation into Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Invitations are a commonplace part of language ritual at meals in Vietnamese culture. They are verbal and non-verbal signals extended around everyday meals and interpreted as offers or invitations for food and/or company at meals. These invitations form communal and familial bonds and serve as a means to maintain hierarchical order. However, the commonly-held misperceptions of these invitations include them being explicitly verbalised, occurring only at meal-starts, and being specific to regions and people groups. Previous studies discussed the language of invitations from a narrow linguistic perspective which led to limited understandings of their nature and of how contextual and social factors govern their usage. My research examines linguistic and cultural perceptions and usage of Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations (VMRIs) by about 350 native speakers of Vietnamese in New Zealand and Vietnam. My study draws on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork data, including participant observations, informal talks, diaries, video-recordings, and interviews. This is an interdisciplinary study drawing upon theoretical ideas from Sociolinguistics and Cultural Anthropology to analyse and interpret the data. The main findings are from two perspectives. From a linguistic perspective, VMRIs exhibit several features. Firstly, their linguistic variants are diverse. Secondly, particular linguistic features can express formality, politeness, hierarchical respect, and communicative conventions. Thirdly, key sociocultural variables (age, gender, familiarity, perception, and socio-family status) appear to influence usage. From an anthropological perspective, VMRIs are daily-life ritual practices manifesting the value of food in Vietnamese socio-cultural and historical context of food insecurity, the significance of family meals and meal manners, and the role of women. This study on Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations expands the conceptual boundaries of invitations as multiplex discourses by showing how context (food and family meals) and other factors (status, familiarity, age, gender, and perception) generate and constrain language use. It also highlights the interrelationship between language and behaviour, the ritual practice of familial bonding during mealtimes, and the role of women in Vietnamese society. The findings emphasise the importance not only of taking account of speakers and hearers’ identities and discursive contexts when interpreting contextual language use but also of identifying those contexts

ANCIENT VIETNAMESE WORDS IN SOUTHERN FOLK SONG COLLECTIONS PUBLISHED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY

The article examines and explains the meanings of archaic Vietnamese words in southern folk song collections published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We have identified and selected typical Vietnamese words that are now rarely used or used differently. To explain these words’ meanings in folk songs, we use dictionaries, such as Vietnamese Dictionary, Ancient Vietnamese Vocabulary Dictionary, Đại Nam quốc âm tự vị (Dictionnaire Annamit) – the first Vietnamese dictionary, and Southern Dialect Dictionary. This research outlines a unique and exciting feature of the southern language that was popular in folk songs and people’s lives in the South

When local law enforcement officers become immigration agents, communities suffer

After 9/11 the federal government began to partner with state and local law enforcement to defend the U.S. from potential terrorist attacks. This expansion in law enforcement was a partnership with state and local governments, which allows law enforcement to enforce civil and criminal immigration violations. Mai Thi Nguyen examines the impacts of these new partnerships on local communities, finding that when local law enforcers become de facto immigration agents, the fear of deportation can lead to a reduction in civic engagement from immigrant communities, and to a breakdown in trust. She argues that in order to improve public safety without alienating immigrant communities, agencies granted enhanced immigration authority should be placed under greater scrutiny, especially at the local level

Description of Geocenamus vietnamensis sp. n. (Nematoda : Merliniidae) from Vietnam

A new species of the genus Geocenamus was isolated from soil and root samples from the rhizosphere of Casuarina equisetifolia (Casuarinaceae) in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. This species is characterized by a round-to-hexagonal labial disc, the presence of a labial region, which is continuous or slightly offset from the body with six sectors, lateral sectors of first labial annulus being smaller than the submedian sectors, the presence of six to seven labial annules; the absence of deirids; stylet length 24 to 28 mu m long, body length 776 to 979 mu m long; lateral field with six to eight lateral lines, without areolation at mid-body and with areolation in outer bands at the tail region and a pointed tail terminus. Geocenamus vietnamensis n. sp. most closely resembles G. boghiae in having a non-sclerotized head framework and lacking a bursa in the males. It can be clearly distinguished from all other species of the genus Geocenamus by these characteristics. The combination of morphology, morphometric features, and phylogenetic trees, based on D2-D3 of 28S and ITS rDNA sequences, showed that this new species can be clearly separated from all other sequenced species. This record is the first for Geocenamus in Vietnam

First report of Longidorus mindanaoensis Coomans, De Ley, Jimenez and De Ley, 2012 (Nematoda: Longidoridae) from a mangrove forest in Vietnam

Longidorus mindanaoensis was recovered from a mangrove forest in Vietnam. The recovered population is in general morphological agreement with the type population, and the characters of pharyngeal bulb, i.e. the same unique pattern of pharyngeal glands nuclei as well as the lip region morphology, amphidial fovea shape and size and position of vulva corroborated its identity. Molecular studies of the recovered population using D2-D3 expansion segments of large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA D2-D3) revealed the D2-D3 sequence of the recovered population is 99.6% similar to the sequence of the type population. A new morphometric range for body size was recorded for the species based upon present Vietnamese population, and the present study emphasized that the diversity of Longidorus spp. in Vietnam could be higher than previously assumed

In Vitro Culture Of Maize (Zea Mays L.) Inbred Line Sm5-4

Tissue culture of inbred line SM5-4 maize (Zea mays L.), maternal parent of Putra J- 58 (F1 hybrids) was established using maize zygotic embryo as explant. To obtain embryogenic callus from mature and immature zygotic embryos of inbred line SM5- 4, manipulations of media components such as carbon, nitrogen, proline, and casein hydrolysate, and culture conditions such as incubation temperature, light, were carried out. Immature embryos have the ability to form callus and embryogenic calli, which can result in plant regeneration. At tissue culture level, the study aims at establishing the best tissue culture system via somatic embryogenesis and to overcome plant regeneration problems by manipulating the sucrose concentration, hormone combination and concentration, culture age, the type of medium formulation used to grow callus, incubation temperature, light and media formulation. Sterilization technique of maize from mature and immature maize seeds of the inbred line SM5-4 was investigated. Mature seeds (50 days old) and immature seeds (14 days after pollination) were disinfected by washing in different concentrations of sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) for different duration. Disinfection in 50%(v/v) Clorox solution (2.27% sodium hypochlorite) for 20 minutes gave 90% of contaminationfree culture of mature seeds whereas 50%(v/v) Clorox solution (2.27% sodium hypochlorite) for 15 minutes gave 75% of contamination-free culture of immature seeds. Reduction in Clorox concentration of 20% (v/v) Clorox (1.05% sodium hypochlorite) for 20 minutes gave high percentage (67%) of contamination- free culture of immature seeds that remain viable. N6 basal medium was found to be the best medium in enhancing both callus induction and embryogenic calli formation. The highest callus induction frequency on N6 basal medium supplemented with 9 pM 2,4-D from immature zygotic embryos was 79.5%. Both plants growth regulators, 2,4-D, IAA and BAP, kinetin, were capable of switching on the induction of callus necessary for embryogenic totipotency. The combination of 2,4-D and kinetin were however more effective in producing callus induction in embryos culture of maize. The most effective method for producing friable, embryogenic callus was found for immature zygotic embryos. Maturation of somatic embryos was enhanced by transferring the embryogenic callus after 4 weeks to medium containing 6% sucrose and Img/L NAA. During the following 3-4 weeks, as the somatic embryos developed, the cultures were transferred to the regeneration medium (MSO). Approximately 80% of immature zygotic embryos produced embryogenic callus and then plantlets. Immature embryos of inbred line SM5-4 produced the highest percentage of callus and showed the highest number of plant regeneration compared to mature zygotic embryos

Morphological diversity of Meloidogyne spp. from carrot (Daucus carota subsp. Sativus) in Vietnam

Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. Sativus) is known as one of the most widely cultivated and widely consumed vegetables in the world due to its nutritional and economic values. During a survey of nematodes parasites carrots from Vietnam, six populations of three species of root-knot nematodes, namely M. incognita, M. arenaria, and M. graminicola were found. The species specific primers were confirmed before morphological studies. By combining the morphology and morphometry of the females, males, and juveniles, this study provided useful references for classification of Meloidogyne on carrots in the future. Quantitative morphological studies reveal profound changes corresponding with the generation of morphological disparity at high taxonomic diversity. Especially, this study provided the first morphological and morphometric information of M. graminicola, that is known as aquatic root-knot nematodes, on carrots