How Do the Vietnamese Lose Face? Understanding the Concept of Face through Self-Reported, Face Loss Incidents

Abstract

In Western universal theory, face has been considered as an individual possession, a fundamental motivation for politeness and driven by the concern for autonomy as well as the desire to be free from imposition. However, research on face and politeness in a number of East Asian countries has provided evidence that such a way of conceptualizing face may not be valid to these cultures and languages. Given the scarcity of research on the concept of face in Vietnamese, this paper explores face in Vietnamese by means of self-reported incidents where a sense of face loss (mất mặt or mất thể diện) was felt. Scenarios reconstructed from collected authentic incidents were used to examine whether different participants responded in the same way to situations perceived as potentially causing loss of face. The findings have confirmed that face in Vietnamese is both an individual and collective possession and a subjective value, conditionally dependent on social evaluation.