PII: S0378-2166(99)00048-X

ELSEVIER Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

www.elsevier.nl/locate/pragma

'Luck Talk' in celebrating the Chinese New Year

Mary Fong

Department of Communication Studies, California State University, 5500 University Parkway,

San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397, USA

Received 7 July 1998; revised version 13 March 1999

Abstract

This study explores the Chinese New Year celebration in Hong Kong and Taiwan in which

participants use 'Luck Talk', a coined term, during this cultural event. Three major categories

were found that characterize the nature and the enactment of Luck Talk. They are: (a) the

meaning of luck, (b) 4 types of speech acts believed to increase a person's good luck, and (c)

3 types of speech acts believed to counteract or reverse bad luck during the Chinese New Year

event. The belief of good and bad luck is discussed in relations to the principle of yin and yang

Keywords: Chinese New Year; Good luck; Bad luck; Luck Talk; Yin and yang; Speech act

1. Introduction

Communicative rituals practiced at the beginning of the New Year are said to attract

good luck and to ward off bad luck in various cultures throughout the world. In most

towns and cities across America on New Year's Day, people exchange warm wishes,

sing the tune of 'Auld Lang Syne'J use party noise makers and make loud cheers to

perhaps clear the air of the previous year's evil and allow for a fortunate fresh start

(Cavendish, 1983). Some cultural members practice the Japanese tradition, in which

the head of the household goes through all the rooms at midnight on the last day of the

year carrying a box of roasted beans, scattering them about and chanting, 'Oni wa

soto, fuka wa uchi', meaning 'Out with demons! In with good luck!' (Hubbell,

The author wishes to thank the editor, Jacob Mey, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful

suggestions.

'Auld Lang Syne' is a traditional Scottish song written by Robert Bums in 1711 and it is generally

sung on New Year's Eve in America. This song is also popularly known by its first line that is translated,

'Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?'.

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M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

1993). Some African Americans in various locales (e.g., Arizona, New York City,

Louisiana, North Carolina) celebrate the New Year by eating black-eyed peas with rice

or collard greens. The peas are copper-colored like change and the collard greens

resemble folding money. This dish is called 'Hopping John', and eating it on New

Year's Day is said to bring the person good luck in the coming year (Hubbell, 1993).

This study explores another New Year cultural event, the celebration of the Chi-

nese New Year in Hong Kong, 2 in which 'Luck Talk' consists of speech acts related

to luck. These speech acts will be shown to characterize this occasion. The language

and culture of the Chinese people in Hong Kong are distinctively intertwined and

patterned as exemplified in their celebration of the Chinese New Year. Cultural

beliefs of good and bad luck reflect a principle that underlies the use of language and

the Chinese spoken word, particularly during this holiday. 3 As Witherspoon wrote,

"One cannot study the details of phonology and syntax in isolation from culture; nor

can one study the various dimensions of a people's world view without paying atten-

tion to the details of their language" (1980).

As various cultural groups (e.g., entrepreneurs, diplomats, scholars, exchange stu-

dents, visitors) and Chinese people in Hong Kong increasingly communicate with

one another, better understanding of, and competence in, an aspect of the Chinese

culture such as 'Luck Talk' becomes increasingly more important. The Chinese New

Year is the most celebrated and significant occasion for Chinese people in Hong

Kong (Beatty, 1974; Saso, 1965; Sellmann, 1982), and here 'Luck Talk' is com-

monly practiced. To date, however, there has not been a study that has explored and

analyzed this Luck Talk of the Chinese people in Hong Kong during their most pop-

ular and meaningful holiday. 4

The primary concerns of the Chinese during the New Year festival are future good

luck, and paying reverence to the gods and spirits (Sellmann, 1982). Although there

are various practices during this celebration, with various cultural facets, I have cho-

sen to focus primarily on cultural speech acts related to beliefs of good luck and bad

luck, rather than on customary rituals vis-a-vis the Chinese gods and spirits.

The following two research questions are the focus of this study:

(1)

What is the meaning of good and bad luck according to the Hong Kong Chinese

people?

2 This holiday begins on the new lunar cycle which starts as early as January 22nd and as late as Feb-

ruary 18th according to the solar calendar (Lau, 1995). This event serves as a bridge between the dead

winter and the lively spring (Sellmann, 1982).

s The researcher of this study has participated and observed over a decade of Chinese New Year cele-

brations, mostly among Cantonese speaking immigrants from Hong Kong living in Chinatown, Los

Angeles, U.S.A. This study grew out of the author's observation of the Chinese people's reoccurring

usage of the Cantonese words such as/hou 2 wlzn6/,/hou 2 mer36/or/hou 2 ts~i2/, synonyms meaning 'good

luck'. Diametrical to good luck is 'bad luck' which is represented in Cantonese words that are pro-

nounced as/ha04 soey I wl3n6/,/rj4hou 2 ts~i2/, and/ljahou 2 w'~n6/.

4 An earlier version of this paper received the top placement on the debut panel in the intercultural

division at the 1992 Western States Speech Communication Convention in Boise, ID. A summary of the

main categories in this study was published in Fong (1996).

M. Fong /Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

221

(2) What are the speech acts of Luck Talk related to the belief of good and bad luck

of the Hong Kong Chinese during their New Year celebration?

2. Method

All participants were born and raised in Hong Kong where they speak both Chi-

nese (Cantonese dialect) and English. The eight participants (5 women, 3 men) are

international students at a large northwestern U.S. university, ranging in age from 21

to 33; they were interviewed in English. 5

To accomplish an understanding of the Chinese way of speaking during New Year

celebration in Hong Kong, eclectic methods of analysis, using both ethnography of

communication and speech act approaches, were used. The ethnography of commu-

nication enables a descriptive, emic view of Chinese participants' norms of interpre-

tation, rules of speaking, and norms of interaction (Hymes, 1962, 1964, 1972) in

their reported use of particular speech acts during their New Year celebration.

Norms of interpretation involve a particular group's conventional way of under-

standing particular signs and symbols. Rules of speaking are socially acceptable

standards of speaking conduct within a particular cultural group. Norms of interac-

tion involve "prescriptive statements of behavior, of how people 'should' act, which

are tied to the shared values of the speech community" (Saville-Troike, 1989: 147).

According to Hymes, norms of interaction refer to "specific behaviors and propri-

eties that attach to speaking" (Hymes, 1972: 63). Since speech act theorists and

pragmaticists generally pay little attention to the metaphorical and phatic uses of lan-

guage, the ethnography of communication provides this venue (Saville-Troike,

1989), which is particularly needed to better understand these aspects of this Chinese

cultural event. Moreover, the ethnography of communication extends understandings

of cultural systems to language, while relating language to role-relationships, values

and beliefs, social organization, and other shared patterns of knowledge and behav-

ior (Saville-Troike, 1989).

To further bring to light the communicative cultural richness of the Chinese New

Year celebration, one must analyze participants' utterances to understand what

speakers use utterances for, how they accomplish their objectives, and what the

meanings elicited in performed speech acts are (Clark, 1985). The speech act

approach provides specific conceptual applications (e.g., conversational repairs, per-

locutionary acts, 'effectives' in the sense of Clark, 1985; see further section 3.3,

below) that may help us to further analyze utterances in a particular context in which

the ethnography of communication approach does not provide such help.

The data collection involved participant interviews for approximately 45 minutes

to one hour. The interviews dealt with family practices in celebrating the Chinese

5 It is important to acknowledge that Chinese people vary in degree in their beliefs of good luck and bad

luck as expressed by participants. If a person does not abide by the cultural rules presented in this study,

participants express the fear that a rule violation would occur, based on their experiences. Participants

reported that all the spoken practices are common during the festivities whether one believes in luck or not.

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M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

New Year in Hong Kong. Depending on the degree of elaboration and specificity of

participants' responses, probing questions were used to further discover particular

'do's and don'ts' of speaking behavior and of special activities and their meanings.

Two implicit components from Hymes's (1972) descriptive SPEAKING framework,

i.e. rules of speaking and nornas of interpretation, were the focus of inquiry in the

unstructured interviews. Thereafter, more structured thirty-minute follow-up inter-

views were conducted for clarification of data and to insure consistency of questions

asked of all the participants.

The recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed. The first round of analy-

sis of transcripts involved the identification of communication patterns and category

labels. This was accomplished by making notes in the margins of the transcripts

regarding cultural themes, values, interpretations, rules, situations, and principles.

The second round of analysis involved a list of follow-up questions for participants.

The third round involved selecting participants' verbatim quotes that described the

speaking patterns. Lastly, the speech act perspective was used to analyze participants

reported utterances.

Ethnographers repeatedly test their inferences until they become relatively certain

that people share a particular symbolic system of cultural meanings; only then can

they provide an adequate cultural description (Spradley, 1979). One method of vali-

dation consisted interviewing two focus groups of four international university stu-

dents from Hong Kong (1 female, 3 males) and Taiwan (2 females, 2 males), who

responded to a 3 page questionnaire consisting of 13 questions regarding the findings

of this study (see Appendix). None of the participants in either focus group had been

previously interviewed. A focus group of Taiwanese participants were also asked to

respond to the same questionnaire, in order to see if they had the same or similar

experiences of cultural Luck Talk as did the participants from Hong Kong during

their holiday. Both focus groups confirmed all of the speaking patterns that related

to the belief of luck as presented in this study. The Taiwanese focus group, however,

reported two areas in which speaking practices were different from those of the

Hong Kong group indicated in this study.

3. Luck Talk

The nature and enactment of Luck Talk are characterized, on the basis of the

analysis of the interview data, as producing these patterns: (a) one general, overar-

ching one, having to do with the Chinese cultural meaning of 'luck'; (b) speech acts

believed to increase one's good luck; and (c) speech acts believed to counteract or

reverse bad luck during the Chinese New Year event. Participants' quotes in this

study are representative of cultural norms of interpretation.

3.1. Meaning of luck

The overarching cultural meaning of luck that both participants from Hong

Kong and Taiwan reported is the belief that good and bad luck are considered as

M. Fong /Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

223

being partly controlled by human conduct, and partly by an outside force. A par-

ticipant explained, 'The Chinese people believe that luck is from heaven. It's con-

trolled by the heavens. But men can do so too. It's about fifty-fifty. When you do

good and kind things, you may be rewarded. But when you are evil, you will be

punished. If you work hard, you will get more'. Similarly, another participant

said,

A man can play his role in life, work hard, be good or a bad person. Confucian

ideas encourage people to be good. On the other hand, there is something that

can't be controlled by people. It's difficult to predict if there are any blessings or

misfortunes. It's a mixture of your working hard and destiny.

All the participants conceptualized bad luck in similar ways. A participant said,

'Bad luck is when you don't want certain things to happen in your life. Misfortune.

Happenings that cause pain and suffering'. Another participant reported, 'To avoid

any misfortunes in life, including any loss in money, any frustrations in business, to

avoid evil men or friends in the coming year'. Participants also related bad luck as

being in a state of poverty, suffering premature death, sickness, or discord.

All the participants agreed that good luck is having positive events happen in

one's life. A participant said,

Good luck is defined as goodness. Bringing good hope at the beginning of the

year. Eating something which has the same sounds as the words carrying the

meaning of 'lucky' or 'good'.

Fat choy can

mean hair vegetable 6 or wealth. The

ultimate meaning is to get some good news, do good things, including good

health, wealth, and so on at the beginning of the new year.

Another participant reported, 'You get things that you want to get and you can get

it. All the things that you consider good like health, wealth, having no difficulties,

everything is going as you wish'. One participant said, 'If you want money, then

luck is having people bring you more money. If you like a handsome boyfriend,

then luck is getting a handsome boyfriend. If you like to get straight A's, luck

is what brings you straight A's. Luck is when anything you want is going to

happen'.

Both the participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan described luck as being partly

controlled by human conduct and partly by a force from heaven. Essentially, parti-

cipants defined good luck as receiving goodness, such as manifested in health,

wealth, success, abundance, harmony with people and so forth. These gifts of good-

ness are what the Chinese people value (Chen, 1998). By contrast, participants

referred to bad luck as happenings that cause pain and suffering like poverty, pre-

mature death, discord, sickness, and so forth.

6 Hair vegetables are long, thin, threads of black seaweed that are cooked in soups.

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M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219--237

3.2. Luck Talk to increase good luck

The Chinese attempt to ensure that only good luck accompanies the family

throughout the New Year (Sellmann, 1982). In the present study, all the participants

suggested that language is used to accomplish this. Four categories of speech acts are

supposed to create an ambience of good luck that will last throughout the New Year:

(1) greetings and wishes, (2) positive conversation, (3) Chinese words for food, and

(4) prosperity food rhymes.

3.2.1. Greetings and wishes

A norm of interaction for relatives and friends is expressing good wishes and

greetings for the purpose of creating a happy ambience and sharing hopes of good

luck with one another to start off the Lunar New Year. Greetings such as

Gung hay

fat choy

(May you have a happy and prosperous New Year) are said to bring good

luck to the recipient and to the giver. Searle (1977) classifies this type of illocution-

ary act as expressives; here, both interactants express certain feelings of good

wishes, and convey greetings to one another.

On the morning of Chinese New Year Day, as soon as the family awakes, the chil-

dren come and bow to their elders (Saso, 1965). A participant describes how she

starts her New Year Day.

We get two oranges. We go to my grandmother and wish her health for the rest of

the year. My grandmother first and then my parents.

Sun tai gin hong. Lo man jing

sun

(wishing good health). I say

gung hay fat choy

to my father because he's in

business and I want to wish him more money. My mom, stay young forever. Stay

pretty forever. Different people you greet differently.

The participant's selection of greetings for beloved persons reflects an understanding

of what is valued by them. Values expressed to her grandmother, father, and mother,

were, respectively, good health, profitable business, and youthfulness and beauty.

All of these values are attributes of the good luck that the participant hopes for her

beloved to obtain in the coming new year.

Participants showed both hands clasped together, in which one hand is in a fist

and the other hand is wrapped over the fist. This hand clasp is done while greeting

one another with good wishes. "Chinese individual salutation with both hands joined

together implies that the hands are not employed in a hostile manner, but are held

forward in token of allegiance of friendliness" (Williams, 1976: 219-220).

As a norm of interaction, all participants reported additional greetings and good

wishes that Chinese people say in the Cantonese dialect to one another during the

Chinese New Year celebration: 7

7 The international phonetic alphabet is used to translate the sounds of the Cantonese dialect in this

paper. The Pinyin phonetic system was not used, because it is incompatible with the Cantonese dialect,

whereas it is compatible with the Mandarin dialect. I would like to thank Ho, Shun Yee, Ph.D. in Chi-

nese Language and Literature, who provided the phonetic translation of the Cantonese characters. Some

further Chinese characters were provided by two participants in this study.

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

225

(1) /sl3n I

tei 2 gin 6 hol]l/, (body healthy), 'good health'

(2) /jet 7 bun 2 man 6 lei6/, (one capital lO-thousand profit), 'little capital great profit'

(3) /ts3i 4 wlen 6 hl~rf turf/, (wealth fate smooth smooth), 'proceed smoothly in

wealth and fortune'

(4) /geu 2 ma 3 herj I turjl/, (dog horse smooth smooth), 'do well in dog racing and

horse racing'

(5) /sen 1 lin 4 dzoen 3 bou6/, (new year forward step), 'improvement in the new year'

(6) /nin 4 nin 4 jeu 3 jy4/, (year year have surplus), 'surplus in every year'

(7) /luo 4 ma 3 dzirj 1 sen4/, (dragon horse essence spirit), 'high-spirited as dragons

and horses'

(8) /sem 1 soe02 si 6 silj4/, (heart think matter achieve), 'you will get what you want

to have'

(9) /hok 6 jip 9 dzoen 3 bour/, (learn work forward step), 'improvement in school

work'

(10) /gu01 hei 2 fat 9 ts3i4/, (sincerely happy prosperous wealth), 'Happy and prosper-

ous New Year!'

(11) /sun 2 nin 4 fai I l~k9/, (New Year happy), 'Happy New Year!'

Participants reported that expressions (1), (5), (6), (7), (8), (10), (11) are common

New Year's greetings said to anyone. Expressions (2) and (3) are New Year's wishes

said particularly to people who have investments or run a business. Students often

hear expression (9). People who gamble and place bets on dog and horse racing

often hear expression (4). These greetings and wishes reflect cultural values of good

health, wealth, improvement, happiness, and prosperity.

Expressions of good wishes are also sometimes written on red and gold paper

called

fai chun.

A participant explained that a

fai chun

is 'a piece of paper that

you put on the wall or your door. It says something lucky. Some words that mean

good luck, getting rich, being healthy. They take it down on the tenth or fifteenth

day'.

Couplets written on red paper are pasted on doors for the purpose of expelling

demons and bringing good luck for the new year. "The first couplets expressed

thanks, those of modem days ask for blessings, wealth, happiness, and good for-

tune" (Williams, 1976: 78). Also, written on

fai chuns

is 'May the five blessings

approach the door'. These five blessings are old age, wealth, health, love of virtue,

and a natural death. They reflect Chinese cultural values that pass down through

generations. The blessings are generally written in a poetic or Classical Chinese

form, and are believed to possess the power of warding off evil influences

(Williams, 1976).

Participants reported another

popularfai chun

expression. A participant said,

On the door we would put

fuk

upside down./Fuk7/is happiness or blessing.

Luk

means wealth or money.

Sao

means longevity.

Fuk

is blessing - having a big fam-

ily, everyone is in good health. Put upside down,

fuk

means

dou

(/dou2/) (spill

over),

dou dzyn

(turn over)./Fuk 7 dou3/means

It's here.

The blessing, happiness

is coming or it is here.

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M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

The homonym

dou

could either mean

spill over ~U,

arrived here.

Therefore, the

Chinese would turn the Chinese character, ~

/fukT/upside

down _~, this gesture

meaning that the

blessings or happiness are here.

These

fai chuns

with couplets have a historical and functional basis. Originally, a

peach tree branch was placed above the front door to ward off bad spirits. During the

period of the Five Dynasties (10th century A.D.), people began to carve the names

of guardian spirits or deities in wooden doors to fend off the evil spirits. Then they

started to use the red paper

fai chuns

with couplets instead, because peach tree

branches were scarce. By the time of the Ming Dynasty (14th century A.D.), the

emperor gave orders that all civil servants should follow this practice (Sellmann,

1982).

3.2.2. Positive conversation

Accompanying good wishes and greetings are the Chinese people's positive con-

versation, and avoidance of negative talk, all for the purpose of increasing one's

good luck. A participant said, 'Most people try to say good words. You don't quar-

rel on the New Year Day. Be more polite'. Another participant further explained this

rule of speaking,

Whenever you open up your mouth, say something good. Say them [good words]

and they will come true. Not to say anything bad. Until the atmosphere fades, then

you can go back to normal. Especially the first three days, don't even say a wrong

word.

Spoken words are carefully watched, to avoid saying words that signify death, sick-

ness, poverty, or anything else unlucky because they are said to invite bad luck for

the coming year. Another participant stated why a person must avoid making any

negative comments on the New Year Day. The participant reported,

Of course you don't say unlucky things. Always be positive. Chinese New Year is

supposed to be a happy occasion. Try to avoid saying something unlucky, like

mentioning death or misfortune. Say it after the New Year. Perhaps some people

may even think that saying those things during Chinese New Year will bring bad

luck in the coming year. Those things may happen.

A rule of speaking for the Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan is avoidance of nega-

tive comments and arguing, because such talk is interpreted as meaning that negative

events will occur.

3.2.3. Words for food

All participants reported that it is customary for their families to gather together

and to enjoy a New Year's Eve meal. Only the most favorable and peaceful talk is

allowed during and after the meal (Saso, 1965). Hence, the third category of Luck

Talk, on which all the participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan reported, involves

various Chinese foods eaten during the Chinese New Year festivities. This category

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

227

has linguistic representations that convey symbolic meanings related to good luck,

with the intent to create an ambience of good luck throughout the New Year. One

participant said,

Sometimes Chinese people eat the food with the name that sounds like some

good luck word in Chinese. It doesn't have to be the same character (Chinese

word), but it sounds like those characters. Oh, good luck to you. They sound

the same. If something sounds more or less like symbolizing good luck, say

it.

Particular foods, such as fish, oysters, lettuce, tangerines, and kumquats sound the

same as, or similar to, other Chinese words which symbolize attributes of good luck.

For example, "fish is symbolically employed as the emblem of wealth or abundance,

on account of the similarity in the pronunciation of the words

yu,

superfluity, and

also because fish are extremely plentiful in Chinese waters" (Williams, 1976: 185).

In the international phonetic alphabet, fish is written/jy2/; the Chinese character is

,,~,,. A similar sound, ]jy4/, but with a different tone means 'surplus, abundance or

excess'.

All participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan stated that a fish is a popular entree

that must be cooked as a whole, rather than cut in half or in several pieces. A par-

ticipant explained the norm for interpreting the significance of this practice:

There must be a whole fish from head to tail. This means that the beginning of the

year and the whole thing will be intact until the end of the year. Everything is

complete, so that the coming year will be fine. So your life won't be chopped off

somewhere.

The whole fish symbolizes abundance of good luck throughout the year, whereas a

fish that is cut into segments will be normally interpreted as a bad luck sign of sev-

erance, interruptions, or difficulties in a person's life in the coming year.

'Oysters' in Cantonese is pronounced/hou 4 si2/(~). A similar pronunciation,

but with different tones is/hou 2 si6/(~T~), which means 'good things' or 'good

business'. Also, the Chinese words for 'cake' and 'tall' both share the same pho-

netic sound,/goul/. The food item,/nin4/(year)/goul/, is a New Year's cake, which

can be translated literally as 'year grow'. A participant reported the symbolic mean-

ing of the New Year cake as, 'every year you will grow and your children will grow

taller and taller'.

Other examples of foods with homonyms that have meaningful representations of

good luck in the Cantonese language are shown in Table 1. In the first column are

various Chinese New Year foods translated in English and written in Chinese char-

acters. The second column consists of homophones (words with same or similar pro-

nunciation but different meanings). The third column displays the word and Chinese

character that represents good luck. The Taiwanese focus group did not identify oys-

ters and lettuce as a Chinese food symbolizing good luck. The Taiwanese partici-

pants explained that they speak the Chinese Mandarin dialect which has a different

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M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

pronunciation system. Therefore, Taiwanese participants reported some other Chi-

nese foods that have sounds and meanings that represent good luck.

Table 1

Symbolization of Chinese foods

Chinese New Year Food Homophones Meaning of word

representing good luck

1. Fish ~,

2. Hair vegetable ~

3. New Year cake ~

4. Oyster ~

5. Lettuce '~

6. Tangerine

7. Kumquat

/jy2/

/jy4/ surplus excess ~,

/fatS//ts~i3/

/fatS//ts~i4/ wealth ~

/nin4//goul/

/nin4//goul/ grow every year ~

/hou4//si2/

/hou2//si6/ good thing ~÷~

/sa~ 1//tsoi3/

/sa~Jl//tsoi4/ lively, grow or ~

create money

/geml/

/gem1/ gold ,~

/glzt7/

/get7/ lucky

3.2.4. Prosperity food rhymes

In the same way that foods symbolize luckiness, but also cultural values of hav-

ing abundance, wealth, growth, and good business, some of the participants reported

that reciting the lively sounds of words and rhymes having to do with Chinese New

Year foods creates an atmosphere of happiness and provides a sense of inviting good

luck into the New Year. The older generation is said to practice this tradition more

often than does the younger generation. A participant said, 'You can make up a jin-

gle and do whatever you like. The sound has to rhyme. It's like nursery rhymes. It's

the Chinese prosperity rhyme. You have to sing it'.

Most participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan identified and explained four famil-

iar food rhymes:

dzin doey, dzy sau, yau jy, and lin dzi.

A participant explained what

dzin doey

(/dzin I deeyl/) is and how this food creates a visual impression of wealth:

Dzin doey

are fried round balls, so big, with some sesame seeds all around them.

The fried round balls are so good looking, round balls, a pile of round balls on the

dish. There are many fried round balls, brown in color. It's like a golden color.

There will be many silver and gold objects in your house.

Dzin doey has red bean paste, peanuts and syrup inside. Participants said that dzin

doey are round golden balls that are piled on a dish; they resemble stacks of gold

and silver that represent prosperity, which is consistent with the good luck motif of

this holiday. The food rhyme is as follows,

M. Fong /Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237 229

/dzinl//d~eyl//luk7//luk7/

Round are the fried balls,

/guml//ngan4//mun3//ukT/

the house is full of gold and silver.

Another example of a favorite food item is pig feet. A direct translation of/dzyl/

/sau2/is pig's hands. Participants identified this rhyme as follows:

/dzyl//sau2/,/dzyV/sau2/

Pig's hands, pig's hands,

/wang4//tsoi4//dzau6//sau2/

windfalls at hand.

A participant explained the meaning of this rhyme, 'eat those pig's feet and you will

find mostly riches here and there, all around you within your reach'. Participants

said that windfalls refer to unexpected luck and to money that has come to one

through such events as gambling, the lottery, or horse racing.

Another popular food rhyme uses the word 'fish' to express meanings related to

luck. As we have seen in section 3.2.3., the word for fish has a homonym that means

'excess, abundance, surplus or to have something left over'. The popular food rhyme

that participants volunteered is,

/yau3//jy4/,/yaua//jy4/,

Having fishes, having fishes,

/nin4//nin4//yau3//jy4/

every year, there is excess.

The final food rhyme is called lin dzi, lotus seeds, which Chinese people symbol-

ically equate to children, an attribute of good luck. A participant said, 'It's a lotus

seed. You'll have children year after year. You're lucky'. Participants reported that

this rhyme can be said during the Chinese New Year celebrations, if lotus seeds are

among the food items and there is a married couple to say the rhyme to. The fin dzi

rhyme, however, is most popularly said at weddings, and goes as follows:

/lin4//dziZ/,/iin4//dzi2/

Lotus seeds, lotus seeds

/iin4//sang1//gweia//dzi2/

give birth to distinguished children continuously.

A participant said, 'Eat these seeds, you'll have children. For the Chinese people,

having children symbolizes good luck and prosperity'. These four prosperity food

rhymes reflect cultural values of wealth, abundance, and having children as indica-

tors of good luck.

Greetings and wishes, positive conversation, Chinese food words, and prosperity

food rhymes are categories of speech acts that impart and characterize the Luck Talk

230

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

that Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan perform during their New Year celebra-

tion. All four categories of Luck Talk consist of speech acts that reflect, and have the

intent to increase, the Chinese cultural values of wealth, good health, prosperity,

improvement, happiness, harmony and so forth, which are all attributes of good luck.

3.3. Luck Talk to counteract bad luck

All participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan described three types of speech acts

used to counteract mishaps that were either said or done. People who carelessly talk

about negative events, make negative comments, or accidentally shatter an object

during the beginning days of the New Year are instances of mishaps. I will examine

these such mishaps (which are culturally interpreted as signs of future bad luck) and

then discuss the following three types of speech acts: colloquial expressions, implied

statements, and homophones/homonyms that are used to counteract bad luck, or

reverse it to good luck.

A mishap occurs if a speaker accidentally talks about unfortunate events or utters

a negative comment during this holiday. In other words, the rule of positive speak-

ing is violated in this context. The hearer of the message may say/tou 3 h~u 2 soey 2

dzai 3 g3rj 2 gw33/, meaning 'Spit out your saliva. Speak once more'.

The hearer's response to the speaker is a conversational repair that serves the pur-

pose of correcting a word, supplying a reference, or solving a problem before con-

tinuing the conversation (Clark, 1985). At the same time, the conversational repair

statement is a perlocutionary act that functions as a directive, which directs the

addressee to do something in the future (Clark, 1985; Searle, 1977). That is, the

hearer says 'Spit out your saliva. Speak once more' with the intent to direct the

speaker to repair his/her violation of speaking negative words and to recant what was

said, by speaking in a positive manner. A participant provides an example.

Sometimes if you say some bad words to me like 'be careful you don't come

home so late, or you'll come across a ghost', you have scared me. You have made

me afraid. If I want to go out and if I come home late at night, I say to you,

'Choi!

Spit out the saliva, speak once again, do not say these words'. I'm afraid that your

words will come true. I would ask you to spit out your words. Speak away what

you have said. Speak once more. Such a common phrase.

Participants reported that there is a cultural belief that negative comments will come

true. Therefore, hearers direct speakers to make a conversational repair.

Participants also provided other statements that are used to counteract a negative

comment that makes a predictive account or suggests an unfavorable state of a per-

son. These colloquial expressions are/tsail/or/tsai 1, dai 6 gl~t 7 lei 6 si6/, which means

'lucky' or 'very lucky, auspicious'. The hearer of the negative comment responds

with 'lucky' or 'very lucky, auspicious' which functions as an "effective utterance"

that "changes a state of affairs that is recognized within that institution" (Clark,

1985: 188). As Clark says, such "effectives are illocutionary acts that rely on the

conventions of an institution for their performance"; only particular persons, by

M. Fong /Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

231

virtue of some privilege that the institution grants them, have the authority to carry

them out (Clark, 1985: 188). As examples of effectives, Clark provides speech acts

such as baptizing, marrying, blessing, indicting, pardoning, and sentencing someone.

A culture is an institution in which cultural members share the same system of

symbols, signs, and meanings; thus, they are privileged to perform particular illocu-

tionary acts whenever appropriate. With respect to this study, the speech communi-

ties in Hong Kong and Taiwan are cultural institutions in which their members share

a system of symbols, signs, and meanings. These cultural members are privileged to

use expressions that are either directives or effectives in order to counteract a

speaker's negative comment during their New Year celebration in order to avoid bad

luck.

The same applies to situations in which certain actions are performed that are

commonly associated with bad luck. For instance, in a situation where an object is

shattered, the Chinese cultural norm of interpretation is that the life of the person

who did the shattering will be interrupted by unfortunate circumstances in the com-

ing year. If an object is shattered, the Chinese use two types of speech acts to reverse

the bad luck in what is perceived as an unfortunate mishap, to a perception of good

luck. They use implied statements and homophones/homonyms. One of the ways

Chinese people 'play' with words and their meanings is through the utterance of an

implied statement that represents a positive idea that may repair such a mishap. For

example, the unfortunate incident of breaking an object is transformed to a fortunate

incident, when a speaker uses a positive expression. This positive expression is

believed to counteract the negative occurrence, so that balance is achieved. A parti-

cipant explained,

Be careful not to break any cups or glass things. It's bad luck to break something

on the New Year. I remember seeing some Chinese old films, some child was so

careless, he broke a bowl, a glass, the adult would say, 'We cannot change what

has happened. How can we reverse it?' /13k 9 dei 6 h3i 1 fal/,

falling down to the

ground, may the flowers blossom.

This expression implies/fu 3 gwei 3 wilj 4 wa4/,

being prosperous and becoming wealthy.

So you see the Chinese are very clever.

They would say something to change it to good./13k 9 dei 6 h3i I fa~/is

to fall to the

ground,/h3i

I fal/is,

it will blossom./fu

3 gwei3/,

will be wealthy./wirj4//wa4/,

prosperous.

When you drop something, once it touches the floor, it blossoms up.

Once the flowers blossom, you'll have wealth. This is related to the new year.

After an object is broken, the implied statement: 'falling to the ground, may the

flowers blossom' functions as an effective that changes the interpretation of the state

of affairs from bad luck to good luck; as such, it is recognized within the Chinese

speech communities in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The statement implies a norm of

interpretation according to which, for the Chinese, blooming flowers are the symbols

of growth, prosperity, and wealth.

Another speech act that Chinese people use to reverse the bad luck resulting from

breaking an object is based on the use of homophones or homonyms. A homophone

is a "word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled

232 M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

the same way or not" (Costello, 1995: 642). A homonym is a "word the same as

another in sound and spelling but different in meaning" (Costello, 1995: 642). A

speaker may choose to substitute a word which has a negative meaning with a simi-

lar-sounding word which has a positive meaning. The positive meaning in the homo-

phone expression is believed to counteract the bad luck that is connoted by a broken

item. A participant reported a specific example and an explanation of the homo-

phone speech act,

On Chinese New Year, you're not suppose to break anything, but if you break

something it becomes /soey 3 dz~2/, broken pieces. The elders would say /soey 3

scey 3 pirj 4 3nl/. They try to make it sound better. That's a practice if anyone breaks

anything. The Chinese character ~ /soey3/means pieces. ~ /soey3/sounds the

same as another Chinese character i~/soey3/, meaning year. Thus, the expression,

/soey 3 scey 3 pirj 4 an1/, means peace in every year.

The 'play on words' in the above instance involves using the homophone/soey3/,

which represents two different Chinese characters, namely ~ pieces and ~ year.

The utterance of the translated colloquial expression, 'peace in every year' is an

effective that changes the negative interpretation of the state of affairs as 'pieces' to

a more positive term, 'years'. The uttering of 'pieces' allows for a more positive

meaning, when interpreted as 'years'. Thus, the Chinese use the positive colloquial

expression, 'peace in every year' to both repair and to change the interpretation of

the state of affairs.

Homonyms are known to contribute to lexical ambiguity and thus create confu-

sion or humor (Fromkin and Rodman, 1974). In the above instance, however, the

Chinese use homonyms to reframe mishaps as positive events. Also, in the above

examples, an examination of the two positive response expressions, used to reverse

the negative occurrence of future bad luck, can provide a better understanding of the

meaning of bad luck. Just as 'falling down to the ground, may the flowers blossom'

implies 'being prosperous and becoming wealthy', 'broken pieces' becomes 'peace

in every year'./soey 3 dz32/becomes/soey 3 scey 3 pirj 4 3nl].

These expressions are said with the intent to reverse bad luck, since the positive

concepts prosperous, wealthy, and peace which are conveyed in these expressions

can be considered as good luck attributes that the Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan

value. Possible antonyms of these concepts are misfortune, poverty, and discord,

which are considered attributes of bad luck.

4. Discussion and conclusion

Culture is defined as a system of symbols and meanings: a historically transmit-

ted body of definitions, premises, statements, postulates, and perceptions about the

nature of the universe and the humans' place in it (Schneider, 1976). This study has

explored the Chinese people's system of symbols and meanings in their enactment of

Luck Talk during their New Year celebrations. The nature and enactment of Luck

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237 233

Talk consist of the natives' meaning of good and bad luck and two primary cate-

gories of speech acts: the one increasing one's good luck, and the other minimizing

one's bad luck.

The Taoist philosophical principle of yin and yang provides an explanation for

some of the cultural-linguistic devices of Luck Talk among the Chinese people from

Hong Kong and Taiwan during their New Year celebration. Philosopher R.L. Wing

explains the fundamental principle of yin and yang as follows:

"There are two fundamental laws underlying physical change in the universe. One is the law of polar

reversal. In all things we see the seeds of their opposites ... Yin and yang represent the negative and pos-

itive dualism existing within all things." (1979: 12-13)

This dualism involves maintaining a balance between the two forces of energy. The

yin/yang symbol shows that the two complementary components of life intertwine to

make up the whole. Each of the energy forces contains its counterpart with a bit of

yin in the yang area and a bit of yang in the yin area. This symbolizes that neither

energy force stands completely on its own (Too, 1996) and that each bit of yin and

yang is the seed of change, as polar reversals occur (Wing, 1979). The yin principle

represents the receptive, recessive, dominated, hidden, passive, dark, wet, soft, cold,

and negative. The yang principle, on the other hand, represents the creative, forward-

pushing, dominating, manifesting, active, light, dry, hard, hot, and positive (Chan,

1967; Cheng, 1987; Too, 1996; Wing, 1979). Change is constantly created in the

dynamic interactional process of yin and yang.

The belief in bad luck and good luck, in one respect, follows the same represen-

tation as yin and yang. That is, participants see bad luck as a negative energy force

that creates unfavorable life events (yin), and good luck is seen as a positive energy

force that generates favorable life events (yang). The belief in bad luck and good

luck is a motivating factor for Chinese people to engage in Luck Talk and to behave

in an appropriate way in order to avoid bad tidings and to increase one's good luck

in life.

Luck Talk is a cultural-linguistic system that is used to create balance and harmo-

nize communication behaviors in order to invite good fortune to the people who

practice this way of speaking. Too (1996) comments that "where our environment

demonstrates a good balance between the symbols of yin and yang, the forces are in

harmony, bringing good fortune. Where they are imbalanced, ill fortune follows"

(1996: 53). Imbalance occurs if there is either too much yin or too much yang (Too,

1996). For example, if it is too hot (yang) or too cold (yin), a person will try to

counter the extreme temperature by applying an appropriate degree of its opposite in

order to obtain a comfortable and optimal temperature, thus achieving a harmonious

balance in the situation.

The notion of balance and harmony is significant to the Chinese who actively

engage in the interplay between yin and yang energy forces that are demonstrated in

their various strategies of Luck Talk. The present study specifically found that Luck

Talk is characterized as having four types of speech acts that are said to increase

one's good luck (greetings and wishes, positive conversation, Chinese food words,

234

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

and prosperity food rhymes). The Chinese use these speech acts to help them main-

tain harmony and balance during the Chinese lunar celebration. Culturally, the Chi-

nese believe that discord, negative comments, and a shattering of objects are (yin)

signs of, or even invite, bad luck into the new year. Therefore, they try to avoid these

mishaps. However, if mishaps do occur, the Chinese counter the bad luck (yin) by

their use of Luck Talk, and thus change it to good luck. This reversal is based on

three types of (yang) speech acts: colloquial expressions, implied statements, and

homophones/homonyms. These are used to improve the situation by decreasing the

perceived bad luck in order to obtain a balance of good fortune. Too (1996) states,

"Applying the yin/yang principle, bad luck can improve, giving way to good for-

tune, just as good fortune can also turn sour" (1996: 53).

The Chinese beliefs of good luck and their enactment of the mentioned speech

acts of Luck Talk are intimately related to their cultural values of wealth, prosperity,

good health, happiness, harmony, improvement, and so forth. The Chinese use of

greetings and wishes, positive conversation, implied statements, homophones/

homonyms, and suitable colloquial expressions is not only symbolic in meaning for

them, but the use of these speech acts in their interaction during their New Year cel-

ebrations entails the same consequences as do their actions.

The yin and yang principle of change is thus an expression of a general principle

of relativization, in that

"... change relativizes the standards of evaluation, because it generates new inter-

ests, new relationships, and new values ... In an absolute sense, relativization is

the essential principle for the change and transformation of a thing and a situation.

[On the other hand], relative relativization generates creative efforts on the part of

the communicator to participate in the change and contribute to bringing about

new situations, insofar as no situations or things are closely and absolutely struc-

tured and fixed." (Cheng, 1987: 35)

The principles of yin and yang of change, polar reversal, and relative relativism

can be seen at work in the use of particular positive expressions used to counteract

or reverse bad luck. The hearer responds to an unfortunate incident, such as shattered

glass or a negative comment (yin) with a positive colloquial expression, implied

statement, or a homophone/homonym counteracting or reversing the mishap (yang).

The theory of relative relativism describes how the hearer contributes, reframes, and

transforms an unfortunate incident (yin) through the use of (yang) speech acts, recre-

ating and reframing a negative interpretation of an unfortunate situation so as to

establish a new, shared interpretation of the situation that is positive and symbolizes

good luck. This interaction of yin and yang enables the speaker to restore balance

and harmony in the situation.

In some respects, the use of Luck Talk during the Chinese New Year celebration

can be contrasted with the Chinese communicative event called 'Pure Talk'.

Although both commmunicative events employ varying types of wit, Pure Talk was

a structured, rule-governed, win-lose discursive game of wit that was competitively

played before an audience for the purpose to seek the truth of a topic or to exhibit

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

235

virtuosity in playing with language for pleasure; in China, it flourished from roughly

200-600 A.D. (Garrett, 1993). In contrast, Chinese families, relatives, and friends in

Hong Kong generate noncompetitive and creative efforts by participating together in

the Luck Talk for the purpose of transforming the first days of the lunar New Year

from ordinary days to a celebrated ambience of future good luck with the aim of ful-

filling cultural values.

This qualitative study has discussed a Chinese cultural event that displays both a

practical and theoretical, communicative and pragmatic understanding of Luck Talk.

Culturally, this study provides a glimpse into the Chinese way of thinking and com-

municating, in which concepts of luck, yin and yang, are consistent with another

aspect of Chinese belief and practice, viz. feng shui. The study and art offeng shui

involves humans living in a harmonious relationship with their environment and

energy lines through proper environmental arrangements, so as to gain maximum

benefit, peace, health, and prosperity (Chert, 1996; Too, 1996). Interculturally, this

study may serve to enhance communicative competence among people of cultural

groups who wish to understand, and participate in, the Hong Kong Chinese way of

speaking during the lunar New Year. Such knowledge will also enable non-natives,

if they choose, to engage in a common ground dialogue about intercultural differ-

ences and similarities in New Year celebrations, to bridge communication gaps, and

to further understanding, respect, and rapport among people. Moreover, one can

choose to be interculturally sensitive in one's speaking behavior when interacting

with Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan during their days of celebration in order

to avoid any potential conflicts or disharmony.

The author believes that, to date, the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang and

polar reversals, 8 and the theory of relative relativism have not yet been integrated

theoretically and empirically into human communication research of the kind that

the present study offers to the practitioners of communication and pragmatic

research. (An exception is found in a recent essay on the Eastern perspective of

interpersonal conflict, integrating the above-mentioned principles with ancient Chi-

nese text and the researcher's personal narratives; see Crawford, 1997.)

Presently, there exist no studies examining other cultural groups' ways of speak-

ing during the New Year event in a cross-cultural comparison. Chinese (Cantonese)

Luck Talk involves ritualistic acts that are culture specific in the context of the New

Year celebration. While most theorists believe that speech acts are universal, except

for ritualistic acts, the present (non-exhaustive) study, suggests that some form of

Luck Talk may permeate into everyday talk of the Chinese. More empirical research

on Luck Talk in daily conversation may provide evidence that supports or under-

mines the universalist position. Such future research is needed to elucidate the prac-

tical as well as the theoretical aspects of cross-cultural understanding.

s The Chinese philosophy of yin and yang and polar reversals is commonly applied in Chinese medi-

cine, feng shui, martial arts, religion, and the understanding of human conduct and nature in the

1 Ching.

236

M. Fong / Journal of Pragmatics 32 (2000) 219-237

Appendix: Focus group questionnaire

1. When you and your family celebrate the Chinese New Year, do you say some of the

greetings and wishes that are stated on page 7 and 8 [all page numbers refer to a previ-

ous draft of the study] ? If yes, please write down the numbers that relate to the expres-

sions on page 8.

2. What greetings and wishes do you say during the Chinese New Year that are not listed

on page 8? Down below, please write in Chinese and translate them into English. What

greetings on page 8 do not look familiar to you?

3. Are fai chuns practiced during the Chinese New Year? Please see the bottom of page 8

and 9.

4. On page 9, is this true in your experience that Chinese people write the character 'fuk'

upside down?

5. Is the paragraph explaining 'fuk' accurate?

6. The section, 'Breaking an object' (page 11-14): Is this section an accurate description of

what Chinese people say? If 'no', please explain. Is this section an accurate description

of the meanings or interpretations that you experience? If 'no', please explain.

7. The section, 'Speaking positively' (page 16-18): Is this section an accurate description

of what Chinese people say? If no, please accurately describe how you experience and

communicate 'speaking positively'.

8. The section, 'Chinese foods' (page 19-21): Do Chinese people eat foods that represent

a lucky meaning during the Chinese New Year? What foods listed on the chart (page 21)

are not familiar to you? Copy the number(s) from the chart. Below, provide examples of

Chinese foods that you have experienced that represent a lucky meaning.

9. The section on 'Prosperity food rhymes' on page 22-25: Are you familiar with these

food rhymes practiced during the Chinese New Year? Which prosperity food rhyme(s)

does not look familiar to you? Provide example(s) of prosperity food rhymes that you

have experienced.

10. Do you agree with the meaning of bad luck on page 25-26?

11. Do you agree with the meaning of good luck on page 26-27?

12. What would you like to add to your meaning of what good luck means to you? Please

write below.

13. What would you like to add to your meaning of what bad luck means to you? Please

write below.

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Mary Fong, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at California State University, San Bernardino in the depart-

ment of Communication Studies.