Comparison Of Korean And Chinese Request Speech Acts

Applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics that investigates the language applied by people in specific contexts,and especially how people have a correct understanding and usage of language in different communication environments.The relationship between language and culture has been widely studied by many scholars currently.Distinguished by their different languages and social cultures,speech acts are commonly taken to include such acts as thanking,rejecting,complaining,inviting,and complementing.Improper usage of the speech act of inviting,which is very frequently used in people' s everyday life,can do harm to the hearer' s face and interests,and even bring some misunderstanding between the speaker and the hearer.Therefore,in order to achieve conversation goals,people always tend to use different kinds of language performance and invitation strategies to express their courtesy in the speech act of inviting.As there are a variety of differences in the speech act of inviting between Chinese and Korean,it is not easy for Chinese learners of Korean to invite courteously based on the specific hearer and context.Therefore,this thesis focuses on the comparison of the speech act of inviting with courtesy between Chinese and Korean cultural backgrounds.To begin with,different methods of expressing courtesy in the speech act of inviting in Chinese and Korean are illustrated.Then a comparative analysis of the speech act of inviting in two languages is conducted.Finally,invitation strategies are summarized.This study aims to help Chinese learners of Korean use the speech act of inviting courteously.This thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter 1 illustrates the purpose and significance of this study and summarizes relative research methods and previous studies,in which the current research situation of the speech act of inviting in Chinese and Korean is described.Chapter 2 describes the concept,characteristics,formation and strategies of the speech act of inviting theoretically,and further explain the range and strategies of the speech act of inviting to be studied in the thesis.Chapter 3 is a comparative analysis of the speech act of inviting in Chinese and Korean based on the superior-subordinate relationship between the speaker and the hearer.It will be analyzed specifically in two parts:the hearer belongs to the superior and the hearer belongs to the subordinate.Chapter 4 is a comparative analysis of the speech act of inviting in Chinese and Korean based on the affinity-disaffinity relationship between the speaker and hearer.It will be analyzed specifically based on whether the hearer and the speaker are affinitive or not.Chapter 5 makes a conclusion of the whole thesis based on the comparative analyses of the speech act of inviting in Chinese and Korean according to the relationship between the speaker and the hearer in chapter 3 and 4,and then it points out the limitations of the research and puts forward some suggestions for the further study.