On The Cultural Integration In The Novel The Joy Luck Club From The Perspective Of The Adaptation Theory

The exploration of cultural integration between the East and the West has been a heated topic by scholars both at home and abroad.However,it is rare to study the intercultural integration on the basis of literary works from the angle of the Adaptation Theory.Therefore,this thesis aims at exploring the cultural integration as demonstrated in 37 conversations among the main characters in the novel The Joy Luck Club,who represent the Eastern and Western cultures respectively.Guided by the Adaptation Theory and via the research method of discourse analysis,this study has made two research findings.The research findings are:Firstly,in order to achieve mutual understanding and reconciliation,the language uses of the four pairs of mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club have to be dynamically adapted to the physical,social and mental worlds of the interlocutors.In the physical world,time and space of human communication restrict the language users’ choice of words;as for the social world,language uses reflect the speaker’s dynamic adaptation to social positions,social relations and cultural customs;in the mental world,the interlocutor’s personality,emotion,belief,intention and other cognitive and emotional factors all influence the uses of language.The three worlds have mutual interactions and influences on one another,working together to promote successful interactions in the novel so as to achieve the cultural integration.Secondly,in The Joy Luck Club,the relationship between the language use of the characters and communicative context is a dynamic process of mutual adaptation.In order to achieve the communicative purpose and realize the pragmatic function of language,both mothers and daughters have to make choices of words to adapt to all kinds of communicative context factors.The process of the language uses of mothers and daughters is in fact the dynamic inter-adaptability of structural objects and context correlates with the dynamic status of salience of linguistic strategies’ participation.The theoretical implication of this thesis lies in that in addition to the theoretical value in the field of pragmatics,the Adaptation Theory also has its theoretical value in the aspect of commenting on the literary works.The language creator of the literary works must consider the dynamic adaptation of context and language structure when making choices of words,which helps readers and researchers figure out why the creator makes this rather than that of language style,so as to achieve the purpose of better understanding and appreciating literary works.In other words,the theory can provide a new perspective of understanding,appreciating,and analyzing literary works.The practical implications of this thesis are twofold:Firstly,this study has certain enlightenment significance in promoting foreign language teaching and language acquisition for college teachers.Each class can be regarded as a context,teachers and students are involved in both sides of communication and they are in a kind of interactive relationship.The interaction between them is in fact the dynamical process of constant choice-making and adaptation.Therefore,in foreign language teaching and learning,in addition to mastering the correct language knowledge,we should also emphasize the proper use of language in various contexts;language learners can improve their pragmatic communication skills from the adaptive perspective of context relations.Secondly,the research has certain guiding significance on how to use successful communicative strategies to conduct smooth verbal communication in the inter-ethnic relationships.Language use is a continuous process of dynamic inter-adaptation between linguistic choices and contextual correlates as well as structural objects with the salience of adaptability.Therefore,by the Adaptation Theory,human beings can make appropriate choices of language forms and pragmatic strategies which improve the pragmatic competence of intercultural communication.People from different cultural backgrounds will eventually cross the cultural gap to achieve mutual communication and understanding and realize the cultural integration.