A Study Of Marital Conflict Talk From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Conflict talk seems to include only two opposite communicative parties,but in fact it is a very complex speech phenomenon.When both parties have different viewpoints and positions on the same event or person,conflict talk is prone to arise.Moreover,contrary to the public’s established ideas about it,conflict talk can also have a positive impact on interpersonal relationships.All of these are applicable to marital conflict talk.So far,scholars at home and abroad have made a detailed analysis of conflict talk from many aspects.Most scholars are devoted to analyzing the structural features and development process of conflict talk.However,there is little attention paid to special couples such as homosexual couples and transnational couples.Moreover,the research on the causes of marital conflict talk is not comprehensive enough.Constructive approaches for handling marital conflict talk are also less explored.This paper adopts qualitative analysis and takes Adaptation Theory as the theoretical framework.Then conflict talk between homosexual couples and that between transnational couples in the first and last five seasons of the American family TV serials Modern Family and the first two seasons of The Fosters are selected.Finally,it analyses causes of conflict talk between couples and proposes some constructive approaches to deal with it.Based on the analysis of the conflict talk between homosexual couples and that between transnational couples in Modern Family and The Fosters,it is found that conflict talk is not rare in marriage.Its origin lies in the failure of both spouses to adapt to each other’s social world,mental world,and physical world.This thesis also puts forward two categories,a total of seven constructive ways to deal with conflict talk between husband and wife.One category is generic,including one party withdrawal,third party involvement,compromise,and topic-switching.The other category is to deal with marital conflict talk due to the failure to adapt to the communicative context.It refers that communicative participants make adaptation to the other party’s social world,mental world,and physical world.Under the guidance of Adaptation Theory,this thesis explores the reasons why marital conflict talk emerges and how to deal with it,demonstrating once again the adaptability and explanatory power of Adaptation Theory.Additionally,it provides help in building a harmonious relationship between couples.