A Study Of Stance Markers In TED Persuasive Talks From The Perspective Of Communicative Action Theory

As an essential part of discourse,stance markers are a universal linguistic resource for expressing the speaker’s emotions and interacting with the audience.In recent years,the study of stance has attracted attention in various fields,such as functional linguistics,sociolinguistics,and interactive linguistics.In these different fields,researchers have explored the meaning of stance markers in different contexts from the perspectives of different theories,including Relevance Theory and Adaptation Theory.This thesis explores the pragmatic function of stance markers in TED Talks from the perspective of Communicative Action Theory which provides a new perspective for studying stance.Based on quantitative and qualitative analysis methods,the thesis subjects are 100 TED persuasive talks which include 50 males and 50 females as the research corpus and explores the following questions:(1)What are the application features of stance markers in TED Persuasive Talks?(2)What are the pragmatic functions of stance markers from the perspective of Communicative Action Theory? The results of the thesis are summarized as follows:Firstly,it is found that there are some differences in the application features of stance markers in TED persuasive talks through quantitative analysis.Self-mentions are used most frequently,followed by hedges,boosters,and attitude markers.The overall frequency of use of shields is more than that of approximators,the overall frequency of use of fact asserting markers is more than certainty indicating markers,the overall frequency of use of affect attitude markers is slightly less than that of evaluation attitude markers,and the frequency of use of first-person singular is more than that of first-person plural.Overall,speakers used four types of stance markers differently.Secondly,there are some characteristics of stance markers in gender use.There are more male speakers than female in the use of self-mentions and hedges.Moreover,the difference in the use of attitude markers between male and female speakers is smaller.Female speakers are more likely to use boosters than male speakers.In addition,it is concluded that male and female speakers tend to use more shields and fact asserting markers.Among them,there are gender differences in the use of attitude markers between male and female speakers.Male speakers used more affect attitude markers,while female speakers used more evaluation attitude markers.In the use of self-mentions,male speakers are more likely to use the first-person singular,while female speakers are more likely to use the first-person plural.Finally,combining the four claims of the Communicative Action Theory,the attitude markers and self-mentions under the apperception claim play the function of resonating with the audience,adding and revising information to fully express the speaker’s attitude and making presuppositions.Boosters and attitude markers under the truthfulness claim attribute to the function of reflecting the speaker’s confidence,enhancing the tone of voice and facilitating the function of message delivery.All the four types of stance markers satisfy the sincerity claim.Among them,hedges play a role in moderating the tone under the sincerity claim,while under the correctness claim,hedges are a standard of obedience to the norm.The boosters under the sincerity claim reflect the genuineness of the message content and create a good environment with the audience.There are differences in the functions of attitude markers under the sincerity and truthfulness claim.The former serves the function of resonating with the listener and creating an image of confidence,reliability,and sincerity,while the latter is the assessment of the value of the message content.Finally,self-mentions reflect the speaker’s idea of communicating with the audience and expressing an attitude toward speech content under the sincerity claim.In contrast,self-mentions under the correctness claim are the construction of self-identity.This thesis can provide a good reference for English learners to enhance their stance expressions in spoken English.In addition,through this thesis,male and female English learners can better comprehend the use of stance markers and make them aware of the benefits and weaknesses of different genders in expressing their stance.The results of this thesis also have some pedagogical implications for teaching spoken English.