A Study Of Reactive Tokens And Gender-related Conversational Styles

Based on earlier studies made by scholars abroad and at home, this thesis focuses on the reactive tokens and gender-related differences in conversation. It includes three main points as below:First, it redefines 'Reactive Token'(='RT') in Mandarin Chinese, and proposes that RT can be a turn. Several types of RTs are distinguished according to their linguistic form and function.Second, it compares RTs between male and female in Chinese discourse, and discusses especially the gender-linked variations of RTs with age, familiarity of topics and different reactive attitudes in same-sex conversation and cross-sex conversation, hence the gender-linked differences in conversational styles.Third and finally, it attempts to account for the differences in gender-related conversational styles from a socio-cultural perspective. It points that the unfair social constructions of gender is the source of the unfair status of male and female in conversation.