A Pragmatic Study Of Deliberate Misinterpretation In Chinese Cross Talk

The present study is a pragmatic study of deliberate misinterpretation in traditionalChinese Cross Talk. Methodologically speaking, it belongs to a qualitative study based onthe data collected from the books that concerning comic dialogue;the Superstar ElectronicLibrary in Northeast Normal University;the Internet. It is both data-driven andtheory-driven. The whole investigation begins with the collecting of data, and thencategorizes them. After doing these, we carry out a careful observation, seek the reasonsbehind this special language functions of deliberate misinterpretation.With Verscheren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory (1999) as the general conceptualframework, we study the deliberate misinterpretation in traditional Chinese cross talk. Ittries to answer the following three questions: What are the triggers for a speaker in thecross-talk program to deliberately misinterpret the other speaker's utterance? How does aspeaker in the cross-talk program deliberately misinterpret the other speaker's utterances?What are the functions for a speaker in the cross-talk program to deliberately misinterpretthe other speaker's utterances? Consequently the whole thesis is divided into six parts withpart 3-5 as the body.Part one presents a general introduction to the research, and it has explained thereasons and motivations to this research and setting the objectives for the present study.Part two provides a review of the literature based on our categorization of theprevious studies on the related theme. It also lays down the conceptual framework on thebasis of related theories.Part three probes into triggers of this specific strategy. In this part, we have discussedtwo types of triggers for deliberate misinterpretation, one is the minimal informationprovided by S1, and the other is the indeterminate nature of S1's utterance. The linguisticambiguity in S1's utterance such as homophones, polysemy, deictic expression andstructural ambiguity;S1's indirect speech acts;S1's conversational implicature andfigurative language may trigger deliberate misinterpretation.Part four discusses the ways employed by the speaker to deliberate misinterpret theoriginal sentence meaning. In this part, we have discussed the ways that the performerschoose to achieve their communicative goal. Those ways include intentional distortion,creating new meaning, disregarding the speech situation, being overliteral, and changingthe topic.Part five discusses the functioning of deliberate misinterpretation. Firstly, we havediscussed DMI as a means of adaptation shapes and is shaped by the contextual correlates.One of the important context aspects shaping the language user's choice is the social worldincluding the social settings, the social norms and the power relation. The language user'sstate of mind behind decision to produce an utterance may shape the use of DMI. Secondly,we have discussed the specific functions DMI performs in interaction. Motivated by theintention of fulfilling the interpersonal need, speakers use the strategy of DMI to improvethe interpersonal relationship and also to make some special communicative effects such ashumorous effects and sarcastic effects.Part six is the conclusion part. It lays down its findings and limitations as well.