Strategies In The Performance Of Directives: A Case Study Of The Chinese Play-the Family

A wide range of studies indicate that strategies are needed in the performance of directives to maintain a comfortable rhythm for conversation due to its face-threatening nature. This paper argues that greater consideration needs to be given to the strategy preference and realization patterns and some situations in which a certain directives, like orders, threats etc. are performed, the maximizing of the illocutionary forces are needed to urge the hearer(s) to act for the illocutionary and perlocutionary effects are far more significant than politeness.Owing to different social backgrounds and cultural backgrounds, speakers are likely to adopt different strategies. The new culture movement, which occurred in the early 1920s, was a big revolution in the history of China. Created by Ba Jin and adapted by Cao Yu, the play, the Family was about the Gao family, a miniature of China. Thus, the play was carefully examined and the directives grouped and analyzed.The most preferred strategies are direct strategies taking up 82%, among which the mood derivable is the most frequently used, which is quite similar to Malcolm Skewis (2003). As for the indirect strategies used, rhetorical questions are used to realize the directives, which seems maximizing the imposition, thus, the relationship between indirectness and politeness appears to be inclusive. Then, the cases, age, gender and institutionalized role within the family of power, together with social distance are assumed and further accounted for. It is concluded that cultures vary in their attitudes towards strategy types, strategy preference, cases of power, etc.