A Pragmatic Study On Conflict Talk-An Adaptation Approach

Conflict talk, as a natural but complicated language phenomenon, occurs frequently in daily communication. It often leads to communication breakdown and creates barriers to successful communication. So the study on conflict talk has been the focus of attention for researchers from various fields, including sociology, anthropology, linguistics and so on. Researches in these fields have worked from different perspectives. The present study makes an attempt to analyze conflict talk systematically from a new pragmatic perspective.Methodologically speaking, the present study belongs to a qualitative study based on the data collected from naturally occurring data and TV programs. It is both data-driven and theory-driven. The theoretical framework of the present study is based on Jef Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory (Verschueren, 1999).According to Verschueren, language users should adapt to the communicative contexts and make appropriate linguistic choices in the process of communication. However, not all participants can make successful adaptation to those contextual factors. Through detailed investigation and analysis, the present study reveals the reasons for the occurrence of conflict talk, that is, conflict talk occurs because the speaker fails to make adaptation to physical world such as time, space and non-verbal factors. Then failure to adapt to social world including cultural factors and other social-world dimensions is also the reason for the occurrence of conflict talk. In addition, mental world like participants' motivations and wishes or desires should be taken into consideration in communication.Then the present study explores the effects of conflict talk. Conflict talk has a negative effect on communication, because it leads to divergence of communication. It creates barriers to successful communication, and even exaggerates conflicts or triggers worse conflicts. Contrarily, after avoiding or mitigating conflict talk by adapting to the contextual factors, communication will achieve convergence, reunification and harmony. It is the positive effect of the study on conflict talk.At last, the thesis presents the social significance of the study on conflict talk. Achieving reunification and harmony in communication by mitigating conflict talk, we not only inherit and carry forward Chinese traditional culture, but also promote the construction of a socialist harmonious society in China.It is expected that the present study could present a more comprehensive and systematic picture of this linguistic phenomenon. It is not only important for linguistic research, but also significant for promoting Chinese traditional culture and constructing a socialist harmonious society in China as well.