A Study On Gender Differences In Compliments And Compliment Responses In Modern Chinese Context

As positive speech act, compliment and compliment response (C and CR hereafter) have been one of the hot topics discussed by linguists in the last few decades. Research shows that compliment and compliment response are heavily influenced by certain social and individual variables such as age, gender, level of education, social status and social distance. Due to the length of the thesis and other limitations, gender is the major variable in the present study.A considerable amount of research on compliment and compliment response has been carried out in different varieties of English, but studies in Chinese context are relatively few and far from satisfactory. And studies that focus on gender differences in compliments and compliment responses are quite few. So it is hoped that the present study will make some moderate contribution to the previous research in China.Based on speech act theory, politeness theory and gender difference theory, the present study aims to investigate the influence of gender on the compliments as well as compliment responses in Chinese context from three aspects: first, I shall introduce the researches that have done by linguists and their conclusions; second, I shall analyze and discuss the differences between males and females in compliment behavior by the data from my collection; lastly, I shall attempt to answer why it differs from traditional, cultural and social perspectives.The present study will explain the results of the research from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. In terms of the qualitative perspective, the open-ended questionnaire known as DCT is used. In terms of the quantitative perspective, the data obtained in the questionnaires are categorized and calculated, and then compliment and compliment response strategies are presented by tables and figures. Percentages are used in statistical calculation.The results showed that there existed significant differences in using compliments between males and females. Females applied more Explicit Compliments than males did, whereas males used more Implicit Compliments and No Responses than females. On the gender-levels, the differences in choosing the compliment strategies on the same-gender interaction were not distinct as those on the different-gender level. On the topic-levels, more males chose to opt out on appearance and males used more Implicit Compliments on performance, while females used more Explicit Compliments on appearance and performance. Males and females showed slight difference in compliment formulas. In terms of semantic carriers, males used nouns more often than females, while females used more adverbs. Males and females showed significant differences in using compliment response strategies. Females applied more Acceptances and Combinations than males, whereas more males chose Non-acceptance and No Response. There were some differences between both genders in using the five compliment response strategies, especially in terms of different-gender level. On the topic-levels, more females employed Acceptance on appearance and performance, while more males chose Non-acceptance on both topics.This paper includes five chapters.Chapter one serves as an introduction. It begins with the researches that linguists both in China and abroad have made on gender differences in compliments and compliment responses,then the research questions, the significance of the study theoretically and practically.Chapter two is the literature review of the thesis. It gives an overview of the related theories, such as speech act theories, politeness theories and gender difference theory. Besides, it will also review the studies on gender-based differences in compliments and compliment responses. We also point out the limitations of previous study on this topic, only a few linguists made researches on gender differences in compliment behavior. In addition, most of the studies have been carried out in different varieties of English. Therefore, the author believes that it is necessary to investigate the phenomenon in China.Chapter three is the research methodology. It demonstrates how the study is conducted, including the research questions, situation design, the instrument, the selection of the subjects and the procedures of data collecting and analyzing. The data are elicited by the means of the open-ended questionnaire known as DCT. The subjects involved in the present study are a group of 90 non-English major college students, with 45 males and 45 females. We get 80 valid questionnaires out of the 90 ones.Chapter four is the results and discussion of the research. It presents the results of the research and interprets the major findings of the study, then provides explanations of the results we obtained in the research. We can assume that females tend to use more polite strategies and politeness markers than males in the compliment and compliment response realization patterns. Though there existed differences in speech act between males and females, the differences could not be analyzed out of the social context. The reasons that cause this phenomenon can be analyzed from traditional, cultural and social perspectives. Efforts are also made to explore the social functions of Chinese complimenting behavior. Compliment is a social strategy to establish, maintain or consolidate social solidarity. Compliment can also express appreciation, praise and congratulations. Sometimes, compliment can be used as a form instead of greetings. It may ameliorate the threat of a FTA by anointing the addressee's positive face. Compliment can start or change of the conversation. In brief, the speech event of Chinese compliment contributes to the maintenance of a harmonious social interpersonal relationship.Chapter five is the conclusion of the thesis. It summarizes the major discoveries of the study and the implications of the study and also indicates the limitations. For example, the subjects in the present study are university students. Though they are representative, they couldn't reflect the attitude of all the Chinese people towards compliments and compliment responses. In spite of this, the author still hopes that the study can have some directions for further research.