A Study Of Evasive Acts In Question-Answer Communication

Evasion, an important strategy in question-answer communication, is a speech act with unique rhetoric functions. Compared with the evasion of ordinary question-answer situations, evasion political question-answer communication is more remarkable and abundant in its variation. This paper thoroughly redefines the concept of the evasive act and categorizes evasive acts into three main categories. Then, optimal styles of evasion for different registers are analyzed.The paper is composed of six chapters:Chapter 1: IntroductionEvasive answers are forms which not only fail to directly answer, but also fail to directly refuse, making them a kind of irrelevant rhetorical answer. Evasion is a speech act which indirectly actualizes the answer or refusal function.A common shortcoming of predecessors' studies on evasion is: they do not take into account the interlocutor's actual communicative intent, and thus cannot penetrate to the essence of evasion.Otherwise, this chapter covers research merit, research methods, corpus sources, etc.Chapter 2: Definitions and Characteristics of Evasive ActsThe essence of evasion is identified as satisfying of the four elements of the cooperative principle at least in some degree, but not all of them.The evasive acts show characteristics in four aspects: In communicative intent, the answerer indirectly functioning as an answer or refusal. In surface language forms, evasive answers neither fulfill the grammatical answer form, nor do they contain non-answer phrases. In conversational implicature, the conversational content of evasive acts vacillates between direct answers and direct refusals. In objective results, evasive acts tactfully transmit information, resulting in different illocutionary forces for different listeners.On the basis of the analysis of its nature and characteristics, evasive acts are clearly defined: in the question-answer communication process, the answerer's subjective intent is to neither directly answer nor directly refuse to answer, using a language form containing at least one of the four elements of the cooperative principle but not all of them, creating a vague implied conversational implicature and resulting in a language act which functions as neither an answer nor a refusal to answer.Chapter 3: Classification of Evasive Acts Using the evasion actor's subjective intent as the classification standard, three main types of evasive acts are identified: refusal, implied answer, and hesitation.The key discussion point is also the most common and most important: refusal evasion. It is believed that refusal evasion has three production elements: answer number, answer style, and answer concept/presupposition. The combination of these three elements' duality variables forms the five subcategories of refusal evasion: diplomatic language, alteration of concept/presupposition, questioning of rationality, questioning the concept/presupposition, and ignoring some questions.Chapter 4: How to Actualize Evasive Act in Different RegistersThe combined effect of register variables and interlocutor role variables determine optimal evasion type for specific occasions. We analyzed three registers in order to discuss it. The optimal evasion type of press releases is refusal-evasion diplomatic language; the optimal evasion type of news conferences is the use of various styles of refusal; the optimal evasion type of interviews is questioning the question.Chapter 5: Organic Union of Evasive Answers and Other Answer TypesIn a complete question-answer text, evasive answers are distributed throughout, from start to finish. Evasive answers and other answer types do intermingle, coordinate, and form organic unions. Evasive answers transmit the core of the answerer's real intent, and are the key point to decoding the information in the answer.Chapter 6: Conclusions and ShortcomingsThe redefinition and reclassification of evasion acts, the discussion of the related types and functions deepening question-answer communication theory and research, and effective use of communicative strategies all have real meaning.This paper believes that communicative intention is the core motive of evasive acts generation and the foundation of define, category and analyze them. We should go back to the origin when study these kinds of speech strategies which contain remarkable function.