A Pragmatic Approach To Subjectivity Of Person Deixis In Chinese

Subjectivity is a feature of language that addressers make utterances and at the same time show their position, attitudes and feelings, which leave the mark of self in discourse. Three main aspects had been the focus of subjectivity: (1) a locutionary agent’s perspective as shaping linguistic expression; (2) a locutionary agent’s expression of affect towards the propositions contained in utterances; (3) a locutionary agent’s expression of the modality or epistemic status of the propositions contained in utterances. Subjectivity is generally considered as a cognitive concept. However, it is also influenced and constrained by pragmatic factors. All the factors contribute to make an addresser decide whether or to what extent to highlight the“self”components and leave the mark of self. Therefore, subjectivity is also a pragmatic concept, closely related with an addresser’s understanding of the communication context, social and cultural knowledge. Person deixis in utterances reveal the speaker’s perspective or affect, which the addresser relies on to express him/herself, constituting the phenomena of discourse subjectivity.Based on data from Center for Chinese Linguistic PKU, A Dream of Red Mansions, The Tale of Heroic Sons and Daughters, Outlaws of the Marsh, The Fortress Besieged and some other Chinese literary works, this thesis interprets subjectivity of person deixis in Chinese from a pragmatic perspective and comes to major factors that influence subjectivity of person deixis in Chinese. Chapter 1 introduces the research object, purposes, data collection and methodology, and the structure of this thesis. Chapter 2 covers a literature review of studies on person deixis, including its definition, classification and usages, and the theory of subjectivity and disciplines it belongs to. With affluent data, Chapter 3 addresses the use of person deixis that reflects the locutionary agent’s perspective and affect respectively and analyzes subjectivity of person deixis in Chinese from a pragmatic approach. Chapter 4 explores major factors influencing subjectivity of person deixis in Chinese: (1) value systems in Chinese culture such as Confucianism and collectivism; (2) communicative intensions: to close psychological distance between addressers and addressees, to build an objective psychological field, so as to help free and full expression of opinions and feelings, or to prevent potential conflicts between addressers and addressees; (3) other factors such as fashion trend, education level, gender and socioeconomic conditions, etc.. The last part is a conclusion for this thesis.