An Empirical Study Of Self-presentation In A Chinese Dating Show

With the data collected from the first VCR of a dating show called Fei Cheng Wu Rao(If You Are the One), the thesis investigated the identity construction in the self-presentation of the dating show from a pragmatic perspective. By analyzing the pragmatic and linguistic strategies of identity construction, this thesis revealed how the male guests in the show constructed their identity. After interviewing ten viewers of the show, this thesis took a step further to dig out what kind of identity these men constructed and why they constructed this kind of identity.Based on Simon’s Self-aspect Model of identity, this thesis categorized different kinds of self-aspects and found out that the male guests in the show constructed their identity from six self-aspects, namely, social role, tastes, personality traits, behavioral characteristics, physical traits and abilities, which responded to jobs, likes, temperament and quality, behaviors and habits, appearance, abilities respectively. Among the six self-aspects, social role was mentioned almost in every self-presentation, while ability was mentioned only by a few.Based on the clarified self-aspects, the thesis examined the linguistic features of the male guests’self-presentation. In their self-presentations, rhetorical devices were used to emphasize their strong points so as to manage a positive identity. The linguistic strategies used in the self-presentation included hyperbole, simile, metaphor, euphemism, pun, rhetoric questions. Meanwhile, a lot of fuzzy language and intensifiers were also found in the data. Moreover, it was found that when the male guests introduced themselves, they tended to give more information than required, which was meant to violate the Quantity Maxim of Grice’s Cooperation Principle and generate favorable conversational implicature. By using these strategies, the male guests wished to construct a positive identity or even an enhanced one.In order to find out the effects and the motivation of the identity construction in the show, ten viewers of the show were interviewed. All the ten interviewees believed that the men in the show tried to construct an enhanced identity. The interviewees gave three major factors that motivated the male guests’ enhanced identity construction. Firstly, the men enhanced themselves to win the women’s heart; secondly, they enhanced themselves as required by the show; thirdly, they enhanced themselves for some other reasons, for example for the reason of finding a job.This study challenged Gu’s Politeness Principle as all the ten interviewees believed that modesty in modern China was not the same with the modesty many years ago. With the development and globalization of China,"denigrating self and elevating others" is no longer applicable on many occasions. Therefore, it is suggested that Chinese scholars readjust Gu’s Politeness Principle.This research has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically speaking, supported by social pragmatic theories, through conversational and discourse analysis, by applying Simon’s Self-aspect Model of identity to the examination of real life data, this thesis contributes to the development of self-aspect model of identity theory. What’s more, this research challenges Gu’s Politeness Principle and brings insight into the study of China’s PP.Practically speaking, by giving a detailed analysis on the six self-aspects of identity, exploring the linguistic features of these self-aspects and discussing the culture background of the identity construction, this research provides advice for people’s daily communication and opens a window for those who are interested in Chinese culture.