A Study Of Complaints Under The Principle Of Goal Direction

Discourse analysis involves not only language forms, but also its functions in utilization. This paper, based on the Principle of Goal Direction proposed by Professor Liao and other relevant theories in conversational analysis, conducts profound analysis on complaints in English. This present study chooses data resources from the famous sitcom Friends, from which the author directs the complaint-related analysis in terms of classification, contextual variables, and goal-driven complaint strategies and response strategies, as well as ways to ease complaint power. It is predicable that this paper emphasizes studies of complaints based on various goal relations, namely convergent, conflicting and neutral relations. People complain in daily life in order to attain certain goals. Moreover, people are varied in their choice of complaint strategies in terms of different goals. Likewise, the hearer in a conversation may choose varied response strategies based on their specific goals.Previous researches on complaints all center on describing the definition, classification and preconditions of complaints. Nevertheless, there has been neither exploration on the goals of complaints from the perspective of pragmatics nor systematic interpretation on goal-directed compliant strategies and complaint response strategies. By incorporating the principle of goal direction into complaint-related studies, this present research is designed to answer the following questions:why do people complain? Based on what goal relations do people choose different complaint strategies and complaint-response strategies? What are the contextual variables affecting people’s choice of complaint strategies and complaint-response strategies? Since complaint is a face-threatening behavior and not welcomed in daily life, what strategies can be applied to mitigate the power of complaints?It is impossible to incorporate all complaint forms in one study, so this paper limits its corpus within the sitcom Friends. Through the analysis of goal relations between complaint participants in the drama, this thesis is trying to differentiate the complaint strategies and complaint-response strategies they choose in various goal interactions. The first part of this present paper is the introduction of the background, objectives, ranges, methods, corpus collection and structures of the research. The second part reviews complaint-related researches, including major findings and achievements in previous researches. The third part of this paper, channeling goal relations and goal interactions into the study, expounds on goal systems and the derivative principle of goal direction. The fourth part, as the main body, takes goal analysis model as the framework and integrates explanation on contextual factors of complaint interactions and strategies, conducts a relatively thorough study on goal-directed complaint speech acts, and also proposes several strategies to mitigate the power of complaints.The last part concludes the paper based on corpus analysis, which can be summarized as follows:compliant interactions are directed by goal relations between people, based on which the two sides choose corresponding strategies; several pragmatic strategies may be applied to mitigate the power of complaints so as to avoid breakdown of interpersonal relations. In the end, the author also points out limitations of this present study and suggests possible orientations for future researches.