An Analysis Of Polite Language In Hotel English Discourse Based On Adaptation Theory

With the fast development of the economy in the modern world, the hotel industry develops rapidly and steps into a new stage. The hotel industry is a vital one of all tourism branches; the service of a hotel has great influence on the development of a hotel. In Hotel English Discourse, the use of the polite language has very important influence upon the service quality of a hotel. In the process of service, it is very important for the staff members of a hotel to make the guests feel satisfied and set up a good image for the hotel. So it is very vital for the staff members in hotels to choose polite and proper language for the purpose of providing better service and achieve the optimal communicative effect. The previous studies in polite language in Hotel English Discourse are mainly based on Grice’s Cooperative Principles and Brown and Levinson’s face-saving theory. And these previous studies neglect the adaptability of language. Based on Verschueren’s adaptability theory, particularly the contextual correlates of adaptability and dynamics of adaptability, the present study in this thesis intends to study the application of polite language in Hotel English Discourse for the purpose of making up the limitations of the previous studies and enhancing the interpretation of politeness. Different from previous studies on polite language in Hotel English Discourse, this thesis considers the use of polite language in Hotel English Discourse as a dynamic and adaptable process. And then the thesis analyzes the characteristics and rules of the use of polite language in a changing context.Famous linguist Verschueren considered that language use is the continuous process of making linguistic choices with language users’adaptation to context and linguistic structure at different levels of salience dynamically. In accordance with Verschueren’s adaptability theory, particularly the contextual correlates of adaptability and dynamics of adaptability, this thesis makes an analysis of polite language in HED. This thesis mainly makes a qualitative research on the polite languages in HED based on the adaptation theory. In forms of case studies, the thesis makes an analysis of the application of the adaptation theory to the polite languages in HED. This thesis tries to find answers to the following questions:What are the linguistic choices of polite language in HED that the staff members of hotels employed to produce proper and polite utterances in the course of the hotel service? What strategies do the staff members of hotels choose in the hotel English discourse? What do the staff members of hotels try to adapt to while they are making linguistic choices in HED during the service? After making the analysis and investigation, this thesis finds that in order to achieve the optimal communicative effect for the purpose of achieving the real goal of hotels and benefiting the development of the whole hotel industry, it is necessary and important for the staff members of a hotel to adapt to the context of the hotel service, including the adaptation to the physical world, mental world and the social world. The staff members’ utterances should also adapt to the structure of language and the adaptation is always a dynamic one. In Hotel English Discourse, polite language is widely applied, and the theoretical analysis of the use of polite language in Hotel English Discourse not only enriches the studies of linguistic but also plays an important role in guiding the staff members in hotels and other persons who work in related fields.