A Study On Request Utterance Production From The Perspective Of Force Dynamics Image Schema Theory

Request utterance which is commonly and frequently utilized in daily communication isdefined as a type of utterance containing face threatening feasibility. When making requests,the speaker is used to politely asking the hearer to pay some efforts or to perform someactions as the speaker has expected. In this way can the speaker achieve his purpose andrealize the value of the requesting communication. Therefore, it is how to choose theappropriate and coordinating way of making requests that matters a great deal to make surethe success of the communication. Traditional discussions around request utteranceproduction are confined to pragmatic perspective together with sociolinguistic perspectivelike Face theory, Speech Act theory, Context theory and some others, with little concentrationon analysis from cognitive theories. This study tries to investigate the inner process ofproducing request utterance from the cognitive perspective of image schema theory-forcedynamics image schema so as to supplement and enrich discussions in this field.Stemming from Ancient Greek,“schema” was expounded about the philosophicalmeaning by Kant in the18th century. During the1920s-1930s, Bartlett found that man couldcomprehend a new experience by comparing it with the conventional schema that has alreadybeen stored in human memory. In the1930s-1940s, Piaget emphasized the opinion of “schemaderives from acts”. Hereafter, Rumelhart, Fillmore, Langacker and Taylor all accepted anddeveloped such ideas. Besides, Image is a psychological term describing mentalrepresentation, from which people can yield a certain imaginary picture of an object in hismind, although the object is absent. The concept of Image Schema was firstly integrated andproposed in the book The Metaphor We Live By (1980) written by Lakoff&Johnson, wholater applied it into metaphorical analysis. On account of the descriptions of EmbodiedPhilosophy, L&J further discussed the characteristics of image schema such as embodiment,imagination, and abstractness, all of which is of significance for human constructingcategories, forming concepts, analyzing metaphor, as well as comprehending and inferringmeaning.Among the image schemata mentioned above, Talmy concentrated on studies of theImage Schema of Force Dynamics in1988, claiming that the image schema produced by theforce on objects like removing, overcoming, resisting and clearing plays a universal andcentral part in human language acquisition and production. This study tries to not onlyinvestigate the production of request utterance in the theoretical framework of force schema,but also to test and verify the explanatory power of force dynamics image schema. Through a qualitative research, this study collected, classified and summarized various types of requestutterances from American TV series Desperate Housewives, the first season, the first episode.And then this study discussed according to force dynamics image schema, what theproduction of request utterance is, why this theory can provide a particular explanation forhuman producing request utterance, and how the theory succeeds in expounding such a choicemaking in the request utterance production.The findings show that force dynamics image schema can explain the production ofrequest utterance. And in the process of producing request utterance, the speaker justabstractly utilizes a kind of implicit illocutionary force to cause the listener to perform certainactions or to make some contributions so as to realize the speaker’s requesting purpose.Different types of request utterance production can be explained by different types of forcedynamics image schema. For instance, the direct request utterance production, includingmood derivable, performatives, hedged performatives, obligation statement, and needstatement can be explained by the compulsion force schema. The conventionally indirectrequest utterance production, including suggestory formula and query-preparatory can beexplained by the enablement force schema. And the non-conventionally indirect requestutterance production including strong and mild hints can be explained by the removal ofrestraint force schema.