A Study Of Marital Conflict Talk From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

The phenomenon of conflict talk can be found everywhere in the interaction betweenpeople in our daily life. Although it is a complicated linguistic phenomenon, it is often neglectedby many linguists for its unharmonious side. It breaks down daily communication and bringsobstacles to our successful communication. Therefore, conflict talk is studied by manyresearchers in the recent years. They have explored conflict talk from various angles andachieved a lot. Conflict can be produced between any people, so is with couples who livetogether for several years.The present study analyzes marital conflict talk from the perspective of linguisticadaptation theory; it concludes the opposition forms of marital conflict talk and explains thecauses that lead to conflict talk from the perspective of adaptation theory. By analyzing thecollected data, the thesis lays much importance on the discussion of the causes that lead toconflict from a different perspective. Generally speaking, qualitative study is the main researchmethod which is based on the collected data from the American TV series DesperateHousewives.As Verschueren(1999) believed,“speaking is a process to make linguistic choicescontinuously.” Only by making appropriate linguistic choice can we carry on a smoothcommunication. We should make appropriate choices in our communication, while sometimesthe participants fail to do this and thus conflicts happen. That is to say, not every participant canadapt his or her linguistic choice to the three worlds in the contextual factors as Verschuerenproposed. Therefore, misunderstanding or even conflict happens.The only way to eliminate and avoid conflict in our communication is to find out the causes that lead to it. Only by finding the fundamental causes of conflict can we communicatewith each other more smoothly, and it is also beneficial for our social relationship and theharmonious society.