Asymmetry Of Contextual Information And Intention Negotiation

This thesis is based on historical text from the perspective of historical pragmatics. The Romance of the Western Bower(Xixiangji) is chosen as the data source. This drama is about the love story of Cui Yingying and Zhang Gong with the promise by Madame Cui as the key clue. The speech act of promising is the object of research for this thesis. The role of context in Madame Cui’s promising act and others’ response to it, the negotiation process between interlocutors, and the reason why Madame Cui can break her promise are the questions that this research attempts to answer.The aim of this research is to apply asymmetry of contextual information under the four conditions for illocutionary acts, in particular those of promising, and the role of intentions in the experience of meaning to understand Madame Cui’s promise in the Romance of the Western Bower in order to find out what role the context plays in Madame Cui’s breaking her promise and how other people are able to negotiate with Madame Cui to make her fulfill her promise.This research is mainly qualitative. What is to be analyzed in this thesis is the process of how Madame Cui makes the promise, breaks the promise, and fulfills the promise. In this process, asymmetry of contextual information between the speaker and the hearer under the four conditions for illocutionary acts and intentions in meaning will be employed to explore how promises should be understood and how meaning is determined through negotiation in linguistic communication.Through analysis and discussion, there are several findings in this thesis. First, context or contextual information plays a significant role in the making and understanding of a promise. The difference in contextual information each side of the communication holds can to a large extent influence their understanding of whether the promisor has the intention to carry out the promised act. Therefore, whether the promise should be carried out is indeterminate. With the indeterminacy of the illocutionary force of a promise, the promisor can deny his intentions and find excuses not to fulfill his promise. It also leaves room for negotiation. Second, meaning understanding is a process of construction by both the speaker and the hearer. When they have different understandings on the same promise, they can still achieve a successful linguistic communication through intention negotiation. Third, the expressed intention, or the sincerity condition for commissives is not the final factor in a promise. The promisor has a communicative intention as well as the expressed intention. He may realize the former while the latter is not carried out.The introduction of asymmetry of contextual information into understanding a promise under the four conditions for illocutionary acts may in some sense help explain the insincerity or infelicity of illocutionary acts such as promising. The research of negotiating meaning would possibly draw our attention to a more active role of the hearer in communication, and may thus lead to a new phase in the study of meaning.