A Study Of E-platform Conversational Strategies Under The Frameworks Of The Cooperative Principle And The Face Theory

In the global information age, Internet language has been a hot topic in all fields of society, and it has also provided a new research field for linguistic study. Up to now, Internet language study has gone through a rapid development, reflected by the research conducted by a large group of researchers widely from the computer field to the linguistic field. Internet linguistics, as a new emerging field of linguistics, is drawing more and more attention, the main focus of which is the study of the formal features and functions of Internet language. Pragmatics, due to its subject attributes, should play a key role and make a great contribution in this research field. However, practical and powerful approach as it is, the previous research on Internet language from the perspective of pragmatics is relatively few, especially an investigation into E-platform conversations. Therefore, the application of pragmatic theories in this field is increasingly becoming necessary.This thesis, under the theoretical frameworks of the cooperative principle and the face theory, with its linguistic data mainly gleaned from the E-platform of Taobao, intends to make an analysis of the general features of E-platform conversations, and further to explore the conversational strategies applied by the seller and the buyer in such conversational situations. More specifically, the following two questions will be investigated in the present thesis:1. Do E-platform conversations take on different features compared with conventional daily shopping conversations? If so, what generate these differences?2. Analyzed under the theoretical frameworks of the cooperative principle and the face theory, what conversational strategies might be found to be applied by the participants in E-platform conversational situations, and what are the deciding factors?After a careful study of the collected data, two main findings are made, which are summarized as follows:Firstly, E-platform conversations are different from the conventional daily shopping conversations in the physical situations of daily life, the major reasons of which can be attributed to some different influencing factors. Generally speaking, three main features of E-platform conversations are found: E-platform conversations are more economical in that E-platform communication tends to convey no more than what is required in conventional shopping context; E-platform conversations are more instrumental, the main purpose of which is to make a deal, though other conversation functions may coexist. E-platform conversations are geared to being novel, which implies that it emphasizes getting rid of the stale and bringing forth the fresh.Secondly, abiding by the general cooperative principle and the face theory, decided by the factors of E-platform communication, and influenced by psychological considerations, the keeping of face for example, E-platform conversation participants may choose different conversational strategies, violating one maxim or another to achieve goals of communication. The seller tends to be more cooperative than the buyer. Specifically speaking, the seller is more concerned about the maxim of quality, the maxim of quantity and the maxim of relevance, while the buyer prefers maxims for more product information. When it comes to face, the seller is more willing to save the buyer’s face and the buyer tends to be harsher in words.