| As a frequently occurring phenomenon in life, conflict talk has drawn the attention of numerous scholars abroad and at home. Studies on conflict talk have been carried out mainly in those discourses such as children's discourse,courtroom discourse,political discourse, couple discourse, etc. However, few scholars have conducted researches on the conflict talk between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. The realtionship between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law palys a very important role in a harmonious family atmosphere. However, their relationship is usually tense and subtle in daily life and conflicts between them are not rare at all.Because the conflict talk involves privacy and it usually takes place accidentally, it's difficult to collect real conflict talk as data. Plays come from real life. This thesis will adopt the conflict talk collected from a Chinese TV series called Mother-in-law is Coming as data. Mother-in-law is Coming depicts the life of two pairs of mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws. It can be regarded as a reflection of the relationship between the MIL and the DIL in real life.Conflict talk is usually associated with impoliteness. The present study will adopt the impoliteness model proposed by Culpeper as the theoretical framework in the analysis of the conflict talk between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law in this TV series. The study will identify what impoliteness strategies are employed, compare the differences between MIL and DIL in the frequencies of the employment of these impolite strategies, and offer some solutions to reduce or avoid conflict talk between MIL and DIL.After careful analysis, four super-strategies were identified: "Bold on Record Impoliteness","Positive Impoliteness","Negative Impoliteness",and "Sarcasm". Eleven output strategies of the super-strategy "Positive were identified: "Disassociate from the other"," Be disinterested,unconcerned and unsympathetic","Challenge","Use taboo words","Use inappropriate identity markers","Use obscure or secretive language","Make the other feel uncomfortable" "Call the other names","Criticize","Disagree with the other" and "Decline the other's offer". Two output strategies for the super-strategy of"Negative Impoliteness" were identified: "Frighten" and "Condescend,scorn or ridicule".The total frequency of impoliteness strategies employed by the mother-in-laws in the data is slightly higher than that employed by the daughter-in-laws. The choice of impoliteness strategies is mainly influenced by three social factors: age, the economic situation and the educational background. The daughter-in-law is economically independent, well-educated for equality and democracy, and impetuous for younger age,so they tend to use more impoliteness strategies than the MILs in total. But there are different tendencies in the employment of impoliteness strategies between the mother-in-laws and the daughter-in-laws. In terms of age, the mother-in-laws who are much older than the daughter-in-laws are more powerful. They use the "Criticize"strategy mostly. In terms of economic situation, the mother-in-laws who are out of work have to economically depend on their sons and daughter-in-laws, while the daughter-in-laws who have jobs or rich family condition are economically independent.Therefore, the daughter-in-laws are more powerful and they use the "Bold on record impoliteness" strategy mostly. In terms of education, the mother-in-laws receive little education and are affected by traditional values that the DILs should be absolutely obedient while the daughter-in-laws have received college education and are influence by western equality and democracy. They are reluctant to be controlled by their mother-in-laws,so they use the strategy of "Disagree with the other" and "Challenge"mostly. Finally, the current study offers some solutions to reducing or avoiding conflict talk between the MILs and the DILs on the basis of the background of data and previous studies on it. |
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