A Study On Pragmatic Identity Construction In Mock Politeness

In the recent 30 years,both politeness and impoliteness have become prominent subjects in pragmatics.However,as one of the vague concepts between them,mock politeness has not received enough attention.The previous studies mainly focus on the realizations(Li and Ran,2014)and structures(Taylor,2015)of mock politeness.There are limited studies that pay attention to its relationship with identities and pragmatic functions.Mock politeness in this study occurs when the speaker's utterance(s)make(s)Face Threatening Acts(FTAs)to the hearer even though the utterance(s)obey(s)at least one maxim of Politeness Principle(PP).Collecting 85 cases of mock politeness from Chinese television series Xiang Cun Ai Qing as the data and based on the theoretical framework combining Dynamic Choice of Pragmatic Identity(Chen,2013a)and A Summary of Response Options(Culpeper et al.,2003),the study focuses on the identity construction in mock politeness,making analyses on the types of the pragmatic identities,discursive practices and pragmatic identities of mock politeness.This study manages to answer the following four questions:(1)What types of pragmatic identities do the speakers construct in mock politeness?(2)What kinds of discursive practices will the speakers use to construct a specific pragmatic identity in mock politeness?(3)What are the pragmatic functions of identity construction in mock politeness? And(4)what are the hearers' responses to identity construction in mock politeness?This study finds that(1)the speakers construct seven pragmatic identities in mock politeness,namely the identities of a laudator,a considerate person,an adviser,a courteous person,a thanksgiver,an inferior and an intimate person in order of the occurring frequency in the data;(2)there are three main discursive practices,which are address form,grammar selection and word selection.In address form,“you” is the most common one.Besides,the speaker is likely to use the hearer's first name and title to construct identities to achieve mock politeness.In grammar selection,exceptdeclarative sentences,the speaker prefers to use rhetorical questions in mock politeness especially when he or she constructs the identity of a considerate person.Compared with special questions,the speaker prefers general questions when he or she constructs the identities of a laudator,an adviser and a courteous person.In word selection,the speaker will adopt positive words to construct various identities;(3)identity construction in mock politeness has four pragmatic functions,including coercive function,entertaining function,the functions of venting the negative emotion and avoiding the direct conflict;and(4)compared with keeping silent,the hearer intends to make use of countering and accepting rsponses to identity construction in mock politeness.In addition,it seems that there is no corresponding relationship between specific pragmatic identities and specific response strategies.Not only does this study enrich the studies on mock politeness,but also strengthens the explanatory power and operability of identity construction theory as well as further verifies the thought of pragmatic identity.Besides,the study can help communicators to understand the functions of identities better in communication,which is expected to promote interpersonal communication.