A Study Of Strategic Impoliteness From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Since the notion of impoliteness was proposed by Culpeper in 1996,research on impoliteness has captured the scholars' attention and impoliteness has become a subject of heated discussion in pragmatics.Compared with the relevant research abroad,impoliteness has not been sufficiently studied with a focus mainly on impoliteness strategies and conflict talks.Some researchers have tried to categorize impoliteness,but strategic impoliteness has been merely mentioned and roughly discussed.Distinguished from nonstrategic impoliteness,strategic impoliteness stresses the significant role that the speaker plays in attaining his communicative goal.Thus,it is intentional,well-planned and strategy-driven.This thesis,therefore,based on the previous studies on impoliteness and strategic impoliteness,attempts to make a tentative study of strategic impoliteness in the light of Jef Verschueren's Adaptation Theory.The thesis mainly addresses three questions.First,what are the main ways of expressing strategic impoliteness in interpersonal communication? Second,what are the possible factors that trigger off strategic impoliteness in interpersonal communication? Third,what pragmatic functions can strategic impoliteness fulfill in interpersonal communication?Based on the data analysis,the conclusions are drawn as follows:First,strategic impoliteness is manifested with respect to both the speaker and the hearer in the way that the speaker makes different direct or indirect ways of expressions for strategic impoliteness and the hearer makes different offensive or defensive ways of expressions for strategic impoliteness.Second,the production of strategic impoliteness is a dynamic and complex process in which the choices for strategic impoliteness is the result of intentional adaptation to interactive contexts and the factors related to the speaker,the hearer and their mutual relationship can trigger off ways of expressions for strategic impoliteness.Third,strategic impoliteness is not just for emotional release but a kind of pragmatic strategy which is chosen by the speaker and the hearer to fulfill different pragmatic functions together with communicative goals for the benefit of the speaker,the hearer and their mutual relation.The study in general contributes to an in-depth understanding of strategic impoliteness.It also can facilitate further study of impoliteness in Chinese.