A Pragmatic Analysis Of Conflict Talks From The Perspective Of Linguistic Adaptation Theory

Conflict talks are common but complex phenomena in daily life.When interlocutors hold different opinions or benefits in communication,conflict talks might occur.Conflict talks have both destructive and constructive sides.On the one hand,if conflict talks are dealt with appropriately,interlocutors can reach desirable results and conflict talks help develop healthy relationships.On the other hand,if conflict talks are not recognized and handled well,they may impose negative influences on harmonious interpersonal relationships.Up to now,studies on conflict talks have been conducted from different perspectives.However,the causes for the occurrence of conflict talks have not been explored systematically and comprehensively,and the tactics for constructive management of conflict talks are seldom explored in light of Linguistic Adaptation Theory.By exploring conflict talks in Desperate Housewives,the present study aims at identifying and understanding conflict talks,dealing with conflict talks effectively and building harmonious interpersonal relationships in communication.The following research questions are answered in this thesis.Firstly,what are the triggering factors for the occurrence of conflict talks in English? Secondly,what are the strategies for the constructive management of conflict talks? By addressing these questions,the generating mechanisms and conversion mechanisms of conflict talks are recognized.Methodologically,this study is a qualitative analysis of conflict talks from the perspective of Linguistic Adaptation Theory,which is descriptive and exploratory in nature.The data are collected from the eighth season of an American mystery comedy-drama television series Desperate Housewives.By identifying,transcribing and classifying the data,conflict talks are analyzed and explained.According to Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory,language use is a process of making linguistic choices.The causes for the occurrence of conflict talks are concerned with the contextual correlates of adaptation.If participants couldn't adapt to the contextual correlates when making linguistic choices,conflict talks might occur.This study analyzes the causes for the occurrence of conflict talks andinvestigates the constructive tactics for the management of conflict talks from three aspects including physical world,social world and mental world.The major findings are as follows:Firstly,the failure to adapt to contextual correlates can lead to the occurrence of conflict talks.Physical world,social world and mental world are involved in this aspect.Physical world includes temporal reference,spatial reference and non-verbal factors.Social world covers values,social relationships,communicative norms and some other social-world factors.Mental world incorporates personality traits,emotions,cognitive elements,wishes and motivations.As a result,interlocutors must take all of these contextual correlates into account when making linguistic choices.Only in this way,can conflict talks be avoided or mitigated in communication.Secondly,constructive tactics for the management of conflict talks are explored in this study,which can be classified into seven types: avoidance,accommodation,competition,compromise,collaboration,silence and euphemistic expression.These tactics adopted in different situations are used to minimize dysfunctions of conflict talks.The present study enriches linguistic researches on conflict talks and the application of linguistic adaptation theory to the analysis of conflict talks indicates that linguistic adaptation theory has a strong explanatory power.Besides,the analysis of the causes for occurrence of conflict talks and the tactics for constructive management of conflict talks will be of great significance to the understanding of conflict talks and construction of harmonious interpersonal relationships.