A Study On Pragmatic Identity Construction Of The Debaters In Let's Talk From The Perspective Of Impoliteness Theory

Identity and identity construction have always been a hot topic in social science research.The identity of a language user is essentially a process of communication,in which social context and cultural context will influence the construction of identity through language.People construct their identity through language.The identity constructed in a specific communicative context is called pragmatic identity.Pragmatic identity has a certain dynamic constructiveness.As a pragmatic strategy,impolite speech is a kind of speech that violates the speech norm under certain conditions.In verbal communication,people can better express their views and attitudes by adopting impolite speech,and construct different pragmatic identities dynamically to meet communicative needs and achieve communicative purposes.The effective integration of impolite speech and pragmatic identity construction can fully reflect the influence of non-linguistic factors on language use.This thesis,based on previous studies,selecting the impolite speech of the online debate talk show Let's Talk(season five)as the research corpus,using qualitative and quantitative research methods,employs the impoliteness theory of Bousfield(2008),combining the core idea of pragmatic identity theory,to make a detailed analysis of the process of debaters' constructing pragmatic identity through impolite speech.The present research mainly explores the following three questions:(1)What identities do the debaters construct in Let's Talk by impolite speeches?(2)How do the debaters construct their identities under the impoliteness theory?(3)What are the factors that influence the debaters' constructing these identities?The research result shows that the debaters in Let's Talk mainly construct the following three kinds of pragmatic identities through impolite speech: powerful identity,interpersonal identity and affective identity.There are several kinds of realization of impoliteness through analyzing the corpus in Let's Talk,such as using inappropriate identity markers,criticism,sarcasm,reminding,seeking disagreement,attacking others' weakness and seeking challenges with successive questions.Meanwhile,this thesis points out that debaters are influenced by such factors as power relations,character and personal emotional factors when constructing these pragmatic identities.These factors will influence the debaters' choice of language,while the impolite speeches chosen by them will directly influence the construction of debaters' powerful identity,interpersonal identity and affective identity,and finally influence the effect of communication.In brief,the present thesis is of great significance in the study of how the debaters in Let's Talk construct their pragmatic identity through impolite speech from the perspective of impoliteness theory.Theoretically,both impoliteness theory and pragmatic identity are popular and novel research theories and research perspectives in recent years.The present research might shed light on the significance of impolite speech,and enrich the study of pragmatic identity.Practically,by analyzing the positive function of impolite speech in constructing pragmatic identity,this research can help people to reduce and avoid conflicts and disharmony in verbal communication,improve the communicative effect,and promote interpersonal and social harmony.Therefore,it has important practical significance.