Parent-child Utterances From The Perspective Of Impoliteness

Impoliteness,which is common in our daily life,has attracted much attention from a lot of scholars abroad and at home.At present,impoliteness in various kinds of expressions and utterances have been discussed in many studies.However,researches on parent-child impolite conversations receive little attention.Based on Culpeper's model of impoliteness,this thesis attempts to analyze the impolite utterances between parents and children in A Little Reunion.This study aims to answer the following four research questions:(1)What are the causes for the occurrence of impolite utterances between parents and children?(2)What impoliteness strategies are used by parents and children?(3)What impoliteness response options are used by parents and children?(4)What pragmatic effects of impoliteness can be realized in parent-child utterances?Firstly,through careful analysis,the three reasons why there are impolite utterances between parents and children are found: intimate family relationship,power relation and generation gap.Due to those three reasons,parents and children are different in choosing the impoliteness strategies and response options.Secondly,the strategies of bald on record impoliteness,positive impoliteness and negative impoliteness are frequently employed by parents and children.But the strategies of off-record impoliteness and withhold politeness are seldom used.Thirdly,in terms of response options,parents and children are inclined to apply the Offensive-Offensive pairing.And Offensive-Defensive pairing is employed by children occasionally.Fourthly,the impoliteness in parent-child discourse has both positive and negative pragmatic effects.On the one hand,impoliteness can help parents and children know more about each other and vent their negative emotions.At the same time,impoliteness can also assist parents in educating their children.On the other hand,impoliteness can make them become estranged.Through the analysis of the impolite utterances between parents and children,this study provides a better understanding of the roles of impoliteness in interpersonal communication in the hope that parents and children reduce the conflicts and create a harmonious family and society.