Analysis Of Conflict Talk In Why Women Kill From The Perspective Of Rapport Management Theory

Conflict talk,widely existing in our daily life and behavior,is an important field of impolite discourse research.If interlocutors take improper measures to handle the conflict,it will weaken the relationship between them and even lead to physical fights.However,if interlocutors take appropriate management strategies in the conflict,it may be conducive to the rapport between them.In recent years,various studies about conflict talk have been analyzed from different perspectives,such as sociology,anthropology and linguistics.Most scholars have focus on the structure,social factors,pragmatic functions or strategies of conflict talk.However,there are quite few studies on the whole dynamic process of conflict talk.The rapport management theory proposed by Helen Spencer-Oatey(2000)provides a new way for scholars to research conflict talk.The study on conflict talk under rapport management theory,specifically the dynamic communication process of conflict talk,can be a good way to explore how people try to maintain or enhance harmonious interpersonal relationship or destroy the harmony among them in certain cases in daily life.Based on the rapport management theory and the definition of conflict talk proposed by Ran Yongping(2010a),the author used quantitative and qualitative method analyze the conflict talk of the American TV series Why Women Kill.There are seventy-eight typical and complete conflict talk clips(103 minutes and 12 seconds long).The study analyzed the dynamic process of conflict talk,that is,the initiation,development and termination of conflict talk,to answer how the identified speech acts initiated conflict talk by threatening face and sociality rights,what strategies were used by the interlocutors to response to conflict talk,and how the termination strategies of conflict talk were utilized and what rapport management outcomes were reached.The major findings of this study are as follows:(1)In the initiation stage of conflict talk,there are four kinds of speech acts that cause conflict talk in Why Women Kill,which are representative speech act,expressive speech act,directive speech act and commissive speech act in proportion to frequency.Among them,representative speech act and expressive speech act enjoy a higher percentage and are more likely to cause conflict talk by threatening the face and sociality rights of the addressees.In addition,conflict talk in the corpus reflects that interlocutors pay more attention to sociality rights than face.(2)In the development stage of conflict talk,there are twelve conflicting strategies,that is,question,refutation,accusation,order,defense,irony,rejection,complaint,abuse,denial,threat and repetition,and five mitigating strategies,that is,explanation,concession,contradictory statement,hedge and partial agreement.Interlocutors usually use conflicting strategies to manege conflict talk in order to save their face and defend their sociality rights.Among them,the strategy of question is employed most frequently to present addressers’ different views and make some of dissatisfaction or complaints in a less aggressive way.In mitigating strategies,the strategy of explanation is the most commonly used to mitigate conflicts and remove misunderstanding because it doesn’t cost too much face of speakers.Interlocutors are inclined to employ multiple strategies in a conflict talk or in turn.Furthermore,rapport orientation and context variables affect the use of strategies,and promote the dynamic transformation between conflicting strategies and mitigating strategies.(3)In the termination stage of conflict talk,there are eight terminating strategies of conflict talk,namely withdrawal,suspended by environment,submission,compromise,silence,third party intervening,humor and topic shift.The termination way of withdrawal ranks first.Besides,all the examples reviewed in this data can be divided into two rapport management outcomes: rapport maintained and rapport reduced.Theoretically,the dynamic communication process of conflict talk based on rapport management theory proves this theory’s universality and persuasiveness and enriches the research contents of conflict talk.Then,this study helps us to understand conflict talk’s realization formats,pragmatic motivation and its influence on interpersonal relationship.Practically,it is beneficial for people to understand the patterns of conflict talk in English context and to further explore the conflict talk in other languages or genres.This paper is conducive to guiding people to manage their speech acts to maintain or enhance their interpersonal relationship,or at least reduce the possibility of conflict by considering the possible causes and outcomes of conflict talk and some strategies,such as effective communication,strengthening emotional control and self reflection,which contributes to establishing healthier interpersonal relationship and more harmonious social relation.