A Study of Conflict Talks between Parents and Children      in Modern Family

Abstract    Conflict talk is a universal speech act between the speaker and the listener in our daily life。 People with different standpoints, opinions and benefits often have conflict talks。 Conflict talk between parents and children is one of the many kinds of conflict talk。 This phenomenon has attracted much attention of scholars and the study about parent-child conflict talk is progressing steadily。87068

    This paper chooses to study how parent-child conflict talk begins, goes and finishes and also tries to interpret the structure of parent-child conflict talk with the guidance of Speech Act Theory, Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle。 A lot of conflict dialogues between parents and children in American TV series Modern Family were collected and the three phases of conflict talks are analyzed respectively。 

It is found that there are four formats of starting conflict talk in the first phase: Attitude type, Claim type and Directive type and Inquiry type。 Second, it is found that in the phase of maintaining stage of parent-child conflict talks, non-compliant Type and argument type are two major formats。 Third, in the end stage of conflict talks, the five formats are Topic change, Compromise and Concession, Third-party involvement, Victory of either party and Withdrawal。 

    This study enables us to have a more comprehensive and systemic understanding of parent-child conflict talks。 We will also be able to predict how the talks move on and to take measures accordingly。 

Keywords: Modern Family; conflict talk; cooperative principle; politeness principle; utterance analysis; turn

Contents

Abstract in English。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。I

Abstract in Chinese。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。II

I。 Introduction 1

1。1The Background of the Study 1

1。2 The Objectives and Significance of the Study 2

II。 Overview of Conflict Talks and Modern Family 3

2。1 Previous Studies Abroad 3

2。2 Previous Studies at Home 4

2。3 Conflict Talks Between Parents and Children 5

2。4 Modern Family 5

III。 Theoretical Foundation 7

3。1 Speech Act Theory 7

    3。2 Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle 8

3。2。1 Cooperative Principle 8

3 3。2 Politeness Principle 9

IV。 Analysis of Conflict Talk between Parents and Children in Modern Family 11

4。1。 The Initial Stage 11

4。1。1 Attitude Type 11

4。1。2 Claim Type 11

4。1。3 Directive Type 12

4。1。4 Inquiry Type 12

4。2 Maintaining Stage 13

4。2。1 Non-compliant Type 13

4。2。2 Argument Type 14

4。3 The End Stage 15

4。3。1Victory of Either Party 15

4。3。2 Topic Change 16