Conversational Strategies in Conflict Talk Affected by Power Relations--A Case Study of Dialogues in Downton Abbey
Abstract Conflict talk is a complicated and universal language phenomenon, which often leads to communication failure and hinders the successful interaction of two parties. Conflict talk has been extensively examined in linguistic fields, but the discussion of conflict talk together with possible ways to response, especially from the perspective of power relations, has been found to be quite few. Therefore, this study aims to look into this topic from this perspective, on the basis of theories of conversational analysis, politeness theory and face theory.47749
Dialogs in the English TV series Downton Abbey are collected as conflict talk data. After careful analysis and discussion qualitatively and quantitatively, the study comes to the conclusion that power relations have great impact on the choice of conversational strategies in conflict talk, and the participants should adopt appropriate strategies accordingly: the more powerful participants can choose constructive strategies (such as withdrawal and humor), destructive strategies(such as threat and order), and strategies in-between (such as opposing question and sarcasm),while the less powerful ones are more limited in strategy choosing. But since constructive strategies attach more importance to politeness, for the sake of a cordial and harmonious atmosphere, they are more advisable for both parts. With these findings, the research helps to better illuminate patterns and functions of conflict talk and also provides theoretical guidance for people to face conflict talk strategically.
Keywords: conversational strategies; conflict talk; power relations; conversational analysis; face
权势关系影响下应对冲突性话语的会话策略研究--以《唐顿庄园》对白为例
摘要冲突性话语作为一种复杂却常见的语言现象，频繁地出现在我们每天的日常交流中。但是冲突性话语往往会导致交流的失败，阻碍交流双方交际的顺利进行。语言学的很多领域都曾涉及过对冲突性话语的研究，但有关如何应对冲突性话语这个命题的研究则相对较少，而从会话双方的权势关系这一角度入手来讨论的研究更是少之又少。因此，本研究致力于从这一角度来深入探讨冲突性话语，并结合会话分析理论，礼貌原则和面子理论来进行讨论。
本研究从英剧《唐顿庄园》中筛选出一些冲突会话作为语料，经过仔细的定性和定量的分析讨论，本研究得出如下结论：权势关系对冲突性会话中人们对于会话策略的选择有重要的影响，会话双方应根据自身的权势进行恰当的选择。具体来说，权势大的人在应对冲突性话语时既可以选择诸如退出、幽默回应等建设性策略，也可选择一些所谓的破坏性策略如威胁、命令等，以及介于两者之间的反问和嘲讽策略，而权势较小的一方在策略选择方面则相对局限。由于建设性策略更符合礼貌原则，考虑到社会和谐，会话双方都应更多地选择建设性策略来应对冲突性会话。研究发现有助于阐释冲突性话语的模式及其功能，并为人们有技巧地应对冲突性话语提供了理论指导。
毕业论文关键词：会话策略;冲突性话语;权势关系;会话分析;面子
Contents
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Research Background 1
1.2 Objective and Significance of the Study 1
1.3 Structure of the Study 2
2. Previous Studies on Conflict Talk 4
2.1 The Definition of Conflict Talk 4
2.2 Previous studies on Conflict Talk 《唐顿庄园》权势关系影响下应对冲突性话语的会话策略研究:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_49950.html