A Pragmatic Study on Speech Acts in Chinese Invitational Conversations

The results showed that despite its prevalence, the tripartite structure in accordance with an invite/refuse-invite/refuse-invite/accept schema documented in earlier studies in fact lacked completeness and thoroughness in shaping Chinese pragmatics. There also existed two additional interactive structures featuring Chinese invitational conversations: the single structure in accordance with an invite/accept schema, and the bipartite structure in accordance with an invite/refuse-invite/accept schema. In the sentential analysis, refusal strategies demonstrated a much more far-reaching complexity and irregularity than did invitational patterns. Some invitational patterns and refusal strategies occurring in Chinese were not included in models based upon English empirical data. Among the four factors considered in this study, the degree of weightiness and the degree of familiarity were found to outweigh the other two factors across the three pragmatic aspects investigated. In particular, the degree of weightiness, which has never been explored in pragmatic studies, appeared to be the most dominant factor in determining both conversational interactions and sentential variations in Chinese invitations.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Tseng, Miao-Fen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Erica McClure

• Speech Communication

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI9953163

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/80369