Analysis of Speech Behaviors among Chinese Family Members between Parents and Children during Winter Vacation

Yang Na

doi:10.22158/eltls.v4n1p39

Abstract

The speech act is an indispensable part of social communication. Among them, the speech acts between Chinese parents and their children have received more extensive attention and in-depth research. Under the theory of speech act, this study makes a study on the changes of the speech act of Chinese family members during the winter vacation from the perspective of politeness principle, cross-cultural differences, and other factors. Based on relevant theories, this study attempts to analyze the changes in speech behaviors of Chinese family members under special circumstances. Based on content analysis and discourse analysis, this paper analyzes the influence of request strategy, politeness degree of speech act on speech act, and the influence of speaker and listener’s status in the family on speech act. Based on the principle of politeness, Chinese parents are more likely to use direct strategies in language communication with their children. However, in oral communication with their parents, Chinese children tend to adopt directive and indirect strategies. Study shows that Chinese family members will use different ways to express the speaker’s respect or closeness to the speaker and listener. Chinese internally use modal words or politeness symbols to modify request speech acts.

Highlights

The speech act is an important part of social communication and interaction
Under the theory of speech act, this study makes a study on the changes of the speech act of Chinese family members during the winter vacation from the perspective of politeness principle, cross-cultural differences, and other factors
Speech acts of indirect requests account for nearly 65% of speech acts of Chinese requests, indicating that speech acts of indirect requests are one of the most widely used speech acts in Chinese

Summary

Introduction

The speech act is an important part of social communication and interaction. In the past few decades, a great deal of research has promoted the research of the request speech act. A large number of studies have focused on the comparison of various request speech acts in different languages. In these studies, cross-cultural speech act implementation projects are carried out to further analyze and classify request speech acts. The indirect request speech act is one of the most representative and common speech acts in different cultures and languages. While a growing number of studies have focused on the comparison of request speech acts in various languages, few have focused on specific communities or groups, such as friends, relatives, or even family members. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the changes in speech acts by studying the communication patterns of Chinese family members at a certain time

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Conclusion