Gender Differences in Realization Patterns of Disagreement in Chinese

Abstract

Studies on gender differences in realization patterns of disagreement in Chinese context, by so far, have been found insufficient. Disagreement is a commonly–occurred speech act in everyday human interactions and by its very nature is a facethreatening act that harms the solidarity between speaker and addressee and demands the employment of pragmatic strategies. The present study is an empirical research which aims to explore gender differences in disagreement realization strategies in Chinese with DCT and interview being the instrument of data collection. Meanwhile, an attempt was made to explain gender differences within the theoretical framework of Brown and Levinson’ politeness theory and Gu Yueguo’s Chinese politeness maxims. In addition, the cause of gender differences in language use was traced from psychological and socio-cultural point of views. Index Terms speech act, disagreement, gender difference, realization patterns