A Contrastive Study on Chinese and Japanese Degree-Modifying Strategies in Complaint

While both the Chinese and the Japanese societies are constantly characterized by their shared propensity of social concord and rapport building, whether the Chinese and the Japanese present a similar demeanor in intrinsically agonistic discursive situations still remains questionable. The present study thus draws attention to the complaint typified by its attribute of inherent aggressivity, and endeavors to probe and compare the linguistic peculiarities of complaint degree-modifying strategies used by complainers from the two regions.However, different from most of the studies on complaint and its strategies that centered on the direct metalinguistic classification of complainers' final verbalizations, I contend that a specific category of the same type of verbalizations can be further divided by the extent to which they are explicitly articulated. In this way, utterances with ostensibly militant pragmatic forms but with a polite consideration can be examined. Also, not many studies analyzed other discursive segments contributing to the degree of complaint, and associated the use of different complaint segments with "face" as a feasible account for latent interpersonal considerations. The inadequacy of these concerns runs the risk of overlooking the complicated nature and different attributes of complaint.The present study thus aims to investigate the Chinese and the Japanese complainers' linguistic treatments to their respective addressees in a similar complaint situation according to how they use three types of degree-modifying strategies: CSA (central speech act) pragmatic strategies, microunit strategies and ASA (auxiliary speech act) pragmatic strategies. They are examined under different realization patterns resulting from different intents in a complaint situation. The CSA pragmatic strategies concern the degree to which the core part (or head act) of a specific intent is explicitly stated. The microunit strategies are related to the external lexicons or phrases embedded in the head act. The ASA pragmatic strategies are the external conversational units adhered to the head act. All the degree-modifying strategies are additionally associated with "face theory" to elucidate the interplay between verbalizations and interpersonal considerations.The conversational data in the study were elicited from a "role-play" in a fabricated complaint scenario. All the data were transcribed, and relevant parts underwent discourse analysis. It was ascertained that both the Chinese and the Japanese complainers behaved alike in the realization pattern carrying a highly coercive or negative face attacking effect, who pervasively employed CSA pragmatic strategies with low explicitness, degree-mitigating microunits (downgraders) and ASA pragmatic strategies. For other realization patterns where the positive face attacking effect was prominent, the Chinese complainers demonstrated their consistent tendency to not only employ CSA pragmatic strategies with high explicitness or aggressivity, but also degree-intensifying microunits (upgraders), and ASA pragmatic strategies augmenting the addressees' anxiety or guilt. Contrastively, the Japanese counterparts performed in a diametrically different orientation.Accordingly, the findings advocate the practice of analyzing complaint verbalizations based on their explicitness within and across realization patterns, and also other supplementary discourse segments when probing the behavioral tendency, and of taking the "face" attribute into account in deciphering the complaint with a complicated nature but without predetermined forms.維持和諧，建立融洽時常被認為是中國和日本社會的共同傾向。但若處在本身就具有衝突性的對話中，中國人與日本人是否仍有類似的傾向値得懷疑。因此，此研究通過聚焦於本身就具有侵略性的"抱怨"，對中日抱怨者在使用抱怨策略時具有的語言行為特徵進行了探索與比較。多數對抱怨及其策略的研究重點關注抱怨話語的語用分類，但被歸為同一語用分類的抱怨話語仍可根據它們的直接或間接程度進一步分類。這樣，語用形式上可能具有侵略性但實則禮貌的抱怨話語就能得以分析。此外，較少研究分析了調節抱怨程度的其他對話策略，以及將不同抱怨策略和與人際關係考量有關的"面子"進行聯繫。這些先前研究的不足或會忽視抱怨這一語言行為的複雜屬性。此研究根據抱怨者使用的調節抱怨程度的策略之情況來探究中日抱怨者在同一抱怨情景中的行為特點。這些抱怨策略可分為三類：中心語用策略，微單位策略及輔助語用策略。它們在由抱怨者的不同意圖所決定的多個抱怨實現模式下進行了分析。中心語用策略和實現模式的核心部分之表現形式，即直接或間接程度有關。微單位策略是嵌入核心部分的詞或短語。輔助語用策略是緊鄰核心部分的附加句子成分。為解釋話語和人際關係考量間的關係，這些抱怨策略都與"面子理論"進行了關聯。此研究的對話數據基於一個角色扮演的模擬抱怨場景。所有數據均被文字化，相關部分則進行了對話分析。研究發現，當表明帶有強制性或威脅對方消極面子的抱怨實現模式時，中日抱怨者都傾向於使用間接的中心語用策略，降低抱怨程度的微單位策略及輔助語用策略。對於對對方積極面子有明顯威脅的其他實現模式，中文抱怨者則傾向於使用直接中心語用策略，增加抱怨程度的微單位策略，及增加對方焦慮或愧疚的輔助語用策略。日文抱怨者則與此完全相反。此研究因此提倡基於一個或多個實現模式的直接或間接程度來分析抱怨者的語言特徵與傾向，並展現了將多種抱怨策略及"面子"融入抱怨分析的重要性。WU, Zeduan.M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2021.Includes bibliographical references (leaves )Abstracts in English and Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on ...