| Robert, B. Arundale(2010), based on his observation that "face is interactive",put forward the idea that "face in interaction" should be studied as a new field, aiming at explaining how the interactive face is emergent and constructed in interpersonal communication. The concept of "face in interaction" is different from "face" in previous face studies because it emphasizes the interactive and dynamic construction of face in communication. As face in interaction emerges in interpersonal communication, it inevitably involves socio-psychological factors, relying on the interlocutors’ cognitive ability, the interpretation of face in interaction should be carried out from the interdisciplinary or cross-sectional perspective instead of being limited to one-way pragmatic research.The research objective is to explore how the interactive face is emergent and constructed by focusing on the pragmatic strategies employed in interpersonal communication and distinguishing properties displayed in the process of its emergence and construction. To achieve the goal, the present study constructs an analytic framework by combining impression management theory, which is derived from socio-psychological approaches, with conceptual integration theory which serves as a supplement in order to analyze the pragmatic strategies and properties of the interactive face on the basis of collected data from the Chinese TV interview programs and the self-designed questionnaire.To achieve this research objective, the present study is intended to answer three research questions:(1) What are the pragmatic strategies manifested in the process of impression management of face in interaction in Chinese?(2) What will be the affecting value factors and how does the cognitive process carried out in the impression management of face in interaction?(3) What are the pragmatic-cognitive properties in the impression management of face in interaction, especially demonstrated in Chinese?The major conclusions are drawn as follows:First, face in interaction in essence operates on conceptual integration mechanism in the process of impression management, particularly displayed as a series of pragmatic strategies employed by the speaker and the hearer, including "be modest", "entitlement effect", " agree with the other person", " refuse to acknowledge", " reconstruct the dialogue", "repair image", "ease the embaressment" etc. The socio-psychological factors and cognitive factors together influence the choice of pragmatic strategies for face in interaction in Chinese culture. The main socio-psychological factors affecting the choice of strategies include the following sixkinds of values: "disgrace oneself and honor others", "seek common ground while reserving differences", "interpersonal interdependence of self ", " concretization", "empathy", and "the inter-personality and covertness of self-enhancement". At the same time, the unique cognitive style of Chinese affects the strategy choice : "people-oriented", "dialectical relation", "comprehend by instance or analogy" work together to make the Chinese cognitive style become characteristically "moderate" and "appropriate" in the construction and presentation of face in interaction.Second, as the interactive face involves the interlocutors’ purposeful construction of impressions and changes of interpersonal relationship in communication, it can be regarded as a typical impression management behavior. The affecting value factors includes value factors of different dimensions such as "achievement", "benevolence", "tradition", "conformity" etc. Underlying such impression management behaviors is the recognition of the connection of discourses, socio-psychological factors, and relations of the interlocutors through cognitive integration. Then operating through conceptual perceptions, cross-space mappings, and interlocutors’ cognitive selections,the interactive face is gradually constructed in the process of impression management by employing different pragmatic strategies.Third, face in interaction demonstrates its general or universal characteristics,namely, properties of cognitive mechanism and distinguishing pragmatic properties.As regards cognitive mechanism,there are two main properties:(1) the interactive face is constructed as a complex network of multi-domains. Specifically, in the course of the operation of the interactive face, the conceptual integration involves multiple mental spaces, some of which go through different integration processes in the way that multiple mental spaces are interconnected to form a complex conceptual integration network;(2) the conceptual integration of the interactive face is the unity of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. In addition to the regular conceptual integration inside the subjects, the interlocutors inevitably produce conceptual structures as opposed to each other in the process of conceptual integration. The interlocutors who are face-conscious always attempt to seek some kind of "win-win" for the alliance situationally set up between them instead of opposition through cooperation mechanism in communication. As a result, both the interlocutors contribute to the resolution of these opposing concepts through cognitive integration till generation of pragmatic strategies for the interactive face.The distinguishing pragmatic properties refer to the fact that face in interaction is dynamically co-constructed by interlocutors in communication, being dynamic,interactive, and interpersonal. To be specific, the interlocutors express types of "intention" and share "common background", which are mutually changed from time to time. This reflects a real-time dynamic process that the interactive face goes through. Face construction, the choice of face strategies, the online operation ofimpression management, and conceptual integration are respectively the inner core,the external manifestation and the deep motivation of the interactive process.Moreover, the interpersonal alliance between the interlocutors is set up in three ways:interpersonal convergence, interpersonal neutrality and interpersonal divergence.Face in interaction in Chinese culture demonstrates its unique features. The value factors for the impression management of the interactive face in Chinese on the whole are consistent with the value factors put forward by Schwartz(1992,2001,2006). But some values such as "hedonism" and "self-orientation" are not important to the interactive face in Chinese, with the value structure in Chinese being manifested as forming a contrast between the "conservative attitude of self-satisfaction" and "openness of self-satisfaction", which shows that the impression management of the interactive face in Chinese highlights more on interpersonal harmony and balance between self-harmony and interpersonal harmony. What is more, the pragmatic strategies for the interactive face in different processes of impression management are distinctively characteristic, that is, in the course of impression construction,the choice of pragmatic strategies shows the tendency that "morality" and "etiquette" take precedence over "self-harmony", and in the realization of "self-harmony", the speaker’s self expression is perceived as being covert; with respect to impression feedback,the choice of pragmatic strategies shows the tendency that the hearer does not put "self- harmony" in the first place and instead his objective is to help the speaker to establish or strengthen his/her self-harmony; also with respect to impression adjustment,the choice of pragmatic strategies shows the tendency that the interlocutors move towards "the unity of self-harmony and interpersonal harmony". In summary, the Chinese interlocutors are usually able to achieve a balance between self expression and social relationship. |
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