Politeness Strategies In Conversation Repair

Conversation repair is a frequent phenomenon in conversational interaction. It often consists of four components: trouble source (i.e. the wrong, inappropriate, or other linguistic elements that lead to the following initiation and/or repair.), repair initiation (i.e. the indication that there is trouble to be repaired), repair (i.e. the correction of errors or mistakes, or the replacement of inappropriate or other elements), and outcome (i.e. either the success or failure of the repair attempt). Conversation repair is often divided into four types. They are self-initiated self-repair, other-initiated self-repair, self-initiated other-repair, and other-initiated other-repair.With the efforts of Schegloff and other linguists, the theory of conversation repair has developed rapidly. However, most of the past studies are focused too much on the formal organization of conversation repair itself, rarely touching on the question how the social factors affect the formal organization. This thesis is a study of conversation repair from a politeness perspective, which targets at a helpful answer to this question.Specifically, through the application of Brown & Levinson's face-saving theory to the explanation of some phenomena in conversation repair, this thesis aims to demonstrate how the conversation partner uses politeness strategies in conversation repair, so as to attend to the face of the trouble-source speaker (i.e. the one whose utterance contains the trouble source).Generally, such politeness strategies are identified from two aspects of conversation repair: the placement of initiation and repair, and the techniques of initiation and repair. The politeness strategies in the first aspect are mainly demonstrated in the phenomenon "the preference for self-initiation and self-repair". This thesis discovers that such a phenomenon is not totally decided by the formal organization of conversation repair. "The preference for self-initiation and self-repair" depends on the conversation partner's giving up the opportunities of other-initiation and other-repair, which has much to do with his attendance to the trouble-source speaker's face. And in the second aspect of the study, this thesis carries out an analysis of the different degrees of politeness of various techniques for other-initiation. The analysis suggests that the phenomenon discovered by Liebscher and Schegloff (i.e. the conversation partner begins with the less specific initiation techniques and then moves on to the more specific ones if necessary) is the reasonable result of the conversation partner'spoliteness strategies. Besides, the politeness strategies in the techniques of initiation and repair are also revealed in the conversation partner's indirect initiation and repair techniques.Nevertheless, the polite placement of initiation and repair and/or the polite initiation and repair techniques do not necessarily lead to the polite effect in real conversation; they are only polite when based on appropriateness. In order to ensure such appropriateness in the placement and techniques of initiation and repair, a face-threatening evaluation is necessary.The present study of conversation repair from a politeness perspective may help to enrich the researches on conversation repair, and shed light on the internal reasons why conversation repair operates in that way. Moreover, it may provide some implications for the language teaching in the EFL classroom.This thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One is the introduction. The author introduces some basic concepts, points out the objective, and defines the organization of this thesis. Chapter Two is a review of the literature relevant to the present study. Chapter Three focuses on the politeness strategies of the conversation partner in the placement of initiation and repair. Chapter Four deals with the politeness strategies of the conversation partner in choosing the techniques of other-initiation and other-repair. Chapter Five puts emphasis on the importance of appropriate politeness strategies and the necessity of face-threatening evaluation in conversation repair. Chapter Six is a comprehensive case study. Chapter Seven serves as the conclusion part of this thesis.