The Studies On The Functions Of The Discourse Roles And The Switching Among Them

Discourse role is an important concept and object in the research field of pragmatics and sociolinguistics, but the researchers have been disputing in the connotation of the discourse role. This leads to great differences and confusion in research method and research result. On the basis of the research of the ancestors, this thesis defines the discourse role anew employing the theories of pragmatics and sociolinguistics, and gets three important discourse roles:(1) A speaker who assumes full responsibilities for the utterance message. (abbreviation:SFR)(2) A speaker who assumes part of the responsibilities for the utterance message. (abbreviation: SPR)(3) A speaker who assumes no responsibilities for the utterance message. (abbreviation: SNR) The thesis analyzes the communicative functions of the discourse roles and the switchingamong them with exemplifications. By the analysis, the discourse roles' switching is thought as an effective rhetoric strategy.The thesis consists of 6 chapters as follows:Chapter one, the introduction.The discourse role is defined and means: the relations between communication participants and utterance messages, such as sending messages, receiving messages or transmitting messages for others. Besides, the theory background, the research value, the research route and the source of utterance materials are introduced.Chapter two, the categories of the discourse role.First of all, this chapter summarizes and appraises the discourses role's concepts and categories. Employing Goffman's and Thomas's classifying theories, according to the responsibilities speakers assume for utterance messages, the discourse role is classified into three categories: SFR, SPR, SNR.SFR means a speaker speaks standing for himself, assumes full responsibilities for the utterance behaviour and is nearest the utterance message.SPR means a speaker speaks standing for an organization (the speaker belongs to the organization), assumes part of responsibilities for the utterance behaviour and is farther from the utterance message.SNR means a speaker transmits messages for others or an organization (the speaker isn' t a member of the organization) like a mouthpiece, assumes no responsibilities for the utterance behaviour and is the farthest from the utterance message.So, three discourse roles are got. Then, the communicative functions of the discourse roles and the switching among them are analyzed through two routes' research.The first route: the same discourse role's functions in different registers.The second route: the functions of the switching among discourse roles in the same register.Therefore, our research forms an integrated and close system. First, let's glance over chapter three.Chapter three, the same discourse role's functions in different registers. The chapter analyzes the same discourse role's functions in different registers employing Halliday' s "register theory".