A Pragmatic Study On Conflict Talk Between Couples In Chinese Verbal Communication

Conflict and its associated talk are ubiquitous but complex phenomena. Research on conflict has been extensive in numerous fields, e.g., philosophy, rhetoric, anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics and so on. Conflict has generally been negatively viewed, and unvalued in most disciplines. It is often seen as a destructive, disruptive, hostile, and aggressive behavior. Indeed, the majority of work in the conflict resolution field is predicated on this perspective. It is often perceived as arising due to deficiencies in social skills, e.g., in psychology, or in terms of breakdown in communication, e.g., in intercultural communication. Compared with foreign research, domestic research on this field has not been explored thoroughly.This thesis focuses on conflict talk between couples in Chinese verbal communication, whose universality and destructive effect on couples' emotion and family should not be ignored. Methodologically speaking, it belongs to a qualitative study based on the data collected from literary works, TV series, and daily conversation. It is both data-driven and theory-driven.The theoretical framework of the present study is based on Conversation Analysis and Jef. Verschueren's theory of linguistic adaptation (1999). The notion of adaptability will enable us to assign four clear tasks to pragmatic descriptions and explanations, which are contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability and salience of the adaptation processes. The body of the thesis will be divided into three parts, that is, Initiation Stage, Maintenance and Escalation Stage, and Termination Stage. CA is used to analyze the formats of conflict talk between Chinese couples in the three stages. Adaptation theory is used to explain every part. In the initiation stage, the causes of conflict talk between Chinese couples are explored with contextual correlates of adaptability and regarded as the consequence of non-adaptation of utterers to interpreters' mental, social or cultural world. In the Maintenance or Escalation Stage, the linguistic features of conflict talk between Chinese couples are analyzed at various linguistic levels with structural objects of adaptability. In the Termination stage, the resolution strategies used are concluded with dynamics of adaptability.As for the pervasion and complexity of conflict talk between couples and itsimportant effect on family, it is necessary for us to do a thorough and systematic research on it, which will help us understand it easily and improve the quality of our daily life possibly.