Cross-cultural Pragmatic Analysis Of Equivocation Strategy At Chinese And American Regular Press Conferences

When watching live broadcast press conferences and reading transcripts of press conferences of China and the U.S., the author found that spokespersons do apply different equivocation strategies although they are posed by the same politically or diplomatically challenging questions. Besides the ideological and political elements influencing spokespersons'expressing ways, the application of different equivocation strategies at regular press conferences is largely influenced by cross-cultural pragmatic factors. Originally rooted in different cultures and"face"and"politeness"assumptions, Chinese and American spokespersons employ different equivocation strategies at regular press conferences.This thesis draws sufficiently on theories about equivocation theory and strategy, Chinese and American different cultural variations and"face"and"politeness"assumptions to reveal differences in the application of equivocation strategy at regular press conferences by making a comparison between Chinese and American transcripts selected respectively from official websites of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State.After reviewing relevant studies and theories, the author puts forth three research questions concerning the similarities and differences in employing equivocation strategies by Chinese and American spokespersons at regular press conferences and the cross-cultural pragmatic reasons behind these differences. Methods used in this study include both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Based on the analysis of the collected data and the typology of equivocation strategy constructed by the author, three research questions are addressed one by one.This thesis finally concludes with possible implications of the research, and further room for improvement is as well pointed out.