A Study Of The Applications & Functions Of Chinese Xiehouyu From The Perspective Of Contextual Adaptation

Chinese Xiehouyu(for歇后语,herein after abbreviated to XHY),as a particular language form,are created by laboring people during experience of life.Their distinct construction,vivid language and jocular effect afford much food for thought and reflect clear-cut national features as well as strong flavor of life.XHYs spread orally far and widely among the masses and are considered as the reflections of language,thoughts and customs of Chinese people in a particular way.XHYs are one of important and essential components in Chinese culture.Over thousands years,XHYs have formed a perfect system.However,relative study on XHYs is confined to the semantic approach or the static approach,which mainly explore language structure and sentential function.Few studies are made from the perspective of pragmatics.In order to enlarge the research scope of linguistics,the thesis makes a dynamic and comprehensive study focused exclusively on XHYs from the perspective of pragmatics with Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory as the theoretical framework,supplemented by Maslow's Motivation Theory and Qiu Ke'an's cultural division in the expectation of recognizing the relationship between XHYs and context and excavating cultural connotations underlying XHYs as well as providing a brand-new vision for further study.Methodologically speaking,the thesis belongs to a qualitative study. At first,the differences between XHYs and other Chinese phraseology are explained and unique prosperities XHYs have and a new definition are given as well.Secondly,because of XHYs' strong colloquial style and frequently used in daily talk to express meaning,pragmatic functions of XHYs are also focused and interpreted mainly from four aspects that XHYs effectively and smoothly contribute to the development of communication through the exertion of pragmatic functions.At last,by the synthesis of the influence language,social,cultural and psychological factors have on linguistic choice of XHYs,the conclusion can be drawn that XHYs are actually the result as adaptation to interlocutors' social conventions and psychological motivations. In the case of social conventions,linguistic choice of XHYs is mainly generated to social culture.Interlocutors are living in social and cultural environment,so it is inevitable that their ways of speech are constrained by social and cultural elements around them.Furthermore,in the light of the fact that XHYs are a significant component of Chinese traditional culture, XHYs will be influenced by Chinese traditional culture.Specifically speaking,linguistic choice of XHYs is made as adaptation to the material culture and institution culture.On the other hand,XHYs are actually the result of linguistic choice adaptable to psychological motivations. Specifically speaking,based on American psychologist Maslow's Motivation Theory,linguistic choice of XHYs is made as adaptation to physiological needs,safety needs,belongingness and love needs,esteem needs and self-actualization needs.