An Adaptation-based Approach To English Parentheses

This thesis, adopting the Adaptation Theory, offers a pragmatic perspective on English parentheses performed by native speakers in their daily communication, in hopes of understanding and explaining the adaptative use of English parentheses. Taking Verschueren's Adaptation Theory as the principal guiding theory, English parentheses are to be analyzed as adaptation to the physical, social and mental elements in language use and language interpretation. Meanwhile, the adaptation is processed dynamically.Scholars at home and abroad have done fruitful researches into English parentheses from different perspectives. However, the previous studies of English parentheses still stay at a superficial level. There still exist limitations to some extent in the depth and width of the study. The previous studies have only studied the form, position, feature, classification, and some specific pragmatic functions of English parentheses, such as, preciseness and politeness. Accordingly, we can say that previous researches are not comprehensive enough to reveal the generative mechanism of the phenomenon under study. Therefore, analyses on English parentheses from the pragmatic perspective are far from enough. A more coherent and comprehensive theoretical framework is much needed to reconsider this linguistic phenomenon under study.Thus, on the basis of the researches carried out by scholars at home and abroad, and with the aim to shed light on the use and understanding of English parentheses in communication, this thesis attempts to do a tentative study on English parentheses from the pragmatic perspective, by adopting a pragmatic theory that put forth by Verschueren—the Adaptation Theory—to the current study.Verschueren's Adaptation Theory is a theory of behavior and cognition about human language communication. It takes choice and adaptation as its foundation, and explores the psychological mechanism of human linguistic communication, and its process and the roles of social cultures. It reveals the essence of the language use. Adaptation Theory is regarded as a comprehensive pragmatic theory with strong inclusive and explanatory capacity for language use.Though limitations inevitably exist in this study, it bears some theoretical and practical significance. For example, it studies English parentheses from a new and combined linguistic perspective. What's more, it helps us to comprehend, apply and acquire how to use this linguistic expression better and achieve successful communication.