An Analysis Of Conversational Structure Of The Play Sunrise

Conversation Analysis (CA) is a significant discipline which appeared and developed from1960s-1970s. CA is a branch of Discourse Analysis and has appealed considerable scientific studies in the last decades of the twentieth century. CA refers mainly to the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written discourse. The proposed research will make an analysis of conversational structure of the play Sunrise (Richu) written by Cao Yu. The play Sunrise is a representative work in both its art achievement and time spirit. There are many studies and researches of the play from different points of view. Most of the studies are within literature field, and some of them are from translation and linguistic point of view. The proposed research makes an analysis of conversational structure of the play, which contributes to the studies from linguistic point of view.The proposed research adopts the viewpoint, as most researchers do in this field, that a conversation has a structure of "opening","body" and "close". This research will make an analysis of these three parts mentioned above. As to the analysis of opening, the research will have a discussion of two aspects:the ways adopted and the address terms used in the openings. As to the analysis of body part, the research will first talk about the types of turns and turn-takings that appear in the play, then will have a discussion of types of replies in adjacency pairs in these conversations. As to the analysis of close, the proposed research will focus on both close in language and close in non-language types. The proposed research will divide the play into47sequences, and makes conversational structural analysis of each sequence.After analyzing this play, the proposed research will have a discussion on the functions of the conversational structure. The proposed research will have a discussion on these three functions:reflecting interpersonal relationship, reflecting status differences, and achieving efficient communication.The analysis of conversational structure of the play Sunrise is a cross-disciplinary study involving both linguistics and literature. The research will provide advice and suggestions for the future studies of literature works in this field. In addition, the research cannot avoid limitations as well. Although there are some limitations in the proposed research, it makes an attempt and tries to provide some suggestions for other studies.