A Study Of Pragmatic Strategies In Wang Xifeng’s Discourse Under The Framework Of Turn-taking Mechanism

In our daily conversation, people take turns for smooth conversation. Manysociologists, linguists and scholars both in and out of China have analyzed the turntaking mechanism in conversation.Pragmatic strategies are the important content in pragmatic researches. Thechoice of pragmatic strategies is the background of language forms in language use. Itis applicable to all the aspects in the process of communication.Wang Xifeng is a literary figure with distinguished characteristics in the Chineseclassic novel A Dream of Red Mansions. She is good at verbal communication.Countless domestic scholars have probed into her discourse since the book came out.To sum up, the researches on Wang Xifeng’s use of language can be divided into twoaspects: one is from the perspective of literary criticism and the other is from thepragmatic perspective, that is, people analyze Wang Xifeng’s discourse based on thetheories in the discipline with the development of linguistics, such as functionalgrammar, adaptation theory, face theory and speech act theory. However, there are noanalyses of pragmatic strategies in Wang Xifeng’s discourse from the angle ofturn-taking mechanism.In this thesis, under the framework of Sacks, Schegloff&Jefferson’s turn andturn-taking mechanism, the author combines the turn-taking mechanism withpragmatic strategies and attempts to analyze the different pragmatic strategies inWang Xifeng’s discourse in the dynamic process of turn-taking so as to explore theuse and function of pragmatic strategies in Wang Xifeng’s discourse, deepen thereader’s understanding and appreciation of the character and offer some newperspectives for the analysis of literary figures.Firstly, the thesis introduces the related theoretical knowledge of turn andturn-taking mechanism and uses it as the framework to divide the pragmatic strategiesinto the turn-claiming strategy, turn-maintaining strategy, turn-yielding strategy andoverlap and silence repairing strategy in the dynamic process of conversation. Secondly, the thesis discusses the function of different turn-taking strategies in WangXifeng’s discourse. Through the analyses of the specific examples of differentdiscourse strategies that Wang Xifeng used with different conversation participants, itcomes to the following conclusions:1) The use of different turn-taking strategies inWang Xifeng’s discourse plays the functions of keeping the discourse communicationsmooth, providing opportunities for participation and enhancing the efficiency ofcommunication;2) The use of different turn-taking strategies in Wang Xifeng’sutterance has the special functions of maintaining the image of the speaker, keepingup the close relationship between the speaker and the hearer and highlighting thesuperior social status of the speaker. Finally, the thesis explores the features of WangXifeng’s character based on the analyses of the functions of pragmatic strategies inher discourse. As is revealed in the present paper, Wang Xifeng is good at flattering,and she is resolute and aggressive in personality and brilliant capability in languageand great ability for management.