A Rapport Management Perspective Of The Verbal Impoliteness In Fortress Besieged

The politeness in communication,with its fruitful research findings,is a permanent topic in the field of pragmatics.It is generally recognized by scholars that politeness principle is a kind of principle in communication.It can ensure smooth communication and achieve harmonious interpersonal relationship with others.Compared with the study of politeness in communication,the study of verbal impoliteness is insufficient.Verbal impoliteness usually threatens interlocutors' face and sociality rights,leading to disharmonious interpersonal relationships.In verbal communication,both politeness and impoliteness are very common,but the use of verbal impoliteness usually has a direct effect on interlocutors,and even has a destructive effect on harmonious interpersonal relationship,so it should be the focus of the research.Verbal impoliteness not only exists in daily communication,but also plays a central role in literature.The famous literary work Fortress Besieged by Qian Zhongshu,contains plenty of verbal impoliteness,which is worth our attention.Helen Spencer-Oatey's rapport management theory is employed as the theoretical framework to analyze the verbal impoliteness in Fortress Besieged.Rapport management,which is about the management of harmonious and disharmonious relationships among people,involves the management of face and sociality rights.This thesis takes this theory as its theoretical framework in pragmatically interpreting the use of impoliteness.The present study is aimed to seek answers to the following questions:(1)What advantages does rapport management theory have in analyzing verbal impoliteness in Fortress Besieged?(2)What are the ways to interpret verbal impoliteness under the theory of rapport management?It is found that(1)Spencer-Oatey's rapport management theory can explore many kinds of impolite phenomena,taking into account both personal/individual and social/interactional dimensions,and demonstrating more wonderful interpretative power in interpreting impoliteness;(2)verbal impoliteness in this novel can be interpreted through two ways under the theory of rapport management,that is,the management of face and the management of sociality rights.This thesis is significant in both theoretical and practical aspects.In theoretical aspect,based on previous studies on impoliteness,this study holds that rapport management theory has its theoretical advantages.It is also verified by being applied to the analysis of verbal impoliteness in Fortress Besieged.In practical aspect,this study also further enriches and extends the connotation value of the theory.Through the qualitative analysis of the verbal impoliteness in Fortress Besieged,this thesis not only helps people have a better understanding of various impolite speech acts,but also helps promote linguistic awareness,therefore leading to the harmony in communication.