The Impact Of Face Threatening Acts On Identity Construction

“Face” occupies an important position in people’s daily communication.Although people tend to win face for themselves and protect the face of the other side consciously or unconsciously so as to achieve harmonious communication,Face Threatening Acts(FTAs)constantly occur in the process of communication.Identity,as one part of verbal communication,plays a significant role in verbal communication process.It is considered that identity is constructed dynamically by people in discourse and social practice and the use of language in the specific context is vital in identity construction.Happy Camp,as a typical,influential and long-lasting TV program,has abundant mass foundation,which makes it necessary to do research on the program.The previous studies,most of which focus on the application of identity construction or the language forms affecting identities,rarely combine FTAs with identity construction to explore the impact of FTAs on identity construction.Based on Vershueren’s Adaptation Theory,this thesis endeavors to explore the impact of the FTAs on identity construction by analyzing the conversations in the program Happy Camp.The present thesis mainly focuses on three aspects: the types of FTAs in the program Happy Camp,the main types of identities constructed by the hosts and the guests in Happy Camp and the impact of the FTAs on identity construction.In this thesis,there are three major findings: Firstly,FTAs widely exist in the program Happy Camp and they can be divided into three types,that is,the FTAs occurring in the conversation of the hosts,the FTAs occurring in the conversation of the guests and the FTAs occurring in the conversation between the hosts and the guests.Secondly,different types of identities are constructed by the hosts and the guests according to different contexts.The identity construction of the hosts and the guests is the dynamic process of making continuous language choices,including the choice of language forms and language strategies,to achieve certain communicative purposes.Thirdly,FTAs have both positive and negative influence on identity construction.Meanwhile,through the concrete analysis of the impact of FTAs on identity construction,this study has practical significance for people on their discourse strategies and identity construction methods in daily communication.