A Pragmatic Approach To Disagreement In English Academic Spoken Discourse

Disagreement is a common phenomenon in daily communication,and it has received great attention from different research fields and a lot of studies have been conducted to deal with it from different perspectives.However,disagreement in academic spoken discourse has been less discussed.Therefore,this study attempts to probe into this pragmatic act in academic spoken discourse.This study aims to explore the types of disagreement and linguistic strategies used to express disagreement in English academic spoken discourse.In order to achieve the goals,the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English(MICASE)was employed and the data were from different disciplines including Humanities,Physical Sciences and Social Sciences and Education.Locher's(2004)study on disagreement and Rees-Miller's(2000)taxonomy of disagreement were modified to be the theoretical framework of the study for the analysis of disagreement in English academic spoken discourse.Within the theoretical framework the main types of disagreement were investigated,and then the linguistic realization strategies used to express disagreement were carefully examined.In addition,the reasons for the unequal distribution of three types of disagreement and the linguistic realization strategies were discussed.Based on the quantitative and the qualitative analysis,this study yields the following findings:(1)Three types of disagreement are constructed by speakers in English academic spoken discourse,that is,softened disagreement,disagreement not softened or strengthened,and aggravated disagreement.There is a significant difference between three types of disagreement.More than half of the disagreement in academic spoken discourse are put forward by the interlocutors adopting the softened disagreement,while disagreement not softened or strengthened and aggravated disagreement are less used than the softened disagreement,especially the aggravated disagreement.(2)Various strategies are used to express disagreement,for instance,partial agreement,shifting responsibility,hedges,downtoners,verbs of uncertainty,modal auxiliaries,intensifiers,use of the personal you with imperative and rhetorical questions in Englishacademic spoken discourse.Two or more linguistic strategies are often used together to aggravate or soften disagreement in academic spoken discourse.(3)There is a significant difference between various linguistic realization strategies used to express disagreement in English academic spoken discourse.Hedges have been used with the highest frequency,contradictory statement,modal auxiliaries,downtoners,and intensifiers also frequently employed,but repetition of an utterance and use of the personal you with imperative are less used by interlocutors to express disagreement in academic spoken discourse.(4)Different linguistic strategies are employed by interactants in academic communication on considering politeness and face,as well as the power and status of each other,so as to protect their own position,convey dissent and maintain interpersonal relationship.Theoretically,this study not only sheds light on the different categories of disagreement in English academic spoken discourse,but also exemplifies the detailed linguistic strategies used to express disagreement in specific academic context.The Face Theory,Politeness Principle and the Rapport Management Theory are also employed to analyze the specific phenomenon,so it contributes to be on the verge of the rapport management in interpersonal communication.Methodologically,this study may enrich the studies on disagreement in academic discourse by employing corpus.Practically,this study helps professors and students express disagreement effectively.