A Study On The Impoliteness In The Novel The Joy Luck Club

The selection of the topic is based on the following considerations.In interpersonal communication,the phenomena of politeness and impoliteness are both common.As far as the study of politeness phenomena is concerned,most of the early findings focus on the study of “politeness” phenomena,while those of “impoliteness” phenomenon start late with a rapid development.Not only its theoretical framework but also the perspectives of the study are various.The thesis chooses the impoliteness model proposed by Derek Bousfield in his monograph “Impoliteness in Interaction” as the theoretical basis,because his impoliteness model is more operational and comprehensive.The Joy Luck Club is a masterpiece written by Amy Tan(a famous Chinese American woman writer),which became one of the four best sellers in the United States when it was published.There are a lot of descriptions of impoliteness in The Joy Luck Club,which play a vital role in the highlights of the themes,the characters and the plots in the novel.This thesis uses Bousfield's Impoliteness Model as the theoretical framework to analyze the phenomena of impoliteness in the novel The Joy Luck Club.The purpose of the thesis is analyzing the realization of on-record impoliteness strategies,off-record impoliteness strategies,non-verbal impoliteness strategies and response strategies in the novel.Furthermore,the frequency of using different impoliteness strategies and the author's writing characteristics of The Joy Luck Club are found out.Finally,the thesis analyzes the functions of impoliteness strategies and discloses that using impoliteness strategies can reveal the themes of the novel,construct the images of the characters and promote the development of plots.The thesis adopts the research method of combining theoretical study with text analysis,analyzing the descriptions related to impoliteness in the text The Joy Luck Club by using qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis.The study suggests that,first,Bousfield's Impoliteness Model is feasible and reliable in the process of analyzing novel texts.His impoliteness model has a strong explanation to the novel text.Second,In Bousfield's Impoliteness Model,the output impoliteness strategies are almost realized in the novel The Joy Luck Club.Only the impoliteness strategy of “enforcing role shift” has not been realized.All response strategies have been realized except “abrogation”,and three more non-verbal impoliteness strategies are suggested by the author,namely,prosody,body movements and facial expressions which are also realized in the novel.Third,the functions of impoliteness strategies in the novel include revealing the themes of the novel,constructing the images of the characters and promoting the development of plots.The thesis has both theoretical and practical contributions.In theory,this thesis enriches and extends the application of Bousfield's Impoliteness Model in text,especially the part besides discourses and supplements three non-verbal impoliteness strategies,namely,prosody,facial expression and body movements,which contribute to broaden the horizon of linguistic research and expand the scope of the study of impoliteness.In practice,this thesis analyzes the realization of impoliteness strategies and response strategies from the perspective of speaker/producer and hearer/receiver of impoliteness and makes statistics on the strategies in the novel,which reveals the frequency of the use of different impoliteness strategies and the author's writing characteristics of The Joy Luck Club.And the thesis finds the functions of impoliteness strategies which are revealing the themes of the novel,constructing the images of the characters and promoting the development of the plots.The study of impoliteness strategies and the study of the relationship between impoliteness strategies and the themes,characters and plots in the novel can help readers better understand and appreciate the Amy Tan's famous novel and provide a new perspective to study the novel.