Conflict Talk Among Family Members In Fresh Off The Boat——Based On The Adaptation Theory

Conflict talk is not only a complex phenomenon,but also a phenomenon deeply implicated in every dimension of human social life.When interlocutors have different values or hold different communicative purposes or needs in verbal communication,there may be conflict talk between them.Conflict talk has two sides.If the conflict talk can be properly handled in verbal communication,to some extent,the emergence of conflict talk will promote the establishment of interpersonal relations,and thus have a constructive and positive impact on communication.However,if not handled properly,conflict talk will harm the harmony of interpersonal relations,and thus have destructive and negative effects on communication.Up to now,there have been a lot of studies on conflict talk in academic circles.However,there is still a lack of systematic research on the linguistic devices of conflict talk,and the research on explaining the causes of conflict talk is not comprehensive enough.In addition,there is not enough research on the termination strategies of conflict talk.Therefore,this study takes Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef Verschueren as the theoretical basis,and adopts qualitative research method to analyze 161 episodes of conflict talk in the first four seasons of the American sitcom Fresh off the Boat.This study attempts to study the following three questions: Firstly,what are the linguistic devices of the conflict talk and the pragmatic functions of the specific expressions among family members? Secondly,what are the causes for the conflict talk among family members? Thirdly,what are the strategies for terminating the conflict talk among family members? Based on the full analysis of the data,this study draws the following conclusions:Firstly,in the American sitcom Fresh Off the Boat,there are mainly seven language means used in the conflict talk between family members.Through analysis and prediction,the study finds that among the seven language means commonly used by family members,rhetorical question appears the most frequently,followed by repetition and parallelism,and negator occupies the third place.Imperative sentence and metaphor rank fourth and fifth,respectively.Derogatory adjective and swear word are the last two.The frequency of the occurrence of different linguistic instruments depends on their specific pragmatic effects.Family members choose different linguistic devices to achieve their specific communicative purposes,such as expressing oppositional opinions or positions,expressing dissatisfaction and so on.Secondly,the study agrees that when interlocuters fail to adapt their linguistic choices to various contextual correlates,conflict talk will occur.This study analyzes the triggering factors from three levels: the physical world,the social world and the psychological world.The physical world includes temporal reference,spatial reference and nonverbal factors.The social world includes values,social roles and social norms.The mental world includes cognitive and emotive elements.If interlocuters want to mitigate or avoid conflict talk,they need to consider the above contextual elements.Thirdly,the study introduces three strategies to end the conflict talk among family members: submission,compromise and stand-off.Among them,stand-off termination strategy is the most commonly used strategy to deal with the conflict talk between family members.Stand-off can mean that oppositional parties stop the conflict talk and do not the result of the opposition.It also involves the participants look for opportunities to change the subject and end the conflict talk.In short,supported by the Linguistic Adaptation Theory,the study analyzes the conflict talk between family members,which further enriches the research scope of the theory and strengthens the explanatory power of the theory.At the same time,through the analysis of the linguistic devices of conflict talk,its causes,and the introduction of effective strategies to terminate the conflict talk between family members can help people better identify and deal with this language phenomenon,and promote family harmony.