A Study On Pragmatic Strategies Of Conflict Discourse In The Workplace From The Perspective Of Impolitenes

Conflict discourse is widely present in human communication,and the study of conflict discourse contributes to the healthy interaction and social harmony of interpersonal communication.The study of conflict discourse involves different social backgrounds,such as military industry,courts,and medical patients.The thesis explores conflict discourse in the workplace,and examines the conflict discourses in the TV series of the Du Lala’s Promotion as the language material,dividing them into equal power conflict discourses and non-equal power conflict discourses.Based on Culpeper’s impoliteness strategies and response strategies as the theoretical framework,the thesis applies the method of qualitative analysis to analysis on the impoliteness strategies and response strategies observed in the conflict discourse between peers of equal power and non-equal power.The aim of this study is to deeply explore the use of impolite strategies and response strategies in two sets of conflicting discourse under the influence of power.The thesis has found that power in the workplace is an important factor affecting the choice of pragmatic strategies between conflicting parties.When conflicts arise between colleagues with equal power,indirect impolite strategies,positive impolite strategies,and negative impolite strategies are used.When conflicts arise between colleagues with non-equal power,superiors also use direct impolite strategies to directly attack subordinates’ face.Concerning the face attacks launched by the speaker under equal power,the receiver will adopt defensive,offensive,and non responsive strategies,while under non-equal power,the receiver will adopt defensive,accepting,and non responsive strategies.Additionally,through the study of the corpus,new sub strategies under the impolite response strategy were found,including direct exit strategy under non response strategy,flattery strategy under acceptance response strategy,and explanation strategy under defense response strategy.Theoretically,the thesis can enrich the localization research of impoliteness strategies and their response strategies.In practice,it can help colleagues reduce and ease conflicts in verbal communication,improve good colleague relations,and promote social harmony.