| The paper mainly intends to explore construction of parents’pragmatic identity in the family discourse.The couples Luo Su and Bi Shengnan in Tiger Mom and Cat Dad(《虎妈猫爸》)and Bob Duncan and Amy Duncan in Good Luck Charlie were chosen as the subjects.Based on Chen’s(2013)analytical framework,discursive practices concerning identity construction were analyzed in the two couples’parent-child conversations to demonstrate different types of pragmatic identities constructed by them.Then a comparative study was made on the identity construction of the Chinese parents and the American parents.Through discourse analysis,we find that speech act,person-referencing practices,discourse content,discourse features,grammatical choice and style are discursive practices concerning identity construction.Through these devices,Luo Su and Bi Shengnan,Bob Duncan and Amy Duncan construct three types of pragmatic identities:instructive parent identity,authoritative parent identity,amiable parent identity.In addition to these three common identities,Luo Su and Bi Shengnan construct utilitarian parent identity,while Bob Duncan and Amy Duncan construct narcissistic parent identity.Through further comparative analysis,we find that in the construction of the same type of pragmatic identity.some devices used by Chinese parents are identical to those used by the American counterparts,while the other devices used by the two parties differ from each other.Besides,different practices are employed by them to construct different identities,which could be attributed to their respective communicative contexts.It is suggested that for future studies,the research of discursive construction of parents’ pragmatic identity can provide a new research perspective.For parents,the findings would enable them to better understand their identity and adopt more appropriate family discourse. |
