| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of this thesis was to analyze the strategies employed by native Chinese speakers while making requests. The head acts, as well as internal and external modifications of the requests were analyzed, cultural interpretations of the choices made by the Chinese speakers were provided. A lot of attention was also paid to how different contextual variables (social distance, social power and size of the request) affected the requests. The results were compared to the results in the study Lithuanian and English linguistic politeness: Requests (2010) done by I. Hilbig . A discourse completion test (DCT) was used to collect the data, 100 of the filled out tests were analysed. The classification of the requests was created by using the classifications used in Hilbig (2010) and Rue and Zhang (2008), which was based on the classification of requests in Blum-Kulka, et al. (1989). The thesis is also based on the Brown and Levinson (1987 [1978]) theory. The results showed that Chinese speakers were using the conventionally indirect strategy most frequently (it was used 698 times (58,17 proc.), just like the Lithuanian and English speakers (64 proc. and 81,7 proc.). However, they made direct requests more often than the other two groups – 28,17 proc., while the other two groups made them in 26,9 proc.and 10,9 proc. of the requests. The choice between the direct and conventionally indirect strategies was mostly affected by the social power variable – the Chinese speakers were making more direct requests when they were of higher status than the addressee. The internal modifications were used 701 time. Chinese speakers used the internal modifications similarly to the way that the Lithuanian speakers used them – to make connection with the addressee. They also used understaters to make requests seem smaller than they are as well as time intensifiers, to pressure the addressee. The most frequent modifications were different verb constructions, hedges,understaters and openers, other modifications were used less frequently. The Chinese respondents used more external modifications than internal modifications. The total amount of external modifications was 1261. The amount of the external modifications was mostly affected by the size of the request, the situations with bigger requests had more modifications. Most of the used external modifications were connected to the positive politeness. Since the chosen method is limited and has its flaws, further research of Chinese requests, especially those made during natural conversations, should be made, in order to make more concrete conclusions. Requests by people from different social groups should also be analysed. In order to then correctly compare Lithuanian and English requests, further research should also be made, especially the analysis of natural conversations. This thesis can be useful for the researchers of the linguistic politeness, as well as members of the society that are either interested in the linguistic politeness or are studying Chinese language, since knowing the norms of politeness is very important while learning a language. |
