批评言语行为研究.ppt

Speech Act of Criticism Presented by Xiao Jie 1. The New Oxford Dictionary of English define criticism as the expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults and mistakes. 2. The Modern Chinese Dictionary gives a definition of criticism as: 1. comments on someone’s merits and demerits; evaluation of someone’s strength and weakness; 2. comments on someone’s mistakes and faults. Definition Obviously, the two definitions are static without taking the dynamic context and pragmatic function into full account. Direct criticism is direct expression of negative evaluation without reservation. It is most explicit in speaker’s intention to criticize, leaving no chance for the interlocutor to misunderstand it, so that direct criticism is regarded as very effective criticism strategy. Indirect criticism means that the illocutionary force of criticism is uttered by means of the performance of other speech acts, so the speaker’s real intention can be partially concealed. criticism Indirect criticism Direct criticism The speaker tend to accept the Indirect Criticism which means that the illocutionary force of criticism is uttered by means of the performance of other speech acts. The “Face Theory” was put forward by Brown and Levinson. “Face” can be divided into two kinds, and one is the “positive face” which is in the need of praise and compliment from other people , the other is the “negative face” which avoids losing face by interfered and disturbed by other people. Face theory Generally speaking, criticism is a face threatening act which threats the hearer’s positive face. Therefore the speaker employs some strategies in expressing criticism. The speaker’s real intention is can be partially concealed thus face wants can be satisfied to some degree. Researchers usually adopts Discourse Completion Test and Comparative Study to collect data. As to the data, in the perspective of “Face Theory”, we can divide them into nine groups. In the same w