Appellative and Other Ways of Constructing the Identity of Communicants in Chinese Linguoculture

   The relevance of this study is defined by the important role played by appellatives in regulating interpersonal relations and constructing the identity of the participants of the communicative act. The choice of an appellative is a dynamic process in which many factors must be taken into account.

   The purpose of this work is to identify the pragmatic function of the appellative and other means of constructing the identity of the participants in such face-threatening acts as the expression of the negative assessment of the interlocutor (his or her behaviour, the results of their work etc.)

   To collect the material, we used the questionnaire which is widely employed in the field of cross-cultural linguistic pragmatics – the discourse-completion test. The materials of the research are based on the data of a questionnaire survey, conducted among 300 native Chinese speakers. The age of the informants varies from 18 to 30 years. The collected questionnaires contain reactions of the informants in the situations in which they have to express their negative assessment of the addressee. It is shown that in face-threatening acts appellation is used to booster the addressee’s positive face. The research reveals gender and social variation of appellations as well as some specific ways of designating the participants of communication used to construct their identity, typical of Chinese culture. Basing on the analysis of the results of the questionnaire survey of Chinese speakers, it can be concluded that when communicating with people of the same social position, the respondents used appellatives that emphasize their affection for the interlocutor and reduce the social distance. In communicating with a superior person, the respondents, on the contrary, demonstrated their respect for him, focusing on his professional status and emphasizing his high social position. Thus, the appellative was used as a means of strengthening the positive face of the interlocutor.

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