中美请求言语行为的对比研究——以“借钱”为例

A Comparative Study of Chinese andAmerican Requests for Borrowing Money

本文依托借钱这一言语行为,通过书面语篇补全测试和情境评估任务,探究了中美借钱请求在不同社会情境下语言特点的异同,并考察了社会和文化因素如何对请求行为产生影响。研究结果表明,中美两个语言群体在不同社交场合中的请求表现形式同时存在跨文化的一致性和差异。社会因素与文化因素相互作用,从而影响说话者在其请求中的语言选择。

The present study explores the similarities and differences between Chinese requests and American requests for borrowing money across different social situations by means of a written discourse completion test and a situational assessment task,and investigates how social and cultural factors influence requesting behaviours.Results indicate that there is not only cross-cultural agreement but also cross-cultural variation between two language groups in their requesting behaviours.Social variables interact with cultural factors and thereby influence speakers'linguistic choices in their requests.