PragmaticAnalysisofIndirectnessinCommunication

【Abstract】It is widely accepted that a good use of language should be concrete， accurate， concise ， and indirect and ambiguous words avoided. However， it is very common to use indirectness in our daily conversation express courtesy， indirect request and refusal， mute criticism， as well as enhance the personal relationship between the speaker and listener， so as to better achieve the purpose of communication.

【Key words】indirectness； pragmatic analysis； communication

【作者簡介】杨丽姜，江西工程学院。

1. Introduction

Only paying slight observation to how people speak， we can find that indirect expression are frequently used in our daily life and work， that is to say， people often express their viewpoint in indirect way instead of speaking frankly. The following part introduce several ways of expressing indirectness aiming to achieve specific purposes..

2. Ways of Expressing Indirectness

2.1 Offering clues

When one wants others to do a favor for him or make a refusal to somebody， he will offer some clues instead of deliberately coming to the point， then lets the listener infer and work out what the the speaker really means （B&L1981;）， For instance：

A：Shall we go to the cinema tomorrow afternoon？

B：There will have a football match between China and Korea， dont you watch it？

In this example B offers a clue to A that there will have a football match tomorrow afternoon， and B will figure out that B will not go to the movie.

2.2 Being Vague

Sometimes when the speaker refuse someone， he would use vague speech to avoid threading the hearers face.

A：Do you know the meaning of this word？

B：Dont you have a dictionary ？

It is obvious that B doesnt want to tell B the meaning of the word， but he answers implicitly to avoid ruining Bs face..

2.3 Using Irony

Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used.

Eg：If people keep telling you to quit smoking cigarette， dont listen... Theyre probably trying to trick you into living longer.

The purpose of the speaker is to persuade the listener to accept the advice of quitting smoking， but he says the opposite by encouraging him to smoke continuously.

3. Factors affecting the choice of indirectness

3.1. Cultural difference

Cultural differences have great affect on using of indirectness. Universally acknowledged that Chinese people are more indirect while the westerners more straightforward. A typical example is sending and receiving invitation of dinner. Westerners often directly reply “yes” or “no”； while Chinese naturally tend to play the game of “invite—refuse， invite—refuse， invite and accept”. The following is a dialogue between A （future mother-in-law） and B （ future daughter-in-law） in China.

A：明天来吃饭啊。

B：不来了，太麻烦你了。

A：麻烦什么呀？菜是现成的。

B：那也得烧呀。

A：你不来我们也得吃饭。一定来啊，不来我可生气啦。

B：好吧，就随便一点

This is a successful case of Chinese invitation：A offers sincere invitation to B. B accepted the invitation just after she refused two times. In China， it would be considered insincere and impolite not to reissue an invitation when it has been refused for the first time， similarly， it would be regarded to take advantage of others to accept an offer just after it has been sent for the first time.

3.2 Relative Power of Speaker over Hearer

Relative Power between speaker and hearer is one of the most obvious reasons for the use of indirectness. If speaker and listener have similar power or status， direct discourses are appropriate， but when the listener possesses higher power， indirectness should be used. For example：

Student：Professor Zhang， can you give me some suggestions about my paper when you are free”？

Professor：Yes， of course.

Here， the student obeyed the politeness principle and sent a request properly， achieving his purpose. If they exchange their roles， the dialogue is inappropriate.

4. Conclusion

This paper analyzes the ways of expressing indirectness， the factors of affecting the use of indirectness. Indirectness is an attribute of language， and use widely in our daily communication， but in actual speech， we should consider when and how to use it. Only proper use of indirectness can make us have a successful communication and realize our purpose.

References：

[1]何兆熊.新編语用学概要[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2005.