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Li Yang's Chinese Pragmatics

Review Two

This unit reviews the effects of the variable of social distance on how to express gratitude in Chinese and provides associated exercises and activities for students to practice.

Impact of the Variable of Social Distance

The choice of thanking strategies in Chinese is greatly influenced by the contextual variable of social distance. Generally speaking, when other factors are the same, the closer the relationship, the more indirectly speakers choose to express gratitude in Chinese. If you have any questions about the impact of the variable of social distance, please review Unit 8.

 

Exercises

1. The scenario below takes place in China, and some possible responses are also provided. Read the scenario carefully and decide which one of the given responses may not be considered as appropriate for this specified situation. Please explain and justify your choice.

Scenario

Your best friend in China invites you to his/her house for dinner. You enjoy a great time there. When you are leaving, what will you say to your friend?

Which one of the following responses may not be considered as appropriate in
response to this scenario?

(1)   太谢谢你了!

(2)   你的厨艺 (cooking skill)太厉害了!我要多向你学习学习。

(3)   今天晚上我玩得很开心(happy)!下次到我家来玩吧!

 

2. Imagine that you are now studying abroad in China for one academic semester. You encounter the following situations (adapted from Yang, 2009) in which you should express gratitude in Chinese. The scenario descriptions are in English. Please read each situation carefully and write your responses. Your responses should be in Chinese characters or Pinyin (with tones)

Situation 1

You want to check emails, but your laptop crashes again. You ask one of your friends if you can use his/her laptop for a second. When you finish checking emails and return the laptop to your friend, what will you say to him/her?

 Situation 2

You want to check emails, but your laptop crashes again. You ask a stranger if you can use his/her laptop for a second. When you finish checking emails and return the laptop to the stranger, what will you say to this person?

 

3. The following scenarios take place in China, and the given responses were produced by learners of Chinese. Evaluate/rate to what extent you think these expressions of gratitude are appropriate by assigning a number to each of them, and also provide your reasons based on what you have learned so far. Please read and use the six-point scale below to help you rate the given responses.

 

Acceptability Scale

(adapted from Eisenstein and Bodman, 1986, 1993)

0       Extremely Poor/Not comprehensible      
Extremely hard to comprehend, often a combination of pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. Failure to complete the task


1        Very Poor/Not acceptable                        
Comprehensible, but a violation of social norms, utterances that may potentially offend the hearer, often instances of sociopragmatic failure. Very poor completion of tasks


2         Poor/Problematic
Errors that might cause misunderstandings, but of a less serious nature. Often instances of pragmalinguistic failure


3         OK/Acceptable
Appropriate language expressions, but may contain some small grammatical errors that do not interfere seriously with native speakers’ understanding


4        Good/Near-native
Grammatically accurate and pragmatically appropriate expressions, but still sounds a little awkward compared to native speakers, e.g., its length, choice of vocabulary, or register


5        Excellent/Native
Clear and appropriate responses, close to native responses in content, syntax and lexicon

 

Scenario 1 

The elevator is not working, and you are slowly moving a heavy box of books from the first floor to your apartment (on the sixth floor). On the third floor, a stranger you encounter offers to help you. After the stranger helps you move the box to your apartment, what will you say to this stranger?

Response: 太谢谢你了!先别走,我给你倒杯水喝吧! Tài xièxiè nǐ le! Xiān bié zǒu, wǒ gěi nǐ dào bēi shuǐ hē ba!

Scenario 2

The elevator is not working, and you are slowly moving a heavy box of books from the first floor to your apartment (on the sixth floor). On the third floor, one friend you encounter offers to help you. After the friend helps you move the box to your apartment, what will you say to this stranger?

Response: 不好意思,麻烦你了!晚上一起吃饭吧! Bùhǎoyìsi, máfan nǐ le! Wǎnshang yìqǐ chī fàn ba!

 

 

Online Discussion (Powered by Canvas)

This section provides you with the opportunity to discuss with other students who are studying Chinese in the United State and to share your opinions of questions about appropriate communication in Chinese.

You are required to make comments or express your opinions at least once on the discussion board, and to respond to others' comments at least once. Please feel free to choose any languages (Chinese or English) to voice your ideas. Please click Online Discussion or go to http://public.online.ksu.edu/ to start it. Enjoy yourself!

Instructions: Click "Online Discussion" or Go to K-State Online Home Page (http://public.online.ksu.edu/) -- Click "Go to Canvas"-- Log in with your eID and password--Choose the course titled "Online Pragmatics Learning" and click it--Click "Discussions"--Click "Gratitude_Review 2" and Start online discussion