An Analysis of Disagreement Speech Act Performed by Taiwanese Undergraduates: Considering Social Status, Context, and Mode of Conversation as Material Setting Factors

Abstract

This paper examines the factors of social status, contexts, and mode of conversation in situations of disagreement in Taiwan. A questionnaire of discourse completion test was completed by 164 Mandarin native speakers in Taiwan. The result showed that, in terms of social status, there was no difference between interlocutors of higher and of lower status. As for the context factor, the findings were twofold: first, in more formal settings such as academic and office situations, participants tended to use roundabout expressions; in more casual home situations, relatively emotional expressions of disagreement were generated. As for the mode of conversation, it was found that participants were able to adjust their ways of disagreeing whenever they were prompted to use a particular tone. This showed how situational disagreements could be observed in Mandarin contexts.

本研究探討華語母語人士表達反對意見(disagreement)時，社會地位(social status)、語境 (context)與語氣設定(mode of conversation)的三種因素對答案所造成的影響。研究方法爲語篇補全測試 (Discourse Completion Test)，調査了 164位華語母語人士。研究結果顯示，在社會地位方面，母語人 士對地位高者和低者所表達反對意見的方式並沒有明顯的差異；語境方面，正式的語境得到委婉的答 案比較多，但非正式的語境得到情緒化的答案比較多；至於語氣設定方面，若在問卷中指定反對的語 氣，受試者會依照指示作答，因此可以操控受試者的答案。