Differences in Politeness Strategies Used in Requests by Chinese and Americans -------In the scope of the Structure of Head Act and Supportive Move and the Direct/ Indirect Strategies

Introduction
People may have such feelings that how we say something is sometimes as important as or even more important than what we say. Whether the communication can continue smoothly or not depends on how we say something. In everyday conversation, there are different ways to get things we want done. When we are with friends, we can say to them, ¡°go get me that book¡±. However, when we are surrounded by a group of unfamiliar people or who are superior to us, we must say, ¡°Could you please pass me that book?¡± In different social situations, we are obligated to adjust our use of words to fit the occasion.
As one of the behaviors in the daily lives, a request, to a large of small extent, imposes on the addressees. If a request is not made appropriately, the desired goal may not be achieved. Addressees may be embarrassed, or the relationship may be damaged.
Within the framework of politeness theories and cross-cultural pragmatics, the present thesis conducts a contras...