A Positivist Study of Conversational Pragmatic Strategies

Abstract

Language use is always strategic. Speakers do not only choose linguistic forms, they also choose strategies. This paper intends to explore the ways the language users take to attain their communicate goals, i.e., pragmatic strategies. Specifically, this article aims at a comprehensive positivist of the conversational pragmatic strategies in part of the novel Man, Woman and Child by Erich Segal; the direct-indirect pragmatic strategies in the eighty-nine Coca-Cola consumer advertisements from the year 1886 up to the year 1980; the "conversational maxim" pragmatic strategies in some 793 business letters, the "conversational maxim" pragmatic strategies in seven e-mails; and the "face-management" pragmatic strategies in some 793 business letters. The goal of study is to verify the universality and feasibility of the implementation of pragmatic strategies, both in literary and business writings. Only in this way can the language users achieve their communicative goal effectively.