Conflict Dialogue: A Critical Review of Linguistic Studies in China

The article focuses on the analysis of linguistic studies of conflict dialogue undertaken in China between 2004 and 2018. The necessity of the analysis is determined by the lack of information on Chinese linguistic studies of conflict dialogue and Chinese linguistics in general in the Russian linguistic community. This situation is connected with the problem of limited access to the Chinese language resources in the Russian Internet and the absence of high-quality Russian translations of most of these Chinese language resources. The analysis is based on 58 Chinese resources, including scientific articles, master theses and PhD theses. It seems that most of the studies have been carried out after 2010. Three journals and two universities stand out among the others as they have more studies on conflict dialogue in the period under review. The article discusses the types of language material used in the analyzed works, basic theories and methods selected for research as well as the subject of studies. One of the features of Chinese studies is the diversity of empirical data: dialogues in professional sphere, among family members and friends, and so on. The most popular source of language material in Chinese studies is TV plays and films. The theoretical background for the analyzed works in most cases is presented by European and American linguistic theories. Some of these theories have a short or no description in Russian-language scientific resources. The subject of studies of conflict dialogue both in Chinese and Russian linguistics includes communicative strategies, tactics and language means used for their realization. The analysis shows that Chinese linguists pay a special attention to the theories of politeness/impoliteness and to the conception of "face". It is also emphasized in many works that conflict talk studies are important for creating harmony in society. These moments can be partly connected with the role of the face category in Chinese culture in general and a philosophical principle of achieving harmony with the world that has been crucial in China since ancient times. Although the Chinese scientific works under review are well structured and include detailed descriptions of their theoretical background, there are still certain problems that in some ways hinder the development of Chinese linguistic studies of conflict dialogue, they include: (1) lack of Chineses fundamental linguistic theories; (2) non-obvious theoretical significance and novelty of some studies; (3) poor description of methods used; (4) lack of transcription systems in many studies of spoken discourse; (5) lack of attention to the Internet as a source of language material in most of the studies, which contrasts with the great development of the Chinese Internet and different messengers.

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