Pragmatics 语用学

Vocatives as rationalized politeness: Theoretical insights from emerging norms in call centre service encounters > READ MORE This study offers an extension of existing politeness theories by illuminating how changes in politeness conventions come about as a result of contextual specificities. Despite a surge in mediated service encounters, few studies to date have considered the linguistic enactment of politeness in call centres, mainly due to restrictions on access. Drawing on a linguistic ethnography of an onshore call centre in Scotland and data in the form of authentic service interactions, interviews, on-site observations, and institutional documents, the study combines quantitative and qualitative discourse analytic techniques to explore how the call centre-specific tension between efficiency and customer care is managed in theory and practice. It is found that while the institution accords equal importance to efficiency and customer care, in actual service interactions, agents prioritize efficiency. Furthermore, in the few cases where agents do orient to customer care, vocatives appear to be used as a shortcut evidencing the emergence of a novel – rationalized – type of politeness. The study contributes the theoretical insight that new politeness conventions may emerge, not so much because of the imposition of one culture on another, but because they are shaped by the particular context in which they arise. 该研究扩展了现有的礼貌用语理论,我们详细阐释了特殊情境下是如何改变礼貌用语习惯的。虽然在当代社会,通过媒介(电话)提供服务的形式大量涌现,但是主要由于数据权限的限制,迄今为止很少有人研究呼叫中心的礼貌用语的语言设定。利用语言学和社会人类学的方法,我们从一个苏格兰国内的呼叫中心收集了真实的呼叫服务对话互动录音,并进行了实地观察和访谈,也阅读了相关的机构文件。本研究结合定量分析和定性话语分析的方法,来研究在理论上和实践中,人们是如何处理该呼叫中心的效率与客户体验之间的矛盾的。我们发现虽然理论上该呼叫中心把效率与客户体验放在同等重要的位置,但在实际电话服务对话中,工作人员更注重效率。而且,在少数情况下,当工作人员注重客户体验时,称呼客户的姓或名字似乎是一个捷径,这体现了一种新的而又合乎常理的礼貌用语。该研究为礼貌用语理论贡献了新的见解:新的礼貌用语习惯的出现源于它所在的特定语言环境,而不只是一种文化强加在另一种文化的结果。