關於讚美語(compliment)語言行為之研究包含多項議題，以往研究領域涵蓋甚廣，例如讚美與地區、對談者之關係、性別、功能、談話主題、讚美回應、跨文化等等。然而，過去對讚美語的分析，較少著重在言談者之地位對讚美語之影響。本研究旨在研究台灣華語讚美語言行為，分析對於不同地位之聽者，讚美者如何使用讚美策略。本研究採用言談情境填充問卷(Discourse Completion Task)之方式，以蒐集受試者的中文讚美語料進行分析。問卷之情境主要分為三大類：(A)讚美由下對上(L to H)，(B)讚美由上對下(H to L)，(C)讚美同樣地位之言談者。共有65位受試者參加本研究，包含33位男性及32位女性，共蒐集585則讚美。蒐集的讚美語料，依其策略之使用分類為明示型讚美(explicit compliment)、含蓄型讚美(implicit compliment)、無讚美相關(non-compliment)及無回應(Opt-out)。其中含蓄型讚美乃根據Lin, Woodfield, and Ren (2012)的分類為基準，又細分為14類。明示型讚美通常具備顯而易見的正面評價詞，而含蓄型讚美較為隱晦，通常表達的正面評價在其言外之意，而非字面本身所傳達的意思。讚美行為體現了Leech (1983)「禮貌原則(Politeness Priniciple)」中之讚譽準則(Approbation Maxim)，因為說者藉由讚美表達對聽者之正面評價。本研究發現，在這三類情境下，讚美者有同樣的策略偏好順序：含蓄型讚美、明示型讚美、無讚美相關、無回應，但其偏好程度存有差異。分析讚美者之含蓄型讚美對於不同言談者之使用策略，本研究發現，當聽者地位較高時，讚美者的策略使用顯示，說者受到讚譽準則、得體準則(Tact Maxim)所支配。當聽者地位較低時，說者的讚美策略除遵循讚譽準則和得體準則外，並也體現慷慨準則(Generosity Maxim)。然而，在言談者地位相當時，除讚譽準則外，讚美者的策略顯示得體及慷慨兩種準則較不重要。另外，問卷亦蒐集受試者之真實生活之讚美，包含了成功及失敗的讚美經驗。由質性的研究指出，適當的讚美言談行為應具備以下重要因素：讚美者的真誠度、讚美內容的真實性、避免模稜兩可的話語。研究成果顯示，言談者的地位對於讚美的使用確實有影響，本研究對於不同地位之言談者讚美行為提供初步的瞭解。

Research on the speech act of compliments in a variety of languages and cultures has been conducted, and various issues in relation to this act have been examined, e.g. region, addresser-addressee relationship, gender, functions, complimenting topics, and compliment response. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of interlocutors’ status on their complimenting behavior. This study aims to obtain a better understanding of the ways Taiwan Mandarin speakers employ compliments in the contexts where the speakers have different levels of status relative to the addressees. The three prototypical contexts are (A) compliments given by a lower-status speaker to a higher-status addressee (L to H), (B) compliments given by a higher-status speaker to a lower-status addressee (H to L), and (C) compliments given by an equal-status speaker (Equal). Based on a survey using discourse completion task (DCT), a total of 585 replies of compliments were elicited from 65 Taiwanese participants, including 33 males and 32 females. The compliments of the current data are categorized based on a modified version of Lin, Woodfield, and Ren’s (2012) classification, which includes Explicit compliment, Implicit compliment, Non-compliment and Opt-out. Explicit compliment is to compliment by using the words carrying positive meaning; however, Implicit compliment is to compliment in a more indirect way which usually does not literally mean what it says. Compliments, used to reveal the speakers’ positive evaluation toward the addressees, are an execution of Leech’s (1983) Approbation Maxim, which aims to maximize the praise of other. Although the results of this study show that the speakers have the same preference in terms of the order of compliment strategies (i.e. Implicit, Explicit, Non-compliments, and Opt out) in the three contexts, different degrees of the preference are identified. Nonetheless, the use of Implicit compliment strategies, which contain fourteen types, in different contexts also reveals that the speakers tend to apply different strategies to different status-level addressees. By analyzing the implicit compliment strategies applied in each context, this study finds that in addition to Approbation Maxim, Tact Maxim is also taken into consideration in the three contexts, and it carries much more weight in the Context A and B than in Context C. Moreover, the speakers’ compliments in Context B (H to L) are a strong realization of Generosity Maxim but a weak one in Context C (Equal). Last, a qualitative study on the participants’ unpleasant/failed complimenting experience reports that no matter what the contexts are, some elements play an important role in the success of complimenting: such as the sincerity of the speaker, truth of the compliments, and non-ambiguity of the utterance. This study aims to offer a better understanding of how complimenting strategies are employed when speakers interact with different status interlocutors.

Acknowledgements i
摘要 ii
Abstract iv
List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background and motivation 1
1.2 Purpose of the study 3
1.3 The organization of the study 5
Chapter 2 Literature Review 6
2.1 Theoretical studies 6
2.1.1 Cooperative Principle 6
2.1.2 Principle of Politeness 7
2.1.3 Politeness Theory 8
2.2 Compliments 11
2.2.1 Compliment formulas 11
2.2.2 Gender 14
2.2.3 Compliment strategies 15
2.2.4 Addressor-addressee relationship 18
2.3 Summary 20
Chapter 3 Methodology 21
3.1 Participants 21
3.2 Data collection method 22
3.2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of Discourse completion task (DCT) 22
3.2.2 Current research questionnaire 23
3.3 Data collection procedure 24
3.4 Coding scheme 25
3.5 An overview of the categories of the implicit compliment strategies 26
3.5.1 Admiration 26
3.5.2 Appreciation 27
3.5.3 Assumption 27
3.5.4 Contrast 28
3.5.5 Evaluation 28
3.5.6 Explanation 29
3.5.7 Future expectation 29
3.5.8 Joke 30
3.5.9 Knowing 30
3.5.10 Pleasing 31
3.5.11 Request 32
3.5.12 Reward offering 32
3.5.13 Surprise 33
3.5.14 Want statement 33
3.6 Summary of the implicit compliment strategies 34
3.7 Data size and criteria of analyzing data 35
Chapter 4 Results and Findings 37
4.1 Distribution of complimenting strategies 37
4.1.1 Total number of compliment strategies 37
4.1.2 Overall types of compliment strategies used 38
4.2 Distribution and frequency of compliment strategies with different status-level addressees 40
4.2.1 Explicit compliment 40
4.2.2 Implicit compliment 41
4.2.2.1 Complimenting a higher-status interlocutor 43
4.2.2.2 Complimenting a lower-status interlocutor 45
4.2.2.3 Complimenting an equal-status interlocutor 49
4.2.3 Non-compliment 52
4.2.4 Opt-out 54
4.3 Potential impacts of working experience on the working-environment DCT responses? 55
4.4 An analysis of the real-life complimenting experiences 56
4.4.1 Complimenting a higher-status interlocutor 57
4.4.2 Complimenting a lower-status interlocutor 59
4.4.3 Complimenting an equal-status interlocutor 61
4.4.4 Inappropriate complimenting experience 62
Chapter 5 Further discussion 67
5.1 The distributions of compliment strategies 67
5.2 Maxims of politeness of complimenting behaviors in the three contexts 69
5.3 The factors affecting the appropriateness/inappropriateness of compliments 72
Chapter 6 Conclusion 76
6.1 Summary 76
6.2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 79
References 81
Appendix A: Questionnaire: Chinese Version 86
Appendix B: Questionnaire: English Version 89

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