Complaints: Research Notes
American Indirect Complaints
Themes(Boxer, 1993a)
- Self (Oh, I'm so stupid.) - 7%
- 其他(…仍然是最糟糕的经理)- 27%
- Situation (I feel, in a way, boxed in, you know?/Why did they have to raise tuition?) - 66%
Responses to Indirect Complaint(Boxer, 1993a,1996)
- Nothing or topic switch - 10%
- 这样的responses function to either minimize or terminate an exchange.
- The addressee may be tired of listening to a chronicle complainer.
- There may be either intimacy or a high degree of social distance coupled with status inequality.
- Minimal responses or indications of listening often terminate a complaint exchange.
- Question - 12%
- 这样的responses take the form of either simple clarification requests, challenge questions questioning the validity of the complaint, or request elaboration
- 这样的responses take the form of either simple clarification requests, challenge questions questioning the validity of the complaint, or request elaboration
- Contradiction - 15%
- Contradiction responses indicate that the complaint is not accepted or approved of.
- The majority involves either intimates or status-unequals with large social distance.
- Joke/teasing - 6%
- Frequent among strangers and in service encounters serving as self-presentation
- Intended to make light of the situation
- Advice/lecture - 14%
- Advice was offered in retrospect or before solving a problem.
- Likely to be given from those of higher social status
- Commiseration - 44%
- The most common response to a complaint
- Commiseration responses offer agreement or reassurance to make the speaker feel better.
- 这样的responses include: straightforward agreement with the speaker, elaboration of the speaker's complaint, or confirmation of the validity of the complaint. Some take the form of exclamations signaling commiseration; some even finish the speaker's sentence.
Outcomes of Indirect Complaint Exchanges(Boxer, 1993a)
- Non-supportive exchanges - 18%
- Neutral Exchanges - 8%
- Supportive Exchanges - 74%
Hebrew Complaints
Native speakers of Hebrew preferred the central strategy, explicit complaints, as seen below (Olshtain & Weinbach, 1985).
- Explicit complaints (45%)
- Warning (23%)
- Disapproval (15%)
- Below reproach (14%)
- Threat (3%)
References
Boxer, D. (1993a).Complaining and commiserating: A speech act view of solidarity in spoken American English. NY: Peter Lang.
Boxer, D. (1996).Ethnographic interviewing as a research tool in speech act analysis: The case of complaints. In S.M. Gass & J. (Eds.),Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language(pp. 217-239). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Olshtain, E. & Weinbach, L. (1985).Complaints : A study of speech act behavior among native and nonnative speakers of Hebrew. In J. Verschueren & M. Bertuccelli-Papi (Eds.),The Pragmatic Perspective : Selected Papers from the 1985 International Pragmatics Conference(pp, 195-208). Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company.