Variation Study on Sellers’ Phatic Greetings in On-line Shopping Conversations

Abstract

Abstract:From the perspective of the sociolinguistic variationist study, this paper explores the variation features of different Taobao sellers’ phatic greetings and the factors that influence their usage of phatic greetings. This is a corpus-based research with a thorough statistical analysis. The findings derived from this study demonstrate that the sellers’ phatic greetings from different types of web shops are significantly different. What is more, the TaoBao shops’ running conditions and age may influence the sellers’ use of phatic greetings. In order to pursue economic benefits, the sellers may increase the use of polite language on purpose. The present study’s significance lies in its contribution to the promotion and construction of a more harmonious and win-win online shopping environment.

CLC Number:

H0-06

LI Hui, LI Quanhao, QIAO Quandi. Variation Study on Sellers’ Phatic Greetings in On-line Shopping Conversations[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2015, 15(07): 17-22.

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