The use of situation-bound utterances in Chinese foreign language textbooks

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the use of situation-bound utterances (qíngjìng zhuānyòngyǔ 情境专用语) in five mainstream Chinese foreign language textbooks in order to survey, categorize, and discuss their use therein. Kecskes (2000a. A cognitive-pragmatic approach to situation-bound utterances. Journal of Pragmatics 32(5). 605–625) defined Situation-bound utterances (hereafter SBUs) as “highly conventionalized, prefabricated pragmatic units whose occurrences are tied to standardized communicative situations” (2000a: 606). SBUs are prevalent in Modern Chinese and in several ways represent Chinese culture. Many Chinese foreign language textbooks, however, underestimate the importance of SBUs. Based on information culled from five textbooks (Integrated Chinese 中文听说读写, First Step 中文起步, Basic Spoken Chinese 基础中文：听与说, Practical Audio-Visual Chinese 实用视听华语, and New Practical Chinese Reader 新实用汉语) a Chinese SBUs database has been generated. One hundred seventy-eight Chinese SBUs are identified, and they are categorized into ten speech act categories. Among these, the three most common speech acts are: (1) greetings/daily conversation, (2) polite request, and (3) inquiry. These speech acts represent and reflect the concept and practice of politeness in Chinese culture. Basic Spoken Chinese provides the most detailed and clearest explanations of SBUs, and explains the most appropriate contexts for use of SBUs. As for repeated use of SBUs, both Basic Spoken Chinese and Integrated Chinese outperformed the other textbooks. None of the textbooks examined, however, adequately explain the use and importance of SBUs in Modern Chinese. The purpose of this study is to fill this lacuna.