Abstract

There is an inherent tension between self and society in human life. Such a tension is also embodied in the way people talk. The dissertation is a demonstration of how Chinese deal with that tension via Chinese collectivist and self-interest talk in solving social problems. A case study is presented from the perspective of the CMM theory. Several important theoretical issues are also discussed, as to how can we achieve the validity of a text analysis, and what should be the basic unit of analysis in communication studies, and in what ways are Grice's conversational maxims inadequate in accounting for human communication. The dissertation answers those questions on the basis of a study of a Chinese mediation case