Actually, the meaning of compliment varies in daily communication。 When we talk about a specific compliment, we are supposed to analyze the actual context。 Therefore, it is necessary to review some contextualized definitions of compliment for a better understanding of this thesis。 The following definitions are provided by some famous linguists abroad。 The definitions from Chinese scholars are not presented here because their definitions are borrowed from foreign linguists。

According to Pomerantz(1978), compliment is “a kind of supportive action as well as an assessment action”。 Different from Oxford dictionary, he defined compliment from the perspective of pragmatics which reminded us that it is an action rather than an expression。 But this definition is a little bit narrow since it only refers to the functions of support and assessment。 

Wolfson and Manes(1980) defined compliment as “a social strategy employed in order to start or maintain solidarity with addressee”。 This definition revealed the essential function of compliment which is meant to start or maintain solidarity。 

Holmes(1986) defined: a compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some ‘good’ (possession, characteristic, skill, etc。) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer” (Holmes, 485)。 This definition is more comprehensive because it points out that compliment is a speech act, which is delivered from the speaker to the hearer and the context is about the good sides of the hearer。 That’s also the reason why Holmes’s definition is more widely accepted and also used in this thesis。 

2。2 Speech Act Theory

Speech act theory is an important theory in the pragmatic study of language。 It was originated from the British philosopher John Austin in the late 50s of the 20th century。 It is a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication。 It aims to answer the question “What do we do when using language?” This part will include the most important two linguists in this field: John Austin and John Searle。 

2。1。1 Austin’s Speech Act Theory

According to Austin’s opinion, when people utter something, they are not just stating or describing something but actually doing something。 For example, the moment when someone says “I do”, he/she gets married, but not before that。 The most important contribution of Austin is that he also noted that the idea of doing something while speaking can certainly be broadened to include non-conventional acts such as stating, promising, requesting and suggesting。 Hence his theory came to be known as the speech act theory, according to which we are performing actions when we are speaking。

Austin’s theory shows that a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act。 “A locutionary act is the act of uttering words, phrases, and clauses。 It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology。 An illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention; it is the act performed in saying something。 A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by utterance; it is the act performed by saying something” (Dai 81)。 

Among the above three acts, the illocutionary act is paid much more attention by linguists as it expresses the real intention of the speaker。

2。1。2 Searle’s Speech Act Theory

Based on Austin’s speech act theory, Searle made a more theoretical classification of illocutionary acts。 According to Searle, speech acts fall into five general categories: “ 1) representatives/ assertives (stating or describing, saying what the speaker believes to be true, e。g。 The earth is a globe); 2) directives (trying to get the hearer to do something, e。g。 Open the window); 3) commissives (committing the speaker himself to some future course of action, e。g。 I promise to come); 4) expressives (expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing state, e。g。 I’m sorry for the mess I have made); 5) declarations (bring about immediate changes by saying something, e。g。 I fire you)” ( Dai 82-83)。