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Pragmatic harmony in Chinese public signs on environmental protection

Zhoumin Yuan

The present study attempts to explore the linguistic pragmatic features of the Chinese public signs on environmental protection and the strategies employed in them within the analytical framework of Speech Act Theory. It is found that requests and some related indirect speech acts are frequently exploited in this category of public discourse; in terms of extended speech acts, central speech act (CSP) and its concurrence with auxiliary speech act (ASP) are most often found. It is argued in the light of Face Theory that these pragmatic features reveal the producersÂ’ adaptation to the current social and psychological contexts of China in the new historical times and reflect their humanism and sociopsychological state of pursuing pragmatic harmony.