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From silence to positive self-presentation: gradual emergence of negative face wants in Kǒngguīzú’s (恐归族) intergenerational conflicts with their family elders

Abstract Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1978, 1987) is often challenged on its claim of the universality of face, in particular, the applicability of negative face to communicators from the sinosphere. This study argues that the notion of negative face is applicable to account for young Chinese people’s communication strategies and behaviors during their intergenerational conflicts. Drawing on discursive psychology and conversation analysis approaches to the dialogic lyrics of Shénqǔ about Kǒngguīzú, this paper explores the dynamic construction process of young Chinese people’s negative face. It reveals that this dynamic construction has been shaped by the cultural values of mixing traditional Confucian values with a new materialistic and individualistic orientation, and that adhering to the traditional cultural norm of harmony is crucial to satisfying negative face wants. This finding suggests that the mixed cultural values should be incorporated into the parametric system of Chinese negative face analysis.