英语论文网

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Significance of the thesis
    The last decades has witnessed dramatic breakthroughs of science and technology which tremendously change the world pattern and people's lifestyle.  According to Samovar and Porter (2000:22), communication which is our ability to share with others our ideas and feelings can be regarded as the basis of all human contact. With the influences  of  convenient  transportation,  advanced  communication  technology  and development of economy, the communication between people from all over the world has become increasingly frequent. People can contact with others from different cultures in all sorts of fields, such as business, education, politics and economy, to name only a few.
    Culture and communication are directly linked. As Dodd (2007:36) indicated, culture teaches people significant rules, rituals and procedures, and tells people how to form and keep relationship with others.  "In Smith's opinion,  `whenever people interact theyb communicate; to live in society and to maintain their culture they have to communicate.’ Culture  is  learned,  acted  out,  transmitted,  and preserved through communication" (Samovar&Porter,  2000:22).  Proper understanding  of other cultures  can promote communication.  On  the  contrary,  misunderstanding  and  prejudice  will  impede communication and cooperation and sometimes even lead to the failure of communication. Thus, intercultural study has attracted more and more scholars, especially those in the field of study on different cultures.
      It is argued that the nature of communication can be considered as a sign exchanging process (Huang Yuhua, 2006). According to M. H. Prosser, communication can be regarded as social interaction through signs and message systems (Huang Yuhua, 2006). Sperber and Wilson (2001:2) believe that from ancient times to modern semiotics, all researches and theories of communication were carried on the basis of a single model that is called the code model. According to this model, communication is achieved through the process of encoding and decoding messages. From the above viewpoints, it can be concluded that communication is closely related to signs. Peirce has declared that although it can't say that the universe is composed of signs, but at least it can say that signs penetrate every aspect of the universe (Chen Zhi-an&Wen Xu, 1999).
    Actually, sign is really a complex term that is difficult to define. In the light of Saussure's definition, a "sign" is the link between the concept and the sound pattern of things, and it is the combination of the signifier and the signified. He defines the relationship between the signifier and signified as "signification" (Shen Juming, 2010). According to Peirce (Chandler, 2002:32), the sign can be seen as the interaction among three factors: representamen, object and interpretant. The representamen is considered as the form of sign that stands to people for something in some aspect or capacity. It creates an equivalent sign or sometimes a more developed sign in people's mind. Peirce called the sign, which representamen creates, the interpretant. The sign stands for something which is called object. Meanwhile, in 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。