5.2.3 The identity of a virtual advice-receiver an...
Another deviational identity found to be constructed by expert advice-givers is the identity of a virtual advice-receiver. The most important strategy for constructing this identity is the change of pragmatic stance (Ran,2007b) or perspective (Reilly et al., 2005). The basic characteristic of changing pragmatic stance is that advice-givers use the singular form of the first person pronoun “我” (‘I’) to replace the singular form of the second person pronoun “你” (‘you’) when giving advice. Li (2000) finds that the use of the second person pronoun “you” in autobiographies can make readers establish multiple identities. Similarly, the advice-givers’ using “我” (‘I’) to replace “你” (‘you’) when giving advice also relates to the construction of a certain identity. For example,(5-16) PhD DPPM-3:
1 T2：一个，环境，[语用环境，是吧？]
‘One is context, pragmatic context, right?’
→ 2 T3： [或者，或者]你就，我就是在我的这些例子当中，我总结出，
‘Or you could, I would summarize (some factors) from these examples.’
3 T2：总结出一些，
‘To summarize some’
4 T3：这些要这些因素。
‘These factors’
5 T2：对。
‘Right.’
→ 6 T3：其它的还有，[但是我：：不知道]
‘There are still others, but I don’t know.’
7 T2： [对对，不可能穷尽]
‘It’s impossible to exhaust (all of them).’
8 T5：[(限制..)]
‘Limit’
9 T1：[限制你]的研究范围。
‘Limit the scope of your study.’
10 T3：哎，限制你的范围，
‘Hm, limit the scope (of your study).’
11 T1：限制一下子。
‘Limit (the scope of your study).’
12 T5：(他可能)
‘(He’s likely…)’
→ 13 T3：我就谈我语料显示出来的这些，其它的它有，我不管。
‘I’ll just discuss those showed by my data. I don’t care about other (cases).’
14 T2：你看X老师((T3))，X老师((T1))都给你减负，哎哎，限定一下。
‘You see that Teacher X ((T3)) and Teacher ((T1)) are reducing your work load. Limit (the scope of your study) ’
15 T3：对。
‘Right.’
In this example, T3 gives his advice to the advice-receiver, S, by using the singular form of the second person pronoun “你” (‘you’) to refer to S, in line 2.Immediately after that, T3 shifts to the singular form of the first person pronoun “我” (‘I’) to refer to S, thus putting himself at the position/stance of the advice-receiver. Since this position/stance is the imagined one and it is virtual in essence, the identity constructed this way can be called the identity of a virtual advice-receiver. In line 6, T3 continues to use “我” (‘I’) when giving advice and then shifts to “你” (‘you’) in line 10 and then comes back to“我” (‘I’) in line 13. In this example, “我” (‘I’) can be replaced by “你” (‘you’)without changing the propositional contents of the utterances. Therefore, this basic characteristic can be used as a criterion to identify the identity of a virtual advice-receiver in this study. (5-17) is another example of this kind.
(5-17) PhD DPPM-3:
→ 1 T1：对啊，就我只研究虚假不礼貌，现在你说的mock impoliteness，
‘Yes, I only study mock impoliteness, that is, what you have said mock impoliteness.’
2 T2：哎。
‘Mm.’
→ 3 T1：我把这个定义清楚了，然后我这就后边，像你这里面好多这什么这种，有的话可以不说它了，
‘If I define it clearly, then I won’t discuss so many types in the latter part even if there are some other types.’ ((T1 is speaking what he imagines are the thoughts of S))
4 T2：嗯。
‘Mm.’
5 T1：对吧？这样就省去了很多时间，你可以把你的精力主要集中在针对你要研究的研究对象上。
‘Right? If you do it like this, you can save a lot of time and you can focus on the object of your study.’
6 T2：嗯。
‘Mm.’
In this example, T1 constructs an identity of a virtual advice-receiver by using “我” (‘I’) in lines 1 and 3, which actually refers to the advice-receiver in this context.
The subjunctive mood is sometimes chosen to construct the identity of a virtual advice-receiver. The use of the conditionals with subjunctive mood is a conventionalized way of giving advice (Martínez-Flor, 2005, 2010), but it also helps to put the speaker in the virtual position of the hearer. For example,
(5-18) PhD DPPM-4:
1 T3：那么，另外，哦，这个第十个这个题，第十个也蛮新的，
‘Besides the tenth article is also very new.’
2 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
→ 3 T3：Constructing leader identities through teasing at work，其实呢，我要是你，我就把这个题目一改，Constructing academic identities in Chinese discourse.‘Constructing leader identities through teasing at work. In fact,if I were you, I would change the title as follows: Constructing academic discourse identities in Chinese.’
4 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
5 T1：这个很有新意。
‘That is a very good idea.’
6 T4：嗯。
‘Mm.’
7 T3：就完了，
‘Just like this.’
8 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
In this example, T3 gives his advice by using the subjunctive mood in line 3 and at the same time the identity of a virtual advice-receiver is constructed by using the subjunctive mood as well.
To construct the identity of a virtual advice-receiver communicates pragmatic empathy (He, 1991; Ran, 2007b; Stirling & Manderson, 2011; Wynn& Wynn, 2006), that is, “the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, and reactions” (Wynn & Wynn, 2006,p. 1386).
It is clear that the identity of a virtual advice-receiver is mainly constructed through linguistic forms, i.e., personal pronouns at the lexical level and the conditionals conveying subjunctive mood at the syntactic level.This identity is constructed to close the emotional distance between two parties, thus making it easier for the advice-receiver to accept what the advice-giver is suggesting.