Contents 总序 前言 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background Briefing 2 1.2 From Linguistic Manifestation to Social Transformation 6 1.2.1 Introducing Insurance Sales Discourse 7 1.2.2 Discourse System as the Overarching Framework 8 Chapter 2 Mechanism of the Chinese Insurance Sales, Data Collection and Analysis 10 2.1 Language, Friendship and Persuasion in Insurance Studies 10 2.1.1 Language and Friendship in Insurance Studies 13 2.1.2 Persuasion in Insurance Study 16 2.2 Theoretical Approaches 19 2.2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis 19 2.2.2 Identity Construction 22 2.3 Three Key Questions 26 2.4 Discourse System and Maxims of Friendship Engagement 27 2.4.1 Discourse System 29 2.4.2 Maxims of Friendship Engagement 33 2.4.3 Confucianism and Utilitarianism 35 2.5 Business Communication and Culture 41 2.5.1 The Chinese Business Culture 42 2.5.2 Guanxi 43 2.5.3 The Key Values of Facework and Politeness in the Chinese Society 48 2.6 Genre Analysis, Participation Framework and Guanxi 52 2.6.1 Genre Analysis: Communicative Purpose, Moves and Steps 53 2.6.2 Negotiation of Participation Framework through Guanxi 55 2.6.3 Frames, Footing and Contextualization Cues 59 2.6.4 Guanxi and Topic 61 2.7 Data Collection and Data Analysis 64 2.7.1 Data Collection and Transcription Conventions 65 2.7.2 The Sampled Location 67 2.8 The Research Procedure 69 2.9 Analysis Procedure 70 2.10 Summary 71 Chapter 3 Genre Analysis of the Insurance Sales Dialogues 73 3.1 Different Schools of Genre Analysis 73 3.1.1 Australian School 73 3.1.2 Narrative School 74 3.1.3 American School 75 3.2 Communicative Purposes 79 3.3 Moves and Steps 81 3.3.1 A Sample Analysis of Moves and Steps 82 3.3.2 Detailed Analysis of Moves and Steps 89 3.3.3 Introducing the Offer 99 3.3.4 Offering Incentives 102 3.3.5 Establishing Credentials 103 3.3.6 Other Moves 106 3.4 Summary 108 Chapter 4 Topic Management in Insurance Sales Dialogues 112 4.1 Introduction 112 4.2 Topic Management 112 4.3 Phatic Talk and Its Functions 113 4.4 Categories of Talk in Insurance Sales Interactions 116 4.4.1 Three Types of Talk 117 4.4.2 Friendship Talk 117 4.4.3 Institutional Talk 122 4.4.4 Task-oriented Talk 131 4.5 Summary 134 Chapter 5 Negotiation of Interactive Frames and Discourse Identities 136 5.1 Introduction 136 5.2 Negotiation of Frames and Discourse Identities in Different Types of Talks 136 5.2.1 The Context of the Interactions 137 5.2.2 Co-construction of Different Identities in Task-oriented Talk 138 5.3 Summary 161 Chapter 6 Epilogue and Discussions 165 6.1 Summary of Discursive Features, Frame Mediation and Discourse Identity 165 6.2 Discussions 166 6.2.1 Theoretical Framework, Analytical Framework, Analytical Concepts and Methodology 166 6.2.2 A Socio-cultural Perspective 170 References 174 Appendixes 193 Appendix I A Reconstructed Dialogue between an Insurance Sales Agent and a Prospective Client 193 Appendix II Questionnaire for Insurance Sales Agents 201 Appendix III Questionnaire for Clients 202 Appendix IV A Sample Answer to the Questionnaire from an Agent 203 Appendix V A Sample Interview of an Agent 207 Appendix VI A Sample Interview of a Client 208 Appendix VII Confession of an Agent 209 Index 213