| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract in Chinese | 第6-7页 |
| Abstract in English | 第7-9页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第9-11页 |
| ·Origin of the topic | 第9页 |
| ·Significance of research | 第9页 |
| ·Structure of the paper | 第9-11页 |
| Chapter 2 The Speech Act Theory and Thanking as a Speech Act | 第11-18页 |
| ·The Speech Act Theory | 第11-12页 |
| ·Indirect speech act | 第12-14页 |
| ·Types of speech act | 第14-15页 |
| ·Thanking as a speech act | 第15-18页 |
| ·Favor-act leads to thanking | 第15-17页 |
| ·Non-favor-act leads to thanking | 第17-18页 |
| Chapter 3 Review of the Related Literature | 第18-20页 |
| ·Thanking studies abroad | 第18页 |
| ·Thanking studies in China | 第18-20页 |
| Chapter 4 Methods of Study | 第20-21页 |
| Chapter 5 Linguistic Structures of Thanking | 第21-25页 |
| ·Sentence-level thanking | 第21-22页 |
| ·Using a declarative | 第21页 |
| ·Using an exclamation | 第21页 |
| ·Using a rhetorical question | 第21-22页 |
| ·Lexical-level thanking | 第22-23页 |
| ·Thanking as verb phrases | 第22-23页 |
| ·Thanking as noun phrases | 第23页 |
| ·Thanking as adverbial phrases | 第23页 |
| ·Conversation-level thanking | 第23-25页 |
| Chapter 6 Functions and Strategies of Thanking | 第25-35页 |
| ·Functions of thanking | 第25-27页 |
| ·Conveying thanking | 第25-26页 |
| ·Refusing | 第26页 |
| ·Satirizing | 第26-27页 |
| ·Attention-catching | 第27页 |
| ·Strategies of thanking | 第27-35页 |
| ·Giving a face | 第27-30页 |
| ·Categories of thanking strategies | 第30-35页 |
| ·Thanking directly | 第30-31页 |
| ·Thanking indirectly | 第31-35页 |
| Chapter 7 Factors Restricting Thanking | 第35-40页 |
| ·Subjective factors | 第35-37页 |
| ·Gender factors | 第35-37页 |
| ·Self-cultivation factor | 第37页 |
| ·Objective factors | 第37-40页 |
| ·Differences between Chinese and English | 第38-39页 |
| ·Differences between Chinese and Japanese | 第39-40页 |
| Chapter 8 Major Findings and Conclusions | 第40-43页 |
| ·Major findings of the research | 第40-41页 |
| ·Significance of the research | 第41页 |
| ·Limitations of the study | 第41-42页 |
| ·Recommendations for future studies | 第42-43页 |
| Notes | 第43-44页 |
| Bibliography | 第44-46页 |
| Published Articles by the Author | 第46-48页 |
