| 1 Introduction | 第1-15页 |
| ·Research Background | 第9-11页 |
| ·Theoretical Foundations | 第11-12页 |
| ·Purposes and Significance of the Study | 第12-14页 |
| ·Research Design | 第14页 |
| ·Organization of the Thesis | 第14-15页 |
| 2 Literature Review | 第15-29页 |
| ·An Overview of Speech Act Theories | 第15-16页 |
| ·An Overview of Politeness Theories | 第16-18页 |
| ·Studies on Politeness in Chinese Context | 第18-19页 |
| ·Studies on Compliment Responses (CRs) | 第19-24页 |
| ·Conversational Analysis Studies | 第19-21页 |
| ·Pragmatic Studies | 第21-22页 |
| ·Contrastive Studies | 第22-23页 |
| ·Sociolinguistic Studies | 第23-24页 |
| ·Limitations of Previous Studies | 第24-25页 |
| ·The Present Study: A Variation Perspective | 第25-29页 |
| 3 Research Methodology | 第29-39页 |
| ·Research Questions and Hypotheses | 第29页 |
| ·Defining the Variables | 第29-31页 |
| ·Research Instruments | 第31-34页 |
| ·The Discourse Completion Test (DCT) Questionnaire | 第31-33页 |
| ·The Interview | 第33-34页 |
| ·Subjects and Sampling | 第34-35页 |
| ·Data Collection | 第35-36页 |
| ·Data Processing | 第36-39页 |
| 4 Results | 第39-57页 |
| ·The Overall Distribution of CR Strategies | 第39-41页 |
| ·CR Strategies and Gender | 第41-47页 |
| ·CR Strategies: The Overall Distribution by Gender | 第41-42页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Gender within Age Groups | 第42-44页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Gender within Educational Level Groups | 第44-47页 |
| ·CR Strategies and Age | 第47-52页 |
| ·CR Strategies: The Overall Distribution by Age | 第47-49页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Age within Gender Groups | 第49-50页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Age within Educational Level Groups | 第50-52页 |
| ·CR Strategies and Educational Level | 第52-57页 |
| ·CR Strategies: The Overall Distribution by Educational Level | 第52-53页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Educational Level within Gender Groups | 第53-54页 |
| ·CR Strategies: Educational Level within Age Groups | 第54-57页 |
| 5 Discussion | 第57-70页 |
| ·Research Questions Revisited | 第57-66页 |
| ·Research Question 1: An Overview of CR Strategies | 第57-61页 |
| ·Research Question 2: CR Strategies and Gender | 第61-64页 |
| ·Research Question 3: CR Strategies and Age | 第64-65页 |
| ·Research Question 4: CR Strategies and Educational Level | 第65-66页 |
| ·Theoretical Implications | 第66-69页 |
| ·Variation Theory | 第66-67页 |
| ·Politeness Theory | 第67-69页 |
| ·Limitations and Suggestions | 第69-70页 |
| 6 Conclusion | 第70-72页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ The Coding Schemes for Chinese CR Strategies | 第72-77页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ The DCT Questionnaire | 第77-79页 |
| Appendix Ⅲ The Background Information Sheet | 第79-80页 |
| Appendix Ⅳ The Interview Questions | 第80-81页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第81-82页 |
| Bibliography | 第82-89页 |
| Article Published | 第89页 |
