| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Synopsis in Chinese | 第4-6页 |
| Contents | 第6-10页 |
| Abbreviations | 第10-12页 |
| Charts and Tables | 第12-15页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第15-21页 |
| ·Compliments: the Issue | 第15-17页 |
| ·This Thesis: a New Attempt | 第17-18页 |
| ·Research Method Adopted | 第18-19页 |
| ·Organization of the Present Thesis | 第19-21页 |
| Chapter 2 Theoretical Background: The Appraisal Framework | 第21-38页 |
| ·An Overview of the Appraisal Framework | 第21-24页 |
| ·Three Sub-theories of Appraisal | 第24-27页 |
| ·Attitude | 第24页 |
| ·Engagement | 第24-26页 |
| ·Graduation | 第26-27页 |
| ·The Subsystems Adopted: a More Detailed Description | 第27-38页 |
| ·The System of Affect | 第28-30页 |
| ·The System of Judgment | 第30-32页 |
| ·The System of Appreciation | 第32-35页 |
| ·Grading Attitudes | 第35-38页 |
| Chapter 3 Literature Review on Appraisal Framework and Compliments | 第38-51页 |
| ·Studies on Appraisal | 第38-42页 |
| ·Appraisal Applied to Media Discourse | 第39-41页 |
| ·Appraisal Applied to Autobiography and SLA | 第41-42页 |
| ·Relevance to the Present Study | 第42页 |
| ·Studies on Compliments | 第42-48页 |
| ·Compliment Formulas | 第43-45页 |
| ·Compliment Topic | 第45页 |
| ·Compliment as a Gender-preferential Strategy | 第45-46页 |
| ·Compliment Research Theories | 第46-47页 |
| ·Relevance to the Present Study | 第47-48页 |
| ·Theoretical Construct of the Present Research: Attitudinal Compliment Framework (ACF) | 第48-51页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Scheme: a Major Resource | 第48-49页 |
| ·Force Continuum: an Attendant Resource | 第49-51页 |
| Chapter 4 Research Questions and Methodology | 第51-59页 |
| ·The Present Research Question: Compliments under the Appraisal Framework | 第51-52页 |
| ·Subjects | 第52-53页 |
| ·Instruments and Materials | 第53-54页 |
| ·Research Procedures | 第54-59页 |
| ·Data Collection | 第55-56页 |
| ·Data Coding | 第56-59页 |
| Chapter 5 Compliment in English | 第59-80页 |
| ·Thoughts on the Classification of Compliments | 第59-60页 |
| ·A Single Compliment and a Complex Compliment | 第59-60页 |
| ·Exclusion of Non-compliment | 第60页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Framework of English | 第60-74页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Scheme | 第61-71页 |
| ·Affect | 第61-65页 |
| ·Judgement | 第65-68页 |
| ·Appreciation | 第68-71页 |
| ·Force Continuum | 第71-74页 |
| ·Functional-word Force Continuum | 第72-73页 |
| ·Lexical-word Force Continuum | 第73-74页 |
| ·Data Distribution | 第74-80页 |
| ·Data of Attitudinal Compliment Scheme: a Total Sketch | 第74-77页 |
| ·Data of Attitudinal Compliment Scheme: across Genders | 第77-78页 |
| ·Data Distribution of Force Continuum | 第78-80页 |
| Chapter 6 Compliment in Chinese | 第80-97页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Framework of Chinese | 第80-91页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Scheme | 第80-89页 |
| ·Affect | 第80-84页 |
| ·Judgement | 第84-88页 |
| ·Appreciation | 第88-89页 |
| ·Force Continuum | 第89-91页 |
| ·Functional-word Force Continuum | 第90页 |
| ·Lexical-word Force Continuum | 第90-91页 |
| ·Data Distribution | 第91-97页 |
| ·Data of Attitudinal Compliment Scheme: a Total Sketch | 第91-94页 |
| ·Data of Attitudinal Compliment Scheme: across Genders | 第94-95页 |
| ·Data Distribution of Force Continuum | 第95-97页 |
| Chapter 7 A Contrastive Study of English Compliments and Compliments in the Appraisal Framework | 第97-121页 |
| ·Cross-group Comparison | 第97-101页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Scheme Comparison | 第97-100页 |
| ·Functional-word Force Continuum Comparison | 第100-101页 |
| ·Cross-gender Comparison | 第101-106页 |
| ·Attitudinal Compliment Scheme Comparison | 第101-105页 |
| ·Functional-word Force Continuum Comparison | 第105-106页 |
| ·Further findings: Some Common Features of Compliment Language | 第106-107页 |
| ·Discussion on the Major Findings | 第107-115页 |
| ·Discussion of the Data Distribution: across Groups | 第108-113页 |
| ·Discussion about Attitudinal Compliment Scheme | 第108-111页 |
| ·Discussions about Functional-word Force Continuum | 第111-113页 |
| ·Discussion of the Data Distribution: across Genders | 第113-115页 |
| ·A Case Study of English and Chinese Compliment Language | 第115-121页 |
| Chapter 8 Conclusion | 第121-128页 |
| ·Summary of the Present Research and Major Findings | 第121-124页 |
| ·Compliment: a Classification from the Perspective of Functional Grammar | 第122-123页 |
| ·A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Compliment under the Appraisal Framework | 第123-124页 |
| ·A Case Study | 第124页 |
| ·Significance of the Research | 第124-125页 |
| ·Theoretical Implications | 第124-125页 |
| ·Empirical Significance | 第125页 |
| ·Limitations of the Present Research and Prospects for Future Work | 第125-128页 |
| Bibliography | 第128-134页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ: English Questionnaire | 第134-138页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ: Chinese Questionnaire | 第138-141页 |
| Appendix Ⅲ: Results of Part Two of the Questionnaire | 第141页 |
