A Comparative Study of Complaint Speech Act Strategies between Chinese Marriage Immigrants and Korean Married Women

Objectives This study aims to examine how female marriage immigrants use complaint speech acts in everyday conversations and to compare and analyze the actual usage patterns of complaint strategies between Chinese female marriage immigrants and Korean female spouses. Methods To achieve this objective, data were collected in two phases. First, a preliminary survey was conducted with Korean and Chinese female spouses to identify nine real-life situations in Korean communication contexts that could trigger complaints. Following this, a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) survey was conducted to gather response data for each complaint situation. Based on the collected data, the usage patterns of individual strategies, combined strategies, and grammatical usage were analyzed. Results The analysis yielded the following results. In terms of individual strategy usage, both groups predominantly employed the ‘direct complaint’ and ‘indirect complaint’ strategies in complaint situations. However, the Chinese female marriage immigrant (NNS) group frequently used ‘sarcasm’ and ‘rhetorical questioning’ strategies, whereas the Korean female spouses (KNS) group tended to use ‘command’ and ‘situation explanation’ strategies more often. Next, the analysis of combined strategy usage revealed that the NNS group used combined strategies more frequently than the KNS group. However, when analyzing the combined strategies according to social status and the intensity of the complaint, it was found that the KNS group used a wider variety of strategies than the NNS group in most situations, except in equal status scenarios. Lastly, the analysis of grammatical usage showed that both groups most frequently used the ‘direct complaint’ strategy. However, the KNS group often used the form ‘-(으)ㄹ게요’ to express their intentions, while the NNS group showed a tendency to use ‘informal speech’ more frequently. Additionally, in the ‘indirect complaint’ strategy, the KNS group used the phrase ‘-(으)ㄹ/ㄴ/는 것 같다’ to express their assertions mildly, whereas the NNS group often used the phrase ‘-잖아요’ to emphasize their assertions more directly. Conclusions These differences stem from the distinct linguistic habits and cultural differences between the two groups. For instance, the development of honorifics in Korean, differences in child-rearing practices between Korea and China, and varying perceptions of dual-income households in Korean and Chinese societies contribute to these disparities. This study is significant in that it summarizes the commonalities and differences in complaint speech act strategies used by Chinese female marriage immigrants and Korean female spouses, and elucidates the reasons for these differences through an exploration of Korean and Chinese cultural differences.