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Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 13:4 (2022) ► pp.625–643

The performance and relational role of toast intervention in Chinese dining contexts

 | Nanjing University
 | Nanjing University
This study explores the performance and relational role of toast intervention in Chinese dining contexts. The analysis of both interactional data and post-event interview data indicates that the detection of moral transgression and moral identification may outweigh the power relationship and social distance in the interactional practice, and that toast intervention, by default, is relationally constructive even in seemingly conflictive situations. As a complement to previous research on ritual communication, such as countering the heckler and bystander intervention which focus on genuine aggression, this study sheds light on the ritual act of toast intervention as ‘mock intervention’, which is a form of ‘mock moral aggression’ similar to ritual teasing. Thus, this study reveals the greater significance of moral identification compared to other contextual factors, and its role in explaining the relational consequences of toast intervention in Chinese dining contexts.
Keywords: ritual, ‘mock intervention’, moral identification, toast, toast intervention, Chinese dining context
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Toast intervention as a form of ‘Mock moral aggression’
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Detection of moral transgression as a trigger of toast intervention
  • 5.Relational consequences of toast intervention
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.19047.li
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