Ostensible invitations in Chinese – A pragmatic perspective

In this study, we examine ostensible invitations in Chinese, i.e. cases where an interactant invites the addressee to an event when both participants are aware of the fact that the invitation is not a real one. In order to identify pragmatic similarities and differences between ostensible and genuine invitations, we compare two corpora of naturally-occurring online exchanges on WeChat, including 70 ostensible and 70 genuine invitations. Our analysis shows that ostensible invitations in our data tend to be indicated by formulaic expressions and realised in typically ritual ways through which the inviter displays her goodwill. We hope to fill a knowledge gap because previous studies have mostly investigated ostensible refusals of invitations in Chinese rather than ostensible invitations. We also hope to contribute to previous research on ostensible invitations, by revisiting the seminal study of Isaacs and Clark (1990), which has either been applied as a departure point for investigating ostensible invitations in non-Western linguacultures, or has been entirely dismissed on cultural grounds. We propose a middle ground between these views, by following a bottom-up approach to ostensible invitations and using a system which combines ritual, expressions, speech acts and interaction.