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1. Introduction
Presidential debates are defined as '' being surrounded by hype generated by candidates and media alike to capture the American attention and are extremely important events in the campaign for the presidency. “As a communicative strategy， Understatement is widely used in Presidential debates. In this paper， an brief introduction and a overall literature review as well as the gap and significance will be first provided， Then comes the research methodology with emphasis on theoretical approach and sample analysis. Finally ， we make a conclusion of this paper.
2. Research Methodology
2.1. Definition
Contextual Correlates Of Adaptability
According to Verschueren’s point of view， Contextual correlates of adaptability “potentially include all the ingredients of the communicative context with which linguistic choices have to be inter-adaptable” which consist of two categories， one is communicative context， whereas the other is linguistic context. As understatement is one of the communicative strategy， we just analyze it from the Communicative context， which，Furthermore， can be divided into the following parts ：
3. An Adaptive Analysis of Understatements in US presidential Debates
Samples：
CLINTON： He went on to say， "Look at her. I don't think so." About another woman， he said， "That wouldn't be my first choice." He attacked the woman reporter writing the story， called her "disgusting，" as he has called a number of women during this campaign. Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity， their self-worth， and I don't think there is a woman anywhere who doesn't know what that feels like. So we now know what Donald thinks and what he says and how he acts toward women. That's who Donald is.
TRUMP： And frankly， those stories have been largely debunked. And I really want to just talk about something slightly different.
Analysis：
Social World —gender equality， prevailing Feminism
Physical World—the exposure of Trump's scandal
Mental World—advocating gender equality/ the indignation towards Trump's behavior；
alleviating the audience' irritation
The communicative effects of Understatement here：
For the speaker—stating his/her opinion without arising other’s suspect； decreasing the face-threatening effect
To the opponent—arousing his neverseness； enhancing self-protection
To the audience— persuading them into believing Trump did show disrespect to women/ convincing them that Clinton rebuked him
4. Conclusion
The thesis explains Understatement in the three Presidential Debates between Clinton and Trump from the perspective of The Adaptation Theory， that is to say， first， we use Structural Objects of Adaptability to figure out the specific forms of Understatement； Then， we use mental world， social world， physical world， linguistic channel， seeking to find the pragmatic functions of Understatement in presidential debates.
6. Bibliography
1.Benoit， W. J. & Wells， W. T. 1996. Candidates in conflict： Persuasive attack and defense in the 1992 presidential debates [Z]. Tuscaloosa： University of Alabama Press.
2.Verschueren， J. 1987. Pragmatics as a theory of linguistic adaptation. Paper presented at The 2nd International Pragmatics Conference， Antwerp， Belgium.
3.胡尚田.試析英语辞格“低调陈述”[J].达县师范高等专科学校学报， 1999，9（1）：54-58
4.鞠红.论低调陈述修辞本质及语义特征，《外语教学》2004，（5）：23-26.
作者简介：李美华（1992.09.02—），籍贯：安徽，院校：上海对外经贸大学。
Presidential debates are defined as '' being surrounded by hype generated by candidates and media alike to capture the American attention and are extremely important events in the campaign for the presidency. “As a communicative strategy， Understatement is widely used in Presidential debates. In this paper， an brief introduction and a overall literature review as well as the gap and significance will be first provided， Then comes the research methodology with emphasis on theoretical approach and sample analysis. Finally ， we make a conclusion of this paper.
2. Research Methodology
2.1. Definition
Contextual Correlates Of Adaptability
According to Verschueren’s point of view， Contextual correlates of adaptability “potentially include all the ingredients of the communicative context with which linguistic choices have to be inter-adaptable” which consist of two categories， one is communicative context， whereas the other is linguistic context. As understatement is one of the communicative strategy， we just analyze it from the Communicative context， which，Furthermore， can be divided into the following parts ：
3. An Adaptive Analysis of Understatements in US presidential Debates
Samples：
CLINTON： He went on to say， "Look at her. I don't think so." About another woman， he said， "That wouldn't be my first choice." He attacked the woman reporter writing the story， called her "disgusting，" as he has called a number of women during this campaign. Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity， their self-worth， and I don't think there is a woman anywhere who doesn't know what that feels like. So we now know what Donald thinks and what he says and how he acts toward women. That's who Donald is.
TRUMP： And frankly， those stories have been largely debunked. And I really want to just talk about something slightly different.
Analysis：
Social World —gender equality， prevailing Feminism
Physical World—the exposure of Trump's scandal
Mental World—advocating gender equality/ the indignation towards Trump's behavior；
alleviating the audience' irritation
The communicative effects of Understatement here：
For the speaker—stating his/her opinion without arising other’s suspect； decreasing the face-threatening effect
To the opponent—arousing his neverseness； enhancing self-protection
To the audience— persuading them into believing Trump did show disrespect to women/ convincing them that Clinton rebuked him
4. Conclusion
The thesis explains Understatement in the three Presidential Debates between Clinton and Trump from the perspective of The Adaptation Theory， that is to say， first， we use Structural Objects of Adaptability to figure out the specific forms of Understatement； Then， we use mental world， social world， physical world， linguistic channel， seeking to find the pragmatic functions of Understatement in presidential debates.
6. Bibliography
1.Benoit， W. J. & Wells， W. T. 1996. Candidates in conflict： Persuasive attack and defense in the 1992 presidential debates [Z]. Tuscaloosa： University of Alabama Press.
2.Verschueren， J. 1987. Pragmatics as a theory of linguistic adaptation. Paper presented at The 2nd International Pragmatics Conference， Antwerp， Belgium.
3.胡尚田.試析英语辞格“低调陈述”[J].达县师范高等专科学校学报， 1999，9（1）：54-58
4.鞠红.论低调陈述修辞本质及语义特征，《外语教学》2004，（5）：23-26.
作者简介：李美华（1992.09.02—），籍贯：安徽，院校：上海对外经贸大学。