英汉语言对比研究

英汉语言对比研究 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计( 论文 政研论文下载论文大学下载论文大学下载关于长拳的论文浙大论文封面下载 ) 诚信申明 本人申明: 我所呈交的本科毕业设计(论文)是本人在导师指导下对四年专业知识而进行的研究工作及全面的总结。尽我所知，除了文中特别加以标注和致谢中所罗列的内容以外，论文中创新处不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包含为获得北京化工大学北方学院或其它教育机构的学位或证书而已经使用过的材料。与我一同完成毕业设计(论文)的同学对本课 题 快递公司问题件快递公司问题件货款处理关于圆的周长面积重点题型关于解方程组的题及答案关于南海问题 所做的任何贡献均已在文中做了明确的说明并表示了谢意。 若有不实之处，本人承担一切相关责任。 本人签名: 年 月 日 I 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) 英汉礼貌用语对比 分析 定性数据统计分析pdf销售业绩分析模板建筑结构震害分析销售进度分析表京东商城竞争战略分析 某某 英语专业 英语--班 学号 指导教师 摘 要 礼貌用语是我们生活中一个极其普遍而又不可或缺的社会现象，一个人的生存离不开与其他社会成员的交流，这也就揭示了交流的重要性。但是在沟通或交流中发生冲突，甚至交流失败也是难以避免的。因此，在交流中使用恰当的礼貌用语就显得非常重要了。礼貌用语是一种重要的交流策略和 方法 快递客服问题件处理详细方法山木方法pdf计算方法pdf华与华方法下载八字理论方法下载 。 礼貌用语与人们的生活紧密的联系着，同时也约束着人们的习惯。礼貌用语能够维持、增进人们之间的感情，它是一种常见的社会现象。在不同的社会中，它的意义和 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 也自然会存在着差异。简而言之就是在这个社会团体中认为礼貌的事情或许在另一个社会团体中就会被认为是荒唐或粗鲁的行为。 这样看来，文化的差异也必然会给交流带来阻碍。因此，研究中西方礼貌用语的差异具有重要的现实意义。本文将分析中西方礼貌用语差异，并通过礼貌用语的差异来揭示其不同的文化背景。从而提高人们跨文化交流的意识，减少跨文化交流中的尴尬。 关键词:礼貌用语 礼貌原则 文化 交际 II 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Courtesy Language Abstract Courtesy Language is a universal society phenomenon in our daily life, and it is very important for our life. We can not live without communication with each other, so communication is very important .On the other hand ,we also can’t avoid the failure of communication .It goes without saying that the success of communication depends on the proper courtesy Language .Scholars pay an attention to the subject of courtesy Language for a long time. The courtesy language is related to our daily life closely, it also constrains our habits. Courtesy language can keep and improve people’s relationship .but the courtesy language have the different meaning in different society, because the courtesy language is related to the culture closely. In different society the courtesy language was offered different meaning and standards. It’s to say that a thing that was believed polite in one society may become a rude thing in the other society. The cultural difference may become the obstacle of the cross-cultural communication, so we should learn the cultural difference between English and Chinese. This article aims to find out some differences between English and Chinese courtesy language to reduce the communicational obstacle. Key words: courtesy language politeness principle culture communication III 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Contents Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Research Background and the Value of Thesis ......................................3 1.1 Significance of This Research .............................................................................3 1.2 Different theoretical Researches ........................................................................4 1.3 Overview of the Thesis........................................................................................7 1.4 Purpose of the Thesis ..........................................................................................7 1.5 Methods of the Thesis .........................................................................................8 Chapter 2 English and Chinese Courtesy Language ...............................................9 2.1 Definitions of politeness in English and Chinese ...............................................9 2.2 Features of Courtesy Language .........................................................................9 2.3 Courtesy and Social Determinants ................................................................... 10 Chapter 3 Contrastive Study of Chinese and English Courtesy Language .......... 11 3.1 Terms of Address .............................................................................................. 11 3.2 Greetings ........................................................................................................... 13 3.3 Compliments ..................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Thanks and Apologies ....................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4 Cultural Root for the Differences ......................................................... 20 4.1 Modesty vs. Self-denigration ............................................................................ 20 4.2 Privacy vs. Attitudinal Warmth ....................................................................... 21 4.3 Individualism vs. Collectivism ......................................................................... 21Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 23 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 26 Acknowledgment .................................................................................................... 27 IV 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Introduction Due to different cultural backgrounds and purposes of research, people study language from different angles. There are already many researches about it both at home and abroad. Contrastive study is regard as an effective method of linguistic study. Contrastive Analysis (CA), as an inter-linguistic approach to the study of languages and a branch of linguistics, aroused great attention in the 1960s. As is known that all the people need to communicate with others and the courtesy language can help people get the success of communication. Courtesy language is a universal phenomenon, courtesy language is one of the important strategies and ways people adopt in interaction. This article aims to find out some differences between English and Chinese polite language to reduce the communicational obstacle. This paper intends to introduce the English and Chinese polite language. This paper will use different courtesy language examples to show the differences between English and Chinese courtesy language. This paper analyzes the differences from four aspects: terms of address, greetings, compliments, thanks and apologizes. Then this thesis goes on to explore the reasons why these differences exist. There are several reasons for the differences: the historical backgrounds, different cultural values, for example, modesty and self-denigration, privacy and attitudinal warmth, individualism and collectivism. It is hoped that this paper will bring better understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western politeness to reduce misunderstanding of international understanding. Courtesy Language is a universal society phenomenon in our daily life, but it is very important in our life. We can not live without communication with each other, so communication is very important .On the other hand ,we also can’ avoid the failure of communication .It goes without saying that the success of communication depends on the proper courtesy Language .Scholars pay an attention to the subject of courtesy Language for a long time. It is generally believed 1 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) that people will observe the certain principles when they communicate with each other. Grice put forward the Cooperative Principle and leech’s politeness Principle complement the Cooperative Principle .And then the Brown and Levinson’s “Face” theory gives a quite new explanation. They believed that politeness means various rational behaviors that the Model Persons take to maintain the “face” wants. All the Model Person not only need the positive “face”but the negative “face”, and the Model Persons also have the rationality, so they can choose the proper ways to satisfy the “face” wants. It is important for language learners and users to express courtesy language in the target language in order to improve the competence of cross-cultural communication. The cultural difference may become the obstacle of the cross-cultural communication, so we should learn the cultural difference between English and Chinese. This article aims to find out some differences between English and Chinese courtesy language to reduce the communicational obstacle. Although courtesy language is not necessarily expressed by language, courtesy language is very important for our communication. This article will make a contrastive analysis on courtesy language between English and Chinese. 2 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Chapter 1 Research Background and the Value of Thesis 1.1 Significance of This Research English and Chinese are very different language systems and they are very important, we should get a deeper understanding of them. Through this we can learn more courtesy languages; it will be good to our life and study. With the society developing rapidly, international connection is becoming more and more closer. As is known that polite languages play an important role in our cross-cultural communication. Language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social life. When it is used in context of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways. English and Chinese are bound up with different culture, so there are some misunderstandings between their communications. Study on it has a very important realistic meaning since the world’s connection is becoming more and more closer. In the modern society, English is so popular, we should learn more its cultural background, and the polite languages are one of the most important parts for our daily communication. What’s more, with the society developing rapidly, there are more and more contact between our country and foreign countries. But sometimes the different culture will cause the misunderstanding of communication. At beginning with the discussion of modern theories of polite speeches both at home and abroad, the paper deals in details with the achievements and differences in every theory concerning courtesy language. Through contrastive analysis of courtesy language between English and Chinese, there are many different aspects, such as terms of addresses; greetings; compliments; thanks and apologies. It shows that we can’t just use our 3 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) polite standard to communicate with the foreign people, so people should try their best to learn counterparts’ culture. And then we can improve our competence of cross-cultural communication. So the significance of contrastive study of courtesy language between English and Chinese is practical. 1.2 Different theoretical Researches 1.2.1 Leech’s politeness principle Leech’s politeness principle complements Grice’s CP. He thinks that people sometimes disobey Grice’s Cooperative Principle in order to express themselves politely in interaction. Therefore he puts forward the Politeness Principle and believes that it should be obeyed in communication. People often follow the PP in the daily conversation. Leech also explained why people like to follow the CP and PP in their conversation. The Leech believed that people express their ideas indirectly to satisfy others “face” wants. Leech’s politeness principle includes six categories of maxims as follows: 1. Tact Maxim a. Minimize cost to other b. Maximize benefit to other 2. Generosity Maxim a. Minimize benefit to self b. Maximize cost to self. 3. Approbation Maxim a. Minimize dispraise of other b. Maximize praise of other 4. Modesty Maxim a. Minimize praise of self 4 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) b. Maximize dispraise of self 5. Agreement Maxim a. Minimize disagreement between self and other b. Maximize agreement between self and other 6. Sympathy Maxim a. Minimize antipathy between self and other b. Maximize sympathy between self and other People often follow the six principles in our daily communication, and from these we can learn that people often satisfy others benefit to deal with the relationship. 1.2.2 Brown and Levinson’s Theory Brown and Levinson gave us another new explanation of politeness by using a set of fresh theory: --Face: which they seemed borrow its meaning from Chinese term “Mian zi”, refers to “public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself, and something that is emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained or enhanced must be constantly attended to in interaction”(1987.p.61). --Positive Face: the positive and consistent image people have themselves, and it desire for approval (p.61).A person desires his/her virtue to be noticed and admitted by the public. And a person wants his/her interest, desire and thought to be considered. --Negative Face: the basic claim of territories, personal preserves, and rights to non-distraction (p.61).A person wants to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded (1987:p.106). When people makes a request or gives an order , one intrudes into another people’s private territory. One should then make redress for such face-threatening act. --Positive Politeness: The redress for an FTA led to the addressee’s positive face, his perennial desire that his wants(or the actions/acquisitions/values resulting from them) 5 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) should be thought of as desirable(1987,p.101).The redress involves communicating the idea that the speaker wants similar to those of the addressee, bringing the two people metaphorically closer together. --Negative Politeness: redress led to the addressee’s negative face: his want to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded (1987, p.129). 1.2.3 Gu’s Politeness Model Chinese scholars began their studies of Pragmatics in the 1980’s and the touch of the western theories of Politeness made them focus on the study of Chinese Politeness. Among all the scholars with achievements we have Mr. Gu Yueguo and he pioneered their way into Chinese Politeness and put forwards their own principles in answering the problems of Chinese politeness. In the following paragraphs we will discuss their theories. Mr. Gu proposes 4 fundamental notions and 2 principle about the Chinese concept of Politeness: Four Notions: 1. Respectfulness: refers to self’s positive appreciation or admiration of other 2. Modesty: is a way of self-denigration, 3. Attitudinal warmth: involves self’s demonstration of kindness, consideration and hospitality to others. 4. Refinement: refers to self’s behavior to other which meets certain standards. Mr. Gu also suggests that there are two other basic principles when people utter polite words, which are sincerity and balance. Following Leech’s account of politeness, Gu puts forwards politeness maxims that are more applicable to Chinese culture: 1. Self-denigration Maxim (a. denigrate self; b. elevate other) 2. Address Maxim 3. Tact Maxim 6 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) 4. Generosity Maxim Chinese politeness is characterized by a tendency to denigrate oneself and respect the other. In the first maxim, the breaking of sub-maxim (a), i.e. to denigrate other, is regarded as impolite and rude, while the breaking of sub-maxim (b), to elevate self, is perceived as `arrogant,’ `boasting’ or `self-conceited’ (Gu, 1990:246) 1.3 Overview of the Thesis Due to different cultural backgrounds and purposes of research, people study language from different perspectives such as grammatical, social, cultural and so on. Contrastive study is regarded as an effective method of linguistic study. It aims to find out the similarities and differences between two different languages. The author tries to make a contrastive study of courtesy language between Chinese and English from cultural perspective. Courtesy language, as part of language, is a reflection of culture. Studies of politeness and courtesy language play an important role in linguistic study. A very important part of sociolinguistic study is to discuss the influence of social ethics and culture upon language. Politeness is a social phenomenon. Through the studies of politeness and courtesy language, people will understand the relationship between language and society clearer. 1.4 Purpose of the Thesis This article aims to find out some differences between English and Chinese polite language to reduce the communicational obstacle. This paper intends to introduce the English and Chinese polite language. This paper will use different politeness examples to show the differences between English and Chinese courtesy language. This paper analyzes the differences from four aspects: terms of address, greetings, 7 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) compliments, thanks and apologizes. Then this thesis goes on to explore the reasons why these differences exist. There are several reasons for the differences: the historical backgrounds, different cultural values, for example, modesty and self-denigration, privacy and attitudinal warmth, individualism and collectivism. At last, it is hoped that this paper will bring better understanding of the difference between Chinese and Western politeness to reduce misunderstanding of international understanding. 1.5 Methods of the Thesis As for the methodology, the author is trying to make a full use of Contrastive Analysis (CA) to show the differences between our mother tongue and English. The reason is quiet simple, the difference between these two languages will not be clearly revealed until they are under the clear contrastive analysis. E.g. from the contrastive analysis we find that the native English speakers say: “After you” while Chinese people say: “您先请 (you first please)”. From the contrastive study of the politeness strategies, their cultures and other factors influencing their ways of showing politeness, we can have a profound understanding of both languages and use them freely. On the other hand, this thesis introduces some cases indicating the interactions between these two languages in order to pioneer our way to work out what will happen when two languages coexist in the same community, and how they fight their way against each other to survive. 8 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Chapter 2 English and Chinese Courtesy Language 2.1 Definitions of politeness in English and Chinese Politeness is a very important subject of research in pragmatics and sociolinguistics. Many people have defined politeness from different perspectives. Apart from the complexity of politeness, this concept also has a long history of evolution. As far as back 1702, Theophrastus defined politeness as “a social behavior; a skill to be used to achieve specific aims; principal aim is enhancement of ego’s self-esteem and his/her public status in the eyes of others with supplementary aim of enhancing others’ self-esteem” (Watts, 1992). Actually, in the Victorian age, politeness was a sign of good breeding, and its function was to enhance one’s social standing and manifest the membership of a particular social class. During the past fifty years, many western researchers tried to give a definition to politeness. Leech (1983) interprets politeness as forms of behavior aimed at the establishment and maintenance of comity, i.e., the ability of participants in a socio-communicative interaction to engage in interaction in an atmosphere of relative harmony. Brown and Levinson (1978) view politeness as “a complex system for softening face-threatening acts”. 2.2 Features of Courtesy Language In spite of the various descriptions of the concept, some scholars have figured out 9 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) characteristics of politeness. According to Gino Eelen, the features of politeness involve (1) Evaluative, where he argues that politeness and impoliteness are connected to social values and always evaluative in nature, (2) argumentativity, meaning it is always associated with situations where there is something to lose or gain, (3) `polite’-ness, where he thinks that each individual considers himself and his cultural group as polite and others as impolite, (4) normativity, referring to the fact that politeness is the result of social norms, (5) modality and reflexivity, which refers to the optionality of polite interactional strategies for the actor (Hamza, 2001). In China, to address an elderly citizen as “grandpa” or “grandma” is a way of showing respect, while in the United States this would certainly be unacceptable and strange. That is exactly what points (1) and (3) mean. As for “argumentativity”, it describes the fact that speakers and hearers may gain or lose face when politeness is used. It is interesting to notice that when we offer compliments, congratulations or acknowledgements, the recipients always gain something. Reversely, the reason why some people do not like to make an apology is that they are afraid of losing face. Members of a society can choose to be courteous or not, but generally they try to be polite just to live up to the expectations and conventions of the society. They do things in line with the constraints imposed by social conventions. 2.3 Courtesy and Social Determinants When we speak, we must constantly make choices from different sets of politeness formula. Between close friends, questions like could you mind lending me the pen? It may sound rather unfriendly. If you speak to a person you do not know very well, this would seem more appropriate. Therefore, politeness strategies are variable from one occasion to another and the choices depend on a number of factors including the status, age and gender of the hearer, the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, the settings of the speech and the content of the message. 10 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Chapter 3 Contrastive Study of Chinese and English Courtesy Language 3.1 Terms of Address 3.1.1 Kinship Address Terms In Chinese, the juniors should not address the elders by their names directly but use the relative address, such as “爷爷(grandpa)，奶奶(grandma)，爸爸(dad)，妈妈 (mum)”, and so infant names. Husband and wife often call the other by name directly (especially for those old couples). They may call the other “老公(husband)，老婆 (wife)，老伴儿(husband or wife)”; in the countryside, couples like to use “孩子他爸 (husband)，孩子他妈(wife) ”. Among the peers, the younger shouldn’t call the elder by their full name directly. They should address the elders by using the relative addresses, such as “大哥(elder brother)，大姐(elder sister) ”, while the elder can call the younger by their names or addresses such as“亲爱的(darling)，宝贝(baby)，蜜糖 (honey)”, which are borrowed from English, and they are commonly used among young couples and some lovers as well. Compared with Chinese, terms of address in English are much simpler. For those who have relative relationship, as long as they are familiar with each other, the juniors can call the elders by their names directly. They usually address their parents “mum, dad, father, mother” and so on. In English, kinship term has only one simple class. For example, aunt includes “姑妈(father’s married sister), 姨(mother’s married sister), 伯母(wife of father’s elder brother), 舅 妈(wife of mother’s brother)”; uncle includes “伯父(father’s elder brother), 叔 (father’s younger brother), 舅舅(mother’s brother), 姑丈(husband of father’s sister), 姨夫(husband of mother’s sister)”; grandfather includes “祖父(grandfather) and外祖 父(maternal grandfather)”; grandmother includes “祖母(grandmother) and外祖母 11 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) (maternal grandmother)”; brother includes “兄(elder brother) and弟(younger brother)”; sister include “姐(elder sister) and妹(younger sister)”; cousin includes “堂 兄弟(sons of father’s brother), 堂姐妹(daughters of father’s brother), 表兄弟(sons of father’s sister or of mother’s brother or sister), 表姐妹(daughters of father’s sister or of mother’s brother or sister)”. Brother and sister make no distinction between the elder and the younger, and cousins make no distinction in age or gender, whether they are on the paternal side or on the maternal side. Nephew includes “侄子 (brother’s son), 外甥(sister’s son)”; niece includes “侄女(brother’s daughter), 外甥女(sister’s daughter)”. Grandfather and grandmother can be used as terms of address, but they are usually changed into the form as grandpa, grandma and granny. 3.1.2 Non-kinship Terms 1) Occupation or headship as terms of address In Chinese, people use headship terms to address others in order to show respect. Almost all the titles of technical posts can be used as terms of address, but terms like “工程师(engineer), 营业员(shop assistant), 医生(doctor), 护士(nurse), 律师 (attorney/lawyer)” are seldom used alone except that the addresser and the addressee are not familiar with each other. The structure of “surname+老” is often used as the respectful address to those famous figures in educational, cultural, military and political circles, such as张老，李老and so on. Sometimes the Chinese people plus headship to surname to show respect. Here are some examples: 王科长(Section Chief Wang)，刘市长(Mayor Liu)，胡总书记(General Secretary Hu)，刘医生(Doctor Liu)， 王教授(Professor Wang). In order to show respect, sometimes even if one is a deputy, people often call him omitting the word such as deputy/vice/assistant. For example,“李市长(Deputy Mayor Li)" can be addressed as“李市长(Mayor Li)”. But when the higher authorities talk to their subordinates, they often call them by their names directly to show consideration. In order to make addressing more convenient, people sometimes even simplify those addressing terms. For instance, “张导演 12 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) (Director Zhang) “ can be shortened to“张导”，“李工程师(Engineer Li) ”“李工”，“吴 大队长(Captain Wu)”“吴大”and so on. Some terms of address contain varied meanings.“小姐(Young lady/Miss)”, which was used as the respectful address to lady of a renowned family in the early age, turned into an address to woman from a bourgeois family with derogatory meaning in the early days of Liberation. But now it has become a common form of address to ordinary woman. And“老师 (teacher/professor)”used to be the address to those people who engaged in teaching. But now, it can be used to address those people who have prominent achievements in every occupation. 2) Common terms of address Common terms of address are those terms that can be extensively used to address any member in society of the same category, such as “志(comrade)，师傅(master)”“and so on. Terms“同志，师傅”can be used alone, or by putting terms of occupation ahead of them. Here some examples:营业员l司志(salesman)，司机师傅(driver),警察同志 (policeman). Surname or first name can also be used before “同志，师傅”.Then we have“王同志(Comrade Wang)，吴师傅(Master Wu)，刘桦同志(Comrade Liu Hua)”. In Chinese, full name can be used before “同志(comrade) ”, which is a very formal and serious usage. In English there aren’t such terms of addressing. 3.2 Greetings 3.2.1 Purposes of Greetings In general, there are three purposes: 1) To create or maintain a harmonious atmosphere As an everyday expression, the primary purpose of greetings is to share feelings or start a friendly relationship rather than exchanging information and ideas. In this case, participation is more important than the content of conversation. 13 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) 2) to cover the estrangement and uncomfortableness aroused by silence The basic impression of greeting is that to say is more important than what to say, because keeping silence may be considered to be the killer of harmonious relationship in many occasions, even be hostile to others. It is no doubt that greeting is a proper way to avoid silence especially in parties, conferences and so on. 3) To meet the psychological needs of the speaker and the hearer. 3.2.2 Contents of Greetings Greeting means a form of words or an action used on meeting someone for normal social relation and good friendship. The contents of greetings of the Westerners and the Chinese are different. Things connected with age, income, marriage, etc.They are taboos to the British and Americans. The following questions should be avoided in the interaction with the foreigners, especially at the first meeting: How old are you? /Are you married?/Where are you going?/How much is your income?/How much does your husband give you every month?/How much did you pay for that car?/Where did you buy the dress?/Are you single or married? and so on. When the British and Americans want to know the other’s age, they usually employ guess. If the other is willing to tell them his age, they often pay a compliment to him that he looks younger than that. The British and Americans prefer to talk about weather when meeting, for example, “It is a nice day, isn’t it?” Foreigners are often amused that the English spend so much time discussing the weather. The reason of this is not simply that the weather is interesting and variable, but that the English are reluctant to converse about personal matters with people who are not friends, and mentioning the weather can be a useful and inoffensive way of starting a conversation with a stranger. Close friends usually say “hello/hi”, formally “Good morning/Good 14 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) afternoon/Good evening”. Other greetings in common use are “How do you do?/How are you?/How are things going?/How are you getting on?/How are things with you?/How is everything with you?/How is your family?” and so on. 3.2.3 Forms of Greetings Both English and Chinese have two forms of greetings. 1) Term of Address Greeting The order of the two parts in English is opposite to that in Chinese. In English, greeting is in front of term of address. For example, “Hi, Tom!/Good morning, Smith.” In Chinese, term of address goes first, e.g.“小李，去哪啊?(Mr. Li where are you going)”/“老王，在忙啊?(Mr. Wang, are you working)” The Chinese stress the status of people, so they put term of address first; the westerners emphasize the equality, so they put greeting first which they think is more important. 2) Only Greeting It is common in both English and Chinese, such as “Morning/Hello/Hi!”and“早 啊!(Morning)” There is another unique way in Chinese to greet, that is to use term of address only, for example, a student addressing his teacher by“老师”is the same as “Good morning, sir”.“老师”is regarded as a greeting in this case. 3.3 Compliments 3.3.1 Functions of Compliments The different functions and distributions of compliments in English and Chinese. When it comes to the function of compliments in discourse, Wolfson and Manes also make in-depth investigation. They claim that the function of a compliment is to negotiate solidarity with the addressee. In Wolfson’s words, “compliments serve to produce or to reinforce a feeling of solidarity between speakers. Compliments also 15 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) serve other functions: they are used in greeting, thanking, and apologizing, or even as substitutes for them. They also serve a way of opening a conversation” (Wolfson,1981:123).In short, compliments are expressions of good will and solidarity. According to Chinese scholars’ research, there exist similarities as well as differences in regard to the functions of compliments. Chinese compliments can also make the hearer feel good and express complimenter’s appreciation to hearers. This function is common in both languages and it is the main function that compliments perform in social interactions. When compliments occur between status non-equals, Chinese compliments serve other functions. Differences in functions are conducive to explaining the different distributions of compliments in English and Chinese. Wolfson generalizes that in English the compliments mainly occur among status equals or people of similar age. She thinks that people do not worry about intimate relationship, nor totally strange relationship. Therefore, in order to deal well with the status equals and people of similar age who are neither close nor strange, American people resort to offer more compliments to reinforce the social links with those people. By far the greatest number of compliments is paid between those of equal status (Wolfson,1981)(Zu Xiaomei, 2000:108). In the Chinese culture, people worry about relationship with superiors rather than with status equals. Chinese society is hierarchical and powerful people may affect the life and even fate of their subordinates. With an intention to leave a good impression on superiors, status-inferiors may try to grasp every chance to offer compliments to higher-status persons. To sum up, compliments occur more frequently among status non-equals in Chinese in comparison with the dense distribution among status equals in American English. The differences in distribution echo the different functions of compliments in English and Chinese. 3.3.2 Responses to Compliments The different responses to compliments in English and Chinese.The differences in compliment responding between English and Chinese are also noteworthy. Generally 16 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) speaking, English speakers tend to accept the compliments while the Chinese speakers prefer to reject them. We should not go to extremes to think that stereotyped acceptance as “Thank you” and rejection like “Nali Nali哪里哪里”can encompass all compliments responding strategies existing in English and Chinese. The responding system is far more complex than we imagine. Pomerantz, who is a pioneering researcher in compliment responses, reported a wide range of response types. Building on her preliminary research, Herbert summed up twelve types of compliment responses in American English as follows (Herbert, 1986: 78, 86, and all the examples are taken from the Appendix to his article): 1 .Appreciation Token, which is a verbal or nonverbal acceptance of the compliment. Female,:I really like that shirt. Female2: Thanks. 2. Comment Acceptance, in which a single speaker accepts the complimentary force and offers a relevant comment on the appreciated topic. Females:I like your hair long. Femalez: Me too. I’m never getting it cut short again. 3. Praise Upgrade, in which the speaker accepts the compliment and asserts that the complimentary force is insufficient. Female,:Well, you have a great haircut. FemaleZ: That’s because I have the greatest hairdresser in the world. Female,:Who? FemaleZ: Me. 4. Comment History, in which the speaker offers a comment (or series of comments) on the object complimented; these comments differ from 2 above in that the latter are impersonal, i.e. they shift the force of the compliment from the speaker. Female: That’s a cute shirt. Female2: Every time I wash it the sleeves get more and more stretched out. 5 .Reassignment, in which the speaker agrees with the compliment assertion,which is transferred to some third person or to the object itself, Female1: That’s a beautiful necklace. 17 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Female2: It was my grandmother’s. 6. Return, in which the praise is shifted or returned to the first speaker. Females:I like your shirt, Sharon. Femalez: Thanks, Deb. I like yours too. Let us look at more interesting examples of Chinese responses to compliments from daily interlocutions observed by the writer: Situation 1:Two Chinese colleagues, one is a professor, the other is a working staff. Here is the compliment interaction between them taking place in a department office. A: “ B教授，你今天晚上要给CEO们上课吧?” (T: Professor B, you will offer lessons to the CEOs tonight, won’t you?) Professor:“对，我六点给他们上课.”(T: Yes, I will offer them lessons at 6pm). A:“你真是我们系的急救队员。没人能上的课你就顶上去上。也只有你能上得了 这个课。” (T: You are really the rescuer for our department. You always offer some high-level lessons if we are lack of professors. Only you have the qualification to teach them). Professor:“哪里，有水平上这课的多着呢! (T: No, actually many teachers are capable of providing this lesson.)” In the Chinese culture, when the compliments are about complimentees’ ability or achievements, hearers of compliments still tend to denigrate themselves. The differences in compliments and compliments responding reveal the different politeness conceptions in the two cultures. 3.4 Thanks and Apologies The Chinese usually say“谢谢/感谢/多谢”to express appreciation, which is in accordance with “Thank you” in English. There is an obvious distinction between the two languages.“谢谢”in Chinese is mainly used to strangers or unfamiliar friends, and 18 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) it is seldom used among the family, relatives or those who are considered to be one’s pals. While in English "Thank you”“ has not any limitations, and can be used between father and son, the senior and the junior, as long as one does something for the other. The Chinese do not think it is necessary to say“谢谢”if what the other did for them belongs to the common job. The British and Americans are bound to say “thank you” to the other no matter what he did for them. For example: 1) “Had a good flight?” “Not at all bad, thank you.” 2) “You are a beautiful woman.” “Thank you.” 3) “And your name, sir?” “John.” Thank you. We will see you tomorrow at 8, then.” Apologies in common use in English include "Excuse me, I am sorry, Sorry to trouble you, Sorry to…，It is my own fault, I hope you will forgive me this time, I apologize to you for…，I beg your pardon, I really regret for what I have done, I am remorseful for it “ and so on. Apology in Chinese includes“对不起，失礼了，失陪，失敬，抱 歉，不好意思，打扰了”and so on. There is not any distinction between the usages of apology of the two languages, whose purpose are both to comfort others by apologies. 19 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Chapter 4 Cultural Root for the Differences 4.1 Modesty vs. Self-denigration It is universally acknowledged that to be modest is a way to show politeness. But how people in different cultures observe modesty is largely a matter of degree. The Chinese equivalent of “modesty” is qianxu, whose cultural connotation is quite different from that of the word in English culture in many ways: Chinese qianxu involves putting down oneself and elevating others while “modesty” as Leech’s PP puts, is to avoid self-praise; Chinese qianxu remains at the core of Chinese politeness while “modesty” is not so valued by English speakers; qianxu is regarded as a virtue of self-cultivation, which servers as the foundation on which Chinese politeness is built whereas “modesty” functions as a strategy of minimizing self-praise. To English people, they tend to introduce themselves to start with their names rather than ask the other party’s name whereas this similar situation demands mutual introduction among Chinese speakers, in other words, the Chinese tend to introduce each other getting to know each other’s names. To sum up, “modesty” in English culture stresses other-elevating, but not necessarily. And very rarely self-denigrating and other-elevating, but with a more stress on self-denigrating. To denigrate the self is aimed to show precisely self-denigration, encompassing respect to the respectfulness other. Chinese modesty or more and humility has long been a well-established tradition and a highly valued virtue in Chinese culture. It has been as the core of the Chinese notion of politeness for more than two thousand years. 20 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) 4.2 Privacy vs. Attitudinal Warmth Privacy is valued in all cultures but it is more highly regarded in English culture than in Chinese culture. The perceptions of “privacy” in two cultures are quite different. What is considered as a polite act in Chinese culture might be viewed as an intrusion upon one’s privacy by English speakers. Chinese culture attaches great importance to human feelings and interpersonal relationships. According to Chinese conventions, to show attitudinal warmth for others is considered as polite behavior. Therefore, it is customary that Chinese people initiate their conversation by asking about each other’s age, marital status, occupation and even income when they meet each other even for the first time. To Chinese asking all these questions is undertaken to show concern for others and will shorten distance between themselves and their interlocutors. Thus, harmonious relationship is maintained. But this conflicts with the English conception of individual privacy. This does not mean that Chinese people have no privacy, but implies that their conception of privacy is quite different from that in English culture. In Chinese culture, the connotation of privacy is not so wide as it is in English culture since the English notion of privacy is related to one’s everything and is sacred. Rather, Chinese privacy denotes one’s personal “bad things” in that their exposition to others will cause the loss of one’s self-esteem. 4.3 Individualism vs. Collectivism English culture is characterized by individualism and Chinese culture characterized by collectivism. Individualism is characterized by individuals’ subordinating the goals of collectives to their personal goals. The major characteristic of individualism in the English culture is “I” consciousness and self-orientation: competition rather than cooperation is personal goals take precedence over group goals; people tend not to be encouraged; Emotionally dependent on organizations and institutions; and every individual has the right to own his or her privacy, thoughts and opinions. These 21 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) cultures stress individual initiative and achievement, and they value individual decision-making. In a culture where individualism is highly valued, people are expected to take the initiative in advancing their personal interests and wellbeing. Collectivism is characterized by individuals subordinating their personal goals to the goals of some collectives and by a rigid social framework that distinguishes between in-group and out-group. People expect their in-group relative, clans, and organizations to look after them and in exchange for that they feel they owe absolute loyalty to the group. Collectivism in the Chinese culture is “we” consciousness and collectivity-orientation. It values interdependence and considers individual aggressive behavior negatively. Group achievement is emphasized, and a harmonious in-group interaction is the goal. Collectivism is the core of Chinese culture. And naturally, Chinese politeness manifests many collectivistic features. The stress on social harmony explains the Chinese emphasis on placing social needs before individual needs. This need for social harmony is a very important aspect of the psychological reality with a perceived need to reduce tension, to reduce uncertainty and to maintain harmony between interactants. Politeness is after all a very basic part of social heritage. 22 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Conclusion This paper aims to draw a contrastive analysis on politeness formulae between English and Chinese. Firstly, a review of the fundamental politeness theories is made, and then two variables, namely, contexts of situation and culture that influence the use of politeness formulae, are elaborated. In the end, under the analysis of the two variables, a contrastive study on greetings and responding to compliments is carried out. The following are some points that have been summed up. Contexts of situation and culture play the same role in influencing the use of politeness formulae. “We learn what things mean from our culture and individual up-bring” (O’ Connor and Seymour 1990: 131) (Katan, 2004: 73). Through comparing the theories of different scholars, the author hereby combines culture variables to analyze the differences of two speech acts: greetings and responding to compliments between English and Chinese. Context of situation, just as cultural factors, also influences the use of politeness formulae. It is commonly known that the Chinese people are rather indirect in communication. However, this notion has to be reconsidered in context. Take the greetings for example, Chinese people prefer to show their concern and warmth by enquiring the personal matters when greeting the others, such as“你去哪里ni qu na Ii”,“吃饭了吗chi fan le ma”. That is because China belongs to a collective culture. “Collectivism means putting great emphasis on the views, needs, and goals of the in-group rather than oneself.” (Samovar and Porter, 2000:68). To Chinese people, asking about personal matters is not considered as a high imposition. However, the westerners would be confused or even angry when being greeted in this way, for the cultural pattern of the western countries is individualism which emphasizes personal rights and privacy greatly. Any behavior that seems to interfere with their privacy 23 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) would be considered impolite or even rude. Even the family members should show respect for the personal tights and privacy of each other. Individual rights and equality is highly valued in the western cultures. There is an exception in Chinese culture. That is, in some cases, China is the pattern of low relations. In certain fields such as service field, the customer and the sales assistant do not expect further contact in future, and to serve the customer is considered the duties of the sales assistant traditionally, so bold-on-record strategy from the customer to the shop assistant is preferred, such as“来包烟lai bao yan”,“拿 支笔na zhi bi”. However, in the westerners’ eye, the behavior has threatened the negative face of the hearer and would be avoided in communication. As we can see, when these two quite different cultures contact with each other, communication problems are sure to arise. Especially nowadays the cross-cultural communication has become so commonplace, and people in different countries are eager to know each other. The language learners often transfer their mother tongue into the target language, which may cause misunderstandings if the politeness principles are ignored since politeness formulae in second language are also strongly influenced by the speaker’s native language. In order to improve the cross-cultural communication competence and enhance the cross-cultural awareness, we should acquire a good understanding of the culture connected with the target language closely . Many people propose that communication competence should be improved and enhanced during the process of English teaching. And also much effort has been made in this field. First, language learners should be more exposed to the target culture. They should find every way to learn and use English in daily communication, or it is impossible to master it in a short time without practice. Second, we should create authentic social situations where the language is used by the native speakers. We should not only learn grammar, syntax and lexicon, but also the cultural components such as the ideas, values and other aspects of the target culture, for culture and language are just like two sides of one coin. The acquisition of the 24 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) knowledge of culture should also be considered as an important aspect of language learning. Improving the communication competence requires a good knowledge of the target culture, which helps us to communicate smoothly and successfully in cross-cultural exchanges. 25 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Bibliography [1] Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English [M].oxford:Oxford University Press,1980:336. [2] Leech G.N. Principles of pragmatics [M].London:Longman,1983:104. [3] 陈融，英汉礼貌用语[J],1979:75 [4] 汉语大词典编辑委员会. 汉语大词典[M]. 北京:世纪出版集:汉语大词典出版社，2000: 574-576. :75 [5] 辞海[Z],上海:上海辞书出版社，1979 [7] Searle J.Speech Acts[M].Cambridge:CUP,1969:83 [8] Thomas J.Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Failure[J].Applied Linguistics,1983(4):2 [9] Kasper G. Linguistic politeness: Current Research Issues[J]. Journal of Pragmatics,1990(14):47 [10] Watts H. &Ehlich K. Politeness in Language:Studies in Its History, Theory and Practice[M]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter,1992:45 [11] 胡文仲， 文化与交际[M]， 北京:外语教学与研究出版社，1994:76-127 [12] 杜学增，中英文化习俗比较[M]， 北京:外语教学与研究出版社，2001. [13] 钱厚生，英汉问候语告别语对比研究[M]，北京: 商务印书馆，1996.. [14] Brown P. & Levinson S. Universals in language usage: Piliteness phenomena [A]. in E. Goody(ed.), Questions and Politeness[C].Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978:56-289. [15] Brown P. & Levinson S. Piliteness:Some Universals in Language Usage [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978. [16] Grice H.P. Logic and Conversation [A]. in P. Cole and J.L. Mogan(eds) Syntax and semantic 3: Speech Acts[C]. New York: Academic Press, 1975:41-58. 26 北京化工大学北方学院毕业设计(论文) Acknowledgments I would like to express my thanks to all the people who have given me generous help and valuable suggestions in the past four years. Firstly, I am grateful to my respected supervisors Ms. Zhangjing , whose guidance and advice have ensured the accomplishment of this thesis. She not only read through each draft of my thesis again and again, but also provided me with precious materials about the topic. Her valuable suggestions gave me a lot of inspirations to finish my thesis, and I have been deeply moved by her constant and unselfish encouragement and help. Thanks also should go to all the authors of the references. Without them, I could not have any achievements. I would also like to express my great appreciation to my colleagues and classmates. Their inspiriting ideas and friendly encouragement and support helped me greatly. 27