THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND CHINESE CULTURE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF POLITENESS PRINCIPLE
Abstract: With the rapid development of science and technology, people from different countries and cultural backgrounds are making more and more communications. Thus more and more attention has been paid to what politeness is and how to be polite in cross-cultural interactions. Otherwise misunderstanding or even breakdown may occur frequently because of the cultural differences. In order to reduce the misunderstanding in interaction and improve the communication between Chinese and English, research into politeness is in need. This paper tires make a contrastive study of politeness principle to see the difference of English and Chinese culture. On the contrast of the Address term Maxim, Modesty Maxim, Tact Maxim, and Sympathy Maxim, we could have a good insight into the differences of culture between English and Chinese.
Through a contrastive analysis, we know that there are different in the communication between the different countries. Therefore, to have some awareness of cultural differences will be helpful to people from different cultures in gaining successful communication.
Key Words: Politeness Principle; culture; difference
从礼貌准则看英汉文化的差异
摘 要：随着科学技术的发展，不同国家和背景的人们之间的交流也越来越频繁。使得人们在跨文化交际中越来越注重自己的礼貌行为。否则，由于文化差异而引起的误解和交际失败就会不断出现。为了避免或尽量减少在跨文化交际中的误解，加强中英人们的交流，对于礼貌的研究是必需的。因此本文就中英两位学者的礼貌准则做一个对比研究，通过称呼准则，谦虚准则，得体准则和同情准则的对比，我们可以从中清楚的看到中英文化的不同之处。
从对比分析中不难发现，在跨文化交际中不同国家间的交流方式是有差异的。因此，了解文化差异有助于人们在跨文化交际中得成功。
关键词： 礼貌原则；文化；差异
CONTENTS
Introduction…………………………………………………………….1
1. Theories on Politeness……………………………………………….2
1.1 The Concept of Politeness……………………………………………………….2
1.2 Politeness Theories………………………………………………………………2
1.2.1 Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory……………………………………….3
1.2.2 Leech’s Politeness Principle (PP)………………………………………. 3
1.2.3 Gu Yueguo’s Politeness Principle……………………………………….6
2. A Contrastive Study of Politeness Principle in Chinese and English7
2.1 Terms of Address in Gu Yueguo’s Politeness Principle ……………………… .7
2.1.1 Kinship Terms in Chinese Society ………………………………………….8
2.1.2 Non-Kinship Terms in Chinese Society …………………………………….9
2.2 Modesty Maxim……………………………………………………………….11
2.2.1 Explanation for Modesty………………………………………………….11
2.2.2 Modesty and Self-denigration…………………………………………….11
2.2.3 Different Emphasizes on Modest………………………………………12
2.3 Tact Maxim……………………………………………………………………13
2.3.1 Tact Maxim in Leech's Politeness Principle……………………………….13
2.3.2 Tact Maxim in Chinese and English Society………………………………14
2.4 Sympathy Maxim……………………………………………………………….15
2.4.1 Sympathy for News………………………………………………………15
2.4.2 Attitudes to the Old……………………………………………………….15
3. Conclusion………………………………………………………16
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………17
Bibliography…………………………………………………………….18
