摘 要本文主要从中英礼貌文化的起源及其内涵探讨中英礼貌用语的差异。礼貌是一种社会现象，由于文化价值差异及语用习惯的不同，人们对礼貌的理解和运用各不相同。中国文化强调人的社会性，集体精神，强调社会集体对人的约束。而英美文化则推出个人主义，讲究个人拥有不受他人干扰的权利和自由，个人利益神圣不可侵犯。礼貌用语主要通过以下几种形式出现，称谓语，感谢语，道歉语，问候语，祝福语等。受不同文化影响中英礼貌用语也存在差异，如果不了解中英礼貌用语的正确使用，在交际中可能会出现一些误解，影响具有两种语言背景的人们之间的交流。
毕业论文关键词：礼貌原则；对比研究；文化差异；礼貌用语21711
Abstract
This paper explores the polite language used in two different cultures. Politeness is a social phenomenon. Due to the differences of cultural values and conventions, people from different culture have different understanding about the definition of politeness. Chinese culture underlines human sociality and collectivity while English-speaking countries underline inpidual rights and freedom. Western people think inpidualism is the center of social life. Polite language is mainly expressed in the forms of address, appreciation, apology, greeting and congratulation. Due to the influence of different culture, Chinese and English polite language is different. If people don’t grasp the correct use of courtesy language, it will cause misunderstandings in interaction and influence the communication in two different linguistic backgrounds.
Key words: polite principle; contrastive study; cultural differences; polite language
A Contrastive Study of Polite Language in English and Chinese
Contents
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. Politeness principle 2
2.1 Leech’s Politeness Principle 2
2.2 Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory 3
2.3 Gu’s Politeness Model 4
III. Polite language in Chinese and English 5
3.1 Terms of address 5
3.1.1 Kinship Term 6
3.1.2 Non-kinship terms 7
3.2 Greeting 9
3.2.1 Purposes of Greetings 9
3.2.2 Contents of Greetings 9
3.2.3 Forms of Greetings 11
3.3 Congratulation 12
3.4 Appreciation and Apologies 13
IV.Values of English and Chinese Politeness 14
4.1 Values of Chinese politeness 14
4.1.1 Collectivism 15
4.1.2 Privacy 15
4.1.3 Non-assertiveness 16
4.2 Values of English Politeness 16
4.2.1 Inpidualism 17
4.2.2 Privacy 17
4.2.3 Assertiveness 17
V.Conclusion 17
Bibliography 19
Acknowledgements 1
I. Introduction
Due to different cultural backgrounds, Chinese and English polite languages are quite different.
To understand polite language, people should know politeness principle first. Many people have defined politeness from different aspects. B&L regard politeness as “a complex system for softening face-threatening acts”. There are many different politeness principles. In 1975, Grice proposed cooperative principle in his book logic and conversational. Then Leech put forward six politeness principles based on Grice’s cooperative principle in 1983.These six politeness principles include tact maxim, generosity maxim, modesty maxim, approbation maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. Leech’s politeness principle was recognized by the majority of the world’s scholars. In China, Chinese professor Gu Yueguo put forward Chinese politeness principle based on Leech’s politeness principle and B&L’s Face Theory. Now Gu’s theory is the standard of Chinese people’s action. Polite language is also a reflection of culture. Chinese politeness principles are influenced by Confucianism while English politeness principles are influenced by Christianity. 中英文礼貌用语比较研究:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_14056.html