《Differences in Politeness Principles Between Chinese and English Cultures英语论文》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Differences in Politeness Principles Between Chinese and English Cultures英语论文（12页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、Differences in Politeness Principles Between Chinese and English CulturesAbstract: politeness is universal but culturally specific.it shows different characteristics in different cultures.from the angle of cultural differences，this paper reviews chinese and western”politeness principles”put forward
2、by gu yueguo(顾曰国)and leech，intends to compare on some of the important differences on politeness between Chinese and western cultures. understanding the differences can avoid the pragmatic failures and achieve success in cross-cultural communication. It can also help English learners to develop and
3、improve their pragmatic competence.Key words：politeness principle Chinese culture English culture differences1、introductionwith the development of science and technology,communication among people from different countries and different cultures is more frequent and important.our world is multicultur
4、al.when we communicate with people from another culture,we are not only affected by the difference of language,but also disturbed by the difference of culture.to ensure a successful understanding and communication,we should pay attention to politeness,one of the most universal phenomena in intercult
5、ural communication.politeness,which is a symbol of human civilization,is a very important part of every national culture.it plays a key role in establishing and maintaining social harmony,and prescribing individualsbehaviors.people from different cultures may have different views on what politeness
6、is and how to be polite.in cross-cultural communication,some languages or linguistic expressions are considered to be polite,while others were found to be discourteous.differences of polite language exist in because of differences between oriental historical and cultural background,geographical envi
7、ronment and thinking manner.chinese and western cultures are two different types,they have their own different features and focus.2、the different definitions of politeness chinese and western culturesin the english-speaking culture and the western world in general,politeness has been closely related
8、 to the behavior typical of a certain social location and a certain social group. to be polite means to live up to a set of conventionalized norms of behavior (he zhaoxiong,1995:3).in modern chinese,the equivalent of politeness is limao, which is believed to have evolved in history from the notion o
9、f li(礼).li originally refers to the various rules or practices employed in ancient sacrificial rites.the ancient philosopher and thinker confucius advocates restoring li,which refers to the social hierarchy and order of the slave system of the zhou dynasty.it has ever since become an essential featu
10、re of the chinese notion of politeness and has remained at the core of politeness in the chinese culture.(he zhaoxiong, 1995:3-4)“after the analysis of the differences between chinese and english cultures,l.r.mao concludes that politeness refers to ideal social identity in the chinese culture and it
11、 refers to ideal individual autonomy in the english culture”. (朱玲麟. 2005, 3: 51）3、the differences between chinese and western politeness principles3.1 leechs western politeness principlein grices opinion,in all verbal communication,in order to achieve specific aims,there is a tacit understanding bet
12、ween the speaker and hearer,a principle that should be obeyed by speaker and hearer.he called this principle as the cooperative principle（cp）.there are four maxims in cooperative principle：quantity maxim,quality maxim,relevance maxim and manner maxim.（jiang wangqi，2000：38-40）but in real communicatio
13、n,in order to be polite or something else,the participants often flout the cooperative principle. however,the cp fails to give a reason why people are frequently indirect in expressing what they mean,so that they use implication.geoffrey leech(1983),the famous british linguistician, added and enrich
14、ed grices cooperative principle,proposed politeness principle (pp) to explain why people violate the cooperative principle (grice,1967) in conversations.he divides the politeness principle into six maxims,each consisting of two sub-maxims.they are as the follows:(1)tact maxima.minimize cost to other
15、;b.maximize benefit to other.(2)generosity maxima.minimize benefit to self;b.maximize cost to self.(3)approbation maxima.minimize dispraise of other;b. maximize praise of other.(4)modesty maxima.minimize praise of self;b.maximize dispraise of self.(5)agreement maxima.minimize disagreement between se
16、lf and other;b.maximize agreement between self and other.(6)sympathy maxima.minimize antipathy between self and other;b.maximize sympathy between self and other.”(leech, from he zhaoxiong,2003:534-535)leech notes that not all the maxims are equally important. “tact maxim is perhaps the most important kind of politeness in english-spoken society”3.2 gu yueguos chinese politeness principleleechs politeness principle is prop
