關于中西方禮貌的英語畢業(yè)論文

1、<p>　　The Comparative Analysis of Politeness between Chinese and English</p><p>　　Abstract: This paper holds the view that the concept of politeness varies in differen

2、t cultures. The concept of politeness in the Chinese culture is closely tied with ethics and moral standards. But in the English culture, the concept of politeness exists only in the immediate context that involves two c

3、onflict parties. Thus Chinese people have a different interpretation of what counts as a face-threatening act and what does not. Chinese modesty, which can be seen as another way of saying self-d</p><p>　　Ke

4、y Words: Politeness; face; difference; reason; principle</p><p>　　1. Introduction</p><p>　　What exactly is politeness? In one sense, politeness can be viewed as deviation from maximally efficien

5、t communication. To perform an act other than in the most clear and efficient manner possible is to implicate some degree of politeness on the part of the speaker. Politeness allows people to perform many inter-personall

6、y sensitive actions in a no threatening or less threatening manner. As a result, what is thought of as an act of politeness in the Chinese culture might simply be regarded as an</p><p>　　2. The Definition of

7、 Politeness</p><p>　　Politeness is what people of different cultural background all try to observe and maintain. As a social phenomenon, politeness is something superficial. To account for what is perceived

8、at the surface we should delve into the depth where different cultural values are rooted. In China, the equivalent of politeness is limao, which is believed to have evolved in history from li (the rules of proper conduct

9、, the analects) advocated by the ancient Chinese philosopher and thinker Confucius who lived i</p><p>　　In Chinese culture, to address one's interlocutor is not simply a matter of uttering some sounds to

10、 draw the interlocutor's attention. A failure to use an appropriate address term is a sign of rudeness or a signal of breakdown of established social order. Address terms can be said to be the manifestations of power

11、 or solidarity relationship. The Chinese social structure is basically hierarchical or vertical in nature and the principle of仁and禮help reinforce the vertical relationship by advocating</p><p>　　3. Deep-root

12、ed Reasons for the Differences of Chinese and English Politeness in Cultural Background</p><p>　　As we have mentioned before, value is the different views and attitudes of people regarding the matter. China

13、is a traditional agricultural economy society, it is said that Chinese cultural system emphasized the collectivism and authoritative character, using the natural value orientation. The Chinese nation has insists that the

14、 heaven and human units as the harmonious one. Han nationality affected by Confucian ideas is modest, introverted and conservative. Because of historical influence, Chine</p><p>　　Generally speaking, western

15、ers use politeness maxims less frequently than Chinese people. It can be attributed to two differences between Chinese and Western society</p><p>　　Firstly, "Western society highly promotes egalitariani

16、sm while Chinese society attaches more importance to hierarchy. The social relationship between Westerners is informal and they are most comfortable with their social equals. The importance of social rankings is minimize

17、s in such a society" Differently, the social relationship between Chinese people is formal and they are most comfortable in the presence of a hierarchy in which they know their position and the rules for behavior in

18、 the situat</p><p>　　Secondly, Western people have a self-centered culture while Chinese people embrace an others-oriented culture. In other words, "Western society is individualistic whereas Chinese so

19、ciety is collectivist. In the former one, higher value is placed on self-reliance and `freedom' from externally imposed constraints and self-promotion is more accepted". By contrast, in the latter one, higher va

20、lue is placed on group cooperation and interpersonal harmony is given the top priority. Modesty is just a ma</p><p>　　Thus, comparatively speaking, Chinese people have more opportunities to meet each other i

21、n the neighborhood, at school, and at work, etc, for which it is more important to keep a harmonious relationship with each other. Therefore, it stands to reason that Chinese people are used to expressing their opinions

22、in a periphrastic way and avoiding conflicts as much as they can.</p><p>　　4. The Representations of Politeness between Chinese and English</p><p>　　4.1 English Modesty and Chinese Self-denigrat

23、ion</p><p>　　It is universally acknowledged that to show modesty is a way to be polite. But how this maxim is adhered to in different cultures is very much a matter of degree. The difficulty here is how to i

24、nterpret the different connotation of Chinese謙虛and Leech's modesty in his Modesty Maxim. They are different in several ways:</p><p>　　(1) Chinese謙虛is to put down self and to build up other; Modesty in th

25、e PP is to avoid self-praise.</p><p>　　(2) Chinese謙虛is the core of Chinese politeness; Modesty Maxim is not as important as the other maxims in Leech's PP.</p><p>　　(3) Chinese謙虛is a virtue

26、of self-cultivation which is the foundation of Chinese politeness; English "modesty" is a strategy of minimizing praise of self. Self-denigration is to put down or denigrate while referring to self or self-rela

27、ted things and to elevate or respect others or other-related things. Self-denigration and other-elevation remains at the core of modern conception of禮貌in China. The reason of denigrating self is to show respect to other.

28、 Its essential characteristic is mutual respe</p><p>　　4.2 Direct Communication and Indirect Communication</p><p>　　Westerners tend to assume that Communication is better when everyone involved

29、knows exactly what is going on, and they assume that the best way to know that is to say it in words. They are generally polite according to their own standards, but they also value directness and think the best way to h

30、andle a sensitive situation is to give complete information in a direct (and hopefully gentle) way. Westerners also tend to assume that everyone else in the world is equally committed to directness. Whe</p><p&

31、gt;　　Chinese prefer the use of a direct bald on-record strategy in most face-to-face interactions. The preference for on-record rather than off record strategies shows that Chinese speakers as a group prefer a level of d

32、irectness that is in keeping with their emphasis on clarity, explicitness and upfront sincerity in daily face-to-face requisites. From the above discussion, we can see that whether the Westerners or the Chinese are more

33、direct or indirect depends on the specific speech acts.</p><p>　　4.3 English Concept of Privacy and Chinese Concept of Attitudinal Warmth</p><p>　　Privacy is valued in all cultures, but it is mo

34、re highly valued in the English culture. Members of individualistic cultures tend to engage in environmental control to assert their unique identity and to claim private space than members of collectivistic cultures do.

35、The Chinese attach great importance to mutual care, which is equally important as modesty. For example, the Chinese sometimes like to make direct comments on some personal matters or to give direct advice to show concern

36、 for other's </p><p>　　4.4 English Individualism and Chinese Collectivism</p><p>　　Individualism is characterized by individuals subordinating the goals of collectives to their personal goal

37、s. The major characteristic of individualism in the English culture are "I" consciousness and self-orientation: competition rather than cooperation is encouraged; personal goals take precedence over group goals

38、; people tend not to be emotionally dependent on organizations and institutions; and every individual has the right to his or her private property, thoughts and opinions. These cultur</p><p>　　Collectivism i

39、s 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,

40、 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

41、 values interdependence and considers individual aggress</p><p>　　In the Western culture, the primary goal of every individual is to satisfy his personal needs and to maximize his personal comfort; every act

42、 that brings one in contact with other people might be regarded as an imposition. However, in the Chinese society, hospitality and regard for the collective good or other people's benefit make such acts as offering,

43、inviting, thanking, complimenting and greeting typically polite speech acts. This is not to imply that some of these acts never cause inconveni</p><p>　　Different cultural values determine the ways of commun

44、ication. However, the choice of language is also influenced by the immediate context such as the relative power, distance between the interactants and the rank of imposition of the speech act.</p><p>　　4.5 D

45、ifference in Compliment between Chinese and English Politeness</p><p>　　Compliment is part of appreciation, since "approbation maxim is meant to maximize praise of the hearer, compliment has the similar

46、 function, which is established and maintained social `rapport' and harmony between the speaker and addressee". Although in Chinese, approbation is not listed separately as a maxim, it appears in daily conversat

47、ion frequently. But the same approbation or compliments may have different implications in different cultures. Some complimenting behaviors enhancing others' p</p><p>　　Firstly, in English culture it is

48、considered polite to praise a female's beauty and costumes in public while in Chinese culture it is considered inappropriate. In Chinese and English cultures, when a man praises a woman on her beauty or costumes, the

49、re will be totally different responses on the part of the woman. Besides, in English culture, it enhances the hearer's positive face but in Chinese culture it impairs the hearer's negative face. While compared wi

50、th westerners, Chinese people feel shy</p><p>　　Secondly, in Chinese culture, a compliment sometimes has the implication that the compliment wants to possess the thing praised while in English it rarely has

51、such interpretations. In Chinese, when one gives compliments to the articles belonging to the addressee, the addressee will sometimes take them as an indication that the addresser intends to ask for it, although it is no

52、t always the case.</p><p>　　In English culture, compliments normally don't have such implications. If an English girl complimented her Chinese classmate on her pencil vase as above, she would probably fi

53、nd herself misunderstood when the addressee had such a response. This kind of politeness difference is of great significance to inter-cultural communication</p><p>　　Furthermore, the contents of compliments

54、differ in English and Chinese culture English people often compliment others on their achievements, e.g. you have done an excellent job recently. You have played very skillfully in this game. You have made much progress

55、in cooking). Moreover, Manes indicates that English people are more likely to comment on others' personal appearance such as new "clothes and hair-dos" as a result of "deliberate efforts". They mo

56、re often praise others "You are looking nic</p><p>　　5. Conclusion</p><p>　　To sun up politeness is a universal phenomenon, which can be observed in all languages and cultures. It helps est

57、ablish, maintain or consolidate harmonious interpersonal relationships and facilitate social interactions. Politeness as an observable phenomenon is actually a reflection of specific cultural values in the language. Thu

58、s, while admitting the universality of politeness, we must realize the cultural characteristics of politeness. That is, due to the influence of cultural value orientat</p><p>　　Bibliography:</p><p

59、>　　1. Elliott, E. (ed ), (1991). The Columbia History of the American Novel. New York：Columbia Press, pp.108-122</p><p>　　2. Fraser, B., (1990). Perspectives on Politeness, Journal of Pragmatics, pp.89-92

60、</p><p>　　3. Gofl'man, E., (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face Behavior, New York:</p><p>　　Anchor Books, pp.56-68</p><p>　　4. Gu, Yue-guo, (1900). Politeness Phe

61、nomena in Modern Chinese, Journal of Pragmatics, pp.37-59</p><p>　　5. Leech, Geoffrey N., (1983). Principles of Pragmatics, Journal of Pragmatics, pp.139-165</p><p>　　6. Myron W. Lustig, (1988).

62、 Value Differences in Intercultural Communication, Michigan Press, pp.13-28</p><p><b>　　中文摘要</b></p><p>　　摘要：禮貌因不同的文化而不同。漢語文化中的禮貌與道德標準有密切聯(lián)系。而在英語文化中，禮貌只存在于交流雙方。所以中國人對于什么是威脅面子行為與英語文化中的

63、人有不同的理解。中國人的謙虛，也可以說是自貶，是自身的教養(yǎng)，而英式的謙虛是減少自夸的一種策略。隱私在英語文化中囊括的范圍比漢語文化囊括的范圍廣得多。而態(tài)度熱情在漢語文化中被認為是非常有禮貌的。這樣，漢語文化中的禮貌行為可能會被英語文化中的人認為是侵犯個人隱私。不同的文化價值系統(tǒng)，即英語文化中的個人主義和漢語文化的集體主義，使各自的語言有不同的交際法則。英語文化中強加于人的行為在漢語文化中可能代表著禮貌和真誠。禮貌有助于建立、維持和鞏固和