英语专业毕业论文范文.doc

毕业设计（论文）毕业设计（论文） 题目：题目： 中英文化中礼貌语的对比研究 A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese And English Culture 学生姓名：学生姓名： 蔡美玲蔡美玲 学学 号：号： 0807060128 专业班级：专业班级： B08 英语（国际商务）英语（国际商务）1 班班 指导教师：指导教师： 唐红梅唐红梅 学学 院：院： 外国语学院外国语学院 2012 年年 4 月月 A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 中英文化中礼貌语的对比研究 摘要 语言礼貌是一种普遍的社会现象，广泛地存在于人类社会生活之中。它协调着人 们的社会关系和交际活动 ,是维系人际和谐的工具 ,避免交际冲突的手段。随着中 国加入WTO，中国与西方国家在政治，经济，文化方面的联系变得越来越紧密， 社交越来越频繁，礼貌用语也显得越来越重要。在此过程中，言语交际成功与否,在 很大程度上取决于能否选用恰当的礼貌表现形式。本课题将通过对中英文化中礼貌 语的对比研究，阐明中西礼貌用语的共性和差异性，以及在不同文化背景下，中英 不同的礼貌原则和各自的侧重点。通过对此课题的研究，使人们在社交过程中，根 据不同的场合，正确的使用合适的礼貌语， 避免不同文化下不同礼貌用语带来的 各种冲突。同时，能使英语学习者更加透彻的了解西方文化，掌握交际语言。最 后，若用于英语教学中，将提高学生的综合素质，以及跨文化交际能力。 关键词：礼貌用语; 礼貌原则; 文化; 差异对比 A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture A CONSTRUCTIVE STUDY OF POLITENESS IN CHINESE AND ENGLISH CULTURE ABSTRACT Language Courtesy is a kind of common social phenomenon, which widely occurs in the human society of life, coordinating the peoples social relationships and communication activity, maintaining interpersonal harmony, and avoiding the communication conflicts. As China entering the WTO and the forming of the globalized market, the relationship between China and the western countries has become closer, with more frequent activities in politics, economy and culture. So language courtesy is taking a more important role in our social life. In this process, the successful cross-cultural communication, to a great extent, depends on the selection of the appropriate politeness. This paper expounds the common features and different courtesy between Chinese and the western through a constructive study of politeness in Chinese and English culture. On the other hand, the paper expounds different politeness principle and the emphasis of the respective in different cultural background. Therefore, the study of this subject can conduct people to use the right polite language, avoiding the conflict that brings about the different culture courtesy and different culture according to the different occasions in the social process. At the same time, the paper can make the reader understand and master the western culture and the right way of communication. Finally, if the politeness principles are used in the English teaching and Learning, it will improve the students comprehensive quality, and the ability of cross-cultural communication. Key words: polite language; politeness principle; culture; A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture Contents 1. Introduction.1 2. Different Principles of Politeness in Chinese and English1 2.1 Politeness Principles of English1 2.1.1 Brown and Levinsons “face” theory.1 2.1.2 Grice Cooperative Principle.2 2.1.3 Leechs Politeness Principle.2 2.2 Politeness Principles of Chinese.3 3. A Comparison between Chinese and English Politeness5 3.1 Terms of Address.5 3.2 Humility Language and Formal Language. 5 3.3 Terms of Privacy .6 3.4 Terms of Greeting6 3.5 Terms of Thanks.7 3.6 Terms of Goodbye.8 3.7 Terms of Invitation.8 3.8 Differences Politeness of Cooking Culture. 8 3.8.1. The Politeness of Atmosphere on Table.8 3.8.2 The Politeness of Customary Actions on Table.9 4. Reasons for the different its main functions are maintaining social order; maintaining friendly interpersonal relations; reducing conflicts and misunderstandings by means of polite speech acts so as to attain the aim of communication.”1 Both English and Chinese language has much different restriction in the pragmatic, among which the most important is the restriction of cultural factors. British linguists, Leech listed the six politeness principles according to the English culture characteristic, while Gu YueGuo analysed Chinese culture characteristic and had conclude five politeness principles in his work Politeness, Pragmatics and Culture. Comparing the politeness principles of Gu YueGuo and Leech we can find that there are many politeness norms of differences. It is an effective way to prevent pragmatic failures and promote the communication smoothly by analyzing and comparing these differences scientifically. 2. Different Principles of Politeness in Chinese and English Politeness is the common phenomenon existing in social and group which is the symbol of human civilization and the tool of maintaining interpersonal harmony. People should comply with the politeness principles in order to avoid the failures that cause by different politeness 2.1 Politeness Principles of English 2.1.1 Brown and Levinsons “face” theory Politeness, in the interaction, can then be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another persons face. 2 Early in the 1950s, E Goffman, the United States Scholar, had put forward the “Face Behavior Theory” from sociology. Then in 1978, Brown and Levinson had further put forward the “Mature Face Theory” which tried to take face as a common language phenomenon to research on the basis of Goffman in their work of Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena. The Mature Face Theory of Brown and Levinson is the first time to discuss the face problems of politeness systematically from anthropology and A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 2 页 共 15 页 philosophy. They thought that face is ,for every social member ,wanted to gain for the public self-image of them. In the process of interaction, people hope each other can maintain each others face. Along with the face threat increasing, people use the higher politeness strategies to maintain their face. The face threat level depends on the difference of social distance and social power between the communications. Brown and Levinson divided the face into positive face and negative face. Then politeness is also divided into the positive manner and negative manner. 3 2.1.2 Grice Cooperative Principle Grice, an American linguist, has put forward the Cooperative Principle in peoples conversation. He thought that, “in all the communication, the speaker and listener should follow some principles which make the process of communication develop toward the tacit understanding and cooperation. There are four maxims to embody the Cooperative Principle: (1) Quantity Maxim: the information you offer should accord with the conversation, just the right amount (2). Quality maxim: what you said should be reasonable and true. (3). Relevant maxim: what you said should be related to the content of the front (4). Manner maxim: the word you said should be terse, clear, and systematical. 4 But some people do not comply with this social principle; even some of them violate those in social communication. In other words, the Cooperative Principle cant completely contain the kinds of conversation. According to this, the English linguist Leech thought the root of people violating the Cooperative Principle is that they want to comply with another principles Politeness Principle. From the Pragmatics and Interpersonal Rhetoric, Leech summed up and classified the Politeness Principle during the social communication. Leech pointed that: the Cooperative Principle guides what we should say, so as to meet the expectations. However, the politeness principle can be maintained the friendship. So the Cooperation Principles and politeness principles can make a supplement each other which restrict peoples conversation behaviors. 2.1.3 Leechs Politeness Principle English scholar Leech, in his principles of pragmatics, put forward his politeness principle on the basis of Gricean framework. He believed that,”besides Cooperative Principle, Politeness Principle guides and constrains rational peoples conversation as well. It is closely A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 3 页 共 15 页 connected with Cooperative Principle. Yet on the other hand, it solves the problem why people prefer to use indirect speech in conversation, which cooperative principle can not explain”. Leechs Politeness Principle is elaborated into six maxims. (1). Maxim of tact: minimize cost to other, maximize benefit to other (2). Maxim of generosity: minimize benefit to yourself, maximize cost to yourself. (3). Maxim of approbation: minimize dispraise to other, maximize praise to other (4). Maxim of modesty: minimize praise of self, maximize dispraise of self, (5). Maxim of agreement: minimize disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other. (6). Maxim of sympathy: minimize antipathy between self and other, maximize sympathy between self and other. 5 This is the main content of Leechs politeness principles. The above criteria have the different emphasis. For example, the maxim of tact and the maxim of generosity, maxim of approbation and maxim of modesty, which is the same, have two different aspects. The maxim of tact is referring to how to treat others which is applied to causative Verbal Behavior “request”. But the maxim of generosity is referring to how to treat self which is applied to commitment Verbal Behavior “promise to help”. Analogously, Approbation maxim is referring to how to treat others while Modesty maxim is referring to how to treat self. The Agreement maxim points out that it is not suitable to express directly the diversity viewpoint with other person. The last maxim, sympathy, stresses out that we should express common mood with others when people are in bad mood. 2.2 Politeness Principles of Chinese Like the English speaking countries, the ancient Chinese have made an important discussion on politeness. “道德仁义非礼不成”, “人有礼则安。无礼则危。故曰：礼者不 可不学也” 6 “鹦鹉能言，不离飞鸟；猩猩能言，不离禽兽。今人而无礼，不亦禽兽之 心乎. 夫惟禽兽无礼.” 6. There is the stander that “夫礼者自卑而尊人” in the early work 6 Recently, the study of politeness principle had made great improvement in China. Professor Hu Wenzhong and professor He Ziran make an important discussion in intercultural communication politeness principle. Then Gu Yueguo pointed out four politeness traits in communication according to the culture background of Chinas history and daily A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 4 页 共 15 页 communication of chinese people. That is respectfulness, modesty, attitude warmth and refindment. At the same time, Gu Yueguo put forward five politeness principles on the basis of Leechs. (1) The self-denigration maxim. Gu thought that the most trait of Chinese politeness is “Fu Li Zhe, Zi Bei Er Zun Ren”。The maxim points out that we must “Bian” and “Qian” when we do something for ourselves. On the other hand, we should “Tai” and “Zun” when something is related to the listener. (2) The address maxim. This maxim points out the traditions that “Hhang Xia You Yi, Gui Jian You Feng, Zhang Yao You Xu” which embodies the social relations in the interpersonal communication when people address each other. (3) The tact maxim. In the Chinese culture, “Bin Bin You Li” is considered the politeness and cultivated. The basic content is “genteelism chose, bawdry forbidden, multi- purpose tactful, less with the truth“, avoiding mention the unpleasant or embarrassing things. (4) The agreement maxim. This criterion refers to caring each others identity and status in society, respecting each others “face” which makes each other harmony in many aspects. When we must criticize others or publish the different opinion, we can take the strategy that “Xian Li Hou Bin, Xian Bao Hou Bian” (5)The generosity maxim, Minimize cost to others, maximizes benefit to other in the behavior of motivation. Maximize the benefit that you gain from others, minimizing the cost you pay in the words. 7 From the above, there are many similar Politeness Principle and different emphases between Chinese and English. The different emphasis reflects precisely the different culture background. The Chinese culture attaches importance to “the self-denigration maxim” and “the address maxim”, for the “self-denigration maxim” plays an important role in the Chinese culture. The address maxim also reflects the politeness habit in Chinese culture. In other words, the address maxim is the typical characteristics of Chinese culture. In the Chinese culture, the address maxim is the important characteristics while in English culture it is not enough to become the politeness principle during to the “tact maxim”. In English culture, the “tact maxim” is the common principle when people take the indicative Verbal Behavior, such as “instruct, commands, warning, suggest, advice”. A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 5 页 共 15 页 3. A Comparison between Chinese and English Politeness Brown and Levinson thought different culture have the different politeness principles.8 In their view, “the face is something that is emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction” 8 This different is influenced by the society, culture, religion and geography chronically. Chinese and English choose the different strategy which embodies their different National culture feature to express the different politeness principle. So people will choose the proper politeness principle in cross-cultural communication. 3.1 Terms of Address In the modern Chinese, people pay great attention to the others status or career. This is the symbol of Vertical social relations, which shows a power orientation. While in English country, people are affected by the social relation and personal standard. So they show equal cultural orientation in the terms of address. 9 For example, in the Chinese culture, the subordinate cant call the name of the supervisor, students may not call a teachers name directly, and the children do not call the parents name, which is showing the politeness and upbringing. While in English culture, the address shows equal cultural orientation which makes each other closer. In the English country, generally speaking, no matter how old the others are and how high the others social status and level is, people would like to call their name. This is the symbol of equal social relation. Another difference is about the form of addressing. Chinese often use “title + surname” to address other rather than call them surnames. Such as “张经理”. But in English speaking country, people can not be tolerated with the addressing of Chinese such as “李老师”“李师傅” in addition to several traditional called in west. That is Doctor, doctor, judges and professor. 3.2 Humility Language and Formal Language The self-denigration is the polite phenomenon of richest Chinese culture characteristics. 10 When Chinese gain the praise or congratulations from others, they usually take the expression like “Nali、Nali”, “Guo Jiang Le”, “Can Kui、Cang Kui”, “Cha Yuan Le” to show their A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 6 页 共 15 页 modesty. But if we communicate with the westerners in the Chinese habits, the result of communication would fail. For westerns, its offensive to deny others praise. However, the Chinese people think the westerns are too confident, not enough modest to show the politeness. For example: Chinese A: 你的饭菜太香了。 Chinese B: 献丑了。 British A: You are very beautiful. British B: Thank you Chinese B: 过奖了。 From the above we can make a conclusion that the compliment of Chinese and British has the same common. But Chinese express their politeness through modesty and lower themselves. While British just take the expression of “Thank you”. On the other hand, there are more distinguishing in honorific of Chinese and English language. For example, the Chinese “请教”, “高见”, “贵姓”, “拜读”, “鄙人”, “拙作”, “愚见”, “驾到”, “贵干”, “寒舍” are difficult to find the corresponding expression in English. But there are many words to show the respect and politeness in English, such as “will”, “would”, “can”, “could”. 3.3 Terms of Privacy There exits the Value difference in Personal privacy between English and Chinese culture. Chinese interpersonal relationship highlights the sociality, which emphasizes on social group for personal constraint and emphasizes the collective action, people cannot feel the privacy. While the westerns emphasize the individualism and personal interests, they try to get rid of social bondage for not to exposure their own privacy to the public. So the “Wage income”, “age” and “marital status” is the privacy of westerns. In Chinese culture, Chinese people will take the expression “how much is your salary”, “how old are you” to show their care and enthusiasm. But the same topic will become the threat in English privacy. 3.4 Terms of Greeting The difference of communication reflects the nations cultural characteristics. In most cases, they are highly conventional behavior and comply with the standardized routine. 11 Saying “hello” is the conversation activities between friend and acquaintance. The aim is to make each other closer through the less information. For example, firstly, the Chinese say “hello” A Constructive Study of Politeness in Chinese and English Culture 第 7 页 共 15 页 will use the “您好”, “干啥去”, “吃了没”. If we use the same language to say “hello” with westerns, they will feel sick. They will think this is impolite to pry about others privacy. So when we talk with the westerns, we should talk about the weather, hobbies or events. Secondly, Chinese would like to praise others that “你发福了”, as if people find some good event. But in Britain, it is impolite to take the words “You are getting fat”. Thirdly, the Chinese people see the guests out always say “慢慢走”. On the other hand, Chinese people often take some discourse of concern. Such as “天气冷，多穿些衣服”. All is unreadable in the western. 3.5 Terms of Thanks In the aspect of thanks, people in th