浅谈中英礼貌原则的差异_英语论文

A Brief Discussion of the Differences of the Politeness Principles in Chinese and English

摘要

礼貌是不同的社会群体共有的普遍现象，通俗点礼貌就是好的言行。礼貌也是人类社会文明的标志。礼貌是一个能反映自身文化特点的一个概念，某些言行在一种文化里是不礼貌的，但在另一种文化里就是有礼貌的，所以英汉礼貌原则也是不同的。本文是基于英汉礼貌原则的差异的研究。本文从英汉两种不同的语言的礼貌原则入手，从三个基本方面对英汉礼貌用语的差异进行对比，分析其产生的原因，从而有效地减少跨文化交际中的误解和冲突，以取得交际的成功。最后一部分论述了解礼貌差异的意义。

关键词：礼貌原则，语用差异，差异原因，跨文化交际

Abstract

Politeness is a universal phenomenon which is usually referred to as good manners. Politeness is the mark of human civilization. It is also a culturally defined concept because what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply strange in another. The thesis is based on the studies of the different principles of politeness in Chinese and English. Aiming at reducing misunderstanding and cultural conflicts and promoting successful cross-cultural communication, the paper begins with introducing politeness principles in Chinese and English, contrasting the pragmatic discrepancies of the two types of principles through three basic parts and analyzing the causes for the differences in Chinese and English. The last part is the significance of knowing such discrepancies.

Keywords: politeness principle； pragmatic discrepancies； causes for differences;   cross-cultural communication

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3.The Politeness Principles in English 2

3.1 Tact maxim 2

3.2 Generosity maxim 3

3.3 Approbation maxim 3

3.4 Modesty maxim 3

3.5 Agreement maxim 4

3.6 Sympathy maxim 4

4. The Politeness Principles in Chinese 4

4.1 The maxim of denigrating oneself and elevating the others 5

4.2 The addressing maxim 5

4.3 The refinement maxim 5

4.4 The agreement-seeking maxim 5

4.5 The virtue, speech and act maxim 6

5.The Pragmatic Discrepancies of the Two Types of Politeness Principles 6

5.1 The conflicts between the praise maxim in English and the maxim 

of denigrating oneself and elevating the others. 6

5.2 The discrepancies in address forms and greetings 7

5.3 The discrepancies between Chinese and English privacy language 

and taboo 8

5.4 The discrepancies between Chinese and English apologies 9

6.The Causes of These Discrepancies 10

7.Significance of the Knowledge of the Discrepancies of the Two Types 

of Politeness Principles 11

8.Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13