中美道歉用语差异研究_英语论文

On the Differences of Apology between China and America

摘要

随着社会的发展，世界已经变的越来越有关联，中国逐渐在国际交流中扮演着重要的角色。在跨文化交际中，人们应该好好表现来维护中国的面子。因为犯错误也避免不了所以道歉在跨文化交际中运用的很多。道歉是指你对你做得伤害别人的事负责并且承认你使人委屈，同时表达抱歉并给予补偿。本论文以第二语言习得研究的理论为基础，综合当前诸多的动机理论研究成果，通过对道歉用语行为研究成果分析，通过分析案例的方式探讨了中美道歉用语的差异。例如如果一个人在面对一个美国人时，无论对方的社会地位是比他高还是比他低，他只要直接道歉并解释原因就可以了。然而当一个人面对中国人时，如果对方的社会地位比他高，他就必须得恭敬的道歉。但如果对方的社会地位比他低，他可以拒绝道歉或者仅仅说一些简单的话语来表达歉意就好。通过探索中美道歉存在差异的原因，本论文旨在帮助人们更好的了解中美道歉的差异，以此来帮助他们在跨文化交际中做出正确的道歉。

关键词：跨文化；差异；道歉用语；策略

Abstract

With the development of the society, the world is becoming more and more interrelated and China plays a increasingly important role in international communication. In intercultural communication, people should behave well to maintain face, thus apology is widely used since it is avoidable to make mistakes. Apology can be understood like this: A is responsible for his actions that hurt others and admit that A is impolite to others. What’s more, A should show regret and give compensations at the same time. Based on the studies of second language acquisition and current motivation theories, this thesis discusses the differences of apology between China and America by case analyses. For instance, it is found that if A faces an American B whose social status is lower or higher, he just need to apologize directly and explain the reasons. When facing Chinese, if B’s social status is superior, he should apologize respectfully. Provided that the B’s social status is inferior, he can refuse to apologize or just say some simple words to show his regret. By exploring the reasons of differences of apology between China and America, the thesis aims at helping people be better aware of the differences of apology between China and America and help people make appropriate apologies in intercultural communication.

Keywords: intercultural communication; differences; apology; strategy

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 The definition of apology 2

2.2 Previous studies on apology abroad 2

2.3 Previous studies on apology at home 5

3. Differences in Apology between China and America 5

3.1 Different situations of apology 6

3.2 Different strategies of apology 7

4. Reasons for Differences in Apology between China and America 9

4.1 Collectivism versus individualism 9

4.2 Large power distance versus small power distance 10

4.3 High context versus low context 11

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14