Abstract

     In social communication, people out of politeness always observe the Politeness Principle which was proposed by English linguist Leech. This paper begins with a brief introduction to the Politeness Principle, then makes an analysis the observance of Politeness Principle in the joint statement made by Bush and Kim Dae-Jung. This thesis aims to see the observance of the five maxims, namely the tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim in the discourse and how each maxim functions in the diplomatic communication to help make the utterance full of politeness and courtesy. Through the analysis, this thesis aims to provide a useful example for people to further analyze such kind of discourse.

Key words: politeness principle, observance

摘 要

  在社会语言交际中，人们出于礼貌，在交际中始终遵循着由英国语言学家利奇提出的礼貌原则。本文首先简要介绍了礼貌原则理论，接着以布什与金大中的一次联合演说为例，分析礼貌原则在文中的体现与遵循。具体分析其中的得体准则、慷慨准则、赞扬准则、一致准则与同情准则这五个原则在演说中是如何遵循的，各准则的功能又是如何使外交言辞显得礼貌得体的。通过深入的分析探讨，本文旨在为人们更深入全面的剖析外交发言这类语篇提供有益的启示。

关键词：礼貌准则；遵循

1. Introduction
1.1 Politeness Principle　
  Politeness is a universal phenomenon which exists almost in all languages. Mentioning politeness studies, one will think of Leech’s Politeness Principle which was proposed in his book Principles of Pragmatics. He suggests that politeness concerns a relationship between two participants---self and other. He divided Politeness Principle into six different maxims, each of which has two sub-maxims concerning self and other. Judging from the six maxims, we can distinguish those polite and impolite utterances to improve our communication ability. In the daily communication, people out of politeness would follow the Politeness Principle to say appropriate words in different situations. It helps to cover up or weaken sensitive and embarrassing things and thus make the listener feel that you're friendly and polite. Its motivation is to achieve harmonious relation between each other during the conversation. In social interactions, we can always see the observance of Politeness Principle, especially the tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim.