Abstract: With the rapid development of science and technology, people from different countries and cultural backgrounds are making more and more communications. Thus more and more attention has been paid to what politeness is and how to be polite in cross-cultural interactions. Otherwise misunderstanding or even breakdown may occur frequently because of the cultural differences. In order to reduce the misunderstanding in interaction and improve the communication between Chinese and English, research into politeness is in need. This paper tires make a contrastive study of politeness principle to see the difference of English and Chinese culture. On the contrast of the Address term Maxim, Modesty Maxim, Tact Maxim, and Sympathy Maxim, we could have a good insight into the differences of culture between English and Chinese.
Through a contrastive analysis, we know that there are different in the communication between the different countries. Therefore, to have some awareness of cultural differences will be helpful to people from different cultures in gaining successful communication.
Key Words: Politeness Principle; culture; difference
Introduction……………………………………………………………...1
1. Theories on Politeness………………………………………………...2
1.1 The Concept of Politeness……………………………………………………….2
1.2 Politeness Theories………………………………………………………………2
1.2.1 Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory………………………………………...3
1.2.2 Leech’s Politeness Principle (PP)………………………………………. 3
1.2.3 Gu Yueguo’s Politeness Principle……………………………………….......6
2. A Contrastive Study of Politeness Principle in Chinese and English7
2.1 Terms of Address in Gu Yueguo’s Politeness Principle ……………………….. .7
2.1.1 Kinship Terms in Chinese Society ………………………………………….8
2.1.2 Non-Kinship Terms in Chinese Society …………………………………….9
2.2 Modesty Maxim………………………………………………………………...11
2.2.1 Explanation for Modesty…………………………………………………...11
2.2.2 Modesty and Self-denigration……………………………………………...11
2.2.3 Different Emphasizes on Modest………………………………………......12
2.3 Tact Maxim……………………………………………………………………..13
2.3.1 Tact Maxim in Leech's Politeness Principle……………………………….13
2.3.2 Tact Maxim in Chinese and English Society………………………………14
2.4 Sympathy Maxim……………………………………………………………….15
2.4.1 Sympathy for News………………………………………………………15
2.4.2 Attitudes to the Old……………………………………………………….15
3. Conclusion………………………………………………………........16
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………..17
Bibliography…………………………………………………………….18
