中英礼貌用语的语用差异 .doc

【标题】中英礼貌用语的语用差异 【作者】李兴举 【关键词】礼貌；差异；语用；文化 【指导老师】廖东红 杨 波 【专业】英语 【正文】I. Introduction“As a universal phenomenon, politeness is observed in every society; 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.”1In both the East and the West cultures, politeness has long been regarded as an indispensable part of language. There exists a wide-ranging use of politeness and polite language that have clearly demonstrated peoples fondness and importance of this particular linguistic device. Also, in both cultures of English and Chinese, politeness has the same social functions in these two different cultures, and common polite languages in these two cultures are also the same, but they are different in practical use. These differences often become the source of pragmatic failures in intercultural communication.As we all know, different people hold different views about politeness and different cultures may lead to pragmatic differences in understanding politeness. Because of the cultural differences, sometimes what the Chinese people consider to be polite may not be true according to western culture. To be polite, there are some principles to follow, such as Geoffrey N. Leechs Politeness Principle, and in China, there are Prof. Gu Yueguos five notions of politeness based on the Chinese conception of limao(礼貌).Politeness Principle is the base which makes sure that intercultural speech interaction can go through successfully. It is also the civilized communication means used by many societies. However, in an intercultural communication, interlocutors bear the different cultural backgrounds; the manipulation of politeness strategies is even more challenging, because it is human natural tendency to evaluate others behavior with the reference to ones own criteria. Therefore, the comparative study of Politeness Principle in Chinese and English cultures becomes more important. Meanwhile, to be familiar with the different cultural backgrounds and to choose the right politeness maxims during communication are also very important.II. The Basic Contents of English and Chinese Politeness PrinciplePoliteness can be found in a number of ways, but the expression of politeness is always through language. Thus, we can say that the use of language is an important way of polite expression. In cross-cultural communication, we must take politeness into consideration. However, different languages and cultures determine the different expressions of politeness. With the development of sociolinguistics, our understanding of politeness has been widened and deepened. There are some influential theories on politeness put forward by Western and Chinese scholars.A. English Politeness PrinciplePoliteness Principle is the base which makes sure that intercultural speech interaction can go through successfully. It is also the civilized communication means used by many societies. Therefore, the comparative study of Politeness Principle in Chinese and English cultures becomes more important. Meanwhile, to be familiar with the different cultural backgrounds and to choose the right politeness maxims during communication are also very important.Leech divides the Politeness Principle into six maxims, each consisting of two sub-maxims.1. Tact Maxim(in impositives and commissives)a. Minimize cost to other;b. Maximize benefit to other.2. Generosity Maxim(in impositives and commissives)a. Minimize benefit to self;b. Maximize cost to self.3. Approbation Maxim(in expressives and assertives)a. Minimize dispraise of other;b. Maximize praise of other.4. Modesty Maxim(in expressives and assertives)a. Minimize praise of self;b. Maximize dispraise of self.5. Agreement Maxim(in assertives)a. Minimize disagreement between self and other;b. Maximize agreement between self and other.6. Sympathy Maxim(in assertives)a. Minimize antipathy between self and other;b. Maximize sympathy between self and other.”2The function of the Politeness Principle is that speakers should try to express themselves in a polite way, in an indirect way and let the hearers sense their real meaning. The purpose of doing this is not to hurt others feeling or make them lose face. So if there is the need of politeness, people in talking must observe PP. In observing the PP. speakers should be always polite to othersminimize cost to other and maximize benefit to other, so as to make a good impression on other and win the mutual respect.B. Chinese Politeness PrincipleAmong the Chinese scholars who have contributed significantly to the study of politeness should be mentioned Prof. Gu Yueguo of Beijing Foreign Studies University. In his articles related to the study of politeness in modern Chinese, Prof. Gu has traced the origin of the motion of politeness in the Chinese culture, and has also formulated a different set of politeness maxims, which he thinks are more suitable to the Chinese environment.Prof. Gu holds that there are basically four notions underlying the Chinese conception of limao: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth and refinement. He concluded five maxims of limao according to Leechs Politeness Principle:1. Respectfulness Maxim: selfs positive appreciation or admiration of other concerning the latters face, social status, and so on.2. Appellation Maxim: use proper appellation to address other.3. Refinement Maxim: selfs demonstration of kindness, consideration, and hospitality to other.4. Consistency Maxim: selfs behavior to other which meets certain standards.5. Virtue, Speech and Behavior Maxim: on motivation, minimize others cost and maximize others benefit; on verbalism, maximize benefit self received and minimize cost self paid out.3III. Pragmatic Differences of Politeness in English and ChineseIn both the East and the West cultures, politeness has long been regarded as an indispensable part of language. There exists a wide-ranging use of politeness and polite language that have clearly demonstrated peoples fondness and importance of this particular linguistic device. Also, in both cultures of English and Chinese, politeness has the same social function in these two cultures, but they are different in practical use. These differences often become the source of pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. Roughly speaking, these pragmatic differences of politeness are to be seen in two aspects.A. In Social ContactA Confucian saying goes“Human beings draw close to one another by their common nature, but habits and custom keep them apart.”4 From the first part of the quotation we can see that humans are social animals, and no one in normal circumstances can live without any social contact with others. The second part tells us that there are differences in individuals and groups as well. There diverse habits and customs may cause problems in peoples communication, especially when this communication takes place between people with distinct cultural backgrounds. Therefore, to improve our intercultural communication competence, we need to understand significant differences regarding social customs, an important cultural aspect. Here we will focus on the differences between the Chinese and the American cultures.1. Ways to RequestRequest is one of the five kinds of speech behaviors that Searl have enumerated, which is to instruct the speech behavior, and it is usually considered to threat the speech behavior. Request generally adopts three kinds of communication tactics: Direct strategy, stipulations indirect strategy and non-stipulations indirect strategy.5 Language scholars generally believe that the indirect speech acts should be more polite to the listener, and the more indirect the more polite. The courtesy we discussed is only the indirect strategy. In this aspect, courtesy is almost the same in the request in the conversation of English and Chinese. For instance, Could you? Would you mind? Would it be possible to? I would be grateful? I would appreciate it? etc. which adopted in English. In Chinese, the structure that interrogative sentence, such as“hao ma?”(好吗?),“ke yi ma?”(可以吗?),“xing ma?”(行吗?),“ni kan zen yang?”(你看怎样?), adds to declarative sentence is used frequently. The circumstance appears in the conversation like one says“I love this watch.” which shows recommend someone to buy it,“Have brought money on you?” Or“Do you use bicycle today” shows indirectly borrow the money or borrow bicycle from the listener. Based on the cooperative principle of conversation, although it has violated the maxim of relation in conversation, it has accorded with Politeness Principle and has kept the other sides face.2. Ways of ComplimentA compliment is words to praise someone for something which is valued positively by the speaker and hearer. Chinese and English have obvious differences in compliment. Everyone is equal from the day he born in English peoples mind. This concept is deeply rooted in their minds. So when they receive praise they would obey Agreement Maxim and avoid disagreement with the one who praise you. For example, when one praises that your cooking is very delicious, you should answer“Thank you!” Their compliments are usually objective and sincere. So the person being praised would be very glad to receive the compliment. However, in Chinese culture, the receiver of the compliment is supposed to deny the praise and denigrate him/herself by saying“guo jiang”(过奖). For example, when Chinese people invite others to have dinner in home, after they finish eating, the host often says“I didnt do well enough; I hope you can forgive my poor serving.” Chinese people like to use these words to deprecate self. But this would make the westerners feel confused even they would doubt your sincere desire.In addition, in English culture, compliments on ones appearance and accomplishments are one of the most common topics. A man who praises a womans appearance and dress in public is considered to be polite. And the woman would be very glad to accept the compliment. But in China, those compliments are considered to be coltish and impolite. We all heard such story: in a bus, a man praises a young ladys appearance. The lady gives the man a slap in his face instead of receiving the compliment happily. You can imagine how embarrassed the man felt.Moreover, when a Chinese editor finishes a book often says some self-deprecating words to show modesty. But in English culture, the editors authority is indubitable. So they would choose neuter words as ending, such as“Thank you for your consideration.”,“I hope you will benefit in reading this book.”Generally speaking, people like getting along with those who share the same views and tastes with them. In offering a compliment, Hu Wenzhong points out that the speaker expresses a commonality of taste or interest with the address, thus reinforcing, or in the case of strangers, creating at least a minimal amount of solidarity.6 From this, we can see that compliment may be used to start a conversation, even between strangers. Furthermore, compliments are like“lubricating oil”, which can make conversations go smoothly in a harmonious and friendly atmosphere. But in different countries the ways to compliment are greatly different.3. Ways of InvitationThere are formal and informal invitations. For formal invitation there isnt much difference between Chinese and American practices. The invitation is usually in the written form and sent out quite some time in advance. It is the informal invitation that can cause confusion, which is usually done verbally.For example,“Lets go together soon”“Its good seeing you. Ill invite you to tea later.” In these two statements the speakers dont give specific time and places for the get-together, so they are just expressions of goodwill rather than genuine invitations. If ever such questions were raised, the speaker would be embarrassed because he/she doesnt really mean to do any invitation. However, Chinese rarely do this. They usually take these statements at their face value.“Im going to give a party this weekend. Come if you like.”“How about joining us for dinner this Friday night?” These two statements are invitations as they give specific time. But they may sound uncertain to an oriental ear because of the tone of the verbal invitation. If a Chinese were to invite a friend to dinner or some other occasions, he/she would most likely say something like:“Do come.”“Please do come.” The likely explanation for the difference is that the Americans who value individual freedom a lot hate to impose anything on others, which they dont like themselves. And we Chinese who are accustomed to collectivism tend to show our concern for the others, and we sound a little too eager because we know our culture requires people not to accept invitation immediately.There is one more point about invitation. In both cultures, if anything happen that prevents you from going after you have accepted the invitation, youd better let the host know either by writing or by phone call. For example, your boss invite you to have party on Friday night, and you have accept that. However, your father will come you see you on Friday, which you didnt know before your boss invite you. Therefore, you have to cancle that party and tell your boss the reason why you will not be there. You may say:“I really want to come to your party, but Im sorry that I have to meet my father in the airport, because this the first time he get here.”4. Ways of FarewellsAccording to the customs in China, the host must go with the guest to the door when the guest leaves. Then the guest says to the host:“Please stop your step here.” The host must say some fixed words like“Go slowly”,“Walk slowly”, and“Ride slowly”. If we say these kinds of words to the English-speaking people, they may feel annoyed:“Why should I go slowly? I am strong enough!” In the Englishs habits, the host go with the guest to the door just say“Bye, drop in again” or something like that. The guest answers:“Yes, I will. Bye.”,“OK, bye.” or“See you.”Moreover, Chinese always say goodbye very simple. The guest usually sees his watch first, and then stands up and says that he is going to leave. This kind of farewell will make the English people feel very sudden and surprised. Because in their minds, they should express their will of leaving ten minutes before they really leave. They always say like this:“Well, its lovely to see you again, but I must be going soon. I hope we will be able to get together again before long.”,“I think Id better leave. Its getting late.”;“I have to be going soon. I have an appointment at 9.” So, we cannot just express our meaning in English by translating into Chinese simply. For example: A Chinese student went to an American teachers home for asking some questions. The American teacher treated him warmly and answered all the questions he asked. When the student was leaving, he said to the teacher:“I am sorry to have wasted a lot of your time. I am leaving.” These two sentences are all right in grammar, but it makes the American teacher stuck in confusion. Why she answered the students questions earnest whereas a waste in the students mind? In such kind of situation, according to the Westerners habit, they should say thanks for the teachers help, and then express your will of going to leave always with an excuse. So that you can say:“Thanks a lot for your help. Im afraid I must be leaving now. I dont want to catch in the rush hour.”5. Ways of GreetingIn daily life, greeting is a polite language whenever one meets others and wherever he or she is. It plays an important role in social communication and is a norm of morality and self-cultivation. However, different cultures have different influences on greetings. The more tradition-oriented a society is, the more its members seem to make use of situational greetings. As is known to all, China is a country with a long tradition, then, Chinese greetings are more situational and less depend on formulaic greetings, which, in English, tend to have explicit religious derivations.Although both English and Chinese may also ask or comment on other things as a means of greeting, the two cultures differ in the ways they do this. For example, a Chinese and an English-speaker are acquaintances and came across in the way home one day. Chinese passed by and asked,“Have you eaten yet?” The English-speaker was offended by this question. This is a typically acceptable and polite greeting used by native Chinese people to show their concern for others, but it is peculiar and offensive to the Westerners. Because to some Westerners, this question might mean that,“I havent either. Come on, lets go together and get something to eat.” or“If you havent, I am just going to invite you to my place and have a dinner.” Although it takes a form of question, it is a common Chinese greeting around a mealtime, nothing more than“Hello” or“Hi” in English. There is another example as follows: Chinese people are likely to say,“Where are you going?” when they meet. But in the Western culture, people prefer to comment on the weather as a means of greeting, such as“Isnt it a good day?”, but not on personal affairs as Chinese people do.There is another two common ways of greeting in China to state what someone is doing and to greet the other simply. For example, if a Chinese meet someone who is obviously going to the school or washing the clothes, he may say,“Going to study?” or“Washing your clothes?” But these words sound a little strange to the West, for they would not regard these as greetings. In such situations, they are li