AStudyofPragmaticFunctionsofGreetingsinChineseandEnglish-2019年精选文档

1、A Study of Pragmatic Functions of Greetings in Chinese and English1. Greetings as Illocutionary ActsAustin concludes that there are three types of speech act ： “locutionary acts ” to “mean something ”； “illocutionary acts”， that s performing an act insaying something ； and “perlocutionary acts ”， th

2、at s bringing about something by saying something.When an English speaker asks you “How are you ？”， he is not necessarily concerned much about your physical condition or work ， but showing his politeness.Another interesting example of such routines is the use of the Chinese expression“Have you eaten

3、 ？” When aChinese speaker makes such an inquiry ， he is seldom really concerned about whether you are full or hungry ， but intends to make you feel that he is being considerate to you .The conventional answer is “yes”， though often a white lie ， for the negative answer would put the greeting person

4、in an awkward situation. Actually such a greeting expression is not an invitation but a means to show the speakers warm attitude and consideration towards the hearer.The discussion above shows that from pragmatic perspective ， greetings can be regarded as illocutionary acts. However， the understandi

5、ng of the covert meaning of greetings by the interlocutors in daily conversation lies in the routinination of such expressions.2. Greetings as Access RitualsAs Goffman(1971：75) notices ， greetings occur between individuals at the point where they find themselves about to enjoy a period of heightened

6、 access to each other ， the best example being in introduction ： “.when two individuals are introduced by a third， faces light up ，smiles are exchanged ， eyes are addressed ， hand-shakes or hat- doffing may occur. ”. The activitiesmark theinitial point of personal relationship and increase the ease

7、of access between the persons related. This is also true of the meeting or encounter of two individuals who already know each other. In this sense ， a greeting can be considered to be an access ritual of ceremony both in Chinese and English.3. Greetings as Linguistic Routines of PolitenessAs Laver (

8、 quoted in Qan， 1996 ) comments， the central concept Brown and Levinson employ in their model is thatof “face ” after Goffman （ 1967）. As mentioned earlier ， face refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize. They distinguish negative fac

9、e and positive face. If the strategic ends of speakers in conversational act are to be achieved ， various politeness strategies must be used to maintain the participants negative face or to enhancetheir positive face. In the process of greetings， suchmaintenance and enhancement of face has to be tak

10、en into consideration.The examples below illustrate someroutine expressions used in social greetings. For instance ， in English ， greetings such as “Hello ！” have to be used to maintain or even enhance the hearerspositive face ， depending on the status of the participants and the social setting.In C

11、hinese ， some greetings are frequently used for the sake of politeness in social interaction as well. For example ，“ Good morning！” as greeting expressions seem to be directed towards the hearers positive face.Greetings such as “What are you doing ？” seem to maintain the speaker s positive face.4. C

12、onclusionThis thesis mainly talks about the pragmatic functions of greetings in Chinese and English. The purpose of this thesis is to definite the difference of these two countries ， and to tell people how to greet in different cultures ， so as to promote intercultural communication.Bibliography ：1

13、Austin ，J.L.1962. How to Do Things with Words IMI. Cambridge. Mass ： Harvard University Press.2 Brown， P. & Levinson ，S.C.1978. Politeness ： Some Universals in Language Usage M Cambridge ： Cambridge University Press.3Coffman ， Erving.1971.Relations in the Public：Micro studies of the Public Order A.In M. Aigyle （Ed. ）. Social Encounter. Aldine？5 Leech， G Principles of Pragmatics M. London and New York： Longman， 19836 Qian， Housheng. Greetings and Partings in English and Chinese A Contrastive study of Linguistic Retinues and Politeness M. Beijing：