5753A Contrastive Study of Politeness in English and Chinese Cul

2021年1月26日发(作者：脏话英语)

A Contrastive Study of Politeness in English and Chinese
Culture


Abstract:

Different
languages
and
cultures
of
a
country
have
different
kinds
of
expression
of
polite.
A
deep
understanding of the differences between Chinese and English politeness principle and its origin, which is helpful
for cross-cultural communication and improving the ability to cross- cultural communicate. In this paper, it is begin
with the different culture background of polite; discusses the origin of politeness; analyzes the reasons for these
differences,
and
summarizes
the
differences
in
English
and
Chinese
culture.
Learning
the
different
usages
of
English and Chinese polite is aims at pointing out that people can put the politeness into right usage only if people
understand correctly about the usage of the politeness principle in different cultures; only in this way, we can avoid
some mistakes, misunderstanding or even conflicts; thus, we can promote the cross-cultural communication going
effectively and to be in the best condition.

Key words
: polite, different culture, use, communication

1. Introduction

Probably, in subconscious mind, everyone may have strong desire for other
people's respect and admiration. As a result, politeness appeared. As one of the basic
criterions of communicative activities, politeness is a tool to maintain harmonious
interpersonal relationship and it is an important symbol of human civilization. Due to
the cultural differences, different nationalities have different understandings of
politeness, and the polite principles they followed are greatly different, too. These
factors, such as language courtesy, value orientation and mode of thinking are closely
linked. It is necessary for people to know clearly about the differences of politeness
principles in cross-cultural communication. If we understand the differences between
English and Chinese culture and get the understanding of the target language culture.
Then we are able to avoid pragmatic failure caused by the cultural differences during
the cross-cultural communication; ultimately, we can avoid unnecessary conflicts and

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misunderstandings caused by cultural differences to improve the interpersonal skills
in cross-cultural communication and promote the development of harmonious society.

1.1 Brief Introduction of Politeness in English
The
meaning
of
politeness
in
England
has
changed
a
lot.
During
the
past
fifty
years
，
many
western
researchers
tried
to
define
politeness.
According
to
Oxford
Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary
of Current
English, politeness
means the attempt to
establish, maintain, and save face during conversation (1997:1531). Lakeoff holds the
view
that
politeness
is
a
method
used
in
order
to
reduce
friction
in
interpersonal
communication
(1974:292-305).
Leech
explains
politeness
as
forms
of
behavior
aimed
at
the
establishment
and
maintenance
of
comity
and
friendship
(1983:104).
That
is
the
ability
of
participants
in
a
socio- communicative
interaction
engaged
in
interaction
or
communication
in
a
relatively
harmonious
atmosphere.
This
point
of
politeness
is
to
minimize
the
effects
of
impolite
statements
and
to
maximize
the
politeness of polite words (Liu R.Q. 1997). Sociolinguistics Research Group from the
English Department of Japan Women’s University describe politeness as “one of the
constraints
on
human
interaction
or
communication,
whose
purpose
is
to
consider
others’
feelings
，
and
to
establish
levels
of
natural
comfort,
and
promote
rapport”
(1957:273)
. Brown and
Levinson view
politeness
as “a complex system
for
softening face-
threatening acts”
(1978a:56-289). Politeness is therefore a term to refer
to strategies available to interactions to defuse and reduce the danger and to minimize
the
antagonism.
It
is
well-known
that
politeness
is
a
social
cultural
phenomenon;
it
can be defined as showing or appearing to show consideration of others.
1.2 Brief Introduction of Politeness in Chinese
In
China,
the
connotative
meaning
of
polite
also
has
a
long
history.

At
the
beginning,
the
concept
of politeness
can be traced back to
the notion of
礼
(rite).
It
refers to the social hierarchy and order of the slave society of the Zhou Dynasty. In
礼记
(a book of rite), which is one of the six Confucian classics compiled by Dai Shen,
the
classical
Chinese
notion
of
礼

was
described
as
“to
humble
yourself
but
show
respect
to
others”
(1386).
The
politeness
in
modern
China
is
believed
to
be
derived

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from this notion. China has long been known as a land of courtesy and civilization. It
is
really
enough
to
estimate
the
quality
of
a
person
by
polite.
Professor
Gu
from
Beijing
International
Studies
University
puts
it
that
there
are
basically
four
notions
underlying the Chinese conception of
礼貌
(1990:237-257). They are
：
respectfulness,
which
refers
to
self’s
positive
appreciation
or
admiration
of
other
concerning
face,
social
status
and
so
on;
modesty,
which
is
a
way
of
showing
self- denigration;
attitudinal
warmth,
which
involves
self’s
demonstratio
n
of
kindness,
consideration
and hospitality to other; and refinement, which refers to self’s behavior to other which
meets
certain
standards.
These
are
the
key
components
of
Chinese
concept
of
politeness.

2. Different Origins of Politeness

The original
concepts of “polite” in various cultures have something in common.
However, in different cultures
，
the expressions of politeness have some differences.
These
differences
are
gradually
formed
by
influence
of
society,
history,
culture,
geography and so on. Thus it is important for us to learn about the different origins of
polite in English and Chinese culture.
2.1 The Original Concept of Politeness in Chinese

In China, the concept
礼
(the ritual)
礼制
( ritual system). As is known to all, the
礼

of ancient
Chinese philosophy is an important part of Confucianism, it is also one of the
important concepts. In order to adapt to the requirement of the social life, Confucius
tried to restore the
礼制
( ritual system)
礼

to
礼貌

Zhou Dynasty. After two to three hundred years,
礼制

had been completely
established. And then the Confucius’ concept of
礼

close to the modern meaning of the
concept of “
礼
”
is concerning to the modern elements, such as

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And in
礼记
)
characteristics about politeness in China(Gu Y.G. 1992:45). Therefore, the long
history of modern concept
completely different from the
2.2 The Original Concept of Politeness in English
The meaning and evolution of
constantly. The concept of
First of all, from the etymology, the root of
connection with the root

of city. Secondly, the English synonyms of polite are courteous, urbane and civil
(Brown and Levinson,1978b). These words
are originally used to refer to people’s
good behavior in the court or in the city.

He Z.X. pointed that a lot of researchers have proved politeness is closely related
to court and city in words. For example, some kind of people's act is considered polite
in the city in a certain period of the history, but another time in the court, the same
one is considered to be impolite(1995:3).As mentioned above, in Chinese and English
culture, the origin of the
lead to the different connotation of
people followed are also different.

3. Cultural Differences of Politeness in English and Chinese


By
cultural
differences,
this
paper
mainly
refers
to
what
happens
to
the
cross
language
and
cross- cultural
communication
in
both
Chinese
and
English.
Different
cultures will lead to different living habits; and in different living habits, principles of
polite
language
also
will
be
very
different.
Thus,
different
cultures
have
different
opinions
about
the
same
thing.
Let’s
take
a
dog
as
an
example
(Liu
J.H.
2011a),
Chinese always show contempt to dogs. In their opinion, dogs are timid and they are

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easy to betray their masters. So people hear frequently about
走狗

狗腿子

狗东
西


赖皮狗


狗急跳墙


狗仗人势


狗眼看人低

and
so
on.
But
in
English-speaking countries, people admire dogs' courage and loyalty. The commends
，
appreciations and praises to the dog are common occurrences. Sometimes people even
compare man to dog
，

such as
幸运儿
)
，

爱屋
及乌
)
，

dog
has
his
day
(
凡人皆有得意日
)

as
a
dog
is
used
to
describe people who are sick. Dog-tired means very tired (Grice P H. 1975:122-134).
On the contrary, Chinese like cats a lot. They use
馋猫

gluttonous,
but
it
is
always
including
honeyed
ingredients.
However,
in
English
culture,
3.1 Different Living Environment

The birth of language is closely related to people's everyday life and work.
Britain is an island country, seafaring once was the leading industryin the world; But
the Han Nationality live in the Asian continent, people cannot live without land. For
example, wasting money or extravagance, it is
but it is
挥金如土

water. However, there are some idioms that are not completely corresponding in
Chinese, such as
one' s head above water
what to do
n 1983), etc. Chinese culture, < br>（东风）


赤日炎炎似
火烧

骄阳似火


On the contrary, Britain is located in the western hemisphere, north temperate
zone, Marine climate. The sign of the coming spring is west wind. Also
，
a famous
British poet Shelley's
British’s summer is warm and pleasant
(2009). People often describe them with

writes “Shall I compare thee to a summer 's day?”, “ Thou art more lovely and m
ore
temperate”
(1998).
3.2 Different Religion and Beliefs


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