A Study of Politeness Principle in Different Culture 英语专业毕业论文.docVIP

A Study of Politeness Principle in Different Culture [Abstract] As we all know, different people hold different views about politeness and different cultures may lead to pragmatic differences. 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, This paper briefly describes these principles, and also makes a comparative study on Politeness Principle in Chinese and English cultures. Besides, this paper also attempts to shed light on some of the pragmatic differences on politeness between Chinese and western cultures, indicating that typical Chinese and English politeness principles are similar to each other in nature but the differences between them are also playing a significant role in intercultural speech interaction. [Key Words] politeness principle; pragmatics differences; intercultural communication 1. 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.” ? In 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 people’s fondness and importance of this particular linguistic device. Also, in both cultures of English and Chinese, politeness has the 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.” Politeness Principle is the base which makes sure that intercultural speech interaction can go through successfully. It is also the civilized