A study of politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and American cultures 英语专业毕业论文.doc

A study of politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and American cultures Abstract This paper focuses on a study of politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and American cultures. It gives the readers a general idea of some pragmatic studies of politeness previously carried out by Western and Chinese scholars, and it gives several comparisons of current practices between Chinese and American ways of expressing politeness in different situations. In brief, the findings in this paper support the view that politeness in its various manifestations is culture specific to a great extent. By understanding cultural differences, many misunderstandings and miscommunications can be avoided. Key words: politeness, culture specific, comparison, studies. A Study of Politeness Ⅰ.Introduction In this paper I would focus the study of politeness on its manifestations in Chinese and American cultures. What is politeness, then? In Oxford Advanced learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, POLITE is defined as “1. Having or showing that one has good manners and consideration for other people; 2. (typical) of a superior class in society; refined. Politeness can be understood as a social phenomenon, a means to achieve good interpersonal relationships, and a noun imposed by social conventions. So it is phenomenal, instrumental and normative by nature. Politeness is universal, which is interpretable in various ways, i.e. it can be observed as a phenomenon in all cultures, it is resorted to by speakers of different language as a means to an end, and it is recognized as a norm in all societies. Despite its universality the actual manifestations of politeness, and the standards of judgement differ in different cultures, which can be traced to the origin of the notion of politeness in different cultures. Therefore, we have to study the differences in different cultures so that we can avoid misunderstanding and behave ourselves appropriately in various occasions, and in turn p