Abstract：Politeness, as a moral norm in maintaining normal social relationship, exists in all languages. This paper is to study and generalize polite phenomena in English language and make a comparison of politeness between English and Chinese language. The overall research of politeness can further the study of the contrast between English and American culture. The paper conducts the research by looking up relevant books and magazines, referring to similar materials on the internet and consulting professional scholars, summarizes and generalizes the existing theories and ideas. Through many practical examples, the paper studies the polite phenomena in English language.

The first part focuses on the study on the significance of politeness in present society, aiming to arouse the attention of English learners to strengthen the study of culture and politeness; the second part introduces many aspects of politeness from sounds to the rules governing big chunks of paragraphs which can be expressed in a more polite way. In the third part, many relevant theories home and abroad including politeness principle are introduced. Furthermore, a comparison is made about the different politeness between Chinese and English languages and various reasons are listed in the fourth part. Therefore, the paper intends to provide some methods and professional advice to English learners so as to enable them to enjoy joyful and mistake-free trips in cross-cultural communication.

Key words: polite phenomenon; politeness principle; comparison

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1 Introduction- 4 -

1.1 Significance of the study- 4 -

1.2 Study home and abroad- 5 -

2 Types of politeness in English language- 7 -

2.1 Politeness in intonation- 7 -

2.2 Politeness in the use of words- 8 -

2.3 Politeness in the use of sentences- 9 -

2.3.1 Make use of tense and aspect- 11 -

2.3.2 Negation- 11 -

2.3.3 Conditional sentences- 11 -

2.3.4 Questions—tag question and negative question- 11 -

2.3.5 Subjunctive mood- 12 -

2.3.6 Adding “please” before or after request- 12 -

2.3.7 Ellipsis- 12 -

2.3.8 Using determiners- 12 -

2.4 Politeness in rhetoric device- 12 -

2.4.1 Irony- 12 -

2.4.2 Euphemism- 13 -

2.4.3 Antiphrasis- 13 -

2.4.4 Hyperbole- 13 -

3 Theories concerning politeness- 14 -

3.1 Leech’s politeness principle- 14 -

3.2 Brown and Levinson’s face theory- 16 -

4 Comparison of politeness between Chinese and English language- 18 -

4.1 Similarities- 18 -

4.1.1 Fixed format- 18 -

4.1.2 Appearing in the same situation- 18 -

4.1.3 Gradability- 18 -

4.2 Differences- 19 -

4.2.1 Greetings- 19 -

4.2.2 Farewell- 20 -

4.2.3 Apologize- 20 -

4.2.4 Reply to compliments- 20 -

4.2.5 Addressing terms- 21 -

4.2.6 Theory- 21 -

4.3 Factors affecting the use of polite language- 22 -

4.3.1 Origins- 22 -

4.3.2 Mode of thinking- 22 -

4.3.3 Psychological environment- 23 -

4.3.4 Religion- 23 -

Conclusion- 24 -

References- 25 -

Acknowledgements- 26 -