Abstract

 Politeness is the primary component of national culture, and it is closely linked to people 's daily life. It reflects the characteristics of a nation and includes the way of thinking and values of the nation. The successful completion of intercultural communication, the normal development of society are inseparable from the use of polite language. Because of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, the politeness principles of different cultural backgrounds are different in verbal communication. The differences in cultural values result in pragmatic differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Based on different cultures, politeness has different requirements. In practical communication, we should learn and study the politeness principles and rules of communication under different cultures in order to improve the communicative competence in a cultural equality mentality.

Key words : politeness principle; cultural differences; communication

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review.1

2.1 Politeness principles of English.2

2.1.1 Grice cooperative principle.2

2.1.2 Brown and Levinson’s “face” theory2

2.1.3 Leech’s politeness principle3

2.2 Politeness principles of Chinese4

3.A Comparison of Chinese and Western Politeness5

3.1 The differences between Chinese and Western politeness6

3.1.1 Terms of address.6

3.1.2 Terms of thanks.7

3.1.3 Terms of greeting8

3.1.4 Terms of privacy8

3.1.5 Terms of euphemisms8

3.1.6 Terms of goodbye9

3.2 The similarities between Chinese and Western politeness.9

4.Reasons for the Differences and Countermeasures10

4.1 Reasons for the differences.11

4.1.1 Different cultural values11

4.1.2 Different self-values12

4.1.3 Different ethnic characters.12

4.2 Countermeasures13

4.2.1 Respect each other’s culture13

4.2.2 Respect each other’s value orientation13

4.2.3 Respect each other’s living habits.13

4.2.4 Respect each other’s thinking mode14

5.Conclusion14

References16