Abstract

Politeness is an important part in the process of cross-cultural communication. Every country has its own culture, and the expressions of people are different. Therefore, only correctly use the politeness language can people avoid the misunderstanding in the communication, and thus have a better cultural communication. The paper discusses the politeness principle of Chinese and the western countries firstly, and analyzes the difference of Chinese and Western politeness language mainly from the greeting, address forms, words of thanks and taboo words. Then the paper analyzes reasons of these differences from the angle of values, morality and the value of thinking.  Finally, it makes the some recommendations from the perspective of cross-cultural communication. 

Key words: politeness language; difference; cross-cultural communication; politeness principle

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

2. The Politeness Principle in Chinese Culture 2

2.1 Self-denigration maxim  2

2.2 Address maxim  2

2.3 Refinement maxim  2

2.4 Agreement maxim  3

2.5 Moral, speech and action maxim  3

1. The Politeness Principle in Western Culture 3

3.1 Tact maxim  4

3.2 Generosity maxim 4

3.3 Approbation maxim4

3.4 Agreement maxim  5

3.5 Modesty maxim  5

3.6 Sympathy maxim5

4. A Comparison between Chinese and Western Politeness Languages 6

4.1 Greetings  6

4.2 Address forms 7

4.3 Words of thanks  8

4.4 Privacy and taboo words9

5. Reasons for the Differences 10

5.1 Values10

5.2 Morality11

5.3 Way of thinking13

6. How to Prevent and Eliminate Communicative Errors in Cross-cultural Communication 14

7. Conclusion  14

References . 16