Abstract: Compliments are commonly used in people’s communication in various languages. Based on the different culture and values, compliments in Chinese and English show their own characters in many ways. The paper makes a brief introduction of the difference in the two languages. By presenting as well as analyzing the different syntax forms, topics, semantic purposes and specific manners, it try to find out the social and cultural rules that impact and control it. And thus, this gives a more comprehensive view and a better understanding of the two compliment patterns, with which people could behave more appropriate and feel more comfortable during the cross-cultural communication.

Key Words: Cross-cultural communication, Compliment, Difference，Comparative study.

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-4

Chapter I. The different forms of compliment-5

1.1 The sentence structures.-5

1.2 The analysis of the difference structures-6

Chapter II. The different topics-7

2.1 Appearance-7

2.2 Age-8

Chapter III. The different purposes-9

3.1 The comparison of the purposes in two languages-10

3.2 The analysis of the phenomenon-11

Chapter IV. The different manners-12

Conclusion-12

Bibliography-13

Acknowledgments-14