American And Chinese Compliments: A Cross-Cultural Study

The term "speech act" has been defined as a minimal unit of discourse,a basic unit of communication. ComPlimenting is a particularly suitablespeech act to investigate when comparing cultures, because it acts as awindow through which we can view what is valued by a particular cultUre.Although eXtensive work on comPliments has been done abroad,researches in this field in China started very late, which are only limited onpreliminary introductions of English compliments. There lack systematicand overall considerations about Chinese comPliments, and the cross-cultural study of AInerican comPliments (Acs) and Chinese comPliments(Ccs) is even less. Therefore, in this paper we attempt to make a deeperresearch on this subject from cross-culturaI perspective. -This paPer presents the results of a cross-cultural study on the speechact of comPlimenting, compedng various aspects of Acs and Ccs. It is a. wide-ranging explofation covering the comPliment form, topic distribution,compliment response, sex-based differences, as well as social functions ofcompliments.The paper consists of six parts besides the introduction and conclusion.The introduction demonstrates the significance of the cross-cultural studyof compliments.Chapter One makes a brief description of the study of compliments.We introduce the definition of a compliment, its strUcture and generalcharacteristics of this speech event. We also make a brief review on itsdevelopment at home and abroad. Finally we present the rationale andmethodology of this study.ChaPter Two studies Acs and Ccs from the semantic and syntacticlevels. Major findings suggest that both Acs and Ccs tend to be formulaicin that they tend to be adjectival and they use very restricted syntacticpattems. The reasons for the formulaic pattern are also discussed in thischapter.v' ChaPter Thre makes a cross-cultural study on toPic distribution of-- Acs and Ccs. We find that there is agreement betWeen Acs and Ccs at verybroad level. However, they differ greatly within specific topic categories,such as compliments on aPpearance and ability. We mainly discuss thecultural differences at these tWo areas.ChaPter Four discusses Acs and Ccs from the aspect of complimentresponses. Firstly, we intfOduce the principles that govern the act ofresponding to comPliments and Herbert's classification of complimentresponses. Then the analysis of AInerican and Chinese data demonstratesthe similedties and differences of Acs and Ccs at this point.ChaPter Five presents sex-based similarities and differences infrequency and topic distrbution. It is found that in both cultures women--pay and receive compliments more frequently, and they are morefrequently complimented on their personal aPpearance. However,differences do exist When it comes to comPliments betWeen opposite~ sexes.Chapter Six illustraes how comPliments may function. The function ofcompliments may seem self evident but the analysis suggests that theyserve more functions than is apparent at first sight. In addition to the majorfunction of reinforcement, they also serve as greetings, thanks, andopenings of a conversation.In the conclusion, we sununarize this paper and address its limitationsand expect its further research in the futUre.