A Contrastive Study Of Gratitude Expression In English And Chinese

This thesis provides a contrastive study of gratitude expression in English and Chinese. Its purposes are two-fold: (1) to find out the similarity and difference of gratitude expression in nature in English and Chinese and (2) to examine the factors that affect the use and functions of gratitude expression.Multiple sources of data were collected for data analysis for this study: a) English daily readings and films and TV programs; b) participant and non-participant observation; c) questionnaires among native English speakers and native Chinese speakers.Analysis of naturally-occurring data from English and Chinese gratitude expressing events suggests that different cultural background resulting in different strategies and functions in expressing gratitude. Data from the questionnaires the researcher shows that despite the common properties of politeness, gratitude expressions in English and Chinese differ in semantic content, illocutionary function, and social context. Problems of mother tongue transference and ignorance of the social contexts in relation to gratitude expression often result in misunderstanding or miscommunication in cross-cultural communication.Recommendations for future study were made. Further investigation should be made in terms of non-verbal gratitude expression as well as relations between prosody and gratitude expression. Future studies on gratitude expression should be carried out with a larger sample to reflect the real use of gratitude expression.