A Pragmatic Analysis Of Politeness Strategy In Diplomatic Language

Politeness is not only a common social phenomenon but also a language one:, which symbolizes human civilization, and it is created in social relations to achieve successful communication. Politeness is regarded as the powerful strategy in dealing with interpersonal interaction. Although there are many ways of expressing politeness, language is the most effective and frequently used means. As ancient Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius state.: A word can promote the development of a country;if badly used, it can lead to desarster. This thesis aims to analyze politeness in diplomatic language under pragmatic context.Politeness is a dynamic and interpersonal activity rather than a stable and logical concept. Whether polite or not, it is a matter of judgement based on the participants perception under certain context. The present study will discuss politeness from the discourse level. The thesis ronsists of six chapters. Chapter One begins with a general introduction of diplomatic language and review of politeness study. Chapter Two lays a theoretical foundation for the thesis. Based on Leech's Politeness Principle, Lakoff's Polite Model and Brown & Levinson's Politeness Theory, in the following chapters the thesis focuses on the politeness in diplomatic langauge from the pragmatic point of view. In Chapter Three, in the first part, illustration of politeness and diplomatic language will be presented. Based on the above discussion, the second part deals with the classification of politeness in diplomatic context. Based on the participants' perception of politeness: agreeable diplomatic language and sensitive\disagreeable diplomatic language. In Chapter Four politeness and their strategies in the two kinds of diplomatic language are analyzed. Chapter Five analyzes cultural and situational variables that influence politeness in diplomatic language. In Chapter Six, a conclusion is drawn.