A Pragmatic Study Of Politeness

Politeness as a social phenomenon can be observed in all languages and cultures, and it has long been made an important object of study in linguistics. Scholars from both western countries and China have made preeminent study on politeness. Despite its universality, politeness is to some extent culture-specific. Culture influences the language user's modes of thinking and language as an essential part of culture is used to code and express thought. The study of the relationship between language and thought has been extended and in recent years even shifted to the relationship between language and culture. Due to different history, geology and culture, every nation forms its specific politeness standard. The true nature of politeness is the relativity, which determines the appropriateness of politeness in different situations. Tact is a highly generalized principle in communication. Compared to PP, tact is more abundant in content and is more forceful in generalization. Cultural factor and social factors must be considered when we want to produce tactful speech. In this thesis, motive of politeness is also analyzed from sociological, psychological and moral philosophical angles. From sociological angle, the true nature of politeness is to respect others, which is the basis of maintaining interpersonal relationship in society; from psychological angle, politeness is a kind of self-actualization, and that is, polite people are easily accepted and respected by others; from moral philosophical angle, politeness can embodies one's ideal personality.