The Views Of Self And Face In A Cultural Perspective

The thesis aims to have a culturally comparative study of the views of Self and Face in order to illustrate the influence of culture on the writing of academic texts of Chinese and Western scholars respectively and better understand the inner spiritual features of the two cultures by means of words used by Chinese and Western scholars in their academic texts.The thesis starts from the concept of culture and moves on to its decisive influence upon a person as well as the interaction between langauge and culture. Then the thesis focuses on the views of Self and Face and analyzes their respective origins and differences between them. The thesis holds that Chinese culture is characteristic of interdependent self and repressed self, while Western culture is of independent self and valued self. Whereas Face in Chinese culture has society-orientation, Face in Western culture has ideal individual autonomy. Weatern culture values more negative face and in Chinese culture there is hardly any room for nagative face.Based on the detailed literature review of studies on academic texts both at home and abroad, the thesis finds that the comparative study of academic texts of both Chinese and Western scholars from the cultrual perspective is what the present domestic studies on academic texts lack. The thesis, based on corpus analysis, conducts an emperical study on the two subjects. After the ststistical snalysis of the operational devices of the researched variables, the thesis finds that compared with the native scholars, Chinese scholars more frequently use indirectness devices, are more likely to avoid authorial identity implied in the use of I and have sronger desire to avoid employing face-threatening acts but less to avoid imposition on both the writers themselves and the readers.The thesis explains the above mentioned findings from the cultural views of Self and Face, holding that the exterior differences employed in academic texts of both Chinese and Western scholars are in fact the different presentations of the two interior key factors in deeper pattern of culture: the views of Self and Face.Culture, Self and Face are three factors which interact, that is, a certain type of culture may have corresponding views of Self and Face. On the other hand, culture and language are closely related and mutually conditioned. Language is the carrier and presentation of culture; culture is the inner and controlling factor of language. As a result, increasing attention are paid by linguistists and historians to the interdisplinary research angle between them.The study can contribute to a better understanding of both Chinese and Western views of Self and Face as well as the relationship between language and culture, and to a better writing of English academic texts of Chinese scholars.