A Contrastive Study Of Politeness Principle And Cultural Connotations Of English And Chinese Polite Expressions In Cross-Cultural Communication

There is a long-time misunderstanding that polite expressions only exist in the languages of eastern countries like China and Japan, not in the language of English-speaking western countries. The truth is that as a way to express respect and politeness to others, polite expressions inevitably exist in all languages. Like other language forms, they express personal feelings, demonstrate the speaker’s social status and coordinate interpersonal relationships.A number of previous studies have summarized language features and applications of Chinese polite expressions, ancient Chinese ones in particular. The lack of corresponding attention of scholars home and abroad to the importance of polite expressions in English makes people misunderstand that the western people don’t have courteous culture. In addition, inadequate contrastive studies cause the shortage of proper instructions for the use of polite expressions in cross-cultural communication, bringing communication barriers to some extent.Due to the problems mentioned above, this paper, on the basis of comparing and contrasting polite expressions in modern Chinese and English, discerns similarities and differences of polite expressions in both languages to clear up the misunderstandings and improve people’s awareness of cross-cultural communication in relevant aspects. The paper consists of5chapters. Firstly, it presents literature review, providing a theoretical support for the issue under discussion, concerning language, culture, cross-cultural communication and Politeness Principle which are perfectly manifested in polite expressions. In the second part, it gives detailed information about English and Chinese polite expressions, revealing their universality and differences. The paper begins with the definitions and origins of polite expressions, proceeds with classifications of the term—polite expression according to the expressing manners, natures and functions, continues with their language features in each language, and ends with the functions polite expressions play in daily communications. Thirdly, on the basis of the case study, this paper illustrates reflections of both English and Chinese versions of Politeness Principles embodied in expressions of politeness in English and Chinese and explores their differences and similarities under distinct cultural backgrounds. In the fourth chapter, based on foregoing analyses, the thesis digs into the deeper cultural connotations behind the expressions from the perspective of ideology in the related societies and countries and analyzes causes for the different linguistic patterns and their applications in Chinese and English polite expressions. The last chapter offers some instructive suggestions for the use of polite expressions, especially in intercultural communications.Through the above-mentioned contrastive studies, the author naturally comes to the conclusion in the end:the western culture values politeness as Chinese culture does and English is rich in polite expressions on such language levels as vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. Meanwhile, due to cultural differences, the polite expressions in English and Chinese are significantly different in patterns of manifestation and cultural connotations. As a result, corresponding strategies should be applied to avoid the misunderstandings and barriers caused by cultural differences in Chinese and English polite expressions and to strengthen the awareness of cross-cultural communication.