Differences in Politeness Principles Between Chinese and English Cultures

陳元紅

Abstract:Politeness is universal but culturally specific.It shows different characteristics in different cultures.From the angle of cultural differences，this paper reviews Chinese and Western"Politeness Principles"put forward by Gu Yueguo(顧曰國)and Leech，intends to compare on some of the important differences on politeness between Chinese and western cultures. Understanding the differences can avoid the pragmatic failures and achieve success in cross-cultural communication.It can also help English learners to develop and improve their pragmatic competence.

Key words：politeness principleChinese cultureEnglish culturedifferences

1、Introduction

With the development of science and technology,communication among people from different countries and different cultures is more frequent and important.Our world is multicultural.When we communicate with people from another culture,we are not only affected by the difference of language,but also disturbed by the difference of culture.To ensure a successful understanding and communication,we should pay attention to politeness,one of the most universal phenomena in intercultural communication.

Politeness,which is a symbol of human civilization,is a very important part of every national culture.It plays a key role in establishing and maintaining social harmony,and prescribing individuals'behaviors.People from different cultures may have different views on what politeness is and how to be polite.In cross-cultural communication,some languages or linguistic expressions are considered to be polite,while others were found to be discourteous.Differences of polite language exist in because of differences between oriental historical and cultural background,geographical environment and thinking manner.Chinese and western cultures are two different types,they have their own different features and focus.

2、The different definitions of Politeness Chinese and western cultures

In the English-speaking culture and the Western world in general,politeness has been closely related to the behavior typical of a certain social location and a certain social group. To be polite means to live up to a set of conventionalized norms of behavior (He Zhaoxiong,1995:3).

In modern Chinese,the equivalent of politeness is limao, which is believed to have evolved in history from the notion of li(禮).Li originally refers to the various rules or practices employed in ancient sacrificial rites.The ancient philosopher and thinker Confucius advocates restoring li,which refers to the social hierarchy and order of the slave system of the Zhou Dynasty.It has ever since become an essential feature of the Chinese notion of politeness and has remained at the core of politeness in the Chinese culture.(He Zhaoxiong, 1995:3-4)

"After the analysis of the differences between Chinese and English cultures,L.R.Mao concludes that politeness refers to ideal social identity in the Chinese culture and it refers to ideal individual autonomy in the English culture". (朱玲麟. 2005, 3: 51）

3、The differences between Chinese and western Politeness Principles

3.1 Leech's western Politeness Principle

In Grice's opinion,in all verbal communication,in order to achieve specific aims,there is a tacit understanding between the speaker and hearer,a principle that should be obeyed by speaker and hearer.He called this principle as the Cooperative Principle（CP）.There are four maxims in Cooperative Principle：Quantity Maxim,Quality Maxim,Relevance Maxim and Manner Maxim.（Jiang Wangqi，2000：38-40）

But in real communication,in order to be polite or something else,the participants often flout the cooperative principle. However,the CP fails to give a reason why people are frequently indirect in expressing what they mean,so that they use implication.

Geoffrey Leech(1983),the famous British linguistician, added and enriched Grice's Cooperative Principle,proposed Politeness Principle (PP) to explain why people violate the Cooperative Principle (Grice,1967) in conversations.He divides the Politeness Principle into six maxims,each consisting of two sub-maxims.They are as the follows:

(1)Tact Maxim

a.Minimize cost to other;b.Maximize benefit to other.

(2)Generosity Maxim

a.Minimize benefit to self;b.Maximize cost to self.

(3)Approbation Maxim

a.Minimize dispraise of other;b. Maximize praise of other.

(4)Modesty Maxim

a.Minimize praise of self;b.Maximize dispraise of self.

(5)Agreement Maxim

a.Minimize disagreement between self and other;

b.Maximize agreement between self and other.

(6)Sympathy Maxim

a.Minimize antipathy between self and other;

b.Maximize sympathy between self and other."(Leech, from He Zhaoxiong,2003:534-535)

Leech notes that not all the maxims are equally important. "Tact maxim is perhaps the most important kind of politeness in English-spoken society"

3.2 Gu Yueguo's Chinese Politeness Principle

Leech's Politeness Principle is proposed according to western culture.Some of them are not suitable to Chinese culture,because China has its own culture characteristics which are quite different from western culture.According to the characteristic of Chinese culture,Chinese scholars,Prof. Gu Yueguo has proposed four sides of politeness:respectfulness, modesty,attitudinal warmth and refinement and five politeness maxims:

(1)Self-denigration Maxim：

Denigrate self and elevate other.

(2)Address Term Maxim

Address your interlocutor with an appropriate address form;

(3)Refinement Maxim

Use refined language,including the use of euphemisms and indirectness,and avoid foul language;

(4)Agreement Maxim

Maximize agreement and harmony between interlocutors, and minimize disagreement between them;

(5)Virtues-words-deeds Maxim

Minimize cost and maximized benefit to other at the motivational level,and maximize benefit received and minimize cost to self at the conversational level.(Gu,1992:11-14)

Comparing Leech's PP with Gu's PP,we can find some similarity between them.For instance,Tact Maxim and Generosity Maxim of Leech's PP are similar with Virtues-words-deeds Maxim of Gu's PP.However,there are still some differences between them,because of the different cultural backgrounds.Self-denigration Maxim has the most Chinese characteristics.