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1.2 Research Design
This paper mainly deals with the embodiments of the politeness principles, attempting to find out the differences between Chinese and western principles. Methodologically speaking, this study utilizes the method of looking up the related documents to gain relatively abundant first-hand materials.
Based on the literature review of the study on the politeness principles, this paper attempts to compare the differences between Chinese and western principles through the examples of embodiments of the principles. Then, this paper will explore the reasons for the differences from the aspects of thinking patterns and cultural values.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Previous Study of Politeness Principle
At the end of the 1950s, John Langshaw Austin, a British philosopher, creates the Speech Act Theory, which consists of locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. Searle, a philosopher of the United States, advanced Austin’s theory. He improved the speech act theory into a theory which explains human verbal communication from the research of isolated words. Lakoff thinks in some types of verbal communication, politeness occupies the upper hand on the validity of the decision session. He points out that courtesy is governed by three rules: not to impose; give people choices; friendly treatment. Later on the three rules were further explained by putting forward two principles of Pragmatic competence: clearness and politeness. The principle of clearness mainly aims at the information, which is mostly equivalent to the principle of cooperation proposed by Herbert Paul Grice. While the politeness principle of Lakoff consists of the following three rules: 1.rigidity: not to impose, keep the distance; 2. hesitation, give the audience choices; 3. equality or friendship as comrades. She also thinks that although politeness principles differ from cultures, the basic natures of them are the same. In fact, Lakoff’s theory is the specific explanation and reflection of Negative Politeness Strategy proposed by Brown and Levinson. Another philosopher of the United States Grice proposed the theory of Conversational Cooperative Principle, which includes four categories of maxims: amount, quality, relationship, manner. These rules represent the social norms. In his opinion, there is a tacit mutual understanding between the speaker and the listener. They cooperate with each other and comply with the basic principles in order to ensure the effectiveness of verbal communication. Failure in complying with the principles would lead to failure in the communications. In spite of the different wording, Grice’s theory is basically recognized by the pragmatics field. On the basis of this, Leech, a British linguist, defines politeness as regulative factor in order to maintain “the social equilibrium and friendly relation” in interaction. (Leech, 1983: 82)
China is an ancient civilized country with a history of more than five thousand years. Confucius,(551B.C.—479B.C.), a famous ideologist of China, advanced a system of how to restrain oneself and restore “礼”, which purpose was to keep the feudal domination. Politeness means “礼貌” in Chinese, which shares something with the thought of “礼” of Confucius. Both govern people's behaviors and will bring a more civilized social atmosphere and lubricant interpersonal relationships. The difference lies in the fact that the former helps to keep a social order of the feudal hierarchy while the latter influence the daily dialogue. He Ziran, a Chinese scholar, defined politeness as a social phenomenon, a means to deal with the interpersonal relationships, a guideline to reflecting the social customs. Gu Yueguo, another Chinese scholar, absorbs and learns from Leech’s politeness principles, and then proposes five pieces of politeness principles, which are widely recognized by the scholars. He holds that there are four essential elements underlying the Chinese concept of politeness (limao), that is, “respectfulness”, “modesty”, “attitudinal warmth” and “refinement”. Respectfulness is self’s positive appreciation or admiration of other, concerning the latter’s face, social status, and so on. Modesty can be seen as another way of saying “self-denigration”. Attitudinal warmth is self’s demonstration of kindness, consideration and hospitality. Refinement is self’s conventional use of language matching his social status and family background. (Gu Yueguo, 1990: 238)