文化價(jià)值觀差異對語言風(fēng)格的影響.doc

文化價(jià)值觀差異對語言風(fēng)格的影響-以中美兩國對比為例摘要隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化的發(fā)展，中美兩國之間的聯(lián)系日益密切。由于歷史背景，地域，政治文化的不同，兩國之間的價(jià)值觀取向也有所差異。文化價(jià)值觀的不同，也產(chǎn)生了具有本國特色的語言風(fēng)格。本文主要從價(jià)值觀的角度分析其對中美兩國語言風(fēng)格的影響。中美兩國的價(jià)值觀核心以美國的個(gè)人主義與中國的集體主義為主，分析在這種價(jià)值觀差異影響下產(chǎn)生的直接式與間接式語言風(fēng)格。本研究主要采用了參考文獻(xiàn)法，舉例法，引用法和歸納總結(jié)法。由于前人對該課題的研究尚未全面，因此本研究仍然有一定的現(xiàn)實(shí)意義：在國際交往日益頻繁的當(dāng)代社會(huì)，深入了解中西方國家的文化差異是非常必要的。在此背景下，本研究有助于全面并深入地了解中美文化差異，期望可以幫助人們更好地加深中美兩國的交流與合作。關(guān)鍵詞：價(jià)值觀，個(gè)人主義，集體主義，直接式語言風(fēng)格，間接式語言風(fēng)格The Influence of the Differences in Cultural Values on Language Styles-A Contrast between the Chinese and the AmericanAbstractWith the development of economic globalization, the contact between China and the United States is increasingly close. Due to the historical background, geographical, political and cultural differences, the values of the two countries are also different. And different values also produced its own language style.This research mainly analyzes the impact of the different values for Chinese and American language style. The core values of the two country is individualism of the United States and collectivism of China. In this different values impact, analyzing American direct language style and Chinese indirect language style.In the process of writing this thesis, the concrete methods the author adopted include collecting materials from reference books, surfing on the internet to find helpful materials. Research method include using contrast, examples and analysis to support my thesis and inductive and summary method.Because of the previous research on this topic is not yet comprehensive, so this research still has certain practical significance. In contemporary society, the international communication is becoming more and more closely, it is necessary to understand the cultural differences between Chinese and Western countries. In this context, this study will help to understand the cultural differences between China and the United States comprehensively and deeply, and the author hopes it can help us to deepen the exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States.Key Words：different value; individualism; collectivism; direct language style indirect language styleii華北水利水電大學(xué)畢業(yè)論文Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background of StudyDifferent countries have their own unique cultural value systems, and every cultural value system has its core values system. Different cultural values system has also formed a completely different language features. As the carrier of the culture, language is also has their own characteristics in the different cultural value. The language style of the United States, which is the mainstream of Western, is more directly and openly. And as the representation of Eastern civilization, the language style of China is more indirect, subtle and tactful. An important reason of this is the different cultural value between the United States and China. That is the different core between Chinese and American cultural value 1.2 Significance of This Research With the development of economic globalization, the communication between China and the United States is becoming more and more closely. Understanding of the language style differences between the two countries will contribute to the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. So that people can have a more comprehensive and profound understanding of Chinese and American cultural value and language style.However, the previous research is mostly about the differences between China and the United States cultural value or the differences between China and the United States language style, but for the influence of the differences in cultural values on language styles is not yet comprehensive. So this subject still has room to do further research. The author hopes this research can make English language learning becoming more regular, so that people can get more interests in English learning. And it can also help people to deepen the exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States. The prior theories and opinions provide the author with basic ideas from these respects: the conceptualizing of the cultural value and language style, characteristics, origin and performance of American and Chinese cultural values, the characteristics and performance of American and Chinese language style.1.3 Research MethodsIn the process of writing this thesis, the concrete methods the author adopted include collecting materials from reference books, surfing on the internet to find helpful materials. Research method include using contrast, examples and analysis to support my thesis and inductive and summary method.Chapter Two Literature ReviewValue is the core of culture, and it dominates peoples beliefs, attitudes, and opinions and becomes the guide to peoples action. Under the impact of different values, its culture also showed great differences. The obvious difference between American culture and Chinese culture is that the former emphasizes individual freedom, while the latter pays attention to the social relations. In this century, many scholars have studied and analyzed Chinese collectivism and individualism culture values in many aspects. Chinese language style is very prominently different with the United States language style, one of the most obvious difference is Chinas indirect language style and American style direct language. And many people have also been analyzed and discussed about the differences between this.2.1Conceptualizing Cultural Value and Language StyleThere have been many scholars have defined the cultural values and language style. Their views on these issues may not necessarily identical, but also have their own unique perspective.2.1.1. Conceptualizing Cultural ValueIn An Inter-cultural Comparison between Sino-American Cultural Value, the writer Li Mingming thinks that “Value is the consideration and evaluation to what is center of culture. Values are the orienting consideration and evaluation to what is acceptable and what is not. Values influence peoples behavior and thinking patterns. It guides our behavior patterns in communication.”(Li Mingming, 2007). He believes that value and culture are closely related. Like the American anthropologists Nanda and Warms proposed that “Values are shared ideas about what is true, right and beautiful that underlies cultural patterns and guide society in response to the physical and social environment” (Nanda and Warms 49). The value is the core of the culture, the formation of human value system cannot be separated from the culture, and values also reflects the characteristics of culture.In Sino-American Cultural ValueDifferences and Mutual Understanding written by Li Qiao, the author is more inclined to think that value originates from social life. He quotes Williams words as a proof of his point of view“They prescribe which actions and ways of being are better than others; they are not descriptions of fact, but possess content and emotion and contribute to social reality. (Williams, 1970). He thinks that value is the rules of peoples behavior or the social life. “These rules and guideposts are normative and teach us what is useful, good, right, wrong, what to strive for, how to live our life, and even what to die for. (Samovar, Porter and Stefani, 2000). No matter what the values are, peoples thinking and behavior that in this society should be guided and influenced. 2.1.2. Conceptualizing Language StyleEvery nation in the world has its own language style, which is not separated from its historical culture, traditional ideas and life customs. Its formation is changing over time, but it spreads slowly until forever.In Comments on Chinese Mainland of the Definition and Essential Characteristics of “Language Style”, Zhang Demin and Gao Hang discussed that the definition of language style is not consistent, there are many different definition about language style. And they summed up the works of linguistics, rhetoric and style in 20th Century to the definition of language style, there are eight versions of the follow: “Felicitous Theory”, “Unique Personality Theory”, “Integrated Features Theory”, “Style Atmosphere Theory”, “Means of Expression System Theory”, “General Variation Theory”, “Personalized Speech Theory”, and “Aesthetic Taste or Aesthetic Appearance Theory”(“措辭巧妙論”，“獨(dú)創(chuàng)個(gè)性論”，“綜合特點(diǎn)論”，“格調(diào)氣氛論”，“表達(dá)手段體系論”，“常規(guī)變異論”，“言語個(gè)性論”和“審美趣味論或美學(xué)面貌論”)(張德明，高航 2004). All of these versions are definitions of language style, but the emphasis on these definitions is different. At the end of the article, the author expresses his own opinion. “Language style is speech style, it is that people use language in a particular context, select the means of expression, to form a comprehensive performance features of the landscape style. In short, it is the speech characteristics of comprehensive performance of the style.”(語言風(fēng)格即言語風(fēng)格，是人們在特定的語境中運(yùn)用語言，選擇表達(dá)手段，形成綜合特點(diǎn)所表現(xiàn)的風(fēng)貌格調(diào)。簡言之，即言語綜合特點(diǎn)表現(xiàn)的風(fēng)貌格調(diào)。)（張德明，高航 2004）The author Liu Zhenjiang in his thesis Some Questions about English Language Style summarized the definition of different linguists about English language style, thinks it can be summarized as “a manner of expressing ones thoughts or feelings” or “ the way in which language is used”(劉振江 1990). And besides, there are four different narrow definition of language style. The first is “the language habits of one person”, it mainly emphasizes persons personality and worldview. Like the Buffon (1753) said “Style, it is the man himself.” This word is always used for the definition of language style. The second definition for language style is “the language habits shared by a group of people at one time, or over a period of time”. These two statements are more focused on the language style described as a language habits. The third statement is “good, clear English”. It means that those who use more appropriate style is the so-called language style. Jonathan Swift (1704) said “Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style.” That is to say that the third statement more emphasize the use of language. And the last definition is mainly used in the literature or aesthetic to describe the unique style of language. This statement can be also called literary style. From here we see that, style is multi-faceted, it can be refer to different style by analyzing from different points of view. Language style can be different due to people, time, vary, and also can be different due to occupation, class, media and means of communication on the purpose.2.2 Individualism and Collectivism Individualism, advocates the individual as the most fundamental and true existence. It is a moral, political and social philosophy that individual interests should be the most important factor in determining behavior, it emphasizing the importance of individual freedom and individual rights. Collectivism, advocates that individual belonging to the community. It is a moral, political and social philosophy that individual interests should be subject to the interests of the group, nation, class and the state, it emphasizing the importance of collective and overall situation. In Historical Characteristics of Collectivism and Its Vitality - From the Relationship between Collectivism and Individualism, the author Song Huichang mainly discussed the research production, development and advancement of individualism and collectivism from the relationship of individualism and collectivism. He thinks that the development of individualism is closely connected with the development of the capitalist society. “Because personal liberation is a necessary premise of the development of capitalism, so the individualistic values in the final analysis is a reflection of the capitalist society.” (個(gè)人的解放是資本主義發(fā)展的一個(gè)必要的前提，所以，個(gè)人主義價(jià)值觀歸根到底是資本主義社會(huì)的反映。)(宋慧昌 2007). And individualism is the result that people against feudal slavery society and pursuit for personal liberation. It inspired the creation of people, thus promotes the development of the capitalist society. Individualism values got the theory of real practice in British colonists found the new world events, therefore, individualism is very typical in the American values. But individualism also has its limitations and malpractice .Tocqueville, the first person to put forward the idea of individualism, in his work Democracy in America, he has written that “Democracy not only makes everyone forget their ancestors, but also to make everyone regardless of their descendants, and alienated with the same age. It makes everyone always failing to think only of themselves, and finally completely into the lonely heart.”(民主主義不但使每個(gè)人忘記了祖先，而且使每個(gè)人不顧后代，并與同時(shí)代人疏遠(yuǎn)。它使每個(gè)人遇事總是只想到自己，而最后完全陷入內(nèi)心的孤寂。)(托克維爾 1998:627). In this article, the author Song Huichang also discussed the collectivism. Collectivism, which is developed with the emergence and development of the socialist society. “As far as the basic trend of historical development, the socialist society is developed through the capitalist society. Similarly, there are also critical inheritance relationship between value of collectivism and value of individualism.”(就歷史發(fā)展的基本趨勢而言，社會(huì)主義社會(huì)是經(jīng)過資本主義社會(huì)發(fā)展而來的，同樣地，集體主義價(jià)值觀與個(gè)人主義價(jià)值觀之間也存在著批判地繼承的關(guān)系。)(宋慧昌 2007). Obviously, collectivism is the opposite of individualism. As previously mentioned, individualism emphasizes human rights, emphasizes the individual interests and values. But collectivism, from the literal meaning we can see that it pays more attention to the collective interests and values. “Between the organization and individual, the collective and individual, collectivism emphasizing the individuals obedience to the organization, the individual obedience to the collective and unity and discipline.”(在組織和個(gè)人之間、在集體和個(gè)人之間，強(qiáng)調(diào)個(gè)人對組織的服從、個(gè)人對集體的服從，強(qiáng)調(diào)統(tǒng)一和紀(jì)律。)(宋慧昌 2007). Compared with individualism, collectivism more emphasizes the equality between people, it also makes collectivism better than individualism in some respects. Although the development of collectivism is very dynamic now, it is unattractive for a large part of people in the community, its influence is still not as good as individualism.Many scholars and researchers believe that in some ways, Chinese and American values can be seen as the basic values of collectivism and individualism. In An Overview of Individualism and Collectivism in Cross-Cultural Psychology by Wu Lanhua, the author discussed “Individualism adapt to capitalist society, the United States is the most developed capitalist society, and so individualism is the most typical value for it. Collectivism adapt to socialist society, China is the typical representative of socialist society. Thus, China and the United States has become a hot spot in the study of value.”(個(gè)人主義與資本主義社會(huì)相適應(yīng)，美國是最發(fā)達(dá)的資本主義社會(huì)，因而個(gè)人主義最典型;集體主義與社會(huì)主義相適應(yīng)，中國則是它的典型代表。于是，價(jià)值觀的研究中，中國和美國的比較成為一大熱點(diǎn)。)(吳蘭花 2003). Therefore, there are many scholar study individualism and collectivism by analyzing the differences between American value and Chinese value. They analyzing American and Chinese peoples attitude, value trend and behavior rules, comparing their differences and found the rules of American and Chinese value.2.3 Direct and Indirect Language Style Direct and indirect language style is two completely different ways of language style. In Different Cultural Communication Styles, Belinda Tucker has describes her views on direct and indirect communication. In this article, she has describes her views on direct and indirect communication: “Cultures that value getting to the point quickly without mincing words are direct communicators. In this type of interaction, the truth is highly valued with a concern for peoples feelings taking a backseat to the conveyance of information. While indirect communicators value the idea of saving face and maintaining harmony, direct communicators are not afraid to use criticism and confrontational language.”(Belinda Tucker). And she also summarized said that African Americans, Nordic and European descent Americans language style is mostly direct language style. They dont like beat about the bush when they talking with others, they are more inclined to express their views directly. However, Most of the Native Americans and Asians think the direct language is too rude and impolite. These people prefer to use more euphemistic language and suggested to communicate, that is to say, their language styles are mostly indirect language style.Scollon and Kirkpatrick point out that “in spoken interactions and written discourse organization, the Chinese prefer the indirect convention while Anglo-Americans prefer the direct convention.” They also point out that “the Chinese indirect convention and Americans direct convention in speaking and writings are in general demonstrated in the semantic sequence or order of the information.” (Scollon & Kirkpatrick 2000). The authors point of view is that in the language style, China is more inclined to the indirect language, while the United States is more direct language. This has also been recognized and studied by many scholars in China and the West. And for the reasons of this difference, He Zhaoxiong has point out that “the factors that influence the indirect and direct way of communication between cultures include power relationship, social distance, the size of imposition, and societal right and obligation.” And he also assumes that “different cultures may have different assumptions about these factors. For example, societal right and obligation between father and son may be interpreted differently in Chinese and American cultures” (何兆熊2000: 253-256).Chapter Three Differences between Chinese and American Cultural Values and Language StylesWith the developments of science technology, economy, culture, and political pluralism, the contact between countries is increasingly close. However, due to the differences in natural environment, historical conditions and the philosophical basis of the way of thinking, different social communities have formed different cultural values. The cultural differences between the East and the West are very typical. As a civilized country with five thousa