口語交際中漢英恭維語的對比研究

1、 口語交際中漢英恭維語的對比研究 AcknowledgementsThis thesis would not have been completed without numerous peoples help and support. To whom, I would like to take this opportunity to show my heart-felt gratitude. Firstly, I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Tang Shizhong. He has offered me constructive and

2、insightful instructions to help me complete this thesis. Besides, I extend my thanks to Professor Li Qiang and every teacher who has helped me with useful suggestions and comments.At last, I would like to express my warmest gratitude to my family for their unconditional love and support.iAbstractCom

3、pliments are especially important for peoples communication, and their role can be overlooked. Compliments are also called the lubricant of social interaction. China is distinct from English-speaking countries in its history, language, cultural background and social values. Therefore, each country s

4、hapes diverse communication styles. Both English and Chinese are rich in compliments for better and harmonious communications.Based on the previous studies, this study will provide deeper research on differences of compliments between Chinese and English from a cross-cultural perspective. This paper

5、 will analyze the following five aspects, including occasions, distributions of the topic, objects, forms of syntax and responses, in order to promote communicating and appreciating each other among different languages and cultural backgrounds, and thus to successfully achieve intercultural communic

6、ation.Key words: English compliments; Chinese compliments; oral communication; cross-culture communication iii摘 要恭維語在人們?nèi)粘＝涣髦酗@得尤為重要，其作用是不容小覷的，往往被稱之為社會(huì)交往的潤滑劑。由于中國與英語國家的歷史、語言文化背景、社會(huì)價(jià)值觀不盡相同，故形成了不同的交際風(fēng)格。不論是英語還是漢語，在口語交際的過程中，都會(huì)有大量的恭維語穿插其中，以促進(jìn)交際的和諧與融洽。本論文將在以前學(xué)者研究的基礎(chǔ)上，從跨文化的視角，對漢英恭維語之間的差異進(jìn)行較為系統(tǒng)的對比研究，試圖從恭維語的使用

7、場合，話題分布，對象，句法形式以及應(yīng)答策略這五個(gè)方面進(jìn)行分析，意在促進(jìn)不同語言和文化背景的人們互相交流、互相欣賞，從而成功地實(shí)現(xiàn)跨文化交際。 關(guān)鍵詞：漢語恭維語；英語恭維語；口語交際；跨文化Contents云南民族大學(xué)畢業(yè)論文(設(shè)計(jì))原創(chuàng)性聲明iAcknowledgementsiiAbstractiii摘 要iv1. Introduction11.1 Research Background11.2 Aims and Significance of the Study21.2.1 Aims of the Study21.2.2 Significance of the Study22. The T

8、erm “Compliments” and Literature Review42.1 Compliments42.1.1 Definition of Compliments42.1.2 Functions of Compliments42.1.3 Types of Compliments52.2 Literature Review62.2.1 Foreign Literature Review62.2.2 Domestic Literature Review72.2.3 Speech Act Theory72.2.4 Politeness Principle83. Differences B

9、etween Chinese Compliments and English Compliments113.1 Causes of Differences Between two Cultures113.2 Occasions113.3 Distributions of Topics123.4 Objects133.5 Forms of Syntax153.6 Compliment Responses173.6.1 Compliment Responses of Chinese183.6.2 Compliment Responses of English194. Conclusion21Ref

10、erences23vi1. IntroductionCompliments Speech Act, a widespread social phenomenon that mirrors human beings communicative activities are contained in each language system. The so-called compliment is a sort of speech act that definitely or implicitly makes comments about someone or something, mainly

11、expressing appreciation, envy and admiration. Compliments are particularly important in peoples daily communication, and their role cannot be ignored. Furthermore, people usually treat compliments as a social interactions lubricant, and they are used to maintain or save hearers faces. Under the join

12、t action of utterances rules, social norms and communicative needs, compliments shape a communication model. Admittedly, how to compliment and how to respond to compliments are a reflection of organizational competence among people from diverse cultures. 1.1 Research BackgroundWith the development o

13、f the modern society, interpersonal communication, especially oral communication, is on the increase, so oral language expression plays a decisive role in communicating with others. People intend to convey information, exchange opinions and contact efficiently, in order to achieve oral communication

14、 subjects of interactivity by virtue of spoken language, a tool for communication. China is different from English-speaking countries in its history, language, cultural background and social values. Both English and Chinese are rich in compliments for better harmonious communications. However, there

15、 exist extremely distinct discrepancies in compliments usage and understanding among people of different backgrounds. To a certain extent, the use of compliments reflects disparate social values from the side. However, few scholars study the differences of Chinese compliments and English compliments

16、 from the perspective of native English speakers and Chinese. China is more closely linked with other countries in recent years. Therefore it is necessary to acquaint these differences in the round.With the increasing development of cross-cultural communication, Chinese and Western cultural interact

17、ions are prone to being merged step by step. In spite of this, there is no doubt that culture shock is equally unavoidable. In the process of interpersonal oral communication, people might encounter such awkwardness that the communicative effect is terrible or communicative failure on account of cul

18、tural influences of native language, different utterance and illegitimate presentation. The cause of this predicament is not misusing of grammar or words, but comprehensive understanding of second language culture. Since language and culture are interdependent, native English speakers and Chinese sh

19、ould balance the differences between two cultures while communicating. If cannot correctly recognize the differences, then they would encounter misunderstanding and communicative failures in the process of communication. As has been noted, compliment can be regarded as a verbal communicative behavio

20、r, and a kind of national culture epitome.1.2 Aims and Significance of the Study1.2.1 Aims of the StudyCompliments are a kind of polite language and lubricant of interpersonal relationships, which have substantial implications for narrowing the social distance among communicators, maintaining interp

21、ersonal relationships, opening the topics and alleviating contradictions and embarrassment. Compliments become a kind of speech act, and a social phenomenon. Certainly, native Chinese speakers and native English speakers unavoidably have different social and cultural backgrounds, social values and c

22、ommunication rules, which determine the diversities of Chinese and English compliments in the implementation process, and these differences may give rise to some consequences such as emotional breakdown and business failure.Therefore, the aim of this study is to make language speakers correctly real

23、ize that people from different cultures have different thinking modes and social values. Familiar with differences of compliments between English and Chinese in oral communication, speakers can better comply with their speech acts, create a harmonious communication atmosphere, minimize the conflicts

24、 in the process of cross-cultural communication, achieve the best effect of communication and in due course avoid pragmatic failures.1.2.2 Significance of the StudyThrough researching compliments of English and Chinese in oral communication, the author will do her best to find out the differences in

25、 using appropriate compliments.As far as I am concerned, researching the differences between Chinese compliments and English compliments is a very interesting subject. By pointing out the pragmatic difference between Chinese and English compliments and dissecting deeply the different connotation of

26、compliments in two cultures, people in the two cultures can correctly understand aesthetic point of people, thinking modes and behavior characteristics of different cultures. As long as people recognize these differences, they would acclimate their speech acts, and avoid contradictions caused by dif

27、ferences of language and thus promote the harmony of the communication environment. Improving native Chinese and English speakers emotional identity and promoting understanding between Chinese and English cultures can minimize the conflicts in intercultural communication, achieve the best communicat

28、ive effect, enhance awareness of cultural difference, and thus improve cross-cultural ability. 2. The Term “Compliments” and Literature Review2.1 ComplimentsLanguage is not only a communication tool, but also a carrier of culture, so people can have preliminary understandings about a countrys cultur

29、e by virtue of language. Compliments are a verbal behavior that shared by people all over the world, but it is affected and restricted by the different cultural backgrounds, values and communications rules. To be honest, compliments seem quite simple, but in fact they are speech act with abundant me

30、anings.2.1.1 Definition of ComplimentsAccording to Holmes (1988), a compliment can be defined as “a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speakers, usually the person addressed for some good (possession, characteristic, skill, etc.) which is positively

31、 valued by the speaker and the hearer”(Holmes, 1988). Generally speaking, compliments consist of two parts: one is speakers compliments, and another is hearers responses. Compliments are distinct from other speech acts based on their affirmative evaluation language. The use of compliments is closely

32、 associated with society and culture.There is no doubt that scholars at home and abroad have reached a consensus on the definition of compliment. Consistently, they mainly emphasize two aspects. On the one hand, compliments express the speakers praise. On the other hand, the subjects of compliments

33、are related to the hearers possessions, achievements, or personal qualities. In essence, compliment has a positive effect on interpersonal relationships. In other words, speakers always talk something lovable, in an attempt to make hearer be in a cheerful frame of mind and achieve the purpose of mee

34、ting hearers expectations. Actually, compliment is information with some kind of emotions that speakers pass on to hearers. Speakers are able to implement positioning for communicators. At the same time, hearers can clearly understand speakers purposes and intentions from it.2.1.2 Functions of Compl

35、imentsCompliments are one of greetings in social communication because it has extremely vital social functions. There is no doubt that compliments are meaningful for people to maintain and promote all kinds of interpersonal relationships. Of course, compliment plays a crucial role in the processes o

36、f learning languages, especially spoken language.In reality, compliment is a speech act with various functions, which mainly embodied in the following aspects. Firstly, compliments usually can be regarded as the lubricant of social interaction, which contributes to building up a harmonious relations

37、hip. It not only bridges the distance between speaker and hearer, but also achieves effective communication. Secondly, compliment can be used as a mode to greet others. Briefly speaking, people often use compliments in various occasions when they encounter acquaintances, colleagues or friends. Third

38、ly, compliment can intensify and encourage good conducts, involving in superiors and subordinates, teachers and students, parents and children. Its aim is to encourage hearers to continue maintaining the behavior. Fourthly, if a person makes himself or herself master of compliments, which indicates

39、the speaker is good at language communication and has plenty of social experiences. In this way, properly using compliments is conductive to open topics for chatting, in an attempt to create a jolly communication environment. As a matter of fact, compliment also expresses congratulations, affirmativ

40、es, appreciations and relieves contractions and so on to expect for the above mentioned functions.2.1.3 Types of ComplimentsHerbert (1990) considered that compliments can be divided into two categories by comparing the compliments between English and Polish, including dominant compliments and recess

41、ive compliments. The classification also applies to the Chinese compliments and English compliments.Dominant compliments can be defined as they conform to a highly stylized standard and are able to be verified without context, expressing the meaning by those words that carry a positive implication.

42、For example, “You are very handsome!” “You are good-looking, extraordinary temperament.” “你很漂亮！” Obviously, dominant compliments have been spotted easily in our daily life, which carries straightforward and convincing expressions. Furthermore, people can accept and understand them without any diffic

43、ulty.Recessive compliments are recognized as a kind of non-formulation compliment. Though their superficial meanings are nothing like compliments, they have powerful strategy function to breezily solve the dilemma with regard to praising between the two sides. They always need people to combine with

44、 the various factors of specific context as this kind of compliments does not carry a positive implication in this way, people are capable of distinguishing them. Besides, recessive compliments have certain indirectness. That is to say, speakers attitudes are not expressed in an apparent way, but ex

45、tracted from its context.Chinese culture is considered to be a high-context culture. Therefore, expressions of Chinese are more indirect and circuitous than Englishs. As a matter of fact, people usually attain the best communication as they unconsciously praise others utilizing implicit and indirect

46、 recessive compliments. In terms of its indirectness and concealment, there is no need to make a response of acceptance or rejection, which relives the awkwardness of communication between speaker and hearer.In allusion to recessive compliments, people have difficulty in using the word “thank” or th

47、e phrase “thank you” as an appropriate response. If people want to agree with the compliment, it would be proper in a tacitly approve or ambiguous answer.2.2 Literature ReviewCompliments are a verbal behavior frequently used by people while communicating. Since the 1970s, compliment attracts numerou

48、s international and domestic scholars attention on account of its unique communicative functions and characteristics. They have done a lot of systematic researches on compliments and responses one after another and achieved plenteous results. Besides, the study of compliments has gradually changed f

49、rom static to dynamic, and the perspectives of research gradually become diversified.2.2.1 Foreign Literature ReviewMane & Wolfson (1981), American scholars, pointed out that compliments were mostly composed of three models and they had certain regularity on syntax and semantic meaning. Pomerantz (1

50、978) showed clearly that there were differences in compliment responses between English and Chinese, but they were mainly divided into 5 types, including upgrades, scale down agreement, down-grades, reassignment of praise and return. After that, Holmes and Herbert continued to do further researches

51、on the topic and found out that compliments were also impacted by gender. Holmes (1988) also found that women gave and received more compliments than men did and women tended to view compliments as explicit expressions, while men felt more embarrassed when receiving them and viewed them as face-thre

52、atening acts. And he said that “compliment is an appraisal behavior on the basis of the angle of session” (Holmes, 1988). Herbert (1990) traced differences in the patterns of compliment responses between middle-class white Americans and middle-class white South Africans. 2.2.2 Domestic Literature Re

53、viewThe starting of compliments research among domestic scholars is later than foreign scholars, and the majority of research results are theoretical interpretation. He Mingzhi (2002) argued that there were various differences in compliments between English and Chinese in terms of content, usage occ

54、asion, forms and responses, which were based on different cultural backgrounds. The study reveals distinct culture aesthetic standard and values. Xie Feng (2008) pointed out that the use of Chinese recessive compliments has some discrepancies among social groups of different ages, class, gender. Qi

55、Huijing, Chang Tianlong (2009) pointed out that compliments of Chinese and English were affected by social mentality and cultural value orientation with distinctive national features. Li Hui, Li Jingwei, Jiao Xinping (2011) utilized interviewing method to investigate Chinese students compliment resp

56、onses, and the study discovered that compliment responses of Chinese students were acceptance rather than rejection. In addition, Zengpan, Su Huifen, Liying (2012) found out that compliments of responses were unitary but diversified by analyzing 355 corpus compliments and responses between English a

57、nd Chinese.2.2.3 Speech Act Theory Since the 1960s, along with the linguistic turn of research subjects in philosophy field, Speech Act Theory was emerging. It was originally proposed by an English philosopher, J. L. Austin. He published a renowned book called How to do Things with Words in 1962, wh

58、ich formulated the Speech Act Theory. He considered that a complete Speech Act was not the total of all the words that one speaker said in a linguistic communication, but the whole aspects that constitute a kind of language behavior. At the same time, he also pointed out that a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act (Austin, 1962). Locutionary act is an act that refers to the surface meaning by syntax, vocabulary and phoneme. Illocutionary act is an act that refers t