Cultural Values in English and Chinese Politeness

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1、CulturalValuesinEnglishandChinesePolitenessWhatispoliteness?Whilestoppingthecaratthetollstation,thevocalizedmachinesaid:“excuseme，20Yuanplease！”（你好，请付20元）Asweallknowthat“nihao”inchinausuallymeanstogreetothersandiscommonlyinterpretedintoEnglishas“howareyou”,“howdoyoudo”oreven“hello”.

2、Itisdefinitelyunreasonabletounderstandthisversionthiswayinthesituationofatollstation.Anotherexample,whyonearthHughGrantisconsideredamusing?Althoughhekeptbumbling“OhI’msorryIerr,rather,Imean,Ididn’twanttooffend…”thesewordsseemsopolitesuperficially,whilepeoplefromotherculturesfindthis

3、justplainawkwardandembarrassingtowatch.Thesetwoexamplesofpolitenessdifferfromthecommonknowledgeofpoliteness,suchasofferingyourseattotheelderlyonabusisconsideredpolitebehavior,andinterruptingwhensomeoneistalkingisconsideredimpoliteortogreetsomeonethefirsttimeyoumeethiminthemorningisp

4、oliteandtostanduptoreachforthedishyouwantatadinnertableisimpolite.Asasocialphenomenonwhichcanbeobserved,politenessissomethingsuperficialbuttoexplainwhatisperceivedonthesurfacewecandelveintothedepthwheredifferentculturalvaluesarerooted.However,thesocialandcommunicativecontextofpolite

5、nessismuchmoreprofoundthantheintersection.Inordertoexaminethisissuemorethoroughly,thisstudyposesquestionsincludingthefollowing:•Whatarethetheoriesaboutthepolitenessontermsoflinguistics?•Whatroledoespolitenessplayintheprospectiveofcross-culturalcommunication?•Whatarethemajordifferenc

6、esbetweenEnglishpolitenessandChinesepoliteness?•WhatimplicationscanbeattachedtoEnglishteachingandlearning?12ⅠPolitenesstheory?Politenesscanatoncebeunderstoodasameanstoachievegoodinterpersonalrelationship,andanormimposedbysocialconventions（何兆熊2-8）.Politenesstheoryisthetheorythataccou

7、ntsfortheredressingoftheaffrontstofaceposedbyface-threateningactstoaddressees（Foley495）.Firstformulatedin1978byPenelopeBrownandStephenLevinson,politenesstheoryhassinceexpandedacademia’sperceptionofpoliteness.Politenessistheexpressionofthespeakers’intentiontomitigatefacethreatscarrie

8、dbycertainfacethrea