A Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And English Address From The Perspective Of Politeness Principles

Every language has its own specific address system and its usage is closely related with the cultural background. The thesis makes a comparative analysis of Chinese and English AFs from the cultural perspective. Since different cultures give birth to different standards of politeness and politeness principles epitomize the particularity of its native culture, the thesis introduces two politeness principles as its theoretical framework. One politeness principle is proposed by Brown and Levinson in English cultural background. This principle is generally believed to one of the classis theories in pragmatics and enjoys certain degree of universality across the world. The other one is summarized by Gu Yueguo on the basis of the special characteristics of Chinese culture.After a detailed comparative analysis of Chinese and English AFs in aspects of the categories, functions, and specific positions in their own address systems, the thesis makes the following discoveries. Firstly, Chinese and English AFs share some similarities in following politeness principle by Brown and Levinson, for example, in both English and Chinese, first names are adopted as a speech strategy to indicate solidarity and achieve positive politeness whereas titles are chosen for the purpose of showing respect and realizing negative politeness. Secondly, there is distinct differences between English and Chinese address forms in following the politeness principle by Brown and Levinson: first names occupy a dominant position in English address forms, and it indicates that the major function of English address forms is to achieve positive politeness by showing solidarity;the Chinese address forms pay attention to negative politeness by indicating power and expressing respect to the addressee and the popularity of titles is a good evidence. Thirdly, the complex Chinese AFs totally follow politeness principle by Gu Yueguo, especially address maxim and self-denigration maxim and its complexity and particularity are fairly and reasonably explained by the politeness principle.Without ending in the superficial comparison between the two addressing system, the thesis continues to explore the deep-rooted cultural reasons for the above distinct differences. In Chinese-English communication, these differences unavoidably result in various problems;it is even the case with the social and economic development. The thesis introduces pragmatic failure to clarify and analyze these problems.The thesis is composed of seven chapters. Chapter one serves as an introduction to address forms: the definition, classification, function and previous researches on AFs;Chapter two outlines the theoretical framework by introducing the twopoliteness principle in English and Chinese cultural backgrounds. Chapter three makes a comparison of Chinese and English address systems in aspects of titles, personal names, kin terms and honorific/ humble terms. The result of comparison is analyzed with the guide of politeness principles. Chapter Four compares the basic values in Chinese and English culture which exert their profound impact AFs like collectivism versus individualism. Chapter Five introduces the pragmatic failures with regard to the usage of AFs, especially in cross-cultural communication and lists the strategies to get rid of them. In view of comprehensive comparison between English and Chinese addressing systems, a comparative method is adopted to facilitate the research.