A Comparative Study Of Inter-cultural Greeting Communication In The Light Of Relevance Theory

Greeting is one important aspect of inter-cultural communication. Greeting is not only a method of communication, but also a feeling of warmth. Along with the increasing contact among people around the world, the study on inter-cultural communication is becoming more and more important, including the study on inter-cultural greeting communication. The interpersonal function is the major function of greeting, that is to say greeting can help the communicators to establish, maintain, and negotiate the social relationship among the social members. Under different culture backgrounds, unnecessary conflicts and misunderstanding will come into being frequently. The present thesis is a tentative study of greeting in inter-cultural communication from the perspective of relevance theory, with the view to arresting the rationality of employing relevance theory in revealing the nature of inter-cultural greeting communication and the explanatory power of relevance theory to interpretation of inter-cultural greeting communication, in the hope that it will be helpful in promoting inter-cultural greeting communication.The theoretical framework referred in this thesis is mainly derived from relevance theory, proposed by Sperber and Wilson in 1986 named Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Relevance theory differs from Grice’s code model, which is an ostensive- inference model. In the eyes of Sperber and Wilson, ostensive- reference model is the base, which is attached by code model. The detailed study of greeting in inter-cultural communication in the light of relevance theory can help us understand the nature of success and failure in inter-cultural greeting communication. It opens up a new dimension to the study of greeting and other forms of speech acts, such as compliments, refusals, addressing and so on. Using the relevance theory to illustrate the speech act can promote itself be frequently used in the explanation of inter-cultural communication. Two reasons contribute to why relevance theory can be employed in studying inter-cultural communication: first is that inter-cultural miscommunication usually comes from improper understanding of explicture, so smooth inter-cultural communication needs a lot of inference; second inference reason is an important characteristic of human communication in terms of relevance theory, therefore, a relevance theory accounting to inter-cultural communication is feasible.This thesis comprises of five parts. The first part of the thesis gives the general introduction of the study in the following aspects, namely, the background, the purpose, the significance, the research questions and the construction. The second part introduces the functions, classification, and characteristics of greeting, and the difference performances of greetings in Chinese culture and Western culture. The third part of the thesis gives an introduction to relevance theory in terms of four aspects: ostensive-inferential model, cognitive context, mutual manifestness, and the principle of relevance. The fourth part of the thesis comparatively analyzes the intercultural greeting communication in Chinese and Western culture from the perspective of relevance theory in order to realize the smooth inter-cultural communication. The last part draws a conclusion to the whole thesis. In addition, this part points out that whatever mainstream culture should recognize the existence of culture differences in communication with due attitude, learn to understand and tolerate each other, and strengthen effective inter-cultural greeting communication. The author hopes that this thesis would help people raise the awareness of greeting and increase the competence of inter-cultural greeting communication.