AnalysisofPolitenessPrincipleinInterculturalCommunion

【Abstract】Using language to communicate is the most basic and important viability and social behavior. Effective use of language communication skills， improving our interpersonal skills can help us better communicate.

Politeness principle is a civilized means of communication， widely used by a variety of social groups. People should not only follow the cooperative principle but also the politeness principle in order to achieve the purpose of effective communication by taking some strategies of politeness.

【Key Words】Politeness Principle， Phatic Communion， Strategies

I. The Concept of Politeness Principle

The politeness principle was put forward on the basis of Grice’s “Cooperative Principle”. [1]Grice thinks that in all kinds of phatic communion， there are communicative maxims for specific goals. The maxims are called cooperative principle which includes four maxims： Quantity Maxim， Quality Maxim， Relevant Maxim and Manner Maxim. The cooperative principle has explained the meanings of indirect use of language but it haven’t explained why people use indirect language rather than bluntly communicate. So the British linguist Leech put forward “Politeness Principle” to compensate the deficiency of cooperative principle.

The first maxim of politeness principle is tact maxim. It means as little as possible to make others suffer， as much as possible to make others benefit. For example：

a.Take me home.

b.Could you possibly take me home？

From the point of hearer， the hearer in “a” suffers more， so it’s polite to say in that way； on the contrary， the hearer in “b” has more freedom to make choice， so it’s polite.

The second one is generosity maxim which means as little as possible to make yourself benefit， that’s to say， as much as possible to make yourself suffer. For example：

a.I can lend you my dictionary.

b.You can lend me your dictionary.

From the hearer’s point of view， the expression of “a” is more polite than “b”. As for speaker， they suffer more. In daily life， I always face the situation of how to express politely and gently. I would like to make myself suffer more in order to make things go smoothly.

The third one is approbation maxim which means that one should minimize to belittle others and maximize to praise others.

The fourth one is modesty maxim which means that one should minimize to praise himself and maximize to belittle himself.

The fifth one is agreement maxim which means to minimize divergences between the two sides and maximize agreements of the two sides.

The last one is sympathy maxim which means to minimize antipathy for others and maximize sympathy for others. For example：

Mary’s dog is lost.

a.It’s the most unfortunate thing I have heard today. I sympathize with you a lot.

b.You can have another one.

We know the first answer abides by the sympathy maxim， because the hearer show his full sympathy for the speaker. But the second answer pays little attention to the speaker’s feeling.

II. The Politeness Principle Applied to Phatic Communion

1. Tact Maxim and Generosity Maxim

We can analyse tact maxim together with generosity maxim， because they are two aspects of one problem that refers to how to treat oneself and others. Tact maxim is considered to be the most important principle of politeness. Westerners think if utterances are tactful， they are polite. In other words， polite language is just tactful language. Westerners sometimes use indirect speech utterances in phatic communion in order to obtain tactful result. Let us see some examples：

a.Cook a meal for me.

b.I want you to cook a meal for me.

c.Will you cook a meal for me？

d.Would you mind cooking a meal for me？

From “a” to “b”， the level of directness of the speech act is decreasing but the level of politeness is increasing. “Although the purpose of the speaker is the same， the level of politeness is increasing with constant increase of the level of indirectness. So the speaker can choose a tactful way to express in order to reach expected level of politeness.”[2]

2. Approbation Maxim and Modesty Maxim （下轉(zhuǎn)第126頁）（上接第124頁）

Approbation maxim and modesty maxim are also the two aspects of one another problem. The former refers to how to treat others and the latter refers to how to treat oneself. In English culture， people like to praise others， such as “how nice your car is！”， “What a beautiful girl！”. At the same time， they also like to be praised by others. When they get praise from others， they will say “Thank you” happily. The case is not like this in Chinese. Chinese people would rather belittle themselves than directly accept others’ praise.

3. Agreement Maxim

In English culture， when people want to express different opinions， they often say “Sorry”， “Excuse me” before they show their disagreements. For example：

a.I like these paintings. They are beautiful.

b.I am afraid I don’t have an eye for beauty.

Through the two sentences， we can find that “b” doesn’t agree with “a”， but he doesn’t express his view directly. He makes a negative comment on those paintings with euphemistic words. This answer minimizes the possibility of divergence and increases the level of agreement， which embodies agreement maxim.

4. Sympathy Maxim

“In English phatic communion， sympathy maxim can be found in the euphemistic expression of ‘death’.”[3] Showing sympathy for the dead or their families， people don’t directly talk about death.

III. Politeness Principle and Intercultural Language Communication

Pragmatic ability is the basis of communicative competence and better use of it can ensure successful communication. In communication， the two sides should pay attention to pragmatics， for example：

Teacher： Someone has forgot to lock the door yesterday.

Student： It wasn’t me.

The teacher uses the indefinite pronoun “someone” to avoid pointing out the student’s name in order to keep face for him. The example embodies the importance of pragmatics in phatic communion.

Hu Wenzhong and Grove put forward some priciples that help better communicate with Chinese， for example： “ say ‘no’ politely as much as possible； criticize the other side in private； don’t show anger and so on.”[4]

Above all， people should have relatively strong capability of cultural identity in intercultural communication. Cultural identity is human’s consensus and acceptance for cultural tendency. Cultural identity is the pragmatic factor to guide intercultural communication. All sides should pay attention to custom feature of politeness principle， master practical application of its maxims and obey appropriate pragmatics in order to succeed in intercultural communication.

References：

[1] Grice， H. P. Logic and Conversation [A]. Cole， P. Morgan， J. Syntax and Semantics [C]. New York Academic Press， 1975. 44.

[2] 周文博. 中西禮貌原則對比分析 [J]. 黑龍江教育學院學報， 2007， 33（10）： 21-23.

[3] 宣納新. 跨文化交際中禮貌原則與英語教學 [J]. 南通紡織職業(yè)技術(shù)學院學報， 2005， 27（4）： 11.

[4] Hu， Wengzhong C.L. Grove Encountering the Chinese： A Guide for Americans[M]. Yamouth， ME： Intercultural Press， 1991. 14-15.