A Study of Pragmatic Functions of Greetings in Chinese and English

摘 要：Greetings are frequently used in everyday social interactions all over the world. As a way to show respect and politeness， greetings are playing an important role in people's daily life. However， greetings differ from culture to culture. So the study of the pragmatic functions can be very useful to promote communication.

關(guān)鍵詞：greetings， pragmatic functions， communication

1. Greetings as Illocutionary Acts

Austin concludes that there are three types of speech act： “l(fā)ocutionary acts” to “mean something”； “illocutionary acts”， thats performing an act in saying something； and “perlocutionary acts”，thats bringing about something by saying something.

When an English speaker asks you “How are you？”， he is not necessarily concerned much about your physical condition or work， but showing his politeness.

Another interesting example of such routines is the use of the Chinese expression “Have you eaten？” When a Chinese speaker makes such an inquiry， he is seldom really concerned about whether you are full or hungry， but intends to make you feel that he is being considerate to you .The conventional answer is “yes”， though often a white lie， for the negative answer would put the greeting person in an awkward situation. Actually such a greeting expression is not an invitation but a means to show the speaker's warm attitude and consideration towards the hearer.

The discussion above shows that from pragmatic perspective， greetings can be regarded as illocutionary acts. However， the understanding of the covert meaning of greetings by the interlocutors in daily conversation lies in the routinination of such expressions.

2. Greetings as Access Rituals

As Goffman（1971：75） notices， greetings occur between individuals at the point where they find themselves about to enjoy a period of heightened access to each other， the best example being in introduction： “...when two individuals are introduced by a third， faces light up， smiles are exchanged， eyes are addressed， hand-shakes or hat-doffing may occur...”. The activities mark the initial point of personal relationship and increase the ease of access between the persons related. This is also true of the meeting or encounter of two individuals who already know each other. In this sense， a greeting can be considered to be an access ritual of ceremony both in Chinese and English.

3. Greetings as Linguistic Routines of Politeness

As Laver （quoted in Qìan， 1996） comments， the central concept Brown and Levinson employ in their model is that of “face” after Goffman （1967）. As mentioned earlier， face refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize. They distinguish negative face and positive face. If the strategic ends of speakers in conversational act are to be achieved， various politeness strategies must be used to maintain the participants negative face or to enhance their positive face. In the process of greetings， such maintenance and enhancement of face has to be taken into consideration.

The examples below illustrate some routine expressions used in social greetings. For instance， in English， greetings such as “Hello！” have to be used to maintain or even enhance the hearers positive face， depending on the status of the participants and the social setting.

In Chinese， some greetings are frequently used for the sake of politeness in social interaction as well. For example，“Good morning！” as greeting expressions seem to be directed towards the hearers positive face. Greetings such as “What are you doing？” seem to maintain the speakers positive face.

4. Conclusion

This thesis mainly talks about the pragmatic functions of greetings in Chinese and English. The purpose of this thesis is to definite the difference of these two countries， and to tell people how to greet in different cultures， so as to promote intercultural communication.

Bibliography：

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作者簡介：

張立芳，女，（1986.04—），漢族，河北石家莊人，河北美術(shù)學(xué)院教師，碩士，主要從事英語專業(yè)研究。