言语交际中的扬升抑降与礼貌原则

Complimenting and Belittling Acts in Interpersonal Rhetoric and the Politeness Principle

英国语言学家Geoffrey Leech对语言交际中的礼貌现象研究至少有以下两大贡献:1.明确提出区分礼貌与不礼貌语言行为的标准,即所谓的礼貌六准则,分别为(1)得体的准则(tact-maxim):减少有损于他人的观点,增大有益于他人的观点;(2)宽容的准则(generosity maxim)减少有利于自己的观点,增大有损于自己的观点;(3)表扬的准则(approbation maxim):减少对他人的贬降,增大对他人的赞誉;(4)谦逊的准则(modesty maxim)

In this paper, the authors explore the complex phenomena of complimenting and belittling in interpersonal rhetoric, classifying them into eight basic categories. They propose that the real causes for being polite or impolite lie in the human desire to keep the omnipresent socio-psychological equilibrium. The authors attempt at describing and analyzing the factors affecting the interaction between those two opposing communication strategies. Furthermore, they provide some methods to conform to the Politeness Principle, i.e. indirect method, preparing method, overstatement and euphemism. Finally, they briefly state the relation between speech acts and word meaning, lexicon or intonation.