The Specificity and Universality of Chinese and Western Politeness

礼貌是一种普遍存在的语用现象,但是由于文化、社会价值的差异,每种语言的礼貌又存在很大的不同。一些中国学者认为中国式礼貌具有自己的特殊性,西方的礼貌理论对中国是不适用的。本文通过对比英汉礼貌的异同,证明英汉礼貌虽然有诸多的不同,但是并没有必要将两者孤立而论。

Politeness is a universal pragmatic phenomenon, but due to different culture and social value, the politeness of each language may be diverse. Some Chinese scholars argue for the specificity of Chinese limao （politeness） and maintain that Western politeness theories are not applicable in China. Through comparing the difference and common points between Western and Chinese politeness, we can conclude that despite so much difference, there is not a East-West divide in politeness.