从礼仪规劝诗解读英国早期的礼貌理念

On the Concept of Courtesy as Reflected in the Early English Courtesy Poems

跨文化研究和语用学的礼貌研究主要关注politeness,但politeness的形成是在18世纪,是相当晚近的事情。英国早期礼貌的术语是courtesy,虽然两者都涉及面子,但内容有本质不同。Courtesy维护的不是个体而是集体面子,即特定的社会地位和社会关系。我们试图通过梳理courtesy、civility和politeness这几个英国礼貌不同时期的核心术语,结合早期礼仪规劝诗Urbanitatis的讨论来揭示courtesy的主要特点,并以此说明现代英国礼貌理念经历了脱胎换骨的变化,不同礼貌术语表达的是不同时代的不同思想范式。在跨文化对比研究中,用其他文化的历史理念与英国的现代理念进行对比的做法是值得商榷的。

Research on manners in pragmatics and cross-cultural studies is based on the modern term ＂politeness,＂ which emerged around 18＇h century. The early prescriptive concept concerning manners is courtesy. Although both target face, the foci are essentially different. Courtesy does not save individuals＇ faces but the face of a social stratum or a social position whereas politeness only redresses individuals＇ faces. By examining terms such as courtesy,civility and politeness and discussing Urbanitatis,we intend to outline the basic concepts of courtesy, arguing that since these terms signal different thinking paradigms, it is highly questionable to study manners by contrasting a traditional concept of a culture with a modern one of another.