Factors of Politeness and Indirect Speech Acts

杨雪梅

【Abstract】Polite principle is influenced deeply by a nations history，culture，custom and so on，therefor different countries have different understandings and expressions of politeness and indirect speech acts.This paper shows some main factors influencing a polite speech.Through this article，readers can comprehensively know about politeness and indirect speech acts.

【Key words】polite principles； indirect acts； factors

Firstly，I will list some factors of politeness：information and receiver，situation，tone and deixis.

We know that one language is influenced by its traditional habits，so in terms of polite greeting，there are many idioms about eating in China：use have you eaten？to greet.For American，people pay more attention to their privacy and always use How are you？or Oh， today is good，right？.Ans Chinese take varieties of actions depending on the degree of a relationship between two people，to intimate relatives，Chinese who think that intimate person are regarded as one group and its not necessary to stand on ceremony rarely say thanks，for apologizing，the authoritative person dont have to apologize to the lower class of people for their mistakes，about bey-bey，one guest always use I am sorry to have troubled you to express his thanks for the hosts service，but this method is thought by American as a way to apologize，so in America，guests say thank you very much to express glorious feelings.Then the degree of politeness changes according to the class of hearers：if inviting a senior management，might we have the pleasure of your company at dinner tomorrow evening？is regarded as a good manner，for giving a help to other people，one of inquiring ways is shall I ...？

Tone is another factor of politeness.And here are some causes determining choices of tone：topic，receiver and purpose.If a speaker gives a lecture with a topic to listeners and the tone of this speech should be solemn to show respect for hearers.And receivers knowledge，interests also determine the tone of a speech.When one body has a wide range of knowledge and has a same interest，then the speaker will be glad to continue a deep talking，at this time the tone of this speak is rising and positive，on the contrary，the tone is going down.Meanwhile depending on the purpose of a speech，a speaker can change his tone：facing a competitor with hostility，one man must pick up a serious attitude to set up his prestige.

Deixis is the last factor of politeness.吴友富（2004：85） proposes that every language has its own reference：person reference，time reference，place reference，social reference and discourse reference.Here we just talk about the first one，for first person like we，it hints two meanings： we-inclusive-of-addressee and we-exclusive-of -addressee.The former contributes to make the distance between talkers become short.For the latter，there are three usages：to be self-criticism with receivers together；to be abstract indication；to shorten the distance between talkers.For third person，sometimes when inquire something from somebody we use third person，such as Mr. Li，did you read this book？instead of asking directly did you read this book？.About pronouns，杨春红（2005）proposes that the use of pronoun should comply with terms—proximal term and distal term.It is an example，during a company or an organization，for strengthening a friendship or corporation-ship，we can use proximal terms to show a good impression.

Second part is about the factors of indirect acts.Generally speaking，indirect acts are often to use a euphemistic way to express ones true thinking for avoiding making others awkward，and it is closely referred to the type of writing or speaking and context—language environment.On some newspapers，magazines and books or public speeches，editors usually choose veiled words to report news for avoiding conflicts.A typical example is that American politicians call the action of invading into Iraq as a good act of damaging destructive weapons.Then cultural context is an another important factor.In China，if one people rejects others invitations，he will give an uncertain respond to indirectly decline so even though he wont come at last，the host wont be angry because the gust doesnt say certainly.But when American dont want to attend a party，they will give a direct replay—yes or no.

To conclude that only if have a good knowledge of factors influencing politeness and indirect speech acts will we successfully express our ideas，especially with China developing rapidly and Chinese power being stronger and stronger partly because of the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and all cultures in the world mixing together.

Reference：

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[2]Guy Cook Barbara Seidlhofer.Principles &Practice in Applied Linguistics[M].上海外语教育出版社，1995.

[3]吴友富.外语与文化研究[M].上海外语教育出版社，2003.

[4]杨春红.虚拟语气和礼貌用语的指示语用诠释[J].广西社会科学，No.7，2005.