The Politeness Principle and Pragmatic Failuresin Cross—cultural Communication

肖燕

Abstract：Polite factors in language communication are important causes of communication failure. In this paper， Through introducing the related content of politeness principles， differences between Chinese and English cultures and different standards about politeness， it explains the reasons of pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication and puts forward some politeness strategies. It aims to reduce pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication.

Key words：politeness principles； cross-cultural communication； pragmatic failures

中圖分类号：H315.9 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-1578（2017）02-0001-02

1 Background of the Politeness Principle

The cooperative principle is put forward by the American linguist Grice in 1967. It is the general principles to be abided by people in the session. Grice's cooperative principle explains how the conversational implicature is produced and is understood， and it also illustrates the general principles which should be followed by participants in the session. But it cannot explain why people sometimes deliberately violate some criterions of the cooperative principle and why people dont express their meaning directly during the conversation， they， sometimes， do not express their real meaning indirectly so that they have failed to explain their real meaning. In the 1980 s， the British linguist Leech and other linguists further developed the theory on the basis of this， and put forward the politeness principle of conversation.

2 The Maxims and the relativity of Politeness Principle

2.1 The maxims of politeness principle

The British linguist， Leech proposes the politeness principle to make up for the inadequacy of the cooperative principle. He carries on the induction and classification politeness principle in communicative activities from the aspect of pragmatics and interpersonal rhetoric. He suggests that the politeness principle can be divided into six types： Tact Maxim；Generosity Maxim.；Approbation Maxim；Modesty Maxim；Agreement Maxim；Sympathy Maxim.

2.2 The relativity of politeness principle

The relativity of politeness can at least be reflected in real politeness， false politeness， politeness and cultural factors， social factors. The ways of expression of relativity of politeness are varied. Generally speaking， it mainly discusses from the aspects such as literal politeness and actual politeness， politeness and cultural factors， and politeness and social factors.

3 Politeness and Pragmatic Failure in Cross-cultural Communication

Politeness phenomena are widespread in a variety of different cultures and languages. Thanks to that all ethnic groups in the world have their unique politeness principles and guidelines， and the emphasis on politeness and understanding of all ethnic groups are not identical. If， people of different cultural background， act in the process of communication according to their own respective politeness principle， there will be misunderstandings and conflicts in communications， which can lead to communication failure.

3.1 Direct and indirect expressions

Direct expression embodies the highest efficiency of human speech， reduces misunderstanding in dialogues between the two sides. Indirect expressions focus on strengthening politeness， conceal true mood or stimulate implication. Oriental seldom directly and clearly refuses a request. They often cope with refusing requests with some vague words， which is easy to make westerners misunderstand. “Introduction to Pragmatics” written by He Ziran， suggests that indirect speech act is expressions with a kind of implicit words. Searle points out that， to understand the concept of indirect speech act， first of all， you should understand "literal meaning"， namely， “literal force” which is expressed by the sentence itself， then to infer its indirect intention--

"illocutionary force”. The application of the conventional indirect speech act is mainly out of politeness to the hearer. Relatively speaking， it leads less misunderstanding. On the contrary， non-conventional indirect speech act is more complex and uncertain. It mainly infer from known language information and context which are known by both sides. In cross-cultural communication， if both sides don't know much about each other's culture， they will inevitably lead to communicative failure.

3.2 Praise and Modesty

British and American always accept the sincere praise from others， and gratitude others， which is in line with the politeness principle. Westerners admire courtesy "gentleman"， but they are usually not "modest"， because they certainly think to admit his talent is "confidence"， while the reaction of Chinese is different from westerners. They regard Chinese traditional modest as a virtue， so they often tend not to accept others praise， sometimes even use "self-abasement" to response to others compliment. This is because， in Chinese culture， people adhere to the performance of the politeness principle. As to how to praise others， in western culture， men can praise women's appearance， figure， dressed up， etc.， but this is basically taboo in Chinese traditional culture. So in cross-cultural communication， the different reactions to compliments and humility often cause misunderstanding on the basic of different cultures， which will result in cross-cultural communication failure.

3.3 The causes of communicative failure in cross-cultural communication

According to the content of the politeness principle， it is easy to lead to different language courtesies in politeness pragmatics， it can be mainly summarized as the following respects.

3.3.1 Self-denigration maxim

"Self-denigration" is a very polite pragmatic phenomenon with Chinese cultural characteristics. In both English and Chinese， people will be humble to express politeness. But the difference is that Chinese will demean themselves to show humility， while English will accept praise from others.

3.3.2 Difference in the relation between politeness and privacy

The understanding of the relationship between politeness and privacy is different. In Chinese， people can put forward appropriate problem in conversation， which cannot put forward in western culture， because it is considered to be interfered with their privacy and is impolite. In China， for example， if people want to get to know each other， they often start to talk from age， career， life etc.， while English people think these questions are not polite， asking these questions is even regarded as invasion of privacy. They generally talk about the weather to start to talk.

3.3.3 Different cultural values

Different Sino-British cultural values can also lead to different polite principle of pragmatics. Westerners attach great importance to "personal value"， they hope the behavior of the individual can be freedom and independence. So they hope to feel they are respected on any occasion. For example， in Chinese culture， people will force the other side to accept the gift， or at the banquet， the hosts will supply food to our guests constantly. These behaviors in the Chinese culture are the embodiment of the enthusiasm， sincerity， politeness， while in English culture， these behaviors will be considered violation of their individual autonomy， and they will feel uncomfortable.Therefore， to understand the different cultures may avoid pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication.

4 Conclusion

In cross-cultural communication， pragmatic failure will lead to the interruption of communication， misunderstanding and even conflicts. According to the factors such as language， culture and context， one can choose the rational politeness strategies accordingly. In different cultures， one should know the different backgrounds of cultures， to develop own cross-cultural thinking mode. Politeness is relative， so one can express politeness according to its relativity. Know the differences between Chinese and western clearly， only in this way can one avoid the pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication.

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