跨文化交际中的误解——对中法致谢语的分析

礼貌语言中的致谢用语属于日常活动中的言语行为,按照奥斯汀(J.Austin)的言语行为理论,对给予的恩惠使用致谢语被认为是言外行为,而致谢语被认为是正面礼貌.致谢并不是孤立的言语行为,它可以是明确的,也可以是夸张的或暗含的.再者,致谢语具有很强的交际功能.致谢语带有明显的社会文化特征,可以折射出不同的文化价值.根据不同的文化,人们表达致谢语的方式方法也会不同.此外,人们评价致谢用语的标准也是有差异的.因此,在中国人与法国人的交流中,在不同的情景下,双方对致谢语的表达以及对致谢用语的评价标准都是不同的.中国人一般按照中国的生活习俗和汉语的习惯用法来使用法语致谢语,法国人对此有可能会不理解,甚至产生误会.

Misunderstanding in Cross-cultural Communication--A Comparative Study of Expressions of Politeness in French and Chinese

The principle of politeness is important in pragmatics. The French linguist C.Kerbrat-Orecchionie proposes a theory of Face Flattering Act (FFA), in which she proposes, regarding the politeness principle advocated by Brown and Levinson, two acts of politeness: positive act (speech act in favor of the addressee) and negative act (speech act in avoidance of or compensation for face-losing act). Kerbrat-Orecchionie's principle of politeness is obviously more reasonably founded and applicable in the analysis of speech acts. Expressions of politeness fall into the category of positive act, the use of which, according to J. Austin's of speech act theory, is a non-linguistic behavior. It is a speech act that feeds back, implicitly or explicitly, in a network of functions and social relations. Expressions of politeness differ in different cultures, and so do their norms. Cases of these differences in the French-Chinese communication are studied in this essay to explore the misunderstanding in the cross-cultural communication between French and Chinese.