张卉媛

【Abstract】 Politeness is one of the major social constraints on human interaction regulating participants' communicative behavior by constantly reminding them to take into consideration the feelings of the others. In this article, the author makes use of Leech's Politeness Principle to make a comprehensive analysis of a visit in real situation.

【Key words】Politeness Principle; Polite; Tact Maxim;

1.Introduction

During the spring festival, people pay visits to their friends and relatives. During the visits, both the guests and the hosts try their best to behave polite. In this article, the author makes use of Leech's Politeness Principle to make a comprehensive analysis of a visit in real situation. After the analysis, the author finds out that Leech's Politeness Principle can well show how Chinese people behave polite.

2.Theoretical Basis--Politeness Principle

Politeness exists only in human society. It is one of the major social constraints on human interaction regulating participants' communicative behavior by constantly reminding them to take into consideration the feelings of the others. The politeness principle is a series of maxims, which Geoff Leech has proposed as a way of explaining how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. Leech proposed the Politeness Principle which is formulated in a general way from two aspects:

1) to minimize the expression of impolite beliefs;

2) to maximize the expression of polite beliefs.

The Politeness Principle encompasses six maxims: Tact maxim, Generosity maxim, Approbation maxim, Modesty maxim, Agreement maxim and Sympathy maxim.

3.A Normal Visit to be Analyzed

The following conversation is happened in the real-life situation, just on the third day of the new year 2009 from lunar calender. In the morning, the author's parents and the author were going to the auther's grandparents' house. Just at this time, a friend of the author's father came to visit with gifts. The conversation is as follows (A is the guest, a friend of the author's father; and B is the host, the author's father.):

A:“过年好!” (A brought some fruit.) B:“过年好!来就来呗,还买东西干嘛呀,快请进!” A:“也没买什么东西,就是点儿水果,给孩子吃。” B:“快请坐!” (B brought some candies and fruit.) A:“快别忙乎了,我不吃!”B:“没事,现成的,随便吃点。”(Then, they begin to chat.) A:“你女儿现在在哪儿啊?”B:“在南京教书呢。” A:“南京真是好地方呀,六朝古都。小女孩教书挺好呀。” B:“她呀,也就那样呗,也没看她带回来几个钱。你女儿在哪儿呢?” A:“在北海呢。” B:“哎呀,好地方呀,海边呀。” A:“不行,太热,还潮,咱东北人受不了。”

And they continued to talk about a lot of things. Actually, B was a little anxious because he wanted to go out. But B still behaved very patiently and talked with A. At last, A:“我看时间也不早了,我该回去了。” (Although B was quite glad to hear that A would leave, B still said politely,) B:“再坐会儿吧,忙什么呀。” A:“真的不早了,我家里还有事情。” B:“你看,好不容易来一趟,再多坐会儿多好。” A:“没事没事,以后再聊。” (Then A began to leave, and B saw A to the door.) A:“别送了,别送了,快回屋吧,怪冷的。” B:“没事,再来哦。” A:“再见。” B:“再见。”

4.Analysis of the Above Conversation Using Politeness Principle

As is known to us, China is a Land of Courtesy and Propriety. Chinese people are deeply influenced by the Confucian thought which put much focus on courtesy. Therefore, they are born to be polite. In the following part, the author will use Leech's Politeness Principle to analyse the above common conversation.

In the beginning, the guest brings some fruit, but the host said he should not bring any gift. And then, the host brings some candies and fruit, but the guest seems unhappy about the host's bringing things and is reluctant to eat. This dialogue conforms to the maxims of Tact and Generosity of Politeness Principle, because giving others something means cost to self and benefit to other. For the same thing, receiving something from others means benefit to self and cost to other. Therefore, for the guest, he gives things to the host and refuses to receive things from the host to minimise cost to other (Tact Maxim) and minimise benefit to self (Generosity Maxim), which is to show politeness; and for the host, he brings things to the guest and seems to refuse to receive things from the guest, which is still to show politeness.

During their talking, both the guest and the host talk about their daughters' working places, the host talks negatively about his daughter, but positively about the guest's daughter, so is the guest. This dialogue conforms to the maxims of Approbation and Modesty of Politeness Principle. Both the guest and the host maximise the praise to the other (Approbation Maxim), but maximise dispraise to self (Modesty Maxim) to show their politeness. Therefore, from Politeness Principle, we can judge how people behave polite in our daily life.

The last part of the conversation is the most interesting one. Actually the host is a little bit anxious, because he wants to go out. But he still behaves very patiently and still talks freely with the guest. And when the guest is really leaving, the host behaves quite against what he really thinks. He asks the guest to stay for longer. Because asking others to leave one's house brings cost to other, which is against the Tact Maxim. To be polite, the host keeps talking to the guest to be polite, although it is against his real wish. He maximizes cost to self to be polite, which conforms to the Generosity Maxim. At last, when the host wants to go out to see the guest off, the guest says no, because the outside is very cold. Going out will bring cost to the host, which is against Tact Maxim. Therefore, both the host and the guest try their best to behave quite polite.

5. Conclusion

From the analysis, we find that although both the guest and the host know nothing about Leech's Politeness Principle (they are two Chinese middle-aged adults who know nothing about Leech), their conversations exactly conform to the maxims of Politeness Principle. And the author concludes from the analysis:1. Chinese people are really very polite, especially on visiting; 2. Leech's Politeness Principle can well explain how people show their politeness. This principle is not only correct for western people, but also for Chinese ones.

Bibliography

杨忠,2001,<语言学概论>,高等教育出版社

F. de Saussure, 2001, <普通语言学概论>,外语教学与研究出版社

Joan Cutting, 2002,,London and New York