Abstract: Compliment is frequently used in interpersonal communication. In view of the different social structure and culture orientations in China and America, there are great differences in the implementation of compliment. Under the guidance of politeness principle, this paper tries to explore the differences between Chinese compliments and American compliments on the basis of previous studies on compliments both at home and abroad. This paper first makes the contrastive study of the compliment speech act in the two countries from compliment language using, topic, response formulas, then explores the implied influencing factors behind the differences, hoping to offer some effective ways to perform and accept compliments. Studies have shown that American compliment is highly formalized in language using, while Chinese is more of implicit compliments; American compliment topic focuses on the appearance and achievement, while Chinese prefers personality and ability; American adopt the response strategies of accepting and returning, while Chinese always respond indirectly by transferring or refusing.

Key words: compliment; politeness principle; values; difference

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction.1

2. Literature Review and Theoretic Framework2

2.1 Compliments

 2.1.1 Function

 2.1.2 Classification

2.2 Politeness Principle

2.2.1 Leech’s Politeness Principle

2.2.2 Gu’s view on Politeness in China

3. Analysis of the Differences of Chinese and American Compliments in Daily Communication . .5

3.1 Language Mechanism

 3.1.1 Language Mechanism in American Compliments

 3.1.2 Language Mechanism in Chinese Compliments

3.1.3 Summary

3.2 Compliment Topics

 3.2.1 Topics in Chinese Compliments

 3.2.2 Topics in American Compliments

3.2.3 Summary

3.3 Response Formulas

3.3.1 Response Formulas in Chinese Compliments

3.3.2 Response Formulas in American Compliments

3.3.3 Summary

4. Factors Influencing Chinese and American Compliments in Daily Communication12

4.1 Culture Values

4.2 Social Status

4.3 Gender

4.4 Intimacy

5. Conclusion .14

Bibliography.15

Acknowledgements16