通过中美恭维语对比分析霍尔高低语境理论.docx

通过中美恭维语对比分析霍尔高低语境理论.docx

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通过中美恭维语对比分析霍尔高低语境理论

摘要

恭维语是一种积极的言语行为，常被称为社会交往的“润滑剂”，它明确或含蓄地表明了说话人对听话人的某些“好”事物，包括所有物、品质、才智或能力的称赞。

给出恰当的恭维语不仅可以为社会人际关系服务，还可以维持说话人之间的和谐。

但随着时代的演变和文化背景的累积，人与人的交流之间不再单单局限于话语的字面意思，恭维语也开始衍生出除称赞之外的含义。

本文以霍尔“高低语境理论”为理论基础，分别从中美脱口秀节目《吐槽大会》和《喜剧中心吐槽大会》中选取100句恭维话语作为研究对象，采用定性分析法和对比法，分析三种不同种类的恭维语在中美人际交往中的表现方式和使用目的，并归纳总结不同含义的恭维语在不同情况下所属的文化语境。

本文从一个新的视角对中西方恭维语进行对比再从中反观高低语境理论，加深了对于霍尔高低语境文化理论的理解，使人们对于该理论有进一步的认识，对于建立良好的社交关系以及跨文化交际实践具有一定的积极意义。

关键词：

恭维语；高语境；低语境；跨文化对比

Abstract

Complimentoftenrefertoasthe“lubricant”ofsocialinteraction,isapositiveactofspeechthatclearlyorimplicitlyindicatesthespeaker'sappreciationofcertain"good"thingsofthelistener,includingpossessions,qualities,talents,orabilities.Givingtherightcomplimentcannotonlyservethesocialrelationship,butalsomaintaintheharmonybetweenspeakers.Butwiththeevolutionofthetimesandtheaccumulationofculturalbackground,thecommunicationbetweenpeopleis notlimited to the literal meaning of the words, and the complimentary languagebeginstoderivemeaningbeyondpraisemerely.

Thestudyrespectivelyselects42complimentarysentencesfromtheChineseand58fromAmericantalkshowsRoastandComedyCentralRoastastheobjectofstudy,basedonHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory,applyingtheresearchmethodsofcomparativeanalysistorecordthreecategoriesofcomplimentsinChineseandAmericaninterpersonalcommunication,andsummarizethedifferentkindsofthecomplimentarylanguagethatunderdifferentcircumstancesbelongingtotheculturalcontext. 

ThisthesisstudiesChineseandWesterncomplimentarylanguagefromanewperspective,andthenreflectsthehigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory.ItdeepenstheunderstandingofHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory.Inaddition,ithassomepositivesignificancetoestablishharmonioussocialrelationsandmeaningfulforthepracticeofcross-culturalcommunication.

Keywords:

Compliment;High-context;Low-context;Cross-culturalcomparison

燕山大学本科生毕业论文

II

Contents

摘要I

AbstractII

ContentsIII

ListofTablesV

Chapter1Introduction1

1.1Backgroundofthestudy1

1.2Objectiveofthestudy2

1.3Researchsignificance2

1.4Layoutofthethesis3

Chapter2LiteratureReview4

2.1Previousstudiesoncompliment4

2.1.1Previousstudiesoncomplimentabroad4

2.1.2Previousstudiesoncomplimentathome6

2.2PreviousstudiesonHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory7

2.2.1PreviousstudiesonHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryabroad7

2.2.2PreviousstudiesonHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryathome9

2.3Spaceofthestudy9

Chapter3ResearchDesign11

3.1Theoreticalframework11

3.2Researchmethod13

3.3Datacollection13

3.4Researchsteps14

Chapter4DataAnalysisandDiscussion15

4.1ComparisonbetweenChinesecomplimentsandAmericancompliments15

4.2Analysisoftheselectedcompliments17

4.2.1ComplimentsintheChinesetalkshow17

4.2.2ComplimentsintheAmericantalkshow20

4.3Researchdiscussion23

Chapter5Conclusion25

5.1Majorfindingsofthestudy25

5.2Limitationsofthestudy25

5.3Suggestionsforfurtherstudy26

References28

Appendix30

Contents

IV

ListofTables

Table2-18

Table2-28

Table4-123

ListofTables

VIII

Chapter1Introduction

Thischapterintroducesbackground,objectivesandoutlineofthestudyandhopefullyitcanprovidereaderswithabasicunderstandingofthisstudy.

1.1Backgroundofthestudy

Withthefastpaceofglobalization,peopleofdifferentcountriescanobtainmoreopportunitiestocommunicatewitheachotherthanbefore.Anincreasingnumberofpeoplewilltakepartincross-culturalcommunication.AsastudentofEnglishmajor,theauthordeeplyrealizesthatlanguageusersneedtobecompetentnotonlylinguisticallybutalsocommunicatively.Ifpeoplefromdifferentculturecanbeawareofthedifferencesexistingbetweencultures,theywillbecomemorepatientandtolerantwhentheycommunicatewithothers.Andcertainly thiswillalsohelpleadtosuccessfulcommunications.Thiswillhelppeopletoknowmoreaboutcompliment-responseandfacilitatepeopletouseitappropriately.What’smore,withabetterunderstandingofdifferentcontextcultures,itismoreconducivetoreducingconflictswhilepeoplecommunicatingwithothercountries’people.

Hall（1976）proposedanddistinguishedhigh-contextandlow-contextculturetermsofhowthecommunicativeinformationiscoded.AccordingtoHall’sanalysis,Herankedtwelvecountriesofdifferentculturesin“low-context”to“high-context”,andChineseculturehasahigh-contextandAmericanculturehasalow-context.ThereasonsleadingtotheformationofdifferentculturesinChinaandtheUnitedStatesareduetodifferencesinthelevelofphilosophicalthinking,language,educationandeconomicdevelopment.Hall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryisagoodexplanationfortheclashofculturesinSino-UScommunication,butthedifferencebetweenthe"high-context"cultureinChinaandthe"low-context"cultureintheUSisrelative,notabsolute.

Complimentisanindispensabletacticemployedininterpersonalrelationshipsinacivilizedsociety,anditisoneofthemostcommonspeechbehaviors,anditisanimportantmeanstoestablish,maintain,coordinateandpromoteharmoniousinterpersonalrelationship.Themajorityofcomplimentsinusearebroadlysimilarwithminordifferences.Thevariousfactorsresponsibleforthisvariationincludenationality,geographicallocation,educationlevel,religionandpsychologicalbehavior,andthat’swhatcalledbyHall--differentcontextculturesindifferentcountries. 

Therefore,theauthorchoosestoanalyzetheindeterminacybycontrastingChineseandAmericancompliments.Thiscomparativestudydemonstratesthedifferencesbetweentheuseofcomplimentsinthesetwolanguagesandtheresultingculturaldifferences.Becauseoftheculturaldifferences,peoplemayadoptvariousanddifferentwaystoexpresscompliment.Asforthegreatdifferencesbetweeneasternandwesterncultures,someaspectsofonespeechactinoneculturebutwillchangesharplyordisappearcompletelyinanotherculture.Accordingtothesedifferences,theywillshowthatHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryisnotalwaysthestandardtodefinethecontextlevelofcountries.

1.2Objectiveofthestudy

Thestudychoosesrandomly100complimentsfromtwotalkshows--ComedyCentralRoastfromtheUnitedStatesandRoastfromChina,andusethesechosencomplimentsfromthetwoshowstomakeacomparativestudy.Theauthordividesthesecomplimentarywordintothreecategorieslikeexplicitpraise,implicitcompliment,satireandtease,andthencompareChinesecomplimentsandAmericancomplimentsbycategory.Thethesiswilldeveloparoundthefollowingtworesearchquestions:

1）HowChineseandAmericancomplimentsexpressingintheperspectiveofHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory?

2）WhatdoChineseandAmericancomplimentsreflectaboutthelevelofHall’stheory?

1.3Researchsignificance

Intoday'sworld,asaresultofthehighlydevelopednatureofscienceandtechnology,thedevelopmentandadvancementoftransporttechnologies,theincreasingglobalizationoftheeconomyandthetighteningoftimeandspaceonaglobalscale,peoplefromdifferentcultureshaveastrongdesiretoconnectwitheachother.However,weshouldnotethatcommunicationisaculturalandsocialactivitythatisinfluencedandconstrainedbymanyfactorsinsociety.Peopleofthesameculturesharesamelanguagerules,sotheirinteractionsarenotdifficult,butpeoplefromdifferentculturesinteractbecausetherearedifferencesinlanguagerules,andcommunicationcanbeverydifficult.Hall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryasanimportanttheoryforcross-culturalcommunication,providingagoodexplanationforhowpeopleindifferentcountriescommunicationandgettoknoweachother. 

Asakindofspeechbehavior,complimentsandculturehavecloserelation,willhavedifferentexpressionway,differentanswermodeindifferentculture.Inotherwords,differentculturesinfluencetheuseofcompliments,sotheuseofcomplimentscanleadtomisunderstandingsamongpeopleindifferentcultures,andevendistrusteachother.Therefore,theuseofcomplimentsindifferentcountriescanreflectthelinguisticpatternsandculturalunderstandingofdifferentcountries.

ThepurposeofthisthesisistocomparetheChineseandAmericancompliments,andtomakeabetterunderstandingofhigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryandanewstandardofcountries’culturallevelinthe21stcentury,thusinordertocommunicateeffectivelywithpeoplefromdifferentculturalbackgrounds,andimprovetheirunderstandingofculturaldifferences.Masteringcross-culturalskillscanhelppeopletoanticipatetheinteractionofpeoplefromdifferentculturalbackgroundsandtosolveproblemsthatariseincommunication.

1.4Layoutofthethesis

Thethesisconsistsoffivechapters.

Chapter1isanintroductionwhichmainlytalksabouttheresearchbackground,objectivesandoutline. 

Chapter2isaliteraturereviewwhichgivesanoverviewofcomplimentandthepreviousforeignanddomesticstudiesonhigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheory,andtellsthespaceofthestudy. 

Chapter3isthetheoreticalframeworksofthestudythatincludesfourparts.Inthefirstpart,adetailedexplanationofHall’shigh-contextandlow-contextculturaltheoryisprovided.Nextareresearchmethods,datacollection,andresearchsteps. 

Chapter4istheconcretecomparativeanalysisofthreecategoriesofcomplimentsinthe