On the contrastive studies of compliments in English and Chinese （from the angles of the indirect and direct）

俞佳

【Abstract】： Complimenting is a kind of speech act that is highly and frequently used in human communication. As a part of cross-cultural communication， compliments also play a significant role in the cross-cultural interaction. By means of contrastive studies in English and Chinese compliments， this paper cover the topic distribution and compliment form in order to use this kind of speech act more accurately and avoid the appearance of culture conflict.

【Key Words】： compliments; contrastive studies; topic distribution; form

A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker， usually the person addressed， for some “good” （possession， characteristic， skill， etc.） which is positively valued by the speaker and hearer. Compliments usually bring the positive influences to interpersonal relationship as the purpose. And the use of compliments is an important means of establishing harmonious interpersonal relationships. Owing to different cultural backgrounds， there are differences existing in the English and Chinese compliments. The differences can be mainly divided into two parts： topic distribution and compliment form.

1.Topic distribution

The frequency of compliments occurrence is significantly higher in everyday spoken interaction than in written utterances. Compliments frequently refer to quiet personal matters or aspects of character， some of which may not be valued too much or even not noticed by the addressees themselves. After analysing the data that collected by previous scholars， it shows that the Chinese compliment mainly focuses on ability and achievements while English compliment focuses more on appearances and possessions.

1.1Appearances and possessions

English compliments usually focus on appearance or looks. Any change in others appearance is worth complimenting for showing ones interest or respect to others. However， topics on appearance are not the most preferential in China. Though females appearance is also a common topic in Chinese compliments， it does not lead a major part in compliments. Whats more， complimenting females appearance is usually considered as a taboo， except for jokes among acquaintances.

Topic on possession also has a high frequency in English compliments. Possessions as topics usually include others bag， clothes， cars， pets and even kinfolks such as children， parents， boyfriends or girlfriends. While in Chinese compliments， people often choose somebodys kids， houses， cars， clothes， even jobs and salary as topics of possession.

1.2Ability and achievement

In the English speaking countries， people emphasize the result more than any other reasons. They pay attention to the feat which has been made. Accordingly， they usually use the expression like “Well done， youve did a good job”. In China， however， when someone achieves success， we do not talk much about how great the feat is， how much we have acquired.

Whats more， there is a difference in the subject that gives compliment. In English speaking countries， the leader will praise their employees to show their appreciation and believe. While in China， it is just on the contrary. The younger or the employee will give the compliment， such as “這次要是沒您肯定办不成” and “这次多亏您了” to flatter the boss.

2.Compliment form

Since compliments are expression of positive evaluations， every compliment must include at least one term carrying positive semantic load. According to the data that collected by previous scholars， 80% of English compliments depend upon an adjective to carry the positive semantic load. And two-thirds of all adjectival compliments are made using only five adjectives： nice， good， beautiful， pretty and great. Specifically， nice and good are by far the most common. For example， “Alice， you did a good job”， “You look so nice” or “What a beautiful hat”. In addition， the most frequently used verbs in English compliments are “like” and “love”. For instance， “I love your glasses” or “I like you haircut”.

In contrast with the English compliments， the frequently occurred adjectives in Chinese compliments are： 好，行，不错，能干，棒，酷and so on. “好” can be used in almost every aspect of life， such as hair， clothes， skills and achievements. Moreover， there are many other commonly used adjectives with topic-specific senses which can be used in Chinese compliments， such as “漂亮”， “可爱” an “好看” to praise appearance. Adjectives such as “厉害”， “聪明” and “稳重” are mainly used to praise personalities or abilities respectively. In addition， it is often used an adverb in Chinese compliments to modify adjectives. For example： “你的衣服真好看”; “你这么有学问”; “你真的很有品位”.

3.Conclusion

From all the analysis of compliments in English and Chinese， we could get the conclusion that compliment itself hold its own cultural identity. With the development of the economy and the society， people need to contact and socialize with different people from different countries. It becomes more and more important that we should study the culture background and know more cultural social value. Learn and study the art of making compliments will help us in our future study and work.

Only when we do master a language can we compliment others and receive compliments properly， keep and promote peoples relationship successfully. Then we will keep cross-cultural communication effectively.

References：

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