Misunderstanding in Cross-cultural Communication--A Comparative Study of Expressions of Politeness in French and Chinese
跨文化交际中的误解——对中法致谢语的分析

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.