英語論文范文

1、成都理工大學(xué)畢業(yè)論文analysis of politeness principle in obamas speechat the town hall meeting in shanghai奧巴馬上海科技館演講的禮貌原則探析byhe baoqiao supervised bylecturer li shan may 20th, 2011college of foreign languages and cultures chengdu university of technology17analysis of politeness principle in obamas speechat the

2、 town hall meeting in shanghaistudent: he baoqiao class: 2007110107supervisors: lecturer li shanabstract public speech is an important social activity, where the speaker declares their opinions, expresses their emotions, and influences the audience. president barack obama is a successful speaker. hi

3、s speeches have distinctive political features and are rich in the use of politeness words. so, the thesis attempts to analyze the politeness phenomenon in obamas speech at the town hall meeting in shanghai from the perspective of pragmatics, based on the politeness theory.since the study on politen

4、ess could improve peoples communicative abilities, and help people build and maintain the harmonious relationship in the communication, the thesis applies the politeness principle to the study of obamas speech at the town hall meeting in shanghai, so as to analyze its pragmatic effects of the polite

5、ness principle in obamas speech. it consists of four chapters. first, a brief introduction is presented to the theme of the thesis, the literature review, the significance and purpose, the methodology and the organization. chapter two introduces the background of the speech made by obama, the review

6、s on obamas speech and the use of politeness in political speech. chapter three briefly introduces the research of politeness theory made by leech. chapter four is the pragmatic analysis of obamas speech, based upon leechs politeness principle.through the pragmatic analysis of obamas speech, we come

7、 to the conclusion that the maxims of the politeness principle are effective and practicable in explaining the politeness words of political speech, helping the speaker achieve his speech effects and establish the harmonious relationship with the audience. key words: the politeness principle; politi

8、cal speeches; barack obamas speech奧巴馬上?？萍拣^演講的禮貌原則探析學(xué) 生：何寶橋 班級：2007110107導(dǎo) 師：李珊 講師摘要演講是一種重要的社會活動,演講者可借此發(fā)表自己的意見、抒發(fā)情感、影響聽眾。美國總統(tǒng)巴拉克奧巴馬是一個(gè)成功的演講家。他的演講具有鮮明的政治特點(diǎn)和豐富的禮貌用語。本論文從語用學(xué)禮貌理論出發(fā)，分析奧巴馬上?？萍拣^演講中的禮貌現(xiàn)象。由于對禮貌語言的研究有助于提高人們的交際能力，幫助人們在交往中建立和維護(hù)和諧的人際關(guān)系，因此本論文運(yùn)用禮貌原則分析奧巴馬在上?？萍拣^的演講，以此分析禮貌原則在其演講中的語用效果。全文共分為四個(gè)部分。第一部分簡要

9、介紹了本論文的主題，禮貌現(xiàn)象的國內(nèi)外研究狀況，本論文研究意義和目的，研究方法以及本論文結(jié)構(gòu)。第二部分介紹了奧巴馬演講的時(shí)代背景，對奧巴馬演講的評價(jià)以及政治演講中的禮貌現(xiàn)象。第三部分主要闡述了英國語言學(xué)家利奇的禮貌理論。第四部分根據(jù)利奇的禮貌原則，具體對奧巴馬的演講進(jìn)行語用分析。通過對奧巴馬演講的語用分析，我們得出結(jié)論：禮貌原則的各項(xiàng)準(zhǔn)則對政治演講中的禮貌現(xiàn)象具有一定的解釋性和實(shí)用性，有利于幫助演講者增強(qiáng)演講效果，并與聽眾建立和諧的關(guān)系。關(guān)鍵詞：禮貌原則；政治演講；巴拉克奧巴馬演講contentsabstracti摘要iiintroduction11. obamas speech and its

10、 reviews1 1.1 obamas speech and its background2 1.2 reviews on obamas speech2 1.3 politeness in political speech32. leechs politeness theory4 2.1 tactmaxim5 2.2 generositymaxim5 2.3 approbationmaxim6 2.4 modestymaxim6 2.5 agreementmaxim7 2.6 sympathymaxim73. pragmatic analysis of obamas speech in te

11、rms of the politeness principles8 3.1 pragmatic effects of tactmaxim in obamas speech8 3.2 pragmatic effects of generositymaxim in obamas speech9 3.3 pragmatic effects of approbationmaxim in obamas speech10 3.4 pragmatic effects of modestymaxim in obamas speech12 3.5 pragmatic effects of agreementma

12、xim in obamas speech12 3.6 pragmatic effects of sympathymaxim in obamas speech13conclusion14acknowledgements15endnotes16references17 introductionpublic speech is an important social activity. in order to achieve the designed effect, the speaker declares their opinions, expresses their emotions, and

13、influences the audience. president barack obama is a good speaker. his speeches have distinctive political features and are rich in the politeness words. so, the thesis attempts to analyze the politeness phenomenon in obamas speech at the town hall meeting in shanghai from the perspective of pragmat

14、ics, based on the politeness theory. through the analysis, we can know the pragmatic effects of the politeness principle in obamas speech at the town hall meeting in shanghai. politeness phenomenon is a very important branch of pragmatics. many scholars home and abroad have done plenty of research i

15、nto this phenomenon from different perspectives. for example, grice proposes cooperative principle,1 lakoff establishes rules of politeness.2 face threatening acts and politeness strategies are proposed by brown and levinson.3 leechs politeness principle is composed of principles and maxims which th

16、e two parties of communication should follow.4 based upon the research done by leech, chinese scholars gu yueguo proposes the politeness maxims, which conform to chinese characteristics and the linguistic reality in the mainland of china.5 in addition, xu shenghuan revises the politeness principle t

17、o explain politeness phenomena in language use.6politeness is the symbol of civilization society, and is also a basic conduct of human beings communication. as a universal phenomenon, it plays a very important role in establishing and maintaining the good relationship. people could cross the boundar

18、ies of countries, nations and races to successfully communicate through the appropriate use of polite language.the research helps chinese learners to grasp the usage of language, and the knowledge of american society and culture. as the native speaker, president obama uses the native formal language

19、. the analysis of his speech can threw a light on the understanding how the native speaker says, how to appropriately use language, and which features the speech has. the study on obamas speech opens the window for chinese students to know the american and western culture, and is useful to improve t

20、heir abilities of cross-cultural communication.1. obamas speech and its reviewsas the first black president of the united states of america, barack obama is always the focus of the world. there is no one president who gets more praise and criticism than barack obama. he is the god to some young pers

21、ons, but to some opponents of abortion, he may be a devil (obama supports abortion).after he becomes the president of america, the polities he raised also lead to great dispute. if you want to know him more, let us give a brief introduction to obamas speech and its background.1.1 obamas speech and i

22、ts backgroundin recent years, especially after the international financial crisis happened in 2008, china has made great development in many aspects, for example, its economic and political status in the world. even though china suffered from the financial crisis, the chinese economic has also made

23、great improvement, being the first country which went out from the crisis and the second largest economic entity.in contrast, although the united states has superior influence on various areas, for example, its economics, politic and military power. the financial crisis heavily hit this country. con

24、sidering the current trade conflicts frequently occurring between the two countries and the misunderstandings among people because cultural differences, it is necessary for the two countries to have more communications. political factors make a great contribution to the relationship of both countrie

25、s, so the leaders of both countries have always been giving political communications as a priority. under this circumstance, the new elected american president made a charming visit to china and declared a speech to shanghais university students at town hall meeting in shanghai science and technolog

26、y museum.1.2 reviews on obamas speechobamas speech receives great repercussion among students and political reviewers. before he comes to china, many students know him from his election campaign speeches. most of them are attracted by his personal charm and appreciate his inflammatory speeches. when

27、 the news that president obama will come to china and make speech at town hall meeting in shanghai, the students in shanghai are so excited that they have the chance to see obama at short range.when obama makes speech, the students give their big appraise to him from time to time. after the speech,

28、the students also express their enjoyment to him and his speech. many chinese political reviewers also think obamas speech is much modester than other american presidents speeches made in china, which reflects the change of position of strength between china and america.1.3 politeness in political s

29、peechit is generally agreed that language is a system of symbols designed for the purpose of human communication. however, different countries use different symbols to explain meaning, there is a need to set up a bridge to help different nations to communicate with each other and enhance their mutua

30、l understanding. in this regard, the pragmatics studies, as the bridge, play an important role in the communications among people from different countries.in order to better understand obamas speech and construct relatively complete system of political speech in our mind, it is necessary to introduc

31、e some knowledge of speech and political speech before analyzing obamas speech at town hall meeting in shanghai science and technology museum. there are different classifications of speeches according to different criteria. according to the field with which the speech if concerned, public speech can

32、 be classified into political speech, academic speech, military speech, and so on. obamas speech belongs to political speech. according to their general purposes, speeches fall into three categories: informative speech, entertaining speech and persuasive speech. political speech including presidenti

33、al speech is under the category of persuasive speech, which aims to persuade audience to agree and perhaps to act. according to the formality of speeches, they could be divided into formal speeches and informal speeches. obamas speech belongs to the formal speech because it is delivered on formal oc

34、casions. as far as channel is concerned, there are impromptu speeches, extemporaneous speeches, and speeches written to be spoken. obamas speech is prepared before hand.political speech is an important social-cultural phenomenon of the west. it is one that the speaker, usually on behalf of a certain

35、 class, society, or party, makes to the audience on some important matters and relationships at home and board. the primary aim for every political speech is to form the highest expressions of the aspirations of the groups for whom the speaker speaks. however, the aim of political speeches is not si

36、ngle but multiple most of the time. besides the intention of expressing certain thoughts and communicating ideas, there can be very complex intentions to influence the public opinion and obtain some political purpose. in obamas speech, he delivers his speech with the aim of building a good relations

37、hip with china, propagating western political ideas for freedom, equity and democracy, and getting the economic order for goods from china.before barack obama, many other american presidents have made speeches in china. for example, ronald reagans speech in fudan university in 1984,william j. clinto

38、ns speech in peking university in 1998,geoge w. bushs speech in tsinghua university in 2002. on one hand, they are all belonging to the part of presidential formal state visits to china. they are all political speeches delivered at similar occasion; hence they are many similarities in usage of polit

39、e language. on the other hand, they took place in different times and they were made by different persons, so differences may be found among their speeches. because they are guests of chinese, all of their speeches are more or less full of politeness language, while obamas speech is the most single-

40、hearted. this shows that the comprehensive national power between china and america is getting narrower.2. leechs politeness theoryas for the research of politeness language, scholars home and abroad raise relatively many theory modes and search methods from the perspectives of rhetoric, psychology,

41、 sociolinguistics and pragmatics. politeness as a main research subject of much concern has been and is still enjoying much popularity with people specialized in the area of pragmatics.in 1967, american philosopher grice proposed the cooperative principle and later collected into his essays, logic a

42、nd conversation and further-notes on logic and conversation, respectively published in 1975 and 1978. grice thinks that “our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. they are characteristically, to some degree at least, co

43、-operate efforts; and each participant recognizes in them, to some extent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction”.7 in order to attain the specified objective in the behavior of language must obey, i.e., the cooperative principle. grice thinks the cooperative

44、 principle has four maxims: maxim of quantity, maxim of quality; maxim of relation maxim of manner. under the demand of the cooperative principle, two parties in the exchange of conversation should follow the four maxims in most cases, and provided the right amount of information which is truthful,

45、relevant, as well as informative enough, and in a clear manner. hearers also try to interpret what is said to them in this way. however, in actually, in order to meet certain communicative need, few people always speak as the demand of these maxims.there is no doubt that the cooperative principle ca

46、n go some way towards explaining the generation of implicature. but cooperative principle does not account for the reason for the generation of implicature. for this, leech has proposed an independent pragmatic principle, to function alongside the cooperative principle, which he calls the politeness

47、 principle.politeness principle includes several maxims, and each maxim has positive and negative sub-maxims.2.1 tactmaximthe tact maxim is a oriented towards the hearer and has positive and negative sub-maxims. the speaker minimizes the cost to the listener or other and correspondingly maximizes th

48、e benefit to the other side.a) minimize cost to other.b) maximize benefit to other. 8examples:1answer the phone.2i want you to answer the phone.3will you answer the phone?4can you answer the phone?5would you mind answering the phone?6could you possibly answer the phone?9 among the above sentences, t

49、here is a general increase in politeness from sentence 1 to sentence 6.by using a more and more indirect kind of illocution, we show more polite. indirect illocutions tend to be more polite because they increase the degree of optionality, and because the more indirect an illocution is, the more dimi

50、nished and tentative its force tends to be. sentence 1 minimizes benefit to the hearer, it goes against to the tactmaxim, so it will not make good effect. sentence 6 maximize benefit to the hearer, it complies with the tactmaxim, so it will make good effect.2.2 generositymaximthe generositymaxim is

51、a sister to the tactmaxim, and is orients towards costs and benefits to the speaker. the speaker minimizes benefit to himself or herself but maximizes cost to himself or herself.a) minimize benefit to self.b) maximize cost to self. 10examples:1you can lend me your car.(impolite)2i can lend you my ca

52、r.3you must come and have dinner with us.4we must come and have dinner with you. (impolite) 11the offer 2 and invitation 3 are presumed to be polite for two reasons: firstly, because they imply benefit to the hearers; secondly, because they imply cost to the speakers. but in offer 1 and invitation 4

53、, they maximize benefit to the speakers themselves. obviously, they go against to the generositymaxim.2.3 approbationmaximthe maxims of praise and modesty form another natural pair, concerned, in this case, with the expression of positive or negative opinions about the speaker or the hearer. the app

54、robation maxim is oriented towards the hearer. the speaker minimizes dispraise of the others but maximizes praise of the others.a) minimize dispraise of other.b) maximize praise of other. 12examples:1a: her performance was outstanding! b: yes, wasnt it! 132you could be more careful.3her performance

55、was not so good as it might have been.4a: do you like these apricots? b: ive tasted better. 14 the sentence 1 give a big praise to the third party, it complies with the approbationmaxim. it makes both the speaker and the hearer happy. while sentence 2、3 and 4 are lack of praise, they go against to t

56、he approbationmaxim, they will make the hearers unhappy.2.4 modestymaximthe modesty maxim is the natural partner of the previous one, being oriented towards the speaker, with the “relevant clauses” reversed. the speaker minimizes praise of himself or herself but maximizes dispraise of himself or her

57、self.a) minimize praise of self.b) maximize dispraise of self. 15examples:1a: they were so kind to us. b: yes, they were, werent they.2a: you were so kind to us. b: yes, i was, wasnt i.3how stupid of me! 3ahow clever of me!4how stupid of you! 4ahow clever of you!5please accept this small gift as a token of our esteem.6please accept this large gift as a token of our esteem. 16as 1 shows, it is felicitous to agree with anothers commendation except when it is a commendation of oneself. similarly 3 shows how self-dispraise is regarded as quite benign, even