Keywords: Politeness Principle, Characters' Discourse in Dream of Red Mansions
First of all, Leech's politeness principle
As a rescue and supplement to the cooperative principle, Geoffrey Leech( 1983) put forward the politeness principle in pragmatic principles and summarized it into six politeness principles:
(1) Strategic principle: Minimize the cost paid by others and maximize the benefits to others.
2 Generosity Rule: Minimize the benefits to yourself and maximize the price you pay.
③ Standards of praise: minimize the criticism of others and exaggerate the praise of others.
Rule of Modesty: Try to minimize the flaunting of yourself and exaggerate the criticism of yourself.
⑤ Consistency rule: Try to reduce the differences between the two sides and try to increase the consistency between the two sides.
⑥ Compassion rule: Minimize dislike of others and exaggerate sympathy for others.
Leech believes that people sometimes deliberately violate the principle of cooperation out of politeness. From the politeness principle, we can see that in the process of verbal communication, the speaker will try his best to make himself suffer more losses and give others more convenience, so as to make the other party feel respected and gain the other party's good opinion of himself.
The Embodiment of Politeness Principle in Characters' Discourse in A Dream of Red Mansions
A Dream of Red Mansions is a famous classical literary work in China, and its exquisite language art embodies the peak of China's classical novels. This paper will extract the words of the characters in the novel to analyze the embodiment of politeness principle in their words, so as to better understand the connotation of the novel.
From the six principles of politeness principle, we get such a rule: in the process of verbal communication, the speaker will try his best to make himself suffer and make others convenient. In A Dream of Red Mansions, although the characters' language varies with their personality, living environment and social status. This rule will be embodied in the politeness principle, and the following example can be well reflected.
Example 1: When Princess Yuan returned home on the 18th, she made the following comments on the poems of Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Daiyu and Baochai:
Jia Fei praised it after reading it, and said with a smile: "After all, Lin Xue's second sister's works are different, and non-stupid sisters can also be among them."
Here, Yuan Chun abides by the principles of praise and humility. As an imperial concubine, Yuan Chun pays great attention to her own identity and discretion when speaking and doing things. First, she praised all five people. Then he praised Lin Xue alone, and at the same time belittled himself, welcoming, exploring and regretting. "Sisters who are not stupid can be listed together." Because among the five sisters, English, Tan and Daiyu are relatives, and their kinship is different. Praising Dai as a relative and belittling himself and his sister, Yuan Chun established a dignified and humble image of a noble lady here.
Example 2: Seventy-four times, the old lady's maid found a spring fragrant bag. Mrs. Wang suspected that it was Xifeng, so she went to her room to ask. Wang Xifeng complained tearfully: "What your wife said is true, but I dare not say that I didn't do such a thing, but it also requires your wife to be meticulous ..." As a big housekeeper of Jiafu, Wang Xifeng will inevitably encounter interpersonal conflicts, but her handling method is very artistic. Here, Wang Xifeng abides by the principle of consistency and sympathy. Make sure what Mrs. Wang said is reasonable first, so as to gain Mrs. Wang's sympathy, and then make a request, and ask Mrs. Wang to explain it in detail. In this way, she not only narrowed the conflict with Mrs. Wang's positive opinions and made Mrs. Wang feel very reasonable after listening to her words, but also sighed: "I also know that you are a young lady, how can you be so frivolous ...", and also achieved the purpose of defending yourself.
Exodus 3: On the forty-fourth occasion, Pinger was poisoned by Feng's vinegar. Later, Grandmother Jia ordered Feng to comfort Pinger. Pinger hurried forward to kowtow to Xifeng and said, "Old lady, I made the old lady angry. I deserve to die." Pinger takes the initiative to "take responsibility" and make progress by retreating. Xi-feng cried, and Pinger added, "I have served the old lady for so many years, and I haven't hit a nail. Even if you hit me yesterday, I don't blame grandma. This is all instigated by that prostitute. I don't blame grandma for being angry. " Said, and shed tears. Pinger abides by the standards of praise and sympathy. Through a few short sentences, she not only praised Xifeng for her kindness and forgave her, but also showed her consistent loyalty to her master, and won the sympathy and recognition of Xifeng, Jia Mu and Wang Fu present. Even the old lady said, "If anyone mentions this again, call me back at once. I don't care who it is, give him a stick. " As a servant girl, it is very difficult to survive in a family dominated by feudal order, and it is this kind of difficulty that makes people persevere, hons is a kind of toughness. Therefore, even if Pinger was wronged, she still praised her master's kindness and said it was her own fault.
Exodus 4: In the sixth time, Granny Liu went to Guo Rong's house to lend money to the dog for the winter, and Xifeng gave twenty taels of silver. When granny Liu first heard of Xifeng's accident, she thought it wasn't, and her heart was suddenly confused. Later, when I heard that I gave him twenty taels, I was tickled with joy and said, "Well, I know it's difficult, too. But as the saying goes,' a thin camel is bigger than a horse', and with him, you always pull hair thicker than our waist! " Although she is an old woman in the countryside and speaks rudely, Granny Liu is also artistic. In her short words, she embodies the principles of sympathy and praise. Grandma Liu first expressed sympathy and understanding for Wang Xifeng's complaint: "I know it's difficult", and Xifeng was further recognized. Then grandma Liu praised Xifeng: "You always pull out your roots and make a hair thicker than our waist." Although this sounds vulgar, it praises Wang Xifeng's prestige while boasting about wealth and wealth, which invisibly increases her affection for granny Liu. This kind of flattery is naturally useful to Xifeng, so later, Xifeng not only said that it was her fault not to take the 220 silver, but also paid Granny Liu to hire a car and let her "go shopping another day."
Third, the conclusion
In fact, politeness is a good lubricant in the process of verbal communication. Even if the speakers' personalities, living environment and social status are different, they often deliberately abide by the politeness principle in communication to establish good interpersonal relationships or realize their intentions. This paper attempts to analyze the discourses of different characters in A Dream of Red Mansions with politeness principle, which can not only deepen our understanding of the characters, but also enable us to analyze the language of literary works more deeply, so as to interpret the text more effectively.
References:
[1] Cao Xueqin, Gao E. A Dream of Red Mansions [M] Beijing: Guangming Daily Press, 2009.
[2] He Ziran. Introduction to pragmatics [M] Changsha: Hunan Education Press, 1988.
[3] He Zhaoxiong. A new edition of pragmatics [M] Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000.
[4] Hu Guangyun, Fan Xianlong. On the Application of Politeness Principle from Wang Xifeng's Discourse Art [J] Cultural Business, 20 1 1, (10).
[5] Lan Chun. Pragmatics and Appreciation of A Dream of Red Mansions [M] Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press .2007
[6] Liu Jie. On Pinger's survival in the Grand View Garden from his language. [J] Journal of Inner Mongolia Radio and TV University, 2009, (3).
[7] Liu Runqing. On leach's politeness principle. [J] Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 1987, (2).