会话原则下的文化因素(6)

Refinement means too speak in mild and elegant way. Then the Chinese intend to praise one’s noble character, they may use “松，竹，梅” to imply “高风亮节”, but “pine, bamboo and plum”cannot recall the same meaning to the English-speaking people.“柳”in Chinese culture often has such a bad sense as“花街柳巷”，“寻花问柳”，while in English culture it is a symbol of misery. Also“秋”is connected with“悲，凉，伤，愁”in Chinese culture, such as “逢秋悲寂寞”,“夜静风竹敲秋韵，万叶千起皆是恨”，but it is just the contrary that autumn is always associated with tranquility and merriment in English culture.

In respect to marriage and love, the Chinese are more reserved and self-restrained, especially in the old days. It is seldom for them to express their passion as “I’m dying to marry you, I want to be my wife, or I’ll devote myself to you.” The following examples provide a sharp contrast:

宝玉，黛玉一起偷读《西厢记》后，宝玉笑道：“妹妹，你说（书）好不好？”黛玉笑着点头儿。宝玉笑道：“我就是多愁多病的身， 你就是那倾国倾城的貌。”黛玉听了，不觉带腮连耳的通红了……桃腮带怒，薄面含嗔，指着宝玉道：“你这该死的，胡说了，好好儿的，把这些淫词艳曲弄了来，说这些混帐话，欺负我…… ”说到“欺负”二字，就把眼圈儿红了，转身就走。（《红楼梦》）

“If it’s crazy to love you, I guess I am” Marva stopped her steps and said,” Then that makes two of us” Maurice, feeling encouraged, clutched her to him, held her in hid tight grip…and put his lips on hers.(H. E. Harper’s Magazine Reader)

Marva spoke out “love you” straightforward and Mauricew naturally kissed her. This is the common way for the westerners to unbosom themselves. What they consider first is to follow the Quality maxim. While in the first example, though Jia Baoyv and Lin Daiyv loved each other, Jia Baoyv revealed his feeling via an illusion and Lin Daiyv pretended to be offended. This, again, reflects traditional Chinese social moral and value concept. People would rather sacrifice the truth to get amity and unity. So they would better sacrifice the Quality maxim and the Manner maxim.

Language, as a special form of communication, may be viewed as a system, as a vehicle for cultural transmission. It does not exist apart from culture. Thus, language and cultural are interactive and understanding of one requires understanding of the other. Speaking and writing are all based on the need of social communication. To better achieve the communicative goal, it is necessary to choose the appreciate way of expression under certain circumstances. In speech one can express meanings effectively with the help of gestures, facial expressions, or tone of voice. For example, when one says “He’s a generous guy!” if one gives a sarcastic intonation to the word “generous”, then the sense of the word “generous” is twisted into “stingy”. In writing, it is primarily the concept—the other words in the sentence, paragraph, or even the total composition and background of the people, including their cultural concept, status, profession, age—that controls a figurative word, pointing its meaning in a special direction. Since rhetoric is the art of using language effectively and involves practicing the most effective means or strategies for informing or persuading the others, then deciding what to write or speak and how to write or speak, how best to get one’s article or speech effectively requires not only creativity and imagination, but also good background knowledge of both the speaker and the hearer, too. Thus cultural factors play an important role in using language effectively.   

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