Cross-Cultural Politeness Analysis with Brown and Levinson Model

Paper Summary:

This paper is a critical analysis of cross-cultural politeness using the Brown and Levinson's model as a basis for defining and understanding politeness and applying it to three Asian languages: Chinese; Cantonese and Japanese.

From the Paper:

"What is politeness? If I propose that politeness be used as pragmatically terminology, the preferable definition is to be found in appropriateness. It can be also said to be universal only in the sense that every society has some sort of norms for the appropriate behavior, although these norms are vary. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a cross-cultural context by applying a well-known Brown and Levinson s model (1978 and revised in 1987), which has been applied in various settings, from casual services, encounters to EFL classrooms. However, Brown and Levinson s model (1978) has been criticized for being too geared to Western (especially American) notions of independence and, hence, for its limited applicability in Asian contexts. I have attempted in the following by first giving a general and brief account for Brown and Levinson s model (1978), and then try to apply and analyze the Brown and Levinson s model (1978) in three Asian languages: Chinese; Cantonese and Japanese. "

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