Analysis of Politeness Principle in Obama's Speech
at the Town Hall Meeting in Shanghai
奥巴马上海科技馆演讲的礼貌原则探析
By
He Baoqiao
Supervised by
Lecturer Li Shan
May 20th, 2011
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Chengdu University of Technology
Analysis of Politeness Principle in Obama's Speech
at the Town Hall Meeting in Shanghai
Student: He Baoqiao Class: 2007110107
Supervisors: Lecturer Li Shan
Abstract
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. His speeches have distinctive political features and are rich in the use of politeness words. So, the thesis attempts to analyze the politeness phenomenon in Obama's Speech at the Town Hall Meeting in Shanghai from the perspective of pragmatics, based on the politeness theory.
Since the study on politeness could improve people's communicative abilities, and help people build and maintain the harmonious relationship in the communication, the thesis applies the Politeness Principle to the study of Obama's Speech at the Town Hall Meeting in Shanghai, so as to analyze its pragmatic effects of the Politeness Principle in Obama's 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 reviews on Obama's 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 Obama's speech, based upon Leech's Politeness Principle.
Through the pragmatic analysis of Obama's speech, we come 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; political speeches; Barack Obama's speech
奥巴马上海科技馆演讲的礼貌原则探析
学 生:何宝桥 班级:2007110107
导 师:李珊 讲师
摘要
演讲是一种重要的社会活动,演讲者可借此发表自己的意见、抒发情感、影响听众。美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马是一个成功的演讲家。他的演讲具有鲜明的政治特点和丰富的礼貌用语。本论文从语用学礼貌理论出发,分析奥巴马上海科技馆演讲中的礼貌现象。
由于对礼貌语言的研究有助于提高人们的交际能力,帮助人们在交往中建立和维护和谐的人际关系,因此本论文运用礼貌原则分析奥巴马在上海科技馆的演讲,以此分析礼貌原则在其演讲中的语用效果。全文共分为四个部分。第一部分简要介绍了本论文的主题,礼貌现象的国内外研究状况,本论文研究意义和目的,研究方法以及本论文结构。第二部分介绍了奥巴马演讲的时代背景,对奥巴马演讲的评价以及政治演讲中的礼貌现象。第三部分主要阐述了英国语言学家利奇的礼貌理论。第四部分根据利奇的礼貌原则,具体对奥巴马的演讲进行语用分析。
通过对奥巴马演讲的语用分析,我们得出结论:礼貌原则的各项准则对政治演讲中的礼貌现象具有一定