Politeness in Historical and Contemporary Chinese

Description

Pan and Kadar's exciting research compares historical and contemporary Chinese (im)polite communication norms and maps the similarities and differences between them. Considering the importance of China on the world stage, understanding Chinese politeness norms is pivotal, to both experts of communication studies and those who have interactions with the Chinese community.

Yuling Pan is a sociolinguistic at the U.S. Census Bureau, where she directs multilingual research projects for survey research. Daniel Z. Kadar is a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary. He is winner of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Young Scholar Award 2010.

This is an impressive book which is intended for both researchers in the Chinese language and also for non-Chinese scholars. There is a wealth of examples to illustrate the authors' argument and the book brings great insight into current and historical politeness, but it also forces readers to consider the way that status and deference play a role in politeness and impoliteness in other languages such as English. -- Professor Sara Mills, Sheffield Hallam University, UK In this pioneering study of changes in forms of politeness over time in the same "culture", Pan and Kadar contend that China's famed tradition of courtesy and deference now seem to exist only as ideologies. -- Suzanne Wong Scollon A fascinating journey through one of the most pervasive dimensions of human interaction, in a civilisation that continues to intrigue and provoke. -- Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini, University of Warwick, UK An impressive and enlightening book for both researchers interested in Chinese politeness and readers who wish to understand Chinese communicative norms and practices over time. It only helps that the authors' clear and friendly style makes the book a delightful reading. -- Chun Lan, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China * Chinese Language and Discourse * As a whole, the authors have been most courageous in attempting to demonstrate the changes that have evolved in politeness from historical China through the transitional period to the present era. Given the vast differences and complex issues involved, they have managed to give meaningful interpretations with regards to the similarities and differences between the two periods. For the reader, this volume is a most informative and thought-provoking journey through the history of politeness in Chinese given the political and social changes that have taken place in the country. Although it would not be impossible to use this volume to make generalisations of Chinese politeness for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, by and large, its value will be as an important reference for future politeness research for these other varieties of Chinese. -- Cher Leng Lee * Journal of Historical Pragmatics *