Politeness Principle Adopted in Naxi Minorities’ Communication

Abstact：In this thesis， the author will analysis the Politeness Principle applied in Naxi Minoritiescommunication from the two different perspectives. They are： Custom and Education. It will help the readers to know more about the Naxi Minority， especially its own unique Politeness Principle deeply.

Key words：Politeness Principle； Custom； Education

Traditional Custom plays an important role in the development of Naxi Minorities culture. From the angel of the custom in Naxi ， not only could the readers know the unique PP applied in Naxi Culture ，but also readers can get a better understanding about the Naxi Minority from the perspective of its particular custom .hence ，in this part， the author will give the readers a general introduction about the Naxi Minorities custom from several different aspects，such as Wedding Dietetic Custom、Traditional Custom and Taboos.

The wedding dietetic custom of Naxis embodies the people's beliefs and concepts， as well as their peaceable and virtuous characters. The feast during the engagement ceremony is called three-stage water feast， where four cool meat dishes， small-bowl dishes and big-bowl dishes are respectively served in three stages. Among these， there must be cool lotus roots implying wisdom and cleverness， vermicelli indicating longevity， lily implying endurable marriage， and meat rolls indicating reunion and luck， so as to add more happiness to the engagement feast.The dietetic practices of Naxi are significantly influenced by the NaxisPP，especially the influence of Naxi Dongba religion. They abstain from eating meat of horses， dogs， cats or frogs， or killing lives on the first and the 15thday of a lunar month， or having meals at solar eclipses and lunar eclipses.（in Naxi Culture， the animals mentioned above are very meaningful to the Naxi Minority. The Naxi people respect these animals as friends in daily life） When cooking tea， they must not splash water into the fire.（it means unpoliteness to the holy light）They must not eat meat at breakfast on the New Year's Day. Families with a person born in the pig year must not kill pigs on pig days（本命年不殺自己屬相的動物，以表示對動物的尊敬并祈禱自己度過難關）.

There are many traditional customs， as well as some taboos， in Naxi people's daily life. They are very polite and hospitable. For example， a hunter heading home usually presents a passerby with a hunted animal. Also， a host usually treats a guest to six or eight dishes. Naxi people are as good as their word and are concerned with personal loyalty， so you should be frank when communicating with them in order to show your respect to them. In addition， they are hardworking and frugal. On the occasions of meeting visitors and having dinner， everyone should be seated upright， and unpleasant loud noise and vulgarities are prohibited. Also， one should not step on the crosspieces of the dinner table. Sitting with one leg over the other is forbidden when the older people are present（長者面前很注意姿態，以表示尊敬和禮貌）. A guest should accept food with both hands from the host and say thanks（it will show that you have a good manner）. At dinner， it is forbidden to clash bowls， turn over dishes， or eat dishes constantly（it will bring the unlucky things home.） . The host should help the guest with the dishes. Chicken heads are only for the elders and children shouldn't eat chicken's paws（respecting the elders and children尊老愛幼，體現納西禮貌原則中言談舉止準則）. The guest is supposed to tell the host how much rice he wants and no rice should be left in the bowl.if you left rice in the bowl ， it will make the host feel frustrated and upsetting. If two persons share the same bench， one must be careful of the other when he or she stands up， to avoid causing the other to fall off the bench（It means the Naxi people always take good care of others ，they are very hospitaly. ）If one has finished his dinner， he is supposed to sit with others at the table for a while.（It means the people were not supposed to leave as soon as he had finished the dinner， he who should wait until all the guest left the table. And he should say： "不黑們，累豆豆撒（我先走了，打攪各位了" if he intends to leave.）

Education：

Now the author will explore if education has an impact on Naxi peoples attitude toward compliment. The following Diagram 1 is the frequency with which shows 60 Naxi students having received middle-school education and 60 Naxi students having received college education accept the compliments made by their friends and their superiors.

Diagram1Frequency of Naxi students who having received different educations accepting compliments.

The data tells us that more Naxi students having received college education tend to accept the compliments than people having received middle-school education when they are complimented by their friends on clothes and on working performance and by their superiors on working performance. So we can say that Naxi People having received more education are more ready to accept compliments than Naxi people having received less education. Hence， we know that education can change Naxi Minorities traditional value and moral towards life.

To sum up，According to the analysis of the education in the Naxi MinoritiesPP mentioned above，the reader could find out the Benefits of Education transparently.

【作者簡介】

和根吉，男，納西族，麗江師范高等專科學校外語系講師，主要研究方向：外國語言學、民族學、對外漢語的教學及科學研究。