A Contrastive Analysis Study of Chinese and Thai in Compliment Responses

Abstract

This paper provides a contrastive analysis of the responses to complimentary responses used in Chinese and Thai languages. The questionnaire is formulated based on the four types of compliments, including compliments made on "appearance", "ability", "possession", and "character".

Specific to this research, there are two research questions. Firstly, whether there are similarities and differences in the use of expressive functions of the test subjects in response to compliments made in Chinese and Thai culture. Secondly, the research aims to examine whether Thai learners encounter any pragmatic errors caused by cultural differences in their usage of complimentary praises in the Chinese language. The respondents include 27 native Chinese speakers and 40 Thai college students. Chinese native speakers and Thai students have similarities in the use of complimentary responses, namely, they appear to use the "appreciation token" to express more politeness in accepting compliments made by others. However, in comparison to Thai learners, it is evident that Chinese natives use “combination” techniques and place emphasis on factors such as social hierarchy in choosing their respective responses to the compliments made. Additionally, when Thai learners use Chinese complementary responses, most of them naturally use Thai compliment response strategies, which reflects that they are consciously affected by their cultures or mother-tongue languages. Their responses are made based on how they would respond in their Thai native languages. Chinese proficiency, understanding of culture, and context are significant factors that play an equally important role in choosing appropriate responses to receive compliments.