A Comparison of Taboos Between Chinese Culture and American Culture

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- Literature review

The importance of taboos has been noticed for a long time. In 1967,Truth and Religious conducted a comprehensive research on taboos to find the origin of the wood “taboo”. He clarifies the meaning of the taboo in Polynesia, it’s significance and function in Polynesian religion and it’s relation to anthropological and psychological theories. Since 1960s, the importance of linguistic taboo has been observed by many sociolinguists when exploring the relationship between language and society. In sociolinguistics, Hudson defined the social value of taboo words as a matter of convention and suggested that “ the whole area of taboo and semi-taboo language merits serious research by sociolinguists, which should tell us a lot about language in relation to society”(Hudson 1996). Another notable contributor to taboo words research is Timothy B.Jay. He indicated that taboo words could be most effectively understood from a sociolinguistic point of view. In China, Chen Yuan’s sociolinguist is an analysis of linguistic taboos. The 15th chapter of the book tell us how to avoid the taboos. In the late mid-1980s, some scholars in China proposed to develop Chinese culture linguistics. As a result, a series of books were published. In these books, taboos are unavoidably included.

Around 1970s, when the first journal in the field of taboos in intercultural communication MALEDICTA ( the international journal of verbal aggression ) emerged, the interest of taboo phenomenon began to grow. From then on, monographs frequently appeared on the subject of taboo phenomenon during the 1980s. For example, the book Wicked words, which is a documented dictionary and history of wicked words. In 1997, another reference book entitled Don’t Do It. A dictionary of the forbidden by Philip Thody. In this book, Thody clarified how people used taboos in different ages, in different societies and in everyday life.

From above mentioned, we can see majority of previous studies on taboos are centered on language, society and taboos as well as the relationship between them. They have done plenty of ground work for further analysis. This paper will analyze the comparison of Chinese and American taboos in the context of intercultural communication.

- The definition of taboo

The word taboo was originated from Tonga, an island group in Polynesia. It was first recorded use in English by Captain James Cook. When he came to the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, he heard the local people speak “ taboo”, which refers from sacred, consecrated, dangerous or unclean. In 1777, he introduced the word “taboo” into English. But taboo phenomena are not unique in Tonga. Instead , it has long existed in all cultures and language throughout the world. Taboo is also a social phenomenon. The development of society has influenced the change of taboo. Today, in Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, the definition of taboo is a prohibition against touching, saying, or doing something for the fear of immediate harm from a supernatural force. So taboo is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior and it believed to be harmful to people in that it would cause them anxiety , embarrassment, or shame.

2.The comparison of taboos on social interaction

2.1 Taboos on appellation

It’s true that Chinese people and American people enjoy different cultures, which influence life, customs and behaviors , beliefs, and values , aesthetics and interest. Geert Hofstede’s , an international authority on intercultural social psychology, gives four culture dimensions for different cultures: power distance , individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance. On the four cultural dimensions, Chinese and American have a total difference. Firstly, the power distance, it means the extend to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country, expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In China, people enjoy large power distance, which means there is a severe hierarchy among the relations between different people. High-status people are expected their formal title followed by the last name. For instance, students call their teachers with a definite title “ President Lee”. Employees will show their loyalty by calling their superiors “Manager Zhang”. The younger are supposed to respect the older, who will be called “Uncle Wang”, etc. It’s a taboo if a subordinate address a superior without an honorific title. Also, it’s rude to call a person by name if they have a different social position. High-status people are expected to maintain their prestige at all costs. They value “ face” as an important thing. So highly respected authorities are reluctant to admit they have don’t know certain things or they’ve made a mistake. Don’t try to challenge authorities in the public situation. In Chinese culture, people tend to be treated by loyal respect and keep the good performance in front of other people. On the contrary, in American, people enjoy small power distance. They assume that informality is a prerequisite for sincerity. For the authority figures, such as the professor ,supervisor or the priests, are often called by their first name rather than their official title. They have a straightforward personality. Once they have a misunderstanding, they will apologize and they won’t care too much about “ faces”.

2.2 Taboos on time arrangement

People in Chinese and American have different time consciousness. Americans tend to place more emphasis on punctuality than people in Chinese. You are expected to be ready at the time agreed upon if someone is picking you up at your residence. When invited to someone’s home, you are expected to arrive within five or ten minutes after the scheduled time, but never before that time. When you plan to meet someone at a restaurant, a theater, or some other places where reservations have been made, it is very important to arrive at the agreed time. Many Americans feel that arriving late for social events or appointments indicated a lack of respect for the person who is kept waiting. In American , it is necessary to make an appointment in advance for visiting someone, and prohibited visit suddenly. Because visited suddenly can disrupt interviewee's working arrangement, at the same time, it cause great inconvenience to him. Chinese started to make an appointment in the business circle even daily life, but it not stringent. Visiting suddenly is not regarded as a serious infringement. It is pleasantly surprised by a surprise visit. It won’t