Abstract:The first decade of 21st century will be passed quickly. When looking back, we can find that with the deepening of reform and opening policy, our national power is boosting up and people’s living standard is increasing gradually. At the same time, our country is broadening its communication with western countries. Cross-cultural Communication continues to heat up along. In cross-cultural communication, one phenomenon has drawn our widespread attention----that is compliment. Compliments are the “lubricant” of communication, which enable communication to go ahead in a harmonious atmosphere. As a social language, compliments can not only shorten the social distance among communicators, but also enhance the emotions, maintain normal social relationships. However, due to different cultural backgrounds, there are lots of disparities in the use of compliments. In this paper, based on the research methods and research results at home and abroad, the author conducts a certain amount of study. A contrastive analysis of Chinese and English compliments is aiming at helping communicators use language decently and reduce pragmatic mistakes.  This paper first introduces the definition of the term “compliment”, its characteristics and social functions, etc. Then it analyzes the respective characteristics of Chinese people and westerners and the different ways of compliment in these two cultures. What’s more, it focuses on the disparities of Chinese and English compliments and gives corresponding analyses. At last, it makes a natural conclusion to the whole paper.

Keywords: Cross-cultural communication; Compliments; Disparities

摘要:21世纪的第一个十年即将过去，回首过去，我们不难发现，随着我国改革开放的不断深入，我国的国力日益增强，人民生活水平也在不断地提高。与此同时，我国与西方国家的交流也在不断加深，跨文化交际随之持续升温。在跨文化交际中，有一种现象引起了大家的广泛关注，那就是称赞语的使用。称赞语是交际的“润滑剂”，它使交际得以在和谐融洽的气氛中向前推进。作为一种社会语言，它不仅可以缩短交际者之间的社会距离，而且可以联络感情，维系社会正常的人际关系。然而，中西方各自不同的文化背景导致了在交际中称赞语的运用存在很大的差异。本文在借鉴国内外研究方法及研究成果的基础上，对汉英称赞语进行了对比研究，以期达到帮助语言学习者得体运用称赞语，减少语用失误的目的。

　　这篇论文首先介绍了称赞语的定义，特征、以及功能等内容，随后分别分析了中西方人民各自的性格特征及由此产生的称赞语，接下来着重对比分析了中西方称赞语。最后，伴随着结论的出现，整篇论文自然而然地结束。

关键词：跨文化交际;称赞语;差异