Reconstruction of universal model in language usage - from perspectives of Japanese and Chinese -

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The principles of linguistic theories (ex. Politeness theory) have been accepted by many scholars as being universal, that is to say, they have been treated as if they were universally applied to the study of language usage. These theories have been drawn primarily through the examination of western languages and hence possess some limitation when applied to non-western languages. The influence of cultural values in language usage differs greatly between the world's languages and cultures.In our study, first we have examined the concept of "face" in the politeness theory and applied it to Japanese and Chinese Language. As a result, English 'face' is characterized by individual wants while Chinese and Japanese 'face', the compliance with the community one belongs to. Next, linguistic norm in "Rites" and the Bible have been observed to investigate the performance rule in the macro level. In "Rites", concrete guide to prohibitive language usage has been observed and it functions with the principle of politeness such as "yin and yang". On the other hand, few concrete linguistic norms have been found in the Bible. Therefore words in the Bible about language usage are selected and classified into words of God and those of human. Third, we inquired actual language usage within the societies of Japan, China and the USA, by sending out questionnaires about the situation of apology.Our research in all areas has revealed interesting differences that further exemplify the diversity of cultural and habitual thoughts of both western and non-western societies.