| Abstract | 第1-5页 |
| 摘要 | 第5-8页 |
| 1 Introduction | 第8-12页 |
| ·Background of the study | 第8-10页 |
| ·Purpose and significance of the study | 第10页 |
| ·Structure of the thesis | 第10-12页 |
| 2 Literature Review | 第12-22页 |
| ·Study on Compliment | 第12-15页 |
| ·Study on Speech Act Theory | 第15-18页 |
| ·Study on Cooperative Principle | 第18-22页 |
| 3 Research Methodology | 第22-25页 |
| ·Objectives and Hypotheses | 第22页 |
| ·Data Collection | 第22-23页 |
| ·Research Procedures | 第23-25页 |
| 4 Results and Discussions | 第25-64页 |
| ·Compliment themes preferred by Chinese and American | 第25-31页 |
| ·Themes on one's ability or talents | 第26-27页 |
| ·Themes on one's achievements | 第27-29页 |
| ·Themes on one's appearance | 第29-30页 |
| ·Themes on one's possessions | 第30-31页 |
| ·Response formulas of Chinese compliments and American compliments | 第31-40页 |
| ·Acceptance | 第34-36页 |
| ·Deflating and rejecting | 第36-39页 |
| ·Questioning and ignoring | 第39-40页 |
| ·Comparisons of Chinese and American compliments | 第40-53页 |
| ·Linguistic comparison | 第41-53页 |
| ·Difference in semantic formulas | 第41-45页 |
| ·Difference in syntactic formulas | 第45-49页 |
| ·Comparison of semantic and syntactic differences | 第49-53页 |
| ·Cultural Findings | 第53-64页 |
| ·Cultural Differences between Chinese and American compliments | 第54-60页 |
| ·Confucianism versus Greece and Roman civilization | 第55-57页 |
| ·Altruism versus Individualism | 第57-60页 |
| ·Cultural influence on the Speech act theory and Cooperative Principle | 第60-64页 |
| 5 Conclusions | 第64-66页 |
| Bibliography | 第66-69页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第69-70页 |
| 攻读硕士学位期间发表的论文 | 第70-73页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ Cited Corpus of Chinese Movies | 第73-76页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ Cited Corpus of American Movies | 第76-77页 |
