Abstract: Compliment, which is also called praise, is a polite speech act that is frequently used in people's daily verbal interaction. It explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker. This article focuses its discussion of the differences between English and Chinese compliments on three aspects, the linguistic form of compliments, response formulas, and the topics used in the compliments and then explores three main factors such as beliefs, values and thought patterns that may cause the differences between Chinese and English compliments. This paper aims to help people recognize the differences between English and Chinese compliments and provide a good understanding of how to perform and accept compliments appropriately in different cultural backgrounds, so as to improve people’s cross-cultural communicative competence.

Key words: compliment; linguistic form; response formulas; cross-cultural communication

摘要：在人类的语言交际中，恭维语，亦即称赞语，是一种使用频率较高的礼貌言语行为。它是说话者对听话者具备的良好素质或拥有物显性或隐性的赞美。本文将从语言形式、应答方式和涉及的话题这三个方面探讨和论述英汉恭维语之间的差异，并从文化的角度通过信仰，价值观和思维模式这三个方面来探讨引起英汉恭维语差异的因素。本文旨在帮助人们更好地了解英汉恭维语的差异，以便帮助人们提高在跨文化交际场合中恰当地给予和接受恭维语的能力，从而提高人们的跨文化交际能力。

关键词：恭维语；语言形式；应答方式；跨文化交际