A Study of Evaluating Concept of Communicative Behavior Concerning ”Face”

Face has become an important topic in interpersonal pragmatics and its link to (im)politeness research since Brown and Levinson\u27s theory of politeness was first published in 1978/1987. This study used an opinion poll on understanding evaluating concept of "face" of Chinese and Japanese university students in verbal communication. Data was gathered by means of respondents completing a written questionnaire. This study clarified the features of evaluating concept of "face" in Chinese and Japanese communicative behavior. It proved a clear distinction between the two. It also provided positive evidence and useful insights into the ideas and traditional moral values of Chinese and Japanese young people involving "face". Furthermore, the results gave an obvious fact from the standpoint of gender. In short, the findings will help us understand cultural diversity and linguistic differences with the conceptualization of face in intercultural communication. Meanwhile, this study makes a contribution to research on the concepts of \u27face\u27 among the Asian young people, suggesting that it needs in-depth study of face conceptualization across cultures and societies