Heart Theory as an Alternative Politeness Model

Face theory is an important pragmatic theory regarding politeness in human communication. As the central term of the theory, the face, a part of the human body, is seen as a metaphor for dignity and respect. The heart is put forward in this paper as an alternative politeness metaphor. Due to the differences between Western and Eastern politeness ideologies, face theory sometimes fails to explain certain pragmatic phenomena in China. By replacing the face in face theory with heart, the paper tries to inject an Eastern perception of human relationships into the traditional pragmatic theory.