Gender and Politeness in Television Interview: Comparative Study of Japanese and Chinese Hosts

Abstract

This paper aims to explore gender stereotypes used by Japanese and Chinese female hosts in television interviews, and how the gender stereotypes impact the construction of politeness strategies. I found that expressions such as ‘women should cook for men' ‘it is a mother's duty to do the washing' ‘women should get married at early age' ‘women should take the responsibility for raising children' tend to appear in Japanese discourses, whereas ‘mianzi (face) is more important for men than for women' appear in Chinese discourses. An expression ‘women should get married at early age' was found both in Japanese and Chinese discourses, however, hosts used different politeness strategies when talking about the same topic. It was also found that gender stereotypes affect the ways in which the female hosts use politeness strategies. This relationship, between the gender stereotypes and politeness strategies, can be supported by the politeness theory which explains how people use politeness strategies in language to ensure smooth communication.