Self-denigration in Mandarin Chinese: An alternative account from sincerity

The phenomenon of self-denigration is a typical example of politeness in Chinese culture. Despite the fact that this phenomenon has attracted much attention from scholars in previous studies, the issue of how to clarify self-denigration in relation to sincerity still remains very much an open question. Thus, the current study aims to revisit self-denigration from the perspective of sincerity. Based on data drawn from TV plays and structured interviews, it is found that sincere self-denigration is often perceived as a form of politeness. On the contrary, insincere self-denigration brings about an impolite evalu-ation. Thus, the study offers a new way of explaining self-denigration in terms of its politeness and communicative effects.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.