Euphemism in English

1、英語(yǔ)中的委婉語(yǔ)euphemism in englishcontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. literature review.32.1general review of the study of euphemisms.32.1.1definitions of euphemisms.32.1.2euphemisms.32.2the social background of the emergence of euphemism .42.3 the change and development of euphemism .4iii. c

2、lassification of euphemism.53.1classification of intercultural communication says that .53.1.1the positive euphemism and negative euphemism . 53.1.2the unconscious euphemism and conscious euphemism . 63.1.3other classification of euphemism 63.2 classification of doing culture cross-culture communica

3、tion in action says that.63.2.1traditional euphemism.63.2.2stylistic euphemism.6iv. purpose and significance.6 4.1the significance of theory.64.2 the significance in practice.74.2.1relationship between euphemism and culture.74.2.2the relationship between euphemism and language.9v. psychological foun

4、dation of euphemism.95.1fear.105.2wants of respect of dignity.105.3thetaste for the grandiloquent. .10vi. some negative aspect of euphemism10vii. euphemism and cross-cultural communication11viii. conclusion.12references .13euphemism in english摘 要: 本篇論文論述了英語(yǔ)中的一種表達(dá)方式-委婉語(yǔ)。在任何一個(gè)社會(huì)中，總有一些不能直截了當(dāng)說(shuō)出來(lái)的話。在人們交流

5、的場(chǎng)合中，有相當(dāng)一部分詞語(yǔ)顯示的是輕浮的、粗俗的、或至少是使人難堪的意思。為了避免提到這些禁忌語(yǔ)或減輕這些詞語(yǔ)對(duì)人感情的傷害，人們創(chuàng)造并使用了委婉語(yǔ)，這也能從中表現(xiàn)出一種文化的特征。委婉語(yǔ)作為人類語(yǔ)言的一種共同現(xiàn)象將越來(lái)越受到人們的關(guān)注。但是在許多年的研究中主要局限在詞匯的表達(dá)上。較前人的研究而言，這篇論文分析了委婉語(yǔ)產(chǎn)生的社會(huì)背景，它所具有的社會(huì)，心理功能及各種使用范圍。同時(shí)，在此基礎(chǔ)之上按照其不同的作用常被區(qū)分為不同組。而此論文的目標(biāo)是提升人們?cè)诂F(xiàn)實(shí)生活中使用委婉語(yǔ)的表達(dá)能力，引導(dǎo)中國(guó)學(xué)生能更好的，無(wú)障礙的與以英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人的交流溝通，并且準(zhǔn)確生動(dòng)。關(guān)鍵詞： 委婉語(yǔ)；交際；表達(dá)；禁忌；心理

6、功能；文化；語(yǔ)言；委婉語(yǔ)的分類abstract： this paper refers to apart of english expressioneuphemism. in every society there are certain things that are supposed to be unspeakable. a fair number of words are therefore labeled as frivolous, vulgar, obscene, or at least inconsiderate when used in communication. in orde

7、r to skirt those taboo words or ease the sting of harsh words, man has created euphemisms, which can presumably serve as hallmarks of civilization. euphemism as a common phenomenon of human language was given more and more attentions by people. but for many years research into it was only limited on

8、 the lexicon express. compare with former researches, this paper analyses euphemism from the social background, social and psychological functions and scope of euphemism. and based on this, it also divides those often used euphemism into different groups according to their usage. this paper aims at

9、improving the ability of euphemism expression and leading chinese student to communicate with native speaker correctly and vividly. key words：euphemism; expression; communication; taboo; psychological function; culture; language; classification of euphemismi. introductionin every society there are c

10、ertain things that are not allowed to be spoken, because of belief, custom, sex, and so on. a fair number of words are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, obscene, or at least inconsiderate when used in communication. in order to escape from those taboo words or ease the sting of harsh words, human has cr

11、eated euphemisms, which can express the taboo means and not hurt the peoples feeling. euphemism as a common phenomenon of human language was given more and more attentions by people. when we consider how to start our conversations, we should bears in mind that a very large number of the themes and t

12、opics found in the world today are not uttered freely among our human beings. we may think what we should speak, what we should not speak, how to speak in a proper way when we want to express our likes or dislikes. each community has its own principles when they speak of some topics.euphemism is a p

13、art of english expression. it means: the use of a pleasanter, less direct word for something thought to be unpleasant. the word euphemism is derived from a greek word meaning “to speak favorably” or “good speech” euphemisms are mild, pleasant, or inoffensive expressions, substituted for harsh, blunt

14、, coarse, or unpleasant ones. they are often used of politeness or consideration for other people spellings, for instance, we would probably say to our friend, “im sorry to hear you often quarrel with your mother.” because we feel that the first statements is more agreeable than the second one. when

15、 referring to marxs death, english wrote: “on the 14th of march, at a quarter to three in the after noon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. he had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back. we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep but forever.” we feel

16、that here “gone to sleep but forever” is certainly more expression and appropriate then the blunt and harsh “dead”. there are many examples: “go to the other world(到另一個(gè)世界去); pass away(離去); be no more(不在了); breath ones last(作最后的呼吸); come to end(一生結(jié)束了); join the majority(加入大多數(shù)的隊(duì)伍); go to ones rest(安息了

17、); sleep the final sleep(最后睡著了); be gathered to ones father(被先父招去了); join ones ancestor(加入祖先的隊(duì)伍); be asleep in the arms of god(安睡在上帝的懷抱中); return to dust(歸于塵土); run ones race(跑完自己的賽程); be no longer with us(與我們永別了); go to way of all flesh(走眾生之路); go to heaven; be at peace; be called home; go to meet

18、ones maker; depart this life; go west; go the way of all flesh; join the angels; be promoted to glory; leave this world.”in the case of excretion, some writers use these sentences. “he had opened his eyes with the sun at dawn, scratched, done his business like a dog at the roadside, washed at the pu

19、blic fountain, begged a piece of breakfast bread and a few olives, eaten them squatting on the ground, and washed them with a few handfuls of water scooped from the spring.” and “ there was the yard without any grass and at one side , by a high board fence, a long wooden shed into which we went to p

20、erform certain necessary functions of the body.”in the western countries, people often used euphemisms instead of excretion words, like “to wash ones hand（去洗手）; to power ones nose（去向鼻子撲粉的地方，女士用語(yǔ)）; to go somewhere（到什么地方去一下）; to answer the call of nature（響應(yīng)大自然的號(hào)召）”ii. literature reviewboth home and ab

21、road, there are many scholars who are study euphemism. as a result there are many works on it. 2.1general review of the study of euphemismsfirst lets discuss the definitions and features of euphemisms.2.1.1definitions of euphemismswhat is euphemism? some scholars define euphemisms as “comfortable wo

22、rds (安慰詞), gilded words (鍍金的字眼), cosmetic words (化妝詞), mild expression (溫和的表達(dá)), prudish phrase (拘謹(jǐn)?shù)挠谜Z(yǔ)), delicate term(微妙的措辭),language of deceit(虛假的語(yǔ)言), the defense of the indefensible(不被辯護(hù)的辯護(hù)語(yǔ)) and so on.2.1.2euphemisms1) (example of the) use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place o

23、f more accurate or direct ones. for example “pass away” is euphemism of “die” / “pass water” is a euphemism for “urinate” by oxford advanced learners dictionary of current english. (li 2002) 2) as a rhetoric device, encyclopedia britannica said“a figure of speech in which something of an unpleasant,

24、 distressing, or indelicate nature is described in less offensive terms, as in the expression under the weather for ill or passed away for died.” (li 2003) 3) “substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using kind words” (neaman 19

25、90)4) “they (euphemism) are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, even get through a day without using them.” (hugh 1974)5) the word euphemism is derived from a greek word meaning “to speak favorably” or “good speech”. euphemism is

26、mild, pleasant, or in offensive expressions, substituted for harsh, blunt, or unpleasant ones.2.2the social background of the emergence of euphemism first, the social background of the emergence of euphemism related to the time background. “the emergence of euphemism is closely related to the time b

27、ackground. during the period of economic depression, especially the war period when language tended to be rough, there was little euphemism. while during peacetime when the whole society is in a state of prosperity and stability, people pursued civilized language and thus the number of euphemism inc

28、reased. during the past decades, in the scope of the world, the whole society is developing fast with its economic state changing a lot, a large quantity of taboo emerged and this is the premise of the emergence of euphemism. in 1700s and 1800s, which were the prosperous period of britain and united

29、 states, there were two climaxes of euphemism in english.” (li 2003) second, the social backgrounds of the emergence of euphemism are caused mainly by the people of middle class. “the emergence and development of euphemism was caused mainly by the people of middle class. people of upper class didnt

30、choose their words with great care any longer because their social status has been stabilized. people of lower class didnt have the ability to weigh their word because of their knowledge limitation. people of middle class want to improve their present condition and social status, so they try to pret

31、tify themselves in language. during the past decades, in some english speaking countries, a lot of euphemism emerged and was developing quickly because of the increase in the number of the people of middle class.” (li 2003) at last the social background of the emergence of euphemism, linked closely

32、with the social status of women. “the emergence and development of euphemism also links closely with the social status of women. since the foundation of united states, the job opportunity for women has increased a lot and during the middle 1800s, in many cases women were greatly respected. the addre

33、ssing words gentlemen and ladies were replaced by ladies and gentlemen just at this time. in many countries, children were taught from childhood that they must weigh their words when talking to women and many words couldnt be used in the presence of women. since hale of the population of women euphe

34、mism is necessary in many occasions.” (li 2003) 2.3 the change and development of euphemismeuphemism is closely related with language taboo. in the primitive society, human beings are not able to get known well about nature, they are frightened about natural phenomena: likes thunder, fire, light and

35、 some other things. when they faced these natural phenomena, they believed there existed saints and devils in the world. so we can found that they never call their names, if not, the primitives believe“speak of the devils, it is sure to appear.” that was superstitions in language and caused taboo ev

36、en euphemism in daily life. “euphemism is not static. as we all know, a word depends for its effect not only on its central meaning, but also upon the meaning that are associated with it. when a euphemism has absorbed disagreeable associated elements or when a disagreeable element of the meaning bec

37、omes too badly prominent, it will degenerate in meaning. the recourse of cultivated use in such cases is to find another euphemistic substitute. for instance, the oe stink with the general meaning smell comes to be to vividly associate with ill smell. in consequence, in me smell takes its place, onl

38、y in its turn degenerating, has to be succeeded by such words as fragrance, perfume, or bouquet. in all, euphemisms undergo constant change and development .no one can say when the process will stop. as a matter of fact, there is little hope if any, for it to stop.” (wei 2002) iii. classification of

39、 euphemismeuphemism can be classified into many types from different angles. here, some representative classifications of english euphemism will be introduced. 3.1 classification of intercultural communication says that 3.1.1the positive euphemism and negative euphemism according to hugh rawson (198

40、1), euphemism can be divided into two types: the positive and the negative from the perspective of semantics. the positive euphemisms also can be called stylistic ones, which “inflate and magnify the word meaning, making the euphemism seem altogether grander and more important than they really are.”

41、 (rawson 1981)the positive euphemisms include the many fancy occupational titles, which save the egos of workers by elevating their job status. for example, “sanitation engineer” for “garbage collector”, “custodian” for “janitor”. they also include many institutional euphemism is usually used widely

42、 in the official language and some other formal styles. the negative euphemisms are extremely ancient, and closely connected with the taboos. they are also called “traditional euphemism”. they deflate and diminish. they are defensive in nature, offsetting the power of tabooed terms and otherwise era

43、dicating from the language everything that people prefer not to deal with directly. in many culture, it is forbidden to pronounce the name of god, so there are euphemism such as “jeeze”, “gee” or “jeepers creepers” for “jesus”, “jesus christ” or “christ” , “goodness” for “god” or “my gum” for “my go

44、d”. many tabooed subjects such as “sex”, “disease”, “excretion”, “bodily function”, etc. should be euphemized in this way. (duan 2002)3.1.2the unconscious euphemism and conscious euphemismall euphemisms, whether positive or negative, may be used either unconsciously or consciously. so euphemism also

45、 can be divided into “unconscious euphemism” and “conscious euphemism” (hugh rawson 1981) 3.1.3other classification of euphemism “besides the divisions mentioned above, euphemisms, according to their contents, can be classified as euphemisms of disease, euphemism of death, euphemism of sex, euphemis

46、m of occupation, euphemism of politics” (duan 2002) 3.2 classification of doing culture cross-cultural communication in action says that“euphemism can be divided into two parts that traditional euphemism and stylistic euphemism. traditional euphemism relates to taboo. when the level of science and c

47、ulture was very low, people had superstitious belief. so many words about ghost and god became “taboo”. so the taboo is euphemisms origination.” (li 2003)3.2.1traditional euphemism“traditional euphemism includes several parts of things: (1) death; (2) disease; (3) sex; (4) excretion.” (li 2003) 3.2.

48、2stylistic euphemism“stylistic euphemism includes several parts of things. (1) occupation; (2) poverty;( 3) old age , weakness; (4) other things” (li 2003)iv. purpose and significance the significance of study can be divided into two parts. one is the value of theory. the other is the value of pract

49、ice.4.1the significance in theoryfirst, euphemism can enlarge the vocabulary. it gives birth to many kinds of new words and distends the meaning of the words to study the euphemism.one word can have many kinds of euphemistic expression, for instance:(1)“pregnant(懷孕)-be expecting(在期待之中), eat for two(

50、吃雙份飯), rehearse lullabies(練唱催眠曲) , be caught out(被逮住了), wear the apron high(圍裙系的很高), have a watermelon on the vine(藤上長(zhǎng)了一個(gè)西瓜), awkward(笨拙的), that way(那個(gè)樣), in a particular condition(處于特別狀態(tài)), in an interesting condition(處于引起興趣的狀態(tài)).” (lv 2004)(2)“poor(貧窮)-needy(匱乏), indigent(缺錢少物), less well off(不太寬裕的)

51、, badly off(短缺的), down on ones luck(時(shí)運(yùn)不濟(jì)), negative saver(積蓄有負(fù)值的), economically disadvantaged(經(jīng)濟(jì)上處于不利地位的), underprivileged(享受權(quán)益較少的), culturally deprived(喪失文化教育權(quán)利的), be shy of funds(囊中羞澀), temporarily short of liquidity(臨時(shí)周轉(zhuǎn)不靈).” (lv 2004) except for these mild words, people use the following means t

52、o achieve the effect of euphemism: (1) omissions; (2) abbreviation; (3) idiom; (4)sounding terms; (5)borrowing from other languages; (6)the change of tense and so on.second, studying the euphemism is good for study rhetoric. euphemism is one kind of rhetoric device.today, by studying the euphemism,

53、we can enlarge the rhetorics function. at the same time it can improve the expression effect; make our rhetoric device more colorful and plentiful.what is rhetoric? why euphemism can influence rhetoric? “rhetoric was once defined as way of saying something, but it also enjoys several other meanings

54、which hudson reviewed thirty year ago: bombast: high-sounding words without content; oratorical falsification to hide meanings; sophistry; and study of figures of speech; most commonly of all, the whole art of spoken discourse, especially persuasive discourse. the last meaning has gained somewhat in

55、 currency in the past thirty years, especially among scholars in speech and renaissance literature.” (zhao 1996)4.2 the significance in practiceit is well known that cultures differ one from anther, and so every culture is unique. it is very important to learn a foreign culture. that is a magic key

56、in the cross-culture communication. language reflects the ideals, behavior, and customs of their society by this way. 4.2.1relationship between euphemism and culturewe say language can reflect social life. euphemism is a mirror of the culture of society. “culture is the total accumulation of beliefs

57、, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shares, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people.” (linell 2001) another bibliography doing culture cross-cultural communication in action says that “as participants in a culture, we are meaning makers. people often talk about the world as if has meaning, as if the meaning of things were built into them. when