英语专业论文英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究.docx

英语专业论文英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究.docx

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英语专业论文英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究

绵阳师范学院

本科生毕业论文（设计）

题目

AComparativeStudyofCultural

ConnotationsinEnglishand

ChineseEuphemisms

英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究

专业

英语（师范英语方向）

院系

外国语学院

学号

1004020436

姓名

Xxx

指导教师

xxx副教授

答辩时间

二○一四年四月

论文工作时间：

2013年09月至2014年04月

英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究

姓名：

xxxx

指导老师：

xxxx

摘要：

委婉语是人们在各种社会交往中为谋求彼此理想的交际效果而创造的一种普遍的语言形式。

它不仅是一种语言现象，而且是一种文化现象。

国内外对于委婉语的研究，许多学者主要集中在社会语言学、修辞学和语义学等方面，然而对不同文化背景下的委婉语的对比研究较少。

本文主要基于前人的研究，对英汉委婉语中的文化内涵进行对比研究，旨在发现英汉委婉语的异同，从而，减少英汉两种语言使用时的误用，加深对中西文化交流中的差异性理解，实现和谐的交际目的。

关键词：

委婉语；文化现象；文化内涵；交际目的；对比研究

AComparativeStudyofCulturalConnotationsinEnglishandChineseEuphemisms

Undergraduate:

xxx

Supervisor:

xxx

Abstract:

Euphemismisauniversallinguisticformthatiscreatedbyhumanbeingsinvariouscommunicativeactivitiesinordertoachievetheiridealcommunicativegoals.Euphemismisnotonlyalinguisticphenomenonbutalsoaculturalphenomenon.Athomeandabroad,euphemismismainlystudiedbyscholarsfromtheaspectsofsociolinguistics,rhetorics,semantics,etc.However，therearefewerstudiesonthecomparativeanalysesofeuphemismsofdifferentculturalbackgrounds.Basedonthepreviousstudies,thispapermakesacomparativestudyofculturalconnotationsinEnglishandChineseeuphemisms.Itaimstofindoutthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthem.Consequently,itaimstoreducethemisuseofeuphemisms,todeepentheunderstandingofdifferencesofcross-culturalcommunicationandtoaccomplishthegoodcommunicativegoalsinEnglishandChinese.

Keywords:

euphemism;culturalphenomenon;culturalconnotation;communicativegoal;comparativestudy

Contents

1.Introduction1

2.Origin,Definition,ClassificationandFormationofEuphemism2

2.1OriginofEuphemism2

2.2DefinitionofEuphemism3

2.3ClassificationofEuphemism4

2.3.1TraditionalEuphemismsandStylisticEuphemisms4

2.3.2UnconsciousEuphemismsandConsciousEuphemisms4

2.4FormationofEuphemism5

3.TheoryofEuphemism6

4.ComparativeStudyofCulturalConnotations7

4.1Language,CultureandEuphemism7

4.2EuphemismsofReproduction,Aging,DiseasesandDeath8

4.2.1EuphemismsofReproduction8

4.2.2EuphemismsofAging8

4.2.3EuphemismsofDiseases9

4.2.4EuphemismsofDeath9

4.3EuphemismsofMarriageandFamily10

4.4EuphemismsofOccupationsandPoverty10

4.5EuphemismsofDeitiesandDevils11

5.Conclusion12

Bibliography13

Acknowledgements14

1.Introduction

Euphemismisauniversallinguisticphenomenon,whichiswidelyusedinhumancommunicativeactivities.Asweallknow,liketheornamentandlubeofhumanlanguage,euphemismenablespeopletoavoidsomeunpleasant,embarrassing,anddirectcommunicativesituations.Itkeepsthecommunicationgoingon.Henceeuphemismplaysacrucialroleinhumandailylife,justasRobertWilliamBurchfieldwroteinhisworkFairofSpeech:

TheUsesofEuphemism（1985）,“alanguagewithouteuphemismwouldbeadefectiveinstrumentofcommunication.”

Asacommonlinguisticphenomenon,euphemismhasbeenstudiedforalongtimeathomeandoverseas.Inwesterncountries,scholarGeorgeBlunt,intheearly1580s,coinedtheword“euphemism”anddefineditas“agoodorfavorableinterpretationofabadword”.In1981,BritishlinguistHughRawsoncompiledadictionarynamedADictionaryofEuphemismsandOtherDoubletalk,embodyingtheresearchachievementsofeuphemism.Mostimportantly,theprefaceofthisdictionaryisoneofthegreatestpapersofeuphemismstudy.Inthedictionary,HughRawsonnotonlytalkedaboutthehistoryofeuphemismstudybutalsodiscussedthedefinition,features,classificationandrelatedaspects.In1985,AmericanscholarsJudithS.NeamanandCaroleG.SilverpublishedadictionarycalledKindWords:

aThesaurusofEuphemisms.Thisdictionaryhasgreatreferentialvalueofeuphemismstudy.Inthedictionary,JudithS.Neamangenerallydefinedeuphemismas“replacinganoffensiveorunpleasanttermforaninoffensiveandpleasantone”.AccordingtoAmericansocialandculturalbackground,AmericanlinguistMenken,discussedhundredsofeuphemismphenomenainhisworkTheAmericanLanguageandtalkedaboutthereasonsofderivationandpopularization.Itisofgreatvalueforeuphemismresearches.Formanywesterntraditionallinguists,theyonlystudiedeuphemismfromlexicalaspects.SinceBolinger’sstudy,somelinguistsstarttofocusonthegrammarmeansofeuphemismformations,suchastense,toneandvoice.

InancientChina,thestudyofeuphemismisgreatlyinvolvedintabooandfolklore.TheavoidanceoftabooandtheexpressionofeuphemismwerefirstlyrecordedintheworkofLuRong,aMingdynastyscholar.Foralongtime,withthepioneerMr.ChenWangdao,mostmodernscholarsstudiedeuphemismfromrhetoricalaspect.In20thcentury,theoriesofforeignsociolinguisticswereintroducedintoChina.Accordingtothesetheories,manyChineselinguistswereinterestedinthesocialfunctionsofeuphemism.In1983,Mr.ChenYuanpublishedabooknamedSociolinguistics,inwhichhemadedetailedanalysesofeuphemism.Inthisbook,Mr.ChenYuannotonlytalkedaboutthehistoryofeuphemismandthebackgroundofsocietyandmindbutalsousedmanyexamplestoanalyzethefeaturesofeuphemismformationandusage.Lateron,manyChinesescholarsstudiedeuphemismfromdifferentaspectsandhavegotlotsoffurtherachievements.

What’smore,euphemismisrelevanttohumancultures.Itisculture-loanedinthatcertaincontextualeuphemismreflectscertaincultures.InEnglishandChinese,euphemismisalsoanindispensableelement.Lotsoflinguistsandscholarsathomeandabroadhaveinterestineuphemismstudyfromdifferentaspects.Amongtheseresearches,manyscholarsmainlyfocusonthestudyofeuphemismitself,ignoringthecommunicativeandpracticalfunctionsoflanguage,ignoringtheunderlyingmeaningoflanguagephenomenon.Inotherwords,theydoresearchesfromonelanguageinsteadoftwoormorecomparativelanguages.

Inthispaper,theauthorusesthecomparativewaytostudytheculturalconnotationsinEnglishandChineseeuphemisms.Andtheauthorintendstosolvethreeproblemsinthispaper.Firstofall,whatarethesimilaritiesanddifferencesofeuphemismphenomenainEnglishandChinese?

Secondly,whataretheculturalconnotationsimpliedinEnglishandChineseeuphemisms?

Lastbutnotleast,howtoavoidcertainmistakesofeuphemismincross-culturalcommunication.Throughthesecomparativestudies,thispaperaimstocomparetheeuphemisminEnglishandChinesefromtheviewofculturalconnotationsandtomakepeoplehaveaclearviewonthetheoriesandculturalconnotationsofEnglishandChineseeuphemisms.

2.Origin,Definition,ClassificationandFormationofEuphemism

2.1OriginofEuphemism

Languagecanbegenerallydefinedasasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunications.Languageishuman-specificinaccordancewiththedefinition.Itsdevelopmentprofoundlyrelatestohumanactivities.Inprimitivesociety,humanwasunabletounderstandandexplainsomenaturalphenomenaornaturalpower.Therefore,asoneofthefeaturesofhumanbeings,languageisnaturallyrelatedtocertainnaturalphenomenaorblessinganddisastercausedbynaturalpower.Thus,humanbeingsendowedlanguagewithapowerthatsurpassedlanguageitself.What’smore,theyconsideredthatlanguagewasthesourceofgoodandbadfortune.Whoweredispleasedwiththissource,theywouldbepenalizedbythesource.Onthecontrary,whowerepleasedwiththissource,theywouldbeblessedbythesource.Naturally,taboocameintobeing.Itdoesnotallowpeopletodo,useortalkaboutaparticularthingaspeoplefinditoffensiveorembarrassing.Nevertheless,peoplehavetouseortalkaboutsomeoffensiveorembarrassingthingsindailylife.Whatshouldtheydo?

Itisreallydifficulttohandle.Ontheonehand,peoplewanttoexpresssometaboosubjects;ontheotherhand,theyhavetoavoidthepunishmentoflanguage.Inlightofthefact,tabooengenderseuphemism.Whenpeopleareunwillingtotalkaboutthetaboothingsdirectly,theycanusegood,indirectandpleasantwordstoreplacethem.Thislinguisticphenomenoniscalledeuphemism.Tabooistheoriginalmotivationofeuphemism.Wherethereisataboo,thereistheeuphemism.

2.2DefinitionofEuphemism

Inwesterncountries,theEnglishterm“euphemism”stemmedfromGreek.Theinitialpart“eu-”means“good,well”;thestem“pheme”means“speak”;andthelastpart“-ism”means“actionortheresult”.Sothewholeword“euphemism”means“speakingwellofsomething”“goodspeech”and“wordsofgoodomen”.However,differentscholarsandlinguistsdefinedthenatureofeuphemismdifferently.Thefollowingaresometypicaldefinitionsofeuphemism.

1）Thesubstitutionofamild,indirect,orvagueexpressionforonethoughttobeoffensive,harshorblunt.（Webster’sDictionaryofAmericanEnglish,RandomHouse,Inc.1997）

2）Anindirectwordorphrasethatpeopleoftenusetorefertosomethingembarrassingorunpleasant,sometimestomakeitseemmoreacceptablethanitreallyis.（OxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,7thEdition,2009）

3）Mild,agreeable,orroundaboutwordsusedinaplaceofcoarse,painful,oroffensiveones.（HughRawson,1981:

3）

4）Therearegrammaticalwaysoftoningsomethingdownwithoutactuallychangingthecontextofthemessage.（D.Bolinger,1981）

5）Substituteaninoffensiveorpleasanttermforamoreexplicit,offensiveone,therebyveneeringthetruthbyusinginwords.（NeamanandSilver,1983）

InChina,mostscholarsstudyeuphemismmainlyfromtherhetoric,andtheyregardeuphemismasakindoffigureofspeech.ChenWangdaowasthefirstpersontomakeadefini