英汉委婉语文化内涵比较.docx

英汉委婉语文化内涵比较.docx

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英汉委婉语文化内涵比较

ⅠIntroduction

Euphemismisacommonlinguisticphenomenonindifferentcultures.Fromthemomentitiscreated,itplaysanimportantroleinpeople'sdailycommunication.Theyareembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatmostofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplainspoken,nevergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem.Likeakindoflubrication,itenablespeopletoexpresswhatcan'tbeuttereddirectly.AsRobertBurchfieldwroteinhisbookFairofSpeech:

TheUsesofEuphemism,"alanguagewithouteuphemismswouldbeadefectiveinstrumentofcommunication".Rawsonhasalsopointsoutthat"Tosomeextent,actually,euphemismsaresociety'sbasiccommonlanguage".However,thislanguagephenomenonisoftenneglectedbyus.Untiltodaytheeuphemismstudiesareveryfewandmostofthesestudiesareconfinedtoindividuallanguage,andthereisashortageofcontrastiveresearchbetweenlanguages.Tounveiltheuniversalandpeculiarfeaturesofeuphemismsandtobetterunderstandeuphemisminaparticularlanguage,acontrastivestudyisamust.

ThisthesismakesacontrastivestudyofEnglishandChineseeuphemismwithanattempttoexploreanddemonstratethedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenthetwolinguisticphenomenoninthehopeofenlighteningandguidingEnglishlearnersabitintheirlanguagelearning,translationstudies,cross-culturalcommunication,etc.

1.1Theoriginofeuphemism

Whentalkingabouteuphemisms,wecan'tneglect"taboo".Inancienttimes,productivitywasinaverylowlevel,theprimitiveswereoftenconfrontedwithbafflingandthreateningsituationsandphenomena,suchasdeath,andtheyfailedtounderstandtheessenceofthem.Tofindawayout,theybecamesuperstitiousaboutsupernaturalpower,ortheexistenceofdevilsandgods.Intheirmind,everythingwasalivewithspirit,capableofbringingdownblessingsandmisfortunes,andthuslanguagetookuponakindofsupernaturalsense.Thisledtotheforbiddenuseofcertainlanguagethatgraduallybecametaboo.Whenpeopleareunwillingtoordarenotspeakoutsomethingregardedastaboo,theyhavetoshunthembyusingmildsubstitutes,toimplythosethingswhichpeoplearereluctanttomentionandtopromptsomethingbothspeakerandlistenerknowbutrefusetosayoutbydirectexpressions.Tothethingsthathavetobementionedpeopleworkoutindirecttermstoreplacethem.Thuseuphemismscomeintobeing.

1.2Thedefinitionofeuphemism

Theword"euphemism"comesfromtheGreek"eu",meaning"good"and"pheme",meaning"speech"or"saying",andthusitmeansliterally"tospeakwithgoodwords".Lateron,euphemismisdefineddifferentlyandmoreprecisely.IntheConciseDictionary,itisdescribedas"substitutionofmildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshordirectone".Itistakenas"substitution,softenedexpression,mockmodesty,metaphoricalspeech,verbalextenuationwordinverbalgoodtaste,overdelicacyofspeech,affectedrefinementoflanguage"inWebster'sWordHistory.InChinaChenWangdaowasthefirstpersonwhogaveeuphemismadefinition,inhisIntroductiontoRhetoric,thedefinitionreads,"onekindoffiguresofspeech,sayingsomethingindirectly,butconnotingandsubstitutingwithroundaboutandimplicitwordsorevenmetaphoricalexpression".Euphemismisroundaboutandmildword,soitcanexecutethespeaker’spsychologicalnecessitytosoftentheshockofreality.Butmanylinguiststhinkthatthedefinitionofeuphemismneedstobedeterminedinanarrowandbroadsense.Traditionalwesternlinguisticsrestrictseuphemismstudytothelexicon.Euphemismsarethereforewordsorphrasesinplaceofthingsconsideredtoberudeorunpleasant.Euphemismsofsuchkindarecalledeuphemismsinthenarrowsense.Theyaretheconventionallyestablishedone,whicharewidelymetinourdailylife.Forexample,weconstantlysay"passedway"for"died"and"ladyofthenight"for"prostitute",etc.ThelimitationofthedefinitionofeuphemismisbrokendownbyafamousAmericanlinguistD.Bolingewhopointsoutthat"Euphemismisnotrestrictedtothelexicon.Therearegrammaticalwaysoftoningsomethingdownwithoutactuallychangingthecontentofthemessage".Afterwards,thegrammaticalwaystoformeuphemismsuchasnegation,tense,moodandsoonhavebeenpaidattentionto.

InChina,euphemismsaremainlyexpressedbyusingindirectwords,phrases,sentencesandevendiscoursesthatareappliedmostlyinliteraturewritingstoachievesomevividandaestheticeffect.Itcanbefoundveryoftenfromancienttimestillnowadays.ThisphenomenonhascloserelationshipwithChinesetraditionalculturalpsychology.Chinesescholarshavelongbeenadvocatingtheliteraturenormthatpeoplewritearticlesthatarefullofrichandbrightcolors,buttheyshouldcreateimplicitly.Throughdefiningeuphemisminnarrowandbroadsense,wecanhaveabetterunderstandingofeuphemismandcaneasilyunderstandtheindeedintentionoftheexpressions.

ⅡTheClassificationofEuphemism

Euphemismscanbeclassifiedintomanytypesfromdifferentangles.Here,somerepresentativeclassificationsofEnglisheuphemismswillbeintroduced.

2.1Thepositiveeuphemismandthenegativeeuphemism

AccordingtoHughRawson,euphemismcanbedividedintotwothepositiveandthenegativefromtheangleofsemantics.Thepositiveeuphemismsalsocanbecalledstylisticones,which"inflateandmagnifythewordmeaning,makingtheeuphemizedseemaltogetherganderandmoreimportantthanreallyare".Thepositiveeuphemismsincludethemanyoccupationaltitles,whichsavetheegosofworkersbyelevatingtheirjobstatus.Forexample,"sanitationengineer"istheeuphemismfor"garbagecollector",and"custodian"istheeuphemismfor"janitor".Theyalsoincludemanyinstitutionaleuphemisms,whichconvert"madhouse"into"mentalhospital","college"into"universities".Thiskindofeuphemismisusuallyusedwidelyintheofficiallanguageandsomeotherformalstyles.

Thenegativeeuphemismsareextremelyancient,andcloselyconnectedwiththetaboos.Theyarealsocalled"traditionaleuphemisms".Theydeflateanddiminish.Theyaredefensiveinnature,offsettingthepoweroftabooedtermsandotherwiseeradicatingfromthelanguageeverythingthatpeopleprefernottodealwithdirectly.Inmanycultures,itisforbiddentopronouncethenameofGod,so"JesusChrist","Christ","goodness"isfor"God"and"MyGum"for"MyGod".Manytabooedsubjectssuchas"sex","disease","death","excretion","bodilyfunction",etc.shouldbeeuphemizedinthisway.

2.2Theunconsciouseuphemismandconsciouseuphemism

Alleuphemisms,whetherpositiveornegative,maybeusedunconsciouslyorconsciously.Soeuphemismsalsocanbedividedinto"unconsciouseuphemisms"and"consciouseuphemisms".Theunconsciouseuphemismsrefertothoseofwhichoriginaldenotationshavebeenforgottenbypeopleforalongtime.Forexample,theword"cemetery"（fromtheGreekwordfor"sleepingplaceordormitory"）servesasaeuphemismfor"graveyard".Theword"indisposition"isaeuphemisticexpressionfor"disease".Thesementionedabove,becauseoftheirlong-timeuse,usersarenotconsciousoftheiroriginalmeanings.

Consciouseuphemismsaredifferent.Whenemployingthiskindofeuphemisms,peoplenotonlyknowtheiroriginalmeanings,butalsounderstandthereferredmeanings.Forexample,inadinnerparty,aladystoodupandsaidthatshewantedtopowderhernose.Inaword,euphemismslikethisstandfor"somethingelse"buteveryonepretendsthat"somethingelse"doesn'texist.Itisessentiallyduplicitousnatureofeuphemismsthatmakesthemattractivetothosepeoplewhohavetohideandfinditconvenienttolieaboutwhattheyaredoing.

2.3Otherclassificationofeuphemism

Besidesthedivisionsmentionedabove,euphemisms,accordingtotheircontents,canbeclassifiedas"euphemismsofdisease,euphemismsofdeath,euphemismsofsexeuphemismsofoccupation,euphemismsofpolitics,andeuphemismsofwar".

Fromtheangleofusers,euphemismscanbedividedinto"policemaneuphemisms,criminaleuphemisms,teachereuphemisms,studenteuphemisms,andsoldiereuphemisms".

Fromthelengthoftimetheyareused,euphemismscanfallinto"instantaneouseuphemismsandcontinuouseuphemisms".Instantaneouseuphemismsrefertothoseonlyusedforashortperiodoftime,suchastheeuphemismsabouttheWatergatescandal.Continuouseuphemismslivelonger.

Somecanevenbeusedfromgenerationtogeneration,andbecomeonepartofEnglishidioms.

Obviously,euphemismscanbeclassifiedintomanytypes.Theseclassificationsprovideagoodwayforustodiscovereveryfeatureofeuphemisms,andhelpustounderstandandusetheminamoreeffectiveway.

ⅢLanguage,Culture,TabooandEuphemism

Euphemismsaresociety’sbasiclinguafranca.Assuch,theyareoutwardandvisiblesignsofourinwardanxieties,conflicts,fears,andshames.Theyarelikeradioactiveisotopes.Bytracingthem,itispossibletoseewhathasbeenandisgoingoninourlanguage,ourminds,andourculture.

3.1Languageandeuphemism

RawsonHughpointedoutthecloserelationbetweenlanguageandeuphemism,“Euphemismsareembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplain-spoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem.“Therelationbetweenlanguageandeuphemismissointrinsicallyclosethatitisimpossibletostudyonewithoutananalysisoftheother.

Firstofall,languageisthevehicleofeuphemism.RonaldWardhaughsaid,“Languageisusedtoavoidsayingcertainthingsaswellastoexpressthem.“Tosomeextent,