英汉委婉语文化内涵比较.doc

IntroductionEuphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in different cultures. From the moment it is created, it plays an important role in people's daily communication. They are embedded so deeply in our language that most of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, never get through a day without using them. Like a kind of lubrication, it enables people to express what can't be uttered directly. As Robert Burchfield wrote in his book Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism, "a language without euphemisms would be a defective instrument of communication" . Rawson has also points out that "To some extent, actually, euphemisms are society's basic common language". However, this language phenomenon is often neglected by us. Until today the euphemism studies are very few and most of these studies are confined to individual language, and there is a shortage of contrastive research between languages. To unveil the universal and peculiar features of euphemisms and to better understand euphemism in a particular language, a contrastive study is a must. This thesis makes a contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism with an attempt to explore and demonstrate the differences and similarities between the two linguistic phenomenon in the hope of enlightening and guiding English learners a bit in their language learning, translation studies, cross-cultural communication, etc. 1. 1 The origin of euphemismWhen talking about euphemisms, we can't neglect "taboo". In ancient times, productivity was in a very low level, the primitives were often confronted with baffling and threatening situations and phenomena, such as death, and they failed to understand the essence of them. To find a way out, they became superstitious about supernatural power, or the existence of devils and gods. In their mind, everything was alive with spirit, capable of bringing down blessings and misfortunes, and thus language took upon a kind of supernatural sense. This led to the forbidden use of certain language that gradually became taboo. When people are unwilling to or dare not speak out something regarded as taboo, they have to shun them by using mild substitutes, to imply those things which people are reluctant to mention and to prompt something both speaker and listener know but refuse to say out by direct expressions. To the things that have to be mentioned people work out indirect terms to replace them. Thus euphemisms come into being. 1. 2 The definition of euphemismThe word "euphemism" comes from the Greek "eu", meaning "good" and "pheme", meaning "speech" or "saying", and thus it means literally "to speak with good words". Later on, euphemism is defined differently and more precisely. In the Concise Dictionary, it is described as "substitution of mild or vague or round about expression for harsh or direct one". It is taken as "substitution, softened expression, mock modesty, metaphorical speech, verbal extenuation word in verbal good taste, over delicacy of speech, affected refinement of language" in Webster's Word History. In China Chen Wangdao was the first person who gave euphemism a definition, in his Introduction to Rhetoric, the definition reads, "one kind of figures of speech, saying something indirectly, but connoting and substituting with roundabout and implicit words or even metaphorical expression". Euphemism is roundabout and mild word, so it can execute the speakers psychological necessity to soften the shock of reality. But many linguists think that the definition of euphemism needs to be determined in a narrow and broad sense. Traditional western linguistics restricts euphemism study to the lexicon. Euphemisms are therefore words or phrases in place of things considered to be rude or unpleasant. Euphemisms of such kind are called euphemisms in the narrow sense. They are the conventionally established one, which are widely met in our daily life. For example, we constantly say "passed way" for "died" and "lady of the night" for "prostitute", etc. The limitation of the definition of euphemism is broken down by a famous American linguist D. Bolinge who points out that "Euphemism is not restricted to the lexicon. There are grammatical ways of toning something down without actually changing the content of the message" . Afterwards, the grammatical ways to form euphemism such as negation, tense, mood and so on have been paid attention to. In China, euphemisms are mainly expressed by using indirect words, phrases, sentences and even discourses that are applied mostly in literature writings to achieve some vivid and aesthetic effect. It can be found very often from ancient times till nowadays. This phenomenon has close relationship with Chinese traditional cultural psychology. Chinese scholars have long been advocating the literature norm that people write articles that are full of rich and bright colors, but they should create implicitly. Through defining euphemism in narrow and broad sense, we can have a better understanding of euphemism and can easily understand the indeed intention of the expressions. The Classification of EuphemismEuphemisms can be classified into many types from different angles. Here, some representative classifications of English euphemisms will be introduced. 2. 1 The positive euphemism and the negative euphemismAccording to Hugh Rawson, euphemism can be divided into two the positive and the negative from the angle of semantics. The positive euphemisms also can be called stylistic ones, which "inflate and magnify the word meaning, making the euphemized seem altogether gander and more important than really are". The positive euphemisms include the many occupational titles, which save the egos of workers by elevating their job status. For example, "sanitation engineer" is the euphemism for "garbage collector", and "custodian" is the euphemism for "janitor". They also include many institutional euphemisms, which convert "madhouse" into "mental hospital", "college" into "universities". This kind of euphemism is usually used widely 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 euphemisms". They deflate and diminish. They are defensive in nature, offsetting the power of tabooed terms and otherwise eradicating from the language everything that people prefer not to deal with directly. In many cultures, it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God, so "Jesus Christ", "Christ", "goodness" is for "God" and "My Gum" for "My God". Many tabooed subjects such as "sex", "disease", "death", "excretion", "bodily function", etc. should be euphemized in this way. 2. 2 The unconscious euphemism and conscious euphemismAll euphemisms, whether positive or negative, may be used unconsciously or consciously. So euphemisms also can be divided into "unconscious euphemisms" and "conscious euphemisms". The unconscious euphemisms refer to those of which original denotations have been forgotten by people for a long time. For example, the word "cemetery" (from the Greek word for "sleeping place or dormitory") serves as a euphemism for "graveyard". The word "indisposition" is a euphemistic expression for "disease". These mentioned above, because of their long-time use, users are not conscious of their original meanings. Conscious euphemisms are different. When employing this kind of euphemisms, people not only know their original meanings, but also understand the referred meanings. For example, in a dinner party, a lady stood up and said that she wanted to powder her nose. In a word, euphemisms like this stand for "something else" but everyone pretends that "something else" doesn't exist. It is essentially duplicitous nature of euphemisms that makes them attractive to those people who have to hide and find it convenient to lie about what they are doing. 2. 3 Other classification of euphemismBesides the divisions mentioned above, euphemisms, according to their contents, can be classified as "euphemisms of disease, euphemisms of death, euphemisms of sex euphemisms of occupation, euphemisms of politics, and euphemisms of war ". From the angle of users, euphemisms can be divided into "policeman euphemisms, criminal euphemisms, teacher euphemisms, student euphemisms, and soldier euphemisms". From the length of time they are used, euphemisms can fall into "instantaneous euphemisms and continuous euphemisms". Instantaneous euphemisms refer to those only used for a short period of time, such as the euphemisms about the Watergate scandal. Continuous euphemisms live longer. Some can even be used from generation to generation, and become one part of English idioms. Obviously, euphemisms can be classified into many types. These classifications provide a good way for us to discover every feature of euphemisms, and help us to understand and use them in a more effective way. Language, Culture, Taboo and EuphemismEuphemisms are societys basic lingua franca. As such, they are outward and visible signs of our inward anxieties, conflicts, fears, and shames. They are like radioactive isotopes. By tracing them, it is possible to see what has been and is going on in our language, our minds, and our culture. 3. 1 Language and euphemismRawson Hugh pointed out the close relation between language and euphemism, “Euphemisms are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, ever get through a day without using them. “ The relation between language and euphemism is so intrinsically close that it is impossible to study one without an analysis of the other. First of all, language is the vehicle of euphemism. Ronald Wardhaugh said, “Language is used to avoid saying certain things as well as to express them. “ To some extent, we can say that where there is language, there is euphemism. In our daily life, usually certain things are not said for some reasons. If they are said, they should be said in very roundabout ways. In this case, we have the employment of euphemisms consciously and unconsciously so as to avoid mentioning certain matters directly, which can make unpleasant things sound better and acceptable. Secondly, euphemism is one form of language; we can derive euphemism from family talks, official meetings, literary words, scribbles on walls, telephone talks, television programs, letters, cards, advertisements, E-mails, and so on. A casual look at language will show that there are a host of linguistic devices, which are habitually adopted in presenting euphemism. Such figures of speech as hyperbole, metaphor, understatement, circumlocution and many others are so commonly used in euphemistic utterances that when people discuss euphemism, rhetorical analysis takes up the whole picture of euphemistic language analysis. Thirdly, as far as the change of euphemism is concerned, euphemism has experienced the process of growth, development and decline. Therefore, euphemism not only expands and enriches English vocabulary but also contributes to the appropriate and effective use of the English language. And what is more, euphemistic effect enables language communication to go smoothly and successfully. 3. 2 Culture and euphemismEuphemism, as an indispensable part of every language, is a mirror of morality, customs, politics, life style, social psychology, etc. . . Euphemism itself cannot exist without social culture with the evidence that expressions used in sensitive areas tend to pick up negative connotations and be replaced by euphemisms. We are sensitive about death, so "grave digger" was replaced by "undertaker", originally a general word for someone who assumes a job or a mission; later on "undertaker" was replaced with the Latinate "mortician". We are sensitive about bodily functions, so there are many euphemisms for "bathroom" (itself a euphemism, replacing the earlier euphemism "toilet", from the French "toilette", originally a cloth used in shaving or hairdressing). Learning euphemism well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, words and grammar. It means learning to see the world as native speakers of that language see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, and learning to understand their “language of the mind”. The relationship between euphemism and culture is obvious: euphemism, as a culturallinguistic product, displays its multiple mapping relations with culture; it changes along with the development of society, and the use of euphemism varies with the variation of the context. It is a reflection of culture and carries vestigial patterns once dominant in a society. Within a single culture, whether acceptable or forbidden, the subjects and portions of euphemisms have varied from one historical period to another. Understanding of the culture underlying euphemisms enables us to catch the meaning conveyed. 3. 3 Taboo and euphemismEuphemism originates from verbal taboo, and verbal taboo originates from religious superstition, which reflects the importance of social psychology in the origin of euphemism. Taboo and euphemism are two closely related cultural and linguistic phenomena of human society. We cant talk about one without referring to the other. Almost any of the cultures in the world has its own taboo. The word “taboo” is from Polynesian, meaning “sacred” or “accused”. And there are two aspects of verbal taboo: one is wordfetishism; the other is the forbidden use of language. In uncivilized and crude society, the primitives were often confronted with puzzling and threatening situations and phenomena, such as death and diseases. As they couldnt understand and explain the extraordinary events and performance, success and failure, they worshiped, and even dreaded the supernatural. Such psychology leads to superstition, and then developed into Fetishism. The specific language was also defied, that is, Word Fetishism. Out of the worship of gods and ghosts, their names must be avoided. So their names became the earliest taboo words, and other words used to replace them became the earliest euphemisms. When a taboo word is abandoned, people have to find another word to fill up the vacancy. Thats the way euphemism is created. In both the English and the Chinese language speech community, the most obvious taboos have to do with bodily functions, body parts, death etc. . . Taboo changes over time. New taboos are racism, ageism, and taboos concerning other social and commercial life. Modern taboos are motivated more by notion of decency, politeness, decorum and communicative appropriateness than by pure fear or sense of danger in earlier taboo practice. They reflect sensitivity to and respect for ot