A Survey of the Social Value of Euphemism in Communication1.doc

委婉语在交际中的社会价值研究a survey of the social value of euphemism in communicationcontents abstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. definitions of euphemism.2iii. application of euphemism.31. words to promote professional status.3 2. words to replace taboo.4 3. words to refrain from discrimination.5 4. words to be used in the circle of education.55. words to eliminate vulgarness.56. military words to conceal defeat and invasion nature.5iv. euphemism and culture.61. language and euphemism.6 2. culture and euphemism.6v. the principles for using euphemisms.81. cooperative principle.82. politeness principle93. self-defending principle.9vi. the purpose of using euphemism91. ineffable purpose.92. urbanization purpose.103. palliative purpose.10vii. conclusion11references11 abstract: language is the symbol of culture, while culture is the track of language . the culture of a nation can be reflected in its language. consequently, we say euphemism is a mirror of social life . however, the phatic communion is one of the six important language functions. from the above reason, it is easy to find that euphemism plays an important role. when conducting the social communications, according to the polite principle, people always use some implicit, elegant and mild expressions to replace those that are harsh, violent to help them to overcome the psychological obstacles and avoid the unpleasant associations. therefore the study of euphemism and taboo has a very obvious social significance.key words: euphemism; social value; communication摘 要：语言是文化的标志，文化中彰显着语言的痕迹。一个民族的文化能够在其语言中得到很好的体现。与此，我们可以把这一重要语言现象委婉语看作社会生活的一面镜子。再次，寒暄功能是语言六大功能的一种。于是不难发现委婉语扮演着一个重要的角色。在社会交际中，按照语用学中的礼貌原则，人们往往用一些隐讳、优雅和谐的表达方式来代替那些严酷粗鲁的表达，以求得解决心理交往的障碍和避免尴尬，由此可见委婉语的研究有重要的社会意义。关键词: 委婉语； 社会价值； 交际i. introduction language communication is the most important means by which people maintain their social relationship. during their communication, people will inevitably encounter unpleasant situations. using direct and definite language to talk about unpleasantness will undoubtedly displease both sides and possibly affect their relationship. under such conditions, the use of euphemism may be the best way. consequently, people always use some implicit, elegant and mild expressions to replace those ones that are harsh and violent to help them cope with the embarrassment. as enright (1985:113) points out, without euphemism, the rotation of the world would have stopped with rubbing and would have been flooded with feud. politeness plays a very important role in social interaction and conversation. in other words, “face saving” must be taken into account to keep communication going. everyone needs to keep face in communication. such “mutual selfinterest requires that conversational participants maintain both their own face and their integrators face. but many verbal interactions are potential threats to face” (chen yuan, 1999).as an indispensable and natural part of language, euphemism has been arousing wide interest. many linguists and scholars have studied this linguistic phenomenon from the perspectives of rhetoric, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguists. as a result, achievements in the study of euphemism have been conspicuous. thus, on the basis of others researches, this thesis attempts to do a comprehensive analysis of english euphemisms and chinese euphemisms by comparatively analyzing their linguistic and cultural characteristics. in the end, the author hopes that this thesis can help the readers to have a good understanding of the social function of euphemism.ii. definitions of euphemismeuphemism is a widely and frequently used figure of speech. as a hot research issue in the field of linguistics, it needs a concise and definite criterion to judge the scope of euphemism. western linguists think the word “euphemism” comes from the greek “eu” ( meaning “good”) and “pheme” (meaning “speech” or “saying”), and thus it literally means “to speak with good words”. later on, euphemism is defined differently and more precisely. some of the definitions are listed below:1. that figure of speech which consists in the substitution of a word or expression of comparatively favorable implication or less unpleasant associations, instead of the harsher or more offensive one that would more precisely designate what is intended. (oxford english dictionary, 1989) 2. the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought substituted. (websters encyclopedic unabridged dictionary of the english language, 1996)3. euphemizing is generally defined as substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using kind words. (enright d.j., 1985)4. word, etc. used in place of one avoided as e.g. offensive, indecent, or alarming. (oxford concise dictionary of linguistics, shanghai foreign languages publishing house, 2000)5. used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either ones own face or through giving offences, that of the audience, or of some third party. (allen, k. and burridge, k., 1991:18)iii. application of euphemismeuphemism is an effective and refined language. it has a wide application in any language, whose important social function reflects what a society values and upholds although it is just a sort of rhetoric. so the applications of euphemism are also the reflection of its social value in communication.1. words to promote professional statusfor different jobs, the money you can make is different. some professions are decent while some are deemed dirty and suffering. in order to meet the psychological demand of people, professional euphemisms have sprung up. this kind of euphemism not only satisfies the vanity of people, but also achieves the popularization of commercial advertisement. to have a nice name of the job you do has become an important respect of the current american civilization. in the past, the word “profession” only referred to the job done by brainworkers who have received high education and professional trainings such as professor, architect, lawyer, doctor and etc. but nowadays, any kind of job can be called as “profession”. you can see the titles representing favorable salary and superior social status everywhere, such as engineer, technician and manager. some titles are widely divergent from the originals (what the jobs actually are), which make people feel confused. see the following examples: beautician-hair dresser；landscape technician-gardener；footwear maintenance engineer-bootblack；sanitary engineer-dustman；meat technologist- butcher ；member of the vertical transportation corps-elevator operator ；mortician- funeral undertaker ；bubble dancer-dishwasher . the literal enhancement of the jobs on the one hand reflects the nice wish of the lower class people for the acknowledgement and respect of society and on the other hand, it is the strategy of the employers to attract people to undertake unfavorable jobs.2. words to replace tabooevery language has its own linguistic taboo and avoiding using taboo on certain occasions is regarded as a symbol of social development.2.1 appearancein english, “homely” or “plain” is used instead of “ugly” to describe a person who is not good looking. in the age when everyone is in pursuit of being slender, “plumy”, “stout”, “heavyset” are used to replace “fat”. for lame person, we usually call them “physically handicapped”.2.2 agein the west, people seldom talk about age, and it is especially the case for women. the main reason is that being old means the decay of vigor and decline of economic and political status. in the west, there are no “old people” but “senior citizens” or “the longer-lived”. in china, old people are respected because of their rich experience and accumulated wits whereas in the west when one becomes old, one will be kicked out of the mainstream of society and become useless.2.3 diseaseit is common for people all over the world to yearn for being healthy. for diseases, especially the serious ones, there are always euphemisms such as the “big c” for cancer and “heart condition” for “heart attack disease”.2.4 deathalthough it is a natural law that people die eventually, everybody tries not to use the word “death”. there are over a hundred euphemisms for death in english such as “to go to sleep for ever”; “to pass away”; “to close one s eyes”; “to go to heaven”; “to be called to god”; “to rest in peace”; “safe in the arms of jesus”; and “to go to ones last home”. shakespeare ever used “shuffle off the mortal coil” to replace “death”; mark twain in his the adventures of tom sawyer used “release” for “death” (it seemed to him that life was but a trouble, at best and he more than half envied jimmy hodges, lately released. 3. words to refrain from discriminationin order to show mercy on the poor people, they are called as “needy”, then “culturally deprived”, then “underprivileged”, and finally “disadvantaged”. “slum” is changed to “substandard housing”. in english, there is mere chance for you to see “poor nations”, they are replaced by “underdeveloped nations ”，”developing nations ”, and “emerging nations”. as a matter of fact, although there is euphemism for poor people, a nice name can give them nothing practical, but the literal comfort and satisfaction.4. words to be used in the circle of educationin the united states, teachers not only need to reflect the actual situation of the students, but also need to take into account their psychological health and to what degree they can tolerate, so that the application of euphemism in school is quite necessary. the ideal teacher in america should see his students as individuals and acknowledge their differences. see the following examples. the student is obtuse-he is a bit slow for his age. the student is lazy-he is sure to go far if he can use his resources fully. the student is noisy-he needs to develop quieter habits of communication. he lies-he has difficulty distinguishing between imaginary and factual information. the student cheats-he needs help in learning to adhere to rules and standards of fair play. 5. words to eliminate vulgar nessunder some formal circumstances, when we mentioning something about reproduction and excreting, vulgar language is always discarded to avoid the unnecessary embarrassment. with the development of human civilization, although people become more tolerant of the topics concerning sex , pregnancy has a direct association with sex so that a pregnant woman is euphemized to “a ladyinwaiting” “have ones watermelon on the vine” or “an expectant mother”. “toilet” may be the most common daily word, but people always use “ladies room” and “mens room” to replace toilet. when referring to “ladies room”, there are even more mild expressions such as “dressing room”; “powder room ”; “lounge ” and “washroom ”. “go to the toilet” will be replaced with as “may i please be excused?” or “may i please leave the room?” if you are at a familiar friends home, you can have a more humorous saying “im going to do my business.” or “im going to my private office.”6. military words to conceal the defeat and invasion naturein military circle, euphemism is widely used. for army men, there is only going ahead, no withdrawal; only victory, no defeat so that “be defeated” is called as “light and scattered action” or “incomplete success”. language is a victim of war, which suffers collateral damage. they try to create a linguistic bath spa, where evil is dispelled by a dip in the waters of euphemism. jargon clouds the truth and sedates the imagination. its value is notorious in totalitarian countries, where the dictator tries to make murder and aggression respectable by calling them “liquidation” and “liberation”. in the vietnam war, america called their “air raid” as “logistical strikes” or “close air support”. killing of the common vietnamese people is “wasting the enemy”, the obvious “civilian casualties” is “collateral damage”. during the gulf war, “air operation” and “round operation” were used to substitute “air raid” and “ground battle” so that the cruelty of the war could be hidden literally. “invasion into other countries” is beautified to “rescue mission”. after the “9.11” attack, “anti-terrorism” and “pre-emptive strikes” are widely used by the american military. pre-emptive strike impresses us that the best way to curb the enemys attack is to assault them first, therefore, it sounds ethically correct. actually, “terrorism” has been mingled with “ethnical liberation” and the target of “pre-emptive strikes” has turned to “clear up dissidents”.iv. euphemism and culture1. language and euphemismhugh rawson (1981:3) 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 (1986:229) 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.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.v. the principles for using euphemismsthe use of euphemisms is in principle a kind of speech act. according to grice, conversational participants should generally observe some conversational principles so as to ensure the success of conversation. therefore, as a speech act, the use of euphemism should also be subject to the restriction of some principles in conversation. in this paper, the author mainly explore the cooperative principle (p. grice, 1967), politeness principle ( brown/ levinson 1978/1987 ) and self-defending principle (shu dingfang, 1989 ).1. cooperative principleamerican linguist p. grice put forward the cooperative principle (cp) in conversational communication in 1967. according to his theory, participants of communication should cooperate with each other for the same communication goal. he believed that participants would generally observe the maxim of cooperation, but sometimes would