Culture Differences between Chinese and Western from Taboo 从禁忌语看中外文化差异.doc

culture differences between chinese and western from taboo 从禁忌语看中外文化差异contents abstract（2）摘要(2）key words （2）关键词（2）introduction （2）1 some fundamental knowledge about taboo （3）1.1 definition of taboo （3）1.2 origin of taboo（4）1.2.1origin of taboo in english（4）1.2.2 origin of taboo in chinese（5）1.3 reasons for the appearance of taboo（5）1.4 social functions of taboo word（6）1.4.1 indicating gender differences （6）1.4.2 showing anger （6）1.4.3 showing insult（6）1.4.4 relieving tension（6）1.4.5 showing affection and friendship （7）2 the similarities in chinese and english taboos（7）2.1 taboos on sex （7）2.2 taboos on bodies and their effluvia （7）2.3 taboos on illness, old and death（8） 2.3.1 taboos on illness（8）2.3.2 taboos on old（8）2.3.3 taboos on death（9）3 the differences between chinese and english taboos（9）3.1 taboos in naming and addressing（9）3.2 taboos in privacy （10）3.3 taboos in religion and superstition（10）4 the development of taboos（11）4.1 the decreased taboos（11）4.2 the new taboos （12）4.3 the changed taboos（13）5 conclusion（13）acknowledgements （14）bibliography （15） abstract: language never exists as an isolated object, which is always showing its different appearances in different nations, different countries and different areas all over the world together with culture. nowadays, the information and globalization bring mankind more and more opportunities of intercultural communication in our “earth village”. to avoid misunderstandings, discomforts and embarrassments during intercultural communication, people need to get fundamental knowledge about taboos in non-native countries. taboo speech, originating from social life, is part of social taboos. it involves many aspects in peoples daily life including taboo things, places and persons which are made untouchable or sacred by religious customs or superstition or other reasons. the article, based on studies on taboos generalities and the background, in which they arise, as well as their cultural similarities and differences between china and the west, aims at familiarizing english learners with cross-culture background, developing their cross-cultural awareness, and avoiding unnecessary communication failures. 摘要: 语言，从来不是作为一个单独的个体而存在，它在文化斑斓的外衣下以不同的面貌出现在世界上不同的民族，不同的国家，不同的地区中。现在，在我们的“地球村”中，信息化和全球化给人类社会带来了越来越多的跨文化交际的机会。所以，人们为了避免交流中出现误解，不快和尴尬的局面，应该了解那些关于非本土国家的禁忌相关的知识。禁忌语来源于社会生活，是社会禁忌的一部分。它涉及到人们日常生活的方方面面，包括事情，地方或是人。这些由于宗教，迷信或是其他的原因被人们视为不可接触甚至恐惧的一切事情及其语言都成为禁忌。本文将通过探讨英汉禁忌语产生的历史背景、共性，差异以及它们在中西方文化中的异同，让英语学习者了解和掌握跨文化，避免不必要的交际失误。 key words: taboo , culture in china and western countries, difference, intercultural communication关键词: 禁忌语，中西方文化，差异，跨文化交际 introduction communication brings people together, but culture keeps them apart. it means that taboo exists universally in all languages and cultures. different societies have different social rules; some of them are clearly defined on paper while others are vaguely hidden in peoples mind. as long as people live in a community, they interwoven with other compatriots and try to develop good relationships with other members in the society besides their own relatives.in the modern world, as the rapid development of science and technology, our living world is becoming smaller and smaller, which provides us more opportunities of intercultural communications. the violation of taboo is regarded impolite and offensive, so we should care both language and culture in order to communicate with people in different culture effectively and avoid culture conflicts. however, linguistic taboo, as an essential part of human language, has enough excuses to draw everyones attention. many western scholars and linguists have spent no effort to do much work on taboo in different fields such as sociology, psychology, linguistics and philosophy. sigmund freud, a renowned psychologist, considers taboo as “restrictions that are distinct from religions or moral prohibitions, they are not based upon any divine ordinary, but may be said to impose themselves on their own account” (simund frend, 2005:20). in margaret mead (1937) and franz baermann steiners work taboo, truth and religion, steiner does the most comprehensive work by providing the full history of the origin of the word taboo. all the scholars research fruits on social taboo are much helpful for the researchers of linguistic taboos. as is known to all, it is not easy to collect fist-hand data about linguistic taboo because the content relating to many forbidden areas is very sensitive. just as p.farb writes “until very recently they were considered too indecent for publication even in scholarly dictionaries and a study in a linguistic journal several decades ago failed to mention the abhorred word the entire article was about.”(p.farb, 1981:101)in china, the studies of linguistic taboo are later and fewer than those in the west. chen yuans sociolinguistics (1982) is considered the earliest literature that provides a comprehensive analysis of linguistic taboo. chen jianmins new explorations on language, culture and society (1986) devotes several pages to the discussion of linguistic taboo from the perspective of the relationship between language and society; qu yanbins chinese falk linguistics (1992) discusses taboo in chinese from the point of view of folklore. in addition, after 1980s, more and more linguists begin to choose this topic as their research direction gradually. and their researches provide us a considerable amount of valuable materials.this thesis will study linguistic taboo in intercultural communication from the perspective of comparative study of chinese and western taboo. to reach this goal, the author will introduce the fundamental knowledge of taboo (including definition and origin of taboo), the similarities and differences between chinese and western taboo, the tendency of development about taboo in the world and some suggestions of improving the competence of intercultural communication. the intension of this thesis hopes to help language learners to reduce communicative barriers caused by cultural differences. 1 some fundamental knowledge about taboo1.1 definition of tabooa taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community. breaking taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent. some taboo activities or customs are prohibited by law and transgressions may lead to severe penalties. other taboos result in embarrassment, shame and rudeness. we could find the most common definition of taboo from wikipedia.then oxford dictionary explains “taboo” as : (in certain cultures) ban or prohibition on something that is regarded for religious or other reasons as not to be done, touched, used, etc. and taboo words are words likely to be considered offensive, shocking or indecent by certain people.and keith allan and kate burridge give a definition in their book forbidden words: taboos that we consider in the course include:-bodies and their effluvia(sweat, snot, faeces, menstrual fluid, etc.);-the organs and acts of sex, micturition and defecation;-diseases, death and killing(including hunting and fishing);-naming, addressing, touching and viewing persons and sacred beings,-objects and places;-food gathering, preparation and consumption.taboos arise out of social constraints on the individuals behavior where it can cause discomfort, harm or injury. although the definitions of taboo are different, the primary meaning is similar more or less. in our daily life, many words and expressions are viewed astaboo, such as those used to describe sex,our bodies and their functions, and those used to insult other people. 1.2 the origin of taboo in chinese and western culture 1.2.1the origin of taboo in the westthe english word “taboo” derives from the tongan “tabu”, which came to be noticed towards the end of the eighteenth century. according to radcliffe-brown: in the languages of polynesia the word means simply to forbid, forbidden, and can be applied to any sort of prohibition. a rule of etiquette, an order issued by a chief, an injunction to children not to meddle with the possessions of their elders, may all be expressed by the use of the word tabu. (radcliffe-brown 1939:5)on his first voyage of 176871, captain james cook was sent to tahiti to observe the transit of the planet venus across the sun. in his logbook he just wrote something about taboo of the tahitians. cook did not name this custom either taboo or by the equivalent tahitian term raa. in the log of his third voyage, cook first used the term tabu in an entry for 15 june 1777. he wrote:taboo as i have before observed is a word of extensive signification; human sacrifices are called tangata taboo, and when any thing is forbid to be eaten, or made use of they say such a thing is taboo; they say that if the king should happen to go into a house belonging to a subject, that house would be taboo and never more be inhabited by the owner; so that when ever he travels there are houses for his reception.(cook1967:176)in the journal entry for july 1777, the surgeon on the resolution, william anderson, wrote:taboois the common expression when any thing is not to be touchd ,unless the transgressor will risque some very severe punishment as appears from the great apprehension they have of approaching any thing prohibited by it. cook and anderson used taboo (or tabu) to describe the behavior of polynesians towards things that were not to be done, entered, seen or touched. such taboos are, in some form, almost universal. 1.2.2 the origin of taboo in chinese culture in china, at least early in the han dynasty appeared the phrase “禁忌” . however, there was not a scientific explanation of the term at that time except for the one given by xu shen of the east han (58147a.d) he, in his famous work shuo wen jie zi (explanation of words) explains: “禁忌” means watching the celestial phenomena in order to show the natural changes and the great event (关乎天文，一查时变，示神韦也) (duan yucai, 2004). and in han shu：yi wen zhi-及拘者为之, 则牵于禁忌,泥于小数,舍人事而任鬼神. we can get the earliest information of the taboo origin in china that most of taboos came from peoples receptiveness and dread to the ghost and gods. and as we all know, the emperors in ancient china were considered to be the son of the heaven, they have the respectable position and power as the heaven. so “禁” refers to the interferences from the emperors and heaven. “忌” has the same meaning as “讳”, both of which show the emphasis on self control or inhibition. compared with “禁”, “讳 tends to be more of the lower class . so in ancient china, taboo refers to the things prohibited by the omen of heaven (namely gods) and the rulers. we can see from the chinese term “禁忌” that chinese peoples practice of taboo at the very beginning was influenced by the concept of harmony between man and nature and by chinese peoples relation to gods and ghosts through religious rituals . 1.3 reasons for the appearance of tabooeverything exiting in the world has special reasons. taboo, as a sensitive topic, appeared and developed for apparent reasons. one reason is that linguistic taboos are historically considered the superstitious behaviors of the primitive people. at ancient times, human beings lived in a quite underdeveloped world, they struggle with the powerful and mysterious nature in such a low productivity that their living conditions and thought were extremely restricted by the natural environment. in the process of labor for meeting their needs of survival and communication, the earliest language called into being. in addition, they never got good understanding about their language and the target object it refers to, even they fear about words which refer to natural phenomena. for example , when they faced catastrophe they believe there existed saints and devils in the world , and these saints and devils controlled their world , one way to get free from their horror is to worship and obedient to them. because they believe “speak of devil, it is sure to appear”, they never call their names and afraid of being punished if they not abbey the rule. the superstition in language and taboo appeared in daily life gradually. another reason is that with the development of civilization of human beings, people began to distinguish their language from its target objects. they dont think there is magic in the code of language , but those customs close to our lives pass down from generation to generation to designate people s good will , kindness and admiration to others . 1.4 social functions of taboo wordalthough taboo word is often avoided or substituted in certain situational contexts by people, however, as one of the language phenomena, taboo still has its particular functions which could not be neglected. and it is not simply like “those which most people in a culture think it shameful to say”, however, there are many other functions perhaps we are not realized before. in the following section, several functions of taboo will be presented. 1.4.1 indicating gender differences men and women are different in many aspects, and so does the use of taboo words. the gender speech differences since men in many situation use words that women never use. and also women have their own words and expressions, which men would be ridiculous and funny for using. according to some linguists “one language likes some other languages, developed male and female dialects because of taboo (forbidden words). their religious beliefs allowed only men to say certain words. the women then had to develop other words to use instead of those taboo words.”1.4.2 showing anger it can be utilized to show anger which is a kind of complex emotion. “taboo word is seemed to be the good choice when people want to choose powerful word to express their anger and let out their emotion. when we are extremely angry and we feel the need of expressing out anger in violence, the uttering of these forbidden words may provide a relatively harmless verbal substitute for going berserk; they may act as a kind of safety valve in our moments of crisis.” ( hayakawa , 1964 : 46 ) there is a release of tension by oral violence, and if this does not in its turn lead to physical violence, it may benefit the taboo word user. by some psychologists, this release is even considered good for health.1.4.3 showing insult language is not only a tool but also a weapon, since it can be exploited as a choice to hurt people or insult them in face. it is a common sense that taboo word can not be used so casually. in other words, when it is used in some strong insult, the power of taboo expression seems to be very strong. take the taboo expression “fuck you” for instance. the literal meaning of the slang word fuck is “have sexual intercourse with somebody”, but the aim of the speaker here is only to show his intention of insulting someone rather than to practice the sex behavior. 1.4.4 relieving tension apart from the previous functions that are discussed, the use of taboo words is often exploited to help relieve peoples tension in certain situations. some linguists proved that the person who worked under stressful and dangerous condition often use taboo words to release their tension. once they were off the bad working condition and took part in leisure activities, the frequency of using taboo words was declined significantly. in the famous film titanic, we could find that the shipmen use taboo words frequently, such as “you are full of shit, boss.” enough of that bullshit”, “thats where the son of bitch slept.”1.4.5 showing affection and friendship in some contexts, taboo words and obscene words can be used in certain situations by men only to serve the function of showing affection and friendship. since it is normal to utter taboo words among male friends in their daily conversations, they can be used for the sake of meeting the requirements of making successful jokes among intimate friends. it is generally accepted that the more intimate a relationship is, the less necessary and important politeness is heeded. in other words, the absence of politeness is closely associated with the degree of intimacy. 2. the similarities of taboos in chinese and english though the culture between english and chinese are different, some taboos in english culture are consistent with the ones in chinese culture. the nature of human beings is similar more or less, so it is not strange that some of the taboo words or topics are the same. chinese and english are without exception.2.1 taboos on sex in china, people think it is shameful to talk about sex. when talking about the sex behavior between male and female , they usually use the phrases such as “那个”, “好事”, “同房”, “洞房”, “过夫妻生活”, “房事”, “男女关系” and some ignomin