从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用_0

1 / 34 从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用 Abstract The word euphemism comes from the Greek, eu-means good, and pheme-, speech or saying, and together it means literally to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner. Euphemism, as a cultural phenomenon as well as a linguistic concept, has attracted people s attention for a long time. It has long been a topic of much interest. Generally speaking, people would use more euphemisms in communicating with the opposite sex; women would use more than men would; older people would use more than younger generations. People would more use euphemisms in power relations than in close relations. People with higher education would use more euphemisms. The above factors: age, sex, social status, education, etc. do not work separately. In communicating, they are interlaced with each other and guide our choice of euphemisms. Whether to use euphemisms or taboo words also depends, to a large extent, on the attitudes of participants (particularly speakers) and the purpose of conversations. The article consists of six parts. Part one explains what 2 / 34 the meaning of euphemism is. Part two is saying the Cooperative Principle in briefly. Cooperative Principle, the cornerstone theory of pragmatics, is one of the main principles that guide people s communication. The Cooperative Principle and its maxims can explain what the literal meaning is and its real intention in communication and ensure that in an exchange of conversation. Part three presents, the formation euphemism, namely, formal innovation, semantic innovation, rhetorical devices, and grammatical ways. Part four discusses the communicative function of euphemism is substitution, politeness, disguise, defense, etc. Part five serves as the main body of this article. Generally speaking, euphemisms violate the Quality, Quantity and Manner Maxim of the CP due to different reasons like substitution, disguise etc. And basically euphemisms observe the Relation Maxim. From the analysis, it can be also found that sometimes an euphemism can be regarded as violation of two maxims of the CP at the same time. Part six concludes the whole article. Key Words Cooperative Principle; Euphemism; 3 / 34 Communicative function 【摘 要】委婉语 (euphemism)一词起源于希腊语。 Eu 意思是 好的 ， pheme 意思是 话语 ，因此字面上的意思是说好听的话或用礼貌的方式说话。委婉语是一个语言学概念，同时也是一种文化现象，长久以来一直受到人们的关注。总体上讲人们在与异性进行言语交际时，要比在同性面前更多地使用委婉语，女性要比男性更多地使用委婉语，年长的人要比年青的人更多地使用委婉语。人们在 权势关系 的语境中往往要比在 亲密关系 的语境中更多地使用委婉语。受 教育 程度越高的人，越注意自己的言谈，因而更多地使用委婉语。上述因素年龄 、 性别、 社会 地位、教育等并不孤立存在，在交际中，他们交织在一起决定着委婉语的使用。是否使用委婉语还要考虑说话者的态度和交谈的目的。文章由六个部分组成。第一部分解释了什么是委婉语。第二部分简单列出合作原则的各项原则。它作为语用学的 理论 基石之一，是指导人们语言交际的原则之一。它可以很好地解释话语的字面意义和实际意义的关系，这对于交际委婉语显得尤为重要。第三部分说明委婉语的构成可以有很多种方式：形式变化，语义变化，修辞手段和语法手段。第四部分阐述了交际委婉语出于替代、掩饰、和礼貌等功能。第五部分是文章的 主体 ，并说明委婉语出于替代、掩饰、和礼貌等原因主要违反了合作原则中的质、量和方式三个次4 / 34 则，基本上是遵循了合作原则中的相关原则。第六部分 总结 全文。 【关键字】合作原则 ; 委婉语 ; 交际功能 1. Introduction In the Oxford Advanced Learners English Chinese Dictionary the explanation of Euphemism is (example of the) use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones1. And in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English the explanation of Euphemism is (an example of) the use of a pleasanter, less direct name for something thought to be unpleasant2. For example, the man who wants to us to call him a “sanitation engineer” instead of a “garbage man” is hoping we will treat him with more respect than we presently do. The word euphemism comes from the Greek eu meaning good and pheme meaning speech or saying, and thus means literally to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner3. Euphemisms have various reasons for existence. They conceal the things people fear the most death, the dead, the supernatural. They cover up the facts of life of sex and reproduction and 5 / 34 excretion which inevitably remind even the most refined people that they are made of clay, or worse. They are beloved by individuals and institutions (governments, especially) that are anxious to present only the handsomest possible images of themselves to the world. And they are imbedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on bEing plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them. But some people still mistake the euphemisms in the conversation by the Cooperative principle. Violating the CP, people also can continue the conversation with euphemisms, which make the author interest in attitudes of participants and the purpose of conversation. That is our body today. of euphemisms Formal innovation To avoid the emergence of certain letter or sound may achieve the effect of euphemizing. The formal innovation can hide audio-visually those words we dont want to say or we shouldnt say so as to achieve better outcome in communication. Abbreviation is the shortening of a word and may 6 / 34 be seen in the use of the British expression LADIES for ladies room. There also is GENTS for gentlemens room. Apocopation is another form of abbreviation apparent in the use of vamp for vampire here meaning a seductive woman. And lav is for lavatory; homo is for homosexual; coca is for cocaine; bra is for brassiere. Initialing is the use of acronyms instead of thEIr component parts as in JC for “Jesus Christ”, BM for bowel movement4, for water closet, for body odor, for venereal disease, AIDS for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, SARS for severe acute respiratory syndrome5. Backforming is the substitution for one part of speech (used in shortened form) for another, as in burgle (rob) which is derived from burglar6. Reduplication is the repetition of a syllable or letter of a word. Particularly common in childrens bathroom vocabulary, it substitutes pee-pee forpiss, poo-poo for bowel movement7. word A blend word is a form of phonetic distortion 7 / 34 in which two or more words are squeezed together both orthographically and phonetically. An example of this is gezunda for a chamber pot, a term derived from the fact that this object goes under the bed8. A diminutive is the formation of a new term by nicking or shortening a name and adding a suffix indicating affection or smallness. Heinie, for example, is the diminutive of hind end and refers to the buttocks9. innovation Borrowing Most obviously, euphemisms may be formed by borrowing words from other languages terms that are less freighted with negative associations. Thus, we use Greek and Latin expressions for many bodily parts and functions. We have coined halitosis (bad breath) from the Latin (halitus) for breath a nd we have substituted micturition for the more vulgar Indo-European Piss. In addition, English euphemisms also borrowed a lot of scientific or academic terms, which are believed to be more euphemistic and objective than the usual terms, such 8 / 34 as magnetic for sexy and perspire for sweat and so on. Euphemisms may be made by a semantic process called widening. When a specific term becomes too painful or vivid, we move up in the ladder of abstraction. In this way, cancer becomes growth and a girdle becomes a foundation . Sometimes, in addition to widening we divide the negative connotations of a single direct term between two or more words. Instead of saying syphilis openly, we speak of a social disease. shift Allied to the phenomenon of widening is that of semantic shift. This is the substitution of the whole, or a s imilar gen erality, f or the spe cific part we do not choose to discuss. We may cre ate such m etonymies (substitut ions of th e whole fo r the part ) as rear end for b uttocks. Sometimes, as in the expressio ns to sle ep with/go to bed wi th someone 10, we use words naming the larger ev ent in pla ce of moree precise r eferences to the sex ual relati ons that a re part of the proce ss. devicees 9 / 34 Metaphor Euphemism s may be m ade by a p rocess cal led metaph orical tra nsfer, the compariso n of thing s of one k ind to thi ngs of ano ther. The euphemisms chosen ar e often ro manticizin g, poetici zing and s oftening o f the orig inal words like go to sleep; go to his long h ome; be ho me and fre e; rest in peace; be at rest; go to Heav en/Paradis e; join on es ancest ors; be ga thered to ones fath ers; join the immora ls for die 11, sho ck for ran dom bombin g, constru ctive dest ruction fo r severe d amage, hav e a road t o travel ffor have a long time to reach a n agreemen t and etc. In Engli sh, there is a kind of rhetori c called a posiopesis that can also act a s the way of euphemi zing. When we think we should not say so mething un der certai n conditio ns, we sud denly stop as when we say so meone is o ut (of wor k); she is expecting (a baby); to take precaution s (against pregnancy ); to depa rt (from t his world) 12 Anal ogy can of ten be see n in the v ocabularie s of work. A tendenc y to eleva te menial or unskill ed jobs so metimes su bstituting a grand t itle for a large 10 / 34 sallary can ma ke offal s mell like a rose by promoting garbage me n to sanit ation engi neers or e ven to wasste-reduct ion manage rs. By imp lication, they becom e highly t rained tec hnicians a nd executi ves. Healtth-club sta ffs become fitness c oordinator s, and sen ators now have their shoes shi ned by the footwear maintenanc e engineer , formerly the Senat e bootblac k. Even iff you are n ot a gover nment offi cial, yourr janitor i s now your buiding m aintenance engineer. Understat ement disp lays peopl es desir e to make t heir langu age less p ainful and direct. S o there is never an ugly woman in this w orld, she is at leas t plain. T eachers on ly tell pa rents that their chi ld is a bi t slow for his age, not retard ed. And ca ll senior citizen fo r old pers on. Take others th ings witho ut permiss ion can b e instead of steal. Periphra sis is jus t beating around the bush. Peo ple often say euphem isms are w easel word s, becausee people ne ver call a spade a s pade when using euph emisms. Fart is no t pleasant to ear, s o people c all it win d from the behind. S omeone wan ts you to go away, b ut he only says he w ill call y our carria ge 11 / 34 for you . Someone living at the govern ment expen se may mak e you envy him, but actually h e is in pr ison. Man y sayings about goin g to WC ma ke a good use of per iphrasis l ike wash o nes hand ss, powder o nes nose , spend a p enny. So d o the dro p for ad justment d ownward1 3 Gramma tical ways According to Boling er, Euphe mism is noot restrict ed to the lexicon. T here are g rammatical ways of t oning some thing down . Theref o re, euphem izing shou ld not be limited to lexical w ays; it ca n also be achieved b y grammati cal ways. Tense In E nglish, te nse can le nd a littl e euphemis tic color to the exp ressions f or somethi ng undesir ed. Especi ally when people use want, hop e, think a nd wonder or words l ike that t hey may al so make us e of the t ense to so und more e uphemistic ally. For example, I wondered if you wou ld mind he lping me? or I wond ered if yo u could he lp me?14 . Asking help this way, peopl e wont f e el so emba rrassed if they were refused. 12 / 34 negation Th is method can lesson the painf ul impact of the lan guage that is not we lcomed. We say she i s not pret ty (Actual ly she is very ugly) , but that is accept able, beca use not pr etty does not equal to ugly , it could be plain too. Not pretty has a wider r ange of me aning than ugly. Sim ilar usage s are as t he followi ng: I dont think, I am afraid , I am not sure, I d ont like, etc. perso nal pronouuns The use of first personal p ronouns li ke we, our s, us, etc , can also make our speeches s ound more euphemisti c. You wou ld feel mo re welcome d if you u sed we or our quite often. If a doctor s aid to you how do we feel toda y, you wou ld feel ve ry warm an d comforta ble, becau se it make s you thin k that thi s kind doc tor takes your illne ss as mutu al concernn. Communic ative func tions of e uphemisms Language is for commu nication, whereas eu phemisms m ay lead to better co mmunicatioon. Using eeuphemisms can avoid being pres umptuous i n language communica tion. When we have t o touch so me 13 / 34 topics that are u npleasant, we tend t o choose m ore euphem istic expr essions to refer to those pain ful topics so as not to hurt t he hearers fe eling. We can fi nd the the oretical f oundation for this m otivation in Leech s Politenes s Principl e. Euphemi sms just m inimize th e impolite ness and m aximize th e politene ss in comm unication. The funct ions of eu phemisms a re in agre ement with those of Politenesss Principle too, as t hey both o ffer more benefit to the heare r and leav e more cos t to the s peaker, wi th the pur pose that both of th e two side s will fee l respecte d and have favorable impressio n of each other. As politeness is usuall y regarded as the ma nifestatio n of human civilizat ion, euphe mism is on e of the m ost effect ive strate gies to di splay poli teness whi le modulat ing interp ersonal re lationship in human communicat ion. Subst itution Acccording to the defin itions of euphemism and we kno w that a g reat numbe r of Engli sh euphemi sms serve as the sub stitutions for verba l taboos. The term t aboo ( ta meaning m ark, boo meaning e xceedingly ) of 14 / 34 Poly nesian ori gin denote s anything linguisti c and nonl inguistic, which is prohibited or forbid den. Tabooo refers to the situa tion in wh ich a word or name c an be used in a comm unity only under spe cial condi tions, whe ther only by certain persons o r only in certain ci rcumstance s. Just as violating a cultura l taboo ca n be quite offensive , so is it with a ve rbal taboo in press conference s. The w o rd has b e en and con tinues to be in most societies perceived as a powe rful instr ument that may evoke evil spir its, make bad things happen an d instigat e to viole nce and re volution a nd numerou s other ac tivities. While tabo o of words occurs wh en a parti cular topi c is consi dered vali d for disc ussion, eu phemistic expression or terms are requir ed. So dip lomatic eu phemisms h ave a very serious r eason for being. The y can conc eal the th ings peopl e fear mosst death, the dead o r the supe rnatural. Euphemisms can also eliminate unhappines s, embarra ssment and fear etc. so as to relieve pe ople psych ologicallyy. Politene ss is anot her very i mportant f unction th at euphemi sms serve in social life. Som e of the e uphemisms are used t o avoid cr udeness an d 15 / 34 indecenc y for the sake of a polite con versation. 15 Gric e formulat ed Coopera tive Princ iple of ut terance inn which the Maxim of Manner was defined a s Be pers picuous an d specific ; To avoid obscurity ; To avoidd ambiguity ; To be br ief and to be orderl y. The ro undabout n ature of euphemismss goes agai nst the Ma xim of Man ner, which can only be fairly explained well by Leeech s Poli teness Pri nciple Ap probation Maxim: min imize disp raise of o ther, maxi mize prais e of other . In oth e r words, e uphemisms are to min imize impo lite expre ssions and maximize polite exp ressions. Besides the two funct ions of eu phemisms m entioned a bove, ther e is still another oone more im portant fu nction at work in eu phemistic communicat ion, namel y, the Dis guise Func tion. Here we mean t hat becaus e of the v agueness o f euphemis ms, it has become a very impor tant tool for politi cal leaderrs or the d iplomats o r statesme n to disto rt the fac ts or and present a false pict ure of pea ce and pro sperity annd to beaut ify whatev er the aut hority hav e done. Fo r example, in the Ir aq War, th ey use O p eration Ir aqi Freedo m for be a utifying t heir milit ary invasi on, 16 / 34 poss i ble moveme nt refer s to milita ry attack, air oper ation or air stri k es for a i r attack, e nter the war to s how their reluctance to fight the war et c. and we may find m any such k ind of the se euphemi sms in pre ss confere nces. The most impor tant and u ltimate fu nction or purpose of the use o f diplomat ic euphemi sms in pre ss confere nces is to disguise or beautif y their in vasive ess ence or ot her evil a ctions or the separa tion of wo rds from t ruth. In A merican an d British societies nowadays, diplomatic euphemism s are alwa ys purpose ly devised to disgui se scandal s in wars and politi cs, delibe rately inv ented to b eautify lo wly occupa tions and excessivel y inflated to promot e sales in advertise ment. 4. T he Coopera tive Princ iple Befo re going o n, we look at two ex amples, ass follows: (1) A: Can you tell me the timme? B: Wel l, the mai l has alre ady come. (2) A: Are you going to John s birthday party? B: Ive hea r d Mary is going.166 It seems there are some mist ake in thee 17 / 34 conversat ions. But in fact, i t is corre ct. The Co operative Principle will help us underst and more. The Coopera tive Princ iple is as follows: Make yourr conversat ional cont ribution s uch as is required, at the sta ge at whic h it occur s, by the accepted p urpose or direction of the tal k exchange in which you are en gaged.177 Acc ording Gri ce, Cooper ative prin ciple is c lassified into four categories : quantity , quality, relation and manner . The cate gory of qu antity rel ates to th e quantity ofinforma tion to be provided, and underr it fall t he followi ng maxims： 转贴于论文联盟 h ttp:/ Th e maxim o f Quality: Try to m ake your c ontributio n one that is true, .specifica lly: (i) d o not say what you b elieve to be false. (ii) do not say that for which you lack adequat