（英语语言文学专业论文）语言禁忌的社会语言学研究.pdf

i descriptive chinese abstract 人们在交际中，出于某种原因不能、不敢和不愿使用的某些词语，这些被认 为是神圣的、危险的、令人感到不快的甚至是会引起冒犯的词语应避免使用，这 种现象被称为语言禁忌。 语言禁忌作为禁忌的一个特殊部分，是人类社会普遍存在的一种复杂的文化 和社会现象。本文从社会语言学的角度对语言禁忌进行分析和研究。语言禁忌的 社会属性体现在各个方面，比如其历时性的变化以及共时性的特征和功能。因此， 对语言禁忌的研究从一定程度上表明了语言和社会是相互联系、相互作用的。 在引言中，作者介绍了该论题的研究意义，综述了前人对其的研究成果，本 文研究的问题和要达到的目标以及研究方法与内容安排。第二章对语言禁忌和禁 忌语的概念进行了概括，分析了语言禁忌的主要特征（普遍性、民族性和可变性） 及其功能，对禁忌语的五种主要种类进行了研究。第三章，研究了语境、语域、 言语事件理论和面子理论，逐一阐述和举例说明它们对禁忌语的使用的影响，并 且对语言理论在禁忌语中的应用做出总的评论。该章节中，作者着重通过语境研 究，指出禁忌语的使用受到交际参与者性别、年龄、社会地位、修养、交际双方 的关系程度和交际场合诸多因素的制约。第四章，详尽的研究了影响语言禁忌产 生的因素，除文化因素外，语言禁忌的产生还受到语言崇拜、同音谐义、心理因 素和伦理因素的影响。在文化因素中，作者对社会风俗、传统道德以及宗教对语 言禁忌的影响进行了分析。在心理因素中分析和研究中，得到影响禁忌语产生的 几种心理：焦虑与恐惧、害羞与胆怯，审美心理和群体心理定势。第五章，讨论 了替代禁忌语的委婉语，指出了两者的关系，委婉语代替了哪些禁忌内容。研究 了回避使用禁忌语的几种方式，并就委婉语和禁忌语的发展做了扼要的分析。结 论部分是对本文的所做的研究进行的总结。 关键词：语言禁忌；语境；语域；委婉语 ii english abstract in language communication, for some reasons, people could not or dare not or would not use certain words. they consider them holy, dangerous, unpleasant or offensive. such words are to be avoided. this phenomenon is what we call linguistic taboos. linguistic taboos as a special part of taboo is a complicated cultural phenomenon as well as a social one. which exists universally in human society. the thesis is an attempt to study and analyze linguistic taboos from a sociolinguistic point of view. its social nature can be found in every aspect of itself such as its diachronic changes, synchronic features as well as functions. therefore, to some extent, the study of linguistic taboos indicates that language and society interrelated and interact with each other. an introduction precedes the main body of the thesis. in this part, significance of the study, literature review, research questions and objectives as well as methodology and arrangement of the content are introduced. in chapter two, linguistic taboos and taboo words are defined. it also gives a brief account of the features (universality, nationality and changeability), functions and analyzes the five main classifications of linguistic taboos. chapter three, linguistic theories accounting for the interpretation of linguistic taboos are introduced. including context, register, hymes speech event theory and the face theory. the author analyzes how each affects the use of taboo words and gives a summarized comment about these four theories. among them, context is put more emphasis to examine how the use of linguistic taboos is governed by various components of context such as sex, age, social status, enculturation, relationship between the speaker and listener and setting so as to obtain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. in chapter four, the author elaborates and analyzes factors affecting the creation of linguistic taboos. besides cultural factors, word fetishism, homophonic factor, psychological factors and ethic factors have influence on the creation of iii linguistic taboos. among the cultural factors, how social convention, traditional morality and religion affect the creation of linguistic taboos are introduced. and among the psychological factors, the author mainly analyzes four kinds of psychology, including: anxiety and terror, shyness and timidness, aesthetics and community stereotypes. chapter five shifts to taboo words and euphemisms, the relationship between them. the author introduces devices used for taboo avoidance and analyzes briefly the development of taboo words and euphemisms. in the last part, the conclusion of the thesis is made. key words: linguistic taboos; context; register; euphemisms chapter 1 introduction 1 chapter 1 introduction the word taboo has been borrowed from tongan, where it means “holy” or “untouchable”. “taboo is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame ”(wardhaugh，1986: 234). consequently, as far as language is concerned, there exists certain words or topics that people tend to avoid because social custom or tradition strongly frowns on their usage, which is what we call the phenomenon of linguistic taboo. linguistic taboos, as an important part of taboo, which universally exist in any language of the world, governing peoples speech acts to a large extent. generally speaking, the type of word that is tabooed in a particular language will be good reflection of at least part of the values and beliefs of the society in question (trudgill, 1983: 29). it is also the case with taboo topics or subjects. thus, the phenomenon of linguistic taboo is closely responded to the value systems and beliefs of a society. it is a cultural phenomenon as well as a social one. however, people of different countries have different linguistic taboos, therefore it is necessary for the foreign language learners to acquaint themselves with such things. 1.1 significance of the topic linguistic taboos are universal phenomenon all over the world. it deserves profound and comprehensive study. in cross-cultural communication, if the speaker violates linguistic taboos, it will lead to cultural conflicts and pragmatic failures. therefore, it is necessary to develop an awareness of the knowledge about linguistic taboos. linguistic taboo is a significant study in modern linguistic research. this study is of great benefit to the expansion of areas of linguistic research, the development of cross-cultural communication as well as the avoidance of pragmatic failure. it will be suggestive for people engaging in foreign language learning and teaching. chapter 1 introduction 2 studying linguistic taboos can also be of help to psychology. it sheds light on the deep psychological movements underlying the taboo words usage.（陈莉, 2002：3） 1.2 literature review in the 1960s, sociolinguistics, as a field that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live, came into being. some sociolinguists, who observed the importance of linguistic taboos as a social phenomenon, did a number of researches about linguistic taboos in varying degrees. farb (1981) discussed some frequently used english four-letter words and explained the reasons why people talk about them. in sociolinguistics (1982), hudson defined the social value of taboo words as a matter of convention and suggested that “the whole area of taboo and semi-taboo language merits serious research by sociolinguists, which should tell us a lot about language in relation to society” (ibid: 335). in the books of trudgill (1983), wardhaugh (1986), fromkin food, drink and excretion; dress, hairstyle and gesture; gender, race and religion; art, literature, theatre and film; language, religion and science. section iii of the book -“words and thems”dont do it: a short dictionary of the forbidden (1997) - is a detailed and extensive discussion about a long list of taboo words and themes in the english language. according to the author, “in a democratic and secular society such as our own, arguments about verbal taboos concern matters of taste rather than of morality and law”. (ibid: 134). the entries contained in this section usually provide information concerning the history, usage, and change of meanings etc of taboo words or themes. but unfortunately there seems no systematic examination or theoretical analysis on the phenomenon of linguistic taboos in these chapter 1 introduction 3 books. in short, the most serious weakness of their discussion seems to be lack of system and theory. in china, chen yuans sociolinguistics（1983）is a monograph of comprehensive and systematic analysis of linguistic taboos. the 15th chapter of the book deals with taboo in particular. in the late mid-1980s, some scholars in china proposed to develop chinese cultural linguistics . as a result, a series of relevant books were successively published. in these books, taboos are unavoidably included. in language and culture (1989), deng yancang she is in an interesting condition; she is knitting little booties; she is in the family way; she is expecting etc. however, this word turns out to be an ordinary word at present. 2.2.2 functions of linguistic taboos linguistic taboos possess the positive functions, which are guidance, adjustment and transmission. the function of guidance in linguistic taboos is embodied in the process of human socialization. when one is born in a society with taboo, the society will certainly guide his or her speech through taboo and furthermore define his or her social value and behavioral tendency. the function of adjustment boasts that linguistic taboos can be adopted to coordinate the relationship between people and nature, people and society. the function of transmission lies in that language contains peoples hope, which has been proved to be the psychological reason for the transmission of taboo. just opposite the positive functions, linguistic taboos also possess negative functions. sometimes, they become the superstitious products. feudal society culture confines peoples idea and make linguistic taboos possess negative color. chapter 2 an overview of linguistic taboos 9 2.3 classification of linguistic taboos linguistic taboos are present in almost all cultures. they have permeated every aspect of social life. in this section, the author will concentrate on some main areas of linguistic taboos. 2.3.1 words associated with unpleasant things among general taboo words, death is considered a strong taboo word. its partly from superstition, not wishing the same to happen to us, that directly mentioning death may be consciously avoided. in fact, peoples death is inevitably natural law. however, eastern and western people avoid mentioning death, because its a misfortune. people avoid this word sometimes for thinking of the dead, sometimes for praising the dead and sometimes for avoiding bringing up again this horrible and mysterious word. terms for disease and illness are avoided in many cultures for reasons of superstition or linguistic delicacy. besides death and disease, words dealing with physical defects are usually taken as taboo words because of their pejorative connotations, so people prefer to use polite and harmless sounding terms like deaf is replaced by hard of hearing, blind by poor-sighted and the crippled by physically handicapped. 2.3.2 words associated with profanity words concerning religion or religious beliefs form another important part of taboo words in english. they are used only on religious occasions or only by priests. in bloomfield (1933: 155), the author said that in english, some words that are related to religion, such as god, devil, heaven, hell, christ, jesus and damn etc could only be talked of on serious occasions, otherwise, the speaker would be blamed. in christian countries, the word bloody is a taboo word, because it originally referred to the blood of christ. the oxford english dictionary stated that bloody has been in general colloquial use from the restoration and is “now constantly in the mouths of the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered a horrid word on a par with chapter 2 an overview of linguistic taboos 10 obscene or profane language, and usually printed in the newspapers-y”. (fromkin terms and sayings like f r nzh ji n（妇 人之见, views of a woman）, t uf ch ngji nsh du n（头发长见识短, have long hair but short wit）, h on nb g nn d （好男不跟女斗, a gentleman doesnt fight with women） etc. virtually reflect a demeaning and contemptuous attitude towards women. sexism is more noticeable in the structure of chinese characters. most chinese characters with pejorative connotations contain “woman” as their component radicals such as l n（婪, avaricious）, ch ng（娼, prostitute）, m i（媚, flattery） ，ji n（奸, wicked）, j d （嫉妒, be jealous of) etc (邓炎昌 刘润清, 1989：220). racism is the belief that some human races are inherently inferior to others (light it is language that degrades or belittles them. in english, much of the bias is against blacks, whether intentional or not. the color black is associated with wickedness, evil, filth, e.g. blackguard, blacklist, black mark, black lie. besides these, there are terms like nigger, boy (for an adult blackman), which are outright offensive. however, it is not just blacks who are called degrading names in the u.s. there are names for other racial or ethnic groups as well: italians are called dagos or wops; chinese-chinks; germany-krauts; spanish spicks; japanese-japs; jews-kikes; poles-polacks. all of these are insulting names, reflecting strong racial prejudice. the chinese likewise shows trace of racism, although there have been considerable improvements since the peoples republic of china was set up. prior to that, belittling chapter 2 an overview of linguistic taboos 12 or outright degrading terms for non- han people were not uncommon: virtually derisive expressions such as mongolian doctor (a quack or incompetent doctor) to show off the assumed superiority of ones own ethnic group. since the middle of the century, with the equality of the different nationalities adopted as national policy and expressly stated in the constitution, such racist terms and expressions have largely disappeared from the language, but not completely. 2.3.5 linguistic taboos related to appellation taboos concerning appellation in chinese primarily involve the name-avoidance. it is well- known that in china, people should be very cautious in using first names. only people of similar age and position can call each other on a first-name basis. old people can call young people by their first names, but young people should never call old people by their first names. it is very rude for a young person to address an old person by his or her first name. the cause of such name-avoidance is assumed to be related to the traditional morality. in the past, confucianism, the most influential school of thought in traditional chinese culture played a dominant role in china. the confucian ethical thought, especially the notion of “the three cardinal guides and the five constant virtues” stressed the hierarchical relationship between the ruler and subject, father and son, and husband and wife, the reflection of which is the practice that names of emperors, sages, and ones ascending generations must be avoided. there exist some taboos in appellation in english. in the 1960s, the feminist movement began to make itself heard objecting to a community attitude that downgrades women by comparison with men. people in the movement perceived this depreciating attitude to be reflected in language, and sought to change at least public language. as a result, a growing number of women are not willing to be addressed after their husbands surnames. for example, ms smith is preferable to mrs don when jone dons wife is addressed on some occasions. in most english-speaking families, it is somewhat tabooed to address or name consanguineal kin of ascending generations by their given names. instead people use kin title such as dad, nan, or grandpa for lineal kin, and for lateral kin, a kin title like auntie, or kin title+given name, (e.g. aunt jemima). if lineal kin of the second and chapter 2 an overview of linguistic taboos 13 higher ascending generations need to be distinguished from a collateral with the same title, kin title+surname is the usual form used (e.g., grandma robin). the social taboo against omitting the kin title is the weakest with in form the first ascending generation who are about the same age as speaker, particularly collateral kin, it is strongest with kin of the second and higher ascending generations. to some extent, linguistic taboos of appellation pertaining to social occupation. some occupations are traditionally judged less prestigious than others because of social prejudice. for instance, the appellation of doctor zhang is widely accepted. however, driver zhang and entrance guard li are not very pleasantly accepted. different social stratification would embarrass people. in the university, for instance, the appellation of professor liu is pleasantly accepted. people seldom call lecturer liu and teaching assistant liu. chapter 3 linguistic theories accounting for the interpretation of linguistic taboos 14 chapter 3 linguistic theories accounting for the interpretation of linguistic taboos in this chapter, we will illustrate linguistic theories concerning the interpretation of taboo words that serve as the theoretical bases in this research, including context, register, hymes speech event theory and the face theory. based on these theories, the author concludes a comment on the above theories. 3.1 context 3.1.1. introduction to context the notion of context (the original term was context of situation) was suggested by malinowski. malinowski(1923) who stated in his supplement to “the meaning of meaning” that “utterance and situation are bound up inextricably and the context of situation is indispensable for the understanding of words.” subsequently, firth (1957) elaborated and developed the term “context of situation”. in his view, language has both formal and situational meaning and “context of situation” must be taken into consideration in linguistic description since the complete meaning of words is always contextual and no study of meaning apart from a complete context can be taken seriously. 3.1.2. the influence of context on the use of taboo words crytal (1987: 48) pointed out, “many features of language correlate directly with the characteristics of the context, or situation, in which a communicative event takes place. classifications vary, but most approaches recognize the central role pl