英文论文-TheTaboosInChineseAndWesternCulture.doc

华中科技大学文华学院毕业设计（论文）题目：中西方文化禁忌The Taboos In Chinese And Western Culture学 生 姓 名： XXX 学号：XXXXXXXXXXX 学 部 （系）：外语学部英语系 专 业 年 级：XX英语一班 指 导 教 师：XXXX 职称或学位：副教授 20 年 月 日AcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, my appreciation goes to my affectionate parents, and the rest of my family. Throughout the development of this paper, they have been there always giving me continuous support, encouragement and understanding. Their love and support encourage me to pursue progress all the time.I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all other teachers who gave me lectures during the past four academic years. I have benefited so much not only from their courses and lectures but also from their constant encouragement.Finally, my deepest gratitude and respect go to my supervisor, Zhong Liping. It is for his constant encouragement, critical instructions, his great care and precious advice and suggestions that this paper appears in the present form.Abstract With the development of economic globalization and Chinas Reform and Opening up, the connection between China and western countries are Increasingly close. And the communication and collisions between the Chinese and western culture also appear in each persons life. This thesis mainly introduced the Chinese and western cultural taboo from the definition of taboo to origin, then to the differences between Chinese and western cultural taboos, and finally research how to avoid touching these taboo in daily communication. This thesis involves these taboos of name, address, gender, race, religion, superstition and other espects relate to our life.And through these research readers will not touched others taboo and even influence peoples relationship in communication.Key words: Chinese and western; taboo; definition; origin of taboo; species of taboo; details of taboo; how to avoid touching taboo摘 要随着经济全球化的发展和中国对外开放程度的加深，中国和西方国家的联系也日益密切起来，中西方文化之间的交流和碰撞也出现在了每个人的生活中。本选题着重介绍中西方文化中的禁忌，从禁忌的定义到起源再到中西方文化禁忌的差异，最后研究在日常交流中如何避免触及这些禁忌。本文涉及的禁忌有姓名、称呼、性别、种族、宗教、迷信等和我们生活息息相关的方面，旨在能通过对这些方面的了解与研究能帮助读者在交流的时候不会触及对方的禁忌而感到尴尬甚至影响双方的关系。关键词：中西方；禁忌；定义；起源；禁忌的种类；禁忌的详述；如何避免触及禁忌ContentsIntroduction.1I.Some Fundamental Knowledge about Taboo .21.1 Definition of Taboo .21.2 The origin of taboo in Chinese and Western culture.21.2.1 The origin of taboo in the West.21.2.2 The origin of taboo in Chinese culture31.3. Reasons for the appearance of taboo.3II.Contrast between Chinese and Western Culture.41. The Language Taboo.41.1The Name and Appellation taboo .41.2 Taboo in Communication.51.3 Taboo on Sex and Race.72.Taboos in religion and superstition102.1 The Number Taboos102.2 The Wedding Taboo.12III. The Taboo Development .131. The Decreased Taboo .142. New Taboo.143. The Changed Taboo.15Conclusion .16Bibliography186IntroductionDue to the development of China and western countries in the international trade,the communication between Chinese and westren people are becoming more and more frequent.Communication could help people to increase their friendliness.But if we dont know taboos in western countries and say some improper words or do some improper things to our foreign friends,that is impolite.According to this,its important to do a research of the taboo in Chinese and western culture.As we all know, taboos exist everywhere in inter-culture communication, so it has been a fairly important field of learning.Different climes bring different kinds of human phyles,and these people would have their particular character differ from each phyles.They built up different cultures with their particular taboos base on their characters.Sometimes,different phyles have intersections on taboos,but sometimes not.So when people communicate with foreigners, it can lead misunderstanding easily, if we dont know the taboos, we may incur a big trouble, and become a failure when you communicate with foreigners. Nowadays English is widely used in the world,even in the developed countries.We need to make friends with western people and do business with them course the necessity of kowning taboos of western culture. As the proverb says: “When in Roman, do as the Romans do”. I. Some Fundamental Knowledge about Taboo 1.1 Definition of TabooWhat is a taboo? In Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, the definition of taboo is a strong social or religious custom forbidding a particular act or word, or tech too holy or evil to be touched, named, or used.And in the Xinhua Dictionary of Chinese Language and Culture,the definition of taboo is that people offended by special words and action.1.2 The origin of taboo in Chinese and Western culture1.2.1 The origin of taboo in the West The 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 cultureIn 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 . II.Contrast between Chinese and Western Culture1. The Language Taboo1.1 The Name and Appellation tabooThe taboo of name and appellation in both Chinese and Western culture are widely different. In Chinas feudal society, emperors, sage, confessed parricide, teachers, official name are absolute taboos. Chinese traditional culture in the taboo follows today: junior to superior, student to the teacher, younger to elder, absolutely cant use first names, it will be considered poor upbringing, brusque and unreasonable. The taboos inheritance reflected the concept of Han nationality entrenched patriarchal clan.On the contrary, in the English speaking countries, especially in the United States, the famous Declaration of Independence saying All men are created equal. This brought the profound influence to the American society, and this kind of idea accumulates deeply in the cultural psychology of people. Therefore, the United States person can use first names in order to show equal, kind and friendly no matter the honour or the low status, the high or low, the young or the elder, whether at the same level or exist between equals or adults, even between teachers and students. In terms of the name ,the taboos clearly reflect the differences between Chinese and western culture.1.2 Taboo in CommunicationIn many languages, cursing and swearing words are taboo as English and Chinese .But it also has to explain: first, some swearing words too vulgar, horrible and restricted by society. Jesus Christ, Holy Mary, Son of a bitch is this kind of words; But Damn, Damn it, Hell is little light on some tone. Please note that most of the curse, swearing words and phrases are relevant Christian name and words in English. But in Chinese, this kind of fixed curse or swearing words seems less. The most common is damn, but it will not cause very strong feelings. Because sometimes it has cultivated into an colloquialism. Second, curse and swearing words are restricted by the age and sex. Children will be blamed by adults if they call names. Women will be thought vulgar and discourteous by people if they call names. Teachers call names that they would break faith with others. Third, this kind of words are also limited by special environment and occasion. In public speaking or classroom teaching ,people wont speak any swearing words. In the house, in the work place, in the office, on the bus or in the market, people would say more.Oughting to point out, peoples reaction to curse and swearing words is not consistent. It doesnt heared too harsh if people listen too many. Now people often hear young people live with call names. But, it had better to speak less cursing words to foreigners. Now lets talk about the different taboos on communication between English and Chinese. At first there is a funny story:A 50 years old American women was teaching in China. Her young Chinese colleague invited her to have a dinner. The hostess introduced her 4 years old daughter to the guest. The little girl said in English Hello,aunt! Her mother said to her that she had to say so if she see an old woman.No,you cant call aunt, mama hurriedly corrected, She is grandma.Dont call me grandma. Just call my aunt.Thats impolite. Im younger than you.American women blushed with shame and smiledjust call my aunt. I like it.Why American woman feel embarrassed in such occasion? Because when treating on age ,Chinese people and American people have different attitude.For most English and American, its inappropriate to ask about the strange or not familiar person with their age. In addition,its impolite to enquire others income, marriage, political affiliation and religious belief.Therefore, when talking to foreigners, people should avoid asking the following questions, though the Chinese people dont think theres something wrong.How old are you? What s your age? How much do you make? What s your income? How much did that dress cost you? How much did you pay for that car? Are you married or single? How come you re still single?Are you a Republican or a Democrat?Why did you vote for？Do you go prearcing Church? What s your religion? Are you Catholic? Western people attach importance to privacy, so they dont want other people to ask personal things. Privacy contains secret, privacy and private, retreat, solitude and dont let another interference and dont want others to ask meanings. Personal includes personal affairs (private business), personal private affairs, person concern (private concerns), etc. An English proverb: A man s home is his castle means that a mans home is sacred and entered without permission. Personal things is the same.People does not like others know even do not like others intervene. Mentioning the above problems will be considered in the nose into others affairs, which is another way of infringing upon others castle.Many Chinese are very unfamiliar to westerners understanding all the concepts of privacy. Chinese also doesnt have a word match to privacy. The reason might be Chinese families live very closely. Thousands years, Chinas rural residents often live in a village with hundreds of families, crowded in a small piece. In the north of China people live very close in the quadrangle dwellings or big megafamily. They often communicate with others so that their personal life is not hard to be known or intervention. This kind of situation is not the same with western. In western countries, the typical family is single detached houses and surrounded by a big yard or garden. Another reason could be the Chinese people have unity and friendship spirit for a long time. They live toghter and help each other. This kind of situation is completely different to the western value of privacy.There have three points about this. In English, some expressions are deliberately vague. If somebody say”I m going out”. Then dont ask him where to go. If he (she) said”I have an appointment”. Its inappropriate to ask who and what he dated. Similarly, if a woman says she has a headache, others dose not need to worry too much about her, and dont ask her condition. You should understand that if people dont want to do anything or participate in some activity or refuse to other peoples invitation, often use the above terms to dodge.1.3 Taboo on Sex and RaceTaboos in English language have developed recently, including those words and expressions which people in society despise. People pay special attention to the so- called sexist language and racial language, which are more sensitive. Here are two aspects elaborated as follows.At present, the gender discrimination mainly refers to the language especially for looking down upon women. In certain societies there are some difference between men and women when using language. In other societies, language divides into lower-level and higher-lever, women can only use lower-level languages. American women first study English language of sex discrimination phenomenon. They found that language can affect peoples attitude toward women,while English is the language of the man as the center, favouring the male, neglecting women. For example, when speaking or witting, the gender is not clear, people always use he instead of she. When a woman presides a meeting, she is often called chairman, so there appears Madamchairman. In the sentence the history of the world is the history of mankind , the meaning human use mankind instead of womankind. Derogatory terms are more frequently used in the misconduct of women than men. At the same time, there are more words describing prostitute (prostitutes) than describing whoremon-ger. These phenomenon show that