跨文化论文TheFunctionsofEuphemisminCross-culturalCommunication

The Functions of Euphemism in Cross cultural Communication 跨文化交际课跨文化交际课论文论文 Abstract Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon both in English and Chinese In this dissertation author illustrates a number of examples to explore the cultural difference between Chinese and English euphemism Through the cross cultural comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms we can learn about lots of both similarities and peculiarities of the two languages which is of considerable value and guidance to our foreign language learning and cross cultural communication Key words euphemism cross cultural comparison taboo Introduction Euphemism was originated from Greek in the light of human language euphemism originates Word Fetishism in the early stage of human civilization Liu 2003 1 The prosthesis of the word eu means good and the body of the word phemism means speech so euphemism means to speak with good words that is to say use the fine words or propitious words to take place of the rude awful unacceptable or irritating words Euphemism is a generally existed linguistic phenomenon Euphemism as a ubiquitous language phenomenon is a softened bland or sometimes neutral expression used instead of one that might suggest something unpleasant On social occasions euphemism has become not only one of the important communicating ways for people to express their ideas and feelings but also a very important means to harmonize the relationships between people in verbal communications and therefore it plays a very important role in promoting the construction of a harmonious society Hua 2012 2 Euphemism is an important and necessary approach to realize the function of communication so the research of Euphemism has a very important position in language research English and Chinese euphemism reflects different cultures in cross cultural communication and has different communicative functions Although there are some differences in policy economy and culture nations are consistent in Taboo and euphemism People use euphemism because of three kinds of psychological factors Taboo politeness and substitution And these three aspects are also the three communication functions of euphemism 1 Euphemism is used to avoid Taboo Euphemism is originated from Taboo it is the original function of euphemism In ancient times people believe that if talking about some bad thing it will happen latter So euphemism not only give fortune to people but shelter people from disaster people create the euphemism For example death leads to scare and unpleasant feelings makes people always avoid talking about it So people prefer to use pass away to leave us to depart one s heart has stopped beating to fall asleep God rest his soul fall asleep to be with God to go west with to express The purpose is to reduce or eliminate fear of death and to make successful communication Apart from death it is also a Taboo to talk about sex For example the sex is expressed in make love art of pleasure to go to bed with to go all the way And the prostitute is called street walker pavement princess woman of the town There are some differences between Chinese and Western people in the attitude of sex Western people are more open and free to talk about sex but Chinese often use derogatory term concubinage have a love affair stealthily bastard while in English use free love love companion spouse equivalent mixed singled to express such same words What s more people usually use gent s the washroom water closet W C ladies the power room Mrs Jones such euphemism to avoid talking about lavatory directly We can say that Taboo is the most important and primary function of euphemism 2 Euphemism is to show politeness Politeness is another very important function that euphemisms serves in social life Gui 2015 1 we use euphemism to make others feel pleasant and comfortable and we try to be not so oppressive and impolite When talking about the physical defects or age issues we often use euphemism to show our politeness For example when describing someone is fat we often use plump or chubby And so does skinny we often use slim or slender to replace it And in order to show our respect to the elder we often use senior citizens or superior citizens to refer to the old people in English speaking countries Besides in Western countries intellectual work is regard as dignity job while physical labor is regard as menial job to avoid making blue collar worker feel nervous people do their utmost to use some euphemism to call them For instance we use waiter maid household executive garbage collector to express dinning room attendant domestic assistance housewife sanitary engineer And to express poverty and unemployment we often make use of discontinue lay off ease out and out of pocket hard up badly off in reduced Gui 2015 1 The purpose of using euphemism is avoid venturing and hurting other s feeling That is consistently matches the polite principle suggested by British linguist Leech Grice trying to remedy Grice s Cooperative Principle CP which is presumed to be unable to interpret why for instance people are prone to use indirect ways of saying things Leech 1983 3 Euphemism is to Substitution Substitution refers to the situation in which a word or name can be used in a community only under special conditions whether only by certain persons or only in certain circumstances Just as violating a cultural taboo can be quite offensive it uses a verbal taboo in press conferences Hu 2005 29 Euphemism is used widely in politics For example Western government often use industrial action to replace the labor strike use recession or depression to replace the economic crisis and use revenue enhancement to replace the tax increase for political purpose Politicians often use euphemisms to avoid the social sensitive topics in order to consolidate their position cover up the truth placate people ease social contradiction Xin 2015 And so does Chinese we also use euphemism to substitute some shameful things For example when we say he has a tendency to stretch the truth or He has difficulty distinguishing between imaginary and factual information That means he is telling a lie And he needs help in learning to adhere to rules and standards of pair play That means he cheats in the exam Conclusion Language is the carrier of culture euphemism is a mirror of social psychology Euphemism is common linguistic phenomenon both in English and Chinese It is the use of a pleasant polite or harmless sounding term in place of those considered unpleasant rude or offensive As a social variety euphemism widely exist in the human languages to show the influence and restriction of context and social culture in language using thus adds a kind of cultural value into euphemism itself It is worth noting that euphemism is not fixed and immobile the meaning of euphemism is always changing with time and social culture For example in Victoria age the word money was regard as indecent words and thus became a Taboo in daily communication So British people often say I will do the necessary when checking out in a restaurant But in today money is an ordinary word people can use it freely without any Taboo With the development of society and improvement of language art the characteristics of euphemism is changing and continuously renewing some of euphemisms will be e