On-the-English-Euphemism.doc

On the English Euphemism FunctionsNam: WangHuajuan Class: 2008级英语系5班学号：200822010518On the English Euphemism FunctionsThesis statementAlthough the recycling Outline 1. Introduction2. The source of English euphemism3. The definition of English euphemism4. .The social communicative function of English euphemism A. The evasive function of English euphemism 1. In terms of disease and disabilities 2. In terms of death 3. In terms of sex, body excretion and body elimination process 4. In terms of old age B. The polite function of English euphemism. C. The cosmetic function of English euphemism 5. Conclusion On the English Euphemism FunctionsAbstract Euphemism, as a common linguistic phenomenon in world culture, is widely used in every social class and fideld. Language reflects life, and is always closely related to the society. During the communication, due to some certain restriction of behavior and morality, people tend to use euphemismused as a kind of lubrication, making the harsh, indelicate words sound tactful and pleasant. English euphemism plays a very important role in peoples social communication. This paper will also expound the social communicative function of English euphemism from the three aspects: evasive function, polite function, and cosmetic function. Having a good understanding of the origin and social function of English euphemism and the English language culture can avoid many conflicts in the process of social communication. Key Words: origin; communicative function; evasion; cosmetic function; politeness 1. introduction The word euphemism comes from Greek，“eu” means “good” or “well”，the rot “phem” means “speech”，and “ism” is a noun suffix. It means literally “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”.（Neaman，1983：1）The record use of euphemism is found until the eleventh century B.C. By the early 1580s George Blountto first point out the term “euphemism” refers to “a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word”.（George Blountto，1580：243）As one form of language，euphemism is a common phenomenon. It is widely used in human society. Euphemism can reduce sensitivity and irritation of expression. People use it to substitute indirect word or phrase. Euphemism also reflects some cultural differences. People in different language groups use different ways to express euphemism. 2. The source of euphemism Euphemism originates from verbal taboo，which originates from religion superstition，reflecting the importance of social psychology. Taboo is the basis of euphemism and the use of euphemism began from avoidance of taboo. Taboo exists everywhere. Almost every culture has its own taboo. The word “taboo” is from Polynesian，meaning “sacred” or “accursed”. The emergence of taboo is related to social psychology. People dare not call something by name directly because of the psychology of fear. So people work out indirect terms to replace them. The euphemisms come into being. People feel they are far away from fear when they use euphemism. In a word，euphemism is mild，roundabout words used in place of coarse，offensive，or painful ones.2. Definition of Euphemism Euphemism has been defined differently in different books. There are some definitions cited as follows：1）Euphemism is substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or blunt or direct one.（Concise Oxford Dictionary，1982，7th edition）2）Euphemism is a polite，tactful，or less explicit term used to avoid the direct naming of an unpleasant painful or frightening reality.（Websters Third New International Dictionary，1961：657）3）Euphemism is a polite word or expression that people use when they are talking about something which they or other people find unpleasant or embarrassing，such as death or sex.（Collins，1989：769）4）Euphemism is used as an alternative to an expression，in order to avoid possible loss of face：either ones own face or，through giving offense，that of the audience，or of some third party.（Allan & Burridge，1991：18）All this definitions above share the same point：euphemism is a polite，roundabout，and indirect mode of expression which is used to talk about something unpleasant. It can make the unpleasant things sound better，and make people feel good；it can make both speaker and hearer avoid losing face. 4. The social communicative function of English euphemism From the perspective of language communication, euphemism functions to avoid taboos, to show politeness and conceal feelings. Thanks to euphemism, it is easy for people to accept the things that are likely to make others feel embarrassed or unhappy. It is peoples general character to express their ideas as mildly and tactfully as possible. Euphemism helps people to reach this goal. From the moment euphemism came into existence, it has played a very important role in our daily communication, and help establish a good relationship between human beings and even strengthen the social stability. Euphemism are motivated by the desire not to be offensive. People use them to show their politeness, to avoid being offensive and to meet the psychological and beneficial needs of both speakers and hearers in communication. But sometimes they are used to conceal or cover something. Accordingly, euphemism serves three basic communicative functions: evasive function, polite function and cosmetic function.4.1 The evasive function of English euphemism The evasive function of euphemism is to evade using taboos, enabling the speaker to talk about tabooed things freely. These tabooed things are believed to be dangerous to certain individuals, or to the society as a whole, or to be disgusting and unpleasant, and cause fear. Such tabooed things include: disease, disabilities, death, sex, body excretion and body elimination process, etc. People can use euphemisms to talk about what cannot be talked directly. 4.1.1 In terms of disease and disabilities People yearn for health, and fear for specific disease and every sort of disability. So people always use tactful way to express them. For example, sexual or venereal disease such as syphilis, gonorrhoea, ADIS, etc. are called “social disease”, communicative disease”, etc. in English. Besides, disabilities are very sensitive area in every culture. In English, “the disabled, the handicapped, the inconvenienced, the invalid, auditory impaired, hard of hearing, talk with ones fingers”, etc. are put into service.9 So euphemism plays a very important function in our social communication. Without it, we sometimes cannot continue our talk. 4.1.2 In terms of death Death is an inevitable stage at the end of lifes journey. It is common experience of human beings. Yet it has been the source of fearfear of the loss of loved ones; fear of the end of ones life; fear of the actual process of dying. Therefore, all these fears, worries, and unpleasant feelings combined lead to verbal taboo of death. Euphemisms concerning death are extremely rich. In English, there are more than seventy euphemisms for “death”, including “to be gone, to be gone to a better world, to be with God, to breath ones last, to close ones day, to depart from the world forever, to depart to God, to fall asleep, join the great majority, pass away, etc.10 No matter why this word is used in a certain language, people always tend to use less harsh words 4.1.3 In terms of sex, body excretion and body elimination process Words relating to sex, procreation and excretion are highly restricted to mention because they may evoke disgusting responses of people. Verbal taboo on them is probably motivated by the intuitive disaster, shame. People all have certain feelings of which they are so ashamed that they dont like to admit even to themselves. In peoples daily life or in some formal occasion, if the talk or discussion refers to something about drainage, people will try to avoid using vulgar language. They tend to use some implied or neutral words to make conversation comfortable. For ordinary people, the safest way to avoid mentioning these things that they have to mention in many circumstances is to use another expressioneuphemism to replace the true name of such a thing. For example, in English there are many elegant expressions for “going to WC”, such as: to wash ones hand, to spend a penny, to go and see ones aunt, to answer the call of nature, because nature calls, etc. 11 “The topic concerning being pregnant is touchy because it tends to arouse the association with sexual behaviors. To beat round bushes is very necessary, such as “with child”, “anticipating”, “excepting” for “pregnant”, etc.12 Talking about sexual intercourse is taboo. Expressions relating to sex have heavily been veiled for the purpose of avoiding awkwardness and offense. So people use euphemistic words to talk about it. For example, people evade saying “hip” directly which is replaced with “buttock”, “bottom”, “ones thing”, and “secret parts” donates sex organs of both males and females.13 4.1.4 In terms of old age English and Chinese have different feelings about “old age”. A Chinese is proud of being old, whereas a westerner will feel irritated and even insulted at mentioning his oldness. In English culture, people do not describe others as or to be described as “old” because the old, who no longer work, are ignored by society. Therefore, people create “the second childhood golden years, senior citizen, gray hair, mature golden age” when they refer to “old age” in which it attempts to conceal the fact of becoming old and avoid arousing old peoples sad feeling of aging. 14 4.2 The polite function of English euphemism. Politeness is another important function that euphemisms serve in the social life. Politeness is the symbol of humans civilization and one of the important principles guiding peoples activities. As a kind of significant social activity, language activity must observe this principle, too. When we have to talk something unpleasant, we should choose euphemistic way to express in order not to hurt others. Being polite is a reasonable action that anyone who is keen on face-saving will take. The polite function of euphemism is tried to avoid being harsh or impolite in the communication. In other words, euphemisms are to minimize impolite expressions and maximize polite expressions. For instance, when a teacher comments on a students moral conducts and school work in front of the student or his or her parent, he or she should report the fact on one hand, and on the other hand should take into consideration the students psychological endurance and the parents face. So the euphemistic way to express might be “The student is a bit slow for his or her age” instead of “The student is stupid”. 15 The polite function of English euphemism is embodied in every occupational language. Occupational discrimination gives people pressure and emotional irritation. Although euphemisms cannot uproot this kind of phenomenon, at least, they can give them some psychological comfort by upgrading of career name. Therefore, “engineer, manager, etc.” have become more and more fashionable. “Dustman” is changed to “sanitary engineer”; “mechanic” to “automobile engineer”, “gardener” to “landscape architect”, “shoemaker” to “shoe rebuilder”16 In English, there are many adjectives about peoples appearance, such as “good looking, handsome, pretty, charming, attractive”, etc. They are all commendatory words. When talking about someone who is not pretty, we cannot use “ugly” or awfully. We had better use some euphemisms such as “plain, ordinary, not particularly looking”, etc. instead of them. So euphemisms polite function can save peoples face in their process of communication. It is so important that we cannot neglect it. 4.3 The cosmetic function of English euphemism Besides the evasive and polite function, euphemism has the cosmetic function. This kind of euphemism is usually used in the government, military, politics and commerce. It refers to using good words to beautify things, which are not beautiful in reality and make the thing be more persuaded and acceptable. Because euphemism has the nature of vagueness, to some extent, it is deceptive. Traditionally speaking, euphemism plays a positive role in social life. Using it, people can avoid some embarrassed and ungracious occasion. But just as every coin has two sides, euphemism has no exception. Using it suitably can coordinate social relationships, but abusing it will mislead the public, will cover up the essence of things. For example, in modern Western society, the poor is called as “the needy”, later it was changed to “the culturally deprived”, then to “the underprivileged”, at last to “the disadvantaged”. So it will confuse people that this country is so rich that there is no poor people at all. Firstly, the government and the military often use them to disguise the reality from truth. They describe “economic crisis” as “recession” or “depression”; “attack” as “active defense”.17 At the beginning of 20th century, the relationship between labor and capital become strained, and the agitation of striking became a serious social problem. In order to hide the fact, politicians call the strained labor-capital relationship as “industrial climate”, striking as “industrial action”. If the negotiation between labor and capital is successful, it will be claimed as “productive”, on the contrary, it is “counter-productive”. 18 Secondly, this kind of euphemism is widely used in commerce. It is often used to play tricks and to deceive the customers. The commercial exaggerates the products function and quality. In the same way, the English euphemism is also used to make customers feel pleased. For example, in order to meet the passengers sense of dignity, some Airlines call First Class Deluxe Class or Premium Class; Second Class First Class; and Third Class become Business Class, Economic Class, or Tourist Class. 19 Doing like these, it seems that all passengers position are promoted. Their purpose is to attract more passengers and gain more profits by using euphemisms in the communication, meanwhile, the customers feel more decent, and it helps customers save face. In short, euphemism of this kind may make an idea more palatable, but they inflate language, reduce precision and often tamper with truth. Some people condemn euphemism as demoralizing because of its hypocrisy, which other consider them useful in the aspect of coordinating social relationships. However, the fact remains that euphemisms are very much a part of the language, and whats more important for us is not to debate their merits or demerits, but rather to be able to realize that English euphemism can serve for the special social activities under certain circumstance. 5. Conclusion English euphemism as an essential part of English language, is observed everywhere and widely used in peoples daily communication. On the issue of the origin and social communicative function of English euphemism, this thesis has a tentative exploration. But this kind of exploration is in a state of development because euphemism is developed all the time. Euphemism roots in every aspect of social life, and is developed with the advancement of society. English euphemism is a mirror of Western culture in the form of English language. From the moment it was born, it has distinct culture color. Euphemism undoubtedly reflects the inner relationship among the cultural tradition, social values and the form of language. In speech interaction, sometimes, out of politeness or tact, one uses a pleasant, less direct word instead of something unpleasant. Using euphemism is speakers active pragmatic strategy in a certain time and a certain situation. English euphemism promotes the development of English language, and enriches the vocabularies of English language, giving people a feeling of warm and fresh. In the 21st century, with the development of science and technology, many social problems rise, too. People crave for the gentle, warm and easy understood words. Euphemism emerges ceaselessly just right for meeting this psychological need. As a common communication medium and a rhetoric method, English euphemism will be used wider and wider. Some scholars hold the opinion that it is unreasonable to use euphemism because they have the nature of deceit, especially in politics and government. But we cannot deny the fact that euphemism is very helpful in the process of human communication. Twenty-first century is a period when people of different culture have even more touches with each other. So it is vital for us to have a good understanding of English euphemism. It is unimaginable if the diplomatic negotiation is without euphemism. Using euphemism is a kind of language skill that each of us should master.Abstract Euphemism, as a common linguistic phenomenon in world culture, is widely used in every social class and field. English euphemism, Euphemism, as a common linguistic phenomenon in world culture, is widely used in every socialin and the historical, literary origin. This thesis will try to discuss the origin of English euphemism from every aspect of religion, race, politics, literary, and history. Language reflects life, and is always closely related to the society. During the communication, due to some certain restriction of behavior and morality, people tend to use euphemismused as a kind of lubrication, making the harsh, indelicate words sound tactful and pleasant. English euphemism plays a very important role in peoples social communication. This paper will also expound the social communicative fun