从英汉委婉语中透析中西文化差异

本科毕业论文第1页共15页1IntroductionEuphemism,anappropriatelanguageformcreatedforperfectcommunicativeeffectandanimportantwaytocoordinateinterpersonalrelationship,isacommonlinguisticphenomenonexistinginpeople’suseoflanguage.EuphemismappearsfirstinShiJing,soithasalonghistory.ChinesescholarChenWangdaodefines“euphemism”andstudiesitfromtheperspectiveofrhetoricinTheOriginofRhetoric.Inthe1970sand1980s,affectedbytheforeignsociallinguistictheory,scholarswhoworkonthestudyofsociallinguisticsbecomeinterestedinthespecialsocialfunctionofeuphemism.InSociolinguistics,ChenYuandiscussestheprofoundhistoricalandpsycho-socialbackgroundofeuphemism,revealingitssocialessenceofavoidingmentioningthoseunpleasantthingsorphenomena.InTheEuphemisminModernChineseLanguagepublishedinChineseLanguageLearning,ShuDingfangattemptstodescribeanddiscussthestructureandresearchscopeofeuphemisminmodernChineselanguagefromtheangleofmodernlinguisticsforthefirsttime.Thestudyofeuphemismatabroadalsohasalonghistory.Inthe1580s,theEnglishwriterGeorgeBluntcreatedtheword“euphemism”andpresentedthefollowingdefinition:agoodorfavorableinterpretationofabadword.ReferringtothehistoricalculturalbackgroundofAmericansociety,AmericanlinguistMenkenprobesintothereasonwhyseveralhundredeuphemismsappearandbecomepopularinTheAmericanLanguagepublishedin1936.ThebookADictionaryofEuphemismandOtherDoubletalkwrittenbyEnglishlinguistHughRawsonmanifeststheresearchachievementsabouteuphemismofEnglishandAmericanlinguists.Thebooknotonlyreviewsthestudyhistoryofeuphemism,butalsomakesanextensivediscussionofthecharacteristics,definitionandclassificationofit.Euphemism,asoneformoflanguagewhichcontainsaffluentculturalconnotations,mustbethereflectionofaspecificculture.Euphemismscreatedindifferentculturalbackgroundsreflectdifferentculturalconnotationsandembodiestheattitudetowardslifeandlife-styleofpeoplelivinginthisspecificlanguagegroup.Thisthesisaimstocontributetoasuccessfulcross-culturalcommunicationbyhelpingpeopleunderstandtheappropriateinterpretationofeuphemisms.2EuphemismandCulture2.1LanguageandCultureCultureownsdiversekindsofcarriers,suchasart,language,literatureandsoon.Language,asthemostimportantcarrier,isintimatelyrelatedtoculture.Thecomeintobeingandinheritanceofcultureareduetotheappearanceanddevelopmentoflanguage.Thereisnoculturewithoutlanguageandnolanguagewithoutculture.Atthesametime,cultureaffectslanguageallthetime,makinglanguagebecomemoreaccuratetoadapttothedevelopmentandchangeofculture.Thecreationofculturecannotexistwithoutthefunctionoflanguage,andtheaccumulationofcultureisalsoconservedthroughlanguage.Asaresult,languageandculturearesupplementarytoeachotheranddependentoneachotherforexistence.Languageitself,asthecarrierandasignificantcompositionofculture,bearsthespecialimprintofculture.Althoughlanguageistheoutcomeofthedevelopmentofsocialculture,languageplaysanessentialroleintheformationanddevelopmentofculture.Thelanguagepeopleusereflectstheirrealthoughtstowardswhattheytalkabout.Language,fromabroadsense,symbolicallystandsforapeopleandmakesuptheirhistoricalandculturalbackgrounds.Likeamirror,languagereflectsthecultureofapeopleandrevealstheirwaysofliving.Cultureisthekeystoneoflanguage.Anykindoflanguagecannotsurviveanddevelopwithoutthesocialcultureenvironment,whichlanguagerelieson.Toacertaindegree,socialculturerestrictslanguage’sevolutionaswellasperfection.Languageitselfhasaninfluenceonpeople’swaysofthinkingandconsequentlyimpactstheculture.However,affectedbyculturegreatly,languagechangeswithcultureundergoingindevelopmentandchange.Justinthecontemporaryworld,millionsofthenewwordsinvariousfieldsprovethatrichandcolorfulculturesmakeallsortsoflanguagescomeintobeing.2.2EuphemismandCultureTheword“euphemism”originatedfromtheGreek.InGreek,theprefix“eu”means“good”withtheroot“pheme”meaning“speech”.Asaresult,theliteralmeaningofeuphemismis“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”(NeamanandSilver1.Euphemismisafrequentlyusedfigureofspeech,andthereareotherdefinitionsofit.AllanandBurridgepresentsthefollowing:“aeuphemismisusedasanalternativetoadispreferredexpression,inordertoavoidpossiblelossofface:eitherone’sownfaceor,throughgivingoffence,thatoftheaudience,orofsomethirdparty”(AllanandBurridge18.ForthereasonthattheformationofEnglishandChineseeuphemismshasvariousways,euphemismscanbedivideddifferentlyinaccordancewithdifferentstandards.TheclassificationemployedinthisthesisisfromHughRawson,who,in1981,classifiedeuphemismsintonegativeeuphemismsandpositiveeuphemismsinhisbookADictionaryofEuphemismsandOtherDoubletalkfromtheaspectofsemantics.Thenegativeeuphemisms,whicharecloselyrelatedtotabooedwords,alsocanbecalledtraditionaleuphemisms.Whatthenegativeeuphemismsandtabooedwordsexpressarethesame.Iflanguages,likesex,disease,physicalandpsychologicaldefects,areexpressedinadirectway,theyarecalledtabooedwords,givingpeopleasenseofvulgarityandrudeness.Butifthelanguagespresentedabovearedeliveredinanindirectway,theyarecalledeuphemisms,grantingpeopleafeelingofconnotation,eleganceandpoliteness.Forexample,peopleinwesterncountriessubstitute“sex”wit