a study on cultural connotation of english euphemism英语委婉语文化内涵的研究毕业论文.docx

a study on cultural connotation of english euphemism英语委婉语文化内涵的研究毕业论文.docx

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astudyonculturalconnotationofenglisheuphemism英语委婉语文化内涵的研究毕业论文

AStudyonCulturalConnotationofEnglishEuphemism

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2013年5月25日

AStudyonCulturalConnotationofEnglishEuphemism

Abstract：

Euphemismisacommonphenomenoninlanguage,whichisakindofspeciallanguageformcreatedbypeopleinsocialactivitiestoseektheidealcommunicationeffect.Inmanycommunicativesituations,itcandisguiseunsatisfying,disgusting,embarrassingandeventerrifyingfactsandphenomena.Atthesametime,itcanmaintainthespeaker’simageandthelistener’sself-esteem,sothatitcouldsavethetwoparties’facesandmakesurethatcommunicationgoonverywell.Therefore,euphemismhasbecomeanessentiallanguagetooltocoordinateinterpersonalrelationship,whichiscalled“thedrivingforceinthecommunication”.

Asalanguagefiguresofspeech,euphemismisalanguagephenomenonaswellasasocialphenomenonandculturalphenomenon.Hence,duetothedifferentculturalbackgroundofeverynation,theusageofeuphemism’isdifferent.ThereareallkindsofeuphemisminEnglish,asalanguagephenomenonithasitsownuniqueorigin,feature,constructivemethod,socialfunctionandsoon,italsofollowacertainlawofdevelopment.EuphemismisanindispensablepartinEnglishcultureaswellasimportanttopicincross-culturalcommunication.Inthisview,beingfamiliarwithandmasteringEnglisheuphemismnotonlyhelpusknowwellthesocialpsychologyandculturalconnotationinBritainandAmericans,butalsosmoothinterpersonalrelationshipandprovokecommunicativeactivitiestoachievetheidealeffect.Thisthesisismadeupoffourparts.Thefirstchaptergivesabriefintroductionaboutthedefinition,originofEnglisheuphemismanddifferentscholars’reviewsaboutEnglisheuphemismfromoverseaanddomestic.Inthesecondchapter,anelaborateanalysisoftheformation,developmentandclassificationofEnglisheuphemism.ChapterthreeintroducestherelationshipsbetweenEnglisheuphemismandculturalconnotation,andhasadetailanalysistofunctionsofEnglisheuphemism.Finally,aconclusionisgiventosummarizetheculturalconnotationofEnglisheuphemism.

Keywords:

Englisheuphemism;socialfunctions;culturalconnotation

AStudyonCulturalConnotationofEnglishEuphemism

英语委婉语文化内涵的研究

摘要：

委婉语是语言中的一种普遍现象,是人们在社会交往中为谋求理想的交际效果而创造的一种特殊语言表达形式，在很多交际场合中，它能掩饰令人不快，厌恶，尴尬甚至恐惧的事实和现象，同时还能维护说话人的形象和听话人的自尊心，从而保全了交际双方的面子，使交际得以顺利进展下去。

因此，委婉语成为交际中必不可少的协调人际关系的一种重要语言工具，被称为“交际中的驱动力”。

委婉语作为语言的一种修辞格，即是一种语言现象，也是一种社会现象和文化现象。

因此，由于每个民族不同的文化背景，委婉语的使用也有所不同，英语中存在不同种类的委婉语。

作为一种语言现象，它有其独特的来源，特点，构成方法，社会功能等，并遵循一定的发展规律。

英语委婉语是英语文化中不可分割的一部分，也是跨文化交际里一个重要的课题，因此，熟悉和掌握英语委婉语不仅能够帮助我们了解英美等国的社会心理和风俗文化，还对改善人际关系，促进交活动达到理想的交际效果有着举足轻重的作用。

本文分为四个部分，第一章主要简述了英语委婉语的定义，起源以及古今中外学者对于英语委婉语的研究与理解，第二章详细分述了英语委婉语的形成，发展与分类，第三章作者在前文的基础上分析了英语委婉语与其文化内涵的关系，同时对英语委婉语的社会功能进行了较为详细的探析，最后一章总结了英语委婉语的文化内涵。

关键词：

英语委婉语；社会功能；文化内涵

Contents

AbstractI

1.Introduction1

1.1DefinitionofEnglishEuphemism1

1.2LiteratureReviewsonEnglishEuphemism1

2.FormationandDevelopmentofEnglishEuphemism3

2.1DevelopmentofEnglishEuphemism3

2.1.1OriginofEnglishEuphemism3

2.1.2DevelopmentofEnglishEuphemism4

2.2ClassificationofEnglishEuphemism5

2.2.1TraditionalEuphemism5

2.2.2Stylisticeuphemism6

3.CulturalConnotation6

3.1RelationshipbetweenEnglishEuphemismandCulturalConnotation.............6

3.1.1ReligiousBeliefs6

3.1.2SocialPsychology7

3.1.3PoliticalLife7

3.1.4BusinessActivity7

3.2FunctionsofEnglishEuphemism8

3.2.1SubstitutionforTaboo8

3.2.2Showingpoliteness8

3.2.3Dissimulation9

4.Conclusion10

References...................................................................................................................11

Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………...12

AStudyonCulturalConnotationofEnglishEuphemism

1.Introduction

1.1DefinitionofEnglishEuphemism

EuphemismisoriginatedfromaGreekwordinwhichitsprefix“eu”means“good,well”andtheroot“pheme”means“speechorsaying”.Thatistosay,theliteralmeaningofeuphemismistospeakwithsomegoodwords.

Infact,Englisheuphemismhasexperiencedalonghistory,andwecantracebackitsorigintotheancienttimes,theearlyperiodofhumancivilization.In1066,theNormanConquest,Anglo-Saxonsreplacedthereligioustabooswitheuphemisticexpressions.Whenitcametoeighteenthandnineteenthcenturies,Englisheuphemismbecamemoreandmorepopularandwidelyusedaroundtheworld.Intwentiethcentury,withtherapiddevelopmentofscienceandtechnology,theeuphemismhadinvolvedeveryfieldsintheworld,alotofneweuphemismssprungup.Nowadays,euphemismtendstobemature,itisnotonlyusedasonerhetoricalmeans,butalsoonestrategywhichcannotbeignoredinourdailylife.

1.2LiteratureReviewsonEnglishEuphemism

Theword“euphemism”isfirstrecordedinThomasBlount’sGlossographia（1656）whereitwasdefinedas“agoodorfavorableinterpretionofabadword”.TheAmericanlinguistMenchen（1936）writesabookTheAmericanLanguage,whichanalyzeshundredsofeuphemismscameintobeingandbecamepopularwhichprovidesafoundationforfurtherstudiesofeuphemism.Inthe7thEditionoftheConciseOxfordDictionary（1982）,Englisheuphemismisdescribedas“substitutionofmildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshofdirectone”.AccordingtoAllanandBurridge,intheirbookentitledEuphemismandDysphemism,“Aeuphemismisusedasanalternativetoadispreferredexpression,inordertoavoidpossiblelossofface:

eitherone’sownface,orthroughgivingoffense,thatoftheaudience,orofsomethirdparty”.BritishlinguistRawsonHugh（1981）findsoutthattheextensivediscussionofdefinition,classification,featuresanddomainsofeuphemismshowtheinvaluableacademicimportanceofeuphemisminthedictionaryoneuphemismcalledADictionaryofEuphemismsandOtherDouble-talk.InDictionaryofLanguageandLinguistics,euphemismisdefinedas“Akindofexpressingmethodwhichaimsatnotmakingpeoplefeelembarrassedbyusingsomewordswithvagueandambiguousmeaninginsteadofthosewhichmaymakepeopleunpleasantandnotrespected”.Euphemismiscloselyrelatedtotaboohasdrawngreatattentionfromtheearlytime.Lewis,J（1985）.inhisFaireofSpeech:

theUseofEuphemism,acollectionofmanypiecesofessayseachconcerningaspecificdomain,tellsushowtouseeuphemismtospeakmorepolitelyandproperly.In2000,Fasold.RwroteabookTheSociolinguisticsofLanguage,anentirechapterofwhichcoversthestudyandanalysisofeuphemismbyfocusingonnotonlythehistoricalandsocialbackgroundofeuphemism,butalsothenatureofthissocialphenomenon.

InChina,thestudyofeuphemismbeganlaterthanthewestern.ChinesescholarChenWangdao（1962）wroteabookTheDevelopmentofEuphemism,whichisoneoftheearliestbooksonhissubjectinwhicheuphemismisclearlydefinedandstudiedfromarhetoricperspective.What’smore,hepointedthateuphemismisfoundnotonlyinlexicalwordsbutalsoinsentencesorevendiscourse.FanJiancai（1996）givesadetaileddescriptionofeuphemisminhisbookAppreciationandAnalysisofEnglishRhetoric.Bythevividexamples,FanJiancaidiscussestheconstructingcauses,characteristicsandconstructingmethodsofeuphemism.Hearguesthat“BigHarry”isusedtoindicatethedrug“heroin”,“sunset”or“Goldenage”isusedasametaphorof“oldage”,and“MissEmma”isusedtoreferto“morphine”.AccordingtoGuoXiumei（1985）“Euphemismisthesubstitutionofpresumablyinoffensivewordforonethatmightgiveoffence,euphemismisasoften,bland,neutralexpressionsusedinsteadofonethatmightsuggestsomethingunpleasant”.Infact,itisthelinguistZhangZhigong（1982）thatbroughttheresearchofeuphemismintothescopeoflexicology.In1970s,westerntheoriesofsocio-linguisticswereintroducedintoChinaandmanyscholarsbegantoconductresearchonthesocialfunctionsofEnglisheuphemism.ChenYuan（1983）oneofthemostoutstandingscholars,devotesaspecialchaptertothestudyandanalysisofeuphemisminSociolinguistics,providingnotonlywiththehistoricalandsocialbackgroundofeuphemism,butalsowiththenatureofthissocialphenomenon.LiuChunbao（1993）compiledADictionaryofEnglishEuphemismwhichisanoverallcollectionofEnglisheuphemismsinmanydomains.Itdistinguishestheoriginalmeaningsfromtheeuphemisticmeaningsofthewords,itisausefultoolforChineselearnerstomasterEnglisheuphemism.ItspublicationindicatestheexplicitnessofthestudyofEnglisheuphemismbyChinesescholars.

Fromtheabovementioned,wecansayuntilnow,euphemismhasbeenstillstudiedbyforeignandChinesescholars,andwebelievethatthistopicwillgoonwiththedevelopmentofourhumanlanguage.

2.FormationandDevelopmentofEnglishEuphemism

2.1DevelopmentofEnglishEuphemism

2.1.1OriginofEnglishEuphemism

TheearliestEnglisheuphemismscamefrom“taboo”.Itindicatesevasivelanguageoraction.TheemergenceofEnglisheuphemismistomeettheneedofavoidingtaboos.Inhumanprimitivesociety,peoplecan’texplainsomethingssuchasailmentorsomesupernaturalphenomena.“Peoplehaveconfusionbetweenthenameofthethingsandthingsthemselves.Thenameisviewedasanextensionofthings.Justastheidiomsays‘Speakofdevilandheappears’.Naturallythewordsorphrasesrelatedtothetaboos.Intheancienttimes,peoplehadablindfaithinghostsandGodswhichtheyscaredandrespected.Theywhisperedandevenfearedthem,sotheydidnotdaretocallouttheirnamesdirectly.Theythink