英语委婉语的运用研究.docx

英语委婉语的运用研究.docx

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英语委婉语的运用研究

CONTENTS

Abstract………….…………………..………………………………………….……1

1.Introduction………..…………………..…………………………………….……1

2.StudiesonEnglishEuphemism………...…………………..……………….….…1

2.1ThedefinitionofEnglisheuphemism………...……….……..……...…….………1

2.2TheclassificationofEnglisheuphemism…….……………..….…...…….……….2

3.MotivationoftheUseofEnglishEuphemism..…………………..….….………3

3.1Avoidingtaboo...…………………………………………………..…….…...……3

3.2Beingpoliteandconsiderate………..…………………………….…...……..……4

3.3Fordisguising…...………………..……………………………………….….……4

3.4Forencouragingothers………..………………………………………………...…5

4.PragmaticAnalysisofEnglishEuphemismunderCooperativePrincipleand

PolitenessPrinciple…………………..………………………………………………5

4.1CooperativePrincipleandEnglisheuphemism……………..….….……….……..6

4.2.EuphemismviolatingCooperativePrinciple…………..….….……………….…..6

4.3.PolitenessPrincipleandEnglisheuphemism…………...…….……………….….9

4.4EuphemismobservingPolitenessPrinciple……………..….….………..…….….10

5.Conclusion.…………………..…………………………………………...…….…12

References.…………………..……………………………………….…..…….……13

礼貌原则和合作原则下英语委婉语的运用研究

【摘要】委婉语是语言使用中协调人际关系的一个重要手段，是一种用曲折的方式表达说话者思想的特殊的表达方式。

它掩饰了一些不愉快的、冒犯的、尴尬的事实来保护交际中双方的面子。

因此，英语委婉语常常被认为是语言交流中的润滑剂。

近年来，语言学者们从不同角度对这一语言现象进行分析研究，并取得了一定成就。

但由于委婉语的使用在很大程度上受语境的影响，而且随着时间的推移而变化。

因此本文在前人研究的基础上重新定义了英语委婉语，分析英语委婉语的分类及使用动机,然后以语用学研究的一些基本理论为指导来解读委婉语，阐释英语委婉语和合作原则的关系、英语委婉语和礼貌原则的关系，从而得出结论：

为了保证双方交际的顺利进行，英语委婉语常常以违反合作原则的各准则为代价来遵守礼貌原则。

【关键词】英语委婉语；禁忌语；掩饰；合作原则；礼貌原则

AStudyonApplicationofEnglishEuphemismunderCooperativePrincipleandPolitenessPrinciple

福建师范大学2007级英语

118592007XXXXXX指导老师：

XXX

[Abstract]Euphemismisanimportantmeansoflanguageuseincoordinatinginterpersonalrelationships.Itisaspecialexpressiontoextendpeople’sideasinatortuousway.Englisheuphemismcoversupsomeunpleasant,offensiveandembarrassedfactstosavefacesofbothsidesincommunication.Therefore,itisoftenregardedasthe"lubricant"oflanguage.Inrecentyears,linguisticscholarshavemadeanalysisofthislanguagephenomenonfromdifferentanglesandhaveattainedcertainachievementsinthisfield.However,astheuseofeuphemismlargelydependsonthecontextandchangesasthetimegoingon,sobasedonthestudyofformerscholars,thearticlefirstlyredefinesEnglisheuphemism,discussingitsclassificationandmotivationontheuseofEnglisheuphemism.AndthensomebasicpragmatictheoriesarequotedtoillustratetherelationshipbetweenEnglisheuphemismandCooperativePrinciple,andtherelationshipbetweenEnglisheuphemismandPolitenessPrinciple.Thentheconclusionisdrawnintheendthatinordertomakethecommunicationcarriedoutsmoothly,EnglisheuphemismalwaysobservesthePPatthecostofintentionallyviolatingtheCP.

[KeyWords]EnglishEuphemism;taboos;disguise;CooperativePrinciple;PolitenessPrinciple

1.Introduction

Euphemismissowidelyusedinourlifethathardlycanweignoreitsexistence.Wecancomeacrossitanywhere,infilmsandtelevisions,intheparkandonthestreetcorner.Asanimportantpartoflanguageandalinguisticphenomenon,euphemismisdeeplyrootedinoursociallifeandreflectsoursocialvaluesandculturalvalues.“They（euphemisms）areembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplain-spoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem”（HughRawson,1981:

1）.

2.StudiesonEnglisheuphemism

2.1.ThedefinitionofEnglisheuphemism

Euphemismisanimportantmeansintheinterpersonalrelations.Theword“euphemism”derivedfromtheGreekword“euphemisos”,with“eu”means“goodorsoundingwell”and“pheme”means“speech”or“saying”,andthusmeansliterally“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”（NeamanandSilver,1983:

1）.

Asaspecialtoolofexpression,euphemismhasbeendefinedvariouslyinbooksanddictionariesbydifferentscholars.Herearesomeavailabledefinitionsasfollows:

1）.Thesubstitutionofamild，indirect，orvagueexpressionforonethoughttobeoffensive，harshorblunt（TheRandomHouseCollegeDictionary,1979）.

2）.Awordorexpressionthatpeopleusewhentheywanttotalkaboutsomethingunpleasantorembarrassingwithmentioningthethingitself（MacmillanEnglishdictionary,2002）.

3）.Anindirectwordorphrasethatpeopleoftenusetorefertosomethingembarrassingorunpleasant,sometimestomakeitseemmoreacceptablethanitreallyis（OxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary（6thedition）,2004）.

4）.Theuseofmildorvaguewordstodisguisesomethingharshandunpleasant（HeinemannBilingualEnglish-ChineseDictionary,2005）.

Fromthedefinitionssuggestedabove,it’snotdifficulttofindoutthecommonpointthateuphemismisdefinedfromthesemanticperspectiveandthepurposeistomakeunpleasantthingssoundbetter,makelistenerandspeakerfeelbetterandcomfortablewithoutlosingtheirfaces.

2.2.TheclassificationofEnglisheuphemism

2.2.1Positiveeuphemismsandnegativeeuphemisms

AlthoughEnglisheuphemismiswidelyusedandhasvariousexpressions,thereareseveraluniversallyrecognizedtypesofclassificationsaccordingtodifferentstandards.HughRawson（1981）dividedeuphemismintopositiveandnegativeintermsofsemantics.

Positiveeuphemismscanalsobecalledstylisticones,which“inflateandmagnifythewordmeaning,makingtheeuphemizedseemaltogethergranderandmoreimportantthantheyreallyare”（Rawson,1981:

1）.Insomecultures,thereisatendencytoelevatealowhumblestatustoahighdecentposition.Forinstance,“madhouse”isupgradedtobe“mentalhouse”or“mentalhealthcenter”,“garbagemen”tobe“sanitationengineers”,“secretary”tobe“administrativeassistant”.Thiskindofeuphemismsisusuallyusedinsomeformaloccasions.

Incontrast,negativeeuphemisms“deflateanddiminishthewordmeaning,offsettingthepoweroftabooedtermsandotherwiseeradicatingfromthelanguageeverythingthatpeopleprefernottodealwithdirectly.”（Rawson,1981:

1）.Negativeeuphemismsareoldandancient,whichhavecloserelationwithtaboos,andarealsocalled“traditionaleuphemisms”.Deathandfuneral,diseasesanddisabilities,sexandreproduction,partsofthebody,etc,arealltabooedtopicsthatshouldbeeuphemized.

2.2.2Unconsciouseuphemismsandconsciouseuphemisms

Accordingtowhetherpeopleremembertheiroriginalmotivationsornot,alleuphemisms,whetherpositiveornegative,canbedividedintotwoclassifications---unconsciousandconsciousbyHughRawson（1981:

3）.Unconsciouseuphemismsrefertothoseofwhichoriginaldenotationshavebeenforgottenbypeopleforquitealongtime.Suchastheword“ass”isreplacedby“donkey”,and“rooster”ismoreoftenusedthan"cock".However,whenpeopleuseconsciouseuphemisms,theyknowtheiroriginalmeaningsaswellastheirimpliedmeanings.Forexample,peopleprefer“beautician”to“barber”,“sanitationengineer”to“garbagecollector”,and“nightlady”or“streetwalker”to“prostitute”.

2.2.3OtherclassificationsofEnglisheuphemisms

Apartfromtheclassificationsmentionedabove,Englisheuphemismscanbedividedintoeuphemismsofdeath，euphemismsofsex，euphemismsofoccupation，euphemismsofpoliticsandeuphemismsofeducationintermsoftheircontents.

Fromthelengthoftimetheyareused,Englisheuphemismsalsocanfallintoinstantaneouseuphemismsandcontinuouseuphemisms.Instantaneouseuphemismsrefertothoseonlyusedforashortperiodoftime，theeuphemismabouttheVietnamWarorWatergateScandalprovetobeagoodcase.Whilecontinuouseuphemismslivemuchlonger.EvensomecanbeusedforgenerationsandhavebecomeapartofEnglishidioms.

3.MotivationontheuseofEnglisheuphemism

AstudyoneuphemismgivesusagoodwaytobeawareofEnglishcultures.Euphemismisgeneratedandusedforalotofreasons.Itisusedforavoidingtaboo,fordisguising,forbeingpoliteandconsiderate,andforencouragingothers.

3.1Avoidingtaboo

Euphemismcanbeusedtoavoidtaboosassociatedwithsanctity,suchasthenamesofGodintheChristiancommunity.Duetoscientificrestrictionsintheancient,thenature’sgreatforcemakespeoplebelievethatitcandominatethingsinuniverseandinfluencethebehaviorsofmeniftheydosomethingtodesecrateit.SostandinginaweofGod,peopledarenotaddresshimbynamedirectly.Theyuseeuphemismtoreplacetheunluckyword,whichisregardedassacredorscared.Thusassociatedeuphemismsappear,suchas“theCreator”,“theEternal”,“theSavior”and“theRedeemer”（LiuChunbao,2001:

594）.

Theinteractionbetweensuperstitionandlanguagehasalsoturnedmanywordsassociatedwithunluckyordangerousmatterintaboos,whichinturn,leadtothecreationofeuphemisms.Themostsignificantexampleofthiskindis“death”.Peoplealwaysuseanumberofwordswhicharenotsoharshtoreplace“die”.InEnglishweoftenfinddifferentexpressions,suchas“he’sgone,depart,departfromtheworldforever,decease,passaway,breatheone’slast,gothewayofallflesh,payone’sdebttonature,gotoabetterworld,beinheaven,bewithGod,etc”（FanLiqun,2008:

103）.Thiskindofeuphemisticwordsobviouslyrevealpeople’sunwillingnesstodealwiththeinevitablefactoflife.

3.2Beingpoliteandconsiderate

Directwordsrelatedtocertainbehaviorssuchasoldage,pregnancy,disability,etc,arealwaysavoidedindailylife.Speakingbluntlyaboutthemwillleadtoembarrassment,unpleasantnessorimpoliteness.Sowhenpeopleinevitablyneedtoaddresswordsofthesetopics,theyoftenpreferindirect,vagueandeuphemisticwordstoexpressthem.Forexample,whenreferringtopeopleinoldage,peopleutterthattheyare“seasonedmen”or“wellpreserve