英语委婉语7Word文件下载.docx

英语委婉语7Word文件下载.docx

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1.Introduction

Euphemismreferstomild,agreeable,orroundaboutwordsusedinplaceofcoarse,painful,oroffensiveones.Inthebeginningwastheword,therefollowed,atanundeterminedbutoneassumesdecentintervalprivate,harsh,anddirtywords.Inventionherebeingthemotherofnecessity,theneedforeuphemismarose.Ineverysociety,therearecertainthingsthatarenotsupposedtobespeakableormentioneddirectly.Afairnumberofwordsarelabeled0frivolous,vulgar,oratleastinconsiderate.Butincommunication,forbettermaintainingsocialrelationshipandexchangingideas,peoplehavetoresorttoakindoflanguage,whichcanmakedistastefulideasseemacceptableorevendesirable.Thistypeoflanguageisdefineda“euphemism”inlinguisticsanditcomesinavarietyofformsandisusedforavarietyreasons.Unlikeotherfigurativelanguagedevices,forexample,themetaphorofpoetryorprose,euphemismaimstosurpriseandentertain（Lee,1966:

125）,strivestoavoidoffensebymeansofcircumlocution.Asacommunicativeskill---“feelingitlikeitisn’t（Time,1978:

164）euphemismaboundsinourlife.Euphemismsarepowerfullinguisticdeviceswhich“areembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhoseonbeingplainspoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem（Rawson,1981:

245）.”

Muchresearchhasbeendoneoneuphemismbecauseofitsprominenceinlanguage.Alotofgreatworkscameintobeingduringthestudyofeuphemism,whichlayafoundationforfurtherresearch.In1936,inhisbookTheAmericanLinguisticMeneken,fullydiscussedwhyhundredsofeuphemismhadbeenbornandbecomepopularonthebasisofAmericanhistoryandsocialalteredbackground.Hisbookisavaluablelegacyforeuphemismstudy.In1981,BritishlinguistHughRawsoncompliedADictionaryofEuphemismandotherDoubleTalkswhichembodiestheachievementsofresearchoneuphemismoverthedecadesbymanyBritishandAmericanlinguists.

Theeuphemismisonephenomenonoflanguageinhumansociety,whichisanimportantmethodofharmonizingtherelationshipbetweenpeople.Itisafigureofspeech.Becauseofitsstrongpersuasionandgoodeffectofmodification,itspreadsineachlevel,eachquoinintheworld,andisappreciatedbypeopleverymuch.EnglisheuphemismalsobecomeaninalienablepartintopicoftheTrans-Culturehumanrelations.

2.TheProductionofEnglishEuphemism

2.1TheDefinitionofEnglishEuphemism

Theword“euphemism”originatesinGreekprefix“eu”whichmeans“good,soundingwell”andstem“pheme”whichmeans“speechorsaying”.Itwordingmeaningis“useofpleasant,mildorindirectwordorphraseinplaceofmoreaccurateordirectwords.”#

Nodoubt,euphemismisawidelyandfrequentlyusedfigureofspeech.Asahotresearchissueinthefieldoflinguistics,itneedsaconciseanddefinitecriterimtojudgethescopeofeuphemism.

ThedefinitionofeuphemisminTheRadomHouseCollegeDictionaryis:

thesubstitutionofamild,indirect,orvagueexpressionforonethoughttobeoffensive,harshorblunt.Itsmeaningistouseonekindofpleasant,tactfulcourteous,soundsthepleasingtotheearwordsandexpressionstosubstituteunpleasant,uncouthlyimpolite,soundsthegratingwordsandexpressions.AmericanscholarsHughRawsononcesaid:

“Theeuphemismissodeepsubmergesourlanguagedeeplythatnoneofuscangetdownonedaywithoutusingeuphemism,eventhesameforthosewhobragsthemselvesthestraightforwardperson（刘寅齐,2000:

36）.”

Therearesomeotherdefinitionofeuphemism:

（1）usedasanalternativetoadispreferredexpression,inordertoavoidpossiblelossofface:

citherone’sownfaceorthroughgivingoffense,thatoftheaudienceorofsomethirdparty.（Allen,K.andBurridge,K.,1971:

18）

（2）Euphemism,beingoneofthefiguresofspeech:

isthe“diplomatic”wayofusingalessoffensiveorlessdirectwordorphraseorphraseorsayingtoreplacesomethingunpleasantorharsh.Inanotherwords,aeuphemismisarefinedandmildtonethatexpressathingthatisotherwisemoreunpleasant-to-theear.Therefore,itisoneofthewaysweavoidunpleasanthappeningsthatusuallyresultfromindelicatespeechorsaying（汪福祥,1998:

379）.AndthedefinitionputforwardbyChenYuancombinestheeuphemismwithtaboowordsandrevealsthedirectrelationbetweeneuphemismandtaboowhichhasbeenacceptedbyChineselinguists.

Thoughscholarsathomeandaboardhavedefinedeuphemismdifferentlyfromdifferentperspectives,theabove-mentioneddefinitionssharesomefeatures:

1.Thepurposeofusingeuphemismistoavoiddirectlyspeakingouttheunpleasantortabooreferencelikedeath,thedeed,thesupernatural,etc…

2. 

Euphemismisakind