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多年来,语言学者们分别从不同角度对这一语言现象进行分析研究。
同时,它独特的语用功能也成为当前社会语用学研究的重要课题。
本文通过借鉴前人的研究成果,从语言学的角度来分析,探讨委婉语的产生,分类,构成,委婉语的使用对语言系统与交际的影响,委婉语在人际会话中的功能和应用。
本文旨在通过对委婉语产生动因和社会功能意义的分析,为言语交际和社会交流服务,从而认清在人际交往中委婉语使用的重要意义,以减少交际失误,避免人际冲突,改善人际关系。
[关键词]委婉语;
人际会话;
功能;
应用
Abstract
Euphemismisacommonphenomenoninlanguages.Ithasagreateffectondailycommunication.Peopleuseeuphemismbecausetheyfearsomething,becausetheywanttosavefaceorbecausetheystronglyinclinetoavoidtalkingaboutsomething.Withthedevelopmentofmodernsociety,ithasbecomeanimportantelementinpeople’sinteractions.HughRawson(1981)hasalsoaffirmed“Euphemismsareembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplain-spoken,evengetthroughadaywithoutusingthem”.Soitisnotsurprisingthateuphemismhaslongbeenafocusofinterestinlinguisticcircle,andaconsiderableamountofliteratureoneuphemismshasbeenaccumulating.
Withtheprogressofsocietyanddevelopmentofhumancivilization,euphemismaccompaniestheprocessoflanguagecommunicationofthewholesociety.Manylinguistsandscholarshavestudiedthelinguisticphenomenonfromdifferentangles.Basedontheirachievements,thepaperwillhaveanexplorationtheprinciplesandwaysofusingEnglisheuphemism,makeabriefintroductionandclassificationofeuphemism,introducesocialfunctionandapplicationofeuphemism.Euphemismsarealinguistictechniqueforpeopletoachievevariousgoalsincommunication.Therefore,encodingeuphemismscorrectlyandusingthemproperlyarecloselyrelatedtowhetheranindividualcanconductsuccessfulcommunication.
[KeyWords]euphemism;
communication;
function;
application
OnFunctionandApplicationofEnglishEuphemisminCommunication
Introduction
Peopleallovertheworldtrytousemildandagreeablelanguagewhilespeakingofunpleasantorembarrassingfacts.Almostallpeople,allthetime,seemtohavecertainthingsornotionsthattheyavoidmentioningdirectly.Sometimespeoplewouldliketousepleasant,politeoratleastharmless-soundingevenflatterytermsinsteadofthoseconsideredunpleasantoroffensiveeventrouble-making.
Howtouselanguagetermsandsentencestoavoidmentioningsomethingunpleasantorunlucky;
howtoavoidusing“directorvulgarwords”whichusuallyrefertotaboosubjects?
Sincewearelivinginthemodernworldandinapolite,civilizedsociety,weneedacertainwaytoexpressourselvesinsomeawkwardsituationsinwhicheuphemism,asanindirectspeech,willsurelyhelpus.
Asaverypartoflanguageandacommonlinguisticphenomenon,euphemismissowidelyusedinourdailylife.Everysociety,everyspeechcommunity,everysocialclasshasitseuphemism.Tospeakeuphemisticallyisauniversaltrait.Whatiseuphemism?
Whypeopleuseeuphemism?
Whyshouldwespeakeuphemistically?
Wheniseuphemismused?
Howcanwereadintothem?
Suchkindsofproblemsarerathercomplex.Forthecircumstancesandconditionsunderthemdifferfrompersontoperson,fromprofessiontoprofessionevenfromclasstoclass,whichmeansthateuphemismisnotonlyalinguisticphenomenonbutalsoaculturalandsocialphenomenon.Therefore,Peopleoftenuseeuphemismtomaketheatmosphereofcommunicationmoreactive,andmakethepeople’srelationshipmoreharmonious.ThisthesistriestoexplorethefunctionandapplicationofEnglisheuphemismfrompragmaticsangle,toshowtheuseofeuphemismisveryimportantindailylifetoachievesuccessfulsocialcommunication.
1.ABriefIntroductionofEuphemism
1.1TheDefinitionofEuphemism
AccordingtotheexplanationintheConciseOxfordEnglishDictionary,theword“euphemism”originatedfromGreekeuphemismosandfromeuphemizeinwhichmeans“useauspiciouswords”.Analyzingfromtheformationofthisword,itiscomprisedoftheprefix“eu”whichmeans“good”andafoot“pheme”whichmeans“speaking”.Thusthewordliterallymeans“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”.(NeamanandSilver,1983:
60)Thatistosay,“euphemismisusedasanalternativetounpleasantexpression,inordertoavoidpossibleloseofface,eitherone’sownfaceorthroughgoingoffense,thatoftheaudience,orsomeofthirdofparty”.(AllanandBurridge,1991:
18)
Differentscholarshavedifferentexplanationsofeuphemismfromvariousperspectives,butallthedefinitionssharethebasicidea:
Euphemismisanindirect,roundaboutandpolitemodeofexpressionusedtomeansomethingunpleasant.Incommunication,itcanmaketheunpleasantthingssoundbetter,andmakepeoplefeelgood;
itcanalsoensureboththespeakerandthehearersafewithoutlosingface.
Withthefastdevelopmentofmodernsociety,themeaningofeuphemismhasbeengreatlyenriched,expandingfromthelevelofwordtothelevelofsentence,paragraph,andeventhewholepassage;
thescopeofeuphemismhasalsobeenextendedfromthetraditionalfieldsofdeitiesanddevils,partsofhumanbody,diseasesanddeathtosuchsensitivefieldsofcontemporarylifeasoccupation,laws,politics,advertisementandsoon.
1.2SociolinguisticStudyofEuphemism
Euphemism,foralongtime,hasbeendiscussedbymanyscholars,suchasRawson,Leech,etc.intheirrespectivefieldsofresearch.Theirstudiesaremainlyfocusedonthreeareas:
rhetoric,semantic,lexicalanddictionarycompiling.Therhetoricviewtreatseuphemismasafigureofspeech,closelyrelatedtolinguistictaboos.Itrevealstheinformation,classificationofeuphemismandtheirrelationtotaboos.
Thesemanticpointviewtakeseuphemismasan“associativeengineering”,i.e.replacingawordhavingoffensiverelationshipwithanotherexpression,whichmakesnoovertreferencetotheunpleasantsideofthesubject,andmayevenbea“positivemisnomer”(Leech,1983:
45).Theresearchersexploretheoriginandformationofeuphemismsintermsoftheirsemanticfeatures.Itlargelyfocusesonthesemanticcausesofeuphemisms.
Lexicalpointofviewordictionarycompilingisawaywidelyadoptedbymanyscholarswhosemajorconcernistocollectandcategorizeeuphemismsfordictionaries.Thiswaymainlydealswiththemeaningofeacheuphemismanditsrelationtootherterms.
Euphemismisasocio-culturallanguagephenomenon.Socio-linguististsstudytheeffectofsocialclasses,gender,age,profession,relationshipofhumanbeingsandsocialgeographyonlanguage.So,thispaperwillmakearesearchonhowsomeofthesefactorsinfluenceoneuphemisms.
2.CooperativePrincipleandPolitenessPrincipleinEuphemism
2.1CooperativePrinciple
Insocialsciencegenerallyandlinguisticsspecifically,thecooperativeprincipledescribeshowpeopleinteractwithoneanother.CooperativePrincipleisproposedbyPaulGrice,whohasconcernedhimselfwithphilosophicalissueswithlanguage.AsphrasedbyPaulGrice,“Makeyourcontributionsuchasitisrequired,atthestageatwhichitoccurs,bytheacceptedpurposeordirectionofthetalkexchangeinwhichyouareengaged.”Theprincipleisintendedasadescriptionofhowpeoplenormallybehaveinconversation.InLogicandConversation,Gricedistinguishesitfourcategories:
Quantity,Quality,Relation,andManner.(Grice,1975:
48)Underthesefourcategories,hefurtherprovidesMaximswhichguidethespeakerandhearerinconversations.Thefollowingsarethefourmaxims:
Themaximofquantity:
a)makeyourcontributionasinformativeasrequired;
b)donotmakeyourcontributionmoreinformativethanrequired.
Themaximofquality:
Trytomakeyourcontributiononethatistrue.a)donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse;
b)donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.
Themaximofrelation:
Makeyourcontributionrelevant.
Themaximofmanner:
Beperspicuous,andspecifically.a)avoidobscurity;
b)avoidambiguity;
c)bebrief;
d)beorderly.
2.2PolitenessPrinciple
PolitenessphenomenonisuniversalalmostinalllanguagesandthePolitenessPrincipleisoneofthemostinfluentialtheoriesconcerningpoliteness.MentioningthePolitenessPrinciple,onewillthinkofLeech’sPolitenessPrinciple.Whatismore,PPasoneofcommunicativeprinciples,manyscholarshaveresearchit.ItisgenerallyrecognizedthattheBrown,LevinsonandLeechetc.researchedthisprincipleinthe1970s,andhasgreatlycontributedtopolitenessstudies.Thisalsoshowsthatmoreandmorepeoplehaverealizedtheneedandimportancetocarryoutresearchonpoliteness.Whatismore,peopleneedtocommunicatewithotherpeoplefrequentlyandpolitenessisoneoftheimportantthingstheyshouldbearinmindtoensuresmoothandsuccessfulcommunication.OneofthegroundrulesinsocialcommunicationisanagreementbetweenthedifferentpartiesthateveryoneshouldoperatewiththetheoryoffaceandthePPinmind.Everytimewhenpeopleopentheirmouthstheyhavetoconsiderwhetherwhattheysayislikelytomaintainthefaceofothersandshowsthattheyarepolite,becauseitisconventionaltoappeartobepolite,whateverone’struefeelings.Andeuphemismisanimportantmeanstoavoidanypotentialfaceaffronttotheothersandtoshowpolitenesstotheothers.
Ontheotherhand,advancesinscienceandtechnologyhavegraduallyeliminatedthedistanceoftimeandspaceandgreatlycontributedtoeasierandmorefrequenthumancommunication,puttingthestudyofpolitenessonahighagenda.Wherethereiscommunication,therearepolitenessstudies.Asaresult,politenessasaresearchtopicofmuchconcernhasbeenandisenjoyingm