看中国和美国的文化差异Word格式文档下载.docx

看中国和美国的文化差异Word格式文档下载.docx

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编号：

准考证号：

010********7

姓名：

于璐

指导老师：

日期：

2012年4月日

Abstract:

Euphemismisonekindoffiguresofspeech,anditreferstothesubstitutionofmildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshordirectone.Withthedevelopmentofthehumansociety,euphemismplaysamoreandmoreimportantroleinourdailylife.Euphemismisacommonlanguagestrategyincommunication.Thispaperisbasedonthecontrastiveanalysisanddesignedtostudythedefinition,pragmaticfunction,historyofeuphemismanditsusageincommonlife.Thispaperfocusesonthedifferentattitudestowardsbirth,death,age,aestheticsenseandsoonbetweenChineseandAmericanpeople,andtheanalysisofthesocialfoundationofthesedifferences,inordertorepresenttheinfluenceofdifferentideologybackground,thatis,ChristianityinAmericaandConfucianisminChina.Throughthispaper,thereadercouldunderstandtheculturaldifferencesbetterandachievesmoothcross-culturalcommunication.

Keywords:

euphemismsculturaldifferencescomparisonConclusionPrivacy

摘要：

委婉语是一种修辞，它主要是指用温和的、模糊的或迂回的表达方式来代替苛刻的或直接的表达方式。

随着人类社会的发展，委婉语在我们的日常生活中扮演越来越重要的角色。

委婉语在交际中是一种通用的语言策略。

这篇论文是基于对委婉语的对比分析，旨在研究委婉语的定义、语用功能、历史以及其在日常生活中的应用。

本文着重对比中国人和美国人在出生、死亡、年龄、审美意识等方面的不同态度，并分析这些不同点的社会基础，主要是为了呈现美国的基督教和中国的儒家思想对不同的意识形态背景所产生的影响。

通过本文，读者可以更好地了解文化差异并实现流畅的跨文化交流。

关键词：

委婉语，文化，差异，对比，结论，隐私。

Content

1.Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.Abriefintroductionofeuphemism------------------------------------------------------4

2.1Thedefinitionofeuphemism-----------------------------------------------------------

2.2AbriefhistoryofEnglishandChineseeuphemism-------------------------------

2.2.1AbriefhistoryofEnglisheuphemism----------------------------------------------

2.2.2AbriefhistoryofChineseeuphemism---------------------------------------------

3.TheculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandAmericaviewedfromeuphemism----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.Introduction

Withthedevelopmentoftheworld,cross-culturalcommunicationgrowstobeanecessityineveryone’slife.Asweknow,thedefinitionofcultureisthat“itisthesystemofsharedbeliefs,values,customs,behaviors,andartifactsthatthemembersofsocietyusetocopewiththeirworldandwithoneanother,andthataretransmittedfromgenerationtogenerationthroughlearning.”[1]ChineseandAmericansareborntodifferentculturesandtheyaredifferentinmanyaspects,soculturaldifferencesarethehinderofthecross-culturalcommunicationandhowtoclearawaytheobstaclehasbecometheproblemthattheworldhastoface.

Owingtothecreationanddevelopmentofthelanguage,humanculturecouldtransmitfromgenerationtogeneration.Languageisnotonlythecarrierofculture,butalsotherepresentativeofit.Languageisinfluencedbyculture,anditreflectsculture.Theunderstandingofonerequirestheunderstandingoftheother.

Inthelongperiodofevolutionandpractice,humanbeingshavebeenknowingandremakingtheobjectiveworld,andinthemeantimetheyhavebeenestablishinganddevelopingtheirownlanguagesandcultures,thusformingvariouslanguagepatternsandculturalcommunities.

Aspartoflanguage,euphemismshaveexistedthroughoutrecordedhistoryandwiththedevelopmentofsociety,itpermeateseveryfield.Euphemismsare“mild,pleasantorinoffensiveexpressionssubstitutedforharsh,blunt,coarseorunpleasantones.”[2]Thereasonswhypeopleusethemarecomplicated.Sometimestheyareusedforavoidingtaboos;

andsometimestheyareusedforbeingpoliteorconsideringthefeelingsofotherpeople.“Withouteuphemisms,theworldcomestoahaltbecauseofthefricationandresentmentswouldariseamongpeople.”[3]Howtouseandunderstandeuphemismbecomesmoreandmoreimportantnowadays.Asamatteroffact,itisamirrorthatreflectsitsownculture,sothestudyofeuphemismmayclearawaytheobstacleincertaindegree.ThereareabundanteuphemismsbothinChineseandEnglishandtheyflourishindifferentcultures.Sincetherearedifferentcultures,differentcomprehensionofeuphemismmightcausetheconflictbetweenthesetwopeoples.Sothroughthestudyofeuphemism,wecanhaveabetterunderstandingoftheculturaldifferencesbetweenChineseandAmerican,andthencommunicatebetterduringtheprocess.

2.Abriefintroductionofeuphemism

2.1Thedefinitionofeuphemism

Theword“euphemism”comesfromaGreekword,“eu-”meaning“good”and“-pheme”meaning“speech”or“saying”,andthusitsliterarymeaningis“agoodspeechorgoodsaying”.Lateron,euphemismisdefineddifferentlyandmoreprecisely.IntheNewEditionoftheOxfordConciseDictionary（1976）,itisdescribed

as“substitutionofmildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshordirectone.”[4]Itistakenas“thesubstitutionofsupposedlymilderormoredecentlanguageforwhatisfelttobeharshorunseemly”byEnglishlinguisticThomasPylesinhisWordandExpressionsofAmericanEnglish.[5]InChina,thefirstdefinitionofeuphemismwasgivenbyfamouswriter,ChenWangdao（陈望道,1890—1977）inhis《修辞学发凡》，thedefinitionbeingthat“onekindoffiguresofspeech,sayingsomethingindirectly,butconnotingandsubstitutingwithroundaboutandimplicitwordsorevenmetaphoricalexpression.”（委婉是修辞的一种，即说话不直白本意，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗示）。

[6]Asamatteroffact,ChineseeuphemismhaslongexistedandresearchintoitcanbedatedbacktotheSpring–Autumnperiod.ItwascalledWanqu（婉曲）atthattime.

2.2AbriefhistoryofEnglishandChineseeuphemism

2.2.1AbriefhistoryofEnglisheuphemism

WecantracebackthehistoryofEnglisheuphemismintheAnglo-Saxontimes,someeuphemismshavebeenfoundinthetextofitsnationalepic,Beowulf.Forexample,”ellorsi”,itsliteralmeaningis“journeyelsewhere”,here,itisusedasaeuphemismfor“die”.AfterNormanConquestin1066,euphemismbegantothrive.ThenintheVictorianperiod,euphemismreachedtheirpeak.Asweknow,theVictoriansocietywasoneofthemosttaboo-mindedandtaboo-riddensocieties.Atthattime,aladywouldprobablyfaintathearingsomeonemention“leg”insteadof“limb”justbecauseitwasallegedtobesexuallyloadedinthatpeculiarage.

Fromtheabovementioned,wecandrawtheconclusionthatEnglisheuphemismhasbeensurvivingandthrivingeversinceverystartofancienttime.NowletustakeaglanceoverthehistoryofChineseeuphemism.

2.2.2AbriefhistoryofChineseeuphemism

Chineseeuphemismalsohasalonghistory.Asweknow,avoidanceondirectlymentioningthepersonalnamesofemperorsorone’ssuperiorsinChinabearsalonghistory.ItcanbetracedbacktotheZhouDynasty,accordingtotherecordin“ZuoZhuan（《左传》），peopleintheZhouDynastybegantoimposetaboosonpersonalnames（《左传*桓公六年》云：

“周人以讳事神明，讳始于周。

”）.[7]ChineseeuphemismcontinuedtoflourishandintheMingandQingDynastiesitreacheditspeak.

3.TheculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandAmericaviewedfromeuphemism

EnglishandChinesebelongtodifferentcultures,sodifferentculturalbackgroundsandtraditionsdeterminetheemergenceandusageofitsowneuphemism.InthefollowingparagraphswewillseethedifferentculturesandvaluesthroughthecomparisonsofseveralEnglishandChineseeuphemisms.

3.1Birth

BothAmericaandChinahavelegendsrelatedtobirth,buttheyareofdifferenttypes,thuscomesthedifferenteuphemismforbirth.

Thereisanancientbeliefinthewestthatawomanhadababyonlybythecontactwithatotem-thesignofatribe.Thenthestork,alargewhitebird,wouldbringthebabytothewoman.Sothephrase“avisitfromthestock”isaeuphemismof“thebirthofababy”.Sincebirthisassociatedwithbothreligionandsex,peopleseldommentionitdirectly.Therefore,pregnancyisreplacedby“ringthestockbell”or“becaught”andanewly-bornchildisoftencalled“bundlefromheaven”.

InancientChina,peoplebelievedthatchildrenaremadebythetransmigrationof

godsinheaven,suchas“文曲星下凡”,“太白星转世”,andsoon.Moreover,accordingtoConfucianism---“ofthethreecardinaloffencesagainstfilialpiety,havingnomaleheiristhegreatest”,thewholefamilywouldbeoverjoyedatthebirthofachild,especiallyaboy.Sotheyaddresspregnancyas“有喜”andthebirthofaboyas“有后了”,“添丁”.

3.2Death

Atalltimesandinallcountries,peoplearereluctanttoutterasinglewordaboutdeath,sotheyalwaysuseeuphemismswhentheyhavetorefertoit.Thereareabout400euphemismsinEnglish,suchas:

sleep,depart,passaway,breatheone’slast,bewithGodandsoon.InChina,peopleprefertalkingaboutbirththandeath,asthesayinggoes,“好死不如赖活着”,soChinesearemoreafraidoftalkingaboutdeath.InChinese,therearemoreeuphemisms.Forinstance,“与世长辞”,“长眠”,and“归天”areallthesubstitutesof“death”.AlthoughbothEnglishandChinesehavesomanyeuphemismsfor“death”,theystillembodymanydifferences.

First,owingtodifferentreligions,thesubstitutesfor“death”aredifferent.ALargenumberofpeopleinAmericanbelieveinChristianity,andChristianculturepenetratesintothewesternlanguage,anditsgreatinfluenceoneuphemismisunlimited.ChristiansbelievethattheGodcreatesandcontrolstheworldandtheirsoulswillbesavedintheheavenwhentheydie,soplentyofeuphemismsarerelatedtotheBibleorlegendsandallusionsofChristianity,manyofwhichreflecttheChristianoutlookonlifeandtheirinterpretationtodeath.Forexample,Godcreatespeoplewithclayandmen