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论文正文

TheAcquisitionofEuphemisminEnglishTeaching

Author:

RENMeilin

Supervisor:

ZHUFarong,AssociateProfessor

（CollegeofForeignLanguages,ShandongAgriculturalUniversity,tai’an271018）

Abstract:

Euphemism,animportantrhetoricdevice,widelyusedinbothChineseandEnglish,isnotonlyacommonlinguisticphenomenon,butalsoaculturalone.Inordertohaveaharmoniousrelationshiporconcealsometruthforsomereason,bothChineseandEnglishhaveagreatdealofeuphemism.Theeuphemisminasocietymostlytendstoreflectthoseculturalareascharacterizedbystigmaortaboo.Thispapermainlyfocusesonstudents’acquisitionofeuphemisminEnglishteaching.Atfirst,thispapergivesabasicanalysisofeuphemism,includingthedefinition,originandclassification,andthenpointsouttheacquisitionofeuphemisminEnglishteaching,includingthefactorsthatinfluencestudents’inputofeuphemismandstrategiesforteacherstointroduceeuphemismtostudents.Asisremarkedabove,itcanbeprovedthatitispracticalandnecessarytointroduceeuphemismintoEnglishteaching.Itisexpectedthatitcanbehelpfultodevelopstudents’competenceofdecentcommunication.

Keywords:

euphemism;acquisition;Englishteaching;strategies

英语教学中学生委婉语的习得

摘要：

委婉语，是一种重要的修辞手段，一种普遍的语言现象和文化现象,在英语和汉语中广泛使用。

在某些领域中，为了创建一种和谐的人际关系或由于一些原因要掩盖部分事实，此时就需要使用委婉语。

委婉语往往反映的是一个社会所具有的独特文化或禁忌。

本论文首先介绍了委婉语的基本知识，包括定义、起源、发展、分类等；其次，分析了英语教学中学生委婉语的习得，包括必要性，影响因素和教学策略。

本文对英语教学中学生委婉语的习得进行了初步探索和研究，发现学生对委婉语的学习十分必要，也十分可行，不仅有助于学生基本语言知识能力的提高，而且能够提高学生实际交往能力。

关键词：

委婉语；习得；英语教学；应用策略

1.Introduction

Withthedevelopmentofmodernsociety,communicationamongpeoplefromdifferentstatusanddifferentcultureshasbecomemoreandmorefrequent.Successfulinteractioniswhatpeopledesire.Onthisoccasion,itisnecessaryformodernpeopletoemploylanguageappropriately.Englisheuphemism,asanimportantlinguisticdevice,playsasignificantpartinoursociallife.Therefore,itisnecessaryforstudentstolearneuphemism.Thispapermainlydiscussesstudents’acquisitionofeuphemisminEnglishteaching.Atfirst,thispapergivesabasicanalysisofeuphemism,andthenpointsouttheacquisitionofeuphemisminEnglishteaching,includingthefactorsthatinfluencestudents’inputofeuphemismandstrategiesforteacherstointroduceeuphemismtostudentsinthehopethatitcanhelpstudentscontributetoasuccessfulandpleasantcommunication.

2.AGeneralIntroductiontoEuphemism

2.1Definitionsofeuphemism

Theword"euphemism"comesfromtheGreekeu,"good",andpheme,"speech"or"saying,"andmeansliterally"tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner".Asweallknow,thereareathousandHamletsinathousandpeople'seyes.Differentlinguistshavedifferentdefinitionsforit.Heretheauthorlistssomeoftheminthefollowing:

1.theuseofamildorvagueorperiphrasticexpressionasasubstituteforbluntprecisionordisagreeableuse（ModernEnglishUsage,1957）

2.substitution,restraint,softenedexpression,mockmodesty,metaphoricalspeech,verbalextenuation,wordinverbalgoodtaste,overdelicacyofspeech,affectedrefinementoflanguage.（Webster’sNewThesaurus1971,MeridianBook）

3.substitutionofanagreeableorinoffensiveexpressionforonethatmayoffendorsuggestunpleasant.（Webster’sNewCollegiateDictionary,1973）

4.substitutionofmildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshordirectone;expressionthussubstituted.（TheOxfordConciseDictionary,1976）

5.substitutinganinoffensiveorpleasanttermforamoreexplicate,offensive,therebyveneeringthetruthbyusingkindwords.（NeamanJ.N.&CaroleG.Silver.1983）

6.apolitewordorexpressionthatpeopleusewhentheyaretalkingaboutsomethingwhichtheyorotherpeoplefindunpleasantorembarrassing,suchasdeath.（CollinsCobuildEssentialEnglishDictionary,1989）

Althoughthesedefinitionsmaybedifferentinthemeansofexpression,mostofthemhavethecommonpoints:

euphemismsareindirectexpressions（includingverbalandnon-verbalexpression）usedbyamodernpersontosubstitutesomethingpleasantandvagueforsomethingoffensiveanddirect.Nowwecanseethatthefunctionofeuphemismistoprotectthespeaker,heareroralltheparticipantsfrompossibleoffenceandembarrassment.Thiskindofawkwardnessmayoccurwhensometabootopicsarementioned,e.g.deathorsex,orsomesensitivesubjects,suchaspoliticsormilitaryissues.Inordertoavoidawkwardnessandtocommunicatesmoothly,euphemismcomesinhandyatthistime.

2.2OriginanddevelopmentofEnglisheuphemism

Euphemism,or“tellingitlikeitisn’t,”（Time,1978）,ineverydaylanguagehasbeenaconcernsincepre-literatetimes,possiblysincelanguagehasbeeninexistence,andispresentinallhumanlanguages（AllenandBurridge,1991）.Whentalkingabouteuphemisms,weoftenassociatethemwithtaboo,whichispresentineveryhumansociety,andfrequentlyfocusesontopicssuchasreligionanddeath（Hayakawa,1978）.Inprimitivesocieties,theonlymentionofsupernaturalexistencesorofthedeadwasscaredofbringingaboutthewrathofsuchbeings（GreenoughandKittredge,1928）andtherefore,alternativesweredevisedtoavoidthissituation,soeuphemismscameintobeing.Inmodernsocieties,itsbirthhasnothingtodowithsuchfears,butismoreconcernedwithnotharmingtheinterestsofanyparties.Forthisreason,someissuesarecoveredupwithdelicatelanguage,whichdrawspeople’sattentionawayfromawkwardness.Theseissuescoverbodyorgans,sex,death,disease,crime,politicsandwar,etc.Euphemismsgetdevelopedwithsociety.

2.3Classificationofeuphemism

Withtheimportanceofeuphemismbecomingmoreandmoreobvious,moreandmorepeoplebegintouseeuphemism.Euphemismisoftenusedinourdailylife.Therearedifferentclassificationofeuphemismfromdifferentperspectivesandangles.Forexample,fromtheperspectiveofnature,euphemismcanbedividedintoverbaleuphemismandnon-verbaleuphemism.Fromtheperspectiveofgender,therearemaleeuphemismandfemaleeuphemism.Fromthecontextpointofview,euphemismcanbedividedintodeatheuphemism,diseaseeuphemism,sexeuphemismandbodilyfunctioneuphemism.Thissectionwillstatesomerepresentativeclassificationsofeuphemism.

2.3.1Positiveeuphemismandnegativeeuphemism

EuphemismisdividedintopositiveeuphemismandnegativeeuphemismbyalinguistcalledHughRawsonfromtheperspectiveofsemantic.Positiveeuphemismcan“inflateandmagnifythewordmeaning,makingtheeuphemismseemaltogethergranderandmoreimportantthantheyreallyare”,（Rawson1981:

1）.Bydoingthis,positiveeuphemismtriestoincreaselow-levelthingsandbeautifythosethingswhichmaymakepeoplefeelunpleasantandembarrassed.Forexample,inAmerica,“thepoorarea”isdescribedas“innercity”and“lackofjobsecurity”becomes“jobflexibility”.Besides,“seriousunemployment”becomes“humanresourcesunderdevelopment”and“developingnations”isoftencalled“emergingnations”or“LDCS”（LessDevelopedCountries）bytheUnitedNations.Positiveeuphemismalsoconsistsofmanyinterestingoccupationaltitleswhichhelpssavethefaceoftheworkersthroughimprovingtheirworkingstatustoahighanddecentposition.Forexample,the“undertaker”isoftencalled“mortician”,and“waiterorwaitress”iscalled“dining-roomattendant”.Besides,theeuphemismfor“whore”is“workinggirl”and“maid”isreferredas“domestichelp”.Asweallknow,Americaisadeveloped,democraticandliberatecountry,butitisundeniablethattheUSAisalsoacountryfullofsocialcrimes.Thusanotherkindofpositiveeuphemismisusedtoavoidshamefulanddisgracefulsayingsforcrimes.Forinstance,“pickpocket”iscalledas“afivefingers”,and“towalkawaywith”isfor“tosteal”.And“punishment”isreferredas“todropintothebucket”,andsoon.Othereuphemismsconsistofpersonalhonorificsincludingteacheranddoctor,aswellasmanyinstitutionaleuphemisms.Forexample,nowadaysweoftenuse“university”insteadof“college”and“medicalcenter”insteadof“hospital”.Inaword,positiveeuphemismoftenshowsitsfaceinformalandwrittenEnglish.

Negativeeuphemisms,alsocalled“traditionaleuphemisms”,whichare“defensiveinnature,thepoweroftabooedtermsandotherwiseeradicatingfromthelanguageeverythingthatpeopleprefernottodealwithdirectly”.（Rawson,1981:

2）Thiskindofeuphemismisveryancientandoftenrelatedtotaboo.Thenegativeeuphemismsconsistof“inoffensivenamesforGod,devils,thedeadandanimalsthatarehuntedorfeared”（Rawson,1981:

2）.Negativeeuphemismandtabooexpressthesamething;howevertheyaredifferentinexpressions.Andnegativeeuphemismisusedtoavoidallthatpeoplearefearedof.BecausethepeopleinwesterncountriesbelieveintheBible,euphemismsfor“death”areoftenrelatedtoGod.Forinstance,“tobewithGod”，“tobeasleepintheArmsofGod”,“tolieinAbraham’sbosom”，“togotoheaven/paradise”，and“tobepromotedtoglory”arealleuphemismsfor“death”.Inaddition,wecanalsouse“topassaway”,“todepart”，“toleaveusto”,“togotosleep”，“one’shearthasstoppedbeating”,“kickthebucket”and“breatheone’slast”insteadofthementionofdeath.Whensomeonegetsincurabledisease,weoftenuse“becalledhome”or“becalledtoGod”.Thenamesofanimalsthatpeoplehuntorarescaredofcanalsobereplacedbynegativeeuphemisms.Forexample,peopleliketocall“bear”as“grandfather”.Furthermore,inthewesterncountries,peoplearenotallowedtopronouncethenameofGodorofSatan,sotheyreplace“God”or“JesusorJesusChrist”withJeeze,GeeorJeeperCreeper.Negativeeuphemismsalsoincludemanyothertaboo