从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用.docx
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从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用
从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用
[Abstract]Theword“euphemism”comesfromtheGreek,eu--means“good”,and–pheme-,“speech”or“saying”,andtogetheritmeansliterally“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”.Euphemism,asaculturalphenomenonaswellasalinguisticconcept,hasattractedpeople’sattentionforalongtime.Ithaslongbeenatopicofmuchinterest.Generallyspeaking,peoplewouldusemoreeuphemismsincommunicatingwiththeoppositesex;womenwouldusemorethanmenwould;olderpeoplewouldusemorethanyoungergenerations.Peoplewouldmoreuseeuphemismsin"power"relationsthanincloserelations.Peoplewithhighereducationwouldusemoreeuphemisms.Theabovefactors:
age,sex,socialstatus,education,etc.donotworkseparately.Incommunicating,theyareinterlacedwitheachotherandguideourchoiceofeuphemisms.Whethertouseeuphemismsortaboowordsalsodepends,toalargeextent,ontheattitudesofparticipants(particularlyspeakers)andthepurposeofconversations.Thearticleconsistsofsixparts.Partoneexplainswhatthemeaningofeuphemismis.ParttwoissayingtheCooperativePrincipleinbriefly.CooperativePrinciple,thecornerstonetheoryofpragmatics,isoneofthemainprinciplesthatguidepeople’scommunication.TheCooperativePrincipleanditsmaximscanexplainwhattheliteralmeaningisanditsrealintentionincommunicationandensurethatinanexchangeofconversation.Partthreepresents,theformationeuphemism,namely,formalinnovation,semanticinnovation,rhetoricaldevices,andgrammaticalways.Partfourdiscussesthecommunicativefunctionofeuphemismissubstitution,politeness,disguise,defense,etc.Partfiveservesasthemainbodyofthisarticle.Generallyspeaking,euphemismsviolatetheQuality,QuantityandMannerMaximoftheCPduetodifferentreasonslikesubstitution,disguiseetc.AndbasicallyeuphemismsobservetheRelationMaxim.Fromtheanalysis,itcanbealsofoundthatsometimesaneuphemismcanberegardedasviolationoftwomaximsoftheCPatthesametime.Partsixconcludesthewholearticle.
[KeyWords]CooperativePrinciple;Euphemism;Communicativefunction
【摘要】委婉语(euphemism)一词起源于希腊语。
Eu意思是“好的”,pheme意思是“话语”,因此字面上的意思是说好听的话或用礼貌的方式说话。
委婉语是一个语言学概念,同时也是一种文化现象,长久以来一直受到人们的关注。
总体上讲人们在与异性进行言语交际时,要比在同性面前更多地使用委婉语,女性要比男性更多地使用委婉语,年长的人要比年青的人更多地使用委婉语。
人们在“权势关系”的语境中往往要比在“亲密关系”的语境中更多地使用委婉语。
受教育程度越高的人,越注意自己的言谈,因而更多地使用委婉语。
上述因素年龄、性别、社会地位、教育等并不孤立存在,在交际中,他们交织在一起决定着委婉语的使用。
是否使用委婉语还要考虑说话者的态度和交谈的目的。
文章由六个部分组成。
第一部分解释了什么是委婉语。
第二部分简单列出合作原则的各项原则。
它作为语用学的理论基石之一,是指导人们语言交际的原则之一。
它可以很好地解释话语的字面意义和实际意义的关系,这对于交际委婉语显得尤为重要。
第三部分说明委婉语的构成可以有很多种方式:
形式变化,语义变化,修辞手段和语法手段。
第四部分阐述了交际委婉语出于替代、掩饰、和礼貌等功能。
第五部分是文章的主体,并说明委婉语出于替代、掩饰、和礼貌等原因主要违反了合作原则中的质、量和方式三个次则,基本上是遵循了合作原则中的相关原则。
第六部分总结全文。
【关键字】合作原则;委婉语;交际功能
1.Introduction
IntheOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish–ChineseDictionarytheexplanationofEuphemismis"(exampleofthe)useofpleasant,mildorindirectwordsorphrasesinplaceofmoreaccurateordirectones"[1].AndintheLongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglishtheexplanationofEuphemismis"(anexampleof)theuseofapleasanter,lessdirectnameforsomethingthoughttobeunpleasant".Forexample,themanwhowantstoustocallhima“sanitationengineer”insteadofa“garbageman”ishopingwewilltreathimwithmorerespectthanwepresentlydo.
"Theword‘euphemism‘comesfromtheGreekeumeaning‘good‘andphememeaning‘speech‘or‘saying‘,andthusmeansliterally‘tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner‘".Euphemismshavevariousreasonsforexistence.Theyconcealthethingspeoplefearthemost—death,thedead,thesupernatural.Theycoverupthefactsoflife—ofsexandreproductionandexcretion—whichinevitablyremindeventhemostrefinedpeoplethattheyaremadeofclay,orworse.Theyarebelovedbyindividualsandinstitutions(governments,especially)thatareanxioustopresentonlythehandsomestpossibleimagesofthemselvestotheworld.Andtheyareimbeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplainspoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem.ButsomepeoplestillmistaketheeuphemismsintheconversationbytheCooperativeprinciple.ViolatingtheCP,peoplealsocancontinuetheconversationwitheuphemisms,whichmaketheauthorinterestinattitudesofparticipantsandthepurposeofconversation.Thatisourbodytoday.
ofeuphemisms
Formalinnovation
Toavoidtheemergenceofcertainletterorsoundmayachievetheeffectofeuphemizing.Theformalinnovationcanhideaudio-visuallythosewordswedon’twanttosayorweshouldn’tsaysoastoachievebetteroutcomeincommunication.
AbbreviationistheshorteningofawordandmaybeseenintheuseoftheBritishexpressionLADIESforladies’room.TherealsoisGENTSforgentlemen’sroom.
Apocopation
Apocopationisanotherformofabbreviationapparentintheuseofvampforvampireheremeaningaseductivewoman.Andlavisforlavatory;homoisforhomosexual;cocaisforcocaine;braisforbrassiere.
Initialing
Initialingistheuseofacronymsinsteadoftheircomponentpartsasin"JCfor“JesusChrist”,BMforbowelmovement","forwatercloset, forbodyodor, forvenerealdisease,AIDSforacquiredimmunedeficiencysyndrome,SARSforsevereacuterespiratorysyndrome".
Backforming
Backformingisthesubstitutionforonepartofspeech(usedinshortenedform)foranother,asin"burgle(rob)whichisderivedfrom‘burglar‘".
Reduplication
Reduplicationistherepetitionofasyllableorletterofaword.Particularlycommoninchildren’sbathroomvocabulary,itsubstitutes"pee-peefor‘piss‘,poo-poofor‘bowelmovement‘".
Blendword
Ablendwordisaformofphoneticdistortioninwhichtwoormorewordsaresqueezedtogetherbothorthographicallyandphonetically.Anexampleofthisis"gezundaforachamberpot,atermderivedfromthefactthatthisobject‘goesunderthebed‘".
Diminutive
Adiminutiveistheformationofanewtermbynickingorshorteninganameandaddingasuffixindicatingaffectionorsmallness."Heinie,forexample,isthediminutiveof‘hindend‘andreferstothebuttocks".
Semanticinnovation
Borrowing
Mostobviously,euphemismsmaybeformedbyborrowingwordsfromotherlanguages—termsthatarelessfreightedwithnegativeassociations.Thus,weuseGreekandLatinexpressionsformanybodilypartsandfunctions.Wehavecoinedhalitosis(badbreath)fromtheLatin(halitus)for“breath”andwehavesubstitutedmicturitionforthemorevulgarIndo-European“Piss”.Inaddition,Englisheuphemismsalsoborrowedalotofscientificoracademicterms,whicharebelievedtobemoreeuphemisticandobjectivethantheusualterms,suchasmagneticfor“sexy”andperspirefor“sweat”andsoon.
Widening
Euphemismsmaybemadebyasemanticprocesscalledwidening.Whenaspecifictermbecomestoopainfulorvivid,wemoveupintheladderofabstraction.Inthisway,cancerbecomesgrowthandagirdlebecomesafoundation.Sometimes,inadditiontowideningwedividethenegativeconnotationsofasingledirecttermbetweentwoormorewords.Insteadofsaying“syphilis”openly,wespeakofasocialdisease.
Semanticshift
Alliedtothephenomenonofwideningisthatofsemanticshift.Thisisthesubstitutionofthewhole,orasimilargenerality,forthespecificpartwedonotchoosetodiscuss.Wemaycreatesuchmetonymies(substitutionsofthewholeforthepart)asrearendfor“buttocks”.Sometimes,asintheexpressions"tosleepwith/gotobedwithsomeone"[10],weusewordsnamingthelargereventinplaceofmoreprecisereferencestothesexualrelationsthatarepartoftheprocess.
Rhetoricaldevices
Metaphor
Euphemismsmaybemadebyaprocesscalledmetaphoricaltransfer,thecomparisonofthingsofonekindtothingsofanother.Theeuphemismschosenareoftenromanticizing,poeticizingandsofteningoftheoriginalwordslike"gotosleep;gotohislonghome;behomeandfree;restinpeace;beatrest;gotoHeaven/Paradise;joinone‘sancestors;begatheredtoone‘sfathers;jointheimmoralsfordie"[11],shockforrandombombing,constructivedestructionforseveredamage,havearoadtotravelforhavealongtimetoreachanagreementandetc..
Aposiopesis
InEnglish,thereisakindofrhetoriccalledaposiopesisthatcanalsoactasthewayofeuphemizing.Whenwethinkweshouldnotsaysomethingundercertainconditions,wesuddenlystopaswhenwesaysomeoneisout(ofwork);sheisexpecting(ababy);"totakeprecautions(againstpregnancy);todepart(fromthisworld)"[12]
Analogycanoftenbeseeninthevocabulariesofwork.Atendencytoelevatemenialorunskilledjobs—sometimessubstitutingagrandtitleforalargesalary—canmakeoffalsmelllikearosebypromotinggarbagementosanitationengineersoreventowaste--reductionmanagers.Byimplication,theybecomehighlytrainedtechniciansandexecutives.Health-clubstaffsbecomefitnesscoordinators,andsenatorsnowhavetheirshoesshinedbythefootwearmaintenanceengineer,formerlytheSenatebootblack.Evenifyouarenotagovernmentofficial,yourjanitorisnowyourbuidingmaintenanceengineer.
Understatement
Understatementdisplayspeople’sdesiretomaketheirlanguagelesspainfulanddirect.Sothereisneveranuglywomaninthisworld,sheisatleastplain.Teachersonlytellparentsthattheirchildisabitslowforhisage,notretarded.Andcallseniorcitizenforoldperson."Takeother‘sthingswithoutpermission"canbeinsteadof"steal".
Periphrasis
Periphrasisisjustbeatingaroundthebush.Peopleoftensayeuphemismsareweaselwords,becausepeoplenevercallaspadeaspadewhenusingeuphemisms