Conclusion.docx

Conclusion.docx

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Conclusion

摘要

委婉语是人类语言中的一种普遍现象，它在人们的日常社交活动中使用得十分广泛，是语言使用中人们协调人际关系的重要手段。

使用委婉语有利于提高交际效果和保持和谐的人际关系。

在人类文明日益发展和人际交往不断扩大的今天，委婉语更是发挥着其不可或缺的作用。

HughRawson（1981）也曾断言“委婉如此深植于我们的语言中，以至于很少有人能一天离得开它，就连那些以说话平铺直叙而自居的人也不例外。

”同样，委婉语也引起了语言学界的极大兴趣。

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