Similarities and Differences Of EnglishChinese Euphemisms in Culture.docx

Similarities and Differences Of EnglishChinese Euphemisms in Culture.docx

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SimilaritiesandDifferencesOfEnglishChineseEuphemismsinCulture

英汉委婉语在文化上的异同

SimilaritiesandDifferencesOfEnglish-ChineseEuphemismsinCulture

Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………1

Keywords………………………………………………………………...1

I.Introduction……………………………………………………………..2

II.LiteratureReview…………………………………………………4

III.EuphemismandCulture………………...........................................7

IV.ThesimilaritiesofEnglish-ChineseEuphemismsinCulture………7

1.Thehumanbody………………………………………………………8

2.Diseaseanddeath………………………………………………………8

3.Sex……………………………………………………………………8

4.Socialstatusorgrade……………………………………………………8

5.Age……………………………………………………………………8

6.Religion…………………………………………………………………8

V.TheDifferencesofEnglish-ChineseEuphemismsinCulture……......9

1.Culturebackground……………………………………………………9

2.Valueorientations…………………………………………………….10

3.Culturalcustom……………………………………………………….11

4.Ethicsandmoralconcepts………………………………………………12

VI.Conclusion………………………………………………………….13

References……………………………………………………………14

Abstract:

Euphemismsaremild,agreeable,orroundaboutwordsusedinplaceofcoarse,painful,oroffensiveones.Theterm“Euphemism”comesfromtheGreek,ofwhicheumeaning“well”or“soundinggood”,phememeans“speech”,andthewholetermliterallymeansgoodorpleasantspeech.Asanindispensableandnaturalpartoflanguage,euphemismhasbeenarousingwideinterest.Manylinguistsandscholarshavestudiedthislinguisticphenomenonfromtheperspectivesofrhetoric,semantics,pragmaticsandsociolinguistics.WhenwecarryonthecontrastofthesimilaritiesanddifferencesofChineseandEnglisheuphemisms,wecanfindthattheeuphemismsinthesetwolanguagesareactuallyimplantedinitsownculture,whichisthechiefaimorpurposeofthisthesis,thatis,totellusthedifferencesofeuphemismsofboththeEnglishandChineselanguagesinculture.

Keyword:

EnglishandChineseeuphemisms,orientationsofculture,thesimilaritiesanddifferences

摘要：

委婉语是用一种不明说的、能够使人感到愉快或含糊的说法代替具有令人感到不悦的含义或不够尊敬的表达法。

从辞源角度看，在英文单词euphemism中，eu是希腊前缀，意为“好”；phemism意为“说法”，整个单词euphemism的字面意义为“好的说法”。

委婉语是语言中不可或缺的一个组成部分，引起了人们广泛的关注。

许多语言学家、学者已从修辞学、语言学、语用学及社会语言学的角度对委婉语进行了广泛研究。

目前，这方面的研究硕果累累。

本文将借鉴其他学者的研究成果，通过对比英、汉委婉语的语言及文化特征，对英、汉委婉语进行充分地对比分析。

在进行委婉语映现的英、汉文化对比时，我们发现英、汉委婉语相似的“外观”实际上根植于相异的“文化内涵”,从各自文化中的可以看出英、汉委婉语差异。

关键词：

英汉委婉语，文化价值，异同之比较

I.Introduction

Fromthetimethewordcameintobeing,therefollowed,atanundeterminedbutoneassumesdecentinterval,private,harsh,anddirtywords.Inventionhereisthemotherofnecessity,theneedforeuphemismarose.Epstein（1985:

56）

Ineverysocietytherearecertainthingsthatarenotsupposedtobespeakableormentioneddirectly.AfairnumberofwordsinEnglisharelabeledasfrivolous,vulgar,oratleastinconsiderate.Butinthecommunication,inordertomaintainsocialrelationshipsandexchangeideas,peoplehavetoresorttoakindoflanguageform,whichcanmakedistastefulideasseemacceptableorevendesirable.Thistypeoflanguageisdefinedas“euphemism"inlinguistics,whichisrepresentedinavarietyofformsandusedforavarietyofreasons.

Muchresearchhasbeendoneoneuphemismbecauseofitsprominenceinlanguagesincethewordwascoined.Alotofgreatworkscameintobeingduringthestudyofeuphemism,whichlayasolidfoundationforfurtherresearch.In1936,inhisbookTheAmericanLanguage,Americanlinguist,Mencken,fullydiscussedwhyhundredsofeuphemismshadbeenbornandbecamepopularonthebasisofAmericanhistoryandsocialculturalbackground.Hisbookhasbecomeavaluablelegacyforeuphemismstudy.In1981,BritishlinguistHughRawsoncompiledADictionaryofEuphemismsandOtherDoubletalks,whichembodiestheachievementsofresearchoneuphemismsoverthedecadesbymanyBritishandAmericanlinguists.Initsten–page–longpreface,HughRawsonnotonlytracedthehistoryofeuphemism,butalsowidelyaccountedforcharacteristicsofeuphemismaswellasitsdefinition,classification,andscopeofuse.Theyear1983sawthepublicationofKindWords—AThesaurusofEuphemisms,compiledbyNeamanandSilver,whichisofgreatvaluetoeuphemismstudy.In1985,EnrightD.J.publishedacollectionofessaysoneuphemism,TheUsesofEuphemism,inwhichsomespecifictopicslikeeuphemismsandthemedia,euphemismsandchildren,andeuphemismandsex,etc.wereputforwardinrelationtothedifferenteuphemisticusesinthesocialfield.Lastbutnotleast,AllanandBurridgepublishedthebookEuphemismandDysphemism:

Languageusedasshieldandweapon,inwhichaninterestingperspectiveonthehumanpsycheistobegainedfromthestudyofeuphemismusedasaprotectiveshieldagainsttheangerordisapprovalofnaturalorsupernaturalbeings.ThisbookisofgreatsignificancetothestudyofEnglishEuphemismsfromthepragmaticperspective.

Comparedwiththoseflourishingstudiesoneuphemisminwesterncountries,Chinesescholars’theoriesoneuphemismseemrare.AlthoughtheresearchofeuphemismsinChinahasquitealonghistoryandwecanfindtheearliestrecordationinTheBookofSongs（《诗经》,scientificandsystematicresearchhadnotbeendoneinthisfielduntilseveraldecadesago.In1976,ChinesescholarChenWangdao（陈望道,1976）publishedthebookIntroductiontoRhetoric（《修辞学发凡》）whichdescribesadefinitionofeuphemismandstudiedeuphemismfromtheangleofrhetoric,sotheChineseeuphemismstudyintermsofrhetoricisnotrestrictedtothelexiconlevel,butisextendedtothelevelofsentenceanddiscourse.

Duringthe70sandthe80softhe20thcentury,westerntheoriesoflinguisticswereintroducedintoChinainsuccession.Inspiredbythenewlyintroducedtheories,someChinesescholarsexpandedthescopeofeuphemismstudyintotheperspectiveofsocialfunctions,andoneofthemostfamousisChenYuan（陈原,1983），whopublishedthebookSociolinguistics,whichcontributesalottothestudyandanalysisofeuphemism.Inthefollowingyears,anumberofChinesescholarspublishedmanyaarticletoairtheirviewsoneuphemismfromdifferentangles,suchasYuYalun（于亚伦，1984）,LiGuonan（李国南，1989）,ShuDingfang（束定芳，1989）,etc..Allofthesepapershavewidenedourvisionandenrichedthestudyofeuphemism.

II.LiteratureReview

Euphemismasawidelyandfrequentlyusedfigureofspeechandahotresearchissueinthefieldoflinguisticsneedsaconciseanddefinitecriteriontojudgethescopeofeuphemism.Westernlinguiststhinktheword“euphemism”comesfromtheGreek“eu”（meaning“good”）and“pheme”（meaning“speech”or“saying”）,andthusitliterallymeans“tospeakwithgoodwords”.Lateron,euphemismisdefineddifferentlyandmoreprecisely.Someofthedefinitionsarelistedbelow:

1）Euphemismsiskindoffigureofspeechwhichconsistsinthesubstitutionofawordorexpressionofcomparativelyfavorableimplicationorlessunpleasantassociations,insteadoftheharsherormoreoffensiveonethatwouldmorepreciselydesignatewhatisintended.（OxfordEnglishDictionary,1989）

2）Euphemismisthesubstitutionofamild,indirect,orvagueexpressionforonethoughtsubstituted.（Webster’sEncyclopedicUnabridgedDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,1996）

3）Euphemizingisgenerallydefinedassubstitutinganinoffensiveorpleasanttermforamoreexplicit,offensiveone,therebyveneeringthetruthbyusingkindwords.（EnrightD.J.,1985）

4）Word,etc.usedinplaceofoneavoidedase.g.offensive,indecent,oralarming.（OxfordConciseDictionaryofLinguistics,ShanghaiForeignLanguagesPublishingHouse,2000）

5）Usedasanalternativetoadispreferredexpression,inordertoavoidpossiblelossofface:

eitherone’sownfaceorthroughgivingoffences,thatoftheaudience,orofsomethirdparty.（Allen,K.andBurridge,K.,1991:

18）

Astraditionalwesternlinguisticsrestrictseuphemismstudytothelexicon,euphemismsare,therefore,wordsorphrasesinplaceofthingsconsideredtoberudeorunpleasant.

Givenfromtheperspectiveofrhetoric,alltheabovedefinitionsaredeterminedinanarrowsense.Manylinguiststhinkthatthedefinitionofeuphemismneedstobeframedinabroadsense,oneofwhomisAmericanlinguist,BolingerDwight.Heoncepointedout:

“Euphemismisnotrestrictedtothelexicon;therearegrammaticalwaysoftoningsomethingdownwithoutactuallychangingthecontentofthemessage.”（1981:

148）

Theapplicationofeuphemism（委婉语）hasexistedintheChineselanguageforthousandsofyears,WhichcanbefoundinTheBookofSongs（《诗经》）.ThisisabookcontainingChinesepoemscomposedbetweenthe11th.andthe6thcenturyB.C.TheChineseeuphemism“习习谷风，以阴以雨”takenfromTheMountainGales（《谷风》）indicatesthattheunfortunateeventisgoingtotakeplacethroughdescribingcloudyweatherandrain.

WhenEmperorWuoftheHanDynasty（汉武帝,156–87B.C.）proscribedallnon–ConfucianandespousedConfucianismasthestateideologyandabolishedotherschoolsofthought（罢黜百家，独尊儒术）,peopleenjoyedrareideologicalfreedomandhadtobecarefulwiththeirwordsanddeedsortheywouldbepunishedorevenexecuted.Becauseofthiseuphemism（委婉语）developedandflourishedinChina’sfeudalsociety.

TheChineseequivalentfor“euphemism”is“委婉”，“婉转”，orthemostpopularone“婉曲”containing“婉言”and“曲语”.“婉言”means“substitutinganimplicitexpressionforanexplicitone”,while“曲语”impliestheoriginalmeaningthroughdescribingthingsrelevanttoit.Let’scompare:

1）我尝想：

公文书里罢黜一个人的时候常用“人地不宜”四字，总算是一个比较体面的下台的借口。

（梁实秋《骆驼祥子》）

2）阿刘哑告诉，姓孙的那几个人打牌，声音太闹，给法国管事查到了，大吵其架，自己的饭碗也砸破了，等会就得卷铺盖下船。

（钱钟书《围城》）

Example1fallsinto“婉言”,usinganimplicitparlancetoreducetheprovocation.Example2belongsto“曲语”inChinese,or“periphrasis”inEnglishrespectively.Soitisapparentherethat“euph