英语禁忌语.docx

英语禁忌语.docx

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英语禁忌语

学年论文

学生姓名

常玉杰

学号

020701039

院（系）

外国语学院

专业

英语（师范）

题目

英汉文化中禁忌语差异的研究

Title

OnCulturalDifferenceoftheTabooWordsBetweenEnglishandChinese

指导教师

陈维平副教授

（姓名）（专业技术职称/学位）

2010

年

11

月

OnCulturalDifferenceoftheTabooWordsbetweenEnglishandChinese

By

ChangYujie

AThesisSubmittedto

SchoolofForeignLanguages

asaGaduationTesis

AtHuaiyinNormalUniversity

UndertheSupervisionofMs.ChenWeiping

September2010

Acknowledgements

Thisthesisinvolvesmuchgenerousassistancefrommyteachers,friendsandparents.IwouldliketooffermyheartfeltthankstomyinstructorChenWeiping,mysupervisor,whohasbeengivingmetheconsiderableacademichelpandconstantsupportduringmythesiswriting.

Ialsoextendmyheartfeltappreciationstoallofmyfriendsandespecially,myclassmateQiJianhui,whohasspenttimediscussingquestionswithmeandofferedmekindadviceaboutthethesis.AndIwouldliketothankthelibrariansofHuaiyinTeachersCollege,whohaveprovidedmewithusefulreferencesneededinmythesis.

Finally,Iwouldliketopresentsincerethankstomyparents,whohavesupportedandassistedmeallthewayinmycollegelife.

摘要：

语言是文化的载体，不同的社会背景和历史文化会产生出不同的禁忌语言。

在原始社会，自然灾害频发，又由于当时人们的封闭的思想，因而变得很迷信，他们认为语言本身会带来不同的运气，因而就有禁忌语这一说法。

禁忌语在中国和其他许多说英语的国家的应用有着许多相似之处，本文首先对禁忌语的起源进行了概述，再从其发展过程进行分析。

在人们日常生活的方方面面，都会涉及到禁忌语，所以它在中国和英语的国家是一个普遍存在的社会现象。

他们在某些方面存在着相同点，也在不同的社会习俗和文化背景的影响下，呈现出不同的形式。

最后，在日常生活中，人们逐渐运用委婉语来替代禁忌语，以避免因误用所造成的麻烦，通过这种方式，我们可以更加有效的与别人进行交流。

关键词：

禁忌语，对比分析，文化差异，委婉语

Abstract：

Culturecanbemanifestedincertainlanguage.Differentsocialbackgroundandhistoricalculturemakeacontributiontoproducedifferentlinguistictaboos.Astheoldsayinggoes,“Troublescomeoutofthetongue”.Superstitiouspeoplethinkthatthelanguageitselfcanbringaboutfortuneandmisfortunesothattaboosarecreated.TaboosareincommonuseinChinaandmanyEnglishspeakingcountries,andwecanfinditsexpressioninEnglishandChinese.Thispapergivesabriefintroductionoftheoriginoftaboos.Andthenanalyzesitsevolutionprocess.Peoplecanbeawareofthefactthatlinguistictaboosexistinalmosteveryaspectoftheirdailylife,anditisanuniversalsocialphenomenoninChinaandBritain.Theysharesomesimilaritiesincertainaspects.Nevertheless,undertheinfluenceofdifferentsocialcustomsandculturebackgrounds,theytakeondifferentforms.Toavoidtheunnecessarytroublescausedbymisusingtaboos,wereplaceitwitheuphemisms.Thenwecancommunicatewitheachothereffectively.

Keywords：

taboowords,comparison,similarities,culturaldifference,euphemism

CONTENTS

1.Introduction1

2.AnalysisofGenderDifferencesinCollegeEnglishEducationinChina2

3.1Thephenomenaofgenderdifferences2

3.1.1FemalestudentsaremorethanmalestudentsinEnglishdepartment2

3.1.2FemalestudentsgethigherachievementthanmalestudentsinEnglishlearning3

3.2Analysisofthefactorsingenderdifferences3

3.2.1Physiologicalgenderdifferencesinlanguagelearners4

3.2.2Emotionalandpsychologicalgenderdifferencesinlanguagelearners4

3.2.3Theinfluenceoffamilyeducation5

3.24Theinfluenceofschooleducation6

3.2.5Theinfluenceoftraditionalsociety8

4.EnlightenmentofGenderDifferencesinCollegeEnglishEducation8

4.1InfluencecausedbygenderdifferencesincollegeEnglisheducation9

4.2RevealinggenderinequalityineducationinChina9

5.SyntheticWaystoAchieveGenderEqualityinEducation10

5.1Enacteducationpolicies10

5.1.1Incorporategenderequalityintoschooleducation10

5.1.2Incorporategenderequalityintocollegeanduniversityadmissionpolicies10

5.2Incorporategenderequalityintotextbooks11

5.3Teachingbygender11

5.3.1Changinggenderstereotypesbyteachers11

5.3.2Classroomteachingbyteachers12

6.Conclusion13

WorksCited14

1.Introduction……………………………………………………2

2.Theoriginanddefinitionoflinguistictaboo…………………5

3.Theevolutionoflinguistictaboo………………………………5

4.ThesimilaritiesbetweenEnglishandChinesetaboos………………7

4·1Taboosonreligion……………………………………………………7

4·2Taboosonhumanexcretionparts……………………………………8

4·3Taboosonsex……………………………………………………………8

4·4Taboosondiseasesordeath…………………………………………8

4·5Taboosonsocialpositions……………………………………………8

4·6Taboosonageandweight………………………………………………8

5.ThedifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesetaboos…………………10

5·1Taboosonnamesandappellation……………………………………10

5·2Taboosonages……………………………………………………………10

5·3Taboosonprivacyaffairs………………………………………………11

5·4Taboosonnumbers…………………………………………………………11

6.TheanalysisonlinguistictaboosbetweenEnglishandChinese………11

7.Conclusion………………………………………………………………………14

1.Introduction

InthecommunicationbetweenChineseandwesterncultures,manypeoplefeelstronglythedifferencebetweenthetwoculturesonmanyaspects,suchassociallife,politics,culture,religion,etc.Inaddition,theparticularhistoricalprocessandsocialbackgroundshaveagreatimpactontheformationandevolutionoftheirlanguages.Asuccessfulcross-culturalcommunicationrequiresustobreakthroughtheculturalbarriers.Agoodcommandoftaboocultureguidespeopletospeakandbehaveatapropertime,placeandtoaproperdegree.TabooisacommonsocialandculturalphenomenoninbothChineseandBritain.Sothewordscreatedbyitalsotakeonanewform.However,influencedbydifferentculturalbackgrounds,ideologiesandconceptsofvalue,thecontentandformsoftaboosaredifferent.Therefore,thediscussionoftherelationbetweenthetabooandlanguageisconducivetoEnglishteachingandcommunication.What’smore,itcanalsohelpustohaveabetterunderstandingofattitudesandthinkingmodelsbetweenChinaandBritain.

2.Theoriginanddefinitionoflinguistictaboo.

Theterm“taboo”wasborrowedfromTonga,anislandgroupinPolynesia,anditsoriginalmeaningis“sacred”“untouchable”.WhenitcameintoEnglishvocabulary,itbecamethesynonymoftaboo,whichstandsforprohibitionorrepression.Itisspecificallyusedtodescribesomespeciallanguagesandbehaviors.

3.Theevolutionoflinguistictaboo

Asitismentionedabove,linguistictabooisnotonlyalinguisticphenomenon,butalsoakindofsocialphenomenon.Itisinfluencedbythedevelopmentofsociety.

Asweallknow,intheprimitivesociety,peopledidn’tgettoknowaboutnature.Theywereconfusedaboutthenaturalphenomenon,suchaslightning,thunder,storm,earthquakes,etc.Sotheybelievedinthenaturalpowersandbecamesuperstitious.Theythoughtonlyinthiswaycouldtheysurvivethehardenvironments,therefore,theymustrespectnatureandmightygodwhentheyuselanguage.Hereisanexample:

fromtheseventhcommandmentoftheTenCommandmentinBible“YoushouldnotmakewrongfuluseofthenameoftheLordyourgod,fortheLordwillnotacquitanyonewhomisuseshisname”〔[1]〕

IntheMedievalperiod,manycountriesweredividedintomanygroupsofdifferentsocialstatusaccordingtoinnumerablereligiousrules.Peoplecouldn’tdoandgettheywantto.Itisthedarkenage,peopleinthattimeshouldshowrespecttothedecadentrulesandreligions.Sotherearemanytaboosduringtheperiod.Forinstance,thereligionlistedthebuttock,jaw,andforeheadasthelinguistictaboos.InChina,duringthefeudalperiod,itisthefeudalcodeofethicsthatdominatethecountryformorethan2000years.Menarethemajorroleinthesociety,andwomenshouldbeobedienttotheirfather,husband,andson.Besides,asanoldsayinggoes:

Ignoranceisawoman’svirtue.Sowomenarenotallowedtoattendclass.WecanseeitfromtheChineseexpression:

Threefromthefourvirtues.Threecardinalguidesandthefivepermanentmembers,etc.Manytaboosarepreservedastheformofthefeudalcodeofethics,forexample,inordertoshowtheroyal’sauthorityandmajesty,thenameoftheemperorandhisancestorsshouldnotbementioned.Atthesametime,peoplealwaysavoidspeakingouttheirparents’namesoreventhecharactersintheirparents’names.

Tabooshaveturnedintopurecommandmentwithoutashadeofsuperstition.Inmodernsociety,withtherapiddevelopmentofscienceandtechnology,thescopeoftheconceptoftaboohasbeenwidened.Mostpeoplearebecomingmoreandmorerational,andtheyneverbelieveinorrelyonthesuperstitions.Thereforethesuperstitiouselementsinlinguistictaboosdecreaseandthosereflectingspiritualcivilizationincrease.WiththefrequentinteractionbetweenChinaandthewesterncountries,thetraditionoftaboosinfluenceseachother.Inrecentyears,therearemanytaboowordsthatreflectademeaningattitudetowardscertainsocialorethicgroups.Racistlanguageandsexistlanguage,forexample,areoffensivetothesocialorethicgroupsdiscriminatedagainst.〔[2]〕

Forexample,theterm“Nigger”wasusedinthe1960s,whichwaswidelyusedtocalltheblacks.Butnow,itisconsideredasataboowordintheusualsocialinteractions.ForsuchformofaddressingisagainsttheAmericanHumanRights.What’smore,becauseoftheWomenLiberation,manywomenstepintoallwalksoflifetoworkwithmen.Thetraditionalideasrestricttheiractivitiesandspiritsduringthefeudaltime.However,everythinghaschanged,wecannotignoretheforcesofwomen,andtheyalsodoaverygoodjob.Therefore,thenumberoftaboowordsonsexistlanguageincreases.

Asismentionedabove,inmodernsociety,peoplearebecomingmoreandmoreconsciousofotherpeople’sfeelings.Sotheycreatemanytaboowordstoavoidhurtingothers.Mostofthewordscanalsobecalledeuphemisms.Inaword,