语言与文化论文范本.docx

语言与文化论文范本.docx

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语言与文化论文范本

Introduction

Therelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturehasintriguedpeopleofdifferentdisciplines,suchasphilosophers,anthropologistsandlinguists.WhatshouldbemadeclearbeforeunfoldingthetopicisthatcultureinthispaperisinthesamesenseasinGoodenough’sdefinition.‘Asociety’scultureconsistsofwhateveritisonehastoknoworbelieveinordertooperateinamanneracceptabletoitsmembers,andtodosoinanyrolethattheyacceptforanyoneofthemselves.’Itisobviousthatlanguageandculturearecloselyinterrelated.Inthispaper,theauthorfocusesmuchoftheattentionontheinfluenceofcultureonlanguagethattosomeextentservesasamirrorofculture,thoughnotapassiveone.

Physicalenvironment,inwhichasocietylives,andthesocialenvironmentcanbereflectedinlanguage.Besides,thevaluesofsocietycanalsohaveaneffectonitslanguage.Oneofthemostfascinatingphenomenaislinguistictaboo.ThewordtaboofirstcametolightwithCook’svoyagestotheHawaiianIslandsinthe17thcentury.CookfoundthatthespeakersofTongan,aPolynesianlanguage,havemanytaboosunderwhichcertainthings,placesandpersonsaresetapartorprohibitedassacred,unclean,orcursed.TheWebster’sThirdNewInternationalDictionaryoffersacomprehensivedefinitionoftaboo.‘Tabooisaprohibitioninstitutedfortheprotectionofaculturalgrouporasasafeguardagainstsupernaturalreprisal;aprohibitionimposedbysocialusageorasprotectivemeasure.’Aslanguageuseiscontextualizedinparticularsocialsettings,fromsocialtaboooriginateslinguistictaboo.Theavoidanceofusingtaboolanguagemirrorssocialattitudes,emotionsandvaluejudgementsandactuallyhasnolinguisticbasis.Inthefollowingpartofthepaper,theattentionwillbedrawnontheoriginoftaboo,taboosubjectsandtheinfluenceoftabooonlanguageandsociety.

ChapterOneTheOriginofTaboo

Althoughthewordtaboowasborrowedinthe17thcentury,theconceptisindeedold.Scholarshaveraisedseveralhypothesesabouttheoriginoflinguistictaboo,amongwhichthefollowingthreearethemostreasonable.

Intheprimitivesociety,duetothelowproductivity,peopledidnotenjoytheabilityofunderstandnaturalphenomenonandnaturalpower,whichwastoomysteriousforthemtointerpret.Theyweretotallyatalossattheunexpecteddisasterofplague.Peoplethereforeshowedgreatawetonatureandofferedkindsofexplanationtoit.Oneisthatlanguageusedbypeoplemightbeincloserelationwithnaturalphenomenonandcouldbringhappinessanddisastertothepeopleconcerned.Inthissense,languagewasattachedsupernaturalpower.Itisbelievedthatbycastingspellsandincantations,theycouldpunishtheirenemiesandblesstheirfriends.Inthisway,linguistictaboosconcernedwithreligionandsupernaturalpowercameintoexistence,whichhasfinallyledtowordfetishism.Peopletriedtoavoidtheuseoflinguistictaboo,forinstance,theydarenotmentionthenameofthedeadperson,whichisbelievedtobringaboutillfate.Inshort,itisgenerallyassumedthattaboosoriginatedfromtheprimitivesociety—aworldofterrorsandpower,becauseoftheirlowproductivityandlowcognitiveability.

Anotherhypothesisisthatlinguistictaboosalsobearcertainrelationshipwithsocialattitudesandmoralityofpeople.“AccordingtoGardner,attitudehascognitive,affectiveandcognitivecomponents（i.e.,itinvolvesbeliefs,emotionreactions,andbehavioraltendenciesrelatedtotheobjectoftheattitude）andconsists,inbroadterms,ofanunderlyingpsychologicalpredispositiontoactortoevaluatebehaviorincertainway.”（Mckay,P,5）Linguistictaboo,inthissense,servesasamirrortoreflectsocialattitude,valuesystemandmoralityofacertainspeechcommunity.Nolanguagecanbeimmunefromtheinfluenceofsocialnorms.Inalmostallthecountriesintheworld,languageconcernedwithsexandexcretion,etcisheavilytabooed.Theveryuseofitisbelievedtobeharmfultoitsmembersinthatitwouldcausethemembarrassmentofpublicshame.Consequently,thingsaboutsexandexcretioncanonlybereferredtoincertaincircumstances,bycertainpeople,throughcertaindeliberatecircumlocutions.InChina,forexample,peopleareextremelyreluctanttousethetermsreferringtosexinpublic,whichisconsideredtobeimmoral.Wetendtoidentifyapersonwhofrequentlyusesthesetermsasanuneducatedorevenadirtyguy.Eveninbooks,thepublishersubstitutesthesetaboowordswithXXX.

Tosumup,thistypeofwordsthatistabooedinaparticularlanguageisresultedfromatleastpartofthesystemofvaluesandbeliefsofthesocietyinquestion.

Thirdly,somescholars,amongwhomHaasisadistinguishedone,havepointedoutcertainlanguagetaboosseemtoarisefrombilingualsituations.Bilingualismisaworldwidepracticebecauseofimmigrants,marriageandhistoricalreasons.Thetermbilingualismandmultilingualismhavebeenusedinterchangeablyintheliteraturetorefertotheknowledgeofuseofmorethanonelanguagebyanindividualofacommunity.Anexaminationofhowthelanguagesofbilingualandmultilingualcommunityareusedrevealsahighlysophisticatedandefficientpattern.Sincebilingualshaveagoodcommandoftwolanguages,theymadeconstantcomparisonbetweenthetwonotonlypragmaticallybutalsophonetically.AnillustratingexampleisaboutThaistudentslearningEnglishinEnglish-speakingcountries.TheyavoidThaiwordslikefag（sheath）inthepresenceofanglophonebecauseofthephoneticresemblanceofthewordtotabooEnglishwordfuck.ThaispeakersalsofinditdifficulttosaytheEnglishwordsyetandkeybecausetheysoundverymuchliketheThaiwordsjed（avulgarwordfor‘tohaveintercourse’）,andkhii（excrement）.Inshort,becauseofthebilingualsituation,thetaboosinoneculturemanyresultinothertaboosinotherculturesindifferentlinguisticframeworks.

What’smore,otherscholarsinferthatsometaboosarederivedfromsexdifferentiation.Theabovethreereasonsacceptedbymostofthescholars.However,tabooisanextremelycomplicatedphenomenon,andmanyotherfactorsmayhavealsocontributedtoitsformulation.

ChapterTwoTabooSubject

Taboosubjectscoverawiderangeofoursociallife.Theymayincludesex,excretion,death,religion,politics,etc.Itmustbementionedherethatthereisnouniversalreligionorsocialstructure.Culturalsystemsandsocietiesinthelargersensemaypossesssimilaritiesbutavarietyoffactors（environment,size,etc）ensurethattherearesignificantdifferences,hencedifferenttaboosubjects.However,taboosubjectsonreligion,bodilyfunctionsandwastes,anddeatharegenerallyregardedasthemostcommontaboosubjects.Theyexpressasociety’sconcernforitselfandactasaforwardlineofdefense.

Firstly,taboosconcerningreligiousaffairscanbetracedbacktotheprimitivesociety,thoughnotrelegatedsolelytoit.Insomecommunities,word-magicplaysanimportantroleinreligion,andcertainwordsregardedaspowerfulwillbeusedinspellsandincantations.Thesewordshavebeengraduallymadetaboos.Inthisway,ritual,magicandtaboooperatewellinreligion.InEngland,thewordbloodyisataboothatoriginallyreferredtothebloodofChrist.Somerespectablepeopleconsiderbloodyahorriblewordonaparwithobsceneorprofanelanguage.Show’suseofbloodyinPygmalionarouseswidespreadpubliccomment.InAustralia,peoplefirmlybelievethattheywouldphysicallysickenanddiewhenatabooispronounced.ThiscanalsofindexpressioninJapan.InShintoceremonies,Buddhisttermssuchashotoke（Buddha）andso（Buddhistmonk）aregenerallyavoided,forBuddhismisbeingassociatedwithfuneralsinJapaneseconcepts.

However,asoldsocietieswitheredanddied,religionhasundergonesignificantmodification.Religionisnolongerthebackboneofasociety.Religiouswordtaboos,therefore,havelostmuchoftheiroriginalforce.

Secondly,itisnotuncommonforpeopletofeardeath.Itisanunknownworldafterdeathandthedeadpersonwhoknowsitneverreturn.Deathisinconstantcompanionwiththepainofthedyingonesandthegriefofthelivingones.Duetotheabovereasons,theverymentioningofthedeadperson’snameandeventheveryworddiebecometaboos.WeChinesearealwaysconsciousoftheavoidanceofthecharacterdie.Thewordcarriestoostrongflavorforustobear.Instead,weapplytheeuphemismtomoderatetheunpleasantness.Therefore,theexpressions,suchastobenomore,togototheglory,togotoheaven,toseeMarx,etc,cameintoexistence.InJapan,afternightfall,insteadofsayingshioforsalt,speakerssaynaminohama.Shioandshi（death）soundsosimilaranditisn’tconsideredgoodtobementioningdeathwhenitisdark.What’smore,wordsrelatedwithfuneralandbodyarealsousedinanindirectmanner.Inshort,deathisalmostaninternationaltaboosubjectandhasalreadybeendeeplyseatedintheemotionsofhumanbeingsasawhole.Failuretoadheretotherulesgoverningtheuseofdeathtaboomayresultinacommunicationfailure.

Thirdly,however,notlastly,sexisalsoadistinctkindoftaboosubjects.Thisisareflectionofthegreatemphasistraditionallyplacedonsexualmoralityinmostofthecultures.Sextaboosreceivelegalaswellassocialreinforcement.Anothertaboosubjectconcernedwithbodilyfunctionsisbodilyexcretion.Manyofthewordsrelatingtosexandexcretionhavebeenstigmatizedasbadlanguage,foullanguageorFour-letterwords,whichhavebeenineffectbannedinpoliteconversationandinprinting.Four-letterwordisawordofaboutfour