2013届毕业论文
从英语委婉语看西方文化的禁忌
A Study of Taboos in the Western Cultures from
the Perspective of English Euphemisms
院部外国语学院
专业英语专业
班级 09408012
姓名金巧云
学号 0940801206
指导教师方小勇
完成时间：2013年6月
A Study of Taboos in the Western Cultures from
the Perspective of English Euphemisms
by
Jin Qiaoyun
Under the Supervision of
Associate Professor Fang Xiaoyong
School of Foreign Languages
Jiangsu University of Science and Technology
June, 2013
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Fang Xiaoyong, who has offered me plenty of information and advice in my writing this paper. I am deeply grateful to him for his intellectual guidance, selfless help and patience in the completion of this thesis. Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my dear classmates for their providing me with information I need and for their patience and care during the last month when I was away from school. I think it is time for me to say "thank you" to my dear friends since we are going to graduate in two months. In the past four years, we have experienced happiness and sorrow together, and we have overcome many difficulties, which makes us close to each other. Last but not least, my thanks would go to my beloved family. I would never have this opportunity to extend my thanks to my teachers or my classmates without my family's support, patience and love.
江苏科技大学外国语学院毕业论文
Contents
Abstract in English ................................................................................... I Abstract in Chinese ................................................................................. II
I. Introduction (1)
1.1. The definition of euphemisms (1)
1.2. The origin of English euphemisms (1)
II. Taboos of English euphemisms and their connotation (3)
2.1. The classification of English euphemisms (3)
2.2. The function of English euphemisms (3)
2.2.1. Function of taboos (3)
2.2.2. Function of politeness (4)
2.2.3. Function of beautification (4)
2.2.4. Function of concealment (5)
2.3. An analysis of taboos of Western culture through understanding the
incentives of English euphemisms (5)
2.3.1. The use of English euphemisms as a result of worry and fear (5)
2.3.2. The use of religious euphemisms as a result of worship (6)
2.3.3. The use of shyness euphemisms as a result of shy psychology (6)
III. Application of English euphemisms and its revelation on cross-cultural communication (8)
3.1. Characteristics of English euphemisms in cross-cultural communication (8)
3.1.1. Time differences of English euphemisms (8)
3.1.2. Regional differences of English euphemisms (8)
3.1.3. Register differences of English euphemisms (8)
3.1.4. Nationality of English euphemisms (9)
3.1.5. Gender differences of English euphemisms (9)
3.2. More examples for English euphemisms and their specific applications (10)
3.3. Revelation of English euphemisms on cross-cultural communication (10)
IV. Conclusion (13)
Bibliography (14)
A Study of Taboos in the Western Culture from the
Perspective of English Euphemisms
Abstract
A euphemism is a kind of linguistic phenomenon used in the process of human communication, which is, in a sense, a roundabout way of speech when the user does not want to offend the recipient of the message. In human communication, euphemisms can help people express their meaning in an abstract way without losing their original intentions. Since many subjects in human life are inappropriate to be expressed directly, euphemisms would be ideal for people to exchange thoughts without feeling guilty or embarrassed. Euphemisms, a cultural phenomenon originated in taboos, are a phenomenon that when people talk about some particular subjects, they will substitute them for more indirect and euphemistic language to avoiding embarrassment. The application of euphemisms is an improvement of both language use and the level of culture. In this thesis, English euphemisms will be classified, functionally analyzed and discussed so that we can have a clear understanding of cultural taboos in Western countries.
Keywords: English euphemisms; taboo; culture
从英语委婉语看西方文化的禁忌
摘要
英语委婉语是人类语言使用过程中不可缺少的一种语言现象。使人们谈论那些令人不快或者尴尬的事情时，所使用的较为礼貌的说法，是人们在交际中，用来表达不宜直说的人或事物的言语。其重要的特征就在于运用比较抽象、模棱两可的概念或比喻的、褒义化的手法，使谈话的双方能够采取一种比较间接的方式来谈论不宜直接说的事，而且不必为谈论此事而感到内疚、感到窘迫。英语委婉语作为一种文化现象，源自禁忌，是指人们在交往中对于一些特定话题进行不约而同地以委婉性的语言来代替，这不仅是语言上的进步，更是文化层面的进步。本文通过对英语委婉语进行归类、功能分析，以及其在生活中个各个方面发挥的委婉性作用来探讨西方国家的文化禁忌。
关键词：英语委婉语；禁忌；文化
A Study of Taboos in the Western Cultures from the
Perspective of English Euphemisms
I. Introduction
1.1. The definition of euphemisms
A euphemism is a kind of universal social phenomenon. Specifically, the word originally comes from Greek, with the prefix "eu" meaning "good" and the root "phemism" meaning "speech". So the literal meaning of a euphemism refers to the use of a mild, vague or roundabout expression to substitute harsh, blunt or direct one.
Anyway, so far, the definitions of the euphemisms are quite numerous, and there are two definitions of the euphemism from the reference books: (1) "using a statement of vague, and making people feel happy or ambitious, instead of the expression of an unhappy meaning or with not respect." (Dictionary of language and linguistics, Stockton and Hartmann et al.) (2)"an indirect word or phrase that people often use to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is."(Oxford Advanced Learner's English Chinese Dictionary, the commercial press & Oxford University press)
1.2. The origin of English euphemisms
English euphemisms can be traced back to the time when the United Kingdom was occupied by the Normans in 1066. The euphemism was used at that time primarily because the language used by the conquerors was derogated and considered as vulgar, offensive and scandalous. In order to avoid so called vulgarization, the local upper class began to learn the conquerors' language and tried to be gentle by using gentle words which came from the Latin. In later days, these words were gradually
added into English vocabulary. Today in Western countries, although many of those are not in use any more, some are still widely used. According to the changes of language and culture, some new euphemisms have been generated. The euphemism is a common phenomenon during the use of human language and exists in many languages. Therefore, the use of euphemism is very common and essential in various types.
II. Taboos of English euphemisms and their connotation
2.1. The classification of English euphemisms
English euphemisms are generally classified into two main types, one is traditional English euphemisms and the other style English euphemisms. As for traditional euphemisms, they usually refer to those which are not elegant words or behaviors that make people feel ashamed to talk about in public, so they substitute those words for more acceptable expressions. Because direct expressions may make us feel uncomfortable, annoyed or frightened. For example, when a person we are familiar with dies, we never say that he is dead, instead, we may tell it in other more comfortable ways: He has passed away; he has left us forever; to be asleep in the Arms of God; to breathe one's last; to be taken to the paradise; the final departure; final sleep be home and free; go to meet one's maker; rest in peace; be at rest; leave this world and so on. Then the type English euphemisms refer to over complements. In communications, the English and Americans (especially modern Americans) tend to give good names to those unpleasant things so as to reach the goals in social communication and diplomacy. For example, the word ‘defecation’is usually replaced by the call of nature, to go somewhere, to fix one's face, to wash one's hands and so on.
2.2. The function of English euphemisms
2.2.1. Function of taboos
In ancient times, people believed that God existed in nature, and the God was in charge of everything in the world. To escape from disasters, people held fete activities and gave good names to Gods. The example of losing a person that we are familiar with has been listed above. Besides, euphemisms about illness are common. People replace venereal disease
with social disease; pizza face is called skin problem. Euphemisms about aging are also a sensitive topic in western countries because of the fact that these countries are undergoing a serious problem of social aging. Many old persons are living lonely so they are very afraid of hearing such words like old. So the elderly, the mature are often used to replace the sensitive words. We should keep it in mind that when you talk about old people in front of them, never say even a word about old, instead, we should use words like senior citizens, golden years, elder people and so on. And another example is that social status differences are very obvious and those people with low income are generally referred to with such words as a pavement princess for a prostitute, and a funeral director for an undertaker.
2.2.2. Function of politeness
This function is very important in English euphemisms. From the perspective of dignity, people usually judge a person with implied words. In daily communication, appropriate application of euphemisms can create polite association for two sides to communicate smoothly. Such a function also helps to take care of the dignity of others. Such words as slender, slim can be used for the word skinny, when we try to refer to a skinny woman.
2.2.
3. Function of beautification
In many Western countries, the application of euphemisms can be used to beautify jobs of low social class. If you see a dustman, remember to call him a sanitary engineer. Besides, in order not to hurt those who have personality defects or physiological defects, a euphemism is used in communication, too.
2.2.4. Function of concealment
The function is generally used to cover up serious social problems like poverty and crime or hide the essence of war, scandals of policy and diplomacy. Since a euphemism is a replacement of another meaning, it would be easy for people, especially politicians, to lie. They can say action rather than violence, plumbers rather than a person whose job is to gather intelligence. In fact, we can see this function in Western policy when they launched the Iraqi War ten years ago.
2.3. An analysis of taboos of Western culture through understanding the incentives of English euphemisms
2.3.1. The use of English euphemisms as a result of worry and fear
The basic principles of social psychology tell us that an absolute danger in front of a person can invoke the feeling of fear and and when the danger is not so clear, then a feeling of worry arises. In euphemisms, most situations are that people will have a feeling of fear and worry about something dangerous. Due to people's ignorance in ancient times and blind faith in those days, they always connected a word or a phrase with a specific thing and this happened mostly in bad things. So, a euphemism is used to help people cover up this kind of fearful feelings. People always believe that if they use an elegant word to replace a bad one, something dangerous would not happen to them. For example, when a person is sick, his relatives or family members will not tell others directly that he is sick or seriously ill. If you ask after him, they will just tell you that the guy is under the weather, has a medical condition, uncomfortable, out of shape, or off color. And he is really too sick to come over, you will just be told that he is in a bad way or he has a terminal illness. For the time being, a cancer is still difficult to cure of. Well, if you ask about his condition, you
will be told that he has a big C. Remember, in Western countries, people are very sensitive to the health of a beloved one but at the same time, they would never get too close to another even their parents or children. The reason is that this is, as they may claim, their human rights and their boundary they claimed several hundred years ago.
2.3.2. The use of religious euphemisms as a result of worship
In ancient times, because of the low social productivity level, people kept living in awe of nature, so euphemisms were first created in religious language. People worship God because they don't have the power to conquer nature, nor can they explain many phenomenon of nature. So any phenomenon can be imagined as supernatural power which can arouse people's feelings of fear. In many Christian countries, the names of Gods can not be said casually otherwise one will be thought as impious. And when a person swears, he may say" I swear to God ". They believe in God and in fear of God, so euphemisms are created. To extend their respect for Gods, they never call Gods' names directly, neither. Take Jesus Christ for a simple example, for Christian and Catholics, it is definitely impolite to say his name in public because He is their God. Instead, they call him as Gee Whiz, J.C, Jerusalem, Slim, Mist Alacrity, My Gosh and so on.
For those devil Gods, when people also say their names, they will replace them with others because they are afraid of his happening when speaking of the devil. The following are some examples: people don't say Satan' name, instead, they call him Goodman, the Dickens, Prince of Darkness because he would not understand this so that he would not appear while people are talking about him.
2.3.3. The use of shyness euphemisms as a result of shy psychology
People feel shy mostly because they think sex is not a comfortable
topic to talk about with each other. On the one hand, they regard sex as nasty so that they are to blame to talk about it; and on the other hand, people are not satisfied with their sexual life. Nowadays the topic of sex is totally open in Western cultures and people can talk about this topic like the most normal thing in life. Now even an eight-year-old girl knows that she came to this world because her parents made love eight years ago, while in Eastern countries, many children are still told they were picked in a rubbish can. However, in ancient times, it was never appropriate to talk about it in public, otherwise one would be regarded as a slut.
About the names of dirty or disgusting things, people prefer to replace them with more acceptable words. For example, there are hundreds of descriptions of making sex like connubial rites, art of love, amorous congress, conjugal rights, conversation and so on. From the 1960s to the 1907s, the Gay Liberation greatly liberated people's thoughts. People can no longer call them pansy or fruit today. By the way, the same gender marriage is legal in some Western countries, and we do have reasons to believe that the Gay Liberation is a typical movement in Western countries.
Anyway, with the development of social civilization, the application is also a lift from Gods to human relationships; people are used to avoiding those embarrassing topics which may make them feel ashamed or embarrassed, especially those that are related to the parts of body, bodily functions and sex, so euphemisms can help them reduce the feeling of awkwardness.
III. Application of English euphemisms and its revelation on cross-cultural communication
3.1. Characteristics of English euphemisms in cross-cultural communication
3.1.1. Time differences of English euphemisms
The same thing may have quite different meanings in different times. According to scientific statistics, the word "pregnant" has the following meanings in different periods of time. She is in an interesting condition (1880). She is in a delicate condition (1895). She is in a family way (1920). She is expecting (1935). She is pregnant (1956). We can see clearly that the five sentences all mean being pregnant with different expressions with time changes.
3.1.2. Regional differences of English euphemisms
Different regions have different histories and cultural backgrounds as well as traditional taboos. This difference is typical of languages’regional differences. For example, an American may understand the following sentence "He is in the bathroom" as he is in the toilet while an Englishman may understand it as he is taking a bath. In British English the word "bathroom" means taking a bath while in American English it is the same as a toilet.
3.1.3. Register differences of English euphemisms
In different situations and different contexts, people can hardly have the exactly same expression of the same meaning because of their different educational backgrounds, ages and social status. Take having a meeting for example, if someone is to wash his hands, the expression ‘Sorry! I have to go to the toilet’will be regarded as quite impolite.
Instead, if he quietly says " Sorry, I have to do my duty " or" Sorry, I have to fix my face " or" Sorry, I have to give myself ease". Similarly, when American people talked about their ex-president Bill Clinton and his scandal, they generally said" Zip Gate event " rather than " Clinton's sexual scandal ".
3.1.
4. Nationality of English euphemisms
Some of English euphemisms are commonly used while some others of them are used with a strong national feature. For example, the English word" old " and Chinese word" 老" have the same literal meaning but still differ from each other. In Chinese, " 老" is a comparatively good expression. In their communication, to extend one's respect to others, he usually adds the word to his greeting. But this does not work in Western cultures. If your greeting has an ‘old’ in front of one's name, you are probably regarded as an arrogant person. Instead, if you call an old person a "senior citizen" or "elderly people", he knows you are respectable for him.
3.1.5. Gender differences of English euphemisms
The two genders can use different expressions for the same thing. For example, a woman may use" to powder her nose" or " to fresh herself up " to replace "go to toilet " while a man may say " to relieve himself because nature calls " or" nature is urgent".
From above characteristics, we can see that it is not enough to follow the Cooperation Principle. To achieve the original goals, people usually follow Politeness Principle to save others' face, which is exactly what we call communicative function.