从中西委婉语的对比透视中西文化差异
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本科毕业论文第 1 页共 15 页1 IntroductionEuphemism, an appropriate language form created for perfect communicative effect and an important way to coordinate interpersonal relationship, is a common linguistic phenomenon existing in people’ s use of language.Euphemism appears first in ShiJing , so it has a long history. Chinese scholar Chen Wangdao defines “ euphemism ” and studies it from the perspective of rhetoric in The Origin of Rhetoric. In the 1970s and 1980s, affected by the foreign social linguistic theory, scholars who work on the study of social linguistics become interested in the special social function of euphemism. In Sociolinguistics , Chen Yuan discusses the profound historical and psycho-social background of euphemism, revealing its social essence of avoiding mentioning those unpleasant things or phenomena. In The Euphemism in Modern Chinese Language published in Chinese Language Learning, Shu Dingfang attempts to describe and discuss the structure and research scope of euphemism in modern Chinese language from the angle of modern linguistics for the first time.The study of euphemism at abroad also has a long history. In the 1580s, the English writer George Blunt created the word “ euphemism ” and presented the following definition: a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word. Referring to the historical cultural background of American society, American linguist Menken probes into the reason why several hundred euphemisms appear and become popular in The American Language published in 1936. The book A Dictionary of Euphemism and Other Doubletalk written by English linguist Hugh Rawson manifests the research achievements about euphemism of English and American linguists. The book not only reviews the study history of euphemism, but also makes an extensive discussion of the characteristics, definition and classification of it.Euphemism, as one form of language which contains affluent cultural connotations, must be the reflection of a specific culture. Euphemisms created in different cultural backgrounds reflect different cultural connotations and embodies the attitude towards life and life-style of people living in this specific language group. This thesis aims to contribute to a successful cross-cultural communication by helping people understand the appropriate interpretation of euphemisms.2 Euphemism and Culture2.1 Language and CultureCulture owns diverse kinds of carriers, such as art, language, literature and so on. Language, as the most important carrier, is intimately related to culture. The come into being and inheritance of culture are due to the appearance and development of language. There is no culture without language and no language without culture. At the same time, culture affects language all the time, making language become more accurate to adapt to the development and change of culture. The creation of culture cannot exist without the function of language, and the accumulation of culture is also conserved through language. As a result, language and culture are supplementary to each other and dependent on each other for existence.Language itself, as the carrier and a significant composition of culture, bears the special imprint of culture. Although language is the outcome of the development of social culture, language plays an essential role in the formation and development of culture. The language people use reflects their real thoughts towards what they talk about. Language, from a broad sense, symbolically stands for a people and makes up their historical and cultural backgrounds. Like a mirror, language reflects the culture of a people and reveals their ways of living.Culture is the keystone of language. Any kind of language cannot survive and developwithout the social culture environment, which language relies on. To a certain degree, social culture restricts language’ s evolution as well as perfection. Language itself has an influence on people ’ s ways of thinking and consequently impacts the culture. However, affected by culture greatly, language changes with culture undergoing in development and change. Just in the contemporary world, millions of the new words in various fields prove that rich and colorful cultures make all sorts of languages come into being.2.2 Euphemism and CultureThe word “ euphemism ” originated from the Greek. In Greek, the prefix “ eu ” means “ good ” with the root “ pheme ” meaning “ speech ” . As a result, the literal meaning of euphemism is “ to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”(Neaman and Silver 1. Euphemism is a frequently used figure of speech, and there are other definitions of it. Allan and Burridge presents the following: “ a euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’ s own face or, through giving of fence, that of the audience, or of some third party”( Allan and Burridge 18.For the reason that the formation of English and Chinese euphemisms has various ways, euphemisms can be divided differently in accordance with different standards. The classification employed in this thesis is from Hugh Rawson, who, in 1981, classified euphemisms into negative euphemisms and positive euphemisms in his book A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk from the aspect of semantics.The negative euphemisms, which are closely related to tabooed words, also can be called traditional euphemisms. What the negative euphemisms and tabooed words express are the same. If languages, like sex, disease, physical and psychological defects, are expressed in a direct way, they are called tabooed words, giving people asense of vulgarity and rudeness. But if the languages presented above are delivered in an indirect way, they are called euphemisms, granting people a feeling of connotation, elegance and politeness. For example, peo ple in western countries substitute “ sex ” with “ sleep with” or “ go to bed with” and use “ plain looking” or “ ordinary looking” to replace “ ugly ” .The positive euphemisms, also named as stylistic euphemisms, have no relationship with tabooed words. In fact, positive euphemisms are analogous to the words with a meaning of compliment. “I t tends to inflate and magnify the word meaning, making the euphemized seem altogether grander and more important than they really are ” (Hugh Rawson 1. In order to show politeness, respect or strive for cooperation, people apply beautiful words to express things which are unpleasant but not tabooed. In the past decades, positive euphemisms have been applied in such areas as education, occupation and unemployment. There are many euphemisms for some occupations with lower social status. A gardener who shaves trees and flowers can be called “ a landscape architect” . A garbage collector is often said to be “ a sanitation engineer” and a file clerk would be very happy to kn ow that she is “ a research consultant” .The concept of culture is so broad that defining the word “ culture ” seems to be a very difficult matter for us. Different people often see the same object in different lights. Many scholars have defined it. Linel l Davis defines culture as “ the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people”(24. According to Goodenough, culture is “whatever it is one has to know and believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of “ the end product of learning: know ledge” (167. The culture covers a broad spectrum and contains all the phenomena of the universe. All the things created by people and related toexperience, knowledge, science and technology as well as education and language, can be called culture.Euphemism is a language used pervasively in our daily life. It is not only a language phenomenon in both English and Chinese culture, but also is a kind of social culture. Language and culture are closely related to each other. Euphemism, as one form of language, is also greatly affected and shaped by culture in terms of the origin, growth and usage. Simultaneously, euphemism is a reflection of culture. Euphemism bears the weight of abundant cultural connotation for the reason that it deeply roots in the soil of a people’ s social culture. It is hard for people to make sense of the euphemisms if people do not have a notion of a country’ s culture. Shao Zhihong points out that he [Patrick Hartwell] considers euphemisms as “ a natural part of the social world of words ” and believes they tell us “ a good deal about the values of a culture” (305.3 Different Cultural Implications Reflected in English and Chinese EuphemismsLanguage is the carrier of culture and a mirror reflecting social culture. For this reason, euphemism, as a special form of language, must be the reflection of a specific culture. Language decides a nation ’ s cultural features, which gives rise to the phenomenon that English and Chinese euphemisms without exception will reflect the cultural differences of two nations as well.3.1 Different Concepts of ValueIn term of concept of value, western people live for their self-satisfaction. Once they cannot get the material insurance, they immediately think that their life will fall apart and that they cannot be mentioned in the same breath with their friends because they believe they are inferior to them. While, deeply affected by Confucianism, Chinese contend that the value of life lies in the contribution they do in their lives rather than the materialabu ndance. Euphemisms for “poverty” in English and Chinese reflect their different concepts of value.The word “ poverty ” in English is a terrible word which means “ there is neither powernor social status ” . In the western commercial societies, people hol d the belief that money talks and admit poverty directly incurs disdain. Although the society thinks highly of the view that everyone is equal and has his own civil right, the phenomenon that the gap between the poor and the rich keeps widening still exists. However, there is no person who would like to acknowledge that they do not have enough money to afford them a normal life. Therefore, people in West spare no effort to refrain from mentioning “ poverty ” for the sake of the poor themselves. The followin g example will show us how western people avoid “ poverty ” :“ I used to think I was poor.” She wrote. “ Then they told me I was not poor, I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad thing, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still do not have a dime—but I have a great vocabulary.” (William and Mary 229In the short section of speech above, there are four euphemisms –“ needy ” ,“ culturally deprived ”, “ underprivileged ” and “ disadvantaged ” , which have the similar meaning as “ poor ” . All these words are just some indirect ways western people use to avoid saying the word “ poor ” b ecause most people regard the possession of material wealth as the symbol to measure people’ s ability of survival.There are also many other euphemisms for “ poverty ” : “ hard up for money” , “ less well off ” , “ down on one ’ s luck ” , “ in a awkward financial situation ” , “ in reduced circumstances ” , “ badly off ” , “ the have-nots ” , “ man of modest means ” , “ negative saver ” and so on.By contrast, being poor does not seem to be a horrible thing in China. Chinese people embrace the perspective that though one is poor, he has lofty aspirations and believe that poverty can exercise people ’ s perseverance and character. Nevertheless, beingpoor is not a thing to be proud of, so there are only a few euphemisms for the word “ poverty ” in Chinese. The words used most frequently in Chinese are “ 揭不开锅” , “ 手头不便” , “ 拮据” and “ 囊中羞涩” . The small quantity of euphemisms for“ poverty ” may be relevant to the reason that the word in Chinese is not tabooed as that in English. Specific culture creates special language. China today is a country brimming with rich cultural elements, which makes the new euphemisms for “ poverty ” emerge. With the implementation of reform and opening-up and the rapid growth of economy, millionaires and even billionaires appea r in China. The word “ 富翁” sounds good, but the meaning of the word “ 负翁” has an entirely opposite meaning. Some people of the salariat are called “ 月光族” because they never have surplus salaries at the end of the month.3.2 Different Concepts of RankChina is a nation of courtesy with a cultural heritage running several thousand years and a nation which attaches importance to Confucian culture and feudal patriarch system. However, democracy, referring to freedom, equality and human right, is the main idea of western people. Euphemisms for “ address forms ” reflect the different social values of rank in English-speaking countries and China and also show the relationship among people.People in West have every confidence in the belief that all men are equal. This view stresses that citizens are equal both in laws and mentality, which means there is no rule to judge people whether they are noble or poor. Consequently, western people lay more emphasis on individuality, and they are not so conscious of the concept of familyhierarchy as Chinese to show their respect for seniority. No matter what people ’ s social status are, they can get along with each other like friends and call their names on a first-name basis. In western families, children usually call the ir parents’ names instead of“ father ” and “ mother ” when they grow up. However, the parents do not blame them for the change of titles; on the contrary, they feel that the relationshipbetween them and their children is cozy. Furthermore, the concept of address forms in West is relatively general and ambiguous. Men who are of the same generation of children’s parents are called “ uncle ” , women on the generation base are called “ aunt ” and their children are called “ cousin ” no matter what gender they are. The phenomenon that family members address each other directly regardless of the family hierarchy is a common occurrence in western families while it is not accepted in an old-fashioned Chinese family. The reason lies in that the address forms in English do not belong to the scope of language taboos.On the contrary, Chinese people pay much attention to the arrangement of rank, etiquette and the order of seniority and inferiority, which directly reflected in the“ address forms” . In ancient times, or dinary people were forbidden to address directly the names of emperors and government officials. They had to use other words to replace the name; otherwise, they would be punished because of showing no respect. For instance, in Tang Dynasty, the name of em peror is called “ 李世民” . In order to avoid the word “ 世” , people use “ 代” to take the place of “ 世” , substitute “ 世” with “ 人” and shorten the word “ 观世音” to “ 观音” when they write or communicate. Title taboos derive from the concept of the ancient patriarchal clan system. With the changes of times, this phenomenon has been no longer in existence, but some title taboos continue to be used even today. Nowadays, people always address other people in a way of adding the title of a post to show respect between the superior and the subordinate, the young and the old and even peers, such as “ 张局长” , “ 刘书记” and “ 赵老师” . When it comes to the relationship between friends, people usually address friends by adding “ 小” or“ 老” for the sake of intimacy, such as “ 小王” and “ 老李” . In a Chinese family, parents always educate their kids that they are not allowed to address the elders directly. The younger generation is obliged to call the older generation in terms of kinship to express their esteem, such as “爷爷” , “ 奶奶” , “ 爸爸” , “ 妈妈” , “ 叔叔” , “ 阿姨” , “ 舅舅” , “ 舅妈” . If people address other people’ s names directly, they will be considered as uneducated and impolite.本科毕业论文第 9 页共 15 页 3.3 Different Concepts of ReligionChristianity, a very prevailing religion in West, has a long-term and profound effect on the society, deeming that everybody is guilty and laying stress on a person ’ s imperfection and inherent evil tendency. In China, people mainly believe in Buddhism and Taoism, which guide people to establish perfect personality and even be Buddha and immoral by means of enhancing their self-cultivation. Each language has its own religious faith, which leads to the different uses of euphemisms for “ death ” .In West, people, from heads of state to the common people, almost all of them believe in Christianity which is dominant among the diverse religions. Christians deem that the value of human body is inferior to the soul for the reason that the fresh will die eventually, but the soul is immortal. They stick to the faith that their souls will enter into the heaven rather than hell after death if they make great efforts to do spiritual practice. Affected by this faith, they are confronted with death calmly. As a consequence, a large amount of English euphemisms for “ death ” come from the Bible and give expression to the basic Christian doctrine that people’ s lives given by God are destined to go through sin, indulgence and expiation, and people can only get saved in the other world after expi ating the sins. For example, the “ death ” is called “ to return to dust/earth” because God creates people with clay; “to pay the debt of nature” is a statement of “ death ” for the reason that people are born with sins and their death is to atone for sins. God is the master of the earth, so people have to “ be called to God ” or “ to answer the final summons ” after death. Other euphemisms for “ death ” contain “ go the way of allfresh” , “ to go to a better world” , “ be asleep in the Arms of God ” , “ go to one’ s final reward” and so on. All these euphemisms for “ death ” are the real portrayal of perfect lives western people believe in.Chinese people never have a unified faith for China is a country with many religions. Buddhism and Taoism make a large difference to Chinese culture. Buddhism, spreading into China since Tang Dynasty, is to set people free from the eternal cycle本科毕业论文第 10 页共 15 页 of birth and death. Buddhism advocates spiritual practice to live up to the highest realm, which is c alled “ 圆寂” or “ 灭度” in Chinese. That the Buddhists die peacefully with a gesture of sitting in meditation is called “ 坐化” , which indicates that they are not in dread of death. Other euphemisms for Buddhists’ death, which are too numerous to be listed,include “ 升天” , “ 殉道” and “ 登莲界” . Taoism, another religion Chinese people have a deep faith in, aims to live forever to be immortal, so it considers people’ s death as “ 仙逝” , “ 仙游” , “ 仙去” and so on. In addition, the view that people can be supernatural beings riding on white cranes when they pass away, results in the appearance of “ 骑鹤” , “ 化鹤” or “ 鹤化” . Taoism denies that there is no differences existing in the world and believes that a person’ s life is just from birth to death, so we have the expressions of “ 物化” , “ 隐化” and “ 遁化” . All the examples above reflect a fact that the diversity of religious belief is bound to generate the diversity of language.3.4 Different Concepts of TraditionPeople in West generally avoid asking others’ ag e for the reason that age is a sensitive topic in their eyes. On the contrary, people in China, who are familiar with the traditional customs of respecting the elderly, do not have many taboos in age. However, to be old will surely lead to death. As a result, each nation takes full advantage of euphemisms to prevent embarrassments of “ old age” from happening.Western culture pays much attention to youth, energy and creativity. The word “O ld ” is a derogatory term in western culture, which results in the p henomenon that people are aware of shunning the word especially on account of the serious aging of population in western societies, the increasing problems of social security and ability to provide for the aged as well as the advocation of family structure with DINK lifestyle. Western people are afraid of becoming old and their fear for becoming old has reached the degree of putting an end to the use of the word “ old ” . They meditate deeply on borrowing other words to express the word “ old ” in a tactful way. “ Old本科毕业论文第 11 页共 15 页people ” are addressed as “ senior citizens ” , “ seasoned men ” , “ well-preserved men ” , “ the advanced in age” and the like. They all get complimented for their “ longer life” . Even the “ old people ’ s home” can be called as “ nursing home” , “ home for adults” , “ rest home ” and “ adult communities”. Western people cherish the dream of never growing old, so they call the “ old women ” as “ distinguished women ” and the “ old men ” as “ distinguished men” . In ad dition, the euphemisms for “ old people” include “ golden age” , “ sunset years” , “ the mature” and “ the elderly” . In today’ s society where the young age is advocated, people attach more and more importance to the address of old men, which certainly gives rise to the increase of euphemisms for “ old ” .The euphemisms for “ old ” in China are not as abundant as those in West. Once in a while, people can see the statement in written form, such as “ 华发” , “ 黄昏恋” and “ 夕阳红” , but people are not very sensitive to the word “ old ” . Chinese people hold the view that being old is the honor of family and society. In China, people are deeply convinced that it is a traditional virtue to respect the old and take good care of children. As a result, people advocate the power and status of the old. Although the traditional family structure of four generations under one roof has been broken up in the modern society, the old generation is still the core member of a family. In Chinese culture, the word “ old ” has bee n equipped with the meaning of knowledge, maturity and reliance,which are reflected in Chinese by means of such expressions as “ 老当益壮” , “ 老成持重” and “ 老将出马,一个顶俩” . People in China are not in dread of talking about the age, naturally resulting in the p henomenon that the use of the word “ old ” in the society is not considered as a taboo. People call “ the old” “ 您老” and “ 老人家” to show a sense of respect. The word “ old ” in China can also convey the connotation of seniority and experience, which can be seen from “ 老师傅” , “ 老教授” and “ 老总” . Furthermore, Chinese people usually put the word “ old ” after family name to address the old people who have a high virtue and a glorious name to express their respect, such as “ 陈老” , and “ 李老” .ConclusionEuphemism, both a common linguistic phenomenon and a social culture, is created by different cultural backgrounds, moralities and values and reflects different cultural connotations and characteristics. At the same time, it is essential for people to realize the importance of the appropriate interpretation and application of euphemisms in cross-cultural communication.This thesis reveals the different cultural implications in the aspects of the concept of value, rank, religion and tradition reflected in English and Chinese euphemisms by comparing different euphemisms. Euphemisms for “ poor ” in English and Chinese tell us that western people have a stronger desire for money than Chinese people, and euphemisms for “ address forms ” give us some information tha t China is rigidly hierarchical while western countries are democratic and free. In addition, euphemisms for “ death ” show us the different religious cultures people in each country believe in and euphemisms for “ old ” explain the reason why the word “ old ” is tabooed in English but advocated in Chinese. All the comparisons between English and Chinese euphemisms suggest that the usage and goal of them are roughly similar in that both of them use nice words to replace the vulgar things which are likely to give people a sense of embarrassment, to make the language more elegant, polite and acceptable. However, thecomparison also shows that backgrounds for the usage of English and Chinese euphemisms do not go all the way, sometimes even are totally different. Euphemisms are adopted by people to render their speeches and manners to be rational, to promote the interpersonal relationship and to enhance the exchanges and cooperation. Understanding the deep implications reflected in English and Chinese euphemisms is beneficial to handle the language more skillfully and eliminate the negative effect produced by euphemisms in cross-cultural communication.Bibliography1 Allen, K. & K. Burridge. Euphemism and Dysphemism [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.2 Bolinger, D. Aspects of Language [M]. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., 1981.3 Davis, L. Doing Culture: Cross-Cultural Communication in Action [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.4 Fasold, R. The Sociolinguistics of Language [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.5 Goodenough, W. H. Cultural Anthropology and Linguistic [M]. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1957.6 Leech, G. N. Principles of Pragmatics[M]. London and New York: Longman Group Ltd, 1983.7 Menken, H. L. The American Language [M]. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1936.8 Neaman. J. S. & C. G . Sliver. Kind Words-A Thesaurus of Euphemisms [Z]. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1983.9 Rawson, H. A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk [Z]. New York: Crown Publisher, Inc., 1981.10 William & Marry Morris. Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage [Z]. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1975.11 陈北郊 (Chen Beijiao. 汉语语讳学 [M]. 山西 : 山西人民出版社 , 1991.12 陈望道 (Chen Wangdao. 修辞学发凡 [M]. 上海 : 上海教育出版社 , 1979. 13 陈原 (Chen Yuan. 社会语言学 [M]. 上海 : 学林出版社 , 1983.14 刘纯豹 (Liu Chunbao. 英汉委婉语词典 [Z]. 南京 : 江苏教育出版社 , 1993. 15 李国南 (Li Guonan. 英语中的委婉语 [J]. 外国语 , 1989, (3 : 23-27.16 邵志洪 (Shao Zhihong. 英汉语研究与对比 [M]. 上海 : 华东理工大学出版社, 1997.17 束定芳 (Shu Dingfang. 现代汉语中的委婉语 [J]. 汉语学习 : 1989, (2 : 34-38.18 王逢鑫 (Wang Fengxin. 英汉比较语义学 [M]. 北京 : 外文出版社 , 2001. 19 于亚伦(Yu Yalun. 当代英语委婉语初探 [J]. 外语学刊 , 1984, (2 : 45-49.20 张拱贵 (Zhang Gonggui. 汉语委婉语词典 [Z]. 北京 : 北京语言文化大学出版社 , 1996.AcknowledgementsI would like to avail myself of the opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all the people who have helped me in completing the thesis.Firstly, I really feel grateful to my academic supervisor, Miss Wang Yanfang, who has given me so much useful advice on my writing. Her patient and inspiring instruction and careful modification have greatly contributed to the completion of this thesis.Secondly, I should be thankful to all the other teachers at the department of English of the College, classmates and friends for their useful advice and kind help in my graduate studies. Their profound knowledge and enlightening academic achievements greatly benefited me.Finally, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my parents, who have given me a lot of consideration and great encouragement during these four years. They are my intimate tutors on my life path.。
从委婉语看中西文化差异作者:宋晓靓来源:《考试周刊》2013年第16期摘要:本文主要从委婉语的角度切入,对比分析中美文化的不同,从而使人们可以有效地避免在跨文化交流中犯些不必要的禁忌。
本文的切入点是委婉语,所以在文中引用大量的中英委婉语论证观点。
委婉语可以是文化的一面镜子,它可以充分映射出宗教、社会、礼仪等。
人们了解了委婉语和使用委婉语可以对各国文化更加深入了解,拓宽自己的知识面,从而在与各种人交流的时候不至于造成尴尬的局面。
对委婉语的研究还只是冰山一角,人们对非英语国家的委婉语方面的研究还比较少,需要不断探索。
关键词:中西文化差异委婉语禁忌映射一、引言委婉语是一种语言表达形式,它是一种存在于所有文化中的一种特殊的表达方式。
不同的委婉语取决于不同的社会背景和历史文化,根据牛津高级英汉词典,委婉语的定义是:用令人愉快的、温和的或者间接的字或者词代替精确的和直接的词。
委婉语的使用范围和社会功能正在不断扩大。
掌握好委婉语可以帮助人们保持良好的社会人际关系,使人们顺利地进行跨文化交流。
委婉语反映了人类社会发展的一般性和特殊性,包括社会价值、社会道德、民族特征与共性,也反映了社会和语言的关系,语言交际所要遵守的规则,等等。
如果人们不能很好地掌握委婉语,就将引起不同文化的人之间的误解,使各国的交流障碍重重,所以掌握好委婉语是至关重要的。
委婉语是汉语和英语共有的语言现象,它们有着相同的心理基础,包括禁忌心理、礼貌心理和隐藏心理。
根据不同的社会和自然环境,英语和汉语有着不同的语言特征和文化价值观。
两者都具有鲜明的民族特征。
通过对委婉语的研究,人们可以理解和比较英汉的委婉语的差异,促进跨文化交际顺利进行。
二、委婉语的起源英语委婉语起源于宗教,英语国家的人们大多信基督教。
委婉语专家尼尔曼曾指出,委婉语最早的主题必然是宗教性的,也就是说委婉语最初是由宗教的禁忌发展而来的。
当有要被禁止的语言出现时,就必然会有相应的委婉语代替,人们试着将它们比做硬币的两面。
从委婉语看中西方文化差异作者:许海琪来源:《戏剧之家》2019年第19期【摘要】在中西方语言中,委婉语的使用频率极其的高,而且是一种非常重要的语用修辞手段。
由于委婉语形成于比较特殊的语言背景当中,所以在使用中有一定的语言环境。
本篇文章主要通过具体的语言实例来对英汉委婉语在中外文化中的差异进行阐述与分析,从而进一步剖析不同文化下的中西方差异。
【关键词】委婉语;语言背景;修辞;文化差异中图分类号:G04 ; ; 文献标志码:A ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 文章编号:1007-0125(2019)19-0233-01一、简介委婉语产生在特定的语言环境中,委婉语的使用也需要在特定的环境中。
也就是说委婉语是为了使语言表达得更加清晰顺畅,人们创造出来的一种特殊语言形式。
但是由于不同国家和地区之间的文化差异,所以在委婉语的使用上也有着很大的差别,其中有一个最根本的原因就是不同文化下人们的思想心理不同。
简而言之,在使用不同委婉语的过程中,通过对比分析,就能够看出中西方之间的文化差异。
二、委婉语的产生心理委婉语是一种语言上的修辞手法,其含蓄、委婉的表达方式被广泛地使用,在人们想要表达一些禁忌或避讳的话语时,常常会选择使用委婉语,委婉语的主要作用就是能够使语言更加的顺畅和流利,而且使一些避讳的语言能够含蓄地表达出来。
但由于文化的不同。
所以中西方国家对于委婉语的使用也是不一样的。
(一)避讳心理委婉语的形成其实就是在现如今社会的发展过程中,用了表达一些避讳性的东西所使用的语言,我们也可以叫作禁忌心理,一般情况下所表达的事物都是人们内心当中所忌讳和害怕的东西。
在过去,委婉语主要应用在妖魔鬼怪等神秘又可怕的事物上,但是随着社会的不断发展和进步,现在委婉语多被用在对性,死亡,严重的疾病及一些身体上的缺陷的表达。
比如当人们想要表达老者死去常常说“仙逝”“驾鹤西去”等,在形容小孩子不幸去世,常常用“夭折”来表达。
使用委婉语避讳了直接使用“死”这个字,使得人们在传达信息的时候,更容易被人所接受。
中西方委婉语中的文化差异分析作者:董兆慧来源:《校园英语·下旬》2014年第08期【摘要】委婉语在中西方语言的使用过程中都是一种普遍现象,这些委婉语在这两种语言的表达形式和文化内涵上有相同点,也有差别。
本文对中西委婉语进行比较分析,旨在促进中西方跨文化交流。
【关键词】委婉语汉语英语在各民族生活中,委婉语都是一种普遍存在的语言现象,是英语和汉语中常用的修辞手法之一。
委婉语同时又是一种文化现象。
当说话者感到直率的说法可能会引起听话者的某种厌恶时,出于忌讳或礼貌,就通过调整遣词造句来克服这些心理障碍。
这样便丰富了语言的表达方式,实现独特的修辞意义,产生独特的语言效果。
大体上都贯穿了两个原则:一是若即若离的原则,一是美好中听的原则。
一般说来,委婉语有三个方面的作用:一是避免刺激,给人以安慰;二是消除粗俗,给人以文雅;三是摒弃陈腐,给人以新颖。
一、委婉语的内涵委婉语(Euphemism)一词源自希腊语。
前缀“eu”的意思是“good”(好),词根“-phemism”意为“speech”(言语),合起来意思是“word of good omen”(吉言或好听的说法)。
委婉语指的是由一个词或一个比较有利的暗示或更少的不愉快的联想来进行指明或替代。
二、常用英汉委婉语的文化差异在中西方人们的生活中,这样的例子有很多,本文以有关死亡,称谓和职业的常用委婉语为例进行说明。
1.有关“死亡”的委婉语有关。
英国和美国的大多数人信奉基督教,基督教的教义成为人们所遵循的伦理规则。
英语委婉语的“死”在很大程度上源自于圣经或她的传说和涉及到的典故。
基督教认为上帝是万物的主,人在最后一定会“回答神的最后的召唤”。
因此,人要遵循一个良性的路径,首先“cross the River Styx(穿越冥河)”,然后“pay Saint Peter a visit(付圣徒彼得参观)”,所以,最后人们终将死亡说成是“go to the Heaven(去天堂)”终于能够睡在耶稣或上帝的怀抱里,或者“go to his final reward(得到人生最后的奖赏)”以及“one's name inscribed in the Book of Life (自己的名字镌刻在生命之书)”。
委婉语论文:中西委婉语的对比摘要:委婉语是一种中西文化中普遍存在的语言现象,是为了达到理想交际效果而采用的一种策略。
委婉语同时又是一种文化现象。
当说话者感到直率的说法可能会引起听话者某种程度的厌恶时,出于忌讳或礼貌,就通过遣词的调整来克服上述的心里障碍。
本文旨在通过将中英文两种语言中委婉语的使用进行对比,从中发现中西文化委婉语使用的差异,以提高英语学习者的文化意识和跨文化交际能力。
关键词:委婉语;差异;对比一、前言委婉语是各民族生活中普遍存在的一种语言现象,是英语和汉语中常用的修辞手法之一。
委婉语的特征就是用一种不明说的,能使人感到愉快或尊敬意味的表达方式。
它通过语言来调剂人际关系,而且它还是一种社会语言学现象,通过它可以避免语言过于直接、刻薄而给对方造成伤害。
英汉两种语言中都有大量的委婉语。
由于委婉语是语言运用常规的背离,因而它在本质上是一种语言变异现象,它是促成语言变化的潜在机制之一。
随着中国和西方文化的交流和碰撞,现实需要我们对英语和汉语中委婉语的对比进行较为广泛的研究,熟悉其在社会交际中的功能,才能更准确地理解它,并恰如其分的使用它。
二、中西委婉语的对比(一)在礼貌方面的共通性在社会交往中,无论中西方都讲究讲话的礼貌功能,选择委婉的表达法是有修养的人的表现,说话人使用委婉语,不仅显得彬彬有礼,还会因为照顾了对方的情面可获取对方的好感。
例如英语里面的“老”在西方文化中是忌讳的,于是一些关于年龄的委婉语就应运而生,如用“senior citizen”(高级公民)“,the longer living”(年长者)等来代替。
作为教师,也不能说你的学生笨,要表述成“a slow learner”(他学得慢),或“underachiever(他尚未发挥潜力)”;在英语中,各种残疾人一般被称为“the invalid”(病弱的);“deaf”(耳聋的)被称为“slow of hearing”(听觉迟钝的);“blind”(失明的)被称为“visually retarded”(视力上有障碍的);“color blind”(色盲)被称为“color deficient”(色觉有缺陷的)。
社科学论Soda/Sc/ence Theor y从英汉委婉语看中西文化差异宋艳平(天津交通职业学院天津300110)摘要众所周知,英语和汉语是当前世界上使用人数最多的两大语种。
英语和汉语在表达方式、字形字义、文化习惯等方面都存在着一定的差异。
委婉语作为语言的重要组成部分,其在人们的日常生活交际中占有极为重要的地位。
合理利用委婉语可以使人们之间的交流变得更加融洽。
分析和比较委婉语的文化内涵,*-q-pX找出英汉委婉语的差异,进而看出中西文化之间的差异。
关键词英语汉语委婉语中西文化差异中图分类号:H315文献标识码:AW es t em and C hi nese C ul t ur al D i f f er e nces i nE ngl i s h and C hi nese E uphem i s mSO N G Y anpi ng(Ti anj i n Tr af f i c V oca t i ona l C ol l ege,T i anj i n3001l O)A bs t r act A s i s w e l l know n,E ngl i s h and C hi nes e ar e t he t w o m os t c om m onl y us ed l angu ages i n t he w o r l d.Ther e ar e di f-f er e nc es i n t he i r w ay s of exp r es si ons,m eani n gs and hab i t s.Eup hem i s m,as an i m p or t ant par t i n l anguage,pl ays a si gni f i cantr o l e i n da i l y com m uni cat i on.C om m uni cat i ons Can be m or e har m on i ous by us i ng e uphe m i sm r ea s ona bl y.A na l ys i s and com—par i sons ofc ul t ur al i m pl i c at i ons i n e uphe m i sm is he l pful t o f i nd t he di ff er ence s i n Engl i shand C hi nes e euphem i s m i n W es t-em and C hi nes e C ul t ur al.K ey w or ds Engl i s h;C hi nes e;euph em i s m;w es t er nand C hi nes e cul t ur e;di f f e r ence s语言作为人类之间交流的最主要工具,它与各民族的文化密不可分。
从文化的不同层面对比中西委婉语[摘要]委婉语是英汉两种语言共同的现象。
从文化的不同侧面,尤其是宗教与阶级、社会价值观、历史典故等几方面可以比较出委婉语在这两种语言中的异同,进一步了解中西的不同文化内涵。
[关键词]委婉语宗教与阶级社会价值观历史典故与传统习俗就整个人类而言,“委婉”起源于语言灵物崇拜,起源于人类文明的早期。
作为一种修辞方式是后来言语发展到一定阶段的产物;而且,人类的禁忌心理不仅支配语用变动中的言语,对语言体系也是一个有益的补充,禁忌用语和委婉用语的并存,丰富了语言的词汇。
英语和汉语的音系、形态、结构尽管差别极大,但却有着许多共同的委婉语言手段。
而且,英、汉民族的言语禁忌心理也有许多共通之处。
乌尔曼在研究语义变化规律时指出,避开直接指称令人不快的事物,这是人类共有的一种普遍倾向。
委婉语是一种语言现象,也是一种社会现象和文化现象,是特定社会和文化的一面忠实的镜子。
形形色色的委婉语反映了形形色色的社会价值观和社会心理状态,反映了与之相应的文化传统。
一、委婉语的宗教性和阶级性整个西方世界基本信奉基督教,基督文化成了委婉语最早也是最肥沃的土壤。
构成整个西方世界道德基础的《圣经》中就有“十戒”,其中明文规定:不可妄称耶和华上帝的名字;妄称上帝者,耶和华必以他为有罪。
因而关于上帝的委婉语非常多。
比如:the Creator、the Almighty、the Eternal、Lord of Lords、Our Father 等等,也有用语音手段的,如:Gad、Gosh、Golly等。
社会语言学家赫茨勒(Hertzler)指出:《圣经》中这一诫令现在仍然是人们言语习惯中很活跃的一支力量,至今很多人在笔语中还用G-d代替God。
比起西方民族来,中华民族没有一个共同的、统一的宗教信仰,宗教禁忌未能对全民语言产生较大的影响,有关神鬼的婉称就很少。
对汉语委婉语产生强大影响的是另一因素阶级禁忌。
“国讳”对汉民族的全民语言影响最为深远。
从英汉委婉语对比中透析中西文化差异委婉语其实是一种修辞方法,被广泛的应用在英汉的语言当中,并且在英汉语言中占据着非常重要的地位。
但是由于英汉委婉语的用法和使用场景不同,所以通过对比就可以了解到中西文化的差异。
本文通过委婉语的概念和英汉委婉语产生的因素进行了分析和探讨,总结归纳出了中西文化的具体差异,以供相关人员参考或研究。
标签:英汉委婉语;中西文化差异;对比前言:委婉语产生在特定的语言环境中,委婉语的使用也需要在特定的环境中。
也就是说委婉语是为了使语言更加流畅,从而出现的一种特殊语言形式。
但是由于不同国家文化差异,所以在委婉语的使用上也大不相同,根本原因就是委婉语产生的因素就是心理因素,所以中西方国家对于委婉语的使用时不同的。
总的来说,通过英汉委婉语的对比,就能够看出中西方的文化差异。
一、委婉语的概念委婉语其实是一种修辞方法,被广泛的应用在英汉的语言当中,并且在英汉语言中占据着非常重要的地位。
委婉语产生在特定的语言环境中,委婉语的使用也需要在特定的环境中。
委婉语表达的方式主要有含蓄、委婉、禁忌等特点,委婉语的主要作用就是能够使语言更加的顺畅和流利,但是由于中西方的文化差异,所以在委婉语的使用上也大不相同,根本原因就是委婉语产生的因素就是心理因素,所以中西方国家对于委婉语的使用时不同的。
委婉语总的来说可以的心理因素主要可以分为:避讳心理、掩饰心理和礼貌心理〔1〕。
二、英汉委婉语产生的因素(一)避讳心理委婉语的形成其实就是在现如今社会的发展过程中,对于一些避讳性的东西所使用的语言,也可以叫做禁忌心理,一般情况下都是对于人心理上恐惧或者避讳的东西所使用的语言。
在最早的时候,委婉语主要都是应用在妖鬼神魔等神秘又可怕的事物上,但是随着社会的不断发展和进步,委婉语已经被逐渐应用在死亡、性、重大疾病等生理或者心理缺陷中。
在日常生活中,如果将此类食物通过直接的语言进行表达,会给他人一种不礼貌、粗鄙的印象,并且有一些语言直接通过语言进行表达也会让人比较难以启齿,所以人们在表达这些事物的时候一般都采用委婉语来进行表达,使表达的更加清楚又不会给人一种没礼貌、没素质的印象。