BI YE LUN WEN（20_ _届）英语从禁忌语与委婉语看中西文化的差异The study of Taboo and Euphemism in English andChinese摘要语言和文化是一种辩证的关系，每种语言都是其文化的一部分，语言既服务于文化又反映着文化的需要。
委婉语与禁忌语是人们使用语言的重要形式，在人际交往中起着重要的作用。
委婉语与禁忌语随着文明的发展，沉淀了丰富的文化内涵。
语言是社会发展的产物，同时也就反映了社会生活，随着历史的进步的发展，语言也发生了很多的变化。
由于宗教、迷信、礼仪以及科技不发达的原因，某些语言就被禁止使用，同是也就出现了用另外的语言来替代这种语言的现象，于是就出现了委婉语与禁忌语。
在不同的民族和文化中都存在着委婉语与禁忌语，如果我们掌握了他们，就能够在日常生活特别是在跨文化交际中，提高我们的交际能力。
本文通过介绍委婉语与禁忌语的定义、形成方式、各自的在不同文化中的特点、以及委婉语与禁忌语在中西方文化上的宗教、等级观念、礼仪等方面的具体比较来更好的分析委婉语与禁忌语，便于了解不同的文化，这样就能更好的掌握它们，并运用到实际当中，提高交际能力，避免不必要的误会。
关键词：委婉语，禁忌语，语言，文化，比较AbstractThe relation between language and culture is dialectic. Every language is a part of its culture. Language does not only serve the culture, but also is a mirror for the culture. Language is the outcome of the social development, and it also reflects the society. With the development of the history, we have seen a lot of changes about language. Taboo and Euphemism are the important forms in our society. And they also play an important role in interpersonal interaction. With the development of the civilization, Taboo and Euphemism have also affected and enriched the culture. Because of the backwardness of religions, superstitions, etiquettes, and technologies, a part of the language is not allowed to use, in the same time, some other words came up and replaced these words which are not allowed to be used. Then, Taboo and Euphemism are created in our daily life.Key words: Taboo，Euphemism，language, culture, comparisonContentsAbstract (Ⅱ)1 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102 Origin and Definition of taboo and euphemism ------------------------------------ 10 2.1 Origin and Definition of taboo---------------------------------------------------------- 10 2.2 Origin and Definition of euphemism -------------------------------------------------- 112.3 sample analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 113 Feature of euphemism and taboo in Chinese and English ------------------------ 12 3.1 The language features of euphemism -------------------------------------------------- 12 3.1.1 Nationality ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12 3.1.2 Locality ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 3.1.3 Relevance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 3.1.4 Indirection and Relativity ----------------------------------------------------------- 13 3.1.5 Fuzziness ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13 3.1.6 Humor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 133.2 The language features of taboo --------------------------------------------------- 14 3.2.1 Universality -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143.2.2 Nationality --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143.2.3 Relevance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143.2.4 Description --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 153.2.5 Class nature -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 153.2.6 Implicitness -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 154 Three Formations of Euphemism and taboo ------------------------------------ 154.1 Formation of Taboo ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 4.1.1 Profanities --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 164.1.2 Obscenities -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 164.1.3 Vulgarities --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 174.1.4 Sensitive topics --------------------------------------------------------------------- 174.2 Principles of the Formation of Euphemism --------------------------------------- 17 4.2.1 Remoteness ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 174.2.2 Pleasantness ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 184.2.3 Relatedness ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 185 The difference in Taboo and Euphemism between Chinese and English - 195.1 Background of China and Western countries. ----------------------------------- 195.2 The application and comparison between Chinese and English in taboo and euphemism. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 205.3The difference between Chinese and English in taboo and euphemism------ 215.3.1 The taboo and euphemism in religion ------------------------------------------ 215.3.2 The taboo and euphemism in sense of grade --------------------------------- 225.3.3 The taboo and euphemism in etiquette ---------------------------------------- 226 Conclusions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 237Bibliographies ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 248 Acknowledgments --------------------------------------------------------------------- 251 IntroductionLanguage, as a tool of communication, through the crucial role that language plays in the organization of social group, has a strong connection with culture and society. Taboo and Euphemism, being part of the language, have a long history in Chinese and English. However, their creation has their unique reasons, and their usage, scope of application are also different.2 Origin and Definition of taboo and euphemism2.1 Origin and Definition of tabooThe term taboo is of Polynesian origin-“tabu” on Tongan Archipelagoes. It originally refers to those holy facts or objects which cannot be spoken or touched and first noted by Captain James Cook, a British sailor. There is also a story. During Cook’s visit to Tongan in 1771, when he came to the island in South Pacific, he found many strange phenomena. For example, some objects can only be used by their leaders or by the God, but some can only be used by common people, and some objects can only be used for special purpose, but some only for general use. The local people called these phenomena “tabu”, which means “to be holy and untouchable”. Cook introduced this term into the English language, and spelled it as “taboo” in English. Taboo has highly developed in Polynesian society of South Pacific, but they emerged from the many cultures, both in Chinese and English. Therefore, the word “taboo”, as a special noun for this kind of special phenomenon, was brought to sociology and anthropology. It is interpreted as one way in which a society expressed its disapproval of certain kinds of behavior which are considered harmful to someone either for supernatural reasons or such behavior that will violate a moral code. There is no generally accepted explanation of taboo untill now, but there is broad agreement that the taboos current in any society tend to become prohibitions, excluding something from use, approach, or mention because of their sacred and inviolable nature, or bans or inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. There are two aspects of taboo: one is the objects, which should be respected, but cannot be used freely; the other is objects, which cannot be touched freely. In a broader sense, taboo exists in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects or relationship which the society wishes to avoid and the language used to talk about them. In other words, taboo consists of Behavioral Taboo and Verbal Taboo. Generally speaking, Behavioral Taboo caused Verbal Taboo. Verbal Taboo indicates “a total or partial prohibition of the use of certain words, expression and topics in social interaction.”2.2 Origin and Definition of euphemismThe word “euphemism” was derived from the Greek word “euphemismos”, which means “fair speech”. The prefix “eu” means “good, sound well” and “pheme” means “saying” or “speech”. And thus the literal meaning of “euphemism” is “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”. That is to say, euphemism is used as an alternative to unpleasant expression, in order to avoid possibly losing someone’s face, or one’s own face, or through going offense, that of the audience, or some of third of party. This unpleasant expression may be tabooed, fearsome, or for some other reasons that speakers can’t or intend no t to use some certain expression directly on some occasion. “In Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language is ‘the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought substituted’. Rawson Blunt, a British writer,defined euphemism as ‘a good favorable interpretation of a bad word.” “Encyclopedia Britannica(1994) also defines euphemism as ‘a figure of speech in which something of an unpleasant, distressing or indelicate nature is described in less offensive terms’”.2.3 sample analysisFor the English learner, understanding the taboo and euphemism is very important; there are some examples both in Chinese and English.In Chinese, especially in sex, Chinese language has been affected by the feudalism for a long time. People in China are not allowed to say some words in excretion. For example, people are avoided to talk about defecation when have their dinner. Chinese people do not say “somebody is dead”, they always use the words just like “somebody has gone or somebody is too old”. In English, people also do not use the words “cancer”, they call it “the big c” or “long illness”, but in Chinese, people say the illness can not to be cured. In English, people also use some sentences to replace the word “menstruation”, just like “I’m having my periods”, “I’m a woman for a week”, or “I’m having a friend with me”, but in Chinese, we use “I’m not comfortable”, “official holiday”. It is a very common physical phenomenon for women to be pregnant, but in Middle Age of asceticism, “being pregnant”was regarded as an inelegant thing, and it is unpleasant even to speak of this word. The following are some euphemistic expressions about it: she has cancelled all her social engagements. She is in an interesting condition. She is in a delicate condition.3 Features of euphemism and taboo3.1The language features of euphemism3.1.1 NationalityEuphemism is the common language phenomenon in the culture of the world. However different countries and different nations have their different natural environments, social environments, modes of production, lifestyles and cultures. Euphemism is different. And we call this difference “nationality”. Look at this passage: I used to think I was poor, and then they told me I was not poor, I was needy, and then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived is a bad image, that I was underprivileged, then they told me that underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged, I still do not have a dime but I have a great vocabulary!”this passage uses four euphemisms instead for “poor”, they are “needy”. “Culturally deprived”, “underprivileged”, “disadvantage”. It uses these four words to express their different understanding about poor.3.1.2 LocalityDifferent social modes have led to different euphemisms. Just like bread is the usual food for British, they use: “take bread out of someone’s mouth” to mean “deprive somebody’s job”. Another example: “umble”and “numbles”compose the word”humble”. “umble”and “numbles”are the pie made by the deer’s internal organs, they are low food. Then the word “humble”means “unpretentious, deferential or servile”.3.1.3 RelevanceThe change of language is determined by the development of society. On the point of the history, language is changing all the time, new words are produced at any time and old words fade away. Euphemism is unexceptional. For example, long time ago, people called black people “negro”, then “black people”, and now “African American”. This is the result of American human right.3.1.4 Indirection and RelativityT he literal meaning of “euphemism” is “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”. That is to say, euphemism is used as an alternative to unpleasant expression, in order to avoid possibly losing of face, either one’s own face or through going offense, or some of third of party. So the indirection is the characteristic of the euphemism. And relativity means when people say a word, it can help people to associate the things they refer to. Like-“Don’t you think my cooking is wonderful?” the girl asked.-“Are you fishing for compliments” her boyfriend responded.This conversation is implicative, boy does not only respond to his girlfriend’s question, but also avoid embarrassment.3.1.5 FuzzinessMany euphemisms make use of the fuzziness of language and broad the meanings. In order to cover up some cruel realities, people always use some inaccurate words to express the more accurate words.A: “Is the pain worse?”B: “It’s no great pain, sir, I have been to one specialist, sir….yesterday, and it’s….that, sirA: “He couldn’t be sure. An operation…..B: “Too late, he said, for that. If I had been operated on long ago there might have been a chance.”When we finished this conversation, we cannot figure out what “it” and “that” are. Actually, A and B talked about the cancer. Because people are all terrified by cancer. A and B use “it” and “that” to replace “cancer” and cover up the cruel reality.3.1.6 HumorOur conversation will be full of wit and humor by using euphemism, and some cruel realities can be covered by using euphemism too. For example, “battle of bulge”describes that women fight against their weight after World War two, in order to keep a good figure, they assimilate their behavior like losing weight to a battle, and it humorously indicates their determination and perseverance about losing their weight. Another example, in Chinese, if the wife has more rights than her husband in family, we always call the husband “qi guan yan”, its pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation “tracheitis” in Chinese. In English, we call these husbands “hen-peckedhusband”, it means these husbands are pecked by hen.3.2 The language features of taboo3.2.1 UniversalityTaboo exists in all culture’s language, life, religious and so on. From food, clothing, shelter and transportation to the politics, diplomacy, economy and culture activity of society, it is involved with a lot of things. In a rude tribe or in a civilized society, in China or in Western countries, taboo exists all the time. All the languages in the world, including the majority language or the minority language, have their own taboos. The universality of taboo derives from different nations’different cultural values which give the members a rule to judge what is right or wrong, if they think that one thing should be avoided, they will not talk about it.3.2.2 NationalityNationality can also be regarded as particularity, the development of different nation’s form the unique features of their languages, a nation’s culture can be reflected by the nation’s language, taboo is unexceptional, and every taboo has a long story. Because of the nationality, different nations have different ideas about the same phenomenon. Because of the difference between China and western countries in history, social system, values, mode of life and so on, the taboo is different too in meaning and form. There are many taboos about religion, criminal, alcoholism, feminine liberation in English; some intimate questions are avoided to be discussed. However, in China, we care much about the addresses of the older and younger.3.2.3 RelevanceLanguage is flexible. We can find changes all the time. The development of language is determined by the development of society. On the point of the history, a lot of taboos are eliminated. With the development of civilization, the numbers of taboos are decreased in these years, lots of taboos are used publicly in our daily life and appeared in the dictionary, but human beings do not cognize the nature, world and us totally, taboo will exist in the world for long time.3.2.4 DescriptionThe development of everything has a process, from one stage to another stage, language and culture are also have this process. At every stage of social development, people do not throw their original foundation and condition away, they inherited predecessor’s outcome and created or developed them. Some taboos are reserved for thousands of years. People were influenced by what one constantly sees and hears. So these taboos were inherited and handed down the generation by generation. For example, “death”, China or Western countries, we always use some mild words just like “pass away”, “pass out”, “go to heaven”, these words are the reflection of description of taboo.3.2.5 Class natureIn the class society, in order to vindicate their benefits, governing class use the euphemism to cover up their crimes and prettify them. In some countries, media, newspapers, magazines, radios and TV stations used the euphemism which has fiery political rhetoric. For example, “aggressive war”is usually transferred to “international armed conflict”. “Electric chair”is transferred to “hot seat”. And people whose level of life was lower than the poverty line are called “the disadvantage”. There are also tens of thousands of words involving in military, politics and diplomacy.3.2.6 ImplicitnessIn the cross-cultural communication, Implicitness is the most obvious features. This features means people do not make a real or direct judgment on one object or a phenomenon. Instead, they always use the replaced, abstract, ambiguous concept or metaphor, amelioration to describe, even use contrary meaning to judge so that speakers can avoid talking about some sensitive topics. Implicitness is the common language feature in taboo and euphemism. Therefore, sometimes taboo and euphemism are difficult to distinguish. Taboo has all kinds of connections with euphemism.4 Three Formations of Euphemism and taboo4.1 Formation of TabooIn every culture, there seem to be certain unmentionable words and topics that shouldn’t be brought up or put straight forward as a result of religion or custom. Taboos are those of strong affective connotation, they cannot be used in polite discourse. In English, taboo words, roughly speaking, fall into four types, namely profanities, obscenities, vulgarities and sensitive topics.4.1.1 ProfanitiesProfanities, by the name, are the word or acts showing contempt for the name of God or holy things. In the west, most people are religious so that they regard the name of God as forbidden subject and do not allow anyone to mention it except on some rare occasions. For this reason, many Jews manage to avoid mentioning “God”and Jewish students distort “god of medicine”into “g-d of medicine”. Even in the bible, there is one rule from the Ten Commandments----“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the lord will not hold him guiltless that take his name in vain.”(Holy Bible, Exodus 20:7). In addition, the name of the Devil is not allowed to speak of for people believe that he is sure to appear if his name is spoken of. Therefore, “the Devil” is replaced by the deuce, the dickens, Old Nick, ect.4.1.2 ObscenitiesObscenities are another kind of taboo words, which mainly concern about the sexual organs and arts, and some other part of the human body, such as screw, balls, prick, arse, fart, cunt, ect. Actually obscenities are tabooed in any human language and culture. The educated refuse to use them. We can encounter this kind of taboos in colloquial English for the purpose of curse or emphasis. They are more strictly prohibited than profanities because they offend the moral ethics, for example: Fuck you!Bugger off!He is a stupid prick!In the serious literary books or magazines those expressions can never get any chance to appear and are replaced by their euphemisms. For example: “Denis, I do love you. I’ll never felt like this. Don’t tremble so. You’re not frightened, are you? Denis, tell me how many girls have you had?”He withdrew his lips from her check but did not otherwise move. “How how –many do you mean?”“How many girls have you made love to, been to bed with?”“None”.(The Unicorn, Iris Murdoch)In this discourse, it is easy for listener to understand that “to make love to” and “to go to bed with” simply mean “to copulate”.4.1.3 VulgaritiesVulgarities are the third kind of taboos typically round excreta and excretion, such as urinate, piss, shit, crap, wind, vomit, ect. Which are universally acknowledged as the rudeness?4.1.4 Sensitive topicsIn any civilized society, there exist some sensitive topics. To make communications go along smoothly, it is very necessary to hunt some roundabouts to replace the direct expressions that are; speakers should not call a spade. In English-speaking cuntries, speakers or writers always manage to express themselves with some euphemistic terms to show their dignity and respect to others in such field as death, aging, illness, birth, poverty, some professions, politics, and some social problems, including crime, suicide, drunkenness, ect.4.2 Principle of the Formation of Euphemism4.2.1 RemotenessThe existence of taboo words or taboo ideas stimulates the appearance of euphemisms. For the sake of successful communication, people use euphemistic expressions in place of taboo words. The latter is often avoided or forbidden because people usually equate it with referent. To remove the direct equivalent association, people tend to create a distance between the symbol and the referent with substitution of the former which keeps a certain distance from the referent through their disagreement, as a euphemism expression can refer to several things or objects, with the referent being only one of them, and sometimes it even refers to a different thing or object that is only related to the referent in some ways. For example:(1)red light house; licensed house; beauty parlor(bawdyhouse)(2)a social disease; the French disease; the Italian disease; the Neapolitan disease(syphilis)(3)love child; natural child(bastard)(4)pre-owned car(old car)4.2.2 PleasantnessPleasantness Principle is another important principle. The pleasantness principle doesn’t mean the pleasantness of sound to the ear, but the pleasantness of a better connotation to the mind that can weaken or remove the unpleasant things associating the euphemistic sign with the real referent/the object itself, especially some disgusting and embarrassing object/referents. For example, in English, “the toilet”is often replaced by “bathroom”or “washroom”, to present people with a good association. And for another example, people use “funeral director” in place of “undertaker”, “senior citizens” in place of “old people”, as both words “director” and “senior citizens” can bring people pleasant connotations.4.2.3 RelatednessThere is no necessary connection between a symbol and its referent, but people will eventually connect them in their minds. This decides that people can not choose euphemistic expression at will and that a substitution of euphemistic expression must have some basic semantic features in common, so that the hearer can get some clues with which he or she will infer and understand what the speaker means. This is what we mean by “relatedness”.The principle of remoteness requires that the distance between the euphemistic expression and the referent should be as great as possible while the principle of relatedness requires that the distance should not go beyond the normal context and the limit of the hearer understands.We can take the religious euphemistic expressions as an illustration. People have been avoiding the real names of some imagined gods and ghosts and have devised indirect form of reference to calm them. For example, in the Bible, the euphemistic expression “the King of Kings” is used as a substitution of “God” to refer to creator and ruler of the universe. Here, the two expressions are related to each other by virtue of their common semantic features: [ + Being ] ,[ +Male ] , and [ Most Powerful ] , but they are different from each other, as “King”refers to the most powerful ruler in real life while “God” particular refers to the most powerful ruler ofthe universe imagined in the Bible. What’s more, the word “King”offers listeners some pleasant association of great importance and great influence.Similarly, people tend to equate the symbol, with the referent they speak of ,such as death, illness, physical defects, physiological phenomena and other unpleasant things in a mind and roundabout way, for example, the euphemistic expressions “memorial park” is used instead of “cemetery” to refer to an area of land where the dead are buried, as “park”connotes comfortableness and peacefulness while “cemetery”connotes coldness, darkness, dampness and ghastliness which make people think it cruel to leave their dear family members in such a place. After substitution, the pleasant connotations and the different referents of “park”increase the distance between the euphemistic expressions and the original referent and weaken people’s unpleasant association with the horrible place, while the euphemistic and direct expressions are related to each other as they both refer to public places of artificial beauty.5 The difference in Taboo and Euphemism between Chinese and English5.1 Background of China and Western countries.Different nations have their different culture modes, since language is the carrier of their own culture, so the application of one language reflects this nation’s unique culture mode. Since ancient time, China was regarded as a civilized country, Chinese people was influenced by Confucianism for thousand years, and then a nation which emphasized society and group was shaped. People care for each other and help each other and protect each other. On the other hand, western nations pay attention to individual. In China, most people will find when we met each other, we always greet each other like: “Do you have a meal”? “Where are you going”? In the conversation, people eagerly want to know his or him anything including ages, marital status, wage income. We think it is a signal of concern. However, in western countries, what we have talked about is forbidden in the conversation. They think these are their privacies, they are none of your businesses; even they consider it is a invasion of privacy.5.2 The application and comparison between Chinese and English intaboo and euphemism.Such matters as birth, death, illness and old age are the process which everyone couldn’t avoid to go through. It is accorded with law of nature development. Because people are afraid of disease and death, we use euphemism to replace some words just like “death”. Generation, linked with sex, will be forbidden to talk about in some occasions. In western tradition culture, people are accustomed to use the euphemism to replace this word like “pregnancy”, just like “awkward”. In China, because of the influence of Confucianism, people will regard three things as a good thing. First is to get marriage, second is to have a baby, and third is to go to the university with high score. So pregnancy is nice in Chinese culture, so the euphemism about pregnancy was created like “she got it” or “some good thing happened”. There are different ideas about old people between China and western countries. In western countries, old people do not like someone to say he is old, because “old”means inability or death. No one wants others to say they are old or talk about old. Therefore, it is impolite to ask about age. People will tell you “it is a secret.” There are some euphemisms about old, such as “senior people”, “third age”, “seasoned man”, “adult”and so on. While in China, the situation is opposite, because of thousands year s’ fine tradition, most Chinese people respect the old, and old people have some privileges, old people does not think that oldness is a bad thing. For one thing, most old people can help youngster by their abundant experiences, so oldness is a symbol of wisdom in China, like “teacher”, “boss”, and these words in Chinese all have the word “old”. These words are not special meaning to the “old”, it just expresses the meaning of respect. According to the death, there are also many versions, and it can be divided into two parts, first, people think death is a happy thing, when old people died because he is too old, we just consider that the aged is going to the heaven. It is relief for both the dead and his son or daughter. There are some Chinese words to describe it: xu hua, jia he xi gui, xian qu, deng xian, yuan ji. We use some words about immortal to ease families’ suffering. Second, people think death is sad, it involves that young people or adult died, we always call these deaths like “yao zhe”, “duan ming”. In western countries, death is also the taboo. Some euphemisms about death mainly from religion, navigation, drama, gambling, like “pass away”, “to cross over”, “last round up”.No matter in China or in the western countries, sex is a taboo. In western countries, most people think sex is criminal, especially Christian. According to Holy。
