免费学英语中英禁忌语比较
摘 要：现在，中英两国人民之间的相互交流变得越来越频繁。对中英两国人民来说在跨文化交际中不仅要知道讲什么话是首选，而且了解哪些话是被禁忌的是十分重要的。禁忌语是中英文化中一个很普通的语言现象。这篇文章介绍了禁忌语的起源和禁忌语的定义，也从文化差异这个角度比较了中英禁忌语的不同点和相同点。主要的目的使人们对语言禁忌有更好的了解，并且在交流中能够建立更高的警觉性避免使用禁忌语，然后提高他们的跨文化交际能力。
关键词：魔鬼游泳池禁忌语；定义；相似处；不同点
Introduction
Nowadays, taboo has become a commonly ud word in anthropology and studies of religion and folk custom. Furthermore, it has been a fairly important field of the branches of learning. In every nation and culture there are phenomena of using taboo in daily life.
About the origin of Taboo, there are two viewpoints now. One viewpoint is that the term Tab
oo is originated from Polynesian (in south Pacific) Tonga language. In 1777, Captain James Cook arrived in south Pacific amaze uiPolynesian Tonga. In Tonga, he found a strange behavior in their daily life. There were many things forbidden to do, many foods forbidden to eat, and some words not allowed to say. The local language of Tonga called this phenomenon Taboo or Tabu. Then Cook borrowed the word into English. The word in English refers to acts that are forbidden or to be avoided. When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. That is, first you are forbidden to do something, and then you are forbidden to talk about it. The other viewpoint is that the term Taboo is originated from native language in the middle Pacific Islands. After ctcreferring to information of different sources, I find most scholars think the source of the word “Taboo” is Tongan word, which is introduced by Captain James Cook from Polynesia to Europe in 1777. And in book the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, when it defines “Taboo”, it points莱茵模式 out clearly that Taboo has been borrowed from Tongan.
1. Definition of Taboo
1.1 Definition of Taboo
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic school, put forward interesting and detailed discussions on taboos in his classical work Totem and Taboo. He pointed out that taboos contained two opposite meanings: on one hand, it was lofty, sacred; on the other hand, it was mysterious, dangerous, prohibitive and unclean. On the basis of Freud’s views, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chine dictionary defines the word “Taboo” as follows: “a) ban or prohibition on something that is regarded for religious or other reasons as not to be done, touched, ud, spoken of etc. b) general agreement not to discuss or to do something.”(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chine dictionary, 2000 )We can also find the definition in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language: “Taboo has been borrowed from Tongan, where it means ‘holy’ or ‘untouchable’. Taboos exist in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects, or relationships which society wishes to avoid-and thus the language ud to talk about them. Verbal taboos are generally related to x, the supernatural, excretion, and death, but quite often they extend to other aspects of domestic and social life.”(David,1997) In short, from furthermorethe definitions of taboo, we can know all the taboos are likely to be considered sacred, dangerous, inviolable or obscene by certain people. It is usually not spoken directly.
1.2 Differences between Taboo and Euphemism
Many people think that taboo is to a degree similar to euphemism. In our daily life, we often meet certain things we cannot say directly, so we u language which can help us avoid saying certain things as well as to express them. Certain things are not said, not becau there七夕 英文’s no way to express them, but becau people do not want to talk about tho things; or if tho things are to be talked about, they are talked about in very roundabout ways. In the first ca we have instance of linguistic taboo; in the cond ca we have the employment of euphemism so as to avoid mentioning certain things directly.
Taboo is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cau them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame. Euphemism is more obvious than taboo words and expressions in our society. Euphemistic words and expressions allow us to talk about unpleasant things and “neutralize” the unpleasantness. They also allow us to give labels to unpleasant tasks and jobs in an attempt to make the
m sound almost attractive. The two linguistic are have some similar, however, each group is different from each other in how it constrains linguistic behavior in one way. Taboo is certain things that we cannot say, and euphemism is a linguistic we say certain things by better way, and then make people more comfortable.
high school
Taboo and euphemism affect us in all aspects of life. When we speak, we must constantly make choices of many different kinds: what we want to say, how we say it, and the specific ntence patterns, words and expressions that best unite the “what’s” with the “how’s”. We should know some words we never and hardly u when we are talking with others. If we u the words, it may cau some troubles in communication.
2. Similar taboos in English and Chine
With the development of science and technology, the world becomes smaller and smaller; the increasing communication between different countries and nations make the mutual understanding more and more important. Thus, different social values and life customs blend as well as collide with one another. People in one culture may not u eup
hemism when referring to a social phenomenon while in another culture euphemism is the preferred way people address it. So the former may find a different equivalent in the latter’s language. For instance, English-speaking people usually substitute “underachieve” for “slow student” and nowadays Chine people also tend to u the euphemistic phra “后进生” instead of beijing airport“差生”. In prent society, taboo plays a considerably important part in the development of cross-cultural communication in English and Chine.
According to International English Usage, there are mainly six taboo aspects as follows, religion and god, x, cretions and excretions, dia and death, society, and privacy regarding age, weight, income etc. I have read some book about Chine culture. Then, I compare English taboos with Chine taboos. Chine taboos are similar to English taboos. Chine taboos also contain mainly six aspects.
2.1 Religion and God
In English-speaking countries, most people believe Christianity, they have a strong n
of religion, and people are strictly prohibited from mentioning God’s name. In the third commandment of Ten Commandments, it says,” Thou shalt not speak my name in vain”. Once you break the rule, you will be criticized or even be alienated by other members. Jesus Christ was a Jew who lived in Palestine 2000 years ago and is accepted by Christians as the Son of God. So in the countries, the religious terms like God, devil, Christ, damn, Jesus Christ etc, are only allowed to be mentioned in rious talk. If someone mentions Jesus Christ in casual talk or in a joke, he will be considered impolite. However, when English people scold someone, they will u the words: “For Christ's sake!” , “God damned!”, dreamgirls“Hell!”, “ Oh, damn it!”
