英语委婉语及语用功能（初稿）
1．Introduction
The word “euphemism” original comes from the ancient Greek. The prefix “eu” means well, and the root “pheme”means speech or saying. Thus euphemism literally means to speak in a pleasant way or with good words. The Oxford Dictionary define “euphemism”as an indirect way for people often to u to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it em more acceptable than it really is. Similarly, euphemism also belongs to a kind of figures of speech, in which indirectness replaces directness of statement, usually in an effort to avoid offensive bluntness in some subject involving delicacy or taboo.
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No matter what definition is given, euphemism has been a widely ud language, and works in multi areas, such as death, age, dia, physical imperfection and so on. Yet less of which refer to the other fields, such as jobs, professions, some social issues as well as some current hot topics. Euphemisms have been studied in plenty of fields, such as social c
ommunication, newspapers, advertiment, teaching field, military affairs, and political events. Since it acts as a kind of culture phenomenon and plays an important role in communication, it is of great importance to focus on studying its pragmatic functions. Euphemism is intended communication method, so one must pay attention to what he is talking about, who he is talking with, where he is talking and why he is talking like that while using euphemism.
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2. Formation of English Euphemism
2.1 Phonetic Approach
English is an alphabetic language, which has provided ample sources for the creation of euphemism. The following ways are ud to achieve a euphemistic effect.
2.1.1 Clipping
It means to reduce some front or back syllables of a word for evasiveness. For example, “Ladies” for Ladies’ room, “gents” for Gentlemen’s Room, and “ca” for cancer.
蜂蜜的作用与功效2.1.2 Initialing
It refers that putting the first letters of each pha together to constitute an expression of euphemism, for example, “WC” for “water clot”, “VD” for “venereal dia”, “BO” for “body odour”, and “AD” for “tho who swing both ways”.
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2.1.3 Respelling
This approach means the formation of the euphemism repeats a word or the syllable in a word, or part of the letter, for example, “helter-skelter”. This approach in forming euphemism is commonly ud in the situation. When a child goes to the toilet, such as “Pee-Pee”, which refers to “piss”, he can be said a ur of euphemism.
2.1.4 Backslang and Pig Latin
It means to rever the spelling of some taboos or some nsitive terns, such as “mur” for “rum”, “elly-bay”for “belly”, “uck-fay”for “fuck”, and “ecnop”for “ponce”.(Ma Qiaozheng, 2007, 137)总府路
2.2 Lexical Approach
2.2.1 Compounding
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It means two or more words compresd into one new word both orthographically and phonetically. For example, “gezunda” is a form of euphemism for “chamber pot” since the object usually “goes under” the bed.
2.2.1 Synonym Replacement
It means to u the words with similar meaning to replace the nsitive terms or derogatory terms so as to be more tactful. Such as “slim or slender” for “skinny”, “stout” or “plump” for “fat”.
2.2.2 Negation
It means to express the disagreeable things in an opposite way, for example, “unwi”for “stupid”, “untruthful” for “fal”. (Shao Junhang, 2007, 18)
2.3 Grammatical Approach
The achievement of euphemistic effect actually depends on a psychological “distance”. People think the linguistic signs and the objects have a kind of equivalent relations, and taboo
words have been banned becau people equal them to the things they refer to. To avoid the direct association, the radical method is to increa the distance between the two. The past ten is to show the distance, including the distance of the anti-clockwi time as well as the psychological distance.
2.3.1 The U of Past Ten
Using the past ten can drag people’s willingness backwards, which makes people feel that tho unacceptable things or face injury have been the past, thus creating a certain degree of psychological distance to achieve euphemism effects.
2.3.2 The U of Progressive Ten
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The progressive ten emphasize the temporary movements. Using it in the euphemism makes people feel that it is only an immature thought of the speaker, and the listener can reject it without worrying about hurting other’s face.
2.3.3 The U of Passive Voice
In the passive voice, the objective is the subject of the ntence, so it focus more on the objectivity of things and avoids referring the subject so as to help people speak tactfully and achieve euphemistic effect.
3. Classifications of Euphemism in Different Occasions
3.1 Talking About Death
Contemporary euphemisms for death tend to be quite colorful, and someone who has died is said to have pasd away, pasd on, bite the big one, bought the farm, croaked, given up the ghost, kicked the bucket, gone south, tits up, shuffled off this mortal coil, or assumed room temperature. When buried, they may be said to be pushing up daisies, sle
eping with the fishes or taking a dirt nap. There are hundreds of such expressions in u. For example, people u “go to sleep forever” to politely describe one in death. Besides, in religion fields, people are inclined to the following expressions: to return to the dust; to pay the debt of nature; to be called to God; to be
