A Contrastive Study of English and Chine Euphemism
猫吃火腿肠吗1. Introduction
In every society there are certain things that are not suppod to be speakable or mentioned directly. A fair number of words are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, or at least inconsiderate. But in communication, for better maintaining social relationship and exchanging ideas, people have to resort to a kind of language, which can make distasteful ideas em acceptable or even desirable. This type of language is defined as “euphemism” in linguistics and it comes in a variety of forms and is ud for a variety of reasons.
Unlike other figurative language devices, for example, the metaphor of poetry or pro, euphemism aims to surpri and entertain, strives to avoid offence by means of circumlocution. As a communicative skill—“telling it like it isn’t,” euphemism abounds in our life. Euphemisms are powerful linguistic devices which “are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even tho who pride themlves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them.”
Euphemisms has clo relationships with the culture ,and it truly reflects the life and values of people and their history . Euphemism is a particularly good medium for access to the force of language that has provided an effective approach to understand the human mind .The study of Chine and English euphemism can help us understand the Chine and western cultures and promote the international development, becau euphemism is widely ud in international negotiations, So there is a great need for us to study euphemism, especially the communicative principles of English and Chine euphemism. The euphemism exists relatively to direct speech. Euphemism is the “lubrication” of linguistic communication. As a result, achievements in the study of euphemism have been conspicuous. Thus, on the basis of others’ rearches, this essay will do a comprehensive analysis of English euphemisms and Chine euphemisms by analyzing their linguistic and cultural characteristics contrastively.
2. Definition of Euphemism
2.1. The definition of English euphemism执指之手与子偕老
The word “euphemism” is derived from the Greek word “euphemismos”, which means “fair speech”. The prefix “eu” means “good, sound well” and the “phoneme” means“ saying” or “speech”. And thus the literal meaning of” euphemism” is “to speak with good words or in pleasant manner”. Some of the definitions are listed below:
不气馁的意思
<1> that figure of speech which consists in the substitution of a word or expression of comparatively favorable implication or less unpleasant associations, instead of the harsher or more offensive one that would more precily designate what is intended.( Oxford English Dictionary,1989)
<2> the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought substituted. (Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1996)
寒食节由来
<3> Euphemizing is generally defined as substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using kind words.(Enright D.J., 1985)
幸运者
<4>Word, etc. ud in place of one avoided offensive, indecent, or alarming. (Oxford Conci Dictionary of Linguistics, Shanghai Foreign Languages Publishing Hou, 2000)
<5> Ud as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’s own face or through giving offences, that of the audience, or of some third party. (Allen, K. and Burbidge, K., 1991:18)
Given from the perspective of rhetoric, all the above definitions are determined in a narrow n. Many linguists think that the definition of euphemism needs to be framed in a broad n. American linguist, Bollinger Dwight once pointed out: “Euphemism is not restricted to the lexicon; there are grammatical ways of toning something down without actually changing the content of the message.”
2.2. The definition of Chine euphemism
Euphemism (委婉语) has existed in the Chine language for thousands of years. The ea
鱼汤rliest literal application of euphemism is found in The Book of Songs(《诗经》), a book containing Chine poems compod between the 11永远的朋友英文th century B.C. and the 6th century B.C. Take The Mountain Gales(《谷风》) for example. In “There blow the mountain gales; foul weather still prevails” (“习习谷风,以阴以雨” ), the author indicates that the unfortunate event is going to take place by describing cloudy weather and rain.
When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (汉武帝, 156–87 B.C.) proscribed all non–Confucian and espoud Confucianism as the orthodox state ideology and abolished other schools of thought 秋的颜色(罢黜百家,独尊儒术), people enjoyed rare ideological freedom and had to be careful with their words and deeds or they would be punished or even executed. As such, euphemism ( 委婉语 ) developed and flourished in China’s feudal society.