Similarities and Differences Of English-Chinese Euphemisms in Culture30.doc

英汉委婉语在文化上的异同similarities and differences of english-chinese euphemisms in culturecontentsabstract1keywords.1i. introduction.2ii. literature review4iii. euphemism and culture.7iv. the similarities of english-chinese euphemisms in culture71. the human body82. disease and death 83. sex84. social status or grade85. age86. religion8v. the differences of english-chinese euphemisms in culture.91. culture background92. value orientations.10 3. cultural custom.11 4. ethics and moral concepts12vi. conclusion.13references14similarities and differences of english-chinese euphemism in cultureabstract: euphemisms are mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. the term “euphemism” comes from the greek, of which eu meaning “well” or “sounding good”, pheme means “speech”, and the whole term literally means good or pleasant speech. as an indispensable and natural part of language, euphemism has been arousing wide interest. many linguists and scholars have studied this linguistic phenomenon from the perspectives of rhetoric, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics. when we carry on the contrast of the similarities and differences of chinese and english euphemisms, we can find that the euphemisms in these two languages are actually implanted in its own culture, which is the chief aim or purpose of this thesis, that is, to tell us the differences of euphemisms of both the english and chinese languages in culture.keyword: english and chinese euphemisms, orientations of culture, the similarities and differences 摘 要：委婉语是用一种不明说的、能够使人感到愉快或含糊的说法代替具有令人感到不悦的含义或不够尊敬的表达法。从辞源角度看，在英文单词euphemism中，eu 是希腊前缀，意为“好”；phemism意为“说法”，整个单词euphemism的字面意义为 “好的说法”。委婉语是语言中不可或缺的一个组成部分，引起了人们广泛的关注。许多语言学家、学者已从修辞学、语言学、语用学及社会语言学的角度对委婉语进行了广泛研究。目前，这方面的研究硕果累累。本文将借鉴其他学者的研究成果，通过对比英、汉委婉语的语言及文化特征，对英、汉委婉语进行充分地对比分析。在进行委婉语映现的英、汉文化对比时，我们发现英、汉委婉语相似的“外观”实际上根植于相异的“文化内涵”, 从各自文化中的可以看出英、汉委婉语差异。关键词：英汉委婉语， 文化价值，异同之比较i. introductionfrom the time the word came into being, there followed, at an undetermined but one assumes decent interval, private, harsh, and dirty words. invention here is the mother of necessity, the need for euphemism arose. epstein (1985:56)in every society there are certain things that are not supposed to be speakable or mentioned directly. a fair number of words in english are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, or at least inconsiderate. but in the communication, in order to maintain social relationships and exchange ideas, people have to resort to a kind of language form, which can make distasteful ideas seem acceptable or even desirable. this type of language is defined as “euphemism in linguistics, which is represented in a variety of forms and used for a variety of reasons. much research has been done on euphemism because of its prominence in language since the word was coined. a lot of great works came into being during the study of euphemism, which lay a solid foundation for further research. in 1936, in his book the american language, american linguist, mencken, fully discussed why hundreds of euphemisms had been born and became popular on the basis of american history and social cultural background. his book has become a valuable legacy for euphemism study. in 1981, british linguist hugh rawson compiled a dictionary of euphemisms and other double talks, which embodies the achievements of research on euphemisms over the decades by many british and american linguists. in its tenpagelong preface, hugh rawson not only traced the history of euphemism, but also widely accounted for characteristics of euphemism as well as its definition, classification, and scope of use. the year 1983 saw the publication of kind wordsa thesaurus of euphemisms, compiled by neaman and silver, which is of great value to euphemism study. in 1985, enright d.j. published a collection of essays on euphemism, the uses of euphemism, in which some specific topics like euphemisms and the media, euphemisms and children, and euphemism and sex, etc. were put forward in relation to the different euphemistic uses in the social field. last but not least, allan and burridge published the book euphemism and dysphemism: language used as shield and weapon, in which an interesting perspective on the human psyche is to be gained from the study of euphemism used as a protective shield against the anger or disapproval of natural or supernatural beings. this book is of great significance to the study of english euphemisms from the pragmatic perspective. compared with those flourishing studies on euphemism in western countries, chinese scholars theories on euphemism seem rare. although the research of euphemisms in china has quite a long history and we can find the earliest recordation in the book of songs（诗经, scientific and systematic research had not been done in this field until several decades ago. in 1976, chinese scholar chen wangdao (陈望道,1976) published the book introduction to rhetoric(修辞学发凡) which describes a definition of euphemism and studied euphemism from the angle of rhetoric, so the chinese euphemism study in terms of rhetoric is not restricted to the lexicon level, but is extended to the level of sentence and discourse. during the 70s and the 80s of the 20th century, western theories of linguistics were introduced into china in succession. inspired by the newly introduced theories, some chinese scholars expanded the scope of euphemism study into the perspective of social functions, and one of the most famous is chen yuan (陈原,1983)，who published the book sociolinguistics, which contributes a lot to the study and analysis of euphemism. in the following years, a number of chinese scholars published many a article to air their views on euphemism from different angles, such as yu yalun (于亚伦，1984), li guonan (李国南，1989), shu dingfang (束定芳，1989), etc. all of these papers have widened our vision and enriched the study of euphemism.ii. literature review euphemism as a widely and frequently used figure of speech and a hot research issue in the field of linguistics needs a concise and definite criterion to judge the scope of euphemism. western linguists think the word “euphemism” comes from the greek “eu”( meaning “good”) and “pheme”(meaning “speech” or “saying”), and thus it literally means “to speak with good words”. later on, euphemism is defined differently and more precisely. some of the definitions are listed below:1) euphemisms is kind of 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 precisely designate what is intended. (oxford english dictionary, 1989)2) euphemism is the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought substituted. (websters encyclopedic unabridged dictionary of the english language, 1996) 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) 4) word, etc. used in place of one avoided as e.g. offensive, indecent, or alarming. (oxford concise dictionary of linguistics, shanghai foreign languages publishing house, 2000) 5) used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either ones own face or through giving offences, that of the audience, or of some third party. (allen, k. and burridge, k., 1991:18)as traditional western linguistics restricts euphemism study to the lexicon, euphemisms are, therefore, words or phrases in place of things considered to be rude or unpleasant. given from the perspective of rhetoric, all the above definitions are determined in a narrow sense. many linguists think that the definition of euphemism needs to be framed in a broad sense, one of whom is american linguist, bolinger dwight. he 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.”(1981:148) the application of euphemism (委婉语) has existed in the chinese language for thousands of years, which can be found in the book of songs(诗经). this is a book containing chinese poems composed between the 11th. and the 6th century b.c. the chinese euphemism “习习谷风，以阴以雨” taken from the mountain gales(谷风) indicates that the unfortunate event is going to take place through describing cloudy weather and rain. when emperor wu of the han dynasty (汉武帝, 15687 b.c.) proscribed all nonconfucian and espoused confucianism as the state ideology and abolished other schools of thought （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. because of this euphemism ( 委婉语 ) developed and flourished in chinas feudal society.the chinese equivalent for “euphemism” is “委婉”，“婉转”，or the most popular one “婉曲” containing “婉言” and “曲语”.“婉言” means “substituting an implicit expression for an explicit one”, while “曲语” implies the original meaning through describing things relevant to it. lets compare:1) 我尝想：公文书里罢黜一个人的时候常用 “人地不宜”四字，总算是一个比较体面的下台的借口。（梁实秋骆驼祥子）2) 阿刘哑告诉，姓孙的那几个人打牌，声音太闹，给法国管事查到了，大吵其架，自己的饭碗也砸破了，等会就得卷铺盖下船。（钱钟书围城）example 1 falls into“婉言” ,using an implicit parlance to reduce the provocation. example 2 belongs to“曲语” in chinese, or “periphrasis” in english respectively. so it is apparent here that “euphemism” in english and “委婉”in chinese are similar in that both are used to indicate “mild”, “agreeable”, “roundabout” expressions in place of coarse, painful, and offensive ones.the various definitions of euphemism presented by chinese scholars are similar to those given by western scholars, too. chen wangdao (陈望道) was the first person, who gave euphemism（in his words “婉曲”and “讳饰”）a definition. in his introduction to rhetoric (修辞学发凡)，he defines the euphemism as “婉曲辞”, which means “to say something indirectly, but connoting and substituting it with roundabout and implicit words or even metaphorical expression.”(说话时不直白本意，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗示的叫婉曲辞); chen wangdao says that when we speak of tabooed things, we do not “call a spade a spade”, but use pleasant expressions to cover them up “讳饰辞格”(说话时遇有犯忌触讳的事物，便不直说该事该物 ，却用旁的话来装饰美化的，叫做讳饰辞格。)at the beginning of the 1980s, chen yuan(陈原) defined euphemism from the socialcultural perspective. he said “euphemism more or less originates from taboo; euphemism is to use pleasant, implicit and less offensive wordsto substitute the language taboo.” the definition put forward by chen yuan combines the euphemism (婉曲辞) with taboo words (讳饰辞格) and reveals the direct relation between euphemism and taboo, which has been widely accepted by chinese linguists.though scholars at home and abroad have defined euphemism differently from different perspectives, the above-mentioned definitions share some features:1. the purpose of using euphemisms is to avoid directly speaking out the unpleasant or taboo reference like death, the dead, the supernatural, etc. 2. euphemism is a kind of polite and roundabout modes of expression.3. euphemism is used to soften or beautify the unpleasantness of reality.from the above, we can find there exist the similarities about euphemism at abroad and home, but there are more or less different due to the different culture. the following we will mainly talk about the relationship between euphemism and culture. iii. euphemism and culture euphemism, as an indispensable part of every language, is a mirror of morality, customs, politics, life style, social psychology, etc, which itself cannot exist without social culture, of which expressions used in sensitive areas tend to pick up negative connotations and be replaced by euphemisms. for example, we are sensitive about death, the word “grave digger”, being often replaced by “undertaker”, originally a general word for someone who assumes a job or a mission; later on the word “undertaker” was replaced by another latinate word “mortician”. we are sensitive about bodily functions too, and we can find there are many euphemisms for “bathroom” (itself a euphemism, replacing the earlier euphemism “toilet” from the french “toilette” originally a cloth used in shaving or hairdressing). knowing euphemism well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, words and grammar, but means learning to see the world as native speakers do, and means learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, and learning to understand their “language of the mind” as well. the relationship between euphemism and culture is obvious: euphemism, as a culturallinguistic product, displays its multiple relations with culture; it changes along with the development of society, and varies with the variation of the context. it is a reflection of culture which carries vestigial patterns once dominant in a society. within a single culture, whether acceptable or forbidden, the subjects and portions of euphemisms have varied from one historical period to another and understanding of the culture underlying euphemisms enables us to catch the meaning of euphemism conveyed. iv. the similarities of english-chinese euphemisms in culturethere are certain things that are not supposed to be mentioned directly, people tend to use euphemism to make distasteful ideas seem acceptable or even desirable. this is a common culture phenomenon whatever you are the chinese or the foreigners. we can divide the similarities of english-chinese euphemisms into six parts. 1. the human body eliminationwhen we express the meaning “going to toilet” we generally use euphemisms “wash one s hand”、“relieve oneself” or “powder her nose” in english; while we should say “洗手”, “解手” ,“去化妆间”in chinese. as for woman menses ,in english we usually say “period”, but“例假, 老朋友in chinese 2. disease and death as for the defective person, we call them disabled person in english, and we use disabled person to instead the cripple in chinese. about death, we use if anything happen to me in english, we can say 有什么三长两短 in chinese (means coffin long high, take advantage of pointing the coffin) or similarly there is a phrase “to be with “god” in english, we have “见阎王”in chinese.3. sexas it is believed that sex and sexual behavior are generally considered as “unclean” or “dirty” in which people often use euphemisms. taking the male sexual organ for example we use “cucumber” or “hot dog” in english, and “命根子, 老二” in chinese, about the sexual behavior, people often use “make love” in english , while “云雨” in chinese. 4. social status or grade about the poverty, we use “disadvantaged” or “underprivileged” in english, and “生活困难，手头拮据” in chinese. to indicate the bad student in study, we have “under achiever” or “evade slow student” in english, and correspondingly, people often use “后进生，困难生” in chinese.5. age old people in great britain and america do not like the word “old” when talking about their age, thus the euphemism like “senior citizen” (old citizen), “golden ager” (the person of times of gold) have arisen. as “old ”is often associated with “death ”,we often find substitute words as 高龄, 年长 to avoid the word “old ” in chinese. 6. religionduring middle ages, because of the religious rules, people are forbidden to talk about “buttock”, “shank”, “chin”, and “forehead” directly, as they all belonged to forbidden zone in the english language at that time. for example people couldnt use “breast” and “leg” in their talking even for describing the chickens, therefore “white meat” and “dark meat”, etc. came into being. similarly during the period of feudalism in china, there were a lot of taboo rules, for example same or even similar character concerned with 李世民 should be avoided in common peoples name in the tang dynasty. the same case is that we call kong qiu without speaking his name directly.these common grounds of euphemism reflect the common value of the english and chinese culture and general modes of thinking and the expression manners. they show the human culture have the common characteristic. they also body the different culture influence and permeate each other. v. the differences of english-chinese euphemisms in culturesapir edward, a famous linguist, said “language is a guide to social reality”. although there are similarities between chinese and english, they belong to different language system. as different nation has different culture, it the characteristics of euphemism may be different greatly due to the different history background, religious beliefs, different customs, etc. 1. culture background as english and chinese belong to different harmonious sound systems, the spelling forms are different to a great extend and it is very easy to change the wards form in english but chinese is relatively stable. so, on the whole, the form about chinese euphemism is fixed. while a euphemism of in english has wide range methods of word-building, one of the word-building forms of the euphemism is the borrowing from the foreign languages. this is the common situation; we find three sources of synonyms of modern english: native english, french and latin respectively. the aboriginal anglo-saxon words belong to oral language for the common people, who do not share the features of the high society