英语委婉语及其语用学原则

1、 英语委婉语及其语用学原则摘要委婉语是英语的一个重要组成部分。它是一种有策略的一种间接表达方式，人们用委婉语来指某些令人尴尬或不愉快的事物，以至于人们更容易接受，例如，人们用委婉表达法“过世”来代替“死亡”这样听起来更加得体。英语委婉语在英语国家被广泛使用，它是如此的重要有用以至人们从不同方面对其进行了大量的研究，虽然众多研究者已提出许多语用学原则，但我们都知道几乎其他所有的原则都来源于这两个基本原则：即合作原则和礼貌原则。这两个原则是使用英语委婉语的主要原则，如果我们使用英语委婉语时遵守这两个原则，那么我们的日常交际将变得通畅无阻达到完美效果。但是，随着社会和科学的高速发展，委婉语极易改变，

2、主要受文化因素的影响。因此，对我们来说学习了解使用委婉语的本质即语用学原则是很重要的。本文将专门研究学习英语委婉语及其语用学原则，并希望能帮助人们成功完美地进行日常交际。关键词：英语委婉语；合作原则；礼貌原则english euphemism and its pragmatic principlesabstracteuphemism is an important part of english language. it is a kind of strategic indirect expression. people use euphemism to refer to something

3、embarrassing or unpleasant, in order to make what they said more acceptable than it really is. for example, people use the euphemistic expression “pass away” to refer to death, instead of using the word “die”, which sounds more appropriate. english euphemism is used widely in english-speaking countr

4、ies. its so useful and important that many people had done a lot of researches about it from different aspects. although many researchers have put forward a lot of “pragmatic principles”, as we all know, almost all the other principles are originated from the two basic principles: the co-operative p

5、rinciple (cp) and the politeness principle (pp). these two principles are the main guidance of using euphemisms. if we obey the two principles in using english euphemism, we will get a more successful and harmonious communication in our daily life. however, with the rapid development of society and

6、science, euphemisms change very easily and their meanings are mainly affected by different cultural factors. so, its important for us to study the essence of euphemism application, thats the pragmatic principles. this thesis will research and study the english euphemism and the two principles specif

7、ically, with the hope that it will help people communicate successfully in their daily life.key words: english euphemism; cooperative principle; politeness principle contentsacknowledgements4abstract in chinese5abstract in english6chapter 1 introduction81.1 the definition of euphemism81.2 the origin

8、 of english euphemism91.3 the function of euphemism101.3.1 the evasive function of english euphemism111.3.2 the polite function of english euphemism,111.3.3 the cosmetic function of english euphemism12chapter2 literature review132.1 the study of english euphemism at abroad132.2 the domestic study of

9、 english euphemism14chapter 3the pragmatic principles of english euphemism163.1 the self-protect principle of english euphemism163.2 the co-operative principle of english principle173.3 the politeness principle of english euphemism19chapter 4 conclusion224.1 major findings224.2 suggestions for furth

10、er research22bibliography24chapter 1 introductionas we all know euphemism is a universal phenomenon in the course of using language, and it is widely used in our daily life. its applied in many fields of social life. the emergence and application of euphemism is very closely related with many social

11、 phenomena. euphemism plays an important role in peoples daily life. with the development with science and humans civilization, euphemisms pragmatic function and meaning has changed greatly, so we have to keep up with the pace of the change, if we update our knowledge about the euphemism from time t

12、o time, we will know how to communicate with others well, then we will be able to keep a good relationship with people around us.1.1 the definition of euphemismeuphemism is not only a cultural phenomenon but also a linguistic concept. as for its definition different people may have different kinds o

13、f expressions, some people define it as a kind of doublespeak, while other people would like to define it as a kind of suitable expression using in daily communication. in order to fulfill our ideal communicational task, we will have to use this kind of expression-euphemism to help us. in fact, the

14、english word “euphemism” is from the language greek, and the prefix “eu” means “good”, the stem word “phemism” means “speech”, the whole word “euphemism” means “word of good omen”. it is generally believed that the implied, indirect or sounding words, which are expressed as a taboo or sensitive thin

15、g, are in the list of euphemism.as a common and useful mode of expression, the definition of euphemism is expressed in different way, we can see such several expressions as follow.(1) use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones (oxford advanced learner

16、s english-chinese dictionary (fourth edition), 1993)(2) as word, etc. used in place of one avoided e.g. a word for “girl” used of prostitutes in place of the specific word for “prostitute”(p.h. mathews: oxford concise dictionary of linguistics, 2000)(3) an indirect word or phrase that people often u

17、se to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant , sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is. e. g, “user fee” is just a politicians euphemism for taxes. (oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary (seventh edition), 2008)(4) use of other, usu. not very exact or less bl

18、unt, words or phrases in place of words required by truth or accuracy: “recession” is a euphemism for “economic crisis” “imperfect hearing” is a euphemism for “the deaf”(oxford advanced learners dictionary of current english (new edition), 1983)according to the above definitions of euphemism given b

19、y different dictionaries, we can find the several features of euphemism: the first feature of euphemism: euphemism is usually a word or a phrase. the second feature of euphemism: the word or phrase acting as euphemism is pleasant, polite, satisfying or melodious, in a word, its not blunt. the third

20、feature of euphemism: euphemism is expressed for the purpose of making the conversation more acceptable and successful by replacing the word or phrase that is disfavor, having pejorative meaning, shocking or upsetting, or offensive.1.2 the origin of english euphemism the word “euphemism” is derived

21、from the language greek word “euphemisos”, about in 1580s, english writer george blunt created the word “euphemism” it had a close relationship with language taboo in cultural and linguistic aspects of human society. when we talk about euphemism we will be sure to talk about taboo. as its explained:

22、 “ taboo is a cultural or religious custom that does not allow people to do, use or talk about a particular thing as people find it offensive or embarrassing , or a general agreement not to do something or talk about something”(oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary (seventh edition)200

23、8). a taboo word refers to a word that many people consider offensive or shocking, for example because it refers to sex, death, excretion, the body or peoples race and so on.english euphemism in the old days was from “taboo”, while the word “taboo” was from togan, a kind of polynesian. it refers to

24、evasive topics. the appearance of euphemism make us can talk about the evasive topic in a special way. it solved the problem of avoiding taboos. in traditional society, people had a strong belief in ghosts and gods, they respected them and at the same time they were so afraid of them that they never

25、 address their names directly and explicitly. therefore, the names of gods become the earliest taboos. meanwhile, the euphemism about religion appeared, for example, these words “adonai, the almighty, the creater” are the euphemism of the word “god”. so, we can conclude that if a kind of taboo appea

26、red, then the relative euphemism will appear accordingly. actually, euphemism developed with taboo. so we can study euphemism from the aspect of taboo.1.3 the function of euphemism euphemism is a very wonderful and useful language in peoples daily communication. it can help us a lot in keeping a goo

27、d relationship with other people. from the perspective of language communication, the function of euphemism is to avoid taboos in communication, to be polite to others, and conceal ones true feelings about something. euphemism makes it possible for people to accept the things that are likely to make

28、 others feel unpleasant or angry, it help people achieve a perfect goal. since its existence, it had played a significant part in peoples life, people use euphemism solve a lot of problems, such as defuse the divergence between friends, to show politeness to people they are not familiar, to avoid be

29、ing offend by others, most importantly, to satisfy the psychological and mental needs of both speakers and hearers in communication. while most of the time, the speaker would like to use euphemism to conceal or avoid something. so, we can conclude the three basic communicative functions: evasive fun

30、ction, polite function and cosmetic function.1.3.1 the evasive function of english euphemism the first one evasive function of euphemism is to avoid using taboos, it makes people talk about tabooed things more freely, these tabooed things are generally believed to be dangerous to some type of people

31、, or to the society as a whole, or to be unhappy and disgusting, and it will result in fright or fear, such tabooed things include: disease disabilities, death, sex, body excretion and body elimination process. people can use euphemisms to talk about what cannot be talked directly. in term of death,

32、 people usually use euphemisms to refer to it, because its a terrible thing, if someone speaks of death directly. people will be afraid and dont like the terrible word. but in our daily life, we will have to talk about death. so, many euphemisms about death accordingly appear, for example: to be gon

33、e, pass away, to depart from the world forever, to fall asleep, and so on. in the same way, in order to avoid embarrassment or unpleasantness, we can find many euphemisms about sex, body excretion and body elimination process, e.g. “to wash ones hand” for “going to wc”, “expecting” or “anticipating”

34、 for “pregnant” and so on, in term of old age, people use the expression “gray hair” or “mature golden age” to refer to old age.1.3.2 the polite function of english euphemism,the second function of euphemism is polite function. nowadays, to be polite is a symbol of civilized society, then, how do we

35、 do? when we talk about a cleaners job, we should use the euphemistic expression sanitary engineer instead of dustman, this kind of expression is polite and appropriate, similarly, when we talk about other occupations, we should use euphemistic expressions like that, for example, we use landscape ar

36、chitect to replace gardener, use automobile engineer to replace mechanic, use shoe rebuilder to replace shoemaker and so on. all these kinds of expressions not only express our politeness to these workers, but also they sounds very good, and people from different classes will be willing to accept. b

37、esides, when we comment on somebodys appearance, we will use words like this: good looking, handsome, beautiful, charming, and so on, while when we refer to someone who is not pretty, we should use words like: plain, ordinary instead of ugly and awfully.1.3.3 the cosmetic function of english euphemi

38、smbesides the above two functions, the last function of euphemism is the cosmetic function, the word cosmetic means making up, many girls make them look more beautiful by using cosmetics, identically, the cosmetic function of english euphemism is to beautify the language words we use in our communic

39、ations, this kind of euphemisms are usually used in the military, politics, commerce and government, in different stages of society, people describe the poor in different ways, at first it expressed as “the needy”, gradually, it become “the culturally deprived” then “underprivileged ” the last expre

40、ssion for the poor is “disadvantaged” for me, i can understand that the needy means the poor, but for the other three expression, i really confused, and many other people will also confused, it has lost its essential meaning, and result in confusion. so just as every coin has two sides, although eup

41、hemism can make our daily conversation more successfully, it also make us unknown of something exactly, sometimes, its over hyperbole, in a word, we should use euphemism correctly so as to achieve a perfect result.chapter2 literature revieweuphemism exists in all languages and widely used in all ove

42、r the world, it is a universal phenomenon happen in our daily communication. since it had played an important role in social society for a long time, so it really deserves a lot of research, certainly, scholars from different countries have done many researches about it, and many of them have propos

43、ed lots of relative principles using in euphemism. but as we all know the most two famous principles are “co-operative principle” and “politeness principle”, they are the main guidance of using english euphemism. now we will take a look about the study of euphemism at home and abroad.2.1 the study o

44、f english euphemism at abroad english euphemism is a common phenomenon in using language, in different social classes or different language groups, people have some kinds of euphemistic expression in their utterance. the western scholars had studied english euphemism in earliest time, in 1980s, the

45、english writer gorge blunt proposes and introduced the word “euphemism” firstly, and at the same time he gave the word “euphemism” an definition, that is “euphemism is a good of favorable interpretation of a bad word,” . later, many scholars also studied english euphemism and wrote a lot of book abo

46、ut it, for example, the scholar menken wrote the book “the american language”, this book talks about how did euphemism emerge and why it become so popular in the world, and the english scholar golden bough wrote the book “a study in magic and religion”, in this book, he studied taboo language, behav

47、ior, and peoples name in the most length of his article. in 1981, the english linguist hugh rawson the dictionary “a dictionary of euphemism and other double-talk” this dictionary conclude the english and american scholars accomplishment in the study of english euphemism, and it got a high praise fr

48、om the famous chinese scholar shu dingfang. in 1983, the american scholars neaman and sliver joined hands and publish the dictionary “kind words-a treasure of euphemism” this dictionary introduce the origin, the history, the development, and the change of the english euphemism, this dictionary is ve

49、ry helpful for english learners, it gives us more details about euphemism, and we will understand euphemism well by reading the dictionary carefully. it is really a good dictionary. besides, in 1991, allen and burridge worked together and published the book “euphemism and dysphemism: language used a

50、s shield and weapon” this book is especially very useful for those scholars who study euphemism from the pragmatic aspect, in 1985, the d.j. enright wrote the memoir “fair of speech: the uses of euphemism” all the books about the study of euphemism come from the foreign scholars, if we want to learn

51、 the euphemism and understand it better, we must read all the books at first. 2.2 the domestic study of english euphemism after talking about the foreign study of euphemism, now, we will come to talk about the domestic study of english euphemism, just as the foreign study for the english euphemism,

52、there are also many studies about english euphemism at home, and the domestic scholars mainly study the english euphemism from five aspects, the first one is from the semantics angle, and in 1994 the scholar liu chunbao compile the dictionary called 英语委婉语词典, the second one is from the sociolinguisti

53、cs angle, in this fields, we can read the book 英语中的委婉语 which is written by li guonan in 1987, and the book 委婉语-社会文化域的语言映射 is written by wu songchu and peng wenzhao in 1996. the third one is from the rhetoric angle, in 1976, the chinese linguist chen wangdao studied euphemism from this angle. the fou

54、rth one is from the psychology angle, in 1998, the scholar wu liquan and sun rujian studied english euphemism from this aspect. the fifth one is from the pragmatic angle, in this aspect, scholar shu dingfang wrote the book 委婉语新探 in 1989, and there are many books about the study of euphemism from pra

55、gmatic angle, for example, 委婉语探究：回顾与前瞻1995; 伍小龙， 委婉语的语用研究1996；徐海铭，and so on, all of these studies, the most important study is that shu dingfang proposed the three principles (co-operative principle, politeness principle, self-protect principle) guiding the use of euphemism, which is according to th

56、e grices and leech s theory, shu dingfang also pose the problem which need to be solved in the future study of euphemism, which has a significance influence on the study of english euphemism. for the study of euphemism, we still have a long way to go, and i hope every scholar from all over the world

57、 will try their best to do the research, if we have enough detailed theories in the field of using euphemism, we will know more about english euphemism, and understand it better, gradually, we will know how to use euphemism perfectly in our communication, at the same time, we will keep a good relati

58、on with people from all over the world. at last, the world will become a civilized, harmonious, and friendly place.chapter 3the pragmatic principles of english euphemismat first, lets take a look whats pragmatics? just as it described that: pragmatics can be defined as the study of how speaker of a language use sentences to effect successful communication in the book “a new concise course in linguistics for students of english” this just is a general definition of pragmatics, its like other noun, can be defined in different way. since it studies how speakers convey and understand meaning