汉英禁忌语文化对比分析

1、汉英禁忌语文化对比分析 A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos Abstract Taboo exists in everyones life and no one can avoid meeting some taboo problems in his life. No matter in Chinese or English, taboo may influence people more or less. Taboo is a cultural phenomenon and it

2、has a long history. And it also has great effects on the development of Chinese and English languages and cultural characters. Different countries and nations have different kinds of taboos. When people use Chinese or English to communicate with each other, there may be some words and topics that pe

3、ople cannot speak out directly. Then these words can be called taboos. Taboo plays a very important role in cross-cultural communication. People should learn more knowledge about taboos. On one hand, in order to avoid embarrassment or hurt, to improve the business activity, to establish a harmonious

4、 society, taboo should be a subject for people to know well. One the other hand, as the new generation, young people should regard the taboo learning as a mission to adore the traditional culture and show respect to others. The most important thing is that people will find some funs through learning

5、 more taboos in other countries. In this thesis, many examples of Chinese and English taboos will be listed. After the comparison, some deep cultural elements will be revealed. This essay also intends to reduce the miscommunications and conflicts in cross-cultural communication, to improve learners

6、awareness of cross-cultural communication and to develop students cross-cultural communicative potential. Keywords: Chinese taboo, English taboo, culture element I A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos 摘要 每个人的生活中都有禁忌的存在，并且一个人的一生中难免会遇到一些禁忌问 题。无论是在汉语还是英语中，禁忌语都可能会多多少

7、少影响着人们。 由于禁忌是一种文化现象并且它具有悠远的历史。在汉语和英语的语言和文化 特色演变中起着重大作用。不同国家和民族有不同的禁忌，当人们用汉语或英语与 人交流的时候，可能会有一些词语或是话题人们不方便直说。那么这类词语就是所 谓的禁忌语。禁忌语在跨文化交际中仍然起着很重要的作用。人们应当多了解一些 关于禁忌语的知识。一方面，为了避免尴尬场面或是出言伤人，为了促成商业活动 的成功，为了建立一个和谐的社会，禁忌语应当成为人们熟知的一门学科。另一方 面，作为年轻的新一代，年轻人应该视禁忌语的学习为一项任务。这样既可以展示 对传统文化的推崇又可以表示对他人的尊重之情。最重要的是人们通过学习更多

8、其 他国家的禁忌语也会发现其中的许多乐趣。 此论文中会列出很多汉英禁忌语的例子，通过对这些例子进行对比分析，最终 会揭示出深层的文化因素。此论文还试图减少跨文化交际中的误解和冲突，试图提 高跨文化学习者的意识，并开发学生在此方面的潜能。 关键词：汉语禁忌语，英语禁忌语，文化因素 II A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos Contents Chapter 1 Introduction . 1 Chapter 2 Review of Literature. 3 2.1 The Origi

9、n and Definition of Taboo. 3 2.2 The Types and Functions of Taboo. 3 2.3 The Development of Taboo .4 The Development of Chinese Taboo.5 The Development of English Taboo 6 2.4 The Cultural Meaning of Taboo6 Chapter 3 The Contrast between Chinese and English Taboos . 8 3.1 The Commons between Chinese

10、and English Taboos. 8 Religion . 8 Disease and Death . 9 Go to the washroom .9 Gender Discrimination .10 Appearance .11 3.2 The Differences between Chinese and English Taboos .11 Naming. 11 Old Age. 12 Privacy . 13 Color and Number . 13 Chapter 4 Conclusion . 15 References. 16 Acknowledgements . 17

11、III A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos Chapter 1 Introduction A small girl whose name is Lily. She likes enjoying herself very much. So she often looks herself in the mirror. Today when she put the mirror in the desk, she makes a mistake. She breaks the mirror

12、into pieces. She thinks its OK! But mom says its bad enough. She feels so unsatisfied with her daughter. And she tells her to be careful next time. Lily just thinks she can buy a new one. Then she wants to go out when it is going to rain. So she opens the umbrella in her room. Suddenly mom rushes in

13、to and asks her to shut the umbrella immediately. Lily is puzzled. On her way home, she meets her classmates sister. She often hears others call the girls full name. So Lily does the same. To her surprise, she gets nothing but a cold gaze. She does not know why? At the dinner, Lily feels so depresse

14、d; she does not say anything but to eat quietly. At the end of the dinner, she put her chopsticks in the table with one long and the other short. Her mom orders her to put them again with the same length. Now Lily cannot bear any more. She says: “What happened today? What is wrong with all of you an

15、d me? Why everything I have done is incorrect and everyone feels so angry with me? Who can tell me why?” Actually, Lily has done everything with no bad attention. She just does not know she violates the taboo, So taboo has a great influence on peoples life on matter they are young or old. When taboo

16、 is talked, the speaker indeed knows little of it. Not everyone can tell the correct literal meaning of taboo. Not everyone knows where it comes from and why and how it can change peoples daily life. Nevertheless, people are using different kinds of taboos as long as they speak or move. When one tal

17、ks to others he or she will look carefully the persons face and feel his/her mood, then the speaker dares to continue the topic. In the same case, when one hears some words will feel blue and will change or stop the talk. In fact, the words people do not want to hear are called taboos. Although tabo

18、o may limit ones words and actions, it lets one have a tendency of pursuing inner beauty. It can as well as improve peoples sense of perfect and the ability to get along with others. In a word, taboo is not a bad thing in daily life. One should study it as much as possible. 1 A Comparative Analysis

19、of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos Speaking of the study of taboo, many people will think there is unnecessary to learn it as a formal course. But actually it is not an easy job. Though people know some customs and taboos in daily life, these are only parts of it. Chinese and English

20、 taboos have different histories and they are changing in every minute. In this paper, some aspects of taboo will be discussed and a contrast between Chinese and English taboos will be made. In the second part, some reviews of taboo will be done and the origin, type, function, and some cultural elem

21、ents of taboo will also be discussed. The third part is the most important one; a contrast between Chinese and English taboos will be made in the similar including the religion, disease and death, public occasions and in the different aspects such as the name, age, privacy and color etc . In the las

22、t part a brief conclusion of the whole paper will be made. 2 A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos Chapter 2 Review of Literature As a common linguistic phenomenon, taboo plays an important part in our life. Because of the importance of taboo, many famous authors

23、at home and abroad have studied the phenomenon of taboo from different angles. 2.1The Origin and Definition of Taboo Taboo is not come naturally. It is produced when people need it. According to Duan Pings 段萍 133 essay On Analysis of English Taboos, the word “taboo” originated on the islands off eas

24、tern Australia, Polynesia, New Zealand, and Melanesia. British explorer James Cook learned the word when he was sailing around the world in 1777, and he introduced it to Europe. When Cook came to the islands in the South Pacific, he found a strange social phenomenon. Not every one uses the same lang

25、uage. The God and the leader can only apply some words. And the common people use other kind of language. And some objects have the special meanings. And this phenomenon is called “taboo” by the Polynesians, which means “holy” or “untouchable”. Another famous author Chen Yuan 陈原 337 says that people

26、 believe languages power very much. Language may decide peoples destiny. And if someone violates a type of language, he may be punished. Generally speaking, taboo is something you should avoid doing or saying because a society thinks it is offensive, embarrassing or wrong. And the author Ma Yonghui

27、马永辉 38 thinks that “taboo is ban or prohibition on something that is regarded as religious or other reasons as not to be done ,touched ,used ,etc”. In fact, taboo means people restrict their behaviors and their speech. 2.2 The Types and Functions of Taboo According to the author Ge Xiaoqins 葛校琴 93 e

28、ssay, “taboo exists into six areas. They are religion, sex, excrement, disease and death, social position, age and weight”. Taboo can be divided into two types. And in Duan Pings 段萍 133 essay, 3 A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos taboo is classified into two ty

29、pes. One is that objects being respected cannot be used freely; the other is that objects being despised cannot be touched freely. Famous Austrian psychologist Freud makes a thorough research on the cultural phenomena of taboo in his monograph Totem and Taboo. He thinks: The meaning of taboo, as we

30、see it, diverges in two contrary directions. To us it means, on the one hand, sacred, consecrated, and on the other uncanny, dangerous, forbidden, unclean. The converse of taboo in Polynesian is noa, which means common or generally accessible. Freud 101 Language is the most common tool for people to

31、 communicate. The early language has no logical system, but people have more need to pursue perfect and be far from evil things. Then taboo is being produced for peoples convenience. People classify taboo and use it naturally. Besides, taboo consists of Behavioral Taboo and Verbal Taboo. Usually Beh

32、avior Taboo causes Verbal Taboo. Verbal Taboo indicates “a total or partial prohibition of the use of certain words, expressions and topics in social interaction.” The Oxford English Dictionary 521 . It also has the two meanings: the holy language and the forbidden use of language. And the taboos fu

33、nctions are very obvious. There are some words and actions people do not want to hear or do. But at the old ancient times, there is no clear specification and scientific law about language. So people have to make some “taboo laws” to satisfy their need. In this way they can feel safe. The main forms

34、 about taboo exist in religion, death and so on. They believe nature deeply and believe everything is alive with spirit, has blessings and misfortune and language can help them a lot. If someone did something against this belief, he would be punished and suffered. On the contrary, if he ingratiated

35、himself with this origin, he would be blessed and benefited. And if we use taboo, on one hand, it can extend our language view; on the other hand, it will decrease hinders when we communicate with foreigners; at last, it will make we people more perfect inner heart and appearance. 4 A Comparative An

36、alysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos 2.3 The Development of Taboo From the ancient times until now, taboo has had a very long and complicated development history. It takes so many years for linguistics to explore and change the taboo, in order to satisfy our peoples need. Develo

37、pment of Chinese Taboo Actually most Chinese believed deeply to the power of nature and superstition. People have no more advanced technology to obey, so the early taboo is related to the religion. Whoever says something has the possibility to offense the majesty or the fairy, he/she will get the pu

38、nishment. In ancient China, the emperor is the most powerful and respective. Men feel honor if they work for the empire; and women feel proud if they can be the wives of the emperor. So everyone will do anything the emperor asks him or her to do. In addition, the commons cannot have the same even th

39、e similar name or clothes to the powers. Otherwise, they may be considered to have broken the taboo. There is no good result for them. Not only the emperor has the highest right, the Buddha in ancient China had always been seen as the most respective God. Many people especially the old people; they

40、regarded the Buddha as the God who could make every dream come true. They read every book related to Buddha and heard every word related to Buddha and then did things according to the contents. They never violated the Buddhas “order”. They believed that they would receive punishment or bad luck if t

41、hey made a mistake. In fact, some of them believed in the superstition. In some national minorities there are also many taboos the outsider must know. Although some taboos seem to be unreasonable in modern peoples eye, they indeed limit persons in some areas and bring inconvenience for a long time.

42、But this phenomenon has changed a lot since the new China has founded. Many old and hurtful taboos have been abolished. People have the equal rights to speak and act. In old days, many words were taboos in peoples eyes. Women had better keep silent before guests or in public places. But later womens

43、 positions changed a lot. Women have more free speech chances to express themselves and get the equal evaluation with men. They do not have to obey some unreasonable rules generated from 5 A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Elements in Chinese and English Taboos ancient China. And some customs are h

44、urtful to their body. Nowadays, taboo in China has a more wide and objective definition; most people feel it reasonable and acceptable. Development of English Taboo In English, most taboos are related to religion. Gods name can only be called in a very serious occasion. But there is less superstitio

45、n in western world. But the middle age of the western is a special period for taboo. And in 19th century even “breast” and “leg” are also taboos. In addition, the word “nigger” has been used for a time, but now it is an obvious taboo. Modern societys civilization does not allow it to be used anymore. A