绵阳师范学院本科生毕业论文(设计)题目 A Comparative Study of CulturalConnotations in English andChinese Euphemisms英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究专业英语（师范英语方向）院系外国语学院学号1004020436姓名Xxx指导教师xxx 副教授答辩时间二○一四年四月论文工作时间：2013年09月至2014年04月英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究姓名：xxxx指导老师：xxxx摘要：委婉语是人们在各种社会交往中为谋求彼此理想的交际效果而创造的一种普遍的语言形式。

它不仅是一种语言现象，而且是一种文化现象。

国内外对于委婉语的研究，许多学者主要集中在社会语言学、修辞学和语义学等方面，然而对不同文化背景下的委婉语的对比研究较少。

本文主要基于前人的研究，对英汉委婉语中的文化内涵进行对比研究，旨在发现英汉委婉语的异同，从而，减少英汉两种语言使用时的误用，加深对中西文化交流中的差异性理解，实现和谐的交际目的。

关键词：委婉语；文化现象；文化内涵；交际目的；对比研究A Comparative Study of Cultural Connotations inEnglish and Chinese EuphemismsUndergraduate: xxxSupervisor: xxxAbstract: Euphemism is a universal linguistic form that is created by human beings in various communicative activities in order to achieve their ideal communicative goals. Euphemism is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a cultural phenomenon. At home and abroad, euphemism is mainly studied by scholars from the aspects of sociolinguistics, rhetorics, semantics, etc. However，there are fewer studies on the comparative analyses of euphemisms of different cultural backgrounds. Based on the previous studies, this paper makes a comparative study of cultural connotations in English and Chinese euphemisms. It aims to find out the similarities and differences between them. Consequently, it aims to reduce the misuse of euphemisms, to deepen the understanding of differences of cross-cultural communication and to accomplish the good communicative goals in English and Chinese.Key words: euphemism; cultural phenomenon; cultural connotation; communicative goal; comparative studyContents1. Introduction (1)2. Origin, Definition, Classification and Formation of Euphemism (2)2.1 Origin of Euphemism (2)2.2 Definition of Euphemism (3)2.3 Classification of Euphemism (4)2.3.1 Traditional Euphemisms and Stylistic Euphemisms (4)2.3.2 Unconscious Euphemisms and Conscious Euphemisms (4)2.4 Formation of Euphemism (5)3. Theory of Euphemism (6)4. Comparative Study of Cultural Connotations (7)4.1 Language, Culture and Euphemism (7)4.2 Euphemisms of Reproduction, Aging, Diseases and Death (8)4.2.1 Euphemisms of Reproduction (8)4.2.2 Euphemisms of Aging (8)4.2.3 Euphemisms of Diseases (9)4.2.4 Euphemisms of Death (9)4.3 Euphemisms of Marriage and Family (10)4.4 Euphemisms of Occupations and Poverty (10)4.5 Euphemisms of Deities and Devils (11)5. Conclusion (12)Bibliography (13)Acknowledgements (14)1. IntroductionEuphemism is a universal linguistic phenomenon, which is widely used in human communicative activities. As we all know, like the ornament and lube of human language, euphemism enables people to avoid some unpleasant, embarrassing, and direct communicative situations. It keeps the communication going on. Hence euphemism plays a crucial role in human daily life, just as Robert William Burchfield wrote in his work Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism (1985), “a language without euphemism would be a defective instrument of communication.”As a common linguistic phenomenon, euphemism has been studied for a long time at home and overseas. In western countries, scholar George Blunt, in the early 1580s, co ined the word “euphemism” and defined it as “a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word”. In 1981, British linguist Hugh Rawson compiled a dictionary named A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk, embodying the research achievements of euphemism. Most importantly, the preface of this dictionary is one of the greatest papers of euphemism study. In the dictionary, Hugh Rawson not only talked about the history of euphemism study but also discussed the definition, features, classification and related aspects. In 1985, American scholars Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver published a dictionary called Kind Words: a Thesaurus of Euphemisms. This dictionary has great referential value of euphemism study. In the dictionary, Judith S. Neaman generally defined euphemism as “replacing an offensive or unpleasant term for an inoffensive and pleasant one”. According to American social and cultural background, American linguist Menken, discussed hundreds of euphemism phenomena in his work The American Language and talked about the reasons of derivation and popularization. It is of great value for euphemism researches. For many western traditional linguists, they only studied euphemism from lexical aspects. Since Bolinger’s study, some linguists start to focus on the grammar means of euphemism formations, such as tense, tone and voice.In ancient China, the study of euphemism is greatly involved in taboo and folklore. The avoidance of taboo and the expression of euphemism were firstly recorded in the work of Lu Rong, a Ming dynasty scholar. For a long time, with the pioneer Mr. Chen Wangdao, most modern scholars studied euphemism from rhetorical aspect. In 20th century, theories of foreign sociolinguistics were introduced into China. According to these theories, many Chinese linguists were interested in the social functions of euphemism. In 1983, Mr. Chen Yuan published a book named Sociolinguistics, in which he made detailed analyses of euphemism. In this book, Mr. Chen Yuan not only talked about the history of euphemism and the background of society and mind but also used many examples to analyze the features of euphemism formation and usage. Later on, many Chinese scholars studied euphemism fromdifferent aspects and have got lots of further achievements.Wha t’s more, euphemism is relevant to human cultures. It is culture-loaned in that certain contextual euphemism reflects certain cultures. In English and Chinese, euphemism is also an indispensable element. Lots of linguists and scholars at home and abroad have interest in euphemism study from different aspects. Among these researches, many scholars mainly focus on the study of euphemism itself, ignoring the communicative and practical functions of language, ignoring the underlying meaning of language phenomenon. In other words, they do researches from one language instead of two or more comparative languages.In this paper, the author uses the comparative way to study the cultural connotations in English and Chinese euphemisms. And the author intends to solve three problems in this paper. First of all, what are the similarities and differences of euphemism phenomena in English and Chinese? Secondly, what are the cultural connotations implied in English and Chinese euphemisms? Last but not least, how to avoid certain mistakes of euphemism in cross-cultural communication. Through these comparative studies, this paper aims to compare the euphemism in English and Chinese from the view of cultural connotations and to make people have a clear view on the theories and cultural connotations of English and Chinese euphemisms.2. Origin, Definition, Classification and Formation ofEuphemism2.1 Origin of EuphemismLanguage can be generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communications. Language is human-specific in accordance with the definition. Its development profoundly relates to human activities. In primitive society, human was unable to understand and explain some natural phenomena or natural power. Therefore, as one of the features of human beings, language is naturally related to certain natural phenomena or blessing and disaster caused by natural power. Thus, human beings endowed language with a power that surpassed language itself. What’s more, they considered that language was the source of good and bad fortune. Who were displeased with this source, they would be penalized by the source. On the contrary, who were pleased with this source, they would be blessed by the source. Naturally, taboo came into being. It does not allow people to do, use or talk about a particular thing as people find it offensive or embarrassing. Nevertheless, people have to use or talk about some offensive or embarrassing things in daily life. What should they do? It is really difficult to handle. On the one hand, people want to express some taboo subjects; on the other hand, they have to avoid the punishment of language. In light of the fact, taboo engenders euphemism. When people are unwilling to talk aboutthe taboo things directly, they can use good, indirect and pleasant words to replace them. This linguistic phenomenon is called euphemism. Taboo is the original motivation of euphemism. Where there is a taboo, there is the euphemism.2.2 Definition of EuphemismIn western countries, the English term “euphemism” stemmed from Greek. The initial part “eu-” means “good, well”; the stem “pheme” means “speak”; and the last part “-ism” means “action or the result”. So the whole word “euphemism” means “speaking well of something” “good speech” and “words of good omen”. However, different scholars and linguists defined the nature of euphemism differently. The following are some typical definitions of euphemism.1) The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt. (Webster’s Dictionary of American English, Random House, Inc. 1997)2) An indirect word or phrase that people often use to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is. (Oxford Advanced Learne r’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 7th Edition, 2009)3) Mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in a place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. (Hugh Rawson, 1981:3)4) There are grammatical ways of toning something down without actually changing the context of the message. (D. Bolinger, 1981)5) Substitute an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using in words. (Neaman and Silver, 1983) In China, most scholars study euphemism mainly from the rhetoric, and they regard euphemism as a kind of figure of speech. Chen Wangdao was the first person to make a definition of euphemism that“委婉是修辞的一种，即说话不直白本意，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗”(《修辞学发凡》陈望道，1979). Tang Songbo defined euphemism in his work 《汉语修辞格词典》, 汉语“委婉”或称“婉转”;最普遍的名称是“婉曲”，“婉曲”又分为“婉言”和“曲语”两种，都“不直接说出本意”，不过前者“故意换一种含蓄的说法”，而后者则是，“通过描述和本意相关的事物来烘托本意”.From the mentioned definitions of euphemisms both in English and Chinese, we can get the following main points. Firstly, euphemism has two levels of meaning that is original meaning or literal meaning and implied meaning or euphemistic meaning. Secondly, euphemistic words are the substitute of unpleasant, embarrassing, offensive and direct words. It can be called “good word”, “comfortable word”, “mild expression” etc. Thirdly, euphemism has three general functions that are to avoid irritation and make people comfortable, to remove rudeness and make people polite and to abandon staleness and make people novel.2.3 Classification of EuphemismAccording to different criterion, euphemisms can be divided into different types.2.3.1 Traditional Euphemisms and Stylistic EuphemismsAccording to whether the expressions are in relation to taboos or not, euphemisms can be classified into traditional euphemisms and stylistic euphemisms.Traditional euphemisms can also be called negative euphemisms, which are relevant to taboos. In this case, euphemisms and taboos convey the same information, which seem two sides of a coin supplementing each other. In case of expressing something directly, such as birth, death, illness, sex, nakedness and excretion, it is coarse, impolite and ungracious. Nevertheless, if people express indirectly and euphemize these mentioned aspects, it is elegant, polite, and gracious. For example, “death” can be replaced by “breath one’s last” “fall asleep” “go the way of all flesh” “go west” “decease” “join the majority” “lay down one’s life” “pass away”“pay the debt of nature” “reach a better world”.Stylistic euphemisms can also be called positive euphemisms, which have no relation to taboos but relate to compliments. In English-speaking countries, people will magnify and exaggerate some unpleasant thi ngs to “good words” in order to show their politeness, respect and to avoid some unnecessary embarrassment, to strive for some cooperating chances. For example, “housewife”(家庭主妇) is replaced by “homemaker”(创家者) or “domestic engineer”(家庭工程师); “garbage collector”(垃圾清运工) is called “sanitation engineer”(公共卫生工程师) or “garbologist”(垃圾学专家). Most stylistic euphemisms are doublespeak and cosmetic words, which are used widely in government, military and business field. For example, people use the expressions “redeployment”(重新部署), “adjustment of the front”(战线调整) or “strategic movement to the rear”(向后战略转移) to replace “retreat”(撤退).2.3.2 Unconscious Euphemisms and Conscious EuphemismsEuphemisms can be classified into unconscious euphemisms and conscious euphemisms according to whether the euphemistic meanings relate to their original meanings or not. Time goes by. The original meaning of a word was forgotten by people, while the euphemistic meaning was remembered. So the euphemistic meaning is misunderstood as the original meaning. To take the word “indisposition” for example, its original meaning is “unable to do something” and its euphemistic meaning refers to “illness”. In daily activiti es, because of the frequent use of its euphemistic meaning, people nearly forget its original meaning.However, when people use conscious euphemisms, it is clear for them that they make a pun in their use. That is to say, they not only know the original meaning but also know the implied meaning of the word. Generally, the listener can grasp the actual meaning in conversations. For example, when a lady says “I want to powder mynose” in a formal date, both the speaker and listener know that the lady wants t o answer the call of nature. Conscious euphemisms are employed widely, because of their duality. People can express some unpleasant, private and embarrassing things with the help of conscious euphemisms.What’s more, there are a variety of classifications of euphemism besides the foregoing classifications. According to time, euphemisms can be classified into instantaneous euphemisms and continuous euphemisms; according to age, euphemisms can be classified into medieval euphemisms, Victorian euphemisms, twenty century euphemisms, modern euphemisms, etc. According to scope, euphemisms can be classified into British euphemisms, American euphemisms, Australian euphemisms, male euphemisms, female euphemisms, etc. According to topics, euphemisms can be classified into death euphemisms, sex euphemisms, occupation euphemisms, etc. It is useful to grasp the various features of euphemism by different classified ways.2.4 Formation of EuphemismAs is known to all, the main function of euphemism is to help people avoid some things they are unwilling to mention or talk about directly. Based on this, most formations of euphemism follow two principles that are pleasantness principle and relatedness principle. The following are eight common ways of formation.1) Compounding(合词法): Compounding is a formative process that two or more words are blended together. For instance, “gezunda” means “chamber pot”—a term making from this object “goes under the bed”.2) Backformation(逆构词法): Backformation is a formative process that removes the imagined suffix from existing word with some changes. For example, the word “burgle” is formed from the removal and change of the word “burglar” to replace the word “rob”.3) Acronym(首字母组合法): Acronym is a formative process that combines the initial letters of taboos or sensitive terms in order to mask bad things. For example, “BM” means “bowel movement”(大便);“BO” means“body odor”(狐臭);“the Big C” means “cancer”(癌症);“X.Y.Z.” means “Examine your zipper.”(请把你裤子的拉链拉上。