【标题】跨文化交际背景下的中英文禁忌语对比研究【作者】谢玲铃【关键词】比较；英国禁忌语；中国禁忌语；跨文化交际【指导老师】王露【专业】英语【正文】I. IntroductionIn China, “入境而问禁；入国而问俗；入门而问讳” 1 have been a norm of behavior for thousands of years．Similarly, in west，“when in Rome，do as the Romans do．”is also the norm of western．For the purpose of successful intercultural communication, both east and west people all emphasize on the studying the knowledge of taboos. And linguistic taboo exists universally in almost all of the languages and cultures．The violation of linguistic taboo is regarded impolite and offensive，but people from different cultures do not all agree on what are linguistic taboos and what should be tabooed．Even taboo in the same thing may have different implications，since people from different cultures have established different social customs and cultural orientations．In intercultural communication，they may interpret each other’s speech and behavior in accordance with their own beliefs and values and adopt different politeness strategies to achieve their goals．At the same time，with the development of transportation, information technology and the globalization of economy, communication between people from different cultures are increasingly frequent and extensive．In this process，people are increasingly conscious of the existence of cultural diversity, and they gradually notice that differences produce great barriers to social or intercultural communication.Human tolerance and desire for communication do help to reduce these differences and enhance mutual understanding but there are still some aspects such as some taboos that are beyond people’s acceptability because of its sensitiveness，misunderstanding ,unhappiness，conflict or even disastrous consequences may occur due to the violation of certain taboos．Considering what have been mentioned above, when intercultural communication occurs more frequently and more extensively, a systematic study of linguistic taboos in intercultural communication becomes an imperative．Mastering taboos knowledge in Chinese and English helps to cultivate intercultural competence．It is particular conducive to the management of interpersonal and intercultural conflicts，and enables peopleto produce harmonious relationships．As James Thurber has said in The East and The West, “Precision of communication is important, more than ever, in an era of hair-trigger balances when a false or misunderstood word may create as much a disaster as a sudden thoughtless act．”2II. Literature ReviewA. The Definitions and Features of TabooOxford English Dictionary defines taboo as：words likely to be considered offensive, shocking or indecent by certain people(though not necessarily by everyone)．In Chinese taboo is regarded as the indelicate or dirty word．Taboo is explained by the Modern Chinese Dictionary as the prohibited words or actions. According to modern linguists Robinett，taboo is a principle or criterion erected by society, which can prevent people from bad action．As Wardhaugh states：“taboo is one way in which a society expresses its disapproval of certain kinds of behavior believed to be harmful to its members，either for supernatural reasons or because such behavior is held to violate a moral code”. Generally speaking, taboo has about it a sense of something unapproachable，and it is principally expressed in prohibitions and restrictions．Linguistic taboo，as a common social cultural phenomenon in both east and west, exists objectively．It has three features as below．1. TemporalityWith the development of the society, some linguistic taboos changed and some disappeared or lost their original meaning．In the Qing dynasty the poet Xu Jun(徐骏)was killed because his poem had“Qing清”in his poem“清风不识字，何事乱翻书”．B ut he wouldn’t be killed in other dynasties．The poem“清明时节雨纷纷”is widely loved before Qing dynasty．In English, the word“women” was once a taboo in Victorian Age，It meant mistress and adultery wife．But now, it lost its original meaning and became a common word．2. EthnocentricityEvery ethnic group has its own cultural pattern．Linguistic taboo，as an ethnic phenomenon, is influenced by the economy, social structure and belief of the whole group．Take age as an example．Chinese people don’t care about old age．Sometimes, we especially call someone “Zhang Lao张老”,“Wang Lao王老”，for respect．But this is totally unacceptable in English-speaking countries．In their opinion, “old老”means useless，and people will feel offended if they are described to be old．So women keep their age secret in the English-speaking countries and seldom talk about age．3. Context-reliabilityThe usage of taboos is limited by the social conditions and the psychological factors．The context confines the usage of the taboos．In formal situations like social gatherings and banquets，people will pay more attention to taboos，which can be used in private situations．A lot of Chinese taboos are confined by the special contexts .For example, “帆(Fan, has the samepronunciation with overturn) ”. In English,“nigger”is a discriminative word．The African-American can use it and it will not cause serious consequences．But if other ethnic groups use it, serious conflicts will be caused．B. The Definition and Features of Intercultural CommunicationAccording to Asante，in its most general sense, intercultural communication occurs when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture．More precisely, intercultural communication is a communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event. 3 Frequently the term intercultural communication is used when referring to communication between people of different cultural backgrounds．For instance, if one talks with his or her American teacher, intercultural communication takes place．If he or she interacts with a Japanese student, there is intercultural communication．It includes international communication, interracial communication, inter-ethnic communication, inter-regional communication and so on.1. UniversalityNo nation, group，or culture can remain aloof or autonomous．If you touch one part of the world，you touch other parts．People communicate with others from other cultures in one way or another, especially in nowadays when the world has become a global village．Intercultural communication exists everywhere and all the time in our daily lives．No one can shut it off and live totally alone．2. ChangeabilityIntercultural communication is not new．Wandering nomads，religious missionaries，and conquering warriors encountered people different from themselves since the beginning of times．With the development of the new technology and information systems，changes in the world’s population and a shift in the world’s economic area, the intercultural communication has become more and more axiomatic and pervasive．The concrete way of intercultural communication today is greatly different that in the past．It’s dynamic．So we should face it in a flexible and dynamic way rather that in a static way．3. RelativityIntercultural communication is an integrated process rather than a single activity．All the components are interrelated．The change of one aspect will certainly bring about changes in other aspects as well．The study of intercultural communication and people should also take a relational approach, that is，we should study one aspect of intercultural communication in relation to other aspects．We should take all the components into consideration when study intercultural communication．C. Taboo in Intercultural CommunicationAs we can see，it is impossible to separate our use of language from ourculture．In the most basic sense，when we study another language，we will soon discover that not only the symbols(words)and the sounds for these words are different，but also the rules for using them and the factors influencing them are different．Language is the records of culture，so it is the reflection of culture．According to Wilhelm Von Humboldt who is the recognized founder of general linguistics，we can explain the relationship between language and culture as below：Every nation puts her special national intellect into language, making language become the carrier and reflection of this national culture. Meanwhile，her language confines the mind and non-verbal activity of men. That’s why some scholars hold that language is part of culture and plays a very important ro1e in it．Similarly, some social scientists consider language the keystone of culture．According to them, culture would not be possible without language．On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture．It is the reflection of culture．That means，language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of riving and thinking．Linguistic taboo is a very important part of language．It has something to do with everyone from noblemen to common people．In every language，there are linguistic taboos more or less．In everyday life and work, violation of taboos is regarded as very rude and improper even cause very serious consequences．So people who are encountering people from other cultures have to pay attention to the different usage of others ’taboos．In nowadays，intercultural communication between different cultures is becoming more and more frequent and universal．Lack of knowledge in this part of language especially improper use of taboos will undoubtedly result in misunderstandings，conflicts and other unknown serious consequences in intercultural communications．In order not to cause such serious consequences, people should get a deeper understanding of foreign culture and the usage of taboos．To sum it up, intercultural communication involves different cultures and causes the cultural collision．Language has taken a significant responsibility during this process．It’s the bridge connecting different cultures．Without language，it is hard for people from different cultures to carry on intercultural communications．Taboo is part of language and plays an important role in intercultural communications．Since different cultures have different taboos，people should pay special attention to them. Ⅲ. Comparison of Chinese and English TaboosA. Chinese Taboos and English Taboos1. Taboos on SexIn the western world，there are taboos on sex，certain body parts．People find it difficult to talk about going to the toilet，and have invented numerous ways of avoiding direct reference to the topic．Among good friendsand acquaintances it may be acceptable to directly ask the location of the toilet or mention the bodily functions for which one needs to use it，but in other situations people might ask：‘‘Where could I wash my hands?’’ In movies and in television, for example，women often say in a restaurant that they need to go and powder their noses or that they need to freshen up when they need to use the toilet．There are，also a number of different ways to refer to having sex，including to sleeping with，go to bed with and make love, as mentioned by Hughes in the discussion of metaphorical means of avoiding direct reference．In China，people use a great deal of euphemisms for sexual organs and act，and even for marriage and pregnancy because they have relationship with sex．People use many euphemisms for toilet and body exertion as well，for example，夫妻之礼，鱼水之欢for sex action，出恭，大解，小解，更衣for exertion，有喜，怀珠，身子重for pregnancy．The intellectuals and the upper classes in ancient China created these euphemisms，because they thought it a shame to mention them directly．In nowadays，most of such euphemisms are not used any longer by most people．Some are kept to avoid rudeness and embarrassment in conversation，but in most situations，people just avoid mentioning them for politeness，especially in public and on formal.2. Taboo on GenderRecently due to the development of social equality, gender discrimination has become a linguistic taboo．“Gender discrimination” is often based on gender stereotypes of a particular society, i.e. considering men physically strong and women as emotionally sensitive．With wome n’s Movement in the 1960s and the criticism on the prejudice in language，a lot of traditional words that may show prejudice against women are now replaced by new created words for the females．The words showing prejudice against the females are considered to be taboos like chairmen，postman and so on.In Chinese，although women were liberated in the civil revolution，the status of women are enhanced nowadays，there are still some gender discriminations in society．Keeping females away from general education，holding that they are not supposed to participate in any economic activity so there’s no need to educate them，is one of the major examples from Asian social setups．Women are discouraged in other social concerns as well，for instance people will heartily accept a man as their leader even if he has some criminal record in the past，but for a woman it’ll be impossible to become the leader of a mass(for a social issue)if she’d been involved in a minor crime．Some companies only invite applications for a job to the male，and even in the job advertisements，reading“no female” obviously．In some areas of the state，feudal thoughts deeply influences thoughts of adults so that some people only like boys and for girls，who sometimes are confronted with miserable destinies，like abandoned， fostered，etc．3. Taboos on DeathChinese and English-spoken people tend to avoid mentioning death and illnessdirectly and intentionally．They are afraid of being ill because it brings forth sad memory．Both people try to employ roundabouts and euphemisms instead of taboos．Taboo on the dead includes the taboo against touching of a corpse and those who are caring for it；the taboo against mourners of the dead；and the taboo against anything associated with the dead(e．g．，the dead person’s name)．In the US，attitudes toward death along with sexuality and a huge emphasis on Christian morality and social etiquette，was very stringent and any discussion or jokes about death was hailed a serious taboo，in part of the mourning process and death promotes “mental” gr aphic imagery．The taboo on naming the dead prohibits any utterance of a dead man’s name or any other words similar to it in sound．The Chinese have many taboos where death is concerned．You should avoid attending a funeral and a wedding on the same day．Also，avoid going to another person’s house after going to a funeral wake．English and American people seldom say He died，they will say：He went to get rewards．(他去领奖了)，He fell asleep．(他躺下长眠了)，He passed away．(他离去了),He breathed his last．(他咽下了最后一口气). In Chinese，the emperor died，which is called Jia Beng (驾崩)．If a person with some social status died，which is called Xian Shi(仙逝)． In English culture，death is also substituted，like，joint the silent majority, pass away, go to heaven，fall asleep，pass beyond，fade，be at rest，close one’s eyes，breathe the last breath，be heard of no more，go to grass，go to sleep for forever etc．According to Geoffrey Hughes in A History of English Words, death is often referred to as a “metaphorical journey in comforting variants and traditional forms such as:passing on ,going to one’s Maker and joining the majority”．4Other less-dignified ways of referring to death include to resigning one’s being, moving into upper management and being no longer eligible for the census (Death).4. Taboos on SicknessBecause in different culture, people think that infractions of taboos can lead to illness or death, as well as to the lesser penalties of corporal punishment，incarceration, social ostracism or mere disapproval，they do avoid tabooed behavior unless they intend to violate a taboo．People use terminal illness in place of cancer．There are some examples，for example，AIDS(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome，Big C(Cancer)，DT’S(delirium Tremens)，V．D(Venereal disease)，B．O(body odor)．In old China, people always abstain from illness，so when they named themselves，like Huo Qubing, Xin Qiji，Zhang Zhuang, Li Kang and so on．In America, patients have rights to know his true illness and if the patient requires telling his illness，the doctor should tell in truth．In Chinese culture，if the patient gets heavy illness，the doctor and family dependents are inclined to conceal the state of his illness to relieve his pressure．If people have some mental and intelligent illness，they will periphrase，like He's not all there．He's a little bit on the slow side．5. Taboos on ColorsTaboos on colors may not been noticed easily, but they do shape the communication process．Chinese people like the color red，like the red face of Guanyu, indicating trustworthy．But to Americans，Two colors are taboos，red and black．The Biblical mason given for the aversion from anything red in their dress is that“Jesus was given a red dress by the Jews”．They think red indicates danger．Linked with this aversion from the color red，is the fact that blood according to Zionists is taboo．Black is the color of death，which is similar to Chinese taboo．White，in China, people use it to express sorrow while Americans think it to be an active and effective color：it carries with it purity and purification and acts as a guarantee that the the magical defilement had been washed away．Color is both a direct and indirect source of taboo.6. Taboos on NumbersThe last taboo we address is numbers．Numbers are associated with bad luck and even death in many countries．Curiously, it tends to be different numbers for different cultures．In China, we don’t like to mention the number 4，because the pronunciation of 4 is similar to the death “si” in Chinese．The Chinese feel that four is the most negative number because it sounds like the word for death．Hotels in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan often have no fourth floor and some Asian airports have no Gate 4．Number also has positive meanings in China．For example，the number six represents happiness，and nine represents long life．For many Chinese，having an uneven number of people in a photograph will bring bad luck，such as that the middle person in a photo of three people will die．Number Superstitions can be very important when building global relationships．Both Chinese and American have some taboos in numbers，but they are different．In consequence，in China, some people don’t like living on the fourth floor．Because of this ,some buildings do have the fourth floor, but they don’t call it the fourth f loor．In America, if they invite some friends for dinner and it happened that there are 13 people sitting at the table，the host will invite another friend for they think 13 is unlucky．While American don’t like the number 13，which is considered to be unlucky．People of the United States，for example，think that 13 is an unlucky number .Most U．S．American hotels do not have a 13th floor, and even a hotel number ending in 13 may be refused．Friday the 13th is perceived as an unlucky day, causing people to not schedule important events on this day．B. Similarities and Differences between Taboos in Chinese and English1. SimilaritiesAs human beings have a lot in common, the taboos in Chinese and English have some similarities．First, both Chinese and English-spoken people avoid mentioning death and illness intentionally．They are afraid of being ill because it is very sadmemory．Both people try to employ roundabouts and euphemisms instead of the taboos．Second, both Chinese and English have taboos on body parts as buttocks，breasts and sex organs as well as excretion actions even some related places，menstruation, pregnancy and the related terms．Both people regard it shame to speak out those words because people consider these things to be not clean and try to avoid these things in language．2. DifferencesBecause of the differences between the social development and the cultural inheritance of China and the English-speaking countries，the linguistic taboos in Chinese and in English have differences．First, generally speaking, Chinese taboos tend to show a negative use of language, to serve as a means of moral cultivation for men of noble character and a means of self-restraint for the common people, to reflect the wish for harmony of the Chinese people．However, English taboos tend to show a positive use of language, to serve as a social marker of status，to reflect the aspiration for elegance in language and the soul．Second, in Chinese, people use different euphemisms for taboo words to refer to the deaths to different people，because deaths of different people are not the same．As we stated above, the death of the emperor is called“驾崩”，and the death of the common people is called“死”．The death after longevity is regarded as a great bliss in Chinese．In English-speaking countries，people regard the deaths of all the people the same,a11 of which age the punishment from God and related with their sins．Death is equal to everybody, no matter he or she is rich, noble or not．Third, Chinese people are reluctant to refer to illness because they think the ill person can get better by doing so and they can avoid the misfortune the illness brings and to show comfort and respect to others．While English-speaking people are reluctant to refer lo illness because they believe that illness is shameful and will bring trouble to others．Fourth, English taboos on vulgarities are rampant, and more complex than those Chinese ones．There are taboos on legs，breasts and some parts of clothes．But in Chinese，taboos are not so detailed．For Chinese people，the taboo on vulgarities is more of a means of self-discipline．It is just a need for the literary men or men of noble character to cultivate their morality, not a social marker of class．As a result, there is no need for the common people to imitate the elegant language of the literary men to reach a high hierarchy of class．In English, people will define the upper class and the lower class according to the taboo in their daily speech．Fifth, taboo on ominous matter and deficiency is another important and complex aspect in Chinese which is quite different from the situation in English．Chinese people pay much attention to the taboos on departure, danger, failure in business and study because they believe they can avoid the misfortunes and get roundness by using the taboos．While in English,people are not afraid of referring these things．Sixth, in English, taboo connected with discrimination is a very important branch people should pay attention to，especially in the USA．In Chinese，people have some taboos on discrimination on minor peoples, but not as evident as that in English nowadays．Ⅳ. Strategies to Manage Taboo in Intercultural CommunicationA. Question-asking StrategyExperimental results show that generally speaking，judicious question asking can improve communicative performance．However, the study makes clear the importance of understanding the value of different types of information to learning in different contexts．Take the communication with Americans as an example，we should be careful and show no ill intent if we say something about God to someone who believes in religion．As long as they get that we just want to learn personally, they usually respond in a positive way．B. Self-revealingSelf-revealing communication is a vital bridge between cultures．Such self-revelation does entail vulnerability．Self-expression leads to more effective communication and understanding, which in turn fosters greater trust and intimacy．It can cause the other party to change their behavior by their own choice， whereas a more coercive approach would simply provoke defensiveness and distancing. Self-revealing communication has transformative potential．When we practice self-revealing expressiveness we are developing just such a capacity in ourselves，and are encouraging it in our partner also．C. Euphemism and VaguenessPeople try to avoid using words and expressions that are unpleasant, inappropriate or embarrassing to themselves or to the people to whom they are speaking．Such consciously-avoided words and expressions can be considered taboos．Taboos were originally concerned with sacred matters that could not be discussed，but nowadays taboos usually concern things that people are ashamed of．The existence of taboos throughout history has created a need to find words and expressions that enable people to talk about the subjects concerned without feeling uncomfortable or being afraid of hurting another person’s feelings．Such words and expressions are referred to as ““euphemisms”．Vagueness is one of the euphemistic strategies．Vagueness involves people using a superordinate term when referring to a sensitive topic．These include，for example institution when referring to a mental hospital，time when referring to a period spent in prison and adjust when talking about changes that are “likely to pr ove embarrassing or unpopular”．In daily conversation euphemism can be seen as a natural result of what Leech has termed the politeness principle：we will avoid unpleasantness6．We saw a polite euphemism when we discussed metaphors flouting the maxim of quality (see the cooperative principle)．“It is this principle whichunderlies the use and development of euphemisms．Politeness also enters into ways of addressing people”．7So euphemisms like the elderly, senior citizen are created to refer to old people．Marriage as individual privacy in English culture，So when conversation takes place，people avoid talking about the marriage．The use of euphemisms enables people to talk about embarrassing，painful or inappropriate issues that are considered to be social taboos．However, in time the euphemistic expressions might receive the same negative connotations that the original term had；new expressions will be needed once again．As long as there continue to be unpleasant topics that people prefer not to refer to directly, people will continue to use euphemisms to talk about these topics．When we communicate with others，like foreigners，to communicate successfully, we should take fair attitudes towards different people from different cultures. Communicative skills and strategies such as the question-asking strategy and self-revealing are indispensable for promoting the effectiveness of intercultural communication．Euphemism is an effective way to dealing with linguistic taboos．In sum，knowledge in culture can help students speak politely and behave appropriately．Such knowledge together with proper communicative skills and strategies is of great help for communicators to manage linguistic taboos，reduce pragmatic failure and improve the efficiency of intercultural communication．Ⅴ．ConclusionEvery nation has its own norm of doing things or speaking．Taboo as a very important linguistic behavior constitutes a very important part of this norm．This thesis begins with a general description of the study．As this thesis aims at providing some help for the readers’ intercultural communication, some relevant terms are introduced as well as their features and the relationships between taboo and intercultural communication for the purpose of preparing readers with some cultural fluency．In the process of introducing the taboos in Chinese and English，just as the English saying goes，“there is no smoke without fire．”The differences that arise in out social interaction must have their cause deeply-rooted in each culture, so this thesis devotes some space to discussing the related factors influencing those taboos。