浅析委婉语和礼貌原则 ［Abstract］As a kind of language phenomenon and an important communicative means, euphemism is widely used in human life. Politeness principle is an essential pragmatic principle as well as complement of Cooperative Principle. This paper analyzes Leech’s Politeness Principle and its maxims, explains the theoretic foundation of euphemism in communication, and discusses relations between euphemism and Politeness Principle.

［Key words］euphemism,Politeness Principle,relations I. Euphemism The word “euphemism” derives from the Greek, “eu”, means “good”, and “pheme” refers to “speech” or “saying”, and the whole word thus means literally “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner.” That is to say, euphemism is a polite, mild or tactful expression substituted for one thought to be direct, harsh or unpleasant. In human conversations, there are some topics that people don’t like to talk about directly, such as, death, sex, disease, excretion, etc. In such cases, people are willing to choose some mild or pleasant expressions to replace these taboos. Taking the word “pregnancy” for example, since pregnancy usually make us think of sex, which is regarded as a taboo topic or an inelegant thing in people’s minds, we use other phrases like “lady-in-waiting”, “eating for two”, “in an interesting condition”, “to sprain an ankle” etc. to substitute for it. As a very common cultural phenomenon and an important means of communication, euphemism is wildly used in every society, every speech community and every social class. Therefore, euphemism deeply roots in social life and it strongly reflects social values and cultural values.

Ⅱ. Politeness Principle Grice believes that people will communicate more efficacious if the participants be willing to obey Cooperative Principle, which goes as: “Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”[1] It is divided into four categories: The Maxim of Quantity; The Maxim of Quality; The Maxim of Relation; The Maxim of Manner. However, conversation participants do not always observe these maxims strictly, and they violate CP intentionally. In other words, people in speech communications sometimes use the indirect and implied way of speaking to express their ideas. In order to explain such language phenomenon, and make up for this deficiency of CP, Leech proposed Politeness Principle from the pragmatic and interpersonal rhetorical viewpoint, which might be constructed as: “Minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs” and “Maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs”.[2] It ispa. Minimize benefit to self b. Maximize cost to self (3) Approbation Maxim a. Minimize dispraise of other b. Maximize praise of other (4) Modesty Maxim a. Minimize praise of self b. Maximize dispraise of self (5) Agreement Maxim a. Minimize disagreement between self and other b. Maximize agreement between self and other (6) Sympathy Maxim a. Minimize antipathy between self and other b. Maximize sympathy between self and other.[2]81-132 Ⅲ. Euphemism and Politeness Principle 3.1 Tact maxim According to Levinson, this maxim is related to face problem. The addresser tries to make the hearer save “face”, and he himself also can get benefit in using this maxim. Some cases can be commonly seen in service industry. Because some historical and cultural reasons, people in different social classes are sensitive to what they are addressed. They yearn for being respect. So today “hair-dresser”(理发师) is called “beautician”(美容师); “garbage collector”(垃圾清洁工) is substituted by “Sanitary Engineer”(卫生工程师); “the poor” 穷人 is presently called “the needy”需要帮助的人 or “the underprivileged” (较少享受特权者), etc.

Some euphemisms are also commonly used in politics nowadays, “attack”进攻is named “active defense” 主动防御，and “aggression” 侵略 is replaced by “police action”警察行动.

In some dialogues and contexts, this principle “minimize cost to other and maximize benefit to other” is also widely used both in Chinese and English. Taking the following dialogue for example:

His daughter is rather weak in the head.[3]154 他女儿脑子不太好使。