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1、English and Chinese Euphemisms and Cross Cultural Communication1.0 IntroductionAs a linguistic phenomenon, Euphemism exists in all kinds of languages. It is widely used by all walks of life. Every one of us will adopt it in our daily communication more or less. Beside the familiar linguistic role, i
2、t is also a cultural and social phenomenon. That is to say, euphemism is a reflection of the social culture in the language. Long-term since its production, it has penetrated in all aspects of peoples life including the most general ones and the complicated and serious ones. It plays an important ro
3、le in the interpersonal communication. Euphemism can make the communication more polite and more efficient, as a result, to achieve some positive effects, self-esteem maintenance, mentality balance, as well as conflicts and misunderstanding elimination included. In the progress of interpersonal comm
4、unication, euphemism has already become a kind of essential lubricant to make the unpleasant and embarrassed things accepted, and change peoples life more wit, relaxed and humorous. To some extent, euphemism is like a mirror of social psychology reflecting a profile of social cultural phenomenon. Li
5、nguists like Hugh Rawson(1981), Leech(1985), Neaman Sliver(1983), Ayto(1993), Liu Chunbao(1990) and Zhong Gonggui(1996) started their study of English and Chinese euphemisms in their respective field very early. They carried out collection and classification of euphemisms and compiled dictionaries o
6、f euphemisms. Their research mainly focused on the fields of dictionary compilation, rhetoric, and semantics. However, euphemism not only falls into the category of rhetoric, but also some other disciplines such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and philosophy. The study of English and Chinese
7、 euphemisms means a lot to both theory and practice. On the basis of the knowledge of similarities and differences between English and Chinese euphemisms, a contrastive study is made in this paper.This thesis is divided into six chapters:In chapter one, an introduction to the importance of euphemism
8、 in communication and previous study of euphemism is given. Chapter two mainly focuses on some general understandings of euphemism. Chapter three and four, a contrastive study is made between English and Chinese euphemism revealing their similarities and differences. In chapter five the functions of
9、 English and Chinese euphemisms in cross cultural communication is discussed. In the last part, chapter six concludes the paper.2.0 General Understanding of Euphemisms2.1 The Origin of EuphemismThe English word “euphemism” originates from Greek. The prefix “eu -” means good. The meaning of the “stem
10、” is speech. Then, the plus of the meaning of these two parts makes the literally meaning of the word which is “words of good omen” or “good speech”. Some people call the euphemisms as the fig leaf of languages. The fact is that, in ancient Greek, people generally spoke words of omen which are actua
11、lly euphemisms, during a sacrifice. For instance, the Eriniyes who wear black robes with a whip, sword and torch in their hands respectively are usually titled with a good name, the Kindly ones or the Eumenides. The reason lies in that people believed that given a good name could calm those three fe
12、rocious demons more or less, or at least could avoid their attention. Actually, all divine no matter good or evil could not be addressed disrespectfully by name at that time, because the name of the divine is the embodiment of the divine. Once being called, they could show out immediately. And facin
13、g the divine is very important. Even names of places like the Black Sea were generally not referred to directly, instead to use the good name the Euxine or the Friendly Sea in order to avoid the great calamity while voyage. Ancient peoples puzzle towards the great power of nature led to their revere
14、nce and worship which is actually the origin of religious and euphemism. The Greek culture was widely spread to all European and America countries latterly. As the time went and the society developed, factors apart from the religious reasons, such as the ethnical norms, the federal privilege, feelin
15、gs of likes and dislikes, communicative needs, and preference to the elegant instead of the vulgar have changed the content of English euphemism greatly. Most of the euphemisms in English originate from the Bible. And in both Geoffery Chaucers The Canterbury Tales and Shakespeares dramas and poems a
16、 large number of euphemisms are used. In Britain, the use of euphemism can at least be traced back to 11th century. At that time, the distinction between Genteel Vocabulary and Obscene Vocabulary is made. And the Genteel Vocabulary is actually the precursor of the euphemism. The Chinese people have
17、always attached great importance to the speech morality. As early as in the Spring and Autumn period, Confucius asserted a proposal which in Chinese is “非礼勿视，非礼勿听，非礼勿言，非礼勿动”. And as is recorded in Rite.QUli, “入境而问禁，入国而问俗，入门而问讳”. The so-called “问禁”and “避讳” are the words people used to substitute, the
18、 metaphor people used to imply and the indirect expressions people used to hint when they had to say the taboo things. These nice, substitutive, suggestive words are euphemisms. From what have been said above, we can see that the expressive meanings of euphemisms gradually developed before the occur
19、rence the literature. Euphemism is a kind of very common social phenomenon which develops synchronously with the human society civilization.2.2 Definition of EuphemismEuphemism can also be called periphrasis which exists in all kinds of languages in the world. The literal meaning of euphemism is usi
20、ng of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones. Its basic feature is to use abstract ambiguous concepts or figurative or commendatory skills to make both sides of the conversation adopt a kind of indirect way to talk about the things which should not be sp
21、oke straightly and people dont need to feel embarrassed when they discuss these things. The American famous writer H.L Mencken regards euphemisms as “gilded words”, while Stefan Kanfer takes them as “cosmetic words”. Both of them make an exactly description of the implication and function of euphemi
22、sms undoubtedly. Though researchers have carried out researches on euphemism for a long time, the definition of euphemism varies from book to book and no agreement has been reached. Here are some influential definitions: The use of a word or phrase that is less expressive or direct but considered le
23、ss distasteful, less offensive, etc. than another; a word or phrase so substituted (Ex.: remains for corpse)(Websters New World College Dictionary, 2010) The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive(The American Heritage- Diction
24、ary of the English Lanaguage,2010) A polite, tactful, or less explicit term used to avoid the direct naming of an unpleasant, painful, or frightening reality.(Websters Third New International Dictionary,1961) The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive,
25、harsh or blunt(The Random House College Dictionary, 1979) Mild or vague periphrastic expression as a substitute for blunt precision of disagreeable truth(Fair of Speech: the Uses of Euphemism, 1985) A polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one to avoid shocking or upsetting
26、someone(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995 edition) Use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones(Oxford Advanced Leaners English-Chinese Dictionary, Fourth Edition, 1993)Though lots of definitions are made, they share some points: euphemis
27、m is a kind of deliberately roundabout implicit rather than declarative expression. In short, euphemisms are good words which make the listeners happy. It is a kind of polite and decent expression people use when they talk about those unpleasant or embarrassed things in human language using process.
28、3.0 Similarities between English and Chinese Euphemisms3.1 Cultural Similarities3.1.1 in terms of Formation There are many ways to constitute English and Chinese euphemisms. The mainly way in which these two languages express their euphemistic meaning are rhetoric devices; grammatical devices; vocab
29、ulary devices; pragmatic devices and so on. rhetoric devices: Ways in which euphemisms are realized by figures of speech such as metaphor, analogy, understatement, periphrasis and metonymy. For example, there are many euphemisms of death which are achieved by metaphors, Such as “to go to heaven” “to
30、 be called to God” “go to meet ones maker” in English and “回家了” “去见马克思了” “永远的睡了” in Chinese. Euphemisms that achieved by understatement are usually used to refer to the thief and to make a judgment of ones appearance, such as “to take ones things as own without permitting” and “plain” in stead of “t
31、hief” and “ugly” in English and “三只手” and “长相很委婉” in Chinese. grammatical devices: The grammatical device which is used mostly often is negation. For example, to use the sentence “I dont think she is kind” to substitute the sentence “I think that she is cruel” is more tactful. In Chinese, “愚蠢的” can
32、be replaced by “不聪明”. vocabulary devices: to use vague words are one of the most common methods. Instances of using vague words are showed following. The phrase “sub-standard housing” is used to substitute “slum”. The word “affair” is used to replace “sex scandal”. In Chinese, “处境困难” “囊中羞涩” are used
33、 to replace lack of money.3.1.2 in terms of Scope of UseThe scope of use of English and Chinese euphemism is very wide. The use of euphemism is mainly related to taboo. Taboo consists of cultural taboo and universal taboo. Taboo varies from its social and cultural background. Euphemisms that substit
34、ute taboos are mainly used in fields like birth, death, illness and old age; sex; excretion; poverty; occupation; politics etc. Here birth mainly refers to persons appearance, figure, and some physical defects. For example, transfer “ugly” to “homely” or “plain”; “fat” to “weight watcher” “plumy” an
35、d “stout”; “skinny” to “slender” “willowy” “lean”. In western countries, people generally prefer living alone instead of living with their kids. If they are called old , it means that the death is on the way. So they avoid to talk about their ages and lots of euphemisms concerning about old are prod
36、uced. For example, “senior citizen” or “seasoned men”; “advanced in age” etc. Owing to peoples longing for health and taboo against illness, all kind of disease especially those serious incurable ones are given euphemistic names. For example, Syphilis and Venereal moist warts are often called Social
37、 disease in English or “那种病” in Chinese. Cancer is hard to cure when someone is caught by Cancer, people would use the big C or long disease to refer it instead of speaking it out loudly. Things seem to be the same to heart attack disease. People use bad heart condition to substitute it. In Chinese
38、“sister Lin ” is used to refer to young women who are fragile and easy to catch a cold. “Being ill ” may be replaced by “身体不适” “身体迁安” “有恙” “小恙” “头疼脑热”. “Disable” could be replaced by “手脚不便”. “Insane” could be substituted by “精神不正常”. Death is the most taboo topic in the world. Euphemisms about death
39、are affluent in almost every language in the world. It is said that 102 kinds of euphemism about death exists in English. And Chinese is rich in its euphemisms of death too. For example, “be among the missing” “be no more” “sleep in the Arms of God” “in heaven” “with God” “to fire his last shot” “th
40、e last voyage” “out of the picture” “the final kick off” in English; “仙逝” “瑶池添座” “圆寂” “升天” “坐化” “亡” “故” “谢世” “赴黄泉” “翘辫子” “驾崩” “玉陨香消” “殉职” “牺牲” in Chinese. Sex is tabooed against by people in all part of the world even though it is humans instinct. So all things related to sex including knowledge, or
41、gan, and disease are usually replaced by euphemisms, such as “business”, “street girl”, “the fact of life” “social disease” “My friend has come”. Now that excretion is related to dirt, when people talk about things related to that, they always try to avoid say it directly. Instead they will use some
42、 indirect words. And there comes the euphemisms. For example, “answer call of nature” “pass water” “do number one” “get some fresh air” “powder ones nose” “wash ones hands” etc.Peoples desire for wealth is the birthplace of euphemisms about poverty. For example, transfer “poor” to “needy” or “under
43、privileged”; transfer “slum” to “substandard housing”.In order to release the pressure and emotional hurt of occupational discrimination and reduce the communicative distance between the two sides, names with reputation are produced. For example, “custodian” or “maintenance engineer” for “janitor”;
44、“landscape-architect” for “gardener”; “tree- surgeon”; “shoe-rebuild”; “house executive”; “street orderly” or “sanitary engineer” for “dust man” and “garbage collector”. In politics, the press often uses euphemisms to weaken, conceal, and color the facts and truth to in order to achieve some certain
45、 political purposes. For example, transfer “aggression” to “involvement”; “death penalty” to “capital punishment”. During the administration of Reagan the government use “revenue enhancement” to substitute its policy of tax increases. In the war of Vietnam, in order to cover their outrage, the Ameri
46、can regarded the bombardment in the air as “logistical strikes” or “close air support”. They called the massacre of the civilian as “wasting the enemy”. They even called the “civilian causality” as “collateral damage”. 3.2 Pragmatic Similarities Euphemism is a kind of valid expressive way in which p
47、eople adopt to achieve prospective communicative effect in the process of social communication. Euphemism has many powerful pragmatic functions. We will discuss the similarities of English and Chinese euphemism from the following three aspects: to taboo, to avoid the vulgar, to polite.3.2.1 Taboo Fu
48、nction No matter in Chinese or Western countries, taboo is the most important reason for people to use euphemisms. In ancient time, people can not explain the natural phenomenon and power correctly and has a kind of worship or even fair towards the divine. They faired and avoided to call the names o
49、f the divines. And this is what we called language worship for the reason of spirit worship. In English people use “Old Boy” “the Tempter” “the Big D” “Old Harry” “the Enemy” “Old Nick” to replace the word “devil”. In Chinese people chose “河伯” “祝融” “菩萨” “老爷” to refer to the divine. The aim of taboos is to avoid referring those things which may irritate people. Death is one of the most taboo things. Chinese has many euphemisms about death. In ancie