Analysis of the Social Functions of English Euphemism英语委婉语社会功能分析.docx

ContentsAbstract1Key Words1摘 要1关键词11. Introduction12. A Brief Introduction to English Euphemism22.1 The Definition of English Euphemism22.2 The Origins of English Euphemism32.3 The Classification of Euphemisms42.4 The Significance of English Euphemism53. Two Pragmatic Theories and English Euphemism53.1 Politeness Principle and English Euphemism63.2 Face-saving Theory and English Euphemism74. The Social Functions of English Euphemism84.1 English Euphemism as an Avoidance of Taboo84.2 English Euphemism as a Means of Expressing Politeness104.3 English Euphemism as a Make-up124.4 The Poetic Function of English Euphemism145. Conclusion16Bibliography171 Analysis of the Social Functions of English Euphemism Abstract: Widely used by all layers of people, English euphemism has reflected the distinctiveness of English culture. Because of its importance, English euphemism has been studied since the 17th century. This thesis tries to study the social functions of English euphemism in detail with the method of analysis and a lot of instances. It firstly gives an introduction to the definition, origins, classification and significance of English euphemism. Then the Politeness Principle and the Face-saving Theory are applied to analyze the reasons underlying the use of English euphemism. Lastly but most importantly, the social functions of English euphemism are studied. The study of English euphemism especially that of the social functions based on English cultural backgrounds offers us a good way to be aware of English cultures.Key Words: English euphemism; culture; social functions摘 要：英语委婉语被广泛使用，所以它能鲜明反应英国文化独特的一面。从十七世纪开始，人们已开始关注英语委婉语。本文意在详细论述英语委婉语的社会功能。使用的主要方法是论证和分析。首先，本文将介绍英语委婉语的定义、来源、分类及意义；其次，本文将引用礼貌原则和面子保全理论来揭示人们使用委婉语的原因；最后，本文将详细介绍英语委婉语的社会功能。委婉语的研究，特别是基于文化之上的社会功能研究，能使我们了解更多的英国文化。关键词：英语委婉语；文化；社会功能1. IntroductionEnglish euphemism delivers information in a way of “beating around the bushes” rather than “calling a spade a spade”. Simply speaking, euphemism is used to create harmony and make conversations pleasant and smooth. As its function as a lubricant, English euphemism is studied for many centuries. At the 17th century, it is said to be employed to conceal some unpleasant topics, such as death and illness. Then with the development in linguistics, culture and society, many aspects of English euphemism are studied, such as the uses of it in American life in The American Language by H. L. Meknen (1978), and the recent researches including A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Double-talk by H. Rawson (1981).This thesis mainly talks on the social functions of English euphemism in order to discover more about the English culture and make contribution to a smooth cross-cultural communication.2. A Brief Introduction to English EuphemismIn order to make us better understand the social functions of English euphemism, this section presents a brief introduction to English euphemism. It offers answers to the following questions. What is English euphemism? Where did it come from? Will it change along the course of history? 2.1 The Definition of English EuphemismThe word “euphemism” originated from the Greek word “euphemismos”, with “eu” meaning “good” and “phemo” meaning “speech”, the whole word means “good speech”. (Neaman, 1983: 1) This reflects that euphemisms are positive in meaning, in contrast with those rude and unpleasant words.Websters Third New International Dictionary (1961: 657) defines “euphemism” as “a polite, tactful, or less explicit term used to avoid the direct naming of an unpleasant painful or frightening reality”. And the Random House College Dictionary (1997, 1st edition) defines it as “the substitution of a mild, indirect or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt.” Though the definitions are differently worded, their cores are the same, that is, euphemism is used to replace the harsh words in order to make the speech more pleasant.2.2 The Origins of English EuphemismThe record use of euphemism is found until the 11th century, B. C. By the early 1580s George Blountto first point out the term “euphemism” refers to “a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word.” (George Blountto, 1580: 243) In that age, people ranged words into two types: “Obscene Vocabulary”, the uncourteous words which easily offended others, and “Genteel Vocabulary”, the pre-existence of English euphemism. Specifically, English euphemism has its origins in religion, race and nation, history and politics.2.2.1 Religious originThe religious origin of euphemism is related with taboos. Taboos are words usually connected with death, sex, body organs and gods.As human beings, we all have fears. Afraid of death, the word itself will surely arouse bad feelings, so expressions like “pass away”, “be no more”, “rest in peace” are used to replace the word “death”. Being a forbidden territory in religion, sex is treated as “impure” and is always connected with” sin”. As a result, expressions related with sex are replaced by euphemisms. The expression “love child” is used to mean “illegitimate child”.It may seem to be rude and ignoble to talk on some body organs bluntly, so people create some expressions to refer to body organs, for example, “cheerful giver” for “liver”, and “spaghetti factory” for “intestines”. In ancient times, limited in their power of changing the world, people could not explain the complicated natural phenomena, so they believed that there existed the gods that controlled the nature. To show respect to gods they talked about them in a more indirect way. The gods might be represented by their characteristics, for example, “the thunderer” was used to name the god in charge of thunders. Many Westerners believe in Christianity, in order to show their loyalty to God, they used “the Creator”, “the Lord” and “the Maker” etc. to refer to the “God”. Afraid of speaking of the devil, people also avoided “devil”, thus expressions like “old gentleman in black” and “God of this world” appeared as substitutions.2.2.2 Racial originA lot of the proper names of the other countries are used with negative connotations in English euphemism, for example, “Pardon my French.” actually means “Please forgive my curse.”, “Dutch act” means “suicide”, and “go to Egypt” means “go to the washroom”. All of these expressions reflect the chauvinism and racialism of the English people. In revenge for this, “English” are treated in the same way. For example, other countries coined “English disease” to mean “syphilis” and “English leave” to mean “secret leave”.2.2.3 Historical and political origin In history, sometimes euphemisms would change their connotations with the evolution of society. The alteration of euphemisms for African-American has the largest quantity and representativeness.Before the 20th century, both “black” and “Negro” had the meaning of African-American. To some degree, “Negro” was even more euphemistic because in the 18th century, “Negro” had been the euphemism of “slave” such as “Negro quarter”(slave quarter); “Ill be no mens Negro.” While in the early 19th, with the advocacy of the slavery abolition, people believed the word “Negro” would make them recall the unpleasant ages of slavery, they began to transform “Negro” into “colored”. Nevertheless, in 1960s, the African-American Civil Rights Movement sprung up with the slogan “Black is beautiful”. People gradually forgot the derogatory sense of “black” and began to use this word.According to the above evidence, English euphemism could derive from different fields and result in the diversity of English language.2.3 The Classification of EuphemismsEuphemisms can be classified into two groups, that is, negative euphemisms and positive euphemisms. The negative euphemisms, which are also called as traditional euphemisms, are connected with taboos such as diseases, death, and sex. The negative euphemisms replace taboos and transfer meanings indirectly in avoidance of embarrassment and offence. For example, the act of excretion is expressed as “to answer the natures call” and “to wash ones hands” etc. As the social activities taken by modern people are quite different from those in the ancient times, a lot of traditional euphemisms have been out of date and have gradually disappeared.The positive euphemisms, which are also known as stylistic euphemisms, uplift the meanings of words and make the speech pleasant and acceptable. They are usually used to show politeness and respect to the others or to make their ideas more acceptable by people. For example, “dust man” is “sanitary engineer” now. With the development of our society, the number of the positive euphemisms will increase.2.4 The Significance of English Euphemism Euphemisms are linguistic forms which are used to make the communication between people smooth and effective. As the development of human civilization, euphemisms will play a more important role in later problem-solving. “Euphemisms are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, ever go through a day without them.” (Rawson, 1995: 1), thus euphemizing is an important means of harmonizing interpersonal relationship, and it is also a common phenomenon in almost all the languages and cultures. Euphemisms are so widely used in social communication that the studies of them can help us know more about the culture and can help us a lot in cross-cultural communication. 3. Two Pragmatic Theories and English Euphemism English euphemism is widely used in the society. By introducing the two theories connected with the principles people unconsciously follow in social activities, we can know why people choose euphemisms rather than direct expressions. 3.1 Politeness Principle and English EuphemismG. Leech proposed the idea of Politeness Principle (PP) in 1983 because he thought the Cooperative Principle (CP) and its maxims proposed by Paul Grice were not sufficient to explain why people violate CP intently.The PP is a series of maxims, which explains how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. Leech defines politeness as forms of behavior that establish and maintain comity. That is, the ability of the participants in the social interaction to make their relationship harmonious.The maxims of PP are(1) Tact maxim: minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other(2) Generosity maxim: minimize benefit to self; maximize cost to self(3) Approbation maxim: minimize despise for the other; maximize praise of other(4) Modesty maxim: minimize praise of self; maximize praise of self(5) Agreement maxim: minimize disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other(6) Sympathy maxim: minimize antipathy between self and other; maximize sympathy between self and other As the maxims are on minimization and maximization, the degrees of politeness vary as the efforts on minimization and maximization people use vary in speaking. The more indirect a speech is, the politer it is.The maxims show in detail how people follow the Politeness Principle. In order not to resent the others, people try to understate or ignore the others weak points. On the other hand, they praise the others strong points or even exaggerate them to make themselves accepted by the others. Because euphemisms understate the bad events, substitute the harsh and unpleasant expressions, talk about things indirectly and make the speakers speech kinder and more pleasant, people can use euphemisms to achieve the effects of minimization.Leechs six maxims ask the speaker to praise the others and talk good about the others. These are also in the same line with euphemisms. The main purpose of using euphemism is to give the others an impression of kindness and politeness by saving the others face.3.2 Face-saving Theory and English EuphemismPerhaps the most thorough treatment of politeness is that of Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson. Their strength over G. Leechs PP is that they explain politeness by deriving it from more fundamental notions of what is to be a human being.The basic model of their theory is “face”. They define it as “the public self-image that every member (of society) wants to claim for himself”. 2In their framework, face consists of two related aspects. One is negative face, or the rights to territories, freedom of action and freedom from imposition-wanting your actions not to be constrained or inhibited by others. The other is positive face, the positive consistent self-image that people have and their desire to be appreciated and approved of by at least some other people.The rational actions people take to preserve both kinds of face, for themselves and the people they interact with, add up to politeness. We try to avoid making the hearer embarrassed or uncomfortable. Face-threatening acts (FTAs) are acts that infringe on the hearers need to maintain his/her self-esteem, and be respected.In communication, the speakers are complimentary and gracious to the addressee suitably in order to preserve the addressees positive face. And they also try to mitigate the imposition in order to preserve the others negative face. In a word, they try to save the others and their own faces and keep them from losing face.Euphemism is used as an alternative to an expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face, either ones own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or of some third party. (Allan & Burridge, 1991: 18) In order to achieve the face-saving goal, they use understatement, which is a kind of euphemism, to mitigate the embarrassing things. And they use praise or exaggeration to preserve the others good public image.4. The Social functions of English EuphemismEuphemism plays an important role in social interaction. The awareness of the social functions of English euphemism can help us in cross-cultural communication. This part will discuss the following social functions of English euphemism: English euphemism as an avoidance of taboo, English euphemism to express politeness, English euphemism to create tactful speech and poetic functions of English euphemism.4.1 English Euphemism as an Avoidance of Taboo Taboo exists in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects or relationship which society wishes to avoid and to the language which used to talk about them. There are two types of taboo, that is, behavioral taboos and verbal taboos. Usually behavioral taboos cause verbal taboos. People of the past thought language had certain power, the mentioning of some bad things would bring evil and unhappy events, thus they traditionally avoided mentioning some objects. A verbal taboo indicates “a total or proportional prohibition of the use of certain words, ex