On English Euphemism试论英语委婉语.docx

On English Euphemism摘 要：委婉语是人类语言使用过程中的一种普通现象，是人们谈论那些令人不快或尴尬的事情时，所使用的的较为礼貌的说法。它是一种修辞格，更是一种文化现象。委婉语源于社会禁忌，既有宗教性、阶级性，又有时代性，在不同程度上反映了某一国家、地域和时代所认同的思维模式、价值观和道德观等。委婉语是英汉语言中共同的语言现象，多种形式的委婉语折射出中西方形态各异的社会文化背景，反映出形形色色的社会心理状态和语言文化内涵。了解东西方委婉语的文化差异，有益于减少跨文化交际中的障碍。关键词：委婉语；禁忌；文化渊源Abstract: Euphemism is a common phenomenon in the process of human language using, and is a polite way used when people talk about those unhappy or embarrassed things. It is a figure of speech, furthermore a kind of cultural phenomenon. Euphemism stems from social taboo, it has the state of being religious, class as well as times, and to varying degrees it reflects the pattern of thinking, values, moral concept etc. of one country, region and era approved. Euphemism is the common language phenomenon in both English and Chinese, diversified forms of euphemism refract out different forms of cultural background between Chinese and Western, refract every description of social psychological condition, language and cultural intension. It is useful to reduce the obstacle in cross-language communication by finding out the cultural difference of euphemism between East and West. Key words: euphemisms; taboo; cultural originIntroductionEuphemism and historical linguisticsHistorical linguistics has revealed traces of taboo deformations in many languages. Several are known to have occurred in Indo-European, including the original Indo-European words for bear (*rktos), wolf (*wlkwos), and deer (originally, hart). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words has a difficult etymology because of taboo deformations a euphemism was substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language. An example is the Slavic root for bear*medu-ed-, which means "honey eater"( Levinson , 2001)In some languages of the Pacific, using the name of a deceased chief is taboo. Since people are often named after everyday things, this leads to the swift development of euphemisms. These languages have a very high rate of vocabulary change.The "euphemism treadmill"Euphemisms can eventually become taboo words themselves through a process the linguist Steven Pinker has called the euphemism treadmill (cf. Gresham's Law in economics). Words originally intended as euphemisms, or "politically correct" phrases, may lose their euphemistic value, acquiring the negative connotations of their referents. In some cases, they may be used mockingly and become dysphemistic.For example, toilet room, itself a euphemism was replaced with bathroom and water closet, which were replaced (respectively) with rest room and W.C.; similarly, funeral director replaced mortician, which replaced undertaker. In American English, the original sense "comfortable, cosy" of homely has been superseded by the once-euphemistic sense "plain-looking", which is now simply insulting.According to Rawson, Hugh (1995), connotations easily change over time. Idiot was once a neutral term, and moron a similar one. Negative senses of a word tend to crowd out neutral ones, so the word retarded was pressed into service to replace them. Now that too is considered rude, and a result, new terms like mentally challenged or special are starting to replace retarded. In a few decades, calling someone special may well be a grave insult. A similar progression occurred with crippled handicapped disabled differently-abled.The euphemism treadmill also occurs with notions of profanity and obscenity. R.W.Holder (2003) said that words once called "offensive" were later described as "objectionable", and later "questionable". However, "questionable" was judged by some to itself contain a value judgment it was replaced with "possibly questionable", though the word "possible" is technically a redundancy.A complementary dysphemism treadmill exists, but is more rarely observed. One modern example is the word "sucks". "That sucks" began as American slang for "that is very unpleasant", and is shorthand for "that sucks dick". It developed over the late-20th century from being an extremely vulgar phrase to near-acceptability. A child would rarely be disciplined for using the phrase "that sucks", which has been divorced from its original meaning. As a popular figurative speech, euphemisms are widely used in both Chinese and English literal works, newspapers and magazines; so are in our daily life（何善芬，2002）. In Chinese-English or English-Chinese translation, the proper rendering of euphemisms is an important factor. However, traditional study of rhetoric has long been limited to the model of “definition + examples + analysis” and hardly have many breakthroughs been seen (宗延虎，2002). But in fact, rhetoric is a boundary discipline with close relations with semantics, pragmatics, logics, sociology etc. Therefore, it can be analyzed in different corresponding aspects. In essence, figures of speech fall into the category of the dynamic and two-way communicating activity, e.g. a pragmatic activity. Based on the principles of pragmatism, this paper aims to discuss the pragmatic elements of euphemism by studying the formation (writer/speaker) and receipt (receiver). 1 The purpose and principles of using euphemismsAccording to Oxford Advanced Learners EnglisChinese Dictionary/ Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, euphemism is a kind of figurative speech which employs the use of others, usu, less exact but milder or less blunt, words or phrases in place of words required by truth or accuracy and the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. In the light of pragmatism, euphemism is in fact indirect speech, e.g. the speaker is indirect in expressing his/her view. The following is the authors analysis on the purpose and principle of this indirect speech.1.1 The purpose of using euphemismsAccording to Li Guonan （李国南, 2001）, rhetoric is generally an instrument in speaking or writing; However, as a figurative speech, euphemism is more a purpose than an instrument. In using euphemism, we tend to lay more emphasis on its purpose, or its expressive effect. In communication, the purposes of using euphemisms usually include the following three:1.1.1 Ineffable purposeEuphemisms have a large bearing on taboos in language. Language taboos stem from peoples erroneous understanding of the relations between language and objective world. In reality, people tend to use euphemistic expressions to replace those things that would arouse fear or panic in mind. For example, people always abstain themselves from direct mention of such words as “die, old, sick”; therefore, euphemism is quite abundant in this aspect of natural phenomenon. The author reviewed the English rendering of the work A Dream of Red Mansions, and here are a few examples of the euphemistic expression of “die” in Chinese and their rendering in English:王夫人向贾母说“这个征候，遇着这样节气，不添病，就有指望了。”贾母说“可是呢。好个孩子！要有个长短，岂不叫人疼死！”（ 红楼梦：126 ）“Its a hopeful sign,” Lady Wang told the Lady Dowager, “ if an illness grows no worse at a season like this.”“Yes, of course,” replied the old lady. “If anything were to happen to the dear child, Im sure it would break my heart.” (Yang Hsien-Yi: 162)E.g. :(1) He worked until he breathed his last. (2) The child is now in Abrahams bosom.1.1.2 Urbanization purposeThe second purpose of using euphemisms is to avoid vulgarity in speech and communication. The speaker or writer tends to blur certain words in meaning by means of semantic widening and inflating and magnifying so as to make them sound general and common so that peoples dislike and repulsion is lessened. （范家材,1992）In addition, through the employment of euphemism, the speaker or writer can create mental alienation between the signified and the signifier in an attempt to conceal or attenuate the straightness or vulgarity of certain taboos, such as taboos related to sex and body excretion. The followings are all common cases of euphemisms in this regard:Defecation (如厕)to be caught short (本义)给了个冷不妨, the call of nature (本义)自然的需要, Can I add some powder? (本义)我可以茶点粉吗? to ease oneself (本义)自我轻松一下1.1.3 Palliative purposePalliative purpose plays a large role in the formation of euphemisms in social problems and political life. Due to its fuzziness and vagueness, euphemisms are more often than not beguiling and deceptive; therefore, they have become the tools for politicians to cheat and fool the masses. Since the 20th century, especially since the two world wars, many new euphemisms in politics, economics, diplomacy and military have come into being. On May 8th, 1995, United States bombed Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing several Chinese embassy staff; however, NATO authority claimed that was an inaccurate military information and Bill Clinton also called that a tragic mistake in an attempt to cover up their wrong deeds to pacify indignant Chinese people. (何善芬, 2002 ) By the same token, to pacify peoples panic during economic crisis (经济危机), the publicity department of American government used the expressions of economic depression (经济萧条), economic recession (经济衰退), economic rolling readjustment (经济起伏的重新调整), economic slowdown (经济减速), economic slump (经济衰弱) successively.Certain trends in American euphemisms should be noted. In recent years, more and more euphemisms are being used in talking about social affairs. For example, there are fewer occupations called jobs; many have become professions. The names of some professions can be very misleading; the best example is sanitary engineer, a name of a garbage collector.In times of economic difficulties, such as during a depression, finding a profession may not be easy, even a job of most low-paid involving manual labor might be hard to get. Then one might become unemployed; or to use a more recent and sophisticated term, be involuntarily leisured. Of course, long periods of such “leisure” can be quite miserable, especially for the poor. The term poor, though, is having a struggle to survive. During the last twenty years or so, several other words have been trying to take its place, at least among educated circles and in “officials”. As some unfortunate person put it: “At first I was poor, then I become needy, later I was underprivileged. Now Im disadvantaged. I still dont have a cent to my name, but I sure have a great vocabulary.”In education, euphemisms are likewise prolific. Some people prefer educator to teacher. Students are still students, but comments about them need to be carefully considered. “Negative expressions” have given way to “more positive” ones. The comment for a below-average student might be that she/he is working at her/his own level. That doesnt hurt anyones pride, does it? Can do better work with help doesnt sound bad either; its just a less offensive way of saying a student is slow or stupid. Of course it would never do to call a youngster stupid or lazy; neither the student nor the parents would tolerate that. So a lazy child is an underachiever. The term doesnt jolt has achieved. The student might be barely getting by, or even flunking. Other examples: depends on others to do his/her work = cheats in class; has a tendency to stretch the truth=sometimes lies; takes other peoples things without permission = steals. Since the purpose of using euphemisms is to reduce the unpleasantness of a term or notion, it is natural that announcements or publications of businesses, organizations or governments will often resort to them. On the New York subway a fire once broke out on the tracks and delayed the trains. This was announced: We have a fire situation. President Ronald Reagan, who had promised the American public to cut taxes, called for revenue enhancements instead of tax increases when he was faced with the realities of national finances. In the area of labor-management relations, at times of labor unrest, there has been talk about what steps to take in dealing with industrial action, meaning strikes. In other area, when the U.S. government explained its program to gas chickens in Pennsylvania in late 1983 in order to control a harmful disease, it was said to have depopulated the birds. The reason was chosen was “to avoid saying slaughter”, according to a federal information officer. Evidently kill was also considered as far too blunt.1.1.4 The evolution of euphemismsAccording to Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson.（2001）, Euphemisms may be formed in a number of ways. Periphrasis or circumlocution is one of the most common - to "speak around" a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas.To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation. There are an astonishing number of taboo deformations in English, of which many refer to the infamous four-letter words. In American English, words which are unacceptable on television, such as fuck, may be represented by deformations such as freak even in children's cartoons. Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve the same purpose to call a person a berk sounds less offensive than to call him a cunt, though berk is short for Berkshire Hunt which rhymes with cunt.Bureaucracies such as the military and large corporations frequently spawn euphemisms of a more deliberate (and to some, more sinister) nature. Organizations coin doublespeak expressions to describe objectionable actions in terms that seem neutral or inoffensive. Militaries at war frequently do kill people, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by mistake; in doublespeak, the first may be called neutralizing the target and the second collateral damage. Likewise, industrial unpleasantness such as pollution may be toned down to outgassing or runoff descriptions of physical processes rather than their damaging consequences. Some of this may simply be the application of precise technical terminology in the place of popular usage, but beyond precision, the advantage of technical terminology may be its lack of emotional undertones, while the disadvantage being the lack of real life context(张宇平等，1998).Euphemisms for the profaneProfane words and expressions are generally taken from three areas: religion, excretion, and sex. While profanities themselves have been around for some time, their limited use in public and by the media has only in the past decade become socially acceptable, and there are still many expressions which cannot be used in polite conversation. The common marker of acceptability would appear to be use on prime-time television or in the presence of children. Thus, damn (and most other religious profanity) is acceptable, and as a consequence, euphemisms for religious profanity have taken on a very stodgy feeling. Excretory profanity such as piss and shit may be acceptable in adult conversation, while euphemism