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1、A Study on Application and Social Influence of Euphemism in English一、 课题(论文)提纲0.引言1.委婉语的表达方法1.1.转喻1.2.隐喻1.3.类比1.4.拟人化1.5.绕语2.委婉语的运用2.1避讳2.2出于礼貌3.委婉语的社会影响4.结束语 二、内容摘要语言交际是人类以维系社会关系的重要手段，因而人们在交际中通常避免使用引起双方不快从而损害双方关系的语言，而是采取迂回曲折的方法来表达思想，交流信息，它不仅是种语言现象，而且是社会现象和文化现象。委婉语言体现了相应的社会文化传统。本文主要阐述了英语委婉语的构成方法以及它的
2、社会影响，并着重从修辞手法，对委婉语言作了较全面的分析，并对委婉语在交际中的语用功能和表达方式做了一些探讨，从委婉语的“避讳”，“出于礼貌”两个方面探讨了委婉语在社会生活中的运用，了解委婉语在运用中的积极作用和消极作用, 有助于我们更深入的了解英语国家人们的思维方式、社会价值观、道德观以及文化风俗，对于提高自身言语交际功能是十分必要的。三、 参考文献1薛永.英语委婉语的特征、构成及种类J. 徐州教育学院学报, 2003年2马漪云.浅谈英语中的委婉语及其运用J.山西农业大学学报, 2005年3冯翠华.英语修辞大全M. 北京:外语教学与研究出版社, 1995年4向仍东.浅析英语委婉语的特征、构成及
3、作用J.长沙大学学报,2005年5郑晓晖.从委婉语的构造看其语义特征J.荆州职业技术学报,2004年6刘驰. 英语委婉语的形成与交际功能J. 青海师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版）2003年 A Study on Application and Social Influence of Euphemism in English Abstract: Language communication is an important method to maintain social relationship, so people often use the indirect or pleasant expr
4、essions in the place of those considered unpleasant, rude or offensive in communication. It is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a kind of social phenomenon and cultural phenomenon. It reflects some kinds of corresponding cultural traditions. This paper mainly focuses on the ways of express
5、ion, and the social influence of euphemism in English. And the first part elaborates upon the different expressions of euphemism in English, divided into two parts: figure of speech, semantic method. And then it makes study the appliance of euphemism on two functions: avoidance, courtesy. Then discu
6、sses the positive and negative influences of euphemism. To know these could help us to understand the mode of thinking, social values, moral concepts, and cultural traditions in English-speaking country, and could improve our language communicative ability. Key words: Euphemism ；application；social i
7、nfluence；positive；negative Introduction Euphemism is originally from Greek, meaning, “speak with gook words”. “eu” means “well or sounding well”; “pheme” means “speech”. Its definition in Oxford English Dictionary is “(example of the) use of pleasant, mild, or indirect words or phrases in place of m
8、ore accurate or direct ones.” The appearance of euphemism is based on two reasons: one aims to take the place of “taboo”. When taboo giving up a taboo word, people will find another new one to take the place of it, which creates a euphemism. The other aims to avoid offensiveness during the communica
9、tion. It is a figure of rhetoric by which an unpleasant or offensive thing is described or referred to by a milder term. In English language, euphemism is widely used in the daily communications. In order to achieve the aim of “taboo”, it is used to avoid the unpleasant thing; in order to achieve th
10、e aim of “politeness”, it is used to avoid the inelegant things, which are the two social psychological basis of the emergence of euphemism. Euphemism is one of the important parts of figure of speech. It is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a kind of social phenomenon and cultural phenomen
11、on. Euphemism in use differs from person to person, from profession to profession, even from class to class , Thats why sometimes the meaning of some euphemisms will puzzle you if you do not know the background of English culture. To grasp the English euphemism can not only help us open our eyes, bu
12、t strengthen our ability of reading comprehension. This paper aims to discuss the application of euphemism in English and to make acknowledge of its social influence, which could help us use euphemism in a correct way.1. Ways of expressing euphemism1.1. Metonymy.That is to use the general words to t
13、ake the place of the concrete words. “Passed away” which refers to “dead” belongs to metonymy. It can be divided into the following forms: 1) to use the container to take the place of the things in the container. For example: “to be fond of the bottle” is a euphemism for “liking to drink”. 2) To use
14、 the entirety instead of the part. For example: “abdomen” is used to refer to “belly”; “limb” refers to “leg”. For some special occasions, the part can be used instead of the entirety. In Australian English “an old hand” is a euphemism for “an old prisoner”. 3) To use raw materials to take the place
15、 of finished products. For instance, “poppy” is a kind of flower, but it also refers to “opium”. 4) To use characteristics to take the place of objects. For example, “hello” is a greeting word, and it is also a euphemism for “prostitute” because prostitutes often use this word to solicit the whorema
16、sters; “blood and iron” is a euphemism for “violence”. Sometimes, some euphemisms are frequently used instead of the original words; people gradually forget their euphemistic identities. They are not used in terms of euphemisms but have their own independent meanings. For example “poppy”, now if you
17、 look up this word in the dictionary, you can find the meaning of “opium”, it has lost its euphemistic function. And, if you do not know the background, you can not know the meaning of “Napoleon” and “Borstal”. Therefore, we can see the importance of knowing the background of English culture. It can
18、 help you to recognize and understand the real meaning of euphemism and make good use of it.1.2. MetaphorTo use metaphor can easily avoid the offensive things. Many euphemisms for “death” were created by way of metaphor, such as to be home and free, to go to sleep, to rest in peace, to be at rest, t
19、o go to Heaven (or Paradise). More examples are: agedsunset years, to degenerateto go astray; the money of briberygrease; handcuffsbracelets.1.3. AnalogyIn the euphemisms for occupation people often use analogy, which makes the humble name more elegant, For example, “chef” is a euphemism for “cook”.
20、 It is borrowed from French word “chef de cuisine”. “Beautician” refers to “hairdresser”; “garbologist” refers to “garbage collector”; “mortician” refers to “undertaker”. There also appeared some beautiful names for barbershop: hair salon, beauty parlour, and stylist parlour. 1.4 PersonificationPeop
21、les names are often used to replace taboo words. For example, “Big Harry” refers to “heroin” because “Harry” and “heroin” have the same initials. “Lavatory” also has many euphemistical expressions. In 19th century, it was called “ my aunt Jones”, “Mrs. Jones”, “Sir John”, “Sir Harry”, “the Henry”, w
22、hile in 20th century, it was called “jakes”, “john” etc. But the latter color of personification becomes weak. The first letter can be written in small letter. People just use it as a common noun. In fact, they have lost the euphemistic function. 1.5. PeriphrasisIt is an expression of beating around
23、 the bush. Though it is a muddled acting, its aim is to avoid offending others, and to be more polite. Such way of speaking is humorous, sweet and agreeable, such as to dieto close ones eyes, fartwind from behind; trousersnether garments.Teachers often use this expression to avoid the students and t
24、heir parents awkwardness. For example, “cheat” is described as “needing help in learning to adhere to rules and standards of fair play”; “steal” is called “needing help in learning to respect the property rights of others”;“dirty” is called “ be lack of proper health habits”.2.The application of Eup
25、hemism Euphemism is widely used in America and Britain. It has a long history. New euphemisms emerge in an endless stream. According to its applied functions, Id like to divide it into three parts: Avoidance, Courtesy and Disguise. Through studying the three functions, we can understand the western
26、societys view on value and morality.2.1 Naming tabooThe earliest subject of Euphemism is religious. The conception of taboo is deep-rooted in peoples mind, and it is not easy to remove. The appearance of taboo could date back to ancient Greek and ancient Roman. In humans eyes God owns a super power
27、that could control everything. Because fearing of the secret power, People use euphemism to avoid mentioning the guilty, unpleasant, rude or offensive words, which plays a role of purifying languages. SO we can realize the necessity of the cultural infiltration in language communication and we must
28、pay attention to the social influence of euphemism. Euphemism is often caused in speaking of things that are painful and distressing to think about. Death is one of expressions. The euphemisms for death are a widely used item, especially when it concerns ones own families and friends. It has a lot o
29、f expressions. Most westerners avoid talking about some serious diseases. For instance, “terminally ill” is a euphemism for “cancer”; People often use initialing to avoid talk about some diseases directly, such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome); Big C (Cancer); VD (Venereal Disease) etc.
30、 We can also use synonym and antonym to instead. For example, “tight” is used instead of “stingy”; “thrift” is used instead of “economical”,“defecate” replaces “shift” and “urine” replaces “piss” . And “mad” is replaced by “crazy”, “insane”, and “lunatic”. Such euphemism aims to use the appreciative
31、 term to take the place of the derogatory term. However the antonym is use the contrary term to express the same meaning, but it could be more useful than synonym in replacing the taboo and make people more understandable and comfortable. We could call stupid people unwise people. “A fat chance” mea
32、ns “a slim chance”and “find words” stands for “bad words”People even use ellipsis to omit the offensive words while speaking. Of course,use this way should be put into a certain context, which can express the meaning of euphemisms.2.2 Proceed from courtesyAnother reason to use euphemism is that it a
33、voids the harsh and direct word in a polite way, and makes the sentence sound more pleasant. To grasp the polite function of euphemism can help you build a good relationship with others. The polite functions are especially reflected in the occupations, or trades. It relate with Politeness Principle.
34、 For example, “mental hospital or mental health center” is a euphemism for “madhouse”; “mortuary or funeral” is a euphemism of dead house. Some small companies or small enterprises like to use the word “industry”, such as hotel industry, tourist industry, garage industry, womens beauty industry etc.
35、And because from the period of Renaissance, Latin, Greek, and French are considered as cultured words. People consider that those languages are more elegant, tactful and ambiguous. English borrows words not only from French but also from other languages in many kinds of ways to create its own euphem
36、ism. For example, “lavatory” was borrowed from Latin word “lavatorium”, but it lost its meaning of euphemism because of long-time using. Therefore, people borrowed another euphemism from French “toilette” which was respelled into “toilet”, and it became the most popular euphemism referring to lavato
37、ry. French words “chemise” and “lingerie” are euphemisms for “underwear” and “blouse” respectively. “sushi” was borrowed from Japanese “”. The above words mostly belong to the common vocabulary. In addition, euphemisms also borrow some science and technological words and academic words that are cold
38、, clinic and antiseptic.There also to choose some Latin and Greek prefixes whose meanings refer to “a person”, such as “-(o) logist”. “mixologist” is a euphemism for “a bars waiter”.Some special occupational names have adopted two prefixes. For example cosmetologist and cosmetician both refer to “fe
39、male hairdresser”. Moreover, Latin prefix “-arian” is originally used in religion, but now it is also used in the occupation, such as: bartarian, sanitarian. Another Latin prefix “-ian” is also used popularly, such as custodian (entrance guard or dustman). Some people even want to change the native
40、prefix “-er” to the Latin prefix “-or” because they think the foreign prefix is more elegant and sweet-sounding, such as weldor, wild animal trainor.3. The Social Influences of EuphemismOpposite to the positive influences of euphemism, there are some different sayings about it. Some people condemn e
41、uphemisms as demoralizing because of its hypocrisy while others like Hilaire Belloc consider them a psychological necessity”. One of the most important reasons is that euphemism is used to conceal some scandalous behaviors and crimes. Therefore, euphemism can also bring about the negative influences
42、, especially war and crime. For example“bombing and blasting” is called “softening up the resistance”. People seldom mention “nuclear weapons”, but “an anti-personnel weapon”. American media called their invasion to Haiti by their marines “an incident”, called the investigation of American airplanes
43、 in Russian territorial air space “an over flight”. We can see the concealing function of euphemisms becomes the needs of the struggle, the tool of cheating people.Crime is also a very sensitive topic. The judge can say, “I hereby sentence you to five years in prison.” While the families and friends
44、 of the criminal are likely to use the euphemistic expression, such as “to send to the big house, ” “Death penalty” is called “capital punishment”.ConclusionEuphemism appears with false appearance, and exerts a subtle influence on exposing the truth. That is to use the neutral or pleasant words to e
45、xpress some awkward or offensive contents. As to the English learners, we should not only pay attention to its application on appropriate occasions, but to its influences. Its active functions can coordinate the interpersonal relationships, release the contradictions and avoid the conflicts. The neg
46、ative functions are to confound right and wrong, beautify the shameful behaviors and conceal the essence. Language itself has not the class character, but different people, political parties and countries can consider it a tool to serve for them. That is why someone named euphemisms as “comfortable
47、words” or “cosmetic words”. In daily life, we should pay attention to the influences that the active and negative functions of euphemisms bring us, and keep the negative functions from corrupting our thoughts. Bibliography1薛永.英语委婉语的特征、构成及种类J. 徐州教育学院学报, 2003年2马漪云.浅谈英语中的委婉语及其运用J.山西农业大学学报, 2005年3冯翠华.英语修辞大全M. 北京:外语教学与研究出版社, 1995年4向仍东.浅析英语委婉语的特征、构成及作用J.长沙大学学报,2005年5郑晓晖.从委婉语的构造看其语义特征J.荆州职业技术学报,2004年6刘驰. 英语委婉语的形成与交际功能J. 青海师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版）2003年12