英语专业论文-英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究
从英汉委婉语中透析中西文化差异
本科毕业论文第 1 页共 15 页1 IntroductionEuphemism, an appropriate language form created for perfect communicative effect and an important way to coordinate interpersonal relationship, is a common linguistic phenomenon existing in people’ s use of language.Euphemism appears first in ShiJing , so it has a long history. Chinese scholar Chen Wangdao defines “ euphemism ” and studies it from the perspective of rhetoric in The Origin of Rhetoric. In the 1970s and 1980s, affected by the foreign social linguistic theory, scholars who work on the study of social linguistics become interested in the special social function of euphemism. In Sociolinguistics , Chen Yuan discusses the profound historical and psycho-social background of euphemism, revealing its social essence of avoiding mentioning those unpleasant things or phenomena. In The Euphemism in Modern Chinese Language published in Chinese Language Learning, Shu Dingfang attempts to describe and discuss the structure and research scope of euphemism in modern Chinese language from the angle of modern linguistics for the first time.The study of euphemism at abroad also has a long history. In the 1580s, the English writer George Blunt created the word “ euphemism ” and presented the following definition: a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word. Referring to the historical cultural background of American society, American linguist Menken probes into the reason why several hundred euphemisms appear and become popular in The American Language published in 1936. The book A Dictionary of Euphemism and Other Doubletalk written by English linguist Hugh Rawson manifests the research achievements about euphemism of English and American linguists. The book not only reviews the study history of euphemism, but also makes an extensive discussion of the characteristics, definition and classification of it.Euphemism, as one form of language which contains affluent cultural connotations, must be the reflection of a specific culture. Euphemisms created in different cultural backgrounds reflect different cultural connotations and embodies the attitude towards life and life-style of people living in this specific language group. This thesis aims to contribute to a successful cross-cultural communication by helping people understand the appropriate interpretation of euphemisms.2 Euphemism and Culture2.1 Language and CultureCulture owns diverse kinds of carriers, such as art, language, literature and so on. Language, as the most important carrier, is intimately related to culture. The come into being and inheritance of culture are due to the appearance and development of language. There is no culture without language and no language without culture. At the same time, culture affects language all the time, making language become more accurate to adapt to the development and change of culture. The creation of culture cannot exist without the function of language, and the accumulation of culture is also conserved through language. As a result, language and culture are supplementary to each other and dependent on each other for existence.Language itself, as the carrier and a significant composition of culture, bears the special imprint of culture. Although language is the outcome of the development of social culture, language plays an essential role in the formation and development of culture. The language people use reflects their real thoughts towards what they talk about. Language, from a broad sense, symbolically stands for a people and makes up their historical and cultural backgrounds. Like a mirror, language reflects the culture of a people and reveals their ways of living.Culture is the keystone of language. Any kind of language cannot survive and developwithout the social culture environment, which language relies on. To a certain degree, social culture restricts language’ s evolution as well as perfection. Language itself has an influence on people ’ s ways of thinking and consequently impacts the culture. However, affected by culture greatly, language changes with culture undergoing in development and change. Just in the contemporary world, millions of the new words in various fields prove that rich and colorful cultures make all sorts of languages come into being.2.2 Euphemism and CultureThe word “ euphemism ” originated from the Greek. In Greek, the prefix “ eu ” means “ good ” with the root “ pheme ” meaning “ speech ” . As a result, the literal meaning of euphemism is “ to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”(Neaman and Silver 1. Euphemism is a frequently used figure of speech, and there are other definitions of it. Allan and Burridge presents the following: “ a euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’ s own face or, through giving of fence, that of the audience, or of some third party”( Allan and Burridge 18.For the reason that the formation of English and Chinese euphemisms has various ways, euphemisms can be divided differently in accordance with different standards. The classification employed in this thesis is from Hugh Rawson, who, in 1981, classified euphemisms into negative euphemisms and positive euphemisms in his book A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk from the aspect of semantics.The negative euphemisms, which are closely related to tabooed words, also can be called traditional euphemisms. What the negative euphemisms and tabooed words express are the same. If languages, like sex, disease, physical and psychological defects, are expressed in a direct way, they are called tabooed words, giving people asense of vulgarity and rudeness. But if the languages presented above are delivered in an indirect way, they are called euphemisms, granting people a feeling of connotation, elegance and politeness. For example, peo ple in western countries substitute “ sex ” with “ sleep with” or “ go to bed with” and use “ plain looking” or “ ordinary looking” to replace “ ugly ” .The positive euphemisms, also named as stylistic euphemisms, have no relationship with tabooed words. In fact, positive euphemisms are analogous to the words with a meaning of compliment. “I t tends to inflate and magnify the word meaning, making the euphemized seem altogether grander and more important than they really are ” (Hugh Rawson 1. In order to show politeness, respect or strive for cooperation, people apply beautiful words to express things which are unpleasant but not tabooed. In the past decades, positive euphemisms have been applied in such areas as education, occupation and unemployment. There are many euphemisms for some occupations with lower social status. A gardener who shaves trees and flowers can be called “ a landscape architect” . A garbage collector is often said to be “ a sanitation engineer” and a file clerk would be very happy to kn ow that she is “ a research consultant” .The concept of culture is so broad that defining the word “ culture ” seems to be a very difficult matter for us. Different people often see the same object in different lights. Many scholars have defined it. Linel l Davis defines culture as “ the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people”(24. According to Goodenough, culture is “whatever it is one has to know and believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of “ the end product of learning: know ledge” (167. The culture covers a broad spectrum and contains all the phenomena of the universe. All the things created by people and related toexperience, knowledge, science and technology as well as education and language, can be called culture.Euphemism is a language used pervasively in our daily life. It is not only a language phenomenon in both English and Chinese culture, but also is a kind of social culture. Language and culture are closely related to each other. Euphemism, as one form of language, is also greatly affected and shaped by culture in terms of the origin, growth and usage. Simultaneously, euphemism is a reflection of culture. Euphemism bears the weight of abundant cultural connotation for the reason that it deeply roots in the soil of a people’ s social culture. It is hard for people to make sense of the euphemisms if people do not have a notion of a country’ s culture. Shao Zhihong points out that he [Patrick Hartwell] considers euphemisms as “ a natural part of the social world of words ” and believes they tell us “ a good deal about the values of a culture” (305.3 Different Cultural Implications Reflected in English and Chinese EuphemismsLanguage is the carrier of culture and a mirror reflecting social culture. For this reason, euphemism, as a special form of language, must be the reflection of a specific culture. Language decides a nation ’ s cultural features, which gives rise to the phenomenon that English and Chinese euphemisms without exception will reflect the cultural differences of two nations as well.3.1 Different Concepts of ValueIn term of concept of value, western people live for their self-satisfaction. Once they cannot get the material insurance, they immediately think that their life will fall apart and that they cannot be mentioned in the same breath with their friends because they believe they are inferior to them. While, deeply affected by Confucianism, Chinese contend that the value of life lies in the contribution they do in their lives rather than the materialabu ndance. Euphemisms for “poverty” in English and Chinese reflect their different concepts of value.The word “ poverty ” in English is a terrible word which means “ there is neither powernor social status ” . In the western commercial societies, people hol d the belief that money talks and admit poverty directly incurs disdain. Although the society thinks highly of the view that everyone is equal and has his own civil right, the phenomenon that the gap between the poor and the rich keeps widening still exists. However, there is no person who would like to acknowledge that they do not have enough money to afford them a normal life. Therefore, people in West spare no effort to refrain from mentioning “ poverty ” for the sake of the poor themselves. The followin g example will show us how western people avoid “ poverty ” :“ I used to think I was poor.” She wrote. “ Then they told me I was not poor, I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad thing, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still do not have a dime—but I have a great vocabulary.” (William and Mary 229In the short section of speech above, there are four euphemisms –“ needy ” ,“ culturally deprived ”, “ underprivileged ” and “ disadvantaged ” , which have the similar meaning as “ poor ” . All these words are just some indirect ways western people use to avoid saying the word “ poor ” b ecause most people regard the possession of material wealth as the symbol to measure people’ s ability of survival.There are also many other euphemisms for “ poverty ” : “ hard up for money” , “ less well off ” , “ down on one ’ s luck ” , “ in a awkward financial situation ” , “ in reduced circumstances ” , “ badly off ” , “ the have-nots ” , “ man of modest means ” , “ negative saver ” and so on.By contrast, being poor does not seem to be a horrible thing in China. Chinese people embrace the perspective that though one is poor, he has lofty aspirations and believe that poverty can exercise people ’ s perseverance and character. Nevertheless, beingpoor is not a thing to be proud of, so there are only a few euphemisms for the word “ poverty ” in Chinese. The words used most frequently in Chinese are “ 揭不开锅” , “ 手头不便” , “ 拮据” and “ 囊中羞涩” . The small quantity of euphemisms for“ poverty ” may be relevant to the reason that the word in Chinese is not tabooed as that in English. Specific culture creates special language. China today is a country brimming with rich cultural elements, which makes the new euphemisms for “ poverty ” emerge. With the implementation of reform and opening-up and the rapid growth of economy, millionaires and even billionaires appea r in China. The word “ 富翁” sounds good, but the meaning of the word “ 负翁” has an entirely opposite meaning. Some people of the salariat are called “ 月光族” because they never have surplus salaries at the end of the month.3.2 Different Concepts of RankChina is a nation of courtesy with a cultural heritage running several thousand years and a nation which attaches importance to Confucian culture and feudal patriarch system. However, democracy, referring to freedom, equality and human right, is the main idea of western people. Euphemisms for “ address forms ” reflect the different social values of rank in English-speaking countries and China and also show the relationship among people.People in West have every confidence in the belief that all men are equal. This view stresses that citizens are equal both in laws and mentality, which means there is no rule to judge people whether they are noble or poor. Consequently, western people lay more emphasis on individuality, and they are not so conscious of the concept of familyhierarchy as Chinese to show their respect for seniority. No matter what people ’ s social status are, they can get along with each other like friends and call their names on a first-name basis. In western families, children usually call the ir parents’ names instead of“ father ” and “ mother ” when they grow up. However, the parents do not blame them for the change of titles; on the contrary, they feel that the relationshipbetween them and their children is cozy. Furthermore, the concept of address forms in West is relatively general and ambiguous. Men who are of the same generation of children’s parents are called “ uncle ” , women on the generation base are called “ aunt ” and their children are called “ cousin ” no matter what gender they are. The phenomenon that family members address each other directly regardless of the family hierarchy is a common occurrence in western families while it is not accepted in an old-fashioned Chinese family. The reason lies in that the address forms in English do not belong to the scope of language taboos.On the contrary, Chinese people pay much attention to the arrangement of rank, etiquette and the order of seniority and inferiority, which directly reflected in the“ address forms” . In ancient times, or dinary people were forbidden to address directly the names of emperors and government officials. They had to use other words to replace the name; otherwise, they would be punished because of showing no respect. For instance, in Tang Dynasty, the name of em peror is called “ 李世民” . In order to avoid the word “ 世” , people use “ 代” to take the place of “ 世” , substitute “ 世” with “ 人” and shorten the word “ 观世音” to “ 观音” when they write or communicate. Title taboos derive from the concept of the ancient patriarchal clan system. With the changes of times, this phenomenon has been no longer in existence, but some title taboos continue to be used even today. Nowadays, people always address other people in a way of adding the title of a post to show respect between the superior and the subordinate, the young and the old and even peers, such as “ 张局长” , “ 刘书记” and “ 赵老师” . When it comes to the relationship between friends, people usually address friends by adding “ 小” or“ 老” for the sake of intimacy, such as “ 小王” and “ 老李” . In a Chinese family, parents always educate their kids that they are not allowed to address the elders directly. The younger generation is obliged to call the older generation in terms of kinship to express their esteem, such as “爷爷” , “ 奶奶” , “ 爸爸” , “ 妈妈” , “ 叔叔” , “ 阿姨” , “ 舅舅” , “ 舅妈” . If people address other people’ s names directly, they will be considered as uneducated and impolite.本科毕业论文第 9 页共 15 页 3.3 Different Concepts of ReligionChristianity, a very prevailing religion in West, has a long-term and profound effect on the society, deeming that everybody is guilty and laying stress on a person ’ s imperfection and inherent evil tendency. In China, people mainly believe in Buddhism and Taoism, which guide people to establish perfect personality and even be Buddha and immoral by means of enhancing their self-cultivation. Each language has its own religious faith, which leads to the different uses of euphemisms for “ death ” .In West, people, from heads of state to the common people, almost all of them believe in Christianity which is dominant among the diverse religions. Christians deem that the value of human body is inferior to the soul for the reason that the fresh will die eventually, but the soul is immortal. They stick to the faith that their souls will enter into the heaven rather than hell after death if they make great efforts to do spiritual practice. Affected by this faith, they are confronted with death calmly. As a consequence, a large amount of English euphemisms for “ death ” come from the Bible and give expression to the basic Christian doctrine that people’ s lives given by God are destined to go through sin, indulgence and expiation, and people can only get saved in the other world after expi ating the sins. For example, the “ death ” is called “ to return to dust/earth” because God creates people with clay; “to pay the debt of nature” is a statement of “ death ” for the reason that people are born with sins and their death is to atone for sins. God is the master of the earth, so people have to “ be called to God ” or “ to answer the final summons ” after death. Other euphemisms for “ death ” contain “ go the way of allfresh” , “ to go to a better world” , “ be asleep in the Arms of God ” , “ go to one’ s final reward” and so on. All these euphemisms for “ death ” are the real portrayal of perfect lives western people believe in.Chinese people never have a unified faith for China is a country with many religions. Buddhism and Taoism make a large difference to Chinese culture. Buddhism, spreading into China since Tang Dynasty, is to set people free from the eternal cycle本科毕业论文第 10 页共 15 页 of birth and death. Buddhism advocates spiritual practice to live up to the highest realm, which is c alled “ 圆寂” or “ 灭度” in Chinese. That the Buddhists die peacefully with a gesture of sitting in meditation is called “ 坐化” , which indicates that they are not in dread of death. Other euphemisms for Buddhists’ death, which are too numerous to be listed,include “ 升天” , “ 殉道” and “ 登莲界” . Taoism, another religion Chinese people have a deep faith in, aims to live forever to be immortal, so it considers people’ s death as “ 仙逝” , “ 仙游” , “ 仙去” and so on. In addition, the view that people can be supernatural beings riding on white cranes when they pass away, results in the appearance of “ 骑鹤” , “ 化鹤” or “ 鹤化” . Taoism denies that there is no differences existing in the world and believes that a person’ s life is just from birth to death, so we have the expressions of “ 物化” , “ 隐化” and “ 遁化” . All the examples above reflect a fact that the diversity of religious belief is bound to generate the diversity of language.3.4 Different Concepts of TraditionPeople in West generally avoid asking others’ ag e for the reason that age is a sensitive topic in their eyes. On the contrary, people in China, who are familiar with the traditional customs of respecting the elderly, do not have many taboos in age. However, to be old will surely lead to death. As a result, each nation takes full advantage of euphemisms to prevent embarrassments of “ old age” from happening.Western culture pays much attention to youth, energy and creativity. The word “O ld ” is a derogatory term in western culture, which results in the p henomenon that people are aware of shunning the word especially on account of the serious aging of population in western societies, the increasing problems of social security and ability to provide for the aged as well as the advocation of family structure with DINK lifestyle. Western people are afraid of becoming old and their fear for becoming old has reached the degree of putting an end to the use of the word “ old ” . They meditate deeply on borrowing other words to express the word “ old ” in a tactful way. “ Old本科毕业论文第 11 页共 15 页people ” are addressed as “ senior citizens ” , “ seasoned men ” , “ well-preserved men ” , “ the advanced in age” and the like. They all get complimented for their “ longer life” . Even the “ old people ’ s home” can be called as “ nursing home” , “ home for adults” , “ rest home ” and “ adult communities”. Western people cherish the dream of never growing old, so they call the “ old women ” as “ distinguished women ” and the “ old men ” as “ distinguished men” . In ad dition, the euphemisms for “ old people” include “ golden age” , “ sunset years” , “ the mature” and “ the elderly” . In today’ s society where the young age is advocated, people attach more and more importance to the address of old men, which certainly gives rise to the increase of euphemisms for “ old ” .The euphemisms for “ old ” in China are not as abundant as those in West. Once in a while, people can see the statement in written form, such as “ 华发” , “ 黄昏恋” and “ 夕阳红” , but people are not very sensitive to the word “ old ” . Chinese people hold the view that being old is the honor of family and society. In China, people are deeply convinced that it is a traditional virtue to respect the old and take good care of children. As a result, people advocate the power and status of the old. Although the traditional family structure of four generations under one roof has been broken up in the modern society, the old generation is still the core member of a family. In Chinese culture, the word “ old ” has bee n equipped with the meaning of knowledge, maturity and reliance,which are reflected in Chinese by means of such expressions as “ 老当益壮” , “ 老成持重” and “ 老将出马,一个顶俩” . People in China are not in dread of talking about the age, naturally resulting in the p henomenon that the use of the word “ old ” in the society is not considered as a taboo. People call “ the old” “ 您老” and “ 老人家” to show a sense of respect. The word “ old ” in China can also convey the connotation of seniority and experience, which can be seen from “ 老师傅” , “ 老教授” and “ 老总” . Furthermore, Chinese people usually put the word “ old ” after family name to address the old people who have a high virtue and a glorious name to express their respect, such as “ 陈老” , and “ 李老” .ConclusionEuphemism, both a common linguistic phenomenon and a social culture, is created by different cultural backgrounds, moralities and values and reflects different cultural connotations and characteristics. At the same time, it is essential for people to realize the importance of the appropriate interpretation and application of euphemisms in cross-cultural communication.This thesis reveals the different cultural implications in the aspects of the concept of value, rank, religion and tradition reflected in English and Chinese euphemisms by comparing different euphemisms. Euphemisms for “ poor ” in English and Chinese tell us that western people have a stronger desire for money than Chinese people, and euphemisms for “ address forms ” give us some information tha t China is rigidly hierarchical while western countries are democratic and free. In addition, euphemisms for “ death ” show us the different religious cultures people in each country believe in and euphemisms for “ old ” explain the reason why the word “ old ” is tabooed in English but advocated in Chinese. All the comparisons between English and Chinese euphemisms suggest that the usage and goal of them are roughly similar in that both of them use nice words to replace the vulgar things which are likely to give people a sense of embarrassment, to make the language more elegant, polite and acceptable. However, thecomparison also shows that backgrounds for the usage of English and Chinese euphemisms do not go all the way, sometimes even are totally different. Euphemisms are adopted by people to render their speeches and manners to be rational, to promote the interpersonal relationship and to enhance the exchanges and cooperation. Understanding the deep implications reflected in English and Chinese euphemisms is beneficial to handle the language more skillfully and eliminate the negative effect produced by euphemisms in cross-cultural communication.Bibliography1 Allen, K. & K. Burridge. Euphemism and Dysphemism [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.2 Bolinger, D. Aspects of Language [M]. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., 1981.3 Davis, L. Doing Culture: Cross-Cultural Communication in Action [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.4 Fasold, R. The Sociolinguistics of Language [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.5 Goodenough, W. H. Cultural Anthropology and Linguistic [M]. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1957.6 Leech, G. N. Principles of Pragmatics[M]. London and New York: Longman Group Ltd, 1983.7 Menken, H. L. The American Language [M]. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1936.8 Neaman. J. S. & C. G . Sliver. Kind Words-A Thesaurus of Euphemisms [Z]. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1983.9 Rawson, H. A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk [Z]. New York: Crown Publisher, Inc., 1981.10 William & Marry Morris. Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage [Z]. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1975.11 陈北郊 (Chen Beijiao. 汉语语讳学 [M]. 山西 : 山西人民出版社 , 1991.12 陈望道 (Chen Wangdao. 修辞学发凡 [M]. 上海 : 上海教育出版社 , 1979. 13 陈原 (Chen Yuan. 社会语言学 [M]. 上海 : 学林出版社 , 1983.14 刘纯豹 (Liu Chunbao. 英汉委婉语词典 [Z]. 南京 : 江苏教育出版社 , 1993. 15 李国南 (Li Guonan. 英语中的委婉语 [J]. 外国语 , 1989, (3 : 23-27.16 邵志洪 (Shao Zhihong. 英汉语研究与对比 [M]. 上海 : 华东理工大学出版社, 1997.17 束定芳 (Shu Dingfang. 现代汉语中的委婉语 [J]. 汉语学习 : 1989, (2 : 34-38.18 王逢鑫 (Wang Fengxin. 英汉比较语义学 [M]. 北京 : 外文出版社 , 2001. 19 于亚伦(Yu Yalun. 当代英语委婉语初探 [J]. 外语学刊 , 1984, (2 : 45-49.20 张拱贵 (Zhang Gonggui. 汉语委婉语词典 [Z]. 北京 : 北京语言文化大学出版社 , 1996.AcknowledgementsI would like to avail myself of the opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all the people who have helped me in completing the thesis.Firstly, I really feel grateful to my academic supervisor, Miss Wang Yanfang, who has given me so much useful advice on my writing. Her patient and inspiring instruction and careful modification have greatly contributed to the completion of this thesis.Secondly, I should be thankful to all the other teachers at the department of English of the College, classmates and friends for their useful advice and kind help in my graduate studies. Their profound knowledge and enlightening academic achievements greatly benefited me.Finally, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my parents, who have given me a lot of consideration and great encouragement during these four years. They are my intimate tutors on my life path.。
英汉委婉语不同点对比研究[论文]
![英汉委婉语不同点对比研究[论文]](https://img.taocdn.com/s3/m/05dbb198daef5ef7ba0d3c31.png)
英汉委婉语不同点对比研究摘要：现代社会突飞猛进地发展，越来越多的人能够接受教育，人们的素质也因此有了很大的提高。
在我们的日常交流中，人们越来越讲究得体，说话越来越委婉。
因此，委婉语成了现代社会不可或缺的一部分。
汉英委婉语的功能基本是相同的，但其中也有少许的不同之处。
本文旨在就汉英委婉语的内容进行对比，找出其不同点，并且试着探究这些差别产生的原因。
只有注意到这些差别并尽量避免冲突，跨文化交际才能顺利进行。
关键词：委婉语内容跨文化交际1. 引言委婉语（ euphemism）一词发源于希腊语，意思是说好听的话，古希腊人在祭祀时，都得讲吉利话，即使用委婉语（张曲，2007）。
委婉语不仅仅是一种语言学现象，而是一种文化现象。
现在，在人们社会生活的每一个方面都可以看到委婉语的使用。
委婉语就是用来淡化或美化一些人们通常认为是禁忌，或令人难堪的事物的词语，句子，或一段话（陈彦彦，2007）。
中英文中有很多委婉语，因为他们是一种语言学现象，因此存在很多相似点。
然而，文化能反映在某种语言上，作为一种特殊的文化符号，委婉语能够反映特定的文化现象。
不同的国家有着不同的文化，所以不同国家的委婉语也有着其不同点。
国内外很多人对委婉语进行了研究。
然而，很少人对中英委婉语不同点进行系统地的分析。
为了跨文化交际的顺利进行，不能想当然地认为中英委婉语都一样。
因此本文旨在试图对中英委婉语中的不同点进行对比并分析其原因。
2. 英汉委婉语的不同点一般说来，英汉委婉语中的相同点远远多于其不同点。
英汉语中在禁忌、说话的得体性方面就有着很大的相似。
除了这些相似点外，其的不同点应引起人们的注意。
2.1 年长由于美国是一个工业化国家，其文化是以个人主义为中心，独立与进步这两个品质被给予极高的重视。
英语国家的人追求创新，因为害怕遭到歧视，他们害怕变老。
单词“old”对西方人来说是一个禁忌因为它意味着在思想或行动上缓慢。
因此，一些含单词“old”的英语短语都是贬义的，比如“ old-fashioned， old school， old gentleman”等。
英语论文-英汉“死亡”委婉语文化对比分析
英汉“死亡”委婉语文化对比分析摘要:委婉语是人类社会中存在的一种语言现象。
由于东西方文化的不同，在委婉语的使用上也存在许多差异。
本文对中西委婉语跨文化现象进行了对比研究，揭示了其内在联系。
关键词:委婉语;传统委婉语;文体委婉语;宗教文化委婉语（Euphemism）一词源自希腊语的前缀eu=well 和词根pheme=speaking。
根据《英语委婉语详解词典》的定义，委婉语是一种用无害的或悦耳的词语替代那些较直接的、唐突的言词，用善意的话语把事实掩盖起来的修饰手段。
它不仅是一种社会语言现象，更是一种文化现象。
一、委婉语的分类和功能英语委婉语一般可分为两大类：传统委婉语(traditional euphemisms)和文体委婉语(stylistic euphemisms)。
所谓传统委婉语，是与禁忌语密切相关的。
如生、死、病、性等禁忌事物，如果直接表达，就是禁忌语，给人的感觉是粗鄙、生硬、无礼；反之如果间接表达，就是委婉语，给人的印象是典雅、含蓄、中听、有礼。
所谓文体委婉语，实际上是恭维语，溢美之词与禁忌语无关。
委婉语的功能有:避讳功能、避俗功能或雅化功能、礼貌功能、掩饰功能和褒扬功能（淡化或夸张功能）。
死亡是人类普遍面临的重大问题之一，在日常生活中时有发生。
由于英汉两种文化背景不同，所反映出的对死亡的看法存在很大差异。
二、英汉两种语言死亡委婉语不同的原因1、不同的宗教文化带来的表达差异基督教在英语国家的人们生活中发挥着重要作用，其关于死亡的委婉语多半来自《圣经》，与基督教信仰密切相关。
许多基督徒都相信“来世”和“原罪”之说，在他们看来，死亡就意味着"to go to heaven"(进天堂)、"to be called to Cod"(被召唤到上帝那) or "to cancel ones account"(销账)。
在中国，没有一种宗教能像基督教在英语国家所具有的重要地位和影响。
从委婉语看英汉文化异同
从委婉语看英汉文化异同［摘要］委婉语是汉、英语言中共有的现象，有着相同的心理基础和共同的适用范围；同时也透射出宗教信仰、价值观念、伦理传统等文化的差异。
汉英委婉语无一例外地都会折射出两个民族不同的社会生活和文化价值观念。
［关键词］委婉语；心理基础；文化异同语言是文化的载体，是反映民族文化的一面镜子。
我国语言学家戚雨村先生认为，语言，包括语言的使用方式在内，不能超越文化而独立存在，不能脱离一个民族流传下来的、决定这一民族生活面貌和风俗习惯的信念体系。
一、汉、英委婉语共同的适用范围及心理基础汉、英委婉语折射出汉英两种文化有共同的适用范围。
在汉英文化中，委婉语主要适用范围大致为：生、老、病、死；性；排泄；穷困；犯罪；职业；政治。
就老年人之“死”而言，英语有与汉语意思相似的婉称，常见的有：to close/end one’s days(终其天年); shut one’s lig ht off(逝世)；to cross the bar(去了)。
汉、英委婉语中有一些完全或基本的等价，反映了汉、英民族对外部世界的共识和共同的避讳、美化、掩饰心理基础和思维模式。
1．对某些事物情形的避讳汉、英委婉语的使用体现了共同的社会心理基础。
不论是在我国还是在英美国家，“忌讳”都是产生委婉语的重要心理基础。
远古时代，人类不能正确理解自然现象和自然力，于是就产生了一种对超自然力(the supernatural)的崇拜乃至恐惧，即所谓“灵物崇拜”(Fetishism)。
随之而来的就是“语言灵物崇拜”(Word Fetishism)。
出于对鬼神的敬畏，神明与魔鬼的名字首先必须回避，担心直呼其名会招致危险和灾难，往往另辟蹊径。
英语中有关“Devil”的委婉语有上千个之多，如“the Bleak One”,“Old Boy”, “the Tempter”, “the Big D” ,“Old Harry”, “the Ene my”, “the Wicked One”, “Old Nick”, “Prince of Darkness”等。
英汉委婉语的文化意蕴对比
英汉委婉语的文化意蕴对比一、引言Euphemism一词源自希腊语，eu-是前缀，意思是“good”，词干-phemism的意思是“saying;speech”，合起来就是“good speech”（好听的话）。
Neaman(1990:1)把euphemism定义为“substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using kind words.”（用不冒犯人或令人愉快的词语去代替直率的、触怒人的词语，用好听的词语去掩饰事实）[1](P228)牛津高阶英汉双解词典（Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary）中对euphemism 的定义是：“use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or p hrases in place of more accurate or direct ones”[2]（P491）（用愉快、温和、间接的词或词组替代直露、直接的词）。
以上两者基本上概括了euphemism的性质和特点。
中国人禁忌、忌讳的地方恐怕不比西方国家少。
“汉语中有与euphemism相对应的修辞格，一叫婉转或委婉语，即‘在说话时遇有伤感惹厌的地方，就不直说，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗示’；二叫避讳格，即‘说话时遇有犯忌触讳的事物，便不直说该事物，却用旁及的话来回避掩盖或装饰美化。
’”（陈望道《修辞学发凡》）[3]（P69）在实际使用中，无论是euphemism，还是婉曲、避讳都与各民族的民族心理、礼教规范、价值取向以及传统文化等因素密切相连。
了解委婉语产生的原因及其反映的不同文化,有利于加深我们对英汉语言与文化的认识,益于我们跨文化的顺利进行。
英汉委婉语的对比及文化内涵
色的 社会心 理状 态 和语 言文 化 内涵 。汉 民族和 西方 民族语 言 中的委 婉语 ，丰富 了汉语 及 英语 的词汇 ，增 加 了人们交 际 过程 中的表达 方式 ， 反 映着 不 同民族相 同或 相 异 的社会 心理 及文 化
母 ”说 成 “ 失恃 ” ， “ 父母 双 亡 ”称之 为 “ 弃
委 婉 语 （ｕ ｈ ｍｉ － 词 最 早源 于 希 腊 语 ｅｐｅ ｓ ｍ） ｅ ｐ ｅ ｓ ｓ，是 生 活 中 那 些 刺 耳 的 、粗 俗 ｕ ｈ ｍｉｍｏ 的 、给 人 带 来 不 快 的 或 被 视 为 禁 忌 的 语 言 替
达 “ 因身心缺 陷需 要进 行特殊 教育 的儿 童 ” ，
在 中国 则用 “ 智 ”代 替 “ 能儿 ”。病 人发 弱 低 疯ห้องสมุดไป่ตู้不 用 ｍａ ｄ，常 常 用 “ｎ ｔ ｌ ｈ ｒ ｏ ａｌ ｅ ｅ”或 ｔ
“
到现 代 ，也有 许 多关 于 “ 亡 ”的说法 。 死 比如对 领 袖或 著 名 的人 物 ，我们 会说 “ 逝
涵。
关 键 词 ：委 婉 语 ；对 比 ；文 化 内 涵
一
，
引 言
关 ， “ 亡 ”在人 们 心 中是 个恐 怖 的 、不祥 的 死 字 眼 ，生 怕提 及此 词会 招来 横 祸 ，同时 为 了对 长 眠者 表达 怀 念和 尊敬 之情 ，对 亲属 表达 安慰 之 意 ，汉 英语 言都 创造 了 大量 的委婉 语 。 中国从 古代 开 始就 出现 了许 多与 “ 亡 ” 死 有关 的 委婉 语 ，反 映着 中华 民族 各方 面 的文化 习俗 。 “ 亡 ”的委 婉语 ，不仅反 映 了 中国古 死 时 的社会 制 度 ，等级 观念 ，而 且也 折射 出了人 们 的宗教 信 仰及 中庸 和谐 ，如把 死 人 的事称 为 “ 事 ” ，把 “ 丧 丧父 ”说 成 “ 失估 ”，把 “ 丧
委婉语论文：中西委婉语的对比
委婉语论文：中西委婉语的对比摘要：委婉语是一种中西文化中普遍存在的语言现象，是为了达到理想交际效果而采用的一种策略。
委婉语同时又是一种文化现象。
当说话者感到直率的说法可能会引起听话者某种程度的厌恶时,出于忌讳或礼貌,就通过遣词的调整来克服上述的心里障碍。
本文旨在通过将中英文两种语言中委婉语的使用进行对比，从中发现中西文化委婉语使用的差异，以提高英语学习者的文化意识和跨文化交际能力。
关键词：委婉语；差异；对比一、前言委婉语是各民族生活中普遍存在的一种语言现象,是英语和汉语中常用的修辞手法之一。
委婉语的特征就是用一种不明说的,能使人感到愉快或尊敬意味的表达方式。
它通过语言来调剂人际关系，而且它还是一种社会语言学现象，通过它可以避免语言过于直接、刻薄而给对方造成伤害。
英汉两种语言中都有大量的委婉语。
由于委婉语是语言运用常规的背离，因而它在本质上是一种语言变异现象，它是促成语言变化的潜在机制之一。
随着中国和西方文化的交流和碰撞，现实需要我们对英语和汉语中委婉语的对比进行较为广泛的研究，熟悉其在社会交际中的功能，才能更准确地理解它，并恰如其分的使用它。
二、中西委婉语的对比（一）在礼貌方面的共通性在社会交往中，无论中西方都讲究讲话的礼貌功能，选择委婉的表达法是有修养的人的表现，说话人使用委婉语,不仅显得彬彬有礼,还会因为照顾了对方的情面可获取对方的好感。
例如英语里面的“老”在西方文化中是忌讳的，于是一些关于年龄的委婉语就应运而生,如用“senior citizen”（高级公民）“,the longer living”(年长者)等来代替。
作为教师，也不能说你的学生笨，要表述成“a slow learner”(他学得慢),或“underachiever(他尚未发挥潜力)”；在英语中，各种残疾人一般被称为“the invalid”(病弱的)；“deaf”(耳聋的)被称为“slow of hearing”(听觉迟钝的)；“blind”(失明的)被称为“visually retarded”(视力上有障碍的)；“color blind”(色盲)被称为“color deficient”(色觉有缺陷的)。
英汉“死亡”委婉语文化对比研究
英汉“死亡”委婉语文化对比研究班级英语一班学号124022008024 姓名黄依琳摘要：委婉语是人类社会中存在的一种语言现象，传统委婉语是与禁忌语紧密相连的。
在任何一种文化，任何一个社会中，都存在着语言禁忌。
但是，死亡却是全人类共同的归宿，是人类无法超越的生命终点，对死亡的焦虑与恐惧是人类普遍的心态，这使得死亡成为各民族共同忌讳的话题。
(1) 笔者在此只从英汉“死亡委婉语”的不同来源入手,对它们的文化成因和文化内涵进行对比分析,以增强人们跨文化交际意识。
关键词：死亡委婉语；文化成因；文化内涵一、引言委婉语（Euphemism）一词源自希腊语的前缀eu=well 和词根pheme=speaking。
意为“to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”(以好听的言词或令人愉快的方式来说话)(2)。
根据定义，委婉语是一种用无害的或悦耳的词语替代那些较直接的、唐突的言词，用善意的话语把事实掩盖起来的润饰手段。
(3)。
它不仅是一种社会语言现象，更是一种文化现象。
二、英汉死亡委婉语的来源及文化内涵的异同（一）源自价值观的英汉死亡委婉语所体现的文化重合尽管汉英两民族由于历史传统、地理环境、社会制度、宗教信仰等诸多因素的差异形成了各自的民族特色,并且演变成了不同的民族思维定式,使得两民族的价值取向千差万别,但二者间也有相似之处,其中一个典型的共性就体现在死亡价值观上。
中华民族自古以来十分推崇“舍身取义”这一英雄的传统。
因此,当一个人为公或为国家过早地献出自己宝贵生命时,人们通常会用“献身”、“舍身”、“殉国”、“殉职”、“牺牲”、“阵亡”、“杀身成仁”、“英勇就义”、“为国捐躯”、“舍生取义”、“肝脑涂地”等褒义词语婉称之,以表达对英雄人物的赞美崇敬而又深切哀悼之情。
无独有偶,英语里也有一些表示为国家或事业而捐躯的委婉语词,如to lay down with one’s shovel and hoe (为国家或事业捐躯)；to kiss the dust (阵亡)等,但与汉语相比,这些表示法在搭配意义、内涵意义以及感情意义的传达上稍逊一筹。
英汉死亡委婉语的文化差异及其分类对比
最新英语专业全英原创毕业论文，都是近期写作1 中外英语教师的优劣势比较：从中学生视角2 种族沟通的桥梁——对《宠儿》中两个丹芙的人物分析3 初中英语课堂教学现状调查4 从《老人与海》中看海明威的人生哲学5 《雾都孤儿》中的善与恶6 论D.H.劳伦斯诗歌中的救赎意识7 论环境和社会制度对人的行为和品格的影响——以《雾都孤儿》中南希的形象分析为例8 从模因论视角看年度流行语“给力”（开题报告+论文+文献综述）9 英语中法语借词刍议10 浅析小学汉英双语教学11 电影《木兰》中的动物形象反映的中西文化差异12 从《胎记》看霍桑对科学的态度13 中学英语教师素质提高的途径探索14 作者菲茨杰拉德在《了不起的盖茨比》中所表现的双重人格15 中美礼貌语中的“面子文化”16 应对写作逻辑乱象的对策17 威廉·戈尔丁《蝇王》中的写作艺术18 论托尼莫里森《宠儿》的哥特式元素19 当爱遇见不爱——浅析《马可百万》中的三对情爱关系20 战争对美国文学的影响21 从文化差异比较研究中美家庭教育22 论中西文化的差异对习语翻译的影响23 解读《金色笔记》中的女性主义24 从功能翻译论的角度探讨品牌名称的翻译25 用批评性语言分析中美主要矛盾26 从常见的中英文名字比较中英两国命名文化差异27 高中英语课堂师生互动研究28 《高级英语》中某些修辞手法赏析29 中英习语文化异同及其翻译30 《麦田守望者》成长主题解析31 试析美国社会的道德恐慌——从麦田守望者的主人公看美国社会病态32 超越和世俗——对《月亮和六便士》中Strickland和Stroeve的对比分析33 由女性“奴性”潜意识解析玛利娅姆多舛命运34 论《厄舍古屋的倒塌》的哥特式写作风格35 从电影片名翻译窥探中美文化差异36 从英汉广告语言特点分析中西方文化价值观37 福克纳短篇小说《献给爱米莉的玫瑰》叙事技巧分析38 《浮生六记》英译本文化词翻译策略探析(开题报告+论文)39 论模糊语言在广告英语中的功能与运用40 如何提高小学生对英语学习的兴趣41 “雨中的猫”与“一个小时的故事”中女性意识觉醒的比较研究42 论《白鲸》主角的悲剧实质43 The Painful Growth of Scarlett O’Hara in Her Three Marriages44 英汉诗歌中“月”意象的认知解读45 语言迁移在英语教学中的应用46 比较中西方礼仪差别47 中医术语翻译方法研究48 CET-和IELTS阅读培训课对比研究49 翻译的对等性研究及其应用50 中西面子观的比较研究51 《了不起的盖茨比》：盖茨比的性格对其一生的影响及其对当代中国青年的现实意义52 商务英语的词汇特征及翻译策略53 On the Translating Strategies of Children’s Literature Seen from the Translation ofE.B.White’s Charlotte’s Web54 试论《了不起的盖茨比》中的象征手法55 罗伯特•弗罗斯特与陶渊明田园诗歌对比研究56 从奈达翻译理论初探英汉新闻导语翻译策略57 An Analysis of Jude’s Pursuit of Love in Jude the Obscure58 A Cross-Cultural Study on Linguistic Taboo59 论密西西比河对马克•吐温和《哈克贝利•费恩历险记》的影响60 比较《简•爱》中女性“陈规形象”与《飘》中女性“新形象”61 Cultural Mediation in Interpreting—An Observation from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication62 肯克西《飞越疯人院》的女性主义批评63 从目的论角度看公司网页误译64 The Emerging Tendency of Marketing—Network Marketing65 对狄金森诗歌中四个主题的分析66 会话含义的语用初探67 我之歌——弗洛伊德精神分析视角下的艾德娜之死68 从许渊冲的“三美”原则论李白诗歌的翻译69 论莱辛作品《又来了，爱情》中妇女失爱的原因70 Study on the Basic Principles of Legal English Translation71 跨文化交际中的禁忌习俗72 中美两国女性在家庭和社会中地位的比较73 孤独的神秘与永恒的自由追求——解读《法国中尉的女人》74 中西方餐桌礼仪差异之比较75 On Movie Title Translation from Skopos Theory Perspective76 广告对中国百姓生活的影响77 分析嘉丽妹妹性格变化的原因78 Cultural Differences between English and Chinese Proverbs and Their Translation Strategies79 英汉新闻标题中缩略词对比研究80 The Use of Symbols in A Farewell to Arms81 On the Female Influences on Pip’s Character in Great Expect ations82 礼貌策略的英汉对比研究—以《傲慢与偏见》及其译本为例83 从文化差异角度谈国际商务谈判中的语言技巧84 多丽丝莱辛的《金色笔记》中安娜的政治困惑分析85 欧•亨利短篇小说中的美式幽默风格的翻译86 《隐形人》中格里芬的心理剖析87 A Study of Children Images in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer88 浅论英文原声电影在英语教学中的应用89 高中生英语学习成败归因现状调查及对策90 玩偶之家中娜拉的性格悲剧所反映的世纪社会问题91 The Influence of Bob Dylan and His Works on American Social Movements92 分析形成性评价在英语教学中的应用93 哈利波特的情感分析94 论《霍华德庄园》中的象征主义95 从就餐细节看中美儿童个性能力的差异96 Sino-US Cultural Differences——Through Comparison Between APPLE and OPPO97 基于微博（推特）文化的新型营销模式98 心灵探索之旅——析《瓦尔登湖》的主题99 浅论康拉德《黑暗之心》中的女性形象100 浅论《儿子与情人》中劳伦斯的心里分析技巧101 The Elementary Stage Translation Teaching Design for Undergraduate English Majors 102 《雾都孤儿》中所体现的人文关怀103 中美婚姻时间选择的对比研究104 论《野性的呼唤》的多重主题105 浅析哈利波特中的女巫形象106 英语词汇的记忆方法107 论概念隐喻视角下的隐喻翻译108 论埃德加•爱伦•坡短篇小说的创作风格109 从《嘉莉妹妹》看本性与理性的斗争110 《傲慢与偏见》中的女性意识分析111 浅析奥利奥品牌在国际营销中的跨文化策略112 从精神分析学角度看哈姆莱特的性格变化113 英语商业广告以及公益广告的语言特点比较114 浅析《睡谷传奇》中的浪漫主义115 荒岛主义在《蝇王》中的映射116 A Cross-Cultural Study on Linguistic Taboo117 英语广告的批评性话语分析118 Biblical Ideas on Women and Sex119 环保宣传语翻译中的文化介入120 从《麦琪的礼物》看欧亨利的写作手法121 英语词汇的语境意义分析122 论叶芝诗歌中的女性面具123 浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中苔丝的反叛精神124 《紫色》所体现的“黑人性”125 A Tentative Approach To Contemporary American Romance Movies126 语言迁移在英语教学中的应用127 全身反应教学法在儿童英语教学中的运用128 《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中的圣经人物原型分析129 A Study of Cultural Differences Reflected in Chinese and English Proverbs130 An Analysis of Female Images in The Thorn Birds131 How to Arouse the Students’Interests in English Learning132 换位思考在商务信函中坏消息的运用及建议133 On the Importance of China English as an English Variant134 从生态批评角度解析杰克•伦敦的动物小说《野性的呼唤》和《白獠牙》135 《最蓝的眼睛》的叙述声音和视角136 浅析《白牙》中爱的力量137 通过语境与潜台词解析情景喜剧的幽默——以《老友记》为例138 《瓦尔登湖》中梭罗的生态思想139 The Research of Chinese and Western Names in Cross-cultural Communication 140 经典英文电影台词的文体分析141 成都旅游定位和发展对策142 非语言交际在国际商务谈判中的运用143 《觉醒》与《欢乐之家》中的女性形象和女权思想之比较144 英语专业学生议论文写作中连接词使用情况研究145 从中美文化差异看中国人创新能力的缺失与培养146 试论盖茨比对其梦想生活的追求147 An Analysis of Youth Subculture through the Movie－－Trainspotting148 中英日委婉语语言特征149 从中英文动物词汇看中西方文化差异150 《蝴蝶君》中两位主角的心理冲突151 中小学辅导机构英语教学模式——一对一教学与小班课堂教学教案的比较分析152 浅析《红字》中的象征意义153 “三美论”观照下的《再别康桥》英译本比较研究154 从最佳关联原则看口译中的“归化”和“异化”155 xx大学影视英语教学调查156 商务英语中的委婉表达及其翻译157 论《苔丝》中女性意识与社会现实之间的冲突158 中美个人理财规划的对比分析159 《先知》中倒装句文体功能的研究160 中学英语课堂中教师的纠错策略161 Negative Transfer and the Errors Committed by Chinese English Learners162 A Study of Cultural Influence upon Internet Language163 英汉恐惧隐喻对比研究164 《呼啸山庄》爱情悲剧根源分析165 试析英语谚语中的性别歧视166 从女性视角看文化冲突—基于亨利•詹姆斯的两部小说167 黑人社区的替罪羊－－论托尼•莫里森《最蓝的眼睛》中的黑人小女孩佩科拉168 试分析《牡丹亭》与《罗密欧与朱丽叶》的爱情模式169 弥尔顿《失乐园》中撒旦的悲剧英雄形象170 从跨文化交际层面谈口译译者能力的提高171 Eco-Critical Reading of The Call of the Wild172 《请买票》的生态女性主义解读173 从归化异化的角度看《围城》中隐喻及其翻译研究174 The Influences of RMB Appreciation on China’s Foreign Trade175 英汉视觉动词概念隐喻的对比研究176 A Contrastive Study on Meanings of Animal Words in English and Chinese 177 从《没有国家的人》看一个无政府主义者对人性的呼唤178 从《生活大爆炸》看美剧字幕翻译的文化转向179 《德伯家的苔丝》环境细节描写的作用180 用言语行为理论分析奥巴马推定总统候选人演讲181 从功能翻译理论分析高校网页的汉译英182 《德伯家的苔丝》中苔丝悲剧的分析183 浅议英语诗歌中的书写变异184 中国和英国传统婚俗差异研究185 中国特色词汇及其翻译186 从莎翁作品透视伊丽莎白时期女性社会地位187 中美企业招聘广告文化对比分析188 英汉禁忌语对比研究189 论纳撒尼尔霍桑《牧师的黑面纱》中的象征190 肢体语言在商务谈判中的应用与作用191 Cultural Differences in Business Negotiations: East and West192 从功能对等理论的角度看英语新闻标题中修辞的翻译193 论《红字》中海丝特的女性身份重构194 学生不同个性对英语学习的影响195 美国战争电影的人性和文化透视－－以《拯救大兵瑞恩》为例196 从语言角度分析《功夫熊猫》中中西文化的交融197 论好莱坞电影的全球化战略198 从《红楼梦》两个译本比较谈习语翻译的文化处理199 委婉语与合作原则的关系200 英汉死亡委婉语的文化差异及其分类对比。
从英汉委婉语对比中透析中西文化差异
从英汉委婉语对比中透析中西文化差异委婉语其实是一种修辞方法，被广泛的应用在英汉的语言当中，并且在英汉语言中占据着非常重要的地位。
但是由于英汉委婉语的用法和使用场景不同，所以通过对比就可以了解到中西文化的差异。
本文通过委婉语的概念和英汉委婉语产生的因素进行了分析和探讨，总结归纳出了中西文化的具体差异，以供相关人员参考或研究。
标签：英汉委婉语；中西文化差异；对比前言：委婉语产生在特定的语言环境中，委婉语的使用也需要在特定的环境中。
也就是说委婉语是为了使语言更加流畅，从而出现的一种特殊语言形式。
但是由于不同国家文化差异，所以在委婉语的使用上也大不相同，根本原因就是委婉语产生的因素就是心理因素，所以中西方国家对于委婉语的使用时不同的。
总的来说，通过英汉委婉语的对比，就能够看出中西方的文化差异。
一、委婉语的概念委婉语其实是一种修辞方法，被广泛的应用在英汉的语言当中，并且在英汉语言中占据着非常重要的地位。
委婉语产生在特定的语言环境中，委婉语的使用也需要在特定的环境中。
委婉语表达的方式主要有含蓄、委婉、禁忌等特点，委婉语的主要作用就是能够使语言更加的顺畅和流利，但是由于中西方的文化差异，所以在委婉语的使用上也大不相同，根本原因就是委婉语产生的因素就是心理因素，所以中西方国家对于委婉语的使用时不同的。
委婉语总的来说可以的心理因素主要可以分为：避讳心理、掩饰心理和礼貌心理〔1〕。
二、英汉委婉语产生的因素（一）避讳心理委婉语的形成其实就是在现如今社会的发展过程中，对于一些避讳性的东西所使用的语言，也可以叫做禁忌心理，一般情况下都是对于人心理上恐惧或者避讳的东西所使用的语言。
在最早的时候，委婉语主要都是应用在妖鬼神魔等神秘又可怕的事物上，但是随着社会的不断发展和进步，委婉语已经被逐渐应用在死亡、性、重大疾病等生理或者心理缺陷中。
在日常生活中，如果将此类食物通过直接的语言进行表达，会给他人一种不礼貌、粗鄙的印象，并且有一些语言直接通过语言进行表达也会让人比较难以启齿，所以人们在表达这些事物的时候一般都采用委婉语来进行表达，使表达的更加清楚又不会给人一种没礼貌、没素质的印象。
中英礼貌用语对比研究 毕业论文
Cultural Differences between Chinese and English on Politeness中英礼貌用语对比研究摘要礼貌是人类文化的普遍现象，广泛的存在于人类社会生活之中，它不仅是人类社会活动的重要准绳，也是人类文明的主要标志。
文明古国中国和西方处于不同的地域，有着不同的文化背景，道德价值观，风土人情等等，中英文化的巨大差异必然导致其礼貌用语的使用差异。
本文将从文化价值角度对中英两种礼貌用语进行对比分析，旨在使交流顺利进行，提高跨文化交际能力。
关键词礼貌用语；英语；汉语；差异对比绪论礼貌作为一种文化习俗，在人脑中是根深蒂固的，它以巨大的力量促使人们按照本民族的习惯进行交际。
即使是许多有文化有教养，知道入乡随俗的人也难以摆脱文化习俗的羁绊，在跨文化交际中有意无意的触犯对方的禁忌，造成语用失误。
跨文化交际中关键性的问题，就是人们能否冲破各自文化的约束去领略认可，或接受其他文化中多重且隐蔽的特性。
为了顺利融洽的进行交际，除了建立良好的习俗差异意识，遵守“入境问禁，入国问俗，入门问佛”的礼仪，规范，更重要的还应重视移情，不管是说话人还是听话人，在认知心理上都要乐于接受对方d 的不同文化，想方设法去理解对方的用意。
在跨文化交流中我们会轻松地发现，英汉两种语言的礼貌用语存在很大的不同，下面我将从以下几个方面进行分析。
一、中英称呼语的文化差异中国人较习惯于非对等式的称呼类型，称呼要讲究“长幼尊卑贵贱”之分，体现出一种权势倾向，是垂直社会关系的标志。
而英语国家受西方文化影响，较崇尚对等式称呼，表现出平等的文化取向 。
（一）、姓名。
比如，在中国，下属不能叫上司的名字，学生不能直接叫老师的名字，孩子不能直呼父母的名字。
否则就会被认定为没有礼貌，缺乏教养。
而英语文化中的称呼语注重双方亲近，表现出平等的文化取向。
在英语国家，一般来说，不论对方年龄多大，地位和级别多高，人们更愿意直呼其名，以示亲近。
英汉委婉语对比研究
为提高某些 职业 的社会地位 ， 人们往往使用委 “ 委婉语 ” 即使用语气和缓 的 、 听的 、 ， 好 含混 的 、 圈子 的 、 人 平也在不断提高。 兜 令 愉快 的或不得罪人 的说 法去替代生硬 的 、 俗的 、 粗 不便直说 的 、 婉语来加以美化。在汉 语和英语 中都有大量关于职业名称的委 这类委婉语通 过夸 张 、 大 ， 其显得 比它们所代表 的真 夸 使 令人不快的说法。 而在《 牛津简明英语辞典》 中对“ｕ ｈｍｉ 一 婉语 ， ｅｐ ｅ ｓ ｍ” 把 词 的定 义是 ：Ｓ ｂｔｕ ｏ ｆ ｌ ｏ ｖｇｅｏ ｕ ｄａｏｔ ｘ ｒｓ 实事物更体 面、更重要 。这种现 象在现代英 语 中俯拾 皆是 ： “ ｕｓｔｔ ｎｏ ｍｉ ｒ ａｕ ｒｏ ｎ ｂｕ ｐｅ— ｉｉ ｄ ｒ ｅ ａ ｄ（ 或 ｏ ｓｋｅ ｅ（ 称为 ｄｍ ｓｃｈｌ（ ｏ ｅｔ ｅ 家务 助 ｉ ｐ ｓ ｎ ｏ ｒｈ ｒ ｉ ｃ ｏｅｅｐｅｓ ｎｔｕ ｂｔ ｔｄ” 英 语 和 汉 ｍ ｉ 女仆 ） ｈｕｅ ｅｐ ｒ女管 家 ） ｉ ｒ ａｓ ｒ ｔｎ ，ｘｒｓｉ ｓ ｕｓｔ ｅ．在 ｏｆ ｈ ｏｄ ｅ ｏ ｈ ｓ ｉ ｕ 、 ａ—ｈ ｌ ｐ（ 或 ｉ —ｎ ｅ 住家帮手 ）一般 服务 ｖ ｐ ； 语 中都有为数众 多的委婉语 ， 且它们有共 同的意义领域 ， 比如死 手 ） ｄｙ ｅ 白天帮工 ） ｌ ｅ ｉ ｈｌ（ ｅｖ ｅ ｃ ｍａ ｇ ｒ服务管理人员 ）ｂｔｈｒ屠夫 ） 改 ；ｕｃｅ（ 也 亡、 人体敏感部位 、 泌排泄 、 分 疾病与伤残 、 罪与罚 、 战乱 灾祸 、 性 员也 升级为 ｓｒｉ ｎａｅ（
上则存在着较大 的差异 。这是 因为英语 和汉语 国家在历史 、 文
３有 关 “ 老 ” ． 年 的委 婉 老 ， 老 的委婉语相 当 丰富 。如 ： ｎｏ ｓ ｉｒ ｅ 化、 思维 、 心理等诸 多方面都存 在差异。本文拟从社会 问题 中的 ｉｚ ，ｄａｔ ｅ ｎｔ ， ｅｍ ｔ ｅ ｓ ｓｎ ｄ ｔｅ ａ ｉ ｈｇ ｈ ｕ ｅ ｍａ 汉语中类 失业 、 职业 以及生理现象 中的年老 、 死亡 四个方面 的委婉语进行 ｃｉ ｎ ａｖｎ ｇ ｅａｅ ｔ ａ ｒ， ａｏ ｅ ｎ 等。 似“ 年老” 的委婉语也很多 ， ： 如 古稀之年 ， 高龄 、 高寿 、 桑榆 、 夕阳 英 汉 对 比分 析 。 红等。 表示“ 年老 ” 的委婉语英汉差别非常 明显 。 尊敬老人是一个 １有关“ ． 失业” 的委婉语 。 由于社会价 值观的不 同 ， 英汉两 种语言 中有 关“ 失业” 的委 国家文 明的表现 ，然而 由于文化 的不 同 ，对老年人 的称 呼也 不 汉语 可用“ ＋姓 氏” “ 老 和 姓氏 ＋老 ” 的形 婉语表达也不尽相 同。西方 国家属私有制社会 ， 劳动力流动大 ， 同。从 表达形式上看 ， 前者是表示尊敬 和亲切 ， 后者是对德高望重 的敬称如 “ 王老 、 失业也相对频繁 ， 有关 “ 失业” 的委婉语就 比较多 ， 表达方式也五 式 ， 等 这些表达方式是汉语 所特有 的。 从文化差异上看 ， 英美 花Ａ Ｉ 。如果丢 掉一份工作 ，再 找一 份新工作 ，就 叫“ ｅ ｅｎ 刘老 ” ， ＇ － Ｊ ｂ ｔ ｅ ｗ 忌讳 ｏ 一 词 ， 们费尽心机借用其 他词汇来委婉地表 ｌ ｄ 他 ｊｂ” ｏｓ或者“ ｅ ｅｎｓｏ ｓ两场放 映或演出之间的歇息 ）或者“ｏ 人怕老 ， ｂｔ ｅ ｗ（ ｗ ｈ ” ｔ 老 老人” 这一概念 。 可在 中国 ，老 ” “ 字带敬 意， 是资历 和地位 ｂ ｅｅ ｐｎ ａ ｅ ｒｊ ｔ在发展一个新规划 ）等。失业者可向 示“ 、 ｅ ｖｌ ｉｇ ｎｗｐ ｅ （ ｄ ｏ ｏ ｃ ” 人们有时还倚老卖老 ， 以老为荣。 如什么“ 老板 、 老大 、 老 政府要求一定的救济金 ， 官方就称这些失业者为“ｌｍａｔ 提出 的象征。 ｃ ｉ ｎｓ ａ （ 老师 、 老师傅” 。当然 ， 等 随着 时代 的发展 ， 国人也 开始怕 中 要求 者 ）。在英 国失业 者被称 为“ ｅ ｅｓｏｔｎｔ（ ” ｈ ｌ ｒ ｅ ｔ ｓ ｆ ｕ ａ 比较不幸 的 总 、 老 了。ｍ ｔｒ 在英语中表示 “ ａ ｅ ｕ 成熟” “ 、年长 ” 。可在 中国的老人 人 ）。中国经历 了漫长的封建时代 ， ” 工人 阶级出现得较晚 ， 因此 “ ” 古代几乎没有关 于失 业的委婉语 ，只是到 了现代社会才逐渐 出 无论 自称“ 成熟” 或被称为 “ ， 成熟” 都可能成为笑料 。从这一点 ， 现 了一些。 在现代汉语中 ， 有关失业 的委婉语大多是由官方 文件 也能看出英汉委婉语 的一些差异 。 ４有 关“ ． 死亡” 的委婉语。 和新闻媒体率先采用 而流行起 来的 ，如 ２ 世纪 ７ 年代 出现 的 Ｏ ０ 人们认 为人 的最大不幸莫过 于死亡 ，死”是人们最忌讳的 “ “ 待业 ” “ 、待业青年 ”改革开放 以来的“ 岗” “ ； 下 、下岗职工” 。 等 虽 因此在语言交际中人们总是 回避“ 死亡 ” 二字 ， 都尽可能用 然 同是指“ 失业者” 用的却是不 同的表达方式 ， ， 反映 出不 同社会 字眼。 经济体制和人们价值观 的转变 。 ２ 在 ０世纪 ７ ０年代 ， 国是计划 委婉语代之 。 我 英汉语 中表示 “ 死亡” 的委婉语都非常丰富。 英语中 经济体制 ， 一个 “ 字充分说 明了人 们在计划 经济体制 下消极 有 ：ｏｄｐｒ，ｅａｔｒｍ ｔｅｗ ｒ ， ｒｖｒ 待” ｇ ，ｅ ａｔ ｐｒｆ ｏ ｄｆ ｅｅ ｄ ｏ ｈ ｌ ｏ ｓ ａ ｅ ｐ ｓ ｗ ｙ ｂ ｅ ｔ ｎ ｓｌ ， ｏｔ ｈ ｓ ｈ 等待的传统观念 ； 一个“ ” 下 字折射 出改革开放 以来 ， 国有企业的 ｄｉｅ ｓ ， ａ ｓａ ａ ， ｒ ａ ｅ ｏ ｅ’ ａ ｔ ｇ ｅ
毕业论文开题报告-中英委婉语对比分析
[4]魏慧哲.中英死亡委婉语跨文化对比[D].河北师范大学,2004.
[5]刘瑞琴,韩淑芹.英汉委婉语对比研究[M].宁夏:宁夏人民出版社,2016.
[6]何自然,冉永平.新编语用学概论[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2009.
附件2：
英语本科生毕业论文开题报告书
学生
姓名
学号
专业班级
指导教师
论文
题目
中英委婉语对比分析
英文
题目
A contrastive analysis of Chinese and English Euphemisms
一、选题的意义及国内外研究状况综述、本人是否有创新
选题的意义:
随着社会的进步和人类文明的发展，委婉语伴随着整个社会的言语交际过程。委婉语不仅是每个社会中都普遍存在的语言现象，也是一种社会文化现象。它被定义为：“用一种不明说的、能使人愉快的或含糊的说法代替具有令人不悦的含义或不够尊敬的表达方法。”（《语言与语言学词典》，斯托克和哈特曼等编）委婉语是社会语言学和语用学研究的课题之一，同时也是跨文化交际中一个重要话题，它使用更礼貌文雅的方式，代替了唐突、直接的表达，顾及听话者的利益，给与其礼貌与尊重，最终达到良好的交际任务。它又是人们在社会交往中为寻求理想的交际效果而创造的一种恰当的语言形式，是用来维系人与人之间交际活动顺利进行的有效润滑剂，是保全交际中双方面子的重要手段。由于中西文化的差异，两种语言的委婉语在使用上有明显的差别。因此，就中英两种语言的学习者和使用者而言，了解和掌握中英委婉语在社会交际中运用的异同可以借以避免尴尬的意图，交流信息，实现以言行事；减少语用失误、文化冲突带来的摩擦，维护说话双方利益并保全面子，从而提高语言学习者和使用者的语用能力及跨文化交际能力，促进各方关系融洽，达到理想交际效果。
英汉委婉语对比研究论文
英汉委婉语对比研究摘要：委婉语的创造和使用是人类语言中的一种普遍现象，也是一种社会现象和文化现象，是特定社会和文化的一面镜子。
英汉委婉语具有很多相似处，但由于不同的文化传统、历史背景等因素，它们之间在表现形式及文化内涵等方面有着明显的差别。
本文从英汉委婉语的词源、表现手法、表现形式、表现内容及文化意义等几个方面对英汉两种委婉语进行了对比研究。
关键词：英语；汉语；委婉语；对比研究A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms Abstract: Euphemism is not only a widespread linguistic phenomenon, but also a social and cultural phenomenon. It is a mirror of a particular society. English and Chinese euphemisms have many similarities but more differences on forms and connotations because of different cultural tradition and historic background. This paper makes a comparative study of the cultural differences between English and Chinese euphemism from its origin, the way of its formation, its forms, contents and cultural significances.Key Words: English; Chinese; euphemisms; contrastive study0. 引言到目前为止，有关委婉语的研究已有许多，现有的研究主要是从语义学、社会语言学和语用学等角度进行的,。
从英汉习语视角看中英文化差异
最新英语专业全英原创毕业论文，都是近期写作1 小学英语教学中的体态语应用2 大学生英语听力两种辅助活动实证研究3 The Westernization of Chinese Wedding4 清教主义对美国文化的影响5 The Darkness in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales6 从《麦琪的礼物》看欧亨利的写作手法7 [毕业论文][思想政治教育]论道德心理契约下的社会诚信建设8 论翻译的艺术9 探究中学生厌倦学习英语10 Key Factors to Cause the Tragedy of Mariam11 对英文广告中模糊语言美学功能的理论探究12 浅议女性哥特主义在《暮光之城》中的体现13 论《红字》中的孤独因素14 浅析《德伯维尔家的苔丝》中造成苔丝悲剧的因素15 圣经典故的翻译16 中美商务交际礼仪之差异17 论《喜福会》中女性的反抗精神18 从释意派理论看英语习语的翻译策略19 思维导图在高中英语阅读教学中的应用20 从礼貌原则分析《飘》中人物性格21 A Comparative Study on Metaphors of FIRE between English and Chinese from a Cognitive Perspective22 《傲慢与偏见》中婚姻观对当代中国的现实意义23 英语语言中的性别差异研究24 商标翻译中的文化差异25 《老人与海》的生态批评分析26 删译在中英诗歌翻译中的应用27 论黑暗中的光明在《八月之光》中的体现28 基于多媒体网络技术下的英语教学29 《野性的呼唤》中的人性和野性30 论《看不见的人》的主人公的心理成长历程31 《飘》的成长主题解读32 浅析中英委婉语差异33 跨文化交际中身势语的研究34 《红楼梦》两个译本中称呼语翻译的对比研究35 浅析英汉问候语的文化异同36 等效理论框架下的中国菜肴英译研究373839 从关联理论解读《家庭战争》的幽默40 论《愤怒的葡萄》中的生态批评思想41 你是爱丽丝吗？从《爱丽丝梦游仙境》中人物看作者刘易斯.卡罗尔的写作意图42 模糊数词在英语习语中的构成形式及其修辞功能43 《麦田里的守望者》中反叛精神分析44 浅析“苹果”广告中的文化因素45 浅析导游词的翻译策略46 A Co mparative Study of Tess in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jane in Jane Eyre47 奈达等值理论于商务英语翻译中的理解和应用48 《秀拉》中女主人公秀拉的女权主义解读49 论英汉翻译过程50 象征主义视角下《致海伦》中的意象美51 英汉广告翻译中的文化差异52 论中美广告伦理观的差异——从“性感平面广告”中的女性形象分析53 从毛姆《刀锋》看两次世界大战期间的知识分子形象54 Comparison between High and Low-context Culture in Language Expression55 马克吐温小说的语言特征56 高中英语听力课中的文化教学57 从阿里巴巴BB电子商务平台论中小企业的发展趋势58 对鲁滨逊性格特征的分析59 情感因素在英语教学中的作用60 Foreign Publicity Translation61 On the Translation of Children’s Literature in the Light of the Skopostheory:A C ase Study of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer62 青少年的心理发展特点—从心理学角度解析《麦田里的守望者》63 斯嘉丽－－－一朵铿锵的玫瑰64 语用移情及其在英语学习中的运用65 从《自我之歌》,看美国梦对惠特曼的影响66 是什么在作祟？—论保罗爱情失败的原因67 菲尔丁小说《汤姆琼斯》中的戏剧因素分析68 浅论中西文化差异及其对翻译策略的影响69 英汉习语翻译中文化意象的转换70 从《绝望的主妇》的字幕翻译中看文化因素71 跨文化视角下中西方选秀文化对比研究——以达人秀为例72 试论金融英语词汇的特点与翻译73 论商业广告中的翻译对等原则74 《红楼梦》中座次表达的英译比较75 《爱玛》的婚姻观分析76 从女性主义视角解读《了不起的盖茨比》77 《月亮与六便士》中查尔斯•思特里克兰德的追寻自我78 Strategies of Translating Chinese Proper Nouns in Tourism Texts79 商务英语翻译中的隐喻研究80 浅析广告英语中的修辞81 《愤怒的葡萄》中圣经的象征和隐喻82 冰山原则在《老人与海》中的体现83 《到灯塔去》的象征性隐喻分析84 走出精神的困境：论托尼.莫里森小说《爵士乐》中维奥莱特的自我救赎85 A Tentative Study on Metaphor Translations in Fortress Besieged from the Perspective of Relevance Theory86 《阿甘正传》的人称视角浅析87 从文化差异视角看英语新闻标题的翻译88 伍尔夫的悲剧—电影《时时刻刻》观后89 从《艾玛》看简奥斯汀小说中的对话运用90 从文体学角度浅析国际商务合同中的语言特点及翻译策略91 How Chinese Culture Affects the Translation of the Terms Of Martial Arts92 初中英语课堂教学的任务型活动设计93 A Research on the Symbolic Meanings of“Ghost”in Anil’s Ghost94 An Analysis of Daphne du Maurier’s Female Identity Anxiety Re flected in Rebecca95 关于汉字“打”在英语翻译中的研究96 从目的论角度研究培根《谈读书》的翻译97 《夜莺颂》的翻译技巧探究98 新闻新词的文化内涵与翻译99 Cause Analysis of Pragmatic Failure in Cross-cultural Communication100 灵魂的真实——《达洛卫夫人》意识流剖析101 论《一个温和的建议》中的黑色幽默102 从《道连葛雷的画像》角色看王尔德103 Scarlett O'Hara and Feminism104 从建立商务关系的角度对比中美商务礼仪105 国际商务英语信函写作中的礼貌策略106 仿拟在广告中的运用107 《老人与海》中词语修辞格的运用108 《双城记》中表现的仁爱精神解析109 王熙凤和斯嘉丽的比较110 On the Influence of Religion on Chinese and British Culture111 《老人与海》中的象征主义112 英汉语中恐惧隐喻的认知分析113 女性主义视角下《诺桑觉寺》中的凯瑟琳114 “金玉良缘”与“幸福终点”——浅析中西婚姻差异115 《嘉莉妹妹》中女主人公美国梦的幻灭116 功能对等理论在汉英广告翻译中的应用117 中式英语与标准英语的差别118 解析《红字》中清教主义对人物性格的塑造119 穷人的大团结，通往希望之乡的必经之路：《愤怒的葡萄》研究120 《了不起的盖茨比》——论美国梦的破灭121 中美婚姻观对比研究122 模糊限制语的语用功能及在广告中的应用123 从女性主义解读《芒果街上的小屋》124 从贫穷到堕落——解读嘉莉妹妹中嘉莉的奋斗历程125 附带学习和有意识学习对英语词汇习得效果的比较研究126 An Analysis of Jane Eyre’s Contradictory Character127 英语报刊标题的词汇特点和修辞特点128 安妮•普鲁《断背山》：同性恋的存在与否定129 英语委婉语负面影响研究130 英汉语言中颜色隐喻的认知差异研究131 Unavoidable Tragedy –A Case Study of Tess of the d’Urbervilles132 凯特•肖邦小说《觉醒》中的超验主义思想分析133 英汉称谓语对比分析134 浅析爱伦·坡小说《黑猫》的写作艺术手法135 分析狄更斯成长小说的主人公136 《撞车》中美国多元文化主义的分析137 法语给英语带来的影响138 Analysis of Social Condition from American Gold Rush in The Call of the Wild139 英语词汇学习存在的问题及对策研究140 习语及习语的汉英翻译141 日常生活中手势语的应用142 Beauty in Sense, Sound and Form-An Analysis of Two Chinese Versions of A Red, Red Rose 143 论《简爱》中的疯女人144 浅议《女勇士》中的个人英雄主义145 中英礼仪文化禁忌比较与跨文化交际146 A Feminist Reading of Virginia Woolf and A Room of One’s Own147 英汉动物词汇文化内涵对比148 An Analysis of Sexism in English Advertisements149 A Resea rch on Frances Burnett’s “Fauntleroy” Writing Style150 浅析叶芝诗歌中的象征主义特征151 思维导图在初中英语阅读教学中的应用152 人文主义思想在《皆大欢喜》中的运用153 从self（自身）相关词看中国的集体主义和美国的个人主义154 英文小说中的中国文化认同——《京华烟云》赏析155 命案现场——阿加莎死亡观简析156 An analysis of Female Images in The House on Mango Street from the Perspective of Feminism157 简析中西方译者翻译《论语》的差异性158 从追求走向幻灭与死亡——谈马丁伊登的美国梦159 浅析《两个新嫁娘》中的不同婚姻观160 爱默生超验主义对世纪美国人生观的影响——以《论自助》为例161 从《七个尖角阁的房子》看霍桑的罪恶观162 英汉“悲伤”情感隐喻认知对比分析163 The Application of TBLT to Reading-teaching in Junior Middle School164 当爱遇见不爱——浅析《马可百万》中的三对情爱关系165 从传播美学分析国内畅销知名化妆品广告中的译文166 论商业广告中的翻译对等原则167 Inheritance and Development of Gothic Literary Tradition in Jane Eyre168 《红楼梦》饮食词语英译策略探析169 《虹》的生态女性主义解读170 生态翻译学视野下《背影》两英译本的对比研究171 浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中苔丝的反叛精神172 《林湖重游》中的静态美分析173 从警察与赞美诗中分析欧亨利的写作风格174 浅析《喜福会》中的中美文化碰撞与融合175 浅谈互动模式下的英语文化教学176 《嘉莉妹妹》中的不同价值观的研究177 论奥斯卡•王尔德的艺术道德观178 语法翻译法与交际法的对比研究179 《大地》中的儒家思想180 英汉“悲伤”情感隐喻认知对比分析181 论凯瑟琳曼斯菲尔德短篇小说中的爱情观182 中西方关于萨达姆之死新闻报道的批评性话语分析183 英汉句子状语的对比与翻译184 浅析《远大前程》中皮普的个人抱负与自我完善185 《藻海无边》中边缘女性的生存与救赎186 Lin Yutang and his Translation of the Analects187 缩略语在商务英语中的应用188 论《瓦尔登湖》的生态伦理意蕴189 从《红楼梦》和《简爱》看中西方女性主义190 An Analysis of Beauty and Ugliness in The Picture of Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde 191 情境教学法在初中英语课堂教学中的运用192 从关联理论角度谈电影《灰姑娘的故事》的字幕翻译193 论罗伯特•佩恩•沃伦《国王的人马》中对真理与自我认知的追求194 《呼啸山庄》中凯瑟琳的悲剧分析195 从功能翻译理论谈旅游手册中文化因素的翻译196 A Brief Study of the Impact of Affective Factors on English Teaching in Middle School 197 从英汉习语视角看中英文化差异198 英语教学中合作学习策略的初步研究199 包法利夫人的悲剧简析200 英汉语中恐惧隐喻的认知分析。
英汉死亡委婉语文化内涵对比研究
英汉死亡委婉语文化内涵对比研究“死亡”是人类共同面对的终极命运，然而，由于文化、宗教、历史等原因，不同的语言形成了各自独特的“死亡”委婉语。
这些委婉语反映了人们对死亡的回避、恐惧和尊重，也体现了语言和文化的紧密。
本文旨在对比分析英语和汉语中“死亡”委婉语的形式、表达手法、语义和语用等方面，以期帮助英语学习者更好地理解和使用“死亡”委婉语，同时为跨文化交流提供一定的指导。
英语中的“死亡”委婉语通常采用抽象名词或短语来表达，如“pass away”、“depart from this world”、“gone forever”等。
而汉语中的“死亡”委婉语则更多采用动词或形容词，如“离世”、“辞世”、“不在了”等。
英语中的“死亡”委婉语往往强调死亡的抽象性和精神性，如“pass away”意味着离开这个现实世界，而汉语中的“死亡”委婉语更注重死亡的现实性和不可避免性，如“不在了”传达了生命终结的意味。
在特定场合下，英汉“死亡”委婉语的选择策略应遵循以下原则：无论在英语还是汉语中，尊重死者和家属的情感和感受是选择“死亡”委婉语的首要原则。
避免使用冒犯、戏谑或不敬的言语，以维护死者和家属的尊严。
英语和汉语中的“死亡”委婉语受到各自文化的深远影响。
在跨文化交流中，要理解并尊重不同文化的“死亡”委婉语表达习惯，以便更好地沟通和传达信息。
在不同的场合下，如正式场合、非正式场合、学术语境或日常对话，“死亡”委婉语的选择会有所不同。
对于不同年龄、职业和社会背景的受众，委婉语的选择也要慎重。
英汉“死亡”委婉语对比研究是一个既有历史价值又有现实意义的课题。
未来的研究可以以下几个方面：语料库研究：利用大型语料库，对英语和汉语中的“死亡”委婉语进行大规模的数据分析，以更全面地了解两种语言中“死亡”委婉语的分布、频率和语境。
跨文化交际研究：从跨文化交际的角度出发，探讨不同文化背景下的“死亡”委婉语使用策略，以提高跨文化交流的意识和能力。
英汉委婉语论文差异性对比论文
英汉委婉语论文差异性对比论文摘要：委婉语作为一种礼貌语言是人类社会共同存在的一种普遍现象，是各种社会因素和心理因素综合作用的结果。
对于建立和保持良好的人际关系，维护社会的和睦、安宁，促进社会文明有着十分重要的作用。
英汉委婉语在功能形式和应用领域方面有着共同的基础，但具体的定义、构成方式和文化内涵是却不尽相同。
在跨文化交际中，了解和掌握中西方文化的差异，有助于我们获得最佳的交际效果。
一、英汉委婉语的共性概述任何语言表达在其功能形式上都有一定的重合，委婉语也不例外。
英汉委婉语的社会功能基本相似。
其使用大都出于以下考虑：一是避免刺激，给人以安慰；二是消除粗俗，给人以文雅；三是摒弃陈腐，给人以新颖（刘纯豹，1996）。
在应用领域方面，尽管中西方在死亡、疾病、性和排泄等方面也存在一些共性的语言禁忌。
二、英汉委婉语的差异（1）英汉委婉语定义的差异性在英语中，最先使用euphemism一词的是西方学者George Blunt，他认为：Euphemism is a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word.后来Flower将委婉语定义为：A mild or vague periphrastic expression as substitute for blunt precision of disagreeable truth.郭秀梅的《实用英语修辞学》认为：Euphemism is the substitution of presumably inoffensive word for onethat might give offense.Euphemism is a soften，bland，neutral expressions used instead of one that might suggest something unpleasant！汉语关于委婉语的定义也很多。
从委婉语看中西文化差异英语专业毕业论文[管理资料]
![从委婉语看中西文化差异英语专业毕业论文[管理资料]](https://img.taocdn.com/s3/m/c7719172d4d8d15abf234e60.png)
毕业论文英文论文题目：Study the Chinese and Western cultures From theEuphemisms中文论文题目：从委婉语看中西文化差异姓名：秦耀峰学号：090300432320004学习中心：弘成上海学习中心专业：英语（商务方向）指导教师：杨宏二〇一二年七月毕业论文承诺书提示：根据北京语言大学网络教育学院论文写作的规定，如发现论文有抄袭、网上下载、请人代写等情况，毕业论文一律不及格。
同时取消学士学位申请资格。
毕业论文不及格者，可申请重写一次，并按重修缴纳费用。
本人承诺：本人已经了解北京语言大学的毕业论文写作的有关规定；本人的论文是在指导教师指导下独立完成的研究成果。
整篇论文除了文中已注明出处或引用的内容外，绝没有侵犯他人知识产权。
对本论文所涉及的研究工作做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式注明。
签名：______ _______ 日期：________________摘要目录1 Introduction (1)The Origin of Euphemism (1)The Definition of Euphemism (1)2 The Classification of Euphemism (3)The Positive Euphemism and the Negative Euphemism (3)The Unconscious Euphemism and the Conscious Euphemism (3)3 A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism (5)A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism in Terms of Formation Device (5)Phonetic Device (5)Lexical Device (6)A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism in Terms of Culture (7)Euphemisms of Old Age (8)Euphemisms of Poverty (8)Euphemism of Deities and Devils in English (9)4 Conclusions (11)Study the Chinese and Western culturesFrom the Euphemisms摘要Euphemism is a widespread culture phenomenon．So far most of its studies deal with individual culture and language．There is a shortage of contrastive research between two culture and languages．Therefore，this thesis tries to make a contrastive study of the English and Chinese euphemism to discover the similarities and differences between them．First the author introduces the origin and the definition of euphemism as well as the classification of euphemism．Then the author makes a contrastive study of the English and Chinese euphemisms in terms of formation devices and culture．Euphemism is a language phenomenon，So it can be analyzed from the phonetic，lexical，figurative and grammar aspects．Euphemism is also a culture phenomenon，So it can be analyzed from cultural aspects．The contrastive study is made in several main types of euphemisms--the euphemism of old age，the euphemism of poverty，the euphemism of occupation，the euphemism of unemployment，the euphemism of sex，the euphemism of death，etc．Through the contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism，we can lean the similarities and differences between the two languages and the two cultures，which are of considerable value and guidance to our foreign language learning and teaching, intercultural communication，translation，dictionary compilation and so on．The essay studies the importance, necessity and purpose of politeness in conversation, Keywords: euphemism contrast language culture1 IntroductionEuphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in different cultures．From the moment it is coined，it plays all important role in people‘s daily communication They are embedded so deeply in our language that most of us，even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken，never get through a day without using them．Like a kind of lubrication，it enables people to express what cannot be uttered directlyThe Origin of EuphemismWhen talking about euphemisms，we cannot neglect taboo．In ancient times，productivity was in a very low level，the primitives were often confronted with baffling and threatening situations and phenomena，such as death，and they failed to understand the essence of them．To find a way out，they became superstitious about supernatural power, or the existence of devils and gods．In their mind，everything was alive with spirit，capable of bringing down blessings and misfortunes，and thus language took upon a kind of supernatural sense．This led to the forbidden use of certain language that gradually became taboo．When people are unwilling to or dare not speak out something regarded as taboo，they have to shun them by using mild substitutes，to imply those things which people are reluctant to mention and to prompt something both speaker and listener know but refuse to say out by direct expressions．To the things that have to be mentioned，people work out indirect terms to replace them．Thus euphemisms come into being．The Definition of EuphemismThe word euphemism comes from the Greek eu．Meaning good and pheme meaning speech or saying，and thus it means literally to speak with good words (Carroll 2000:34)．Later on，euphemism is defined differently and more precisely．In the Concise Oxford Dictionary，it is described as “substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or direct one(Carroll 2000:491)”．It is taken assubstitution，restraint，softened expression，mock modesty, metaphorical speech，verbal extenuation word in verbal good taste，over delicacy of speech，affected refinement of language in Webster Word History (Mish 1989:283)．In China Chen Wangdao was the first person who gave euphemism a definition，in his Introduction to Rhetoric，the definition reads，one kind of figures of speech saying something indirectly, but connoting and substituting with roundabout and implicit words or even metaphorical expression” (Mish 1989:56). Euphemism is roundabout and mild word，so it call execute the speaker’s psychological necessity to soften the shock of reality．But many linguists think that the definition of euphemism needs to be determined in a narrow and broad sense．Traditional western linguistics restricts euphemism study to the lexicon. Euphemisms are therefore words or phrases in place of things considered to be rode or unpleasant Euphemisms of such kind ale called euphemisms in the narrow sense．They are the conventionally established one，which are widely met in our daily life.In China，euphemism sale mainly expressed by using indirect words，phrases，sentences and even discourses that are applied mostly in literature writings to achieve some vivid and aesthetic effect．It can be found very often from ancient times tjll nowadays．This phenomenon has close relationship with Chinese traditional cultural psychology．Chinese scholars have long been advocating the literature norm that people write articles that are full of rich and bright colors，but they should create implicitly．Through defining euphemism in narrow and broad sense，we can have a better understanding of euphemism and can easily understand the indeed intention of the expressions.2 The Classification of EuphemismThe Positive Euphemism and the Negative EuphemismAccording to Hugh Rawson，euphemism can be divided into two types：the positive and the negative from the angle of semantics．The positive euphemisms also can be called stylistic ones，which “inflate and magnify the word meaning，making the euphemized seem altogether gander and more important than they really a re”(Rawson 1989:1)．The positive euphemisms include the many fancy occupational titles，which save the egos of workers by elevating their job status．For example，”sanitation engineer” is the euphemism for“garbage collector”，and ”custodian”is the euphemism for “janitor”．They also include many institutional euphemisms，which convert “madhouse”into “mental hospital”，“college”into ”universities”．This kind of euphemism is usually used widely in the official language and some other formal styles.The negative euphemisms are extremely ancient，and closely connected with the taboos．They are also called “traditional euphemisms”．They deflate and diminish．They are defensive in nature，offsetting the power of tabooed terms and otherwise eradicating from the language everything that people prefer not to deal with directly．In many cultures，it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God，so Jesus Christ, Christ，goodness is for God and My Gum for My God．Many tabooed subjects such as sex，disease，death，excretion，bodily function，etc, should be euphemized in this way.The Unconscious Euphemism and the Conscious EuphemismAll euphemisms，whether positive or negative，may be used either unconsciously or consciously．So euphemisms also can be divided into unconscious euphemisms and conscious euphemisms (Rawson 1989:3)．The unconscious euphemisms refer to those of which original denotations have been forgotten by people for a long time．Forexample，the word“cemetery”(from the Greek word for sleeping place or dormitory , serves as a euphemism for graveyard．The word indisposition is a euphemistic expression for disease．These words mentioned above，because of their long time use，users are not conscious of their original meaningsConscious euphemisms are different．When employing this kind of euphemisms，people not only know their original meanings，but also understand the referred meanings．For example，in a dinner party，a lady stood up and said that she wanted to powder her nose．In a word，euphemisms like this stand for something else，but everyone pretends, that something else does not exist．It is essentially duplicitous nature of euphemisms that makes them attractive to those people who have to hide and find it convenient to lie about what they are doing．3 A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese EuphemismA Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism in Terms of Formation DeviceThe English and Chinese languages respectively belong to different language systems．The English is alphabetical language and the Chinese is ideographic language，so there are differences in their formation devices．But the two languages also share something common in linguistic structure，and there are also similarities in their formation devices．Generally speaking，there are four basic devices-·the phonetic device，the lexical device，the figurative device and the grammar devicesPhonetic DeviceWhen we encounter words that we dare not speak directly，we may distort their sounds or change their spelling for the euphemistic purpose(Liu 2001: 10)．This way is called phonetic distortion，which is much acceptable in English because its writing is alphabetic．Phonetic distortion includes reduplication and distortion of pronunciation．etc．There is reduplication like “Pee-pee’’ or “Wee-wee’’for”Piss” and there are distortions of pronunciations like Gripes for Christ , Gad for God and so forth(Neaman 10-11).There is no direct link between Chinese character and its pronunciation．Therefore we can find less phonetic distortion in Chinese and the most common used deviceis assonance．For example，instead of speaking”解溲”(jiěsōu)which means the excrement，we use”解手”(jiěsōu)，bacause”溲”(sōu)and”手”(sh ǒu)sound similar．Sometimes，homophone is another good way, since there are so many homophones in Chinese．Take this as an example，”那几个小子是孔夫子搬家，尽是书(输)啊，In Chinese,”书”which means”book”and”输”which means “fail” share the same sound “shū”．The tone of a Chinese character also can be used to realize euphemism．For example，in Qin Dynasty of ancient China，to avoid the taboo on thename of the emperor “赢政”(Yíng Zhèng)，the first month of the lunar year”正(Zhèng)月”was changed into”正(zhēn曲月”(Guo 100).Besides，Chinese has a very unique way in the formation of euphemism：character separation．Lexical DeviceVague words and expressions can blur the undesirable yet explicit associations that taboo words arouse(Liu 2001: 12)．So in both English and Chinese，people use vague words and expressions to create euphemisms．For instance, ‘in difficulty’is used to mean ’ in debt’．’to have an accident’ to mean ’to have an unfortunate accident’,’a woman of the street’ to mean ’a prostitute’, ‘to do violence to sb’ to mean ’to rape’，’a man of doubtful taste’ to mean”a man of bad taste”，”the needy’’ to mean”the poor”, “friend”，”companion”，”partner” and ”roommate” to mean ”the homosexual”(Liu 2001: 12)Similarly in Chinese，to encourage those who lag behind in doing things，people often speak of them as“后进”instead of“落后”；to help juvenile delinquents to turn over a new leaf, people speak of them as“失足青年”instead of“青少年犯罪”hence the place where to reform them as“工读学校”instead of青少年犯劳教所”Both English and Chinese words are abundant in their synonyms．Substituting the original words with their synonyms can form euphemism．Let’s examine the following two examples: (1) Do not be so tight with your money. (2 )Even though she had plenty of money，the old woman was very thrifty.In example(1)，the commendatory word“tight”is used to replace the derogative word“stingy”．In example(2)，“thrifty”is used to replace “economical” to form a more tender and pleasant expression.Similarly in Chinese，the word“残废”is seldom used，instead“残疾”and“残障”have been widely accepted and used．Though the difference is only in one character, the emotional color is totally different．A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism in Terms of CultureEuphemism is a common phenomenon in both English and Chinese cultures．Both of them cover the similar topics as poverty, death，sex，occupation，tc．But the euphemism，as a part of culture，is influenced and shaped by the cultural radiation or social values of a particular society．There exist more differences between English and Chinese euphemisms due to the different beliefs，social alues, customs, life styles and behaviors of the two different cultures．Since the understanding of euphemisms requires the understanding of the culture，a contrastive study will be done in this part in terms of culture．. Taylor 1871:, a famous British anthropologist，from an anthropological perspective, first put forward his classic definition of culture in his Primitive culture．He describes culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society”(Taylor 1871: 19)．Sapir stated that ‘‘culture may be defined s what a society does and thinks，language is a particular how of thought”(Taylor 1871: 74)．Larry Samovar and Richard Porter interpreted culture from the angle of communication一“Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge experiences，meanings，beliefs，values，attitudes，religions，concepts of sell the universe，and self-universe relationships，hierarchies of status，role expectations，spatial relations，and time concepts acquired by a large group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving”(Taylor 1871: 23)．Different scholars define culture from their respective perspectives．As time goes on，there will be more and more interpretations of culture．But these and other definitions all point to the fact：Culture is all pervasive，including not only customs and habits，ideas and beliefs，but also the artifacts made by humans．Putting it simply,culture refers to the entire life of a society.Euphemisms of Old AgeSocial value influences euphemism greatly．Chinese and English language respectively belongs to eastern and western cultural system．The great social value differences between the two societies greatly influence the development of euphemisms.Take the euphemism of old age as an example．There are numerous euphemisms for old age in English．Which reflect the avoidance of mentioning the old in western society．This is somewhat due to its loose family structure．When the children grow up，they live apart from their parents and the society cannot provide sufficient support to the old people，so they have to live by themselves，feeling lonely and dull．Therefore the old becomes a word that people avoid to talk about Neaman has humorously points out that“There is no one old in modem merica．He is either seasoned or well preserved”(Taylor 1871: 166)．In fact，he can also become“an elder statesman”01 at least“a senior citizen’’or vaguely be called“an old aged p ensioner”which can also be initialized into “O AP”(Summers et al 1998:935)．He is not old but “longer living”．He is not“a candle in the wind’’but“in golden years’’ He is also promoted to“eldedy”，“mature”，“an adult”，“a distinguished gentleman”，“feeling one’s age” or “third age”(Liu 2001: 2-6)Euphemisms of PovertyPoverty is a piece of fertile soil for English euphemism．In western society, money is all—powerful and poverty is shameful and should be concealed by the society and the people．This leads to the blossom of poveay euphemisms．Take this poor young lady’s complaining as an example: 1 used to think 1 was poor,” she wrote．“Then they told me 1 wasn’t poor；I was needy．Then they said it wasself-defeating to think of myself as needy，that I was cultured deprived．Then they told me deprived was a bad image，that I was underprivileged．Then they told me that underprivileged was overused that 1 was disadvantaged．I still don’t have a time—but I have a great vocabulary (Waldron 1975:229).This example draws a vivid picture of the amount of the euphemisms for poverty in English．Besides these，there ale also many other euphemisms，such as badly off'’，“less well off'”，“indigent”，“down on one’s luck’’ and “hard up for money”，etc．Euphemism of Deities and Devils in EnglishAs we have discussed before，euphemisms originate from taboos．In ancient times，the productivity is very low，human beings cannot explain the natural phenomena so they become fearful about the supernatural power．They consider that very thing in the universe has magic powers，even the language has a magic power, and thisphenomenon is called‘‘Word Fetishism”．Due to the fear and respect about the deities and devils，their names should be avoided．Therefore，“the subject of the earlier euphemism was undoubtedly religious”(Neaman et al 1990:11)．The Ten Commandments in the Holy Bible writes，“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God．for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name”(Neaman et al 1990:20)．Therefore the euphemisms of God are numerous．For instance，God is called“the Creator”, “the Maker”，“the Supreme”，“the Almighty”，“the Eternal”，“the Savior'’，“the Light of the World”，“King of the kings”，“Lord of the lords”，“Sovereign of the Universe”，“Divine Being”，“Most High”，President of the Immortals”，etc．Also the “God” is misspelled as “Gad”，“Gosh”，“Golly”or“Godfrey”(Liu 2001: 595—97)Most people believe in Christian doctrines in western society．Christian culture penetrates into the English language．It is a piece of fertile land for English euphemisms．The Chinese do not have a common and unified religion．Therefore，religious influence is not obvious on Chinese euphemisms.4 ConclusionsEuphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon both in English and Chinese．When people are unwilling to or dare not speak out something regarded as taboo，they have to shun them by using mild substitutes，thus euphemisms come into being．It is the use of a pleasant，polite，or harmless sounding term in place of those considered unpleasant，rude or offensive．It can be classified into the positive euphemism and the negative euphemism from the angle of semantics，or the unconscious euphemism and the conscious euphemism according to whether they are used consciously, or other types from different angles．Euphemism is a linguistic phenomenon．There exist both similarities and differences between the English and Chinese languages．The same is the case with euphemism．First，the formation devices are contrasted between the English and Chinese euphemisms．As far as this point is concerned，the English and Chinese languages both make use of the phonetic device，the lexical device，the figurative device and the grammar device to create euphemisms，but due to the fact that they belong to different have different to realize euphemization.Furthermore，euphemism is a cultural phenomenon．Language is a part of culture and euphemism as one form of the language is inevitably influenced by culture and carries cultural information．Since there exist similarities between the western and the eastern societies，both the English and Chinese euphemisms cover the similar topics as poverty, death，sex，occupation，etc．But the euphemism is also influenced and shaped by the cultures of a particular society．Due to their different beliefs，social values，customs，life-styles and behaviors，there exist differences between English and Chinese euphemisms，even the same topic have different means of realization．Therefore to make a contrastive study of two languages is，in a sense，to make a contrastive study of the two cultures．The understanding of euphemism requires the understanding of the culture．Through this contrastive study, we can see that euphemism is both a linguistic and a social cultural phenomenon．Its generation and development are the outcome ofvarious social and value factors．Euphemism is，in a sense，a keystone of culture By tracing them，it is possible to see what has been going on in our language as well as in our culture．Therefore by contrastively studying the English and Chinese euphemisms we may get to know different religions，different values different historical backgrounds as well as the different cultures，which is invaluable for our foreign language learning and teaching，cross culture communication and so on．It is worth all the efforts to explore.参考文献1 Carroll，．Psychology of Language. Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，20002 Mish,．Webster's Word history．Springfield，Massachusetts: Merrjam Webster Inc．，Pubblishers，19893 Rawson, Hugh．A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Double-talk．New York:Crown Publishers，19814 刘纯豹．英语委婉语词典．北京：商务印书馆，20015 Taylor，. Primitive Culture Oxford：Oxford University Press，18716 Summers, a1．Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture England：Addison Wesley Longman Ltd., 19987 Waldron，William＆Mary Morris．Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage New York：Harper＆Row，Publishers，19758 Neaman，.,at a1．Kind Words：A Thesaurus of Euphemisms．New York：Facts On File，Inc．1990。
英语专业毕业论文---浅谈英汉委婉语的文化差异
Contents Acknowledgements (I)English Abstract (II)Chinese Abstract (III)Chapter1 Introduction........................................................................ (1)1.1The definition of euphemism (1)1.2The features of euphemism (2)1.2.1National characteristic (2)1.2.2Regional feature (2)1.2.3Indirect a nd Implicit (3)1.2.4Universality (3)1.2.5Humor (3)1.2.6Vagueness (4)Chapter 2 Euphemism, Language and Culture (5)2.1The definition of culture (5)2.2Language and culture (6)2.3Euphemism and culture (6)Chapter 3 A Comparison About English and Chinese Euphemism (8)3.1Euphemisms for death (8)3.2Euphemisms for old age (9)3.3Euphemisms for poverty (10)3.4Euphemisms for marriage and pregnancy (11)3.5Euphemisms for disease (12)Chapter4 Conclusion (14)References (15)AcknowledgementsThis thesis is a result of contributions from many supporting individuals.During the process of writing, I have received various kinds of help from many people. Because of their help, I have finished writing this thesis so smoothly. Here, I want to render my sincere thanks to all the teachers and classmates who have given me their help in the last four years. The help is not only one of the most important treasures deserving cherishing all my life, but also will be a perfect guide in my life in the future.My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor – Ms. Peng Qiying. In this short but sufficient period, she has given me many good suggestions for the materials and the ways of organizing ideas. Without her consistent instructions, this thesis would not have reached its present form.My sincere thanks are also owed to all the teachers who have taught me during the four years of my university study. I also thank the library of Guizhou University and the library of our college for providing me with the facilities and sources that I needed for my research and writing.I also acknowledge my sincere thanks to all my classmates and friends who have enriched my life with their generous help and precious friendship.The finishing of my thesis is not an end but a new beginning. I believe that I can do better and better in my future life. Thank you again, my supervisor, my classmates and my teachers.AbstractOne of the most important ways for our human beings to communicate with others is language. Language is an important means for people to maintain their social relationship. However, there are many things which are supposed to be unspeakable. Many words also make people embarrassed and unhappy. So, in order to avoid the offensiveness and misunderstandings, people usually use the indirect or pleasant expressions to replace with those unpleasant and rude words in communication. We call that euphemism. Euphemism plays an important role in people’s social communication and exists in almost every culture and society. In order to help the language learner to understand euphemism better, this thesis mainly explores the cultural differences between English and Chinese euphemisms. In chapter one, the author introduces the definition and features of euphemism. In chapter two, the author introduces the relationship between euphemism, language and culture. Chapter three is mainly a contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism from these aspects: euphemisms of death, poverty, marriage, pregnancy and disease. Then the author brings to the conclusion that if the language learners want to learn a foreign language well, it is better that he has a good knowledge of its culture.Key Words：euphemism, definition, feature, culture, difference摘要语言是人与人交流的最重要的方法，也是保持社会关系的重要方法。
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
绵阳师范学院本科生毕业论文(设计)题目 A Comparative Study of CulturalConnotations in English andChinese Euphemisms英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究专业英语（师范英语方向）院系外国语学院学号1004020436姓名Xxx指导教师xxx 副教授答辩时间二○一四年四月论文工作时间：2013年09月至2014年04月英汉委婉语中文化内涵的对比研究姓名：xxxx指导老师：xxxx摘要：委婉语是人们在各种社会交往中为谋求彼此理想的交际效果而创造的一种普遍的语言形式。
它不仅是一种语言现象，而且是一种文化现象。
国内外对于委婉语的研究，许多学者主要集中在社会语言学、修辞学和语义学等方面，然而对不同文化背景下的委婉语的对比研究较少。
本文主要基于前人的研究，对英汉委婉语中的文化内涵进行对比研究，旨在发现英汉委婉语的异同，从而，减少英汉两种语言使用时的误用，加深对中西文化交流中的差异性理解，实现和谐的交际目的。
关键词：委婉语；文化现象；文化内涵；交际目的；对比研究A Comparative Study of Cultural Connotations inEnglish and Chinese EuphemismsUndergraduate: xxxSupervisor: xxxAbstract: Euphemism is a universal linguistic form that is created by human beings in various communicative activities in order to achieve their ideal communicative goals. Euphemism is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a cultural phenomenon. At home and abroad, euphemism is mainly studied by scholars from the aspects of sociolinguistics, rhetorics, semantics, etc. However，there are fewer studies on the comparative analyses of euphemisms of different cultural backgrounds. Based on the previous studies, this paper makes a comparative study of cultural connotations in English and Chinese euphemisms. It aims to find out the similarities and differences between them. Consequently, it aims to reduce the misuse of euphemisms, to deepen the understanding of differences of cross-cultural communication and to accomplish the good communicative goals in English and Chinese.Key words: euphemism; cultural phenomenon; cultural connotation; communicative goal; comparative studyContents1. Introduction (1)2. Origin, Definition, Classification and Formation of Euphemism (2)2.1 Origin of Euphemism (2)2.2 Definition of Euphemism (3)2.3 Classification of Euphemism (4)2.3.1 Traditional Euphemisms and Stylistic Euphemisms (4)2.3.2 Unconscious Euphemisms and Conscious Euphemisms (4)2.4 Formation of Euphemism (5)3. Theory of Euphemism (6)4. Comparative Study of Cultural Connotations (7)4.1 Language, Culture and Euphemism (7)4.2 Euphemisms of Reproduction, Aging, Diseases and Death (8)4.2.1 Euphemisms of Reproduction (8)4.2.2 Euphemisms of Aging (8)4.2.3 Euphemisms of Diseases (9)4.2.4 Euphemisms of Death (9)4.3 Euphemisms of Marriage and Family (10)4.4 Euphemisms of Occupations and Poverty (10)4.5 Euphemisms of Deities and Devils (11)5. Conclusion (12)Bibliography (13)Acknowledgements (14)1. IntroductionEuphemism is a universal linguistic phenomenon, which is widely used in human communicative activities. As we all know, like the ornament and lube of human language, euphemism enables people to avoid some unpleasant, embarrassing, and direct communicative situations. It keeps the communication going on. Hence euphemism plays a crucial role in human daily life, just as Robert William Burchfield wrote in his work Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism (1985), “a language without euphemism would be a defective instrument of communication.”As a common linguistic phenomenon, euphemism has been studied for a long time at home and overseas. In western countries, scholar George Blunt, in the early 1580s, co ined the word “euphemism” and defined it as “a good or favorable interpretation of a bad word”. In 1981, British linguist Hugh Rawson compiled a dictionary named A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk, embodying the research achievements of euphemism. Most importantly, the preface of this dictionary is one of the greatest papers of euphemism study. In the dictionary, Hugh Rawson not only talked about the history of euphemism study but also discussed the definition, features, classification and related aspects. In 1985, American scholars Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver published a dictionary called Kind Words: a Thesaurus of Euphemisms. This dictionary has great referential value of euphemism study. In the dictionary, Judith S. Neaman generally defined euphemism as “replacing an offensive or unpleasant term for an inoffensive and pleasant one”. According to American social and cultural background, American linguist Menken, discussed hundreds of euphemism phenomena in his work The American Language and talked about the reasons of derivation and popularization. It is of great value for euphemism researches. For many western traditional linguists, they only studied euphemism from lexical aspects. Since Bolinger’s study, some linguists start to focus on the grammar means of euphemism formations, such as tense, tone and voice.In ancient China, the study of euphemism is greatly involved in taboo and folklore. The avoidance of taboo and the expression of euphemism were firstly recorded in the work of Lu Rong, a Ming dynasty scholar. For a long time, with the pioneer Mr. Chen Wangdao, most modern scholars studied euphemism from rhetorical aspect. In 20th century, theories of foreign sociolinguistics were introduced into China. According to these theories, many Chinese linguists were interested in the social functions of euphemism. In 1983, Mr. Chen Yuan published a book named Sociolinguistics, in which he made detailed analyses of euphemism. In this book, Mr. Chen Yuan not only talked about the history of euphemism and the background of society and mind but also used many examples to analyze the features of euphemism formation and usage. Later on, many Chinese scholars studied euphemism fromdifferent aspects and have got lots of further achievements.Wha t’s more, euphemism is relevant to human cultures. It is culture-loaned in that certain contextual euphemism reflects certain cultures. In English and Chinese, euphemism is also an indispensable element. Lots of linguists and scholars at home and abroad have interest in euphemism study from different aspects. Among these researches, many scholars mainly focus on the study of euphemism itself, ignoring the communicative and practical functions of language, ignoring the underlying meaning of language phenomenon. In other words, they do researches from one language instead of two or more comparative languages.In this paper, the author uses the comparative way to study the cultural connotations in English and Chinese euphemisms. And the author intends to solve three problems in this paper. First of all, what are the similarities and differences of euphemism phenomena in English and Chinese? Secondly, what are the cultural connotations implied in English and Chinese euphemisms? Last but not least, how to avoid certain mistakes of euphemism in cross-cultural communication. Through these comparative studies, this paper aims to compare the euphemism in English and Chinese from the view of cultural connotations and to make people have a clear view on the theories and cultural connotations of English and Chinese euphemisms.2. Origin, Definition, Classification and Formation ofEuphemism2.1 Origin of EuphemismLanguage can be generally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communications. Language is human-specific in accordance with the definition. Its development profoundly relates to human activities. In primitive society, human was unable to understand and explain some natural phenomena or natural power. Therefore, as one of the features of human beings, language is naturally related to certain natural phenomena or blessing and disaster caused by natural power. Thus, human beings endowed language with a power that surpassed language itself. What’s more, they considered that language was the source of good and bad fortune. Who were displeased with this source, they would be penalized by the source. On the contrary, who were pleased with this source, they would be blessed by the source. Naturally, taboo came into being. It does not allow people to do, use or talk about a particular thing as people find it offensive or embarrassing. Nevertheless, people have to use or talk about some offensive or embarrassing things in daily life. What should they do? It is really difficult to handle. On the one hand, people want to express some taboo subjects; on the other hand, they have to avoid the punishment of language. In light of the fact, taboo engenders euphemism. When people are unwilling to talk aboutthe taboo things directly, they can use good, indirect and pleasant words to replace them. This linguistic phenomenon is called euphemism. Taboo is the original motivation of euphemism. Where there is a taboo, there is the euphemism.2.2 Definition of EuphemismIn western countries, the English term “euphemism” stemmed from Greek. The initial part “eu-” means “good, well”; the stem “pheme” means “speak”; and the last part “-ism” means “action or the result”. So the whole word “euphemism” means “speaking well of something” “good speech” and “words of good omen”. However, different scholars and linguists defined the nature of euphemism differently. The following are some typical definitions of euphemism.1) The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt. (Webster’s Dictionary of American English, Random House, Inc. 1997)2) An indirect word or phrase that people often use to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is. (Oxford Advanced Learne r’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 7th Edition, 2009)3) Mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in a place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. (Hugh Rawson, 1981:3)4) There are grammatical ways of toning something down without actually changing the context of the message. (D. Bolinger, 1981)5) Substitute an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using in words. (Neaman and Silver, 1983) In China, most scholars study euphemism mainly from the rhetoric, and they regard euphemism as a kind of figure of speech. Chen Wangdao was the first person to make a definition of euphemism that“委婉是修辞的一种，即说话不直白本意，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗”(《修辞学发凡》陈望道，1979). Tang Songbo defined euphemism in his work 《汉语修辞格词典》, 汉语“委婉”或称“婉转”;最普遍的名称是“婉曲”，“婉曲”又分为“婉言”和“曲语”两种，都“不直接说出本意”，不过前者“故意换一种含蓄的说法”，而后者则是，“通过描述和本意相关的事物来烘托本意”.From the mentioned definitions of euphemisms both in English and Chinese, we can get the following main points. Firstly, euphemism has two levels of meaning that is original meaning or literal meaning and implied meaning or euphemistic meaning. Secondly, euphemistic words are the substitute of unpleasant, embarrassing, offensive and direct words. It can be called “good word”, “comfortable word”, “mild expression” etc. Thirdly, euphemism has three general functions that are to avoid irritation and make people comfortable, to remove rudeness and make people polite and to abandon staleness and make people novel.2.3 Classification of EuphemismAccording to different criterion, euphemisms can be divided into different types.2.3.1 Traditional Euphemisms and Stylistic EuphemismsAccording to whether the expressions are in relation to taboos or not, euphemisms can be classified into traditional euphemisms and stylistic euphemisms.Traditional euphemisms can also be called negative euphemisms, which are relevant to taboos. In this case, euphemisms and taboos convey the same information, which seem two sides of a coin supplementing each other. In case of expressing something directly, such as birth, death, illness, sex, nakedness and excretion, it is coarse, impolite and ungracious. Nevertheless, if people express indirectly and euphemize these mentioned aspects, it is elegant, polite, and gracious. For example, “death” can be replaced by “breath one’s last” “fall asleep” “go the way of all flesh” “go west” “decease” “join the majority” “lay down one’s life” “pass away”“pay the debt of nature” “reach a better world”.Stylistic euphemisms can also be called positive euphemisms, which have no relation to taboos but relate to compliments. In English-speaking countries, people will magnify and exaggerate some unpleasant thi ngs to “good words” in order to show their politeness, respect and to avoid some unnecessary embarrassment, to strive for some cooperating chances. For example, “housewife”(家庭主妇) is replaced by “homemaker”(创家者) or “domestic engineer”(家庭工程师); “garbage collector”(垃圾清运工) is called “sanitation engineer”(公共卫生工程师) or “garbologist”(垃圾学专家). Most stylistic euphemisms are doublespeak and cosmetic words, which are used widely in government, military and business field. For example, people use the expressions “redeployment”(重新部署), “adjustment of the front”(战线调整) or “strategic movement to the rear”(向后战略转移) to replace “retreat”(撤退).2.3.2 Unconscious Euphemisms and Conscious EuphemismsEuphemisms can be classified into unconscious euphemisms and conscious euphemisms according to whether the euphemistic meanings relate to their original meanings or not. Time goes by. The original meaning of a word was forgotten by people, while the euphemistic meaning was remembered. So the euphemistic meaning is misunderstood as the original meaning. To take the word “indisposition” for example, its original meaning is “unable to do something” and its euphemistic meaning refers to “illness”. In daily activiti es, because of the frequent use of its euphemistic meaning, people nearly forget its original meaning.However, when people use conscious euphemisms, it is clear for them that they make a pun in their use. That is to say, they not only know the original meaning but also know the implied meaning of the word. Generally, the listener can grasp the actual meaning in conversations. For example, when a lady says “I want to powder mynose” in a formal date, both the speaker and listener know that the lady wants t o answer the call of nature. Conscious euphemisms are employed widely, because of their duality. People can express some unpleasant, private and embarrassing things with the help of conscious euphemisms.What’s more, there are a variety of classifications of euphemism besides the foregoing classifications. According to time, euphemisms can be classified into instantaneous euphemisms and continuous euphemisms; according to age, euphemisms can be classified into medieval euphemisms, Victorian euphemisms, twenty century euphemisms, modern euphemisms, etc. According to scope, euphemisms can be classified into British euphemisms, American euphemisms, Australian euphemisms, male euphemisms, female euphemisms, etc. According to topics, euphemisms can be classified into death euphemisms, sex euphemisms, occupation euphemisms, etc. It is useful to grasp the various features of euphemism by different classified ways.2.4 Formation of EuphemismAs is known to all, the main function of euphemism is to help people avoid some things they are unwilling to mention or talk about directly. Based on this, most formations of euphemism follow two principles that are pleasantness principle and relatedness principle. The following are eight common ways of formation.1) Compounding(合词法): Compounding is a formative process that two or more words are blended together. For instance, “gezunda” means “chamber pot”—a term making from this object “goes under the bed”.2) Backformation(逆构词法): Backformation is a formative process that removes the imagined suffix from existing word with some changes. For example, the word “burgle” is formed from the removal and change of the word “burglar” to replace the word “rob”.3) Acronym(首字母组合法): Acronym is a formative process that combines the initial letters of taboos or sensitive terms in order to mask bad things. For example, “BM” means “bowel movement”(大便);“BO” means“body odor”(狐臭);“the Big C” means “cancer”(癌症);“X.Y.Z.” means “Examine your zipper.”(请把你裤子的拉链拉上。