中英禁忌语比较

中英禁忌语比较摘要：现在，中英两国人民之间的相互交流变得越来越频繁。

对中英两国人民来说在跨文化交际中不仅要知道讲什么话是首选，而且了解哪些话是被禁忌的是十分重要的。

禁忌语是中英文化中一个很普通的语言现象。

这篇文章介绍了禁忌语的起源和禁忌语的定义，也从文化差异这个角度比较了中英禁忌语的不同点和相同点。

主要的目的使人们对语言禁忌有更好的了解，并且在交流中能够建立更高的警觉性避免使用禁忌语，然后提高他们的跨文化交际能力。

关键词：禁忌语；定义；相似处；不同点IntroductionNowadays, taboo has become a commonly used word in anthropology and studies of religion and folk custom. Furthermore, it has been a fairly important field of these branches of learning. In every nation and culture there are phenomena of using taboo in daily life.About the origin of Taboo, there are two viewpoints now. One viewpoint is that the term Taboo is originated from Polynesian (in south Pacific) Tonga language. In 1777, Captain James Cook arrived in south Pacific Polynesian Tonga. In Tonga, he found a strange behavior in their daily life. There were many things forbidden to do, many foods forbidden to eat, and some words not allowed to say. The local language of Tonga called this phenomenon Taboo or Tabu. Then Cook borrowed the word into English. The word in English refers to acts that are forbidden or to be avoided. When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. That is, first you are forbidden to do something, and then you are forbidden to talk about it. The other viewpoint is that the term Taboo is originated from native language in the middle Pacific Islands. After referring to information of different sources, I find most scholars think the source of the word “Taboo” is Tongan word, which is introduced by Captain James Cook from Polynesia to Europe in 1777. And in book the CambridgeEncyclopedia of Language, when it defines “Taboo”, it point s out clearly that Taboo has been borrowed from Tongan.1. Definition of Taboo1.1 Definition of TabooSigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic school, put forward interesting and detailed discussions on taboos in his classical work Totem and Taboo. He pointed out that taboos contained two opposite meanings: on one hand, it was lofty, sacred; on the other hand, it was mysterious, dangerous, prohibitive and unclean. On the basis of Freud’s views, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese dictionary defines the word “Taboo” as follows: “a) ban or prohibition on something that is regarded for religious or other reasons as not to be done, touched, used, spoken of etc. b) general agreement not to discuss or to do something.”(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese dictionary,2000 )We can also find the definition in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language: “Taboo has been borrowed from Tongan, w here it means ‘holy’ or ‘untouchable’. Taboos exist in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects, or relationships which society wishes to avoid-and thus the language used to talk about them. Verbal taboos are generally related to sex, the supernatural, excretion, and death, but quite often they extend to other aspects of domestic and social life.”(David,1997) In short, from these definitions of taboo, we can know all the taboos are likely to be considered sacred, dangerous, inviolable or obscene by certain people. It is usually not spoken directly.1.2 Differences between Taboo and EuphemismMany people think that taboo is to a degree similar to euphemism. In our daily life, we often meet certain things we cannot say directly, so we use language which can help us avoid saying certain things as well as to express them. Certain things are not said, not because there’s no way to express them, but because people do not want to talk about those things; or if those things are to be talked about, they are talked about in very roundabout ways. In the first case we have instance of linguistic taboo; in thesecond case we have the employment of euphemism so as to avoid mentioning certain things directly.Taboo is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame. Euphemism is more obvious than taboo words and expressions in our society. Euphemistic words and expressions allow us to talk about unpleasant things and “neutralize” the unpleasantness. They also allow us to give labels to unpleasant tasks and jobs in an attempt to make them sound almost attractive. These two linguistic are have some similar, however, each group is different from each other in how it constrains linguistic behavior in one way. Taboo is certain things that we cannot say, and euphemism is a linguistic we say certain things by better way, and then make people more comfortable.Taboo and euphemism affect us in all aspects of life. When we speak, we must constantly make choices of many different kinds: what we want to say, how we say it, and the specific sentence patterns, words and expressions that best unite the “what’s”with the “how’s”. We should know some words we never and hardly use when we are talking with others. If we use these words, it may cause some troubles in communication.2. Similar taboos in English and ChineseWith the development of science and technology, the world becomes smaller and smaller; the increasing communication between different countries and nations make the mutual understanding more and more important. Thus, different social values and life customs blend as well as collide with one another. People in one culture may not use euphemism when referring to a social phenomenon while in another culture euphemism is the preferred way people address it. So the former may find a different equivalent in the latter’s language. For instance, English-speaking people usually substitute “underachieve” for “slow student” and nowadays Chinese people also tend to use the euphemistic phrase“后进生”instead of “差生”. In present society,taboo plays a considerably important part in the development of cross-cultural communication in English and Chinese.According to International English Usage, there are mainly six taboo aspects as follows, religion and god, sex, secretions and excretions, disease and death, society, and privacy regarding age, weight, income etc. I have read some book about Chinese culture. Then, I compare English taboos with Chinese taboos. Chinese taboos are similar to English taboos. Chinese taboos also contain mainly six aspects.2.1 Religion and GodIn English-speaking countries, most people believe Christianity, they have a strong sense of religion, and people are strictly prohibited from mentioning God’s name. In the third commandment of Ten Commandments, it says,”Thou shalt not speak my name in vain”. Once you break the rule, you will be criticized or even be alienated by other members. Jesus Christ was a Jew who lived in Palestine 2000 years ago and is accepted by Christians as the Son of God. So in these countries, the religious terms like God, devil, Christ, damn, Jesus Christ etc, are only allowed to be mentioned in serious talk. If someone mentions Jesus Christ in casual talk or in a joke, he will be considered impolite. However, when English people scold someone, they will use these words:“For Christ's sake!” , “God damned!”, “Hell!”, “ Oh, damn it!”In Chinese, it is similar for people to avoid calling God’s name. Most Chinese people believe Buddhism, they also do not mention God’s name. They often call God such as“玉皇大帝”，“大圣”，“佛主” etc. when they swears, they will use sky, such as “上苍作证”, “对天发誓”，“上天为证”。