委婉语英语论文 精品

The Influence of Language and Culture on

Euphemism

Abstract:Euphemism is a common phenomenon in English-Chinese Language. It is

an epitome of their society and culture to a certain degree. This dissertation is a simple discussion on Chinese-English euphemism, which have an great impact on their respective culture and tradition, as well as their culture difference in western and

eastern country. This would do a good job in removing the barrier of trans-culture communication and improving culture communication.

Key words: euphemism and language and culture; function; comparison

摘要：委婉语是中英语言中共同的一个语言现象,委婉语在一定程度上是中西方社会和

文化的一个缩影。本文就中英委婉语对各自文化中的传统,发挥的作用等进行了简单的探讨,

以及了解东西方委婉语的文化异同,这将有益于清除跨文化交际中的障碍,促进文化交流。

关键词：委婉语与语言；文化；功能；比较

Contents

bstract

I. Introduction (1)

nguage,Culture and Euphemism (2)

2.1 Language and Euphemism (2)

2.2 Culture and Euphemism (3)

III.Functions of euphemism in language and culture (3)

3.1 Functions of Euphemism (3)

3.1.1 Avoiding Taboo (3)

3.1.2 Showing Politeness (4)

3.1.3 Concealing Trut (4)

3.1.4 Beautification (5)

IV.The comparison between Chinese and English in the field of language and culture and from Euphemisms (5)

4.1 In Terms of Language (5)

4.1.1 Lexical Device (5)

4.1.2 Phonetic Device (6)

4.1.3 Rhetorical Device (7)

4.2 In Terms of Culture (7)

4.2.1 Different Religions (7)

4.2.2 Different Practices (8)

4.2.3 Different Connotations of Old (9)

V. Conclusion (9)

Bibliography (10)

I. Introduction

Now we have joined WTO and we will organize the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. We also have more chances to hold world-wide meetings, activities, etc. Therefore, we want exchange with foreigner easily that we should knew their culture and language more and more. Euphemism is exist in Chinese and English. There is no denying the fact that euphemism is a Language and culture appearance, it can help us understand easily for others. So I will study the culture and language from Euphemism.

In every society and culture there are certain things that are not supposed to be separable or mentioned directly. A fair number of words are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, or at least inconsiderate. But in communication, for better maintaining social relationship and exchanging opinions, people have to resort to a kind of language, which can make distasteful ideas seem acceptable or even desirable. Pstein (1985:5) This type of language is defined as "euphemism" in linguistics and it comes in a variety of forms and is used for a variety of reasons.

Unlike other figurative language devices, for example, the metaphor of poetry or prose, euphemism aims to surprise and entertain (Lee, 1966), strives to avoid offence by means of circumlocution. As a communicative skill-"telling it like it isn't," (Time, 1978), euphemism abounds in our life. I am very interested in euphemism, because it is not merely a kind of language phenomenon, but also the carrier of English and China culture. As second language learners, even though you have a reasonable command of English, you may feel lost when come across some euphemism.

Much research has been done on euphemism because of its prominence in language and culture. A lot of great works came into being during the study of euphemism, which lay a foundation for further research. In 1936, in his book The American Language, American linguist, Mencken, fully discussed why