论英语委婉语

论英语委婉语

［Abstract］Euphemism is the mild, agreeable, or roundabout way used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. Euphemistic expressions are often used in people’s conversations and writings. So how to understand euphemism better and use it correctly is very important. Therefore, this paper tries to research into the classification of euphemism, including traditional euphemism, stylistic euphemism, and professional euphemism; the formation of euphemism by means of word formation processes and rhetorical devices. It will also probe into principles of using euphemisms in communication and functions of English euphemism. The functions of euphemism are also dealt with in the past part of the paper.

［Key words］euphemistic expressions,the principles of using euphemism,functions of euphemism

I. Introduction

Euphemism is the mild, agreeable, or roundabout way used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. The word ―euphemism‖ comes from the Greek p refix ―eu‖ meaning ―well‖ and the root ―pheme‖ meaning ―speech‖, and thus it means literally ―to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner‖. Euphemism is a common phenomenon when people

use language, which is not only a social language phenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon. Euphemistic expressions are often used in people’s conversations and writings. We all need to communicate in our daily life or in diplomacy. However, the correct use of euphemism in specific language environment may achieve successful communication. Only when we can know how to make use of euphemism in different backgrounds and environment can we use euphemism properly to minimize the chance of hurting people and to achieve the purpose of effective communication. Euphemism is also widely used in every field, so it is good for our learning of English language, and also good for us to carry effective multi-cultural intercommunication. This paper studies euphemism from the following aspects. Part one deals with the classification of English euphemism, including traditional euphemism, stylistic euphemism, and professional euphemism. Part two studies formation of euphemism, including euphemism formed by means of word formation processes and rhetorical devices. Part three covers the principles of using English euphemisms in communication, including cooperative principle and politeness principle. Part four centers on the functions of euphemism —avoiding fear, avoiding embarrassment, showing politeness and achieving commercial purpose.

Ⅱ. Classification of Euphemism

Generally speaking, English euphemism or euphemistic expressions can be divided into two main types: traditional euphemisms and stylistic euphemisms.

2.1 Traditional euphemism

Euphemism originated from the beginning of human civilization. At that time, science was not advanced so people worshipped God and spirits as well as other supernatural and natural forces. In English cultures, it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God, so there are euphemisms or euphemistic expressi ons such as ―Gee‖ for ―Jesus‖, ―goodness‖ for ―God‖. Consequently, those topics became taboos. Traditional euphemism is closely related to taboo language. There are some tabooed subjects such as ―birth‖, ―disease‖, ―death‖, ―burial‖, ―sex‖, ―nude‖, ―excretions‖，and so on. All belong to this group. If expressed directly, it is called taboo language, which shows the listeners a feeling of being vulgar, tough, harsh and impolite. While, if expressed indirectly, it is called euphemism, which gives the listeners the impressions of being elegant, reserved，comfortable, and polite.

Euphemism is a social language phenomenon as well as a cultural phenomenon. Because of the differences in habit or custom and the taboo language of different cultures, we must learn to use euphemism to avoid hurting people. As far as the topic on death is concerned, there are