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1、A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Euphemism on Death1. Introduction The word “euphemism comes from Greek meaning “to speak favorably or “good speech. Chen Dingan (2004) said “Euphemisms are mild, pleasant, neutral, or inoffensive expressions used instead of harsh, blunt, coarse, or unpleasa
2、nt ones. They are often used because of courtesy or consideration for other peoples feelings. According to Sun Xianghua (2005), “the main feature of euphemism is that people use the abstract and vague concepts or metaphor to make the speakers could adopt a kind of indirect way while talking about so
3、mething which is not suitable to speak in a direct way. In this way, embarrassment can be avoided when talking about these things are necessary. Euphemism may be said to be lubricating oil of social communication by people. Enrigh (1985) said “the world will stop running because of obstruction, and
4、people will full of hostilities if there is no euphemism. Hudson (1980) regarded euphemism not only as a kind of linguistic phenomenon, but also a kind of cultural phenomenon. The most typical euphemism is “death. The mystery of death and the fear of death make people not dare or unwilling to speak
5、it directly. In language communication, people always avoid mentioning the word “death. Therefore, the substitutes for death are made one after another in both English and Chinese. They have a variety of differences and similarities in both expressed formations and cultural connotations. This paper
6、focuses on the differences and similarities of both English and Chinese Euphemism on death, which have a close relation with peoples life. Taking euphemism on death as an example to give a brief analysis on differences and similarities of both English and Chinese culture . 2. The Causes for the Use
7、of Euphemism on Death 2.1 The fear of death leads to avoidance of speaking and talking about it. According to Bao Lihong (2000), “In ancient time, people were not able to understand birth and death, thunder and lighting, volcanic eruption and earthquake. So the fear was produced, and it slowly led t
8、o the superstition. As a result, natural worship is aroused by superstitions. Under the influence of concept that all the living things have souls, people think that every phenomenon ,including language phenomenon, are caused by the changes of living things. Thereby, they arouse a miraculous illusio
9、n about what they said. At the same time, they begin to arise a feeling of respecting or fearing, thinking that words have a mystical power, which surpass the human beings. It not only can bring fortunes, but also avoid disasters, so that people put the things which can be replaced by words about fo
10、rtunes and disasters being considered to be themselves. So Sun Rujian(1996) said “people use the words about disasters and fortunes very carefully in case of making the God angry. This is the reason why the fear of death is caused . Many linguistic phenomenon comes from this reason .For example, to
11、gain a good omen for luck, and form an evade for avoiding a fear .For “death, it is the most dreadful thing that people hold back. In fact, peoples birth, old age, sickness and death are physical phenomenon that people are not able to control .Any person can not avoid “death no matter who he is, a f
12、amous person or a ordinary person. However, “death was forbidd en to talk about by people in the past. They even thought that so long as they did not speak the word “death, then the death would not befall them . Therefore, people chose to avoid it when talking something about it, or speak it in an i
13、ndirect way. Under these conditions, a great number of words about euphemism on death appeared and applied. In English, there are expressions “To rest in peace, to go to heaven, to be called to God which mean death. These phrases are used to express the worship of God. As it known to all, many peopl
14、e believe in religion so that they hope that they can go to heaven after they die. However, other phrases like “to lay down ones life, to make a sacrifice reflect the value of people. These words are also used to express our feelings and respect to the heroes. “Go to a better place is considered dea
15、th as beginning a new life, which mirrors that people are desiring for a new life. In fact, Saussure(1986), the famous linguist , thinks that language signs have nothing necessary connection with concepts what it refers to. “It is the circumstance of social system. Language signs could not have any
16、natural power, let alone have magic power. But the knowledge of ancient people were limited. So they considered that the objects have an inherent and necessary connection. As a result, they worshiped the language as living things. It is the result of respecting the linguistic objects that lead to the cause of euphemism on death. 2.2 Politeness The production of euphemism has a large connection with language taboo. In language communication,
