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1、英汉委婉语文化内涵比拟 IntroductionEuphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in different cultures. From the moment it is created, it plays an important role in peoples daily communication. They are embedded so deeply in our language that most of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, neve
2、r get through a day without using them. Like a kind of lubrication, it enables people to express what cant be uttered directly. As Robert Burchfield wrote in his book Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism, a language without euphemisms would be a defective instrument of communication . Rawson has al
3、so points out that To some extent, actually, euphemisms are societys basic common language. However, this language phenomenon is often neglected by us. Until today the euphemism studies are very few and most of these studies are confined to individual language, and there is a shortage of contrastive
4、 research between languages. To unveil the universal and peculiar features of euphemisms and to better understand euphemism in a particular language, a contrastive study is a must. This thesis makes a contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism with an attempt to explore and demonstrate the d
5、ifferences and similarities between the two linguistic phenomenon in the hope of enlightening and guiding English learners a bit in their language learning, translation studies, cross-cultural communication, etc. 1. 1 The origin of euphemismWhen talking about euphemisms, we cant neglect taboo. In an
6、cient 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
7、 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 spe
8、ak 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 ou
9、t indirect terms to replace them. Thus euphemisms come into being. 1. 2 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. Later on, euphemism is defined differently and more p
10、recisely. In the Concise Dictionary, it is described as substitution of mild or vague or round about expression for harsh or direct one. It is taken as substitution, softened expression, mock modesty, metaphorical speech, verbal extenuation word in verbal good taste, over delicacy of speech, affecte
11、d refinement of language in Websters Word History. 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 implici
12、t words or even metaphorical expression. Euphemism is roundabout and mild word, so it can execute the speakers 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 lin
13、guistics restricts euphemism study to the lexicon. Euphemisms are therefore words or phrases in place of things considered to be rude or unpleasant. Euphemisms of such kind are called euphemisms in the narrow sense. They are the conventionally established one, which are widely met in our daily life.
14、 For example, we constantly say passed way for died and lady of the night for prostitute, etc. The limitation of the definition of euphemism is broken down by a famous American linguist D. Bolinge who points out that Euphemism is not restricted to the lexicon. There are grammatical ways of toning so
15、mething down without actually changing the content of the message . Afterwards, the grammatical ways to form euphemism such as negation, tense, mood and so on have been paid attention to. In China, euphemisms are mainly expressed by using indirect words, phrases, sentences and even discourses that a
16、re applied mostly in literature writings to achieve some vivid and aesthetic effect. It can be found very often from ancient times till 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. Throug
