Words denoting terrible disease are also sources of horror. In English, people don’t like to talk about terrible disease or disease related to sexual organs directly. For instance, they use “V.D” instead of “veneral disease”; use “big C”, “long disease”, or ”terminal illness” to replace “cancer”. Abbreviations are often used to alleviate the shocking effect. For instance, SARS is used to substitute the terrible name “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes”.
In Chinese, when we talk to a patient, we may say “你今天不舒服，别上班了”.Here, we use “不舒服” instead of “病”. As a soldier, we may say “挂彩了” instead of “伤”.
Mental illnesses are thought not to be mentioned directly. For example, when referring to a mental illness, we just say “a little eccentric” or “a little confused”.
Either in Chinese or Western, people have sympathy for one’s physical disability. If someone looks ugly, we will say she/he looks plain/ordinary and we won’t use the word “fat” to describe a man. We only use “heavily set” or “on the heavy side”. If a girl is thin, we won’t use skinny. We just say slender, and when we refer to a crippled, we will say, “physically handicapped”. In Chinese, if one is deaf, we will say “耳朵背”, “耳朵有点不好”, “说话得近点”. In English, it is called “hard of hearing”.
3.2.5 In terms concerning parts or excretion of the body
In both cultures, people think that certain parts of the body and the excretion of body cannot be mentioned in daily conversations. They are often considered taboos.
For example, in English, there are so many euphemisms for lavatory, such as “washroom”, “restroom”, “bathroom”, “comfort station”. If they want to go to lavatory, they will say: “go to the bathroom”, “do their business”, “answer nature’s call”. In Chinese, “厕所” is always avoided in public occasion, one may say :“去一号” or“去方便一下”..
3.2.6 In discrimination
“In recent years, there is a growing tendency to regard as taboo language that reflects a demeaning attitude towards certain social or ethnic groups. Racist language and sexist language, for example, are offensive to the social or ethnic groups discriminated against.” [13]
Discrimination against woman is a universal and unreasonable phenomenon in the society. And its reflection on language is sexist language. Both in English and Chinese, there are traces of sexist language. Unless one is careful enough with his/her speech, one may easily offend others unconsciously.
In China, under the control of strict hierarchy feudal society, the females were regarded inferior. They depend on male and were dominated by male. So the discrimination and prejudice against women is the long-term accumulation, which is inevitably reflected in Chinese. For example, the sayings “妇人之见”, “头发长见识短”, “男子汉不和妇人一般见识”, “长舌妇”, etc, reflect the pejorative attitude toward women. And there are also many derogatory titles for women, such as “贱人”, “泼妇”, “母老虎”, “母夜叉”, “娘儿们”，“悍妇”etc.
Since the Chinese women’s social statuses have increased, these sayings are used much less frequently. The using of the scornful and pejorative words for women in public often gets criticism and resentment.
In English, there are also many sexist expressions. For example, a person of unknown sex is referred as “he”, or ”him” rather than “she” or “her”. A person who presides a meeting is the “chairman”, even if she is a woman. There are many other examples about it. “cow” means “(a) woman who has many children”, “mutton” means “(a) dissolute woman”, “hen” means “(a) woman who likes gossip”, “cat” means “(a) malicious woman”, “crone” means “(an) ugly withered old woman” etc.
“Nowadays, perhaps as a result of the Woman’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s and 70s in western countries, especially the U.S.A and socio-culture development, most native English speakers try to avoid sounding like a sexist.”[14] For example, they change the word “chairman” into “chairperson”, “gentleman” into “gentleperson”. When referring to human beings, people begin to use “humankind” or “ the human race” instead of “man” or “mankind”.
“Racism is the belief that certain human races are inherently inferior to others and racist language is that which shows a biased attitude towards certain racial or ethic groups.”[15] In English, no matter intentionally or not, the following words are against black people and annoying them unsatisfied. For example, “white” means “pure”, “clean”, “benevolent”, which have positive meaning. While “black” is related to “evil”, “wrongdoing”, and “dirty” such as “blackguard”, “blacklist”, “blackmark”etc. Besides, “nigger” and “boy”, for a black adult man, often have offensive meaning.
In Chinese, there is also racist language. For example, “using “蒙古大夫” for an incompetent doctors; using “小鬼子” for Japanese. “洋鬼子”,“大鼻子” for westerners.” [16] Most of these words are derogatory. It shows off that Chinese is more superior than other racial or ethic groups.
4The differences between Chinese and English linguistic taboo
Although there are many similarities in English and Chinese, different views about what is or isn’t taboo can be found in two cultures. Differences between Chinese and English linguistic taboo embody the following aspects:
4. 1. In subjects
English people place a high value on privacy. “The English have a saying ‘ A man’s home is his castle, meaning a man’s home is sacred to him; no one should come in without permission. So it is also with his life and personal affairs’”.[17] Chinese people often like to greet to others like “Have you had a meal?” This common greeting indicates we begin our conversation with our acquaintance, just as foreigners ask “How nice the weather!” But the Chinese greeting will make the foreigners suspect that you want to invite him to join the dinner. Sometimes when we get together and talk naturally about these questions: “ How about your salary?” “Are you married?”, “What do your wife/husband do?”, “How much is your skirt?” In this way, we express our care for our friends. Generally speaking, we never feel embarrassed about these conversations, but when we ask the westerners the same questions, they will think we may involve in their privacy. Annoyingly, in western countries, it is also improper to ask about other people’s religious beliefs. “Are you religious?” “What is your religion?” “Are you Catholic?” etc are questions that might be offensive to most English speakers. People don’t like, especially female, others to ask them “How old are you?”, because they are very sensitive to their age. “Even on a birthday call one may find the following congratulation: You may not like to be reminded that you are a year older today, but that would not keep me from saying ‘happy birthday!’.” [18] But in contrast, there was no such concept of privacy in Chinese people’s mind.
4.2 In numbers
In China, the number “4” and the word “死 (death)” almost sound the same. People do not like the number “4”, because it reminds them of “death”. Among old people, they think “73” and “84” are two key ages. If you are 73 or 84 years old, you will die before the King of hell invites you. So many old people avoid talking their exact ages.
While in western countries, one of the most influential taboo numbers is 13. According to the story of “The last supper”: Judas, the person who betrayed Jesus, sat in the No.13 chair, therefore, Number thirteen is universally considered to be unlucky. No door’s number is thirteen; no hotel has the No.13 Room; they don’t allow 13 people have dinner together. All in a word, they avoid number thirteen in every aspect. Ordinary people feel upset on 13th in every month. Therefore, thirteen became a taboo word in western countries.
Another number concerning taboo in western is Friday. It also has long been considered as an unlucky day. “This taboo term affects people probably not only because they believe that Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross on Friday, but also because Friday is for many years the day of execution of criminals, commonly called “hangman’s day”. [19]
Another striking contrast is that Chinese people like even numbers. For example, they say “好事成双”，“成双成对”。Chinese people especially like the even number “6” and “8”. The saying “六六大顺” can prove it . But in western countries, they like odd numbers. “The Roman poet Virgil says, ‘The god delights in an odd number’. In Shakespeare’s play Merry wives of Windsor, Falstaff says, ‘Good luck lies in odd numbers—’ They say, ‘there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance or death.’” [20]
4.3 In names
How to call others in verbal communication is very important. In Chinese, the ancestors’ and the older generation’s names cannot be referred directly. For example, because the second name of Sima Qian’s father was “谈”. When writing the Historical Records， (Sima Qian changed “赵谈” into “赵同” and “李谈” into “李同”[21]) As a result , we cannot find such a Chinese character “谈” in the Historical Records. [22] But in the English culture, there are no such name taboos. The younger generation can refer the elder generation’s name directly. It shows that they are equal, friendly and intimate. In the United States, many black people bear the name “Lincoln”, apparently after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the country. English babies may be named after their grandparents or other relatives to show respect or to honor them. For example, “the British Prime Minister Churchill’s father was named Randolph. Churchill, and one of the Prime Minister’s sons was also named Randolph. Churchill. The grandfather and grandson had the same name. The American president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s son also had the same name with his father.” [23] This practice was quite different from Chinese culture which was characterized by a clearly delineated stratified society in which the names, for example, of one’s relatives, one or two generations above, or officials, or other influential figures were taboos to the ordinary Chinese, no one dared to name his babies after them.
5 Ways of avoiding linguistic taboo
5.1 Using euphemism
From the above discussion, we know that some harsh, blunt, unpleasant offensive and taboo things or acts should not be expressed directly in our daily life. So it is very important for us to know how to avoid these linguistic taboos.
Most linguistic taboos can be avoided by the employment of euphemisms. (Euphemism refers to the use of pleasant, vague or indirect words or phrases to take the place of more accurate direct or taboo ones.) In other words, euphemism is a means of expressing the words or things that are prohibited.
Euphemisms are used almost in all fields of life. For example, when a judge gives the criminal a sentence, he will directly say: “I hereby sentence you to five years in prison.” But the criminal himself or his relatives will tell others: “Somebody is sent to the big house.” for the purpose of saving face
At the same time, we must realize that language is alive and changing all the time. Influenced by the social psychology and its culture, euphemisms change constantly. A euphemism may quickly acquire the stigma of the word it replaced and becomes a taboo after people use it for a time. For example, there is a series of expressions about the word “poor”. “At first I was poor, then, I became needy, later I was underprivileged. Now I’m disadvantaged. I still don’t have a cent to my name, but I sure have a great vocabulary.” [24]
Another example is that, in American English, euphemisms for the word “buttocks” are “arse”, “ass”, “prat”, “can”, “tail”, “cheeks”, “caboose”, “fundament” and now the newest one is “sitting-down place”.
5.2 Having a good knowledge of the taboo culture
Language and culture rely on each other and influence each other. Languages are formed and develop under certain cultural background. Linguistic taboo is a kind of social phenomenon. Its existence and development are restricted and influenced by specific cultural background. Some words are prohibited in English; some words are banned in Chinese and some words are prohibited in both languages. As a result, if one wants to avoid violating taboos, he or she should have a good knowledge of what is or is not a taboo in this culture. For example, in China, the word “old ” means “experience” and “wisdom”. At the same time, Chinese people are influenced by the long-term concept of respecting the old and taking care of the young. Chinese people seem to like to address each other as “老（old）” ,for example, “老爷爷”, “老奶奶”, “老林”, “老吴”, “老教授”. But English people always connect the "old" with "uselessness" and "death". Therefore, when contacting with English people, the saying of “somebody is old” should be avoided in order not to arouse unpleasantness. For Example, we cannot call somebody “old Smith” or “old Brown”. Especially for women who are sensitive to age, no matter how old they are, we should not call them “奶奶” or “大娘” ,though they are pleasant greetings in China. In English, expressions such as “senior citizens”, “advanced in age”, “golden years” etc. are produced in order to avoid “old”.
A smooth cross-cultural communication greatly benefits from the good command of a foreign language’s cultural background knowledge. It is hard to imagine a Chinese who has a poor knowledge of English taboo culture can intercommunicate with the English people smoothly and without offending them, and vice versa.
6. Conclusion
. In short, by comparison, we can find that both Chinese and English linguistic taboos reflect people’s psychology for good will, for safety and fortune and pleasantness. The Chinese and English people restrict their words and deeds through taboos, trying to keep a harmonious relationship between human and nature, or between people and society. Although the traditional linguistic taboos contain superstitions, ignorance and negative elements, the new taboos on racism bear positive features. They are a reflection of people’s pursuit of freedom and equality. The author hopes that the discussion about linguistic taboos helps English learners improve their communicative competence and reduce miscommunications and conflicts in cross-culture communications.
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英汉委婉语的文化意蕴对比
浅谈非言语交际及其在交际中的影响