People yearn for health, and fear for specific disease and every sort of disability. So people always use tactful way to express them. For example, sexual or venereal disease such as syphilis, gonorrhoea, ADIS, etc. are called “social disease”, ‘communicative disease”, etc. in English. Besides, disabilities are very sensitive area in every culture. In English, “the disabled, the handicapped, the inconvenienced, the invalid, auditory impaired, hard of hearing, talk with one’s fingers”, etc. are put into service.[9] So euphemism plays a very important function in our social communication. Without it, we sometimes cannot continue our talk.
4.1.2 In terms of death
Death is an inevitable stage at the end of life’s journey. It is common experience of human beings. Yet it has been the source of fear—fear of the loss of loved ones; fear of the end of one’s life; fear of the actual process of dying. Therefore, all these fears, worries, and unpleasant feelings combined lead to verbal taboo of death. Euphemisms concerning death are extremely rich. In English, there are more than seventy euphemisms for “death”, including “to be gone, to be gone to a better world, to be with God, to breath one’s last, to close one’s day, to depart from the world forever, to depart to God, to fall asleep, join the great majority, pass away, etc.[10] No matter why this word is used in a certain language, people always tend to use less harsh words
4.1.3 In terms of sex, body excretion and body elimination process
Words relating to sex, procreation and excretion are highly restricted to mention because they may evoke disgusting responses of people. Verbal taboo on them is probably motivated by the intuitive disaster, shame. People all have certain feelings of which they are so ashamed that they don’t like to admit even to themselves. In people’s daily life or in some formal occasion, if the talk or discussion refers to something about drainage, people will try to avoid using vulgar language. They tend to use some implied or neutral words to make conversation comfortable. For ordinary people, the safest way to avoid mentioning these things that they have to mention in many circumstances is to use another expression—euphemism to replace the true name of such a thing. For example, in English there are many elegant expressions for “going to WC”, such as: to wash one’s hand, to spend a penny, to go and see one’s aunt, to answer the call of nature, because nature calls, etc. [11]
“The topic concerning being pregnant is touchy because it tends to arouse the association with sexual behaviors. ‘To beat round bushes’ is very necessary, such as “with child”, “anticipating”, “excepting” for “pregnant”, etc.[12] Talking about sexual intercourse is taboo. Expressions relating to sex have heavily been veiled for the purpose of avoiding awkwardness and offense. So people use euphemistic words to talk about it. For example, people evade saying “hip” directly which is replaced with “buttock”, “bottom”, “one’s thing”, and “secret parts” donates sex organs of both males and females.[13]
4.1.4 In terms of old age
English and Chinese have different feelings about “old age”. A Chinese is proud of being old, whereas a westerner will feel irritated and even insulted at mentioning his oldness. In English culture, people do not describe others as or to be described as “old” because the old, who no longer work, are ignored by society. Therefore, people create “the second childhood golden years, senior citizen, gray hair, mature golden age” when they refer to “old age” in which it attempts to conceal the fact of becoming old and avoid arousing old people’s sad feeling of aging. [14]
4.2 The polite function of English euphemism.
Politeness is another important function that euphemisms serve in the social life. Politeness is the symbol of human’s civilization and one of the important principles guiding people’s activities. As a kind of significant social activity, language activity must observe this principle, too. When we have to talk something unpleasant, we should choose euphemistic way to express in order not to hurt others. Being polite is a reasonable action that anyone who is keen on face-saving will take. The polite function of euphemism is tried to avoid being harsh or impolite in the communication. In other words, euphemisms are to minimize impolite expressions and maximize polite expressions. For instance, when a teacher comments on a student’s moral conducts and school work in front of the student or his or her parent, he or she should report the fact on one hand, and on the other hand should take into consideration the student’s psychological endurance and the parent’s face. So the euphemistic way to express might be “The student is a bit slow for his or her age” instead of “The student is stupid”. [15]
The polite function of English euphemism is embodied in every occupational language. Occupational discrimination gives people pressure and emotional irritation. Although euphemisms cannot uproot this kind of phenomenon, at least, they can give them some psychological comfort by upgrading of career name. Therefore, “engineer, manager, etc.” have become more and more fashionable. “Dustman” is changed to “sanitary engineer”; “mechanic” to “automobile engineer”, “gardener” to “landscape architect”, “shoemaker” to “shoe rebuilder”[16] In English, there are many adjectives about people’s appearance, such as “good looking, handsome, pretty, charming, attractive”, etc. They are all commendatory words. When talking about someone who is not pretty, we cannot use “ugly” or ‘awfully’. We had better use some euphemisms such as “plain, ordinary, not particularly looking”, etc. instead of them. So euphemism’s polite function can save people’s face in their process of communication. It is so important that we cannot neglect it.
4.3 The cosmetic function of English euphemism
Besides the evasive and polite function, euphemism has the cosmetic function. This kind of euphemism is usually used in the government, military, politics and commerce. It refers to using good words to beautify things, which are not beautiful in reality and make the thing be more persuaded and acceptable. Because euphemism has the nature of vagueness, to some extent, it is deceptive. Traditionally speaking, euphemism plays a positive role in social life. Using it, people can avoid some embarrassed and ungracious occasion. But just as every coin has two sides, euphemism has no exception. Using it suitably can coordinate social relationships, but abusing it will mislead the public, will cover up the essence of things. For example, in modern Western society, the poor is called as “the needy”, later it was changed to “the culturally deprived”, then to “the underprivileged”, at last to “the disadvantaged”. So it will confuse people that this country is so rich that there is no poor people at all.
Firstly, the government and the military often use them to disguise the reality from truth. They describe “economic crisis” as “recession” or “depression”; “attack” as “active defense”.[17] At the beginning of 20th century, the relationship between labor and capital become strained, and the agitation of striking became a serious social problem. In order to hide the fact, politicians call the strained labor-capital relationship as “industrial climate”, striking as “industrial action”. If the negotiation between labor and capital is successful, it will be claimed as “productive”, on the contrary, it is “counter-productive”. [18]
Secondly, this kind of euphemism is widely used in commerce. It is often used to play tricks and to deceive the customers. The commercial exaggerates the product’s function and quality. In the same way, the English euphemism is also used to make customers feel pleased. For example, in order to meet the passengers’ sense of dignity, some Airlines call First Class Deluxe Class or Premium Class; Second Class First Class; and Third Class become Business Class, Economic Class, or Tourist Class. [19] Doing like these, it seems that all passengers’ position are promoted. Their purpose is to attract more passengers and gain more profits by using euphemisms in the communication, meanwhile, the customers feel more decent, and it helps customers save face.
In short, euphemism of this kind may make an idea more palatable, but they inflate language, reduce precision and often tamper with truth. Some people condemn euphemism as demoralizing because of its hypocrisy, which other consider them useful in the aspect of coordinating social relationships. However, the fact remains that euphemisms are very much a part of the language, and what’s more important for us is not to debate their merits or demerits, but rather to be able to realize that English euphemism can serve for the special social activities under certain circumstance.
5. Conclusion
English euphemism as an essential part of English language, is observed everywhere and widely used in people’s daily communication.
On the issue of the origin and social communicative function of English euphemism, this thesis has a tentative exploration. But this kind of exploration is in a state of development because euphemism is developed all the time. Euphemism roots in every aspect of social life, and is developed with the advancement of society. English euphemism is a mirror of Western culture in the form of English language. From the moment it was born, it has distinct culture color. Euphemism undoubtedly reflects the inner relationship among the cultural tradition, social values and the form of language.
In speech interaction, sometimes, out of politeness or tact, one uses a pleasant, less direct word instead of something unpleasant. Using euphemism is speaker’s active pragmatic strategy in a certain time and a certain situation. English euphemism promotes the development of English language, and enriches the vocabularies of English language, giving people a feeling of warm and fresh. In the 21st century, with the development of science and technology, many social problems rise, too. People crave for the gentle, warm and easy understood words. Euphemism emerges ceaselessly just right for meeting this psychological need. As a common communication medium and a rhetoric method, English euphemism will be used wider and wider. Some scholars hold the opinion that it is unreasonable to use euphemism because they have the nature of deceit, especially in politics and government. But we cannot deny the fact that euphemism is very helpful in the process of human communication. Twenty-first century is a period when people of different culture have even more touches with each other. So it is vital for us to have a good understanding of English euphemism. It is unimaginable if the diplomatic negotiation is without euphemism. Using euphemism is a kind of language skill that each of us should master.
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从语用学的礼貌原则看英语中的委婉语
浅谈英语委婉语的交际功能