浅谈英语委婉语的分类、构成方式及社会功能 [6]
论文作者:魏小玲论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-06编辑:黄丽樱点击率:16535
论文字数:6337论文编号:org200904061115546270语种:英语 English地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:English euphemismformationclassificationsocial function英语委婉语构成方式分类社会功能
e. Since “old” is a taboo in English-speaking countries people express it with euphemistic words.
(ⅱ) Substituting the whole for the part
For example,
(28) She has a good chest .
In sentence (28), “chest” means “breast”. People consider “breast” as an ungraceful word, so they use roundabout way to mention it.
(ⅲ) Substituting the tools for the action or the thing
For example,
(29) During the World War Ⅱ Hitler attended to carry fire and sword into Every part of the world.
In sentence (29), “fire and sword” has the same meaning with “war”. In westerners’ eyes, fire is the symbol of hope and sword is the symbol of justice. As war makes people think of misery, they usually don’t mention it directly. Here, “fire and sword” is used to create a sense of satire.
(30) Selling cards is forbidden.
“cards” in sentence (30) means “drugs”. “drug” is a sensitive word as it has something to do with crime and decadence, so it is often euphemized. People use “card” to refer to “drug” for the reason that drug dealers put disposable drugs into folding postcards and send them to drug addicts.
(ⅳ) Substituting the name of a place for the person
For example,
(31) Tom is successful in his career but he was a brostal.
“Brostal” in the above sentence means “young criminal”. “Brostal” is the name of a locality in Britain. Because the famous young criminals center is located there, people use the name of it to replace “young criminal”.
4. Calcification of English euphemisms
English euphemisms involves in almost every field of life. This paper tries to classify them according to the content.
4.1In the field of daily life
4.1.1 About old age
It is natural for people to experience adult, middle age, old age and death. But to westerners, old age means worthless and the old will be looked down upon or even deserted. So no one admits that he is old. People dread about old age so much that they see the word “old” as a taboo. Thus, they try their best to borrow other words to express it, e.g.: “the advanced in age”, “the mature”, “the longer living”, “seasoned man”, “senior citizens”, etc. In short, western nations have “senior citizens” or “the longer lived” but no “old age”.
4.1.2 About unemployment and poverty
Unemployment is still a big social problem in western countries. It is so dreaded that it almost makes people become shivering when they think of it, particularly during periods of economic crisis. And once you are out of work, poverty is the inevitable result. Who likes to live a poor life? Thus, unemployment has become a hot topic in political competition. Nearly every candidate looks on the low unemployment rate as one of his or her trumps to win. More and more people get used to be considerate when they want to mention unemployment and poverty. As a result, many vague expressions or words are created to replace them. For example, when the boss wanted to dismiss John, he was “laid off”, “eased out” or “given the walking ticket” and he became a “lay-off worker”. At first he was “out of pocket” and “lived in reduced circumstances (penniless)”, then he “lived in difficulties (in debt)”, later he had no choice but to “move into a sub-standard housing (slums)”. Besides, “The poor” is “the have-nots”, “the underprivileged” or “the disadvantaged”. And there are no poor countries in the world for they are replaced by “developing nations” or “emerging nations”. When these euphemisms are heard from the people, they
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