从语用学的礼貌原则看英语中的委婉语 [4]
论文作者:苛雅婷论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-06编辑:黄丽樱点击率:13764
论文字数:5500论文编号:org200904061045258415语种:中文 Chinese地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:euphemismsocial functionsPoliteness Principleface want委婉语社会功用礼貌原则面子
join one’s ancestors, join the great majority, return to dust, with God, be no longer with us, pay the debt of nature, tick the bucket, etc.” [11] “Among those, ‘one-way-ticket’ is the synonym of ‘die’. It reflects the speaker’s experience of life. Life is just like travel. People set out to travel, but when they arrive to the termination, they cannot go back. In the past, people often used graveyard to express the place where the dead sleep peacefully. But the associations it gives us are horrified and gloomy. So now, people use funeral home and memorial park to replace them. In such a way, it comforts people.” [12]
3.2 Polite function
Polite function of euphemism is to avoid inelegant things and make people feel pleasant. As Joanna Channell put in her book Vague Language “Vagueness is used as one way of adhering to the politeness rules for a particular culture, and of not threatening face.” [13] It means that in real life, when people meet with some unpleasant things or behaviors, they usually choose some vague expressions to avoid making bold or hurting other’s feeling----to use euphemism.
It is harsh to say someone is deaf, so people use “auditory-impaired” to replace it. They sound more gracefully. “When English-speakers refer to the appearance, they don’t use the word ‘ugly’ or ‘awful’, which has strong derogatory sense. Instead, they use the word ‘plain-looking’ or ‘not pretty’.” [14] Westerners are sensitive to age. In their opinion, “old” equals to “useless” in some extent. In order not to hurt the feeling and self-esteem of the old, “old men” are replaced by “senior citizens” or “seasoned men”. For the word “senior” has many meanings. Except “older”, it also means higher in rank or authority. And the word “seasoned” means experienced. “Following are some euphemisms about profession.” [15]
Harsh expression euphemism
butcher Meat technologist
Chimney worker Chimney consultant
fireman Fire fighter
Garbage man Sanitation engineer
hairdresser Hair stylist
housekeeper Household executive
Press-agent Public relation counselor
Prison guard Correctional officer
3.3 Covering up function
In Vagueness Language, Channell stated covering up function as deliberately withholding information. What is so called “cover up” means “not giving information which the speaker possesses and which could be appropriate in the situation.” [16]
Western political life gives birth to euphemism. Some politicians and news medias have made good use of the vagueness of euphemism to cover up the facts of some events for the purpose of making the politics, economy, and military more steady.
Concealing the dark side of society is to alleviate the social contradictions caused by sex, violence, poverty, unemployment, and crime. There are some euphemisms about social phenomena. “Venereal disease” has been beautified as “social disease”. “Rape”, a kind of crime, is mentioned casually as “interfere with”; “prostitution became a high-sounding profession------‘the oldest profession in the world’.” [17] In politicians’ view, violence is a kind of action and dismissal is also “lay off”. People don’t need to be surprised at these phenomena.
In western countries, politicians create some political euphemisms to serve their political goals. They try to conceal the facts as to ease the tense relations between other countries and reassure and pacify public’s anti-war emotions. For example, In Vietnam War, Gulf war, or Iraqi war, a number of euphemisms emer
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