从语用学的礼貌原则看英语中的委婉语 [5]
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:13763
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
ged to gloss over the horror and cruelty of war and contemptible diplomatic means.
“Following is a chart about military euphemisms.” [18]
Horrific expression Euphemism
air strike air option
bombing and blasting softening up the resistance
civilian casualties collateral damage
defense crushed defense neutralized
ground war ground operation
invasion pre-emptive action
missile Vehicle
nuclear bomb nuclear device
retreat strategic withdrawal
suicidal attack one-way mission
warhead payload
There are also some euphemisms about economy. “People use ‘depression’ instead of ‘economic crises’. The word ‘Striking’ has been beautified as ‘industrial action’.” [19] and when people mentioned slum, they often use “substandard housing” to replace it.
“The euphemisms here are in the true sense of the word “false.” They are used to cover up the true nature of events, deceiving the public with nice-sounding and pseudo technical words.” [20]
3.4 Inducing function
Sometimes, people use euphemism to make their statement more persuasive. Thus the cosmetic words have a special communicative function, which is called inducing function. As Channell has analyzed in the discussion of the communicative functions of vague language that “A specific setting where speakers may withhold information which they know is where they feel that they can be more persuasive by doing so.” [21]
Euphemism has been widely applied in advertisement and sales promotion activities. Some airline companies divided the grades of passenger compartments into four ranks. They used “deluxe” or “premium class” to replace “first class”. And the “second class” is transformed into “first class”. The “third class” is revised as “business class” or “tourist class”. They sound more pleasing.
The rooms of hotel are also compartmentalized in the same way. They can be divided as first class, standard and private. Those words are sweet sounding and have nothing to do with customers’ self-esteem. Also, “‘antiques’ is the substitution of ‘second-hand furniture’.” [22] In the merchants’ eye, the former will make the price higher. People often use “compact car” to replace “small car”. Though their meanings are the same, “small” will be associated with an image of cheap and bad while “compact” emphasizes the image of artistic, delicate, and terse.
Those euphemisms desalinate the unpleasant feeling that the former concepts give us and intensify a feeling of more reliable and elegant. As a result, those products will be identified with the consumers and achieved the promotion goal. “From the pragmatic view, the achieving of inducing function is caused by the glorification of the intrinsic meaning.” [23]
3.5 Tactical function
If a same meaning is expressed in many different ways, their effects are entirely different. This is what we called the art of speaking. If we apply this
strategy to our daily life, our life will be more colorful.
For example, on the plane, there are some bags that can be used by the passengers to shoot his cookies. People don’t print the words “vomit bag” on the surface of the bag. Instead, they use the words “for motion discomfort”. [24] And the result proved that the vomit phenomenon has reduced. Because compared with the former words, the word “for motion discomfort” prevents the passengers from vomiting when in a state of airsickness. This is the tactical function of euphemism.
By contrary, if we use euphemism inappropriately, the result would be worse. Tr
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