从语用学的礼貌原则看英语中的委婉语 [6]
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:13766
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
y to compare the following two statements:
(9) I am an old cripple, drawing an old-age pension, working hard to raise vast quantities of vegetables on an allotment and well aware that, one of these days, I shall die.
(10) If, however, I listen to the voice of officialdom, it turns out that I am a disadvantaged senior citizen, registered as disabled, drawing a retirement pension, renting a leisure garden and, presumably, immortal because I shall never die--- I shall merely pass away.
We can see that in the first statement, the author talks directly about his life status. The second statement is that the government officials make a survey of the hardship of citizens. They try to cover the facts by using euphemisms.
3.6 Humor function
Jocular euphemism has been used to help people face the fact more easily. For example, people use “push up daisies” to take place of “be buried” because the former words can reduce people’s horror towards death. And “be sent into prison” is replaced by “live at government’s expense”. This expression is witty. Another example, “after three days in Japan, the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.” Its implicature is that in Japan, people are very polite. They usually bow many times a day to greet someone.
4. Euphemism and politeness
4.1 Euphemism and interpersonal communication
Euphemism has been widely used in the real human communication. It can be regarded as a kind of polite terms .In primitive and traditional society, taboo and euphemism are the two sides of a coin. They are used for social control and religious control. And in modern English, there are a number of words connected with holy, sex, body organ and body function. So when people’s topic refers to those, they have to find euphemisms to replace them. They often use some vague language to avoid mentioning them directly.
4.2 Politeness and face-threatening theory
The main function of euphemism is polite function. Thus, the main character of euphemism is polite. Politeness plays an important role in human communication. It oils human relationships. So euphemism accords with politeness will accelerate human communication.
4.2.1 The definition and features of politeness
“We view politeness as one of the major social constrains on human interaction which regulates participants’ communicative behavior by constantly reminding them to take into consideration the feelings of the others. It is necessary to consider their feelings so as to establish levels of mutual comfort and promote rapport, which in turn accelerate and facilitate human communication.” [25] The final goal of politeness is to make all of the parties relaxed and comfortable with one another.
There are two kinds of politeness: one is negative politeness; the other is positive politeness. Negative politeness is to make a less infringing request, such as "If you don't mind..." or "If it isn't too much trouble..." or respects a person's right to act freely. In other words, it’s deference. Positive politeness is to seek to establish a positive relationship between parties and respects a person's need to be liked and understood.
4.2.2 Face-threatening theory
Face is defined as an individual’s self-esteem. “Based on the face notion of Goffman that “face” is a sacred thing for every human being, an essential factor communicators have to pay attention to, and that face wants are reciprocal (if one wants his face cared for, he should care for other people’s face).” [26]
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