英语专业毕业论文---浅谈英汉委婉语的文化差异

Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................I English Abstract............................................................................... II Chinese Abstract................................................................................III Chapter1 Introduction........................................................................ (1)

1.1The definition of euphemism (1)

1.2The features of euphemism (2)

1.2.1National characteristic (2)

1.2.2Regional feature (2)

1.2.3Indirect a nd Implicit (3)

1.2.4Universality (3)

1.2.5Humor (3)

1.2.6Vagueness (4)

Chapter 2 Euphemism, Language and Culture (5)

2.1The definition of culture (5)

2.2Language and culture (6)

2.3Euphemism and culture (6)

Chapter 3 A Comparison About English and Chinese Euphemism (8)

3.1Euphemisms for death (8)

3.2Euphemisms for old age (9)

3.3Euphemisms for poverty (10)

3.4Euphemisms for marriage and pregnancy (11)

3.5Euphemisms for disease (12)

Chapter4 Conclusion (14)

References (15)

Acknowledgements

This thesis is a result of contributions from many supporting individuals.

During the process of writing, I have received various kinds of help from many people. Because of their help, I have finished writing this thesis so smoothly. Here, I want to render my sincere thanks to all the teachers and classmates who have given me their help in the last four years. The help is not only one of the most important treasures deserving cherishing all my life, but also will be a perfect guide in my life in the future.

My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor – Ms. Peng Qiying. In this short but sufficient period, she has given me many good suggestions for the materials and the ways of organizing ideas. Without her consistent instructions, this thesis would not have reached its present form.

My sincere thanks are also owed to all the teachers who have taught me during the four years of my university study. I also thank the library of Guizhou University and the library of our college for providing me with the facilities and sources that I needed for my research and writing.

I also acknowledge my sincere thanks to all my classmates and friends who have enriched my life with their generous help and precious friendship.

The finishing of my thesis is not an end but a new beginning. I believe that I can do better and better in my future life. Thank you again, my supervisor, my classmates and my teachers.

Abstract

One of the most important ways for our human beings to communicate with others is language. Language is an important means for people to maintain their social relationship. However, there are many things which are supposed to be unspeakable. Many words also make people embarrassed and unhappy. So, in order to avoid the offensiveness and misunderstandings, people usually use the indirect or pleasant expressions to replace with those unpleasant and rude words in communication. We call that euphemism. Euphemism plays an important role in people?s social communication and exists in almost every culture and society. In order to help the language learner to understand euphemism better, this thesis mainly explores the cultural differences between English and Chinese euphemisms. In chapter one, the author introduces the definition and features of euphemism. In chapter two, the author introduces the relationship between euphemism, language and culture. Chapter three is mainly a contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism from these aspects: euphemisms of death, poverty, marriage, pregnancy and disease. Then the author brings to the conclusion that if the language learners want to learn a foreign language well, it is better that he has a good knowledge of its culture.

Key Words：euphemism, definition, feature, culture, difference

摘要

语言是人与人交流的最重要的方法，也是保持社会关系的重要方法。然而又很多东西是不能直接说的，有很多词语会让人尴尬和不愉快。因此，为了避免冒犯以及误会，人们在交流的时候通常用一些间接的以及令人愉快的表达来代替那些令人不高兴的粗鲁的词语。那些词语就叫做委婉语。委婉语在人们的日常交流中扮演着重要的角色。委婉语是为了避免禁忌语，且存在于各种文化和社会中。为了帮助语言学习者更好的了解和掌握委婉语，这篇论文主要讨论了英语委婉语和中国委婉语在文化上的不同。在第一章，作者介绍了委婉语的定义和特点。在第二章，作者介绍了委婉语，语言以及文化三者的关系。第三章主要是对比有关死亡，贫困，婚姻，怀孕和疾病方面的中英委婉语。由此得出结论，如果想要学好一门语言，就有必要了解这门语言的文化。

关键词：委婉语；定义；特点；文化；差别

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 The definition of Euphemism

Verbal communication is one of the most important methods people apply to maintain the social relationship. In order to avoid the offensiveness in communication, people usually use some polite or pleasant words to replace the rude or embarrassing ones. Therefore, euphemism emerges.

Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in all cultures, it takes an very important role in people?s daily communication. Euphemism is originated from the Greek. Its prefix “eu” means good, pleasant, and its root “pheme” means speech. Thus, euphemism literally means “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner” (Neaman and Silver, 1990:32). According to Allan and Burridge (1991:11), the definition of euphemism is: A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one?s own face or through going offense, that of the audience, or of some third party. Many people have defined euphemism. There are some definitions of euphemism below:

(1) mild or vague expression substituted for a harsher or more direct one.

(Pocket Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1996)

(2) the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be

offensive, harsh or blunt. (Webster?s Dictionary of American English, Random House, Inc.1997)

(3) (an example of) the use of a more pleasant, less direct name for something

thought to be unpleasant. (Longman English-Chinese Dictionary of Contempo- rary English, Longman Group UK Limited, 1988)

(4) A euphemism is a polite, pleasant, or neutral word or expression that is used

to refer to something which people may find upsetting or embarrassing to talk about, for example, sex, the human body or death. (Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, SFLEP, 2000)

(5) Rhetorical trope: a pleasant replacement for an objectionable word that has

pejorative connotations. (Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, FLERP, 2000)

In China, Chen Wangdao (1997) defined euphemism as a figure of speech in which roundabout and implicit words and expressions are used to substitute direct expressions to hint the meaning. “Weiwan (委婉)” is a figure of speech in Chinese. It is also called “wanqu (婉曲)”or “wanzhuan(婉转)”. Another figure of speech in Chinese is called “bihui (避讳)” or “huishi (讳饰)”. The combination of the figure of speech “weiwan (委婉)”and the figure of speech “bihui (避讳)”in Chinese is equivalent to the figure of speech “euphemism” in English (Li Guonan, 2001:190).

1.2The features of Euphemism

1.2.1 National characteristic

Euphemism is a common language phenomenon in the world culture. However, different countries and different nations in different surroundings and social environment have different production and living manners, and their culture depositions are also different. So euphemism in different language has some differences either. The differences are the representation of the national characteristic. There is a typical example about the word “poor”, it described an young woman who lived with hard condition. The paragraph uses several euphemisms of poor: “I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I was not poor, I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me that underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still do not have a dime but I ha ve a great vocabulary!”

Needy (lack of commodity), culturally deprived(lose the opportunity of education), underprivileged (having less money and fewer opportunities than most people in society), disadvantaged (humble). Those four words are the euphemisms for “poor”which the government used to cheat the public.

1.2.2 Regional feature

Different regions have different customs, so do the language. For instance, bread

is a kind of daily food in British, and the phrase “take bread out of someone?s mouth” means to go off with someone?s job. And there is another example.

An Australian woman married to an American man. They spent their honeymoon in America. And one day, the couple intended to go to a party together. But the bridegroom could not find a suitable full dress. The bride took out a birthday suit that she gave him as a present a few days ago and said: “Why not wear your birthday suit?” However, the whol e family were all astonished because in American English, “in one?s birthday suit” is the euphemistic expression of “naked”. So this embarrassing situation was resulted from the regional differences in euphemism.

1.2.3 Indirect and implicit

The most important feature of euphemism is indirect and implicit. The purpose of euphemism is to use some indirect expressions to avoid something that makes people unhappy. And this is the indirect character. Euphemism always gives people hints in a roundabout way. We can infer the deeper meaning and intention from the conversation.

For example:

--“Don?t you think my cooking is wonderful?” The girl asked.

--“Are you fishing for compliments.” Her boy friend responded.

In the conversation above, the boyfriend not only answered the girl implicitly, and did not embarrass his girlfriend. Similarly, when someone is ill, we always say he is under the weather. If someone is mad, we say he is soft in mind.

1.2.4 Universality

Universality is something that is well-known and accepted by all of the human beings. Euphemism almost exists in every language and culture. And each language has its own taboos, such as taboos connected with sex, death, or body functions. Hence, those taboos are replaced by euphemisms. While we say someone is dead in English, we always do not use the word “die”. We prefer to use “pass away” or “kick the bucket”.

1.2.5 Humor

Using euphemisms makes the language more interesting and humorous. It helps

the public face something cruel and the unpleasant reality freely and happily. For instance, “push up daisies” replaces “be buried”, “hare-brained” refers to “mad”. “bay window” is a substitution for “belly”, “weekend worries” for “prostitutes”, “to lose one?s lunch” for “to vomit”. Nowadays, in some families, hu sband is afraid of his wife, and this kind of husband is called “hen-pecked husband”.

1.2.6 Vagueness

The formation of many euphemisms are made use of the vagueness of language, it makes the meaning broader. The vagueness of euphemisms can conceal the cruel. Just like the conversation below:

Devizes: Is the pain worse?

Surtees: It is no great pain, sir. I have been to one specialist, sir? Yesterday，it is ?

Devizes: He couldn?t be sure. An operation?

Surtees: Too late, he said, for that. If I had been operated on long ago, there might have been a chance.

After reading the conversation above, we may not understand what they discuss about, what do the “it” and “that” indicate. It is difficult to understand the conversation correctly. Actually, Devizes and Surtees are talking about the cancer. Since cancer makes people unhappy, they use “it” and “that” to replace it tactfully.

Chapter 2 Language, Euphemism and Culture

2.1 The definition of culture

Culture is a large, wide and vague conception. It is really hard to explain the word “culture” clearly. As the world and society are developing, the definition of “culture” is also changing. According to Goodenough (1957:167), culture is “whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members”. Culture, “B eing what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage”, must consist of “the end product of learning: knowledge”. Samovar and Porter (2000:36), in their book Communication Between Cultures, defined culture as “the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving”. Linell Davis (2001:246) explained “what is culture” in simple words and with vivid metaphor in her Doing Culture: Cross-Cultural Communication. She points out that culture is like an iceberg. Only some of culture is visible. Most of culture is below the surface of our awareness.

Spencer-Oatey entented the conception of culture and introduced a number of additional factors apart from values and resultant behaviors or artifacts, including a description of the functions of culture: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group people, and that influence each member?s behavior and his or her interpretations of the …meaning? of other people?s behavior”(2000:4). Culture changes with changing circumstances. Culture is the grammar of our behavior. Culture includes those rules that a public need to know in order to behave appropriately in the society. Just an we learn the grammar of our native language, we learn our native culture grammar unconsciously and apply its rules automatically (Linell Davis, 2001:18-20).

Different scholars defined the culture differently for different purposes. In total, all the points perform that culture is all pervasive, including customs and habits, ideas

and beliefs, the artifacts made by human beings. Simply to say, culture reflects the whole life of the society.

2.2 Language and culture

Language is arbitrary. Language is vocal. Language is a symbolic system of human communications. Language is an important part of culture and it is the keystone of culture. Language is also the primary tool of culture to transmit its values, beliefs and norms. When people communicating with others, they can diffuse their own culture to each other, then, get knowledge of another culture from each other. Culture provides people means of thinking, ways of living, and the attitude towards life, either. Many social scientists insist that without language, culture would impossible.

On the other side, language refers to the culture. Language is influenced and shaped by culture. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural background as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking (Deng Yanchang and Liu Runqing, 1989:3). According to Kramsch (2000:3), when language is used in communi cation, “it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways”.

Language and culture are closely related. Human society could not be existed without a means of symbolic communication. Language gives people the access of what was thought and experienced in the past, as well as a way of passing new information on to the next generations. When the language link is broken, the culture is lost to us forever.

2.3 Euphemism and Culture

As we mentioned above, language and culture are closely related, so do euphemisms. Under the guidance of certain culture, people will consciously select euphemism to represent the “unpleasant words”. Patrick Hartwell (cited in Shao Zhihong, 1997:305) points out that euphemisms are “a natural part of the social world of words” and they tell us “a good deal about the values of a culture”. Hence, cultural values influence the expressions of politeness, euphemistic way of speaking and ways

of avoiding offensiveness. On the other hand, euphemisms are changing along with the development of the society. And the use of euphemisms vary base on the variations of contexts. Therefore, even if people who come from the same country, same place, they may use euphemisms differently according to different social contexts.

In conclusion, euphemisms, language and culture, these three matters that are related to each other. Euphemism is a form of language, language is an integral part of culture, and culture is transmitted by language. The coinage and application of euphemisms reflect people?s attit ude, facts, beliefs, ideas, values and knowledge in communication. Culture gets through the task of daily life as well as language. People come to use their language to reflect what they value and belief. They view their language as a symbol of their social identity and culture.

Chapter 3 Comparison About English and Chinese Euphemisms Euphemism is a common phenomenon in both English and Chinese cultures. Chinese and English are language systems that exist individually, so there are more differences than similarities between the both because of the different nature and social environments, life and living style, customs, beliefs, values of the nations. And all the differences could be seen in the uses and the expressions of euphemisms.

3.1 Euphemisms for death

Christian is the main religion in England so many English euphemisms on death originated from The Bible or Christian legends and allusion and some of them manifest the philosophy of Christianity and its religious interpretation of death. For instanc e, just because God created people by clay and people are created equal, “to die” is called “to return to dust / earth”. Besides, “to go to heaven”, “to be called to God”, “to be promoted to glory”, “to lie in the Abraham?s bosom”, “to launch into eternity”, “to cancel one?s account” are all used to refer to “death”.

The Chinese do not have a common and unified religion. We can find followers of Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc. As a result, many Chinese euphemisms reveals the influence of such religions. For example, Taoists expect to gain longevity or even immortality through ascetic practices, such as meditation and self-cultivation. The typical fairy tale “The eight immortals crossing the sea” has its origin in Taoism. The influence of Taoism on Chinese language can be seen in such euphemisms for death as “xianshi (仙逝)”, “dengx(登仙)”, “huahe (化鹤)”, “jiahexiyou(驾鹤西游)”, etc. Taoists think after death they become immortals and ride away on the crane to Elysium. Buddhism originated from India. After it was transmitted to China in Tang Dynasty, it became the most popular and influential religion in China. The euphemism for death originating from Buddhism include “yuanji (圆寂)”, “zuohua (坐化)”, “wuhua(物化)”, “yuhua (羽化)”, “tuihua(蜕化)”, “guixi(归西)”, etc.

Death has always been what people fear throughout the history in all nations. As time changes, the euphemism for death is developed. The euphemisms for death are a

widely used item, especially when it concerns one?s own families and friends. It has a lot of expressions. For example, “if anything should happen to me” is equal to “when I die”, “die” also can be called “to pass away”, “to depart”, “to go to sleep”, “to be longer with us”, “to be interred”, etc. “Death” has some humorous expressions: “to pop off”, “to push up daisies”, “to cash in one?s chips”, “to kick the bucket”, etc. In Chinese, there are over one hundred euphemized ways of saying death. In ancient Chinese, we used “jiabeng(驾崩)” and “yanjia(晏驾)” to refer to the death of emperor and “hong (薨)” to refer to the death of feudal lords, “zu(卒)”to refer to the death of senior official and “bulu(不禄)” to refer to the death of junior officials. And we have “qushi(去世)”, “shishi(逝世)”, “guqu(故去)”, “yushichangci(与世长辞)”, “qujianmakesi(去见马克思)” and so on. Through the above examples, we can found that euphemisms about death in Chinese are more complicated than English.

3.2 Euphemisms for old age

The Chinese and English have different attitudes toward being old. In English, it is rude and offensive to call someone old. So, there are lots of euphemisms about old in English, they reflect the avoidance of mentioning the old in western society. This is somewhat due to its loose family structure. When the children grow up, they would be independent from their family, and live apart from their parents, the society do not provide sufficient support to the old people, so the old people have to live by themselves, feeling lonely and dull. Therefore, the old becomes a word that people avoid to talk about. They take it as something sensitive and negative and they are unwilling to face the reality of becoming old. Old age is seen as a stage of uselessness and powerlessness, which is very unpleasant and even a cruel fact to the old people. So they act young, and they want to be look and regarded young.

Neaman has hu morously points out that “There is no one old in modern America. He is either seasoned or well-preserved”(1990:166). In fact, some euphemistic expressions take the place of old, such as “getting on (in years)”, “past one?s prime”, “feeling one?s age”, “second childhood”, “a distinguished gentleman”, “a grande dame”, “third age”, etc. The old people become “an elder statesman” or “old age

pensioner” or even use initialing “OAP”. They are not “old” but “long-lived”. And, a home for old people is called euphemistically “a home for adults”, “a nursing home”, “a rest home” and so on.

The Chinese culture places a high value on oldness. The Chinese hold the view that to be old means be experienced, knowledgeable, mature and reliable, which is also reflected in Chinese idioms, such as “laodangyizhuang(老当益壮)”, “laochengchizhong(老成持重)”, “laochenglianda(老成练达)”, “laomashitu(老马识途)” and so on. The Chinese has a tradition of showing respect for elders. So we call old people “ninlao(您老)”, “laoxiansheng(老先生)”, etc. The character “lao(老)”(means old in English) is quite often used to indicate seniority and experience, so we call teachers “laoshi(老师)”, we call bosses “laoban(老板)”“laozong(老总)” and so on. According to the Chinese Euphemism Dictionary, there are just about twenty euphemisms for old age and most of them are in old Chinese and seldom used today, such as “bomu(薄暮)”which literally mean the early evening, “diaonian(凋年)”which literally means the withered life, “huahao(华皓)” which literally means white, “huashou(华首)”which literally means white hair, “qiufang(秋方)”and “suqiu(素秋)” which literally means the autumn (Zhang Gonggui,126-129).

3.3 Euphemisms for poverty

In western society, poverty is a horrible word. And it is a shame. On the contrary, wealthy means wisdom, power and social status. Though the society has been advocating equality and the civil right, the gap between the rich and the poor are still widening. John Ayto (1993:286) points out “The shame of poverty makes it a natural target for euphemism in English. Neither individuals nor nations like to admit that they haven?t enough money and cannot provide for themselves, and a range of alternative strategies has been evolved to avoid the dreaded word …poor?.” It is abundant in English euphemisms for the word “poor”, such as “badly off”, “less well off”, “indigent”, “negative privileged” and “hard up for money”. The poor are called “have-nots” or “men of modest means”. These euphemisms are more pleasant to hear and easier for the poor to accept.

In Chinese, euphemisms for poverty are comparatively fewer. Such as “jieju(拮据)”, “shoutoujin (手头紧)”, “shoutoububian(手头不便)”and “nangzhongxiuse (囊中羞涩)”. The word “poor”is not so tabooed in traditional Chinese culture as in western culture. After the founding of the Peop le?s Republic of China, the proletariat became the leader of the country. In a rather long period of time, people felt glorious because of being poor. In the past twenty years, China?s reform and opening-up policy has made more and more people shake off poverty and set out on the road to prosperity. With the development of economy, the old philosophy that wealth means deficiency in soul, degeneration and corruption is outdated. Poor life is not what people expect. Accordingly, the word “poor” is euphemized as “youkunnan(有困难)”in Chinese. The poor are called “dishouruzhe (低收入者)”or “ruoshiqunti (弱势群体)”.

3.4 Euphemisms for marriage and pregnancy

There is a great difference between the attitude of western and eastern culture toward marriage. Western culture cherishes individuality, especially personal freedom, while the Chinese people emphasize the ethics. Some young people in western society are afraid of losing freedom after marriage. They usually choose such expressions as “have gotten hitched” and “tie the knot” to refer to marriage. “Trial marriage” is used to refer to “cohabitation” in English. “Mistress” becomes “unmarried wife” and “bastard” is called “love child”. Besides, the divorce rate in western countries has been increasingly rising. Some young people believe that divorce releases them from the marriage bond and family responsibility. So divorce is not much of a serious event, that?s why divorce is called “break up” and “split up”. Sometime they even make fun of divorce. They use expressions like “matchruptcy” and “go to Reno”. “Matchruptcy” is an imitation of the word “bankruptcy”. Reno is a city of western Nevada near the California border. It is a famous resort that was once noted primarily as a divorce center because of its easy and quick divorce procedures. Chinese culture, however, lays great emphasis on team. It stresses on the steadiness of group, family, society and nation. Therefore, marriage is called “zhongshendashi (终身大事)”,

which means “an important event in one?s life”. Marriage is a matter of joy, so marriage is called “xijieliangyuan (喜结良缘)” and “xijielianli (喜结连理)”. On the contrary, divorce is dishonorable. Hence, divorce is euphemized as “fenshoule (分手了)”, “lile(离了)” and so on.

There are a lot of euphemisms in English and Chinese, which are containing similar denotative meaning while distinct cultural connotation and allusion. Take the euphemisms for pregnancy as an example, a Japanese scholar lists some euphemistic expressions for “pregnancy” used in different historical periods, which serve a s a vivid manifestation of the developing trend in the realm of euphemism: She has canceled all her social engagements. (1856)

She is in an interesting condition. (1880)

She is in a delicate condition. (1895)

She is knitting little bootees. (1910)

She is in a family way. (1920)

She is expecting. (1935)

She is pregnant. (1956)

(Fan Jiacai, 1992:176) In ancient China, Chinese euphemize pregnant as “shenhuailiujia (身怀六甲)”, because it was said that “liujia(六甲)”is the right moment when Heaven and Earth create things. In modern China, we say pregnancy as “tayoule (她有了)”or she is going to be a mother(她快当妈妈了).

3.5 Euphemisms for disease

It is unfortunate to have diseases, and it can be very impolite and rude to tale about diseases directly in front of some sick or disable people. Therefore, due to the sympathy for those sick or disable people, lots of euphemisms for illness in Chinese and English languages. As we all known, cancer is a name that the public do not want to mention. The currently modish euphemisms are “Big C”, “C.A”, “incurable disease”, “long illness”, etc. In Chinese, the cancer is named “juezheng(绝症)”, “buzhizhizheng (不治之症)”, “wanzheng (顽症)”. Disability is a very hard and

sensitive area in all cultures. In Chinese, expressions like “canjiren (残疾人)”, “longyaren (聋哑人)”, “sangshi shili(丧失视力)”, “zhili zhang?ai(智力障碍)”are used instead of “canfei (残废)”, “longzi (聋子)”, “yaba (哑巴)”, “xiazi(瞎子)”, “ruozhi (弱智)”and so on. In English, “the disabled”, “the handicapped”, “the inconvenienced”, “the invalid”and so on are used for “disabilities”, “auditory impaired”, “hard of hearing”, “imperfect hearing for deaf”, “sight-deprived”, “visually-retarded” or “partially sighted for blind” and M.D., slow, special, unwise, etc. for dementia or imbecile.

Chapter 4 Conclusion

With the development of the society and economy, the world is getting smaller and we have much more opportunities to interact with people from different countries and cultures. As we mentioned above, euphemism is a linguist phenomenon in all cultures. And euphemism plays an important role in our daily communication. It is the use of a pleasant, polite and harmless-sounding term in place of those considered unpleasant, rude and offensive. It also can help people build a positive communicative atmosphere to establish harmonious social relationships and achieve the communication goals at last.

Furthermore, euphemism is a cultural phenomenon. Language is a integral part of culture, and euphemism as an important form of language, which is also influenced by culture and carries cultural information. Different cultures exist in different regions, due to their different beliefs, social values, customs, life-styles and behaviors, there exist differences between English and Chinese euphemisms, even the same topic have different means of realization. Therefore, to make a contrastive study of two language is as well as to make a contrastive study of the two cultures. The understanding of euphemism requires the understanding of the culture.

Through analysis of euphemism with culture factors, we know that euphemism is an independent part of culture and it reflects culture. Besides, the differences in social values between western culture and eastern culture are also reflects in their different euphemisms. In a word, only if we understand the features of euphemism and are aware of the differences between different cultures and confirm the context of the communication, can we use euphemisms effectively in intercultural communication. Nowadays, China and English-speaking countries have more contacts with each other than ever before. The importance of knowing the cultures of different countries in order to have better understanding and communication has been stressed again and again in intercultural communication field. A better interpreting of euphemism is surely part of this work.

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李国南.委婉语与宗教[J].福建外语,2001（3）:190.

邵志洪.Euphemism导致的跨文化交际障碍[J].四川外语学院学报,1997:305.

温洪瑞.委婉语的使用动机与特点[J].山东外语教学,2002(8):25~29.

张拱贵.汉语委婉语词典[M].北京:北京语言文化大学出版社,1996:126～129.

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————————————————————————————————作者：————————————————————————————————日期： 2

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前言： 文化是一种社会现象，是人们长期创造形成的产物。确切地说，文化是指一个国家或民族的历史、地理、传统习俗、生活方式、文学艺术、行为规范、思维方式、价值观念等。不同的文化背影和文化传统，使中西方在思维方式，价值观念，行为准则和生活方式等方面也存在有相当的文化差异。在跨文化交际中，文化障碍会导致的信息误解，有时善意的言谈会使对方尴尬无比，礼貌的举止会被误解为荒诞粗俗。这学期学习了冯麟茜老师的客源国文化概论这门课，下面是我们小组学完这门课后，浅谈对中英文化差异的一些理解。 通过这篇项目报告，可以让人更好的了解中英之间的文化差异，也对去英国游玩提供了简单的素材。也能让中英之间更好的文化交流。 分工：李凯凯——Word文档编写 边凯月—— 罗媛媛—— 杨鑫—— 李亚慧——

英汉委婉语对比研究

1）委婉是禁忌心理的产物。任何一种文化，任何一种社会，都存在语言禁忌。委婉语和禁忌语休戚相关。自古以来，人类就对某些事物心存忌讳，为了交际的和谐顺利，为了交际双方更易接受，遭到禁忌的事物的名称必须改头换面，有些刺激性的字眼，敏感的话题就得转移，以一种人们认为“得体、高雅”的名称出现。对犯忌讳的事物或避而讳之或委婉言之，于是避讳委婉的修辞手法应运而生。 2）共同的使用领域。随着社会的发展，委婉语已渗透到各个领域。中英两国在语言禁忌方面有着各自的特色和民族习惯。但是，仍然有些领域的禁忌是在两个社会中普遍存在的，成为了中英委婉语的共同使用领域。例如，英汉委婉语都与死亡、疾病、职业、犯罪、性和排泄等密切相关。 A．表达死亡。在《圣经》或其它与基督教有关的传说中存在许多与死亡有关的委婉语，例如：“to be with God”，“to be asleep in the Arms of God/in Jesus/to lie in Abraham’s bosom”，“to go to heaven/paradise”，“to be promoted to glory”。西方人也认为人类生来有原罪，也就必会受到惩罚，所以“死亡”也是“to pay the debt of nature”。中国对于死亡有禁忌，例如中国佛教把“死”婉称为“入寂”、“圆寂”；道家却称之为“仙去”、“仙逝”等。古代中国皇帝死亡则称为“驾崩”、“弃群臣”；百姓之死称为“过世”、“作古”等。老者死亡称为“寿终”、“谢世”；少年死亡称为“夭折”；中年死亡称为“早逝”；靓女弃世称作“玉陨香消”，等等。 B．人体排泄方面。如关于上厕所，英语有“wash one’s hand，relieve oneself，powder her nose，还有”feel the call of nature”(感觉到自然在召唤)，意为“要上厕所”；汉语有“洗手、方便”。如果女士在场，就必须这样问：“我可以使用一下盥洗室吗?”或问“洗手间在什么地方?”C．关于性的委婉语 在中国和西方国家里，性关系和身体的某些部位是谈话的禁忌。随着经济的发展和人们对性解放的更深认识，在最近几年里西方国家对性的态度开放了许多。在小说和电影中类似“to make love”，“to have sex with”，“to go to bed with”这样的语言也出现了。谈到性关系，中国人更倾向于用“同房”，“夫妻生活”等语言来代替。英语中也有一些新创造的词汇“go to bed with”，“be in bed”，“do it”。与汉语相比而言，英语拥有更多的关于性方面的词汇，这可能与人们对性抱有更开放、更随意的态度有关。 D．教育生活方面：成绩差的学生是a below average student 或working on his own level，而do betterwith help则指反应比较迟钝的学生。学生考试作弊则冠以to depend on others to do his (her ) work.汉语中可用“学习要下劲、成绩要提高”来表达学习成绩差的含义。“考试时做小动作”等来代替考试作弊。美国学生考试不及格，回家对其父母说：“I didn’t make it.”E．社会地位、职业方面：对生活的贫富、职业的贵贱，倾向于低调陈述而不直言不讳。如对贫穷，英语有disadvantaged，underprivileged，汉语有“手头拮据”。有一部分职业委婉语，将一些平凡的职业名称予以改头换面，以此克服自卑感。比如hair dresser (女理发员)被誉为beautician (美容师)、cook (炊事员)被称作chef (厨师)、janitor (守门人)被冠以security officer(安全官员)。汉语中，我们称清洁工为“城市美容师”、小保姆为“小阿姨”、蹲监狱为“在高墙里面”等等。 3）共同的表达方式 如：使用缩写和省略。在所有的文化中，为了避免不愉快，或表示礼貌，或掩饰某些东西，某些词汇可能就会被省略掉。在英语里，“The woman is pregnant”被委婉的表达成“She is expecting”，在这个句子里“a baby”就被省略了。同样，“out”就是“out of work”省略后的委婉语。语音省略也是一种缩写，例如，“WC”是“water closet”，“G-man”是“garbage-man”的省略。汉语里也有利用缩写词委婉表达意思的，例如，“行将就木”中的“木”是“棺木”的委婉表达法。

英汉委婉语对比研究 (3)

第22卷第1期 湖北民族学院学报(哲学社会科学版) N o.1V ol.22 Journal of Hubei Institute for Nationalities (2004年第1期) (Philosophy and Social Sciences) N o.12004 收稿日期:2003-06-23 作者简介:徐长扬(1945-),男,湖北宣恩人,教授,主要研究方向为外语教学法。 英汉委婉语对比研究 徐长扬 (湖北民族学院大外部,湖北恩施445000) 摘要:英汉两种语言均有大量的委婉语。它们既有相同之点,但更有不同之处。委婉语作为语言客观存在的一部分,折射出社会文化现象的一个侧面,反映出民族心理的历史沉淀和深层构建。研究英汉委婉语,对研究修辞学、跨文化交际和外语教学等都有启发意义。 关键词:英汉委婉语;对比;研究 中图分类号:H31 文献标识码:A 文章编号:1004-941(2004)01-0106-03 引言 在社会语言交际过程中,由于说话的环境不同,现实生活中的场景各异,人们在遇到难言之隐或令人难堪的场合时,往往不直截了当地道出个中真由,而用委婉、含蓄、模糊的方式把它烘托出来,以达到恰当、轻松自如、大方得体地表达感情和交流思想的目的。委婉语这一修辞手法就是在这种背景下产生、发展,并为社会语言交际服务的。英汉文化中都存在着委婉语这一语言现象,它们既有相同之处,但更有相异之特点。 英语中的委婉语(euphemism )源自希腊语,由 词头“eu ”(good )和词干“phemism ” (speech )构成,意为吉利之语(words of good omen )或优雅说法(good speech )。汉语中的委婉语解释为:语言婉转,态度诚恳,即用一种不能明说,即用使人感到愉快或含糊的说法代替具有令人不悦的含义或不够尊敬的表达方式。由于委婉语的特殊修辞风格和它作为现实生活中语言交际的组成部分,随着社会的发展与进步,也发生了重大的变化,在当今社会,人们,尤其是青年人喜欢直言不讳,他们讨厌装腔作势,特别是在口头交际过程中如此。但是,在较正式场合则尽量使用委婉语。从总体上而言,委婉语的使用越来越广泛,几乎渗透到政治、经济、军事、文学、心理学、社会 学等各个领域。本文仅从委婉语中最有代表性的政 治、人们的心理因素和生理现象三方面进行探讨。　 一、政治及官方语言中的委婉语 1.汉语委婉语分讳饰和婉曲。讳饰指表达观点时,不直接说出犯忌讳的事情,而采用委婉修辞代替的方法。如在近期中央电视台播出的电视剧《云淡天高》中有这么一段夫妻谈话,一位即将退休的省人大副主任的妻子为了给刚从部队转业的女儿安置一个满意的工作,对其丈夫说:你革命一辈子,你这只蜡烛总是照别人,你这只蜡烛现在已经快耗尽了,能否让女儿也沾点光。其委婉意思是叫其丈夫凭借地位走走“后门”。婉曲指运用委婉曲折的说法表达本意的修辞方式。如:2003年6月,中国主席胡锦涛会见美国总统布什就台湾问题时指出:……中方希望美方恪守承诺,妥善处理台湾问题,不向“台独”势力发出错误信号。语言委婉曲折,令人深思。毛泽东同志是一名伟大的语言大师,他在《别了,司徒雷登》一文中写道:……总之是没有人去理他,使得他“茕茕孑立,形影相吊”,没有什么事做了,只好夹起皮包走路。此处毛泽东同志没有直说司徒雷登“处境孤立”和“灰溜溜滚回美国”,则说他“茕茕孑立,形影相吊”和“夹起皮包走路”。语言委婉,回味无穷。　 6 01

浅谈中英文在文化上的差异

浅谈中英文在文化上的差异中国与英语国家在文化上的差异体现在社会生活的诸多方面，也体现在地域文化的差异，习俗文化的差异，姓名与称呼用语的差异，交际用语的差异，数字内涵，委婉语和对应词及其内涵方面。我从中选取几个方面来，通过对这些方面的讨论来探讨中英文在文化上的差异性。 首先要讨论两国语言在文化上的差异就应该了解什么叫文化，以及文化与语言的关系。 所谓文化就是一个群体的人们在其发展过程中引导其生活、保障其生存的全部内容的总和。我们每一个人，无论生长何地，都是各自特定文化与表达文化的语言的产物。鲁斯·本尼迪克特在《文化类型》中说道：“一个人从他呱呱坠地的那一刻起，他周围的环境与风俗习惯就影响着他的经历和行为。等到他咿呀学语的时候，他已成为此文化熏陶的一个小生灵了。待到他长大成人，能够参与社会活动时，这一特定的文化习惯便成了他的习惯，其特有的观念也变成了他的观念，其禁忌也就变成了他的禁忌。”这高度概括了文化对我们每个人的影响。 同时，语言与文化相依为命，不可能脱离另一方面而独立存在，语言反映文化特征并预示文化发展的方向，两者的关系可简单地比作内容与形式相互依赖、相互作用的关系。 中英文在文化上的差异具体体现在以下几个方面：

一．地域文化的差异 地域文化主要指地理环境、自然环境方面的文化。受自然环境的影响，不同民族在对同一事物的认识上存在差异。有些事物在一种语言中为美，而在另一种语言中为丑；有些事物在一种语言中有丰富的内涵，而在另一种语言中毫无意义。地域文化上的差异又体现在： 1.中英文动物词文化的差异 在中国，龙被视为神物，集力量、智慧、运气、喜庆、威严、威武、权力于一身。封建时代的皇帝常把自己比做“龙”，中华民族也称自己为“龙的传人”，“龙的子孙”。而在英语中，dragon被看作“邪恶”、“恐怖”，甚至“战争”的代名词。《圣经》里多次提到的魔鬼撒旦就是一个与上帝作对的诱惑者和叛逆者的形象，它被称作the old Dragon。英国着名作家狄更斯在《艰难时世》中也以“Dragon”这个词来描述斯巴塞太太：……镇上的人们走来走去看见她坐在那儿，却把她看作这个银行的“毒龙”(Bank dragon)。 2.中英文植物词文化的差异 竹子这种植物与中国文化有着深厚的关系，历代文人墨客赏竹、画竹、咏竹。郑板桥的竹画享誉世界，邵谒的名句“竹死不变节，花落有余香”深入人心，竹子逐渐成了中国人坚强不屈、高风亮节的性格的象征。但bamboo一词在英语里只不过是一种很普通的植物，没有任何外延意义。 二．习俗文化的差异

浅谈中英交际中的文化差异

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浅谈中英文在文化上的差异

浅谈中英文在文化上的 差异 Document serial number【KK89K-LLS98YT-SS8CB-SSUT-SST108】

浅谈中英文在文化上的差异中国与英语国家在文化上的差异体现在社会生活的诸多方面，也体现在地域文化的差异，习俗文化的差异，姓名与称呼用语的差异，交际用语的差异，数字内涵，委婉语和对应词及其内涵方面。我从中选取几个方面来，通过对这些方面的讨论来探讨中英文在文化上的差异性。 首先要讨论两国语言在文化上的差异就应该了解什么叫文化，以及文化与语言的关系。 所谓文化就是一个群体的人们在其发展过程中引导其生活、保障其生存的全部内容的总和。我们每一个人，无论生长何地，都是各自特定文化与表达文化的语言的产物。鲁斯·本尼迪克特在《文化类型》中说道：“一个人从他呱呱坠地的那一刻起，他周围的环境与风俗习惯就影响着他的经历和行为。等到他咿呀学语的时候，他已成为此文化熏陶的一个小生灵了。待到他长大成人，能够参与社会活动时，这一特定的文化习惯便成了他的习惯，其特有的观念也变成了他的观念，其禁忌也就变成了他的禁忌。”这高度概括了文化对我们每个人的影响。 同时，语言与文化相依为命，不可能脱离另一方面而独立存在，语言反映文化特征并预示文化发展的方向，两者的关系可简单地比作内容与形式相互依赖、相互作用的关系。 中英文在文化上的差异具体体现在以下几个方面：

一．地域文化的差异 地域文化主要指地理环境、自然环境方面的文化。受自然环境的影响，不同民族在对同一事物的认识上存在差异。有些事物在一种语言中为美，而在另一种语言中为丑；有些事物在一种语言中有丰富的内涵，而在另一种语言中毫无意义。地域文化上的差异又体现在： 1.中英文动物词文化的差异 在中国，龙被视为神物，集力量、智慧、运气、喜庆、威严、威武、权力于一身。封建时代的皇帝常把自己比做“龙”，中华民族也称自己为“龙的传人”，“龙的子孙”。而在英语中，dragon 被看作“邪恶”、“恐怖”，甚至“战争”的代名词。《圣经》里多次提到的魔鬼撒旦就是一个与上帝作对的诱惑者和叛逆者的形象，它被称作the old Dragon。英国着名作家狄更斯在《艰难时世》中也以“Dragon”这个词来描述斯巴塞太太：……镇上的人们走来走去看见她坐在那儿，却把她看作这个银行的“毒龙”(Bank dragon)。 2.中英文植物词文化的差异 竹子这种植物与中国文化有着深厚的关系，历代文人墨客赏竹、画竹、咏竹。郑板桥的竹画享誉世界，邵谒的名句“竹死不变节，花落有余香”深入人心，竹子逐渐成了中国人坚强不屈、高风亮节的性格的象征。但bamboo一词在英语里只不过是一种很普通的植物，没有任何外延意义。