從禁忌語與委婉語看中西文化的差異【畢業(yè)論文】

1、<p><b>　?。?0_ _屆）</b></p><p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)設計</b></p><p><b>　　英語</b></p><p>　　從禁忌語與委婉語看中西文化的差異</p><p>　　The study of Taboo and Euphe

2、mism in English and Chinese</p><p><b>　　摘 要</b></p><p>　　語言和文化是一種辯證的關系，每種語言都是其文化的一部分，語言既服務于文化又反映著文化的需要。委婉語與禁忌語是人們使用語言的重要形式，在人際交往中起著重要的作用。委婉語與禁忌語隨著文明的發(fā)展，沉淀了豐富的文化內(nèi)涵。語言是社會發(fā)展的產(chǎn)物，同時也就反映了社

3、會生活，隨著歷史的進步的發(fā)展，語言也發(fā)生了很多的變化。由于宗教、迷信、禮儀以及科技不發(fā)達的原因，某些語言就被禁止使用，同是也就出現(xiàn)了用另外的語言來替代這種語言的現(xiàn)象，于是就出現(xiàn)了委婉語與禁忌語。在不同的民族和文化中都存在著委婉語與禁忌語，如果我們掌握了他們，就能夠在日常生活特別是在跨文化交際中，提高我們的交際能力。本文通過介紹委婉語與禁忌語的定義、形成方式、各自的在不同文化中的特點、以及委婉語與禁忌語在中西方文化上的宗教、等級觀念、禮儀

4、等方面的具體比較來更好的分析委婉語與禁忌語， 便于了解不同的文化，這樣就能更好的掌握它們，并運用到實際當中，提高交際能力，避免不必要的誤會。</p><p>　　關鍵詞：委婉語，禁忌語，語言，文化，比較 </p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　The relation between language and

5、 culture is dialectic. Every language is a part of its culture. Language does not only serve the culture, but also is a mirror for the culture. Language is the outcome of the social development, and it also reflects the

6、society. With the development of the history, we have seen a lot of changes about language. Taboo and Euphemism are the important forms in our society. And they also play an important role in interpersonal interaction. W

7、ith the development of the </p><p>　　Key words: Taboo，Euphemism，language, culture, comparison </p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………

8、Ⅱ</p><p>　　1 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10</p><p>　　2 Origin and Definition of taboo and euphemism ---------------------------

9、--------- 10</p><p>　　2.1 Origin and Definition of taboo---------------------------------------------------------- 10</p><p>　　2.2 Origin and Definition of euphemism ----------------------------

10、---------------------- 11</p><p>　　2.3 sample analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11</p><p>　　3 Feature of euphemism and taboo in Chinese and Eng

11、lish ------------------------ 12</p><p>　　3.1 The language features of euphemism -------------------------------------------------- 12</p><p>　　3.1.1 Nationality --------------------------------

12、---------------------------------------------- 12</p><p>　　3.1.2 Locality ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12</p><p>　　3.1.3 Relevance ---------

13、---------------------------------------------------------------------- 12</p><p>　　3.1.4 Indirection and Relativity ----------------------------------------------------------- 13</p><p>　　3.1.5

14、Fuzziness ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13</p><p>　　3.1.6 Humor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13</p>

15、<p>　　3.2 The language features of taboo --------------------------------------------------- 14</p><p>　　3.2.1 Universality -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

16、4</p><p>　　3.2.2 Nationality --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14</p><p>　　3.2.3 Relevance -------------------------------------------------------------

17、--------------- 14</p><p>　　3.2.4 Description --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15</p><p>　　3.2.5 Class nature -----------------------------------------

18、--------------------------------- 15</p><p>　　3.2.6 Implicitness -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15</p><p>　　4 Three Formations of Euphemism and taboo

19、------------------------------------ 15</p><p>　　4.1 Formation of Taboo ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16</p><p>　　4.1.1 Profanities ------------------------

20、--------------------------------------------------- 16</p><p>　　4.1.2 Obscenities -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16</p><p>　　4.1.3 Vulgarities -------

21、-------------------------------------------------------------------- 17</p><p>　　4.1.4 Sensitive topics --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17</p><p>　　4.2 Prin

22、ciples of the Formation of Euphemism --------------------------------------- 17</p><p>　　4.2.1 Remoteness ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17</p><p>　　4.

23、2.2 Pleasantness ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18</p><p>　　4.2.3 Relatedness ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18</p>&

24、lt;p>　　5 The difference in Taboo and Euphemism between Chinese and English - 19</p><p>　　5.1 Background of China and Western countries. ----------------------------------- 19</p><p>　　5.2 The

25、 application and comparison between Chinese and English in taboo and euphemism. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20</p><p>　　5.3The difference between Chinese an

26、d English in taboo and euphemism------ 21</p><p>　　5.3.1 The taboo and euphemism in religion ------------------------------------------ 21</p><p>　　5.3.2 The taboo and euphemism in sense of grad

27、e --------------------------------- 22</p><p>　　5.3.3 The taboo and euphemism in etiquette ---------------------------------------- 22</p><p>　　6 Conclusions ------------------------------------

28、--------------------------------------- 23</p><p>　　7 Bibliographies ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 24</p><p>　　8 Acknowledgments ----------------------

29、----------------------------------------------- 25</p><p>　　1 Introduction</p><p>　　Language, as a tool of communication, through the crucial role that language plays in the organization of soci

30、al group, has a strong connection with culture and society. Taboo and Euphemism, being part of the language, have a long history in Chinese and English. However, their creation has their unique reasons, and their usage,

31、scope of application are also different.</p><p>　　2 Origin and Definition of taboo and euphemism</p><p>　　2.1 Origin and Definition of taboo</p><p>　　The term taboo is of Polynesian

32、 origin-“tabu” on Tongan Archipelagoes. It originally refers to those holy facts or objects which cannot be spoken or touched and first noted by Captain James Cook, a British sailor. There is also a story. During Cook’s

33、visit to Tongan in 1771, when he came to the island in South Pacific, he found many strange phenomena. For example, some objects can only be used by their leaders or by the God, but some can only be used by common people

34、, and some objects can only b</p><p>　　There are two aspects of taboo: one is the objects, which should be respected, but cannot be used freely; the other is objects, which cannot be touched freely. In a bro

35、ader sense, taboo exists in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects or relationship which the society wishes to avoid and the language used to talk about them. In other words, taboo consists of Behavioral

36、Taboo and Verbal Taboo. Generally speaking, Behavioral Taboo caused Verbal Taboo. Verbal Taboo indicates “a tota</p><p>　　2.2 Origin and Definition of euphemism</p><p>　　The word “euphemism” was

37、 derived from the Greek word “euphemismos”, which means “fair speech”. The prefix “eu” means “good, sound well” and “pheme” means “saying” or “speech”. And thus the literal meaning of “euphemism” is “to speak with good w

38、ords or in a pleasant manner”. That is to say, euphemism is used as an alternative to unpleasant expression, in order to avoid possibly losing someone’s face, or one’s own face, or through going offense, that of the audi

39、ence, or some of third of party. Thi</p><p>　　2.3 sample analysis</p><p>　　For the English learner, understanding the taboo and euphemism is very important; there are some examples both in Chine

40、se and English.</p><p>　　In Chinese, especially in sex, Chinese language has been affected by the feudalism for a long time. People in China are not allowed to say some words in excretion. For example, peopl

41、e are avoided to talk about defecation when have their dinner. Chinese people do not say “somebody is dead”, they always use the words just like “somebody has gone or somebody is too old”. In English, people also do not

42、use the words “cancer”, they call it “the big c” or “l(fā)ong illness”, but in Chinese, people say the</p><p>　　3 Features of euphemism and taboo </p><p>　　3.1The language features of euphemism &l

43、t;/p><p>　　3.1.1 Nationality</p><p>　　Euphemism is the common language phenomenon in the culture of the world. However different countries and different nations have their different natural environ

44、ments, social environments, modes of production, lifestyles and cultures. Euphemism is different. And we call this difference “nationality”. Look at this passage: I used to think I was poor, and then they told me I was n

45、ot poor, I was needy, and then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprive</p><p>　　3.1.2 Locality</p><p>　　Different social modes have led to diff

46、erent euphemisms. Just like bread is the usual food for British, they use: “take bread out of someone’s mouth” to mean “deprive somebody’s job”. Another example: “umble” and “numbles” compose the word” humble”. “umble”

47、and “numbles” are the pie made by the deer’s internal organs, they are low food. Then the word “humble” means “unpretentious, deferential or servile”.</p><p>　　3.1.3 Relevance</p><p>　　The chang

48、e of language is determined by the development of society. On the point of the history, language is changing all the time, new words are produced at any time and old words fade away. Euphemism is unexceptional. For examp

49、le, long time ago, people called black people “negro”, then “black people”, and now “African American”. This is the result of American human right.</p><p>　　3.1.4 Indirection and Relativity</p><p&

50、gt;　　The literal meaning of “euphemism” is “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”. That is to say, euphemism is used as an alternative to unpleasant expression, in order to avoid possibly losing of face, eith

51、er one’s own face or through going offense, or some of third of party. So the indirection is the characteristic of the euphemism. And relativity means when people say a word, it can help people to associate the things th

52、ey refer to. Like </p><p>　　-“Don’t you think my cooking is wonderful?” the girl asked. </p><p>　　-“Are you fishing for compliments” her boyfriend responded.</p><p>　　This conversat

53、ion is implicative, boy does not only respond to his girlfriend’s question, but also avoid embarrassment.</p><p>　　3.1.5 Fuzziness</p><p>　　Many euphemisms make use of the fuzziness of language

54、and broad the meanings. In order to cover up some cruel realities, people always use some inaccurate words to express the more accurate words.</p><p>　　A: “Is the pain worse?”</p><p>　　B: “It’s

55、no great pain, sir, I have been to one specialist, sir….yesterday, and it’s….that, sir</p><p>　　A: “He couldn’t be sure. An operation…..</p><p>　　B: “Too late, he said, for that. If I had been o

56、perated on long ago there might have been a chance.”</p><p>　　When we finished this conversation, we cannot figure out what “it” and “that” are. Actually, A and B talked about the cancer. Because people are

57、all terrified by cancer. A and B use “it” and “that” to replace “cancer” and cover up the cruel reality.</p><p>　　3.1.6 Humor</p><p>　　Our conversation will be full of wit and humor by using eup

58、hemism, and some cruel realities can be covered by using euphemism too. For example, “battle of bulge” describes that women fight against their weight after World War two, in order to keep a good figure, they assimilate

59、their behavior like losing weight to a battle, and it humorously indicates their determination and perseverance about losing their weight. Another example, in Chinese, if the wife has more rights than her husband in fami

60、l</p><p>　　3.2 The language features of taboo</p><p>　　3.2.1 Universality</p><p>　　Taboo exists in all culture’s language, life, religious and so on. From food, clothing, shelter an

61、d transportation to the politics, diplomacy, economy and culture activity of society, it is involved with a lot of things. In a rude tribe or in a civilized society, in China or in Western countries, taboo exists all the

62、 time. All the languages in the world, including the majority language or the minority language, have their own taboos. The universality of taboo derives from different nations’ diff</p><p>　　3.2.2 Nationali

63、ty</p><p>　　Nationality can also be regarded as particularity, the development of different nation’s form the unique features of their languages, a nation’s culture can be reflected by the nation’s language,

64、 taboo is unexceptional, and every taboo has a long story. Because of the nationality, different nations have different ideas about the same phenomenon. Because of the difference between China and western countries in hi

65、story, social system, values, mode of life and so on, the taboo is different too in m</p><p>　　3.2.3 Relevance</p><p>　　Language is flexible. We can find changes all the time. The development of

66、 language is determined by the development of society. On the point of the history, a lot of taboos are eliminated. With the development of civilization, the numbers of taboos are decreased in these years, lots of taboos

67、 are used publicly in our daily life and appeared in the dictionary, but human beings do not cognize the nature, world and us totally, taboo will exist in the world for long time.</p><p>　　3.2.4 Description&

68、lt;/p><p>　　The development of everything has a process, from one stage to another stage, language and culture are also have this process. At every stage of social development, people do not throw their origina

69、l foundation and condition away, they inherited predecessor’s outcome and created or developed them. Some taboos are reserved for thousands of years. People were influenced by what one constantly sees and hears. So these

70、 taboos were inherited and handed down the generation by generation. For example, </p><p>　　3.2.5 Class nature</p><p>　　In the class society, in order to vindicate their benefits, governing clas

71、s use the euphemism to cover up their crimes and prettify them. In some countries, media, newspapers, magazines, radios and TV stations used the euphemism which has fiery political rhetoric. For example, “aggressive war”

72、 is usually transferred to “international armed conflict”. “Electric chair” is transferred to “hot seat”. And people whose level of life was lower than the poverty line are called “the disadvantage”. There </p>&l

73、t;p>　　3.2.6 Implicitness </p><p>　　In the cross-cultural communication, Implicitness is the most obvious features. This features means people do not make a real or direct judgment on one object or a pheno

74、menon. Instead, they always use the replaced, abstract, ambiguous concept or metaphor, amelioration to describe, even use contrary meaning to judge so that speakers can avoid talking about some sensitive topics. Implicit

75、ness is the common language feature in taboo and euphemism. Therefore, sometimes taboo and euphemism are diffic</p><p>　　4 Three Formations of Euphemism and taboo</p><p>　　4.1 Formation of Taboo

76、</p><p>　　In every culture, there seem to be certain unmentionable words and topics that shouldn’t be brought up or put straight forward as a result of religion or custom. Taboos are those of strong affectiv

77、e connotation, they cannot be used in polite discourse. In English, taboo words, roughly speaking, fall into four types, namely profanities, obscenities, vulgarities and sensitive topics.</p><p>　　4.1.1 Prof

78、anities</p><p>　　Profanities, by the name, are the word or acts showing contempt for the name of God or holy things. In the west, most people are religious so that they regard the name of God as forbidden su

79、bject and do not allow anyone to mention it except on some rare occasions. For this reason, many Jews manage to avoid mentioning “God” and Jewish students distort “god of medicine” into “g-d of medicine”. Even in the bib

80、le, there is one rule from the Ten Commandments----“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lo</p><p>　　4.1.2 Obscenities</p><p>　　Obscenities are another kind of taboo words, which mainly concern a

81、bout the sexual organs and arts, and some other part of the human body, such as screw, balls, prick, arse, fart, cunt, ect. Actually obscenities are tabooed in any human language and culture. The educated refuse to use t

82、hem. We can encounter this kind of taboos in colloquial English for the purpose of curse or emphasis. They are more strictly prohibited than profanities because they offend the moral ethics, for example:</p><p

83、><b>　　Fuck you!</b></p><p>　　Bugger off!</p><p>　　He is a stupid prick!</p><p>　　In the serious literary books or magazines those expressions can never get any chance

84、 to appear and are replaced by their euphemisms. For example:</p><p>　　“Denis, I do love you. I’ll never felt like this. Don’t tremble so. You’re not frightened, are you? Denis, tell me how many girls have y

85、ou had?”</p><p>　　He withdrew his lips from her check but did not otherwise move. “How how –many do you mean?”</p><p>　　“How many girls have you made love to, been to bed with?”</p><p

86、><b>　　“None”.</b></p><p>　　(The Unicorn, Iris Murdoch)</p><p>　　In this discourse, it is easy for listener to understand that “to make love to” and “to go to bed with” simply mean

87、 “to copulate”.</p><p>　　4.1.3 Vulgarities</p><p>　　Vulgarities are the third kind of taboos typically round excreta and excretion, such as urinate, piss, shit, crap, wind, vomit, ect. Which are

88、 universally acknowledged as the rudeness?</p><p>　　4.1.4 Sensitive topics</p><p>　　In any civilized society, there exist some sensitive topics. To make communications go along smoothly, it is v

89、ery necessary to hunt some roundabouts to replace the direct expressions that are; speakers should not call a spade. In English-speaking cuntries, speakers or writers always manage to express themselves with some euphemi

90、stic terms to show their dignity and respect to others in such field as death, aging, illness, birth, poverty, some professions, politics, and some social problems, inclu</p><p>　　4.2 Principle of the Format

91、ion of Euphemism</p><p>　　4.2.1 Remoteness</p><p>　　The existence of taboo words or taboo ideas stimulates the appearance of euphemisms. For the sake of successful communication, people use euph

92、emistic expressions in place of taboo words. The latter is often avoided or forbidden because people usually equate it with referent. To remove the direct equivalent association, people tend to create a distance between

93、the symbol and the referent with substitution of the former which keeps a certain distance from the referent through their disagreement, a</p><p>　　red light house; licensed house; beauty parlor(bawdyhouse)&

94、lt;/p><p>　　a social disease; the French disease; the Italian disease; the Neapolitan disease(syphilis)</p><p>　　love child; natural child(bastard) </p><p>　　pre-owned car(old car)<

95、;/p><p>　　4.2.2 Pleasantness </p><p>　　Pleasantness Principle is another important principle. The pleasantness principle doesn’t mean the pleasantness of sound to the ear, but the pleasantness of a

96、 better connotation to the mind that can weaken or remove the unpleasant things associating the euphemistic sign with the real referent/the object itself, especially some disgusting and embarrassing object/referents. For

97、 example, in English, “the toilet” is often replaced by “bathroom” or “washroom”, to present people with a good associatio</p><p>　　4.2.3 Relatedness</p><p>　　There is no necessary connection be

98、tween a symbol and its referent, but people will eventually connect them in their minds. This decides that people can not choose euphemistic expression at will and that a substitution of euphemistic expression must have

99、some basic semantic features in common, so that the hearer can get some clues with which he or she will infer and understand what the speaker means. This is what we mean by “relatedness”.</p><p>　　The princi

100、ple of remoteness requires that the distance between the euphemistic expression and the referent should be as great as possible while the principle of relatedness requires that the distance should not go beyond the norma

101、l context and the limit of the hearer understands.</p><p>　　We can take the religious euphemistic expressions as an illustration. People have been avoiding the real names of some imagined gods and ghosts and

102、 have devised indirect form of reference to calm them. For example, in the Bible, the euphemistic expression “the King of Kings” is used as a substitution of “God” to refer to creator and ruler of the universe. Here, the