语言学presentation

A Comparative Study of English Euphemism and Chinese

Euphemism

Outline

1.Brief Introduction

2.Definition of Euphemism

3.Classification of Euphemism

3.1 Positive Euphemism and Negative Euphemism

3.2 Conscious Euphemism and Unconscious Euphemism

3.3 Other Classifications of Euphemism

4. Language, Culture, Taboo and Euphemism

4.1 Language and Euphemism

4.2 Culture and Euphemism

4.3 Taboo and Euphemism

5. Comparison between Chinese and English Euphemisms

5.1 In terms of Formation

5.1.1 Phonetic Device

5.1.2 Lexical Device

5.1.3 Rhetorical Device

5.1.4 Grammatical Device

5.2 In terms of Range of Use…

5.3 In terms of Culture

5.3.1 Different Religions.

5.3.2 Different Practices

6. Communicative Functions of Euphemism

6.1 Avoiding Taboo

6.2 Showing Politeness

6.3 Concealing Truth

Content

1.Brief Introduction

In every society there are certain things that are not supposed to be speakable or mentioned directly. A fair number of words are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, or at least inconsiderate. But in communication, for better maintaining social relationship and exchanging ideas, people have to resort to a kind of language, which can make distasteful ideas seem acceptable or even desirable. This type of language is defined as ―euphemism‖ in linguistics and it comes in a vari ety of forms and is used for a variety of reasons.

Unlike other figurative language devices, for example, the metaphor of poetry or prose, euphemism aims to surprise and entertain, strives to avoid offence by means of circumlocution. As a communicative skill—―telling it like it isn’t,‖ euphemism abounds in our life. Euphemisms are powerful linguistic devices which ―are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without usi ng them.‖

2.Definition of Euphemism

Western linguists think the word ―euphemism‖ comes from the Greek ―eu‖( meaning ―good‖) and ―pheme‖(meaning ―speech‖ or ―saying‖), and thus it literally means ―to speak with good words‖. Later on, euphemism is defined differently and more precisely. Some of the definitions are listed below:

(1)That figure of speech which consists in the substitution of a word or expression of comparatively favorable implication or less unpleasant associations, instead of the harsher or more offensive one that would more precisely designate what is intended. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989)

(2) The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought substituted. (Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the Englis h Language, 1996)

(3) Euphemizing is generally defined as substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the truth by using kind words.(Enright D.J., 1985) (4)Word, etc. used in place of one avoided as e.g. offensive, indecent, or alarming. (Oxford

Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, Shanghai Foreign Languages Publishing House, 2000)

(5)Used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’s own face or t hrough giving offences, that of the audience, or of some third party. (Allen, K. and Burridge, K., 1991:18)

The Chinese equivalent for ―euphemism‖ is ―委婉‖，―婉转‖，or the most popular one ―婉曲‖ containing ―婉言‖ and ―曲语‖; ―婉言‖ means ―substituting an implicit expr ession for an explicit one‖ while ―曲语‖ implies the original meaning through describing things relevant to it.

Chen Wangdao (陈望道) was the first person who gave euphemism（in his words ―婉曲‖and ―讳饰‖）a definition. In his Introduction to Rhetoric (《修辞学发凡》)，the definition reads, ―婉曲辞‖ means ―to say something indirectly, but connoting and substituting it with roundabout and implicit words or even metaphorical expression.‖(说话时不直白本意，只用委曲含蓄的话来烘托暗示的叫婉曲辞) Let’s compare:

1) 我尝想：公文书里罢黜一个人的时候常用―人地不宜‖四字，总算是一个比较体面的下台的借口。（梁实秋《骆驼祥子》）

2) 阿刘哑告诉，姓孙的那几个人打牌，声音太闹，给法国管事查到了，大吵其架，自己的饭碗也砸破了，等会就得卷铺盖下船。（钱钟书《围城》）

Example 1 falls into―婉言‖ ,using an implicit parlance to reduce the provocation. Example 2 belongs to―曲语‖ in Chinese, or ―periphrasis‖ in English.

So it is apparent here that ―euphemism‖ in English and ―委婉‖in Chinese are similar in that both use mild, agreeable, roundabout expressions in place of coarse, painful, and offensive ones.

Though scholars at home and abroad have defined euphemism differently from different perspectives, the above-mentioned definitions share some features:

1. The purpose of using euphemisms is to avoid directly speaking out the unpleasant or taboo reference like death, the dead, the supernatural, etc.

2. Euphemism is a kind of polite and roundabout mode of expression.

3. Euphemism is used to soften or beautify the unpleasantness of reality.

3. Classification of Euphemism

There is no uniform standard, but the motives of the different classifications are to discover and understand the characteristics of euphemism from different angles. The following is a brief introduction to some representative classifications of euphemism.

3.1Positive Euphemism and Negative Euphemism

●―The positive ones inflate and magnify, making the euphemized items seem altogether grander an d more important than they really are.‖ (Rawson 1981:1) (British and American people, especially contemporary Americans, prefer using the technique of exaggeration to euphemize something unpleasant and embarrassing. The positive euphemisms include the many fancy occupational titles, which save the egos of workers by elevating their job status.)

e.g. ―exterminating engineers‖ for ratcatchers, ―beautician‖ for ―hairdressers‖

Xizi(derogatory term for actors or actresses in days of gone) was called lingren (a beautified address)

eunuch was called gonggong or zhishi (both were respectful forms of address, the former meaning ―grandpa‖, and the latter, ―executive‖.)

(People’s ideology, values, and their way of thinking have undergone a great changed, especially in showing respect for others)

e.g. ―清洁工‖ (sanitary worker/street cleaner), ―护士‖(hospital nurse) and ―邮递员‖ (postman/mailman) are often called euphemistically ―环境美容师‖ (environmental beautician), ―白衣天使‖(angle in white) and ―绿衣使者‖ (messenger in green)

●―The negative euphemisms deflate and dimi nish. They are defensive in nature, offsetting the power of tabooed terms and otherwise eradicating from the language everything that people prefer not to deal with directly.‖(Rawson, 1981:1). (The negative euphemisms can be called traditional euphemisms or narrowing euphemism. They are extremely ancient, and closely connected with the taboos. A euphemism and its corresponding taboo are in fact two faces of the same coin. They refer to the same thing though they have different looks, the euphemism having a much more pleasant face than the taboo. In many cultures, it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God.)

e.g.1 ―Jeeze‖, ―Jeepers Creepers‖ , or ―Gee‖ for ―Jesus‖, ―Jesus Christ‖ or ―Christ‖, ―goodness‖ for ―God‖ or ―My Gum‖ for ―My God‖

e.g.2 the bear is c alled ―老爷子‖ （grandfather）by people and the tiger is alluded to as the ―猫‖ (cat) or ―山神爷‖( god of the mountain). Some Chinese call ―黄鼠狼‖(weasel )and ―狐狸‖(fox) as ―黄仙‖ (weasel fairy) and ―狐仙‖(fox fairy) respectively.

3.2 Conscious Euphemism and Unconscious Euphemism

●Unconscious euphemisms were developed long ago, and are used unconsciously, without any intent to deceive or evade.

e.g. now standard term as ―cemetery‖ has been a replacement for the more deathly ―graveyard‖ since the fourteenth century. ―Indisposition‖ has been a substitute for ―disease‖ for a long period; people seldom realize that its original meaning is incapacity for dealing with something.

●Conscious euphemisms are widely employed, which involves more complex categories. When people communicate with each other, speakers are conscious to say tactfully, and the listeners understand their implied meanings.

e.g. when a lady stands up and says that she wants to ―powder her nose‖ or ―make a phone call‖ at a dinner party, the people present realize th e euphemism means ―something else‖, that is, ―going to the ladies’ room‖.

3.3 Other Classifications of Euphemism

Euphemisms of sex

Euphemisms of occupation

Euphemisms of unemployment

Euphemisms of disease

Euphemisms of crime

4. Language, Culture, Taboo and Euphemism

4.1Language and Euphemism

Hugh Rawson (1981:3) pointed out the close relation between language and euphemism, ―Euphemisms are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, ever get through a day without using them.‖

4.2 Culture and Euphemism

The relationship between euphemism and culture is obvious: euphemism, as a cultural–linguistic product, displays its multiple mapping relations with culture; it changes along with the development of society, and the use of euphemism varies with the variation of the context. It is a reflection of culture and carries vestigial patterns once dominant in a society. Within a single culture, whether acceptable or forbidden, the subjects and portions of euphemisms have varied from one historical period to another. Understanding of the culture underlying euphemisms enables us to catch the meaning conveyed.

4.3 Taboo and Euphemism

Euphemism originates from verbal taboo, and verbal taboo originates from religious superstition, which reflects the importance of social psychology in the origin of euphemism. Taboo and euphemism are two closely related cultural and linguistic phenomena of human society. Meanwhile, euphemism develops with taboo, so euphemistic words and expressions not only allow us to talk about unpleasant things and disguise or neutralize the unpleasantness.

e.g., the subjects of sickness, death and dying, unemployment, and criminality, but also allow us to give labels to unpleasant tasks and jobs in an attempt to make them sound almost attractive.

5. Comparison between Chinese and English Euphemisms

5.1 In Terms of Formation

Phonetic, lexical, grammatical, rhetorical angles

※Phonetic device:

English-----Euphemisms may be created by phonetic device—light reading and phonetic distortion. Light reading is a popular way of euphemism which means that when you mean something that you have to mention, but you are shy to mention it, usually you say it in a low voice. Phonetic distortion refers to the changing of a sound in word for the purpose of euphemizing, which is more acceptable in English because its writing is alphabetic. Phonetic distortion includes abbreviation, reduplication distortion of pronunciation

e.g, ―TB‖ for ―tuberculosis‖, ―vamp‖ for ―vampire‖, ―JC‖ for ―Jesus Christ‖, ―WC‖

for ―Water Closet‖, ―SOB‖ for ―son-of-a-bitch‖, ―BS‖ for ―bullshit‖, ―Pee-pee‖ or ―Wee-wee‖ for ―piss‖, and there are distortions of pronunciations like ―Gripes‖ for ―Christ‖, ―Gad‖ for ―God‖ etc.

Chinese----- There is no direct link between Chinese character and its pronunciation. Thus, compared with English, the Chinese language does not have the convenience of phonetic distortion. We can find fewer phonetic distortions in Chinese and the most common phonetic device is assonance, which mostly employs the homophone for there are so many homophones in Chinese.

e.g, instead of speaking ―解溲‖ we use ―解手‖. ―手‖is an assonance of ―溲‖ ( dejects or soil). ―隐君子‖ stands for ―瘾君子‖(the person who is addicted to drugs).那几个小子是孔夫子搬家，尽是书（输）啊！In Chinese, ―书‖(book) and ―输‖(lose, fail) sound the same.

The tone of a Chinese character also can be used to achieve a euphemistic effect.

e.g, in the Qin Dynasty( 221—206B.C. ), to avoid the name taboo, the tone of ―正月‖ (zhèng yue; it means first month of lunar year) was changed from the fourth tone into the first ―正月‖（zhēng yue ) for fear of sounding like the name of the emperor ―赢政‖ (Yingzhèng).

Besides, as the Chinese character is a kind of hieroglyph, which has its own unique synthetic method, Chinese people like to make use of a very unique way in euphemism formation : character separation. Here are two examples:

3) 周先生，你一人十一划有吗？（沙陆墟《魂断梨园》）

Here十一划is the euphemistic expression of opium. For in common saying, opium is 烟土or 土and the character 土can be separated into 十and 一.

4) 张俊民道：―胡子老官，这是你做法便了，便成了，少不得言身寸。‖ 王胡子―我那个要你谢......‖ （《儒林外史》第32回）

The character谢is separated into言, 身, and寸to achieve euphemism.

※Lexical device:

https://www.360docs.net/doc/202671935.html,ing Foreign Words

Employment of loan words to avoid mentioning a tabooed term is an effective way of euphemizing. For English euphemism, the so–called ―another language‖ is usually

French or Latin. And for Chinese euphemism, the ―another language‖ is generally English.

e.g. French→English :love (affair, amour, liaison), war (personnel, sortie, triage) English→Chinese:―去W.C.‖ (to go to W.C), ―A 片‖ (adult movie), ―罗曼史‖(romance), ―TB‖ (tuberculosis), ―小蜜‖(mistress), ―基佬‖(gay), ―马杀鸡‖ (massage)

https://www.360docs.net/doc/202671935.html,ing Substitutions

Substitution is to replace the impolite or unspeakable words with certain literally mild and pleasant words or expressions. It is evident that the ways of expunging offensive expressions from language have remained much the same.

e.g. English :―be sent to the big houses‖ just means ―be sent to prison‖

Chinese: ―上厕所‖is turned to be ―更衣‖ (literally meaning ―changing clothes‖ ) by ancient Chinese or “去洗手间”by modern Chinese.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/202671935.html,ing Vague Words or Expression

Vague words and expressions can blur the undesirable yet explicit associations that taboo words arouse and are therefore euphemistic. So in both English and Chinese, people use abstract, general and vague words and expressions to euphemize the oral taboos.

e.g. English: ―fat‖is replaced by such words as ―round‖, ―plump‖, ―stout‖, ―well–fed‖, ―full‖, ―full–bodied‖, ―king–sized‖ etc.

Chinese: ―发福‖ (put on weight), ―富态‖ (portly) are used to replace ―胖‖ (fat)

4. Using Stories from Religious or Literary Works

e.g. English word ―die‖ come from Bible, ―go west‖, ―go to heaven‖, ―go to one’s Maker‖, ―be with God‖, ―go the way of all flesh‖, ―return to dust‖ are used to replace ―die‖.

Chinese euphemisms for ―死‖(die) such as ―仙逝‖(take flight to the land of the immortal), ―归天‖(go to heaven), ―骑鹤西去‖(ride west on a crane), ―圆寂‖(parinirvana), ―涅磐‖(nirvana), ―归真‖(return to original purity) ―归西‖(go west), ―千秋后‖(centuries after death), ―百年后‖(a hundred years after death)originated from in religion or literature.

※Grammatical Device

1 Using Negation

Euphemism often consists in substituting a denial of the opposite idea for a positive word as well as a sentence.

e.g. ―He is a liar.”→―He and truth are not on very intimate term‖

In Chinese, some indirect negatives like ―不一定‖(not so sure), ―不必‖(not have to), ―未免‖(rather; truly; inevitably), ―不免‖(unavoidable), ―未必‖(may not; not necessarily) are often employed to make sentences explicit.

e.g.这位凤姑娘，------回来你见了就信了。就只一件，待下人内未免太严个些。（《红楼梦》第六回）

2 Using Omission

Omission is a good way to avoid some unpleasant or taboo words.

e.g. ―You had better take precautions.‖ means you had better take precautions against pregnancy.

鲁侍萍："......可是谁会料到就会有着种事，偏偏又叫我的孩子碰着呢？妈妈命苦，可你们的命......"Here,鲁侍萍, as a mother, doesn’t want to hurt her children by employing omission to avoid speaking out ―更苦‖.

Besides, Chinese writers often use the symbols ―□‖ or ―×‖ to replace the unspeakable words, sentences, even passages, which contain dirty words or descriptions of sex.

e.g.庄子蝶勃然大怒，骂道：―×他娘的洪江，他也敢这么糟践我了？！‖（贾平凹，《废都》, P.508）

※Rhetorical Device

1 Using Periphrasis(迂回说法)

Periphrasis is the kind of wording that beats about the bush. Topics and terms that are too touchy to be dealt with openly may be alluded to by this means.

e.g. ―live at the government’s expense‖ is really ―be in prison‖, and ―wash one’s hands‖, ―powder one’s nose‖ and ―spend a penny‖ all mean ―go to the W.C.‖

―老手‖ (a veteran) euphemistically r efers to ―老色鬼‖ (a goat), ―吃双份饭‖ (to eat for two) euphemistically refers to ―怀孕‖ (pregnant) and―孩子他爹‖ (literally meaning ―the father of our children‖) euphemistically refer s to ―丈夫‖ (husband).

2 Using Metaphor

e.g. many English euphemisms for death are created by metaphor, going to his last home, to sleep the long/eternal, never–ending sleep, to rest in peace/to be at rest, has gone to Heaven/Paradise, to have joined one’s ancestors/to be gathered to one’s fathers, to have joined the immortals...while “回老家”(going to his last home), “长眠”(sleep the long/eternal), “安息”(to rest in peace/to be at rest), “上天国/升天堂”(has gone to Heaven/Paradise), “去见老祖宗”(to have joined one’s ancestors/to be gathered to one’s fathers), “作古”(to have joined the immortals), etc. used in Chinese.

5.2 In terms of Range of Use

Euphemism is tied to taboo, which is present in every human society. Both in English and Chinese certain areas of taboo such as death, sex, disability, etc. may thought to be the common areas to be euphemized. One term that seems to be almost universally avoided is death.

e.g. In English :pass away, pass out, pass over, pass on, go (e.g. He's gone.), go to sleep, depart, depart from the world forever, decease

In Chinese, there are去世(pass away)，长眠(sleep one’s long s leep)，病故(die of an illness)，亡故(decease)，牺牲(lay down one’s life)，安息(rest in peace)，没了(be no more)，作古(join one’s fathers)，谢世(go to the better world)

Other ranges are mentioned in both languages.

e.g I n English, ―plain‖ or ―homely‖ for ―ugly‖; I n Chinese, ―相貌平平‖, ―长的一般‖, ―很端庄‖ are euphemistic terms for a plain–looking person

For the cripple, the deaf and the blind, we can find ―the mobility–impaired, the hearing–impaired/hard of hearing, visually impaired, partially–sighted/people with low vision‖ etc.. In China, we can say ―铁拐李/腿脚不方便(like the one–legged Immortal Li/have difficulty moving)，耳朵背/耳朵有点不好使(hard of hearing/dull of hearing)，眼睛不太好(have poor eyesight)‖.

5.3 In Terms of Culture

5.3.1 Different Religions

5.3.2 Different Practices

6. Communicative Functions of Euphemism

Generally speaking, the main communicative functions of euphemism, whether English or Chinese, are to avoid taboo, to show politeness, and to use pleasant, mild or indirect word to replace more accurate or direct ones.