修辞-Euphemisms

姓名：陈睿学号：1111901222班级：英语1112班BriefAnalysisofEnglishEuphemismsEuphemism,delicateterm,isalingualphenomenonaswellasarhetoricaldevice.Itplaysanimportantpartinsocialcommunication.Itislikelubethatavoidshurtingtheothers’feelingandoilsthehumanrelationshipincommunicationandhelpstosavefaceofcommunicators.Itisjustlikeamirror,whichreflectsthevalues,moralconceptsandaestheticconceptionstosomedegrees.Sinceeuphemismcanaccelerateandfacilitatethecommunication,it’sworthyofcautiousandthoroughstudy.Thispaperelaboratesonthesocialpsychologicalfoundationandformationofeuphemismsinrhetoric.1.IntroductionEuphemismshaveexistedforalongtime.Theword“euphemism”derivedfromtheGreekword“Euphemia”.Theprefix“eu-”means“good,soundinggood”,thestem“pheme”means“speech”or“saying”.Itmakesup“goodspeech”or“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”Manypeoplehavedefinedeuphemism.Herearesomeofthedefinitions.Neamanexplained“substitutinganinoffensiveorpleasanttermforamoreexplicit,offensiveone,therebyveneeringthetruthbyusingkindwords”.Thereareotherbriefdefinitions:comfortablewords,gildedwords,mildexpressionandsoon.Allinall,consideringthefactorssuchassocialcultureandsocialpsychology,languageusersemployapoliteexpressionandotherlanguagesornon-verbalmeansinsteadofastraightandordinarystatementinordertoavoidhurtinghearersorreaders.Inwesternnations,theusageofeuphemismsinearlytimesoriginatedfromreligionoradmiresanddreadofgods.Itsearlieremergencehadacloserelationtolanguagetaboosandreligion.2.SocialpsychologicalfoundationofEnglisheuphemisms2.1AdmireanddreadofgodsInwesternnations,theusageofeuphemismsinearlytimesoriginatedfromreligionoradmiresanddreadofgods.Itsearlieremergencehadacloserelationtolanguagetaboosandreligion.Peopleinthewestagodidnotdaretomentionthenamesofthedevilsandgodsdirectly.Thus,languagetabooscameintobeing.Theyusedotherwordstosubstitutethenamesofthosethingstheyfearedincircumstancesthattheyhadtospeakofthemtosolvethissolution.Therefore,euphemismswereborn.Theyuse“theKingofKing”toreplace“theGod”or“OldHarry”substitutes“theDevil”.Itisappropriatetospeakregionalwords,suchasGod,devil,heavenandsoon,inseriouscondition,otherwise,itwillbefalse.“Bloomfield,afamousAmericanlinguistician,saidinhismasterpiece”Language”.2.2avoidingroughandgracelessInourdailylife,therearesometaboosthatarebelievedtobedangeroustocertainindividuals,ortothesocietyasawhole,ortobedisgustingandunpleasantaswellascausefear.Thetaboo,suchasdisease,death,sex,bodyexcretionandbodyeliminationprocess,etc.canbereplacedbyeuphemismtoavoidorreducetheunpleasantstimulatingfactorsandincreasethecheerfulelements.Forexample,“Iwanttogotothelavatory.”Thissentenceisvulgarandharsh.“Iwouldliketogetsomefreshair.”Comparedwiththeformersentence,thisisimplicitandelegant.Tomakeourlanguagemoreelegantandgentleisaaestheticpsychologyofhumanbeingaswellasaperformancetoseekbeautyasfaraspossibleinlanguage.2.3Face-savingorpleasingsomeoneAnotherpsychicalelementtobuildeuphemismisexaggeratedlyembellishingandbeautifying,whichcansatisfyvanityandprideofhumanbeing.Thefeatureisusingupliftingwordsinlargequantities,inotherwords,itisglorifyingeuphemism.Inbrief,“good”,“tall”and“decent”shouldsubstitute“bad”,“short”and“coarse”.Forexample,peopleinthewestnowadaysareextremelysensitiveaboutthesocialstatusofthecareer,soalmostallof“jobs”(normalwork;chore)aretranslatedinto“professions”(especiallyreferstothejobsthatneedtobewithvocationaltrained,considerableskillorengagedinmentallabor).Thereforealmostallmenialjobshaveasweetname.3.TheformationofEnglisheuphemisms3.1Lexicaldevices3.1.1UsingantonymwithnegativeprefixorsuffixForexample:foolish—unwise;false—untruthful;rude—impolite;bind—sightless;poor—economicallydisadvantaged;slums—unfithouses3.1.2OmittingsomesyllablebylogogramForexample:Cancer—Ca,bigC;cocaine—bigC;bastard—B;queer—Q.3.1.3AcronymForexample:Goddamn—GD;tuberculosis—TB;mentaldeficiency—MD;bodyodor—BO;bullshit—BS;drugaddict—DA.3.1.4LoanwordsBorrowingistheuseofloanwordsinordertoavoidtaboos.“Itisthoughtthatloanwordshavefewnegativemeaningandsensitiveassociations,sothattheysoundmoreneutralandpleasant.”AftertheNormanConquestin1066,FrenchbecamethegovernmentallanguageinEngland.ButFrenchandLatinwereonlyspokenbytheupperclasses,andamongthelowclassesEnglishwasspoken.Theupperclassesheldtheviewthatwordsusedbythemweresuperiortothoseusedbythelowclasses.SotheyusedFrenchorLatinwordstoreplacevulgarEnglishwords.LaterpeopleacceptedtheviewthatFrenchandLatinwordsaremoreeuphemisticandelegantthanEnglishwords.Forexample,“sheisproudofherbeautifulderriere.”Theword“derriere”isFrench,whichmeanshaunch.3.2Grammaticaldevices3.2.1UsingthepasttenseInwrittenEnglishthepasttenseismostlyusedtoexpressanactionorafacthappenedinacertainpointoftimeinthepast.ButinoralEnglish,thepasttensecanreplacethepresenttensetomakethemeaningofthesentencessoundsmorepoliteandmild.Forexample:(1)Doyouwishtoseemerightnow?(2)Didyouwishtoseemerightnow?(3)Ithinkyouwilllikethisring.(4)Ithoughtyouwouldlikethisring.Sentences(1)and(3)usethepresenttenseandsentences(2)and(4)usethepasttense,andtheyareallgrammaticallyright.Bu