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戴　燕

Abstract:This thesis makes a contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemism with an attempt to explore and demonstrate the differences and similarities between the two linguistic phenomena in the hope of enlightening and guiding English learners a bit in their language learning, translation studies, cross-cultural communication, etc

Key words:Contrastive StudyEuphemism English Chinese

Ⅰ Introduction

Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in different cultures. From the moment it is coined, it plays an important role in peoples daily communication. Euphemism is not only a language phenomenon but also a culture one. Therefore, since the arrival of the day that euphemism appeared, it seems to play the role of "lubricant" in communication. "If there is no euphemism, the world will cease to operate because of frictions; people will be fraught with mortal enemies."(WANG Fu-xiang 1997: 202) To some extent, the euphemism generates from such circumstances of avoiding shame, of avoiding privacy and other psychological problems during interpersonal communication. Different cultures derive from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, cultural differences would lead to the different uses of language.

Ⅱ A contrastive analysis of the euphemism of “death”

Some taboos in English and Chinese euphemism are same. For example: “death” is universally regarded as one of the taboos. Death as the final outcome, whether ancient or modern, both the East and West, there are few differences. As a human being, regardless of whom he is and how he will be busy with his life, he must experience birth and death, young and old, finally, unveil the mysterious appearance to knock on the death door. Moreover, since ancient times, nobody can come back from the death country, and nobody can describe the life on the other side of world. Thus most people consider "dead" as terrible. For no matter what reasons people refer to death in any particular context, most people will always use less strident version to replace it. For instance, in English, people use these words to replace "death": "pass away" "depart" "pay one 's debt to nature" "go to better world" "be with God," etc; in Chinese, people use these words "to die"(逝世),“to die a natural death”(壽终),“to pass away” (谢世),“to discard this world” (弃世),“to leave this world forever” (与世长辞)“to see Max”(去见马克思) etc to replace the word “death”.

Ⅲ A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism in Terms of Culture

There is also relationship between euphemism and culture. As one form of language, euphemism's growth is greatly influenced by culture since culture and language are closely interrelated to each other. Goodenough (1993:167) articulated that "A society's culture consists of whatever Many English and Chinese euphemisms come from cultural allusions. They are derived from religious fable, folklore, literary works, or other historical stories and customs. They manifest unique characteristics of English culture and Chinese culture respectively. It is usually difficult for us to understand these euphemisms if we do not know where they originated from. For instance, "a visit from the stork" is a euphemism for "the birth of a baby". Ancient people in the west believed that a woman had a baby by the contact with a totem, that is, the stork brought the baby to the woman. Let's look at another example: "Have a coke-stop" is an advertisement that can usually be found at the high way. It is a euphemism of "go to the lavatory", because the drivers can stop their car, have a cup of coffee and go to the lavatory there. “To polish the apple” is a euphemistic expression for “to win favor by giving presents”. Similarly, many Chinese euphemisms are characterized by vivid nationality.“出恭” originates from the Ming Dynasty of China. At that time in order to prevent the examinees from cheating a table named “出恭入敬牌” is prepared for those who want to go to the lavatory. So the excretion is called “小恭”. Even the bedchamber pot is called “恭桶”(Zhang Gong-gui 1996: 259). (Zhang Zhigong 1983:102).

Besides, there are some similar euphemisms in English and Chinese. They have similar euphemistic meanings but their origins are different. For example, in English, we use “to meet ones Waterloo” to refer to a final and decisive defeat. The phrase originated from the historical event that Napoleon was defeated in the town of waterloo in Belgium in 1815. In Chinese, we have an expression “走麦城”, which is equivalent to the phrase “to meet ones Waterloo” in its euphemistic meaning. In the Three Kingdom, Guan Yu was defeated in Maicheng. That is the origin of the phrase“走麦城”.“房事” in Chinese also seems equivalent to “bedroom affair”. But the former usually refers to the sexual relation between husband and wife, which is normal and legal. The latter, however, indicates an illicit sexual relation. Of course,“an unmarried wife” in English is totally different from“未婚妻” in Chinese.

Ⅳ Conclusion

Through this contrastive study, we can see that euphemism is both a linguistic and a social cultural phenomenon. Its generation and development are the outcome of various social and value factors. Euphemism is, in a sense, a keystone of culture. By tracing them, it is possible to see what has been going on in our language as well as in our culture. Therefore by contrastively studying the English and Chinese euphemisms we may get to know different religions, different values, different historical backgrounds as well as the different cultures, which is invaluable for our foreign language learning and teaching, cross-culture communication and so on. It is worth all the efforts to explore.

References:

[1]Ayto, J. Euphemisms.London: Bloomsbury Publishing Limited, 1993.

[2]Tylor, E.B. Primitive Culture[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1871.

[3]張志公,现代汉语[M].北京:人民教育出版社,1983.102.

[4]王福祥,吴汉樱.文化与语言[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1997.202.