论英语委婉语的社会功能.doc

论英语委婉语的社会功能

摘要: 委婉语是人类社会中普遍存在的一种语言现象，是随着人类的不断变化发展，而逐渐形成的，用语言来调剂人际关系的一种重要手段。它具有重要的社会功能性。而当今社会，英语作为一种适用范围非常广的语言，了解英语委婉语的社会功能显得很必要。本文从四个方面分析其功能性，即：避讳功能，礼貌功能，礼仪功能和掩饰功能,和其使用方法。
关键词：委婉语，社会功能， 用法

On the Social Functions of Euphemism in English

Abstract: Euphemism is a common language phenomenon in social life. It appeared with the development of human being. It is a medium that uses language to coordinate interpersonal relationship. And euphemism has important social functions. At the present, many people use English. So it is obviously necessary to know it. The paper will talk about its usage and social functions from four parts: the Evasive Function, the Polite Function, the Ritual Function, and the Disguised Function.
Key words: Euphemism, social functions, usage

Introduction

Euphemism is a common phenomenon in the process of using language. It is not only a social language phenomenon, but it is also a cultural one. No matter where we are or what we do, we all need language to communicate. However, every language has its own taboos, because of the different cultural backgrounds, customs or the habits of life. Therefore, we always use the euphemism to avoid the taboos. And the euphemism has a great influence on social communication. It makes communication go on smoothly. We can avoid embarrassment or unhappiness by using it. At the present, English is a famous language. It is wildly used in our daily life. The study of English euphemism can help us understand western cultures, customs as well as habits of life. It is good to promote international communication, and enhance the friendly cooperation between east and west. Euphemism plays an important role in our daily communication. So there is a great need for us to learn euphemism, including its definitions, its origin and its social functions and so on.

2. The Definitions and Origin of Euphemism

2.1 The Definitions of Euphemism
As we all know, in the process of communication, people feel uncomfortable, even angry, if the words are unsuitable or too direct. Then there is a great need for us to use a pretty indirect way to show our emotions or ideas. That is to say to “use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phases in place of more or direct ones.”[1] We all the words or phrases euphemism. “The English word “euphemism” derived from Greek word “euphemismos”. The prefix “eu” means “good”, and the term “phemism” means “speech”. And thus the literal meaning of euphemism is “word of good omen”.”(英文“euphemism（委婉语）”一词源于希腊语“euphemismos”.词头“eu”的意思是“good（好）”，词干“phemism” 的意思是 “speech（言语）”， 整个字面意思是“word of good omen（吉言或好的说法）”。) [2] Without it, any language would seem to be vulgar. Human would seem to be fighting and rude if the communication is lacking of it. Also it is known that “a euphemism is commonly defined as an auspicious or exalted term (like “sanitation engineer”) that is used in place of a more down-to-earth term (like “garbage man”).”[3]

2.2 The Origin of Euphemism
The earliest English euphemism came from taboo. Taboo is defined as “a prohibition against touching, saying or doing something for fear of immediate harm form a supernational force.”[4] At the ancient time, human thought God created the world. In their eyes, God owned a super power that could control everything. The Ten Commandment of Bible has prescribed, “Do not use my name for evil purpose, for I, the Lord your Lord, will punish anyone who misuses my name.”[5] Then, people often used other words instead of God, such as the Creator, the Maker Our Father, King of Kings and so on. Also people had blind faith in devil. He was more terrible for people. From the idiom---talk of the devil and he will appear, we can easily find people to be afraid to call the name of the devil directly. So they created some words in place of the word “devil”, like old enemy, old Ned, the Black one, the evil one and Prince of Darkness, etc. Therefore, those words became the euphemism of God and devil. Later, many words, like death, illness, etc, owned their own euphemism. Because people thought the words are unlucky. And some words, that had the closest relationship with politics and wars, also found their substitutes to help them to hide their real purposes, or touch their goals.

3. The Social Functions of English Euphemism

3.1 The Evasive Functions of English Euphemism
From the origin of euphemism, it is used to avoid the taboos. The evasive function of it let people enable to talk about tabooed things freely. These tabooed things are believed to be dangerous to the individuals or to the society, or to cause fear and be disgusting, unpleasant. They are including: death, disease, disabilities, sex, and etc. people use euphemism to discuss what they can’t talk about directly.

3.1.1 Euphemism for Death
Death is the persistent subject for euphemism. It is an inevitable stage at the end of life’s journey. It is a common experience of all human being. So it is not only one of the main sources of pain, but also the most fearful thing. The man is fear of the loss of loved ones; fear of the end of one’s life; fear of the actual process of dying. They are also fear of devil, because they usually link between death and devil. Therefore, all these fears and unpleasant feelings lead to the taboo of death. For example, the old man was finally asleep in the Arm of God after he left of his last word. In this sentence, the phase” be asleep in the Arm of God” euphemistically tells us the man was died. There are some euphemisms about death, such as to be with God, to depart to God, to go to meet one maker, to go to heaven, to be in heaven, to be at peace. We can see that using them can show a good wish for died one or their relations. Because we know God is a symbol of peace and happiness. No matter why these words are used in a certain language, people always tend to use less harsh word, for instance, fallen asleep, be at rest, return to dust, pass away, be done forever, go to a better world, etc. when using them, we mildly express our feelings. We hope the died one can be relaxed at a better world.
3.1.2 Euphemism for Diseases Disabilities.
There are different subjects about taboos in different cultures and periods. But whenever human are, they produce the same fear to diseases. In the past, for backward medical skills, many diseases were the substitution of death. Therefore, the disease became a kind of taboos. Even in today, it is the same. Everyone yearns for healthy, and fear for special diseases. So people always use a tactful way to express them.
For example, AIDS (Acquired Immure Deficiency Syndrome) is the one of the most serious disease in the world. Almost human beings are afraid of it at the present. So people choose “social disease” in place of it. In order to lighten disease’s mental burden; improve his mental sustaining ability; enhance his confidence to defeat, human use many euphemistic ways to try to embellish or avoid them. For instance, “‘look off colour’ means ‘be ill’; ‘under the weather’ also means ‘bad health’. If someone suffers mental disease, we call it ‘not all there’. ‘Cancer’ is called ‘long illness’ or ‘unnecessary growth’. In English, we usually use the words ‘condition, disorder, problem, trouble, etc’ instead of ‘illness or disease’.” (look off colour(气色不好，实指身体不好)，under the weather（在恶劣天气条件下，实指健康欠佳)，not all there（神志不清，实指癌症）.英语里常用以代替 illness 或 disease 委婉疾病的词有：condition, disorder, problem, trouble等。）[6]
Besides, disabilities are very sensitive area in every culture. In English, the meaning of “handicapped” and “inconvenienced” is the same as “disabled”. “Deaf” is called “hard of hearing” or “auditory-impaired”. “Blind” is euphemized “sight-deprived” or “visually retarded”. We have others to replace but them. If a girl can hear nothing, we can say “a girl is slow of hearing.” From the literal meaning, we can conclude the girl can hear a few sounds, even if she is totally deaf. So, for my part, the euphemisms can encourage her. Maybe, from the word, she feels that we treat her like a normal one. It is a kind of respect for her by avoiding her pain.

3.1.3 Euphemism for Sex
At my childhood, when I asked my mum where I came from, my mum often answered that you were from stone. Why didn’t my mum give me the strange answer?
Nearly all languages consider “sex” a taboo word. Verbal euphemism on it is probably motivated by shame. People all have certain feelings of which they are so shamed that they don’t like to admit even to themselves. The following words is a euphemism for “have sex with”: “go all the way”; “have relationship with”; “go to bed with”; “make love”; “do it”, and so on.
Also some words that have relationship with “sex” have their own euphemisms, such as pregnancy or physiological organs. For instance, the whole family cheered up for the good news that Mary was full of heir. “Be full of heir is a euphemism for “be pregnant”. There are others for it, including: “in the family way”; “eating for two”; swallow a watermelon seed”; learn all about diaper folding”; “wear the apron high”; “rehearing lullabies”, and so on. For physiological organs, we can use such words instead of man’s genital: “‘one-eyed trouser snake’, ‘pork sword’, ‘beef bayonet’, ‘pink oboe’, ‘silent flute’, ‘sugar stick’, ‘love-muscle’, ‘sausage’.”[7] The words are for breast: “apple”, “globes”, “charms” and so on. And “menstruation” is replaced by “I have the flowers”; “my friend has come”; “she is flashing the red flag”; “the res sea is in”; “she has her period”; “she is riding the cotton bicycle” and so on. Using the words or phrases avoids shame and embarrassment, make our communication be easily and smoothly.

3.2 The Polite Functions of English Euphemism
Politeness is another important function that euphemisms serve in the social life. Politeness is the symbol of human’s civilization and one of the important principles guiding people’s activities. Being polite is a reasonable action that anyone who is keen on face-saving will take.

3.2.1 In term of Occupation
The polite functions of English euphemism are embodied in every occupational language. “The man who wants us to call him a ‘sanitation engineer’ instead of ‘garbage man’ is hoping we will treat him with more respect than we presently do”[8] So “shoemaker” is changed to “shoetrician”; “gardener” to “land architect”; “hairdresser” to “beautician”; “housewife” to “domestic engineer”; “chimney sweeper” to “chimney consultant”; “butcher” to “meat technologist” and so on. They seem to told us they are of some important to our society. The words not only beautify careers, especially low one, but also they eliminate occupational discrimination that gives people pressure and emotional irritation.

3.2.2 In term of Appearance and Age
In English, we always use many adjective to describe people’s appearance, such as “beautiful”, “pretty”, “handsome”, “lovely”, “good-looking”, and “attractive”. But when talking about someone is not pretty, we cannot say “ugly” or “awfully”. Because it makes him/her get a sense of inferiority. So why not show the word like “plain”, “ordinary”, “not particular looking”, etc. for him/her? By the same way of it, if somebody is fat, we might as well say that “she is full figure, or plump”; “he is stout, big or well built”. If she is thin, we say “she is slender or slim” rather than “she is a skinning woman.” When choosing clothes, we often find that producers use the capital letters: “L”, “M”, and “S” to denote the size of clothing. “L” is “large size”. “M” is “middle size”. “S” is “small size”. The capital letters effectively avoid the unhappy words. When buying pantyhose, you will find the word “Queen Size”. It hits at “large size”. It means the pantyhose are for fat woman. But, according to the literal meaning, we can see that the pantyhose are for queen. It not only let customers have a desire to buy, but also let them think fat is not a bad thing, because they are “queens”. Using euphemism smartly in there can get rid of his/her inferiority and timidity; encourage him/her to live enthusiastically; and finally show our opinions politely.
The age, especially a woman’s age is regarded as a sensitive privacy. And most of the western people are afraid of getting old. So calling them old people can easily cause angry of them, because in their eyes, old age means no longer work and are ignored by society. We take “senior citizen”, “second child”, “the longer living” to refer to “old age”. The elders are easy to be happy for they are described by the words. Because the words like “senior citizen” obviously give them a political identity. When talking about decrepitude, we can use “advanced in age”, “past one’s prime”, “feel one’s age”, “golden age”, and “sunset years”, etc[9]. in place of it. They attempt to conceal the fact of becoming old and avoid arousing old people’s sad feeling of aging.

3.2.3 In term of Poverty, Unemployment
The poor people get the unemployment benefits monthly due to the government’s policy. “Poor” modifies “people” directly in the sentence. It easily enrages them and let them be unhappy and embarrass. So we can use “needy” instead of “poor”. In addition, we use “to be down on one’s luck”, “in reduced circumstances”, “badly off”, “hard up”, “out of pocket”, etc. rather than “penniless”; “underprivileged people”, “a member of the lower-social economical bracket” rather than “the poor people”; “sub-standard housing” rather than “slums”. Such phrases not only make us keep away from sensitive topic---poverty, but also show our respects for them.
Unemployment is a common social phenomenon. The man is not willing to talk about it directly. Therefore, the euphemism for unemployment has many expressions, such as “unemployment benefits”, “welfare workers”, “to lay off”, “to be on public assistance”, “to be self-employed”, “to be developing a new project”, “between jobs” and so on. For example, he is developing a new project, now. This phrase “be developing a new project” express euphemistically that he is unemployed presently. Also it shows he may try to find a new job rather than doing nothing, it is affirmative to him.

3.2.4 In term of Education
In order to consider persons’ dignities、reduce frictions and keep on good interpersonal relationships, people often choose euphemistic words to express their opinions, especially in the field of education. For example, in class, a teacher gives students a question and asks them answer. If someone’s answer is not very suitable, the teacher doesn’t deny it at once. She or he just says it is not bad. According to the way, on the one hand, it encourages the student to keep on working hard; on the other hand, it increases the student’s confidence, and strives for next progress. Also we should consider our words about apprai