资源描述:
《英汉委婉语文化内涵比较(英文毕业论文)》由会员上传分享,免费在线阅读,更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、英汉委婉语文化内涵比较ⅠIntroductionEuphemismisacommonlinguisticphenomenonindifferentcultures.Fromthemomentitiscreated,itplaysanimportantroleinpeople'sdailycommunication.Theyareembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatmostofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplainspoken,nevergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem.Likea
2、kindoflubrication,itenablespeopletoexpresswhatcan'tbeuttereddirectly.AsRobertBurchfieldwroteinhisbookFairofSpeech:TheUsesofEuphemism,"alanguagewithouteuphemismswouldbeadefectiveinstrumentofcommunication".Rawsonhasalsopointsoutthat"Tosomeextent,actually,euphemismsaresociety'sbasiccommonlanguage
3、".However,thislanguagephenomenonisoftenneglectedbyus.Untiltodaytheeuphemismstudiesareveryfewandmostofthesestudiesareconfinedtoindividuallanguage,andthereisashortageofcontrastiveresearchbetweenlanguages.Tounveiltheuniversalandpeculiarfeaturesofeuphemismsandtobetterunderstandeuphemisminaparticul
4、arlanguage,acontrastivestudyisamust.ThisthesismakesacontrastivestudyofEnglishandChineseeuphemismwithanattempttoexploreanddemonstratethedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenthetwolinguisticphenomenoninthehopeofenlighteningandguidingEnglishlearnersabitintheirlanguagelearning,translationstudies,cross
5、-culturalcommunication,etc.1.1TheoriginofeuphemismWhentalkingabouteuphemisms,wecan'tneglect"taboo".Inancienttimes,productivitywasinaverylowlevel,theprimitiveswereoftenconfrontedwithbafflingandthreateningsituationsandphenomena,suchasdeath,andtheyfailedtounderstandtheessenceofthem.Tofindawayout,
6、theybecamesuperstitiousaboutsupernaturalpower,ortheexistenceofdevilsandgods.Intheirmind,everythingwasalivewithspirit,capableofbringingdownblessingsandmisfortunes,andthus17languagetookuponakindofsupernaturalsense.Thisledtotheforbiddenuseofcertainlanguagethatgraduallybecametaboo.Whenpeopleareunw
7、illingtoordarenotspeakoutsomethingregardedastaboo,theyhavetoshunthembyusingmildsubstitutes,toimplythosethingswhichpeoplearereluctanttomentionandtopromptsomethingbothspeakerandlistenerknowbutrefusetosayoutbydirectexpressions.Tothethingst