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1、Chapter2:PragmaticFunctionsofEuphemismAvarietyofeuphemismsinallfieldsshareuniversalfunctionsincommunication.Euphemismisa“lubricant”ininterpersonalrelationssinceeuphemisticexpressionscanavoidbeingpresumptuousinlanguagecommunicationanddeliberatelylessensthenegativeorunp
2、leasantconnotationsandremindspeopleofnicerimages.Whenwehavetotouchuponsometopicsthatareunpleasant,wetendtochoosemoreeuphemisticexpressionstosubstitutethosepainfultopicssoasnottohurtthehearer’sfeeling.Euphemismplaysaveryimportantroleincommunication.Generallyspeaking,eu
3、phemismservesfourbasicpragmaticfunctions:evasionfunction,indirectnessfunction,politenessfunctionanddecorationfunction.2.1EvasionFunctionWordsarepowerfulandthereticenceandfearthatsometabooedtermsarouseinpeoplecanbestrong(AllanandBurridge1991).Peoplearesubjectedtovariet
4、iesoffear,suchasdisease,death,war,oldage,povertyandanysortofdisability;peoplealsofearsupernaturalforces,thatwesuppose,maycomefromreligionandsuperstition;peoplefearthenegativesidesofourlivesaswell.Pragmatically,thephenomenonoflinguistictaboohasexistedinalmostallnations
5、acrosstheworld.Thetabooedthingsarebelievedtobedangeroustocertainindividuals,ortothesocietyasawhole,ortobedisgustedandunpleasantinthatviolatingthetaboowouldautomaticallycauseharmevendeathtotheviolatororhis/herfellows.Theevasionfunctionofeuphemismsistoevadeusingtaboos,e
6、nablingthespeakertotalkaboutthetabooedthingsfreely.Forexample,thewordcancerhascometobeequatedwithmalignancy,corruptionanddeath,soitisgenerallyshunned.Instead,peopleprefertousegrowthsandtumorssincebothcanbebenignwhereastheviewprevailsthatcancercanneverbebenign.Inwester
7、nsocieties,althoughsexeducationisverypopular,thisdoesnotmeantheycanuseallthewordsrelatedtosexwithoutchoice.Exceptforsomemedicaltermsinaspecialsituation,theymayuseeuphemisticwordstotalkaboutit.Theevasionfunctionofsucheuphemismshelpspeopletomeettheneedsofmoralityandfaci
8、litatecommunication.Anotherexample,peoplehaveseldommentionedthetermsaboutthereproductiondirectly.Therearemanyeuphemismsforpr
