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1、AComparisononPragmaticFunctionsofEnglishandChineseEuphemismLILi-na Abstract:Euphemismsaremild,agreeable,orroundaboutwordsusedinplaceofcoarse,painful,oroffensiveones.ThetermcomesfromtheGreekeu,meaning"well"or"soundinggood,”andpheme,“speech."Euphemismplaysan
2、importantroleinourdailycommunication.Fromthedayitcameintoexistence,euphemismhasbeenfunctioningtolubricateourcommunication,helpestablishagoodrelationshipbetweenhumanbeingsandevenstrengthensocialstability.Manylinguistsandscholarshavestudiedthislinguisticphen
3、omenonfromtheperspectivesofrhetoric,semantics,pragmaticsandsociolinguists.Asaresult,achievementsinthestudyofeuphemismhavebeenconspicuous.Thus,onthebasisofothers’researches,thisthesisattemptstodoananalysisofpragmaticfunctionsofEnglishandChineseeuphemismsbyc
4、omparativelyanalyzingtheirlinguisticandculturalcharacteristics.Keywords:euphemism;culturalconnotation;pragmaticfunction;communication 1.Introduction 1.1. LanguageVariations:Euphemism Inthebeginningwastheword.Therefollowed,atanundeterminedbutoneassumesdecen
5、tinterval,private,harsh,anddirtywords.Inventionherebeingthemotherofnecessity,theneedforeuphemismarose.(Epstein1985).Ineverysocietytherearecertainthingsthatarenotsupposedtobespokenormentioneddirectly.Afairnumberofwordsarelabeledasfrivolous,vulgar,oratleasti
6、nconsiderate.Butincommunication,forbettermaintainingsocialrelationshipandexchangingideas,peoplehavetoresorttoakindoflanguage,whichcanmakedistastefulideasseemacceptableorevendesirable.Thistypeoflanguageisdefinedas“euphemism”inlinguisticsanditcomesinavariety
7、offormsandisusedforavarietyofreasons.Unlikeotherfigurativelanguagedevices,forexample,themetaphorofpoetryorprose,euphemismaimstosurpriseandentertain(Lee,1966),strivestoavoidoffencebymeansofcircumlocution.Asacommunicativeskill—“tellingitlikeitisn’t,”(Time,19
8、78),euphemismaboundsinourlife.Euphemismsarepowerfullinguisticdeviceswhich“areembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplainspoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem.”(Rawson1
