A Cross-cultural Interpretation of Chinese and English Euphemisms—Interpersonal Culture and Psychological Culture 英语专业毕业论文.doc

A Cross-cultural Interpretation of Chinese and English Euphemisms —Interpersonal Culture and Psychological Culture Abstract: Euphemism touches upon all aspects of social lives and plays a significant role in people’s communication. Many linguists at home and abroad have studied euphemism from the aspects of sociolinguistics, rhetoric, pragmatics and discourse analysis. Euphemism is not only a matter of language but also one of culture. The present thesis aims to make a comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms in terms of culture, especially interpersonal culture and psychological culture. Key words: euphemism, comparative study, interpersonal culture, psychological culture 摘 要：委婉语涉及到社会生活的方方面面，在人们的交流中扮演着重要的角色。国内外语言学家从社会语言学、修辞学、语用学及话语分析等角度对委婉语进行了研究。委婉语既是一种语言现象，更是一种文化现象。为了在跨文化交际中成功应用委婉语，本文拟从文化层面，主要从人际文化和心理文化层面分析中英委婉语相似与相异的表现形式,总结这些表现形式背后的文化成因。 关键词：委婉语，比较研究，人际文化，心理文化 Introduction Euphemism is a long-standing linguistic and cultural phenomenon in both English-speaking countries and China and plays an important part in people’s communication. Every society, every social class has euphemisms of their own. Enright (1985: 29) points out “a language without euphemisms would be a defective instrument of communication”. Hugh Rawson (1981: 73) also affirms “euphemisms are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, can get through a day without using them”. Many scholars at home and abroad have made detailed studies of euphemism from different aspects. Based on their achievements, the present thesis attempts to make a cross-cultural comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms in terms of culture, especially interpersonal culture and psychological culture. Literature review of euphemism 1.1 Definition of euphemism Euphemism is a widely and frequently used figure of speech, and there have been various definitions of it so far. The word “euphemism” originates from Greek. The prefix “eu-” means “well o