AContrastiveStudyofEnglishandChineseEuphemism英汉委婉对比研究.docx

A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemism 1. Introduction In every society there are certain things that are not supposed to be speakable or mentioned directly. A fair number of words are labeled as frivolous, vulgar, or at least inconsiderate. But in communication, for better maintaining social relationship and exchanging ideas, people have to resort to a kind of language, which can make distasteful ideas seem acceptable or even desirable. This type of language is defined as “euphemism” in linguistics and it comes in a variety of forms and is used for a variety of reasons. Unlike other figurative language devices, for example, the metaphor of poetry or prose, euphemism aims to surprise and entertain, strives to avoid offence by means of circumlocution. As a communicative skill—“telling it like it isn’t,” euphemism abounds in our life. Euphemisms are powerful linguistic devices which “are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them.” Euphemisms has close relationships with the culture ，and it truly reflects the life and values of people and their history . Euphemism is a particularly good medium for access to the force of language that has provided an effective approach to understand the human mind .The study of Chinese and English euphemism can help us understand the Chinese and western cultures and promote the international development, because euphemism is widely used in international negotiations, So there is a great need for us to study euphemism, especially the communicative principles of English and Chinese euphemism. The euphemism exists relatively to direct speech. Euphemism is the “lubrication” of linguistic communication. As a result, achievements in the study of euphemism have been conspicuous. Thus, on the basis of others’ researches, this essay will do a comprehensive analysis of English euphemisms and Chinese euphemisms by analyzing the