《老友记》中委婉语的语用分析_英语论文

A Pragmatic Analysis of Euphemisms in Friends

摘要

在各种社会背景下，委婉语作为一种常见的文化和语言现象被广泛地应用。它反映了某种社会和文化价值。

“委婉语”这个词来源于希腊词"eu" (好)和"pheme" （说），意思是用一种令人愉悦的方式说好听的话。意味着人们更愿意用一种间接的、圆润的、迂回的方式来避免一些禁忌和令人不愉快的事。以下两个原因可能会导致委婉语的出现：一、当人们试图避免禁忌的时候。二、避免在交流中令人尴尬的事。这是一种可以将冒犯人的事和不愉快的事以一种令人接受和礼貌的修辞手法展现出来。

在这篇论文中，作者从语用学的角度下结合礼貌原则和合作原则，对老友记中的具体案例进行分析。在《老友记》中，人们往往遵守礼貌原则和违反合作原则来达到他们各自的目的。同时，产生了对话含义进而促进了委婉语的产生。在《老友记》的具体对话中，作者对违反合作各个原则和遵守礼貌各个原则进行了重点分析。

关键词: 委婉语；《老友记》；合作原则；礼貌原则

Abstract

Euphemism, as a common cultural and linguistic phenomenon in different societies and languages, reflects social and cultural values.

The word “euphemism” came from the Greek “eu” (good); and “pheme” (saying), and means literally “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”.  It means that people prefer to use indirect, roundabout and agreeable methods to express taboos or unpleasant things. There are two reasons that euphemism may appear: When people try to avoid taboo: people tend to avoid awkwardness in communication. It is a rhetorical method that could describe an unpleasant or offensive thing in a more acceptable and polite way.

In this paper, the author will choose some examples from Friends to illustrate euphemism from a pragmatic point with Cooperative principle and Politeness Principle. In Friends, people always achieve their own purposes by violating the Cooperative Principle and obeying the Politeness Principle, which creates the conversational implicatures simultaneously. The author will analyze the specific conversations selected from Friends and focus on the obedience of Politeness Principle and the violation of Cooperative Principle.

Keywords: euphemism; Friends; Cooperative Principle; Politeness Principle

Contents

I. Introduction 1

II. Euphemism 4

2.1 The Definition of Euphemism 4

2.2 Euphemism Studies in Western Countries 6

2.3 Euphemism Studies in China 6

III．Pragmatic Study on English Euphemisms 8

3.1 Euphemisms and Cooperative Principle 8

3.2 The Violation of the Cooperative Principle 9

3.3 Euphemism and Politeness Principle 10

IV. Pragmatic Study on English Euphemism in Friends 13

4.1 Euphemism and Cooperative Principle in Friends 13

4.1.1 The Violation of Quantity Maxim in Friends 13

4.1.2 The Violation of Quality Maxim in Friends 14

4.1.3 The Violation of the Relevance Maxim 14

4.1.4 The Violation of the Manner Maxim 15

4.2 Euphemism and Politeness Principle in Friends 15

4.2.1 Observation of Tact Maxim 16

4.2.2 Observation of the Generosity Maxim 16

4.2.3 Observation of the Approbation Maxim 17

4.2.4 Observation of the Modesty Maxim 17

4.2.5 Observation of the Agreement Maxim 18

4.2.6 Observation of the Sympathy Maxim 19

V. Conclusion 21

Bibliography 23