A Study of the Euphemism in Oprah Winfrey Show from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory_英语论文

摘要

委婉语是人们为了达到理想的交际结果而使用的一项重要手段。在面向公众的电视访谈节目中，在谈及敏感问题时，委婉语往往成为交际者为顺应交际语境而做出的具体语言选择。本研究在顺应理论指导下，以《奥普拉脱口秀》中人物对话为语料，从心理、社会和物理世界三个维度探究委婉语的使用，加深对委婉语的认知和理解。在顺应论视角下对委婉语的研究可以使我们更好了解交谈双方的实际意图，领略言语艺术。

关键词：委婉语；奥普拉脱口秀；顺应论；语境顺应

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 An Overview of Euphemism 1

1.2. Euphemism Study at Home and Abroad 3

1.3 The Significance of the Present Study 5

2. Theoretical Framework 6

2.1 An Overview of Adaptation Theory 6

2.2 Contextual Correlates of Adaptability 7

2.2.1 Linguistic Context 7

2.2.2 Communicative Context: Mental, Social and Physical Context 8

3. Analysis of Euphemism in Oprah Winfrey Show 9

3.1 Adaptation to the Mental World 9

3.1.1 Adaptation to Motivation 10

3.1.2 Adaptation to Emotion 12

3.1.3 Adaptation to Personality 12

3.2 Adaptation to the Social World 13

3.2.1 Adaptation to Social Status 14

3.2.2 Adaptation to Gender 15

3.2.3 Adaptation to Traditional Virtues 16

3.2.4 Adaptation to Religious Beliefs 17

3. 3 Adaptation to the Physical World 18

3.3.1Adaptation to Temporal Reference 18

3.3.2 Adaptation to Spatial Reference 19

3.4 Summary 20

4. Conclusion 20

Reference 23