文化与委婉语-浅论英语委婉语和汉语委婉语_英语论文

Culture and Euphemism: A Study of English and Chinese Euphemism

摘要

语言是人与人之间重要的交流方式，然而人们用一些词语直接地表达会让人显得尴尬和不愉快。为了避免误解，也为了交流的顺利进行，人们需要用一些令人愉快的词语代替那些令人不愉快的词语间接地来表达意思，这就是委婉语。委婉语在社会交际中扮演着重要的角色，而且它几乎存在于每种文化中。委婉语能够帮助我们在交际中建立良好的关系，确保我们达到交际的目的。委婉语不仅是一种语言现象，还是一种文化现象，反映了一个民族的文化和生活方式。为了深入了解委婉语与文化的关系，本文通过对比的方式，从宗教信仰、思维模式、传统和社会价值观方面讨论了英语委婉语和汉语委婉语表现出来的差异。汉语委婉语能够表现出中国人民的谦虚、文雅、礼貌的精神品质；英语委婉语中表现出西方人民幽默、独立、创新的文化面貌。本文分为六个部分，第一部分对文章的研究意义和研究方法做一个介绍；第二部分阐述委婉语的定义；第三部分阐述文化的定义；第四部分对委婉语进行简单分类；第五部分，也是全文的重点部分，将通过文化对比的方式来了解英汉委婉语；第六部分是对本文的总结。本文的讨论有助于人们消除汉英语言文化交流的障碍。

关键词：委婉语，文化，差异

Abstract

Language is an important way for people to communicate with each other. However, people cannot say something directly because it may make people embarrassed and unhappy. In order to avoid misunderstanding, people need some pleasant words or expressions to express their ideas indirectly. These words are euphemisms. Euphemism plays a vital part in social communication and we can find euphemism in almost every culture. Euphemism can help people establish a good relationship with others and ensure that people can achieve their goals in communication. Euphemism is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a cultural phenomenon. It reflects the culture and lifestyle of a nation. In order to help the language learners have a good command of the relationship between euphemism and culture, this thesis will have a discussion on English and Chinese euphemism from the point of view of the religious beliefs, the mode of thinking, the tradition and the social values. Chinese euphemism can express the modesty, elegance and politeness of Chinese people. English euphemism can show the humor, independence and creativity of western people. This thesis consists of six chapters. In the first chapter, the author will give a brief introduction of the paper, an account of motivation and the methodology of the dissertation. Chapter two will introduce the definition of euphemism. Chapter three is about the definition of culture. This paper will briefly discuss the classification of euphemism in chapter four. Chapter five is the core of this thesis; This chapter will have a cultural comparison between Chinese euphemism and English one. Chapter six concludes the whole paper. This thesis will help people solve the problems in communication between Chinese and English cultures. 

Key words: euphemism, culture, difference