摘  要

本文主要从委婉语的角度切入，来对比分析中美文化的不同，该选题的研究有助于使人们可以有效得避免在跨文化交流中犯些不必要的禁忌。虽然有关委婉语的论文很多，但是对于分析委婉语和文化之间的关系方面还不是很全面。由于人们每天都要和来自世界各国的人进行交谈，所以知道一些基本的委婉语知识是十分有必要的。本文的切入点是委婉语，所以在文中引用大量的中英委婉语来论证观点。论文采用文献研究法、描述性研究法等研究方法，将通过对许多关于委婉语和关于文化的论文的分析，再将它们归类总结来寻找委婉语和文化之间的联系，从而得出委婉语和文化之间有着不可分割的联系，每一种文化都有禁忌，而这些禁忌就决定了人们创造怎样的委婉语。通过这篇论文我们可以发现，委婉语像是文化的一面镜子，通过人们创造的委婉语可以反映出他们的文化，从而找到各国家之间文化的差异。
 
关键词：委婉语；禁忌；文化差异

Abstract

This thesis is mainly written to have a contrastive analysis about cultural differences between Western Countries and China from the perspective of euphemism. This research can make contributions to people’s international communication. Although there are a lot of thesis about euphemisms, there are still some problems exist in the connections between culture and euphemism. It is really important to aware people of some basic knowledge of euphemisms, because we need to communicate with people from all the world round. And English is the most popular language in the world. The key point of this thesis is euphemism, so there are a large number of euphemisms quoted to support my views. With the help of literature research method, descriptive research method, etc. I’ve read a lot of thesis about euphemisms and culture, and then classify them to find out the relationship between culture and euphemism. It is concluded that there is close connection between culture and euphemism. There are taboos in different cultures, and the taboo decides how people create their euphemism. The essay consists of five parts: the first part is about the introduction of background and significance of this article. The second part is about the origin of the euphemism. The third part is bout description of euphemism. The fourth part is about the euphemism differences related to cultural differences. The last is about the conclusion. I find that euphemism can be a mirror of culture, and the way people create their euphemism can reflect their cultural background. In that way can we tell the differences of different countries. It is hoped that this article will help people to avoid some unnecessary taboos during the intercultural communication.

Key words: Euphemism; taboos; cultural difference

1    Introduction
Euphemism is a kind of linguistic expression; it is a special presentation, which exists in all kinds of cultures. Different euphemisms depend on different social background and historical culture. Euphemism exists in all kinds of languages, according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary(2009, p.213), the definition of euphemism is: use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones. Nowadays, its range of application and social function are enlarged continuously. To keep the euphemism can maintain the well interpersonal relationship, and promote the verbal communication on the rails. Euphemism reflects the generality and the specificity of social development, including social values, morality, national characters and intercommunity. It also reflects the relationship between language and society as well as the rules of verbal communications. If we do not know well about the euphemism, it will cause miscomprehension among people from different cultures，so it is really important to know well about the euphemism.