摘要

委婉语是人类社会自身发展过程中一种常见的语言现象，也是人类文明发展的产物，被广泛运用于人们日常交际中。无论人们在日常生活中还是在对外交往中，都应该懂得理解和尊重别人，尽量多用礼貌语言，这就为委婉语的产生提供了前提。英语委婉语作为当今世界应运最广泛的委婉语之一，存在于社会各个阶层和各个领域中。本文主要从分类、构成原则和方式方面对委婉语进行了剖析。根据语境，委婉语可分为规约性和非规约性委婉语。构成原则为距离、相关和动听原则，构成方式主要从词汇、语法和修辞方面。随着时代的发展，英语委婉语也在不断的发展。掌握好委婉语这一重要修辞手段不仅可以提高修辞素养，开阔文化视野，还能增强阅读理解及交际能力。

关键词：委婉语；分类；原则；构成方式

Abstract

Euphemism is a common language phenomenon of social development, a production of mortal civilization. It is widely used in people’s daily communication. Whether in people’s daily life or foreign exchanges, they have to understand and respect others, using politeness language as much as possible. Those are premises for euphemism come into being. As one of the world’s most used euphemisms, English euphemism has widely existed in the social different estates and fields. This paper presents a preliminary study of the classification, form principle and means of formation of euphemism in order to have a better understanding in communication. According to the situation, euphemism can be divided into conventionality and non-conventionality. Form principles are distance, correlation and fair-sounding. Means of formation are vocabulary, grammatical and rhetorical. As time goes on and society advances, the English euphemism develops. Having a knowledge of euphemism, an important rhetorical form, will not only help one improve rhetorical artistry, but also widen cultural vision. Furthermore, euphemism can enhance one’s ability of reading comprehension and intercommunication, assist one to express himself and esteem others in a better way.

Key words: euphemism; classification; principle; formation

1 Introduction

Euphemism is not only a common social language phenomenon in communication, but also a cultural phenomenon. It means people should use other expressions when they say something unpleasant in order to show politeness or avoid embarrassment. With the development of civilization，euphemism represents a strong function in communication.