Abstract

In social communication, we can’t get rid of some unpleasant and embarrassing situation because of the different communicative environments and the distinctions in the real life, so people tend to choose an implicative way to express themselves to make the conversation become more smooth and proper. Euphemisms namely are mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. As a linguistic phenomenon, it has its unique origin and formation, and abides by a certain development principle. It is also a cultural phenomenon at the same time, reflecting different conventions, customs and social psychology in China and the western countries. In fact, it is more a cultural phenomenon than a social linguistic one. With the social and the civilization development, euphemism accompanies the whole process of the social speech communication, performing a very strong communicative function.
As a common phenomenon in the process of language using, euphemism exists in all the different cultures. There are many different euphemisms in both English and Chinese. They seem similar, but they develop from different origins based on varied cultures. In order to know the special characteristics and the culture euphemism reflects, the definition, the origin, and the ways of formation are explored in the first part. Then the relationship between language, culture and euphemism is explained clearly and several major types of euphemism in English and Chinese are contrasted to manifest similarities and differences in the English and the Chinese culture in the second part. The communicative functions of euphemisms in English and Chinese, the communicative principles that restrict the use of euphemism, the social context that euphemism depends on in cross-cultural communication are analyzed in the last part. 
In short, understanding the formation of euphemisms and the various cultures and distinctive ethical physiological features, and the proper use of euphemisms in different contexts are the leading factors that can influence the cross-cultural communication.

Key words: euphemism; culture; context; cross-cultural communication
                
摘要

在社会语言交际过程中，由于说话环境不同，现实生活中的场景差异，人们在遇到难言之隐或令人尴尬的场合时，往往不直截了当地表明本意，而选择一种委婉、含蓄的表达方式，以达到恰当、大方得体的交际目的。委婉语即是这种以一种不明说、能使人感到愉快或含糊的说法代替令人不悦的含义或不够尊敬的表达法。委婉语作为一种语言现象有其独特的来源和构成方法，并遵循一定的发展规律。同时，它也是一种文化现象，折射出中西方的不同风俗习惯和社会心理。委婉语始终伴随着社会语言的交际过程，表现出极强的言语交际功能，所以了解委婉语产生的原因及其反映的不同文化可以很大地帮助人们进行跨文化交际。
作为一切语言所共有的一种语言现象，委婉语存在于世界各地的文化之中。英汉两种语言中同样有大量的委婉语，它们看似相似，实则具有一定的差异。究其根源，这主要建立在两种不同的文化之上。为了更好地理解委婉语的特点以及它在不同文化上的体现，本文首先探讨了英汉两种委婉语的产生根源、分类以及构成原则，然后通过讨论语言、文化和委婉语三者之间的关系，并通过具体的几组英汉委婉语的对比分析来揭示中西方文化的异同，最后一部分则主要探讨了英汉委婉语的交际功能，制约委婉语使用的交际原则以及它所依赖的语境。
总之，熟悉委婉语的构成，了解它所折射的不同文化以及民族的心理特征，并且能在不同的语境中恰当地使用委婉语是进行成功跨文化交际的关键。

关键词：委婉语；文化；语境；跨文化交际