Abstract

In verbal communications, people often choose to use euphemisms to replace the direct, impolite or embarrassing words. This article focuses on the study of the four respects of euphemism—the origin and development of English euphemism, three basic pragmatic principles associated with the application of euphemism, the specific pragmatic functions of euphemism, and its trend of future development. As the results have demonstrated, the generation of euphemism is a result of many social psychological factors and pragmatic factors. Its basic feature is to seek a proper expression to create ideal communicative effects. As English learners, we should take great pains to learn more about euphemism so as to avoid embarrassments in conversations and ensure smooth and successful social communications.

Key words: euphemism, origin and development, pragmatic principles, pragmatic functions, trend of development

摘要

在会话交流中，人们常常会选择使用委婉语来取代直接的、不礼貌的或令人尴尬的表达。本文从英语委婉语的起源与发展，委婉语在使用过程中所涉及的三个基本语用原则，委婉语的具体语用功能，以及委婉语的未来发展趋势这四个方面展开分析，旨在告诉读者委婉语的形成和发展是各种社会心理因素和语用因素综合作用的结果，其基本特点就是谋求一种适当的语言表达形式以创造出理想的交际效果。作为英语学习者，我们有必要努力学习和掌握更多有关委婉语的知识，从而避免会话中出现的尴尬局面，以保证交际的顺利进行。

关键词：委婉语；起源与发展；语用原则；语用功能；发展趋势

1.    Introduction
Euphemism refers to the use of a pleasant, polite or harmless sounding word or expression to mask harsh, rude or infamous truth (Procter & Paul 374). Enright, a famous English literary critic, once said that without euphemisms, the world will stop working as frictions and hatred will prevail among people (Enright 113). What Enright said may be a little exaggerated, but it expresses the use of euphemism as lubricant in maintaining the social and interpersonal relationships. According to this, we define euphemism as the use of vague, pleasant or polite expressions to replace infamous, impolite or awkward words in certain contexts. In a word, euphemism refers to the euphemistic expressions used to replace the direct ones.