euphemism(委婉语的类型 功能与解读).docxVIP

Chapter 2: Pragmatic Functions of EuphemismA variety of euphemisms in all fields share universal functions in communication.Euphemism is a “lubricant” in interpersonal relations since euphemistic expressions can avoidbeing presumptuous in language communication and deliberately lessens the negative orunpleasant connotations and reminds people of nicer images. When we have to touch uponsome topics that are unpleasant, we tend to choose more euphemistic expressions to substitutethose painful topics so as not to hurt the hearer’s feeling. Euphemism plays a very importantrole in communication. Generally speaking, euphemism serves four basic pragmatic functions:evasion function, indirectness function, politeness function and decoration function.2.1 Evasion FunctionWords are powerful and the reticence and fear that some tabooed terms arouse in peoplecan be strong (Allan and Burridge 1991).People are subjected to varieties of fear, such asdisease, death, war, old age, poverty and any sort of disability; people also fear supernaturalforces, that we suppose, may come from religion and superstition; people fear the negativesides of our lives as well. Pragmatically, the phenomenon of linguistic taboo has existed inalmost all nations across the world. The tabooed things are believed to be dangerous to certainindividuals, or to the society as a whole, or to be disgusted and unpleasant in that violating thetaboo would automatically cause harm even death to the violator or his/her fellows. Theevasion function of euphemisms is to evade using taboos, enabling the speaker to talk aboutthe tabooed things freely. For example, the word cancer has come to be equated with malignancy,corruption and death, so it is generally shunned. Instead, people prefer to use growths andtumors since both can be benign whereas the view prevails that cancer can never be benign.In western societies, although sex education is very popular, this does not mean they canuse all the words related to sex without