Reflections on English Verbal Taboos and Euphemisms

1、reflections on english verbal taboos and euphemisms【摘要】 任何一種文化中都存在禁忌語(yǔ)。它指社會(huì)希望避免提及的某些行為，物體或關(guān)系 用來(lái)表述這些事物的語(yǔ)言就稱為禁忌語(yǔ)。禁忌語(yǔ)一般與性，超自然或死亡相聯(lián)。人們常用委婉語(yǔ)代替禁忌語(yǔ)，例如好多表述人體生理功能或與死亡相關(guān)的詞。人們?cè)诮徽勚?，如果?duì)禁忌語(yǔ)一無(wú)所知，很可能就會(huì)惹惱對(duì)方。從這個(gè)意義上講，禁忌語(yǔ)就顯得尤為重要了，在跨文化交流中則更是如此。國(guó)際間的交流日益頻繁，但是具有不同文化背景的群體溝通起來(lái)還是有一定困難的。本文就禁忌語(yǔ)和委婉語(yǔ)進(jìn)行探討，以幫助不同文化背景的人在跨文化交際中加深彼此的了解。

2、【關(guān)鍵詞】 跨文化交際 禁忌語(yǔ) 委婉語(yǔ)【abstract】 verbal taboos exist in all known cultures, referring to certain acts, objects or relationships which society wishes to avoid - and thus the language used to talk about them. verbal taboos are generally related to sex, the supernatural and death among others. the usual w

3、ay of coping with taboo words and notions is to develop euphemisms and circumscriptions, such as many words and phrases to express basic biological functions, or to talk about death. to know little about these, one may irritate others when he is communicating with people. in this sense, verbal taboo

4、s and euphemisms are of great significance， especially in intercultural communication . people from different countries communicate with each other more and more frequently. anyhow, there are still problems for people with different cultural backgrounds to understand each other. in this paper, verba

5、l taboos and euphemisms are discussed to help strengthen understanding between people of different cultures in the course of intercultural communication.【key words】 intercultural communication verbal aboos uphemism introductionintercultural communication is a branch of communication. it draws theori

6、es, concepts and methods from communication, sociology, psychology, social psychology, cultural anthropology, journalism, philosophy, history, ethnography, and international relations. thus it is an interdisciplinary subject. intercultural communication originated in the united states. edward halls

7、monologue “the silent language” published in 1959 signifies the emergence of this discipline. since the 1970s it has been popular in the united states and other western countries. it was introduced to the chinese scholars in the 1980ercultural communication, as its name implies, is concerned wi

8、th communication among people from different cultural backgrounds. since the second world war science and technology, especially communications and telecommunications, have been developing very quickly .the world is becoming smaller and smaller. statesmen, academics, business men, artists and others

9、 often find it necessary to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.however, different cultures may favor different social institutions, value systems, and worldviews. moreover, the beliefs, behavioral patens, customs, and habits of the people from different countries may be diff

10、erent. these cultural differences or contrasts may hinder intercultural communication. intercultural communication is meant to provide guidance for those people who are frequently engaged in intercultural communication. thus it is an applied discipline in nature, though it has accumulated a consider

11、able body of theories and statements on intercultural ercultural communication mainly deals with verbal and nonverbal interaction and related factors in intercultural communication. the medium of verbal interaction is language. the culture rich linguistic items and their uses in par

12、ticular interest scholars of intercultural communication. the medium of nonverbal interaction is mainly what is commonly called nonverbal communication system, including body language; gestures, facial expressions, distance held between interlocutors, ercultural communication is becoming more

13、 and more frequent in today environment. people have to communicate with others with different cultural backgrounds from different groups or from different countries. in order to avoid troubles and misunderstandings in communication and make the communication be effective, and furthermore, to streng

14、then the understanding and cooperation of different groups so as to make people of different cultures from different countries live in a peaceful environment, people should know more about intercultural communication.in this paper, english verbal taboos are discussed. as a foreign language learner,

15、one must know more about the culture and history of the language. then one can know what to say and how to express politely and effectively when communicate with the native speakers. of course, taboos should be avoided to be mentioned. otherwise, one cannot continue the talking, let alone communicat

16、e effectively. even he may be ready for fighting.anyhow, in most of the situations, people dont mention it purposely. they just dont know the taboos. however; it is still not appropriate to mention those taboos before native speakers. for one must respect the culture of the nation when he uses the l

17、anguage of the nation. therefore, to know more about taboos and euphemisms is helpful to communicate politely and effectively.2 verbal taboosanything which is prohibited by?religion, tradition or social usage is a taboo. there are behavioral and verbal taboos: what one cannot do or say without?offen

18、ding others. in this paper, verbal taboos are the focus.in verbal communication we use euphemisms to avoid mentioning directly something unpleasant or offensive. but some words or expressions are to be avoided because tradition or social customs strongly frowns on their use and some topics are to be

19、 avoided because they are prohibited by tradition or social customs. these words, expressions and topics constitute verbal taboos.there are verbal taboos in, perhaps, all languages. but each language has developed and is used in a culture that may have its own traditions and social customs. it is on

20、ly natural that different languages may have different taboos. not knowing what are taboos in the language one is learning, one may cause strong disapproval by merely using a certain word or mentioning a certain topic. so it is important for the learner of english to acquaint himself with taboos in

21、english. excreta and the acts of human excretion in both english and chinese, excreta and the acts of human excretion are to be avoided in polite conversations. in english, if they have to be mentioned, the terms or expressions should be euphemistic ones. in western countries, one should not say go

22、to the toilet when he actually go there. instead, he says he will leave for a moment in the rest room or washroom. in chinese, they are also taboos, but the chinese attitude is less strict, and sometimes one may hear people say in serious public talk or conversation.2. body and sexual intercourse1ce

23、rtain parts of the body and sexual intercourse are taboos in both english and chinese. in the united states, however, the sexual revolution in the 1960s and 70s changed this somewhat. the tendency in english speaking countries in recent years is toward a freer, more open attitude. thus to make love

24、and to have sex, etc. are not at all uncommon in writing now. francisca, the heroin of the bridges of the madison country, even wrote to tell her grown-up children that she had made love with a man who was not their father. even though it is an episode in a literary work, it should be acceptable to

25、the contemporary americans. even so, these expressions are themselves euphemisms. the so-called four letter words(e.g. tits, dick, cunt, tuck) are still considered vulgar or obscene, improper in most conversations, especially in mixed groups with both women and men. in contrast, the chinese attitude

26、 toward talking about sex and certain parts of the body is?stricter. to be?sure, the?sex?morality of the chinese people, especially the younger generation, is a little more open; talking about certain parts of the body or sex is still considered obscene. even talking about love in mixed groups may b

27、e considered improper. swear wordsswear words, profane or obscene oaths or words, are taboos in either english or chinese. though swear words may not pose a serious problem for chinese learners of english as a foreign language who do not have many opportunities to hear them spoken in china, some tre

28、atment of these terms may also be desirable. the first thing to note about swearwords is that some of them are more offensive than others and therefore the social prohibition against their use is stricter. for example, jesus christ, holy mary, son of a bitch would be such terms. as a foreign teacher

29、 once said jokingly, if one dares to use these terms to swear others, one must get ready to fight. however, damn, damn it, damn you, god damn you, hell, etc. are less offensive .one may hear them spoken among intimate friends, especially young males. some people believe that it is manly to swear. th

30、is is also true for swear words in chinese. some of them are strongly offensive. others are less so and therefore may be heard from time to time. some of the less offensive ones may even be used deliberately to show intimacy among close friends. f course, swear words are used more frequently by male

31、s than by females.it is interesting to note that many, though not at all, swear words are related to christian religious names or terms. this is quite natural, since the word “swear” itself means to invoke the name of a sacred being in an oath. and swear words in english are normally set expressions

32、. in contrast, swear words in chinese do not have these two features.chinese learners are advised to acquaint themselves with swear words in english, but not to use them when communicating with native speakers of english. and they should remember that the prohibition against using them is stricter i

33、n polite conversations (for example, those between strangers) in formal settings (public places, for example) about serious topics. privacy and personal subjectsin english culture, anything related to privacy or considered personal are taboos. for example, peoples age, income, political and religiou

34、s beliefs, etc. are normally considered too personal to talk about. it is improper to ask a stranger or a person one does not know well for his personal information. some people may not mind and will readily talk about such things. but it is impolite to ask unless the other person shows that he/she

35、will not be offended. ageany direct question about the age of a stranger or a person one does not know well is improper. native speakers of english, especially females, are very sensitive to their age. even on a birthday card one may find the following congratulations:“you may not like to be reminde

36、d that you are a year older today, but that would not keep me from saying happy birthday!”english speakers do not like to be asked about their age.” how old are you?”or “whats your age?” is an impolite question. even “may i know your age” is inappropriate in most situations. if for some reason one h

37、as to know the age of a person; one might give the reason before asking the question. for example, at a hotel the receptionist may need some personal information about a guest for registration purposes, so she may say,“for registration purposes, i need some information. would you mind telling me you

38、r age?”anything that may remind an old person in his/her age might be offensive. calling a woman of in her fifties grandma may embarrass her, for english speakers are not accustomed to using kinship terms to address someone who is not their family member or relative and, more importantly, the term g

39、randma tends to remind the woman of her age, which is, of course, unpleasant to her. and it has been told that a chinese scholar visiting a canadian university offered a china god of longevity as a present to a professor there on his birthday. he had not expected that this gift that would please mos

40、t of the chinese elderly people irritated the professor. he told the chinese scholar angrily that he did not want to look as old as the china god of longevity and he wanted to be always young. of course, not all english speakers would be so sensitive to age and react so emotionally to this kind of t

41、hings. but, when communicating with them one must be on ones guard against offending them with anything in relation to age. personal income and marriagepersonal income is also taboo. it is improper to ask a person how much he makes or what his income is. it is also inappropriate to ask a person how

42、much he paid for a bottle of wine, a piece of furniture or a car.although english speakers sex morality is relatively open, questions like “are you married or single, how come youre still single” and “so youre divorced”. “whats the reason?” may be offensive to some people. political partymost of the

43、 english speakers may tell you freely which sports team they are in favor of if they are sports fans. however, many of them may not be willing to tell you which political party they support or belong to or which statesman they will vote for. questions like “are you a republican or a democrat” or “wh

44、o will you vote for” may be offensive to them. if one is interested in politics and in an english speakers political views, one can start a conversation on this topic by expressing ones own interest in this topic and asking some tentative general questions. for example, one may say:“ive found presid

45、ential elections in your country very interesting but sometimes a bit confusing. i was told that americans do not care much for politics. maybe thats a wrong piece of information .how do americans feel about these things? and do most of them belong to a party?”if ones interlocutors have answered the

46、se questions and have shown clearly that they will not mind answering further questions, one can start to discuss this topic and ask for information one is interested in. religious beliefs. in english culture it is also improper to ask directly other peoples religious beliefs. “do you go to church,

47、are you religious, whats your religion, are you catholics, etc.” are questions that might be offensive to most english speakers. if one is really interested in religion in english speaking countries and in english speakers religious beliefs, one can discuss them with english speakers. one can, for e

48、xample, start a conversation on religion by expressing ones own interest in this topic and asking some tentative general questions as the following:“i am interested in religion in your country. but i know little about it. which church is most important in this country? and do americans go to church

49、every day?”it should be noted that we do not mean that in english culture age, money, marriage, politics, religion, etc. are taboo topics and that english speakers never talk about them. in fact, they become taboo only when they are related to privacy. as has been discussed previously, privacy is an

50、 important theme in individualistic culture. in such culture privacy is regarded as part of human rights. no one is allowed to intrude into it. euphemismseuphemisms are pleasant, polite or harmless sounding words or expressions used to mask harsh, rude or infamous truths. just as what we have said p

51、reviously, taboos exist in all cultures. there seem to be certain notions or things that people try to avoid mentioning directly in all cultures, though there are such terms in the language. when these notions or things have to be referred to, people tend to use words or expressions that sound bette

52、r. these words or expressions are termed as euphemisms.in this paper the term euphemism is defined as the use of a mild or vague or periphrastic expression as a substitute for blunt precision or disagreeable truth (fowler in holder). in addition to that, the euphemism must once have meant, or at fir

53、st appearance still means, something else. for example to help oneself is a euphemism for the verb to steal.every generation and every culture develop their own euphemisms. euphemistic expressions often deal with taboos. taboos exist in all known cultures and they change in the course of time. verba

54、l taboos are generally related with e.g. sex, death and basic biological functions. hundreds of euphemisms have emerged to replace pejorative and objectionable words. here are some euphemisms following the pattern of the taboos that have been mentioned previously. euphemisms for lavatorythere are ma

55、ny euphemisms in english for lavatory. the commonly used ones include washroom, bathroom, restroom, comfort station, powder room, ladies, gents, men, wc(water closet), and toilet. so to pass urine or to defecate is to go to the washroom, bathroom or restroom. to go to the lavatory may be to wash one

56、s hands, to powder ones nose or to fresh up (for females), or to relieve oneself. euphemisms for sensitive topicsin western countries to pursue love and to have sexual desire have been once again viewed as human nature since the renaissance period. the revolt of the younger generation in the u.s.a.

57、in the 1920s and “sexual revolution” in the 1960s and 70s produced many bohemians who challenged the puritanical values. as a result, westerners, including the english speakers, approach love and sex in a more direct manner. they talk about love openly. and even “to have sex” or “to make love” are h

58、eard from time to time in conversations between the young people. the disadvantagedmany english euphemisms are used to refer to the disadvantaged. in the united states, the black people were often referred to by the white racists as nigers. negroes was a euphemism at that time. then the “black peopl

59、e” was used to replace it. and they are often referred to as african americans in which the color of their skin that caused them troubles and sufferings is not mentioned.now the word poor also has to struggle for its survival. in the past two decades several euphemisms are trying to replace it, at least among the educated people or in official documents. the following passage will illustrate this fact:“at