Cognitive Study On English Euphemisms

This paper studies English euphemism from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and explains the internal mechanism of English euphemism with the basic theory of cognitive linguistics. English euphemisms are indirect ways to substitute the blunt and harsh expressions. The past studies on English euphemisms both home and abroad are mainly conducted from the rhetoric and social-linguistic perspective. However, English euphemism also involves psychological factors; they are outward and visible signs of our inward anxieties, conflicts, fears, and shame. As a result, a cognitive study can help us better understand the generation and understanding mechanism of English euphemisms.This paper classifies English euphemisms into four categories bases on their formation principles, namely lexical methods, metaphorical transfer and metonymical transfer, spelling and phonetic distortion, and expressional methods. Then these categories are respectively explained with the fundamental theories of cognitive linguistics, including the categorization theory, conceptual metaphors and metonymies, figure/ground segregation, attention approach and relevance theory. The significances of cognitive study on English euphemisms are as follows: firstly, it opposes the traditional view that euphemisms are merely a kind of rhetorical expression or a social-linguistic phenomenon. Secondly it testifies that the language is a developing system and evolves all the time. Thirdly, it holds the view that when people are communicating with each other, they will employ, consciously or unconsciously, all the relevant knowledge in their mind to generate the premises needed for a smooth communication.To sum up, this paper takes English euphemism as a cognitive activity rather than merely a rhetoric method or a linguistic phenomenon. In addition, this paper tries to explore English euphemism from cognitive perspective and hopes to shed some light for future study.