An Analysis Of Pragmatic Function Of Euphemism From The Perspective Of Speech Act Theory

Euphemism is a special way of language expression which means that thespeaker sometimes tries to use an indirect way to express their meaning. Englisheuphemism can not only be some words, phrases, sentences; but also can it be somespecial body language or some special forms which people use to communicate witheach other under some special context. English euphemism can be employed to helpthe speakers or the listeners to dissemble some unhappy or terrible facts and it alsocan help people to save their face when they try to communicate with others and facesome embarrassing moment. Therefore, euphemism is a very important diplomacy forhuman beings’ communication and it had been used commonly in people’s daily socialactivities. English euphemism is an important means for people to coordinate theirinterpersonal relationship in language usage and the use of euphemism can also helppeople to improve the communication effects and maintain a very harmoniousinterpersonal relationship between both sides of the communication. As an importantpart of English words euphemism has aroused the researchers’ attention for manyyears. In recent years, the linguistic scholars had made many researches on this topicand most of them made their research from the perspective of sociolinguistics,psychological linguistics and philosophy and most of these scholars had achievedremarkable successes. The researches of euphemism both from domestic and overseascan be divided into three parts: the syntax constitute of euphemism, the rhetoric ofeuphemism and the psychology of euphemism. In recent years more and morelinguistic scholars had interested in the study on pragmatic function and the effect ofeuphemism. In this paper the author focuses on the pragmatic function and the effectof euphemism in an American comedy which is titled Two and A Half Men.In this thesis the research method of case study is employed. The author in this paper will use an American comedy which named Two and A Half Men as the casestudy’s object. The study will start from the perspective of speech act theory and try toanalyze the pragmatic function and its effect of euphemism in human beings’ daily lifeof communication. The study employed Searle’s indirect speech act theory and isbased on the example collection and literature review which try to analyzeeuphemisms’ three pragmatic functions and its effects which are as the follows: thefunction of taboo, the function of politeness and the function of concealment duringhuman beings’ communication. The study of English euphemism in American comedycan not only help the English learners to understand how to use the euphemism inorder to help them to achieve their goal of communication it also help people tounderstand the deep meaning of the comedy.This study can be divided into five chapters:Chapter one presents a general introduction to the study which will include thecontent of the study, the object of the study, the significance and the organization ofthe study. The object of this study has been presented as follows:(1) Analyze the relationship between euphemism and indirect speech act theory.(2) Analyze the pragmatic function and its effect of euphemism based on thecases which have been collected before from the comedy Two and A HalfMen.Chapter two presents a literature review of the relative theories which provides atheoretical basis for the analysis of euphemism and indirect speech act. This chapterincludes the scholars who had done the research in this aspect and the achievementsof these scholars. The relative theory includes John L. Austin’s speech act theory andSearle’s indirect speech act theory, introduction of euphemism’s definition,classification and function.Chapter three presents the methodology of this study which includes the researchquestion and the collection of the data. This study will use the method of case study asmajor method. The research questions of this paper are as follows:(1) What’s the relationship of English euphemism and indirect speech act?(2) What’s the pragmatic function and its effect of euphemism from the perspective of indirect speech act theory?Chapter four presents the pragmatic function and its effect of euphemism in Twoand A Half Men. This chapter will start from the function of taboo, the function ofpoliteness and the function of concealment and combines it with the data which hasbeen collected from the comedy Two and A Half Men. In recent years the usage ofeuphemism is more and more important for human beings because people’scommunication developed faster than before.Chapter five is the conclusion part of the study. It includes the description of themain questions of the study, the limitations of the study and the implications for thefurther study. The study of euphemism’s function and it’s effect can not only help thelearners to understand how to use the euphemism correctly and then help them toachieve their goal of communication, it also can help the learners in the study ofcross-cultural communication and the usage of education words. Compared withdirect speech act there must be some risk for people who choose to use indirectspeech act because the indirect speech act carries uncertainty for the listeners and iteven can make some misunderstanding between the two sides of the communication.Even though indirect speech carries some risks people choose to use it at last for thereason that it can help people to save their faces and avoid some embarrassment whenthey communicate with others.