A Comparative Study On English And Chinese Euphemisms

The word"euphemism"originates from Greek. The prefix'eu-'means,"well; sounding good", and the stem'-pheme-'represents"saying; speech". Thus the literal meaning of the word is"to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner". Euphemistic expressions are ubiquitous and commonly used in human language as linguistic and cultural phenomena.This dissertation focuses on a comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms from the aspects of their definitions, historical development, formational devices, cultural and social values, and concludes that there exist much more differences than similarities between them since people from different cultures have different social conventions, cultural orientations, religious beliefs, life styles and customs, and so on.This dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter one briefly introduces the previous scholars'studies on euphemism and the central ideas of the thesis. Chapter two presents the formational principles, classification, laws governing the diachronic change, social functions of euphemism, and points out the relationship between euphemism and sociocultural context since the understanding and practice of the euphemisms are indispensable from the context of situation and the context of culture. Chapter three can be seen as the main body of the dissertation. Euphemisms in both languages are explored comparatively...