An Empirical Study Of The Gender Differences In English Euphemism

Euphemism, frequently used in both English and Chinese, is a linguistic phenomenon as well as a cultural one. It usually helps to bring about a sense of pleasantness in communication, thus making the communicators get along better with others. In a sense, without proper application of euphemism, communication would be impossible. Euphemism has become one of the major subjects of interpersonal-cultural studies as people come to realize the significance of euphemism.Meanwhile, as one of the typical patterns of language gender differences, euphemism has prominence in the pragmatic study and in the social investigation. Euphemism is the preferable choice of women's language with the reflection of using polite and vague expressions for the sake of sending messages with implication. Generally speaking, women's language tends to be milder using more hedges, tag questions and euphemistic expressions in the conversation.The present thesis aims to focus on the micro-study of euphemism from the angle of gender differences in language. Under the guidance of Grice's Cooperative principle, Brown and Levinson's Face theory, the politeness theory of language communication is reflected to maintain the equality of the speaker and the listener for the better communicative effect. The predecessors' understanding of euphemism has not broken through the aspects of lexicology and terminology including the lexical form, social sources, etc. Using the methodology of sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and pragmatics, frequency in euphemism application, psychological features and social and cultural restraint are expected to be exposed through the empirical study and data analysis.Language is the carrier of culture. Euphemism's emergence and development is stimulated by the social and cultural factors. To a great extent, the gender differences in language are restricted by the social and psychological factors. Social culture, the objective environment of language, is very effective to lead to the gender differences which could be proved by traditional cultural notion and social conformity. To explore the gender differences in language from the dimensions of the individual and the society, motives of euphemism application could be found to achieve interpersonal rhetoric and social accommodation.