A Study Of Application Of Chinese And English Euphemism Under Politeness Principle

Euphemism, also called as cosmetic words, is not only a social lingual phenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon. It is the embodiment of culture in language. Euphemism is also a proper language pattern which people created in social communication in order to make the communication effective. It plays an important role in social communication. It is like lube that avoids hurting the other party's feeling. It makes the human relationship in communication go smooth and helps to save face of communicators. If people make full use of euphemism human communication can be accelerated and facilitated.With the progress of society and development of human civilization, euphemism accompanies the process of language communication of the whole society. In the language communication, euphemisms always observe the Politeness Principle put forward by English linguist Leech. It contains Tact Maxim, Generosity Maxim, Approbation Maxim, Modesty Maxim, Agreement Maxim, Sympathy Maxim. Euphemism is in accord with the Politeness Principle, and is considered to be used in pleasant, mild, ambiguous and indirect ways in the place of coarse and harsh expression. It will make the hearer feel relaxed, friendly, polite and considerate. Due to the strong communicative functions, the use of euphemism has been so rooted in all aspects of social lives. In our daily life, to avoid embarrassment, some things or behaviors cannot be expressed directly. So, to express them asks for the use of language vagueness to achieve the purpose of euphemizing. The study has shown that in the world of very common cross-cultural communication, euphemism is widely used in all aspects of social lives. To understand and master the effective use of euphemism in social communication can help people to reduce pragmatic failures and frictions brought by culture conflicts so as to promote communication. From the angle of pragmatics and culture and based on the theory of Politeness Principle, this thesis analyses and studies the extensive use of Chinese and English euphemism in every social filed by the method of illustration and analysis. Chinese and English euphemism about how to adhere to the six maxims of Politeness Principle are mainly discussed; and the thesis also discusses the widely application of Chinese and English euphemism under Politeness Principle in the fields of political affairs, social status, commerce and people's social communication. Thus we can see that only when euphemism is properly used can the degree of politeness be well adjusted and the personal civilization and personal cultivation be well manifested. Therefore, the injury to interlocutors can be decreased to the minimal extent and communion can be further improved to achieve the successful communication.Therefore, on the basis of the research results of predecessors, this thesis mainly explores the effective application of Chinese and English euphemism under Politeness Principle from the perspective of the pragmatic analysis. It is found that the proper use of euphemism is the best demonstration of Politeness Principle and the choice, comprehension and application of Chinese and English euphemism depend on and always abide by the Politeness Principle. This shows that in the civilized society of continuous development, we should use the euphemism in the right situation in communication and understand the theoretical knowledge of euphemism at the same time with an attempt to increase the ability of the daily communication competence and the intercultural communication. In order to improve intercommunication, we can do well in respecting others as well as displaying the language of personal cultivation in avoidance of the obstacle of communication.