A Comparative Study Of "Disease And Disability" Euphemisms In English And Chinese: A Conceptual Metaphor Approach

Euphemism is a very important part of the English language. Euphemism is the non-direct expressions or utterances for the things which bring the information organizer and interpreter pains such as reverence, fear, shame, discomfort, etc. and which is formed by using phonetic, semantic and grammatical methods. Euphemism and taboo are mutually dependent, either of which cannot be isolated from the other. No euphemism is endlessly durable just like no taboo will remain forever. Since euphemism is no more than the formal substitution of taboo which brings approximately no change of meaning, any euphemism will become increasingly invalid in euphemizing what is considered offensive. When the use of one certain euphemism is popularly considered as futile as and no better than the taboo itself, a new euphemism will take its place and the latter will be categorized as a taboo itself.The understanding of euphemisms is a complicated cognitive process. As conceptualized metaphors, euphemisms demand cognitive explanation, in terms of their internal semantic construction or their fundamental motivation. Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory provides a new perspective for the study of euphemism. The resemblance between the source domain and the target domain in the conceptual system serves as the ground of this cognitive process. When this resemblance is weak, the semantic concept in the salient source domain gets heightened and it is then mapped from psychologically highly accessible source domain to lowly accessible target domain, thus activating the target domain and making its concept salient. This study can help deepen our understanding of the semantic construction of euphemisms and may steer relevant research to a dynamic and open field.Traditional studies usually regard metaphor as a rhetorical device, while modern studies view it more cognitively than rhetorically. Metaphor is an indispensable tool for us to learn about and construe the world around us. Cognitive linguistics holds that metaphor is not only a figure of speech, but also conceptual in nature. Conceptual metaphor serves the function of highlighting and hiding some aspects of a concept. Euphemisms for"Disease and Disability"are the most typical, while it is mainly composed of conceptual metaphors. Disease and disability are inevitable social phenomena. Thus it is really worthwhile to conduct research on the metaphorical expressions for"Disease and Disability", which reflect, to a great extent, the culture-bound cognitive model of a particular nation. This thesis tries to carry out a comparative study of metaphors for"Disease and Disability"in English and Chinese, which is likely to contribute to our understanding of cultural cognitive models in English and Chinese.