Russian Euphemism Pragmatics

With basic linguistic theories, this paper has its research into the phenomena of euphemism, placing its attention on looking back on the history and present situation of research on euphemism, discussion on the definition, classification of euphemism and similarity and difference between euphemism and metaphor. It also summarizes the expression methods and functions in pragmatics of euphemism and makes much analysis the pragmatic basis of the usage of euphemism. This paper tries to use western pragmatic theory to study Russian material, break the bondage of former theory research, and reveal the regulars in using and essential characters of euphemism from the viewpoint of pragmatics, and bears the hope that research in Russian euphemism could provide certain reference for pragmatic research.The paper consists of 4 chapters:The first chapter generally states the history and current situation of euphemism research and induces the general idea and theoretical and practical values of this paper.The second chapter discusses several theoretical problems in euphemism research, such as the definition of euphemism, classification of euphemism and similarity and difference between euphemism and metaphor.The third chapter summarizes the methods of expression in euphemism in Russian---- to realize the euphemism expression through words, phrases and sentences.The forth chapter induces and analyses four pragmatic functions and, using pragmatic theory,dissertates the necessity of existence of euphemism and feasibility of its practice from the two viewpoints of pragmatic principles and language usage.