On Pragmatic Study Of English Euphemism In Cross-cultural Communication

As is known to us that euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon, referring toa special language expression that people often employed by using the mild, gentle andtortuous expressions to express their real thoughts indirectly. Euphemism is adopted sowidely by people in the human communication that it is described as “lubricating oil”which mainly functioned to smooth over the obstacles in the communication and topromote the process of the communication. Using euphemistic expression in thecommunication can cover up some unpleasant, embarrassed, offensive or horrible topicssubtly. What it is more important is that it can improve the communicative effectseffectively and keep a harmonious relationship between the addresser and the addressee.Plenty of transcendent achievements have been made since both the foreign and theChinese linguists and scholars have studied euphemism from such different perspectivesas linguistics, social linguistics and semantics and so forth for a long time. However,there studies exist some limitations, that is, they restricted their study on the lexical levelinstead of conducting a systematic study. We all know that euphemism is not only alinguistic phenomenon but also a cultural phenomenon which reflects each nation’sdifferent customs, ways of thinking, values, views of life, views of philosophy and waysof world and so on. However, we may find that euphemism still remains a barrier topeople’s daily communication especially to the cross-cultural communication since theinterlocutors possess different cultural backgrounds, which may produce some pragmaticfailures. Hence, we must take the culture factors as well as the context into considerationwhen studying euphemism for language and culture are closely related to each other.Based on the previous study, this thesis aims to conduct a practical research on Englisheuphemism from the pragmatic perspective including the pragmatic characteristics ofEnglish euphemism, the pragmatic functions of English euphemism and the pragmaticprinciples of using English euphemism.This thesis consists of three parts, they include introduction, contents andconclusion.In introduction, this paper introduces the research results carried out by the linguistsand scholars both at abroad and domestic and points out their limitations and thendemonstrates the purpose of this thesis, that is, to conduct a systematic study of English euphemism in the cross-cultural communication from a pragmatic perspective, thus,enable the communicators to reduce the pragmatic failures produced during the processof cross-culture communication and to promote the communication as well as to achievea successful communicative purpose.Chapter Ⅰintroduces the definition of English euphemism proposed by famousscholars at first and provides a detailed analysis of them and then to redefine theeuphemism from a pragmatic perspective, considering the euphemism as not only alinguistic phenomenon, but also a pragmatic act which is affected by the context. Thenthis paper introduces the relation between language and culture, euphemism and cultureand context.Chapter Ⅱ deals with the pragmatic characteristics and functions of Englisheuphemism. Pragmatic characteristics of euphemism include nationality, diachrony,indirectness, fuzziness and humorousness. Pragmatic functions of euphemism includeavoiding taboos, showing politeness, covering facts, cosmetic function andself-protective function.Chapter Ⅲ discusses the pragmatic principles that governing the using of theeuphemism in the cross-cultural communication including Cooperative Principle,Politeness Principle, and the Face Theory. Cooperative Principle requires speakers tofollow the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maximof manner. However, in order to achieve some particular euphemistic effects, thecommunicators in the cross-cultural communication usually flout one or more maxim ofthe Cooperative Principle deliberately to generate conversational implicature instead ofobeying these maxims strictly. So, to some extent we can see that the realization of theEnglish euphemism in cross-cultural communication is achieved through flouting somemaxims of Cooperative Principle.In cross-cultural communication, the communicators’ purpose of using euphemismis to enable the hearers feel pleasant and harmonious, which is a real reflection ofpoliteness principle. By the Politeness Principle, behind the deviation lies people’s desireto be polite. In some sense, it can be said that euphemisms result from the intentionalviolation of the maxims of the Cooperative Principle and the observation of thePoliteness Principle. Appropriateness is the highest standard of language communication. Hence, in thecommunication, the speaker should do their outmost to protect the face of the listener’s.Otherwise, the speaker’s own face will be threatened. So the pragmatic strategies must beused in the language communication to save the face of both the speaker and the listener.Thus, using euphemism in the communication is one of the effective ways of saving theface of the interlocutors.The last part of this thesis is conclusion. It summarizes the whole content of thisthesis and points out the purpose of this thesis. The theoretical significance of this thesislies in the systematic analysis of English euphemism by applying some related pragmatictheory. And the practical significance of this thesis is that it will enable communicators tohave a better understanding of euphemism and to use them properly in cross-culturalcommunication as well as reduce the pragmatic failures to ensure an effectivecommunication and lay a foundation for a successful cross-cultural communication.