A Study On Pragmatic Failures In Euphemistic Expressions Among Chinese College Students In Intercultural Communication

Pragmatic failures resulting from misusing or misunderstanding euphemistic expressions will probably cause communication barriers in English speaking intercommunication. Thus, it is essential to make a study on Chinese college students’ pragmatic failures in using and understanding euphemistic expressions, in order to promote cross-cultural communication and cultivate harmonious social atmosphere.This thesis attempts to analyze the causes of pragmatic failures in using or understanding euphemistic expressions, and then proposes some measures to reduce or avoid the occurrence of such pragmatic failures. There are four purposes to be achieved in the thesis:(1) to investigate Chinese college students’pragmatic competence in using or understanding euphemistic expressions;(2) to analyze the possible causes inducing pragmatic failures in using or understanding euphemistic expressions committed by Chinese college students;(3) to research whether such pragmatic failures committed by Chinese college students will necessarily cause communication barriers in intercommunication;(4) and to raise effective ways to avoid or minimize pragmatic failures in using and understanding euphemistic expressions.To start with, two questionnaires are designed. Then two investigations, which are used to investigate Chinese college students’pragmatic competence in using and understanding euphemistic expressions, are conducted. Subsequently another investigation is conveyed in order to research whether pragmatic failures committed by Chinese college students will necessarily cause communication barriers in intercommunication. Thirdly, according to the results from investigations, some discussions are made in order to dig out the causes inducing such pragmatic failures. Finally, some tentative suggestions are given, to promote Chinese college students’pragmatic competence in using and understanding euphemistic expressions.Through the empirical study, our findings can be summarized briefly as follows:(1) The rate of pragmatic failure in answering questions with comparative choices is usually much higher than that in answering questions without comparative choices;(2) Chinese college students are apt to accept Western values;(3) Being short of vocabulary of English euphemistic expressions is becoming an important cause in committing pragmatic failures in understanding euphemistic expressions;(4) Pragmatic failures in using and understanding euphemistic expressions committed by Chinese college students are probably induced by different politeness principle; different context culture; different power distance; different cultural orientation; being ignorant of cultural connotations of English words and being short of the vocabulary of English euphemisms;(5) Native English speakers are gradually tolerant in situations when euphemistic expressions should have not been used, but they can not allow pragmatic failures in situations when euphemistic expressions should have been used and when English euphemistic expressions are misunderstood.