A Study On The Differences Of Cultural Connotations In English And Chinese Euphemism

The word "euphemism"" comes from Greek, which means "fair and good speech" Euphemism belongs to sociolinguistics, hut it is also a cultural phenomenon. It functions as the "lubricating oil" in language communication, in order to make the communication goes on effectively and successfully. Both English and Chinese have a lot of euphemisms, as a common social linguistic phenomenon, many linguists and scholars have studied euphemism from different subjects, but only on one single language. The paper aims to make a study on the differences of English and Chinese euphemism from the view of cultural connotations based on the previous studies.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one contains a general description of the study. The second chapter is Literature Review; the author illustrates the pragmatic principles and pragmatic functions of the generation and application of euphemism. On one hand, people use euphemism both In English and Chinese language by flouting the maxims of the Cooperative Principle so as to observe the Politeness Principle and the Face Theory, on the other hand, people use euphemism for the purpose of avoiding taboos, being polite and disguising. In the third chapter, it concerns with the definition, classification and formation of euphemism. The fourth chapter is the key part of this thesis. It make a study on the differences of English and Chinese euphemism from the view of cultural connotations based on national psychology, social and family hierarchy, religious belief and value orientation. The last chapter comes to the conclusion in which the major findings of the study and enlightenment for cross-cultural communication are presented.Language reflects culture, and euphemism is a mirror of culture. This paper makes a study on the differences of English and Chinese euphemism form the view of cultural connotations, it aims to provide us with a better understanding of the two languages’different cultural connotations, which is helpful for us to make the communication goes successfully and effectively.