Meaning Construction Of English Euphemism Based On CBR Model

Euphemism, as a common linguistic phenomenon, is widely employed in ourdaily social communication as an effective strategy to make impersonal relationshipharmonious and social communication smooth. The previous professors and scholarshave achieved numerous accomplishments in the study of euphemism from theperspectives of rhetoric, lexicography, semantics, pragmatics and cognitivelinguistics, etc. However, scant attention has been paid to the study from theintegration of two or three theories to unfold the cognitive process of the meaningconstruction of euphemism.This paper aims to study euphemism esp. its meaning construction mechanismunder the CBR model—an integrated model presented based on an analysis of thestrengths and weaknesses of CBT and RT, as well as the complementaries of the twotheories. Owing to this trait, this paper tries to apply CBR model to probe into theirmeaning construction mechanisms of euphemisms by means of analyzing sometypical euphemistic expressions.Based on the classifications of English euphemisms from Liu Chunbao’s ADictionary of English Euphemisms (2001), this thesis reclassifies euphemisms intotwo general types according to the relationship between euphemism and theeuphemized subject, namely formally relevant euphemisms and semantically relevanteuphemisms. By using CBR model, this paper tries to conduct a relative full-roundanalysis of euphemistic expressions with a view to probing into their meaningconstruction mechanisms of euphemism esp. their intended meaning.Through the qualitative analysis and a series of examples, it can be found thatthe interpretation of euphemism is a dynamic cognitive process in which two mentalinput spaces are established in view of context. The input spaces are established bycombining relevant knowledge from different domains. Input space I represents theeuphemism, i.e. the implied meaning and input space II represents the euphemized expression, i.e. the real meaning that is intended to be conveyed. The two inputspaces have partial mappings, based on relevance. Different concepts are connectedthrough optimal relevance. In an effort to gain the real meaning of the euphemisticexpressions, an abstract blended space shared by the two input spaces has to beformed between the meaning of the language symbols and the loaded information ofthe symbols by means of inference. Therefore, the CBR model serves as an importantcognitive means of revealing the meaning construction of euphemism.