A Study Of The Function Of Journalistic Euphemism Guided By Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs

The development of internet not only speeds up the communication of news, butalso broadens its covering range. However, the direct or unspeakable words areusually replaced by the euphemism inevitably for meeting reader’s physical andpsychological needs. Therefore, the application of the euphemism becomes more andmore popular. So does the study of the euphemism. Most linguists’ researches on theeuphemism are from the aspects of culture and pragmatics. The aspects of cultureinclude taboos, traditional morality,social convention and religion; the aspects ofpragmatics include speech act theory, cooperative principle, politeness principle,facetheory and adaptation theory. They sometimes carry out comparative studiescombined with the differences between English and Chinese euphemism. However,the euphemism is rarely utilized on the field of journalism, especially united withMaslow’s hierarchy of needs. Thus, this research attempts to empirically study thedisguise function of the euphemism in news and its physiological and psychologicallevels from the perspective of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The purpose of this paperis to explore how the disguise function of the euphemism is reflected in news andwhich levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs have been met.Firstly,the author has read a large number of news and their translation bycollecting some classic published reports which have used the euphemism. Then thestudy analyzes the disguise function of the journalistic euphemisms in the data whichthey show. Finally it analyzes the actual examples of the euphemism under theguidance of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, debates and concludes the relationsbetween the disguise function of the euphemism and the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,which means that the euphemism should meet some levels of the Maslow’s hierarchyof needs with the purpose of achieving the destination of covering the truth.The research shows that the euphemism is a very common expression in journalsor newspapers. Its pragmatic function mainly refers to the function of avoiding tabooor vulgar, politeness humor, and disguise. Through the analysis of the press and mediabroadcast reports on social life, war and politics, it could be seen that the disguise function of the euphemism is expressed more apparently, which is largely used todisguise the social issues like the poor condition, unemployment, mistakes or crimes,etc, so as to weak the social conflicts; it is also employed to disguise the aggressivewars, which could be used by those who launched the war to try to reduce thedisastrous influence brought by the war. The politicians will take use of theeuphemism on disguising the political scandals to cover the truth, which finally triesto decrease the effects to the lowest point for the public citizens. According to theMaslow’s hierarchy of needs, on the one hand, the application of the euphemismmainly meets the needs of the lower hierarchy of security, belongingness or love; onthe other hand, it meets the needs on higher hierarchy of self-esteem and aesthetics. Itis just these needs that promote the appearance and development of the euphemism.The euphemism is a significant measure of people’s mutual communication ornegotiation, which could avoid harming listeners and serves as a “lubrication oil”inthe communication of languages.