A Contrastive Study Of English And Chinese Age Euphemism From The Perspective Of Sociolinguistics

As a common phenomenon in human language, euphemism exists in different social groups and classes. It is a commonly used expression to ensure a smooth and pleasant communication between speakers in daily communication. Euphemism is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a cultural one. Language and culture are closely interrelated, which means the use of language cannot be separated from the social environment.Age, as an indispensable factor in sociology, is a significant and common topic in people’s life. There exist many differences in attitudes toward age between Chinese and western society, which leads to the differences on age euphemisms. In western society, people are afraid of being old, so age is a sensitive topic in daily life while in China, people hold a comparatively tolerant attitude toward the old. Those differences reflect people’s value orientation and social status under certain cultural and social background. English and Chinese euphemisms share similarities as well as differences in many aspects.This thesis attempts to make a contrastive study of age euphemism in English and Chinese in semantic and formation structure, and further explores the reasons behind these differences. Through the contrastive analysis of age euphemisms in English and Chinese, this thesis is intended to help language learners and users have a better understanding of the linguistic features and cultural values; furthermore, they can understand and use euphemisms appropriately in cross-cultural communication. To be specific, this thesis intends to answer the following research questions:(1) What are the differences and similarities in English and Chinese age euphemisms from semantic and formation aspects?(2) What are the potential reasons behind the differences in Chinese and English age euphemisms?(3) What are the differences in attitudes toward the use of age euphemism among younger generation from English and Chinese cultures? And what are the Chinese old people’s attitudes toward younger generation’s address forms to them?This contrastive study on age euphemism in English and Chinese is conducted from the perspective of the relationship between language and culture, and contrastive analysis. It is sought to help language users know better about euphemisms and promote deeper understanding of the cultures. It can be found that there is not too much deliberation on age in Chinese while age is still a taboo to most westerners and a large number of age euphemisms exist in English. Many Chinese age euphemisms come from ancient Chinese prose and are seldom used in today’s communication. Different lexical and rhetorical devices are used to form age euphemisms in Chinese and English. As a social and cultural phenomenon, age euphemism reflects the differences in English and Chinese people’s psychology. In order to have a better understanding of people’s psychology, a questionnaire survey is done among young people from English and Chinese cultures, and an interview survey is employed among the old people in China. The questionnaire shows that both Chinese and western young people show respect to the elderly and westerners pay more attention to the use of age euphemisms. Through the interview conducted among the old in China, it can be seen that with the increase of aging population, many old people in China are becoming sensitive of age. It can be predicted that there will appear more Chinese age euphemisms in the future. Furthermore, differences in cultural values, social conventions, social systems and communicative strategies between the two language systems are discussed. In the end, the author gives some implications on how to learn and use euphemism in cross-cultural communication and foreign language teaching.