| Euphemistic expressions on menstruation are expressions used to refer to menstruation in an indirect way in response to menstrual taboo.Existing studies on euphemistic expressions on menstruation have been focusing on classifying euphemistic expressions on semantic content,implicature and euphemistic features on pragmatics,and social significance in terms of sociolinguistics.However,cognitive aspects concerning the generative mechanism of euphemistic expressions and cognitive motivations have not been taken into consideration.Therefore,study on euphemistic expressions could not reveal the inner structure of euphemistic expressions on menstruation.As a result,this thesis adopts a cognitive perspective to classify collected euphemistic expressions on menstruation so as to generalize their linguistic features,to analyze their conceptualizing mechanism with respect to conceptualizing methods such as conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy,and to clarify the cognitive motivation behind their generation.This thesis aims at answering three main questions:(1)What are the semantic features of euphemistic expressions on menstruation in English?(2)In what ways are the meanings of euphemistic expressions on menstruation in English constructed?What is the cognitive mechanism behind the meaning construction?(3)What are the cognitive motivations of the generation of euphemistic expressions on menstruation in English?Through analyzing the collected data,it is found that answers for these questions are:(1)Euphemistic expressions on menstruation can be divided into two main types based on semantic content,namely,symptom-based expressions and non-symptom-based expressions,the former of which can be further divided into five subtypes(periodicity-based,blood-based,tool-based,pain-based and gender-based expressions)and the latter of which can be divided into three subtypes(cause-based,interpersonal-relationship-based and attitude-based expressions).Their linguistic features can be generalized into preference of noun phrase,semantic salience and tendency of slang usage.(2)Euphemistic expressions are generated based on the cognitive model of MENSTRUATING related to the event of menstruating and the cognitive model of MENSTRUATION related to the phenomenon of menstruation.Conceptualizing methods,namely,conceptual metaphor,conceptual metonymy and metaphtonymy,are involved in the process.(3)Euphemistic expressions on menstruation in English are generated based on cognitive motivations of bodily experience,cultural experience and pragmatics.This study is significant to the theoretical application of cognitive methods,the study of euphemistic expressions on menstruation in Chinese,as well as to the study of menstruation. |
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