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[Abstract] Language communication is an important method to (4)

2013-08-02 01:04
There is an interesting example: “laboratory”, the original stress was on the first syllable. But it sounded similarly to “lavatory”. In order to avoid the unpleasant connection, the stress was moved to the second syllable. Such phenomenon is called Assonance. That is to make use of or to create words, which have the same or similar pronunciations with euphemistic words in order to achieve the purpose of euphemism. Therefore, in English there is a way of personification to express “catamenia”: The captain is at home. It is because “captain” is assonant with the medical science term “catamenia”. In oral English, “pee” is used to refer to “piss”, which has the same reason.
2.4. Grammar
That is to use past tense, negative sentence to express euphemism. For example, I can see by your face that you don’t think that was wise. The negative form means “thinking that was foolish”; “How do we feel today?” Using “we” instead of “you” shows the moderation and geniality. “I wanted to…” “I wondered…” often take the place of “I want to…” “I wonder…” Such expression is often used in oral English.[11]

3 The Social Influences of Euphemism
Euphemism is widely used in America and Britain. It has a long history. New euphemisms emerge in an endless stream. According to its applied functions, I’d like to divide it into three parts: Avoidance, Courtesy and Disguise. Through studying the three functions, we can understand the western society’s view on value and morality.
3.1. Avoidance
The earliest subject of Euphemism is religious[12]. The conception of taboo is deep-rooted in people’s mind, and it is not easy to remove. The appearance of taboo could date back to ancient Greek and ancient Roman. In human’s eyes God owns a super power that could control everything. Because fearing of the secret power, People use euphemism to avoid mentioning the guilty, unpleasant, rude or offensive words, which plays a role of purifying languages. For example, European Americans avoid speaking “Friday” and “13”. When the two things appear in the same day, it is an ill omen. And there is an example: there appeared an episode in 1972 when President Nicoson visited China. Chinese Premier Zhou went to Shanghai to receive American visitors. He found that Mr. and Mrs. Nicoson were arranged to live in Room15, Kissinger in Room14, but some state councilors in Room13? The Western people often take Number 13 as a taboo. After entering their apartments, Premier Zhou was aware that these Western visitors seemed unhappy. So he explained:” it is a pity that we have made a serious mistake. We ignored the special Western culture.” He continued,” There was an old Chinese fable that when a man was afraid of ghost, the more he thought, the more he felt terrified. At the time he felt no fear, he began to look for the ghost, but the ghost disappeared…Number 13 in Western culture looked like the Chinese ghost.” Hearing his story, the American visitors laughed heartily. At last they cooled down. From this example, we can realize the necessity of the cultural infiltration in language communication. So we must pay attention to the social influence of euphemism. This avoidance function is the first communication function of euphemisms[13]. Such function is often used in the following situations:

3.1.1. The euphemisms for God and devil 内容来自www.nseac.com
    The Ten Commandments of Bible has prescribed, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” That’s why there are so many euphemisms. In oral English, using “God” causally would be considered blasphmous. If someone say “God damni it” he is treason and heresy, and would be punished [14] . Some of them adopt the semantic method, such as the Creator, the Maker, the Supreme (Being), Holy One, the Almighty, the Eternal, Our Father, the Saviour, King of Kings, Lord of lords, the Light of the World, Sovereign of the Universe. Some of them adopt the phonetic method, such as Gad, Gosh, Golly, Godfrey etc. There are many euphemisms for “the devil”, such as old enemy, old Ned, Old Nick, Old One, Ole’un (Old Man), Old Scratch, Old Serpent, the Old Boy etc. For example, “He was frightened as if Old Harry were before him.” In English they often use “heck” instead of “hell”. “hell” has other expressions: “the other place, a very uncomfortable place, the other way etc.” For example, “We were all going direct to Heaven; we were all going direct the other way.” [15]
3.1.2 The euphemisms for death
Euphemism is often caused in speaking of things that are painful and distressing to think about. Death is one of expressions. The euphemisms for death are a widely used item, especially when it concerns one’s own families and friends. It has a lot of expressions[16]. For example, if anything should happen to me (= when I die); to pass away/ on; to depart; to go to sleep; to be no longer with us; to be interred. “Death” also has some humorous expressions: “to pop off; to push up daisies; to cash in one’s chips; to kick the bucket ”. “Death” also has an intimate relationship with religion. There are many euphemisms from Bible, for example, to return to dust/ earth; to pay the debt of nature; to be called to God/ to answer the final summons; to go to heaven; to be at peace, to be asleep in the Arms of God; to yield up the ghost; to launch into eternity; to have one’s name inscribed in the Book of life etc. Some words, which concern “death”, also have euphemistic expressions. For example, “coffin” is called “casket”; “dead body” is called “earthly remains”; “funeral” is called “memorial service”; “graveyard” is called “memory garden”.