Comparisons in constructing principles of euphemism between English and Chinese

【Abstract】English and Chinese euphemisms have a great deal of diversity in expressions，their structure of the composition both follow the following principles： distance principle，the relevance principle，politeness principle and formation principle.

【Key words】Comparisons； constructing principles； euphemism

1.Principles of euphemisms' formation

English and Chinese euphemisms have a great deal of diversity in expressions，their structure of the composition both follow the following principles： distance principle，the relevance principle，politeness principle and formation principle.

1.1Distance Principle and relevance Principle

It is said that euphemism is a mirror of social psychology.In order to eliminate the associated thoughts and taboo things，people try to distance them by using a new way to express.This principle is called distance principle.Both English and Chinese abide by this principle in different degrees.For example，“She was sent to the big house”，“the big house” actually replaces the word “prison”.

1.2Courtesy principle and self-protect principle

Courtesy principle refers to the speaker himself considering the feeling of the listeners involved and the people he mentioned about by using the way of admiring and respecting so as to please the listeners.Such as if a student has a low IQ，teacher would like to tell the students parents： “He is just a bit slow for his age.The counterpart in Chinese is “这孩子的接受能力可能稍慢一点。”.

Self-protect principle is another important principle that English and Chinese euphemism follow.For example，if a woman wants to make propose to a man forwardly，she would like to say I want to cook for you in this whole life.

2.euphemistic constructions of English and Chinese

2.1Phonetic means

By using phonetic devices to construct euphemistic means that in conversation，people tend to hide some word they should not say or the words they are unwilling to say by not using some words or voice.Phonetic devices include sound omitting，sound inflexibly and sound avoiding，etc.

Compared with English，more sound inflexions and omitting are used in Chinese.For instance，when congratulating an elderly person on his birthday，Chinese people never give a “钟” as gift，because the sound of this Chinese character is the same with the second character of “送终”.

2.2Lexical means

In social communication，people get used to use borrowed words，synonyms，fuzzy words to create euphemisms.As a result，embarrassment in social communication is avoided.

In English，it is common to see that people borrow some words from Latin，Greek and French to express some taboos.For example，people use the French word “derriere” to replace “buttocks”.

There exits the similar words in Chinese.People use borrowed words to express.For example，WC replaces “厕所”.

2.3Grammatical means

By using grammatical means also can create a lot of euphemisms.In social communication，some personal pronouns，words omitting，voice and tones can be used appropriately.

In English，people often use the plural of first person to replace singular form of first person.For example，a doctor said to patient： “How do we feel today？”.

In Chinese，people also use plural form of personal pronouns to replace singular form.Such as when encouraging a frustrated student，a teacher tends to say “咱们不气馁，从哪摔倒就从哪再爬起来”.

Conclusion

In conclusion，people often use progressive tense and past indefinite tense to express wishes and attitudes to get rid of the sense of over straightness.For example，“I am hoping that you will come and have a chat with me.” （indirect）replaces “I hope that you will come and have a chat with me （direct）”.

References：

[1]Judith S.Neaman & Carole G.Silver.Kind Words： A Thesaurus of Euphemisms[M].Fact s on File， Inc.1983.

[2]邵军航.委婉语研究[D].上海外国语大学，2007.

[3]王海燕.浅析英汉委婉语的构成方式[J].齐齐哈尔大学学报（哲学社会科学版），2010，03.

[4]郭莉.英汉委婉语的构成方式比较分析[J].江西教育，2008，09.

作者简介：

曹霈，女，广东深圳人，深圳职业技术学院教师，东北师范大学文学院2013级文字学博士研究生在读。