从语用学的礼貌原则看英语中的委婉语(1)

【Abstract】 Euphemism, cosmetic words, is not only a lingual phenomenon, but also a cultural and social phenomenon. It is like a mirror, reflecting the values, aesthetic conceptions and moral concepts in some extent. Euphemism plays an important part in social communication. It is like lube that avoids hurting the other party’s feeling. It oils the human relationship in communication and helps to save face of communicators. If people make full use of euphemism, it can accelerate and facilitate human communication. This paper elaborates on the features and social functions of euphemism. And it focuses on the relationships between its polite functions and Politeness Principle. This thesis is composed of six parts with Chapter Four and Five as its core: The first chapter focuses on the origin and definitions of euphemism. The second chapter discusses the features of euphemism in many ways. The third chapter talks about the social functions of euphemism from the angle of pragmatics. The fourth chapter forms the basis of the whole research by connecting euphemism with politeness and face-saving theory. The fifth chapter centers on euphemism and Politeness Principle. The last chapter concludes the whole thesis. Appropriate use of English euphemism can contribute a lot to successful message exchange.
【Key Words】 euphemism; social functions; Politeness Principle; face want

【摘 要】 委婉语是一种语言现象，一种文化现象，更是一种社会现象，在一定程度上， 它反映了社会的价值观，审美观和美德观。委婉语在社会交际中发挥着重要作用。日常的约定俗成的委婉语能起润滑剂的作用，通过委婉语，可以避免语言过于直露而给对方造成伤害。 它是语言使用中人们用来协调人际关系的有效润滑剂，是保全交际各方面子的重要手段。很多中外学者曾从不同的角度对英语委婉语进行了长期的研究并取得了可喜的成果。本文主要研讨了委婉语的特点，社会功用，并从语用学的角度分析了委婉语的社会功用，礼貌原则及面子问题。本文分为六个部分。第四和第五章是文章的重点。第一章主要探讨了委婉语的定义及起源。第二章从很多方面概括了委婉语的特点。第三章从语用的角度分析了委婉语的社会功用。第四章把委婉语与礼貌，面子保全论联系在一起，是本文的核心。第五章侧重于委婉语貌与礼貌原则的关系。本文的实践意义在于其分析结论有助于保证信息传递的顺利进行并促进人们的日常交流。
【关键词】 委婉语；社会功用；礼貌原则；面子

1. Introduction
There is a humor: Once a Paris tourist resided in UK. A landlady told him sadly that, “My husband has just passed to the other side.” The guest looked from the fence of the garden but saw no one, feeling confused. The landlady explained: “I mean he’s kicked the bucket.” The guest comforted her that: “I hope his foot will be better soon.” The landlady felt unintelligibly and said: “No, he wasn’t here, he snuffed it… you know.” The guest wondered and said: “But you’ve got electricity here.”

The reasons why the guest didn’t answer properly are that he didn’t realize that the landlady used euphemism, nor did he understand the “conversational implicature” of euphemism. What the landlady wanted to say is that her husband died.
The word euphemism comes from the Greek word “euphemos”, meaning "auspicious/good/fortunate speech" which in turn is derived from the Greek root--- words eu, "good/well" + pheme, "speech/speaking". The eupheme was originally a word or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud (Such as taboo). The primary examples of taboo words requiring the use of a euphemism are the unspeakable names for a deity, such as Persephone, Hecate, Nemesis or Yahweh. By speaking only words favorable to the gods or spirits, the speaker attempted to produce good fortune by remaining in good favor with them.
“Euphemism is defined in the New Edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary (1976) as ‘Substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or direct one; expression thus substituted.’ IN Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1973) the definition reads, ‘Substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.’”[1]
Euphemism is an important rhetorical means in English. It plays an important role in people’s daily communication. It is not only a cultural phenomenon, but also a social phenomenon. It just likes a mirror, which reflects some social and psychological phenomena.

2. Features of euphemism
2.1 Indirect and implicit
The most important character of euphemism is indirect and implicit. Euphemism always gives people hints in a roundabout way. We can infer the deeper meaning and intention from the context. For example, when someone is ill, we always say he is under the weather. If someone is mad, we say he is soft in mind.
2.2 Universality
Universality is something that is well-known and accepted by all of the people. Though euphemism is indirect and it doesn’t come straight to the point, people can easily infer its deeper implication. Some taboos connected with sex, death, or body functions are replaced by euphemisms. And the public has accepted this kind of use. For example, when we refer to death, we seldom say “die”. We use the expression “pass away”.

2.3 The feature of times
The changes of language depend on the need and changes of the society. And euphemism undergoes a process of metabolism. It bears a marked brand of times.
For example, “‘She is pregnant’ has many different euphemistic expressions in different eras.
(1) She has canceled all her social engagements. (1856)
(2) She is in an interesting condition. (1880)
(3) She is in a delicate condition. (1895)
(4) She is knitting little bootees. (1910)
(5) She is in a family way. (1920)
(6) She is expecting. (1935)
(7) She is pregnant. (1956)” [2]
But after 1960s, euphemisms of pregnant develop slowly because in modern times, people are not so implicit. They always mention things directly. And now, the phenomenon of pregnant is a cheerful thing. People will not be shy when mentioning it.
“The word ‘gay’, at first, it means happy and homosexuality. But as euphemism develops, the word ‘gay’ only reminds us the meaning of homosexuality. Thus, people don’t use the expression ‘We are young and gay.’”[3]
2.4 Regional feature
In euphemism, there are some regional differences. An Australian woman married to an American man. They spent their honeymoon in America. And one day, the couple intended to go to a party together. But the bridegroom couldn’t find a suitable full dress. The bride took out a birthday suit that she gave him as a present few days ago and said: “Why not wear your birthday suit?” However, the whole family all astonished because in American English, “in one’s birthday suit” [4] is the euphemistic expression of “naked”. So this embarrassing situation resulted from the regional differences in euphemism.
There are two causes of regional differences.
First is a regional cultural difference. In different regions, the culture there will effect the development of euphemism. For example, “go to w.c.”. In the Balliol college of Oxford University, students call “‘go to toilet’ as ‘to visit Lady Periam’”[5] because the toilets of that college were built on the land donated by Lady Periam. Of course, Americans will not agree with this expression.

“Second is the difference of geographic environment. For example, in seaside, death would be connected with sea and tide. They may use ‘go with the tide’ to express die. On the contrary, in American west mountain areas, the euphemism for die is ‘(gone) over the range’ or ‘to cross the Great pide’. These are the typical regional euphemisms.”[6]
2.5 persity of lingual region
Someone thinks that only upper and middle class use euphemism. But this conclusion is too absolute. We can analyze this in three aspects.
2.5.1 Differences of gender or age
“A study shows that female use more euphemisms than male do. There is a saying in English: ‘horse sweat; men perspire; young ladies glow.’ (Brock, 1973:73) Women use obscure word to express the action of sweat. And the difference of gender and age usually influence the choice of the synonyms of euphemism. For instance, there are a variety of expressions about ‘go to toilet’. Men use the expression ‘to shoot a lion’. Adults may say ‘to go to w.c.’. And children say ‘to go to the pot’.”[7]
2.5.2 Difference of profession or identity
Euphemism changes while the profession and identity change. This is a synchrony variation. The word “die” can be used in many different ways. “In military, people use the expression ‘to lose number of one’s mess’. This expression orients from the mess system of UK navy. However, in the press, people often use the word ‘thirty’ because they usually mark ‘30’ in the end of a news article, which means ending.”[8]
2.5.3 Difference of style or context
Stylistically, the word “die” has hundreds of euphemisms. But in daily communication, people may use “to be gone” or “to be no more”. In obituary, people use “to pass away” or “to depart”. It also has some witty expressions, for instance, “to pop off” or “to kick the bucket”.
Euphemism is restricted by the context. For example, “On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. (F. Engels, Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx)” [9] This example involves the passing away of a great man. And the phrase “ceased to think” echoes “thinker”. This euphemism produces a good effect.

3. Pragmatic functions of euphemism
3.1 Taboo function
“Taboo is the main psychological basis of the emergence of euphemism. Euphemism is the avoidance of the unpleasant, inelegant things. A famous sociolinguist Mr. Chen Yuan once said: ‘Generally speaking, the coming into being of euphemism all begins from taboo.’ From the origin of euphemism, we can see that taboo is the first function of euphemism. Euphemism has been using for a long time, and it is closely related to taboo. In fact, euphemism dates back to the language taboo in the early period of human civilization. When people try to avoid and give up taboo words, they have to find another word to replace this vacancy at the same time. Hence, people created euphemism.” [10]
There are some taboo things, such as birth, death, funeral, sex, nakedness, defecation, and urinate. If they are expressed directly, they are called taboo words and the feelings they give us are vulgar, crude and harsh, whereas if they are expressed indirectly, they are called euphemism, and the impressions they made on us are elegant, implicit and polite. The evading function of euphemism also works today. Some taboo notions cannot be easily removed from people’s mind.
Though science and technology are highly developed today, the word “death” is the taboo words to all nations. Thus there are a lot of euphemisms related with it. “Such as pass away, answer the final call, be asleep in Jesus, be safe in the arms of Jesus, be at rest, be called to God, be home and free, be in Abraham’s bosom, cross the River Jordan, final sleep, go home, go to meet one’s maker, go to one’s own place, join one’s ancestors, join the great majority, return to dust, with God, be no longer with us, pay the debt of nature, tick the bucket, etc.” [11] “Among those, ‘one-way-ticket’ is the synonym of ‘die’. It reflects the speaker’s experience of life. Life is just like travel. People set out to travel, but when they arrive to the termination, they cannot go back. In the past, people often used graveyard to express the place where the dead sleep peacefully. But the associations it gives us are horrified and gloomy. So now, people use funeral home and memorial park to replace them. In such a way, it comforts people.” [12]

3.2 Polite function
Polite function of euphemism is to avoid inelegant things and make people feel pleasant. As Joanna Channell put in her book Vague Language “Vagueness is used as one way of adhering to the politeness rules for a particular culture, and of not threatening face.” [13] It means that in real life, when people meet with some unpleasant things or behaviors, they usually choose some vague expressions to avoid making bold or hurting other’s feeling----to use euphemism.
It is harsh to say someone is deaf, so people use “auditory-impaired” to replace it. They sound more gracefully. “When English-speakers refer to the appearance, they don’t use the word ‘ugly’ or ‘awful’, which has strong derogatory sense. Instead, they use the word ‘plain-looking’ or ‘not pretty’.” [14] Westerners are sensitive to age. In their opinion, “old” equals to “useless” in some extent. In order not to hurt the feeling and self-esteem of the old, “old men” are replaced by “senior citizens” or “seasoned men”. For the word “senior” has many meanings. Except “older”, it also means higher in rank or authority. And the word “seasoned” means experienced. “Following are some euphemisms about profession.” [15]
Harsh expressioneuphemism
butcherMeat technologist
Chimney workerChimney consultant
firemanFire fighter
Garbage manSanitation engineer
hairdresserHair stylist
housekeeperHousehold executive
Press-agentPublic relation counselor
Prison guardCorrectional officer
3.3 Covering up function
In Vagueness Language, Channell stated covering up function as deliberately withholding information. What is so called “cover up” means “not giving information which the speaker possesses and which could be appropriate in the situation.” [16]
Western political life gives birth to euphemism. Some politicians and news medias have made good use of the vagueness of euphemism to cover up the facts of some events for the purpose of making the politics, economy, and military more steady.
Concealing the dark side of society is to alleviate the social contradictions caused by sex, violence, poverty, unemployment, and crime. There are some euphemisms about social phenomena. “Venereal disease” has been beautified as “social disease”. “Rape”, a kind of crime, is mentioned casually as “interfere with”; “prostitution became a high-sounding profession------‘the oldest profession in the world’.” [17] In politicians’ view, violence is a kind of action and dismissal is also “lay off”. People don’t need to be surprised at these phenomena.

In western countries, politicians create some political euphemisms to serve their political goals. They try to conceal the facts as to ease the tense relations between other countries and reassure and pacify public’s anti-war emotions. For example, In Vietnam War, Gulf war, or Iraqi war, a number of euphemisms emerged to gloss over the horror and cruelty of war and contemptible diplomatic means.
“Following is a chart about military euphemisms.” [18]
Horrific expressionEuphemism
air strike air option
bombing and blastingsoftening up the resistance
civilian casualtiescollateral damage
defense crusheddefense neutralized
ground warground operation
invasionpre-emptive action
missileVehicle
nuclear bombnuclear device
retreatstrategic withdrawal
suicidal attackone-way mission
warheadpayload
There are also some euphemisms about economy. “People use ‘depression’ instead of ‘economic crises’. The word ‘Striking’ has been beautified as ‘industrial action’.” [19] and when people mentioned slum, they often use “substandard housing” to replace it.
“The euphemisms here are in the true sense of the word “false.” They are used to cover up the true nature of events, deceiving the public with nice-sounding and pseudo technical words.” [20]