Contrastive Analysis of Common English and Chinese Euphemi论文

Abstract. English and Chinese, as two different languages, both he a massive amount of euphemis. English and Chinese euphemi seems to be similar, in fact he many differences because they are established base on different social background and culture inside. Culture influences language by way of symbols and rules as well as our perceptions of the universe, and language is the carrier and reflector of culture. The comparative study of English and Chinese euphemi reflects the peculiarities and universalities of the two culture, and could help to overcome some difficulties in communication among people from different culture. This thesis aims to make a contrastive analysis of similarities and differences between English and Chinese euphemis, promulgating the social culture behind, and then to establish a theoretical basis for carrying on cross-culture communication.
　　Key words: English and Chinese euphemi; differences and similarities; contrast research.
　　

1. Introduction

　　Because of the different convention, customs and social psychology between China and western countries, euphemi, as a part of language, shows differences in the process of cross-culture communication. Therefore, this article aims to make a contrastive analysis of similarities and differences between English and Chinese euphemis, promulgating the social culture behind, and to establish a theoretical basis for carrying on cross-culture communication.
　　1.1 The Definition of Euphemis
　　The word “euphemi” derives from the Greek. “Eu” means “good” and “pheme” means “speech” or “saying”. So it means literally “to speak with good words; to say something in a nice way”. In the Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary, it is defined as “use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones ”. In the Lingoes dictionary, it is described as “a polite word or expression that is used to refer to things that people may find upsetting or embarrassing to talk about.” For example, to say someone ‘passed away’ is a euphemi used instead of saying they died. ‘Pass water’ is a euphemi for ‘urinate’. So, the purpose of using euphemi is to reduce the unpleasantness of a notion or term.
　　1.2 The Classification of Euphemis
　　According to different angles, euphemis can be classified into many different types.
　　For instance, from the angle of semantics, euphemis can be classified into three groups, the positive euphemi, the negative euphemi and the neutral euphemi.