1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Research
Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon. Some people assimilate it withlubricant in human communication. You can find them everywhere in our language eventhough you haven’t been aware of them. Just like the saying: “Euphemisms are embedded sodeeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken,ever go through a day without them” (Rawson 1995: 1). It is an effective way for people tocommunicate fluently and politely. Thus it can be seen that euphemism plays a very importantrole in daily communication and worthy of study.It is so fascinating that it attracts the attention of scholars from different fields recentyears, more and more linguisticians focus on this interesting linguistic phenomenon. Throughthese studies, we can judge that euphemism is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also amental phenomenon, so the study from the perspective of cognitive linguistics is necessary.Cognitive linguistics develops rapidly in recent years. Before times, scholars haveexplained English euphemism with the help of conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy,relevance theory etc. But all these could not explain euphemism as comprehensively aspossible. And scholars mainly focus on the classification, formation rules, rhetoric functionand the culture it reflects etc. (Shu Dingfang and Xu Jinyuan 1995). Studies about themeaning construction are rarely involved. So it is necessary to explore the meaningconstruction of English euphemism.Through scanning different articles by different scholars, we can find out that PrototypeTheory has great power on explaining the static meaning construction process and ConceptualBlending Theory has power on explaining the dynamic process of meaning construction.
………..
1.2 Significance of the Research
This research has both practical significance and theoretical significance.Theoretically speaking, as was mentioned above, most studies of English euphemism arefrom the rhetoric, pragmatics, semantics, sociolinguistics and some other perspectives.Making a general survey of the research history of English euphemism, many scholarsanalyze the process of euphemism understanding by Co-operative Principle, PolitenessPrinciple, Relevance Theory and other relevant theories. As has been mentioned thateuphemism understanding is a cognitive psychological process, which means psychologicalanalysis and cognitive explore are both needed for discussion. This article is different fromthe traditional studies for it combines Prototype Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory toexplain the meaning construction process of English euphemism, thus extends the depth andbreadth of euphemism’s study.Practically speaking, through the study of English euphemism, people can understandbetter how to use one word or sentence to replace another one in their communication. It helpspeople to master communication strategies during using English euphemism in the process ofcommunication. And it is also benefit for students to understand and comprehend Englisheuphemisms’ formation process in education.
………..
2 Literature Review
2.1 Definitions of English Euphemism
The origin of this English word “euphemism” can be traced back to Greek word. Theprefix “eu-”, which means “well, good” ; the root “pheme”, which has a meaning of “speak” ;The suffix “-ism”, which means the result or the action. Altogether, the literal interpretation ofthe word is “speaking well of” , “words of good omen”. Since different scholars studyeuphemism from different angles, so the definitions are different from each other. In order tounderstand it better, I pick out several different definitions and find out if there are somecommon characteristics in them. Use a tactful or polite word to avoid an painful or unpleasant meaning of a word(Webster’s Third International Dictionary 1961). Mild, roundabout, or agreeable words used to replace painful, coarse or offensiveones (Rawson 1981: 1). To substitute offensive words with an inoffensive word, by using kind words toveneer the truth (Neaman and Silver 1983: 1). Euphemism is the use of an offensive word to replace that is thought too explicit orobjectionable (Kahn and Elison 1985: 222). Euphemism is a set of communication strategies we have evolved to refer to a topicunder a taboo, without actually contravening its items (Ayto 1993: 1).
………..
2.2 Classification of English Euphemism
As is mentioned above, numerous scholars of different fields are interested in Englisheuphemism. Based on different standards, euphemism can be classified into differentcategories. According to whether the things expressed are taboo or not, euphemisms can beclassified into traditional euphemisms and stylistic euphemisms by Hugh Rawson (1981).Traditional euphemisms, we can also call them negative euphemisms. They are closelyrelated with taboo words. Words about birth, death, ill, nudity, funeral, sex, excretion etc.,they are taboo if people express them directly. It can arouse hearers’ bad feelings, like crudity,vulgar, harsh and impolite (Rawson 1981:1). But they will turn to euphemisms if peopleexpress them indirectly, and give hearers the impression of elegant, implied and polite. Suchas “death”, we can use euphemisms by saying “called home”, “at rest”, “final sleep”, “join theangels”, “play one’s harp” etc. There are more than hundreds of ways to express.Stylistic euphemisms, we can also call them positive euphemisms. They have nothing todo with taboo words, but actually they are words of fulsome praise and flatteries. English andAmericans, especially contemporary Americans, in their communication with others, they willuse exaggerated skill to embellish some unpleasant things in order to avoid stimulatinghearers, being polite or strive for cooperation. For example, elevating status of those workerswhose work is considered to be menial. They use “garbologist” or “sanitation engineer”instead of “garbage collector”. When people talk about “housewife”, they will use“homemaker” or “domestic engineer” instead. We can also see in our life, “college” ispromoted “university”, “small shop” is described as “emporium”. For the sake of avertingopposition of people, potentates understate “fighting a war” by saying “involvement”.
……….
3 Theoretical Framework of This Study .........18
3.1 Prototype Theory....... 18
3.1.1 Family Resemblance.........18
3.1.2 Prototype.........20
3.1.3 Gestalt Perception.......20
3.2 Conceptual Blending Theory .... ..21
4 Application of Prototype Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory...... 31
4.1 Application of Prototype Theory in Interpreting English Euphemisms........ 31
4.2 Application of Conceptual Blending Theory in Interpreting English Euphemisms.... 34
4.3 Combine Prototype Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory........38
4.4 Summary ....... 49
5 Conclusion....... 50
5.1 Major Findings .... 50
5.2 Limitations of the Research ........ 51
5.3 Suggestions for Further Study..... 52
4 Application of Prototype Theory and Conceptual Blending Theoryin Interpreting English Euphemisms
4.1 Application of Prototype Theory in Interpreting English Euphemisms
We may wonder sometime before why a different word that we chose to substitute theoriginal word can reach euphemistic effect? How can we explain the usage of Englisheuphemisms? And the first question in chapter 3: How does Prototype Theory explain themeaning construction of English euphemisms?The great linguists Lakoff and Taylor considered that language structure hasprototypical effects as non-linguistic structure. Prototype Theory has made greatcontributions to cognitive linguistics. Our knowledge about the objective world is infinite, butthe symbols of language are limited. If we want to express infinite objective world withlimited language symbols, it will inevitably produce unequal relation between languagesymbols and their meanings. When a language symbol can be used to refer to a variety ofmeanings, the semantic category appears in people’s sight. Prototype Theory proved the factthat in a semantic category, different members have different status. Some are typicalmembers or we call them central members, some are atypical members or peripheral members.Euphemisms and its corresponding taboo word are in the same semantic category and theyhave different status. In this category, taboo word possesses more attributes in familyresemblance, so it is believed as the typical member. On the contrary, euphemisms own onlysome of the attributes, thus they are considered as atypical member or peripheral member. Inthe following, I will use some examples to explain how Prototype Theory works.
………….
Conclusion
Euphemism is a universal language phenomenon in people’s daily life, and the meaningconstruction process is very important for people to understand and use English euphemismbetter. After discussion and analysis, there are some findings that have been found in the study,as well as the limitations and suggestions for further studies. With Prototype Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory as the frameworks, this thesishas made great effort to try to make a complementary interpretation of English euphemism.These two theories all can explain the meaning construction process of English euphemism,but they all have some defects. The defect of Prototype Theory is that it just discussed themeaning construction process of English euphemism from the category perspective, thuslacking of the dynamic construction process of meaning. While the defect of ConceptualBlending Theory is that it did not mention the important role that category played in theconceptual blending process. After analyzing the shortage in the process of using abovetheories to analyze English euphemisms, this paper combines these two theories and makes acomplementary analysis of the meaning construction process of English euphemism.
…………
Reference (omitted)