Author(s)

Zhang Ke ¹, Deng Wensheng ¹, Han Xue ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Zhiyuan Department, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, China

Corresponding Author

Zhang Ke

ABSTRACT

Euphemism is a vague expression to substitute for one thought to be unpleasant or disrespectful. English euphemism is not only a figure of speech but also a cultural phenomenon. It universally appears in human languages and diverse social environments. In order to use a subtle way to relieve irritation and pressure on others, people usually employ euphemism in communication. To be specific, it means having a loan of other words to express something unpleasant. The thesis tries to explain why understanding and choosing euphemisms relies on context, and how euphemisms are used by people, following the Politeness Principle, as well as violating the Cooperative Principle. The author does emphasize the indirectness of the English euphemism and the relationship between it and Indirect Speech Acts in which the innovation lies. What is more, to reduce the pragmatic failure and improve the effect of inter-cultural communication, the author attempts to help people be fully aware of the English euphemism and put it into usage properly.

KEYWORDS

English Euphemism, Context, the Cooperative Principle, the Politeness Principle, Indirect Speech Acts

CITE THIS PAPER

Zhang Ke, Deng Wensheng, Han Xue, A Pragmatic Analysis of the English Euphemism. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2023) Vol. 6: 51-58. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2023.061608.

REFERENCES

[1] Allan, K & Burridge, K. Euphemism and Dyphemism: Language used as shield and weapon [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. 
[2] Ayto, John. Euphemisms [M]. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1993.
[3] Hugh Rawson. A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk [M]. New York: Crown publishers, 1981.
[4] Grice, H.P. Syntax and Semantics [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
[5] Geoffrey Leech. Principles of Pragmatics [M]. London: Longman Group Limited Press, 1983.  
[6] Austin, J.L. How to Do Things with Words [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2002.

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