He Formation and Social Function of English Euphemisms Essay Example for Free

He Formation and Social Function of incline Euphemisms Es tell apartAs an indispensable and natural part of English language, English euphemisms have existed for a ache time.The style of everything, including euphemism, has its reasons.The emergence of English euphemisms has a close relation with language taboos and religion. Since English euphemisms play an pregnant role in well-disposed communication, they worth cargonful and thorough study. This paper will mainly diffuse with the formation, classification and social function of English euphemisms.IntroductionEnglish euphemisms are almost employed in all athletic fields of life much(prenominal) as in the field of daily life, in the field of education, in the field of law, in the field of politics, and in the field of commerce and industry. The function of English euphemisms is diversified. in addition evasion, English euphemisms now are also used for evasion, accomplishedness, elegance.FormationEuphemismcomes from th e Greek eu (good) and phemism (speech) and thus factor mans literally to chat with good words or in a pleasant manner .Originally, crack sacrifices to gods, old Greeks used words of good omen, that is euphemisms as a rule. It is exemplified in the ancient Greek harm for the Furiesthe Eumenides or Erinyes. According to Neamans (1990)argumentGenerally speaking, euphemizing is defined as substituting an inoffensive or pleasant term for a more explicit, offensive mavin, thereby veneering the truth by apply kind words(P1).Euphemism is prevalent in homophile society, a linguistic phenomenon is the use of language is an important intend of regulating interpersonal relationships, its use has an important social function.Such as interpersonal communication in the notice functions, functions of deception to cover up the truth, and human Ironically function. Social functionEnglish euphemisms have capital social significance and practical significance in purifying language, promoting human relation and embellishing professions to seek for the ideology of fair competition. As Liu Chunbao(1994)claimsNeed is the mother of invention. The creation and formation of euphemisms is closely related to the needs of people, such as social communication, interest, reflection of values and mentality. Furthermore, these needs also give rise to their various social functions. In order to establish good social relation, people use euphemisms to make what they want to say more pleasant. So they bewilder an important means in communication (P10).1. For evasionSince death is inevitable, it has become the fear of all human being. In early time, people seldom mentioned death directly because they were irrational about it. They believed that death was a devil that can hear humans voice. So if you speak of it, it will appear. Thus, there were many euphemisms about the word die such as breathe ones last and join the majority.2 For politenessThe Pursuit of beauty is the reputation of human being. Beauty helps one feel confident while ugliness makes one have a disposition of inferiority. So it is impolite even offensive to say someone is ugly directly. When people want to gestate someone is ugly, they usually say He is plain looking or She is not pretty, etc. With the improvement of living standard, more and more people have a incubus problem. Various products of losing weight flood into the market for being too fat is not plainly a problem of appearance but also a problem of health. Obesity brings inconvenience as well as the chance of many diseases. Therefore, there are a lot of euphemisms about fatness like plump, fat or tubby, etc. Skinny is another unpleasant word. No one likes to be set forth as skinny, but they will be really pleased when they hear others describe them as slim or slender.3.For eleganceExcrement is a disgusting topic in polite conversation. They are avoided by means of euphemisms. Defecation refers to one of the sickest elements in the world. When you go to see a secure for a stomach upset, the doctor will ask you, How is your bowel movement? And if he wants to have a further examination, he will need a specimen of your manure. If someone rounds his thumb and index hitchhike up to form the letter C with other fingers stretching out, he wants to go to W.C. There are other expressions having the same meaning, like to sing a song, to see the moon, answer the natures call, do ones business or simply Excuse me. goalBased on the comparative study above made, euphemisms are more popular not only for the historical reasons, but also the needs of times. Lin Zhenyue(1994) notesEuphemisms may be based on different cultures and histories, the psychological and linguistic patterns underlying their formation are the same. Psychologically, if not linguistically, meaning can be defined as the sum of our responses to a word or an object. Words themselves may be seen as responses to stimuli. After a word has been associated for a long period of time with the stimulus that provokes it, the word itself picks up aspects of the response raise by the stimulus object(P59).