礼貌原则下研究中英委婉语的运用

摘要：随着我们社会与文明的发展。委婉语越来越多的出现在我们的日常交往里。而它又无时无刻不在遵循着leech的礼貌原则。礼貌原则包括了六条准则：得体准则，慷慨准则，赞誉准则，谦逊准则，一致准则，同情准则。委婉语严格遵循着这六条准则，通过它们来让对方在交谈时感到轻松，礼貌，友善，与周到的感觉。所以间接而又温和的表达，常常会令交谈取得成功。

的方法，分析中英委婉语在礼貌原则下的应用。文章中我将讨论中英委婉语是如何遵循礼貌原则的六条准则。通过研究，得出了恰当的使用委婉语是礼貌原则的重要表现。本文的实践意义在于其分析结果有助于保证信息的顺利进行。

abstract: with the development of society and civilization.the euphemism appears in the social communication,and it obeys the leech

s politeness principle

all the time.and the principle including the following maxims: tact maxim,generosity maxim,approbation maxim,modesty maxim,agreement maxim,sympathy maxim.so from the indirect and mild expression,the communication will easily succeed.

this article is from the prospects of pragmatics,based on the politeness principle,use the exemplification

method,and analyze the application of chinese and english euphemism under politeness principle from the view of pragmatics.and we discuss that how english and chinese euphemism obey the six maxims of politeness principle.through the studies,we learn that the appropriate use of euphemism is an important expression of politeness principle.so the particular meaning of this thesis is that help the appropriate use of english and chinese euphemism can contribute to a lot to successful message exchange.

key words:euphemism；social functions；politeness principle；pragmatic application

euphemism is a kind of linguistic phenomenon and also

a cultural and social phenomenon.with the development of society and civilization,the euphemism appears in the social communication,and it obeys the leech

s politeness principle

all the time.the politeness principle tells us when we exchange our opinion or talk about some sensitive topic;the most important thing is that protecting the others` face and leaves a pleasant and polite feeling for each other.and the principle including the following maxims: tact maxim,generosity maxim,approbation maxim,modesty

maxim,agreement maxim,sympathy maxim.so from the indirect

and mild expression,the communication will easily succeed.

obedience to tact maxim

this maxim means to minimize the cost to other and maximize benefit to other.

for example: in western public,we can find this kind of notice “thank you for not smoking here.” compare this notice to “stop smoking,offenders fined”,the former one obviously minimize the cost of others,show the respective to the people,and according with the tact maxim.

in chinese,there are also many examples like these.such as,“我星期一买东西，你借我的钱星期一之前换给我都可以。”.from this view,we can see that the speaker want the hearer return his money,but he did not express his purpose directly,he consider the hearer

s benefit and “face”.

obedience to generosity maxim

this maxim means minimize benefit to self and maximize cost to self.

we can often hear that “can i help you?” instead of “do you need any help?” these sentences are obeyed with generosity maxim.the speaker did not put his own self benefit in first,while he consider the other

s benefit is

important,so he use an indirect way to achieve the goal of

asking the question.and this expression makes the hearers more comfortable.

in chinese,the example like: “听说要搬家了，我能帮点什么忙吗？” instead of “听说你要搬家了，要我帮忙吗？”

obedience to approbation maxim

this maxim means minimize the dispraise of other and maximize praise to other.everyone will be unpleasant when they are dispraised.so in both english and chinese,the euphemism adhere to this maxim is very common.

for example,when we evaluate some below average student,we can say “she/he is working at her/his own level.” or “under-achiever”,we can not say “stupid” “slow” or “lazy”.so if we say in this way,we will encourage the student,give them confidence.this euphemism minimizes the dispraise for them and maximizes the praise for them.in chinese,we also have this expression.“后进生” take place of “差生”.under this maxim,teacher can use this kind of euphemism to encourage student and make a great significant achievement in education process.

obedience to modesty maxim

this maxim means to minimize praise of self and maximize the dispraise of self.

this kind of euphemism is widely used in both english and chinese communication.such as,in english people calls themselves “your humbler servant”,it has the similar meaning like in chinese we call ourselves “鄙人”，one内”，one

s wife “贱

s son “犬子”，etc.people use this euphemism to

show their modesty and respect for the other persons.

obedience to a agreement maxim

this maxim means to minimize disagreement between self and other,and maximize agreement between self and other.when people have the disagreement,they usually did not express it directly.they often show their disagreement in a special means to make the hearer accept it more comfortable.

for example:(a) a “the dress is lovely,isnmaterial is nice.”

(b) a “could you help me clean the room,lily?”b “mary can do it better.”

in conversation (a) b did not answer a`s question directly “yes” or “no”,he just said that the material is nice.so the illocutionary is that b did not think the dress is lovely,but he didn

t want to contradict a.in conversation

t it?b “the

(b),b recommends mary to do this work,so she did not want to do it.but she did not give a negative answer.they all obeyed

the agreement maxim.

in chinese,we also say: a：你看我这幅画画得怎么样？b：还行吧。b`s answer is not “我觉得不怎么样”,he use the euphemism to show his feeling and do not want to make a disappoint a and do harmful to a`s face.

obedience to sympathy maxim

this maxim means to minimize antipathy between self and other,and maximize sympathy between self and other.euphemism can be used when people talk about some sensitive topics,such as death,disease,weight,age,physical or mental defects,wealth,poverty,social position,occupation,drug addiction,suicide,etc.we use this euphemism in communication want to achieve the feeling of sympathy from others and reduce the opposed emotion between them.

for example: “unable to see clearly” instead of “blind”;“self-termination” means “suicide”,“aids” is called “social disease”,“poor” is “financially

challenged”,etc,in chinese,“残疾人教育”is “特殊教育”，“清洁工人”is “马路天使”，“胖” is called “丰满”,etc.

above all the example and analysis,we can learn that the pp is an important motivation behind chinese and english euphemism.the politeness principle is the basic and common

theory which the speakers must focus on in their communication.under the maxims of politeness

principle,people can communicate more smoothly and easily with the euphemism.

now,we will discuss three main types of euphemisms under politeness principle,theory concerning political affairs,the commerce and the euphemism of social communication.

application of euphemism in politeness affairs when deal with the foreign affairs,the pp must be used to smooth the international communication.every country or every government pays more attention on their language used.so the most important thing is whether they show enough politeness to the other country or government.

now let

s see some example: in the times of reagan

s government,the “revenues increase” be replaced by “revenue enhancement”,the “needy” instead of “poor”,and then it also use the“culturally deprived”,“underprivileged”,“disadvantaged” to take place the “poor”.this expression makes the country sound like no poor people in their country.at the same time,we can not find the poor nations in english words;it just has “backward nations”,“developing

nations”,“emerging nations”.

in chinese,such kinds of examples are found

everywhere.they call “撤职”［ dismiss sb from his post］ with “丢了乌纱帽” or “免职”，“交椅”or “下台” means “退居一线”.

application of euphemism in commerce

euphemism in commerce can be regard as a way to please the customers.for example,“a fur-lavished greatcoat” sounds better than “a fur-trimmed greatcoat”.“small” is the word entire commerce wanted to avoid.take an example,in america,people use “compact car” to instead of “small car”,in europe,while the “subcompact car” is also means smaller.so this clever word choice make the customers of the small cars feel good.

in chinese there are many euphemistic advertising in commerce situation.such as,“绝代双椒” 一青辣椒红辣椒,“母子相会” ——黄豆炒黄豆芽.what肥”;“人流” for “堕胎”,etc.

、application of euphemism in social communication in social communication the death and

killing,disease,sexual activity,old age,madness,etc.so anything we feel ashamed when we mention,we use euphemism to

s more,“美体塑形” for “减

instead of.

1.euphemism of death

when we mentioned death,people will feel terrible and sorry.as this reason,we try our best to avoid use this word directly.for example,in english,the words “to be in heaven”,“to be with god” have the same meaning as “die”.death also means go to some specified places,so there are “pass away”,“go to a better place”,or “a journey or a leaving from life”.

in chinese,death is also a taboo.we say “常眠”［sleep forever］“仙逝”to express the same meaning.

2.euphemism of physical illness

named the disease directly also give people a not good feeling.it is a politeness to mention the disease indirectly.therefore,the euphemism expression both in english and chinese become a good way to show you sympathy for the others.

for example,cancer is a word which nobody wants to speak.so there is the “big c”,“incurable disease”,“long illness”,etc.in chinese,we say “绝症”，“不治之症”，etc.this expression is more acceptable to the patients.

disabilities are sensitive words.in chinese,we have “丧失视力”，“聋哑人”，“智力障碍”to instead of “聋子”，“瞎子”，

“弱智”，etc.in english,“the disabled”，“the handicapped”,“talk with one`s fingers” for “deaf”,“singht-deprived” “visually retarded” for “blind”,and “unwise” for “dementia” or “imbecile”.

3.euphemism of sex

in the past time,sex had become a very sensitive word for a longtime.people would feel very ashamed when talk about “sex”.

and now with the development of society,the taboo words of sex have become less,the new euphemism has born and used widely.the “cohabitation” in western country can be used as “trial marriage” “married but not churched”,the “mistress” becomes “the unmarried wife”.on the other hand,the “divorce”,we use “to break up” “to split up” to instead of.in chinese,the homosexuals have some euphemism to use when we mention it.for example,the chinese phrase “同志” ［ comrade］ means the person who is homosexual.

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