委婉语于商务英语中的用途

Chapter 1 Introduction

Euphemism appeared almost as early as language was produced. In the long history，it has accumulated many different definitions from different scholars. From Englishetymology we know that the word euphemism comes from the Greek word eixprmia(euphemia) means "the use of words of good omen，，，which in turn is derived from theGreek root-words，meaning glory, flattering speech, praise etc. And thus it literallymeans “To speak with good words" (Halliday, 2001). When it comes to a specificdefinition, it varies according to different books. First，usually we can find its definitionin current English dictionaries, which define euphemism as follows:(A) A polite, tactful, or less explicit term used to avoid the direct naming of anunpleasant painful or frightening reality. (Webster，s Third New International Dictionaryof the English Language) (1961).(B) Euphemism is the substitution of mild，indirect，or vague expression for onethought to be offensive, harsh or blunt. (The Random House College Dictionary) (Stein,1979).(C) A word or phrase used to avoid saying another word or phrase that is moreforceful and honest but also more unpleasant or offensive. (Cambridge InternationalDictionary of English) (Procter, 1995).(D) A polite word or expression that people use when they are talking aboutsomething which they or other people find unpleasant or embarrassing, such as death orsex. (Collins CobuildEssential English Dictionary) (Owen, 1989).(E) A polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one to avoidshocking or upsetting someone. ( Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English),(1995).In spite of the different wording and perspectives, these definitions share acommon point: Euphemism is a circumlocution: a word or phrase that we sometimesuse to refer to a topic which is surrounded by taboos, such as death, god, sex and madness, as well as things of which we are ashamed. In these contexts, some words areregarded as too offensive or explicit or unpleasant, and we feel it is compulsory to saysomething milder or vaguer. The kind of substitute expressions tends to be highlyidiomatic.Today, we tend to accept more about this kind of a broad sense of euphemism.Here we give some examples of the usage of euphemisms.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Before further exploration，we'd better have a general review about the previousstudy of euphemisms, which may help us clear the ground. The study of Englisheuphemisms has a long history. As early as in Anglo-Saxon period, they were used so asnot to offend political or religious leaders. In the early 1580s，，a British writer, GeorgeBlunt，first begun to use the term "euphemism" in English and defined it as "A good orfavorable interpretation of a bad word.” (Neaman and Silver 1983:4). Later，a lot ofprogress has been made with devotions of lots of linguists. There are many scholars，such as H. P. Grice (1967)，Hugh Rawson (1981)，Geoffrey Leech (1983)，Newman andSilver (1983), Brown and Levinson (1987)，Allan and Burridge (1991) etc, and theirresearches have contributed greatly to the study of euphemism. In 1967 Herbert PaulGrice developed cooperative principle in his work Logic and Conversation. In 1981，theBritish scholar Hugh Rawson published his classic Rawson's Dictionary of Euphemismsand Other Doubletalk which was a milestone of the achievements made on theeuphemism study over decades.In 1983，the famous British linguist Geoffrey Leech published his book Principlesof Pragmatics, this book presents a rhetorical model of pragmatics; that is, a modelwhich studies linguistic communication in terms of communicative goals and principlesof 'good communicative behavior*. The same year, American linguists Neaman andSilver published a dictionary Kind Words—A Thesaurus of Euphemisms as well，inwhich he elaborated the history and formation of euphemism in a detailed way. In 1987,Brown and Levinson published their work Politeness, Some Universals in LanguageUsage, The authors described and accounted for some remarkable parallelisms in thelinguistic construction of utterances with which people express themselves in differentlanguages and cultures. In this book the authors proposed the concept "Politenessprinciple，，which is another great contribution to the euphemism study after theirprevious idea “Face theory" (1978). And for both of them, we will have a furtherdiscussion in latter Chapters. The year of 1991 witnessed another masterpiece of booksabout euphemism --Euphemism and Dysphemism : Language Used as Shield andWeapon. Allan and Burridge coauthored this book，in which they closely studied the‘ linguistic, social, and psychological aspects of this intriguing practice and they coveredmany forms that euphemisms can harness, from acronym to circumlocution, fromhyperbole to understatement, metaphor, as well as technical jargons.In China, the researches of euphemisms are also in blooming prospect. In 1989，Shu Dingfang published his JVei Wan Yu Xin Tan (1989). In this paper, the authorexplores the fundamental principles governing the principles of euphemisms, and thebasic characteristics of euphemism expressions. The author also proposes that besidesthe cooperative and politeness principles, there are still more principles at work ininterpersonal communication, namely, the self-protective principle. Four years later，LiuChunbao worked out his Ying Yu Wei Wan Yu Ci Dian (1993 ) ? It gave a comprehensiveand detailed description to English euphemisms. In 2001，Cong Liating's Ying Yu WeiWan Yu Xiang Jie Ci Dian (2001) became one of the most famous knowledge baseddictionary of English euphemisms.There are also many researches about English euphemisms in business English. In2005,Chen Yarning's Guo Ji Shang Wu Ying Yti Zhong Wei Wan Yu De Yu Yong GongNeng (2005) based on politeness principle, combined with business case studies, provedthat euphemism is a very important pragmatic strategy in international communication.In 2010, Tang Heng's Shang Wu Ying Yu Zhong Wei Wan Biao Da Fen Xi (2010) statedthat Euphemism is not only an important part of the trade terms, but also a skill to wincustomer in business competitions. The same year, in Li Birong's Lue Lun Shang WuYing Yu Zhong De Wei Wan Yu (2010)， the author summarized that euphemism is apragmatic strategy with systematic differential, circuitous and developmental features;euphemistic expressions varies according to different time and circumstances; usingeuphemism could help to create a friendly communication atmosphere，so as to achievethe desired business purposes.

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework of the Research  ....... 11

3.1 Cooperative Principle ......... 11

3.2 Politeness Principle  ........ 12

3.3 Indirect Speech Acts Theory ........13

Chapter Four Applications of Euphemism in Business Negotiations". ........17

4.1 Significance of Euphemism in Business Negotiations   ..........18

4.2 Euphemistic Ways in Reminding Others 20 Chapter Five Applications of Euphemism in Business Letters........ 30

Chapter 7 Important Considerations of Euphemism inBusiness English

7.1 Avoiding Taboo
The word “taboo’’ could be traced back to Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Mr.Cook，a British sailor，landed Tonga Archipelago during his voyage of exploration insouthern Pacific Ocean. There he noticed a strange accustom, people always avoidedusing several particular words which would only be used by some privileged people,these words including gods, kings, monks and sheiks. If ordinary people ventured tospeak of such words, they would be supposed to be punished by the miraculous andsupernatural powers. People call these words and behaviors "tabu" in their locallanguage. And Cook and his followers brought "tabu" into the Great Britain andchanged it to “taboo” which became a member of English vocabulary. Now it memis “tobe holy" and "not to be permitted".Frankly speaking, euphemism originates from taboo. So there is a closerelationship between taboo and euphemism. In human language communications, whensome words and phrases cannot be used for being regarded dangerous, holy，miraculousor even vulgar, people would like to adopt euphemism instead to indicate the unpleasantones. In English speaking, taboo words fall into three types; they are profanities,obscenities and vulgarities.Profanities are the words or acts related to the name of God or holy things. Inwestern countries, the religious people regard the name of God as forbidden subject andthey even do not allow anyone else to mention it except for some rare occasions. Thetaboos related to relief are so strict that it prohibits anyone to use it. Otherwise he mightbe attacked by the public.For example, when Pygmalion, was on show in London in a theatre for the first time in 1912，a leading actress who acted as a flower girl spoke out "Not bloody likely"which shocked all audiences there. They could not manage to concentrate themselves onthe plot of the play but irritated by the lady. Now we get to learn that “bloody” was astrictly tabooed word at that time because it tends to be associated with "Christ'sblood"，so each one was about to blame the lady for speaking that word in the plot. Infact, after the Restoration in 1660，“bloody” could be used among the lower classes,however, the educated still consider it as “a horrible word”. (7-1)Obscenities are words mainly concerning the sexual organs and acts, and also someother parts of human body. These taboo words are ones like screw, balls, wanks and soon. They are often more strictly prohibited than profanities as they offend the moralethics.Vulgarities are the other kind of taboos universally thought of the rudeness. Theyare typically round excreta and excretion such as piss, shit, fart and so on. Examples arelike this:Lexicon for the act of defecation or urination: “To do one's duty”，“to do one'sbusiness", "to wash one's hands", “to use the bathroom", “to go to the rest-room", “towalk with a dog", or for female, “to powder one's nose”，“to fix one's face". As thefollowing figure shows, people use euphemism so as to act as this; In reality, taboos are forbidden not for the terms themselves, but for theconnotation. By the name, connotation refers to the “Idea that makes one think of inaddition to the main meaning." (Longman Dictionary of Contemporaiy English) (1995) Connotation tends to arouse a certain psychological association. So people would like touse euphemism to take place of the taboo words.

7.2 Avoiding Offence
It is generally believed that in one's life, death is one of the most taboos. Death isextensively considered as the eternal source of euphemism. That is，euphemism iscreated to avoid offending others when making mention of death, because a number ofinoffensive substitutes is required for “death，’ or "die". Even in Bible, some subjects orillustrations for death are contained. For mstance:"to rest in Abraham's bosom", "to goto one's last reward", “to yield one's ghost，"to be with one's fathers”，"to return to thedust/nature", "to pay the debt of nature", “to be with angels", “to go the way of allflesh/earth", “to cross the Jordan" and so on.And in the Christian world, people wish to “be with the God” after their death asthey depend on God so much when they are alive. So the euphemism include “to bewith the God", “to be called to God/ to answer the final summons", "to hand in one'saccounts" "to go one's long account" etc.Religious people are keen to live “an eternal life” as what God promised to them.They believe they would live a better life after their death. So typical examples are: “to58 be asleep in the Anns of God, “to be in heaven" or "to go to the better world/place." Illness is another one threatens people most. Many roundabouts are invented fordisease in order to weaken the scare for it or to soothe the patients and their relatives aswell. In fact，the word "disease" itself is a euphemism for it is formed by "dis" plus5ease .People are very sensitive to some names of diseases for they are regarded as beingthreatened. In past times, about in the 19th century people thought that lung illness wasincurable so that many substitutes were invented such as TB. The tremendous feararound tuberculosis existed as a touchy word thus it had to be shortened into TB ordescribed in euphemistic terms at that time.Also in the 19 century, mental illness was paid much attention by the westernersfor the origins of it kept mysterious. Various words were created to refer to mentalillness. In Usage and Abusage，the writer Eric Partridge lists the substitutes:“crazy…insane, lunaticmentally, deranged—mental" (Partridge, 2002). Besides，mental hospital is euphemized as rest house or insane asylum.In daily life，the expression “the crippled" sounds too cruel and sharp to describethe unfortunate groups of people. So "Handicap" is employed to refer to "physical ormental disability". In Britain “blind” is soothed with "visual deficit" and “visualhandicap" while in America it is called "unsighted handicapped".They also include some names of diseases. In the past while medical science wasundeveloped, lots of diseases are equivalent to death. Therefore, utterance topics aboutdisease are taboos. For example, "look off color" means someone is sick; People ceaseto use the word cancer and replace it with "terminally ill". Modem Medicine oftenborrows an acronym to refer to the holistic of a disease, so that they can avoid taboosand express their speaking content at the same time. There are still many acronyms like"AEDS'X Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)，“Capital Letter C(Cancer), "VD"(venereal disease)，“SARS，’(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes).
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Chapter 8 Conclusions

Then we come to give a conclusion to this thesis and point out some limitations ofthis research.Euphemism in business English is a kind of expression in an indirect, polite andface saving way to substitute the ones with disagreeable or less respectful meaning. Infact，it is more than just euphemistic words and phrases tiiat are used in commonsituation, it's a kind of tact communication that is applied to achieve satisfactorycommunicative effects.In terms of pragmatics，we can see that politeness principle，face theory andindirect speech acts theory are the main standing points of euphemisms in language,whatever the society or history. Likewise, the cooperative principle is the earliest theoryto study euphemism, as a matter of fact, many euphemism effects such as modest，self-mockery, etc. are achieved by violating the maxims of it, and the self-protectiveprinciple also delves into the source of euphemisms in Chinese society,and it can alsobe categorized into the three main principles above. Only when we understand the realpurpose of using euphemisms, can we understand them in communication, and use themin our business life.In this thesis, we have focused our research systematically on every aspect ofEnglish euphemism in business applications. We started from basic introduction toeuphemism including its definitions, classifications and formation. In the history, manypeople have done a lot of research on it，and based on their conclusions, we gave atheoretical fr^nework of all the theories and principles. Then on the basis of my ownexperience in business fields，we discussed about several important applications in theprocess of business negotiation, in the writing of business letter and in commercialadvertising. They all have their own standards and principles to obey when applying indifferent areas. However, the same goal is to make it available to be accepted by thelisteners and better in expressing the speakers' ideas. At last，we focus on the importantconsiderations of applying euphemism in business English. That is to dig out somesupplementary points about euphemism which will help readers to deal more properlyand avoid making mistakes and embarrassments in general business activities.As an important part of social culture, euphemism naturally reflects humancivilization, people's sense of value, moral concepts and the spirit of the times. Peopletend to employ euphemistic expressions as their communicative strategies in the hope of creating a harmonious interaction in interpersonal communication. As the societydevelops, constant changes take place in euphemism from region to region and fromtime to time. Since China has been one of the members of WTO, there are much moreopportunities for Chinese to do with English speakers both commercially and culturally.So we have to know English speaking countries cultures very well. It is beneficial forthe English learners to understand English culture and the psychologies. And Englishlanguage is a mirror which reflects these integral parts of English culture and social，national and cultural psychologies. While the study of euphemism esp. that of thebusiness functions based on English cultural backgrounds offers us a wonderfUl way tobe aware of English cultures and their way of doing business.This thesis on applications of euphemism in business English provides somehelpful materials for the business English euphemism researches. We do this research onthe basis of real examples happened in daily and working life，and simultaneouslycombine with relevant theories to make our conclxisions more convincing and practical.Such as the tactful skills in business negotiation，the key principles of applications ofeuphemism in business letter writing, and how successful advertisers apply euphemismexpressions in making attractive ads and so on. Only when being acquainted with theformation and specific applications of English euphemism, can we make less or no gaffein daily commxmicational affairs with foreigners and in dealing with foreign business.This thesis intends to show that euphemism is so important in English especially inbusiness activities. It applies in each field of business if tactfully would bring surprisingeffects. And to master principles and specific methods would be a must in euphemismapplications in business English. The author hopes this study would be helpful to theimprovement of the reader's English learning and applying, to their working andcommunication with euphemism. .
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参考文献（略）