英汉委婉语的不同文化内涵

Cultural Connotation of English and Chinese Euphemisms

委婉语实际上是一种替代,即人们用比较婉转、文雅的话语来表达所忌讳的、不便直说的、粗俗的事物。英语和汉语中存在着大量的委婉语。通过对比分析这两种语言中有关年老、死亡、贫穷、职业等不同领域的委婉语可以看出,虽然委婉语是各种语言的普遍现象,但由于中西方的社会习俗、历史发展、文化传统、价值观念等诸多方面存在明显差异,反映到委婉语的使用及文化内涵也不尽相同,委婉语忠实地反映民族的文化特征。

Euphemism is defined as a substitution of mild or polite or roundabout expressions for offensive or direct or harsh ones.There are many euphemistic expressions both in Chinese and English.The paper attempts to make a contrastive study of euphemisms about old people,death,the poor and occupation from a cultural perspective and points out that cultural connotation of euphemistic expressions vary greatly since there are differences in social customs,history,traditions,and value systems in the West and China.Euphemisms faithfully reflect the nation's cultural features.