英汉交际中的禁忌问题

Taboo in Cross-cultural Communication between English and Chinese

禁忌不仅是一种语言现象,同时也是一种文化现象。现实生活中人们出于各种不同的原因对某些事物及言行有所忌讳,出现了许多禁忌问题。在英、汉交际中,我们应对各自的禁忌有所了解,以免造成交际失败。本文从言语交际和非言语交际两个角度来探讨英、汉交际中的禁忌问题,揭示这一语言现象中所蕴含的深厚文化内涵。

Taboo is both a linguistic and a cultural phenomenon. In civilized society, people usually treat some words, things or behavior as taboo and try to avoid them. In order to communicate successfully with people from different cultures, we should know taboos in the other participant's culture. This paper discusses taboo in cross-cultural communication between English and Chinese from verbal and nonverbal perspective and reveals the deep cultural connotations contained in this linguistic phenomenon.