从中泰“死亡”委婉语看中泰文化的异同

On the Similarities and Differences of Chinese and Thai Cultures from the Euphemism of “Death” in China and Thailand

语言禁忌是产生委婉语的最根本的原因。从古到今,“死”是人们最忌讳的字眼。在通常情况下,人们记恨谈死,认为人最大的不幸莫过于死,因此在语言交际中总是回避“死”字,尽量用相关词语来替代。在中泰文化中,中泰两国人民也在自己的语言中,采用比喻、借代、婉曲等修辞方式含蓄、迂回、动听地对各种不同身份地位的人或不同原因方式的“死亡”所采用委婉的表达方式,同时也通过具体的表达方式可以看出留于世上的人们对逝者的感情和态度。由于中泰文化的差异,特别是政治体制的不同以及宗教信仰的不同,本文把死亡的对象根据其身份地位和性别年龄分成皇室、僧侣、老人、伟人、名士、贤才、英雄、女子和未成年人等类别,来分析他们在中泰语言中使用的“死亡”委婉语的差异,进而揭示中泰文化的异同。

Language taboo is the most fundamental cause of euphemism. From ancient times to the present, “death” is the most taboo word. Under normal circumstances, people hold grudges and talk about death, believing that the greatest misfortune of people is death. Therefore, they always avoid the word “death” in language communication and try to replace it with relevant words. In China and Thailand culture, China and Thailand two peoples in their own language, also use the rhetoric way such as metaphor, metonymy, rhyme, implicative, woven beautifully for a variety of people of dif-ferent status or different ways of “death” euphemism used by way of expression, as well as through concrete expression as you can see in the world of the people’s emotion and attitude of the deceased. Due to cultural differences between China and Thailand, especially political system is different and different religious beliefs, in this paper, the object of death according to their status and age and gender into the royal family, monks, the old man, a great man, celebrities, the virtuous, heroes, women and minors, such as category, to analyze their languages in China and used in the difference of “death” euphemism, which reveal the cultural similarities and differences between China and Thailand.