摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Need for the study 1

1.2 Research purpose 2

1.3 Structure of this thesis 2

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 Introduction 3

2.1.1 Introduction to euphemism 3

2.1.2 Introduction to cooperative principle 4

2.1.3 Introduction to politeness principle 4

2.2 Previous study on euphemism 4

3. Functions of Euphemism 6

3.1 Function of avoiding taboos 6

3.2 Function of politeness 6

3.3 Function of disguise 7

3.4 Function of humor 7

4. Functions of Euphemism Violate Cooperative Principle 8

4.1 The maxim of quantity 8

4.2 The maxim of quality 9

4.3 The maxim of relation (be relevant) 10

4.4 The maxim of manner (be perspicuous) 10

5. Functions of Euphemism and Politeness Principle 11

5.1 Tact maxim and generosity maxim 11

5.2 Approbation maxim and modesty maxim 11

5.3 Agreement maxim 12

5.4 Sympathy maxim 12

6. Conclusion 14

References 15

Acknowledgments 16

Abstract

Euphemism has been a linguistic phenomenon which is used in all kinds of situations. It polishes and beautifies unpleasant words. Generally speaking, it has four functions, which are functions of avoiding taboos, politeness, disguise and humor. As euphemism is widely used nowadays, it is necessary to investigate the function of it from linguistic perspectives so that how it works can be found out.

Cooperative and politeness principle are two great achievements in all kinds of researches of pragmatics. Cooperative principle deals with the rules that allow people to cooperate during communication, thus completing their communication efficiently. Politeness principle, which completes the former principle shows six maxims for people to follow to make the communication politer.

Since euphemism and these two principles all contribute to smooth communication, there can be relationship among them. This thesis exactly focuses on probing into the euphemism’s functions and the connection between them and the two principles. The main method used to research this thesis is reviewing the literature about the application of euphemism and the two principles. Then make connections between them accordingly.

The result turns out that the four functions act against the cooperative principle but follow the politeness principle. As to cooperative principle, function of avoiding taboos ignores the maxim of quantity. The maxim of quantity and manner are violated by function of politeness. Function of disguise violates the maxim of quantity, quality and relation, and the function of humor violates the maxim of manner. With regard to politeness principle, it shows that function of politeness obeys tact, generosity, approbation and sympathy maxims. Function of disguise follows tact, generosity and agreement maxims. Function of avoiding taboos obeys sympathy maxim.

Keywords: euphemism; cooperative principle; politeness principle; communication

中文摘要

委婉语已经是一个在各种场合被运用到的语言现象，它能够修饰并美化令人不快的词句。总的来说，委婉语有四个功能：避免功能、礼貌功能、掩饰功能和幽默功能。委婉语现在被广泛使用，所以有必要从语言学角度去研究它的功能，由此来挖掘出委婉语是如何起作用的。

在对于语言学的各种研究中，合作原则和礼貌原则是两大成就。合作原则是关于使人们在沟通过程中通过合作来有效完成沟通的原则，而礼貌原则是对合作原则的补充，它包括六条使得交流更为礼貌的原则。

委婉语与合作原则和礼貌原则都是为了让交流能够顺畅，它们之间是有联系的。本文旨在研究委婉语的作用与这两个原则之间的关系，主要的研究方式为文献研究法，研究委婉语和两个原则的运用，并据此将委婉语与两个原则联系起来以获得结果。

本文研究结果发现委婉语的四个功能违反了合作原则，但它们遵守礼貌原则。对于合作原则，避免禁忌功能违反了量的准则和关系准则，礼貌功能违反了量的准则和方式准则，掩饰功能违反了质的准则并且幽默功能违反了方式准则；而对于合作原则，礼貌功能遵循得体准则、慷慨准则、赞誉准则和同情准则，掩饰功能遵循得体准则、慷慨准则、一致原则，避免禁忌功能遵循同情准则。

关键词：委婉语；合作原则；礼貌原则；沟通

Introduction

Communication is always a significant part in people’s everyday life. Therefore, how to communicate becomes a recondite topic because the ways of communication affect not only the relationship between people, but also the development and results of a lot of things. Instead of communicating in a direct way, people usually use euphemism which makes words more comfortable to accept to ensure that their conversations to continue. So far, many studies on euphemism have focused on the effects of this linguistic phenomenon in all kinds of contexts and differences of euphemism in different languages. Few studies have linked euphemism with pragmatics, especially cooperative principle (CP) and politeness principle(PP). Accordingly, concrete analyses of functions of euphemism in pragmatics are the key points of the present research.

• 1. Need for the study

This thesis is meaningful both in practical and academic respects. First of all, ubiquity has been one of euphemism’s characteristics today as it can be used on all kinds of occasions. It is complex and related to many aspects, such as history, culture, psychological theory, and context. Since communicating with others is a necessity for everyone, the appearance of euphemism improves the quality of communication to a large extent. This is because euphemism allows people to speak out taboo, embarrassing or terrifying words in a roundabout and implicit way, so that people can gain enjoyable communication experiences, then they can maintain their interpersonal relationship effectively. People whose first language is English use large amount of euphemism in their daily life to make their daily activities proceed smoothly. In short, euphemism acts as a lubricant in people’s conversations. It helps avoid some conflict and unhappiness during communication. In this case, it is obvious that researching euphemism from a systematic view to figure out the way it beautifies words is a necessity. What’s more, with euphemism as an intermediary, professional concepts in pragmatics will be concrete and vivid.

Secondly, according to Dai Weidong and He Zhaoxiong, pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. (2017:77)[1] Thus, the study of pragmatic function of euphemism can in return help not only guide appropriate use of euphemism, but also enrich the expression of euphemism. To some degree, this promotes the interaction between people.

1.2 Research purpose

This thesis is aimed at investigate euphemism’s functions in respect of CP and PP. Generally, the research purpose is to explore how these two principles are applied in euphemism. To be more specific, the thesis will firstly deal with how euphemism embodies cooperative principle, which classifies euphemism according to different maxims. Secondly, it will find out connections between euphemism and politeness principle. Through researches from these aspects, euphemism can be more systematic, which will emphasize the importance of euphemism in communication at the same time.

1.3 Structure of this thesis

This thesis is made up of five parts. The first chapter introduces this thesis in general. A literature review is presented in chapter two which explains the definition of euphemism, cooperative principle and politeness principle, along with a review of previous study on euphemism. Chapter three gives an analysis of euphemism’ s four functions, function of disguise, function of avoiding taboos, function of politeness and function of humor. The relations between the functions and cooperative and politeness principle are clearly analyzed in chapter four. Chapter five summarizes the main findings which includes the relationship between euphemism and the two principles. Besides, it provides a little advice for future study of euphemism and two principles accordingly.