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Chapter 2 Language, Euphemism and Culture
2.1 The definition of culture
Culture is a large, wide and vague conception. It is really hard to explain the word “culture” clearly. As the world and society are developing, the definition of “culture” is also changing. According to Goodenough (1957:167), culture is “whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members”. Culture, “Being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage”, must consist of “the end product of learning: knowledge”. Samovar and Porter (2000:36), in their book Communication Between Cultures, defined culture as “the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving”. Linell Davis (2001:246) explained “what is culture” in simple words and with vivid metaphor in her Doing Culture: Cross-Cultural Communication. She points out that culture is like an iceberg. Only some of culture is visible. Most of culture is below the surface of our awareness.
Spencer-Oatey entented the conception of culture and introduced a number of additional factors apart from values and resultant behaviors or artifacts, including a description of the functions of culture: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group people, and that influence each member?s behavior and his or her interpretations of the ?meaning? of other people?s behavior”(2000:4). Culture changes with changing circumstances. Culture is the grammar of our behavior. Culture includes those rules that a public need to know in order to behave appropriately in the society. Just an we learn the grammar of our native language, we learn our native culture grammar unconsciously and apply its rules automatically (Linell Davis, 2001:18-20).
Different scholars defined the culture differently for different purposes. In total, all the points perform that culture is all pervasive, including customs and habits, ideas
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and beliefs, the artifacts made by human beings. Simply to say, culture reflects the whole life of the society.
2.2 Language and culture
Language is arbitrary. Language is vocal. Language is a symbolic system of human communications. Language is an important part of culture and it is the keystone of culture. Language is also the primary tool of culture to transmit its values, beliefs and norms. When people communicating with others, they can diffuse their own culture to each other, then, get knowledge of another culture from each other. Culture provides people means of thinking, ways of living, and the attitude towards life, either. Many social scientists insist that without language, culture would impossible.
On the other side, language refers to the culture. Language is influenced and shaped by culture. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural background as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking (Deng Yanchang and Liu Runqing, 1989:3). According to Kramsch (2000:3), when language is used in communication, “it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways”.
Language and culture are closely related. Human society could not be existed without a means of symbolic communication. Language gives people the access of what was thought and experienced in the past, as well as a way of passing new information on to the next generations. When the language link is broken, the culture is lost to us forever.
2.3 Euphemism and Culture
As we mentioned above, language and culture are closely related, so do euphemisms. Under the guidance of certain culture, people will consciously select euphemism to represent the “unpleasant words”. Patrick Hartwell (cited in Shao Zhihong, 1997:305) points out that euphemisms are “a natural part of the social world of words” and they tell us “a good deal about the values of a culture”. Hence, cultural values influence the expressions of politeness, euphemistic way of speaking and ways
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of avoiding offensiveness. On the other hand, euphemisms are changing along with the development of the society. And the use of euphemisms vary base on the variations of contexts. Therefore, even if people who come from the same country, same place, they may use euphemisms differently according to different social contexts.
In conclusion, euphemisms, language and culture, these three matters that are related to each other. Euphemism is a form of language, language is an integral part of culture, and culture is transmitted by language. The coinage and application of euphemisms reflect people?s attitude, facts, beliefs, ideas, values and knowledge in communication. Culture gets through the task of daily life as well as language. People come to use their language to reflect what they value and belief. They view their language as a symbol of their social identity and culture.
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Chapter 3 Comparison About English and Chinese Euphemisms
Euphemism is a common phenomenon in both English and Chinese cultures. Chinese and English are language systems that exist individually, so there are more differences than similarities between the both because of the different nature and social environments, life and living style, customs, beliefs, values of the nations. And all the differences could be seen in the uses and the expressions of euphemisms.
3.1 Euphemisms for death
Christian is the main religion in England so many English euphemisms on death originated from The Bible or Christian legends and allusion and some of them manifest the philosophy of Christianity and its religious interpretation of death. For instance, just because God created people by clay and people are created equal, “to die” is called “to return to dust / earth”. Besides, “to go to heaven”, “to be called to God”, “to be promoted to glory”, “to lie in the Abraham?s bosom”, “to launch into eternity”, “to cancel one?s account” are all used to refer to “death”.
The Chinese do not have a common and unified religion. We can find followers of Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc. As a result, many Chinese euphemisms reveals the influence of such religions. For example, Taoists expect to gain longevity or even immortality through ascetic practices, such as meditation and self-cultivation. The typical fairy tale “The eight immortals crossing the sea” has its origin in Taoism. The influence of Taoism on Chinese language can be seen in such euphemisms for death as “xianshi (仙逝)”, “dengx(登仙)”, “huahe (化鹤)”, “jiahexiyou(驾鹤西游)”, etc. Taoists think after death they become immortals and ride away on the crane to Elysium. Buddhism originated from India. After it was transmitted to China in Tang Dynasty, it became the most popular and influential religion in China. The euphemism for death originating from Buddhism include “yuanji (圆寂)”, “zuohua (坐化)”, “wuhua(物化)”, “yuhua (羽化)”, “tuihua(蜕化)”, “guixi(归西)”, etc.
Death has always been what people fear throughout the history in all nations. As time changes, the euphemism for death is developed. The euphemisms for death are a
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