a study on euphemism in english with reference to vietnamese equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON EUPHEMISM IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU UYỂN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HUYỀN Hanoi, 2016   MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON EUPHEMISM IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCES TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU UYỂN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HUYỀN Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que Hanoi, 2016   CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled: A study on euphemism in English with references to Vietnamese equivalents submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2016 Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose invaluable guidance, advices and suggestions have inspired me greatly through the whole process of thesis writing till its completion My thanks are also due to all the M.A TESOL lecturers at Hanoi Open University who have provided me an invaluable source of knowledge and helpful advices for my completion of this thesis A special word of thanks goes to Dr Le Ly Lan and Dr Le Phuong Thao for their support and encouragement that helps me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I also would like to express my great thanks to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted during my studies ii ABSTRACT Language is a means which people use in their daily lives to speak about everything with different purpose And the use of euphemisms is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages In the increasingly complicated and globalized society, everyone has a rising tendency to avoid speaking directly about sensitive topics However, it is very difficult to avoid speaking about unpleasant issues completely That is why people engage in different rhetorical uses of language to express what they mean Moreover, by using euphemisms, people can indirectly and politely express their ideas about subjects considered as taboos, without making the listeners feel awkward and unpleasant Euphemism reflects particular social culture psychology, so the generation and development of euphemisms are closely related to culture Therefore, people will have an intuition in what and how they express what they mean, when languages have various cultural backgrounds In this thesis, an attempt has been made to discuss the definition, evolution, formation, classification, uses, characteristics of euphemism, examine the relationship between culture and euphemism, and focus on studying English and euphemism on cultural view to find out the cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese euphemisms, to discover the facts affect on cultural differences between English and Vietnamese euphemisms Data collective and analytical method and qualitative method are used The findings, it is hoped, will help language users have more knowledge of euphemism in English and Vietnamese to overcome the misunderstandings and barriers in cultural communication iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research  1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 Objectives of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Theory of culture 2.2.1.1 Definition of culture 2.2.1.2 Culture terms 10 2.2.1.3 Characteristics of culture 12 2.2.1.4 Language and culture 14 2.2.2 Euphemism 16 2.2.2.1 Definition of euphemism 16 2.2.2.2 Formation of euphemism 18 2.2.2.3 Classification of euphemism 28 2.2.2.4 Uses of euphemism 32 2.2.2.5 Factors affecting the use of euphemism 33 iv 2.3 Summary 36 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 38 3.1 38 Research-governing orientations 3.1.1 Research questions 38 3.1.2 Research setting 38 3.1.3 Research approach(es) 38 3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 40 3.2 41 Research methods 3.2.1 Major methods vs supporting methods 41 3.2.2 Data collection techniques 41 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 42 3.3 43 Summary Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 44 4.1 44 Cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese euphemisms 4.1.1 Cultural differences reflected by colors 44 4.1.2 Cultural differences reflected by number 51 4.1.3 Cultural differences reflected by inquiring privacy 51 4.2 53 Factors leading to cultural differences between English and Vietnamese euphemism 4.2.1 Cultural differences caused by different beliefs 53 4.2.2 Cultural differences caused by different attention and perception 54 4.2.3 Cultural differences caused by different attitudes 56 4.2.4 Cultural differences caused by different value orientations 57 4.3 Implications for increasing cultural knowledge 58 4.4 Summary 58 v Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 60 5.1 Recapitulation 60 5.2 Concluding remarks 61 5.3 Limitation of the research 63 5.4 Recommendations/Suggestions for a further research 64 REFERENCES 65 vi Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research Almost all cultures seem to have certain notions or unpleasant things that people try to avoid mentioning directly, even when there is such a term in a language When such a notion or thing has to be referred to, the practice will be a substitute that sounds better That is the coming of euphemisms So we can see that euphemism have a strong relationship with our culture backgrounds, especially taboo words The appearance of euphemism gives that better sound Euphemism is a lingual phenomenon existing in human society It not only plays an important role in facilitating social interaction, but also is an important rhetorical means It is not only a cultural phenomenon, but also a social phenomenon It just likes a mirror, which reflects social and psychological phenomena In etymology, the word euphemism is derived from a Greek word which means “to speak favorably” So the essence of euphemism lies in the use of inoffensive words or phrases instead of offensive or harsh ones Euphemism has the function of politeness and beautification, which is helpful to develop benign communication Accordingly, it's widely used in our daily communication to express something unpleasant Euphemisms convey different messages to people of different cultures If a nation’s people not understand other people’s specific cultural connotation of euphemism, it is impossible to carry out effective and correct communication The exact nature of the relationship between language and culture has fascinated, and continues to fascinate, people form a wide variety of backgrounds because euphemism reflects particular social culture psychology Due to the respective cultural background and tradition, some euphemisms have far surpassed their original meanings, forming different connotations in cultures The difference of the connotation of euphemisms between different cultures is determined by each different national and historical background, the different traditions and habits, the different peoples’ life experience, and aesthetic psychology of culture It is a kind of permanent culture phenomenon The various cultural connotations of euphemisms possess an important position in communication and the other language using activities The different languages of different nations and peoples in the whole world are extensive and profound The cultural connotation of euphemisms is not only important in communication, but also in component of the relationship between the culture and euphemisms If we want euphemism to help our communication in our daily life, we should know some of its basic knowledge The originality of this paper lies in the study of euphemism from the cultural perspective This thesis focuses on examining the cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese euphemisms and finding out some factors affecting cultural differences with intending to help people better understand English and Vietnamese euphemisms to make good use of English in cultural communication 1.2 Aims of the research The aim of the research is to examine the cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese euphemism and to discover the factors affect on cultural Perceptual processes are influenced by culture People could acquire a specific attention pattern through participation in socialization processes characteristic of each culture Culture is not changing how you see the world, but rather how you think and interpret Culture can affect not just language and custom, but how people experience the world at stunningly basic levels — what they see, when they look at, or even how they perceive a simple thing Differences in social structure and social practice underlie differences in perception If one lives in a complex, interdependent social world with many role prescriptions, one needs to attend to relationships and to the context On the other hand, if one lives in relatively independent, individualistic social circumstances, one might attend primarily to objects and one’s goals with respect to those objects without being overly constrained by other people’s demands and needs Cultural differences in the way people perceive similarities have been found not only at the conceptual level but also with more purely perceptual stimuli Perceptual differences appear to be linked to differences across cultures in patterns of attention Differential patterns of attention to focal object versus context are not confined to controlled stimuli stripped of any sociocultural context It has been demonstrated that perception and memory of social behavior in everyday life events also depends on culture There is a dynamic relationship exists between perceptual processes and the cultural context The cultural environment, both social and physical, shapes perceptual processes Perceptual processes are influenced by culture It is obvious that the differences in attention and perception have affected on generating different euphemisms between languages 55 Because of different life environment and different social factors, that makes people in different countries have different perceptions to things or events around And that is also a cause generating different euphemisms in English and Vietnamese For examples, mentioning to people who are physical handicapped, there are euphemistic expressions in English and Vietnamese present changing in people’s more positive perceptions about a physical handicapped person English has euphemistic expressions like “handicapped” is euphemistically expressed by “disabled”, the “deaf” people are described as “hard of listening”, and “blind” people are “the visually challenged” Similarly, in Vietnamese, people will call those who are physical handicapped “khuyết tật” in stead of “tàn tật”, “khiếm thị” in stead of “mù”, “khiếm thính/ nặng tai” in stead of “điếc” 4.2.3 Cultural differences caused by different attitudes Attitude is a psychological construct, a mental and emotional entity that inheres in, a predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person or situation or characterizes a person Attitude influences an individual’s choice of action, and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards They are complex and refer to the beliefs and thoughts associated with an object, feelings and emotions linked to an object, or past behaviors and experiences regarding an object It is an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive expression toward a person, place, thing, or event People often show their attitudes through their speeches, so euphemisms in different countries also often cover different colors For examples, mentioning to sexual actions (adultery) considered immoral and forbidden, 56 English have many euphemisms to express such as “make love to”, “play with”, “sleep with”, “go to bed with”, etc… We also find euphemisms presenting the speaker’s different attitudes relate to this such as “có quan hệ tình cảm với”, có quan hệ vợ chồng với”, “sống lòng thòng với”, “đang cặp kè với”, “cặp bồ với”, “ăn nằm với”, “có quan hệ gian díu với”, “có quan hệ tình cảm lút với”, “có quan hệ cơng khai vợ chồng với”, “có quan hệ bất với”, etc… 4.2.4 Cultural differences caused by different value orientations The way people see and evaluate things or an event is one of the causes creating different euphemisms in English and Vietnamese We can see the way people use euphemisms to present different individual values through the world of work Nowadays, appearing the trend toward elevating titles for ordinary jobs has intensified In English, “farmer and salesman” have been euphemized as “agricultural specialist and sales executives” Some companies use euphemisms to beautify some job posts, such as “beautician, landscape architect, and sanitary engineer” instead of calling them “hairdresser, gardener, and garbage collector” In Vietnamese, not going out this trend, using euphemisms to lift up ordinary jobs are also so popular, however, Vietnamese still use common words such as “nông dân”, “người bán hàng”, besides, Vietnamese often uses the words “thợ” (specialist), “nhân viên” (staff) and “chuyên viên/ chuyên gia” (expert) go with jobs; for examples: “chuyên gia làm đẹp” is created for “thợ cắt tóc”, “chuyên gia cảnh” is created for “thợ uốn tỉa cảnh”, “nhân viên làm vườn” is created for “thợ làm vườn”, “nhân viên môi trường” is created for “người thu gom rác”, “nhân viên an ninh” is created for “người bảo vệ / nhân viên gác cổng”, etc… 57 4.3 Possible implications for increasing cultural knowledge To be polite and to protect the face of both or all sides of communication, people favor a variety of language which is pleasant and less offensive Through the discussion above, it can be concluded that, to show politeness, people tend to use the euphemisms, as a figure of speech, in their interactions However, the degree of avoidance of mentioning certain issues explicitly is not identical in all cultures Euphemism contains cultural factors Without cultural knowledge, it makes language users faces with misunderstanding other people’s messages or has inappropriate behaviors to achieve objectives Therefore, cultural awareness is needed to achieve the cultural communication competence Cultural knowledge here refers to both culture-general and culture-specific knowledge Then, it is also useful to refer to customs, etiquettes, and rules that are specific to the various cultures Such information is used to understand a particular culture Cultural awareness cannot grow naturally It has to be trained and acquired Therefore, it becomes necessary for language users to increase the cultural awareness in their foreign language learning Some excellent textbooks have been proved effective in the development of users’ communication competence Besides, the best ways for users approach to cultural knowledge are leaning through different media 4.4 Summary The main conclusions of this chapter are as follows: Firstly, some cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese euphemisms are 58 analyzed in turns to draw some foundation of euphemism in terms of culture in the two languages Secondly, some of factors lead to cultural differences between English and Vietnamese euphemisms have been shown Thirdly, this chapter also illustrates some aspects of culture help language users understand more about euphemism Fourthly, the factors lead to cultural differences between English and Vietnamese euphemisms have been proposed to provide an overall understanding about the euphemisms in two languages Lastly, some possible implications are also suggested for language user increase cultural knowledge to acquire cultural communication competence 59 Chapter CONCLUSION Overview This chapter is a brief review of what has been studied in this thesis It will be presented throughout the section of conclusion Moreover, with the findings withdrawn from the analysis in chapter 4, I would like to suggest some implications in using euphemism in English as a foreign language Finally, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further researches will be also mentioned 5.1 Recapitulation In social interaction, people always try to avoid being impolite or hurting others’ feelings in speech In other words, face saving must be taken into account to keep communication going But many verbal interactions are potential threats to face, so the communicators attempt to weaken “face threatening” through a series of strategies including euphemisms We can see that euphemism is a linguistic, and particularly a cultural phenomenon Its development is the outcome of various socio-psychological factors and reflection of the various states of social psychology The existence of taboo words or taboo ideas stimulates the creation of euphemism Principal psychological basis in using euphemisms is to avoid taboos, to be polite and to disguise Due to the variations of geographical, economical and social factors, English and Vietnamese cultures are diversified and different And people with different cultural backgrounds would not deal with the same issue in exactly 60 the same way, which will be reflected in their languages When cultural differences exist between the two languages, it is extremely difficult to achieve a successful interaction This thesis, “A study on euphemism in English with references to Vietnamese equivalents” is carried out to examine the cultures of English and Vietnamese euphemism in order to find out the cultural differences reflected in both languages and to discover the factors affecting to those cultural differences Syntactically, English euphemism and Vietnamese euphemism are formed through four means of language: phonetic means, lexical means, rhetorical means and grammatical means Semantically, through the process of study we have also discovered that most euphemisms contain meanings with cultural traits That is the reason why sometimes we find it difficult to understand the euphemism at the first sight and without cultural knowledge More interesting, some Vietnamese euphemisms have no equivalence in English and vice versa because of the cultural differences between two countries 5.2 Concluding remarks To sum up, euphemisms are rich in people’s daily communication It can help people form a positive communicative atmosphere to establish harmonious social relationships and eventually to achieve communicative goals Therefore, euphemism is of great significance in promoting successful communication With the development of modern society, it has become an indispensable element in people’s interaction 61 It seems that the increasing number of interactions among people coming from different cultural backgrounds Cultural interactions seem demanding and depend on a number of cultural characteristics There are some universal principles and rules considered to be polite for taking into consideration, when people from different cultural background are going to interact politely And within every culture, the interaction of people belonging to the same cultural background should follow the rules and principles of the shared norms of interaction within that particular culture We can see that the use of euphemism is closely linked with culture and language Different cultures will lead to the use of different phrases and different kind of language, so euphemisms strongly reflected differences between English and Vietnamese cultures The cultural value differences of euphemisms appear in all aspects in English and Vietnamese These differences have often brought about difficulties in the process of cultural communication With the development of the society, the use of euphemisms is not only limited in avoiding taboos and caring for the listeners’ feelings but also and to achieve some ulterior goals Therefore, it is also necessary to acquire as many as possible euphemistic expressions in another language The more characteristics we know about the culture and its euphemisms, the less barriers and pragmatic failures we will encounter Therefore, after studying English and Vietnamese euphemism and their cultural traits, this study made an attempt to find out the cultural differences reflected by red, white and back colors, numbers and inquiring privacy in English and Vietnamese euphemisms After that, this study continuously discovered the factors (such as: beliefs, attention and perception, attitudes, value orientations) affecting on those cultural differences in the two languages 62 These findings lead to some implications for the language users It is hoped that the study will be useful to provide an overall understanding about the cultures in two languages for language users who want to understand more euphemism, want to acquire more cultural knowledge, and to improve cultural communicative competence 5.3 Limitations of the research Although the thesis studies cultural aspects English euphemisms and their Vietnamese equivalents, it has some limitations Firstly, because of the limited knowledge and reference, the study can only examine some certain characteristics of English euphemism such as some cultural differences and factors affecting cultural differences so it has not reached the expected depth as it should Secondly, most of the samples are from dictionaries, only a small part of the samples are from books, dictionaries and works This undoubtedly does not guarantee that a full collection of euphemisms is achieved Therefore, the result of the research may not be completely accurate, though great efforts have been made to avoid any biases which may result from insufficient data Moreover, the study has been analyzed from the point of view of culture English in this study is considered as source language and it has been presented relatively adequately but in term of Vietnamese equivalent, Vietnamese is considered as target language and it has not been completely studied yet Though great efforts have been made in this thesis to work out the best results, mistakes and limitations are unavoidable Therefore any your comments or corrections for our better work would by highly appreciated 63 5.4 Suggestion for future research This thesis has focused on 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Luận án Tiên sĩ Ngữ văn, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 69 ... material aspects that have an impact in shaping a certain language Since then, many classifications and taxonomies for such cultural aspects have been Following Nida and applying the concept of... existing in human society It not only plays an important role in facilitating social interaction, but also is an important rhetorical means It is not only a cultural phenomenon, but also a social... no destination People of a nation construct a certain cultural concept that adds something new to its language in return In short, the relationship between language and culture is an interactive