Luận văn english religious euphemisms = uyển ngữ về vấn đề tôn giáo trong tiếng anh luận văn tốt nghiệp đại học

vinh university foreign Languages department ===    === nguyÔn thÞ th¶o e n g l i s h r e l i g i o u s e u p h e m i s m s (uyÓn ng÷ vÒ vÊn ®Ò t«n gi¸o trong tiÕng anh) (uyÓn ng÷ vÒ vÊn ®Ò t«n gi¸o trong tiÕng anh) graduation thesis graduation thesis Field: Linguistics Vinh - 2011 vinh university foreign Languages department ===    === e n g l i s h r e l i g i o u s e u p h e m i s m s (uyÓn ng÷ vÒ vÊn ®Ò t«n gi¸o trong tiÕng anh) (uyÓn ng÷ vÒ vÊn ®Ò t«n gi¸o trong tiÕng anh) graduation thesis graduation thesis Field: Linguistics Supervisor: trÇn b¸ tiÕn, m.a Student: nguyÔn thÞ th¶o, 48B - English Vinh - 2011 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For the completion of this study, I own my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Tran Ba Tien, M.A, for his invaluable insight, contructive advice and guidance all through my conduction of the study, without which I could not have completed and submitted this thesis in due time. I wish to say thanks to all the teachers in Department of Foreign Languages for their constant supports and encouragement. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the advices and encouragement from my friends. Finally yet importantly, I want to show my warmest thanks to my family for all vital supports. Vinh, May 2011 Student Nguyen Thi Thao i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii ABSTRACT iv PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale of the Study .1 2. Aims of the Study 2 3. Scope of the Study .2 4. Methods of the Study 2 5. Designs of te Study 2 PART II: CONTENTS 4 Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4 1.1. Definition of Euphemism .4 1.2. The origin of English Euphemisms 5 1.2.1. Taboo 6 1.2.2. Elegance 6 1.2.3. Politeness .6 1.2.4. Disguise .7 1.3. The Forms of English Euphemisms .7 1.4. Classifications of English Euphemisms .9 1.4.1. Positive Euphemism and Negative Euphemism 10 1.4.2. Conscious Euphemism and Unconscious Euphemism 10 1.4.3. Other Classifications of Euphemisms .11 1.5. Communicative Functions of Euphemism .12 1.5.1. Avoiding Taboo .12 1.5.2. Showing Politeness .13 1.5.3. Concealing truth 14 1.6. Language, Culture, Taboo and Euphemism .16 1.6.1. Language and Euphemism 16 1.6.2. Culture and Euphemism 17 1.6.3. Taboo and Euphemism 18 Chapter 2 ENGLISH RELIGIOUS EUPHEMISMS .20 2.1. Euphemisms for God 20 2.1.1. God as Gawd .21 2.1.2. God as Good 23 2.1.3. God as Lord .25 ii 2.1.4. God as Father .26 2.1.5. God as Golly 27 2.1.6. God as Gosh 28 2.2. Euphemisms for Jesus 31 2.2.1. Jesus as Geez .31 2.2.2. Jesus Christ as Criminy .32 2.3. Euphemisms for mild oaths and swear words .33 2.3.1. Euphemisms for Hell 34 2.3.2. Euphemisms for Damn 37 2.3.3. Euphemism for Devil 39 Chapter 3 SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATING ENGLISH EUPHEMISMS INTO VIETNAMESE .42 3.1. Some typical features of English religious euphemism .42 3.1.1. Using to avoid taking profanation .42 3.1.2. Mostly in the informal language .43 3.1.3. Using phonetic distortions of pronuncition or mispronunciation of the main words 44 3.2. Some suggestions for Translating English Religious Euphemisms into Vietnamese 45 3.2.1. Translating by keeping the Original Term 45 3.2.2. Translating by parapharasing .46 3.2.3. Translating basing on the key words .47 PART III: CONCLUSION 48 1. Summary 48 2. Conclusion .49 3. Limitations of the Study 50 4. Suggestions for further Studies .50 REFERENCES 51 iii ABSTRACT Euphemisms are mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. The term comes from the Greek, eu meaning “well” or “sounding good” and pheme meaning “speech”. Euphemism literally means good or pleasant speech. As an indispensable and natural part of language, euphemism has been arousing wide interest. Many linguists and scholars have studied this linguistic phenomenon from the perspectives of rhetoric, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguists. As a result, achievements in the study of euphemism have been conspicuous. However, euphemisms naming some aspects of profanity in society have not been paid enough attention, especially euphemisms for religious issue. Therefore, this study has been conducted in hope of contributing one hand to improve undestanding and using euphemisms in communicating. This thesis consists of three parts, with an introduction and a conclusion preceding and following them. As euphemism is a linguistic phenomenon, Chapter one introduces the theoretical background about euphemisms. Chapter Two investigates English religious euphemisms. Chapter Three collects and analyzes the examples of using euphemisms and translating into Vietnamese, from that, this study also suggests some solutions for translation. In the hope of investigating English religious euphemisms and providing a general view of using euphemisms, examples from famous books and novels have been collected. In conclusion, euphemism is one of the most common phenomenon of any language and it is used widely everyday. His study is conducted as a small contribution in providing a deeper understanding and using it in communication. iv PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the Study How to communicate effectively is a rentless question that almost all communicators pursue. People may go various ways to reach ultimate goal. However, no ways do not have to deal with language. It is obvious that language is the basic of all human communication and interaction. We use language to think, to make decisions, to express our own thoughts, attitude, feelings, and seemingly paradoxically, to mask our feelings or disguise things we do not want to talk about as well. The core of problem lies in what language we choose: simple, plain language or circumlocutory and roundabout one. For some simple topics, people feel no need to make it more complex and implicit, rather, they they use the former ones. However, there are many topics that we can not mention directly, therefore we need another means to replace these words and euphemsism is one of the most effective ways to deal with this kinds of profanation. Religion is an integrated part of culture, it is a taboo topic, therefore many euphemisms for it has been used. Usually, we can hear these utterances like “Oh, my Gosh”, “Goodness”, “Goodness Gracious”, “In the name of Heaven”, etc. they are all the euphemisms for the religious topic. In fact, each aspect of the religion has its own circumlocutions that make up a large number of religious euphemisms, such as God’s name, Christ’s name, even religious swear words. To gain the natural interaction as native speakers, English learners should understand the ways to use them effectively. Basing on those, this study has been conducted to provide the use of English religious euphemisms, so that English learners will deeply understand and apply them into daily communication naturally. Although using English religious euphemisms in communicating is so important, it has not been paid enough attention. Thus, with a hope to contribute one hand in developing the linguistic skill to English learners in understanding and using English as fluently as possible, this study has been conducted. 1 2. Aims of the Study This thesis is written in the hope of: - Providing the theoretical background of euphemisms like definitions, origins, communicative functions, its relationship with language, taboo, religion, etc. - Analyzing specific examples of religious euphemisms like the euphemisms for the name of God, of Jesus Christ, of religious cursing words. - Analyzing some examples of translating English religious euphemisms into Vietnamese, from that, suggest some solutions applied in translation. 3. Scope of the Study Within the framework of a graduation paper, the author has no ambition of covering all the aspects of euphemisms. It only focuses on how religious euphemisms are applied in communicating between English native speakers through the examples extracted from the famous novels like Little Women,The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Gone with the Wind, etc. or also from contemporary articles from websites like Newyork Times, Hello or online Dictionry, etc. 4. Methods of the Study This study is the realization of the combination of the two types of research: qualitative and quantitative research, in which the former is used more often throughout the study. Qualitative is conducted mostly in the first and the second chapter of the thesis. Data is collected from some main resources in newspapers, novels and internet. Data analysis and classification is followed. 5. Designs of te Study This study consists of three main parts. The first part introduce the rationales, aims, scope, methods and design of the Study. The second part provides the content of the thesis with three main chapters: - Chapter 1 provides theoretical background of euphemisms - Chapter 2 discusses the English religious euphemisms by collecting and analysing the examples that religious euphemisms have been used. 2 - Chapter 3 suggests some solutions for translating English religious euphemisms into Vietnamese ones. The last part summarizes the main ideas that have been discussed in the thesis and suggests for further study. 3