[Abstract] Language, as the carrier of culture, is created during the process of human beings’ productive labor and serves as the tool of communication to convey the message between people. However, it has been endowed with magic and power in particular language acts. As the old saying goes, troubles come out of the tongue. Superstitious people think that the language itself can bring about fortune or misfortune so that taboos to restrict the use of language are created. Anyone who violates them will get punishment, whereas those who faithfully obey the restrictions of language taboo will get protection. Furthermore, linguistic taboos change with the development of society .The paper firstly analyzes the evolution of linguistic taboo. Secondly, it is indicated in the paper that linguistic taboo exists in almost every aspect of people’s life and is a universal social phenomenon in China and Britain. Both Chinese and English cultures are in agreement about linguistic taboos such as pronunciation taboo, and vocabulary taboo. However, influenced by different cultural backgrounds, ideologies and the concepts of value, Chinese and English linguistic taboos also have differences, as is discussed in the paper from the aspects of taboo subjects, taboo numbers and names. At last, this paper puts forward two effective ways of avoiding taboo, that is, using euphemism and having a good knowledge of the taboo culture. And this discussion would help English learners improve their ability of cross-cultural communication and achieve better communicational effects.
[Key Words] linguistic taboo; evolution; similarities; differences
【摘 要】 语言是人们在活动过程中产生和发展起来的一种社交工具，其功能就是沟通信息，但在特定的语言行为中，却被赋予了它自身所没有的超人的感觉和超人的力量。社会成员竟认为语言本身能给人类带来某种吉祥或不幸，人为地设置了种种语言禁区。他们相信谁要是违背这些语言禁忌，英语论文范文，谁就会受到应有的惩罚。反之，谁要是忠实遵循了语言禁忌的约束，英语毕业论文，谁就会得到相应的庇护和保佑。语言禁忌会随着社会的发展而变化。本论文首先论述了语言禁忌的演变，接着提出语言禁忌存在于人们生活的各个方面，是一种普遍存在的社会现象。在汉英两种语言中，有些忌讳是一致的。文中略论了中英语言禁忌在语音层面、词汇方面的相似性。但是由于汉英民族文化背景、意识形态、价值观念等的不同，中英语言禁忌的内容和形式也有一些异同，因此本论文还研讨了中英语言禁忌在私人话题、数字和命名称谓方面的互异性。这些差异和发展演进往往会给跨文化交际带来一些障碍，为此，有效避免使用禁忌语的措施主要是使用委婉语代替禁忌词，并充分了解异国的文化背景。希望本论文的探讨能帮助英语学习者加深英汉两种语言和文化的理解，提高跨文化交际能力，避免交际失败，达到理想的交际效果。
【关键词】 语言禁忌; 演变; 相似点; 不同点
1. Introduction
“It is manifested in language: persons, things and activities that are taboo should not be talked about or should be mentioned in a roundabout way in language. Words and expressions related to these social taboos are linguistic taboos. ”[1] The above definition shows that Linguistic taboo, as an integral part of language, is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a social phenomenon.
Like other parts of language, the origin of linguistic taboo is deeply rooted in the primitive social and cultural background and its change is greatly influenced by the development of human society in order to satisfy human beings’ needs for smooth communications. With the advancement of science and technology, many puzzles about the universe are solved, and with the increase of material wealth, human demands for spiritual civilization are also becoming higher. Evidently, linguistic taboos are a reflection of these social development and the value concepts and beliefs of the culture in which they are born. It exists in every aspect of people’s life.
There are some similarities in English and Chinese linguistic taboo, but different cultures may not all agree on what is or is not a taboo in a specific context. So the differences also exist between English and Chinese linguistic taboo. A Lack of knowledge in this field or improper use of linguistic taboos may lead to misunderstandings, conflicts and other unknown serious consequences in the cross –culture communications which is increasingly frequent and wider now.
This paper intends to study the evolution of linguistic taboo, to analyze the similarities between Chinese and English linguistic taboo in pronunciation and vocabulary, and present the differences from the aspects of names, numbers as well as taboo subjects in both cultures. Last but not least, two effective ways are proposed to avoid linguistic taboos.
2. The evolution of linguistic taboo
The word taboo (also spelled as “tabu”, “tapu” and “kapu”) was borrowed from Tonga, an island group in Polynesia, and its first recorded use in English was by Captain James Cook (1729-1779), a British navigator. He came to the Archipelago of Tonga during his explorations in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. There he heard the word from the local people, which originally referred to persons, activities (including speech), or things under prohibition because they were considered, on the one hand, ”sacred” and “consecrated”, and on the other, “uncanny”, “dangerous” and “unclean”. He introduced it into English in his description of his third voyage around the world in 1777.But taboo phenomena are not unique in Tonga. Instead, it has long existed in all cultures and language throughout the world.
As we have mentioned above, linguistic taboo is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a kind of social phenomenon. The development of society has influenced the development of linguistic taboo. So if we want to reveal the whole picture of linguistic taboo, we must have a review of the history of linguistic taboo. “The evolution of linguistic taboo has generally experienced three stages according to the history of human society: the primitive superstitions stage, the feudal patriarchal stage, and modern democratic stage. But there is no explicit demarcation line between three stages.”
2.1 The primitive superstitious stages
As we all know, In the primitive society, people didn’t get to know well about nature, most natural phenomena such as lightning, thunder, storm, earthquake, were beyond the understanding of human beings. When these phenomena happened, they thought that certain supernatural creatures possessed great power. They thought that if they were loyal to these supernatural creatures, they would be safe or rewarded. If they acted against them, they would be punished severely. As a result, the primitive people created different kinds of gods. They held a strong religious conviction that these gods controlled the world that they were living in. So the first thing they did was to respect these gods through language. There is an example from the Seventh Commandment of the Ten Commandment in Bible “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name”.
In a word, the earliest linguistic taboo emerged as a result of the ignorance and superstition of the primitive people in ancient times.
2.2 The feudal patriarchal stage
Feudal society is rigidly stratified. A country of feudalism is usually controlled by the royals and sometimes together with those considered with great power given by god.
During the feudal times, people were not equal to the rulers and were suppressed by their superiors. The distinction between the upper and the lower classes was also reflected in the evaluation of the language used by them respectively. The words of upper class used were considered good and elegant while those used by the lower class were regarded as vulgar and indecent and should be avoided in the speech of ladies and gentlemen. For example, when referring to ‘出汗’ , duchesses used the word ‘perspire’, but the female servants used ‘sweat’; when referring to ‘吐痰’ ,the former people used ‘expectorate’, but the latter used ‘spit’ ; As for ‘月经’, the former used ‘menstruate’, but the latter used ‘bleed’. The maxim “Horses sweat; men perspire; young ladies glow” more or less can reflect the stratified usage of words which have the same meaning in this period. In China, during the feudal times, men usually play a dominant role in family. We can see it from the Chinese expressions “三从四德” ,“三纲五常”etc. In order to strengthen their position and to prevent their subjects from violating them, the royals and kings put forward different kinds of prohibitions and bans. For instance, to show their authority and majesty, the name of the emperor and his ancestors should not be mentioned. At the same time, people always avoided speaking out their parents’ names or even the characters in their parents’ names. The old saying “古人闻父名而泣” can prove this point.
Most linguistic taboos during this period were put into effect by rulers in order to maintain their superior social position and keep the society under their control. However, some of them, because of their deep-rooted influence on people’s mind, still remain in language even after the collapse of the social system
2.3 The modern democratic stage
In modern society, as a result of the development of science and technology, many natural phenomena are no longer mysterious. Human beings not only constantly improve their abilities to exploit the world where they are living through their great wisdom and knowledge, but also make efforts to explore the extraterrestrial world. Science has much more say in today’s society. Thereby, the superstitious elements in linguistic taboos decrease while those reflecting spiritual civilization increase.
During such an open-minded period, people value freedom, equality and democracy very much. Many minorities struggle for equal rights with the majorities. As a result, linguistic taboos concerning racial discrimination arise. For example, in the United States, “nigger” was widely used to call black people in the 1960s but now it is forbidden in normal interaction because such form of addressing shows contempt for the black and goes against the spirit of human rights.
In addition, more and more women step outside their houses to work together with men. They don’t want to depend on men any longer. However, the traditional ideas about women stifle the fulfillment of their abilities and they are often treated unfairly in work. This forces women to rise and fight for equalities with men and more and more men begin to learn to respect women, which will have an influential effect on the language. As a result, taboos on sexist language increase. Besides, in an era of peace, the relative stability of society and the fast pace of life, people don’t bother much to avoid things in the objective world. Instead, they prefer living a pleasant and harmonious life. They enjoy spiritual entertainment very much, so they try to avoid those words and behaviors that may make others feel unpleasant to keep the harmonious relationship. Those professions that were looked down upon in the past are beautified now. The substitution of “sanitation engineer” for “garbage collector” is a good example for this.
As a whole, since the third stage, people today show more respect for science and technology and human right so that the superstitious and feudal elements in linguistic taboos tend to reduce while those reflecting the advancement of human society and spiritual civilization tend to increase.
3. The similarities between Chinese and English linguistic taboo
There are taboos for religion, sex, death, disease, social bias, etc in both Chinese and English cultures and they are reflected in their respective language and become a kind of linguistic phenomenon. The similarities of Chinese and English linguistic taboo mainly embody in the following aspects:
3.1 In pronunciation
Both Chinese people and English people believe that saying words that imply misfortunes or disasters may bring them trouble, and they thought misfortunes can be prevented by replacing the words with homophones that have better meanings.
In China, many taboos have been caused by superstitions. In Shanxi province of China, there is a custom that mulberries can not be planted in front of the house and willows can not be planted behind the house, because the Chinese character “桑(mulberry)”sounds the same as “丧（mourning）and “柳（willow）”sounds the same as “绺”.They may indicate that there will be a funeral and something will be stolen. Gamblers won’t say “书(book)”, because the Chinese “shu/书(book) sound the same with “shu/输(defeat)”. Chinese people will not present a clock as a gift in weddings or other ceremonies, because “ clock” pronounces “zhong (钟)”, which has the same pronunciation as “zhong/终(end)”, meaning death in Chinese. Many other examples also can be found in Chinese. Some fisherman in South China avoid saying such word as “fan/翻(turn over)” or “chen/沉(sink)” and any other words with similar sounds. Some even change their surname “chen/陈” which sounds the same as “chen/沉”. It is said that the chopsticks people in the East use when having meals were originally called “zhu/箸” in ancient China. Since it had the same sound as “zhu/住（stop）”, it was replaced later by “kuaizi /筷子” since “kuai/筷” sounds like “kuai/快（quick）”. In western countries, there are also many such kinds of examples. When a word sounds the same as a taboo word, it needs changing into another expression. For instance, “in earlier 18th century, the female in English and American countries always tried to avoid using the word ‘arse(the bottom part of the body one sits on)’, which was considered inelegant. So people called the animal ‘ass’ as ‘donkey’.” Another typical example is that “fuck(a sail)”, “feck” or “fack(fact)” are seldom used or even go out of use, because they pronounce the same as “fuck”. “Neaman made a conclusion that the reason why some words disappeared were related to the fact that their pronunciation are the same as some taboo words”.
3.2 In vocabulary
“Roughly speaking, taboo words in English fall into three types, namely obscenities, profanities and vulgarities”. Based on this classification, the part firstly analyzes the three types as follows:
3.2.1 In obscenities
Obscene words refer to words relating to sex in a shocking and offensive way. That is to say, obscene words may cause offence to the social moral principles. They usually go out of use in public occasion and cannot appear in literary language. These words are related to human beings sexual behaviors. In both English and Chinese, these words are to be avoided in polite conversations, because they may cause strong disapproval.
In America, the Sexual Revolution in 1960s and 70s made people more open toward sex, but now words such as “making love” and “having sex” still seldom appear directly in writing, let alone in conversation. Western people are serious towards sex terms to a certain degree, so to speak.
The Chinese people also treat terms on sex seriously. Chinese people always use the expression of “ 作风问题”or“不正当联系”to show the immoral relationship between a man and a woman.
As we all know, pregnancy is a normal physiological phenomenon, but in daily life, people won’t say it directly, as it is related to sex. If someone is pregnant, English people will say, “she is expecting a baby” or “she is in a family way”. Similar euphemisms can be found in Chinese “有喜了”, “行动不便了”.
3.2.2 In profanities
Profanities refer to religious words used in a way that shows a lack of respect for God or holy things. Religion is a fertile field of this type of taboo terms. A typical example is that Christian cannot refer to God or God’s name. “The Ten Commandments forbid people to ‘take the name of the Lord your God in vain’. So it is considered very rude to say ‘goddame’ or ‘goddamned’”. [10] The words such as “God,” “Jesus,” “damn” and “hell” etc, are considered holly and only properly used in religion. If they appear in daily communication, they will make people unpleasant and disgusted. So people always try to avoid using these taboo words directly. They would like to use their euphemisms “Gosh,” “Jeepers creepers,” “dash” and “heck”. Some people also avoid referring to the devil, which is considered disrespectful. So they use “the deuce”, “the dickens”, “ old Nick” to substitute “ the devil”.
We can find similar examples in Chinese. In religion, people use some complimentary address to refer to awesome gods, e.g. “大帝”, “大圣”, “佛陀 (Buddha)”. Another example is that, tiger is regarded as the divine animal near the Changbai Mountain situated in the Northeast of our country. Therefore, there was the custom of “tiger is the god” in ancient times. People avoided calling the “tiger” directly and gave the tiger another name, “山君” or “山佛爷”.
3.2.3 In vulgarities
Both in English and Chinese the vulgar words are usually rude and offensive and bring about unpleasantness, anger or conflicts.
Swearwords in English are often called four-letter words, because most of them are short, and many are made up of four letters, e.g.: piss, shit, crap, fuck. “These so-called four letter words are considered vulgar.” [11]
Swear words formed by employing some of the animals’ names are vulgarities too.
They are very improper expressions in most conversations, especially when there are male and female at the same time, such as “bitch”, “cow”, “swine”, “pig” etc. “The British Parliament has once published a word list. The words on the list are abusive and were unparliamentary expressions, such as ‘cad’, ‘cheeky’, ‘liar’, ‘prevaricating’, ‘fascist’ etc.”[12] In general situation, even in daily communications, these vulgar words are considered taboo words.
In Chinese, there are also many similar sayings, such as “小兔崽子”, “羊巴羔子”, “狗娘养的”, “小王八” etc. These words are used to insult others. People always try to avoid using them in a normal and polite communication.
The evolution of linguistic taboo indicates that taboos involve in almost every field of life. Therefore the above three types of taboo words don’t present a complete list of taboo terms and the author has found other types of taboo words in other references.
3.2.4 In terms concerning disease, death and physical disability
Either in English or in Chinese culture, disease, death, and physical disability may horrify people. So people don’t like to mention these directly in conversation. Therefore, they are considered taboos.
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