A Cultural Approach to Verbal Taboos in English and Chinese英语论文

A Cultural Approach to Verbal Taboos in English and ChineseAbstract: Taboo has become a commonly used word in anthropology and the study of folk custom. Furthermore, it has been an important field of learning. According to the International English Usage, there are mainly six taboo aspects as follows, religion and god, sex, secretions and excretion, disease and death, social status, and privacy involves age, weight, and income tec. This article will make analysis of two of them in English and Chinese in details in the following passages.A. Religion and god In English-speaking countries, most people believe Christianity or Catholicism, so people are strictly prohibited from mentioning Gods name, Jehovah. In the third of Ten Commandments, it says “Thou shalt not speak my name in vain.” Westerners have a strong sense of religion and their thoughts are restricted by religious beliefs and superstitious concepts. They stand in arm of Gods and fear of devils and believe that some religious terms or words have a mysterious supernatural power. Thus, such religious terms or words as “Gods”,” Jesus Christ”, “heaven”, “devils”, “hell”, “dam” etc. are only mentioned in the serious religious situations, otherwise they are taboos words. However, in the course of interpersonal communication, it is inevitable to speak of “God” sometimes, then people use “All-wise”, the Creator”, “Kings of kings”, “Light of world” etc. to replace God. Therefore, people usually say “for goodness sake” or “for crying out loud” instead of “for Christs sake”. In English, there is an idiom saying “speak of devils and he appears”, so ordinary people use “the old boy” “old Nick” “old Poker”, “the good man” etc to refer to Satan. In Chinese, there are also similar religious verbal taboos. People tend to use complimentary address to call the Gods they admire such as “大帝”, “大圣” etc. Whereas they try various means to avoid mentioning devils. If a person wants to cite god as his or her witness while making his or her vows, he or she is inclined to use “天” (sky)such as “上苍作证”, “对天发誓”. Besides, people also add“爷” after gods name such as “老天爷”, “土地爷”, “阎王爷”, because “爷” is a respectful form of addressing the elder generation in Chinese.B. Disease and death In the opinion of most people, the greatest happiness in life is to be healthy, so they usually try various means to avoid mentioning names of some serious diseases. In fact, “discomfort” means “sickness”, therefore, when a person says she or he doesnt feel well, she or he implies that she is ill. Westerners substitute B.O for body odor, C.C or big C. or terminal illness for cancer, V.D for venereal disease, T.B for tuberculosis, and AIDS for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, mental diseases are also the tabooed topic. Thus, when a person has mental disorder, people usually say “she or he is not all there”, “she or he is a little confused”. As for physical disabilities, people use a “special student” for a “disabled student”, a “visually retarded student” for a “blind student”, and “the handicapped” for the “crippled”. Chinese people are afraid of talking about of disease, too. When a person is sick, she or he usually says “身体有点不适”. Blindness is usually referred to as “眼睛有点不便”(with some visual inconvenience). Death is the eternal taboo topic in the human history. Mans birth, aging, sickness and death are irresistible natural laws, but in the depths of people hearts, death is the most unfortunate thing in life, so both English and Chinese people closely guard it as a deep secret. Sometimes it is to cherish memory of the dead; sometimes it is speak highly of the dead; and sometimes it is only to avoid mentioning the terrible and mysterious word-death. There are about one hundred and thirty euphemistic phrases for death in Chinese, and it is almost true of English language. The deepest impression of euphemisms for death goes to the speech delivered by Engels in front of Marxs gravestone.“On the 14th of March, at a quarter too three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep-but forever. The gap that has been left by the departure of his mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt.”In his speech, he substituted “cease to think”, “go to sleep forever”, and “departure” for death.It seems to be considerably significant for us English learners to acquaint ourselves with the ways of avoiding verbal taboos in cross-cultural communication. There are four min ways for reference and anyone whos interested and go deeper into it.1. The first method is to avoid mentioning the tabooed fact 2. The second way is to tell white lies on some occasions 3. The third one is to neutralize some taboo words or phrases 4. The last but not least way is to substitute euphemisms for verbal taboos Taboo is a common cultural phenomenon existing in both Chinese and western cultures. Verbal taboo is an indispensable part from language. When we learn a foreign language, we should not only get knowledge of the language itself but also pay considerable attention to the culture embodied in the language. Knowing deep cultural difference behind similar phenomena of verbal taboos in Chinese and English enables us to understand one another and communicate more effectively with people from different cultures in the modern society of international interdependence. Reference1. 杨舒.语言文化比较研究.徐州.中国矿业大学出版社.20072. 邓炎昌.刘润清.语言与文化.北京.外语教学与研究出版社.19893. 葛校琴.英汉语言禁忌的深层文化映现.外语与外语教学.2001(2)4. 胡文仲.文化于交际.北京.外语教学与研究出版社.19945. 庄成余.贺芸.英汉语言禁忌的立体透视.云南社会科学.20016. 刘纯豹.英语委婉语词典.北京.商务印书馆.20017. Du Xuezeng. Comparison of Cultural Custom in China and English-speaking Cutries.Beijing. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.19998. Gao Yongchen. On Verbal Taboos in Cross-Cultural Communication. Journal of Suzhou University.No.1(1994):30-34 生命列车The Train Of Life1. 不久以前，我读了一本书。书中把人生比作一次旅行。2. 人生一世，就好比是一次搭车旅行，要经历无数次上车、下车; 时常有事故发生; 有时是意外惊喜，有时却是刻骨铭心的悲伤 3. 降生人世，我们就坐上了生命列车。我们以为我们最先见到的那两个人-我们的父母，会在人生旅途中一直陪伴着我们。 4. 很遗憾，事实并非如此。他们会在某个车站下车，留下我们，孤独无助。他们的爱、他们的情、他们不可替代的陪伴，再也无从寻找。 5. 尽管如此，还会有其他人上车。他们当中的一些人将对我们有着特殊的意义。 6. 他们之中有我们的兄弟姐妹, 有我们的亲朋好友。我们还将会体验千古不朽的爱情故事。7. 坐同一班车的人当中，有的轻松旅行。8. 有的却带着深深的悲哀 还有的,在列车上四处奔忙，随时准备帮助有需要的人 9. 很多人下车后，其他旅客对他们的回忆历久弥新 但是，也有一些人，当他们离开座位时，却没有人察觉。10. 有时候，对你来说情深义重的旅伴却坐到了另一节车厢。你只得远离他，继续你的旅程。11. 当然，在旅途中，你也可以摇摇晃晃地穿过自己的车厢，去别的车厢找他 12. 可惜，你再也无法坐在他身旁，因为这个位置已经让别人给占了 .13. 没关系。旅途充满挑战、梦想、希望、离别 就是不能回头。因此，尽量使旅途愉快吧！14. 善待旅途上遇见的所有旅客，找出人们身上的闪光点。15. 永远记住，在某一段旅程中，有人会犹豫彷徨，因为我们自己也会犹豫彷徨。16. 我们要理解他人，因为我们需要他人的理解。17. 生命之谜就是：我们在什么地方下车？坐在身旁的伴侣在什么地方下车？我们的朋友在什么地方下车？我们无从知晓 18. 我时常这样想：到我该下车的时候，我会留恋吗？我想我还是会的。和我的朋友分离，我会痛苦。让我的孩子孤独地前行，我会悲伤。 我执著地希望在我们大家都要到达的那个终点站，我们还会相聚 19. 我的孩子们上车时没有什么行李，如果我能在他们的行囊中留下美好的回忆，我会感到幸福。20. 我下车后，和我同行的旅客都还能记得我，想念我，我将感到快慰。21. 献给你, 我生命列车上的同行者, 祝您旅途愉快!1. Not long ago, I read a book, in which a mans life was compared to a journey.2. The life of a man is just like a hitchhiking，during which many times we go up and down. Now and then things will happen accidently, some of which are to be unexpected excitement，while some heart-breaking sorrows. 3. When first embraced the world，we are already on the train of life. We take it for granted that the first two persons, our parents, whom we are encountered with, will accompany us all the way.4. Sadly，things do not go on as we thought.Our parents will get off the train at a certain station，leaving us, bereft and helpless.Their love and emotion to us and their irreplaceable company can be found in nowhere.5. However，there will be somebody else who will get on the train. Some of them will have special meaning to us.6. Some of them may be our siblings , relatives and friends, and we will also expereince the imperishable love.7. Some of our travelling companions are quite light-hearted on the way.8. While some may bear immense sorrow.Still some ,back and forth, are ready to hold out their hands for others who need help.9. Some people alight off the train, yet they are still kept in the mind of the other passengers for long;some, to the opposite, leave their seats without being noticed.10. Sometimes, the one,who is dear to your heart, has huddled into another carriage. Nothing but one you can do is just to keep on going, far away from him.11. Of course, during the journey, you may stagger to another carriage to look for him.12. Its a pity that you will never seat yourself beside him because the seat has been engaged by others. 13. Never mind. The journey is full of challenges,dreams, hopes and departures- but only one thing is that you cant turn back. So, have a good journey with heart and soul.14. Show your good-will to all the passengers you are encountered with, and find the merits of theirs.15. Remeber that someone may oscillate just as we do in the journey.16. We should understand others just as we need others understanding.17. The enigma of life is：Where shall we get off the train of life?And how about the companions beside us?And our friends?We dont know.18. Sometimes I think：When my time comes to get off the train，shall I miss it？I think I will.It is a suffering when I part with my friends.I will be sorry for leaving my kids going alone.I firmly hold that when we get to the terminal，we will have another reunion.19. When my kids get on the train of life, they have only little luggage in their travelling bags. However,if I can leave the beautiful memory in them,I will be happy. 20. After getting off the train of life, I will be content if my fellow passengers will remember me and miss me.21. To you , the companions on my train of life.May you have a good journey!9.