On the Application of Euphemisms in English.docx
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On the Application of Euphemisms in English.docx
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OntheApplicationofEuphemismsinEnglish
上海应用技术学院
语言能力实践综合报告
院系名称外国语学院_____________________________________
报告题目英语广告中委婉语的应用_____________________
指导教师曹霞_____________________________________________
学生姓名王晓洁毛琳琳陈晓婷陈雯毛中凯许德吉
专业班级11111112________________________________________
起止日期2013年6月24日-7月12日
ShanghaiInstituteofTechnology
OntheApplicationofEuphemismsinEnglishAdvertisements
SubmittedtotheSchoolofForeignLanguages
forPracticuminUsingtheEnglishLanguage
ByWangXiaojie,MaoLinlin,ChenXiaoting,ChenWen,MaoZhongkai,XuDeji
UndertheSupervisionofAssociateProfessorCaoXia
FromJune24,2013toJuly12,2013
Abstract
Whetheranadvertisementissuccessfuldependsonitscontent,expressivetechniquesandeffect.Onsuchacondition,advertisersmusttakeintoconsiderationthecustomers’acceptability.So,forthepurposeoffittingcustomers’tastes,advertisersoftenapplyeuphemismstopublicizingtheirproductsinamoreacceptableway.
First,thispapergivesanoverviewofeuphemism.ThesecondpartstudieseuphemismsasexpressivetechniquesinEnglishAdsfromlexical,syntactical,rhetoricalandgrammaticallevel.Finally,thepaperanalyzesthefunctionsofeuphemismsinadvertisements,includingavoidingtaboo,beautifyingproductsandsatisfyingcustomers’psychologicalneeds.
KeyWords:
euphemism,advertisement,advertisingEnglish
摘要
一则广告是否成功主要取决于其内容、变现手法以及广告效果。
在此情况下,广告商必须考虑其受众群,即消费者的接受度。
所以,他们往往使用委婉语使其广告通过一种更能令人接受的语调传达产品信息。
本文首先对委婉语作简要介绍,而后结合广告实例,从词汇、句法、修辞和语法四方面分析了广告委婉语的表现手法。
最后总结出委婉语的应用在广告中起到的三种功能,即避免广告中出现禁语,美化产品和满足受众心理需求。
关键词:
委婉语,广告,广告英语
CONTENTS
Abstracti
摘要ii
1Introduction1
2AnOverviewofEuphemism2
2.1DefinitionofEuphemism2
2.2CharacteristicsofEuphemism2
3EuphemismsasTechniquesofExpressioninEnglishAds5
3.1Lexis5
3.2Syntax6
3.3Figuresofspeech10
3.4TheGrammaticalMeans12
4TheFunctionsofEuphemismsonEnglishAdvertisements14
4.1FunctionofAvoidingTaboo14
4.2FunctionofBeautification14
4.3FunctionofPsychologicalSatisfaction15
5Conclusion16
Bibliography17
1Introduction
Euphemismisnotonlyalinguisticphenomenonbutalsoaculturalphenomenon.Itcanreflectthesocialvalues,moralvaluesandsocialdevelopmentofcommonalityandnation.Therefore,itisnotonlyaproductofculturaldevelopment,butalsothesymbolofhumancivilization.Bymeansofeuphemism,advertisementscanbringpeoplecheerfulmoodandpositiveassociations,whichfitsthecharacteristicsofadvertisinglanguage.Asaresult,euphemismispopularwithadvertisers.Usingeuphemismappropriatelyintheadvertisementcanestablishgoodcorporateorproductimageandincreasethecharismaandpersuasiveadvertising,whicharousescustomers’intereststoaccept.
Infact,advertisinglanguageisrelatedtopsychology,sociology,andaesthetics.Itinvolvesthelanguagetabooandthementalityproblemsofcross-culturallanguagepeople.Aspeopleindifferentplaceshavedifferenthabitsandreligiousbeliefs,advertisementsmayleadtomisunderstandingsifadvertisersignorethatkindofproblem.Toeasethetension,euphemismiswidelyusedinadvertising.
Intoday'scompetitivemarketeconomy,merchantsadoptaseriesofpositivewaystoestablishgoodcorporateimageandproductimagewhichmakestheirproductswinaplace.Onewayisadvertising.Advertisinglanguagewhichcontinuouslypursuestheartisticbeautyaimsatgettingmoreprofits.ThispaperwilldiscusstheapplicationofEnglisheuphemismsinEnglishadvertisement.
2AnOverviewofEuphemism
Thispartisdividedintotwoparts,wecanknowmoreaboutthefeaturesofeuphemismbyanalyzingthesetwoparts.
2.1DefinitionofEuphemism
ThewordeuphemismoriginatesfromtheGreek.“Eu”meansgoodand“pheme”meansspeechorsaying.Tosumup,euphemismmeansspeakingwithgoodwordsorexpressinginapleasantmanner.Differentscholarshavedifferentunderstandingstowardeuphemism.Euphemizingisgenerallydefinedassubstitutinganinoffensiveorpleasanttermforamoreexplicit,offensiveone,therebyveneeringthetruthbyusingmindword(JudithS.Neaman&CarloeG.Silver,1983).However,euphemismisconsideredasakindoffigureofspeech,apleasantreplacementforanobjectionablewordthathaspejorativeconnotationsbyHadumodBussamann(2000).InFowler’spointofview,euphemismisthemoderateorvagueexpressioninplaceoffrankorexactexpression.Whenyouwanttoexpressmeaningswhichcan’tbesaiddirectlyforallkindsofreasons,advertiserswillusemoderateorvaguewordstoexpressmeaningeuphemistically.Fromtheaboveanalysis,euphemismcanbedefinedasusingmoderateandindirectpleasantwordsorimplicitexpressiontoreplacethewordswhichcan’tbeexpresseddirectly.
2.2CharacteristicsofEuphemism
Whenincommunication,peopletendtoresorttoeuphemisticmethodstotransmitsomeembarrassingorobnoxiouswordstoothers.Thoughthepurposeofusingeuphemismisthesame,therearestillalotofdifferentcharacteristicsofeuphemism.Thecharacteristicsarelistedasfollows:
2.2.1Regionalism
Thehistoryandculturearedifferentindifferentplaces,andaccordingly,theircustomsandtaboosaredifferent.Thisdifferencereflectedinlanguageischaracterizedasregionaldifferenceoflanguage.Forexample,theBritishcallcondom“Frenchletter”,whiletheFrenchcallit“Capoteangloise”.Moreover,someeuphemismsaredomesticallyused,butotherslayemphasisonitsownnationality.WhileChinesepeopleareoutspokenintermsofage,andtheyalsoaddtheadjective“old”infrontofthefamilynametoshowtheirrespect,theBritishandAmericanthinkoftheword“old”as“useless”.
2.2.2Contextuality
Peoplecanhavedifferenteuphemisticexpressionsindifferentcontexts,orpeopleofdifferentages,socialstatusandeducationaldegreesmayhavedifferenteuphemisticexpressionsinthesamecontext.“Gotothetoilet”hasdifferentexpressiveways:
womenmaysay“tofreshenup”,“topowderone’snose”;menmaysay“gotothetoilet”,“torelieveoneself”;childrenmaysay“gotothepot”.
2.2.3Idiomization
Alotofeuphemismswhichareusedbypeopleforalongtimehavebecomefixedexpressionsandidioms,andthusentertheEnglishvocabulary.Thecontentofthesamemeaningisreplacedbydifferenteuphemisms.Taketheword“crazy”forexample.Itwasreplacedbydifferentwordssuchas“insane”,“lunatic”and“mental”.Whatismore,afamilyusedtocalltoilet“euphemism”justbecauseaguestoftheirfamilyoncesaidthat“Ineedtouseaeuphemismtowashup”toexpresshiswillingnesstorelievehimselfeuphemistically.Graduallytheyusethisexpressiontotellothersthattheywanttogotothetoilet.
3EuphemismsasTechniquesofExpressioninEnglishAds
Advertisinglanguageisakindofpersuasion.Whenitisnotappropriatetousecertainwords,advertisersreplacethemwitheuphemisticwords.Inadvertisements,euphemisticeffectsarerealizedbymeansoflexis,syntax,figuresofspeech,andthegrammaticalmeans.
3.1Lexis
Generallyspeaking,theunpleasantorimpolitewordsinadvertisementsaresubstitutedwithotherlanguagesymbols.Thisiscalledthelexicalmeansofeuphemism.Lexicalmeansofeuphemismincludetheuseofword-formation,vagueword,tabooandmodalverb.
3.1.1Word-formation
Toavoidcertainwords,word-formationisusedasalexicalmeansofeuphemisminadvertisements.Itmainlyincludesacronym,shorteningandrearrangementofwords.Suchmeansaimateffectingmoresuccessfulcommunicationsbyavoidingthewordsthatarenotexpectedtobementioned.
Anacronymisanabbreviationformedbytheinitialcomponentsinaphraseoraword.Inadvertisements,forexample,thecapitalized“C”isusedtoreplace“cancer”,theseriousdisease.And“BO”isusedtoreplace“bodyodor”.Inadvertisementsofmedicineormedicalapparatusandinstruments,theuseofacronymcanrelievethepatients’feelingofinferiorityandsadness.Inaddition,itprovidesthecustomerswithamorecomfortablemeansofacceptingtheinformation.
Shorteningisabranchoflexicalmeansinadvertisementswhichshortenssomewordstopromoteproductsinamildtone.Forexample,“bra”isusedtoreplace“brassiere”,and“pro”isadoptedtoreplace“prophylactic”.Suchameansmakestheadvertisementimplicitandelegant.
Rearrangementofwordscanalsomakeadvertisementseffective.Forexample,Port-a-Potty,thenameofthecompanywhichsellsportablepotties,containsalltheinformationthecustomersneedtoknowaboutthecompany.Inaddition,therearrangementofwordsmakesthenameofthecompanyeasytopronounceandremember.
3.1.2Vague Word
Usingvaguewordsisanothermeansofbeautifyingproductsinadvertisements.AsPaulTherouxsaid,“Languageisdeceptive;andthoughEnglishissubtleitalsoallowsacleverperson---onealerttotheambiguitiesofEnglish—toplaytrickswithmockprecisionandtocombinevaguenesswithpoliteness.”.InEnglishadvertisements,useofprecisewordsorexpressionsonlyconveyslimitedinformation.Incontrast,vaguewordshaveabundantdenotationwhichoftenevocatecustomers’positiveassociationsoftheproducts.Forexample,theadvertisementofDovesays,“SoapmademefeellikeIhadamaskon.MoisturizingCreamDove.”Theadvertisementmeanstoadvocatethatthesoapisaseffectiveasamaskinskincare.However,itisacommonsensethatsoapscannotactuallyactasmasks.Sotheadvertiserleavesenoughleewaybyadding“like”.Itfreesthemanufacturefromtheresponsibilitynomatterhowexaggeratedthesloganis.
Thoughthereisafrequentuseofabsolutewords,suchas“best”,“No.1”,andabsoluteexpressions
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