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论文 3.docx

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论文3

TheComparisonofChineseandEnglishLinguisticTaboos

Abstract:

Taboos,asaspeciallinguisticphenomenon,existineveryculture.Havingabetterunderstandoftheitcanhelpustocommunicateeasilywithpeoplearoundusandavoidmisunderstandings,whichisalsousefulforourculturallearning.ThispapermainlycomparethedifferencesandsimilaritiesoflinguistictaboosinChineseandEnglish,thenfindabetterwaytoavoidthesewords.

Introduction:

ThewordtaboooriginatedfromTongan,thelanguageofanislandpeopleinPolynesia,meaningscared,untouchable.Thelocalcustomforbidpeopletotouchsomethingholyorignoble,ortalkaboutit.ItwasbroughtbackbyCapitanJamesCook,aBritishnavigatorin1777afteralongseavoyagetotheSouthSeaandintroducedintotheEnglishlanguage.（《图腾与禁忌》SigmundFreud）ButnowtaboophenomenonisnotuniqueinTonga,itpermeatesinallculturesandlanguagesthroughouttheworld.Itcanbeclassifiedintomanycategoriesbydifferentprinciples.However,generallyspeaking,itcoversreligioustaboos,abusivetaboos,diseaseanddeathtaboos,addresstaboos,privacytaboosandnumbertaboosbothinChineseandEnglish.Thedifferenceandsimilaritiesexistinanyculture,sodotheyinlinguistictaboos.（曾文雄.语用学翻译研究[M].武汉：

武汉大学出版社，2007：

179.）

1.SimilaritiesbetweenChineseandenglishtaboos

ThemainsimilaritiesbetweenChineseandEnglishtaboosarereflectedintheseaspects:

1.1Religioustaboos

Religion,asaspecialformofhumanculture,isgeneratedanddevelopedwithhumanculturesimultaneously.Thereexistnopeopleornationthatdonothaveanyreligions.Itisagreatpowerinsocietyandveryimportantintaboos.Vocabularieswhichinvolvedgodandworshiparetaboos.Theyaremostlyusedintheformalsolemnreligiousoccasionsonlybythepriests.Ifonecausallytalkabouttheidiomofcongregations,congregationswillthinkthathedoesnotrespecttheirfaithorgod.SoeventhepeoplewhodonotbelieveinChrist,donotuseanyirreverentwordstooffendgod.

Inwesterncountries,Christianareverydevouttogod,andJehovah,thenameofgod,isthebiggesttaboos.PeopledonotusethenameofGodcausallyatanycircumstances.ThatiswhysomewordsthatrelatedtoGodaresurelytobeavoided.Incasualoccasions,itismoreacceptabletousegosh,golly,forgoodnesssakeorforcryingoutloudtoreplaceGodorChrist.ThewordJesusisnotusedbuttoapplyGee,JeepersorJiminy.Someotherwordslikehell,devil,damn,arealsotaboos,whichareraelyusednowadays.Peoplethinkthesewordscanarousefearandpanic,sotheydonotrefertothemdirectly.Accordingly,hellanddamnarechangedtoheckanddarn,anddeviltodeuce,dickens,OldNick,bywhichpeoplehopetoremoveorreducethatfear.Thetabooinancienttimewaslinkedtogodsanddevils,whosename,presentingsomekindofsuper-naturepower,werealwaysholyandinoffensive.

Similarly,Chinesepeoplealsoprohibitprofanelanguagerelatedtoreligion.Theydobelievethatlanguagehasaconjuringpower,ifyouspeakoutsomethingorsaysomebad,itwillappearinstantly.Mostofthepeoplebelievethatgodcontrolsthewordtheyarelivingin.Iftheyareloyaltogod,theycanlivesafeandsound;otherwise,thebadluckorunfortunewillbearoundthem.Therefore,theyrespectgodsincerely,nevershowinganydishonorordisrespecttothem.Meantime,inordertoprotectthehappylifeofthewholefamily,peoplealsobelieveindoor-god,kitchengod,gnome,orthegodofwealth.Theyoftensay“请”inChinese,whichmeansinvitesomebody,butnotusetheword“买”,whichisprofanetogod.

InChineseandwesternculture,peoplemakethebeliefofpeopleofgod,ghostsofgodandothersbeapartoftheirdailylifeduingtotheworshipofgod.Ithasbecomeaconsensustoavoidusingwordsthatareprofanetogod.

1.2Diseaseanddeathtaboos

"Health,old,disease,death"isalawofnature.Butbecauseofthefeartodiseaseanddeath,peoplemakeitatabooonthistopic,whichisthesamebothinChineseandwesterncountries.Inordertohavegoodluck,peopletrytoavoidtalkingsomediseasesanddeathdirectlyindailylife.Peopledonotlikeusingthewordslikecancer,tuberculosis,venerealdiseasedirectly.Inenglish,ondeath,peopleoftenusegotobewithGod,betakentoparadise,answerthefinalsummon,sleepinthearmsofGod,departtoGod,gotomeetone’smaker,gotoanotherworldandotherwordstoreplaceusingtheworddiedirectly.Ondiseases,peopleoftenusethebigC,longillnessorterminalillnesstoreplacecancer,andheartproblemtoreplaceheartattack,andT.Btoreplacetuberculosis.Topeoplewhohasmentaldisease,weshouldnotusethewordmadorcrazytothem,butsaythat“sheorheisnotallthere”orsheorheisalittleconfused.Thewordslikedisabledpeople,scripple,deaf,blind,oldmenarealsotaboos.Wewillusethewordsspecialman,themobility-impaired,hearing-impaired,visually-impairedandseniorcitizentoreplacethemrespectively.InChinese，wealsocanfindsimilareuphemisms:

“likailewomen”，“cishi”，“qujianMaKeSile”，“guixi”，“shengtian”.Inaddition,whenwetalktoapatient,wemaysay“nijintianbushufu，bieshangbanle”.Here,weuse“bushufu”insteadof

“bing”.Aspeopleallhopetolivealongandhealthlife,beingfearofdeath,inactualcommunication,tryingtoavoidusingthesewordsisverycommonthroughouttheworld.

1.3Abusivetaboos

Fromancienttimestonow,someabusivewordsaretaboosbothinChineseandenglish,asthesewordsareusuallyrudeandoffensiveandoftenbringaboutunhappiness,angerorconflictamongpeople.Thesewordsareoftenconnectedwithanimals,suchasbitch,cow,wine,pig.Inenglish,mostfour-letterwordssuchasfuck,shit,cunt,damnarealsotaboos.Peopleareverysensitivetothem.Oncehearingthesewords,theywillbecomeshockedandidiganant.Sothesewordsareabstainedfrombeingusedinpublicplaces,speeches,lectures,conferencesandonotherformaloccasions.InChineseculture,therealsoexistmanyabusiveandindecentterms,whicharenotusedonformaloccasions.Expressionslike遭天谴的，狗娘养的，王八蛋areusedtoabuseothers.Somelessoffensivewordslike他妈的，奶奶的,however,canbeuseddeliberatelytoshowintimacyamongintimatefriends.Ifyouinsultsomeone,youwillmorelikelytocall小子，孙子asabusivetaboos.Atthesametime,oneoftendebasestheorderofseniorityofothersorrisestheorderofseniorityofoneselfinintheclainwheninsultingothers.Thatiswhywecanseepeoplecallhimselforherself老子，爷爷，老娘，姑奶奶，whenquarrelingwithothers,suchasthefollowingsentences:

老子今天要教训你。

姑奶奶我跟你拼你。

1.4Obscencetaboos

Whencometoobscencewords,itcoversthreeterms:

excretoryfunctions,sexualactivityandgenitilia.Astheseobscencetaboosmaycauseoffencetothesocialmoralprinciples,theyarereplacedbyotherwords.Forexample,peoplewillnotusethegenitaliasuchaspenis,testicles,semen,belly,gut,titsdirectly.Inengland,peoplewillusegay,queer,fairy,queentoreplacehomesexual.Astothewordslikeshit,pee,fart,belch,piss,peoplewilluseeuphemisstictermstoreplacethem.Ifbodyfunctionslikeurinatingordefecatinghavetobementionedinsomecases,onewillsaythephraseslikewashinghishandsoransweringthenature’scalltoaviodoffenceandembrassment.Inancientchinese,peopleuse“春宵一刻”“鱼水之欢”“云雨一番”todescripethemakinglovebetweenmanandwoman.Andnow,peoplearemorelikelytousethewordslike“同床”,“同房”,“那事”.Inenglis,thistabooisalsverycommon.Forinstance,weuse“makelove”,or“gotobedwith”toreplace“havesexwith”,“trailmarriage”to“freelove”,“adultmovies”to“pornographicmovies”,“thefactsoflife”to“knowedgeaboutsex”.

Althoughtherearemanysimilaritiesbetweemchineseandenglishtaboos,differentculturesmaynotagreeonwhatisorwhatisnotatabooinaspecificcontex,sothedifferercesalsoexist.

2.Differencesbetweenchineseandenglishtaboos

2.1Numberandcolortaboos

Indifferentcountries,people’sfondnesstonumberarequitedifferent,soitisinnumbertaboos.Inchina,thefingurefourisnotagoodone,asitsounds“si”,whichishomophonouswithchineseword“死”.Soindailylife,wealwaysavoidusingit.Whenchoosingphonenumberorcarnumber,thenumberswiththefingurefourarelesslikelytobeused.However,theattitudesofenglishpeopletofourisopposite.Theyworshipthefingurefourverymuch,thinkingitisthesymbolsofjust,fair,andpower.（《词汇翻译文化》张文英）InCentralPlainsarea,themostcommonagetaboois73,84,ahundredyearsoldandsoon.TheageofseventythreeandeithtyfourissaidtoberelatedtotheagewithConfuciusandMencius.LegendhasitthatConfuciusdiedat73,andMencius,at80.Peoplethinkthatthethetwoagesisamarkoflife,eventhesaintshavenotescaped,nottomentiontheaverageperson.Sotheyaretaboos.（《文化视角下的语言》席西利）

Bycomparing,inwesterncountries,thefingure13isataboo,whichstandsforbadluck.IntheUKTheater,onecannotfind13throwand13thseat;intheUnitedStates,althoughthereis13thseatinthetheater,noonewillchooseiteventhepriceishalved;inParis,inordertoavoidsaying13,thetheateropensanaislebetween12and14.Whenhavingadinner,wedonothave13disheswith13peoplesittingarond.Onthe13thofamonth,itisnotappropriatetoholdanycelebrations.

Oncolor,differentpeoplewithdifferentculturalbankgroundwillconnectthesamecolorwithdifferentemotions.Forinstance,inmarriageceremony,westernpeoplewouldliketheirbridetowearwhiteweddingdress,whichsymbolizepureandholy,butinchinese,whenholdingachinesestyle