English Euphemistic Expressions And Their Pragmatic Analysis

Euphemistic expressions are more than euphemistic words and phrases established by use. They refer to a way of expression by the application of language to communication actively. In most cases, euphemistic expressions not only cover unpleasant, disgusting and even terrifying realities, but also hide embarrassing or face-threatening things, thus functioning as a sort of "lubricating oil" in language communication.A great number of scholars and researchers both at home and abroad have made outstanding contributions to the study of euphemistic expressions, but the scope of the previous study has been so far restricted to the level of lexicon. The pragmatic analysis of euphemistic expressions remains to be further explored. In this thesis, which includes six chapters, the author tries to research into the euphemistic expressions in English mainly from the pragmatic perspective.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the history and study of euphemistic expressions in English.Chapter Two analyses the definitions given in two dictionaries and classifies euphemistic expressions into two categories: One is the euphemistic expressions in a narrow sense, that is, euphemistic words and phrases which are established by usage and restricted to lexical level; the other is the euphemistic expressions in a broad sense, that is, euphemistic expressions which are formed by some linguistic means and are sentences or texts with euphemistic function.Chapter Three presents the theoretical bases for euphemistic expressions in English and points out that euphemistic expressions result from the intentional violation of the Cooperative Principle by P.Grice and the observation of the Politeness Principle by G.Leech.In Chapter Four, the author argues that forms of euphemistic expressions in English can be phonetic, pragmatic, semantic, grammatical and rhetoric devices as long as they agree with theprinciples of remoteness, pleasantness and relatedness.Chapter Five presents a pragmatic analysis of euphemistic expressions in English. In this chapter, the author concentrates on the three pragmatic features (indirectness, vagueness and variation) and the three pragmatic functions (avoiding taboos, being polite and covering up the facts) of euphemistic expressions in English.Chapter Six sums up the whole thesis and draws a conclusion that it is of much practical value to probe into the euphemistic expressions in English from the pragmatic perspective so that we can make better use of euphemistic expressions in communication and in English learning and teaching.