An Adaptation Study On Chinese Linguistic Superstition

The present study focuses on linguistic superstition phenomenonespecially on the taboo words in Chinese society.Sometimes people will hear some utterances or see slogans like"一言兴邦,一言丧邦","白日勿谈人,谈人则害生；昏夜勿说鬼,说鬼则鬼至。","祸从嘴吐,病从嘴入","说破不准,道破不灵"。Theseexpressions are common in Chinese language, so it is evident thatChinese people consciously or unconsciously believe that language has amagic power which can do something. This phenomenon not only existspsychologically but also reflects linguistically. There are profound social,psychological and cultural roots behind the linguistic superstitionphenomenon, and that is why "taboo word" is chosen as the object of thepresent study.This thesis is a pragmatic analysis of taboo words in socialcommunication and intends to provide a better understanding of thelinguistic superstition phenomenon in China. Linguistic superstition istraditionally defined as a kind of manifestation of word fetishism. In thepresent study, linguistic superstition covers the concepts of linguisticworship and linguistic taboo. Both concepts are often expressedinterchangeably with the "taboo words" in more popular and academicmention. The linguistic worship is mainly reflected in cursing words andswearing words. The taboo word is referred as those that are to beavoided because they are unfit for normal linguistic usage and banned ineveryday language in public. The taboo words exist as a linguisticsuperstition helps the speaker to realize certain intentions, though it is tosome extent viewed as anti-science.Methodologically speaking, the present study belongs to aqualitative study on the data collected from various sources such as literary works, TV series and daily conversation. From the collected data,we categorize taboo words into two types: the interest-orientation and themeans-orientation on the basis of pragmatic principle—how language isused by people or speaker's intended meaning, so the people'ssuperstition of the language is always driven by the various purposes.This thesis is both data-driven and theory-driven. The theoreticalframework of the present study is based on Jef Verschueren's Theory ofLinguistic Adaptation. The present research concentrates on theadaptability and functions of taboo words and proves that the adaptabilityis perfectly embodied in the manipulation of taboo words. The researchfindings indicate that linguistic choices of taboo word are actually theresults as the adaptation to physical factors, social conventions andpsychological motivations. Firstly, the linguistic choice of taboo word isconfined by some physical conditions. Second, in the case of socialconventions, linguistic choices of taboo words are mainly generatedadaptable to social culture and custom, religion. Behaviors and utterancesof people who lived in specific social and cultural environment areconstrained by social and cultural elements around them. Finally, thelinguistic phenomenon is mainly the outcome of linguistic choicesadaptable to psychological motivations.Through study, we achieved some major findings. Firstly, wesuccessfully apply the Linguistic Adaptation Theory to the taboo word,which proves the universal existence of adaptability. Second, thepragmatic functions and social function of the taboo word have beenrevealed, which offers us a clear and vivid picture about it. Third, wemade new classification of the linguistic superstitious words in theprinciple of the psychological motivation from the pragmatic perspectiveview.