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学校代码:幽 。研究生学号:!Q圣QQ星QQ旦呈Q鱼璺墨

密 级:无
分类号:煦

东北K予冠大莩
硕士学位论文

A Pragmatic Study of English Euphemisms in Press Conferences

新闻发布会中英语委婉语的语用研究

作者:周婷婷

指导教师:于秀成副教授
学科专业:外国语言学及应用语言学
研究方向:语用学
学位类型:学历硕士

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Abstract

Euphemisms are a common linguistic phenomenon as well as a language strategy

employed by interlocutors in order to achieve the ideal effect of cornmunication.It is

commonly acknowledged that euphemisms originate from religious taboos,and then develops

into substitutions of rude and offensive words or


expressions.Euphemisms are not only a

linguistic phenomenon,but also a social phenomenon.This is because they exist in almost

every aspects of social life.Many linguists and scholars are extrelnely interested in this

phenomenon and have conducted various studies from different perspectives like rhetoric.

sociology,and pragmatics and SO on.However,few of these studies are concentrated on

euphemisms in specific context such as press conferences.

Press conferences held by governments are used to release news to the press and public.

Language is one of the most important carriers of press conferences and i s al so a use th l too l

for statesmen,politicians or diplomats to protect the benefits of their c01.Intl’ies.PFess

conferences of governments usually concern sensitive issues like politics,military issues,and

diplomacy.On such occasions,statesmen have to adopt indirect euphemisms as their language

strategy to avoid offensive words.So press conference is a


good source 0f euphemisms.

Usually,in ordel’to maintain a smooth conversation,people will follow certain

communication principles in their conversation,like the Cooperative Principle and the

Politeness Principle.However,statesmen do not only represent themselves in press

conferences,in Ol‘der to achieve the expected communication goal,they often choose

euphemisms carefully in their language and do not observe Cooperative Principle and

Politeness Principle.

Based on Grice’S Cooperative Principle and Leech’S Politeness Principle,this thesis

combines a quantitative study with a qualitative one and analyzes euphemisms in the selected

twenty transcripts of American press conferences held in the White House.7l'he authol‘probes

into the relationship of euphemisms in press conferences with CP and PP,and summarizes the

constitutions,realizations and functions of these euphemisms.The whole thesis contains

seven chapters,Chapter Five and Chapter Six are the core chapters of this thesis.

Chapter One is the introduction,and this chapter introduces the background,objective,


significance and organization of the research.

Chapter Two is the literature review,in which the author makes a systematic review and

evaluation of difierent researches on euphemisms.Besides,definitions,classifications and


constitutions of euphemisms are Introduced in detail as well in this chapter.

Chapter Three establishes the theoretical framework on the basis of the Cooperative

principle and the Politeness principle.

Chapter Four introduces the research methodology of this thesis.’Fhe autho r’lnainly

elaborates the methods of data collection,research methodology and steps in this chaptm’.

Chapter Five and Chapter Six are the main body of this thesis.They elaborate in detail

the empirical study on


euphemisms of press conferences on the basis otl CI’and PP

respectively,also probe into the pragmatic attributes of euphemisms and how CP and PP

affect the use of euphemisms in communication.

Chapter Seven concludes the major findings of this research,pointing out the limitation

of the research and providing suggestions for futures studies.

In summary,this thesis makes a detailed analysis of euphemisms in press confm‘enccs

from the perspective of pragmatics,and tries to discover the pragmatic attl‘ibutes of this

phenomenon.It is also hoped that this research can deepen the understanding o
l、euphemisms
in a particular context.

Key words:euphemisms;cooperative principle;politeness principle;press confcrcnces"

pragmatic analysis
摘 要

委婉语是人类交际中一种普遍的语言现象,也是人类为了达到理想的交际结果而
使用的一种语言策略。目前,英语委婉语的起源被普遍的归结于宗教t.|1的禁忌语,这些

宗教禁忌语进一步发展成为交际中粗俗、生硬表达方式的替代语,它们几乎存在二J:人类
社会中的各各方面,因此,委婉语不仅是一利,语言学现象,同时也是一利・社会现缘。这
一现象引起了中外很多语言‘学家以及社会学家的浓厚兴趣,他们从修辞学、社会!孚:、沿
用学等多方面对英语委婉语的定义、特点、使用等进行深入和系统的研究。尽铃划1英语
委婉语的相关研究并不少,但这些研究大多集中于修辞、语义和词典编纂等儿方_|l_汀,{艮
少有人对像新闻发布会这样特定语言环境下使用的委婉语进行深入研究。
新闻发布会是各国政府为直接向新闻界以及公众发布消息,解释重大习i件m俏!;;;办
的活动。语言是新闻发布会的重要载体之一,同时也是新闻发言人、政治家或外交官等
用来捍卫自身以及国家利益的有力工具。政府举办的新闻发布会中通常会涉及到政治、
军事、外交等敏感问题,而发言‘者的语言运用将会直接影响一个凼家的形缘及利/.;置。存
这种语境下,发言者经常会采用含蓄、婉转的委婉语作为他们的语言‘策略,从而避免在
处理敏感话题时使用刺激性语言‘。因此,新闻发布会是委婉语的重要来源之 。 ‘股情

况下,为了保证交流的顺利进行人们会遵循一定的交际原则,其中最:重要的两个原则便
是“合作原则”和“礼貌原则”。但由于在新闻发布会中发言‘者所代表的不仅是个人利
益,因此,为了实现预期的交际目的,他们经常大量而谨慎的使用委婉语,丽不是严格
遵循“合作原则”和“礼貌原则”,这也成为他们的语言策略之一。
本文以Grice的“合作原则”和Leech的“礼貌原则”为理论依拟t:,采Hj定量1j定
性研究相结合的研究方法,通过对选取的二十篇美国白宫新闻发布会中所…现的委婉沿
进行实例分析,集中探讨了在这一特殊语境下,委婉语与合作原则和礼貌原则的关系,
进一步分析归纳了委婉语的构成、实现方式以及功能。全文共包含六章,其中第叫、’h

章为本文的核心章节。
第一章为引言‘,主要用来介绍研究背景、研究目标、研究意义以及伞文的框架结
构。
第二章为文献综述,在详细介绍了委婉语的定义、分类及构成的基础上,m,・?、i剥
国内外学者在此方面所做研究进行系统整理与评论,总结其中的贡献语不足。
第三章为本:丈的理论框架。详细阐述了作为本文理论基础及研究工具I,l勺“合作原
则”和“礼貌原则”,为下面的分析奠定了基础。、
第四章为研究方法,本章主要用来说明本次研究的数据收集方法,具体研究方法
及研究步骤。
第五章和第六章为本文重点章节。在第三章理论基础的指导下,分别使用“合作
原则”和“礼貌原则”对新闻发布会中使用的委婉语进行了实例分析。探究这些委婉语

的语用特性,以及它们是如何在交际中影响“合作原则”和“礼貌原则”。
第七章总结了全文的研究结论,归纳了新闻发布会中委婉语的构成方式及作用,
同时指出本次研究的不足之处,并为日后研究提供建议。
总之,本文从语用学角度对新闻发布会中委婉语的使用进行了全面剖析,试图发
掘这一特殊语境下委婉语的语用特性,拓宽委婉语的研究范围,同时也希鸳!通过此研究
能够进一步加深人们对委婉语的认知和理解。

关键词: 委婉语;合作原则;礼貌原则;新闻发布会;语用分析

lV
Contents

A bStract……………………………………………………………………………I

中文摘要……………………………………………………………………………………II
Contents……………………………………………………………………………………III

Chapter One Introduction。・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・‘1

1.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1

1.2 Organization………………………………………………………………………………1

1.3 Significance………………………………………………………………………………2

1.3.1 Practical Significance……………………………………………………………3

1.3.2 Theoretical Significance……………………………………………………………3

Chapter Two Literature Review。・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・’6

2.1 Previous Studies…………………………………、………………………………………6

2.2 Definitions ot‘Euphemism………………………………………………………………9

2.3 Classifications of Euphemism。・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・-・-・・・・・-・・・・・・・・・‘1 1

2.3.1 The Positive Euphemisms and the Negative Euphemisms…………………………l 1

2.3.2 The Unconscious Euphemisms and the Conscious Euphemisms…………………1 2

2.3.3 Other Classifications………………………………………………………………12

2.4 The Constructions of Euphemism………………………………………………………1 3

2.4.1 Phonetic Device……………………………………………………………………13

2.4.2 Lexical Device……………………………………………………………………l 3

2.4.3 Grammatical Device………………………………………………………………14

2.4.4 Rhetorical Device…………………………………………………………………1 5

2.5 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………16

Chapter Three Theoretical Frameworks‘・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・’17

3.1 Overview…………………………………………………………………………………17

3.2 Cooperative Principle‘・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・-・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・’17

3.3 The Politeness Principle。・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・‘19

3.4 The Relationship between CP and PP……………………………………………………21

3.5 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………22

Chapter Four Research Methodology……………………………………………………23


4.1 Data Collection…………………………………………………………………………23

4.2 Research Methodology and Procedure…………………………………………………24

Chapter Five Euphemisms and Cooperative Principle…………………………………26

5.1 Cooperative Principle……………………………………………………………………26


5.2 Violating the Quality Maxim……………………………………………………………zo

5.3 Violating the Quantity Maxim……………………………………………………………z6



5.4 Observing the Relevance Maxim…………………‘……………………………………一j

5.5 Violating the Manner Maxim……………………………………………………………jz

5.6 Findings…………………………………………………………………………………j斗

Chapter Six Euphemism and Politeness Principle………………………………………j)

6.1 The Politeness Principle………………………………………………………………一"33

6.2 Observing the Tact Maxim………………………………………………………………jo

6.3 Observi‘ng the Generosity Maxim………………………………………………………j/

6.4 Observing the Approbation Maxim……………………………………………………j石

6.5 Observing the Modesty Maxim…………………………………………………………jy

6.6 Observing the Agreement Maxim………………………………………………………4u

6.7 Observing the Sympathy Maxim………………………………………………………斗1

6.8 Findings…………………………………………………………………………………qz

6.8.1 OperationMechanism ofEuphemism………………………………………………q2


6.8.2 Constitutions of Euphemism………………………………………………………qj

6.8.3 Functions of Euphemism………………一……………………………………"44


Chapter Seven Conelusion…………………………………………………………………斗石

7.1 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………%
7.2 Limitation of This Thesis and Suggestions for Further Study……………………………48

References……………………………………………………………………………………)u

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………)-)

VI
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This thesis aims to make a


pragmatic analysis on English euphemism used in press

conferences held by governments.Press conferences'play an impoIrtant role in coordinating

public relations and building positive images for governments.Every nation has to adj ust their

relationship through official contacts like press conferences where the choice of words

matters much.Therefore,the ability of using language and selecting the most pz’ccise and

proper words is critical to spokesmen.As one of the most commonly used language strategies,

euphemism is often employed by spokesmen in press conferences to accomplish a smooth and

successful communication.

Euphemism is a universal and cultural linguistic phenomenon which exists in ahnost

every already known language.The origination of euphemisms can date back to Norman

Conquest of England in 1 066(Farb,1 973:89).And it is universally acknowledged that they

come from religious taboos and many of them come from The Bible at the bcginning.

Euphemisms develop with elapse of time,and domain of euphemism also expanded from

religious taboo to the realm of sex,war,body part,politics and many other aspects of humanjS

daily life.Therefore,as an indispensable and natural part of languages,euphemism has been

arousing wide interest,and numerous contributions of the studies on euphemism from

different perspectives have been made by linguists and other scholars all OVCI’the world.

Because euphemism plays such an important role in human beings’languages,it becomes a

critical communicative strategy which is commonly adopted by human beings in their social

communications.

In press conferences,sensitive issues like politics,military,and diplomacy are o ften

discussed and euphemisms are employed as a powerful tool to conduct diplomatic aft'airs by

spokesmen to achieve an ideal communication.Since press conference is a rich source ot’

euphemism,the author will employ two important theories to analyze euphcmisms used in

press conference from the perspective of pragmatics in the following chapters of this thesis.

1.2 Organization

Generally speaking,this thesis is composed of seven chapters.First ol’all,a general


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
about the obj ective and
overview of the whole research is introduced,and the author talks

well.In the second chapter,thc authol‘draws a


significance of this study in the first chapter
as

review of influential studies on euphemisms.Different definitions,


detail literature

class湎cations and constitutions of euphemisms are also presented in this chapter.Chapter

brief discussion
three establishes theory frameworks of this thesis.The author provides
a on

Leech’s Politeness Principle


the two pragmatic theories:Grice’s Cooperative Principle and
elaborate the
also the theoretical basis of this research.Chapter tour is used
to
which are

five and
methods of data collection,research methodology and steps of the thesis.Chapter

of this thesis.These two chapters used to 111akc a


chapter six are the main part are

conferences the
euphemisms used in on
auantitative analysis with qualitative one Oil press

comes the conclusi‘’n8 ol


basis of the theory of CP and PP respectively.At last,the author
to

major findings and limitations of


the research and gives some suggestions ior the futu。e

studies in chapter seven.

This thesis mainly aims tO find answers of the following questions after the research:

1.What is the frequency of using English euphemisms by spokesmen In pres8

conferences of governments?
conferences and how
2.What is the operation mechanism of euphemisms used in press

do they realize the euphemizing function with CP and PP?

the constitutions and communicative functions ofthe English euphenaisms


in
3.What are

press conferences?

1.3 Significance

achieve the Oi hulnan


Although language is not the only way used to purpose

doubt that it is the most important one.As a social melnber,hulnan


interaction.there is no

beings have to use languages to maintain all kinds of relationships.When comnmnlcatlng

with others,we always try our best to choose the most appropriate utterance to get thc best

Dossible communicative effect.As an indispensable and natural part of language,euphemisms


and coordinate
are useful language tools which aid to achieve successful social interchange

human relationship.

in various specialized realms in people’s communication,


Euphemism is widely used
statesmen or diplomats.Therefore,this interesting linguistic
especially preferred by
attention in and scholars.Considering the
Dhenomenon has attracted much linguists

in affairs like government’s press COBfcrences,it


significant functions of English euphemism

is worthwhile for US to deepen people’S understanding about It.

from the
In recent decades,many linguists and scholars have studied euphemisms
two
semantics,culture and pragmatics etc..However,there
al‘c
different Derspectives,such as
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
the present of euphemism.One is that most of those
dominant weaknesses in study

researchers iust focus on the euphemisms from a broad sense,but seldom study euphemisms

in a specific realm.The other one is that most of th、ose studies are mainly theory—oriented

rather than empirical studies and hence their researches lack adequate evidence to suppol‘t.

1.3.1 Practical Significance

Just as the author has introduced,euphemism has attracted people’S attention for a long

and
time.Euphemisms exist in almost every known language,because nearly every country

societv seems to have certain notions or things that people try to avoid mentioning dil’ectly.

Manv sociolinguists have strong interests in this topic because of the close relationship of

Hyme(1 964)says:“all study of language and speech as part ot


euphemisms and society.As

sociallife is basically one,rooted in the interdependence with social life itsell”.And Enright

out,“a language without euphemisms world would be a dcl℃ctive


f 1 985:29)has also pointed

instrument of communication”.

The study of this thesis is euphemisms used in press conferences held by


object
than common
governments.This is because statesmen often deal with more sensitive topics

is higher than others.Thus,euphemisms are more


people.and frequency of using euphemisms
difficult break down and
important for them.Otherwise,their communication may become
or

sometimes it can even influence the image of their nations.Since the purpose oI usmg

roundabout to rcduce the


substituting the harsh words
as
euphemisms is or ones,SO

that statesmen will


unDleasantness of tabooed words or concepts.It is natural and reasonable

ofien resort to euphemisms in the announcements publications of governments.‘I’hey


can
or

find
use euphemisms to”soften”the
harsh words or disguise facts etc..So people can

euphemisms easily in press conferences.


of inappropriate expressions and
We maY also find that sometimes statesmen’s misuse
break
euphemisms in the communication of press conferences may difficulty
cause or even

bc ol great
down of the interaction.Thus,the study of diplomatic euphemisms seems tO

and how they them in their


significance.it explains why statesmen adopted euphemisms
use

like
utterances.The findings of this research may help people who often deal with languages

statesmen etc.to avoid failure of interactions,misunderstandings or mistranslations in

communications.

1.3.2 Theoretieal Significance

what the author has described above,many researches and studies arc based 021
Just as

the analysis of euphemisms from the perspective of culture,society,semantics.rhetoric,

pragmatics and etc..

The tem“euphemism’’was first put forward by the British writer George B lunt in his

and more researchers and scholars have focused


book“Glossographia”.From then on,more


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
for comprehenswe
on this phenomenon from different angles and made great contributions

Mencken(1 936),Rawson(1 98 1),


studies of euphemisms.The works of linguists such as

of euphemism.Some of
Allan and Burridge(1991)etc.are all influential books in the study

them explained euphemisms on the basis of American history;some discussed the definitions,

of euphemism
features and classifications of euphemisms,and some probed into functions
about lace・
from difrerent perspectives.In these books,euphemism is defined as concerns

very valuable for scholars’further study


on euphemism.
They are

the record ol、history,but


Chinese people have used euphemism expressions since

comDared with western studies,the study of euphemism began a little Iatc and Chinese

recent
sch01ars have made scientific and systematic researches euphemisms only
on in

scholars who carried out researches thi8


decades.However,there are still several on

in China.Chen Wangdao
Dhenomenon and improved the development of euphemism study

of the pioneers who gave the definition to euphemism and studied it in a


(1 976)is one

rhetoric perspective.Later,other scholars like Chen Yuan(1 983),Shu Dingfang(1 995),Lin


Xu Li’na(2002)etc.have also studied euphemiSlTl8
Lifang(1998),Liang Hongmei(2000)and
from various perspectives like semantics,culture and pragmatics etc・・
find that most of
From the evidence of pragmatic analysis of euphemisms,we may
and Politeness Principle to
these researchers have used the theories of Cooperation Principle

etc.).The characteristics and


analyze euphemisms(Liang Hongmei,2000;Xu Li’na,2002

flonnations of euphemism are elaborated in these works.Moreover,these researches also

Drovide us the knowledge that the use of euphemism largely depends on the context and has a

also show that generally'the USC ot


great ef-fect on daily communication.In addition,they
of t7t1 in order to
euDhemism violates the maxims of CP and basically it observes the maxims

achieve the best results of communication.

the researches concern many domains,they seldom analyze


Although present
endeavored to approach the
euDhemism used in a specific realm.Most of the related essays
few
issue f-rom the rhetoric,semantic and sociolinguistic angles.In other words,SO far very

academic papers have touched euphemism used in political realm,like government press

conferences.
to preserve harmonious
People use common euphemisms or euphemistic expressions
from comnlon euphemisms
personal relationships in their daily communication.Different
used
elegance of language,English euphemism political
in
seeking taboo.avoidance or

occasions fbcuses on national interests and maintaining the positive influence of a nation-

the
That is to say,euphemism used in political occasions by statesmen 1S dependent 011

with reference to national interests and


nation’s dignity,thus is more consequential
ot euphemism
international relations.By the same token,the motivation ofthe employment
in

former to the
this condition is different from that in other realms,because the belongs


individual behavior and the latter national.Euphemism is the fruit of the
implcmentatioll oI、
pragmatic strategy in pursuit of ideal social effects.Anytime a euphemistic cxpression is
chosen,statesmen are thinking carefully and strategically about language form.Howevcr.thc

Importance of this realm is ignored and few studies are made on this topic.Actuallv.to

approach English euphemism in press conference from the pragmatic


angle may render us a

scientific perception and practical guide to this issue,as what



Mey(2003:i 2)has claimcd,

“pragmatics is in need if we intend for a fuller. deeper and generally more reasonable account

of human language behavior.’’

By exerting efforts to rescue the unsuitable or unpleasant topics, statesmcn would get

pay’off by means of euphemism.Euphemism contributes a lot to the SUCCESS 01’

communication in press conferences and the


pragmatic reasons for its application merit our

particular study.

The thesis not


only fulfills research gap
a on euphemism in political langua卫e but also

enlarges the scope of euphemism study from pragmatic perspective.This paper not only
attempts to approach the issue from the angle of pragmatics,but also justifics its cxistin譬

grounds according to some conversational theories:the Cooperation


Principlc and Politeness

Principle.On all accounts,it's significant and necessary to probe into this interesting but

less‘touched topic ofEnglish euphemism in


press conferences through a pragmatic approach.


东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Previous Studies

Euphemism is not only a linguistic concept,but also a common cultural phenomenon.

Every country,every society has its own euphemisms.As an indispensable and natural pm’t ol’

English language,euphemisms have been arousing wide interest for a long time.1,ots ol’

linguists and scholars both abroad and domestic have studied this phenomenon ffoln different

perspectives,such as semantics,culture and pragmatics etc..These researchers have

contributed a lot to the study of euphemism.

In the year 1 656,British writer George Blunt first used the word“euphemism”in his

work Glossographia.Euphemism was defined as“a good or favorable interpl’etation of a bad

word”in that book.

In 1 936,American linguist Mencken wrote a book The American Language which was

very helpful for future euphemism studies.He analyzed hundreds of English euphemisms on

the basis of American cultural and historical background,and also discussed the generation

and popularity of these euphemisms in his book.

In 1 98 1,British linguist Huge Rawson compiled a dictionary of euphemisms and other

double—talk which fully revealed the achievements in euphemistic studies over the years by

British and American linguists.It was very valuable,especially the preface ol’the book.

Because he made an extensive discussion on the definition,features,classi tication and

domains of euphemisms in the preface of that book.In his book,Huge R.awson held that

euphemisms could be chiefly manifested in the fields of religion,illness,war,birth,death,sex,

injury,fomication,poverty,excretion,politics,work,old age,social ranks and other social

relationships.He also claimed that euphemisms in these domains could be classified as

“positive euphemism’’and“negative euphemism”.Huge Rawson’S dictionary is considered

one of the classic works and has profound theoretical significance.

In 1 98 1,American linguist Dwight Bolinger published Aspects of Language.One of

his achievements is that he broadened the scope of euphemism in this book by claiming,

“Euphemism is not restricted to lexicon,and there are grammatical ways of toning something

down without actually changing the content of the message.’’

Another classic on euphemism study——尼i胛d words.。a thesaurus of euphenli.V,77N was

published in 1983.This book was compiled by J.S.Neaman and C.G Silver,whicla supplied

detailed interpretation of the euphemized items and is of significant value to the study ot’

euphemisms.


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
D~J Enright published a collection of essays on
euphemism?f’air oL{speech—theⅢc‘)f
euphemism in 1985.In this book,Enright invited sixteen distinguished writers to ponder and

explore the ubiquitous phenomenon of euphemism.The result is a delightful and provocative

collection that not only includes general reflections on


euphemism and its history but also

treats such specific categories as sex,death,and other natural functions;politics;the language

of the great Christian texts;euphemisms spoken to and by children;the law;medicine;office

life;and the jargon of official spokesmen,military communiqu6s,and tyrants.Such writers as

Diane Johnson,Robert Nisbet,John Gross,Robert Burchfield,and Joseph Epstein bring a

variety of perspectives and sensibilities to bear on these topics.Some specilqc topics like

euphemisms and media,euphemisms and children,and euphemisms and sex,etc.WCl’e put

forward in relation to the different euphemistic uses in the social field.

In the recent two decades,some linguists also made great contributions to the study of

euphemism.Linguists Keith Allan and Kate Burridge publish their book Euphemi._I'111 and

Dysphemism in 1 99 1.Euphemisms are taken to function as a protective shield against the

anger or disapproval of nature and supernatural beings in their book.Besides,euphemism is

also defined by reference to concerns about face.Euphemism and Dysphemism is of great

significance to the study of English euphemisms from pragmatic perspective.

As a sub.stream of euphemism,euphemism used in political domain has been

neglected by scholars.It was H.Nicholson that first termed the euphemistic devices i11

diplomatic communication as“guarded statement’’in his book“Diplomacy”.

Compared with those abundant studies on euphemisms in western countries,Chinesc

scholars did less research on euphemism,although euphemism in china has a long history.

Systematic and scientific studies had not been done until several decades ago.Chen Wangdao

who studied euphemisms in the perspective of rhetoric is the pioneer in the field ol’

his study,euphemism was extended the level l、


euphemism studies in China.According to
to o

sentence,even discourses,but not only restricted to the lexicon level.This is the most

important contribution of rhetoric study on euphemisms.However,the defect is obvious.Thc

definition of euphemisms in his study was ot’


not explicit.He ignored the social causes

euphemism’S generation,and did not reveal euphemisms’essence deeply.

In the 1 970’S and l 980’S.as those influential western theories ot’linguistics were

introduced into China in succession,the special social function of euphemisms has been

arousing wide interest and Chinese scholars began to study euphemisms in social perspectives

In 1 983,Chen Yuan laid out a specialized chapter to make a detailed analysis ot’euphemisms

in his book‘‘Sociolinguistics”.Chen Yuan not only discussed the social and historical

background of euphemisms,but also revealed the social nature of this linguistic phenomenon.

His book has an important reference value for the further researches on euphem i sm s.

In recent years,a lot of Chinese scholars published articles and books to express their


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
views on euphemisms from different perspectives,and they all contributed a lot to the study

of euphemisms.In 1 989,Shu Dingfang published his research paper“Neu,lm,e.s'tigalion on

Euphemism’’in the magazine“Foreign Language”.In his paper.he broadened the study scope

of euphemism and applied pragmatic theories to analyze several theoretical questions about

euphemism.He proposed three constructing principlesmdistant principles,relevant principles

and sweet-sounding principles and another important principle in the application ot’

euphemism in addition to Politeness Principle and Cooperative Principle,that is

“self-protective principle”.In 1 995,Shu Dingfang and Xu Jinyuan published another paper

‘彳Study ofEuphemism”in which reviewed the history of euphemism study both abroad and

at home,and also put forward deficiencies that need to be solved in the future studies.

Peng Zengan attempted to study the issue from the perspective of pragmatic in his

work“Pragmatics.Rhetoric and Culture”in 1 998.

In the paper“A pragmatic Study on Euphemism”.Chinese linguist Ttan Jiusheng

argues that when using euphemism,people should follow two principles,namely,tact

principle and self-protective principle.According to him,when using euphemisnls,speakers

should take the following factors into consideration:when,where,to whom,in what situation,

what relation the interlocutors have,and what status the interlocutors have,etc.,this was what

he called tact principle.

In 2001,Yu Xiuhua proposed two principles in her paper“A Brief Discussion of the

Formation and Application of English Euphemism’’:the Neither—far—nor—near Principle and the

sweet principle.She defined Neither-far—nor・near principle as“there is a distance between a

euphemism and its referent,but the distance should not be too big.’’

In recent years,euphemism study has been shifted onto cognitive linguistics.Such as

the essay written by Shao Junhang and Fan Weiwei“Cognitive Linguistic Exploration of

Euphemism Mechanism”and another one written by Ju Hong“On the ProCeSS D厂


Understatement Understanding andIts Characteristics”in 2 004.

Under the enlightenment of western researches and theories,more papers written by

Chinese scholars have been published in domestic academic journals.Such as Yu Yalun’s”A

Preliminary Research on Modern English Euphemisms”published in 1 984,Jiang Xihe’S

“Euphemisms in Modern English”published in 1 983,and Li Guonan’S“English

Euphemisms”published in 1 989 etc.The constitution and application of English euphemisms

have been collected and classified systematically in these essays,and they are of great helpful

for people to realize the nature of this phenomenon.

There are some other materials that might be useful for the study of euphemism.Such

as“Word Play."What Happens When People Talk”(Farb 1 973);“Sociolingui.s'lic3+”(Trudgill

1 983);‘'An Introduction to
Sociolinguistics”rWardhaugh 2000);“A Dictionary'o/’English

Euphemism”(Liu Chunbao 1 996).


东北师范大学硕士学位论文

2.2 Definitions of Euphemism

Euphemism is not only a linguistic concept,but also a cultural phenomenon.It is rootcd

deeply in people’S social lives and reflects their’social values.Every society,every country

has its own euphemisms.Different dictionaries have different definitions of


euphemism,but

they still have a lot in common.The followings are several definitions given by di fferent

dictionaries and literatures:

In the 7m edition of Concise Oxford Dictionary(1982:464),euphemism is defined as

“substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or blunt or direct OIIC:

expression thus substituted”(Concise Oxford Dictionary,7m edition,t'332).We can also Iliad

the following definition in the 4‘“edition of Webster叠New World College Dictionary”the use

of a word or phrase that is less expressive or direct but considered less distasteRd.1ess

offensive,etc.than another”(1982:490).
World famous linguist Leech made the definition‘‘practice of referring to something

offensive or indelicate in terms that make it sound more pleasant or becoming that it rtally

is”.(1981:15)
In Allan and Burridge’book,“euphemism is used as an alternative to a
displ‘cferred

expression,in order to avoid possible loss of face:either one’own face,or through gr‘Vl‘ng

offense,that of the audience,or of some third party."(1 99 1:1 8)


Chen Wangdao(1 976)is the first Chinese linguist who defined euphemism.In his book.

he made the definition from the perspective of rhetoric.He considered euphcmisln as“OlaC

kind of figures of speech,saying something indirectly,but connoting and substituting with

roundabout and implicit words or even metaphorical expression”.

From the above definitions,we can find some common ground casily.All ot’these

definitions suggest that euphemism implies the usage of indirect,vaguer or mild WOI’ds or

phrases in place of what seem to be rude and vulgar.That is to say euphmnisms arc

replacements of some offensive words or phrases,

Euphemisms have a long history.It is universally acknowledged that they originate

from religious taboo and many of them come from The Bible.In addition,Chaucer’S 7he

Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’S plays and poems also applied varieties of cuphcnlism

words.

In ancient times,because of human beings’worship of Gods and Goddesses,they dare

not address them directly by their names.That was seen as a blasphemous act which might

cause great wrath of the divinity and bring disaster to the one who did that.In this case,

people invented indirect ways to address the divinity SO as to“calm the spirit or avert the

wrath of a deity”(Neaman and Silver,1 990:2).Therefore,people used their duties Io call


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
them instead of their real names.For example,in American poet Longfellow’S poem“The

reaper and the Flower”.he said:“There is a Reaper whose name is Death,and,with his sickle

keen.he reaps the bearded grain at a breath,and the flowers that grow between.”1n his poem,

the Death was replaced by“reaper”to show the fear and reverence towards the God.

In the year of 1 6 1 1,Noah Webster rewritten The Bible was a significant event in the

words like piss and whore were picked out


development of euphemisms.In his version,rude

and replaced by corresponding euphemisms,because he thought these words would not be

appropriate to appear in this holy book.(Rawson,1 98 1:7)

It is commonly believed that the word‘‘euphemism’’first appeared in George Blunt’S

work.he defined it favorable interpretation of a bad word”(Neaman and Silver,


as“a good or

1 990:4).However,it is assumed that most of today’S most important euphemisms were

created around theⅥctorian times.

The practice of renaming the unpleasant or tabooed things has been carried 011 from

Greek times all through human being’S history.Originally this was only a religious practice,

as time goes on,it has been extended further into“the many domains of taboo that al’c

dominated by a strong conviction about the magic power of words”(Neaman and Silver.1 990:

21.More Euphemisms are created and changed with the times.

In the nineteenth century,the British Industry Revolution broke out and brought great

changes in British society.With the appearance of numerous new things,consequently many

new words and expressions were created to avoid directly mentioning offensive things which

might violate the moral standards,like death and sex.

The most tremendous changes of euphemisms happened in the twentieth century.

Because the world underwent great changes at times,such as the two world wars and severe

economic crises.new situations contributed a lot to euphemisms related to war and money,

like“depression’’and“casualty”.Meanwhile.with the improving of the science technology


more euphemisms are created.Those unwelcome or frightening words tend to bc replaced by

technical words.Private body pans are usually referred to with medical terms.Sexual organs

such as vagina have a lot of substitutions.In order to achieve the effect of euphenaizing,some

euphemisms are borrowed from foreign languages.

Euphemisms exist widely in people’S daily life,such as body parts,expressions

associated to sex,death,illness and supernatural power.Besides,political language is another

domain that euphemisms are widely used.Language plays an extremely important role when

in governments’public communications.
governments perform their functions,especially
to distort the probably uncomfortable truth and
Politicians use euphemisms to hide or even

make it sounds less unacceptable.There are SO many things,like governments’inability,wars,

economic crises,etc.which people are desperate to shy away from.As a result,quantities of

euphemisms are employed widely by governments in all kinds of public occasions.


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
From the above introductions of euphemism’S definitions given by foreign and Chinese

linguists and the development history of euphemisms,we can see although diffcrcnt linguists

use different words to define this phenomenon,there are several common points we can

summarize from them.First,euphemism is in indirect and polite way of expression used to

talk about something coarse and painful.Second,euphemisms are strongly connected with

cultures of each nation.Third,euphemisms are developed with the changes ot’times.

Euphemism describes a
polite,agreeable,or inoffensive word or
expression that is used in

place of one that is harsh,rude,or offensive.

Euphemism has the branch of narrow sense and broad sense,say from narrow sense?

euphemism refers to words or phrases which has been accepted by the overwhclming majority
after a period ofpractical use and usually they are conventional.For example,the euphcmism

for“die’’in English is“passing away”.Euphemism from the broad sense refers to

euphemistic expressions which are established temporarily by various linguistic means like

phonetic device,grammar device,discourse device,and etc..The essence and effects of these

two kinds of euphemisms are the same,and both of them present the principle of indirectness.

In this thesis,the author mainly adopts euphemism from broad sense as the object of study.

2.3 Classifications of Euphemism

English euphemisms can be classified into different categories from different angles.In

this part of the thesis,the author will introduce several important classifications ol’

euphemisms.

2.3.1 The Positive Euphemisms and the Negative Euphemisms

Huge Rawson divided euphemisms into two types in semantic approach.Tlacy a11c the

positive euphemisms and the negative euphemisms.The positive euphemisms lclIcl‘to

euphemisms which glorify horrible things and make those tabooed fEatures secln less obvious

than they really are.They are also called“stylistic euphemisms’’or“exaggerating

euphemisms”.They“inflate and magnify,making the euphemized items seem altogether

grander and more important than they really are”(Rawson:1).Positive euphemisms include

imposing job titles adopted to bolster one’S self-image or impress one’s friends and

acquaintances.Examples of this type include“counsel’’in place of“lawym‘”,。。health care

professional’’for“nurse’’or“doctor”.“chief executive officer’’instead ol、”president’’or

‘‘chairman”of the board.and“territory manager”instead of“salesman”.

“The negative euphemisms deflate and diminish.They are defensive in nature,offsetting

the power of tabooed terms and otherwise eradicating from the language everything that

deal with directly.”(Rawson).The negative euphemisms bc called


people prefer not to Call

traditional euphemisms or narrowing euphemism.They are closely connected with the taboos
一查!垦!至堇奎兰堕主兰垡笙窭
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————一一。 一.
and replace language that people prefer to avoid using.Examples include”ha。Ve811ng。。m

damage’’instead of“civilian casualties’’Or“death8”,


D1ace of“killing”,“collateral
fortitude”in place of“guts”・
“relationship,,for“sexual relationship”,and“intestinal
kind of classification,yet it still has some
There is Drobably a degree of truth in this

like“JC’’(for Jesus Christ)and“vamp”(for vampire)


problems.It neglects some euphemisms
no
formed by the method of“initiating”or,“apocopation”.In addition,there
1S
etc.which are

uniform measure because semantics of languages are quite complex,and 8u【)J ectlVe

assessment display a high proportion.

2.3.2 The Unconscious Euphemisms and the Conscious Euphemisms

classification of euphemisms based on people s


This is another important
of Euphemisms and Other
consciousness when using euphemisms.In the book“A Dictionary

Doubletalk”,Rawson held the view that“all euphemisms,whether poslhve


or negatlVe,maY

consciously’’(Rawson,1 98 1:3).‘Fhercfore,euphemisms
can
be used either unconsciously or

also be divided into conscious ones and unconscious ones.The criterion is whether thc

the original meaning not・


euphemistic meaning is correlative with
or

are used unconsciously by pooplc・L his


As the name implies,unconscious euphemisms

long history,and the original meaning mlssmg


ls o。
kind of euphemisms usually has a

realize that they when using them_F o。


forgotten.Then people do euphemisms
not are

Greek,but now 13

ex锄ple。the word“cemetery’’originally means the“sleeping place”in

widelv used as the substitution of“graveyard”.Taking the word“dieter”as another example?


substituted bY the
it originally means taking food by a rule or regulation,but nOW it has been

euDhemistic meaning‘‘the one moderate in eating and dining for loosing weight”・

Conscious euDhemisms are also widely employed in people’s daily life.When people

aware that they pun and 118tene。8


using conscious euphemisms,they
are are making a

understand their implied meanings.Governments are especially good at employing these

substituted by
words in news briefing to the public.For example,“murder”is usually
in common with the action of
“executive action”in public occasions,seeming have nothing

taking one’S life.

2.3.3 Other Classifications


to
Besides the classification above,there are many other ways used by linguists classify

to their contents,such
euphemisms.For an instance,someone classify euphemisms according
of unemployment,eupbcm islllS of
as“eul)hemisms of sex,euphemisms of death,euphemisms
is practical and easy to understand
disease,euphemisms of politics,etc..’’This kind of method
in the world,and the classification
But there are so many things need euphemizing meanings

is endless according to this method.

12
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
Some euphemisms are created on impulse on a certain occasion and will never use later,

while others are created and reused by many people and have lasted for generations,even

divide it into nonce euphemisms and sustained


centuries.In these cases,linguists

euphemisms.
the
To sum up.the problem of euphemism classification is very complicated and

understand the nature of this phenomenon better.Thc most


purpose of classifying is
to

classification is to determine the criterion and remains


impeIrtant thing in euphemism

conSi stent

2.4 The Constructions of Euphemism

There are various ways to construct a euphemism.Generally,they can be divided into

four kinds:phonetic device,lexical device,grammatical device and rhetorical device.

2.4.1 Phonetic Device

Phonetic device can be also called‘‘phonetic distortion”.This kind of euphcmisms arc

words to make theln


formed by deliberately modifying the normal pronuriciation of taboo

more agreeable and thus to achieve euphemistic purpose・

Phonetic distonion can be realized by the following ways:abbreviation,like“ladies”for

“ladies,room,,:initialing,like“JC’’for“Jesus Christ’’;reduplication,like“pee—pec”for—piss”

rNeaman and Silver,1 983"1 1).Although many scholars consider this process phonetic
as

device of euphemism construction,there are still many linguists hold the view that these

euDhemisms are created by morphological device but not phonetic device.The real phonetic

stresses・In
omitting certain sounds
or
or
device should be creating euphemisms by changing

some taboo words words with similar


some circumstances,speakers do not want to utter or

sounds.then those words which are phonetically similar to taboo words can be lost from the

sounds.For example,“rabbit’’replace“coney”in English for


1anguage and replaced by other

thj S reason.

2.4.2 LexicaI Device

device.there still other ways to constitute new


Apart fro.m the above phonetic
are

euDhemism in the level of lexical.The main lexical devices are abstraction,loan word and

substitution.

Abstraction

Using general terms or abstractions may weaken the strength of particular taboos.()lien,

terms such
matter of finding the lowest common denominator.These general
as it,
it is onlv a

words do not have


this,thing,problem,etc.constitute
a type of English euphemism.These

without context.Thus,from another standpoint,


concrete meanings,and they mean nothing
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

they can refer to anything under the sun.As Tocqueville noted,“An abstraction term is like a

box with a false bottom,you may put in what ideas you please,and take them out
again

without being observed”(Rawson,1981).For example,the economic problem may refro’to

economic depression,recession,or slump.

Loan、№rd
When the English words are too frightening or
negative,borrowing words from other

languages made relevant euphemisms.French and Latin are the two dominant sources,

because traditionally these two languages are regarded to be elegant languages.For example,

“brassiere”which refers to a kind of women’S underwear in English comes from French and

means children’S jacket with sleeves originally.Another example,the Latin


word“genitals”is
used to substitute“reproductive organ”in English.Latin is the most popular s01.1rce ol、

euphemisms,especially for body’S sexual and other functions.

Substitution

The simplest way of eliminating offensive words or expressions is using a substitution,

in other words,using a word that has positive connotation than the term speakers wishes to

avoid.For example,the words“agent,speculator and thrifty’’have better connotations than

“spy,gambler and tight”,although the literal meanings of each pair are the same.For this case,

politicians usually select words carefully in their communication.7Fhey would choose WMDs

(weapons of mass destruction)instead of deadly weapons which sound more horrible.

2.4.3 Grammatical Device

Besides lexicon,all the linguistic strategy can be used to achieve the euphemistic

purpose.Just as Dwight(1 986)said:“Euphemism is not restricted to the lexicon,there are

grammatical ways of toning something own without actually changing the content of the

message.”Grammatical devices include the change of tense and negation.

Take the following two sentences as an example:

Can you help me?

Could you help me?

Although these two sentences have the same meaning,the second one suggests less

immediacy and carries a milder sense than the first one.In this example,euphemistic effect is

realized by the change of tense.

Sometimes speakers resort to


negation to achieve the euphemistic effect.In order to

make expressions sounds milder and undirected,speakers sometimes choose a


negati\,c u,ord

substituting for a positive one.Thus,people may use untidy or unclean in stead of。‘dirty”.

“untruthful”instead of“lying”.And the sentence“I think it would be better lbr US to start

off a little earlier tomorrow morning”,we may say:“Wouldn’t it be better for uS to start off a

little earlier tomorrow morning.”


东北师范大学硕士学位论文

2.4.4 Rhetorical Device

Many scholars view euphemisms as a kind of rhetorical figure.That is to


say,

euphemisms can also be formed by various rhetoric devices,such as metaphor,metonymyj

analogy,understatement,periphrasis,personification,etc..The author will explain several

most widely used rhetorical devices in the following paragraph briefly.

Metaphor

Metaphor involves a comparison between two unlike things which share at least one

property or characteristic.It is a kind of substitution of one expression for another.’l'hese

euphemisms are often used in press conferences,like“go to sleep for die”,“have a road to

travel’’for“have a long time to reach an agreement”etc..

Undcrstatement

People may also achieve euphemizing purposes by understating the unpleasant things

deliberately,and impressing listener by what is merely implied or left unsaid.When people

are not willing to show their real opinion or attitudes,they will avoid the explicit emphasis,

and use euphemisms to achieve politeness.For example,if a girl is not pretty,people would

not say‘‘She is ugly’’directly,but say“She is plain.”If someone is mad.people tend to say

“he is soft in the head”;if someone steals he is described as“taking things without

permission”and SO on.

Personification

Personification is a rhetorical means in which inanimate objects or abstractions are given

human qualities or abilities or said to perform humanlike actions or possess humanlike

emotions.By substituting the addressing ways,ranks,'etc,for those taboo words,it becomes

more roundabout and euphemized,For instance,people use“big Harry’’to refer to“hel’oin’’ill

English just because the initial letter of“Harry”and that of“heroin”are the same;“Mrs.

Jones’’is the euphemism for‘‘toilet”.

Circumlocution

Circumlocution is the use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language to avoid getting

to the point.Through circumlocution an expression may sound roundabout and indirect,such

as“to live at the govemment’S expense”means to be in prison.“Give somebody tile sack’’is

the euphemism of“fire somebody”.because“sack’’originally referred to baskets with which

the workers went outside to work.If a boss wants to fire his employees,he will give the sack

to the workers.There are some other examples.1ike‘‘liberation’’means“to make aggression’’

etc

2.5 Summary
东j兰!里苎三壁堡主兰垡笙窒
一一一————————————————————————————————一
theories of euphemism8,a8 we儿
一—— 1l

This chaDter mainly discusses the history and important


is widely believed thal
as the deftnition,classification and construction of euphemisms.It

taboos.From the ancient times,human bemgs


u8c
euDhemisms originate from religious
Goddesses directly・Than the domam of
euDhemiSms to avoid calling names of Gods and
words of tab‘’oed areas 8ucn
euDhemisms are broadened,and they are usually used to replace

SO on・
as private body parts,death,war,and politics,and
nlade
Manv abroad and domestic linguists are interested in the study of euphemism8 and

this phenomenon.Linguists like Huge Rawson,Dwight Bolmge。,J・S・


impoIftant researches
on

Chen Wangdao,Chen Yuan,Shu Dingfang all


Neaman and C.G Silver,Chinese linguists like

different perspectives・
make researches on euphemisms from

di贰rent can be divided into different categone8。


According to criteria,euphemisms

into the and the negatlVe


Huge Rawson divided euphemisms positive euphemisms

classification 1S the tlnconsclolls


euDhemisms in semantic approach.Another important

conscious euphemisms.Euphemisms can also be categorlzed accordlng


euphemisms and the
of body Parts,eupheml5m8
to the scODe and contents such as euphemisms of sex,euph。emisms

of politics,and SO on.Each classification has its points and detect8・


four promlnent ones
constituted through various devices,and the
a。e
Euphemisms can be
device and rhetorical device・Phonetic device
the Dhonetic device,lexical device,grammatical
device is realizedbY abstraction,
consists of abbreviation,reduplication,initialing etc..Lexical
contains the change of tense and negatlon・In
loan word and substitution.Grammatical device
include5 metapho。,
can also be constructed by rhetorical device which
addition.euphemisms
circumlocution.
understatement,personification,and
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter Three Theoretical Frameworks

3.1 Overview

After introducing several basic concepts and constructions of euphemisms in last chapter,

the author will discuss pragmatic theories which construct the theoretical backbones o f this

thesis.

When people communicate with each other,no matter under what conditions,they have

to follow certain principles,otherwise their communication will break down.As Thomas

(1 996:62)said,“in conversational interaction,people work on the assumption that a certain

set of rules is in operation,unless they receive indications to the contrary.’’Especially in press

conferences,participants usually talk about things sensitive.If the participants want to

continue the communicating smoothly,euphemisms are employed frequently to avoid

embarrassment.Thus,the effect of communication rules showed more clearly in press

conference.

Just as what we have discussed in previous chapter,euphemisms’nature is present in

their indirectness,which has a lot to do with one branches of linguistics—that is pl‘agmatics.

Therefore,in order to have a better pragmatic analysis and understanding of the euphemisms

used in press conferences,it is necessary for US to have a detailed investigation into two

closely related communication principles----the Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle

which are employed as the fundamental theory throughout this thesis.

3.2 Cooperative Principle

Cooperative Principle is proposed by Oxford philosopher Grice.‘Fhe central ideas were

first presented in his essay“Logic and Conversation”at Harvard University in 1 967 as part ol、

the William James Lectures,and later were partially collected and published in Grice’S

“Studies in the way of words”(1 989).In these lectiares,he presented a panorama of his

thinking on communication and meanings towards a systematic,philosophically inspired

pragmatic theory of language use,which has since come to be known as Griccan pragmatic

theory.

Normally,it is assumed that both the speakers and the addressees should observe the

Cooperative Principle in order to maintain their communication.But if a speaker violates a

maxim of this principle,usually he would mean more than what he says.‘l'his kind of impl icit?
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
non。conventional meaning is called conversational
implicature suggested by Grice.1n his

theory of conversational implicature,Grice suggested that there is an underlying Drinciple that


determines the way in which language is used with maximum
efficiency and effectivciv to

achieve rational interaction in communication.He called this the


Cooperativc Principlc whicll
is abbreviated as CP,and subdivided it into nine maxims which can bc classi ficd inlo 1bur

categories:Quality,Quantity,Relation and Manner.The Cooperative Principle and its

component maxims ensure that in exchange of conversation,the right amounI of


an

information is provided and that the interaction is conducted in a truthful,relevant and

perspicuous manner.Grice used the CP to describe talk exchanges that exhibit t11rce sDeci矗c

characteristics:

(1)The participants have some common immediate aim.

(2)The contributions ofthe participants should be dovetailed,mutuallv


dependcnI.
(3)There are some sort of understanding(which may be explicit but which is ofien tacit)

that,other things being equal,the transaction should continue in


appropriate stylc unlcss both

parties are agreeable that it should terminate.fGrice,1 989:291


Cooperative principle and the nine maxims are expressed as foliows:

Grice’S theory of conversational implicature:

a.the cooperative principle:

Make your conversational contribution such as is required,at the stage at whicll it()ccurs.

by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which


you are
engaged.
b.The maxims of conversation:

The maxim of quality:Try to make your contribution one that is true.

(i)Do not say what you believe to be false.

(ii)Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

The maxim of quantity:

(i)Make your contribution as informative as is required(for the current


purposes of the

exchange).
(ii)Do not make your contribution more informative than is re(Iujred.

The maxim of relation:Be relevant.

The maxim of manner:Be perspicuous

(i)Avoid obscu“ty of expression.

(ii)Avoid ambiguity

(iii)Be brief(avoid unnecessary prolixity).


(iV)Be orderly. 一

(Adapted from()rice,l 975:45—46)


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
Grice also summarizes the relationship between the speaker and these maxims.

According to him,when speakers communicate with each other,they usually have tbur

choices.First they can straightforwardly observe the maxims,or they may violate a maxim.In

addition,they can opt out of maxim,and at last,they can also choose to flout or exploit a

maxim.

From what has mentioned above,we may know the guidance of Ct’in people’S

communication.The Cooperative Principle and its components ensure that in all exchange ol、

conversation,like the question—answer patterns in press conferences,the right alnount ol、

information is provided and the interaction is conducted in a sincere,relevant and clear

manner.The four maxims of CP explain why speakers can often mean more than the l iteral

meaning in their communications especially in press conferences.

By using CP to analyze euphemisms appeared in press conferences,we will know what

the relationship between euphemisms and CP is.Just as Grice suggested,making the

communication go smoothly,the participants should speak sincerely,relevantly and clearly.

while providing sufficient information.However,no matter how the speaker observe or

violate these maxims in their conversation in press conferences,we may find that the

communication still goes on successfully.In order to achieve their communication goals or

intentions,speakers violate one or some of the maxims of CP by using euphemisms or

euphemistic expressions in press conferences on the assumption that both the speaker and the

receiver can understand the implicature of these euphemisms.

3.3 The Politeness Principle

Although people regard the Gricean theory on conversational implicature as a

breakthrough of pragmatics in the study of language use,the Cooperative Principle is lbund

not adequate in explaining the relation between sense and force.As pointed out by 1.cech

(1 983:30),that CP in itself cannot explain why people do not convey what they mean

straightly,but often in an indirectly manner.Fundamentally speaking,Gricc’S theory ol、Ct’is

logic.oriented.But people’S conversational interactions are also social behavior,bcsides being

cooperative,and participants of conversations often try to be polite.That is to sa),,when

speakers communicate with others,they have to consider the matter ol、lace for both

themselves and others.Many scholars have great interest and touched upon this field like

Lakoff(1973),Brown,Levinson(1978)and Leech(1983)etc..Recently,more and more

linguists have realized the importance to carry out research on politeness,because politeness

is one of the important things they should bear in mind to ensure a smooth and successthl

interaction.

The works of these scholars has contributed to the o l’


pioneering greatly study
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
enthusiasm in politeness studies.Among all the studies related with politeness,l,eech

(1983"132)’S Politeness Principle(PP)is one ofthe most influential theories.He proposes the

politeness principle(PP),which contains the following six maxims:

(i)Tact maxim

a.Minimize cost to other

b.Maximize benefit to other

(ii)Generosity maxim

a.Minimize benefit to self

b.Maximize cost to self

(iii)Approbation maxim

a.Minimize dispraise of other

b.Maximize praise to other

(iv)Modesty maxim
a.Minimize praise of self

b.Maximize dispraise of self

(V)Agreement maxim

a.Minimize disagreement between self and other

b.Maximize agreement between self and other

(vi)Sympathy maxim
a.Minimize antipathy between self and other

b.Maximize sympathy between self and other

(Leech,1983:1 32)

The maxims expressed in terms of maximize and minimize entail the concept of degrees

in politeness.“Indirect illocutions tend to be more polite,because they increase the degl’ce o l’

optionality and because the more indirect an illocution is,the more diminished and tcntativc

its force tends to be.”(Leech,1 983:1 08)

The speaker can choose different degrees of politeness in his communication,and his

choice may be largely determined by the social factors like social distance and power,because

a linguistic interaction is necessarily a social interaction.It is found that the more remote thc

social distance between the interlocutors,the more polite the linguistic expressions tend to be.

Politeness studies entail running the risk of miscommunication,conflict and fi'iction etc.

especially in press conferences.As we mentioned before,in our daily communication,

especially in political occasions like press conferences,people usually use euphemisms to

avoid conflicts and harsh words,thus they have to violate some maxims ol’CI’partly out ot、

politeness.In other words,speakers violate CP and its maxims due to the politeness to some

extent.PP is viewed as another principle which is added to CP,but as a necessal‘Y supplement,

20
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
which rescues the CP from serious trouble(Leech,1 983).So in the following section the

author will make a detailed introduction on another important pragmatic theory,——the

politeness principle.

In Leech’S PP,politeness has a close relationship with two parties or sides whom Leech

called self and other,or we may say that the relationship of these two parties or sides is the

concerns of the politeness.In press conferences,“other’’may used to refer not only to

addressees but also to people designated by third-person pronouns or those who present the

press conferences,while“self’mainly refers to the speakers or the speakers’sphere.

From these maxims of PP mentioned above,we can see that the first four maxims go in

pairs because they deal with bipolar scales:the cost—benefit and praise—dispraise scales.7l'he

other two maxims deal with unipolar scales:the scales of agreement and sympathy.Although

there are various connecting links between the scales,each maxim is distinct in that it refers

to an evaluative scale that is distinct from the scales refereed to by the others.

In the theory of PP,not all of the maxims and sub—maxims are equally important.Of the

entire twinned maxim,(i)appears to be a more powerful constraint on conversational

behavior than(ii),and(iii)than(iv).Generally speaking,this reflects a more general law that

politeness is often focused more strongly on“other’’than on“self'7.or we can say people

always try to find ways to make the listeners feel comfortable.However,in press conference

things are different.People may notice that usually politeness is focused more on”。sell”!not

“other”,because they tend to use euphemisms to minimize impolite expressions and

maximize polite expressions of what the speaker says.

3.4 The Relationship between CP and PP

The original Gricean program has been revised several times with the development of

pragmatics.It is well known that the PP was proposed a little bit later than CP in the

development of pragmatics.As an
explanation of the relation between sense and three.

Grice’S CP is not sufficient.In press conferences those speakers use various euphemisms

instead of speaking them directly.In such a case,the CP itself cannot explain well why

people sometimes are indirect in conveying what they really mean and this is where PP

becomes important.Hence,we may say PP was a good complement to CP,and can explain

something that cannot be well explained by the CP.


roundabout expression used
Diplomatic euphemism mainly refers to indirect,mild and
to

substitute for hard and direct one.Diplomatic euphemisms used in press conferences may

cause misunderstanding between the statesmen and participants,because of the special

characteristics,they can mean much more than their literal meanings.The effect of

euphemism lies in a set of implicatures which can be got from the violation of the maxims of
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
CP.However,CP also has its limitation.It can well explain why the euphemisms used by

statesmen in press conferences can mean much more than its literal meaning,but can not fully

explain why they chose euphemisms or euphemistic expressions instead of conveying their

meanings directly.Thus,PP becomes more helpful to solve this problem.Speakers use

euphemisms due to different reasons like substitution,disguise,etc.。But their ultimate

purpose is to make their expressions more polite and acceptable to a


great extent.‘l'heretbre,

we can get a more clear analysis on the euphemisms or euphemistic expressions in press

conferences by combining the two theories of CP and PP.

In this thesis the author will analyze euphemisms used in the question—answer patterns in

press conferences,as it is said that CP in itself cannot fully explain why people are sometimes

SO indirect in conveying what they mean and on the other hand,we may find that the

combination of the CP and PP can give US a better explanation about this and hence we may

say that they may complement each other in pragmatic analysis.So just like what Leech

f 1 983)has said that the PP can“rescue”the CP to some extent.

3.5 Summary

So far we have studied the concepts and the nature of euphemisms used in press

conferences,and the basic theories used to explain this phenomenon,like the CP and P P.As

mentioned above,there were many works concerned with the pragmatic analysis of

euphemisms written by scholars,but few of these researches have been tbcused on a specific

field according to the author’S research and statistics.In addition,most of the studies were

mainly theory—oriented rather than empirical studies.Hence the author would like to study the

euphemisms used in a specific field,that is press conference,and employ some principles to

analyze euphemisms used in political occasions.So in the next chapter,the author will mainly

focus on the pragmatic analysis of the euphemisms used in the question—answer patterns in

press conferences with the pragmatic theories we have mentioned betbre.

22
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter Four Research Methodology

Euphemism iS a common linguistic phenomenon.Because of its nature of vagueness,

indirectness and politeness,euphemism is often used by spokesmen in press conferences to

deal with sophisticated,sensitive,or sharp questions.The main purpose of this thesis is to

make study on spokespersons’languages in press conferences with Grice’S


a pragmatic
author collects 20 which
cooperative principle and Leech’S politeness principle.The
cases are

selected from different spokesperson’S remarks in different press conferences to make the

in the
analysis in this thesis.The ways of data collection and limitations of the data collected

current study will be discussed first in this chapter,and then the author will introduce methods

of data analysis in this thesis.

4.1 Data Collection

Due to the limitation of time and space,the author has just collected twenty transcripts of

press conferences as the dada of the pragmatic study of this thesis.By reading through the

documents and surfing on the internet,people can easily find numerous materials available.hi

order to make sure the authority and representativeness of the analysis material,the author

chose those data carefully,and all the material are from American official website or China’S

of the press conferences used in this


ministry of foreign affairs’website.In addition,most

thesis are held by the US government in the White House,the rest were held by government

related with
of other nations for some important and influential international activities which

the USA,like G20 summit and six—parrty talks.As to the contents of press conferences,they

were carefullv selected concerning different American and international aft'airs to ensure the

diversity of materials of the research.The


research data cover topics of politics,economy,

military,and diplomacy affairs.Besides,euphemisms


the author used as research objects 111

the auestion-answer patterns of these transcripts are spoken by English native speakers tbr

language accuracy.
screened based definitions we have di scussed in
Euphemisms used in this study are on

the substitution of harsh and offensive words and serve the purpose of
chapter two.They are

table is overview of all


being agreeable and unpleasant in press conferences.The following
an

the twenty transcripts in this study.


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
Table 2—1 The Overview of the Transcripts

Items T1 T2 T3 T4 T16 T1 7 T1 8 T20 7Jotal

Number of
38 26 45 32 23 33 l 9 42 7l 8
“Q andA”pairs

Times of

Euphemisms 16 7 19 8 6 10 11 l 7 236

Used

From the table we can see that of all the twenty transcripts of press confbrences,thel’e are

7 1 8 pairs of“question and answer”in total.To be specifically,euphemisms al‘e used 236

times in these press conferences.That means,they appear once in every 3 question—answer

patterns on average.In addition,most of these euphemisms appear in the answers of those

statesmen.This is because reporters usually prefer to use the most brief and concise language

to the point,and compared with spokesmen,they care less about their images.Froln the

above statistics,people can easily find that nearly half of the utterances in question—answer

patterns of press conferences use euphemisms or euphemism expressions.Then we can get a

conclusion that the frequency of using euphemisms or euphemistic expressions in press

conferences iS high.

4.2 Research Methodology and Procedure

As we have already introduced in the second chapter,empirical studies arc rarely found
in specific discourses like press conferences in the existing literature.In this thesis,the author

focused on euphemism used in this area and collected lwenty transcripts of press conferences

concerns different topics.The qualitative study with a quantitative one was employed on the

English euphemisms in press conferences from the perspective of pragmatics.

All the materials for this research are from the internet,and they are speakers’original
words without any modification.Considering the necessity of providing sufficient
background
information for the analysis,the author tries to quote the complete form of
every remal‘k and

does not make any change of the words in it.These materials are used to make a quantitative

study.From the analysis of research statistics,the author will show a clear and detailed

illustration on the frequency of using euphemisms and the realization and constitution of

euphemisms used in press conferences.In addition,qualitative study is also employed in the

thesis.Through the observation of statistics got from quantitative research and analysis ol、

cases of euphemisms in press conferences,the author makes a qualitative study with Grice’S

Cooperative Principle and Leech’S Politeness principle to find out how spokcsmen used

euphemisms to maintain a smooth and polite communication in press conferences,and

24
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
summarize the function of euphemisms in this occasion.

As f.or the research procedure,the


analysis will be carried out from thrce pcrspectives:
the realization,the constitution and the function of
euphemism in the situation o f Dress

conferences.First,the author will introduce the history,definition and Drevious studies ot’

euphemisms.Then analyzing data of euphemisms in press conferences with two Drolllinent

theories:Grice’s Cooperative Principle and Leech’s Politeness Principle.The pragmatic


features of euphemisms in the specific situation of
press conferences will be illustrated and

generalized through the analysis.Particularly,the political and pragmatic fhnctions that

euphemism performs in press conferences will also be summarized in this thesis.In addition.

the author will make further conclusion the


a on major findings,implications,limitations and

suggestions for future exploration.


奎!!!翌苎奎兰堕主兰焦笙窒——
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————一

and Cooperative Principle


Chapter Five Euphemisms

5.1 Cooperative Principle

the CP and P P to analyze


In this chapter’we will mainly
use pragmatic theory

in U.S.government press confe。enccs


euDhemisms appeared in the question.answer patterns
maxims of the two theorle8
and Drobe into the relationship between those euphemisms and the
and addressees want their
as well.As we have already noticed in previous chapter,if speakers

convers:ations to be done successfully and smoothly,like the question—answer pattem8 P。e88


in

conferences,they should follow certain rules


as cooperative principle and politeness princiPle・

their speechc8 most


people who resort to in
Politicians and statesmen are euphemisms

lot conceal.The ot’all kinds ol


frequently.This is because they often have
to use

euDhemisms and euphemistic expressions can reduce the dark side of unpleasant thing while

also make it more recepnve and agreeable tor¨1e


enlarging the bright side of it greatly,and

listeners.

have four options to deal with the n-laxlllls oi


According to Grice,generally speakers
maxim8・
cooDerative principle.In the first place,he or she can straightforwardly observe the

Second.he or she can violate a maxim.For example,he or she may breach the first submaxlm

111aXllll-1 his
opt out of
she a call bc
of Qualitv by telling a deliberate lie.Third,he or can

demonstrated use of hedges in conversation.Fourthly,a speake。can


by a speaker’s

maxim,to be illustrated shortly(Grice 1 989:30).It is also


ostentatiouslv flout or exploit a

if the maxims of cooperanve


observed bv him that there is more meaning than what is said
caI Jed
principle are violated by the speaker,this implicit,non—conventional meaning 1S

and
conversational implicature by Grice and usually euphemistic meanings used by politician

from these implicatures.They allow both statesmen and participallts


in
statesmen are arose

in press
Dress conferences to convey meaning beyond what is expressed literally.Statesmen

conferences can often use conversational implicatures produced by

euphemisms or euphemistic expressions to deliver some deeper meanings・Meanwhilej

means of violating
hearers can also figure out the real of intention made by speakers by
and maxims of
certain maxims.The author will analyze the relationship between euphemisms

CP in detail in the following.

5.2 Violating the Quality Maxim

The maxim of quality requires speakers to be honest and sincere when they are giving

26
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
information in their speeches.And violation of this maxim means speakers say something that

is not the truth in their conversation。However,as in the case of political euphemisms,usually

it is difficult for statesmen to tell the truth.Sometimes confidentiality is involved in their

conversation and sometimes people simply want to avoid the tabooed contents to be

mentioned.Hence,in political press conferences,euphemisms and euphemistic expl.essions

produced by violating the quality maxims are always employed to


help the speakers avoid

expressing unpleasant things like“war,poverty,disease,and race”etc.directly but in an

implicit and roundabout way.Therefore if hearers want to know the real meanings of the

euphemisms,they should infer the conversational implicature from the illocutionary meaning

based on the specific contexts.Let’S look at several examples taken from transcripts of White

House press conferences.

Example l:

Question.Last week when you gave your Afghanistan drawdown speech,the word

“victory,”in terms of the overall war in Afghanistan,was not in your speech.So 1’nl

wondering,sir,ifyou can definefor the 1 00,000 troops you have in harm量way in AJghanistan

“victory”in the war,andfor theirfamilies.as well,sir


President Obama:Well,I didn jt use“victory”in my West Point speech.either.What|

said was we can be successful in our mission,which is narrowly drawn,and lhat is lo make

sure that al Qaeda cannot attack the United Slates oj America or our allies or OHI’interests

0Ver譬e口.1. .

In this dialogue,the journalist asked a very sharp question about the war in A fghanistan.

Since this is a quite sensitive topic,president Obama used the word“mission”to substitute the

word“war”used originally by the journalist.“Mission”sounds gentler then“war”,because

the word“war’’is always associated with blood and death in people’S mind,whereas the word

“mission”is neutral.Although it was a“war”.Obama used this word tO cover up its nature ol’

this military operation and disguise what the American government has done.By the same

token.Obama also used“attack’’instead of“military attack”in his answer.All these are used

to distort the facts to some extent and also reduce the negative impressions on the public.

Example 2:

Question.‘Is there a sense that the decision the president make.y on a


troop withdrawal

will influence what allies do?And is there afear that a precipitous withdrawal Will take them

out as well?

MR.Carney."……so I think we—it is an international coalition.We Wt)rk—we

coordinate with our allies and we will obviously inform our allies of our deci.vion oBe it 0

27
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
made.But we will continue the kind ofcooperation

In this example,we can figure out that using the first person plural pronoun to replace

first person singular pronoun or others have a euphemistic meaning in communications.As

showed in the example,Mr.Carney didn’t say“the American government”,but“WC”will

continue,which implied that the hypersensitive issue is related with both sides.And Mr.

Carney used this pronoun to express the expectation for future cooperation euphemistical ly,

although that may be only a unilateral opinion.In addition,speakers sometimes achieve the

euphemistic purposes in diplomacy by means of obscuring the scope of reference,in other

words,speakers can use plural forms to cover a broader spectrum,like“we coordinate with”

and“we will obviously inform”in the answer.

Example 3:

Question:On Iraq..What'S the status oJ’discussions with Iraq on possibly keeping乙÷s.

forces there beyond the end ofthe year?


Mr.Carney:I have nothing new fo,.you on that.First of all,I'd like tO say that We

obviously are aware・of the fact that we lost US.servicemen today,and we expre.Fs

condolences to their families once notifications have been made.And f,分a stark reminder that

those who serve in Iraq do SO in a way that continues tO place them al risk,despite the

enormous progress that has been made there.

This is also a good example of flouting the maxim of quality.Both the questioner and

the replier employed vague expressions to talk about the unpleasant topic about soldiers in

Iraq.In the question,journalist use“forces”to refer to“American troops”or“military forces”

And the replier used the indirect expression“servicemen’’to reply‘‘the soldiers died bravely

on the battlefield of Iraq”.“Servicemen’’can be used to refer to all the people who engaged in

the service sectors.This indirect expression can help the speaker conceal the blood and

slaughter happened in the battlefield and make hearers to ignore brutalities of war.People USe

euphemisms to present a false picture tO the public.

5.3 Violating the Quantity Maxim

The maxim of quantity requires speakers to make the contribution as informative as is

required for the current purposes of exchange.That means speakers should give the exact

quantity of information,neither too much nor too little.Violation el、quantity maxim lllOallS

speakers provide non—informative information which is actually needed by the hearers,but

provide either less or more information.Many euphemisms and euphemistic expressions used

28
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
in press conferences are created by contributing non.informative information to avoid

unpleasant,offensive topics or words and make them sounds polite and comtbrtable in

question-answer pattern conversations.

In the field of political context,there are many confidential or sensitive issues which arc

confined only to be talked among internal people of the government and cannot come out into

the open.In this circumstance,people tend to violate the quantity maxim of C1’to realize the

tone of mild.Sometimes,a simple sentence like“no comment”is used to avoid questions

are not willing to answer.However,this may usually cause a tense atmosphere lbr the
people

ongoing conversations.As a result,euphemisms are used under such circumstances to make

up for the miss or redundancy of information.

Example 4:

how quickly,sir,do they need move out?


Question.But tO

Bush.You know,as quickly as possible.

Question.‘Days or weeks?

Bush.Well,as possible.

ournalist
This is a typical example of violation of quantity maxim.In this exchange,the j

was asking for the situation of Turkey.President Bush seemed already answer his question,

but actually his reply did not provide required information.He used a vague word二。possible”

instead of the exact date in his answer,partly because the date was confidential information

which could not be released to public,and partly because the exact date have not been

determined by the American government.Bush


used euphemisms to answer this question can

evade iournalist’S sensitive question while keeping harmonious atmosphere of the press

conferences.

Example 5:

Question."On Syria,are we giving or are we thinking about giving any kind o/’support
it's communications equipment,mOney,
to the people who are
protesting there.whether

Internet—breaking software?
limited
Mr.Carney."......I said a range ofoptions,including targeted sanctions,but not

this point,’m not to enumerate the othel。option・V that


to targeted sanctions.But at prepared

are on the table

flout the maxim of quantity several


Similarly,in this turn of interlocution,the statesmen

times in order to attain the objective of being euphemistic.Mr.Carney’S answer was far more

number in his arls、、~el,Mr・


complex than a simple“yes’’or“no”.Instead of giving exact

29
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Carney chose the euphemistic expression“a range of options”.Besides,he made the

redundancy in his answer by giving more information than that is needed.He emphasized that

this‘‘a range of options’’with the redundant explanation of“including targeted sanctions.but

not limited to targeted sanctions’’and“other options”.This long,indirect and euphemistic

expression make the answer seems to be sincere,although the replier actually did not answer

what the i ournalist wanted to know.

Example 6:

Question.what do you say to the families oj the victims of g/H and the US3"Cole and

other terrorist acts by al Qaeda可these family members say they want the photo released SO

they can have some closure?

Answer:A couple oLf points on that.One.the Turks,the Americans and the naqis.

including the Iraqi Kurds.share a common enemy in the P KK.

Example jj:

Question.‘The Iranians have dismissed the European incentive as insign(ficant.Should


more incentives be offered?How long do they have until you take their case to the Security

Council?

Answer.......That became discovered,not because of their compliance With the IA EA

orⅣPZ but because a dissident group pointed it out to the world,and 1uhich raised

suspicions about the intentions ofthe program.

Acronym and abbreviation are also two important ways of the formation of euphemism

in press conferences.In example 6.“USS Cole’’refers to“United State Ship Cole”.The

United States Ship Cole was once the powerful symbol of U.S.military.However,on October

12,2000 it was destroyed by a suicide attack while it was harbored and refueled in the

Yemeni port of Aden and seventeen American sailors were killed,3 9 were inj ured.7Fhi s event

was the deadliest attack against a United States Naval vessel since 1 987.Both of the

questioner and the replier did not want to mention this tragedy directly,thus they chose the

abbreviation to talk about unpleasant issue indirectly.

“IAEA”refers to“International Atomic Energy Agency’’and“NPT’’used to refer to

“Treaty on the Non—Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons”in English.The replier used

abbreviations and avoided to mention the full names in his answer,because the full names call

remind the participants of nuclear weapons,even death and war.These euphemisms violate

the quantity maxim because they failed to give the right amount of information people

needed

30
查j!!至垄奎兰堕主兰垡笙窒——
————————————————————————————————————————————————————一一一
5.4 Observing the Relevance Maxim

maxim of relevance requl。e8


As Grice suggested in his cooperative principle,the

of the conversation.In political convcrsatl0118


speakers to say what is relative to the context
to bc
like DreSS conferences,there are lots of issues and topics are regarded as inappropl’fate

mentioned directly in publish.Under this circumstance,euphemisms


are good tools u8ed bY

politicians to avoid mentioning the relevant but unsuitable utterances・

About this maxim,euphemisms can be used either by observing or violating this rule.

need redundant explanations・l he


EuDhemisms created by observing the maxim does not

violation of relation maxim means that euphemisms used by speakers


in press conle。cnce5 arc

irrelevant to the conversation for some reasons or some purposes.However,euphemism5

the surface may have close relation In the


which seem to be irrelevant to the conversation on

little difficult for to find euphemisms that flout the maxlm of


deeper sense.Actually,it is a US

solemn anQ
relevance in press conferences.This is because press conferences
are occaslons

and answer the que8tlon8


the Durpose of holding it is to transfer government’s information
ol

irrelevant the press confc蚓1cc8_


reDorters.Therefore,statesmen seldom talk about things
in

Example 8:

from the front that they—ve,found some kind()|a㈣㈨c


QuestionI There are reports

that
chamber nedr this hospital that was used by Iraqi forces.Do you have any information

c11itton prtSoners.,
Iraqis have used torture on co

Clnrke:I don、have any information on what you just saiK but there are reanis,and

ne口ms clnd renHls of information about what the Iraqi regime has done,for decades.J mean,n。

iS poticvj it is prnctice?there’s bureaucracy behind tt—c栅i clns and military alike一'。w11“l t hey

do.But nothing on the report you have.

ol coalltlon
Ms.Clark was asked a question about a sensitive issue—about the torture

this problem,she did not address it directly・On one hand,


prisoners by the Iraqi forces.Facing

she denied that she had any information on this matter;on the other hand,she stressed that

the
of Iraqi forces.Her answer seems irreleVant to
torturing prisoners was the routine practice

auestion on the surface,but from her conjecture the reporter can get the implicatu。C that there

be tortured and it can also be V1ewed a8 an


be a Dossibility that the coalition prisoners might

i ndirect answer to the question.

Example 9:

sayi以g his c。搬me珂f was thereⅥ,日J胛D


Questio刀.・Well.that,understand,but,’拧2
jquestion that a photograph would be released--obviously that Wds w煳g・
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
Mr Carney.・Well,look,the thing is the President made this decision.1ie consulted

members his national security team.There reasonable arguments to be made.The


of are

he made.
Presidentfelt very strongly and made the decision

In this exchange,Mr.Carney is asked the decision on whether the U.S.governlnent will

the public to prove he was died.He first indicates that this


open Bin Laden’s photograph to

that he
question is out of his working purview and“President made this decision”,SO
cannot

answer it.Then he provides information which is not asked by the reporter about how the

infer
president made his decision.However,this is not useless after all,and the reporter
can

the answer of this question from Mr.Carney’S introduction.

Example 10:

Question.‘It has nothing to do with raising halfa million dollars?


Answer I I think j;hclt—I didn:t raise a half a million dollars.1 didn jt raise any money

I'm standing here

Some supporters of the president who may have been donors have got administration

jobs.The correspondent questioned that people who got jobs in administration raised money.

The sDokesperson did not answer his question directly,but used an


expression which seemed

irrelevant to the question一“I didn’t raise any money”instead.He used himself as all example

to imply that not all people worked in administration have to raise money,and they can get

this job because they are qualified to the job.

Euphemisms especially in press conferences are employed by correspondents and

matter what
spokespersons to soften the harsh reality and avoid sensitive questions.Hence
no

are used,in essence they are relevant to the


euphemisms or euphemistic expressions

euDhemized items or expressions to a certain extent.Otherwise,their communication will

break down.Hence the number euphemisms formed by violating the relation maxim is the

least among the four maxims of cP,that to say in press conferences,people may basically

observe the maxim of relation.

5.5 Violating the Manner Maxim

As Grice stated.the maxim of manner requires speakers’utterances to be clear,brieQ

and ambiguity must bc avoided.


orderly,perspicuous and easy to understand,while obscurity

However,in daily communication,people often use obscure and ambiguous expressions

deliberately.These words or expressions of violation of maimer lnaxim usual ly have the

function of preventing embarrassment.With that in mind,euphemisms flouting the manner

32
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
maxim are commonly used by politicians and statesmen in public occasions like press

conferences to avoid mentioning embarrassing terms in a direct way and achieve the mild,

agreeable and roundabout effects.This requires the hearers to infer the conversational

implication of euphemisms from the specific context.

Some instances will be cited in the following part to illustrate how euphemisms used in

press conferences violate the maxim of manner of the cooperative principle by giving obscure

and ambiguous information.

Example 11:

Question.’But my question is about the President j specific outreach to the^饥f.s'lim

world How does this affect that?

Mr Carney."..….SO we obviously believe that we were absolutely within OUl4


rights'to

go研er the most wanted man in the world,the most wanted terrorist in the WOll珏lhe illan

who ordered the attacks on SO many Americans"and killed SO many Americans.

In this interlocution,the reporter wanted to know that after American’S fight against al

Qaeda and Bin Laden,what the effect on relationships between the U.S.and Musl i n world

was.In Mr.Carney’S answer,Bin Laden’S name was not noted directly,but substituted by a

series of descriptions,such as“the most wanted man in the world”,“the most wanted terrorist

in the world”,“the man who ordered the attacks on SO many Americans and killed SO many

Americans”.It is obvious that Mr.Carney’S reply has violated the manner maxim ol、being

brief and avoiding obscurity of expression by using redundant expressions to replace a silnple

name.On one hand,this complicated expression can be used to avoid mentioning the nalne of

“Bin Laden”,SO as to evade the sensitive and unpleasant terms in his answer.On the other

hand,the speaker also used these excess detailed descriptions to emphasize Bin Ladcn’S guilt

and implied the justice of their fight,and they just do this for the peace of the U.S.and the

whole world.

Example 12:

Question."But isn Z there something you took away you can qffer to yore。SUCC(7..7S01。

about how it j risk)’in the process ofsizing up your Russian counterpart?

Bush.……I learned that it i important to establish personal relationsⅥ,ith leaders

even though you may not agree with them--certain leaders......

We can also take the above interlocution as an instance of euphemisms violating the

maxim of Manner.In the above example,the President was asked how to handle the

relationship with president of Russia.This question concerns the friendships between two

33
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
countries,SO President Bush addressed this question very cautiously.From his answer the

hearer knew that Bush had disagreement with some countries’leaders.President Bush didn’t

identify the exact name;instead,he chose a euphemistic substitution“certain leader’’which

helped him prevent harming the relation of two countries.Although he didn’t mention the

name,people can also inter from the context that“certain leader’’was the—president ot’

Russia’’or“Medvedev”.So we can see euphemisms are good tools used by politicians to

spare embarrassment.

5.6 Findings‘

Politicians and statesmen may employ euphemisms in press conferences out of wlrious

reasons.Some are used to avoid talking about sensitive issues or terms,S01]le al‘c used to

replace confidential information.In the above paragraphs,the author has discussed the

relationships of euphemisms and maxims of Grice’S cooperative principle.From the above

analysis,we can summarize part of the operation mechanism of euphemism and find out how

euphemisms used in press conferences realize the function of euphemizing.As researches

show,euphemisms usually work by means of violating three maxims of Grice jS cooperative

principle,and they are the Quality Maxim,the Quantity Maxim and the Manner Maxim of the

CP.In addition,some euphemisms violate more than one maxim,but two,three,or even al l

the four maxims of the cooperative principle at the same time.However,because of the

special property of press conferences,rare euphemisms violated the maxim of relation.In a

word,euphemisms used in press conferences basically violate three lnaxims of CP but

observe the relation maxim most of the time.

34
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter Six Euphemism and Politeness Principle

6.1 The Politeness Principle

Politeness is a universal phenomenon,and Allan has said that“being cooperative is

being polite”(Allan,1986:10).Traditionally,it is believed that people should be cooperative

in their conversation to show their politeness.However,in press conferences,sometimes to

flout maxims of CP is also viewed as polite.In some special occasions like press

conference,being cooperative is not enough for a successful communication.In order to save

one’S own and other’S faces,people still have to be polite in addition to being cooperative.

Leech pointed out that CP in itself cannot explain why people are often SO indirect in

conveying what they mean.Grice’S theory of CP is logic-oriented,but conversational

interaction is also social behavior.Therefore,besides being cooperative,speakers also try to

be polite when they choose words in their conversation.Based 011 Grice‘S theory ot、CI’and

Searle’S indirect directives,Leech proposes the politeness principle,which explains the

relationship of politeness and indirectness.He claims that the more indirect the illocution,the

more polite should be reevaluated.The maxims of PP have already been explained in detai l in

the foregoing part.It contains six maxims:

(i)Tact maxim
a.Minimize cost to other

b.Maximize benefit to other

(ii)Generosity maxim
a.Minimize benefit to self

b.Maximize cost to self

(iii)Approbation maxim

a.Minimize dispraise of other

b.Maximize praise to other

(iv)Modesty maxim
a.Minimize praise of self

b.Maximize dispraise of self

(V)Agreement maxim
a.Minimize disagreement between self and other

b.Maximize agreement between self and other

(vi)Sympathy maxim
a.Minimize antipathy between self and other

飞气
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

一一。—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————一
b.Maximize sympathy between self and other
(Leech 1983:132)

In press conferences‘,PP is also considered in statesmen’s remarks.Because they have

to contemplate whether the words or expressions they use will damage the interests of the

and listeners.So politicians and statesmen tend to


country or damage the faces of themselves

use mild and roundabout euphemisms in order to avoid offences in the occasion like press

conferences.In the following part,we will put the attention on the relationship between

euphemisms and Leech’S politeness principle.

6.2 Observing the Tact Maxim

The tact maxim is stated as“minimize the expression of beliefs which imply cost to

other:maximize the expression of beliefs which imply benefit to other”in I,eech’s(1 983)

book.The first part of this maxim fits in with Brown and Levinson’S negative politeness

the second part reflects the positive politeness


strategy of minimizing the imposition,and
needs.In other words,this maxim
strategy of attending to the hearer’s interests,wants,and

requires the speakers to minimize cost to other and maximize benefit to other at the same time.

In press conferences,statesmen usually employ euphemisms to replace some sensitive ISSUES

in order to avoid hurting someone,such as in the following example:

Example 13.’

President:It's a strategy to create jobs',tO help responsible homeou,tTcrs,lo restart

lending,and to grow oHr economy over the long term,and we’re beginning to s'ee signs o./’

progress.

This remark was given by president Obama in the press confe:rence about American

economic recession in 2009.Obama introduced government’S new action and decision to

revive American economy in this press conference.In the above example,president Obama
the
used a Dhrase“responsible homeowners’’which is a public relation phrase i nvented by

White House.This new phrase was used to refer to homeowners who failed to repay their

mortgages any more after the American economy recession.The president used this

euDhemism instead of“mortgage deadbeats’’because the word“deadbeat’’ret'e1‘S to people

who do not pay their bills deliberately and implies negative meaning.I—Iowever,“Responsible

homeowners’’indicates that these people are also victims of this recession and also prevent

the negative meaning effectively.Therefore,the president used this euphemism which

obseIved the maxim of tact to show the politeness to these people and make them more

36
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
comfortable

Example i4l

Question:Do you believe that the Gaza conflict will have ended by the time you leave

office?Do you approve of the way that Israel has conducted it?And why were you unable Io

achieve the peace deal that you had sought?

President Bush:……in other words.helping the Palestinians in the West Band develop

security forces,which we have worked hard to do over the past years.A nd those security

forces are now becoming more efficient。and Prime Minister Fayyad is using them够{j、ccl{、,c iy.

In this conversation.the correspondent asked the question about conflict bct、、,Cell

Palestine and Israel and how to achieve the peace in the Middle East.In President Bush’S

answer,he admits that the U.S.is‘‘helping the Palestifiians in the west bank develop security

forces”.Issues related with wars are


always sensitive topics in press conferences,SO President

Bush did not use the word‘‘troop”or“military forces’’which may be associated with“war

and death”easily.The euphemistic expression‘‘security forces’’emphasized that Palestine

developed military forces to strengthen the defense capabilities.This tbrce is used to pl‘otect

its own country and folks and has nothing to do with military attack.Based on the maxim of

tact,President Bush maximized the benefit of Palestine and used euphem ism to glori i’y the

nature of their action and also made it more acceptable to hearers.

6.3 Observing the Generosity Maxim

Leech’S Generosity maxim states“minimize the expression of beliefs that express Ol‘

imply benefit to self;maximize the expression of beliefs that express or imply cost to sell”.

From this definition,we can summarize that people all try to be generous in a dialog in that

we try to minimize benefit to self,and maximize cost to self.Unlike the tact ITIaxim,the

maxim of generosity focuses on the speaker,and says that others should be put first instead of

the selE We can figure out how spokesmen use euphemisms to keep polite to participants of

press conferences.

Example i5:

Mr Carney."It is important to remember that the relationship is important because it

helps our national security interest to maintain it.Pakistan has worked with US 10 go(:lfler
terrorism and terrorists.More terrorists have been killed on Pakistani soil than in any other

country.

37
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
This is Mr.Carney’S announcement before
going to questions in a press conference.He

introduced the relationships between the U.S.A.and Pakistan,and explaincd whv the

relationship was so important to the U.S..He attributed the Success on


fighting lhe te J・rorism

and terrorists to the cooperation of Pakistan,but not


only to the U.S.forces.Theretbre.i11 this
remark we can see that the spokesman employ the pragmatic to minimize the benefit
strategy
of themselves.Mr.Carney adhered to the maxim of
generosity to show their politeness and

avoid damage the important relationship with Pakistan.

6.4 Observing the Approbation Maxim

The approbation maxim of PP is stated as“minimize the


expression of bcliefs w11ich

express dispraise of other and maximize the expression of beliefs which express approval of

other”by Leech.From this statement,we know that approbation maxim require pe()plc trv

their best to show the approbation in a dialog while minimize dispraise of others at the same

time.This maxim is preferred to praise others in the conversation and if this is


impossible,

speakers should choose to sidestep the issue,to employ euphemisms to give some sort of

minimal response,or to keep s.ilent at least.

In press conferences hold


by government,spokesmen often have to confront compl i cated

diplomatic issues which are


usually sensitive.Hence divergence of opinions is inevitablc.If

spokesmen use direct criticism often manifests a kind of tough attitude which is dctrimental to

the government’S international image and even break the friendship of two countries.

Therefore,when there is divarication,spokesmen tend to avoid direct rebuke and

disagreement as much as possible.For this case,euphemism which obeys the maxilll 011

approbation is often wrapped in a


pleasant or warm disguise and to maximize praisc of otllers.

Example 16:

Question."Since your philosophy is SO


different from President—Elect Obama 0.11,向口,

concerns you the most about what厅P may attempt to do?

Answer."……you know,one of the very difficult parts of the decision I made On the

financial crisis was to use


hardworking people每money to help prevent there to be d c,一isj.v……

As stated above,the maxim of approbation requires to maximize praise o{’


speakers
others.In example 1 6,President Bush talked about his economic
policies used to Drevent the

economic recession in his answer.He gave some of


the“hardworking people’S lnonev,’to

Wall Street firms that caused the crisis in the first place.In order to get people’s support of his

decision,he adhered to the maxim of approbation and praised them as“hardwol・king people,,

and made it easier to accept the new economic policy.

38
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————一

Example 1 7.。

Question."When do you think he'S going to feel the full impact?And椭∽if alo?thing,
have you and the other Presidents shared with him about the somelime.y isolalio,7.
effects of
the SO—called bubble ofthe office?
President Bua’h.・……and sD——6“,he j a better speech—maker thanⅢe,sD力P’ll bP(7blc

10一hejn be able to—j donl know how he,s going tofeel…一

In most people’S eyes,the president is a difficult job under great pressure and usually
feels isolated.The journalist asked whether President Bush could give some to thc
suggestion
President。elect Obama.Obviously Bush did not want to speculate Obama’S
feelings,SO he
said Obama was a“better speech—maker’’than him to show his to the new president
respect

and avoid comments on him directly.

Example 18.‘

Question.’It was never the“loneliest oUnce in the world"for you?


Answer."No.nol for me.We had-一people—-we—I had a
fabulous team around i.ne o/?
highly dedicated,smart,capable people……and I built(1 team of really capable peot)le、、7 h0
were there not tO me.or there to the Republicans'.they were lhere
serve serve lo sel一、,c fhc

country......

This interlocution was extracted from President Bush’S last press conference in the White

House.The reporter asked him whether he felt lonely to be the


president and Bush denied,
because he thought he had a‘‘fabulous team”,and praised that people of his team werc

“dedicated,smart and capable”.Through his praise to his team,Bush ducked the question

successfully and politely on one hand,and affirmed his team’S contribution on scrving the

republicans and the whole country on the other hand.

6.5 Observing the Modesty Maxim


The Modesty maxim and the previous approbation maxim in
go pairs in Leech’S

Politeness Principle.They express the same idea from different angles.As modesty maxim

states“minimize the expression of praise of self and maximize the expression of


dispraise ol、
self’.Different from approbation maxim,the modesty maxim focus on the speakm・.and

requires the speaker to minimize the praise of self and’maximize dispraise of sell'.In political

press conferences,minimizing praise of oneself rarely happens,but it still occurs sometimes

in some particular situations.

39
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
Example i9:

Question."Do you believe that the Gaza conflict will have ended by the time yoH leave

office?Do you approve ofthe way that Israel has conducted it?And 1',hy were you unable to

achieve the peace deal that you had sough?

President Bush.’Remind me ofthree points,will you,because I'm getting a little older?

Question."Will it end by the time you leave office?

In this dialogue,President Bush’S answer has nothing to do with the question and

violates the maxim of relevance.He used an indirect expression~“I’113-getting a little older”

which,when listen to,seems irrelevant with the question to reply the correspondent.Older

men usually have a poor hearing and memory.Therefore,the president in fact dispraised

himself by exaggerating his age and wanted to use this indirect but polite expression to imply

that he did not catch the question and expected the reporter to
repeat it.7Fhe reporters got the

implication clearly and repeat his question once more.

Compared with asking the reporter to repeat the question directly,president bush’S

expression which adheres to the modesty maxim seems more polite to the reporter.

6.6 Observing the Agreement Maxim

The Agreement maxim runs as follows“minimize the expression of disagreement

between self and other;maximize the expression of agreement between sel f and other”.It is in

line with Brown and Levinson’S positive politeness strategies of‘‘seek agreement”and二‘avoid

disagreement”,to which they attach great importance.However,it is not being claimed that

people totally avoid disagreement.It is simply observed that they al‘e much more direct in

expressing agreement,rather than disagreement.In press conferences,although disagreements

do exits,spokesmen usually stress on the agreement of two sides with the help of euphemism

and ignore disagreement.They intend to make other’people feel good through adapting the

maxim of agreement by showing solidarity.

Example 20.‘

Question:I believe that the president—elect himself has talked about the damage that

Gitmo,that harsh interrogation tactics that they consider torture,办DⅥ7 going to war in h"aq

without a UⅣmandate have damaged America§moral standing in the world I'm lI,ondering

basically what your reaction to that is.

Answer.It may be damaged amongst some of the elite,but people.,till uHdellstand

America standsforfreedom,that America is a country that provides such great hope

40
东:ILIJ币范大学硕士学位论文
The correspondent believed that the U.S.went to the war in Iraq without a U.N.mandate

had damaged America’S moral standing in the world.Actually the spokesmen did not want to

admit this truth which carried the connotation that participating the war of Iraq was a totally

wrong decision made by the U.S.government.However,the spokesman still sought

agreement with the correspondent with an indirect expression.He used modal verb’。may be’’

to express this possibility and achieve the agreement.At the same time,he expressed his

disagreement euphemistically.Although there was damage to America’S moral standing,the

damage was only among“some of'’the elite but not a11.Most people still believed that

America was justice and stood for freedom.The disagreement is covered with euphemism in

this example and spokesperson also shows the politeness to this correspondent.

Example 2l:

Question."There,s been much criticism of U.S.monetary policy in the run—up lo this

G20.And with old G7 partners like Germany opposing you,does this not make it much

harder fo,the United States to press China for Yuanl appreciation and persuade other’G20

partners to support your goals ifthey sense that the U.s.is being isolated at the sumntit?

President Obama:……Well,I think that you will see at this summit a broad-based

agreement from all countries,that we need to ensure balanced and sustainable,gr01t,th.A nd it

is my expectation that the communiqud will begin to put in place mechanisms that heO)US
track and encourage such balanced and sustainable growth.......

This is question was asked at the press conference of six—party talks,although the

question was about G20 summit.The journalist questioned that president Obama’S monetary

policies received much criticism from the pawners,especially the Germany.Thereforc,this

reporter wanted to know whether Germany’S opposition will influence the implement of the

American policy.The president did not use simple word“yes”or“no’’to answer his question

directly,actually this is what spokesmen usually do when they confront embarrassed

questions.On the contrary,he refuted the journalist’S view mildly by emphasizing that there is

“a broad.based agreement from all countries”of G20 summit which implied Germany also

supported the US.Although he didn’t agree with the reporter’S opinion,he still maximized the

the reporter and members ol、G20 summit.


agreement and minimized the disagreement with

This helped him to maintain a good relationship with other country which would be uselhl fol’

the implement of U S’S new economic policies.

6.7 Observing the Sympathy Maxim

to anothcr in
By the sympathy maxim,it is meant that we all try to be sympathetic
one a
— —……n,i…n
— — — 茎型业受垦堂堕主兰篁笙窒cliM g,-一+,-ut,:,一、,u…tah…t minimize antipathy between self and others.and

maximize—s—ym—pa—lhy
betwe朗self and others・This includes a small group of speech acts such con舯tL蜥on.
as

commiseration,and expressing condolences.a11。f which is in


accordance with BroWn and
LeVins。n’s positive P。liteness t。the
strategY。f attending hearer・s interests,wants,and nceds

Example22.

QueStion Are you at all uncomfortable that there could be different rules.『1 diffe训
5妣5,yo“k鞠ow,nnd for somebody to make the argument that's whafWe洲她咖窖 一

segregation--
Presldenl Obama:I think what
you jre seeing is a profound recognition 1)n th e part of-!he
Amerlc锄pe01)je thnt gays and lesbians and
transgenderpersons cfre OHY
brothe呱Ou吲s螂
omr
ch№en,our∞usins,o弘r friends and that they:ve
got to be f陀cfted like
ev2ry o÷her

Flae background of this interlocution is


that,the New York
state senate has
approved a
8ame—sex maHlage bill,a for
powerful victory gay rights advocates that makes Nc、v York t11e
mos‘populous US吼ate where gay
marriage will be allowed.This journalist wanted the
presldent to statehis oWn views on this matter.The
phrases“ourbrothcrs,our sistcrs.()ur
children,our cousins,our friends’’in president Obama’s
remarks are used to rel℃r to
gavs.
1esblans and transgender persons in the United
States.And these mild draw
expressions closer
the distance be觚een the
president and same—sex marriage suppoIrters,thus mini|nizinQ

antipathy and sharing sympathy between them

6.8昏‘indings、

As snowed aboVe,we
Leech’s politeness can see
principle has great value in analysis of
euphemlsms of press conferences and PP also
deeply influences people,s selection of mild
and roundabout in order
expressions to achieve a smooth and successful
communication.As
Leech(1 983:1 08)suggested that one of the ways to obtain a scaJe of politeness is
using a
more and more indirect kind of
illocution.Usually sharp contradictions and co】1tlicts are
1neVltabJe ln communications of press conferences hold by
governments. 1n t11is case.

euphemlsms whlch observe six maxims of PP are


accordingly devised to so Jve such an

em barrasslng situation and maintain the


conversation.By analyzing examples extract:ed from
whlte house Press conferences in this
chapter,we may conclude the
foilowing findin2s about

6.8・1 Operation Mechanism of Euphemism


P。liteness
Pmiple has six maxims which are tact
maxim,ge】1e1.。sity maxinl,
approbatlon maxim,modesty
maxim,agreement maxim and sympathy maxim respectivelv.
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
The use of euphemisms by spokespersons should be depended on the situations and mostly in

order to respect the participants of press conferences,and spokesmen will carefully selected

their language to protect their nations’positive image to the great extent.Hence,for the sake

of being polite,euphemisms basically fulfill all the maxims of the politeness principle.The

greater the oncoming face—affront,the greater is the politeness shown,and the greater the

degree of euphemisms required.

The cooperative principle and politeness principle are not opposite but actually

complementary in the deep sense.Spokesmen sometimes use euphemisms violated the maxim

of CP to observe the principle of politeness.The use of euphemisms violating some maxims

of CP by spokesmen can express their ideas in a roundabout,agreeable and inoffensive way tO

show their concern of the politeness.So we can come to the conclusion that euphemism is a

kind of pragmatic strategy employed by spokesmen deliberately to prevent acute

communication in press conferences from breakdown,and the use of euphem i sm is

completely performing under the framework of the conversational principles or theories that

guide people’S communication.

6.8.2 Constitutions of Euphemisms

From the introduction of euphemism in chapter two,we have the knowledge that

euphemisms are generally constituted by four prominent devices:phonetic device,lexical

device,grammatical device,and rhetorical device,and each device can also bc divided into

several subcategories.Because of the special properties of euphemisms used ill press

conferences of government,constitution of euphemisms in this special situation has specific

features as well.After observing the statistics of researches on materials collected fiom the

internet,the author got the following findings.

First,euphemisms formed by phonetic device seldom appear in spokesmenjS languages.

Phonetic device is also called“phonetic distortion’’which means forming euphemisms by

modifying the normal pronunciation of taboo words deliberately.Just like what we have

already discussed in the second chapter,there are not SO many euphemisms which arc strictly

formed by this device in people’S daily communication,thus the author haven’t found this

kind of euphemisms in transcripts selected for this thesis.

Second,1 26 euphemisms are formed by the device of lexicon which contains numerous

devices like abstraction,loan words,substitution and etc..This iS the most important devices

used to form euphemisms in press conferences.After making the research,the author finds

that spokesmen often use general terms to weaken the tabooed items.In transcripts ot’press

conferences abstract words without specific meanings like“whatsit”,、‘stuff’.“thing”and etc.

are used commonly.For example,the secretary of the White House has used“econom ic

problem”to refer to economic depression once in his answer.Besides.semantic trans|'or iS


东北师范大学硕士学位论文
another most commonly used method of forming a euphemism in press confm‘ences.It IS a

kind of substitution,in other words,using a word which has positive connotation to substitute

a negative one.For instances,in White house’S press conferences,when spokesmen talk about

martial behaviour,they usually use mild words like‘‘operation’’to shift the original negative

meanings.

Third,71 euphemisms are formed by grammatical device.As introduced in the first

is not restricted
chapter,the domain of euphemism have been widening gradually.Euphemism

to lexical level,scholars has extended domain of euphemism to syntax level and even the

level of discourse.Therefore,euphemism can also be formed by grammatical ways.3"he use

of interrogative sentence,determiners,quantifiers and negation are critical ways through the

research.In the press conference held on April 26,20 1 1,the press secretary ol、America Jay

thinks they’11 keep moving thc goal


Carney was asking the question that“is it because he just

post?’’He employed an interrogative sentence to reply this question strategically二。do you


want to
think they might keep moving the goal post?”It is obvious that Mr.Carney did not

answer this question directly,but considering the special situation,he could not keep silence.

And this interrogative sentence defuses this embarrassment successfully.Detm’miners and

quantifiers are also useful euphemisms.1ike‘‘some members of the administration”,“a range

of options”.‘‘to a certain extent’’,etc.in the material of this research.These determiners and

the maxim of quantity of Grice’S


quantifiers accomplish the euphemistic purpose by violating

CP.Besides,in order to adhere to Leech’S politeness principle,spokesmen sometimes use

affirmation.For times
negation instead of example,the express‘‘I doubt that’’appears several

when spokesmen did not want to negate the views of reporters or other participants in the

press conferences used as research data.

Four,43 of them are formed by rhetorical device.Many scholars regard euphem i sm s as a

kind of rhetorical figure.Therefore,spokesmen resort to this kind of euphemisms as well.For

example,when people mention an agreement which need a long time to reach,they use‘‘have

a road to travel”to make a metaphor.Besides,metonymy is a widely used rhetorical device in

euphemisms of press conferences.Such as the word“multilateralism’’which usually appears

use“multilateral”to refer to multiple countries.Some other


spokesmen’S languages
this device.In press
euphemisms like‘‘white paper”.“north-south problem”all formed by

conferences.spokesmen did not call some sensitive term directly by its own name,but by the

name of something intimately associated with that thing and the substitution is based on some

specific similarity.So using a positive or neutral concrete term to replace negative and

abstract one can enh&l'lCe the euphemizing effect.

6.8.3 Functions of Euphemism

In addition to mechanism in press conferences held by


euphemisms’operation
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
also be summarized from this rcsca。cn・
governments.the thnction of these euphemisms
can

From the analysis in previous chapters.functions of euphemisms used in press contercncc8

can be summarized as follows:

First,disguising is the one of the most important function of euphemisms used in press

m isguide the
extremely popular instruments adopted by spokesmen
to
conferences.They are

has claimed that“diplomats are


public to some degree and distort the truth.Newman
seek minimize international tensions and
euphemisms because they
to
esDecially skillful at

motives and international tensions”(Newman,1 990:3 1 5).


frequentlv obfuscate both their true
all kind ot
The nature of euphemism is vagueness and deception,thus speakers usually
USC


and
euphemisms to minimize the international
tensions in governments press contcrence8

achieve the purposes of defending and rationalizing their actions.Besides,euphemisms


can

to distort the facts well(Newman,


often be employed to diminish government’s failure or as

about wars,evil lailed


1990:314).Especially when speakers talk acttons or Pollclc8,

fal8e
important tool for them disguise the truth and present

to
euphemism has become an

of this kind・
picture to the public.From the corpus of this thesis,we
can easily find examples

When sDokesmen talk about Vietnam War,Gulf War,Iraq War etc.,they tend to adopt

civilian casualties and property


euphemisms to disguise the fact.For example,the great

damage in the war is.just a“mistake”;“civilian casualties”becomes“collateral damage":


be
“invasion,,is changed into a“pre.emptive action”; an“air strike’,to a sovereign state can

reaction”or a“P。eVcntlVe
described into an“air option”,“active air defense”,“protective
beautl
war,’.From these examples we can see that governments often use euphemisms to fy

the
their invasive essence or soften the violence in the war.This kind of euphemisms covers

truth and deprived the public of their right to fact.

of taboo words is also an important tunctlon


Secondly.besides disguising,substitution
basic of the formation of euphemism・I‘。om
of euphemism,because taboo words are reason

that euphemism on91nate8


introduction of euphemism’s definition in chapter one,we know
x,,,
from religious taboOS and then expands to the field of“war”,“death”,“body parts”,“se
whlch 15
“religion”etc..In press conferences,there are also a great number of tabooed thin98

Drohibited and should not be mentioned directly in public.In this case,euphemism 1S adoPtcd

as"die"
to avoid ofiensive or evil things,and make them more acceptable by listeners・Such
the battle
is usually replaced by a mild expression“pass away’’;soldiers who sacrificed in

field is described as the countries…lost”.Wars bring massive devastation and death,hence


to
euphemisms instead,so
as prcVent
when Deople talk about this issue,they tend to use

with history and has c108e relation


listeners from fear and pain.Euphemism also develops
have great fear towards
with the culture of a society.After the‘‘Great Depression”,people
order avoid peoPIe bad
economv crisis because many people died in this period.Thus,in
to 8

in Publlc
association,speakers often use‘‘recession’’to substitute“depression”,especially

45
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
occasions like press conferences.To sum up,spokesmen prefer to in
employ euphemisms

press conferences mainly because they can eliminate unhappiness,embarrassment and fear etc.

SO as to relieve people psychologically.

Thirdly,some euphemisms are used to achieve the purpose of politeness.According to

Leech’S politeness principle,people have to take politeness in to consideration when they

select Droper words or expression to ensure smooth and successful interaction.From the

previous analysis of euphemisms used


in white house’S press conferences.we call figm‘c that

there are some euphemisms used to save lace for both self and others and also show

politeness to the hearer as well as to third persons who participant i11 the press conferences.

be found everywhere in press


Euphemisms used to realize the function of politeness
can

conferences.For instances,spokesmen usually call poor people“needy’’or‘‘underprivileged”,

and poor nations are called‘‘backward nations’’or“developing nations”in press conferences.

These euphemisms used to achieve the purpose of politeness can be divided into three types.

talk about their advantages


First,euphemisms used to show modesty.When speakers
or

achievements in their conversation,they prefer to use euphemisms instead in order to al,old

hearer,S sense of inferiority.Second,euphemisms used to show politeness to the object ot’

communication.This kind of euphemisms is used when concerned about disadvantages,fault,

defect,incompetence of the object in the communication,because direct expression will

embarrass them and make them feel slighted.The last type is euphemisms used to show

politeness to thirds party of the communication,although they actually


do not appear ill the

conference.If people’S topic is related to the third party’S negative part in press
press

conferences,they also tend to use euphemisms to replace the direct expression.

also have the


Fourthly,Euphemisms used in press conferences held by government

function of defensive.Press conferences held by governments usually used to public new

policies or handle diplomacy issues.The spokesperson is the representative of his government

or nation,thus he has to consider the interests of his party or his country.In order to maintain

their country to the public,spokesmen often try to


pleasant image of the government
a or even

use“fine words’’to avoid harsh words and resort to various euphemisms in the press

conferences to maintain their nations’dignity.Euphemisms,no matter used to disguise the

truth or to show politeness to others,are adopted to protect their benefits of their nations.

the defensive function in such of press


Therefore,we say that euphemisms serve a context

conferences.

indispensible parts of communicative languages in press fercnces,


con
are
Euphemisms

and also regarded as a visible signs of the inward anxieties,conflicts,tears and slmmes el’tile

speaker.As Enright(1985:29)puts it,“a language without euphemisms could be a defective

instrument of communication”.Examples have already been discussed in the above chapters

great number of euphemisms used i


and it is also widely known that there are a n the language

46
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
of American speeches and documents which is named as gobbledygook language.r11he US

have been numerous euphemisms to maintain the normal


governments adopting

communication between nations throughout the different periods of history.Language is a

useful tool for communication,and then we may say that languages without euphemisms in

press conferences are defective instrument of communication.

At last.euphemism in press conferences also has humorous function in addition to the

above ones,although this phenomenon is not quite common.Just as what we have ah'eady

discussed,euphemisms are used to avoid negative and tabooed terms such as death,war and

sex.There are many euphemisms formed by slangs in English have the function ot’humor,

such as“to discuss Uganda’’is used to replace“adultery”.and“tO tango”means sexual

intercourse.Euphemisms like these can


produce a humorous effect while avoiding tabooed

terms.This kind of function can be also found in the euphemisms used in govcrlnncnt’s press

conferences.Like example in chapter four,when President Bush did not catch the

correspondent’S question.he said he was“getting a little older”.On one hand,the presidcnt

uses this expression of self-mockery to hedge the embarrassment that he does not hear

implication that he needs the question be repeated


to
question,and transfer
as
.journalist’S an

well.On the other hand,this euphemistic expression also has the function of humor,and

provides a relaxed atmosphere to the press conference.Therefore,humorous function ol’

euphemisms used in press conferences often has an unexpected effect.

47
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Chapter Seven Conclusion

This thesis focuses on the pragmatic usage of euphemisms used in press confei‘ences

held by govemments.It tries to explore how the Cooperative Principle and the I’oliteness

Principle woke on the usage of euphemism.

7.1 Summary

After making a detail review on influential studies made by scholars both abroad and

domestic in the second chapter,the author have analyzed euphemisms with theories o f CP and

PP empirically in chapter four and five.Based on the analysis of materials,the aulhoi’gets the

the analysis we
following major findings about euphemism in press conferences.First,from

can find how CP and PP influence the use of euphemism.As researches show,cuphemislns

usually violate Quality Maxim,Quantity Maxim and Manner Maxim of the ct;but observe

the Relation Maxim most of the time.In addition,for the sake of press conferences’special

the research,the
function.euphemisms basically fulfill all the maxims of the PP.Second,from

author summarize five functions of euphemisms in press conferences,they are disguising,

of
substitution,politeness,defensive and humor.Third,the author also concluded the features

these euphemisms’constitution after the research.Most of the euphemisms used in press

conferences are formed by the device of lexicon like abstraction,loan words,substitution and

etc..Some of the euphemisms are formed by grammatical device,such as the use ot’

interrogative sentence,determiners,quantifiers and negation.Some of the euphemisms


are

formed by rhetorical device like metonymy.Few of euphemisms are formed by phonetic

device,since this kind of device also seldom appear in people’S daily languages.

7.2 Limitation of This Thesis and Suggestions for Further Study

Although the author wanted to make a sound analysis on euphemisms used in press

conferences from pragmatic perspectives,there are still several disadvantages in this thesis.

used in political occasions has and


The study of euphemisms never got enough attention

concern.Therefore。it leaves a lot of room for the future researches,and moi’c cffol‘ts and

attentions should be taken on this common phenomenon.The followings are some aspects

which were neglected in this thesis but might be taken into consideration in the future studies.

The first of all,in this thesis the author only collected twenty transcripts of press

conferences,and these materials are too limited to reveal all the features and aspects for the

48
东北师范大学硕士学位论文
research of euphemism used in
press conferences.Therefore,if we want tO have a more

comprehensive study,it is necessary for researchers to collect more materials,0r cven sct up a

large corpus.

Moreover,the author regarded euphemism as a helpful means to ensure a successful

communication of the press conferences in this thesis.But in


reality,besides positive impacts.

during the communication,the use of euphemisms also has negatives


impacts which have

neglected in this thesis.Sometimes in actual human interchange,because ol’the diffcrent

cultural backgrounds,language capacity,situation factors and


many other elements.thc use 01、

euphemisms may produce a barrier between speakers of the communications.and this barrier

may even cause the communication breakdown.So in future studies on this linguistic

phenomenon,it is really necessary to take this problem into consideration.

At last,euphemisms display the indirectness of language,and as a


strategy o l’

communication,the use of euphemisms in press conferences is also restricted to sollle

communication principles like cooperative principle and


politeness principle.In this thesis the
author only apply these two communicative the research,but there
principles to 111 ight bc
some other principles which also have effects on the use of euphemism.Thus,it is important

to make further researches and find out whether there are other communicative Drineiplcs

influencing the function of euphemisms. ,

49
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

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52
东北师范大学硕士学位论文

Acknowledgements

There are a number of people who have provided tremendous to nlc with this
support

thesis,here 1 would like to extend my gratitude to all these people.

First of all,1 would like to thank my supervisor,Professor Yu


Xiucheng,for his

suggestions and instructions during the whole process of this thesis,and also for his great

patience in helping me to revise the thesis.

My gratitude also goes to all teachers of my postgraduate


courses:Prof.Yang Zhong,
Prof.Sui Mingcai,Prof.Zhang Shaojie,Prof.Cheng Xiaoguang,Prof.Yang Yuchcn.Thanks
for their instructions in my
postgraduate study.

At last,1 would like to pay my gratitude to friends and f、or their


my thmily

encouragement and support.

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