Taboos and Ephemisms in English and Chinese 英语毕业论文.docxVIP

Taboos and Euphemisms in English and ChineseAbstract: As we know, there are significant differences in language and culture education between western and Chinese. Any ignorance of social customs and cultural values may not only cause communicative obstacles, but also likely bring about prejudice, offence, even hostility in cross-cultural communications. Taboo, as a special linguistic phenomenon, universally exists in every culture all over the world. Therefore, the taboos become a major obstacle in communicative activities, especially cross-cultural communication. English and Chinese taboos manifest their different cultural backgrounds and social psychology. Therefore, it is necessary to compare Chinese and Western taboos to avoid unnecessary cultural conflict.Key word：Taboo; Euphemism; Intercultural CommunicationTaboo words is a popular language phenomenon in human language. For a long time, it has been an important part of study for many scholars from different aspects. In the communication across cultures, we can not avoid meeting taboos. To Chinese people, it is very important to study and learn to use taboo correctly and properly. This paper gives a brief introduction of the comparison between English and Chinese taboos. And by studying this language phenomenon, we can not only improve our ability of comprehension, but also learn the colorful culture and worldly wisdom of different society and communicate with foreigners freely and comfortably . Taboo is an inseparable part of human language and a cultural phenomenon that exists extensively in human societies. It comes into being with the development of the language . The word “taboo” stems from the Tongan（a country consisting of about 170 small islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean and its original meaning is “holy” or “things calling for extraordinary concerning” In 1777 , a British navigator James Cook arrived at the Tonga islands when he was exploring in South Pacific Ocean . James Cook found that taboo ph