《红楼梦》中骂詈语句语用解读外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文.docxVIP

Introduction1.1. PAGE Introduction 1.1. PAGE 1. 1 1 Chapter One Introduction The Object of the Study and the Significance of the Study The Object of the Study Swearing, the use of taboo words and phrases, has long held a unique and colorful status in language behavior. Swearing and related verbal usage has ubiquitous social, legal and political implications, which have touched every person at some time or other. Laws against swearing in public still exist in China and, informally, fines may be incurred in social settings. Some people might feel that swearing as an object of study does not belong to academia. This attitude is reflected in the fact that relatively little has been said and written about the use of swearing so far, although a number of scholars have dared to venture into these murky waters and contributed to the discussion with researches and publications. Swearing has not been accepted as a normal and daily communicative tool within the mainstream in our society. The vast majority of Chinese have such a notion that swearing is morally inappropriate. In a library search on this topic and related subjects (I can obtain works when using these terms such as swearing, foul language, and dirty words ), there are not too many works on this area especially in China. Besides, an Internet search, though over thousands of results have been retrieved, just produces a few relevant sites. Theoretically speaking, the study of swearing is as motivated as any other linguistic studies. Swearing is a multifunctional, pragmatic unit which assumes, in addition to the expression of emotional attitudes, various discourse functions. It contributes, for instance, to the coordination of the interlocutors, the organization of the interaction and the structuring of verbal exchange. Sociolinguists have analyzed the swearing effect of independent variables such as gender, age and social class. Psychologists have investigated whether swearing stands out from swearwords in the first