语言和化之委婉语.ppt

A⌒高的委婉 WWEWCOMCMV 《新编英语教科第四册Unt2 Text IB有这样 幅漫画描述了这样一则幽默:一位来自法国巴 黎的客人旅居英国伦敦,女房东介绍到:“Heres + grandma:”那位老奶奶说到: My hus band has just passed to the other side.客人往花园栅栏 的另一边望去,并没有看见人影,感到很奇怪.女房 东又解释了一遍:“ I mean granddad s kicked o8b6n2艺奶如女房 No, hes not here Hes snuffed. ou know!客人更是摸不到头脑, 脱口而出:“ But you ve got electricity here.” 英语委婉语的特点 (一).民族性( national style) 委婉语是世界文化中普遍的语言现象。但不同国家、 不同民族所处的自然环境、社会环境不同,生产方 式、生活方式、文化沉淀各异,因而不同语言中的 委婉语必然也存在相当的差异,这种差异的体现 正是委婉语民族特点的体现。 这最典型的例子就是英文里对poor(贫穷)的看法 poor在英文中是一个可怕的字眼,它意味着生活困 窘,也标示着社会地位低下,所以poor的代用语也 极多,有一段描述一位年轻妇人生活困境的文字不 无讽刺地展示了一系列poor的委婉语: I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasnt poor, I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me that underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still dont have a dime but I have a great vocabulary (Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage) “起初我认为自己贫穷。后来他们对我说 我不是贫穷,我是缺乏生活日用品。后来他 们说认为我自己缺乏生活日用品太自馁了, 我是丧失了受教育的机会。后来他们又告诉 我丧失是一个能引起不良联想的字眼,我是 社会地位低下的人,但紧接着他们又告诉我 至今我仍然是一无所有,但我已拥有了一大 堆词汇L短短一段话,梁用了四个与por 同义的委婉语: needy(缺乏生活日用品)、 culturally deprived(丧失教育机会) underprivileged(社会地位低下) disadvantaged(生活条件差。