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The Change and the Development of the Chinese Euphemisms : A Study Based on a Survey of the Use of Euphemisms byRespondents of Different Age Groups

The Chinese euphemisms have aroused much interest of many researches due to its distinctive function and diversity. The choice and use of Chinese euphemisms are affected by many factors such as the Chinese traditional culture, social customs, people’s self-cultivation, the situation context and linguistic context of a conversation, etc. Hence, the progress of society, the development of technology and the renewing of the concept make up the dynamic characteristic of the Chinese euphemisms. However, most studies focus mainly on the vocabulary people use and their expressing habits and patterns, there are few studies focus on how Chinese euphemisms develop along with the times. Studies that shed light on how modern people use broad euphemisms and narrow euphemisms are even less. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to collect linguistic materials and design a questionnaire to make a survey on the current situation of using euphemisms by respondents of different age groups. The result of this survey shows that modern people are not only becoming less and less indirect in terms of the scope of using euphemisms, but also less and less tactful in terms of the vocabulary that they use. This phenomenon can be observed when people talk about topics such as death, disease, appearance, unemployment, marriage and privacy. Modern people tend to be relatively low decoratively worded. In other words, people are to some extent becoming less indirect and less tactful. This paper verifies the adaptability as well as the updating and upgrading of Chinese euphemisms. It also discusses the linguistic diversity of modern people in terms of using broad and narrow euphemisms under different contexts. This paper will not only help us to understand how Chinese language adapts to the change with the times, but also digs deeper into the great role that social culture plays in language development. / 汉语委婉语的功能鲜明、灵活多变,引起了很多研究的兴趣。汉语委婉语的选择和使用 受到中国的传统文化、社会风俗,人自身的修养内涵、情景和语境等多方面因素的影响,并伴 随着社会的发展、科技的进步、观念的转变而处于一个动态的变化过程。然而,目前的研究对 委婉语的词汇、表达方式及表达规律探讨的比较多,但是对汉语委婉语基于时代变化的研究则 较少,特别是对于在现代社会的日常交谈中,人们具体如何使用狭义和广义委婉语,以及探讨 他们在委婉语使用方面出现了哪些变化的研究则更少了。 因此,本论文旨在搜集语言素材并设计问卷,对不同年龄段的人委婉语的使用现状做一 个问卷调查。调查数据的结果表明,在现代社会的日常交谈中,不同年龄段的人使用汉语委婉 语的范围不仅缩小了,并且委婉程度也有一定的降低。具体体现为在死、病、相貌、 失业、 婚姻、隐私等话题下,人们现在倾向于使用修饰性较低,或者说委婉程度较低的委婉语。 本论文验证了委婉语的顺应性和更新替代性,并具体阐述了在现代社会的日常交谈中, 不同年龄段的人在不同语境下对广义和狭义委婉语选择的多样性。因此,本论文不仅有助于理 解汉语随时代变迁发展变化的趋势,也有助于更深入的理解社会文化在语言发展中发挥的巨大 作用。

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:du-27203
Date January 2017
CreatorsWang, Xun
PublisherHögskolan Dalarna, Kinesiska
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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