英语论文Euphemism in International Business Negotiation.docx
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英语论文Euphemism in International Business Negotiation.docx
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英语论文EuphemisminInternationalBusinessNegotiation
EuphemisminInternationalBusinessNegotiation
1.Introduction-1-
2.AGeneralreviewofEnglisheuphemism-3-
2.1Thedefinitionofeuphemism-3-
2.2Theclassificationofeuphemism-4-
2.2.1Positiveeuphemism-4-
2.2.2Negativeeuphemism-5-
2.3Thecharacteristicsofeuphemism-5-
2.3.1Universality-5-
2.3.2Indirectness-6-
2.3.3Distinctness-6-
2.4.Thefunctionsofeuphemism-6-
2.4.1Substitutionfortaboowords-7-
2.4.2Politeness-7-
3.ABriefsurveyofbusinessnegotiation-8-
3.1Thedefinitionofbusinessnegotiation-8-
3.2Thecharacteristicsofinternationalbusinessnegotiation-9-
3.3Thegoalsofinternationalbusinessnegotiation-10-
3.3.1Commoditygoal-10-
3.3.2Relationgoal-11-
4.Euphemisticstrategiesininternationalbusinessnegotiation-11-
4.1Vagueness-12-
4.2Usingpassivestatement-13-
4.3Usingmodalverb-14-
4.4Usingdifferentexpressions-15-
4.4.1Changinganglesofexpressions-15-
4.4.2Interrogativeinsteadofimperative-16-
4.5Caringforopponent’sfeelings-17-
5.Conclusion-18-
Reference-20-
1.Introduction
Euphemismhasbeenwidelyusedinhumansociety.Itshouldbepointedoutthatineverylanguage,thereareacertainamountofeuphemisms.Euphemismsareusedtoreplacetaboo,unpleasantorsensitivetopics.Enright(1985:
29)statedthat,“alanguagewithouteuphemismswouldbeadefectiveinstrumentofcommunication”.HughRawson(1981:
3)alsoputforward“euphemismsareembeddedsodeeplyinourlanguagethatfewofus,eventhosewhopridethemselvesonbeingplainspoken,evergetthroughadaywithoutusingthem”.
OriginatingfromtheGreek,thewordeuphemismhasbeendiscussedbymanyscholars.Itmeans“speakingwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”(NeamanandSilver,1983:
1).Asthesocietydevelopsdaybyday,peopleattachmoreimportancetoothers’beliefsandprivacy.Whenpeopletalkaboutoffensiveortabootopicsbutwanttobepoliteatthesametime,theywouldusuallyapplyeuphemism,especiallyininternationalbusinessnegotiation.
Beinganinterpersonalaction,businessnegotiationplaysanimportantroleincross-nationaleconomicinteractions.Bothpartieswilltrytogetthemostprofit.However,asuccessfulnegotiationdoesnotmeanwinningbydefeatingtheotherparty,butwinningbygettingwhatbothpartieswant(王海云,2003:
64).Forthecommongoalandinterest,negotiatorshavetocooperatewitheachothertopreventthenegotiationfromgoingtoextreme.Inordertoavoidthedeadlockofnegotiation,itisnecessaryfornegotiatorstocreateafriendlyandharmoniousatmospherewhichwilleventuallyimprovethenegotiatingconditionsandkeepthenegotiationgoingonsmoothly.Therearevariousstrategiesfornegotiatorstoapplytomaintainafriendlynegotiatingambience.Amongthem,euphemismisoneofmosteffectivestrategies,whichmeansexpressingsomethingindirectly.
Thisthesisisfirstlytointroducetheclassificationsandcharacteristicsofeuphemism,thendemonstratethecharacteristicsandgoalsofinternationalbusinessnegotiationandfinallyconcludesomeeuphemisticstrategiesinit.
2.AGeneralreviewofEnglisheuphemism
2.1Thedefinitionofeuphemism
Euphemismisacommondevicethatpeopleuseincommunication(李鑫华,2000:
45).Ithasbeenstudiedfordozensofyearsanddefineddifferently.Herearesomedefinitions.
LongmanDictionaryofAmericanEnglish(1992:
408)definedeuphemismas“apolitewordorexpressionthatyouuseinsteadofamoredirectonetoavoidshockingorupsettingsomeone”.ADVANCEDLEARNER’SEnglish-ChineseDictionary(2004:
581)defineditas“amildorindirectwordorexpressionsubstitutedforoneconsideredtobetooharshorbluntwhenreferringtosomethingunpleasantorembarrassing”.OneofthefamousscholarsRawson(1981:
1)alsostatedthat,euphemismsare“mild,agreeable,orroundaboutwordsusedinplaceofcoarse,painful,oroffensiveones.WhileAllan&Burridge(1991:
11)regardeuphemismsas“alternativestodispreferedexpressions,andareusedinordertoavoidpossiblelossofface.Thedispreferedexpressionmaybetaboo,fearsome,distasteful,orforsomeotherreasonshavetoomanynegativeconnotationstofelicitouslyexecutespeaker’scommunicativeintentiononagivenoccasion.”
Althoughdifferentdictionariesandscholarsdefine“euphemism”diversely,mostofthemshareageneralpoint:
euphemismsaretheuseofapoliteorpleasanttermintheplaceofthoseregardedasoffensiveorrude.Asacommonphenomenoninhumanlanguage,euphemismhasagreatdealtodowithculture.Sinceeuphemismcameintobeing,itusuallyservesasalubricantofhumancommunicationandmakesitcarryoutmoresmoothly.Aspeoplearepayingincreasingattentiontocivilization,euphemismwillbemorewidelyusedandbecomemorecomplicated.Inthiscase,greatimportanceshouldbeattachedtotheresearchofeuphemism.
2.2Theclassificationofeuphemism
Euphemismsdifferfromeachotherduetomanyfactorssuchastime,cultureandsoon.AccordingtoHughRawson,euphemismshouldbedividedintotwogeneraltypes:
positiveandnegative.
2.2.1Positiveeuphemism
Generallyspeaking,“positiveeuphemismisstylistic”(Rawson,1981:
5).Infact,itisakindofcomplimentandhasnothingtodowiththetaboo.Itisusedtomakesomethingseemmoreimportantthantheyreallyareinordertobepoliteandsatisfyspeakersandhearers(Rawson,1981:
5).Itiscommonlyappliedinformaldocumentsorofficiallanguage,focusingontheexaggerationtoreplacesomethingthatarenottaboobutwilleasilymakeothersupsetandunpleasant.Forexample,“mentalhouse”or“mentalhealthcenter”aresubstitutionsfor“madhouse”.Thepositiveeuphemismalsoelevatesworkers’status.Forexample,“landscape-architect”isthesubstitutionfor“gardener”,and“sanitationengineer”isusedtoreplace“garbagecollector”.Thiskindofeuphemismiswidelyusedinpolitics,economydiplomacyandsoon.
2.2.2Negativeeuphemism
Negativeeuphemismsarecloselyrelatedtothetabooswhicharealsocalledtraditionaleuphemism(Rawson,1981:
1).They“deflateanddiminishthewordmeaning,offsettingthepoweroftabooedtermsandotherwiseeradicatingfromthelanguageeverythingthatpeopleprefernottodealwithdirectly.”(Rawson,1981:
1).Negativeeuphemismsandtaboosexpressthesamethingbutindifferentways.Taketheword“die”forexample.Therearehundredsofnegativeeuphemismaboutit,suchas“passaway”,“cometoend”,“breatheone’slast”,“jointhemajority”,andsoon.Bysubstitutingeuphemismfortaboo,peoplewillfeelmoreacceptable.Negativeeuphemismsareconsideredasconventionsinhumancommunication.
2.3Thecharacteristicsofeuphemism
2.3.1Universality
Inalmostallculturestherearecertainthingswhicharestronglyforbiddenbytraditionalcustom.Thatistaboo.Generallyspeaking,peoplewilltrytoavoidmentioningtaboosdirectly.Whenpeoplehavetomentionit,theyarelikelytosubstituteotherexpressionsthatsoundbetter.Soeuphemismexistsinalmostallhumancommunitiesintheworld.
2.3.2Indirectness
Themostdistinctivecharacteristicofeuphemismisindirectness.Itisagreedthatthemoredirectlysomeonepresents,theworsecommunicativeeffectheget.InEnglish,thephrase“couldyou…”soundsmorepolitethan“canyou…”.Forexample,thesentence“Couldyoupassmethesalt?
”isnotaninterrogativesentencetoknowwhetherthehearerhastheabilityofpassingthesaltornot.Itisjustasentence“Iwantyoutopassmetheslat.”expressedindirectly.
2.3.3Distinctness
Althougheuphemismisthegenerallanguagephenomenonofallnations,theuseofitisdifferentbecauseofdifferenthistories,culturesandcustoms.Take“age”forexample,inwesterncountries,itisaverysensitivetopic.However,inChina,peoplealwaysliketouse“老(old)”toshowsomeonewhoisexperienced,forexample,“您老高寿?
(Howoldareyou?
)”.Theuseofeuphemismisvariousdependingondifferentculturebackgrounds.
2.4.Thefunctionsofeuphemism
Itisnodoubtthateuphemismisalubricantinhumancommunication.D.J.Enright(1985:
3)saysthat“withouteuphemismstheworldwouldgrind,unoiled,toahalt,universalanimositycoveringall”.Althoughmanypeoplecriticizeeuphemismforitsometimescausesambiguity,thesignificantroleitpaysincommunicationisirreplaceable.Itcanbefoundthatpeopleuseeuphemismtoavoidoffenceeverywhere.Euphemismbasicallyhastwofunctions:
substitutionfortaboowordsandpoliteness.
2.4.1Substitutionfortaboowords
Tabooisgenerallyregardedasasocialphenomenonrelatedtocustomandculture.Everyhumancommunityprohibitssomekindsofstatements.Ifsomestatementsaredefinedastaboos,peoplearenotexpectedtomentiontheminpublic.Otherwise,itwillbetakenasoffencetoothers.Onthewhole,thereareseveraltypesoftaboowords:
wordsshowingdisrespecttoGod;wordsaboutsex;wordsmakingunpleasantlikedeath,disease,oldageetc.Thewordsaboveare“deemedunfitfornormallinguisticusageandbycommunityconsensusesarebannedineverydaylanguageinthepublicdomain”(AsherandSimpson,1994:
4512).However,itisinevitabletotalkabouttabootopicsinhumandailycommunication.Inthatcase,peoplecanturntoeuphemismforhelp.Euphemismcanserveasasubstitutiontoeaseembarrassment.Itallowspeopletotalkaboutunpleasantthingsinapoliteway.JustasWardhaugh(1986:
231)suggested,“itallowsustogivelabelstounpleasanttasksandjobsinanattempttomakethemsoundalmostattractive”.W.D.Redfern(1992:
423)hadalsomentionedthat,“euphemismprovidesawayofspeakingabouttheunspeakable.Itfallsm
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