英汉委婉语的语用功能对比分析开题报告

第二篇：英汉委婉语的语用功能对比分析__英语毕业论文

专科生毕业报告

论文题目： Comparative Analysis of Pragmatic Function Between

English and Chinese Euphemism

英汉委婉语的语用功能对比分析

Abstract

Euphemism, cosmetic words, is not only a lingual phenomenon, but also a cultural and social phenomenon. It is like a mirror, reflecting the values, aesthetic conceptions and moral concepts in some extent. Euphemism plays an important part in social communication. It is like lube that avoids hurting the other party’s feeling. It oils the human relationship in communication and helps to save face of communicators. If people make full use of euphemism, it can accelerate and facilitate human communication. This paper elaborates on the features and social functions of euphemism. And it focuses on the relationships between its polite functions and Politeness Principle.

As an important rhetoric means to harmonize interpersonal relationships, euphemisms are widely used in both Chinese and English verbal communication. However, in different context, euphemisms perform different pragmatic functions. Based on different pragmatic functions of euphemisms, this article aims to discuss the similarities and differences of Chinese and English euphemisms.

This thesis is composed of six parts with Chapter Four and Five as its core: The first chapter focuses on the origin and definitions of euphemism. The second chapter discusses the features of euphemism in many ways. The third chapter talks about the social functions of euphemism from the angle of pragmatics. The fourth chapter forms the basis of the whole research by connecting euphemism with politeness and face-saving theory. The fifth chapter centers on euphemism and Politeness Principle. The last chapter concludes the whole thesis. Appropriate use of English euphemism can contribute a lot to successful message exchange.

【Key Words】euphemism, pragmatic functions, verbal communication

摘要

委婉语是一种语言现象，一种文化现象，更是一种社会现象，在一定程度上，它反映了社会的价值观，审美观和美德观。委婉语在社会交际中发挥着重要作用。日常的约定俗成的委婉语能起润滑剂的作用，通过委婉语，可以避免语言过于直露而给对方造成伤害。它是语言使用中人们用来协调人际关系的有效润滑剂，是保全交际各方面子的重要手段。很多中外学者曾从不同的角度对英语委婉语进行了长期的研究并取得了可喜的成果。本文主要研讨了委婉语的特点，社会功用，并从语用学的角度分析了委婉语的社会功用，礼貌原则及面子问题。

委婉语作为一种重要的修辞和表达手段，在英语和汉语语言交际中使用非常频繁。委婉语在日常交际中具有不同的语用功能。本文拟从委婉语的语用功能角度，对比分析英汉委婉语的异同。

本文分为六个部分。第四和第五章是文章的重点。第一章主要探讨了委婉语的定义及起源。第二章从很多方面概括了委婉语的特点。第三章从语用的角度分析了委婉语的社会功用。第四章把委婉语与礼貌，面子保全论联系在一起，是本文的核心。第五章侧重于委婉语貌与礼貌原则的关系。本文的实践意义在于其分析结论有助于保证信息传递的顺利进行并促进人们的日常交流。

关键词：委婉语，语用功能，口语交流

Contents

1. Introduction2. Definition of euphemism3. The structure of the euphemism principle3.1 3.1.1 Distance 3.1.2 Relevant 3.2 Politeness principle and self protection principle 3.2.1 3.2.2 Leech'4. The formation of English euphemisms4.14.2 V4.2.1 Loan 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.44.3 Grammatical 4.3.14.3.2 4.3.34.3.4 Using 4.3.5 Using “please”4.3.65. Pragmatic function5.1 Taboo 5.2 Covering up 5.3 Polite 6. Conclusion7. Bibliography

Introduction

In current china, English has attracted people’s great attention. The classroom teaching has paid more attention to the communicative ability than the knowledge. The English that most students learnt is “mute English”. In our country, many English learners are only “coping examination”, but not see it as a tool for communication. Most of their communication ability is low, which is the actual truth. In the “spoon-feed” classroom, many students only listen to the teacher, but have no opportunities to open their mouths, or students only follow their teacher, but have no interaction. These problems make the students lose their interest and enthusiasm of learning English. Hence, the classroom loses the active atmosphere and, at last, is not benefit for fostering the students’ oral English.

1.1 Definition of interaction

“Interaction is the collaborative exchange of thought, feelings or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect each other.”[1] By classroom interaction, we do not just mean verbal exchange such as question answers between the teacher and the students in class. Interaction takes various forms. For example, the teacher asks a student a question and the student responds to it. That’s teacher-student interaction. In a discussion or group work, the student learns from other students, shares other students’ opinions, that’s student-student interaction or peer interaction. Besides verbal communication, nonverbal communication, the sending and receiving of non-language cues indicating attitude and feeling, also plays an important part in classroom interaction. This refers to gestures, facial expressions, bodily postures, eye contact etc. For example, interaction occurs when the teacher faces the students, furrows his brow, nods his head, droops his hand or body or winks his eyes.

1.2Theoretical basis of interaction

With the boosting communication between every country's politics economics and culture, the foreign language social intercourse ability seems to be more important. We know the main purpose of the foreign language teaching lies in developing and helping students to acquire intercourse ability. The interactive type social intercourse teaching method with Widows as the representative is becoming a new hot topic of the foreign language teaching method in recent years. The theories foundation of the social intercourse teaching method includes the language social intercourse theories and learning theories.

The learning theories include: (1) social intercourse principle, truly involves the activity of the social intercourse, raising the study efficiency; (2) mission principle: language is for the activity of the completion of mission, raising the study efficiency; (3) meaning principle: Learners' interested language materials speed a learning process. According to the following theories, the foreign language classroom should be the field filled with “communication”; the language becomes the social intercourse means, i.e. “Learn with the language”. The

knowledge and the social intercourse ability acquired depend on hearing, saying, reading, writing and translating. So, we say to train a student the social intercourse ability, actually to want to train a student to hear, say, read, write and translate etc. Interaction is a process of interacting the ideas and emotion, handing over the information and affecting each other. At present, the core of popular intercourse English teaching theories lies on a point that the intercourse ability cultivating should comply with the principle of "interaction". The process of the language social intercourse is actually the process of information exchange. The classroom is a place that students communicate with the language they have learned. So the teaching should be interactive. Under the direction of interactive teaching method, the traditional teaching in the center of teachers should turn to the students, obeying the way of learning and practice and cultivating the students' intercourse ability through the activities of heuristic language input and practice.

1.3 Some main interactive modes in the present classroom

On account of the spoon-feed English teaching in China, the teacher is the lord in classroom. The teacher’s explanation takes the most time of the classroom. So the teacher cannot afford the sufficient opportunities to practice for students. The students become the negative acceptors in the teaching process. Because of lacking of practice, their ability of using the language is so bad. Thus, they face kinds of difficulties in actual intercourse. College English Teaching Syllabus published by the Ministry of Education recently requires the students should have the ability of “communicating information in English” but not the traditional ability of “getting the information in English”. Communicating information is a kind of social intercourse activity. It involves both sides many factors of social intercourses. A key factor is language intercourse. This explains that the social intercourse ability should be enhanced. If wanting to train the student's English exchange ability, we have to adopt efficient classroom teaching method and adopt teacher-student interaction in student-centered intercourse activities, and enhance college English classroom teaching.

2. The necessity and

interaction-teaching mode the principles of following

2.1 The disadvantage of traditional oral English teaching mode

At the end of last century, the world entered an age of information. In such an information age, with the increasing use of computers and Internet, the huge globe becomes a global village. These are big changes to us, and because of these changes we renew the attitude of Foreign Language Teaching, the aim of foreign language teaching is to use the target language in communication. China boasts the largest English learning population in the world, and a history of several decades of English teaching and learning. As a foreign language in China, English becomes more and more popular. In these decades, generally, most schools still adopt the following two approaches, which have a common disadvantage—lacking of oral interaction.

2.2 The necessity and merit of taking interaction-teaching mode

2.3 Oral English interaction-teaching mode should follow the principles In English classroom, teaching activities are interactive activities between the teacher and students. Both their tongue and actions affect the classroom atmosphere. So the two sides should follow the principles:

(1) Guidance principle the teacher’ guidance principle means conducting the students to hold kinds of activities and creates more opportunities for students to apply the knowledge and skills. “As a language teacher, our main concern is not to inform our students about the language, but to develop their ability to use the language for a variety of communicative purposes.” The teacher is a conductor and monitor in a classroom. And he supervises students’ communication and gives help when needed. So the teacher should observe the students’ process and direction of study at any time so that they lead to a common teaching target.

(2) Equality principle First, the teacher should place himself on the same position of the same language learning, participate in their activities and experience their feelings. If, in the teaching, the teacher would like to and can place himself in the role of the learner, they would deeper understand learners’ challenge and difficulties, and can strongly feel the students’ need so that teach them better. Second, the teacher should treat each student equally, but not pay more attention to or discriminate against one student. They should respect mutually, trust mutually, and cooperate mutually. It can help remove students’ stress and anxiety and encourage students to expand creative study spirit.

(3) Encouragement principle Progress, succession, victory, and endorse are hoped by each student. Also, they are students’ motivation of learning. In the teaching process, the teacher should make full use of the encouragement principle, understand each student and observe him or her. A teacher should be good at listening to the students and should learn to how to appreciate them, which could set up the commentary consciousness that science and art are combined together, and then encourages them to participate in the classroom intercourse activity actively, especially those introverted students. For them, “the teacher must first discover and eliminate the mental obstacle in foreign language learning.” and improve their application ability of oral English.

(4) Interest principle the contents of the “interaction” activity should contribute to inspire the students’ interest. “Whether the students are more active or not is the one of key factors of determining the teaching effect.” The tedious teaching is the performance that takes no responsibility to the student. English differs from other foundation academics. English is not only a knowledge lesson, but also a practice lesson. If we cannot arouse the students’ interest, they will feel learning English is drudgery. In the teaching, thus, we should increase interest, fully consider students’ request of the interest of teaching content in the process of teaching designing, and stirs up maximally the students’ interest in the study.

3. Personal interaction in the oral English teaching

3.1 The relationship between the teacher and students

In order to make the classroom interaction more effective, the importance of the relationship between the teacher and the student cannot be overlooked. A good teacher ought to know his students well, for understanding of the students' background provides an important basis for the teacher's planning at each step of the teaching process. “Both the organization of the classroom and the process of acquisition are achieved through the teacher’s talk.” So the teacher should use the appropriate words. A sound relationship needs to be established on the basis of mutual respect between the teacher and students. Respect for people is considered as an essential part of education and the most important contributor to good rapport between the teacher and students. When the teacher comes to a class, he gets a first impression of it. If he is interested in the class, he will work hard to meet the students' expectations. On the students' part, as they see their teacher so enthusiastic about and interested in them, they will participate actively to cooperate with the teacher and help create a climate within the classroom. As a result, both the teacher and students will become equally responsible for themselves and the class. The more harmonious the relationship between the teacher and the student grows the more conspicuous the dynamic qualities of classroom learning become. Students, in such an atmosphere, become more independent in learning. They feel that they have the responsibility to behave well, to perform well, to learn and to respond more actively than before. Rather than passively sitting there and receiving facts and knowledge, they become active participants in the classroom activities. Rather than lecturer of information, the teacher is now a guide and helper. In a word, when there is a lively classroom climate, if the teacher is in good rapport with the students, they will feel more at ease in doing whatever in class. T he interaction between the teacher and students will be easily going on. But so far as this kind of relationship is concerned, the teacher should not get too close to the students or they will lose control over the class. A proper distance is always necessary. Make sure the students realize that in the class mutual respect is emphasized even though all are friends outside the class.

3.2 Two types of personal interaction

In a classroom, the teacher often ask students questions and the students answer them, or the students raise the questions and the teacher answers, or the teacher participates in the activities. These are interaction between the teacher and students. And another interaction is that among students. In this kind of interaction, always, the teacher is a monitor and the students are the main participants.

(1).Teacher- student interaction Central to classroom learning is the interaction between the teacher and students. Teaching is always a shared-relationship job. It always involves persons. It never involves only one person or one thing. Just because of that, the teacher has to change his traditional role as a lecturer. “So we should show the same interest in all students, make all students participate, and especially, show great patience to the weakest among them.” The teacher will have to provide guidance and inspiration, decide what questions to ask and how to ask them, and create learning situations that stimulate students to listen, read, write, discuss, ask questions, perform tasks, solve problems or engage in other activities. The teacher-student interaction in classroom setting is bound up with the teacher's teaching style.

(2).Interaction among Students another important aspect of classroom interaction we are going to consider in this chapter is that the interaction happens among students. In the traditional oral class, the teacher was the center of class and the students were only listeners. They listened to the teacher all the time, receiving information without using their own minds. We could observe in this kind of classroom, where students' silence and quietness were very striking features. With the ongoing nation-wide reform of ELT, this exchange structure has been sharply criticized on the ground that it failed to give the students opportunities to ask questions themselves, nominate topics of interest, and negotiate meaning. In recent years, learner-centered teaching, task-based approach, and co-operative learning are advocated by many researchers and language teachers.

3.3 Classroom climate

“The goal of classroom management is to create an atmosphere conducive to interacting in English in meaningful ways.” There are many factors that contribute to a positive classroom

climate, such as mutual respect, good relationship, informal teaching methods and teachers’ display of students' work before the class. All these factors help bring about a lively classroom climate. However, there are also some factors that may undermine an effective classroom climate. One very important factor that may influence the classroom climate is the language the teacher uses in his interaction with the students. Every utterance that a teacher makes during a class conveys the teacher’s underlying feelings and expectations to the students. This is particularly evident in how teachers react to the student’s incorrect contributions in class. A teacher's language and manner should be commendable, for they have direct influence on students. For a teacher, situation-specific language with familiar vocabulary is most appropriate instead of language with highly professional vocabulary. When a student gives a wrong answer in class, it is important for the teacher to comment on the contribution itself rather than the student and to avoid saying “what a pity! You even couldn't answer such an easy question correctly.” Such remarks will embarrass the student. So “Genuine praise, appropriately delivered, enables students to welcome criticism and get benefits out of it.” Teachers should keep in mind that students are easily humiliated into obedience by the use of sarcastic remarks. They are grown-ups and their self- esteem needs to be protected. Any direct or overt criticism, embarrassment of students may cause great hindrance to a sound classroom climate. In order to maintain an effective classroom climate, a little bit of humor is necessary. Another important factor that may pose a threat to classroom climate is the standard of work expected by the teacher. If the standard is set too high, the students will be afraid of making mistakes so as not to open their mouths in class, hence, there will be no more interaction between the teacher and the student. But on the other hand, too low a standard of expectation may create a false sense of achievement. It does not reflect the true progress or success of the students. In a word, an effective classroom climate needs to be followed the interaction principles: guidance, equality, encouragement and interest principle. Under the hypothesis, the teacher and students can establish the good rapport and does the group work.

4. The evaluation of the interactive oral English teaching mode

4.1 Some principles should follow when evaluating

(1) Guidance principle the teacher’ guidance principle means conducting the students to hold kinds of activities and creates more opportunities for students to apply the knowledge and skills. (2) Equality principle First, the teacher should place himself on the same position of the same language learning, participate in their activities and experience their feelings. (3) Encouragement principle Progress, succession, victory, and endorse are hoped by each student.

4.2 The concept of evaluating

The contents of the “interaction” activity should contribute to inspire the students’ interest. “Whether the students are more active or not is the one of key factors of determining the teaching effect.” The tedious teaching is the performance that takes no responsibility to the student. English differs from other foundation academics. English is not only a knowledge lesson, but also a practice lesson. If we cannot arouse the students’ interest, they will feel learning English is drudgery. In the teaching, thus, we should increase interest, fully consider students’ request of the interest of teaching content in the process of teaching designing, and stirs up maximally the students’ interest in the study.

4.3 The technology of evaluating The students become the negative acceptors in the teaching process. Because of lacking of practice, their ability of using the language is so bad. Thus, they face kinds of difficulties in actual intercourse. A key factor is language intercourse. This explains that the social intercourse ability should be enhanced. If wanting to train the student's English exchange ability, we have to adopt efficient classroom teaching method and adopt teacher-student interaction in student-centered intercourse activities, and enhance college English classroom teaching.

Conclusion

While English is more and more widely learned and taught in China, the results are far from expectation, especially in oral expression. Although more and more teachers have come to realize the urgency and importance of training learners to acquire ability to communicate, we shall feel sad and worried about our inefficient teaching and learning. Although most learners have come to realize the urgency and importance of acquiring the ability to speak the target language, why do so many of them lack of interaction or keep silent in the oral class? We all have to realize the significance of oral proficiency. However, if the teachers keep “spoon-feed” to teach their students, for students, there will be no communicative competence to speak of. Silence or inactive participation in class greatly hinders the development of learners' oral proficiency. Therefore, teachers should try to live up to their expectation and motivate them to speak so as to gain the desired skill. We believe that the most effective way to achieve this is for teachers to adopt interactive teaching approach in the oral class, which has long been neglected but is urgently needed in the oral class, as well as to their linguistic competence. This requires the teachers should change the old teaching method, obey the interaction principles and set up the new relationship with their students. Only by doing this can we create a free, interactive classroom atmosphere for students so that they can overcome their emotional obstacles and actively participate in classroom activities. And then the teachers should give more opportunities for interacting among their students. In this circumstance, the students can experience the real communication, which is the final goal of teaching. As the education organization, the equipments should be noted, such as the classroom, most of the Chinese schools have not enough classrooms that lead to a number of students sharing in a classroom. It is not benefit for the interaction climate.

Bibliography

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[3] James,C. Errors in Language Learning and Use.New York:Longman,1999；

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英汉委婉语的语用功能对比分析 开题报告

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英汉委婉语的语用功能对比分析开题报告