Euphemisms in animal-fixed expressions in Mandarin Chinese

Ada Ya ying Yang; Shelley Ching yu Depner

doi:10.1007/978-981-10-1799-5_7

Euphemisms in animal-fixed expressions in Mandarin Chinese

Ada Ya ying Yang, Shelley Ching yu Depner

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This study aims to investigate taboos and euphemisms in AFEs in Mandarin Chinese. After the analysis of AFEs in the previous chapter, this chapter discusses the self-administered Likert-type five-point scale questionnaire, which was completed by seventy-five subjects, rating the degree of offensiveness of AFE taboos. The subjects were asked to give euphemisms that replace taboos. Finally linguistic strategies underlying euphemisms are analyzed. The outcome showed that: (1) the most offensive AFEs are sex-related expressions, followed by expressions regarding occupation, appearance, ability, expletives, characteristics and eating habits; (2) youth’s innovative strategies for creating euphemisms are found, such as eschewing negative comments but stating unrelated compliments resorting to celebrities’ names to replace undesirable addressing expressions neologism, loanwords, morphological reduplication, slang, and deixis. With the realization of euphemisms, the underlying strategy for euphemism is understood.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Embodiment in Language (II)
Subtitle of host publication	Food, Emotion and Beyond
Publisher	Springer Singapore
Pages	93-108
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Electronic)	9789811017995
ISBN (Print)	9789811017971
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1799-5_7
Publication status	Published - 2016 Jan 1

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Arts and Humanities(all)
Social Sciences(all)

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-10-1799-5_7

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