Euphemisms in the English and Kazakh languages. Social beliefs

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Euphemisms in the English and Kazakh languages. Social beliefs

Euphemisms have always been of great interest as they act as one of the important factors influencing the process of enriching and enlarging word-stock and speech itself.

Euphemisms in linguistic meaning are the words which are banned because of mythological beliefs, superstitions, prejudice and to avoid rude or curse words and phrases. The term “euphemism” (from Greek “eu” - “well”, “phemi” - “ I am speaking”) is used to denote a definite stylistic device for many centuries. As a linguistic phenomenon it has been analyzed since the XIX century but only in the last decades the problem of euphemisms acquired its widespread popularity.

As for euphemisms they are the results of language taboos. A euphemism is a generally innocuous word or phrase that replaces an offensive one. The nature and peculiarities of euphemisms have been widely studied by many scientists such as James George Fraze. Euphemisms make the big part of the language lexics and phraseology. Euphemisms have been widely studied since the XIX century. G.Paul in his works defined euphemisms as a scheme of semantic changes. However now they deserve much attention because of their extra-linguistic character. The process of creating euphemisms is studied as a complex, multilayered one, which has three interconnected aspects: social, psychological and linguistic. The social aspect implies moral and religious basis under the influence of which some events or subjects that have negative character are replaced by others having more positive meanings Euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or suggest something unpleasant.

Euphemism is an idiomatic expression which loses its literal meanings and refers to something else in order to hide its unpleasantness. For example, “kick the bucket” is a euphemism that expresses death of a person. In addition, many organizations use the term “downsizing” for the rude act of “firing” its employees. Euphemism depends largely on the social context of the speakers and writers where they feel the need of replacing certain words which may prove embarrassing for particular listeners or readers in a particular situation.

So euphemisms are polite, extenuating, metaphorical words or expressions which we use in pragmatic aims (politeness, delicacy, morality). And their main sign is the ability for taking a place of unpleasant, undesirable words or expressions. We use them to avoid the conflict communication.

The lingual and communicative peculiarities of English euphemisms are researched by G.G. Varbot, S. Vidlack, G.S. Neeman, Carol G. Silver, B. Warren. They distinguish the following ways of creating of euphemisms:

Metonymical nomination: to use a handkerchief instead of to blow one's nose.

Metaphorical nomination: to go to west instead of to die.

The using synecdoche: the hairless instead of bald.

Pronominalization: to go somewhere instead of toilet.

The using of literal words and expressions, in particular, terms: lethal outcome instead of death.

The using of paronyms: the deceased instead of a dead man.

The using of borrowings: a mentally sick man instead of crazy.

Transferring from a genus by sort: an insect instead of the louse.

Rephrasing: period of economic adjustment instead of crisis.

The using of idioms: go to Bath instead of go to hell.

Meyozis: substandard housing instead of slums.

Anthonomination: rubenesque woman instead of a fat woman.

As I've said euphemism masks a rude or impolite expression but conveys the concept clearly and politely. Several techniques are employed to create euphemism. It may be in the form of abbreviations e.g. B.O. (body odor), W.C. (toilet) etc. Foreign words may be used to replace an impolite expression e.g. faux (fake), or faux pas (foolish error) etc. Sometimes, they are abstractions e.g. before I go (before I die). They may also be indirect expressions replacing direct ones which may sound offensive e.g. rear-end, unmentionables etc. Using longer words or phrases can also mask unpleasant words e.g. flatulence for farting, perspiration for sweat, mentally challenged for stupid etc. Using technical terms may reduce the rudeness exhibited by words e.g. gluteus maximus. Deliberately mispronouncing an offensive word may reduce its severity e.g. darn, shoot etc.

Euphemisms soften the reality of what we are communicating to the listener or reader. They are a universal feature of language usage. Every culture typically uses them to talk about terrifying things. The genesis of euphemisms in both English and Kazakh languages is rooted in religious beliefs. A great number of things have been banned because of the beliefs of people and as a result they were euphemizated. The following common groups can be distinguished of tabooed subjects in the English and Kazakh languages:

Names of “death”. There are a lot of euphemisms for death in English and Kazakh languages. Fear of death evokes the same emotions for words related to it and it comes as a result of the fact that people associate symbols with things that they symbolize. Many people in English instead of saying died use expressions like `passed away', `went to his reward', `departed' or `went West', `Gone to meet their maker', `Stiff, Bereft of life', `Resting in peace', `Off the twig', `Kicked the bucket', `Shuffled off the mortal coil', `Run down the curtain', `joined the choir invisible', `That good night', `In a better place (via Odysseus)', `Six feet under (via Odysseus)'. In the Kazakh culture it has always been difficult to inform the relatives about the death of the close person. The most unusual way of saying about the death was using poems. The expessions used instead of the word “death” are “kaitty” (returned), kaitpas saparga ketti (went to trip from which there is no way back), o duniege attandy(went to another world), áà?èëû? áîëäû(went som ewhere forever),ê?ç æ?ìäû(closed eyes), zhan tasilim etti and etc.

Names of diseases. To avoid the direct reference to illnesses and diseases, people use circumlocutions and abbreviations in order not to show the illnesses and diseases plainly. That's why the kazakhs have been always afraid of naming diseases and illnesses that attack people and animals. The Kazakh history suggests many examples of euphemisms in this field their rise is particularly noticeable during epidemy. They believed that epidemy is caused by their misbelief in god. The following names of diseases were replaced by their substitutes “kyzyl koilek”(red dress) for measles, “meiman”, “konak”( guest) for smallpox, for plague they used “kyz”(girl), “kempir”(an old lady) and “ak baipak” (white stocking), for tuberculosis “okpe auruyi”, “zhotel auruyi”(cough), for cancer “kyltamak”, “zhaman auru”(bad disease).

In the English language the more serious disease “ syphilis” was tabooed and another variants of it were widely used such as “certain disease” and “condition to allude to any kind of diseases”. Another group of euphemisms relating to medical terminology are represented by the word “lame” which is substituted by “crippled” and “spastic” . More polite and politically correct variants the word “ handicapped” are “physically challenged ” and “differently abled”. Also many people afraid of name the “cancer”. Therefore “The big C” is a term that has been widely used instead the word “cancer” both in written and oral speech.

Names of pregnancy. Pregnancy euphemisms have been around for a very long time. Sometimes they are used to hide a pregnancy or to refer to a pregnancy in a funny way. Here are some of the more common pregnancy euphemisms: `Bun in the oven', `Knocked up', `Baby bump', `In a family way', `Gestating', `With child',' Baby mama', `Eating for two', `On the nest', `Preggers'. Like this the Kazakh people also named pregnancy in other ways: `ayagy auyr', `zhukti', `sabyli bolady', `otbasy tolygayin dep otyr' and so on.

Names of drinking. Getting drunk: `shallacked', `hammered', `nailed', `pasted', `wrecked', for going drinking: `going to church', `getting seared', `trolling', `sampling'. In order to be polite Kazakh people named it like this: `masayip kalypty', `iship alypty', `ishin suga toltyryp alypty', `aktan iship alypty' and so on.

Names of body: The subject of body parts is a potent source for euphemisms in both Kazakh and English languages as naming them directly may seem indecent and vulgar. Also they hides the words that may seem rude to name the body part. For example: `sokyr-zagip', `sanyrau-kulagynyn mukisi bar', `aksak-ayagyn syltyp basady', `keren- saran estu', `semiz-tompak, tolygyrak', so English language has a lot of polite expressions like these: `fat-fluffy, a few extra pounds, husky, plump,wide-ish etc.Also the Kazakhs has substituted the word “emshek” (breasts) by “tuime”(button), “anar”(pomegranate). Genitals are also tabooed and belong to this group “atalyk mushe”, “analyk mushe”. The same prohibition concerns genitals in the English language which are often replaced by such words as -“apparatus”, “nether parts”, “bits”, “down there”; and there is a gender distinction between male genitals “lady-wear”, “baby-maker” and female - “gate of life” etc.

In our days euphemisms are used in daily life and Mass Media. The main aim of euphemisms is to mitigate the real meaning of indecent, rough words and expressions. The using of euphemisms gives us a chance to avoid the conflict communication.

Euphemisms are the means of language expressiveness, the tropes consisting in expression of a negative estimation. They have different ways of creating and can be distinguished on thematic groups according to the spheres of their usage.

Euphemisms have a big structural variety, they are separate words, word-combinations and the whole sentences including all parts of speech.

The usage of euphemisms has begun for a long time at a stage of superstition when the person felt the weakness before forces of the nature and replaced their names with legal words.

The appearing of euphemisms connects with civil and tolerance reasons. Their structure always changes and completes the vocabulary. Some euphemisms become outdated and new ones appear because of lingual and social reasons. It is a sphere of our life where a moral and the language cooperate together.

Euphemisms can and should be an object of research not only philologists but also cultural science, because the spheres of appearing of euphemisms are defined by culture. In modern society the level of humans' aggression is very high. Everyday speech, especially young people, is characterized by such lines as roughness, negative expressiveness. The use of euphemisms in speech promotes instilling of tact, the tolerant relation to people, decencies, which dictated by rules of a human society. euphemisms english kazakh languages

So we can say that Euphemisms are the high informative, effective and important unit of the language. The peculiarities of their structure help us to acquire knowledge about literary standards of the cultural speech.

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