Abstract:Euphemism, as a most effective and refined expression, is applied widely in English. As a figure of speech, euphemism has important social cultural function, and mirrors the important phenomena and customs of different social members. In their social communication, people use mild, indirect, circuitous, or humorous words, expressions, or namely euphemism, to satisfy their psychological feelings but avoid some taboos. With the development of linguistics, a variety of vivid philosophical euphemistic expressions have come into being. This paper analyzes the functions of euphemism in social communication from five aspects, i.e. the palliative function concealing a fact, the positive function of communication, the function of politeness, the ironic function which is used to satires some ugly phenomena in the society, human nature, the joking function which makes the language more vivid. Euphemism is an important means of adjusting the interpersonal relationships in conversations. This paper also analyzes how some of these functions affect business field. Especially in business communication, products publicizing, customers’ psychological needs satisfying, they perform a very important role.
Key Words: euphemism, cultural phenomenon, social function, business field
中文摘要:委婉语是一种极其精炼、表达效果特佳的语言，它在英语语言中被广泛地应用。作为一种修辞手段，委婉语具有重要的社会文化功能，折射出不同的社会成员所尊崇的不同价值标准和风俗文化。人们在社会交活动中，为了避免某些禁忌语，常用温和的、间接的、婉转的表达方式或方法来表达思想感情，以满足交际双方的心理幽默感觉。随着语言学的发展，委婉表更是被不断推陈出新，丰富发展，迅速形成了今天的生动活泼、摇曳多姿的各种委婉表达。文章从五个方面分析了委婉语在社会交际中的功能，即：掩盖事实真相的欺骗功能，人际交流中的言谈措辞的积极功能，礼仪功能，鞭挞社会人性的讽刺功能，使语言妙趣横生的幽默功能。同时，文章也分析了委婉语的部分社会功能对商业的影响。其中包括其在商业领域中的商务沟通交流，产品正面宣传以及满足客户心理需要等方面发挥的重要影响。
关键词：委婉语；文化现象；社会功能；商业领域
