MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON EUPHEMISM IN ENGLISH
WITH REFERENCE TO
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU UYỂN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH
LIÊN HỆ VỚI
TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HUYỀN

Hanoi, 2016

 


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON EUPHEMISM IN ENGLISH
WITH REFERENCES TO
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU UYỂN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH
LIÊN HỆ VỚI
TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
Assoc. Prof. Dr Phan Van Que, my supervisor, who has patiently and
constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose invaluable
guidance, advices and suggestions have inspired me greatly through the whole
process of thesis writing till its completion.
My thanks are also due to all the M.A TESOL lecturers at Hanoi Open
University who have provided me an invaluable source of knowledge and
helpful advices for my completion of this thesis.
A special word of thanks goes to Dr Le Ly Lan and Dr Le Phuong Thao
for their support and encouragement that helps me to have this thesis
accomplished.
Last but not least, I also would like to express my great thanks to my
family for the sacrifice they have devoted during my studies.

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ABSTRACT
Language is a means which people use in their daily lives to speak about
everything with different purpose. And the use of euphemisms is a common
linguistic phenomenon in all languages. In the increasingly complicated and
globalized society, everyone has a rising tendency to avoid speaking directly
about sensitive topics. However, it is very difficult to avoid speaking about
unpleasant issues completely. That is why people engage in different rhetorical
uses of language to express what they mean. Moreover, by using euphemisms,
people can indirectly and politely express their ideas about subjects considered
as taboos, without making the listeners feel awkward and unpleasant.
Euphemism reflects particular social culture psychology, so the generation and


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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1.

Rationale for the research 

1

1.2.

Aims of the research

2

1.3.

Objectives of the research

3

1.4.

Scope of the research

3


9

2.2.1.1. Definition of culture

9

2.2.1.2. Culture terms

10

2.2.1.3. Characteristics of culture

12

2.2.1.4. Language and culture

14

2.2.2. Euphemism

16

2.2.2.1. Definition of euphemism

16

2.2.2.2. Formation of euphemism

18


3.1.1. Research questions

38

3.1.2. Research setting

38

3.1.3. Research approach(es)

38

3.1.4. Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

40

3.2.

41

Research methods

3.2.1. Major methods vs. supporting methods

41

3.2.2. Data collection techniques

41

4.1.3. Cultural differences reflected by inquiring privacy

51

4.2.

53

Factors leading to cultural differences between English and
Vietnamese euphemism

4.2.1. Cultural differences caused by different beliefs

53

4.2.2. Cultural differences caused by different attention and perception

54

4.2.3. Cultural differences caused by different attitudes

56

4.2.4. Cultural differences caused by different value orientations

57

4.3.

Implications for increasing cultural knowledge

Limitation of the research

63

5.4.

Recommendations/Suggestions for a further research

64

REFERENCES

65

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Rationale for the research
Almost all cultures seem to have certain notions or unpleasant things that

people try to avoid mentioning directly, even when there is such a term in a
language. When such a notion or thing has to be referred to, the practice will be a
substitute that sounds better. That is the coming of euphemisms. So we can see
that euphemism have a strong relationship with our culture backgrounds,
especially taboo words. The appearance of euphemism gives that better sound.
Euphemism is a lingual phenomenon existing in human society. It not

and euphemisms.
If we want euphemism to help our communication in our daily life, we
should know some of its basic knowledge. The originality of this paper lies in the
study of euphemism from the cultural perspective. This thesis focuses on
examining the cultural differences reflected by English and Vietnamese
euphemisms and finding out some factors affecting cultural differences with
intending to help people better understand English and Vietnamese euphemisms
to make good use of English in cultural communication.
1.2.

Aims of the research
The aim of the research is to examine the cultural differences reflected by

English and Vietnamese euphemism and to discover the factors affect on cultural
2


differences between English and Vietnamese euphemisms.
1.3.

Objectives of the research
To achieve the aims mentioned above, following objectives are put

forward:
(i)

Pointing out the cultural differences reflected by colors, numbers
and inquiring privacy in English and Vietnamese euphemisms.

(ii)


on English and Vietnamese euphemisms to help people better understand
English and Vietnamese cultures to make good use of English and Vietnamese
euphemisms in language using activities.
Theoretically, this research is expected to provide some basic
information of euphemisms in terms of culture to help writers and researchers
go to further studies about this field. It is also intended to help language users
raise their socio-cultural awareness of the English country.
Practically, there are many English euphemisms but culture is a too wide
aspect to study. As a result, the research is hoped to provide an important
opportunity to advance the understanding of English euphemisms as well as
make a major contribution to the process of increasing cultural awareness and
using English.
1.6.

Structural organization of the thesis
This research paper consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 is the introduction which mentions to the rationale, the aim,

the objective, the scope, the significance and the structural organization.
Chapter 2, the literature review, gives the overview of the previous
studies relating to the area of the research and covers some theoretical
backgrounds that could be used as foundation for the process of conducting the
research.

4


Chapter 3, the methodology, presents the research questions and research
approach with various methods and techniques to conduct the research thesis.

(2010) opens the reader to a new world of thoughtfulness, embarrassment,
manipulation, even criminality through euphemisms. He covers the things
people get uncomfortable discussing; sex, anatomy, bodily functions, illness
and death, food, money and commerce, and war. He also explores their use for
politeness and tact, fun and entertainment, or deception and backpedaling. He
provides a brief history of euphemisms by topic, examples and light etymology
of the more famous terms. Besides, he not only explains the origins of many
past and present euphemisms but also examines their root causes and effects on
society. Moreover, he mentions about where euphemisms come from, tells the
readers why we use euphemisms and gives us some wonderful examples.
In “Euphemisms”, John Ayto (1993) discusses a variety of different
euphemisms and the strategies behind them. He mentions about euphemisms

6


which hide frightening and unwelcome issues behind long words or highly
technical terms.
In “A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Double-talk” British linguist
Hugh Rawson (1981, p. 1) divides euphemisms into positive and negative
euphemisms, and conscious and unconscious euphemisms; focuses on
description of the meaning; clarifies etymology of each euphemism and its
relation to other terms in his dictionary.
In “Kind Words: A Thesaurus of Euphemisms”, American scholars
Neaman, J. S & Silver, C. G (1983) adds more detailed description of the
history, formation and motives of euphemism.
Enright, D. J (1985) in “Fair of speech, the Use of Euphemism”,
discusses the use of euphemism in one specific domain and put forward that
the history of euphemism should be studied within context.
Allan & Burridge (1991) in “Euphemism and Dysphemism”, offer a

euphemism is the subtle expression instead of impolite, offensive, and rude
speaking ways. "Uyển ngữ là phương thức nói nhẹ đi thay cho cách nói bị coi
là sỗ sàng, làm xúc phạm, làm khó chịu"
Through the knowledge gained from books and previous studies, this
thesis would focus on cultural view on euphemisms between English and
8


Vietnamese to explore the cultural differences reflected by English and
Vietnamese euphemisms and to find out the factors affecting to cultural
differences between English and Vietnamese euphemisms.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Theory of culture
2.2.1.1. Definitions of culture
The researchers observe the cultures from many different angles and
perspectives, so there are many different definitions of culture. The followings
are some typical definitions of culture:
“Culture is the sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes
one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language,
material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next.”
(www.dictionary.com)
“Culture is all the knowledge and values shared by a society.”
(www.thefreedictionary.com)
According to Bates & Plog (1990, p. 7) in “Cultural Anthropology”,
culture has been defined as “the system of shared beliefs, values, customs,
behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their
world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to
generation through learning”
In “Sociolinguistics”, Hudson (1996, p. 78) defined “Culture is the kind
of knowledge which we learn from other people, either by direct instruction or

Vlakhov and Florin (1970) seem to have been the first ones to coin the
term realia to refer to cultural elements, and the term has now been generalized
and is frequently used to refer to objects, customs, habits, and other cultural
and material aspects that have an impact in shaping a certain language.
Since then, many classifications and taxonomies for such cultural
aspects have been. Following Nida and applying the concept of culture,
Newmark (1988, p. 21) puts forth his classification of foreign cultural words,
establishing five categories:
a. Ecology (flora, fauna, winds, climate, etc.)
b. Material culture (food, clothes, houses, towns, transport)
c. Social culture (work and leisure)
d. Organizations, customs, activities, procedures or concepts (which
include artistic, religious, political and administrative subcategories).
e. Gestures and habits
Katan (1999, p. 17) also provides a comprehensive view of how culture
reveals itself at each of the following logical levels:
a. Environment (including climate, housing, food, etc.)
b. Behaviors (actions and ways of behaving in certain cultures)
c. Capabilities, strategies and skills used to communicate (including nonverbal communication, rituals, etc.)
d. Values of the society and its hierarchy
e. Beliefs
f. Identity

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Ku (2006, p. 91 – 98) reduces his taxonomy to the four generic types
proposed by Molina:
a. Environment, including ecology, place names, etc.
b. Cultural heritage (religious beliefs, historical events, characters,

shared nature of culture, that doesn't mean that culture is the same for
everyone. There can be certain things within a culture that are shared between
some groups but not others.
Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for
something else. All cultures use symbols to communicate and pass on ideas
and beliefs to other members of society, so symbols vary cross-culturally and
are arbitrary. However, the meaning of the same symbol in countries is not
similar. Therefore, they only have meaning when people in a culture agree on
their use. It's important that everyone in a culture agrees on the meaning of the
symbols so that the transmission of culture can continue. Therefore, one of the
most agreed upon set of symbols in any given culture is its language. A
culture's language is the primary mode of transmitting culture from person to
person.
Culture is cumulative. Every human generation potentially can discover
new things and invent better technologies. The new cultural skills and
knowledge are added onto what was learned in previous generations. Cultural
evolution is due to the cumulative effect of culture. The more people there are,
13


the more likely new ideas and information will accumulate. This is known as
holism, or the various parts of a culture being interconnected. All aspects of a
culture are related to one another and to truly understand a culture, one must
learn about all of its parts, not only a few.
Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change.
Because most cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange ideas
and symbols. All cultural knowledge does not perpetually accumulate. At the
same time that new cultural traits are added, some old ones are lost because
they are no longer useful. Changing one trait will have an impact on other traits
because they are functionally interconnected. As a result, there commonly is a

understand the language of the countries, it is also necessary to understand
their cultural knowledge, so that both in parallel.
A particular language grows in a particular culture. Languages in
different countries, which are different in category, extension and intension,
etc, reflect culture difference. When it meets another culture where it does not
grow, there will appear a cultural shock. So a language corresponds to its own
cultural environment, while the understanding of a culture is necessary for
language meaning. Language is the product of the combination of nature and
culture. When a language spreads culture, it changes, enriches itself and
reflects what happens to culture, even influences or changes such aspects of
culture as institutions, patterns of behavior, mind, living, or psychology.
Therefore, language is the mirror for culture.
On the other hand, the changing and developing culture attributes to the
change of language. That is to say, culture is the driving force of the
15


development of language. Language and culture are intertwined with each
other. On the one side, culture enables language to form and develop, enrich
itself. Culture is the basic premise of the formation of language and the driving
force of the evolution of language. On the other side, language, like a mirror
for culture, reflects cultural changes; moreover, it is the necessary means by
which culture inherits previous achievement, and then disseminates
chronically, and goes down to future generation. Without language, culture will
become the water, which has no more sources or will have no destination.
People of a nation construct a certain cultural concept that adds something new
to its language in return.
In short, the relationship between language and culture is an interactive
relationship. They interact with each other to develop together. Therefore, if
language users do not have cultural knowledge of using language, they will not

Sanderson (1999, p. 259) also states that euphemism "can be used as a
way of being vague and unclear, or to cover up the truth or reality of a
situation."
According to Rawson.H (1981, p.1), euphemisms are powerful linguistic
tools that "are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those
who pride themselves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without
using them"

17