论文总字数：35131字

摘 要

随着国际间文化交流的日益频繁，禁忌语在文化交流中的重要影响开始显现。在中、英两种语言交流的过程中，禁忌语造成的影响尤为突出。什么是禁忌语？禁忌语的特点有哪些？中、英两种语言的禁忌语的异同在哪里？我们该如何避免禁忌语给我们带来的文化冲突？本文将对这些问题进行探讨，通过对中、英两种语言禁忌语的实例比较，来反映其背后的文化异同，探究深层原因，最后提出如何避免文化冲突的建议。

关键词：禁忌语；文化冲突；根源；措施

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. The Features of Taboos 2

3.1 Universality 2

3.2 Nationality 3

3.3Time Characteristics 4

3.4 Implicativeness 4

4.A Comparison of Taboos Between China and English-speaking countries 5

4.1 Taboos on Number 6

4.2 Taboos on Religion  7

4.3 Taboos on Race 8

4.4 Taboos on Sex and Obscene Words 9

4.5 Taboos on Privacy  10

5.Causes of Taboos in Chinese and English 11

5.1 History 11

5.2 Geography 12

5.3 Values 12

6. Suggestions on Avoiding Cultural Conflicts Caused by Taboos 13

6.1 Developing an Awareness of Cross-cultural Communication 13

6.2 Cultivating an Awareness of Cultural Equality 14

6.3 Accumulating Cultural Knowledge 14

6.4 Communicating with Different People 15

7. Conclusion 15

1. Introduction

Taboo is also spelled as Tabu which originates in Polynesian island.(Kramsch, 2000:10) It has been used as a common word in Anthropology and seen as a social phenomenon. The term taboo was first noted by Captain James Cook during his visit to Tonga in 1770. Although the word taboo is originated in Polynesian, they have been actually found in all nations and societies. The existing of taboos accounts for a history and cultural root and under different social and cultural backgrounds the contents and formalities of taboos differs largely.

Taboos can refer to the subject that people avoid, because taboos often make them feel embarrassed and afraid. It can also refer to the social custom or rules that should be broke. Generally, taboos can be divided into to categories, language taboos ans non-language taboos.

With the development of globalization, the communication between nations, countries and cultures has been more frequent than before. In this globalization process, there are lots of barriers such as language gaps and cultural conflicts. Among all the barriers, taboos play a most important role. Not only do taboos serve as an invisible discipline restraining the thought and behavior of all nations but also act as a production of cultural communication. The influence of taboos is more prominent in the communication between Chinese and English. Chinese is an ancient country with a history of over 5000 years. Chinese language is a great treasure in human history. As we all know English is a world common language which is widely used in the world. There are numerous taboos both in Chinese and English. Meanwhile, the taboos also cause culture conflicts and culture shocks, we should acquire a better understanding of taboos in different cultures.

2. Literature Review

Taboos is an important part in human language. As a significant aspect in language research and cross-culture communication, researchers and scholars are paying more attention to taboos. A lot of scholars and linguisticians have already done researches on taboos. In China, Language anf Social Life(1980),by Chen Yuan, is the first book that mentions taboo. There are some other books such as Language and Culture-A Comparison Between English and Chinese Language Culture(1989), and Social Linguistics(1983). In other countries there are also some researches and books such as The Custom and Language of Social Linguistics(1990), by Crystal David, which conducted a detailed research on taboo in a more diversified way. The research on taboo started late in China while in other countries, it stared much earlier. Moreover, Chinese researchers still have a lot of new subjects to explore.

3. The features of taboos

Taboos come into being with the appearance of human cultures. During thousands of years of human evolution, taboos have also changed and developed. Some of the changes and developments are of language and some of them are not. No matter what the formality is, taboos change with time, area or culture or other factors. As a result, taboos have been given different features, such as universality, nationality, inheritance and time characteristics. Some features can be found in explicit taboos, while some need the test of time. It is the different features that enrich the diversity of human culture.

3.1 Universality

As an important aspect of human culture, taboos appear when human civilization comes into being. In other words, when we are born we live in a society filled with taboos. Taboos are like air prevailing in the world no matter in remote dessert or in the prosperous city. Taboos are like water, whether a tranquil stream-let or a majestic river, it can irrigate the wide soil. Unlike laws, which can be found or referred to in the law books, taboos are much of a big invisible hand restraining the daily behavior of every human. Laws are not impeccable that it has limitation in some aspects to which taboos can make contribution by its special advantages and make up for the deficiency. Taboos have a strong control on how people thinks and what they should obey. Consciously or subconsciously, people are moss or less affected by taboos. As an significant role in our life, taboos regulate and harmonize the relationship between people and people and the relationship between human and society or even the relationship between human beings and the whole universe.

3.2 Nationality

Around the world, there are over 2000 nations in the world. After thousands of years’ development, each nations has its unique culture as well as customs, thinking models, religions and backgrounds. Undoubtedly, the differences of these aspects will be reflected on the language of each nation while the taboo is one of the reflections of language formality.

All nations have their special and unique signatures on taboos. In China, people often call older people ‘old Wang’ or ‘Wang old’ so as to show respect for the elderly. However, in English, it won’t be feasible. Instead of using ‘old Wang’ of ‘Wang old’, the used to use ‘senior citizen’ or ‘elderly people’ as an expression pf their esteem. In China, people often use the wold dog as an insulting word. When quarreling. People tend to use ‘狗贼’ to refer to their enemy and use ‘走狗’ to refer to the betrayer. But in English, dog is sometimes a commendatory term because of the loyalty and reliability of dogs. The call lucky person ‘a lucky dog’. Chinese prefer to use ‘猫’ such as ‘馋猫’ to refer to a person who loves eating, while the word cat has a connotation of ‘a sinister woman’.

Taboos are as well a reflection as a deposit of cultures. As one of the formalities of language, taboos is a mirror with reflect part of the cultures of different nations.(Potter,S, 1950:45) It derived from the origins and evolution of each nation and is still under development. By making a comparison among different language taboos, we can reveal the culture difference of all nation which can help us in communication with other nation. It also helps to avoid culture shock in cross-culture communication.

3.3Time characteristics

With the progress of human life, language is developing in a dynamic way. In different times, a certain word or thing usually has different connotation and usage. With people;s ability to know and to take advantage of the world enhanced and with the social needs strengthened, language is changed in a relevant way. Form a historical perspective, language development is a process in which new words take place of outdated words, new meanings take place of old meanings. Some taboos which were seen as taboo in the past may not be taboos now. Some normal words in the past may be used as taboo words. It’s quite similar in English. For example, no matter in Chinese or English, four-letter words such as ‘shit’, ‘piss’ and ‘damn’ were taboos words which people seldom used. But in modern times, these words are commonly used in daily talks even by some educated people. Sometimes these words can be found in literature words. In the past, the word ‘pregnant’ was one if these taboo words. People used ‘She is expecting.’ to avoid the taboo. But in modern times, people tend to use ‘She is pregnant.’ directly. In China, young ladies were called ‘小姐’ which was a common social appellation. But now it is referred to prostitute after the government’s cracking down on pornography in Guangzhou. Nowadays ‘小姐’ become a taboo word which cannot be used to call ladies casually .

In modern era, globalization and information network are developing quickly, human language are collided with massive information resulting in the change in language. As a result, taboos are changed inevitably and naturally. What’s more, these changes have a reflection on various times and language taboos will continue to change with time.

3.4 Implicativeness

While talking about taboos, people feel guilty , uncomfortable and embarrassed easily. Hence, they try not to use taboo words directly or to make judgments about the taboos and they take place of these sensitive taboos with some definitions or ideas which are abstract, ambiguous or euphemistic to avoid embarrassment in communication. As a result, people can have communications in a smooth and pleasant way and bypass the taboos. For example, if a person wants to pee when he or she is in public, he or she can say ‘I want to go to restroom.’ or ‘I want to wash my hands.’. For women, they also say ‘I want to pick some flowers.’ In China. People won’t say ‘I want to pee.’ or ‘I want to urinate.’ Instead, they will use ‘解手’ or ‘小解’ or ‘大解’. While in hospital, if they have to say their private parts, they often use ‘the thing’ or ‘the part’ to avoid embarrassment. It’s similar in China, people use ‘那里’ or ‘下面’ to refer to their privacy parts.

4.A Comparison of Taboos between China and English-speaking countries

China is an ancient civilization with a history of more than 5000 years. It has experienced its glories and twists and turns, which greatly enriched its historical backgrounds and cultural connotations. During the thousands of years’ development, China has witnessed hundreds of dynasties and emperors. Each dynasty enjoyed its unique culture features. Chinese culture has become a treasure in human history, a culture that barely can be surpassed.

Britain, once called the empire on which the sun never sets, spread English to the whole world. During Great Britain’s colonization, the world become a melt pot in which English and English culture integrated with other languages and cultures making English dominant in the world for a long time. English also has a history of thousands of years which can be dated back to Germanic people.

China has a history of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, while Britain has a history of Christian. The difference of religion history has caused a lot of discrepancies such as thought, language custom and culture and so on. During the communication of Chinese and English, conflicts can happen if we know nothing about the different cultures. So we should make a comparison of the taboos between Chinese and English in that we can learn more about the different cultures and avoid the conflicts.

English and Chinese taboos can be found in many aspects, such as number words, religion words, custom words and gender words and so on. Due to the differences in factors like history, culture and religion, taboos differ greatly. However, there are some similarities. With the advancement of modern times, different cultures begin to influence each other resulting in the incline of similarities. By comparing the differences and similarities of English and Chinese taboos, we can find the interaction and integration so as to explore the deeper conflicts in culture.

4.1 Taboos on Number

Number originated in ancient India and was primarily used to calculate the amount of things. With the wide spread and use of number, it has been influenced by different countries, religions and cultures and so on. As a result, more meanings and functions are given to number which unavoidably cause some taboos on number words.

In English, 13 is a taboo number. According to the Bible, there were 13 people at the table. The 13^th guest, Judas, was a betrayer of Jesus. So 13 is considered as a taboo number. In daily life, people all want to avoid the number 13 in all aspects, or they will suffer a setback. In buildings, you cannot find the 13^th floor. In flats and motels, you also cannot find room 13. If someone picks number 13, he or she will be considered as an unlucky man or woman who may brings his or her bad luck to others. Pregnant women will try to give birth to their baby on any day other than the 13^th day of every month. In opposite, 7 is a lucky number in English and ti means perfect. In Bible, 7 can be found in a lot of plots. The God created the world in 7 days. The God has 7 angels.

Taboo numbers can also be found in Chinese nut but rarely are connected with religion.

What is similar to the English culture, Chinese consider the number 13 as a taboo word as well. In their daily life, they often refer 13 to the people who are stubborn or silly or to the people they are mad to. No one would like to be No.13 in class.

4 is the biggest taboo number in Chinese, because it sounds like the word ‘si’, which means to die. During the 2000 years of feudal dynasty, all the emperors hoped to live forever and not to die. The officers and slaves are required to wish the royal families to live ten thousand years. Although it’s not possible to live that long, we can see the great wishes of Chinese people to live a long and happy life. Since ancient times, Chinese has been pursuing a auspicious life. 4 is just the ominous number that they are afraid of. It’s no wonder that 4 is the biggest taboo number in Chinese culture. In family, 3 is another taboo word, because it sounds like ‘san’ which means be apart. Chinese people cherish the unity and harmony of family members, the word 3 may bring them an ominous future and make their family fall apart. Chinese prefer the even numbers like 6 and 8. Because 6 means everything go smoothly and 8 soungs like ‘fa’ which means making good fortune.

Both English and Chinese has taboos numbers. English taboo numbers are more related to religion while Chinese taboo numbers are more linked with their beautiful wishes to life.

4.2 Taboos on Religion 

In English-speaking countries, most people believe in Christianity. But most of them dislike being like asked about their religion or they might thought it is an offense of their belief.(Zhang Jinghui, 2011) The God’s name, Jehovah, is the biggest taboo for Christian. Under no condition can they say or use God’s name. According to he Old Testament Exodus, the God signed a covenant with Israeli by Moses. The covenant was called the Ten Commandments, in which people are not allowed to use the God’s name. Anyone whose behaviors are against the commandants will be punished. Jesus Christ was a Jew who is considered as the son of the God. He is sacred among Christian. Religious terms such as God, heaven, hell, Christ and Jesus, can not be used causally in daily situation. Only in serious talks or conditions, can these terms be used. Sometimes people say ‘for Christ’s sake’ to express their astonishment or anger.

In China, there are also a lot of religion taboos. It is similar that Chinese people avoid call their god’s name to show great respect for the god.

China has a history of over 5000 years and ancient Chinese culture has been developing all he time. After the alternation of hundreds of dynasties, China’s religious culture has been enriched enormously. In ancient China, people majorly believed in Buddhism which become a main stream in China’s religion culture while there is a few people who still believe in Taoism. As a result, Chinese has more than one God.

Chinese are afraid of offending their gods, because they think if they do something wrong, their gods will punish them or their descendants. In order to shoe their respect and sincere faith, Chinese called their gods ‘大帝’, ‘佛祖’, ‘老君’ or ‘爷’. Also Chinese often use sky to refer to their gods while swearing, they will use words like ‘上天作证’, ‘苍天为证’ to show their sincerity.

In feudal society, Chinese extremely believe in gods. They enshrine and worship gods to pray for good health and wealth of their families. They all have many gods to worship such as door god, kitchen god and water god and so on. Before worshiping their gods they will invite the statues the bought. Chinese use the verb ‘invite’ rather than ‘buy’ to avoid offending the gods.

English and Chinese people have different cultures and different gods, bit similarly, they all avoid saying the names of their gods directly.

4.3 Taboos on Race

In English-speaking countries, racial discrimination is a sensitive issue especially in America. In the last century, the white race discriminated against the black race largely. They called the black nigger as if the black people were in the lowest class. Usually, the word nigger has an insulting connotation. With the development of the society, the whole world is calling on a equal status for the black race. Generally, the black race is treated more equally than before and the word nigger become a taboo word. Among the black people, they can use nigger while other races should avoid it, because the word has been labeled as a racial discrimination. After the Civil Rights Movement, people started to used the black man or black woman or the colored to refer to a black race person. Later these words become taboos as well. In order to show equality and respect for the black race, people should call them African-American. Similarly, under the principle of equality, people should not call Chinese-American Chink, Italian-American Dago or Jewish-American Kite. Nowadays, appellations such as Chink, Dago, and Kite are classified as taboos.

In ancient China, the title of past dynasties was the biggest taboo. At that time, emperors were the supreme power and residents were forbidden to say the title of the past dynasties he or she would be killed for the crime of plotting a rebellion. However, in modern times racial taboos can hardly been found in China.

4.4 Taboos on Sex and Obscene Words

Both in the past and in the present, Chinese are conservative. Sex is a most sensitive taboo in their daily life. They avoid talking about sex or even about say the certain word. It’s a shame if someone talk about sex in public. And this person will be alienated because his or her shamelessness, in ancient China, if a woman talks about sex whether in public or at home, she will be labeled slut and even be driven out of the house. Although people won’t be kicked out of their house now if they mention the word sex, the tradition is partly reserved. When people have to refer to sex, they will use phrases such as sleep with or have a relation with to show politeness. In English-speaking countries people are thought to be more open-minded than Chinese people. However people in English culture share the same attitude with Chinese. In their talks, they will avoid mentioning sex subconsciously. In their culture, sex is very sacred and private which should not be talked about casually. They even hardly use phrases like sleep with or make love.

Not only word like sex, but also obscene words do people treat as taboos. According to dictionary, words as excretion and porn can be interpreted as obscene words. Both in Chinese and English culture, people take excretion for dirty things, which makes excretion a taboo word in their life. In Chinese culture, people often say ‘解手’. In English culture, people say ‘I want to go somewhere.’ or ‘ I want to see my aunt.’

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