Feng Donglin

(Department of College Foreign Languages Studies Tianjin University of Commerce，Tianjin 300134)

Ⅰ.Interpersonal function of euphemism

1.Interpersonal function of halliday’s systemic functional linguistics

Halliday，the contemporary English linguist，was the founder of systemic functional linguistics.He took up advanced courses in Beijing University in the middle of the 20th century and proceeded to study in Guangzhou Lingnan University afterwards.He obtained the doctor degree in Cambridge University after he came back to the UK.Before emigrating to Australia in 1976，he used to teach in universities in America and the UK.He set up the Linguistics Department in Sydney University and inherited and developed the linguistics theory of Firth together with the students of Firth.One unique view of Firth is that meaning is pursued according to speech background and context.Theories of Halliday and students of Firth were defined as neo-Firthian school at the very beginning.With their continuous in-depth research and the construction and constant perfection of the systemic grammar and functional grammar，this theory is officially named as systemic functional linguistics.The construction of systemic functional linguistics of Halliday is affected and enlightened by many masters.In Europe，from the 19th century，research on anthropology and linguistics began to share the same resources and Boas introduced linguistics into the study of anthropology.According to Firth，the study on language should be connected with culture and the analysis on language should never leave the meaning.Malinowski put emphasis on the function and context of language.According to Prague School，language should be studied from the perspective of function as language is the functional system serving for specific objective.Based on these theories，Halliday sets up the systemic functional theory step by step which has become one of the most influential linguistics theories in the late 20th century.According to Halliday，language bears three functions including microfunction，macrofunction and metafunction.Metafunction involves ideational function，interpersonal function and textual function.The interpersonal function refers to the participating role of language.Speakers enact themselves to take part in a situational context and express their attitude and judgment in order to instill their thoughts to listeners and try to affect others’attitude and behavior.The interpersonal function reflects the social relationship between the speakers and listeners concerned with the situation or it reflects the relationship of the roles played by speakers and listeners in the communicative process(Huang，2009:94).Systemic functional linguists believe that function carried by language is the inner factor for the progressive development of language.The research on systemic functional linguistics emphasizes on the individuality，inherent quality and sociality of speakers.According to Halliday，who studies language from the viewpoint of sociology，the meaning expressed by language makes no sense without the actual situational context，i.e.，the language environment.He attaches importance to the social functions of language and how to realize these functions and defines language communication as some social behaviors conducted by people with sociality.Theory of Halliday strengthens people’s cognition of language and provides new theoretical basis for people to study different language phenomena from the perspective of interpersonal function.

2.Interpersonal function carried by euphemism

The function of language is realized through communication so that language is considered as the most important communicative tool.Research on the function of language can help us understand how language plays its role in the macro human society.Languages play different parts in different social communications and bear their unique features on different levels of languages.The function of language in the language system is realized by people’s choosing different meaning potentials under different social and cultural background.In terms of euphemism，euphemism selected by people in the process of communication is affected by a variety of factors such as context，cultural differences of the parties involved in the communication，social cognition and so on.While at the same time，it dynamically reflects the interpersonal function of language.The fuzziness of language is the internal factor for the formation of euphemism.Interpersonal function can be achieved by employing less precise word to replace the precise word or by employing the more fuzzy word to replace the fuzzy word in order to conceal the ruthless reality.Widespread application of euphemism can be attributed to the social demand.Any verbal behavior is connected with certain social foundation and is influenced by the social and cultural characteristics，cultural characteristics of the communicative participants and the constraints of situation on the application of language.In the course of human’s stepping into civilization，euphemism is virtually the product of language adapting to society and interacting to society.Euphemism bears rich social and cultural connotation and touches upon every aspect of social life such as religion，politics，literature and linguistics.The application of euphemism has become an indispensable part of social life.Euphemism employs the fuzziness of language to reconcile the contradiction in social relationship and interpersonal relationship.With the continuous development of social life and social relationship，the interpersonal function of euphemism will undergo alteration and metabolism to adjust to the development and change.Therefore，we should choose different euphemisms to better achieve the objective of communication and bring the interpersonal function of euphemisms into full play according to different context.

Ⅱ.Demonstration of interpersonal function of euphemism in social life

Normally，euphemism is the barometer to reflect the social distance.The possibility of the application of euphemism and the euphemistic degree are closely related with the social status of the two parties involved in the communication.For instance，it is more likely for euphemism to be employed in communication from students to teachers and from teachers to the president than in communication between students and between teachers in school.It fully illustrates why euphemism is used more frequently in“power relation”context than in“close relation”context.Moreover，in power relation context，the low end of power inclines to use euphemism to express respect for the high end of power.In verbal communication，euphemism is applied in every aspect of social life through the fuzzy expression means.Euphemism bears positive meaning in alleviating the contradiction between different social classes，promoting harmonious development in society and better realizing the interpersonal function of language.The kind of political euphemism exhibits another side of some western governments to try to instill their thoughts to the mass people and persuade them to accept the social reality they have beautified.

1.Euphemism in the political field

The sarcasm on political euphemism can be dated back to British novelist George Orwell and his sarcastic works 1984 and Animal Farm.Nearly every works of Orwell is associated with politics and his works is full of ironies bout all kinds of undemocratic phenomena and political euphemisms.Euphemism in western political field has more and more become the tool and means for the ruling class to put a good face on the ugly social reality and convey their values.Political euphemism fully utilizes the fuzziness of language to disguise the social facts into beautiful lies to mislead the public and falsify the facts so as to persuade people to accept the social reality they create.

In America，ever since the black people were either abducted or forayed to the new world as slaves to immigrants from all over the world flocking to the US to realize the American dream，this melting pot is destined to be haunted by the social contradiction with multi-nationality and multi-ethnic.Racial discrimination is always the intractable problem perplexing American society.Although it is clearly specified in the law that racial discrimination as illegal，this deep-rooted racial contradiction has all the time been the sensitive issue that can be triggered at any moment.Hence，in daily communication，when the sensitive topic of race is concerned，people attempt to use euphemism to avoid the escalation of social contradiction.Between the 1860s and 1870s，America abandoned Negro to use Black instead as Black had no association with Nigger which was considered less derogatory and more acceptable.For the time being，African-American is a polite way to refer to black people and Clinton even called Obama as“the first person of African-American descent to be nominated by a major American political party for President”in his speech.This way of calling black people tactfully avoids racial discrimination as it does not designate the color of black people specifically.It fully demonstrates that under the power relation context，the high end of the power tries to convey their attitude without discrimination or prejudice to the low end of power by means of fuzzy language.Although it is more of the respect at the language level，it can be seen that the government expresses their standpoint to the target group through euphemism and the social relationship between the speakers and listeners can be clearly reflected as well.The ruling groups of western countries conduct protectionism in terms of language and provide us rich materials for exploring euphemism whether from their policy implementation or diplomacy.America is the birthplace of all sorts of political euphemisms.America is always acting as the international policeman so that the euphemism emerges in an endless stream in both the Gulf War and the Iraq War to cover its genuine objective of the wars and the fact of killing civilians.At the same time，American government illustrates great passion and affluent creativity on the rhetoric of euphemism to cover up the facts of recession and the big gap between the rich and poor.

2.Euphemism in the advertising field

Language employed in advertisement plays a vital role in making people develop the affinity towards a specific product or service and proceed to have the desire for purchasing.Advertising is an important means of marketing which employs the persuasive language to convey some information，meanings or views to realize the objective of propaganda.Advertising has the very strong purpose so it lays great stress on rhetoric in order to impress the intended audience.Euphemism employed in advertising implicitly conveys the information to the intended audience to produce the favorable effect.

America is a country advocating consumerism and the idiom“keep up with the Jones”is a vivid portrayal.American people highlight their wealth and success by living in big houses，driving expensive cars and consuming luxury products.They can not afford to lag behind others so that it is natural for them to pursue and worship money.In American，money has more and more become the standard of measuring social status and personal value.Although it is the prevailing values orientation，it does not necessarily mean that everybody can have access to the first class product or service.Therefore，in the commercial advertisements，“second hand furniture”is called as“antique”，“the third class of the airplane”is called as“economy class”，“cheap”is beautified as“economy and budget”and“costume jewelry”becomes“fashion jewelry”.The substitution of the fuzzy language for the direct language in the advertisements can make the manufacturers realize their objective of popularizing their commodities and service and at the same time，the interpersonal communication with the consumers can be achieved through the beautified language.It successfully imposes influence on the purchasing psychology of the consumers by means of semantic ascension.

American values is not only reflected in the commercial advertisements，but is also embodied in the professional euphemism that is widely used in English.When commenting on the pervasive application of professional euphemism，American scholars Judith S.Neaman and Carole G.Silver pointed out the substance of using professional euphemism was to make“Offal smells like a rose.”Just by looking at the job vacancies in the recruitment advertisements，you can be completely bewildered.“Landscape technician”is actually“gardener”，“bubble dancer”is virtually“dish washer”and“sanitary engineer”is literally“dustman”.The social distribution can not be absolutely equal so it can not be assured that everybody has the equal amount of wealth.Different social division of labor makes the jobs diversified and differentiates the corresponding social status and income.It is doubtless that everybody desires to become an engineer，a technician or a manager as those titles representing favorable salary and relatively high social status whereas in real life，there are some people who should do the humble jobs because of their educational background and personal qualifications.Employers employ euphemism to appeal to the job hunters to do down-scale jobs to realize their aim of recruiting in a roundabout way.Even if the praise and confirmation are just on the language level，the employees can have some psychological satisfaction by the semantic ascension.This kind of recruitment euphemism can realize the interpersonal communication in the power relation between the employers and employees.It bears positive significance in alleviating contradiction between different classes and promoting the harmonious development in society to some degree.

Ⅲ.Conclusion

The widespread application of euphemism in social communication is the concrete manifestation and practicing product of fuzzy linguistics.The application of euphemism is not a new emergence but stretches throughout the whole human history and plays a vital role in promoting the social stability and harmony.Numerous applications of euphemism in all kinds of languages are exactly the universal demonstration of the pragmatic function of fuzzy language.Fuzzy linguistics offers theoretical guidance on the proper and accurate application of euphemism in social communication and euphemism realizes its interpersonal function by using the fuzzy language.Therefore，we should choose the appropriate euphemism according to the concrete context to avoid the irreparable loss due to pragmatic mistake in social communication so as to make the communication smoother and the interpersonal relationship more harmonious.With the continuous development and changes of the social life and social relationship，the interpersonal function of euphemism will undergo alteration and metabolism to adjust to the development and change.It manifests that the interpersonal function of euphemism bearing strong vitality and will proceed to play immeasurable role in social life.

Notes:

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