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Abstract： As one of the commonest cultural phenomena in human society, taboo exists in every nook and cranny in cross-cultural communication and has a strong restrictive force in people’s real life. Do in Rome do as the Romans do, is important prerequisite which should not be neglected in cross-cultural communication.
Based on the research on the origins of English and Chinese taboo, this thesis expounds the factors influencing the formation, the development and the similarities and dissimulations between English and Chinese taboos from the linguistic and pragmatic aspects. The significance of the analysis on verbal taboo lies in the promotion of the better understanding of verbal taboo to avoid the would-be troubles and misunderstandings and to seek common point while reserving differences in cross-cultural communication. The key point in the research is the analysis on its consanguineous connection with the cross-cultural communication.
Key words: verbal taboo; origin; factors of formation; development; contrast
1.0 Introduction
In given culture, people involved in the communication process often get around some topics or some words in language system. Taboo is one of the unique and the most common cultural phenomena of human society. Taboo exists in any place and at any time in cross-cultural communication. If one offends against a particular custom by using taboo words from time to time, he or she will be excluded from the community. However, taboos of different nations are not unanimous; sometimes they are as different as heaven and the bottom of the sea. So it is of great significance for foreign language learning to know about them in cross-cultural communication.
Generally speaking, taboo is something that is forbidden. Taboo can be divided into behavioral taboo and verbal taboo. Verbal taboo exists in various kinds of culture. It is possibly born with the language. It is also an indispensable part in language teaching, for without it, we could not understand the real essence of a language. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the formation and the development of verbal taboo, being one of the unique and the most common culture phenomena of human society, the categories it liuhas been divided into, the significantly important role it plays in cross-cultural communication, the similar and different point of views between the Chinese culture and the Occidentalism concerning verbal taboo.
2.0 Verbal taboo
2.1 The origin of verbal taboo “Taboo” is derived from the local dialect of Tonga people who live in the Polynesia Island in North Pacific. Its original meaning is “sacred”, “intangible” or “extremely noticeable” thing. Taboo emerged on the condition that people knew little about natural phenomena, like wind, lighting, frost, even themselves. In 1777, Britain navigator James cook (1728—1779) arrived at Tonga Island and was surprised to find that from the “outside world”. He made many records, one of which said that there were some words used exclusively by a given community and the other residents outside were not allowed to use. The local people called these phenomena like that “taboo”. In addition, when a kind of behavior was listed as forbidden thing, the words referring to this very behavior was called verbal taboo accordingly. From then on, “taboo” as an official word is included into the anthropology, sociology and linguistic, and is emphasized and used extensively as a kind of social phenomenon and research subject. It should be pointed out that taboo and verbal taboo existed as early as 18th century in the western world when the religion was prevailing. In China, the taboo may have even history. It was recorded in the allusion and classical records of Han Dynasty (208B.C—220A.D). (林倫之，1993 ) It can be deduced that taboo as a kind of social phenomenon, existed before Han Dynasty.
2.2 Factors influencing the formation of verbal taboo
People often contribute the national culture tradition to the formation of verbal taboo. In fact, there are some factors influencing the formation, change and usage of verbal taboo.
Psychological factors rank first. The reason why some words are labeled “obscenity’’ “depraved” even “coarse” is not because of the literal meaning of those words, but mainly because people endow affectionate meanings to those words according to their own psychological imagintion, life experiences and other conditions. The typical examples are those above-mentioned words, such as “leg”, “trousers”, “bloody”. Those words are forbidden due to psychological imagintion. In the upper society in 19th century of Britain, “trousers’’ is thought to likely induce those excessively sensitive people to think about immortal things (陈原，1980). Some others point out that whether from logical meaning or from literal meaning, “rape” should be considered as standard verbal taboo, for it refers to vice and violent activity, but it is acceptable as normal word in daily life. Obviously, some words are branded as verbal taboo just because of the words themselves instead of the activities or things they express, just as Lawrence has said, “Tell me what is wrong with words or with you, that the thing is all right but the word is taboo”. (Rothwell, 1982) Another factor influencing the formation of verbal taboo is context. The existence of verbal taboo cannot be isolated. It makes differences when different people use it, which can be analyzed from the age, sex and social position. In the made-dominated society men enjoy more freedom than women when speaking. Women instinctively avoid offensive or abusive words and adopt those euphemistic, elegant and more polite expressions of words. It is because of those factors that the number of verbal taboo for male is much larger than the female’s. Coarse words may invite astonishment while it is ok when the speaker is a man.
2.3 The development of verbal taboo
People in ancient times believed in natural force of God, so from the very beginning, the verbal taboo was almost totally related to the religion. The one that offends God will be punished by God, and those who have bad luck are believed to be out of luck. According to the record of “The Ten Commandments” in Bible, he should not be forgiven if he calls the sacred name of God directly. So Jews often get around God in order not to be punished. In the area of Chang Bai Mountain of northeast China, tiger is regarded as divine animal. It has formed a custom that tiger is worshipped as God and tiger is named after “Mountain Monarch”. Severe language is like filth, and cursing others is just like throw dirt towards others, which will bring bad luck. Obviously, those verbal taboos are colored by religion in savage time.
In modern world, the concept of taboo has even broader meaning. Looking from the aspect of development, religious and superstition factors in verbal taboo have become fewer and fewer and the contents reflecting the trend of development are increasing comparatively. From the perspective of geographical distribution, with the regularity of the communication between oriental and occidental world, the customs about taboo influence each other. Something unique before has been assimilated now and the similar elements are increasing. “Nigger” was used as the “nickname” of black people in America in 1960s, but it has been regarded as verbal taboo in the normal communication, because this is conflicted with the Human Rights idea advocated by America. Sexy, whose traditional meaning is to flirt others by the means of sex, is accepted as a modifier both in western world and in China. In addition, it is not allowed to speak in some public places; it is unaccepted to say “see you later” when the doctor and his or her patients separate. In other words, verbal taboo in modern world has become rules, which have both intangible lawish effect and tangible regulations, from the original intangible laws. The extension of verbal taboo has been broadened significantly. Those words and expressions arousing the public’s unpleasant or uneasy feelings maybe concluded in the limit of verbal taboo. 3.0 Categories of verbal taboo
3.1 From pragmatic aspects
Before reason and science rooted in human minds, the natural phenomenon and existents were all considered as mystery and the names of human being were thought to have mysterious force. This kind of taboo is practically strict with the dead. In history, verbal taboos on names were popular in various nations. For example, Indians who lived in North America, treated their names as an indispensable part of themselves, just like their eyes and teeth. Treating viciously towards their names would also hurt their bodies. It had not had so much taboo about name since Christian dominated the Europe. In a word, verbal taboos about names are now by cooperative principle, rather than by religious. In China, verbal taboos on name derived from the identity differences are traditions culture. Therefore, in China, people of Han in particular, get a round call their elder members, especially their parents when calling people who have the same position in the family hierarchy, they substitute others’ position name for their real names. Those verbal taboos embody the strict hierarchy and family’s ideas in Chinese traditional cultures.
3.2 From linguistic aspects
3.2.1 Pronunciation
The pronunciations of some words make people imagine something unpleasant. It is common in Chinese and Japanese language. For example, Japanese refer to read “four” as “ょ”instead of“し”, because the latter has the similar pronunciation with death in Japanese, “Nine” in read “ギゅう”rather than“く”, for it listens like bitter in Japanese. However, it is different in Chinese, “Nine” in Chinese has just the same pronunciation as “jiu”, which means long and expresses the expectation of the rulers that their governing would be everlasting and harmonious. There are numerous examples in civilian, such as “鐘” and “终”, “分梨” and “分离”, etc.(李中山 , 1991)
3.2.2 Words
There is a famous story in Bible, which gives an account of how Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. So people in western world are often disgusted with thirteen. In the high buildings of departments or hotels, there is no 13th floor. Moreover, people coined a name for it—triskaidekaphobia. On the contrary, in Tibetan Ethnic in China, thirteen is regarded as a lucky number. In fact, cross-cultural communicators should notice the verbal taboo referring to death, secreting, excreting and religion. Euphemisms are created to avoid those embarrassing and unpleasant words. In English, there are a lot of substitutes for death, such as “pass away”, “be no more”, “be gone”, “go west”, “kick the bucket”, from the Chaucer period to 1980s, “toilet” or “lavatory” are taken place of by “powder room”, “bathroom”, “public comfort station”, “washroom”, “ladies’/men’s room” or “rest”. As for “go to toilet”, there are a lot of substitutions-“a call of nature”, “to go and see my aunt” or “to wash one’s hands”. Interestingly, the English call it “go to the fourth” or “the 100”, for homosexuality, there are also many special words, such as “coke”, “pansy”, “straight”, “dope”, and “pothead”. 4.0 Agreements and disagreements between English and Chinese on verbal taboos
4.1 Agreements
English and Chinese have certain areas of agreement on taboos. Excreta and acts of human excretion are to be avoided in polite conversation. Talking about sexual intercourse and certain part of the body is taboo in both cultures.
The Chinese Han language reveals similar sexism. In the old days, women were often regarded as ignorant, lowly; “婦人之见” and “男子汉不同妇人一般见识”, for example, virtually ridicule a woman’s point of view. A wife was little more than the one who did the household chores, as indicated by names like “家里的，内人”.What is more, her lot and her place in society were wholly dependent on her husband, as this common saying shows: “夫唱妇随” (literally: the husband sings and the wife follows; or the wife keeps harmony, while the husband sets the tune).
The Chinese Han language likewise shows trace of racism, although there have been considerable improvements since the People’s Republic was set up. Prior to that , belittling or outright degrading terms for non-Han people were not uncommon: virtually calling certain Chinese ethnic groups barbarians, such as “蛮人”; derisive expressions such as “蒙古大夫” (Mongolian doctor-a quack or incompetent doctor) to show off the assumed superiority of one’s own ethnic group. Since the middle of the century, with the equality of the different nationalities adopted as national policy and expressly stated in the Constitution, such racist terms and expressions have largely disappeared from the language, but not completely. Today, one can still hear foreigners referred to as “鬼子”(devils) , or “洋鬼子” (foreign devil).The term “大鼻子” (big nose ) may not be quite so offensive, but it is hardly one of respect.
4.2 Differences
Now, turning to the dissimilarities, we might begin with the little incident below.
An American teacher in her early fifties was invited to the home of a young Chinese colleague for dinner. When she arrived, the 4-year old daughter of the hostess was presented to her. “Hello Auntie,” the little girl chirped in English. This was how her mother had taught her to greet grown-up women.
“No, no, not Auntie”, the mother hurriedly corrected. “Say Granny!’’
“No, not Granny, please. Just call me Auntie.”
“But that is not polite for her. You are so much older then I am.”
The American woman’s face flushed a second, then she smiled and said, “Just have her call me Auntie, I’d prefer that.” What was the reason for the awkwardness in this situation?
It was one of different attitudes towards age.
Age, to most British and Americans, is one of the things considered improper to ask a stranger or a person that one does not know well. Besides age, other matters such as one’s income, marital status, politics and religion. Some people may not mind and will readily talk about such things, but it is not polite to ask unless the other person shows that she/he will not be offended. Thus question like the following, although inoffensive to Chinese, should be avoided when conversing with English-speaking people:
How old are you?
What is your age?
What is your income?
How much did you pay for that car?
Are you married or single?
So you are divorced? What was the reason?
Do you go to church?
One of the reasons behind the taboo on question about personal matters is that English-speaking people place a high value on privacy. The English have a saying: A man’s room is his castle, meaning a man’s home is sacred to him; no one should come in without permission. So it is also with his life and personal affairs. To ask questions such as those mentioned above would be considered prying into an individual’s personal life, which is another form of invading a person’s “castle”.
In connection with Western feeling about privacy, there is certain English expression meant to be deliberately vague. If a person says I am going out, one should not ask where. If he/she says I have an appointment, it would be improper to ask with whom or what kind of appointment it is. Likewise, if a woman claims she has a headache, it would not do to be over-solicitous and ask what the trouble is, or whether or not she needs some medicine. If she really is in distress, she will probably say so. A none-native speaker should know that expressions mentioned above are often excuses for not doing something or not accepting some offer or invitation. They are “defensive” expressions to stop further question.
5.0 Conclusion
Different from other cultural phenomena in language, verbal taboo is the one we should not only know how to use them, but how not to use them. We have seen that certain words or notions are avoided because of unpleasantness and roundabout expressions are substituted, thus, we have euphemisms. But some words and expressions are to be avoided because tradition or social customs strongly frown on their use. The core of issue of verbal taboo is the social ideology and cultural system in which a language takes root. Both of them are accumulated and promoted from generation to generation. As long as we understand the social ideology and cultural system of the foreign languages, we would be proper in our behaviors and make it easier to communicate with foreigners. In conclusion, taboo came into being with the obscuration and imagination of our forefathers and developed with the social metabolism. In the process of getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh, the verbal taboo has been one of the important components in language and would function more significantly in cross-cultural communication.
References：
[1]E. Lenneberg(Ed.), 1964, A Study of Cross-cultural Communication[J]. England: National Centre for Industrial Language Training.
[2]J.Dan Rothwell, 1982, Telling It Like It Isn’t [M]. The University of Alabama Press.
[3]Larson Mildreel L, 1998, A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence[M].University Press of America, Inc.
[4]Salzmann, 1993, Language, Culture & Society[M]. New York: West view press. Inc.
[5]Davis, 2001, Cross-cultural Communication in Verbal Taboo [Z]. Bei Jing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
[6]陈原，1980，《语言与社会生活》[M]。北京：新知三联书店出版社.
[7]林伦之，1993，《论英汉言语禁忌与忌讳》[M]。湖北教育出版社.
[8]李中山，1991，《中国语言避讳习俗》[W]。西安：陕西人民出版社.
[9]郁龙余，1989，《中西文化异同论》[C]。北京：新知三联书店出版社.
[10]李桂山，1997，《禁忌學散语》[J]。外语教学与研究.
[11]刘纯豹，1993，《英语委婉语词典》[Z]。南京：江苏教育出版社.
Based on the research on the origins of English and Chinese taboo, this thesis expounds the factors influencing the formation, the development and the similarities and dissimulations between English and Chinese taboos from the linguistic and pragmatic aspects. The significance of the analysis on verbal taboo lies in the promotion of the better understanding of verbal taboo to avoid the would-be troubles and misunderstandings and to seek common point while reserving differences in cross-cultural communication. The key point in the research is the analysis on its consanguineous connection with the cross-cultural communication.
Key words: verbal taboo; origin; factors of formation; development; contrast
1.0 Introduction
In given culture, people involved in the communication process often get around some topics or some words in language system. Taboo is one of the unique and the most common cultural phenomena of human society. Taboo exists in any place and at any time in cross-cultural communication. If one offends against a particular custom by using taboo words from time to time, he or she will be excluded from the community. However, taboos of different nations are not unanimous; sometimes they are as different as heaven and the bottom of the sea. So it is of great significance for foreign language learning to know about them in cross-cultural communication.
Generally speaking, taboo is something that is forbidden. Taboo can be divided into behavioral taboo and verbal taboo. Verbal taboo exists in various kinds of culture. It is possibly born with the language. It is also an indispensable part in language teaching, for without it, we could not understand the real essence of a language. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the formation and the development of verbal taboo, being one of the unique and the most common culture phenomena of human society, the categories it liuhas been divided into, the significantly important role it plays in cross-cultural communication, the similar and different point of views between the Chinese culture and the Occidentalism concerning verbal taboo.
2.0 Verbal taboo
2.1 The origin of verbal taboo “Taboo” is derived from the local dialect of Tonga people who live in the Polynesia Island in North Pacific. Its original meaning is “sacred”, “intangible” or “extremely noticeable” thing. Taboo emerged on the condition that people knew little about natural phenomena, like wind, lighting, frost, even themselves. In 1777, Britain navigator James cook (1728—1779) arrived at Tonga Island and was surprised to find that from the “outside world”. He made many records, one of which said that there were some words used exclusively by a given community and the other residents outside were not allowed to use. The local people called these phenomena like that “taboo”. In addition, when a kind of behavior was listed as forbidden thing, the words referring to this very behavior was called verbal taboo accordingly. From then on, “taboo” as an official word is included into the anthropology, sociology and linguistic, and is emphasized and used extensively as a kind of social phenomenon and research subject. It should be pointed out that taboo and verbal taboo existed as early as 18th century in the western world when the religion was prevailing. In China, the taboo may have even history. It was recorded in the allusion and classical records of Han Dynasty (208B.C—220A.D). (林倫之，1993 ) It can be deduced that taboo as a kind of social phenomenon, existed before Han Dynasty.
2.2 Factors influencing the formation of verbal taboo
People often contribute the national culture tradition to the formation of verbal taboo. In fact, there are some factors influencing the formation, change and usage of verbal taboo.
Psychological factors rank first. The reason why some words are labeled “obscenity’’ “depraved” even “coarse” is not because of the literal meaning of those words, but mainly because people endow affectionate meanings to those words according to their own psychological imagintion, life experiences and other conditions. The typical examples are those above-mentioned words, such as “leg”, “trousers”, “bloody”. Those words are forbidden due to psychological imagintion. In the upper society in 19th century of Britain, “trousers’’ is thought to likely induce those excessively sensitive people to think about immortal things (陈原，1980). Some others point out that whether from logical meaning or from literal meaning, “rape” should be considered as standard verbal taboo, for it refers to vice and violent activity, but it is acceptable as normal word in daily life. Obviously, some words are branded as verbal taboo just because of the words themselves instead of the activities or things they express, just as Lawrence has said, “Tell me what is wrong with words or with you, that the thing is all right but the word is taboo”. (Rothwell, 1982) Another factor influencing the formation of verbal taboo is context. The existence of verbal taboo cannot be isolated. It makes differences when different people use it, which can be analyzed from the age, sex and social position. In the made-dominated society men enjoy more freedom than women when speaking. Women instinctively avoid offensive or abusive words and adopt those euphemistic, elegant and more polite expressions of words. It is because of those factors that the number of verbal taboo for male is much larger than the female’s. Coarse words may invite astonishment while it is ok when the speaker is a man.
2.3 The development of verbal taboo
People in ancient times believed in natural force of God, so from the very beginning, the verbal taboo was almost totally related to the religion. The one that offends God will be punished by God, and those who have bad luck are believed to be out of luck. According to the record of “The Ten Commandments” in Bible, he should not be forgiven if he calls the sacred name of God directly. So Jews often get around God in order not to be punished. In the area of Chang Bai Mountain of northeast China, tiger is regarded as divine animal. It has formed a custom that tiger is worshipped as God and tiger is named after “Mountain Monarch”. Severe language is like filth, and cursing others is just like throw dirt towards others, which will bring bad luck. Obviously, those verbal taboos are colored by religion in savage time.
In modern world, the concept of taboo has even broader meaning. Looking from the aspect of development, religious and superstition factors in verbal taboo have become fewer and fewer and the contents reflecting the trend of development are increasing comparatively. From the perspective of geographical distribution, with the regularity of the communication between oriental and occidental world, the customs about taboo influence each other. Something unique before has been assimilated now and the similar elements are increasing. “Nigger” was used as the “nickname” of black people in America in 1960s, but it has been regarded as verbal taboo in the normal communication, because this is conflicted with the Human Rights idea advocated by America. Sexy, whose traditional meaning is to flirt others by the means of sex, is accepted as a modifier both in western world and in China. In addition, it is not allowed to speak in some public places; it is unaccepted to say “see you later” when the doctor and his or her patients separate. In other words, verbal taboo in modern world has become rules, which have both intangible lawish effect and tangible regulations, from the original intangible laws. The extension of verbal taboo has been broadened significantly. Those words and expressions arousing the public’s unpleasant or uneasy feelings maybe concluded in the limit of verbal taboo. 3.0 Categories of verbal taboo
3.1 From pragmatic aspects
Before reason and science rooted in human minds, the natural phenomenon and existents were all considered as mystery and the names of human being were thought to have mysterious force. This kind of taboo is practically strict with the dead. In history, verbal taboos on names were popular in various nations. For example, Indians who lived in North America, treated their names as an indispensable part of themselves, just like their eyes and teeth. Treating viciously towards their names would also hurt their bodies. It had not had so much taboo about name since Christian dominated the Europe. In a word, verbal taboos about names are now by cooperative principle, rather than by religious. In China, verbal taboos on name derived from the identity differences are traditions culture. Therefore, in China, people of Han in particular, get a round call their elder members, especially their parents when calling people who have the same position in the family hierarchy, they substitute others’ position name for their real names. Those verbal taboos embody the strict hierarchy and family’s ideas in Chinese traditional cultures.
3.2 From linguistic aspects
3.2.1 Pronunciation
The pronunciations of some words make people imagine something unpleasant. It is common in Chinese and Japanese language. For example, Japanese refer to read “four” as “ょ”instead of“し”, because the latter has the similar pronunciation with death in Japanese, “Nine” in read “ギゅう”rather than“く”, for it listens like bitter in Japanese. However, it is different in Chinese, “Nine” in Chinese has just the same pronunciation as “jiu”, which means long and expresses the expectation of the rulers that their governing would be everlasting and harmonious. There are numerous examples in civilian, such as “鐘” and “终”, “分梨” and “分离”, etc.(李中山 , 1991)
3.2.2 Words
There is a famous story in Bible, which gives an account of how Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. So people in western world are often disgusted with thirteen. In the high buildings of departments or hotels, there is no 13th floor. Moreover, people coined a name for it—triskaidekaphobia. On the contrary, in Tibetan Ethnic in China, thirteen is regarded as a lucky number. In fact, cross-cultural communicators should notice the verbal taboo referring to death, secreting, excreting and religion. Euphemisms are created to avoid those embarrassing and unpleasant words. In English, there are a lot of substitutes for death, such as “pass away”, “be no more”, “be gone”, “go west”, “kick the bucket”, from the Chaucer period to 1980s, “toilet” or “lavatory” are taken place of by “powder room”, “bathroom”, “public comfort station”, “washroom”, “ladies’/men’s room” or “rest”. As for “go to toilet”, there are a lot of substitutions-“a call of nature”, “to go and see my aunt” or “to wash one’s hands”. Interestingly, the English call it “go to the fourth” or “the 100”, for homosexuality, there are also many special words, such as “coke”, “pansy”, “straight”, “dope”, and “pothead”. 4.0 Agreements and disagreements between English and Chinese on verbal taboos
4.1 Agreements
English and Chinese have certain areas of agreement on taboos. Excreta and acts of human excretion are to be avoided in polite conversation. Talking about sexual intercourse and certain part of the body is taboo in both cultures.
The Chinese Han language reveals similar sexism. In the old days, women were often regarded as ignorant, lowly; “婦人之见” and “男子汉不同妇人一般见识”, for example, virtually ridicule a woman’s point of view. A wife was little more than the one who did the household chores, as indicated by names like “家里的，内人”.What is more, her lot and her place in society were wholly dependent on her husband, as this common saying shows: “夫唱妇随” (literally: the husband sings and the wife follows; or the wife keeps harmony, while the husband sets the tune).
The Chinese Han language likewise shows trace of racism, although there have been considerable improvements since the People’s Republic was set up. Prior to that , belittling or outright degrading terms for non-Han people were not uncommon: virtually calling certain Chinese ethnic groups barbarians, such as “蛮人”; derisive expressions such as “蒙古大夫” (Mongolian doctor-a quack or incompetent doctor) to show off the assumed superiority of one’s own ethnic group. Since the middle of the century, with the equality of the different nationalities adopted as national policy and expressly stated in the Constitution, such racist terms and expressions have largely disappeared from the language, but not completely. Today, one can still hear foreigners referred to as “鬼子”(devils) , or “洋鬼子” (foreign devil).The term “大鼻子” (big nose ) may not be quite so offensive, but it is hardly one of respect.
4.2 Differences
Now, turning to the dissimilarities, we might begin with the little incident below.
An American teacher in her early fifties was invited to the home of a young Chinese colleague for dinner. When she arrived, the 4-year old daughter of the hostess was presented to her. “Hello Auntie,” the little girl chirped in English. This was how her mother had taught her to greet grown-up women.
“No, no, not Auntie”, the mother hurriedly corrected. “Say Granny!’’
“No, not Granny, please. Just call me Auntie.”
“But that is not polite for her. You are so much older then I am.”
The American woman’s face flushed a second, then she smiled and said, “Just have her call me Auntie, I’d prefer that.” What was the reason for the awkwardness in this situation?
It was one of different attitudes towards age.
Age, to most British and Americans, is one of the things considered improper to ask a stranger or a person that one does not know well. Besides age, other matters such as one’s income, marital status, politics and religion. Some people may not mind and will readily talk about such things, but it is not polite to ask unless the other person shows that she/he will not be offended. Thus question like the following, although inoffensive to Chinese, should be avoided when conversing with English-speaking people:
How old are you?
What is your age?
What is your income?
How much did you pay for that car?
Are you married or single?
So you are divorced? What was the reason?
Do you go to church?
One of the reasons behind the taboo on question about personal matters is that English-speaking people place a high value on privacy. The English have a saying: A man’s room is his castle, meaning a man’s home is sacred to him; no one should come in without permission. So it is also with his life and personal affairs. To ask questions such as those mentioned above would be considered prying into an individual’s personal life, which is another form of invading a person’s “castle”.
In connection with Western feeling about privacy, there is certain English expression meant to be deliberately vague. If a person says I am going out, one should not ask where. If he/she says I have an appointment, it would be improper to ask with whom or what kind of appointment it is. Likewise, if a woman claims she has a headache, it would not do to be over-solicitous and ask what the trouble is, or whether or not she needs some medicine. If she really is in distress, she will probably say so. A none-native speaker should know that expressions mentioned above are often excuses for not doing something or not accepting some offer or invitation. They are “defensive” expressions to stop further question.
5.0 Conclusion
Different from other cultural phenomena in language, verbal taboo is the one we should not only know how to use them, but how not to use them. We have seen that certain words or notions are avoided because of unpleasantness and roundabout expressions are substituted, thus, we have euphemisms. But some words and expressions are to be avoided because tradition or social customs strongly frown on their use. The core of issue of verbal taboo is the social ideology and cultural system in which a language takes root. Both of them are accumulated and promoted from generation to generation. As long as we understand the social ideology and cultural system of the foreign languages, we would be proper in our behaviors and make it easier to communicate with foreigners. In conclusion, taboo came into being with the obscuration and imagination of our forefathers and developed with the social metabolism. In the process of getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh, the verbal taboo has been one of the important components in language and would function more significantly in cross-cultural communication.
References：
[1]E. Lenneberg(Ed.), 1964, A Study of Cross-cultural Communication[J]. England: National Centre for Industrial Language Training.
[2]J.Dan Rothwell, 1982, Telling It Like It Isn’t [M]. The University of Alabama Press.
[3]Larson Mildreel L, 1998, A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence[M].University Press of America, Inc.
[4]Salzmann, 1993, Language, Culture & Society[M]. New York: West view press. Inc.
[5]Davis, 2001, Cross-cultural Communication in Verbal Taboo [Z]. Bei Jing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
[6]陈原，1980，《语言与社会生活》[M]。北京：新知三联书店出版社.
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