Abstract

With the progress of society and the development of globalization, nowadays people who have different languages become involved in inter-cultural communication more and more frequently. However, people in different cultures will treat different things as taboo and to varying degrees, which makes a complex world of human interaction. Because taboo words are a kind of complex cultural phenomenon, and handling it properly is one of the key factors in successful conversation, people often try to avoid it in order to get in harmony with others. The long history of taboo words exists in not only different dynasties but also religions, countries, daily life and so on. Due to the differences in cultural background, ideology and values between Chinese and English speaking people, the content and forms of verbal taboo also have some differences, and these differences often bring some barriers to intercultural communication.
So our aim in researching and analyzing taboo words differences between Chinese and English is to make readers have a more profound system of understanding in cross-cultural communication, to communicate effectively. The present thesis consists of five parts: the Introduction presents an overview of the differences of taboo words between Chinese and English; chapter One is chiefly concerned with the origin and function of taboo words; chapter Two focus on analyzing a few difference of taboo words; chapter Three talks about the changing of taboo words in contemporary society, serving as development supporting for the preceding chapters; the conclusion is a summing-up of the whole paper.

Key words: taboo words; inter-culture communication; cultural differences

摘  要

随着社会的发展和全球化趋势，不同语言体系的人们越来越频繁地进行着跨文化交流。然而，在不同的文化中人们对禁忌语的看待是不同的，或者对同一禁忌语的注重程度也是不同的，因为禁忌语是人类社会普遍的一种复杂的社会现象，能否灵活地掌握它很大程度上决定着这场对话的成败，因此我们在交流中应尽量避免它，从而达到和谐局面。禁忌语不仅存在于不同的历史年代中，还在不同宗教、不同国家以及日常生活中等等。由于中英的不同的文化背景、意识形态和社会价值观，禁忌语言的内容和形式也有所不同，而这些差异往往给在跨文化交际带来些阻碍。
因此我们研究和分析中英禁忌语差异的目的就是使读者对中英禁忌语有更深刻更系统的了解，在跨文化交际中能够知己知彼，有效沟通。本论文由五部分组成:引言概述禁忌中文和英文之间的差异；第一章主要关注的是禁忌语的起源和社会功能；第二章分析一些重点禁忌词的区分差异；第三章谈论禁忌词在当代社会中的变化,作为对前面章节发展；结论是整个论文的总结。

关键词：禁忌语; 跨文化交际; 文化差异