Approaches to Classifying Euphemisms

Gulnara Mavlonova Abdigani Kizi

Navoi Innovations University, Karmana, Navoiy, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Euphemism, Taboo, Classification, Forbidden Words, Dysphemisms, Phenomenon, Slang, Humor, Phrase,

Unspeakable Words.

Abstract: This article is written about the origin of taboos and euphemisms and their study by scientists. First, it is

written about how and from which word the concepts of taboo and euphemism come from. Also, the article

describes the work of researchers who approached the classification of euphemisms and their innovations in

this field. information is given. It is possible to find out how the process of euphemization occurs in different

countries of the world, how the phenomenon appeared in the history of linguistics. Scientists of different

countries have classified the phenomenon of euphemization and we can see examples of their definitions of

euphemism.

1 INTRODUCTION

Although the concept of "euphemism" may seem

unfamiliar to us, in fact, we use this concept in our

daily lives. As in all languages, this concept is mainly

about words that are not used in public places, in

texts, in the media, in situations where they cannot be

used. . In such situations, both the speaker and the

listener who uses euphemism understand the meaning

hidden under the word. “Euphemism" comes from the

Greek word, which is usually translated as

"harmony". In linguistics, the phenomenon of

euphemism is still lagging behind in terms of

research. This concept has been interpreted

differently by different scholars. When we talk about

taboo, we need to remember what taboo is.

2 APPROACHES TO

EUPHEMISM

CLASSIFICATION

So what is taboo? How did it come about? A taboo is

a prohibition of the actions and words of a certain

group of people at a certain time and in a certain way.

In short, a taboo is an unusable, forbidden language

phenomenon. - Timothy (1992) This article analyses

the concept of euphemism and taboo and provides

detailed information about the scientists who tried to

classify them in their scientific work and their work

within the euphemizing phenomenon. Scientists who

have studied the phenomenon of euphemism have

tried to classify this phenomenon more deeply.

Euphemisms and taboos are common ethnolinguistic

phenomena in most languages of the world. We still

don't have a source that shows when and how they

came in. However, euphemism is such an ancient tool

that its origins can be traced back to clans and tribes

like language. As a result of human development,

language is also changing, which causes the

phenomenon of euphemism to become an important

communication process. Scientists who lived in

Anglo-American society divide euphemism into the

following groups.

2.1 Euphemisms Are Inextricably

Linked with Taboo Words

There are taboo words in the language that are related

to human birth, aging process, illness and death. It is

already forbidden to say taboo words related to this

group. This is because such words, if spoken directly,

may harm the listener or a third party. If such words

are beautifully expressed and delivered with polite

words, they will not offend the listener, unpleasant

situations will be avoided. Below we will analyse

some euphemisms related to death, illness, birth.

Kizi, G.

Approaches to Classifying Euphemisms.

DOI: 10.5220/0012853400003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 387-390

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

387

Table 1: Euphemisms related to death, illness and birth.

Euphemisms related to death Euphemisms related to illness Euphemisms related to birth

1. Passed away: to die

2. Gone to a Better Place: Died

and gone to the afterlife or real life

3. No longer with us: dead

4. Gone to rest in peace: Being

dead and calm

5. Gone: died

1. Under the weather: feeling a little

unwell

2. Not feeling well: sick or ill

3. Struggle for life: suffering from a

serious illness

4. Unclean: to feel sick or ill

1. Blessed day: The birth of a baby

2. The arrival of a new member:

the birth of a new family member

3. Welcoming a new guest: the

birth of a new family member

4. Bringing new life into the

world: The act of giving birth

5. Bring joy: Often used to express

joy at birth

2.2 Euphemisms for Politeness

A euphemism is usually used to say something that

cannot be said or said. It is polite not to be offended,

not to tell the truth directly when there is no third

person around or during the conversation. and

beautiful euphemisms can be used. For example:

 "Senior Citizen" instead of "Old Man":

"Senior Citizen" is said to avoid offending an

elderly person.

 You can use the phrase "disabled" instead of

the word "disabled": This phrase usually

refers to the disability of a disabled person,

not a person with a disability.

 "Blind" instead of "blind": This expression is

used to describe a blind person in a more

sensitive and respectful way.

 "Chubby" instead of "Fat": This phrase is

often used to avoid offending someone who

is overweight.

2.3 Political Euphemisms

The term euphemism is widely used as a rhetorical

tool in social activities, especially on the political

front. Euphemisms appear almost every day. For

example, a poor country can be called a developing

country; it is appropriate if we use the word

"developing country" instead of the word poor. Since

ancient times, black people have been called African

Americans, and Indians have been called real

Americans.

2.4 Professional Euphemisms

In order to decentralize the traditional "low-level

occupation", some euphemisms related to the

industry should be used in life, for example:

 A waiter or waitress is what people call a

kitchen attendant.

 Seller of persons engaged in trade activities.

 Housewife, in place of the word household.

 Landscape architect - a person who conducts

landscape activities.

 And the word plumber is called a pipe

engineer.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The phenomena of taboo and euphemism have been

fundamentally different from each other since ancient

times. However, if we look at history, not only the

concept of euphemism, but also the development of

language is a process that has not been studied in

depth. The study of taboos and euphemisms began

only in the second half of the 19th century. Taboo and

euphemism are two different concepts. In the field of

linguistics, especially in ethnolinguistics, it is very

important to know the difference between these

concepts.

It should be noted here that taboo is a religious

prohibition of certain actions to prevent the

manifestation of hostility of supernatural forces

among primitive peoples, and taboo is a certain

prohibition to prevent the manifestation of hostility of

supernatural forces among primitive peoples. It is no

exaggeration to say that the movements are prohibited

by religion. Usually, taboo words are created for

socio-economic reasons. The idea of a natural

connection between an object and its name,

characteristic of the early stages of cultural

development, gave rise to the identification of the

object and the word, resulting in the belief in the

magic of the word and the verbal taboo, meaning It is

forbidden to use certain things and events: the names

of gods, spirits and demons, death, disease, many

animals, fire, the sun, the moon, parts of the human

body, etc. Taboos are forbidden words, which, as a

rule, have their own strict territorial, social and

temporal boundaries. There are also prohibited words

in the modern language, which include: physiological

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processes, words denoting body parts, prohibition of

swearing, places where people live during war, hiding

military units, etc. At this point the question may

arise, what is the purpose of the taboo? Kate Burridge,

a scholar of taboos and euphemisms, in her book

explores the concept of linguistic taboos and how to

beautify or change language to avoid taboo topics and

convey words beautifully. Burridge researched the

taboo words of different countries and explained how

to avoid taboo words and express them beautifully.

The author gave detailed information about the taboo

in the book. – Allan et al., (2006)

In this book, the author also touched on the fact

that the taboo language is a social phenomenon and

the cultural consequences of this concept. Based on

the above, it can be said that the purpose of the taboo

is not the concept itself, but the exclusion of the use

of the original word. A word or phrase that replaces

Z is called a euphemism. The well-known scientist T.

Wenzel defined euphemism as follows. Euphemism

(from the Greek. uni-good and femi-deyman) is a

word or phrase that replaces an impolite or sincere

word. Early forms of euphemism arose out of

superstition and superstition. 'Euphemism is the

replacement of words that are very rude or not used

in speech. Initially, this was a taboo process. When it

comes to euphemization, L.P, Krisin, V.I.Jelvis,

N.A.Evseeva and others have considered this

phenomenon diachronically and synchronically. In

the works of V.P.Moskvin, E.I.Sheygal,

T.L.Pavlenko, A.A.Andreeva and others, various

methods of forming the euphemism process were

studied. The work of V.V.Xlinova was reviewed in

connection with the study of the field of euphemism

assessment; Yu.D. Apresian writes about euphemism

as a form of negative evaluation of "limited rebuke".

N.V.Tishina studied euphemisms as a complex

linguistic, social and cognitive phenomenon and

analyzed them in his works. They are trying to

organize the classification of euphemisms. Another

researcher, E.P.Senichkina, studied the formal

features of defining negative signs of euphemisms

and improving them from the point of view of

denotation. E.P.Senichkina writes: "These are

euphemisms that make up the bulk of discretionary

use." E.P Senichkina studied the various

classifications available in science and examined

euphemisms morphologically. In the process of

research, the researcher proposes a lexical-semantic

classification of euphemisms, in turn, this thematic

classification should be read as a thematic

classification. The researcher studied the types of

euphemism from a modern point of view and

describes as follows: "We can use input-modal

components as signals of the euphemistic situation: to

put it mildly, to put it mildly A sign of a euphemistic

situation in oral speech is a special lowering of the

tone. - Senichkina (2006)

In written speech, the fall in pitch is given in a

descriptive way (at the same time he lowered his

voice or coughed and whispered and others. "To find

out if a euphemism has been used, the researcher

explains: “We recommend using a linguistic tool to

make sure that this language unit is a euphemism. It

is recommended to use this linguistic unit in relation

to an interlocutor with a high social status. If the other

party does not get offended or change his position

during the speech, it is possible to know that

euphemism was used. may be unique. It is

distinguished from other language devices by the

degree of "softness":

"The process of euphemization has nothing to do

with historical words and events, they are a linguistic

phenomenon that appeared along with the

development of speech and is still happening today.

Therefore, in linguistics, euphemisms are substitute

language units that occupy a minimal place. Phrases

used by speakers of the modern language, expressing

bad, rude words in the modern language and

expressing them in a gentle way, are divided into the

following groups.

 Expressive euphemisms with a specific

pattern in the language and a certain origin.

 The identity of a person or thing is unknown,

also.

 Historical euphemisms and dysphemisms. -

Ruzieva (2020)

V. P. Moskin studies the process of euphemization

and divides it into the following groups:

 Based on vague speech.

 On the basis of intentional ambiguity.

 Based on a false statement.

 When defining the object directly

(terminology, use of foreign words).

He also identified three main difficulties in hiding

meaning in euphemisms: e.g., a watering can instead

of an insect - first class; a louse instead of an insect -

secondary; KGB instead of corpses - third level.

Different methods of encryption are also studied -

simple (for example, old instead of old) and

combined. Among the studied classifications, the

most accurate is the thematic classification of

euphemisms developed by L.P.Krysin, which divides

euphemisms into four main ones, united by a topic or

field:

 Some physiological processes and

conditions.

Approaches to Classifying Euphemisms

389

 Some parts of the body related to the

"bottom”.

 Relations between the sexes.

 Sickness and death. - L.P. Krysin (1994)

Romanova N.N, Filippov A.V.E defined

euphemisms as follows: "Euphemism is an

expression to soften rude and obscene words."

 Wednesday: Often discusses other people's

problems (gossip);

 He does not consider learning to be the main

task of his life (he does not want to learn);

 Does not overburden himself with other

people's concerns (is not inclined to help

people).

 Does not always speak his mind (tends to lie).

 In all these examples there is a softening of

the negativity expressed, but at the same time

there is often a humorous tone.

Let's consider the following classifications made by

R.Holder. During the study of euphemisms, the

researcher divides them into 60 lexical-semantic

groups. It can be seen from these classifications that

the denotative content of euphemisms is diverse and

prolific.

Another researcher who created a dictionary of

euphemisms studied euphemisms semantically and

distinguished two prohibited areas in the process of

their classification.

1. Universal primitive taboo areas of the forbidden:

 Ethical and moral euphemisms.

 Change old names.

2. Traditionally prohibited areas:

 Prestigious euphemisms.

 Euphemisms of etiquette.

 Ideological euphemisms

Euphemism is used in a situation that does not

correspond to the culture of speech. For example, in

order not to offend the listener, saying "overweight"

instead of "fat", saying "ear thief" instead of "skinny"

will not offend either the second party or the third

party. The phenomenon of euphemism was studied by

B.A.Larin, A.M.Katsev, N. S.Boschaeva,

L.Vartyushkina, G.G.Kujim and other linguists were

classified in different ways and examples were given

in linguistics. For example, L. V. Artyushkina studied

the exchange and semantic type of euphemism, while

N. S. Boschaeva studied its pragmatic origin. G.G.

Kudjim explained euphemism as a "meliorating" tool

of language.

4 CONCLUSIONS

As long as there is language, euphemisms live in

language like other living things. Language and

human life are an inseparable phenomenon, that is, as

long as there is a person, as long as there is a

language, humanity cannot be imagined without

language. Each word that appears is a separate asset.

euphemism is used to hide inappropriate and

unacceptable words. Euphemism is always at our

service to cover up the indecent, indecent,

inappropriate situations in the people. As you can see,

taboo and euphemism are closely related. Progress

When and how to use these phenomena is decided by

humanity, it is used by linguists and scientists.

Euphemisms do not have to be used in an

inappropriate or inappropriate situation but should

have a nice effect on the listener. euphemisms serve.

REFERENCES

Allan and Burridge. Euphemisms and dysphemisms:

Language as a shield and weapon. Oxford University

Press. 2006

Senichkina EP Euphemisms of the Russian language: a

special course book for university students with special

education. "Philology" - M: Secondary school, 2006.

Holder RW, How Not to Say What You Mean: A

Dictionary of Euphemisms, Oxford University Press,

504 pages, 2003.

Ismatullaev N. Euphemisms in modern Uzbek language:

Author. diss ... cand. Philol. Thu

Katsev AM. Euphemism in Modern English: An Abstract.

dis .... doctor. Philol. sciences. L.

Krysin LP Euphemisms in modern Russian speech. Russian

Studies - Berlin, 1994

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