Euphemism: What is its role in lexical change?
Written by:
Fahd AlAlwi
January 2008
Introduction
'In this century we live, not simply amidst change, but in the expectation of change. Perhaps, realizing this expectation mentally, we are inclined to realize it in fact. Yet linguistic change has been the norm in English for at least a thousand years: all major commentators on the state of the language have been impressed - usually- depressed by its transience in spelling, in grammar, in syntax and in semantics, aspects which, generally speaking, have been studied in that order.'(Hughes 1988)
This essay is an attempt to relate euphemism to its role in lexical change. This role will be discussed through studying the fields of lexical change: semantic change and lexical innovation as the fields through which euphemism might affect languages with respect to lexical change. However, before discussing this question it might be necessary to define euphemism and talk about and give examples for its general categories under which the use of euphemism falls whether they are of taboo kind like for instance sex and death, or not taboo like the use of euphemism to convey better overtone instead of bad or neutral overtone which is widely used in languages of politics and advertising.
Euphemism
'A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one's face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or of some third party.'(Allan and Burridge 1991:11). Generally speaking, euphemism is used in a way to evade uttering taboo terms. Taboo leads to lexical change of words as a result of their contamination by the taboo topic. Allan and Burridge (1991:22) states that ‘taboo terms are contaminated by the taboo topics that they denote; but by definition the euphemisms are not -or not yet- contaminated’. Although taboo might be culture-bound, different languages are similar in that they share the general categories which have been the most productive sources of euphemisms: sex, death, excretion, illness, politics, and religion. Moreover, euphemism can fall under categories other than taboo. It can be used to convey a better connotation which is a well-known convention in the industry of advertising.
Sex has been very sensitive issue in societies. Despite the fact that its sensitivity is relativistic; and because sex 'evokes many moods" as suggested by Epson (1985:57) "it requires many distinct vocabularies." For example, "make love" is used to mean " to make sexual intercourse". It gives better overtone but depends on the context as well. It might not be used in the presence of children. In Saudi Arabia, even the closest friends might not use the direct word /nak/ , the Arabic counterpart for "fuck" but various euphemisms are used instead like /squaha/ "he did it" or /tereweS/ "he took a shower".
Death taboos are avoided and speakers use euphemisms instead. In English, a patient might say if any thing should happen to me in place of if I died but because they fear this fact, a euphemism in a way of circumlocution is used to convey the wanted meaning and in the same time evade mentioning the taboo. Arabic has an exact counterpart to the English if any thing should happen to me; an Arabic speaker in the same context would say /in sAPr li SEi/.
Excretion is among the topics for which speakers from their early age are taught euphemisms to use instead of the taboo words because it is socially embarrassing or even distasteful for somebody to tell his need. A child might say 'may I wash my hands' for I want to urinate for example. The same applies in Saudi Arabic, a child is taught to say /qbilhamam/ meaning 'I need the bathroom' for the same need.
Illnesses and names of diseases are taboos which speakers avoid mentioning because of the feeling of unease or sometimes -if the condition is rather serious- fear. 'The English word disease was once a euphemism: its constituent morphemes are dis-"cease to" and ease "be comfortable"(Allan and Burridge 1991:11). Speakers might say that somebody is unwell instead of bluntly saying he is sick. In Egyptian Arabic, speakers say /hewE bi afiq/ meaning he is in good health to mean that he is sick.
Religion and names of gods have been rich sources for euphemisms for reasons like fear and obedience. Speakers say gosh, goodness, and good gracious instead of saying God. Oh, my word is used to avoid saying oh, my Lord. Borrowed words might be used as a euphemism for god's name like in what the deuce.. 'Although what the deuce…is formally analogous to what the dickens…and what the devil…,'deuce' here derives from the Norman French oath Deus! "God." (Allan and Burridge 1991:39).
(Hughes,G 1988:213) cited in Orwell's (Politics and the English Language 1958:85) as saying '…thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullet; this is called pacification.' Recent politics use of euphemism can be witnessed in words like friendly fire that was used in the war against Iraq to mean to fratricide. In Arabic, the Arabian governments use /DE wi qdEkl qlmEhdUPd/ for the English counterpart citizens of limited income or rather bluntly the poor.
Fields of Lexical Change in Euphemism
There are two ways through which euphemism can affect languages with regard to lexical change.
1-Semantic Change
Semantic change ( or Change of meaning) of lexical items is closely related to linguistic usage of these items which mostly lead to the change of their meanings over the course of time. McMahon, A. (1994:174) cited in Ulmann 1957 as saying 'It is often said that there is less resistance to change in the semantics than in other areas of the grammar, so that meaning changes relatively quickly and easily.' Euphemism, from its abovementioned definition, participates significantly in changing the meaning of lexical items resulting in the language change. Semantic change is classified, for the purpose of this essay, into three types: deterioration, extension, and narrowing. Each type will be studied in this section in terms of its definition, giving exemplifications from languages of English and Arabic, and relating each one of them to its role in lexical change.
1.1 Deterioration
‘In historical linguistics, a term used in the classification of types of semantic change, referring to the development of a sense of disapproval in a lexical item’ (Crystal 1997:133). This kind of semantic change whereby the word starts to denote pejorative connotations tends to have indications of social change as suggested by Hughes,G (1988:12). Euphemistic words and expressions, as said earlier, have the characteristic of acquiring the connotation that the taboos convey and would eventually fall out of use. For instance, the word undertaker used to be a euphemism for someone who undertakes taking care of funeral. In the present, undertaker is not a euphemism anymore because with the course of time, it has deteriorated into a taboo by the influence of the taboo topic and a new euphemism has emerged: funeral director which Allan and Burridge (1991:22) expect it to 'be clipped to mere director , which will then follow undertaker and become a taboo term.' In Arabic, the word /muGAPk/ meaning disabled was used as a euphemism for /mESlUPl/ which bluntly means crippled, but this euphemism contaminated with the concept and has been replaced by the expression /DEwi lehtiajatel kase/ meaning people with special needs. The word /jenE/ in the standard Arabic is a good word which means fruit of a tree or the good product of something but its meaning had deteriorated during a certain period of time in the dialectal Bedouin in Najd (the central region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to mean the solid waste that comes out of somebody's bowels. Nowadays, /jenE/ has become a proper name and is a very nice one to call somebody's daughter, but older people still make fun of this name relating it to the old connotation it has.
1.2 Extension
‘In historical linguistics, a term used in the classification of types of semantic change, referring to a widening of meaning in a lexical item’(Crystal 1997:145). An example of this type could be seen in observing the change of meaning undergone by the word Box over time. This word was used in the past to referring to a container made of wood which might be used to keep precious things like jewellery, however in the present time the use of this word has extended its meaning to include boxes which are not necessarily made of wood nor used for keeping something precious like the match box. A euphemistic expression like I have got a cough is used to describe somebody's case to include the dispreferred connotation of a running nose. So, one neutral symptom here is used as a euphemism by the means of extension to convey broader meaning including the other undesirable symptoms. A related kind of euphemism is found in the following story that happened in Saudi Arabia. A bride's mother said to her son-in-law, the bridegroom, /merek ma tseli/ meaning your wife does not pray and he replied /wele enE/ meaning ' neither do I!' (she meant to tell him that the bride has her period and hence she is not ready for sexual intercourse as in Islam women who have got their period do not pray until it stops). This story illustrates the broadening of the meaning in the expression /ma tselI/ to encompass the two senses of having the menstruation and being not ready for sexual intercourse which are both still treated as taboos in most cultures.
1.3 Narrowing
'In historical linguistics, a term used in the classification of types of semantic change, referring to a restriction of meaning in a lexical item'(Crystal 1997:254). The use of the word member to mean penis demonstrates the restriction of the meaning of the word member to specifically refer to this part of the body. similarly, in Arabic, the penis might be referred to as /el udu/ literally meaning member to avoid the loss of one's or somebody else's face. Such restriction of meaning generates new senses to the word resulting in changing the meaning.
2-Lexical Innovation
Lexical innovation is a field where euphemism is introduced to avoid expressing taboo words or conveying bad overtones or distasteful connotations. 'lexical innovation requires a source of forms to provide the new lexical item, and since several types of forms are available to any language, a choice to be made as to which to use. Speakers are often conscious of lexical innovation and may do it deliberately. This sort of change has always been a part of language.'(Scholfield, P. Handout 2007). It is represented in different forms three of which: borrowing, abbreviations and remodeling will be investigated in terms of their meanings, and exemplifications from English and Arabic, relating each of which to its role in lexical change.
2.1 Borrowing
‘A term used in comparative and historical linguistics to refer to linguistic forms being taken over by one language or dialect from another’ (Crystal 1997:46). Borrowing from exotic languages or even from other dialects has the characteristic of smoothing the undesirable sense that is tied to a native word since it can distance the listener from the bad connotation. Once a new item is borrowed, it becomes one of the substitutes/synonyms of the native word and might occupy the place of the native word. A word like lingerie is widely used instead of using women's underwear. Being a French word, its connotation with dress accompanied by the prestigious pronunciation makes it suitable for the euphemistic use. The word lingerie is also used in Arabic without changing its pattern to suit the Arabic one. It is specifically used when someone is shopping to avoid the embarrassment resulting from mentioning the word /melabis dakilIE/ which literally means under wear and even shortened to /dakilIE/ which literally means under.
2.2 Abbreviation
Abbreviation is the use of initial letter/s of a word or words in a phrase. It functions as a euphemism to the extent that the taboo words might not be sometimes recognized by listeners. This kind of lexical change is found in various situations such as names for diseases. Although abbreviations for certain diseases are likely to be innovated as a result for the need for a name for a new high frequency word, it might also be partially correct that such an acronym gives euphemistic connotations to this disease. Flu is used to smooth its origin influenza ; this way of shortening the name seems to lessen its effect. Many pharmaceutical manufacturers use this characteristic to advertise for their products like Cold and Flu. In Arabic, a group of guys whom I knew have come up with new trends of talking about taboos without being caught by referring to them with initial sounds like in the case of the word /erisni/ meaning fuck me. For the sake of saying I bet if you can win, they say/AP kan fizt/ disguising the taboo word /erisni/.
2.3 Remodeling
Remodeling is the alteration of some letters/sounds of a word, generating a new word that takes on the old one's sense with the least dispreferred connotation. Swearing counts high for remodeling where speakers tend to evade speaking of taboo words. Words like sugar, shucks, or shoot are used instead of shit. Despite the fact that they denote the same sense of the word shit, they are likely to have better overtone than the word shit does. In Arabic, the word /wqilek/ meaning go to hell is used interchangeably with the euphemistic substitutes /wqihek/ and /wqisek/. The latter two words have actually no definite meanings but come up to be variants for the word /wqilek / with a better or at least less dispreferred overtone.
Conclusion
'Historical linguists and structuralists used to see language change as a punctual phenomenon which had different rates in different periods while sociolinguists see language change as a continuous phenomenon which needs to be examined in relation to the social context where it takes place' (Chambers, 2002: 364). It has been clear that language and society are interrelated and that social factors as is the case in the purpose for the use of euphemism significantly affect the language in that words are innovated and others disappeared for various reasons among which is the use of euphemism instead of taboo words or words with bad or neutral overtones.
Euphemism has always contributed to the process of language change. Its role in the language change is specifically clearer as this essay has shown in lexical change. It has been crystal clear in this essay that the two fields of lexical change, namely, semantic change and lexical innovation have provided good examples for such a change in the language. Throughout this essay, it has been shown that it is euphemisms that have the high turnover, not the taboo words as the latter usually survive. Brook 1958 states that "in the attempt to avoid what has now ceased to be a euphemism we sometimes see a revival of the original word that the euphemism was intended to avoid. Many undertakers now call themselves funeral directors." Moreover, words that are used as euphemisms rapidly deteriorate contaminated by the taboo sense, or lose their good overtones with the course of time. So, it can be said that there is a treadmill where euphemisms of one generation are by no means euphemisms for another generation. An example of this is the use of the word privy which was used as a euphemism to refer to what is now called bathroom. It is also worth mentioning that other meanings of a word might drop out of use not because they have bad connotation, but for their associations with other words with bad connotations either by connection via polysemy like the disappearance of other meanings of the toilet once it started being used as a euphemism for older privy, or by connection via homonymy with taboo words like in coney which sounds like cunt, cunny and is lost and replaced by rabbit. (Scholfield 2007: handout)
References
Allan, K. & Burridge, K.(1991), Euphemism and dysphemism, OUP, Oxford.
Brook, G. L.(1958), A History of the English language, Andre Deutsch Limited, London.
Chambers, J.K. (2002) Studying Language Variation: An Informal Epistemology. In Chambers, J.K., Trudgill, P. & Schilling- Estes (2002) The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, Blackwell
Crystal,D.(1997), The Cambridge encyclopedia, CUP, Cambridge.
Epson, J. (1985), "Sex and euphemism". In Enright, D.J. Fair of speech: the uses of euphemism, OUP, oxford, p.68
Huges, G.(1988), Words in time, Basil Blackwell, oxford.
McMahon, A.(1994), Understanding language change, CUP, Cambridge.
