1、【关键词】比较；英国禁忌语；中国禁忌语；跨文化交际 【指导老师】王 露 【专业】英语 【正文】I. IntroductionIn China,“入境而问禁；入国而问俗；入门而问讳” 1 have been a norm of behavior for thousands of yearsSimilarly, in west，“when in Rome，do as the Romans do”is also the norm of westernFor the purpose of successful intercultural communication, both east and wes
2、t people all emphasize on the studying the knowledge of taboos. And linguistic taboo exists universally in almost all of the languages and culturesThe violation of linguistic taboo is regarded impolite and offensive，but people from different cultures do not all agree on what are linguistic taboos an
3、d what should be tabooedEven taboo in the same thing may have different implications，since people from different cultures have established different social customs and cultural orientationsIn intercultural communication，they may interpret each others speech and behavior in accordance with their own
4、beliefs and values and adopt different politeness strategies to achieve their goalsAt the same time，with the development of transportation, information technology and the globalization of economy, communication between people from different cultures are increasingly frequent and extensiveIn this pro
5、cess，people are increasingly conscious of the existence of cultural diversity, and they gradually notice that differences produce great barriers to social or intercultural communication.Human tolerance and desire for communication do help to reduce these differences and enhance mutual understanding
6、but there are still some aspects such as some taboos that are beyond peoples acceptability because of its sensitiveness，misunderstanding,unhappiness，conflict or even disastrous consequences may occur due to the violation of certain taboosConsidering what have been mentioned above, when intercultural
7、 communication occurs more frequently and more extensively, a systematic study of linguistic taboos in intercultural communication becomes an imperativeMastering taboos knowledge in Chinese and English helps to cultivate intercultural competenceIt is particular conducive to the management of interpe
8、rsonal and intercultural conflicts，and enables people to produce harmonious relationshipsAs James Thurber has said in The East and The West,“Precision of communication is important, more than ever, in an era of hair-trigger balances when a false or misunderstood word may create as much a disaster as
9、 a sudden thoughtless act”2II. Literature ReviewA. The Definitions and Features of TabooOxford English Dictionary defines taboo as：words likely to be considered offensive, shocking or indecent by certain people（though not necessarily by everyone）In Chinese taboo is regarded as the indelicate or dirt
10、y wordTaboo is explained by the Modern Chinese Dictionary as the prohibited words or actions. According to modern linguists Robinett，taboo is a principle or criterion erected by society, which can prevent people from bad actionAs Wardhaugh states：“taboo is one way in which a society expresses its di
11、sapproval of certain kinds of behavior believed to be harmful to its members，either for supernatural reasons or because such behavior is held to violate a moral code”. Generally speaking, taboo has about it a sense of something unapproachable，and it is principally expressed in prohibitions and restr
12、ictionsLinguistic taboo，as a common social cultural phenomenon in both east and west, exists objectivelyIt has three features as below1. TemporalityWith the development of the society, some linguistic taboos changed and some disappeared or lost their original meaningIn the Qing dynasty the poet Xu J
13、un（徐骏）was killed because his poem had“Qing清”in his poem“清风不识字，何事乱翻书”But he wouldnt be killed in other dynastiesThe poem“清明时节雨纷纷”is widely loved before Qing dynastyIn English, the word“women” was once a taboo in Victorian Age，It meant mistress and adultery wifeBut now, it lost its original meaning an
14、d became a common word2. EthnocentricityEvery ethnic group has its own cultural patternLinguistic taboo，as an ethnic phenomenon, is influenced by the economy, social structure and belief of the whole groupTake age as an exampleChinese people dont care about old ageSometimes, we especially call someo
15、ne“Zhang Lao张老”,“Wang Lao王老”，for respectBut this is totally unacceptable in English-speaking countriesIn their opinion,“old老”means useless，and people will feel offended if they are described to be oldSo women keep their age secret in the English-speaking countries and seldom talk about age3. Context
16、-reliabilityThe usage of taboos is limited by the social conditions and the psychological factorsThe context confines the usage of the taboosIn formal situations like social gatherings and banquets，people will pay more attention to taboos，which can be used in private situationsA lot of Chinese taboos are confined by the special context
