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Hall, D. & Hewings, A. (2000). Innovation in English Language Teaching. London: Routledge. Krois-Lindner, Amy & TransLegal. (2007). International Legal English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DUBRAVKA PAPA Faculty of Law, J. J. Strossmayer University S. Radića 15, 31000 Osijek, Croatia 56
THE FUNCTION OF EUPHEMISMS IN THE LANGUAGE OF NEWSPAPERS AND POLITICAL SPEECHES ŽELJKO RIŠNER Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, Osijek, Croatia zeljko.risner@os.t-com.hr ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to describe the use of euphemisms in daily newspapers as a means of public communication, and to analyze and compare transcripts of some Croatian and foreign politicians’ speeches. Euphemisms shall be extracted and described with respect to some of their functions: the first and primary function of softening facts and presenting them in a manner more acceptable for the masses, but also the secondary, derived function of (mis)using euphemisms for political purposes. Such derived euphemisms are intended to allow the speaker to alter the interpretation of his statements, depending on contextual needs. Such procedure frequently neglects the principles of political consistence and correctness and puts in question the credibility of the author of the statement. Keywords: Euphemisms; Euphemization; Taboo words; Political speeches 1. INTRODUCTION Every language communication is subject to a number of rules of which we are frequently unaware and apply them “out of habit”. From the earliest age, for example, we are taught that we must be polite, that we must expresses ourselves nicely, taking care of whom we are talking to and what we are talking about, and that we must choose our words very carefully. The fact is that with the acquisition of language we also acquire a system of written and unwritten rules about its pragmatism, i.e. about its usage in different situations and in different surroundings. The instruction that we must express ourselves nicely, however, often does not suggest which words and expressions should be used - on the contrary, it rather warns us that there are words and phrases that should not be used, that need to be avoided, and that are rude, prohibited, taboo. And here we get to the root of problem: the words in question are closely connected with basic life and body functions, with the very beginning of life and its end, with different illnesses and addictions, with a wide spectrum of human activities, as well as with the politics, with relations between nations and states… In short, they are omnipresent. Since simple deletion of the taboo-words from texts is impossible because it would make the communication impossible, it is necessary to replace them with acceptable, “good” words/expressions following the principle of closeness or similarity of meaning. Such acceptable, good words or expressions are called euphemisms 1 . Euphemisms are, therefore, part our everyday life. We use them in the communication with colleagues at work, in discussing our favourite topics while having coffee with our friends, in a variety of situations in family surroundings, while we are talking with our children, spouse, relatives… In most cases we are not aware that we are using euphemisms, partly because of their conventionality, and partly because euphemisms are rather difficult to be recognized as such since, according to their 57
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JOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC STUDIES 1
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EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Assist. Prof
Page 7: FOREWORD The sixth issue of the Jou
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Page 16 and 17: REFERENCES Actualités en Afrique.
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Page 34 and 35: CONCLUSION The insufficient degree
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Page 40 and 41: REFERENCES Birdsong, D. (2006). Age
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Page 93 and 94: CONTRIBUTORS’ BIO DATA Azamat AKB
Page 95: Jasna VUJCIĆ has an MA in Linguist
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