Abstract:With the advancement of globalization, interactions between cultures have been increasingly intensified. When people because of different cultural backgrounds communicate, they may meet some different problems, and lead to misunderstanding and conflicts may arise. Linguistic taboo is an important part of social taboo, which widely exists in all aspects of people’s life. In order to achieve a better communicative effect, and weaken the sensitivity and irritation of unpleasant or inconvenient to say so taboo, making the language become elegant, implicit, and pleasant to the ear. We need to study the similarities and differences between different languages and cultures, find problems and find ways to solve them. Numerous studies have shown that the language and its application are deeply rooted in the specific social culture. Without understanding of social cultural context or the communication context, we cannot really understand the language itself.

Key word: intercultural communication; related factors; linguistic taboo; features

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Introduction-1

I. Linguistic taboo-2

  A. Definition of Linguistic taboo-2

  B. Development of linguistic taboo-3

  C. Features of Linguistic Taboo-5

II .The Differences in Chinese Linguistic Taboos and English Linguistic Taboos-7

  A. Taboos in Birth, Age, Illness and Death-7

  B. Taboos in Time and Number-8

  C. Taboos in Personal Privacy-9

  D. Taboos in Expletive Words-10

  E. Taboos in Racial Discrimination-11

III. Taboos in Verbal and Non-verbal Communication-13

  A. Taboos in Verbal Communication-13

  B. Taboos in Non-verbal Communication-16

Conclusion-18

Bibliography-19

Acknowledgements-20