Abstract:Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon, and also is a very important communicative strategy that people use widely in their daily life. It refers to an expressive approach that people use indirect, pleasant and elegant language instead of impolite and disrespectful one. Many scholars abroad and at home pay much more attention for its research due to its strong communicative functions. They have studied its definition, classification, formation devices and communicative principles and so on from the perspectives of lexics, rhetoric, and semantics. While the usage and communication of euphemisms not only restrict from words and sentences rather tend to practical application. The author will choose euphemisms from Desperate Housewives as its corpus, taking the context of situation as the key point to analyze representative conversations. So the author summarizes the strategies of expressing euphemisms, as well as appreciating the communicative effects in different situations. Eventually, the author get a conclusion that the usage and communication of euphemisms does not only be relevant to language itself, and it also have a great relationship with these language contexts of talkers, talker’s intentions, and social values. 

Through the author’s study about euphemisms, it can make us have a better understanding for euphemisms of Desperate Housewives so as to comprehend American culture, euphemistic phenomenon and the humor and elegance of their language. Also it can help people avoid embarrassment in cross-culture communications as well as its referential significance for English learners.  

Key Words: Euphemism;Desperate Housewives; Pragmatic study

摘要:委婉语是一种常见的语言现象，也是人们在日常生活交流中广泛使用的一种交际策略，它是指一种婉转、令人愉悦的、较为高雅的言语以替代可能冒犯对方的那些不礼貌、不尊重人的表达方式。由于它强大的交际功能，一直都受到国内外众多学者的密切关注，学者们分别从词汇学，修辞学，语义学等方面研究了委婉语的定义，分类，形成手段，交流原则等。但委婉语的使用与交流并不仅仅局限于词汇与句子，而是更倾向于实际运用。本文主要从语用学角度，以美剧《绝望的主妇》为语料，以情景语境为分析重点，对其具有代表性的委婉语对话进行文本分析，总结委婉语表达的使用技巧，赏析委婉语在不同语境中的表达效果，最终探究出委婉语的使用与交流不仅与语言本身有关系，更与说话者，说话的意图，社会价值观，这些语境因素密不可分。

通过本文的研究，能够使大家更好理解《绝望的主妇》中委婉语的实际表达意义,从而了解美国文化中的委婉语现象和语言表达的得体性与幽默性，也能够使人们在跨文化交际中避免尴尬达到理想的表达效果，而且对广大英语学习者学好英语具有借鉴意义。  

关键词：委婉语；《绝望的主妇》；语用研究

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1Introduction-1

1.1Introduction of Desperate Housewives-1

1.2Introduction of Euphemisms-3

1.3Purpose and Significance of the study-3

2Literature Review-5

2.1Studies on Euphemism Abroad-5

2.2 Studies on Euphemism at Home-6

3Pragmatic Analysis of Euphemisms in Desperate Housewives-8

3.1Situational Context and Euphemism-8

3.1.1Participant and Euphemism-9

3.1.2Participant’s Intention and Euphemism-11

3.1.3Settings and Euphemism-11

3.1.4Participant’s Social Convention and Euphemism-13

3.2Cultural Context and Euphemism-13

3.2.1 Context and Culture-13

3.2.2 Motivation and Euphemism-14

4 Implications-16

4.1Implications for Cross-cultural Communication-16

4.2Implications for English Language Teaching..16

5Conclusions-18

References-19

Acknowledgments-21