Research Proposal
By Li Yalong
Class 1, Grade 2012
No. 2012091102
Supervisor: (Zhou Yangquan)
（Lecturer）
(The Culture Differences between English and Chinese Death
Euphemisms)
January 11, 2016
School of Foreign Languages and Literature
Longdong University
Research Proposal
Li Yalong
School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Longdong University
I. Title of thesis
The Culture Differences between English and Chinese Death Euphemisms II. Purpose and significance of study
Euphemism, a very familiar notion for us, always appears in our books when we study. And we can see many kinds of euphemisms in every corner of our life. But have you ever carefully studied it? With the coming of the economic globalization, the connection between the countries all over the world has become more and more close. In this process, many western thoughts and cultures were introduced to china. As we all know, there are many differences in many aspects such as values，religions，lifestyle and so on between Chinese and western people. Now we are mainly specialized on the study of the differences of the Death Euphemisms between Chinese and English. For Chinese people, whether in ancient or modern time, people of different statuses have different versions of the death. However, in western world, what are their opinions about the death and its euphemisms? Therefore，knowing the death euphemisms can 1
help us further understand the cultural differences between China and western countries. So, we need to analyze the meaning and the advantages of the euphemism especially death euphemism s that we can reduce the unhappiness in our life. Through the study of death euphemism, we can better understand the differences between China and west. Moreover we can strengthen our understanding of English and Chinese connotation.
III. Situation of study
Euphemism is an extremely common phenomenon in human history. There are always some particular words to express an action or a thing in an euphemistic way. Therefore, people have been focusing it for a long time. In 1981, Hugh Rawson wrote a dictionary of euphemism and other Double talk. In this dictionary, the author concluded the achievements that English and American linguistics have got. In 1983, American linguistics Neaman and Sliver published a dictionary called kind words a treasure of euphemism, in which the authors described the origin, the history, the development and the change of the euphemism. In China, in 1989 and in1995, Shu Dingfang stated three principles in the use of euphemism according to the theories of Grice and Leech, which is cooperation principle, politeness principle and self-protection principle. And he talked about some problems that have not been solved in the study of euphemism.
IV. Research questions and difficulty of study
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1. Both at home and abroad, there are few studies work to specialize on death euphemism.
2. From what aspects should we study death euphemism?
3. How we can conclude main points of death euphemism in other books?
4. How to compare English and Chinese euphemism?
V. Method and procedure of conduction
In this research, the method of analysis, the method of example, and the method of observation and so on can help us have a good command of death euphemism between English and Chinese.
VI. Schedule of study
Nov 25th, 2015---Dec 2nd, 2015 choosing the topic of my thesis Dec 3rd, 2015---Dec 5th, 2015 requirements and guidance of the
research proposal
Dec 6th, 2015---Jan 16th, 2016 writing the research proposal Jan 17th, 2016---Mar 20th, 2016 finishing the first draft
Mar 21st, 2016---Apr 10th, 2016 finishing the second draft
Apr 15th, 2016---Apr 25th, 2016 finishing the third draft
Apr 26th, 2016---May 8th, 2016 completing the final draft
VII. Outline of thesis
1. Introduction
1.1 What is euphemism?
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1.2. The function of euphemism
1.3. The features of euphemism
2. Origin of death euphemism and its development
2.1 The relationship between taboo and euphemism.
2.2 How has the study of death euphemism developed all over the world?
3. The similarities between English and Chinese death euphemisms 3.1 The description of death and cognition
3.2 The value of death
4. The differences between English and Chinese death euphemisms
3.1 The differences in age
3.2 The differences in social status
3.3 The differences in gender
3.4 The differences in religious belief
3.5. The differences in value
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
VIII. References
[1] Lawrence, Jeremy. Unmentionables and Other Euphemisms isms[M ]. London: Gentry Books, 1973.
[2]Neaman, J. S., Silver, C. G. Kind Words: a thesaurus of euphemisms
[M].New York: Facts or File, 1990
[3]Ulmann, S. Semantics: An Introduction to the Science of Meaning [M]. 4
Oxford:
Basil Blackwell, 1962.
[4]Quirk,R.,Stein,G.English in use[M].Harlow:Longman,
1990.
[5]Talmy, L. Toward a Cognitive Semantics [M].Cambridge:
MIT Press, 2000.
[6] Goodenough, W.H. Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics [M]. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1957.
[7] Samovar, L.A. et al. Communication Between Cultures [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.
[8] Rawson, Hugh. A Dictionary of Euphemism and Other Doubletalk. New
York: Crown Publishers, Inc. 1981.
[9] Ayto, John, C.G. Kind Words: A Thesaurus of Euphemisms. New York:
Facts On File, Inc. 1983
[10] Hudson, R. A. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
[11]胡文仲. 文化与交际[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1994.
[12]张宇平. 委婉语[M]. 北京：新化出版社，1998.
[13]李国南.委婉语与宗教[J].福建外语,2000,(3).
[14]包丽虹.汉语死亡委婉语之文化成因探[J].内蒙古大学学报,2000,(6).
[15]关世杰.跨文化交流学[M].北京:北京大学出版社,1995.
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第二篇：初中部英语课题开题报告
威坪中学教育科研教师小课题研究申报表
一、课题名称及主要参加者的基本情况
二、课题设计论证
三、课题研究步骤、进程
四、审核意见
说明：
1.申报的小课题切入口要小，要立足教育教学实际，贴近学科教学，研究教育教学中的真问题，要有实效性和创新性；课题名称表述要准确、规范、简洁、科学；研究周期一般为1学年。
2、小课题以个人独立研究为主，也可合作研究，最多不超过3人，原则上一人只能参与一项课题的研究。
3、小课题由学校审核，经教科室批准后才能立项。
淳安县威坪中学教科室
20##-9-1
台 山 市 教 育 科 研 课 题
申 报 审 批 书
学科分类： 英 语
申报课题名称：培养农村初中学生英语自主学习能力的探索
课题负责人： 陈 华 景
负责人所在单位： 台山市冲蒌中学
一、基本情况
二、课题设计论证
三、完成项目的可行性
四、研究工作进度
五、预期研究成果
六、审核意见
