ABSTRACT

Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon existing in different communicative situations. Political euphemism, as a subfield of euphemism, plays an essential role in political life in America. To analyze political euphemism, the author of the present study attempts to use Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory as theoretical framework, and American Presidents’ public speeches as research materials, which are typical American political speeches. 

This study does research on 4 political speeches delivered by 2 American presidents: President Obama and President Nixon. It mainly analyzes how American presidents use political euphemisms to adapt to the mental, social and physical world, covering lots of factors, in order to achieve their communicative purposes.

The significance of the present study can be shown from two aspects: theoretical aspect and practical aspect. First, it can enrich the present studies on political euphemisms and euphemisms. Second, it can improve the understandability of English political euphemisms, reducing misunderstanding to help people be well aware of the political situations in the world. Third, it can also appeal to more English learners to the researches on euphemisms. 

Key words: political euphemism; Adaptation Theory; context; American presidents’ speeches

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 An Overview of Euphemism-3

2.1.1Definitions of Euphemism-3

2.1.2 Classifications of Euphemism-4

2.2 Political Euphemism-4

2.2.1 Definitions of Political Euphemism-4

2.2.2 Political Euphemism Used in Different Situations-4

2.2.3 Constitution of Political Euphemism-6

2.3 Previous Studies of Political Euphemism-6

2.3.1 Overseas Studies of Political Euphemism-6

2.3.2 Domestic Studies of Political Euphemism-7

Chapter Three THEORETICAL FOUNDATION：VERSCHEUREN’S ADAPTATION THEORY-9

3.1 An Overview of Verschueren's Adaptation Theory-9

3.2 Contextual Adaptation-10

3.3 Summary-11

Chapter Four DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION-13

4.1 Political Euphemisms in Presidents’ Speeches-13

4.2 Political Euphemism as Adaptation to the Mental World-14

4.3 Political Euphemism as Adaptation to the Social World-15

4.4 Political Euphemism as Adaptation to the Physical World-16

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-19

REFERENCES-21