ABSTRACT

On account of the fact that the euphemism is a powerful tool that almost everyone uses in their daily life, euphemisms can be found in all cultures in the world, which has now become the study focus of worldwide linguistics. In recent years, the political euphemism, which is a sub-stream of the euphemism, has been widely used by the politicians who resort to euphemisms as a “safe” way when they deal with unpleasant subjects or criticize their opponents to maintain their public images without giving a negative impression to their audience. 

The previous studies mainly analysed the euphemism from the semantic and pragmatic perspectives. However, the purpose of this paper is to gain an insight, from the rhetoric perspective, into the concrete figures of speech like understatement, metonymy etc. in American presidential speeches and political reports. The presidents resort to this strategy to attract the public and persuade them to accept their ideas. And the political reports also aim to soften the real situations. The real situations employing the euphemisms are discussed in this paper to have an analysis of corresponding figures of speech. The author focuses on the reason why the euphemism is used and how the euphemism is used so that people will understand the real meaning of the political discourse to avoid being deceived. 

Keywords: euphemism; political euphemism; rhetoric perspective

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two PREVIOUS STUDIES OF EUPHEMISM-3

2.1 Previous Studies of Euphemism Abroad-3

2.2 Previous Studies of Euphemism In China-4

Chapter Three POLITICAL EUPHEMISM-6

3.1 Definition-6

3.2 Classification-7

  3.3 Functions-7

Chapter Four APPLICATION OF THE POLITICAL EUPHEMISM -9

4.1 Political Euphemism in American Presidential Speeches-9

   4.1.1 Understatement-9

   4.1.2 Upgrading-10

   4.1.3 Metonymy-12

4.2 Political Euphemism in Political Reports-13

   4.2.1 Understatement-13

   4.2.2 Upgrading-13

   4.2.3 Metonymy-14

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-15

WORKS CITED-16