Contrastive Analysis: Euphemisms in English and

Vietnamese with DEATH as examples

1- A brief overview of Contrastive Analysis
A systematic comparative study analyzing component wise the differences
and similarities among languages was clearly recognized toward the end of
19th century and the beginning of 20th century. The term Contrastive
linguistics was suggested by Whorf (1941) and was defined as a sub
discipline of linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more
languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the
differences and similarities between them, (Fisiak, 1981:1). Contrastive
Analysis is the method of analysing the structure of any two languages with a
view to estimate the differential aspects of their systems, irrespective or their
generic affinity or level of development. Contrastive analysis of two
languages becomes useful when it is adequately describing the sound
structure and grammatical structure of two languages, with comparative
statements, giving due emphasis to the compatible items in the two systems.
Contrastive analysis (CA) is the systematic study of a pair or more of
languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and
similarities. From 1940s to 1960s before the Second Language Acquisition
(SLA) field as we know it was established, Charles Fries (1945:9) wrote:
The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific
description of the language to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel
description of the native language of the learner. Robert Lado, in 1957
wrote: Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the
distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the
foreign language and culture- both productively and when attempting to speak

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the language and to act in the culture and receptively when attempting to
grasp and understand the language and culture as practiced by natives.
(1957, in Gass and Spelunker 1983, p.1). In the 1960s and early 1970s,
Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language
Acquisition. Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) this extension of the
notion of CA attributed the ability to predict errors to a CA of two languages,
a predictability that practitioners associated with the degree of similarity
between the two systems. Robert Lado wrote: .. those elements that are
similar to this native language will be simple for him, and those elements that
are different will be difficult..
The Contrastive Analysis emphasizes on the influence of the mother tongue in
learning a second language in phonological, morphological and syntactic
levels. Contrastive Analysis is not merely relevant for second language
teaching and learning but it can also make useful contributions to machine
translating and linguistics typology. It is relevant to the designing of teaching
materials for use in all age groups. Chaturvedi (1973) suggests the following
guiding principles for contrastive study: (1) To analyze the mother tongue and
the target language independently and completely.(2) To compare the two
languages item-wise-item at all levels of their structure. (3) To arrive at the
categories of a/ similar features b/ partially similar features c/ dissimilar
features for the target language. (4) To arrive at principles of text
preparation, test framing and target language teaching in general.
2- Some notes on euphemisms.
It is clear that language can be considered as an invaluable treasure that tell
very much about the world of which human beings are real masters. Indeed, it
is man that has played the key role in creating and developing such languages.
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Through decades, people have ceaselessly enriched and diversified linguistics

with many new concepts. Among them, the concept of using euphemisms
becomes more and more common in present day language. In all societies and
in certain circumstances, we can see that people may sometimes use some
words but not others which are considered as taboos. The word taboo here
was borrowed from Tongan, a Polynesian language, and in the society, it
refers to the acts which are to be avoided. When an act is taboo, reference to
this act may also become taboo. That is, first one is forbidden from doing
something; then one is forbidden talking about it. Taboos are valuable as an
index of the comfort or importance of a topic to a person or a culture. In other
words, taboos are the ones that are not be used, or at least, not to be used in
the polite society because of being considered rude, vulgar, or in some cases
too direct or indecent. So how can it be dealt with the issue of not using the
words in the taboo list? It is the existence of taboo words and/or taboo ideas
that stimulates the creation of euphemisms. The word euphemism originally
comes from Greek, with the prefix eu meaning good and the root
phemism meaning speech. Therefore the notion of euphemism refers to the
substitution of a mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or blunt or
direct one. As a part of the English language, euphemisms have been used
widely and there seems to be a tendency for its popularity. In other words, a
euphemism is a word or phrase which replaces a taboo word, or which is used
in the attempt to avoid either fearful or unpleasant topic (Victoria Fromkin et
al- An Introduction to Language, 2nd ed.) or a word or expression intended
by the speaker to be less offensive or objectionable than what it replaces
(Steward L. Tubbs & Sylvia Moss Human Communication, 7th ed. McGrawHill.). For example, when someone has passed away, the grief therapist
receives the client and prepares that loved one, makes arrangements, and soon
the dearly departed is interred. All this might sound a little circumspect or
evasive, when it is really meant that when someone has died; the funeral
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director receives the corpse and sees to it that the dead body is soon buried.
Euphemisms are not always used to deny death or to avoid talking about it.
Instead at times, euphemistic terms are used to reveal a more subtle or deeper
religious or cultural meaning when describing death or dying, such as an
everlasting sleep, passed or called home .. Probably in many
societies, death is something feared or that is closely related to the aspect of
religion. However, there are different religions in the world, such as:
Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism,.. Hence, there are a
great number of euphemisms which have been created to deal with the subject
fro different religious points of view.
3- Euphemisms for DEATH in English.
In English, death has become a four-letter obscene word; one that is not to be
used when talking to people in normal daily polite conversations. In an
attempt to find more socially acceptable terms and also to keep death at arms
length by masking its reality, people may use various euphemisms mild,
indirect or vague terms. The practice of using such words for death is likely to
have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word death was to
invite Death; where to draw Deaths attention is the ultimate bad fortune. It
may be said that one is not dying but fading quickly because the end is near.
People who have died referred to as having passed away, deceased or
departed. Moreover, euphemisms are also used to show the commemoration
and respect to the death and sympathy for his/her relatives and friends.
Therefore, when dealing with topics related to death or dying, people go to
great lengths to avoid using the words die, dying, death, dead. However, in
English speaking countries, Christianity is the most popular religion. It is
believed that when Jesus died on the cross he was giving up his life for other
peoples sins and demonstrating the love of God. When Jesus rose again he
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proved that it was possible to overcome death and live with God for all
eternity. Christians were free from the burden of original sins if they followed
Jesus teachings and examples and believed in him as the Son of God.
Therefore, for them, death is regarded as being reunited with the Father God
or simply going home. For them to die means: Asleep with Jesus/ Christ; fall
asleep in the arms of Jesus; gone to his heavenly Father; in the arms of
Father; come to Jesus; departed to God; met his/her Maker; go home; called
home; answer the last call; go to ones last home;. After death, the
soul of a dead man will, in some shape or form, goes to the land of death,
which is sometimes considered a happy place, but sometimes a place of
sadness. Often, the land of death seems to be a continuation of this current life
but in another type of existence. Thus, people are less apt to die and more apt
to pass on or pass away or depart this life. It could be Heaven, a wonderful
garden of paradise where he/she will live for ever with God and Jesus. Or it
could be Hell which is believed to be a real place where people suffer eternal
torment and punishment for his/her deeds on earth. In short, the good will
goes to Heaven and the wicked one goes to Hell. Both Heaven and Hell are
everlasting. Therefore, Christians say, someone has gone to an everlasting or
eternal place, they mean, someone died. However, people always wish that
the soul of the dead, not regarding what he/she has done on earth will be
allowed to go to Heaven (the Kingdom of God). There are such euphemisms:
Gone to Heaven; join the angels; pass over Jordan; climb the Golden Stair;
cross the Great Divide; kneel at the Big gate; knock on Heavens door; cross
on the Stygian; singing with angels; left this world; gone to a better world;
pass over to other side;. Some people also refer to the departed as a
sleeping person who is enjoying a very long sleep by using such euphemisms
as: Fall asleep with Jesus; a full/big sleep; close ones day; gone to ones rest;
laid to rest; be at rest; People in English-speaking countries also have
non-religious euphemisms to deal with the subject of death, such as: No
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longer with us; be no more; cease to breathe; cease to live; close ones eyes;
left us; lost; breathe ones last;.
4- Euphemisms for death in Vietnamese.
In the Vietnamese language, there is also a long list of euphemisms for death
or dying, which are in common with the one in the English language. The aim
of those words is to lessen the pain and sorrow of the deceaseds family,
relatives and friends and to shoe sympathy for them. Therefore, in daily life
conversation, Vietnamese people are likely to use such words as: Ra i;
mts; t trn; khut ni; t th; qua i; khng cn na;
ngng th, tt th; nhm mt; an ngh, yn ngh, ri b
chng ta; khng cn bn chng ta na, trt hi th cui
cng;..Vietnamese also use euphemistic expressions which have
equivalences in the English language. However, such words are often among
Vietnamese Christians: V vi Cha; i gp cc thin thn; ng
trong vng tay ca Cha; ln thin ng; gp ng sng to;
sang th gii bn kia; ri b th gii ny;. Nevertheless,
language is the symbol of culture, while culture is the track of language (Xing
Fuyi, 1990). The culture of a nation can be reflected in its language. And
religion is not out of the case. In Vietnam, the national religion is Buddhism,
which also has great influence on its population as well as on its language.
There are view points on death for Buddhists. Experiencing the death of a
loved one, or witnessing the death of others, can be one of the most profound
events in ones life. Because death is usually unexpected, it often leaves
family members and friends with unfinished business with the deceased.
Since filial responsibilities are weighed heavily in the Vietnamese culture,
and proper death rituals according to ones abilities are important, death
rituals give the bereaved a final chance to make it right by the deceased and
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thus provide a sense of continuity as well as final closure. Buddha says life is
suffering, caused by desires. To end the suffering, one must end desires.
From a greater perspective, death causes pain because of ones desires for
life. People fear death because they hold onto life. Here, the folly of
attachment is brought into the sharpest relief, because one know the body is
sure to die as it was born. Death is all around. People will die. Understood
this way, the only sensible course of action seems to be to seek that state
where death cannot follow: Nirvana, the state of being awake. To Buddhism,
however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body one
inhabit in this life, but the spirit will still remain and seek out through the
need a attachment, to a new body and a new life. Hence, the goal is to obtain
release, to achieve Nirvana. Thus, Vietnamese people

often use such

euphemistic expressions: Khng cn cm thy au n na; ht

au n; thot khi b kh; c gii thot; ri b th gii
ny; chm vo gic ng di; gic ngn thu; v ni chn
sui; xung sui vng; v ni cc lc, i Ty phng; v vi
Pht; People may have heard of the story of a woman who
came to Buddha in great anguish, carrying her dead child pleading him to
bring the child back to life. Buddha said: Bring me a mustard seed from any
household where no one had ever died and I will fulfill your wish. The
womans attempt to search for such seed was in vain, she could not find any
and suddenly she realized the universality of death. Realizing that death is
inevitable for a person who is caught up in worldly pleasures and attitudes,
Buddha resolved to renounce the world and devoted himself to finding a
solution to this most basic of existential dilemmas. Buddhism asserts that all
beings live beyond the various fluctuations of this life. Death is merely a
passage to rebirth in another realm such as the human world, a pure land or
the flowering of the ultimate nature of the mind. Beside, Vietnamese people
also have the custom of worshipping ones ancestors who have still live in
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another world. Therefore, death only means: V vi t tin; v vi ng

b; thm cc c;.In Vietnamese, there are some other different
euphemisms for death and dying, used in different context. For examples, the
Kings death, Vietnamese say: Bng h.. A Buddhist followers death,
they say: Vin tch; thu thn nhp tch;v vi c Pht; v ci
Nit bn; ln i sen;.. In the past, the word Khut ni was
often used. It may refer to the image of the sun setting in the west, behind the
mountain. For sone tribes, Go West means died because in their view point,
west is something bad, unhappy.
5- Conclusion
Nowadays, people live in a culture in which Dead is a four-letter word.
Because four-letter words have a reputation for being obscene, death is
obscene to modern sensibilities; that is, to those in modern death-denying
cultures who rarely have firsthand experience with the dying and the death.
Modernity has afforded people the abilities to hide the dying process from
public view. Therefore, there are great number of terms as euphemisms in
every aspect of daily life that have derived. People have to know of that and
carefully apply them in everyday language use so as to make them more and
more effective in communication.

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Reference:
1- Bloomfield, Leonard. 1993. Language. NewYork. Holt-Rinehart &
Winston.
2- Cao Xun Ho. 2001. Ting Vit: Mt s vn v
Ng m-Ng Php v Ng Ngha. Nh Xut bn Gio
dc. Nng.
3- Fisiak, J. et al. 1984. Contrastive Linguistics and The Language
Teachers. Pergamon Press. Oxford.
4- Graham Thurgood. 1990. Contrastive Analysis- An Overview.
California State University Press.
5- James C Livingstone. 1996. Anatomy of the Sacred An Introduction
to religion. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
6- James C. 1980. Contrastive Analysis. Longman Group ltd.
7- Lado Robert. 1957. Linguistics Across Cultures. University of
Michgan Press. Ann Arbor.
8- Lewis M. Holfe & Mark R. Woodward. 1984. Religion of the World.
7th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
9- Nguyn Vn Tu. 1975. T v Vn t Ting Vit Hin i.
Nh Xut bn Gio dc, H Ni.
10- Nickel,G. 1971. Paper in Contrastive Linguistics. Cambridge. CUP.
11- Victoria Fromkin

et al. 1986. An Introduction to Language.

Australian. Holt-Rinehart & Winston.

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