2 Literature Review

2。1 Current Research of Violent Language

2。1。1 Definition of Violent Language 文献综述

According to the noted scholar John Galton, violence is a kind of limitation which prevents people from developing their potentials in either body or mind。 He differentiates violence into direct violence(slaughter, damage, and physical torture), structural violence(exploitation, premeation, separation and repulsion) and cultural violence, which can be utilized as direct or structural violence to make it reasonable (Xu, 1996, p。 212)。 Violent language is a writing feature that manifests direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence with the carrier of language。 In literature works, those three kinds of violence are expressed through violent language。 Sometimes, a single dirty word or phrase can be considered as violent language。 What’s more, a long sentence or a whole paragraph can express the violent language more comprehensively。 In Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, direct violent language is most commonly seen, especially when the characters are killed。 For example, in the sentence “牛身上，鞭痕纵横交叉，终于渗出血迹。辫梢沾了血，打出来的声音更加清脆，打下去的力道更加凶狠，你的脊梁、肚腹，犹如剁肉的案板，血肉模糊。” (Mo, 2012, p。 196), Mo Yan describes the progress of the ox’s death with bloody words to show the miserable situation directly。 Through these shocking words, readers can easily feel the physical torture。 Violent language is usually used to strengthen emotional and physical expression。