3。2 Nationality文献综述

Around the world, there are over 2000 nations in the world。 After thousands of years of development, each nation has its unique culture as well as custom, thinking model, religion and background。 Undoubtedly, the differences of these aspects will be reflected in the language of each nation while the taboo is one of the reflections of language。

All nations have their special and unique signature on taboos。 In China, people often call older people ‘老王’ or ‘王老’ so as to show respect for the elderly。 However, in English, it won’t be feasible。 Instead of using ‘老王’ or ‘王老’, they used to use ‘senior citizen’ or ‘elderly people’ as an expression of their esteem。 In China, people often use the word dog as an insulting word。 When quarreling。 People tend to use ‘狗贼’ to refer to their enemy and use ‘走狗’ to refer to the betrayer。 And while talking with a Chinese, you can not ask him or her questions about age, weight, job, money and deposit and so on。 (Jia 4)。 But in English, dog is sometimes a commendatory term because of the loyalty and reliability of dogs。 They call lucky person ‘a lucky dog’。 Chinese prefer to use ‘猫’ such as ‘馋猫’ to refer to a person who loves eating, while the word cat has a connotation of ‘a sinister woman’。

Taboos are as well a reflection and deposit of cultures。 As one of the forms of language, taboo is a reflection of the cultures of different nations。 (Potter 45) It derived from the origins and evolution of each nation and is still under development。 By making a comparison among different language taboos, we can reveal the culture difference of all nations, which can help us in communication with other nations。 It also helps to avoid culture shock in cross-culture communication。