After the 1980s, with the emergence and development of social linguistics, linguistic taboo phenomenon has attracted more and more attention from social linguists and researchers。 Ronald Wardhaugh has a clear description of the definition, significance and function of the linguistic taboo。 Victoria Fromkin defines taboo as the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame (Wardhaugh 249)。文献综述

In China, due to the deep-rooted feudal ideology, Chinese studies on linguistic taboos are later than that in western countries。 In 1980，Chen Yuan(1918-2004) covered “塔布” for the first time while in 1983, he specially discussed linguistic taboo。 From the 1980s, Chinese scholars have shown great interest in linguistic taboo and published many monographs which elaborated linguistic taboo。 Chen Jianming discussed the linguistic taboo phenomenon from the perspective of the relationship between language and society in 1986。 In 1989, Deng Yanchang and Liu Runqing explained the difference of English and Chinese linguistic taboo from the view of language and culture。 In 1999, Du Xuezeng compared the linguistic taboo in Chinese and English。 Zhu Wenjun dealt with the appearance of linguistic taboo in Chinese and English and the euphemism which can replace linguistic taboo in 2000。

From the quotations above, it is obvious that the studies of taboos are always intertwined with the comparison of linguistic taboo in Chinese and English。 Few scholars pay attention to the trend of it。 So this paper, on the basis of former researches, concentrates on the trend of linguistic taboos and further explores the deeper relation between linguistic taboos and culture。

3。 Linguistic Taboos

The word taboo was borrowed from Tonga, an island group in Polynesia, and its first recorded use in English was by Captain James Cook(1729-1779), an English navigator。 During the long history of human society, taboos play an extremely important cultural role, but the concept is universal。 Due to its universal traits, words and expressions associated with social taboos have been developed into linguistic taboos。

Taboo phenomenon has long existed in all cultures and languages throughout the world。 It is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behaviour believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame。 It can be interpreted as an extremely strong politeness constraint。 If the society regards something or certain acts as taboo, usually the names of these things and acts should not be mentioned or talked about or referred to only in certain circumstance in language, for example, only by certain people, or through deliberate circumlocutions。 As a result, words and expressions related to these social taboos become linguistic taboos。 来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

In linguistic communication，people usually employ the term of linguistic taboo instead of taboo violation, which means all the inappropriate or irregular actions or words。 Nevertheless, the implicit tendency broadens the analysis category as open as possible, rather than limiting the sense of taboo words to the linguistic level。 In the Polynesian language, taboo means forbidden。 All in all, we usually understand this linguistic term in the following two conditions: some words or expressions persons avoid using; or words or expressions which are spoken with limitations。 Linguistic taboo is a very important part of language, and linguistic taboos more or less can be seen in each kind of language。 In daily life, as the violation of taboos may bring serious consequences, it should be avoided。 So when someone who is gong to meet people with different cultures has to notice these taboos to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding which could probably cause communication failure。

At present, intercultural communication becomes more and more universal。 If people lack the knowledge of taboos, cultural conflicts will be caused。 In order to avoid this unpleasant result, people have to know more about foreign culture and taboos, and when talking to a person with another culture, people should take more notice of the usage of taboos so as to make the communication successful。