The Use of Euphemisms in Political Speech

Alina Azartseva
MA, Engish-Speaking Cultures
The University of Bremen

alina7@uni-bremen.de

Academic advisor: Dr. phil. Ahmed Elsayed

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction

2 Theoretical Background

3 Materials & Methodology

4 Results

5 Conclusion
 01
INTRODUCTION
 ACADEMIC RELEVANCE
PRAGMATICS INTEREST
is gaining popularity in the linguistic phenomena
that may influence
“social thought”

EVOLUTION EUPHEMISMS
of the language and are generally understudied
euphemisms
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How are euphemisms used in the modern American political discourse?

In what semantic areas do they tend to occur?

What function do they serve and how are they formed?

What is the frequency of use of explicit language?

 02
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
 DEFINITION
of Euphemism

TABOO

DEATH SEX BODILY FUNCTION

 Euphemism is a “figure of speech which
consists in the substitution of a word or expression
of comparatively favourable implication or less
unpleasant associations , instead of the harsher or
more offensive one that would more precisely
designate what is intended”
(Simpson and Weiner, 1989, p. 210).
 FUNCTION (Burridge, 2012)
1 Protective Senior citizens [Old people]

2 Underhand Recession, Downgrowth

[Economic crisis]

3 Uplifting Compact car [Small car]

4 Provocative G. Orwell’s “Animal Farm”

(1945)

5 Cohesive Doctors:
passed, didn’t make it [died]

6 Ludic
 FUNCTION (Burridge, 2012)
6

Ludic
 FORMATION (Warren, 1992)
A. Word Formation Devices:
1. Compounding: mental consequences [crazy, insane]
2. Derivation
3. Acronyms: WMD [weapon of mass destruction]
4. Onomatopoeia: Bang, bonk [sexual intercourse]

B. Phonemic Modification:
1. Back slang: enob' [bone/erect penis], epar [rape].
2. Rhyming slang: Bristol cities [titties], Pony and Trap [crap]
3. Phonemic replacement: Shoot, shite [shit]
4. Shortening: Eff off [fuck off]
 FORMATION (Warren, 1992)
C. Loan Words:
1. French
2. Latin
3. Other languages

D. Semantic Innovation:
1. Particularisation: Innocent [virgin]
2. Implication: loose -> 'unattached -> [sexually easy/available].
3. Metaphor: Bun in the oven [pregnant]
4. Metonymy: It [sex]
5. Reversal or Irony: enviable disease [syphilis],
6. Understatement or Litotes: Sleep [die]
7. Overstatement or Hyperbole: Fight for glory [die]
 03
MATERIALS & METHODOLOGY
 MATERIALS
Requirements:
● Authentic modern English
● Cover a range of topics
● Communication with citizens

● 12 Political speeches of Joe

Biden
● “Address to the Nation”
● From January 2021 to August
2021
● 583 Euphemisms
 METHODOLOGY
• Two-step approach:
1. The retrieval of euphemisms from the corpus of linguistic data
2. The analysis of the data gathered
• Euphemisms are found and retrieved manually by means of
purposeful sampling. The process of identification:
1. Meticulous reading of the transcripts
2. Focus on sensitive topics (e. g. death, war, murder, terrorist attacks etc.)
3. Exploring these contexts
4. Withdrawing a word or expression with a neutral / positive connotation
that is intended to substitute a negative / unpleasant notion.
 METHODOLOGY
• Manual analytical procedure:
1. Establishing several prevailing lexico-semantic groups;
2. Identifying the function and structural composition of the whole amount
of euphemistic data;
3. Calculating the average frequency of use of euphemistic language in
the selected political speeches.
• The present study can be viewed as quantitative in its essence as it is
primarily concerned with frequency counts.
 04
RESULTS
SEMANTIC ANALYSIS
● Informing the
population of the
current state within
and outside the
country.

● People are
mentioned in
various contexts:
from laudatory to
grieving.
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
● Presenting harsh
reality from a
positive perspective.

● Supporting people
throughout the
pandemic.

● The presence of
informal language
to be perceived as a
regular person.
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
● Replacing the
“uncomfortable”
words and ideas.
● Metaphor is the most
unrestricted
technique that serves
every function.
● Creative capacities of
metonymy are
limited.
● Openly manipulative
phrases are absent.
 EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

• 254 instances
• Although the number is small, it cannot be neglected
• Intention to sound confident and assertive, brave and
honest
 04
CONCLUSION
 CONCLUSION
• Manipulative linguistic strategies are of scholarly interest.
• Euphemisms replace rude or inappropriate expressions (taboos).
• Euphemistic language constitutes a significant part of a political
discourse.
• Presenting grim reality less pessimistically.
• They arouse hope and faith in a better future.
• Compounding and Metaphor are the most productive means for
creation.
• Explicit language is present; half as much.
 FURTHER RESEARCH
• Present study is valuable for further research in pragmatics.
• Investigation of euphemisms in different kinds of texts.
• Every type of function / structural composition deserves
attention.
• Explicit language can be of academic interest.
 LIST OF REFERENCES
• Burridge, K. (2012). Euphemism and language change: The sixth and seventh ages. Lexis E-Journal
in English Lexicology, 7, 65-92. http://lexis.univ-lyon3.fr/spip.php?article 176.

• Faizullova, M. R. (2020). Эвфемизмы и дисфемизмы в политико-публицистическом дискурсе (на

материале англоязычных и русскоязычных статей, посвящённых коронавирусу) [Euphemisms
and Dysphemisms in Political and Journalistic Discourse (on the Material of English and Russian
Articles on the Coronavirus)] [Master‘s thesis, Ural Federal University]. Electronic scientific archive of
UrFU. https://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/86627.

• Lyons, J. (1981). Language and Linguistics: An Introduction. United Kingdom: Cambridge University
Press.

• Rawson, H. (1981). A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk: Being a Compilation of

Linguistic Fig Leaves and Verbal Flourishes for Artful Users of the English Language. New York:
Crown.

• Simpson, E. S. C., & Weiner, J. A. (Eds.) (1989). The Oxford Encyclopaedic English Dictionary. Oxford
Clarendon Press.

• Warren, B. (1992). What euphemisms tell us about the interpretation of words. Studia Linguistica,
46 (2): 128–72.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Alina Azartseva
Instagram: alinathediamond