EUPHEMISTIC EXPRESSIONS IN THE AMERICAN MASS MEDIA: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF TYPES AND FUNCTIONS

Abstract

Recently, the world has paid great consideration to the media in many fields of life. Due to this consideration, the need for euphemistic expressions becomes one of the most important matters in many fields, especially in politics. Therefore, this study aims to explore the types, functions, and origins of the euphemistic expressions used in some political articles in the common American newspapers, namely (the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post) in the last decade (2010-2020). Using euphemisms is sometimes equivalent to politeness, so the researchers explored the features of euphemism, and sorted out the concept of taboo language and the relation between taboo and euphemism. This study used a qualitative approach by selecting purposefully twenty-one articles from the newspapers mentioned above. Based on Allan and Burridge’s theory, the researchers find out that euphemism has many types which are interconnected with many fields of life. Besides, politicians or even publishers build their speech euphemistically for many reasons such as covering up real facts or some criminal acts to avoid unpleasant terms, or even to make the politics of the country seem more stable. In everyday conversation, euphemism plays a very significant role, so the findings of this study facilitate the way to know the types of euphemisms for those who want to specialize in the same field.

Keywords

• Euphemism
• euphemistic expressions
• types
• functions
• American Mass Media
• Qualitative

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