A study on euphemism used in newsweek magazine

ABSTRACT

Euphemism is endemic in our society due to the fact that it is part of language customs; therefore it has been on every culture. Every generation and every culture develop their own euphemisms; therefore, euphemism is a mental phenomena, almost all culture seem to have certain notions things that people try to avoid mentioning directly. One of the principles of the euphemism is that the disprefered expressions should be replaced by the preferred expressions to execute user’s communicative intention on a given occasion or context and to avoid the possible loss of face. However, euphemisms do not necessarily have to deal with taboos or brings negative impact such as a point of deception; on the other hand it also has positive impact; since, in modem usage, euphemisms are often concerned with politeness. In certain situations using euphemisms instead of saying things directly is considered with politeness.

The objectives of this study are to find out the types, the styles and the functions of euphemism used in NewsweekMagazine. This٠research is designed by using descriptive qualitative method. ٢٢hey are analyzed inductively through the observation done by the researcher herself. The data are collected from Newsweek Magazine, especially U.S Affairs section.

The key instrument of this study is the researcher herself. The analysis of the data is conducted continuously through the data reduction, the U.S Affairs section in selected magazines are selected, process of displaying the data, the data were organized and classified in the certain categories, and those are types, styles, and function. And the last is drawing conclusion based on research findings. The data of this study comprises in the sense that it aims out describing the appearance of euphemism in American English Vocabulary.

As the result, the researcher finds that the main findings of this study include first of all, the types of euphemism indicate that euphemism, which appear most frequently in Newsweek Magazine, are: metaphor, hyperbole, abbreviation؛ cirlomcution, dysphemistic euphemism and borrowed term. Then, there are twenty three metaphor, four hyperbole, three abbreviation, two cirlomcution, one dysphemistic euphemism and one borrowed term.

Other types, such as litotes, synecdoche, acronym and etcetera are disappeared. Second, the styles of euphemism, the researcher finds that there are three styles, those are, consultative, intimate, and frozen. The researcher finds that there are twenty two consultative styles, twelve intimate styles, and one frozen style. Third, the function of euphemism, there are three functions, those are, to inform, to evaluate, and to organize. The researcher finds that there are eighteen informational functions, six evaluate function and ten organize function.

Since this study only discusses what are the types, Styles and function of euphemisms; however, it will be interesting to study the mechanism of euphemism through a cognitive language interpretation used related to the effectiveness in communication by using rhetorical analysis approach. For example, in the context of political speech or political campaign. Finally, the researcher suggests to the next researchers to study euphemism used through rhetorical analysis approach.