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46ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND EUPHEMIZATION PROCESSES IN MODERN ENGLISH, FRENCH AND ITALIAN LANGUAGES (ON THE BASIS OF THE THEMATIC SPHERE OF WORK)
Tereshina O.Yu.
Tereshina Olga Yurievna — Lecturer, DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE TRAINING,
FINANCIAL UNIVERSITY UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, MOSCOW
Abstract: the paper considers the phenomenon of political correctness and examines its influence on the euphemization processes in three modern languages - English, French and Italian in the thematic sphere of work. The examples of redefinition serve to illustrate how the ideas ofpolitical correctness are manifested in the considered languages. Special attention was paid to the study of concepts lying in the basis of euphemisms attributed to the thematic sphere of work as they clearly show how the languages reflect the values of modern society and the ongoing changes. Keywords: euphemization, euphemisms, political correctness, European languages.
In the last few years the phenomenon of political correctness became extremely popular in the english speaking countries and caused certain changes in numerous spheres of life. Thus, in the sphere of work the spread of this phenomenon resulted in the redefinition of professions, concepts and business names among other things. The increasing popularity of the idea of being politically correct has not gone unnoticed and very soon it was obtained by other countries and languages as the result of intercultural communication. It is not surprising that French and Italian did their part and now numerous examples can be found in the considered languages.
The research is based on the corpus of about 350 expressions, select d from explanatory dictionary and dictionaries of slang and euphemisms, from different modern texts, as well as they were collected from modern means of communication, namely from the Internet. Due to the fact that the complex of knowledge, cultural values, social norms and stereotypes is reflected in the conceptual areas subjected to declaring taboo, the study of euphemisms is essential for everyone aspiring to proficiency in language. In is important to do the research of the process of euphemization in different languages because it allows to trace and to compare how the process of formation, transformation of ideas, values and stereotypes can affect the process of formation of new conceptual spheres, and through this comparison to understand the logic and peculiarities of the source language.
The results of in English mere employees are now called associates. There are no such things as personnel departments anymore, now they are all called human resources. Office cleaners became maintenance engineers and trucking companies were given the name of logistics companies.
In the Italian language the situation is quite the same. The sphere of work is highly productive and formal restructuring of the names of occupations in many cases reflects the actual changes that professions have undergone and therefore also represents a re-evaluation of their role in society today». Today one says "addetto cimiteriale" instead of "becchino" (cemetery worker) or "panificatore" will be used instead of "fornaio" (baker), in order to raise the prestige of these professions [5].
The same is true for French language where any occupation is considered to be important, and as a result practically all post titles are deprived of negative connotations. Moreover, there exists a tendency in French according to which a great number of jobs are regarded as helpful and useful and this idea is reflected in job nominations. Due to this an interior designer is represented as an adviser on everything related to living quarters ("Conseil en espace de vie"). The nurse is regarded as a person taking care about someone who needs it and a person who by her (or his) actions facilitates the life of others ("Auxiliaire de vie", literal translation is "a helper for life"). The idea of someone helping you in your life or work is also reflected in the French euphemism "assistante" and also the English one "administrative assistant", which denote a secretary. It is a common knowledge that an assistant plays a very important role in the functioning of an enterprise, due to the fact that this person is the chief's second-hand. An assistant organizes his or her chief's schedule, helps to keep track of time and not to forget anything, so the comparison of a secretary with a helper seems to be quite appropriate.
The representation of work being a worthy occupation is also very important for French language. Every working person is treated with a great respect and such attitude is revealed in
job titles, which also emphasize the importance of each employee. To illustrate this the following examples can be gicen: a cashier becomes the host of cash ("hôtesse de caisse") manual workers and employees become actors of wor k ("acteurs du travail") as their skills are equated to the art, and a gardener is known today as a person responsible for the management of natural areas ("chargé de la gestion des espaces naturels").
Due to the fact that the phenomenon of political correctness possesses a universal character it is quite logical that coinciding concepts, ideas and tendencies in nomination can be found in different languages. One of such tendencies is the one of employing the word "engineer" in the professions, which are traditionally regarded as not prestigious. For istance, in English it is more polite to use "sanitation engineer" instead of a garbage man, "domestic engineer" instead of maid or "maintenance engineers" instead of office cleaners.
This tendency is also reflected in French, where a street cleaner became a surface engineer ("technicien de surface") and a maid became a soil or land engineer ("technicien des sols").
In the Italian the examples of the same process of creating euphemisms with the word "engineer" can be found as well. Such expressions as "operatore agricolo" (a farm engineer) for "contadino" (farmer), "operatore ecologico" (sanitation engineer) for "netturbino" (garbage worker), "operatore sanitario" (medical engineer or medical attendant) for "infermiere" (nurse) and "operatore o collaboratore scolastico" (caretaker) instead of "bidello o custode" (street cleaner).
However the international character of the influence of political correctness on the society is not limited by the given examples. The ideas penetrates practically all the spheres of life and are reflected in languages through full and partial equivalents, the ratio of which is presented on the Figure 1.
Fig. 1. The ratio of equivalent expressions in English, French and Italian languages in the thematic sphere of work
Within the theme of political correctness special attention is paid to gender issue. First of all, a specific application of political correctness is avoiding of words and expressions relating only to the menfolk, which can undermine the rights of women. Among the recommendations is the proposal to avoid the nominations relating to the humanity but containing the word "man", for example, the english expression "human rights" should be used instead of "rights of man" and in italian "i diritti della persona" or "i diritti umani" instead of "i diritti dell'uomo" [5].
Another tough question is related to job titles. It is a common knowledge that nowadays more and more women are choosing professions traditionally considered to be male, such as a lawyer or a minister. Here arises the question how to address to these women, in order not to undermine their rights.
For example, in Italy it is recommended to avoid the compellation "signora" or "signorina" when it is possible to use the professional title. Moreover there is a tendency today to eliminate the suffix "-essa" which still possesses negative connotation while denoting female professionals, for example "l'avvocata" instead of "avvocatessa" (lawyer) or "la presidente" instead of "presidentessa" (president).
The debate on anti-sexism in language also exists in French. Speaking about job titles in principle in French the masculine can be used as a generic type (for example, "un professeur" (a teacher) can refer to either a man or a woman) and it is kind of a group composed of individuals of both sexes. However, this use was perceived by feminists as obscuring the role of women in the public eye, moreover it may produce psychological resistance to apply for certain jobs [6].
Speaking about words denoting a person's status or his or her professional activities the gender issue here is not only a formal grammar question. It becomes sociolinguistic matter closely linked with the image of relations between the sexes, created by society, which can also influence these relations.
For example, today a female form of job title is preferably used when this position is occupied by a woman, emphasizing the idea of equality of the sexes. However, at a certain time when it was highly improbable that a woman could hold any important post, the use of the female form meant that this woman was the wife of the man holding the position, so the female form had a pejorative connotation.
Under the influence of society and general tendency for being politically correct, some changes were introduced in the French grammar, which manifested in the feminization of some job titles. Today it is possible to find a female form for such professions as a writer ("un écrivain" and "une écrivaine", the latter is a female form), a judge ("un magistrate" and "une magistrate"), a referee ("un arbitre" and "une arbitre") as well as a professor ("une professeur"), a doctor ("une médecin") and a chief ("une chef") [4].
As one can see the essential idea of political correctness is not to prejudice the rights of other people and to treat everyone with equal respect, regardless of gender, nationality, religion or occupation. New job titles, as it has been discussed above, are deprived of pejorative or negative connotations and are aimed at rising social status of employees.
The same is true for someone who has no work, no money and even no place to go. Thus in English it is preferable to use euphemisms "between jobs" or "taking time off" instead of unemployed and in French one will say "salarié en recherché d'emploi" (an employee looking for a job).
In English and French it is not polite to call someone poor ("pauvre" in French), in French it is preferable to use such expressions as "handicapé économique" (economic disabled) or "ménage à faibles revenus" (low-income household) and in English one will use "working class", "modest", "disadvantaged" or "underprivileged". In Italian, in its turn, there is no special euphemisms to substitute for the word "poor" ("povero"), however, one can employ an expression "stile di vita" (a lifestyle), alluding to the fact that such life is a personal choice.
Speaking about homeless persons in English there exists a euphemism "on the streets", in French it is possible to refer to them as "SDF", which stands for "sans domicile fixe" (with no fixed abode), and in Italian one can use a colloquial expression "senza tetto" (roofless).
Summarizing all that has been discussed above it becomes possible to make a conclusion that the phenomenon of political correctness has significantly affected the considered languages, especially in the sphere of work. Originated in English-speaking countries they have became extremely popular in France and Italy and caused certain changes in many spheres of life and the examples from the thematic sphere of work is the best proof of this assumptions, as the language means reflect directly the shift in the society's ideas and opinions. Despite the fact that the tendency for euphemization in this particular sphere is more pronounced in some languages, it remains quite strong as it reflects changes taking place in a contemporary society. Thus, the language has become one of the strongest and the most significant ways of modern values promotion among which are equality, respect and tolerance to each representative of the world society.
References
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2. Trudgill P. Sociolinguistics (Text): An introduction to Language and Society // Penguin: N.Y., 1995.
3. Warren B. What Euphemisms tell us about the Interpretation of Words. [Text] // Studia Linguistica, 1992. V. 46. № 2.
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5. Treccani. Enciclopedia dell'Italiano // Politically correct [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/politically-correct_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/ (date of access: 03.04.2017).
6. Wikipedia // Féminisations des nomes de métiers en français. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9minisation_des_noms_de_m%C3%A9tiers_en_fran%C3% A7ais/ (date of access: 03.04.2017).
