“EUPHEMISM” AS A COMMUNICATION STYLE IN IGBO CULTURE
Abstract
Euphemism refers to the substitution of an inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. This paper examines euphemism as a communication style in English Language. It aims at exploring the use of euphemism as a means of communication in the Igbo Culture. The objectives of this study are: to understand the meaning of euphemism and its use in Igbo language, to identify the different examples of euphemism in Igbo language, as well as to discover the different purposes or occasions where they are used in Igbo culture. The data for this study were gathered through interview of some aged people and review of related literature. There is also introspection of the researchers who are native speakers of Igbo culture. The descriptive approach to language study was also adopted. The study found out that euphemisms are used by Igbo people for different purposes such as reference to death, disease, child birth/ pregnancy, people’s characters and attributes, reference to harmful animals and in concealing of information. From the findings, it is observed that the Igbo language has rich euphemistic expressions which are used to avoid speaking directly about sensitive topics. One can therefore deduce that euphemisms exist in the Igbo language like in other languages as a means of replacing sensitive topics with inoffensive expressions. The study concludes that euphemism is a very rich figure of speech in Igbo culture and researchers are encouraged to go into this area of study for further research.
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