Cognitive mechanisms for euphemisms’ formation

Solodilova Irina, Sokolova Tatyana

This article is devoted to the study of the euphemia phenomenon in terms of cognitive linguistics’ ideas. The primary focus is on the linguocognitive mechanisms that underlie the euphemisms’ formation as linguistic units not only "softening" the negativity of the corresponding phenomenon’s perception, but also triggering the process of the conceptual content changing. As linguocognitive mechanisms of euphemisms refocusing in the object’s perception when it is renamed, secondary interpretation of existing knowledge about the object, evaluation, ontologization and privatization of the received knowledge, speech manipulation are considered. The proposed study view makes it possible to expand the traditional notion of euphemisms as words that are synonymous substitutions by understanding their role in changing the conceptual content of certain negative concepts from the point of view of value concepts’ parameters and the value worldview as a whole. By such consideration euphemia is an example for conceptual content conditionality of linguistic semantics in the general process of linguocognitive interaction.

Keywords:euphemism, cognitive aspect, conceptual derivation, variable interpretation, concept, value worldview, modus category, evaluation.