COVID-19 pandemic: euphemism and dysphemism in Jordanian Arabic
COVID-19 is the major health crisis worldwide nowadays. Linguistic aspects of individuals and communities, including euphemism and dysphemism, were affected by this global challenge because choosing appropriate words to express what speakers intend to say and to reflect what they value or disvalu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15733/1/39186-135068-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15733/ http://ejournals.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1304 |
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| Summary: | COVID-19 is the major health crisis worldwide nowadays. Linguistic aspects of individuals
and communities, including euphemism and dysphemism, were affected by this global
challenge because choosing appropriate words to express what speakers intend to say and to
reflect what they value or disvalue is a basic part of communication. Euphemism is an
acceptable expression used instead of an offensive one to avoid unpleasant connotations, while
dysphemism is a derogatory expression with negative suggestions used instead of neutral or
polite one to attack something or someone. This paper investigates the use of euphemism and
dysphemism in the Jordanian society for dealing with COVID-19. The research was
approached from a sociolinguistic perspective and framed mainly within the Theory of
Euphemism and Dysphemism by Allan and Burridge (1991; 2006) together with Warren’s
model of euphemism (1992) and Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980).
A sample of 200 Jordanians was asked to respond to a questionnaire including demographic
information and closed-ended and open-ended questions. The results show that the Jordanians
used different euphemistic techniques in daily COVID-19 conversations, namely, metaphor,
shift from Arabic into English, medical terms, and abbreviation. They show that the
participants hardly adopted dysphemisms when talking about COVID-19. This paper
contributes to the limited investigation of ‘pandemic discourse’, and to the understanding of
euphemistic and dysphemistic tendencies of Jordanians during global crises. Researchers are
recommended to explore paralinguistic features of speakers, namely, hand gestures, facial
expressions, eye movements, body language, and tone and pitch of voice, while discussing
COVID-19 themes. |
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