Euphemism of death and sex in english and vietnamese poems from cultural perspective

Specifically, the study seeks to explorehow death and sex euphemisms are used in poems and identify the similarities anddifferences in their use from a cultural perspective.. LIST OF TAB

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ THUÝ AN

EUPHEMISM OF DEATH AND SEX IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE POEMS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(Uyển ngữ về cái chết và tình dục trong thơ tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt nhìn

từ góc độ văn hoá)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

HANOI - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ THUÝ AN

EUPHEMISM OF DEATH AND SEX IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE POEMS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(Uyển ngữ về cái chết và tình dục trong thơ tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt nhìn

từ góc độ văn hoá)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HANOI - 2019

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I, Le Thi Thuy An, hereby state that, this minor thesis is the result of my ownresearch and all the materials in this study which is not my own work has beenidentified and acknowledged I also state that the substance of the thesis has not,wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities orinstitutions

This research has been accomplished with the support and encouragement ofmany people Hence, I hereby would like to express my appreciation to all of them

In the first place, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor,

Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, for his valuable assistance and guidance throughout myresearch

Also, I am greatly indebted to all the professors and staff of the Faculty of Post

- Graduate Studies for their meaningful lessons and precious support thanks to which I was able to overcome obstacles during the time my research was carried out

Last but not least, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved familywhose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation thathas helped me to overcome all problems to complete my thesis

Euphemism is a linguistic device to express emotions, ideas and transmitattitudes in a more neutral way Besides, euphemism, as a universal phenomenon, isculturally specific This study aims at investigating the use of euphemisms of deathand sex in English and Vietnamese poems Specifically, the study seeks to explorehow death and sex euphemisms are used in poems and identify the similarities anddifferences in their use from a cultural perspective The research employed thedescriptive and contrastive method in analyzing the data and adopted a qualitativeapproach The data analysis demonstrates that both English and Vietnameseeuphemism is employed as face-keeping and taboo-avoiding function However, inEnglish death is more perceived as relief, peace, a sleep, a reunion or an end while

in Vietnamese, death is perceived as a heroic loss or a natural force Sex in English

is often perceived as a war and function Whereas, in Vietnamese, sex is oftenconceptualized as nature and companionship

Keywords: euphemism, dysphemism, poems, cultural perspective

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationales 1

1.2 The aim and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 The significance of the research 2

1.5 The research method 3

1.6 The structure of the study 3

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Euphemism 5

2.2 Euphemism formation 6

2.3 Features of euphemism across cultures 9

2.4 Sex and death euphemisms in review 11

2.4.1 Death euphemisms in English and Vietnamese 11

2.4.2 Sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese 15

2.4.3 Sex and death euphemisms from a cultural perspective 17

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Ressearch questions 22

3.2 Research approach and method 22

3.3 The data 23

3.4 Data collection procedure 23

3.5 Data analysis procedure 23

3.6 Analytical framework 24

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Findings 26

4.1.1 Death euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems 26

4.1.2 Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems 33

4.2 Discussion 42

4.2.1 Death euphemisms used in Engish and Vietnamese poems 45

4.2.2 Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems 47

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 51

5.1 Summary 51

5.2 Implications 52

5.3 Limitations and further research 53

REFERENCES 54 APPENDICES I

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: How death and sex euphemisms are used in English and Vietnamese

poems 24

Table 2: Similarities in the use of death and sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese poems 25

Table 3: Differences in the use of death and sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese poems 25

Table 4: Death euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems 32

Table 5: Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems 42

Table 6: Euphemisms of sex as a companionship 48

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationales

Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages Eversincethe beginning of the world, people have tried to make themselves understood and tounderstand others to communicate; they have used all forms of communication, and

in time words or written signs as well as spoken forms have become more and morespecialized and complete

Words, along with human evolution and development, have been endowedwith power, ideology and social change This is what has been called the socialconstruction of reality Therefore, words interpret the whole of our experience andcarry an entire upload of cultural and social-bound significance Hai-long (2008, p.55) went on to say that language and culture are inseparable from each other As aninalienable part of language, euphemism bears the mark of culture He continues that itcan be easily tracked in our conversation and they reflect different levels of culture andvarious patterns of culture To some extent, euphemism is a mirror of culture

It is in that sense that euphemism, a special kind of words, as a medium ofcommunication, is chosen to investigate in the light of cultural perspective inEnglish and Vietnamese poems

In so far, we have discussed that language demonstrates culture and the use

of euphemism is different from culture to culture Therefore, cultural differencesmay lead to communication breakdown (Daim et al., 2012), and there exists a need

to study euphemism in cultural contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamesepoems

For years, study of euphemism in English and Vietnamese poems has beenneglected, meanwhile, euphemism is not only a social phenomenon, but also alingual phenomenon (Pan, 2013, p 1) Studying English euphemism in comparison

with Vietnamese one may bring to light the similarities and differences in the twolanguages and cultures, which seeks to help EFL learners understand and havebetter use of English This may also help EFL learners to have confidence in cross-cultural communication.

What is more, in Vietnam, there has been a neglect of research into thepoliteness strategies in cross-cultural communication in English and Vietnamese.This present study seeks to propose some suggestions on using euphemism toprevent communication breakdown As an English teacher, the author would love tocontribute to the understanding of euphemism, thus promote smoothcommunication based on cultural contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamesepoems

In conclusion, the study attempts to investigate the euphemistic forms ofEnglish and Vietnamese poems from a contrastive analytical perspective, from theperspectives of various scholars working on euphemism and its elements and issues

1.2 The aim and objectives of the study

This study aims at investigating the use of euphemisms of death and sex inEnglish and Vietnamese poems Specifically, the study seeks to explore how deathand sex euphemisms are used in the poems and identify the similarities anddifferences in their use from a cultural perspective

1.3 Research questions

This present study seeks to answer the following research questions (RQ):

1 How are euphemisms of death and sex used in English and Vietnamese poems?

2 What are the similarities and differences in the use of euphemisms of death and sex in English and Vietnamese poems from a cultural perspective?

1.4 The significance of the research

In so doing, this study contributes important insights into cross-culturalcommunication both in sociolinguistic and socio-cultural aspects of the use ofeuphemism This also hopes to enhance cross-cultural motivation, including

politeness strategies, cultural values and conventional awareness and harmoniouscommunication.

No research is able to represent precisely and accurately all the features ofthe entire target population (Charles, 1998) This research is no exception and it islimited to the analysis of euphemistic expressions on two topics: death and sex It isbecause human interaction in any type of situation usually avoids anythingunpleasant or embrassing Euphemism has, therefore, flourished across multiplethemes and topics, which causes difficulties in choosing more topics for analysis inthe scope of a minor thesis

1.5 The research method

This study employs a qualitative approach, which involves collecting,analyzing and interpreting qualitative data in a single study This employment isadopted because qualitative data may provide a deep examination of a phenomenon

of interest and the results can be described in relationships among variables,meanwhile, contrastive description of the data is needed to give a clear picture ofthe data in the results of the comparative analysis

The data are twenty poems from the two websites poets.org and thivien.netwith the following data collection criteria: (1) the article must have at least one case

of euphemism; (2) the articles belong to two topics, namely death and sex

1.6 The structure of the study

This present study begins with a brief introduction of euphemism andeuphemism in relation of cultural perspective The research problems are justified toset aims and objectives of the study The research gaps in the local context arehighlighted to explain the significance of the study A focus on the researchquestions is explained thoroughly in connection with the scope of the study tonarrow down the research problems and prove the feasibility of the study Last butnot least, a list of guidelines for the method of the study is proposed to guidethrough the study

In chapter 1, the author reviews the extant literature and research thatmotivates, generates and locates the research gaps, and furthermore, sets up thebackground for the entire study.

Chapter 2 depicts the social background of Vietnamese and English cultures

on euphemistic expressions and methodological approaches adopted in this study Italso reviews the previous studies

Chapter 3 presents the research questions, the data and the research methodemployed The analytical framework is also discussed

In Chapter 4, key findings and discussion are presented A detailed accountand interpretation of the findings is presented in reference to research questions and

in relation to previous relevant research findings, which makes the findings of thisstudy reliable and valid

At the end of this present study, conclusion should summarize the studyfindings; focus on theoretical and practical implications as well as the limitations ofthe study This thesis presents a critical examination of the core features ofeuphemism and dysphemism and their cultural differences in English andVietnamese

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review is essential for any research due to the fact that itsfunction is to explore the background knowledge from existing information in thefield of the research question, to explore previous findings and to view theinterpretation of the findings (Charles, 1998) To acquire an understanding of thegeneral concept of euphemism, it is important to analyze the way people perceiveeuphemism in section 2.1 before considering how euphemism is psychologicallycreated in section 2.2 Section 2.3 presents the features of euphemism of death andsex in English and Vietnamese poems in details and analyzes the relationshipsbetween euphemism and culture Section 2.4 reviews previous findings on thetopics of euphemisms of death and sex

2.1 Euphemism

First and foremost, euphemism, judging by its etymology, dates back fromthe 1650s, from Greek ―euphemismos‖, which refers to the ―use of a favorableword in place of an inauspicious one‖; from its prefix eu-, which means ―good,well‖ and the affix -pheme means ―speak‖ There was a time in Greece when folkstried to avoid the usage of ill-omen (bad words) or names of Gods in publicceremonies (Etymonline, 2018) For example, the Athenians called the prison ―thechamber‖, and the executioner ―the public man‖

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines euphemism in this way: "thesubstitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend orsuggest something unpleasant; also: the expression so substituted." Leech (1981, p.45) defines euphemism as "the practice of referring to something offensive ordelicate in terms that make it sound more pleasant." Sanderson (1999, p 259) also statesthat euphemism "can be used as a way of being vague and unclear, or to cover up thetruth or reality of a situation." At the same time, Johnstone (2018, p 59) phrases thateuphemism is "the use of a supposedly less objectionable variant for a word withnegative connotations."

Noticeably, there is another entity called dysphemism, the opposite term ofeuphemism, which may not often appear in our daily language use (Burridge, 2004).Dysphemism is an entity ―with connotations that are offensive either about thedenotatum or to the audience, or both, and it is substituted for a neutral oreuphemistic expression for just that reason‖ (Allan & Burridge, 1991, p 26) Adysphemism is generally used to offend someone deliberately For example, thesentence ―My boss is something else‖ may not carry a swear or an offensive ideabut it is something of negativity.

There are words and topics which are not usually supposed to be spoken ofdirectly in different cultures It is here to say then euphemism is employed toencompass the sensitive subjects such as religion, politics, sex, death, human bodyand diseases It is in this sense we see that the origin of euphemism has its ownsocial foundation When communicating with each other, people not only have tothink of where they are, what to talk about, but also how to express their ideas It iswhen they may need to express what they want to say indirectly or to choose aroundabout way to avoid any embarrassment or harassment and so euphemismcomes into being At this point, we can conclude that euphemism is a social productand it is worth comparing and contrasting among cultures

2.2 Euphemism formation

Euphemism may take different forms The most common formation ofeuphemism is abstraction Speakers may avoid using unpleasant or embarrassingtruth by using a form of abstraction such as ‗go to the West‘ instead of ‗die‘ orDũng (1948) expressed the death in a euphemistic way:

―Anh bạn dãi dầu không bước nữaGục lên súng mũ bỏ quên đời‖

(leans on the rifle, forgets life)

(Dũng, 1948)Rawson (1981, p 9) states that the strength of particular taboos may bedissipated by casting ideas in the most general possible terms, also, abstractions,

being quite opaque to the uninformed eye (and meaningless to the untrained ear)make ideal cover-up words.

The second formation is abbreviations Users of language sometimes tend touse the initials of words to refer to an offensive reference or taboo For example,they say ―SOB‖ for ―son of a bitch‖ or in Vietnamese, ―ĐM‖ for ―đ** m**‖ Itcan also be playing with abbreviations; for instance, ―sugar honey ice tea‖ for

―shit‖ or ―cờ mờ nờ rờ‖ (cmnr) for ―con mẹ nó rồi‖ in Vietnamese Baker (1981)calls this alphabeticisms and this part of euphemism can function in disguisingunpleasant and embarrassing terms (Cottle, 1975) and Burridge (2004) states thatdue to semantic preciseness, abbreviation can function as fluent communicationfacilitators, yet also form a barrier between interlocutors This is also calledomission Adams (1985) views omissions as part of euphemism from a uniqueperspective He argues that fictional omissions can be seen frequently, and that it isthe fact that omissions are related intimately to euphemism He says ―… only iflanguage … tried to prettify or cosmeticize the effect You should call euphemismthe deodorant of language; if so, a code of silent omissions would correspond …‖(Adams, 1985, p 47)

Thirdly, people sometimes mispronounce words as a euphemistic strategy.For example, ―shoot‖ instead of ―shit‖ or in Vietnamese, ―đù m*‖ in stead of

―đ** m*‖ And it is that ―mispronunciation supposedly soften the sounds of thebumps in the night‖ (Rawson, 1981, p 42)

Fourthly, euphemism can be disguised under the use of foreign or technicalterms For example, ―đám hiếu‖ instead of ―đám tang‖ Present day languages arethe the results of long-term association with and effects of other languages Foreignwords and phrases are often observed in many languages to replace words morepleasantly than the original‘s native‘s language words (Cooper, 1993) The use offoreign words has a close link to culture as Orwell (1970, p 160) states that foreignwords ―… are used to give an air of culture and elegance.‖

Last but not least, euphemism has a metaphoric formation This is the semanticfeature of euphemism, which refers to an implied comparison between two things; forinstance, ―melons‖ or ―bưởi‖ in Vietnamese as euphemism of women‘s breasts.Euphemism and metaphor are both figures of speech A euphemism is a word or phrasethat is used for replacing something people do not wish to refer to directly Therefore,euphemism proves to be an interesting means of coping with such a reality as death,sex They provide a ―protective shield‖ against a feared, fearful and unpleasant fact.Meanwhile, a metaphor is often a word, a phrase or a short sentence that is is employed

to hint something so as to make it clearer, more picturesque In comparison toeuphemism, which seeks to disguise or avoid its subject, metaphor attempts tostrengthen or to make it more colorful There are two characteristic metaphors: dyingmetaphors and mixed metaphors Dying metaphors implicate clichés (Baker, 1981),which are regarded when ―… they become so much a part of our regular language that

we cease thinking of them as metaphors at all‖ (Hayakawa & Hayakawa, 1990, p 80)and mixed metaphors are rich of affective elements such as allusion, irony, pathos,humor, lies and so forth From metaphorical conceptual perspectives, there are threeconventional heterogeneities which form metaphors: (1) structural metaphors are the

―cases where one concept is metaphorically structured in terms of another‖ (Lakoff &Johnson, 1980, p 14), (2) oriental metaphors do not ―structure one concept in terms

of another but instead organize a whole system of concepts with respect to one another

… since most of them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back,on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p 14), and (3)ontological metaphors involve a ―… way of viewing events, activities, emotions,ideas, etc., as entities and substances‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p 25)

To show the links between poetry and metaphors, Swift (as cited in Kehl,

1975, p 136) states ―a poem should do: develop, use up, the metaphor,‖ metaphorserves as a significant mechanism in poetry and remains an integral instrument todiffuse readers‖ imaginary worlds (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) Orwell (1970) states

that metaphors can make the meaning obscure to both addressor and addressee andthat ―the sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image When these imagesclash … it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of theobjects he is naming: in other words he is not really thinking‖ (Orwell, 1970, p.164) In the same line, Gambino (1973, p 16) points out poets use metaphors andsimiles to heighten meanings … use them to blur meanings.

2.3 Features of euphemism across cultures

Speaking of features of euphemism, Nilwati (2012) lists out three prominentlinguistic phenomena as follows:

(1) Euphemism as a universal phenomenon All languages and cultures havecertain euphemistic expressions that are unfavored to be spoken of directly Brown andLevinson (1987) report that evidence indicates that euphemism is a universal feature oflanguage usage

(2) Euphemism as a culturally specific phenomenon It is in this sense,euphemism bounds strongly to cultures For example, it is common to speak of age inChinese, but that is not that popular in English language, although, they may be

really ―old‖ (Qi, 2010) Fershtman, Gneezy, and Hoffman (2011) confirm this that the use of euphemism is based on cultural values and beliefs

(3) Euphemism as a dependent phenomenon The use of euphemism may begood or bad depending on how it is used The first case, good, is when the user wants tomaintain their face or politeness and a social harmonious conversation which is the mostcommon The second case, bad, is when the user uses euphemism as a mechanism tolessen or deceive reality For example, the French called their war in Vietnam

―civilization Francais‖ (Mintz, McNeil, Lienhard, Lin, & Rapp, 2016)

Besides, euphemistic features can be looked into from different angles.Euphemism usage can be different from genders For example, we may often hear ofyoung ladies refer to their monthly period as ―the old friend‖ or in Vietnamese ―đènđỏ‖, such terms are more often used among women Furthermore, we may not

be polite enough to speak of women as ―fat‖ or comment on their physicalappearance Lakoff (2004) made an attempt to explore why women seem generallymore polite than men.

Euphemism differs among people of different social statuses The upper classmay not consider much about using taboos in their daily life because of their powerover that, but those who belong to lower class are more cautious of the languagethey use in daily conversations for fear of offending the powerful people (Pan,2013)

Euphemism is commonly used in many aspects of daily and social culturallife as physiological phenomena, as a communicative means (Pan, 2013) Alongwith the development of society, people pursue the language utilization to show thatthey are civilized and cultivated Spontaneously the use of euphemism is apoliteness communicative device It is here that politeness function is to showrespect to others and run a harmonious social relationship and obtain thecommunicative goals

Euphemism from cultural perspective has been looked into by manyscholars Fershtman et al (2011) concluded that what is tabooed in one society maynot be the norm in another and euphemism is culture-based They also confirmedthat ―taboos change over time, some become stronger while others disappear‖ (p.152) and some taboos which are related to food, like kosher food, may be restricted

in Jewish society, or for Hindus, eating beef is a taboo Al-Shamali (1997) investigatedthe euphemized expressions used in the Jordan Valley dialect and found out that thetraditional social variables had an impact on the choice of a certain euphemisticexpressions

Also in terms of religious euphemism in cultures, Frajzyngier and Jirsa(2006, p 531) concluded that in English the terms Lord and Virgin are used forJesus and Mary Similarly, in Polish there is a variety of indirect means of reference

to Jesus and Mary, e.g.: Pan Jezus, Lord Jesus, Zbawiciel, Saviour, Najs wietszaMaria Panna, The most Holy Virgin Mary, Niepokalana, Immaculate, Matka BoskaGod's Mother

When it is that euphemism is a linguistic and cultural mechanism by whichideas are shaped and reshaped to replace the unpleasant with the easy-to-listen toones or to be polite, to keep face and to avoid communication breakdown It is inthis sense that Grice (2013) proposed four maxims, which is also known as Griceanmaxims, and it is sometimes referred to as Cooperative Principle (CP) and he stated

―Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnectedremarks and would not be rational if they did They are characteristically, to somedegree at least, cooperative efforts; and each participant recognize in them, to someextent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepteddirection.‖ (Grice, 2013, p 49) Talking about his four maxims, Grice (2013, p 50)stated ―I call these categories Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner.‖

To look at Gricean maxims from the view of culture, now the question arises:What are the differences between cultures? Once again, euphemism is basicallydirected towards achieving acceptance, in that case, speakers have to move people bywhat is said to how is said, and it is time when speakers must complete these tasks bywords Then come politeness and the notion of face keeping (Brown & Levinson,1987) It is because euphemism is also used to ―avoid face-threatening acts‖ (FTA)(Brown & Levinson, 1987, p 91) In other words, Brown

& Levinson (1987, p 313) take into account ―the relative wieghtings of three wants:(1) the want to communicate the content of the FTA, (2) the want to be efficient orurgent, and (3) the want to maintain H‘s (addressee‘s) face to any degree.‖ They go

on to discuss redressive action referring to the ―action that ―gives face‖ to theaddressee, that is, that attempts to counteract the potential face damage of FTA.‖

2.4 Sex and death euphemisms in review

2.4.1 Death euphemisms in English and Vietnamese

In Vietnamese, the number of death euphemism accounts for about 280(Hinh, 2004, p 55), in another work by Giang (1997, as cited in Trương, 2003, p.8), he lists more than 1000 death euphemisms In a general grasp, we see thatVietnamese death euphemisms fall into two groups: compound and phrase

Compound death euphemisms are mãn lộc (out of luck), ngạ tử (die of hunger), tịch diệt (loss of everything), vĩnh quyết (parting forever), băng hà (the king dies), biệt cõi trần (leave life), bỏ mình (lose one’s life), bỏ tuổi xanh (lose young life), qua đời (pass away) as in:

Của có không nào khác đám mâyNgười tan hiệp sao dường bọt nướcTịch cốc can bề ngạ từ

Hai con Cô Trúc đã về đâu? (Thanh, 1968)

or

Nằm đây tưởng chuyện ngàn sauLung linh nến cháy hai đầu áo quanGió lìa cành lá không vang

Tin ta vĩnh quyết trân gian hững hờ (Dzếnh, 1943)or

Lưu Trọng Lư ơi! Biệt cõi trầnTiếng thu man mác nhạc trong ngầnNửa đêm sực tỉnh Đời pha mộng

Da diết lòng Anh một chữ Nhân! (Hữu, 1992)

or

Tám mươi ba tuổi Tết Tân Mùi

Vợ đã qua đời, mắt lại đui!

Số vậy, thân đành cam chịu vậyNgười vui, mình cũng gượng làm vui

Lư trầm dĩ vãng nâng niu nhúmBếp lửa ưu tư lặng lẽ vùi

Ngồi tựa bình mai nghe pháo nổNửa xuân gần gũi nửa xa xôi (Tấn, 2007)

Many more death euphemisms are found in the combination of two verbs

such as: bỏ đi (leave), ra đi (leave), tắt thở (stop breathing), in the combination of two nouns such as: trăm tuổi (100 years old) as in ―còn bố mẹ tôi đi đưa đám ma người ta, lúc nào trăm tuổi người ta sẽ tới khóc chia buồn nên gọi là khóc đổi‖ (my

parents go to a funeral, when they are 100 years old, people will come and cry forthem and it is called ‗exchanging funeral cry‘).

In another poem ‗Kính viếng 10 cô gái Ngã ba Đồng Lộc‘ by Hảo (2016) ,

he wrote:

Ngã ba Đồng Lộc anh hùng

Mười cô yên nghỉ bóng lồng hương hoa

Non sông đất nước quê nhà

Tiếng chuông vang vọng ngân nga đất trời

Xuân hương sắc tuổi đôi mươi

Mười cô yên nghỉ giữa đồi cỏ xanh

Rừng thông bát ngát reo quanh

Vọng lời tổ quốc hát thành bài ca (Hảo, 2016)

He describes the death as ―yên nghỉ‖ (rest in peace ), in so doing, hepromotes the patriotic spirit of the ten heroines in Dong Loc Battle

In English literature, the use of death euphemisms has been an oldest way ofsaying what not to say and the number of death euphemism in English is numerous(Enright, 2004) It is here that we can name some big dictionaries of euphemism inEnglish such as Bloombury Dictionary of Euphemism (Ayto, 2000), OxfordDictionary of Euphemisms (Holder, 2008), Slang and Euphemism Dictionary(Spears, 1981) and Death Euphemism (Ahmed, 2011)

Noticably, Holder (2008) sets examples of many euphemistic expressions of

death used in today‘s English such as: pass away, pass on the other side, pass over, pass into the next world, leave the land of the living, go to heaven, go to our rest,

go to a better place, go to our long home, go west, go under, sleep away, return to ashes, put a person to sleep, put to the sword, self seliverance, have gone, farewell part of Being Jewish, gave up the ghost, kicked the bucket, slipped away, eternal sleep, demise, departed, breathed her last, met his maker and so on as in:

Going to heaven!

I don‘t know

when-Pray do not ask me how!

Indeed I‘m too astonished

To think of answering you!

Going to heaven! (Emily Dickinson, 2007)or

Part of being Jewish is a ChoicePart of being Jewish is a Choice

As one becomes an act of preservation

Seders start the stream of admonition,Stories meant to bind one to the past (Emily Dickinson, 1989)orDon‘t cry for me

I‘m not gone

The only way to get ahead

Is exploit the weak and to burn your deadJust look to history

Society in moral decayHere tomorrow

Or gone today

Oh yeahWe‘ll return to ashes one day (Jamie Christopherson, 2000)

2.4.2 Sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese

Sex and sexual body parts have become a religion in Vietnam for a long timeand they also perfom as a mysterious or magical function to mention them and whothose mention the topic is regarded as low status in the society The analysis ofHinh (2004) shows that there are about fifty-five sex euphemisms in Vietnamese.For example:

Đương khi lửa tắt cơm xôiLợn kêu, con khóc, chồng đòi tòm tem (Ngọc, 1997)

Other cases originate from daily life such as ngủ, đi lại, chung đụng, ân ái, tính giao, or mây mưa as in:

Mây mưa đánh đổ đá vàngQuá chiều nên đã chán chường yến anhNào người phượng chạ loan chungNào người tiếc lục than hồng là ai? (Du, 1814 (1814-1820?))

Phan Huyền Thư talked of sexual arousal as:

Cùng sương triền đê đôi bờ

it, bump and grind, scoring, nailing someone, roll in the hay, … and other such terms as contact with, to make happy, to mate, conquer a bed as in:

Touch yourself for meThen I‘ll ride you like a horse

I make you happyor

Touch me all overThen plunge it deep inside meLike that! Yes! Yes! Yes!

―copulation‖, and around 2000 terms for ―whore‖ And as Giddens (1991) saysthat it seems sex has become a great domain in the realm of euphemism and itsubsequently creates more and more new words.

There is a wide range of expression purveying sexual connotations, and amovement to diffuse these uses is becoming widespread in present society At amere start, the use of Ms is the result of a long-term fight for woman rights, asLakoff (2004) states that there are several plausible reasons why the title Ms iscommonly used However, the foremost reason can be explained in the use ofeuphemism as a blend of Miss and Mrs to hide woman marital status and it is toharmonize the communication event

In an online database, Goad (2014) lists 400 euphemisms for sexual

intercourse Some examples of which are belly-bumping, boning, boom-boom, bouncy-bouncy, cave-diving and so on Epstein says that in the beginning was the

word There followed, at an undetermined but one assumes decent interval, private,harsh and dirty words Invention here being the mother of necessity, the need foreuphemism arose Nowhere could this need have been greater, or more evident, than

in the realm of sex (Epstein, 1985, p 56) Sexual euphemism: people usually find ithard or embarrassing to talk about topics concerning sex or part of the body Instead

of that, they resort to expressions which denote the topics For example, in English,people may say ―make love‖ instead of ―have sexual intercourse with‖ Forexample, Bertie Higgins in his poem ―Casablanca‖ said:

Popcorn and coke beneath the stars

Became champagne and caviar

Making love on a long hot summer‘s night (Higgins, 1994)

2.4.3 Sex and death euphemisms from a cultural perspective

There is a number of scholars and researchers investigating death and sexeuphemisms between English and their native languages (Frajzyngier & Jirsa, 2006;Gathigia, Ndung‘u, & Njoroge, 2015; Glass, 1975; Greene, 2001; Hai-Long, 2008;Pan, 2013; Qi, 2010; Rice, 2016) They all prove that euphemism connects closelywith culture For example, in referring to the death, Glass (1975) describes the death

as ―return‖ in a famous poem ―When You Didn‘t‖ to describe the harshness ofVietnam War when his friend did not come back He wrote:

There were plenty of things you did to put up with

me, to keep me happy, to love me, and there are so many things I wanted to tell

you when you returned fromVietnam

But you didn't (Glass, 1975)People may use a beautiful euphemistic expression as ―the big divide‖ tomean ―divorce‖ (Rice, 2016) This is an effective device which helps users oflanguage avoiding sensitive topics In a cross-cultural study, Greene (2001)examined the differences in the use of euphemism of death by speakers of Russianand English and found out that tabooed terms were avoided such as death and sex

When studying the principle of indirect means in language use and languagestructure, Frajzyngier and Jirsa (2006, p 531) added that death euphemism varies incultures For example, in Kwa languages of Ghana, instead of saying ―the chiefhas died‖, they say ―the chief went to the sea‖, or ‗the chief went to the village.‘Meanwhile, in English, expressions such as ―he is not with us,‖ or ―he passedaway‖ can be heard in different social contexts

Euphemism in death and sex attracted the attention of some other researchers(Al-Shamali, 1997; Elyyan, 1994; Greene, 2001; Makin, 2003) In which, Elyyan(1994) investigated the frequency of euphemism used in death and sickness Hefound out that the direct taboos were likely to be avoided Greene (2001) focused on

the differences in the use of euphemism and taboo terms on sex and death inRussian and English Greene (2001) concluded males and females were likely to usetaboo terms in informal rather than formal register On the contrary, Makin (2003)studied euphemism in conversations and found out that utterances produced byfemale speakers were judged to be more polite.

Hai-Long (2008, p 85) claimed that ―because of different cultures, theorigins of euphemism in Chinese and English are different.‖ Since English-speakingcountries are mostly Christian, English euphemism relating to religious taboosoutnumbered those in Chinese Meanwhile, the Chinese emphasize on social statusdistinction, which has had huge impact of Chinese euphemism They also provedthat there are differences in the use of aging euphemism; they concluded ―Due tosocial and cultural differences, the forms of euphemism vary Understandingeuphemism is conductive to intercultural communication‖ (Hai-Long, 2008, p 56)

Qi (2010) conducted another contrastive study of English and Chineseeuphemism He claimed that euphemism is a linguistic and particular culturalphenomenon and that euphemism co-exists and co-develops with social and culturaldevelopment He concluded if it is impolite and offensive to say ‗old man‘ inEnglish but it means ―wise man‖ or ―senior citizen‖ in Chinese (p 139).Moreover, he showed that there is a difference in the use of death euphemism inChinese and English because in China, euphemism for death of the ruling class isnot similar to that of the common people He took an example as death of theemperor is taken the collapse of a big mountain while death of the common people

is just plainly put as ―death‖

In Vietnamese literature, euphemism has been a focal interest to scholars for

a long time from different perspectives From linguistic and stylistic perspectives,euphemisms are studied in ―Từ vựng tiếng Việt‖ (Vietnamese Vocabulary) (Giáp,1998), ―Phong cách học tiếng Việt‖ (Vietnamese Stylistics) (Lạc, 1999)

Euphemism study in Vietnam has been investigated by some scholars fromcultural perspective (Nguyễn, 2005; Trương, 2003) Trương (2003) investigated

euphemism in English and Vietnamese and he concluded that cultural and socialvalues have a huge impact on the use of euphemism.

Nguyễn (2005) studied euphemism in English and Vietnamese from culturalperspective Firstly, she reviewed words and phrases, and defined the term cultureand contrastive analysis; she went on to describe politeness and euphemism.Secondly, she collected data from learners of English and some foreigners Sheconcluded that cultural background may affect the use of euphemism and that

―euphemism is greatly affected by the economical situation and socialcharacteristics‖ (p 37)

Both English and Vietnamese languages have a number of euphemisticexpressions to substitute expressions of death The concepts of death in both the twocultures are profoundly influenced by their respective religious belief Qi (2010)stated that Christianity is what English people believe in, whose religious belief can

be illustrated as ―in God we trust‖ In the eyes of the English, death meansdifferently because they have a strong belief that life is bestowed god Humanbeings have to suffer from the process of evil, degeneration or atonement Only afterthey atone for their sins could they be saved, go to the heaven and unite with themajority and stay with god, otherwise they will go to the devil forever The fact isexplained why euphemisms of death in English are often used as ―go to heaven‖,

―part of being Jewish‖, ―gave up the ghost‖, ect

In terms of differences, in Vietnamese culture, religion dictates some ofrituals in the dying process Older Vietnamese people may prefer to be at home atthe end of life with family members around them Therefore, euphemisms of death

in Vietnamese are often seen as phrases: ―về với ông bà‖ (be with father), ―về với

tổ tiên‖ (be with ancestors) The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a country with aunique form of socialism which came into existence under influence of the specifichistorical context of Vietnam In this way, euphemisms for death of the heroicsoliders are different from that of the normal people, e.g.: ―anh về đất‖ (come back

to the land), ―giờ nằm sâu trong đất‖ (rest in the land), ―anh về đất‖ (becomes

astray), ―tai dưới đất‖ (a part of the body in the land), ―đất nâu lạnh lắm‖ (thebrown cold land) The word ―đất‖ (land) is repeated in Vietnamese poems becausethere is an initial belief that the land is the most peaceful place where we will beprotected for the rest of the life The traditional belief in agriculture is added to thereason why the euphemism ―land‖ is often used in place of ―death‖ in Vietnamesepoems The agricultural activities are highly dependent on the land so the ―Motherland‖ is always worshipped as the final resting place.

According to the Encyclopedia of Sexuality, ―the Vietnamese prefer aflowery, euphemistic vocabulary when they speak about sexuality‖ For example, aman having sexual desires, might say ―I‘m going to buy a tree‖ To describe thedesire of a woman, one poet used some colorful words such as ―triền đê‖ (a riverdam‖, ―đôi bờ‖ (two banks of a river), ―nước lũ‖ (like flood) Food is also heavilyconnected with sexual activity Words like ―crisp, sticky, spicy‖ are used todescribe food as well as women in erotic fantasies Many dishes are identified withfemale organs or figures as ―the white rice flour cake‖ is the image of a virgin Thistype of language helps people to speak about sexual matters without using the termsthat would embarrass them

In English culture, kissing on the mouth is one of the most basic sources ofsexual arousal Kissing is described as contact created by the mouth, which can be asign of greeting, love, friendship, passion or romance Mouth-to-mouth kissing isvery common in English culture Therefore, kiss is on display everywhere TheEnglish can make out intimately, even on a first date

According to the data from two surveys done by Durex (Wellbeing Survey from2007-2008 and Face of Global Sex 2012), East Asia religious traditions or culturalnorms promote sexual conservatism One study by a group of researchers found veryhigh levels of reported ―embarrassment‖ about discussing sexual pratices in public.These results, according to the researchers is that ―in comparison with men andwomen from Western regions, respondents living in East Asia

countries were more sexually conservative, more male-orientated and less sexuallyactive.‖

The range of beliefs on sex topic tends to differ drastically from location tolocation but respecting a culture‘s belief is critical Cultures are heavily influenced

by religion Often, religion is restrictive but some religions actually promote opensexuality Throughtout different cultures and societies, sexual activity is eitherpromoted or it is also suppressed, but the global trend seems to be tilting towardsmore open societies that are accepting of sexual activity

In my research, twenty poems in English and Vietnamese will be analyzed toinvestigate death and sex euphemisms linguistically and identify the similarities anddifferences in the use of euphemisms in poems from a cultural perspective

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research questions, the research approach andmethod, data, data collection procedure, data analysis procedure and data analyticalframework

3.1 Ressearch questions

With a view to make a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnameseeuphemisms in poetry, this present research project seeks to answer the followingquestions:

1 How are euphemisms of death and sex used in English and Vietnamesepoems?

2 What are the similarities and differences in the use of euphemisms of death and sex in English and Vietnamese poems from a cultural perspective?

The first question is to investigate sex and death euphemisms in poems inEnglish and Vietnamese linguistically The second question is to identify thesimilarities and differences in the use of euphemisms of sex and death in Englishand Vietnamese poems from a cultural perspective

3.2 Research approach and method

This research employed the descriptive and contrastive method in analyzingthe data and adopted a qualitative approach Data qualitative approach (Creswell,2013) offers the opportunities to gain insights into the data during the analysisprocess Descriptive and contrastive methods (Given, 2008) were to utilize in thisstudy to gain in-depth data analysis and to compare and contrast the use ofeuphemisms of death and sex in English and Vietnamese poems from a culturalperspective Contrastive analysis is a method to distinguish between what areneeded and not needed to learn by the target language learner by evaluatinglanguages In addition, contrastive analysis is a technique to identify whether twolanguages have something in common, which assess both similarities anddifferences in languages, conforming to the belief in language universals

3.3 The data

In order to achieve the aim of the present study, ten prominent poems inEnglish and ten in Vietnamese were collected for analysis The publishing years ofthe poems are not taken into consideration These poems are chosen as they haveenough euphemistic expressions to analyze, compare and contrast The lexical itemsgathered were based on two domains sex and death, all of which have beendiscussed in the previous chapters in this thesis

The two domains were identified frequently in the literature, as well as in theresearcher‘s background knowledge as both a Vietnamese and English speaker,where the use of euphemism and dysphemism is common

The data collection criteria were as follows: (1) the poem must have at leastone euphemistic item on the researched domains; (2) all the Vietnamese poemswere gathered from the website www.thivien.net, which is thematized in theresearched domain and contains a big corpus of Vietnamese poems (51.460 poems);(3) English poems are gathered from the three websiteshttps://www.familyfriendpoems.com, https://poets.org andhttps://www.poetsfoundation.com; (4) all the poems must be recognized by authorsand published in official publishing

3.4 Data collection procedure

The data collection procedure was carried out as follows:

1 went to thivien.net, poet.org, familyfriendpoems.com and poetsfoundation.com and searched for two selected themes: sex and death

2 identified the poems containing euphemisms of sex and death

In so doing, the data were collected by means of manual search For theprocess of the raw data from the websites, the researcher deleted the unnecessaryinformation such as the poem descriptions or the poem albums information andsaved the screened data to the appendixes

3.5 Data analysis procedure

Data analysis concerning the use of a rhetorical device in a literary text offersfour processes: categorizing, synthesizing, searching for patterns and interpretingthe collected data (Glesne & Peshkin, 1991) The first process of data

analysis involves the cyclical categorizing ―The procedure involves creatingpotential categories by crossing one dimension or typology with another, and thenworking back and forth between the data and one‘s logic constructions, filling in theresulting matrix (Patton, 1987, p 155) In the second process, as Dey (1999) puts it

as imputing and consolidating meaning, it is again to group, regroup and relink thefindings with the theory In the third process, as Bernard (2011) states that analysis

is the search for parterns in data and for ideas that help explain why those parternsare there in the first place (p 338) In the last process Saldaña (2015) says that one

of the most critical outcomes of qualitative data analysis is to interpret how theindividual components of the study weave together (p 45)

Specifically, the data were categozied into two selected groups: death andsex in the first place Secondly, the findings were synthesized into table Thirdly,the findings were put into specific patterns in terms of two topics, such as death as asleep, death as a journey or sex as companionship, sex as a war, sex as romance, ect.Last but not least, a detailed discussion of the key findings was presented with closereferences to cultural perspective

3.6 Analytical framework

In order to conduct a good analysis and go through all the steps in theanalysis, the present study employed analytical frameworks as models to guide andfacilitate sense making and understanding The tables below guide the analysis ofdata by identifying key analytical outputs and products at each step of analysis Thisframework also guides the structure of the final discussion in answering the tworesearch questions Euphemisms in the poems are choosen basing on the euphemismformation All euphemistic expressions are realized in single words and phrases

Table 1: How death and sex euphemisms are used in English and Vietnamese

poems

When I visit the grave Death is perceived as to avoid the unpleasant

peace

Nhưng mắt đóng trong Death is perceived as a to avoid the unpleasant

đêm câm dằng dặc sleep reality

The arrows of delight shot Sex is perceived as a war to avoid taboothrough my body

Chuyện đời hành lạc từ Sex is perceived as nature to avoid taboo

for you in my rose-wetcave

Perception

Death is perceived as a journey

Sex is perceived as romance

Table 3 : Differences in the use of death and sex euphemisms in English and

Vietnamese poems

When we with daisies lie, Gục lên súng mũ bỏ quên

The arrows of delight shot Nằm nghiêng cùng sươngthrough my body triền đê đôi bờ ỡm ờ nước

lũ (a river dam, two banks

25

of a river, like flood)Death is perceived as Death is perceived as a

Sex is perceived as a war Sex is perceived as nature

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This present study is built on English and Vietnamese poems In this chapter,the findings are analyzed accordingly to answer two research questions to reveal thelinguistic expressions denoting euphemisms in English and Vietnamese poems andthe frequency of euphemism in the data and to compare and contrast these findingsfrom a cultural perspective

Section 4.1 represents and explains the findings of English and Vietnameseeuphemisms of death and sex so as to answer the first research question Section 4.2provides with a detailed discussion of the key findings, with close reference tocultural perspective and in order to answer the second research questions Theresults are also discussed in comparison to previous findings Section 4.2.1discusses the features of English and Vietnamese euphemism towards death; section4.2.2 presents a close look at sex euphemism in English and Vietnamese poems

4.1 Findings

4.1.1 Death euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems

In the poem ―Kissing my Father‖ (Legaspi, 2018), the author might havethought of death as something peaceful but also mournful (See appendix 1) Hedescribed his father‘s death as ―three days into his wake‖ (Legaspi, 2018) and then

he went on to say ―my father has not risen‖ (Legaspi, 2018)

Three days into his wake my father has not risen (Legaspi,

2018)

The death was thought of as a sleep; quiet moments with black colorsurrounding the father When the author spoke of the death as a law of nature, of theimmigrants come to the country, live and die, he spoke of the death directly:

The church is forestedwith immigrants, spent after their long journey

to another country

to die (Legaspi, 2018)When referring back to the father, the death was once again thought of as asleep, a ―safe approach‖ and like being drunk (Legaspi, 2018)

In the poem ―Leaving‖, Coke (1958) talked of his father who died at four and suffered from a lot of strokes as well as hardships in life (See appendix 1).Through which, the author realized that he did not know how to do anything butsurvive and she wrote ―All of this, What I am, doesn‘t know how to die‖ (Coke,1958) Then the father said he wanted a blanket designed by Dustin, and thought ofthe death as ―to leave this beauty, life‖ (Coke, 1958)

ninety-Damnit, I hate to leave this beauty, life

(Coke, 1958)

It was a blanket to wrap himself in for his final rest and when the blanketcame, the author described the death as ―his breath slowed, eased, then quit.‖ This

is a beautiful poem, describing the death euphemistically and slowly (Coke, 1958)

On the fourth, came the Pendleton, delivered right on time His breath slowed, eased, then quit

That was it

(Coke, 1958)Also describing the death, Stotler (2012) wrote about his sister who was hisbest friend and he owed a lot of love, she died and he cried every day the yearafterwards (Appendix 1) In the remembrance of his sister, the author used threeeuphemisms and one dysphemism In which the death is thought of as peace: ―youlie in eternal peace‖ (Stotler, 2012)

When I visit the grave where you lie in eternal peace,

I know that death and heaven brought you release;

I try to envision your joy on that shore across the sea,

And, until I join you, that'll have to be enough for me.

…

Until I journey to that peaceful shore and see you again

(Stotler, 2012)And twice he thought of the death just to meet his sister, he wrote: ―until Ijoin you‖ and ―until I journey to that peaceful shore and see you again.‖ At onetime, the death was thought of as a law of nature when he said ―I know that deathand heaven brought you release‖, and that is the case of a dysphemism (Stotler,2012)

In the forth poem (See Appendix 1), Dickinson (1886) wrote about death as acheer, cuteness as it might be how nice life will be for everyone left when the authordies and it ends in an eclusive exclamation mark Dickinson (1886) seems to dividethe poem into two parts, the first half addresses the nature of life and death, which isvery peaceful, and the second half is the human aspect Beginning with adysphemism ―die‖ and then she uses morn, moon, the birds and bees, and daisies

as a sign of peaceful and natural aspect of the death, which we see two other cases

of beautiful euphemism, of ―die‖ as ―depart‖ and ―die‖ as ―we with daisies lie‖:

If I should die,And you should live,And time should gurgle on,And morn should beam,And noon should burn,

As it has usual done;

If birds should build as early,And bees as bustling go,One might depart at optionFrom enterprise below!

‘Tis sweet to know that stocks will standWhen we with daisies lie … (Dickinson, 1886)

In the second half of the poem, Dickinson (1886) described the death as the

―parting‖ and it is as natural as life goes on as the commerce and trade continues toprosper and we see how calming and comforting the death is in her wording:

That commerce will continue,And trades as briskly fly.

It makes the parting tranquilAnd keeps the soul serene,That gentlemen so sprightlyConduct the pleasing scene!

(Dickinson, 1886)

In the fifth data (See Appendix 1), Blackstone (2009) wrote this poem so thatshe could try and lift her spirits when she miss her beloved and the death was described

as an awful experience and the death in this poem is no more than a ―part‖

I'm building my own little library,embedded in my heart,

for all the moments spent with youbefore you had to part

(Blackstone, 2009)

In Vietnamese poems on death, the first poem ―Tây Tiến‖ (See appendix 1),Dũng (1948) talked about the ―death‖ in a beautiful euphemistic expression: ―Gụclên súng mũ bỏ quên đời!‖ (leans on the rifle, forgets life) (Dũng, 1948), it is thesoldier who forgets life in a heroic way and the death is so soft and patriotic In thesame voice, ―anh về đất‖ (becomes astray) There are no cases of dysphemism inthis Vietnamese counterpart (Dũng, 1948)

Anh bạn dãi dầu không bước nữaGục lên súng mũ bỏ quên đời!

(leans on the rifle, forgets life)Chiều chiều oai linh thác gầm thétĐêm đêm Mường Hịch cọp trêu người

(Dũng, 1948)

In this poem, Bốn (2012) talked about death as not coming back (anh không

về nữa đâu) - the death was thought of as a readiness and as something of the

author‘s own will (See appendix 1) The death was described as a coming back tothe land and resting there (giờ nằm trong đất) (Bốn, 2012).

Giờ nằm trong đất sâu (rest in the land)Anh chẳng còn được biết

Tiếc mình không đi hếtNhững vui buồn trong em

(Bốn, 2012)

In the poem ―Chết‖ (Cận, 1940), we found four cases of euphemism andone case of dysphemism (See appendix 1) The author Cận (1940) used adysphemism to talk about the death right at the title of the poem However, in thepoem, there are only cases of euphemism to denote the death First, he talked of

―dying‖ as ―nghỉ bước‖ (stop walking), and it seems that the death happens as awalk of life, as a common thing till happens in life Second, he talked of the death

as a part of his body was in the land (tai dưới đất) (Cận, 1940)

Tai dưới đất để nghe chừng tiếng sóng(a part of the body was in the land)

(Cận, 1940)The death in Cận‘s poem might be interpretted as a sleep – a closure of eyes(mắt đóng) (Cận, 1940) and as the break-up of his body (tay nhậy đã chia lìa) (Cận,1940)

Nhưng mắt đóng trong đêm câm dằng dặc, (a closure of eyes)Còn biết gì trời đất ở bên kia;

Bướm bay chi! tay nhậy đã chia lìa; (the break-up of the body)Tình gọi đó, nhưng lòng thôi bắt mộng

(Cận, 1940)

On the 24th of July, 1968, at Dong Loc Y-Junction, Can Loc, Ha Tinh, tenwoman volunteers lied down in a bombardment of the US air forces, in which onebody was not found in two days, which inspired the author Thanh (1968) tocompose the poem on the 25th of July as a call to the lost second sergeant Cuc as in

the name of the poem says ―Cúc ơi‖ The poet resorted to use two euphemisms inthis poem to talk about the death of Cuc as ―không về tập hợp‖ (not come toattendance) and ―đất nâu lạnh lắm‖ (the brown cold land) to metaphorize that shedied and lied in the land

Tiểu đội đã xếp một hàng ngangCúc ơi em ở đâu không về tập hợp? (not come to attendance)Chín bạn đã quây quần đủ hết

…Cúc ơi! em ở đâu?

Đất nâu lạnh lắm (the brown cold land)

(Thanh, 1968)

In the poem ―Tưởng chuyện ngàn sau‖ by Dzếnh (1943), we found one case

of death dysphemism and six cases of death euphemisms The poem begins with

―nằm đây‖ (lie here) and the author as a dead person started to talk about histhoughts, which focuses on far future events when the candles are burning brightly

on the coffin That is the time when ―gió lìa cành lá‖ (wind leaves the leaves) as adeath euphemism of ―die‖ and ―vĩnh quyết‖ (farewell to people) (Phê, 2018, p.1417) as a euphemism of ―die‖:

Nằm đây, tưởng chuyện ngàn sau, (lie here)Lung linh nến cháy hai đầu áo quan

Gió lìa cành lá không vang, (wind leaves the leaves)Tin ta vĩnh quyết trần gian hững hờ! (farewell to people)

(Dzếnh, 1943)

In the third column, the death was described as ―Nghìn thu xa vắng‖(parting forever) (See Appendix 1) and later in the fifth column, he wrote ―Ta nằmtrong ván‖ (lie in the coffin) and later in the column he talked of the anger to

―leave this world‖ as ―xa đời‖:

Ta nằm trong ván trông ra, (lie in the coffin)Tủi thân vì thấy người hoa vẫn cười!