Use of euphemisms in youth language

Abstract

This study aims at describing in detail how university students in Turkey use euphemisms in their daily language usage. The description of the euphemisms in the study was made according to the linguistic formations of euphemisms defined by Warren and accepted in the literature. The euphemisms used by the participants were determined by asking them questions in the most basic contexts that were selected considering the examples given in the definitions of euphemism. These contexts included going to the toilet, giving news of someone’s death, and gaining weight. In the study conducted with 383 participants Metonyms were the most frequently employed method in the context of going to the toilet and the use of loan words; metaphors was the most preferred method in the context of giving news of someone’s death; and implications were the choice of communication in the case of weight gain. In the case of implications, the use of “I” language was particularly remarkable. The more frequent use of implications for forming euphemisms based on the context compared to other methods shows that a pragmatic formation method is used more frequently for forming euphemisms in Turkish. In the study, it was determined that “-(y)I kaybetmek” (lose someone) was the most commonly used euphemism in the context of death in youth language. In addition, the use of “rhetorical questions” and expressions such as “like” and “as” were observed as euphemism-formation techniques in youth language in Turkish, though they are not found in Warren’s classification.

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