Similarities and Dissimilarities in Euphemisms in Turkish and Russian
Hanife Saraç, Eda Havva Tan MetreşThis study discusses and compares the subject of euphemisms in Russian and Turkish. It first categorizes and then examines euphemisms based on ‘meaning’ and ‘structure’ in both languages. As a result of the examination, the study determined that items such as ‘semantic shift’, ‘simile’, ‘hyperbole’, ‘using common nouns’, and ‘domestication’—which were created for Turkish and included in the ‘meaning-based euphemisms’ classification—were absent in the ‘lexical meaning-based euphemisms’ classification in Russian. Similarly, the study also revealed that the items such as ‘the way of using paronyms’, ‘the ellipsis method’, ‘meiosis method’, and ‘interjection method’, which occur in the Russian vocabulary, do not have equivalents in the categorization created for Turkish. In this sense, the study semantically analysed one of the common aspects of the two languages in depth, the ‘metaphorization method’ (in Russian) and ‘idiom transfer and metaphors’ (in Turkish), and determined that meaning-based transfers in Russian were formed through commonalities of colour, shape, and function, while Turkish made transfers through the nature–human cycle. In contrast, the study evaluated ‘structure-based euphemisms’ in both the Russian and Turkish vocabulary based on similar and divergent items in the two languages, which were explained through examples. The study results show that euphemisms, which are frequently used in daily life, politics or, literature, also appear in different languages and show differences/similarities at the morphological and semantic levels. As one of the elements that reveal this universal characteristic of language, euphemisms constitute one of the significant tools of the language phenomenon with their use to aestheticize vulgar terms or mask intended meaning.
Türkçe ve Rusçada Benzer ve Ayrılan Yönleriyle Örtmeceler
Hanife Saraç, Eda Havva Tan MetreşBu çalışmada Rusça ve Türkçede örtmeceler konusu karşılaştırmalı olarak ele alınmakta ve her iki dilde “Anlam”a ve “Şekil”e dayalı olmak üzere kategorize edilerek incelenmektedir. Yapılan inceleme neticesinde, Türkçe için oluşturulan ve “anlama dayalı örtmeceler” sınıflandırmasında yer alan “Anlam Kayması”, “Benzetme, Teşbih”, “Abartma”, “Tür Adı Kullanma” ve “Yerlileştirme” gibi maddelerin Rusçadaki “sözcüksel anlama dayalı örtmece” sınıflandırmasında bulunmadığı saptanmıştır. Benzer bir biçimde Rusça sözvarlığında yer etmiş olan “Eş Köklü Kelime Kullanım Yöntemi”, “Eksiltme Yöntemi”, “Meiosis Yöntemi” ve “Ünlem Kullanımı Yöntemi” gibi maddelerin de Türkçe için oluşturulan kategorizasyonda karşılığının bulunmadığı ortaya konmuştur. Bu anlamda iki dilin ortak yönlerinden biri olarak ise “Metaforlaştırma Yöntemi” (Rusçada) ve “Deyim Aktarması, İğretileme, Metafor” (Türkçede) anlamsal derinlikleriyle ele alınmış, bu başlık özelinde Rusçadaki anlam odaklı aktarımların renk, şekil, işlev gibi benzerlikler üzerinden oluşturulduğu, Türkçede ise doğa-insan döngüsü üzerinden bir aktarma yolu izlendiği saptanmıştır. Diğer yandan hem Rusça hem Türkçe söz varlığında yer alan “Şekle Dayalı Örtmeceler” de iki dildeki benzer ve ayrışan maddeler üzerinden değerlendirilmiş ve örnekler üzerinden açıklanmıştır. Çalışmadan elde edilen sonuçlar göstermektedir ki günlük hayatta, politikada ya da edebiyatta sıklıkla başvurulan örtmeceler farklı dillerde de vücut bulmakta, morfolojik ve anlamsal düzeyde farklılıklar/ benzerlikler sergilemektedir. Dilin bu evrensel olma özelliğini ortaya koyan unsurlardan biri olarak örtmeceler, kaba olanı estetize etme ya da asıl söylenmek isteneni maskeleme amaçlı kullanımlarıyla dil olgusunun önemli araçlarından birini teşkil etmektedir.
The concept of ‘euphemism’, which is euphémisme in French, verhüllung/euphemismus in German, and eufemismo in Spanish, in some western languages comes from the Greek word ευφημισμός (euphemismus) and means ‘to say a nice word about something, to say good and auspicious words’ (Aksan, 1990, p. 98). Euphemisms occur in the socio-psychological dimension of languages, and they are and should be considered valuable.
Borrowing, as a form of censorship, denotes social control mainly by replacing inappropriate, harsh expressions with soft and convoluted ones. In this sense, individual and social events such as fear, sadness, respect, pressure, belief, and illness that cause the controlled use of the language are areas that require in-depth studies specific to each language. Euphemisms differ in their subject matter. Although their degree of importance and density differs from language to language, the most common topics are religion, sexuality, excretion, some organs of the body, politics, money/social status, race, death, etc. This study established the concept of euphemisms, which have their linguistic features, and discussed the semantic features and the formation of euphemisms that are widely used in Russian and Turkish. This study focuses on euphemisms that emerged from the pressure of taboos and were defined as implicit expressions. The logic and manner of forming euphemisms, which also have national, local, traditional, and historical dimensions, will be evaluated with two different cultures and languages. In this context, the study attempts to explain the logic behind euphemisms in Turkish and Russian with their differences and similarities through examples.
This study first examined the methods from the aforementioned studies to create a table of euphemisms in Turkish. In the light of these methods, euphemisms in the Turkish vocabulary were determined and a Turkish-specific table was created. The words in this table are categorized under three main headings: ‘structure-based euphemisms’, ‘meaning-based euphemisms’, and ‘borrowings’. Additionally, a detailed examination of the euphemisms in Russian and Turkish was conducted by creating sub-headings under these main headings.
In the examination conducted under this heading, the euphemisms used in Russian, and Turkish are reviewed in the tables created for both languages. As per the classification, meaning-based euphemisms can be grouped under 11 and 12 titles in Turkish and Russian, respectively. Because of the semantic and structural differences between the languages, Table 1 comprises ‘meaning-based euphemisms’ in Turkish and ‘lexical meaning-based euphemisms’ in Russian and offers the opportunity to view all meaning-based euphemism types in both languages collectively. After presenting the general view, the main and sub-headings are explained. Table 2 presents the titles containing all the structure-based euphemisms in Turkish and Russian. The classifications for Turkish and Russian were obtained from the Turkish and Russian literature, respectively; they were compared, grouped, and matched. In this context, the study attempts to explain the logic behind euphemisms in Turkish and Russian with their differences and similarities through examples.
The study results show that euphemisms, which are frequently used in daily life, politics, or literature, also appear in different languages and show differences/similarities at the morphological and semantic levels. Euphemisms, which are utilized in every language for psychological, pragmatic, or sociological reasons, constitute a different dimension of the language phenomenon. This study compared the two languages technically through euphemisms and revealed the differences and similarities between these languages through various examples. Although the usages have different names, it can be stated that the concept of language reflects the common aspects observed in the different cultures of different geographies. The usages that differ from each other and are unique to each language can be seen as a manifestation of the cultural diversity in the world. In both ways, this indicates the reflection of cultural differences or commonalities in societies on language through euphemisms.
