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AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEGREE OF EUPHEMISTIC

USAGE OF THE SYNONYMS AND METAPHORS OF


THE VERB КРАДА AMONG BULGARIAN MEN AND
WOMEN
Table of Contents

I. Introduction………………………………………..1

II. Experiment Design…………………………………2

III. Results and Analysis……………………………….3

IV. Conclusions…………………………………………8
1. Introduction

Euphemisms are products of conscious or unconscious self-censoring. They


are used so as not to offend or confuse the hearer. This is a way to express one’s
thoughts in a polite way. The language has an evaluative nature and by picking up a
certain word in order to describe a particular thing, you express your attitude towards
it. That’s why euphemisms “make something sound better”. In practice, our motives
for using euphemisms can vary dramatically. We may rely on them out of a sense of
kindness--or at least politeness. For example, when speaking of "the deceased" at a
funeral service. People rarely die in hospitals, they "expire" there or “pass away”.On
the other side of the coin we can see that euphemisms are not always used with such
sensitive intentions. Euphemism has the effect of blurring some objects or actions.
Implicit meanings also constitute a means of diverting attention from unwanted
objects or actions. Direct and blunt words, like lie, steal, kill and cheat, are commonly
euphemized, especially when applied to institutions.
In the present term paper I shall try to compare the degree of euphemistically
used words among randomly selected Bulgarian men and women and I shall draw
some interesting conclusions on the basis of the conducted analysis. There will be
pointed out the words and phrases with negative connotations. Furthermore, I shall
elaborate on the differences that arise in women’s and men’s perception of a
particular word and the points assigned to it. At the end, there will be revealing
evidence in favour of women’s perception and the way they feel the shades of the
synonyms and metaphors, presented in this research.

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2. Experiment Design

The method for collecting data is the Method of Successive Categories. Twenty
four respondents are asked to rank the words – лапкам, ожилвам, гуша се,
източвам, присвоявам, заграбвам, ограбвам, злоупотребявам, приватизирам,
свивам, налице е слабост при плащането, отклонявам средства, дигам и гепя -
on a seven-rank scale as follows:

7. extremely euphemistic 7 – звучи изключително евфемистично


6. euphemistic 6 – звучи евфемистично
5 – звучи по-скоро евфемистично,
5. more euphemistic than neutral
отколкото неутрално
4. neutral 4 – звучи неутрално
3. more negative than neutral 3 – звучи по-скоро негативно,
отколкото неутрално
2. negative
2 – звучи негативно
1. extremely negative 1 – звучи изключително негативно

The aim of this research is to find out to what extent the notion of
euphemistically used words differs among Bulgarian men and women. That is why I
conduct this research with a view to the fact that men and women have different
insights for whether a particular word is a euphemism and to what degree this word is
euphemistically used. At the end, I shall draw conclusions about the degree of
euphemistically used words among men and women and compare the two intervals of
ranking points which indicate how far the two extremes of the scale are placed.
I chose 24 respondents (it was a random selection) to participate in this
research. They are divided into 2 groups – Group A consists of 12 women and Group
B consists of 12 men. This division (24 in half) is made to make the research as
objective as possible. The age does not vary significantly (from 20 to 36). They all
have a bachelor degree (except for 3), their age is very close and the only thing they
differ in is gender.

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3. Results and Analysis
The data were analysed with the programme SYSTAT 12 using a
Multidimensional Scaling method of analysis. The stimuli scale sheds light upon the
connotative meaning of the words:
MEN
заграбвам -1.025
ограбвам -1.025
гепя -0.804
ожилвам -0.799
злоупотребявам -0.765
присвоявам -0.737
източвам -0.715
свивам -0.684
дигам -0.684
гуша се -0.465
лапкам -0.413
приватизирам -0.057
отклонявам 0.141
средства
налице е слабост 0.572
при плащането

If we estimate the average value for every word we can also arrive at
conclusions about the degree of neutrality and negativity of the words and it will be
easier to single out the most euphemistically used words and phrases:
Women
5.17 5.08 3.50 3.58 3.17 1.75 1.58 2.75
лапкам ожилвам гуша се източвам присвоявам заграбвам ограбвам злоупотребявам

4.83 6.58 4.42 4.08 2.50


приватизирам налице е слабост отклонявам дигам гепя
при плащането средства

Men
4.58 3.08 3.83 3.50 3.33 1.92 1.92 3.33 4.75
лапкам ожилвам гуша се източвам присвоявам заграбвам ограбвам злоупотребявам приватизирам

3.58 5.58 5.33 3.83 3.00


свивам налице е слабост отклонявам дигам гепя
при плащането средства

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The words заграбвам and ограбвам have the lowest value - 1.92, which
comes to show that a great part of the respondents have assessed it as negative. They
gave a value of 1 to 4 according to the scale above. This observation is supported by
the stimuli scale above. These words are perceived by the Bulgarian men as negatively
burdened. What is interesting is that the Bulgarian women also rank these words as the
most negative ones used in everyday speech – 1.58, 1.75. Whereas among the men
there is no clear-cut division between the first and the second word, among women the
border between these words is not blurred – ограбвам tightly holds the first place.
These two verbs could be considered synonyms of the verb крада and they are
assessed as the most negative ones. This statement is also supported by the stimuli
scale where заграбвам and ограбвам are placed in one end of the scale.
If we have a closer look at the stimuli scale, we shall see that 12 out of 14
words have a negative value. This means that a significant number of the synonyms
and metaphors for крада are considered highly negative. A straightforward distinction
could only be made between the two ends of the stimuli scale – on one hand,
заграбвам ограбвам, and, on the other hand, налице е слабост при плащането.
The phrase oтклонявам средства has also a positive value but it is closer to
приватизирам -0,057.
After estimating the value of every word, we shall see that заграбвам,
ограбвам, гепя, ожилвам, злоупотребявам and присвоявам could be opposed
to лапкам, приватизирам, отклонявам средства, налице е слабост при
плащането. Източвам, свивам, дигам, гуша се could be, to a particular extent,
considered neutral. All in all, 44 points divide the first two words from the last one –
налице е слабост при плащането. The synonyms are grouped in two заграбвам
and ограбвам -1.92; гепя (3.00), ожилвам (3.08); злоупотребявам (3.33),
присвоявам (3.33); източвам (3.50), свивам (3.58); дигам (3.83), гуша се
(3.83); лапкам (4.58), приватизирам (4.75); отклонявам средства (5.33),
налице е слабост при плащането (5.58). It is obvious that there is a gap between
the first group and the second. This fact denotes that the respondents have a clear
notion of which the most negatively loaded words are and they seem to be singled out.
Furthermore, the values follow their normal course and there is not a significant gap

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between them - their values almost overlap. What confuses me is the smooth transition
from the most negative to the neutral ones – присвоявам has a value of 3.33 and
източвам - 3.50. The values presented show that it is extremely hard to draw the line
between the most negative and the neutral words. Their values are too close to make
such a distinction. If we cast a glance at the last group that forms the group of the
euphemistically used words, we shall notice that there is a greater difference, but yet
insignificant, in the points between the seemingly neutral group and the last one -
гуша се – 3.82 – лапкам - 4.58. The last two values (5.33) and (5.58) designate a
higher degree of euphemistic usage of the phrases on the basis of which they could be
singled out and labeled as the most preferred phrases by Bulgarian men to veil and to
hedge the austere reality.

WOMEN
ограбвам -1.466
забравам -1.241
гепя -1.121
злоупотребявам -1.034
присвоявам -0.943
гуша се -0.704
източвам -0.59
дигам -0.176
свивам -0.147
отклонявам средства 0.008
приватизирам 0.135
ожилвам 0.383
лапкам 0.542
налице е слабост при
плащането 1.122

As we can see from the above stimuli scale, words заграбвам and ограбвам
occupy one end of the scale and лапкам and налице е слабост при плащането –
the other end of the scale. The results presented in the men’s stimuli scale and the
results in the women’s stimuli scale, concerning the two extremes of that scale,
overlap, except for the word лапкам which has a positive value among the women
and negative among the men. Another point of contact between the first and the
second scale is that the words източвам and дигам are situated in the middle of the

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scale. Although, they have negative values in both cases, we can perceive them as
more neutral than negative. The next similarity, quite obvious in these scales, is that
гепя immediately follows ограбвам and заграбвам and also belongs to the group of
words loaded with negative connotations. Another point of great interest is that
злоупотребявам and присвоявам follow one another. What is important here is that
whereas among the men the average value assigned to присвоявам and
злоупотребявам, is one and the same (3.33), among the women the average value of
злоупотребявам (2.75) is lower than that of присвоявам (3.17). This fact shows
that women perceive злоупотребявам as more negative than присвоявам. The
connotative meaning of the words prompts them to rank these words in such a way.
Probably, they link злоупотребявам not only to resources and funds given to help
poor nations, but to relationships between individuals, concerning trust, confidence
(e.g. to abuse someone’s confidence).
A salient discrepancy between the men’s and women’s stimuli scale is of
particular interest – the metaphor ожилвам holds the forth position in the men’s scale,
whereas it is the twelfth place which is occupied by ожилвам in the women’s scale.
Frankly speaking, I cannot make up my mind what it is due to. In the first case
ожилвам is numbered along the metaphors and synonyms with negative connotations,
and in the second case it is a constituent of the group of euphemistically used words.
Another interesting moment in this research is the opposition of the phrase
налице е слабост при плащането, not only to the words, burdened with negative
connotations, but also to the words, perceived as euphemisms. The average value of
налице е слабост при плащането is 6.58, which is 1.41 points more than the
average value of the anterior word лапкам. The average value of налице е слабост
при плащането almost reaches the highest possible level of a euphemistically used
word (7).
As a whole, the ranking points among the women starting from the first and
ending with the last word, are 60 points. However, these points are much fewer,
concerning the men’s perception of the synonyms and metaphors of the word крада –
44pts.

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Let us look at the subject scale. The subjects differ along their positive or
negative attitude. The table below shows each subject’s value:
MEN WOMEN
Row(9) -1.352 Row(9) -0.467
Row(1) -0.901 Row(10) -0.393
Row(10) -0.441 Row(7) -0.046
Row(7) -0.264 Row(6) -0.013
Row(8) -0.175 Row(3) -0.06
Row(2) -0.159 Row(12) 0.463
Row(11) -0.115 Row(1) 0.775
Row(5) 0.194 Row(11) 0.831
Row(4) 0.307 Row(5) 0.899
Row(6) 0.672 Row(4) 1.048
Row(12) 1.009 Row(8) 1.11
Row(3) 1.323 Row(2) 1.152
Subject scale 1 Subject scale 2

The subject scale 1 shows that 7 out of 12 respondents have negative values.
Most of the subjects consider a great part of the words negatively loaded. Only Row
(12) and Row (3) could be stated as subjects with positive attitude towards the
synonyms and metaphors given as stimuli.
The subject scale 2, on the other hand, confirms the results in the women’s
stimuli scale. There are 6 out of 12 respondents who demonstrate apparently negative
attitude. However, the other half of the respondents is positively oriented and
perceives more words as euphemisms.

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4. Conclusions

On the basis of analysis which has been carried out, some salient conclusions
can be drawn, concerning the degree of euphemistic usage of the synonyms and
metaphors of the verb крада among the Bulgarian men and women. As for the men,
the border between negative and neutral words is extremely fuzzy. There is a smooth
transition from the negative to the neutral part of the scale, which denotes men’s
wavering when deciding how to rank and what value to assign to the words, presented
in the research. The only phrases fully perceived as euphemisms are отклонявам
средства and налице е слабост при плащането.
The results of the research, conducted with Bulgarian women, are more
expressive. Women strongly state that приватизирам, ожилвам, лапкам, налице
е слабост при плащането are metaphors and phrases that deserve to be ranked as
the most outstanding euphemisms. Their values straightforwardly differ from those of
the rest of the words. This comes to show that women have a sense of the nuances and
shades which a particular word casts. There is not a single instance in which the values
of two adjacent words overlap. No matter how close the values of two words are, they
are not one and the same. This fact shows that every word, every single phrase has its
own place in the scale and this place cannot be occupied by another word. The thing
that completely amazed me is the high value of налице е слабост при плащането
of the women’s scale compared to that of the men’s - 12points is the gap between the
two present results.
All in all, ограбвам in the women’s scale is far from the commonly accepted
euphemism – налице е слабост при плащането – 60 pts divide the two extremes of
the scale. Estimating the points which divide the two ends of the men’s scale, we shall
see that there are only 44pts. This is the next hard evidence that women are much more
sensitive to the word, phrases and expressions they use and they take advantage of.

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