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share identical feature [HUMANITY]. Honey has this feature and relates to human since human consumes honey because of the sweet taste like sugar.
Meanwhile, Anna is common object having [HUMANITY] feature since name is label for human beings to recognize one to another.
11. Understatement
Data example: 11
a Ryan:So you know Im not good at making speech ...p. 5
It is said by Ryan to Erick. They are just a good friend .Ryan confess his inability to Erick who has overcame his problem.
In this utterance, the euphemism occurs in the word not good. It is the negation form for the word stupid. Stupid is regarded taboo evoked by
following reasons: a
Stupid refers to disadvantages things b
Stupid deals with slowness, short - minded, simple - minded. c
Stupid means the capability of knowing no up to date information. d
Stupid is bad mind. Therefore, the speaker tends not to mention this distasteful term in order
to avoid attracting and judging the weakness and capability of anybody else. Moreover, stupid is crude and rude that may hurt ones feeling and offend the
sel- esteem.
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For those reasons, the use of euphemism term is so significant to guard against the unpleasant word along with the bad effect caused by this
dispreferred term. The word not good is a kind of taboo in delicacy in which the speaker
will look for pleasant configuration to counteract the unpleasant one. It is also categorized as euphemistic understatement. It refers to a type of euphemism
commonly well-known as litotes whose primary function is to negate the opposite of what you are going to convey.
Supporting the description, the writer shall unpack the term not good in sentence so you know Im not good at making speech: Not good: [ABILITY]
[SLOWNESS] [SHORT-MINDED] [STUPID] [GRADATION] If the writer replaces the term not good with the taboo or hidden term, the sentence will be:
b Dan: so you know, Im stupid at making speech. The sentence b is acceptable but it is not a euphemism expression anymore. It
is because we can catch the real meaning directly. Besides, stupid comprises component like: Stupid: [ABILITTY] [SLOWNESS] [SHORT-MINDED]
[STUPID] [ABSOLUTE] To find out further information, the writer then identifies the component
of words not good and stupid as follows:
Not good Stupid
+ Ability
+ +
Slowness +
+ Short – minded
+ +
Stupid +
+ Gradation
- -
Absolute +
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The term not good is a euphemism for stupid. It may so because they share several features, they are [ABILITY] [SLOWNESS] [SHORT -
MINDED] and [STUPID]. But not good has additional component [GRADATION], while stupid has additional component [ABSOLUTE].
Thus, the term not good can substitute for stupid by virtue of semantic components in common. Not good and stupid would be looser synonym in
which they do not share their entire features. The feature [GRADATION] obscures the absolute degree of the capability. Not good refers to a little bit
stupid, stupid and very stupid. It is also used to obscure the truth, so that the hearer finds it difficult to catch the point whether the object is a bit stupid or
very stupid. Meanwhile, the term stupid along with the feature [ABSOLUE] means
stupid, not more or less. It is then categorized as taboo because it judges someones ability in a bad point. Therefore, the word not good may be the
euphemism of stupid. Based on the componential analysis, the new meaning not good along
with all components refers to absolute ability of someone dealing with slowness and short - minded. Whereas, the previous meaning not good goes to the
gradation ability of someone dealing with slowness and short-minded. The feature gradation gives another reference like more or less stupidity. Even
though, not good and stupid have 5 [+] features. The feature [ABSOLUTE] belonging to stupid let this word has limited reference. Hence, the writer can
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conclude that not good has the semantic change in semantic narrowing process that makes the meaning change become less general.
12. Euphemism through borrowing
