Study of Chinese and English Appellation Taboo Language from the Perspective of Cross-Cultural Communication

With the rapid development of economic globalization, the intercommunication between different cultures have also been progressively enhanced. Taboo language as a cultural phenomenon has gained a common concern. At the same time, appellations play an important role in cross-cultural communication, using the proper address terms may help the communication go smoothly. So appellation taboos should be taken enough attention. The appellation taboos have been studied to some extent over the past years. However, because the appellation taboos have sensitive nature, most people often avoid talking about this topic. Through comparing differences between English and Chinese, this paper aims at reducing some misunderstanding during the cross-cultural communication and making us communicate smoothly. In addition to the definition of taboo and appellation, this paper also studies appellation taboo language in the following types: naming, position, race and gender. Based on the research, the paper shows the differences between Chinese and English and then give the reason. At the end of this paper, four ways are mentioned to help us use appellation taboos correctly in cross-cultural communication.