Euphemism: A Way of Violating the Cooperative Principle in Iraqi Political Speech
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss2.1681Keywords:
euphemism, cooperative principle, politeness, violationAbstract
This study is conducted to probe the relationship of Iraqi political euphemism with the cooperative principle and politeness principle. Politician use political euphemism strategically to control the flow of information, and to conceal unpleasant realities and soften hard issues. They avoid making offensive statements by substituting terms that carry offensive connotations with more acceptable language. Data of this study is taken from an interview with a high status politician and statesman. A qualitative research methodology was employed, as the focus is on the words and expressions uttered by the politician. Grice (1975) and Leech (1983) were adopted as models of analysis. The study concluded that Iraqi politicians violate the cooperative principle by resorting to euphemistic expressions to achieve certain purposes. They tend to use certain linguistic devices like overstatements, understatements, periphrasis and metaphors. Moreover, Iraqi politicians tend to violate the cooperative principle while observing the politeness principle at the same time in their interviews.
Downloads
References
Allan, K., & Burridge, K. (1991). Euphemism and dysphemism: Language used as shield and weapon. Oxford University Press.
Al-Qadi, N. (2009). A sociolinguistic comparison of euphemisms in English and Arabic. Journal of King Saud University: Languages and Translation, 21(1), 13–22. https://ksupress.ksu.edu.sa/En/pages/IssueArticles
Al Shaibawi, Akram. (2026). A Pragma-Semiotic Analysis of Donald Trump’s 2025 UN General Assembly Speech. Wasit Journal for Human Sciences, Vol. 22/Iss1/2026. https://wjfh.uowasit.edu.iq. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss1.1504
Bahaa-Eddin, Mazid. (2004). Euphemism and dysphemism in the war-on-Iraq discourse. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies (IJAES), 5, 171–188.
Cao, Y. (2020). Analysis of pragmatic functions of English euphemism from the perspective of pragmatic principles. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 10(9), 1094–1100. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1009.14
Channell, J. (2000). Vague language. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (Vol. 3, pp. 41–58). Academic Press.
He, Q. (2022). A pragmatic analysis of English euphemism and its implication for English teaching in China. International Journal of Scientific Research and Innovative Technology, 9(2), 1–8.
Hong, X. (2019). A pragmatic study of euphemism in English political news. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research.
Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.
Li, M., & Cao, S. (2023). A pragmatic analysis of English euphemism in Downton Abbey. American International Journal of Social Science, 12(1), 1–8.
Lutz, W. (1989). Doublespeak. Harper & Row.
Meng, X. (2016). Pragmatic function of euphemism in communication. International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2016). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/iccessh-16.2016.50
Merriam-Webster. (2023). Webster’s new collegiate dictionary (12th ed.). Merriam-Webster Inc.
Orwell, G. (1990). Politics and the English language. In P. Eschholz, A. Rosa, & V. Clark (Eds.), Language awareness (pp. 245–254). St. Martin’s Press.
Rawson, H. (1981). Rawson’s dictionary of euphemisms and other double talk. Crown Publishers.
Ryabova, M. (2013). Euphemisms and media framing. European Scientific Journal, 9(32), 33–44.
Tian, Q. (2016). Pragmatic analysis of euphemisms under the "Cooperative Principle" and "Politeness Principle." Journal of Lvliang Education College, 33(1), 101–103.
Wilson, K. G. (1993). The Columbia guide to standard American English. Columbia University Press.
Yang, K. (2023). Analysis of pragmatic functions of euphemisms from the perspective of pragmatic principles. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 23, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v23i.12723
Yang, Y. (2017). Euphemism and the violation of the cooperative principle. International Journal of Linguistics, 9(5), 142–148. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v9i5.
Yao, J., & Hu, N. (2023). The analysis of political euphemism: Speech by Obama to announce the end of the war in Iraq. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 6(48), 48–55.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
Zhao, X., & Dong, J. (2010). Study of features of English political euphemism and its social functions. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 118–121. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n1
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Eba’ Mudhafar yahya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
