Personal appearance and the use of euphemism in the speech of Algerian adolescents : the case of the Constantine speech community

Abstract EN

The present paper is a qualitative investigation into the use and awareness of euphemism by Algerian adolescents in the Constantine speech community.

The paper covers two hypotheses.

First, the speech of the Constantine adolescents is thought to lack the use of proper euphemistic language when describing certain cases of personal appearance that might provoke negative connotations and interpretations.

Second, those adolescents are unaware of euphemism as a language skill and its importance in social interactions.

To examine the aforementioned hypotheses, a survey was administered to Algerian adolescents living in Constantine, Algeria.

Socio-cultural linguistics is the model according to which the notion of euphemism will be investigated.

The findings suggest that the use of euphemistic expressions were used more than the use of non-euphemistic ones.

The findings have also showed that the informants, based on their answers, are not aware of the concept of euphemism and its indispensability.