ABSTRACT
Euphemism is a linguistic and cultural phenomenon. It is an effective strategy to avoiding taboo, offensive and socially restricted areas .They are culturally burdened expressions and are largely context determined.
This present study is a pragmatic analysis of the euphemistic expressions in Edo language .It contains five chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the study. It contains the aims of the study, methodology, scopeand delimitation of the study, purpose and significance of the study.
Chapter Two reviews the related concepts of euphemisms like language, communication, culture, as well as, the previous studies in Edo euphemisms.
Chapter Three is devoted to the theoretical framework of Pragmatics. It elaborates on some basic pragmatic theories like, Politeness theory and Face theory.
Chapter Four analyses the euphemistic expressions in Edo language in the light of these basic pragmatics theories and communicative functions which cover avoiding taboo, gloss over, mockery, and praise functions. It also interprets these euphemisticutterances in their actual contexts pragmatically.
Chapter five concludes the research and analysis with the major findings, summary, and conclusion shown and suggestion of future studies of euphemisms and language use to enhance the linguistic awareness of Edo language speakers. The study reveals that a euphemistic expression in the language can play several functions, they are mostly used for avoiding taboos, and their true meanings are mostly based on the speaker's intention than their lexical forms.
