Role of Euphemisms: An Analysis of English Language Newspapers’ Headlines

Abstract

This study aims to examine the euphemisms employed by three Pakistani English-language newspapers, namely Dawn, The Express Tribune, and The News International. This study also identify the types and functions of euphemisms in Pakistani English language newspapers. For this purpose, Random-sampling model was deployed to select the Pakistani English language newspapers published in Dawn, The Express Tribune, and The News International. Furthermore, purposive sampling is adopted to make the decision regarding the selected 15 headlines possessing euphemisms in each newspaper. A checklist is implied to identify the types and functions of euphemisms being used in English language newspapers in Pakistan. Qualitative methodology as a data analysis approach and exploratory methodology as a research design were implied to answer the research questions about the types and functions of euphemistic words being used in headlines of Pakistani English language newspapers. The findings indicated that Pakistani English newspapers writers were abundantly using major types of euphemism, namely semantic change, shortening, and borrowing in their headlines. The results revealed that functions of euphemisms, such as modalizing, criticizing, evaluating, informing, accusing, and requesting are identified in the headlines of these Pakistani English-language newspapers. The current study is beneficial for making people cognizant of the usage of words that replace the triggers/harshness with gentle and polite impressions.