Language Analysis and Interpretation, Essay Example

In contemporary world alcohol consumption has eventually become a significant health issue and debatable argument. Some people claim that moderating alcohol usage can lower the health damage and even somehow benefit the human entity. On the other hand, the opposing parties are certain that consuming alcohol in any amount brings inconvertible damage to human health, thus drinking cannot be considered as beneficial activity.

Multiple articles and publications have been written and issued on this matter, confronting both sides of the issue, thus various people and organizations tend to use different language techniques in revealing their stand point. In this paper will try to evaluate the usage of metaphor and metonymy within a limited scope of idiomatic language, euphemism in particular, and its influence on the level of linguistic production and social comprehension and interpretation of certain publications.

In June 2000 the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the updated version of “Dietary Guidelines for Americans”, thus revising the U.S. Dietary Guidelines on alcohol consumption. In 2000 version comparing to 1995 version the language used is more objective and comprehensive, as well as more harsh when revealing the relative risks and benefits of consuming alcoholic beverages. In 1995 version it says “Alcoholic beverages supply calories but few or no nutrients.” Euphemism is used in this verse comparing to updated version where it is said: “Alcoholic beverages are harmful when consumed in excess.” In second case, the language is harsh and very straight forwarded, thus providing us with direct consequence of alcohol consumption. In other paragraph it is said: “Higher levels of alcohol intake raise the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, certain cancers, accidents, violence, suicides, birth defects, and overall mortality.” It is not specified how high the amount of drinks is leading to this consequences. We can also notice the euphemism in this verse, for in the updated version different words are used, like “auto accidents” for “accidents” and “breast cancer” for “certain cancers.” When the author says in 2000 version that “moderate consumption provides little, if any, health benefit for younger people,” he definitely uses less strict language making it sound softer, for he could have talked about big detriment instead of little benefit. However, the way it is used makes the argument sound less harmless. Moreover, when it is used ‘early age drinking’ instead of, for example, ‘teenage drinking’ or ‘kids’ alcohol abuse’, also makes the point sound less stark and severe. Furthermore, the author says: “Avoid drinking before or when driving, or whenever it puts you or others at risk.” The use of euphemism is evident in this case, for this statement could be enhanced revealing more rough position. For example, it could have been said ‘for it can create an accident endangering the lives of others, or even leading to death’. As a result, the use of more harsh language in the 2000 version comparing to 1995 version completely changed the belief that drinking above moderate levels can be interpreted as drinking for health reasons.

An article published by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism describes the interactions between alcohol consumption and risk of driving crashes. It explains how blood alcohol content influences driver’s impairment and what prevention strategies can be applied in order to minimize the possibility of death. Analysis of this publication can show that the author uses euphemistic language a lot. In fact, writer avoids using of such words as death, injury, and simply alcoholism. Such approach is obvious and intent. For example, the word “death” is usually changed for “incident”, “crash”, or “fatality”. For instance, reader can find several sentences that indirectly address death and injuries. “Twenty of twenty-nine studies conducted between 1981 and 1992 reported significant decreases in traffic crashes and crash fatalities following an increase in MLDA.” (NIAAA 2001) Despite of the fact that “traffic fatality” and simply “death” are synonyms, the use of the first word is explained by the general impact that this article has on the reader. As it is published in medical periodical, author is trying to show the evidence of the negative influence of alcohol consumption from the scientific point of view. “Traffic fatality” just underlines the very fact of the death occurrence and not some psychological influence that is always associated with the word “death”. Even addressing alcohol consumption prevention systems author does not consider “alcohol consumption” as “alcoholism” for the same reason. Idea of this text is to depict possible solutions to this problem, but not to create an image of severe disease. The use of euphemism in this article is explained by the informative content of this medical text.

Analysis of several scientific and non-scientific sources can show that various authors use euphemism differently. In fact, professional medical journals try avoiding such words as “death” and “alcoholism” for several reasons. The whole idea of medical text is to inform associates of health care institutions about this problem. Therefore, scientists avoid any physiological influence medical text can have on its reader. On the other hand, authors of non-scientific journals often put such words that highly affect person’s perception. Problem of alcoholic beverages consumption in depicted differently depending on the type of the source. In other words, the goal of professional articles is to inform, while non-scientific ones are written primarily to affect person’s mind.

Works Cited

U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” (2000) <http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2000/2000DGCommitteeReport.pdf>.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” (1995). <http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/nutguide.html>.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “Alcohol and Transportation Safety.” Alcohol Alert. <http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa52.htm >.