THE PRAGMATIC POTENCIAL OF EUPHEMISMS

Euphemisms are highly effective communication tools that address tabooed, forbidden, or socially unacceptable topics. This research emphasizes the pragmatic usefulness of euphemisms and highlights their significant roles in relationship management, abuse issues, and attitudes. The research is addressed to the Russian language and aims to demonstrate the euphemistic potential to sustain civility, social order, and to bypass censorship. The study is based on a qualitative examination of formal and informal media communication in the Russian language and determines the most important phenomena of euphemism in communication; avoidance of face threatening act, avoidance of negative taboo, and management of public discourse. This study illustrates the adaptive nature of euphemisms as social and cultural change phenomena, and their role in public discourse and everyday conversation. This study provides a comprehensive account of euphemisms in Russian and adds to pragmatics literature on the construction of linguistic politeness and social interaction.