On Verbal Taboo in Cross-cultural Communicationabstract： as one of the commonest cultural phenomena in human society, taboo exists in every nook and cranny in cross-cultural communication and has a strong restrictive force in peoples real life. do in rome do as the romans do, is important prerequisite which should not be neglected in cross-cultural communication.based on the research on the origins of english and chinese taboo, this thesis expounds the factors influencing the formation, the development and the similarities and dissimulations between english and chinese taboos from the linguistic and pragmatic aspects. the significance of the analysis on verbal taboo lies in the promotion of the better understanding of verbal taboo to avoid the would-be troubles and misunderstandings and to seek common point while reserving differences in cross-cultural communication. the key point in the research is the analysis on its consanguineous connection with the cross-cultural communication.key words: verbal taboo; origin; factors of formation; development; contrast1.0 introductionin given culture, people involved in the communication process often get around some topics or some words in language system. taboo is one of the unique and the most common cultural phenomena of human society. taboo exists in any place and at any time in cross-cultural communication. if one offends against a particular custom by using taboo words from time to time, he or she will be excluded from the community. however, taboos of different nations are not unanimous; sometimes they are as different as heaven and the bottom of the sea. so it is of great significance for foreign language learning to know about them in cross-cultural communication.generally speaking, taboo is something that is forbidden. taboo can be divided into behavioral taboo and verbal taboo. verbal taboo exists in various kinds of culture. it is possibly born with the language. it is also an indispensable part in language teaching, for without it, we could not understand the real essence of a language. therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the formation and the development of verbal taboo, being one of the unique and the most common culture phenomena of human society, the categories it liuhas been divided into, the significantly important role it plays in cross-cultural communication, the similar and different point of views between the chinese culture and the occidentalism concerning verbal taboo.2.0 verbal taboo2.1 the origin of verbal taboo“taboo” is derived from the local dialect of tonga people who live in the polynesia island in north pacific. its original meaning is “sacred”, “intangible” or “extremely noticeable” thing. taboo emerged on the condition that people knew little about natural phenomena, like wind, lighting, frost, even themselves. in 1777, britain navigator james cook (17281779) arrived at tonga island and was surprised to find that from the “outside world”. he made many records, one of which said that there were some words used exclusively by a given community and the other residents outside were not allowed to use. the local people called these phenomena like that “taboo”. in addition, when a kind of behavior was listed as forbidden thing, the words referring to this very behavior was called verbal taboo accordingly. from then on, “taboo” as an official word is included into the anthropology, sociology and linguistic, and is emphasized and used extensively as a kind of social phenomenon and research subject. it should be pointed out that taboo and verbal taboo existed as early as 18th century in the western world when the religion was prevailing. in china, the taboo may have even history. it was recorded in the allusion and classical records of han dynasty (208b.c220a.d). (林伦之，1993 ) it can be deduced that taboo as a kind of social phenomenon, existed before han dynasty.2.2 factors influencing the formation of verbal taboopeople often contribute the national culture tradition to the formation of verbal taboo. in fact, there are some factors influencing the formation, change and usage of verbal taboo.psychological factors rank first. the reason why some words are labeled “obscenity “depraved” even “coarse” is not because of the literal meaning of those words, but mainly because people endow affectionate meanings to those words according to their own psychological imagintion, life experiences and other conditions. the typical examples are those above-mentioned words, such as “leg”, “trousers”, “bloody”. those words are forbidden due to psychological imagintion. in the upper society in 19th century of britain, “trousers is thought to likely induce those excessively sensitive people to think about immortal things (陈原，1980). some others point out that whether from logical meaning or from literal meaning, “rape” should be considered as standard verbal taboo, for it refers to vice and violent activity, but it is acceptable