168:
264:
Non-linguistic taboos are terms or topics that are believed to be impolite or unacceptable for use due to social context. In contrast to profanity, they are not intrinsically impolite. Rather, they are perceived to be so in specific circumstances, as determined by the culturally-contingent beliefs
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are typically used to avoid the explicit mention of forbidden subjects, as opposed to avoiding the use of forbidden elements of the language. In social interactions, euphemisms are used to avoid directly addressing subjects that might be deemed negative, embarrassing, or otherwise discomforting to
111:
refers to language that is generally considered to be strongly impolite, rude, or offensive. Profanity may often serve an exclamation function, although typically it is used to insult another person. Thus, as a form of verbal violence, it is often considered taboo in polite company and subject to
315:
Euphemisms can also be used to downplay the gravity of large-scale injustices, war crimes, or other events that warrant a pattern of avoidance in official statements or documents. For instance, one reason for the comparative scarcity of written evidence documenting the exterminations at
359:, born from out of the belief that doing so will incite misfortune on the speaker and interlocutor. Instead, this antagonist is euphemistically identified by the characteristic of being harmful or betraying towards the religion. This is seen from alternative labels such as
127:, although this constraint may not apply to other categories of taboos, such as sexual practices. It has been suggested that whether a term can be considered an expletive may depend on whether it is intended to be applied figuratively or literally.
141:
In certain cultures, to say a tabooed name is akin to assaulting the owner of that name, and sanctions will be levied onto the offender. Punishments for violations of the taboo can be dealt in the form of payment of goods to an offended party, or
469:-speaking communities where married women were forbidden from uttering sound sequences in their father-in-law's name. This fueled a need for replacement phonemes, which led to the import of phonemes from neighbouring languages. Thus,
87:
Taboo language can be regarded as a means to censor, or at least avoid the mention of taboo topics, for fear of incurring the cost of violating the taboo itself. By extension, elements of language such as words, names or
396:
Taboo-motivated lexical replacement is a cross-linguistic phenomenon where the avoidance of taboos lexical items by speakers can motivate the creative use of language. The tabooed terms are eventually replaced, causing
664:
427:
meaning 'tail, rump' in Old
English. The change in the final /t/ consonant to /k/ could be due to attempts to obfuscate the reference to the body part, or due to the influence of the phonetically similar term stark.
284:
An example of a taboo topic among many cultures that is commonly avoided in language is disease. While many diseases have been studied and understood over decades, the taboo against diseases such as
154:
had broken a very strong name taboo in front of his father-in-law. In shame, he fled into the mountains occupied by a rival tribe, deliberately allowing himself to be killed by the enemy.
312:(Leviticus 15:1, 19–24). In either case, both "afflictions" were taboo as they were considered dangerous; menstrual blood was thought to carry contagious diseases such as syphilis.
348:("prohibited, sacred"). The religious perspective tends to consider language as vested with supernatural powers. Consequently, religion tends to be a source of language taboo.
80:
regards it as a prohibition on forbidden behaviour or objects, due to their perceived dangerous or sacred nature. Any members of the community who come into contact with
265:
or concepts of politeness held by a speaker or their listener(s). Coincidentally, this sometimes results in the acceptability of their use varying relative to the
146:
of an offended spirit. In some cases, deliberate violations of naming taboo have led to death by murder or suicide due to shame. In one example, a man from an
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still runs deep. In modern times, doctors tend to continue avoiding the term syphilis with their patients, preferring to use alternative labels like
785:
76:
Restrictions on language typically originate from the need to avoid referencing taboo topics. One interpretation of the notion of
960:
Storch, Anne (2017). "Typology of Secret
Languages and Linguistic Taboos". In Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.; Dixon, R. M. W. (eds.).
46:
on specific parts of the language itself (such as certain words, or sounds), or due to the need to avoid a taboo topic. The
320:, relative to their sheer number, involves "directives for the extermination process obscured in bureaucratic euphemisms".
725:
232:
204:
100:
A linguistic taboo is any element of a language bearing a quality that renders it intrinsically impolite or forbidden.
84:
associated with the central subject of the taboo would be subject to some penalty, unless they atoned for the mistake.
692:
977:
805:
647:
251:
211:
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119:, not all references to tabooed objects are necessarily considered to be profanity. For example, in English,
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that a culture considers appropriate when conversing within a given implicit stratum of social interaction.
218:
317:
726:"Devil aka Satan: An enemy or fiend? On the rivalry between the familiar and the foreign in early English"
351:
Across ancient, medieval, and modern religious discourse, direct mention of the name of the "evil spirit"
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While profane terms and insults tend to be derived from tabooed objects, such as bodily organs and
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178:
435:
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can become taboo themselves, as they can be seen as an inalienable part of the tabooed entity.
797:
1009:
665:"Word taboo and its implications for language change in the Markham family of languages, PNG"
461:
Another example demonstrating how linguistic taboos can drive language change is the case of
933:
COMRIE, BERNARD (2000-01-01). "Language
Contact, Lexical Borrowing, and Semantic Fields".
8:
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Elmendorf, William W. (1951-01-01). "Word Taboo and
Lexical Change in Coast Salish".
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have also historically been considered taboo, thereby garnering euphemisms such as
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407:
143:
871:
Herbert, Robert K. (1990-01-01). "The
Sociohistory of Clicks in Southern Bantu".
470:
466:
450:
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The following languages exhibit examples of taboo-motivated lexical replacement:
398:
342:
147:
1004:
546:
Lockwood, W. B. (1955). "Word Taboo in the
Language of the Faroese Fishermen".
478:
402:
380:
372:
969:
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56:
993:
639:
474:
445:
401:. This taboo-driven change can lead to the remodeling of language, or create
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due to the use of figurative language in euphemisms. For example, the term
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in parts of the world is an example. Taboo words are commonly avoided with
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or other parts of language due to social constraints. This may be due to a
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plays a significant role in the concept of taboo, as demonstrated by the
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332:
192: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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300:'contagion, plague'), and so forth. In a similar vein, topics such as
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terms for bodily functions do not tend to function well as insulting
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censoring (either by speakers themselves, or by some authority).
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languages into Nguni, which did not originally feature clicks.
898:
Hart, C. W. M. (1930-01-01). "Personal Names among the Tiwi".
352:
77:
43:
35:
964:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 287–321.
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528: – Word used instead of a taboo or dangerous word
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632:
Forbidden Words: Taboo and the
Censoring of Language
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790:The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language
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962:The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Typology
830:International Journal of American Linguistics
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591:
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592:Keesing, Roger M.; Fifiʔi, Jonathan (1969).
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695:King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
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935:Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics
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634:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
252:Learn how and when to remove this message
548:Transactions of the Philological Society
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71:
16:Taboo involving restrictions on language
870:
798:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808190.001.0001
786:"Taboo words and language: an overview"
733:Token: A Journal of English Linguistics
724:Esquibel, Joanna; Wojtyś, Anna (2012).
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705:Ryback, Timothy W. (7 November 1993).
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672:Language and Linguistics in Melanesia
630:Allan, Keith; Burridge, Kate (2009).
38:that involves restricting the use of
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594:"Kwaio word tabooing in its context"
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190:adding citations to reliable sources
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95:
792:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
392:Taboo-motivated lexical replacement
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912:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb01650.x
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560:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1955.tb00287.x
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1021:
598:Journal of the Polynesian Society
383:in 1751, among countless others.
575:Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences
281:the speaker or their listeners.
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54:, such as the English euphemism
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573:Mead, Margaret (1937). "Tabu".
177:needs additional citations for
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473:were imported from the nearby
465:, which is the practice among
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48:taboo against naming the dead
663:Holzknecht, Suzanne (1988).
411:derives from the expression
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64:". It is a common source of
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873:Anthropological Linguistics
764:Online Etymology Dictionary
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419:in the 13th century, where
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10:
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457:General linguistic changes
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970:10.1017/9781316135716.010
788:. In Allan, Keith (ed.).
387:Effect on language change
341:, which is borrowed from
68:and lexical replacement.
640:10.1017/CBO9780511617881
441:Southern Bantu languages
436:Coast Salish languages
784:Allan, Keith (2018).
693:Leviticus 15:1, 19–24
158:Non-linguistic taboos
150:-speaking village in
72:Causes and motivation
760:"Stark-naked (adj.)"
186:improve this article
521:Un-word of the year
491:Euphemism escalator
707:"Evidence of Evil"
371:(enemy) dating to
363:(fiend) dating to
357:taboo on the devil
290:treponemal disease
758:Harper, Douglas.
415:, dating back to
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96:Linguistic taboos
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22:, also called
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355:reflects the
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203: –
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197:Find sources:
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175:This section
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516:Racial slurs
463:iSi-Hlonipha
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377:arch-traitor
376:
368:
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335:of the word
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302:menstruation
297:
296:(from Latin
293:
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201:"Word taboo"
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184:Please help
179:verification
176:
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137:Naming taboo
131:Naming taboo
114:
107:
99:
86:
75:
55:
31:
27:
23:
19:
18:
604:(2): 154–77
506:Expurgation
417:Old English
413:start naked
408:stark naked
365:Old English
144:appeasement
60:, meaning "
1000:Euphemisms
994:Categories
533:References
496:Name taboo
379:dating to
278:Euphemisms
212:newspapers
66:neologisms
52:euphemisms
20:Word taboo
941:: 73–86.
858:144956373
511:Profanity
333:etymology
318:Auschwitz
273:Euphemism
117:excrement
109:Profanity
104:Profanity
82:artifacts
57:pass away
947:40997153
920:40327328
885:30028161
813:10 April
769:10 April
739:: 96–113
678:11 April
674:(18): 45
608:11 April
581:: 502–5.
554:: 1–24.
526:Noa-name
485:See also
329:Religion
324:Religion
286:syphilis
267:register
242:May 2021
125:epithets
90:phonemes
900:Oceania
850:1263104
743:9 April
310:flowers
226:scholar
121:erudite
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425:steort
343:Tongan
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148:Adzera
1005:Taboo
943:JSTOR
916:JSTOR
881:JSTOR
854:S2CID
846:JSTOR
729:(PDF)
668:(PDF)
479:Xhosa
467:Nguni
421:start
369:enemī
361:feond
353:Satan
338:taboo
233:JSTOR
219:books
78:taboo
44:taboo
40:words
36:taboo
974:ISBN
815:2019
802:ISBN
771:2019
745:2019
680:2019
644:ISBN
610:2019
477:and
475:Zulu
346:tapu
308:and
298:lues
205:news
966:doi
908:doi
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636:doi
556:doi
188:by
62:die
30:or
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