Language taboos

The most interesting way, in which the values of society can have an effect on its language, happens through the phenomenon known as taboo. Taboo can becharacterized as being concerned with the behaviour which is believed to be supernaturally forbidden, or regarded as immoral or improper In language, taboo is associated with things, which are not said, and in particular with words and expressions which are not used. In practice, of course, this simply means that there are barriers for the normal use of items of this kind.

Taboo words occur in most languages, and failure to adhere to the often-strict rules governing their use can lead to punishment or public shame. Many people will never employ words of this type, and most others will only use them in a restricted set of situations. Generally, the type of word that is tabooed in a particular language will be a good reflection of the system values and beliefs in the society in question. In some communities, word-magic plays an important part in religion, and certain words regarded as powerful will be used in incantations (заклинание). In different parts of the world taboo words include, for example, those for the left hand, for female relations, or for certain animals. Some words, too, are much more severely tabooed than others.

In the English-speaking world, the most severe taboos are now associated with words connected with sex, closely followed by those connected with the Christian religion. This is a reflection of the great emphasis traditionally placed on sexual morality in our culture. In other, particularly Roman Catholic cultures the strongest taboos may be associated with religion, and in Norway, for example, some of the most strongly tabooed expressions are concerned with the devil.

Most people in modem technologically advanced societies would claim not to believe in magic. There is still, however, something that very closely resembles magic surrounding the use of taboo-words in English. The use of taboo-words in non-permitted contexts, such as on television, provokes violent reactions of apparently very real shock and disgust. The reaction, moreover, is an irrational reaction to a particular word, not to a concept. It is perfectly permissible to say 'sexual intercourse' on television. Taboo is therefore clearly a linguistic as well as sociological fact. It is the words themselves, which are felt to be wrong and therefore so powerful.

In modern world, however, the patterns of taboo gradually change. Legal sanctions against obscene words are disappearing in the English-speaking world and there is a growing tendency for more rational, less magical attitudes to develop taboo breaking the rules. Now it is less dramatic than it used to be, at least in certain situations. A well-known example of this was Shaw's use of bloody, now relatively harmless, as a shock-word in Pygmalion.

On the other hand, as the English-speaking world becomes more sensitive to issues involving discrimination against people on the grounds of their social or physical characteristics, words such as nigger, cripple, poof and a number of swear words are acquiring increased taboo-loading, and their use is becoming increasingly shocking.

A further interesting point is the secondary effect that taboos can have on language itself. Because of the strong reluctance of speakers to utter taboo words, or words like them, in certain circumstances, words which are phonetically similar to taboo can be lost from a language. It is often said, for example, that rabbit replaced the older word coney (pronounced [kani]) in English for this reason. A similar explanation is advanced for the widespread American use of rooster rather than cock.

In the case of bilingual individuals, this can even take place across languages, apparently. An Indian girl speaker of Nootka have been reported by teachers to be entirely unwilling to use the English word such because of the close phonetic resemblance it bears to the Nootka noun meaning part of the female reproductive organ.

However, language is very much a social phenomenon. A study of language totally without reference to its social context inevitably leads to the omission of some of the more complex and interesting aspects. One of the main factors that have led to the growth of sociolinguistic research has been the recognition that language is a very variable phenomenon, and that this variability may have as much to do with society as with language. A language is not a simple single code used in the same manner by all people in all situations, and linguists now understand that it is both possible and beneficial to try to tackle this complexity problem.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11