Language taboo
Language taboo is a term from linguistics , more precisely from ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics , and denotes a ban on speaking about certain topics, areas or processes. The prohibition is not always determined by written laws, but is also determined to a large extent by convention or social values.
The word " tabu " comes from Polynesia and means "clearly identified" (from Polynesian ta , "to mark", and pu , adverb of intensity, so tapu , "emphatically identified"). In his logbooks, the navigator and explorer James Cook described the behavior of the Polynesians, who used the word “tapu” for everything that was forbidden to do, see or touch.
origin
Early people believed that they could influence the world with the help of language: If you knew their names, you had power over animals, people, natural phenomena, but also gods and demons. If the name were mentioned, they could be called whenever it was desired. This belief is based on the assumption that a word and what it means are identical, and so led to a name taboo, i.e. H. the names of gods and demons could only be pronounced under certain conditions. Oswald Panagl calls this name taboo the "Rumpelstiltskin effect".
Examples
This belief in name magic also extended to wild animals such as bears . The supposed summoning of wild animals by naming them had to be avoided so as not to endanger people and their herds. As a substitute, other names for these threatening animals were created. In the southern European languages, the word was retained ( h₂ŕ̥tḱos became Greek ἄρκτος and Latin ursus), in the languages spoken further north it became Old Church Slavonic "medvěd" (the honey eater), Lithuanian "lokўs" (the tasty), Old High German "bëro" (the brown one), from which today's word "bear" developed.
In the Indo-European language area , such euphemistic substitutions can also be found for the wolf (Meister Graubein, Isegrim ), but has not displaced the original word.
In religious parlance there are a number of descriptive terms for the devil : the "incarnate", the "Gottseibeiuns", the "enemy" etc. In the Harry Potter novels, reference is made to this when the name Voldemort is replaced by "you-know-" already-who "is replaced.
In the Jewish religion, however, it is avoided to pronounce the name of God, Yahweh . Instead, one says Adonai ("Lord") , for example when reading a corresponding passage from the Bible .
In the US , terms that suggest human waste are avoided. Therefore, one does not usually asks for a toilet (toilet) , but always instead of the bathroom (bathroom) .
Words with sexual connotations are avoided, especially in religious societies . It is alluded to jokingly when it is proposed to replace the word sextet with "quintet with six people".
Criteria for language taboos
According to Oswald Panagl (1984), certain conditions must be met in order to be able to speak of a language taboo:
- Unequivocal data from living languages must be given, which prove the linguistic glossing over or veiling.
- There must also be extra-linguistic indications or observations that place the term in question under taboo.
- Since taboo words for the etymologically uneducated speaker very soon solidify into normal terms, new bursts of change should occur with them as long as the respective taboo effect persists.
Forms of language taboos
A taboo must not be spoken of. In addition to the complete ban on addressing something, there is also paraphrase, for example through euphemisms .
Euphemization through formal modification of the signifier:
- Sound transformation: the sound appearance is changed: "Teufel" becomes "Teixel" or "Deibel".
- Word derivation : the taboo word is changed by a diminutive : “Popo” becomes “Popotschi”.
Euphemization through semantic change:
- Metaphor: instead of “dying”, “falling asleep” is used.
- Metonymy: instead of “going to the toilet”, “washing your hands” is used.
- Borrowing: "gay" is used instead of "gay".
- Vague expressions: instead of “kill”, “take care of someone” is used.
- Paraphrasing : the taboo word is paraphrased with a phrase: "You already know what I mean."
- Litotes : paraphrasing by negating the opposite: "He is not the cleanest."
- Paragraph through semantic contradictions: "social market economy".
- Generalization: "Do you have something with her?"
- Adding words: "the 'so-called' friend".
- Relative subordinate clause or suffix: "I'm sorry for the choice of words, an idiot".
Taboo social topics can be violence, sexuality, hygiene, financial and social status or others that require a language taboo or at least linguistic substitute strategies in the given case.
Language taboo in politics and business
Since George Orwell , dictators in particular, but also unpopular political tendencies, have been accused of falsifying reality through language taboos (see Newspeak ):
- The "final solution to the Jewish question" sounds more acceptable than the "extermination of the Jews"
- The term "purges" sounds more positive than the term "mass shootings"
- Current examples are “ alternative facts ”, “distressed banks” and numerous other non- words of the year .
Many language taboos can be found in the economy and in politics, unpleasant processes or measures are still provided with disguising euphemisms: In the economic sector, prices are not "increased", but euphemistically "adjusted", a company does not have a "decline in sales" but a “negative growth”, a country is not “attacked” but “pacified” or it is a “preventive strike”. Some aspects of political correctness can also be assigned to the area of the language taboo.
The decisive difference to cultural taboo words lies in the targeted language criticism or language policy , which characterizes political correctness. But whether these are still taboo words in the real sense is disputed.
literature
- Keith Allan, Kate Burridge: Forbidden Words: taboo and the censoring of language. 3. Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007.
- Michael Crombach: Taboo and Euphemism. unpublished Dissertation. University of Salzburg, Salzburg 2001.
- Wilhelm Havers: Newer literature on language taboo. In: Meeting reports, Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Philosophical class. 223, Vienna 1946, p. 5.
- Rudolf Hoberg: The Negro, the Miss and the Gay. About taboos and taboos in contemporary German. In: Der Sprachdienst , No. 5–6, 2019, pp. 210–220.
- Oswald Panagl: What people don't like to say. Old and new from the language taboo. In: Yearbook of the University of Salzburg 1981–1983. ed. on behalf of the Academic Senate by O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Arno Buschmann. Salzburg 1984, pp. 147-158.
- Ursula Reutner: Language and Taboo. Interpretations on French and Italian euphemisms. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009.
