简析禁忌语的社会功能_英文_

AnAnalysisoftheSocialFunctions

ofTabooWords

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CuiAiyong

(InnerMongoliaUniversity,Hohhot,InnerMongolia　010021)

　[Abstract]　Thispaperlooksattaboowordsingeneralandanalysestheirsocialfunctionsfromtheperspectivesof

genderandculturedifferences,bilingualismandexpressionofemotions.

　[Keywords]　taboowords;genderdifference;culture;bilingualism;emotion　[中图分类号]I10614　　[文献标识码]A　　[文章编号]167228610(2006)0420044202

　　“Taboowordsarethosewhichmostpeopleinacul2

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turethinkitshamefultosay”.However,theyarenotassimpleastheymaylook.Thispaperistoanalysethesocialfunctionsoftaboowordsareanalyzedinthisarticletorevealtheirsocialcontexts.1.TabooWordsIndicateGenderDifferences.

Inmanysocietiesthespeechesofmenandwomendifferand,therefore,thedegreeofsuchdifferencecanva2ryformonesocietytoanother,sodoestheuseoftaboowords.Thephenomenonoftaboocausesthesegenderspeechdifferencessincemeninmanylinguisticcommuni2tiesusewordsinseveralcontextsthatwomenneveruse.Forinstance,theCaribIndians,wholiveintheLesserAntillesislandsnearSouthAmerica,havedifferentlan2guagesbetweenwomenandmen.Thementhereusemanywordsandexpressionsthatwomenunderstandbutdon󰂤tuse.Thewomenalsohavetheirownwordsandphrases,whichamanwouldberidiculedforusing.Accordingtosomelinguists,“Carib,likesomeotherlanguages,devel2opedmaleandfemaledialectsbecauseoftaboo󰂤(forbid2den)words.Theirreligiousbeliefsallowedonlymentosaycertainwords.Thewomenthenhadtodevelopother

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wordstouseinsteadofthosetaboowords.”

SimilarinstancescanbefoundinHohhot,InnerMongolia,China.SomepeoplefromotherpartsofInnerMongoliamayfinditrudetohearmenuse“yie”torefertohimselfandmayfeeluncomfortablewhentheyhearwomenusetheword“e”(InChinese“wo”istheappropriatee2quivalentfor“I”.)Inthelocaldialect,itisforbiddenforanywomantoaddressherselfwith“yie”thoughyoumayfinditokayforyoungboystouse“e”.Whentheygrowup,however,they󰂤renotsupposedtouseit.That󰂤stosay,itisataboowordforanymaleadulttosay.Thisis

probablythecaseforalotofotherplacesaswell.2.TabooWordsReflectDifferentLivingEnviron2

mentsorBackgrounds.Asisgenerallyaccepted,taboowordsvaryfromcul2turetoculture.Forexample,inChina,wearefreetotalkaboutourmother2in2lawandwearenotrestrictedorlimit2edinusingourlefthands.However,inmanyotherlan2guages,“tabooedobjectsthatmustbeavoidedorusedcarefullycanincludeyourmother2in2law,certaingamean2

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imalsanduseofyourlefthand”.Ascanbeconclu2ded,peoplelearnsometaboowordsthroughsocializationandenculturationprocesseswithincertaincommunities.Andtheseprocessesdetermineanindividual󰂤sattitudere2gardingthetabooqualityofwords.AsCoxdiscovers,“InNorwayanyreferencetothedevilisveryprofane,whilein

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Germanyawordmeaningpig2dog󰂤isanastyinsult”.

Evenwithinaspecificculture,wordsthatmaybeshockingtooneindividualmaynotnecessarilybesotoothersofadifferentbackground.Justimaginethatanindi2vidualisbroughtupinareligiousandorthodoxhouseholdwithpuritanicalvalues,heislikelytoconsidermanymorewordsastaboowordsthanonewhoisbroughtupinanon2religiousatmosphere.Forexample,theformermaybestronglyoffendedwhenthelattertreats“body2wasteelimi2nationprocessesasnatural,notshamefulorrepug2

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nant”.Thusitcanbeshownthatdifferentpeoplewhogrowupindifferentlivingenvironmentsorback2groundsformdifferenttaboos.3.BilingualismCanAlsoResultinCertainLanguageTaboos.OneexampleHassprovidesusistheCreeksofOkla2

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homa,whotriedtoavoidCreekwordsfakkisoil󰂤,apiswameat󰂤,andapissifat󰂤becausetheyusedmoreand

[作者简介]崔爱勇,女,内蒙古大学外国语学院讲师,从事大学英语教学。

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语文学刊(外文版)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2006年第4期

moreEnglish.What󰂤smore,ThaistudentslearningEng2lishinEnglish2speakingcountriesalsoencountersimilarproblems.TheyavoidThaiwordslikefagsheath󰂤andph2rig(chili)pepper󰂤becausetheyhavethesimilarpronun2ciationswithcertainEnglishtaboowords.Meanwhile,ThaispeakersusuallyfindithardtosaytheEnglishwordsyetandkeybecausetheysoundverymuchliketheThaiwordsjed,avulgarwordmeaningtohaveintercourse󰂤,andkhiiexcrement󰂤.Furthermore,inothersituations,person2alnamesmayevenbechangedwhenaspeakerofonelan2guagefindsthathis/hernamecausesembarrassmentinadifferentlinguisticsituation.Forinstance,theVietnamesenamePhuchastobechangedwhenintroducedtoanEng2lishman.

4.TabooWordsAreUsedtoArouseOffensiveEmo2tions.Generallyspeaking,inverbalcommunicationweuseeuphemismstoavoidmentioningdirectlysometaboowordsbecause“traditionorsocialcustomstronglyfrownsontheir

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use”.However,whenspeakersusethem,theytrytoexpressstrongfeelingsandlistenersrespondwithequallystrongfeelingsandreactions.Speakersareawareofthepotentialoftaboowordsandusethemdeliberatelytoa2rousetheirlisteners󰂤reactionsandshock.

Individualsmayalsousetaboowordsasaprotesta2gainstwhattheyconsideroutofplaceinthespeech.Theuseoftaboowordsinsuchacontextcanalsobeconsideredaformofverbalaggression.Inaway,onefunctionofta2

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boowordsis“todegradelisteners”.Forthesamereason,“theuseoftaboowordsiscommoninethnicslurssincesuchwordsreflectthestrongaggressiveandhostilefeelingsaspeakermayhavetowardscertainethnicgroups.Theiruseismeanttoinsultandoffendthetargeted

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group.”

5.TabooWordsAreUsedtoShowAffection.

Insomecontextstheuseoftabooandobscenewordsmayhaveanoppositefunction,namely,toshowaffection.Verbalencountersamongclosefriendsorrelationsmaybefulloftabooandobscenewordsas“termsofendearment”[6]155,401

,andoccasionallymayevenbeaccompaniedbyin2sults,allofwhichisseenasjoking.Thisusuallyresults

inloudlaughter.InNorthChina,forexample,youmight

hearsomeclosefriendsgreeteachotherbysayingsomeobscenewordsafteralongtimeofseparationfromeachother.6.TabooWordsAreUsedtoRelieveTension.

Individualsmayalsousetaboowordstoexpresspent2upemotionssuchasangerorfrustration.Ifpeoplehavestressfuloccupations,theytendtorelievetheirtensionsby

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usingtaboowords.AnthropologistW.W.Pilcher

whostudiedacommunityoflongshoremeninthecityofPortland,Oregon,USA,observedthattherewasahighdegreeoftaboowordusageamongthesemenwhentheywereworkingonboardtheshipsincesuchworkwasquitedangerousandstressful.Oncetheywereofftheshipandengagedinleisureactivities,theuseoftaboowordsde2clinedsignificantly.Thelongshoremenwerealsoverycarefulintotallyavoidingswearing,obscenities,andtheuseoftaboowordsinfamilysurroundings.

Standardsandnormsareconstantlychanging.Yester2day󰂤staboocanbetoday󰂤sslangandthenmaygoontobe2cometomorrow󰂤scommonlyacceptedlanguage.Therefore,itmaybereasonabletoadoptamoredialecticalviewto2wardtaboowords.

【References】

[1]Cox,BrendaS.WhoTalksFunny?ABookAboutLangua2

gesforKids[M].Connecticut:TheShoesString,1995.[2]Wardhaugh,Ronald.AnIntroductiontoSociolinguistics.

rd

3ed.[M].Oxford:BlackwellPublishers,1998.[3]Asher,R.E.andJ.M.Y.Simpson.ed.TheEncyclope2

diaofLanguageandLinguistics,Vol.9[M].Oxford:Pergamon,1994.

rd

[4]Hass.QuotedinAnIntroductiontoSociolinguistics,3ed.

[M].Wardhaugh,Ronald.Oxford:BlackwellPublish2ers,1998.

[5]DengYan2changandLiuRun2qing.LanguageandCulture

[M].Beijing:ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearch,1989.

[6]Apte.QuotedinTheEncyclopediaofLanguageandLin2

guistics,Vol.9.ed.Asher,R.E.andJ.M.Y.Simpson[Z].Oxford:Pergamon,1994.

简析禁忌语的社会功能

崔爱勇

(内蒙古大学外国语学院,内蒙古呼和浩特010021)

尽管人们在其特定的文化中极其谨慎地使用禁忌语,然而它们的使用反映出颇多的社会语言学[摘　要]　的种种涵义。这也就解释了它们在某些社会情境中被禁用的原因。

禁忌语;性别差异;文化;双语使用;情感[关键词]　

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