Four Letter Word in Hindi: A Study of Taboo in Sacred Games

The paper aims at studying the types, functions and micro-contextual factors of taboo words in the Netflix web series entitled Sacred Games.The researchers employed qualitative method while conducting the sociolinguistic analysis.The videos and their transcripts served as the primary linguistic data, while assorting them into taboo words, phrases, clauses and sentences types.The data was then classified into four categories: epithet, profanity, vulgarity, and obscenity.The functions of the taboo language were divided into four categories: to draw attention to oneself, to show contempt, to be provocative, and to mock authority.Lastly, the taboo language was distributed into four microcontextual factors that were responsible for characters to use taboo words in the web series, namely participants, purpose of conversation and participant's attitude, context, and setting in time and place.The conclusion indicates that the obscenity type was the most used one, and 'to show contempt' became the primary reason for the characters to use taboo language in the series.