Taboo In Language And Literature

This article tackles the topic of taboo, highlights some of the most recurrent types of taboos in language and literature and sheds light on the mechanism which enabled people to create euphemistic expressions to diminish the rigidity of tabooistic words. Derived from the Polynesian term taboo (ta designates the sacred and bu functions as a superlative degree), the term taboo refers to a set of absolute prohibitions that aim to prevent the negative effects of a magical contagion. Taboo appeared in language and literature and throughout time there have been many attempts to relate linguistic taboos to culture, especially during the 1960’s. Defined within the framework of cultural imprinting, the taboo appears as a reflex to reject pagan, forbidden, repressed things, which work both in the language of everyday life and in literature. People have created euphemistic terms or expressions in order to soften the rigidity of taboo words. Euphemistic words and expressions offer the possibility to refer to unpleasant things in circumstances when we cannot avoid them in communication and therefore to soften the disagreeable meanings of taboo words. When we express thoughts, opinions or ideas, we can avoid saying certain things by using deliberate circumlocution. Linguistic taboos circumscribe various topics ranging from death or illness to religion or the metaphysical. In literature, taboo covers topics such as alienation, racism, depression, drugs and prostitution. The article concludes that our way of interpreting taboos is in reality subordinated to the condition of finiteness and historicity, explained in terms of philosophy, psychoanalysis and linguistics.