A Comprehensive Analysis Of Linguistic Taboos From Social-interpersonal Perspective

The word"taboo"was originally used by the residents of Tongan, living in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean to refer to persons, things and activities (including speech) that were sacred, forbidden or should be paid much attention to. Violation of taboo may result in various kinds of punishment, even death. This phenomenon is not unique in Tonga, but exists widely in almost every culture throughout the world, ranging from personal to social life. Words and expressions related to these social taboos are linguistic taboos.Linguistic taboo is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a social phenomenon. It is rooted in the particular social and cultural milieu and reflects the social norms and the culturally accepted values and beliefs of a particular culture on the one hand, and its use is largely constrained by them on the other. The early researches on taboos are closely related to ethnography, anthropology, sociology and psychology. Due to their sensitive nature, they have long been neglected in the study of language. Few records can be found in the authoritative documents of linguistics and noble linguists also wouldn't like to discuss them. In foreign language teaching, both teachers and students are reluctant to mention them. The lacking of understanding and inappropriate use of linguistic taboos would cause misunderstanding, communicative failure, and even more serious consequence. Therefore, it is worth researching on linguistic taboos comprehensively and dynamically.Linguistic taboos, as an integral part of language, are closely related to social taboos, which reflect the social development and value concepts. It has its own characteristics of universality, modifiability and uniqueness. In real communication, participants will make code choices according to different factors. From the diachronic point of view, the factors of superstition, social stratification and religious belief influence less and less while those of politeness and cooperation increase gradually. Due to the different cultural background, the participants intend to obey different polite principles to achieve different communicative aims. Then culture shift is caused and pragmatic failure appears. The violation of linguistic taboos is generally offensive, however, in real communication, it can be found everywhere. Therefore, it is impossible to understand language comprehensively without considering the context of culture and the context of communication in which language is used. It is not only universal but also culture-specific and context-dependent. The violation of linguistic taboos has its distinguished social and interpersonal function.The present research on linguistic taboos is mainly limited to static cultural analysis. This thesis analyzes the use and violation of linguistic taboos dynamically from the functions of social and interpersonal perspectives by using the theory of context of situation in order to illustrate that the linguistic taboo is not only a social-cultural phenomenon which has its social and interpersonal functions, but also the violation of linguistic taboos is an effective communicative strategy which maintain harmonious interpersonal relationship. It implies that the rational observance and violation of linguistic taboos can decrease pragmatic failure in intercultural communication, avoid interpersonal violence, and is beneficial to improve participants'communicative ability.