A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE LINGUISTIC TABOOS IN THE PASHTOON SOCIETY

Abstract

This paper investigates the linguistic taboos in the Pashtoon society in terms of their relationship with the social context in which they are used and the socio-cultural factors affecting their use. The paper examines and describes different categories of the linguistic taboos in the Pashtoon society and the strategies used by the Pashto speakers to avoid the use of these words through different types of replacement of taboo words with more acceptable words such as using jargon terms, euphemisms, metaphoric expressions, and use of English terms. The paper also argues that these processes are conditioned by the cultural and religious norms of the society. It also offers an explanation as to why certain words are considered taboos in the society and why certain taboo words are accompanied by particular conventionally-fixed words. The taboo words in the Pashtoon society have also been divided into two categories (general and context-specific) each with subcategories. The paper adopts the politeness approach proposed by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) as the theoretical framework for the analysis of linguistic taboos in the Pashtoon society.