The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language
The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language
Keith Allan, Mlitt, PhD (Edinburgh), FAHA, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Monash University and Honorary Aprof at the University of Queensland. Research interests: aspects of meaning in language; the history and philosophy of linguistics. Books include: Linguistic Meaning (1986, 2014); Euphemism and Dysphemism (with Kate Burridge, 1991); Natural Language Semantics (2001); Forbidden Words (with Kate Burridge, 2006); Concise Encyclopaedia of Semantics (2009); Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics (2010); Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics (with Kasia Jaszczolt, 2012); Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics (2013); Routledge Handbook of Linguistics (2016). Many contributions to scholarly books and journals. Email: [email protected]. Homepage: http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/keith-allan.
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Abstract
The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language defines taboo as a proscription of behaviour for a specifiable community of one or more persons at a specifiable time in specifiable contexts. What is in fact tabooed is the use of those words and language in certain contexts; in short, the taboo applies to instances of language behaviour. For behaviour to be proscribed it must be perceived as in some way harmful to an individual or their community but the degree of harm can fall anywhere on a scale from a breach of etiquette to out-and-out fatality. All tabooed behaviours are deprecated and they lead to social if not legal sanction. Taboos are described and the reasons and beliefs behind them are investigated. Tabooed words are typically dysphemistic, think of insults and swearing; tabooed language is avoided through various kinds of euphemism. In twenty chapters, the volume offers comprehensive coverage of tabooed language as perceived by experts in general linguistics, cultural linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, historical linguistics, linguistic philosophy, forensic linguistics, politeness research, publishing, advertising, and theology. Although the principal focus is the English language, reference is occasionally made to linguistic taboos in other languages in order to compare sociocultural attitudes. The existence of taboos and the need to manage taboo lead not only to the censoring of behaviour and the imposition of censorship but also to language change and language development.
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Front Matter
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1
Taboo words and language: An overview
Keith Allan
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2
Taboo language and impoliteness
Jonathan Culpeper
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3
Taboos in speaking of sex and sexuality
Eliecer Crespo-Fernández
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4
Speaking of disease and death
Réka Benczes andKate Burridge
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5
The psychology of expressing and interpreting linguistic taboos
Timothy B. Jay
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6
Taboo language awareness in early childhood
Timothy B. Jay
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7
Swearing and the brain
Shlomit Ritz Finkelstein
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8
sticky: Taboo topics in deaf communities
Jami N. Fisher and others
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9
Taboo terms and their grammar
Jack Hoeksema
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10
Taboo as a driver of language change
Kate Burridge andRéka Benczes
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11
Problems translating tabooed words from source to target language
Pedro J. Chamizo Domínguez
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12
Linguistic taboos in a second or foreign language
Jean-Marc Dewaele
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13
Philosophical investigations of the taboo of insult
Luvell Anderson
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14
Religious and ideologically motivated taboos
Keith Allan
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15
Speech or conduct? Law, censorship, and taboo language
Christopher Hutton
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16
Taboo language in books, films, and the media
Gabriele Azzaro
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17
Taboos and bad language in the mouths of politicians and in advertising
Toby Ralph andBarnaby Ralph
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18
Taboo language used as banter
Elijah Wald
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19
Taboo language as source of comedy
Barry J. Blake
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20
An anthropological approach to taboo words and language
Stanley H. Brandes
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End Matter
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