Linguistic Taboos in the Pahari Culture: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the linguistic taboos prevalent in the Pahari society. This research adopts qualitative approach because of its scope in socio-cultural norms and settings. The data collected for this study is based on observations made by the researchers from the Pahari culture in a local setting. The Politeness theory (Brown and Levinson 1978, 1987) has been used in this research as a theoretical framework. Three types of taboos have been explored; religion related taboos, decorum related taboos, and morality related taboos. The taboos present in the Pahari culture are not only verbal but non-verbal also and there are certain examples of cultural specific category of taboos.