The Meaning of Taboo

1
The Meaning of Taboo

• For a stranger entering an alien society, a
  knowledge of when not to speak may be as basic to
  the production of culturally acceptable behaviour
  as a knowledge of what to say. (Basso 1972, 69)

2
Definition

• The word 'Tabu' originally 'tapu' comes from
  the Polynesian language, Tonga.
• It is one of the few words, from a 'primitive
  people's' language, to have found its way into
  languages of western civilisation.
• James Cook brought this word to England in 1777
  from his South Seas trip. From this point it
  spread rapidly to other languages and found its
  way into educational language.

3
Tabu

4
Ethnological meaning

• The first meaning given in the Encyclopaedia
  Britannica is a prohibition against touching,
  saying, or doing something for fear of immediate
  harm from a supernatural force.
• The second basic meaning mentioned in Britannica
  a prohibition imposed by social custom or as a
  protective measure.

5
Social Convention

• Taboos in modern society are a part of the social
  code of a society, which establish the actions
  and behaviours that should not take place
  (Zöllner 1997, 25f.),
• It determines what one does not communicate about
  or what should only be communicated about in a
  certain way.
• Taboo entails (negative) conventions of actions
  (that which one does not do), non-themes (that
  which one does not speak about), as well as
  themes, which require a certain linguistic
  etiquette (that which one only speaks of in a
  certain way).

6
Different kinds of taboo

• Communication, linguistic, and action taboos have
  one feature in common. They are normally not
  explicitly mentioned or codified like grammar
  rules or laws.
• Taboo has no (visible) symptoms, except for
  silence that may be an indicator.

7
Taboo violation

• Only the violation of a taboo makes its existence
  visible.
• The quintessence of the term taboo in various
  disciplines (especially sociology, psychology,
  linguistics) is that they are usually concerned
  with something that is forbidden to be done,
  said, thought, felt, known and touched, though it
  is do-able, say-able, feel-able, recognizable and
  touchable otherwise it need not be protected by
  a taboo.

8
Effect of Taboo

• Reimann (1989, 421) understands 'Taboo' as the
  intensive marking of persons and subjects, which
  indicate force and threat and require a
  corresponding conforming (careful) behaviour upon
  encounter.
• According to Reimann, taboos are societal matters
  of course and thus hold an important social
  function in the regulation of behaviour, the
  establishment of boundaries, and the recognition
  of authority, for example in the protection of
  property, the position of leaders, and certain
  social rules (ibid.). In general, the role of
  taboo is to enforce social order.

9
Taboos should not be confused with prohibitions

• Generally, prohibitions are expressed
  differently than taboos
• Prohibitions even require a codification, whereas
  taboos expect that everyone knows what is
  considered taboo there are no explicit norms.
• This also means that there is no way to defend
  oneself after having violated a taboo, as there
  is in the case of violating a prohibition.
• Punishing a violation, in the case of taboos,
  relies mainly upon feelings of guilt,
  detestation, and shame the person committing a
  taboo violation is isolated, avoided by the
  society, made taboo in modern day also
  labelled. (Reimann 1989, 421).

10
Internalisation

• Taboos are impassioned they strongly depend on
  emotional influence.
• Taboos are beyond all discussion, since the taboo
  action is forbidden by itself in a way. This
  phenomenon is known in nourishment taboos and the
  socialisation of the small child, who knows
  already at a very young age that certain actions
  and contact are forbidden, through statements
  like 'One does not do that', 'That is not
  appropriate' etc.
• Taboos are so far internalised through such
  inarticulate imperatives in the process of
  raising children that legal rules and formal
  sanctions many times become superfluous (Reimann
  1989, 421).

11
Control

• Taboos are a particularly effective way of
  control (Reimann 1989, 421) and can be understood
  as axioms of communication, i.e. as
  unquestionable basic truths of a society, which
  may not be touched.
• Certain persons, places, and nourishment, as well
  as other areas such as sexuality, desire,
  poverty, inequality, corruption, violence, death
  and certain diseases are considered taboo
  (Reimann 1989, 421).

12
Functions

• Taboos add to the stability of societies and
  groups and have protective function. The taboo
  secures the survival and the future of a society
  by simply avoiding or covering things that might
  be a threat for the positive identity and life
  perspective of an individual or a group dark
  sides of ones own history, death, illness, the
  question about the meaning of life.
• Therefore, taboo can be understood as a coping
  mechanism, as a strategy to build individual and
  collective identity. (Kraft 2004, 114). Taboos
  cover the potentially dangerous and painful in a
  society.
• (In this context Kraft underlines his
  socio-economic approach by indicating that in
  case of the incest-taboo the aim is also the
  survival of the individual and his social group
  (2004 92).)

13
Differentiation between taboos

• 'object taboos' (taboos on things, institutions,
  and persons)
• 'action taboos',
• 'communication taboos' (taboo themes)
• 'word taboos' (vocabulary taboos)
• 'picture taboos', which are in turn supported by
• 'thought taboos' and 'emotion taboos'.

14
What kind of taboo?

15
BBC

• Tanya Datta explores the complex relationship
  between Britain's largest ethnic minority groups
  the Asian and African-Caribbean communities
  and the explosive tensions that can occur when
  people from these two communities fall in love
  with each other.  
• Tanya talks to couples who have dared to break
  The Last Taboo by choosing to be together,
  including Rena, a 27-year-old British Asian of
  Indian descent, and her black boyfriend, Tony,
  who were determined to stay together in the face
  of her parents' outright opposition.  
• Rena tells Tanya "My dad had told me about who I
  could and couldn't marry. Basically, there was a
  racial hierarchy. The first choice for marriage
  was someone from your own community and then
  after that, white was the next best thing and
  after that, any other race in the world but
  black."  
• Rena's parents also explain their feelings about
  and reactions to their daughter's relationship.  
  Presenter and Producer/Tanya Datta      

16
Trash religion

17

• Taboo serves as an important relief for every
  society, since no society can regulate everything
  explicitly.
• Certain things need to be self-explicatory, do
  not have to be justified and must not be
  questioned. In this respect taboos are often
  better than direct prohibitions because they seem
  natural to the involved and have been
  internalized.
• Taboos express silent consensus which the
  concerned may not be aware of at all.

18
Taboo complex

• consists of the taboo
• and the tabooisation, meaning the marking of
  boundaries,
• as well as on the other hand the taboo violation
  or the crossing of the boundaries.
• The violation of taboos is unthinkable without
  their existence the other way around, taboos
  would not be necessary without the danger of a
  possible violation.
• Usually, a taboo violation is an attack on
  identity Taboo violations are indicators for
  changes in identity (Kraft 2004, 177).
• This means that taboo violations are very
  important for social development and they fulfil
  several functions at once they mark what is
  taboo in a society, make aware of boundaries and
  indicate shortcomings.

19

• One has to differentiate between individual and
  collective taboo violations and between permanent
  and temporary taboo crossings.
• It can be assumed that it may come to ritualized
  or institutionalized taboo crossings in some
  areas that work only temporarily. Such taboo
  violations are not arbitrary they have a
  function in the relevant society.

20
Taboo in Talk shows

• It could be very misleading and result in
  disaster if subjects and discourse reflected in
  Talk Shows were to be transferred to
  intercultural contact situations.
• Talk Shows misrepresent everyday discourse but
  pretend that everything, especially controversal
  topics, may be talked about without taboos and at
  the same time show tolerant behaviour.

21
Temporary Taboo crossing

• Temporary taboo crossings do not entail the
  abolishment of the taboo, but they temporarily
  lift the sanction mechanism.
• It is possible that the taboo mechanism on the
  whole is strengthened by temporary taboo lift
  because humour can be used as comic relief in
  this context.

22

• Temporary taboo lift does exist in special
  situations academic discourse, doctor-patient
  communication, communication in court, general
  emergency situations and situations of social
  change, jokes and satire, curses, religion, media
  strategies (Talk-Shows and advertisements).
• The function of ritualised and institutionalised
  taboo violations is, that they as part of the
  order system actually mark the violation but
  serve as an outlet for the pressure and thereby
  strengthen the taboo itself.

23
Sensitive Topics

• We can hint at, circumvent, gloss over etc. and
  in these ways communicate about areas with
  taboos, without violating conventions. We use in
  this context the term taboo discourse.
• Taboo discourse makes communication about things,
  which one does not actually wish to talk about or
  should not talk about, possible.
• It includes various forms of covering up, which
  exist in our language and culture but which we
  are not always aware of. We mean, by the term
  taboo discourse, that in certain situations one
  can communicate about actions, subjects,
  institutions, and persons with taboos.
• However, this can only be done in a very specific
  way, which does not constitute a (verbal) taboo
  violation itself.

24

• At the same time, euphemisms are not the only
  possibility to speak of subjects, actions, and
  facts with taboos apart from the possibility of
  withdrawing from a discussion about taboos
  completely (breaking-off of a discussion, spatial
  distance etc.),
• there are also various levels of openness
  available to the speakers. This can be from the
  explicit 'one does not speak about that' to a
  thorough discussion. In this range of
  possibilities, the speakers must develop
  mechanisms or strategies, which allow them to
  speak with a 'one-quarter', 'half', or
  'three-quarter' openness. (Günther 1992, 48-49).

25

• Taboo can also be used as a tool. The degree of
  directness plays an important role taboo topics
  may be openly discussed (explicit taboo),
  suggested (implicit taboo) or they may be
  completely avoided (avoided taboo). In this case
  a topic would not be tackled at all but kept in
  verbal and visual silence. (Krajewski 2001, 137)
• By deliberately choosing taboo topics and
  addressing them straightforwardly rather than
  indirectly through socially accepted taboo
  discourse, attention is assured.

26

• Goodwin/Lees study about taboos in intercultural
  communication examined gender and cultural
  patterns in levels of taboo within the
  friendships of students from two cultures.
• Eighty-two British and 81 Chinese students
  completed self-report schedules inquiring about
  those topics they considered to be taboo in their
  relationship with a close friend.
• Responses were evaluated in a 2 (Sex) x 2
  (Culture) x 2 (Sex of Friend) design, and levels
  of taboo for 35 topics of discussion/behaviours
  were recorded. Results were largely consistent
  with the Cultural Variability Model, with Chinese
  students recording a greater level of taboo than
  their British counterparts and with males
  recording higher levels of taboo in their
  friendship than females.
• Interaction effects were not as expected, with
  males disclosing more to other male friends
  rather than to female friends. (Goodwin/Lee
  1994)

27

• 1. Your political views (if different from
  friends)
• 2. Matters of personal hygiene
• 3. Your religious views (if different from
  friends
• 4. State of the relationship with the friend
• 5. Relationship between your brothers and
  sisters
• 6. How you feel about home when away from
  home
• 7. Relationship between your parents
• 8. Feelings about your parents decisions
• 9. Feelings about time spent with the family
• 10. Friend of the opposite sex you find attractive

28

• 11. Break-up of a close friendship
• 12. Level of sexual contact with an opposite sex
  friend
• 13. Feelings about your friend
• 14. Worries about your personal appearance
• 15. Disturbing dream or nightmare
• 16. Feelings of hurt and rejection
• 17. Personal health problems
• 18. Financial worries or problems
• 19. An exceptional achievement
• 20. Aspirations for the future

29

• 21. Feelings of contentment
• 22. Childhood fears
• 23. Disturbing memories from the past
• 24. Enjoyable childhood experiences
• 25. Dislike of someone your friend is close to
• 26. Friends relationship with others
• 27. Causes of past disagreements with your friend
• 28. Friends bad points
• 29. Sexual fantasies
• 30. Your weaknesses/bad points
• Taboo behaviours
• 31. Telling your friend you like them
• 32. Sharing items of clothing
• 33. Crying in front of your friend
• 34. Asking a friend a favour
• 35. Hugging your friend

30
Taboo Research

• Subjects of taboo research are
• Negative conventions of actions (Taboos of Action
  - Dont do it )
• Non-themes (zone of silence i.e. Communication
  taboos- Dont speak about it!)
• Etiquette themes (taboo discourse Dont speak
  about it that way! )
• Linguistic expressions to be avoided (Linguistic
  taboos Dont say that!)
• The possible relationships between verbal and
  non-verbal taboos

31

• A problem of modern societies and intercultural
  communication is that taboo rules can not be
  stated.
• Taboos dealing with death, dying, and funerals
  are largely agreed upon however, there are group
  specific differences as it comes to taboos
  concerning sexuality.
• This is particularly true for homosexuality. The
  differences may stem from age, education, social
  background as well as ones own sexual
  orientation.
• Societies differ in their beliefs and in their
  rules of propriety and decency. There are
  therefore certain things that one should not talk
  about.

32
Taboo Discourse

• However, one might still have to mention it
  somehow. Speakers tend to observe the societal
  decency code, and when the need arises to talk
  about a tabooed referent, they create new lexical
  items. Some may be jocular at first, but often
  they become generally accepted and thus
  conventionalised.
• (Foreigners who come to England, for instance,
  are always amazed at what they regard as
  fancifulnames for toilet. What they are looking
  for in public buildings, theatres, restaurants or
  pubs may be called cloakroom, Gents, Ladies,
  lavatory, powder room, public convenience, rest
  room etc. (Quirk/Stein 1990, 131-132))

33
Summary

• The word and the concept Tabu has come to us from
  a far away language and culture and the way it is
  used today has only little to do with its
  original meaning, it is useful and meaningful to
  use the concept in the analysis of modern
  societies in general and in intercultural
  communication in particular.
• Taboos in the sense outlined are characteristic
  for all forms of community, because they enable
  an organised coexistence and prevent unnecessary
  dispute and conflict in advance, without having
  to explicitly and directly regulate all of this.
• The taboo complex is inseparably connected to
  taboo crossing and taboo violation, as well as
  breaking of taboos and de-tabooisation.

34

• Taboos ensure the stability of a society and are
  the basis for the identity of the individual and
  his group.
• Taboo breeches allow development and dynamics.
• No community can do without this taboo complex.
• Modern societies also are marked by taboos,
  though one can see an advancing de-tabooisation
  in certain areas. On the other hand this is
  balanced by the emergence of new taboos.
• Because of the advancing secularisation and
  growing value pluralism as well as an overall
  globalisation of all areas of life, todays
  taboos are not always and in every case the same
  for all groups and individuals.

35

• Taboos are rather context-sensitive they have to
  be related to certain groups and situations.
• Communication taboos may be ambivalent because
  they include the concealment and repression of
  delicate subjects within a community and they can
  hinder development.
• Difficult is the dealing with taboos and taboo
  violation in intercultural communication as
  recently shown in the argument around the
  Mohammed caricatures.
• In intercultural contact situations it is
  important to recognise and understand meaningful
  silence of the foreign and other, taboo breach
  needs to be calculated and learned and last but
  not least depends on the linguistic and
  communicative competence of the participants.

36
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37
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38
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