The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language

This volume brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines to define and describe tabooed words and language and to investigate the reasons and beliefs behind them. In general, taboo is defined as a proscription of behaviour for a specific community, time, and context. In terms of
language, taboo applies to instances of language behaviour: the use of certain words in certain contexts. The existence of linguistic taboos and their management lead to the censoring of behaviour and, as a consequence, to language change and development.

Chapters in this volume explore the multiple types of tabooed language from a variety of perspectives, such as sociolinguistics, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, historical linguistics, and neurolinguistics, and with reference to fields such as law, publishing, politics, and advertising. Topics
covered include impoliteness, swearing, censorship, taboo in deaf communities, translation of tabooed words, and the use of taboo in banter and comedy.


Author: Keith Allan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/08/2019
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.20lbs
Size: 9.70h x 7.00w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780198808190

About the Author

Keith Allan is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Monash University and Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland. His research interests include the history and philosophy of linguistics, and aspects of meaning in language. His many books include Linguistic Meaning (Routledge, 1986;
reissued 2014), Natural Language Semantics (Blackwell, 2001), and The Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics (Equinox, 2007; 2nd ed. 2010). He is the co-editor of multiple volumes, including The Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics (with Kasia Jaszczolt; CUP, 2012), The Oxford Handbook of the
History of Linguistics (OUP, 2012), and The Routledge Handbook of Linguistics (Routledge, 2015).