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SPA Tabú |
origins
The adjective “taboo” comes from Tongan, the language spoken in the Kingdom of Tonga. It is also spelled tabu in Tongan and tapu in Maori. The term “taboo” was introduced in the English language by Captain James Cook (1780) in his A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. It has a complex comprehensive meaning that refers to something that is sacred and thereby forbidden for general use. “Taboo” was also used as a verb as exemplified by Cook: a man had “been discovered with a woman who was taboo’d.” (Hughes 2006: 462). In this case, the verb taboo is used as a term to avoid the reference to having sex. However, swearing is much older than the first usage of taboo. As stated by Mohr (2013), ancient Latin made use of swearwords related to obcenitas [obscenities].
other names
Nowadays, there is a varied terminology related with the concept of taboo language considering that the function of these terms can sometimes overlap with other categories considered forbidden, vulgar, offensive, unwelcome, etc. Different phrases have been supported by scholars such as dirty language (Jay 1980), strong language (Lung 1998), offensive language (Valdeón 2000), bad language (Azzaro 2005), foul language (Wajnryb 2005), taboo language (Allan & Burridge 2006), rude language (Hughes 2006), emotionally charged language (Díaz-Cintas & Remael 2007), taboo words or swear words (Jay 2009), offensive and taboo language (Ávila-Cabrera 2014), and swearwords and taboo words (Díaz-Cintas & Remael 2021). The terms used for swearing belong to a colloquial register and to slang (Hughes 2006), although not every slang term has to have taboo connotations.
abstract
The treatment of taboo language in translation poses a challenge to translators given that each language has its own stylistic and linguistic resources to describe things or actions that are considered prohibited, strong, offensive or vulgar. Not only is taboo language an important concept often analysed in translation studies (TS), especially in descriptive translation studies (DTS), but it is also addressed by other disciplines and branches that are interrelated and help us understand this concept from different angles, such as semiotics, pragmatics, semantics, (im)politeness, cultural studies, psychology, sociology, sociolinguistics, etc.
When translating a source text (ST) into a target text (TT) and culture, finding the most appropriate term(s) is not an easy task and the strategies or techniques employed may not transfer the load that the term has in the ST and, accordingly, its function may not be properly addressed. The purpose of this entry is to briefly describe, from a multidisciplinary approach, the following aspects of the translation of taboo language: its origins, names and meaning, its taxonomies in broad terms; the various cultural views applied to taboo topics, swearing, etc.; the way the load of taboo terms can be modulated; the difficulties taboo language entails when being translated and the diversity of translation operations to deal with this type of rendering and, finally, its research potential.
record
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José Javier Ávila-Cabrera |
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2024 |
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Ávila-Cabrera, José Javier. 2024. "Taboo" @ ENTI (Encyclopedia of translation and interpreting). AIETI. |
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10951523 |
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https://www.aieti.eu/enti/taboo_ENG |