A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues
This research paper is an endeavor to delineate various linguistic taboos about women's physiology with a focus on both the categories and functions of taboos in Pakistani society. The aim is to bring forth myriad euphemistic expressions employed in print media. The paper contests that taboos are moderated at the expanse of society's cultural and religious norms.It also offers a rationale behind the popular use of euphemistic expressions for Pakistani Females' daily issues. Allan and Burridge's (2006) theoretical framework furnished the basic framework for the analysis of different euphemistic expressions. The data for the study comprises thirteen different English newspaper articles published in the last six years (2016-2021). The data analysis revealed that euphemisms could connote multiple shades of meaning ranging from shame, disgust, exasperation, and upliftment. It was established that euphemisms operate along dysphemism and orthophemisminterchangeably depending on the context in which they appeared.
-
Euphemism, Gender Studies, Orthophemism, Sociolinguistics, Taboo
-
(1) Ayesha Izhar Chaudhri
Lecturer, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan
(2) Tazanfal Tehseem
Assistant Professor, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan
(3) Barirah Nazir
Lecturer, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
- Agha, N. (2016, January). Kinship in rural Pakistan: Consanguineous marriages and their implications for women. Women's Studies International Forum 54, 1- 10.
- Ahmad, K., Ghani, M., Alam, M., & Gul, T. (2013). A sociolinguistic study of the linguistic taboos in the Pashtoon society. International Researchers, 2(1), 36-41.
- Ali, N. (2020, March 7). This women's day, let’s silence the myths of menstruation! Daily Times. https://dailytimes.com.pk/571709/this- womens-day-lets-silence-the-myths-of-
- Allan, K. (2018). Religious and ideologically motivated taboos. In Allan, K.(ed). The Oxford handbook of taboo words and language,240-256.
- Allan, K., & Burridge, K. (2006). Forbidden words: Taboo and the censoring of language. Cambridge University Press menstruation/
- Asif, H. M., Sultana, S., Akhtar, N., Rehman, J. U., & Rehman, R. U. (2014). Prevalence, risk factors, and disease knowledge of breast cancer in Pakistan. Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention, 15(11), 4411-4416.
- Baig, L. A., & Karim, S. A. (2006). Age at menopause, and knowledge of and attitudes to menopause, of women in Karachi, Pakistan. British Menopause Society Journal, 12(2) 71- 74.
- Behzad, A., Malik, W., & Azam, S. (2017). Linguistic Taboos in the Pahari Culture: A Sociolinguistic Analysis. ARIEL-An International Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 27.
- Bradley, T., & Saigol, R. (2012). Religious values and beliefs and education for women in Pakistan. Development in Practice, 22(5-6), 675-688.
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia (2020, February 28). taboo. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/taboo- sociology
- Burridge, K. & Benczes, R. (2018). Taboo as a driver of language change. In Allan, K.(ed). The Oxford handbook of taboo words and language, 164-185. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/978019880 8190.001.0001
- urridge, K. (2012). Euphemism and Language Change: The Sixth and Seventh Ages. Lexis, 7. https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.355
- Ghosh, H.A. (2008). Dilemmas of Islamic and Secular Feminists and Feminisms . Journal of International Women's Studies, 9(3), 99-116. http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol9/iss3/7
- Jalil, X. (2018, February 20). These Pakistani startups are helping to break the period taboo. Images. https://images.dawn.com/news/1179501
- Khalid, A. (2018). Human excreta: a resource or a taboo? Assessing the sociocultural barriers, acceptability, and reuse of human excreta as a resource in Kakul Village District Abbottabad, Northwestern Pakistan. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 8(1), 71-80
- Khan, A., & Hussain, R. (2008). Violence against women in Pakistan: Perceptions and experiences of domestic violence. Asian Studies Review, 32(2), 239-253.
- Khan, M. (2019, December 10). My walkthrough polycystic ovary syndrome. Images. https://images.dawn.com/news/1183888
- Khan, N. A. (2018). Marketing a Taboo Product: Tackling the Consumer Mind-set in Pakistan. Asian Journal of Management Cases, 15(2), 147-160
- Khan, T., Kennedy, K. I., Kazi, A., & Steiner, M. (1989). A study of breastfeeding and the return of menses and pregnancy in Karachi, Pakistan. Contraception, 40(3), 365–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010- 7824(89)90099-1
- Khoja-Moolji, S. (2022). Patriarchy as an Assemblage: Qandeel Baloch, Male Domination and Feminist Publics in Pakistan. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 45(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1969 138
- Kiran, K. J., & Anmol, M. (2019). Sex health education: a cultural taboo in pakistan. I-Manager’s Journal on Nursing, 9(3), 38. https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.9.3.16471
- Mahmood, S. (2019, October 23). Treating Breast Cancer when You can't say 'Breast'. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world- asia-50103088
- Manzoor, S. (2015). The impact of indigenous culture on female leadership in Pakistan. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 4, 414-429.
- Masood, T. (2019, July 10). Creating awareness about menstrual hygiene. DAWN News. https://www.dawn.com/news/1493183
- Mazhar, A. (2016, March 27). Why blasphemy remains unpardonable in Pakistan . DAWN News. https://www.dawn.com/news/1163596
- PMS (premenstrual syndrome). (2018, April 23). NHS.UK. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pre- menstrual-syndrome/
- Raza, M. (2021, May 10). Pakistani women, why do we still hide our periods, especially in Ramazan? Images. https://images.dawn.com/news/1187185
- Saher, N. (2019). CDA of Rhetorical Devices Used in Advertisements of Beauty Products in Pakistani Print Media. New Media and Mass Communication. https://doi.org/10.7176/NMMC/77-03
- Saleem, F., Mahmood, R., Makhijani, H. B., & Halepoto, J. A. (2014). Language and Print Media: An Analysis of Rape Reporting in Daily Newspapers in Pakistan. The Women- Annual Research Journal of Gender Studies, 6.
- Shahid. K, A. (2020, September 13). Health: Women’s open secret. DAWN. https://www.dawn.com/news/1579131
- Siddiqui, Z. A. (2021, March 31). Pakistan ranked fourth-worst in gender parity. The Express Tribune. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2292491/pakista n-ranked-fourth-worst-in genderparity#:~:text=Pakistan%20has%20bee n%20ranked%20among,gap%20in%
- Soomro, I. (2022, February 4). Karo-Kari claimed 176 lives in Sindh in 2021: Study. The News International. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/930710- karo-kari-claimed-176-lives-in- sindh-in- 2021-study
- Staff, I. (2016, April 14). Dear Pakistani Men, here’s how you talk about periods. Images. https://images.dawn.com/news/1175161
- Staff, I. (2021, November 1). The National Breast Cancer Helpline is Battling a “Taboo†Disease, One Phone Call at a Time. Images. https://images.dawn.com/news/1188695
- Strazny, P. (2005). Taboo. Encyclopedia of Linguistics. (Vol. 2, pp. 1073-74). New York
- ahir, M. R. (2014). Exploitation of women in beauty products of Fair and Lovely: A critical discourse analysis study. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 2(9), 122-131.
- Tahseen, N. (2019). Print Media’s Projection of Female Electoral Candidates in General Elections of Pakistan: The Case of Punjab. Journal of Media Studies, 33(2).
- The Guardian. (2021). 'Pandemic of patriarchy': Pakistani women defy threats to hold a march. https://www.theguardian.com/global- development/2021/mar/08/pandemic-of- patriarchy-Pakistani-women-defy-threats- to-hold-march
- Walker, L. A. (2014). Linguistic and Cultural Approaches to Menstruation Taboo and Euphemism. VCU Scholars Compass. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcont ent.cgi?article=4744&context=etd
- Weikart, R. (1994). Mark Engles and the Abolition of the family. History of European Ideas, 18(5).
- Yasser, I. (2020, February 1). Speaking up about women’s health. DAWN. https://www.dawn.com/news/153
Cite this article
-
APA : Chaudhri, A. I., Tehseem, T., & Nazir, B. (2022). A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues. Global Social Sciences Review, VII(II), 34 - 45. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2022(VII-II).04
-
CHICAGO : Chaudhri, Ayesha Izhar, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Barirah Nazir. 2022. "A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues." Global Social Sciences Review, VII (II): 34 - 45 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2022(VII-II).04
-
HARVARD : CHAUDHRI, A. I., TEHSEEM, T. & NAZIR, B. 2022. A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues. Global Social Sciences Review, VII, 34 - 45.
-
MHRA : Chaudhri, Ayesha Izhar, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Barirah Nazir. 2022. "A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues." Global Social Sciences Review, VII: 34 - 45
-
MLA : Chaudhri, Ayesha Izhar, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Barirah Nazir. "A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues." Global Social Sciences Review, VII.II (2022): 34 - 45 Print.
-
OXFORD : Chaudhri, Ayesha Izhar, Tehseem, Tazanfal, and Nazir, Barirah (2022), "A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues", Global Social Sciences Review, VII (II), 34 - 45
-
TURABIAN : Chaudhri, Ayesha Izhar, Tazanfal Tehseem, and Barirah Nazir. "A Sociolinguistic Study of Taboos and Euphemisms Surrounding Pakistani Females' Daily Issues." Global Social Sciences Review VII, no. II (2022): 34 - 45. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2022(VII-II).04