hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2022-06-19

■ #4801. タブーの源泉 [taboo][sociolinguistics][anthropology]

　言語的タブーの現象には多大な関心を寄せている．hellog でも taboo とタグ付けした多くの記事で取り上げてきた（とりわけ「#4041. 「言語におけるタブー」の記事セット」 ([2020-05-20-1]) を参照）．タブーとは何か，なぜ人間社会にはタブーが生じるのか，謎が多く興味が尽きない．Allan and Burridge (1) が，言語的タブーに関する著書の冒頭で，タブーの範疇や源泉について次のように概説している．

Taboo is a proscription of behaviour that affects everyday life. Taboos that we consider in the course of the book include

・ bodies and their effluvia (sweat, snot, faeces, menstrual fluid, etc.);
・ the organs and acts of sex, micturition, and defecation;
・ diseases, death and killing (including hunting and fishing);
・ naming, addressing, touching and viewing persons and sacred beings, objects and places;
・ food gathering, preparation and consumption

   Taboos arise out of social constraints on the individual's behaviour where it can cause discomfort, harm or injury. People are at metaphysical risk when dealing with sacred persons, objects and places; they are at physical risk from powerful earthly persons, dangerous creatures and disease. A person's soul or bodily effluvia may put him/her at metaphysical, moral or physical risk, and may contaminate others; a social act may breach constraints on polite behaviour. Infractions of taboos can lead to illness or death, as well as to the lesser penalties of corporal punishment, incarceration, social ostracism or mere disapproval. Even an unintended contravention of taboo risks condemnation and censure; generally, people can and do avoid tabooed behaviour unless they intend to violate a taboo.

　これによると，タブーの源泉は，不快感，危害，損害を引き起こし得るような個人の行動に社会的制限を課そうとするところに存するのだという．社会秩序を平穏に維持すべく，越えてはいけない一線を社会のなかで共有するための知恵，あるいは仕掛け，と言い換えてもよいかもしれない．その目標を達成するために，人々が日常的に用いざるをえない言語というものを利用するというのは，何とも巧妙なやり方ではないか．

　・ Allan, Keith and Kate Burridge. Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge: CUP, 2006.

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