A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF TABOOS IN URHOBO LANGUAGE

ABSTRACT

This is a sociolinguistic analysis of taboos in the Urhobo language. The Urhobo language is representing a group of people in Delta State, usually called the Urhobos. Culture is the way of life of the people; their dressing pattern, language, food, etc. Culture has different aspects of which taboo is among. The research examines the nature of linguistic and non-linguistic taboos in Urhobo. Data collection was done through an oral interview with selected native speakers. The study is beneficial to both native and non-native speakers of Urhobo, and ethnolinguists. The theories adopted for the research are; the ‘Ethnography of Communication’ developed by Dell Hymes (1964), and ‘Face-saving theory’ developed by Brown and Levinson (1989). The major findings of the research are; the linguistic taboos in Urhobo are used in particular contexts, context plays a role in tabooing some words and statements, euphemistic expressions are used as replacement for taboo words and statements; the non-linguistic taboos in Urhobo are learnt and passed on in particular contexts across generations. This is in consonance with Dell Hymes proposition that language is not used in a vacuum. Also the taboos in Urhobo are grouped into sex-related, veneration-related, sickness-related, morality-related, death/burial-related, festival-related, farmland-related, family-related, palace-related, market-related, and fear-related.