ESAN LANGUAGE TABOOS AND THEIR EUPHEMISTIC EXPRESSIONS

ABSTRACT
This work investigates the ethno-linguistic features of taboos and euphemisms as they are used among the members of Uromi dialect of Esan language community. A definition was proposed for language taboos and euphemisms (which is the main focus of this work) the method of data collection employed in this work are the primary and secondary data collection techniques which include direct oral interviews and documentation of data given by competent speakers of the language from ages 45 – 65 and also consulting works done by other people that are relevant this study. We employed the ethnography of communication theory by Hymes (1962) to the investigation of this work. We adopted the SPEAKING model constructed from EOC theory to analyse the data. It is argued in this work that utterances known as language taboos are induced by certain concepts and as such needs the appropriate euphemistic usage. We have established in this work that taboos are prohibited actions and utterances, while euphemism are special expressions used to present ugly circumstances and expressions in a lighter way. It was noted that the presence of euphemistic expressions builds a better community. This work states that the presence of taboos and euphemistic expressions are evident in every culture and also in Esan language. It was also established that the presence of taboos and euphemistic expressions are ways of promoting responsibility and peaceful living in the Esan community amongst inhabitants. Recommendation for this work include admonishing every Esan speaker and indigene to treat taboo related issues with respect by violating and of the taboos but observing the presence, similarly, Euphemistic expressions should be used when necessary to communicate responsibly and effectively. The foreigners in the land should also be enlightened on the norms of the culture so that they won’t be breaking any rules of language usage.