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Part of
Anthropological Linguistics: Perspectives from Africa
Edited by Andrea Hollington, Alice Mitchell and Nico Nassenstein
[Culture and Language Use 23] 2024
► pp. 425–452

Chapter 16
On politeness and taboo among the Zande

| University of Cologne
| University of Kisangani
Azande living in rural areas have to obey many rules of behavior, many of which are determined by politeness or are rules determined by taboos, which are often interrelated. Politeness rules concern behavior towards other people, and they depend on age, social hierarchy and in-law-relationships. If these rules are disrespected, offenses can be corrected. Taboos, however, are absolute prohibitions with regard to certain persons, places or phenomena, which are complied with by everybody. Neglect of taboos may lead to sanctions which cannot be undone, such as hair turning red or the body becoming uncontrollably obese. The impact of taboos is stronger than that of politeness rules.
Keywords: Pazande, taboo, politeness (strategies), FTA, child-parent-interaction
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Zande politeness
    • 2.1Hierarchical politeness
    • 2.2Non-hierarchical politeness
    • 2.3Avoidance-based politeness
  • 3.Taboos
    • 3.1Food taboos
    • 3.2Taboos in initiation camps
    • 3.3Taboos concerning the oracle
    • 3.4Taboos concerning sexuality
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 1 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.23.16pas
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