The Use of Taboo Vocatives in Japanese Teenagers

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-438-9_27How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Swear; Swear Word; Taboo; Taboo Vocative; Vocative

Abstract

Swearing, as a form of verbal expression, not only reflects the emotions and feelings of its speakers but also illustrates the social and cultural norms in which the language is used. Vocatives are the main thing that often appears in conversation as a form of call between the speaker and the partner to attract the attention of the speaking partner in direct lingual interaction. This research is related to swear words used as vocatives, usually called taboo vocatives. This research focuses on understanding the meaning and function of taboo vocatives in an anime called Haikyuu!!. The method used in this research is a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The data was analyzed using the theory of taboo vocatives and the description of its functions by Martinez (2021). The data sources used are the dialogues and monologues in Haikyuu!! That contains taboo vocatives. Based on the analysis results, it can be understood that the more intimate the relationship between teenagers, the more taboo vocatives are used. Furthermore, even though taboo vocatives seem more insulting than swear words because they are used to call someone, taboo vocatives apparently have the same usage as the original swear words since they can be used both for negative and positive meanings. Also, based on the analysis of the function of taboo vocatives, it can be concluded that the function of taboo vocatives is not attached to the type but to the context and the relationship between users.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Vania Ardyna Sudarmadi
AU  - Nuria Haristiani
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/28
TI  - The Use of Taboo Vocatives in Japanese Teenagers
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (ICOLLITE 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 313
EP  - 325
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-438-9_27
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-438-9_27
ID  - Sudarmadi2025
ER  -