BAHASA PANTANG LARANG MASYARAKAT MELAYU DAN HUBUNGANNYA DENGAN PRINSIP RELEVANS KOGNITIF DAN PRINSIP RELEVANS KOMUNIKATIF

Abstract

Linguistic taboo is a form of language commonly used by societies in the past asverbal rules to be accepted as dogma in daily life. Linguistic taboo was formedby a society’s beliefs based on their observations of the environment and itscausative nature. If a linguistic taboo is violated, disaster or bad things maybefall the individual. Past research on the usage of linguistic taboo focused onthe function or purpose of the language usage, and the usage as a reflection ofthe wisdom and intellect of the Malays. However, research on why a linguistictaboo was created and used by past societies have yet to be done. Therefore, thispaper aims to explain that the creation of linguistic taboo is not an arbitrarydecision, but one based on two main ideas of the Relevance theory: the CognitivePrinciple of Relevance, and the Communicative Principle of Relevance.Linguistic taboos of past Malays societies constituted aspects of language thatwere clearly evident and meaningful to its speakers. When the characteristicsof a language are meaningful to its speakers, then its advisory function to helpform a moral and civilized society is more effective.Keywords: Linguistics taboos, Relevance theory, cognitive relevance principle,communicative relevance principle and ostensibly.