Taboos and Euphemisms in Social Interaction: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis of Papiackum Proverbs
Moustapha Reike Fandi

Abstract
This study emanates from the observation that most people in recent times stand the risk of non-exposure to the wits in oral tradition in the face of rapid advancement in science and technology. In this light, orature which used to be a source of knowledge and entertainment is losing grounds in favour of the latest gadgets of New Information and Communication Technology because they provide alternative sources of knowledge and entertainment. Proverbs, an element of orature, are considered in most African communities to be embedded with wits and the art of discourse. Based on these considerations and from the prism of Speech Act theoretical paradigm, this study examines the wits that are projected when euphemisms are expressed through proverbs. In this guise, this study is based on the premise that, in the expression of taboos via euphemisms, moral principles and philosophy of life are also brought to the fore. Papiackum, which is the speech community under study, is in the Ngoketunjia Division, North West region of the Republic of Cameroon.

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