1 Manjulata Sharma Taboo Words for better Intercultural Competence: Why not? Context, meaning and use of palavrões in the Teaching of Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India Tese de Doutorado Thesis presented to the Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos da Linguagem of PUC-Rio in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doutor em Letras/Estudos da Linguagem. Advisor: Prof. Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer Rio de Janeiro April 2021 2 Manjulata Sharma Taboo Words for better Intercultural Competence: Why not? Context, meaning and use of palavrões in the Teaching of Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India Thesis presented to the Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos da Linguagem of PUC-Rio in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doutor em Letras/Estudos da Linguagem. Approved by the Examination Comittee: Prof. Adriana Ferreira de Sousa de Albuquerque President Departamento de Letras – PUC-Rio Prof. Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer Advisor Departamento de Letras – PUC-Rio Prof. Alexandre do Amaral Ribeiro UERJ Prof. Marcelo da Silva Amorim UFRN Prof. Rashmi Singh PUC/MG Rio de Janeiro, April 26th, 2021 3 All rights reserved. Manjulata Sharma Obtained B.A (Graduation) M.A (Masters) degrees in French as Foreign Language at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Received Annual scholarship for Portuguese course at Coimbra University (1992-1993) and did a Post-Graduate course of Specialization in teaching Portuguese as foreign language at Porto University (1996-97). Received two (1998,1999) scholarships from Fundação Oriente for orientation courses for teachers of Portuguese in Asia at the Macau University. She has authored a bilingual book Hindi-Portuguese titled “Portuguese Sekhein” and translated the Portuguese Noble laureate, (1998) José Saramago’s book Conto da Ilha Desconhecida into Hindi. Manjulata has taught Portuguese to Indian students for twenty-two years at the Universities of J.N.U, D.U and Portuguese Cultural Centre, Embassy of Portugal, New Delhi. She takes keen interest in Foreign Language Teaching and Intercultural studies. Bibliographic data Sharma, Manjulata “Taboo words for better intercultural competence: why not? context, meaning and use of palavrões in the teaching of brazilian portuguese as a foreign language in India / Manjulata Sharma; advisor: Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer. – 2021. 276 f.: il. color.; 30 cm Tese (doutorado)–Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Letras, 2021. Inclui bibliografia 1. Letras – Teses. 2. Português do Brasil como língua estrangeira na Índia. 3. Lexicultura. 4. Semântica e pragmática. 5. Interculturalismo e didática de línguas estrangeiras. 6. Palavras-tabu. I. Meyer, Rosa Marina de Brito. II. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Departamento de Letras. III. Título. CDD: 400 4 I dedicate this work To my Mom for nurturing me, giving me wings to fly and to lead from the front; To my Dad for teaching me to realize my potential, be fearless and dream big; To my Brothers, for sending me hilarious jokes and keeping my spirits high; To my Sister in-laws, Indu and Priti for supporting, appreciating my work; To my nieces Nandni and Gayatri for sharing lively chats and smiles; To Jejé for showing me how to express love silently and selflessly; To Lotus feet of Shri Radhika-Krishan for their divine blessings. 5 Acknowledgements I express my heartfelt gratitude to: FAPERJ and CAPES, for granting me scholarships. I remain indebted to these Institutions for providing me financial help during the research period. My research advisor, Prof. Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer, for her infinite patience, appreciation, affection and a great sense of wittiness and humour that always inspired me to produce my best. It has been a great unforgettable learning experience with you. My dear friends: Lucia Helena Lopes de Matos, Maria de Fátima Lucena de Oiveira Totoli, Lygia Pereira, and Elóide Cardoso Antunes Faria Fabião, and Maria Inês, all excellent human beings, for providing me moral support and encouragement. I cannot thank you enough for being my family in Brazil. My colleagues of WhatsApp group- Manos PL2E: Arthur, Adriana, Alessandra, Beatriz, Clarissa, Deise, Fernanda, Livia, Lucas, Leandro, Lays and Luciana who always clarified my doubts with superb explanations and sent me links to relevant sites for further reference. With your help this research has turned out to be a memorable journey together. The devotees of Gaurvani Gaudiya Math, Rio de Janeiro, for providing me an atmosphere of meditation, consciousness, compassion and tranquillity. My deep gratitude to Basanti, Vrindavan Pallika, Krishan Chaitanya, Radha, Govind Priya, Mangala Nilay Das, Chaitanya Priya, Taruni, Nimai, Saurabh and Param Pujniya Gurudev Van Maharaj. Chiquinha and all the staff members and Professors at PPGEL, PUC-Rio for taking care of my academic formalities with a cheerful disposition in true Carioca spirit. Dr. Moura, Ex-Director at Portuguese Cultural Centre, Embassy of Portugal, New Delhi, my friends, Mr. Harpreet Singh and Mr. Vandan Kumar Nigam for their unfailing constant support. Late Ms. Muriel Faleiro, my Portuguese teacher, Late Mr. Rakesh Kumar Sharma, my cousin and late Mrs. Kamlesh Kumari Sharma, my mother, for initiating me into this beautiful language. I bow to each one of you in deep reverence with a profound sense of gratitude. “This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçaomento de Pessoal de Nível Superior- Brasil (CAPES) - Finance code 001.” 6 Abstract Sharma, Manjulata; Meyer, Rosa Marina de Brito (Advisor). Taboo Words for better Intercultural Competence: Why not? Context, meaning and use of palavrões in the Teaching of Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India. Rio de Janeiro, 2021. 276p. Tese de Doutorado- Departamento de Letras, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro This study on taboo words focuses on the observation of use of palavrões in nine episodes of the comedy series Porta dos Fundos (PdF) as portrayal of discursive practices of residents of the city of Rio de Janeiro (Cariocas), primarily through theories of: Lexiculture (Galisson, 1988); Semantic and Pragmatics (Goffman, 1967; Camara Jr., 1981; Jay, 2008; Carretero, 2011); Interculturalism (Bennett, 1998; Lewis, 2006; Hofstede, 2010; Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012); and Foreign Language Teaching (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 2000; Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012; Liddicoat, 2005, 2013). Through a qualitative interpretative methodology taboo words are analysed in nine episodes of the popular situational comedy online series Porta dos Fundos. Seven more frequently used taboo words by Cariocas, namely buceta, cu, caralho, foder, pau, porra and puta, are analysed and interpreted. The semantic and pragmatic use of taboo words demonstrates that they belong to the themes of sexual anatomy, sexual activity, scatology, illicit sex and animal names – although the latter ones are not classified as taboo words. They are compared with Hindi taboo words wherever applicable. The frequent use of taboo words in comedies, satires and other forms of entertainment, as well as in different types of communicative situations, is not, as generally perceived, i.e., a face threatening act (Goffman, 1967) in Portuguese, opposed to what happens in Hindi. The analysis also shows that the Cariocas, as multi-active Brazilians (Lewis, 2006), depending on the pragmatic variables, use taboo words as expressive speech acts to communicate emotions, not always carrying an offensive tone, as when used as interjections. A TbWs didactic proposal is presented for the teachers and students of Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India. KEYWORDS Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India; Lexiculture, Semantics and Pragmatics; Interculturalism and Foreign Language Teaching; Taboo words 7 Resumo Sharma, Manjulata; Meyer, Rosa Marina de Brito (Orientadora). Palavras-tabu para uma melhor competência intercultural: Por que não? Contexto, significado e uso de palavrões no Ensino de Português do Brasil como Língua Estrangeira na Índia Rio de Janeiro, 2021. 276p. Tese de Doutorado- Departamento de Letras, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro O presente estudo sobre palavras tabus focaliza o uso de palavrões em nove episódios de Porta dos Fundos como forma de desvendar as práticas discursivas dos residentes do Rio de Janeiro (cariocas) por meio das teorias, principalmente, de: Lexicultura (Galisson, 1988); Semântica e Pragmática (Goffman, 1967; Camara Jr., 1981; Jay, 2008, Carretero, 2011); Interculturalismo (Bennett, 1998; Lewis, 2006; Hofstede, 2010; Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012); e Didática das Línguas Estrangeiras (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 2000; Liddicoat, 2005, 2013). Através de metodologia qualitativa interpretativa, palavras tabus são analisadas em nove episódios da popular comédia situacional da série online Porta dos Fundos. Sete palavras tabus usadas muito frequentemente nas práticas discursivas dos cariocas, nomeadamente buceta, cu, caralho, foder, pau, porra e puta, são analisadas e interpretadas. O uso semântico e pragmático dessas palavras de ofensa demonstra que se situam nos campos da anatomia sexual, da atividade sexual, da escatologia, do sexo ilícito e dos nomes dos animais – estes, não classificados como palavrão. Onde considerado relevante faz-se uma comparação com palavras tabus em hindi. Observa-se que o uso frequente das palavras tabus em comédias, sátiras e outras formas de entretenimento, assim como em outras situações