ILLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACTS AND GENDERED TABOO EXPRESSIONS IN SUNDANESE INDIGENOUS DISCOURSE

Leny Saili Rahmah (Universitas Islam Nusantara)
Rully Agung Yudhiantara (Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati)
Dedi Wahyudi (Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati)

LINGUISTS : JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
Vol 12, No 1 (2026): July (In Press)

Taboo expressions function as critical pragmatic resources through which social norms, moral values, and gendered expectations are constructed and maintained within speech communities. While existing research in Sundanese linguistics has extensively examined ritualized discourse and literary taboos, everyday taboo expressions (pamali) have often been relegated to the study of static belief systems rather than active communicative tools. Therefore, this study addresses this gap by investigating women-specific taboo expressions as dynamic illocutionary speech acts within the indigenous community of Kasepuhan Sinar Resmi. The research aims to identify these expressions, analyze their illocutionary force using Searle’s framework, and examine generational perceptions of these pragmatic regulations. Employing a qualitative ethnographic-pragmatic approach, data were collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 18 participants, including indigenous elders and Sundanese women across four distinct life stages. Data were analyzed using manual thematic coding and validated through member checking with community authorities. The findings reveal that women-specific taboos are systematically organized into a "Life-Cycle Matrix" (general, virgins, menstruating, and pregnant/postpartum). Pragmatic analysis identifies a "Pragmatic Chain" where Declarative acts establish a sacred status, thereby triggering Directive, Commissive, and Expressive acts to enforce behavioral compliance.  The study demonstrates that taboo discourse operates as a gendered mechanism of social regulation, where the illocutionary force is derived from ancestral authority rather than empirical causality. From a language education perspective, these results underscore the necessity of integrating "culturally grounded pragmatics" into curricula. This approach enhances sociolinguistic awareness by teaching learners to navigate local norms of authority and gendered communication in diverse indigenous and Muslim-majority contexts.