Figurative expressions in Acehnese pregnancy cultural taboos as a language of protection

Khalsiah Khalsiah, Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf, Cece Sobarna, Diana Fauzia Sari, Ima Indirayani, Azkiya Azkiya

Abstract


Cultural beliefs surrounding pregnancy are often communicated through figurative language, reflecting a society's values, fears, and protective instincts. This study investigates the figurative language used in Acehnese cultural prohibitions related to pregnancy, focusing on figurative expressions in traditional taboos. Conducted in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, Indonesia, the research employs a qualitative methodology, analyzing data from 12 informants, including pregnant women, those who had been pregnant, and caregivers. Data was collected through structured interviews and analyzed using a conceptual framework for figurative language categorization. The findings reveal 34 pregnancy-related cultural prohibitions about dietary restrictions, life safety, gender roles, and spiritual beliefs. Metonymy was the most common figurative device, followed by hyperbole, personification, and, less frequently, simile, paradox, and synecdoche. For instance, metonymy links specific actions, such as eating certain foods or viewing accidents, to broader cultural and health outcomes, while hyperbole exaggerates the potential consequences of these actions. Personification attributes human-like qualities to spirits or supernatural forces, accenting the prohibitions' spiritual significance. The study reveals the complex relationship between Acehnese society's cultural beliefs, language, and health practices. It illustrates how figurative language helps reinforce and communicate these traditional norms. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of language in preserving cultural continuity and shaping societal behavior.


Keywords


Acehnese traditions; cultural prohibitions; figurative language; pregnancy

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adebileje, A. (2012). Socio-cultural and attitudinal study of selected Yoruba taboos in South West Nigeria. Studies in Literature and Language,4(1), 94-100. https://doi.org/10.3968/j.sll.1923156320120401.1578

Bușu, A. F. (2023). Taboo in language and literature. In E. Soare, & C. Langa (Eds.), European Proceedings of Educational Sciences (pp. 323-333). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.23045.34

Allo, M. D. G. (2015). Figurative languages by the lecturers in teaching English at English Study Program of FKIP UKI Toraja. Teaching English as a Foreign Language Overseas Journal, 1(1), 76-89. https://doi.org/10.47178/teflo.v1i1.214

Arzoaquoi, S. K., Essuman, E. E., Gbagbo, F. Y., Tenkorang, E. Y., Soyiri, I. N., & Laar, A. K. (2015). Motivations for food prohibitions during pregnancy and their enforcement mechanisms in a rural Ghanaian district. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 11, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-015-0044-0

Aziz, Z. A., Yusuf, Y. Q., Burhansyah & Muzammil, M. (2020). To say or not to say? Construing contextual taboo words used by Acehnese speakers in Indonesia. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, 14(2), 83–98. https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2020-0017

Baldick, C. (2008). Oxford dictionary of literary terms (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Briggs, C. L. (2007). Anthropology, interviewing, and communicability in contemporary society. Current Anthropology, 48(4), 551-580. https://doi.org/10.1086/518300

Bungin, B. (2013). Metode penelitian sosial dan ekonomi: format-format kuantitatif dan kualitatif untuk studi sosiologi, kebijakan, publik, komunikasi, manajemen, dan pemasara (Edisi Pertama) [Social and economic research methods: Quantitative and qualitative formats for sociology, policy, public, communication, management, and marketing studies (1st ed.)]. Kencana Prenadamedia.

Croft, S., & Cross, H. (2000). Literature, criticism, and style: A practical guide to advanced level English literature. Oxford University Press.

Colston, H. L., & Katz, A. N. (Eds.). (2004). Figurative language comprehension: Social and cultural influences (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410611628

Cukarso, S. N. A., & Herbawani, C. K. (2020). Traditional beliefs and practices among pregnant women in Javanese communities: A literature review. JPH Recode, 4(1), 71-80. https://doi.org/10.20473/jphrecode.v4i1.20810

Darmawati, Audina, M., Siregar, T. N., Kamil, H., & Tahlil, T. (2020). Traditional beliefs and practices regarding pregnancy of Acehnese women: A qualitative approach. In T. Tahlil, H. Kamil, Asniar, & Marthoenis (Eds.), Challenges in nursing education and research. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003043973-32

Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.

Ekwochi, U., Osuorah, C. D. I., Ndu, I. K., Ifediora, C., Asinobi, I. N., & Eke, C. B. (2016). Food taboos and myths in South Eastern Nigeria: The belief and practice of mothers in the region. Journal of Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 12, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-016-0079-x

Fata, I. A., Yusuf, Y. Q., & Sari, L. N. (2018). Figuring the figures of speech in Acehnese traditional song lyrics. Humanities Diliman: A Philippine Journal of Humanities, 15(1), 30-56. https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/6135

Firnanda, S.A., & Andalas, E. F. (2022). Kepercayaan terhadap berbagai larangan pada wanita hamil di Dusun Tlogorejo, Kecamatan Lawang, Kabupaten Malang [Beliefs regarding various taboos for pregnant women in Tlogorejo Hamlet, Lawang District, Malang Regency]. JENTERA: Jurnal Kajian Sastra, 11(1), 174-183. https://doi.org/10.26499/jentera.v11i1.3405

Flannery, D. (2020). Apostrophe. In P. Rabinowitz & D. Zucca (Eds.), The Oxford research encyclopedia of literature. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1048

Gerson, K. (2020). Analyzing interviews: Making sense of complex material. In K. Gerson & S. Damaske (Eds.), The science and art of interviewing (pp. 143–171). Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199324286.003.0006

Gushchina, L. V., Kislitsyna, N. N., Agapova, E. A., & Izotova, N. V. (2019). Culture restrictions as a trigger to the society development: History and modernity. International Journal of Economics and Business Administration, 7(Special Issue 1), 261-269. https://doi.org/10.35808/ijeba/270

Hamukwaya, L. A. (2016). Satire as a tool for socio-political commentary: A case of The Rambler’s selected articles in The Namibian newspaper, 2015 [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Namibia.

Harun, M., Qismullah Yusuf, Y., & Karnafi, M. (2020). Figurative language used in a novel by Arafat Nur on the Aceh conflict. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 41(2), 395–400. https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/kjss/article/view/240442

Hasanah, L. U., & Andari, N. (2020). The social and cultural values transmission of an oral tradition. Indonesian Journal of Social Research, 2(3), 196-205. https://doi.org/10.30997/ijsr.v2i3.70

Holden, L. R. (2000). Encyclopedia of taboos. ABC-CLIO. https://doi.org/10.5040/9798216022084

Hong, Z. (2024). The cognitive origin and cultural evolution of taboos in human societies. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, 30(3), 724-742. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14098

Ibáñez, F. J. R. M. (2014). Mapping concepts: Understanding figurative thought from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 187-207. https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.27.1.08rui

Ibrahim, I. H. & Usman, J. (2021). Cultural values in Acehnese farming-related proverbs. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 364-371. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i2.32323

Kabra, A., Liu, E., Khanuja, S., Aji, A. F., Winata, G., Cahyawijaya, A., Aremu, A., Ogayo, P., & Neubig, G. (2023). Multi-lingual and multi-cultural figurative language understanding. In Proceedings of the Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2023 (pp. 8269-8284). Association for Computational Linguistics.

Kennedy, J. X. (1983). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama. Little Brown.

Khairullina, R. K., Fatkullina, F. G., So, Q., & Lin, Z. (2020). Taboo as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon. In D. K. Bataev (Ed.), European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 1969-1975). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.05.259

Khan, M. A., & Shaheen, A. (2021). Beauty in brutality: A study of the use of imagery in David Diop’s At Night All Blood is Black. Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review 5(2), 339-346. https://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2021(5-II)1.27

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.

Lonada, F., & Martin, L. (2015). The use of figurative language in characterization of Wilde’s The Nightingale and The Red Rose. Leksika , 9(2), 15-20. https://www.neliti.com/publications/145088/

Maggiulli, O., Rufo, F., Johns, S. E., & Wells, J. C. K. (2022). Food taboos during pregnancy: Meta-analysis on cross cultural differences suggests specific, diet-related pressures on childbirth among agriculturalists. PeerJ, 10, e13633. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13633

Manan, A. (2021). Pregnancy and childbearing in Aceh, Indonesia: An ethnographic study. Mankind Quarterly, 62(1), 10-31. https://doi.org/10.46469/mq.2021.62.1.2

Marcel, Y. B., Justine, E. P., & Florentine, A. A. (2015). Les logiques socioculturelles des interdits alimentaires et comportementaux chez les femmes enceintes Agni N’dénian (Côte d’ivoire) [The sociocultural logics of dietary and behavioral taboos among pregnant Agni N’Dénian women (Côte d’Ivoire)]. European Scientific Journal, 11(32), 134-147. https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/6570

Mulenga, E., David, S. A., & Pinehas, L. N. (2018). Taboos, traditional practices and beliefs affecting pregnancy and childbirth in Ohangwena, Oshana and Oshikoto Region: University of Namibia fourth year nursing students’ rural placement experience of 2016, Oshakati campus, Namibia. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 7(1), 68-71. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijans.v7i1.12165

Mursyidin, M., Nuthihar, R., Wahdaniah, & Herman. (2020). Understanding Acehnese proverbs and their relation to the community work ethics. IJELR: International Journal of Education, Language and Religion, 2(1), 11-16. http://doi.org/10.35308/ijelr.v2i1.2191

Murtadho, A. M., & Amelia. (2022). An analysis of figurative language used in Westlife’s selected songs. Journal of English Language and Literature, 7(1), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.37110/jell.v7i1.145

Nasir, C. (2015). Attitudes of Acehnese people towards Acehnese proverbs in relation to education. Studies in English Language and Education, 2(1), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v2i1.2234

Niemeier, S. (2011). Culture-specific concepts of emotionality and rationality. In M. Callies, W. R. Keller, & A. Lohöfer (Eds.), Bi-directionality in the cognitive sciences: Avenues, challenges, and limitations (pp. 43–56). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.30.04nie

Ojukwu, E. V., & Chidiebere, O. (2020). Folk songs as vital tool in entertainment education. Interdisciplinary Journal of African & Asian Studies, 6(1), 1-9. https://nigerianjournalsonline.com/index.php/ijaas/article/view/727

Otoo, P., Habib, H., & Ankomah, A. (2015). Food prohibitions and other traditional practices in pregnancy: A qualitative study in Western Region of Ghana. Advances in Reproductive Sciences, 3(3), 41-49. http://doi.org/10.4236/arsci.2015.33005

Perrine, L. (1977). Sound and sense: An introduction to poetry (6th ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Primadesi, Y. (2012). Preserving of information value in oral tradition of Minangkabau society, West Sumatera, Indonesia. In Proceedings of the 5th Rizal Library International Conference (pp. 1-7). Ateneo de Manila University.

Ramli, R., Gadeng, A. N., Azis, D., Yusuf, Y. Q., & Razali, R. (2024). The role of oral traditions in internalizing smong wisdom: Perspectives from the Simeulue community. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 229-239. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v14i2.74903

Sodnompilova, M. M. (2024). Food prohibitions and restrictions in traditional Turkic-Mongol society of Inner Asia. Nations and Religions of Eurasia 29(1). https://www.academia.edu/126605980/

Sherzer, J. (2014). Kuna stories, myths, chants, and songs. From the gathering house to the internet. Estudios de Lingüística Chibcha, 33, 165-180. https://www.academia.edu/62751754/Kuna_stories_myths_chants_and_songs_From_the_gathering_house_to_the_internet

Skalicky, S., & Crossley, S. (2018). Linguistic features of sarcasm and metaphor production quality. In B. B. Klebanov, E. Shutova, P. Lichtenstein, S. Muresan, & C. Wee (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Figurative Language Processing (pp. 7-16). Association for Computational Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/W18-0902

Stets, J. E., & Carter, M. J. (2012). A theory of the self for the sociology of morality. American Sociological Review 77(1), 120-140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411433762

Tsegaye, D., Tamiru, D., & Belachew, T. (2021). Food-related taboos and misconceptions during pregnancy among rural communities of Illu Aba Bor zone, Southwest Ethiopia: A community based qualitative cross-sectional study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 21, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03778-6

Vansina, J., Wright, H. M., Leydesdorff, S., & Tonkin, E. (2006). Oral tradition: A study in historical methodology. Routledge.

Wang, S. H. (2011). Colorful symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Overseas English, 13, 264-265. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Colourful-Symbolism-in-The-Great-Gatsby-Shan-shan/3c1a77b56ae9997b2b40a696b98e4901cac9b584

Wildan, W., Yusuf, Y. Q., Arianto, B., & Bahry, R. (2023). Acehnese local wisdom through the lens of Acehnese novelists during the times of political conflict and peace agreement. OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 17(1), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v17i1.8558

Yulsafli, Y., & Erfinawati, E. (2022). The role of Sabang City oral literature as cultural education in Aceh. ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 5(3), 393-399. http://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/jish/article/view/21046

Yusuf, M., Puteh, S. B., & Marpuah, S. (2024). Trend research analysis pantang larang (prohibitions or taboos) in moral learning in children in Malay society. Journal Governance Society, 1(2), 122-134. https://doi.org/10.69812/jgs.v1i2.73

Yusuf, Y., Yusuf, Y. Q., & Usman, J. (2023). The Acehnese and “Ratéb Dôda Idi”: Instilling compassion based on religious values in lullabies. Kemanusiaan: The Asian Journal of Humanities, 30(2), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.21315/kajh2023.30.2.4

Yusuf, Y. Q., & Yusuf, Q. (2014). Contemporary Acehnese cultural prohibitions and the practice of mystical threats. Kemanusiaan: The Asian Journal of Humanities, 21(2), 21-53. http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol21_2_2014/KAJH%2021(2)%20Art%202(21-54).pdf

Yusuf, Y., Yusuf, Y. Q., Wildan, Yanti, N., & Anwar, H. (2022). Analyzing metaphorical greetings in traditional lullabies of the Acehnese Ratéb Dôda Idi. International Journal of Language Studies, 16(3), 83-108. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361952162_Analyzing_metaphorical_greetings_in_traditional_lullabies_of_the_Acehnese_Rateb_Doda_Idi




DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v15i1.79412

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


View My Stats

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.