Pabap culture and sociolinguistics

Obscene and profane language

Pabappa's approach to obscene and profane language resembles that of its neighbor, Poswa. However, while Poswa could be analyzed as entirely lacking obscene words, in Pabappa it is more common to say that the obscene vocabulary lacks the sharp bite that comes with such words in most other languages.

Obscene language

Obscene words are called waptispi, derived from the verb wapti "to face away; turn one's back to someone" and sipi "words, speech, language". This can be used as a verb, and like other verbs it can take the agentive suffix -ta, to form waptispida "potty mouth".

Pabappa's vocabulary of obscene words is mild by comparison to its neighbors, but not entirely absent as in Poswa. One commonly heard word is popop. An angry young child saying

Popopop pobumpu!

Eat crap!

May catch the notice of adults in the room, but such speech would not be considered out of character or deserving of punishment. Nevertheless, toddlers and young children are more likely to use words like popop and its derivatives than to use terms for sexual intercourse or other things not commonly accessible to young children. Popop has many variants with little difference in meaning. For example, popopa, which has the "of humans" suffix -a, is considered to be simply a synonym of popop. Because the suffix consists of a single vowel, it is entirely eliminated when the possessive suffixes are added and therefore merges with the word from which it is derived. Another variant is puppop, which means etymologically "pile of poop".

Urine

The word for urine, wupu, is not considered particularly forceful, despite the fact that it is homophonous with one of the words for pain. Wupu can even substitute as a euphemism for popop "poop, crap, shit" in some contexts, regardless of whether or not it makes sense semantically:

Poma wupuba!

I pee on you!

Gender-specific taboo vocabulary

Traditionally, in schools teaching Pabappa, young children are taught a list of words at the back of each dictionary which girls and women are allowed to say, but boys and men are not. Since the words are largely terms for adult concepts, young boys and girls usually do not know the meanings of the many words or why girls are allowed to say them whereas boys are not; they learn the list and move on to learning how to count on their hands. (Most teachers of small children are females.)

This taboo is very rarely broken, and a man or boy uttering one of the words on the list will be assumed to be quoting his wife or another woman that he knows. These words are not taboo because they are considered obscene or disgusting, but because they are considered powerful.

Words for abortion and miscarriage

For example, men cannot use the terms peppura "abortion" or wamapsa "miscarriage". Male Pabappa speakers are allowed to use mappi for "abortion" and wabbiwabi for "miscarriage", but many prefer to avoid the subject entirely and merely say that a woman is no longer pregnant.

The word waptem "woman" is also on the list, meaning that only a woman (or girl) can refer to another woman as a waptem. This has made the term take on insulting connotations, although the term has never had a more precise definition than simply "woman".

References to sex and violence

Obscene terms for sex and sexual activity

Adults are more likely than young children to use references to sex in their sentences. The verb lana "to have sex" is used in everyday speech with little elicited reaction from the listener, so puppupu "rape" is more common in aggressive speech. Another synonym for sexual intercourse is pussini.

The nouns pumapi "penis" and pumblara "vagina" are also in common use, and can function as verbs indicating sexual roles. Oddly, there are many synonyms for these words, but few are in widespread use, because what are today the primary terms were originally euphemisms that only recently drove out the words they were created to replace. Nevertheless, many Pabaps are familiar with terms such as pamblara, paru, pau, warbi, ronni, passar, and nilim, all of which mean "vagina". These words can be used as interjections, with little regard to context or literal meaning, as general expressions of frustration. This is more common than encountering them used literally. Any of the terms not already ending in -a can additionally take the meaningless body part suffix -a; with this suffix on, pau becomes pawa.

The original terms for penis and vagina, nopop and lara, are rarely encountered today. (Lara originally meant "legs", and was itself a euphemism for an earlier term pip.) There are also more specific terms such as pella "vaginal labia", but these are not widely considered obscene and have not developed euphemistic replacements. Pimmi "clitoris" is another word which can be used either in a literal sense or as an expression of frustration, but is not generally considered obscene in and of itself.

The number of alternative terms for the penis is much smaller: noppana, nampa, ninel. Thus, n- has come to be considered a masculine-sounding consonant in Pabappa to some extent, despite historically being associated with feminine words. None of these words are considered obscene, and so none appear commonly in aggressive speech; they are better considered as slang terms rather than obscenities.

For the buttocks, there are several competing words, such as pupop, pussi, pupi, pubia, and pumpa, with little difference in meaning. The similarity in sound of these many words is primarily due to coincidence, as they are not actually cognates, except for pubia and pumpa.

Use of verbs and complete sentences with obscene vocabulary

The above words show that what little capacity for obscene speech that Pabappa provides is mostly focused on use of nouns. Verbs and complete sentences are rarely used. A complete sentence may actually sound more forceful than a simple interjection, but would not necessarily be considered more obscene or otherwise objectionable. For example,

Mas pastidip lanaba!

You have sex with your dog!

Is considered far more offensive than a single-word insult such as pumapi "penis", even though it uses the most neutral term for sexual intercourse that the language possesses.

Male homosexuality is openly practiced and encouraged among the Pabaps, although it is actually less common than among Poswobs and other cultures further north.

Terms for violent acts

Pabaps have traditionally been a very pacifistic people, and have neither invaded nor been invaded by a foreign nation in more than a thousand years. They are very peaceful internally too, with one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world. Thus, terms for violence often bring to mind an unrealistic, even comical aspect, as few people hearing a shouted threat such as

Nubes poma pipibu!

I will kill you!

Would have any reason to worry.

Few Pabaps own dangerous weapons, so most people associate violence and bloodshed with encountering natural objects such as sharp thorns on bushes and the teeth of animals more so than with manmade objects such as knives and spears. To some extent, however, these natural objects are associated with pain because they are uncontrollable by man, whereas Pabap society has a whole has had their own temptation to misuse weapons under control for quite some time. Anything with a sharp point can be used as an expression of pain, whether or not it describes a literal encounter.

Euphemisms for obscene concepts

As Pabappa's repertoire of obscene vocabulary is mild, it has developed few euphemisms. One of the few in common use is papsu "sticky, adhesive", which replaces popop. Another option is to say pepara "soil of humans", or, commonly, just pepar "soil". All of these words are generally used as substitutes for popop only in a literal sense, as a sentence like

Pepir pommisu!

Bathe yourself with soil!

Would sound about as meaningful as its literal English translation, and not be perceived as aggressive. Likewise, using papsu would bring to mind the mental image of a person taking a bath in a tub of glue. Instead whenever a metaphorical meaning is intended, it is more common for a speaker seeking a euphemism to instead substitute a word for an entirely different thing, often choosing wupu "urine".

For the buttocks, there is also a euphemism wapiba, literally meaning "curve". There is also a cover-all term pup "genitals, belly, crotch", used when a speaker does not want to be too specific, but this is considered too vague to be even a mild obscenity.

The words for penis and vagina were originally euphemisms, which only recently drove out the original words inherited from the parent language. This is why Pabappa lacks convenient euphemisms for these words despite having euphemisms for the buttocks, generally considered a less obscene part of the body.

Terms for female anatomy

The vagina

Pumblara is the most common word for the vagina, and can function as a verb indicating the female sexual role. There are many other words for vagina, but few are in widespread use, because pumblara itself was originally a euphemism that only recently ousted warbi to became the primary term.

Nevertheless, many Pabaps are familiar with warbi, as well as terms such as pamblara, paru, pau, ronni, passar, and nilim, all of which simply mean "vagina". Here as well, males beat around the bush by using euphemisms such as rompa "womb" or similar-sounding words such as pumbler "between".

These words can be used as interjections, with little regard to context or literal meaning, as general expressions of frustration. This is more common than encountering them used literally. Any of the terms not already ending in -a can additionally take the meaningless body part suffix -a; with this suffix on, pau becomes pawa.

There are also more specific terms such as pella "vaginal labia", but these are not widely considered obscene and have not developed euphemistic replacements.

The clitoris

Most of Pabappa's words for clitoris are derived by adding the morpheme -ni to the end of any word for vagina. Thus, one hears pumblarani, nilinni, and so on. Thousands of years ago, this word could stand alone, but it now occurs only in compounds. However, the word pimmi also exists, and is not derived from a word for the vagina. Pimmi is sometimes also encountered as an interjection of frustration.

Menstruation

Menstruation is highly taboo, and euphemisms exist for the process as well as associated words such as pallasa "tampon" which may be acceptable in some contexts and not in others. A more polite word for a tampon is pupep. This is homophonous with the word for "arrow (weapon)" and therefore considered more acceptable to use in mixed company than the standard word pallasa.

Publipis wurpomusup suppabi pupepil.

The soldier defeated the spy with her arrows.

In most social circles, males are forbidden to use the word palla "to menstruate" in the presence of females of any age. This taboo also extends to words derived from palla, such as pallasa "tampon". Instead, men are allowed to use euphemisms such as wapti "to face away" and bala "(to be) human". That is to say, experiencing menstruation is seen as a defining characteristic of being human, but is generally hidden from sight.

There is another word for menstruation, warbop, on the list of words that males are not allowed to say. However, this word has nearly disappeared from Pabappa in general, including the speech of females.

Women sometimes use euphemisms for menstruation, but only rarely do they use the same terms that men use. Pabappa has three different word stems with the same meaning, of which is palla is considered the true word and the others are considered gentler. The second most common word root is pappadep, which is a distant cognate of wapti "to face away". A variant of this is pappadap, which has the additional body part suffix -a before the reflexive marker -p. Both verbs are always reflexive. Thus one can say

Blalola pappadesa.

The girl is menstruating.

The breasts

The commonest word used by adult females for their breasts is pumblu, which also means "laughter; to laugh". Males are not allowed to use this word with its "breasts" meaning, but often find ways to get around the prohibition by referring to women laughing. When this is not possible, most men will opt for a permitted euphemism such as wosupa "chest" or pupantip "front (side)".

Some Pabap men practice self-stimulation in order to give themselves the ability to lactate; male breast milk is called pisil.

The womb

One can also say madup, "that which casts shadows", for a very pronounced pregnant belly.

Terms for male anatomy

Pumapi is the commonest term for the penis, derived from a word for "to kick" and thus cognate to Poswa's word for leg. Sometimes the euphemism pampanas "mushroom-shaped" is heard instead.

Use of Poswa loanwords to sidestep taboos on obscenity

Poswobs living in Paba sometimes pepper their Pabappa with Poswa vocabulary, including words that are considered taboo in Pabappa. Thus, one may hear papopop "breasts" instead of one of the words above. Both male and female Poswobs are known to do this. However, the taboo against obscene vocabulary for native Pabaps also prevents them from using substitutions such as this. Papopop natively means "fingertips" (dual), so there are some cases where a clever man can sidestep the taboo by using a word that is a homophone of the word he is actually intending to be understood.

Other loanwords, however, do not match existing Pabappa words. Pimbis "clitoris" and balem "vagina" are examples of this.

Profane language

By contrast, blasphemy is strictly taboo, and this taboo has extended to other religions adopted by the Pabaps throughout time.

Use of obscene words as slang vocabulary

Pabappa also does not have a large corpus of slang terms that are confined to informal usage. That is to say, a silly person is one whose butt is bigger than the rest of their body put together.

Social divisions in Pabap society

The Yiibam religion divided the people of Paba into genities, or moieties, called lisa. Each was assoaciated with a color name, and the people traditionally wore that color at least as underwear. Nudism was allowed, and provided a freedom from the constant association with one's genity. The genities, however, largely corresponded to ethnic groups in early Pabap society, and only became blended together much later.

On the other hand, the correspondence of genity to ethnic group was definitely not one-to-one, because the whole setup was in place to ensure people did not marry their cousins and that guilds of various occupations could not store up all their money and hide it from the rest of the society. Thus, although in early Pabap society the Orange genity was created for the ethnic minority calling itself the Nik, they were strongly encouraged to marry other colors, which meant marrying non-Nik people. The Nik population did not disappear, since they carried their identity paternally through mixed marriages, but it meant that wihin just a few generations the Nik had two main groups insytead of one.

People were expected to wear clothes the color of their genity, at least as underwear. Paba made most of its clothes from plant fibers, often with flower petals as decoration.

List of colors

Blue A group consisting of the navy and all people who work primarily at sea, whether they be fishermen, traders, or explorers. This is because all of these groups are dependent on Paba's strong navy for their existence and for the most part actually overlap with the navy. In much of Paba, especially far eastern Paba, the Blue people have a very close culture, with men spending days a time without seeing their wives. Note that Paba's genities are not ethnic groups because people are encouraged to marry outside their group. Thus, most Blue men do not have Blue wives, although the taboo is not strcitly enforced in the fishing-dominated areas of the east because the original settlers were almost entirely Blue and voided the taboo as a matter of ensuring their survival. They were originally independent societies that only later became part of Paba and re-adopted the inbreeding taboo. Thus, the people here know that they are entirely descended from Blues who would be considered "inbred" by mainstream Pabap society and do not think of themselves as inferior for so being. Nevertheless, even here, it is considered more socially positive for Blues to marry outside their group, and the commonest choice is Yellow.

Purple The land army. The color is named after Paba's wine grapes, the source of much of its fame and wealth. They were early on the commonest choice for Orange people to marry, and thus the Orange people got a strong link into Paba's military. The military is purple becayse protecting Paba's vineyards is almost as important at protestcing its people. The Purple group also includes workers on the vineyards, but does not include other farmers such as those involved in growing large vegetables.

Red A term for the farming class. They generally live on hereditarily owned farms, but many of these farms are large enough that they can hire outside laborers. These laborers, however, maintain whatever their original color association was, and do not simply all become Red.

Orange A group created for the Nik, a group originally found along the southwest coast, just west of the original Pabap settlement in Tamusur Bay. Many of them moved north into the core of Paba, but did not blend in because they were very tall and dark skinned and didnt feel comofrtable marrying the small, blonde Pabap people. However, they were discouraged from marrying other Orange people, because that could lead to accidental cousin marriages, so when they first moved north they oftne had a difficult time finding marriages.

Yellow A term for people who live in large cities and mostly work manual labor jobs. However, schoolteachers are also Yellow. Along the coast, this caste has lost its association with land-based employment and essentially provides the Blue caste with a separate group to marry into. However, inland, and even in certain coastal areas, it is strongly associated with urban employment. The term "Gold" is avoided because it is the name of a much larger and unrelated political organization based in Nama. Gold people in Paba are usually classified as Black.

Blue-Yellow marriages are the majority along most of the wealthier parts of the coast, and this trend has even followed Pabaps outside their empire and into foreign lands such as Subumpam and Lobexon. This means that for all practical purposes, Yellow people are of the same occupations and social status as Blue, so there are Blue schoolteachers, Blue shopkeepers, Blue street sweepers, etc., and Yellow fishermen, sailors, and traders. This also means that Pabaps living abroad tend to wear blue and yellow clothes.

Green A group consisting of the decendants of anyone who has violated hte marriage restrictions, or has married a foreigner. Orange-Orange marriages are not actually illegal, it just is that their children are put into the Green group instead of inheriting the ORange. Anyone marrying Green becomes Green themselves, as do their children.

White The ruling class, living mostly in and near castles in Paba's capital city of Biospum. They generally do not marry any non-White people, but doing so is not forbidden. They do not have a problem with inbreeding because the Whites are the descendants of the entire founding population of Paba save for the ethnic minorities that came with them on their ships. Black A group for foreigners outside the caste system. Not a synonym for Green becasuse anyone marrying a Black becomes Green, not Black. Thus Blacks can only have Green children.