By Guo Bingqian

At 7 p.m. on November 24th, the fourth lecture entitledTaboo Languagewas successfully held in Lize B204. The teacher who hosted the lecture was Mr. Jason Cullen. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature and Russian Language & Literature, a Master’s Degree in Central Eurasian Studies, and a Master’s Degree in Applied English Linguistics. Thanks to his rich knowledge and humor, he made the lecture a great success.

Through Mr. Jason Cullen’s speech, students knew taboo language was any language forbidden in certain social situations. He explained it in a funny and realistic way. Then Mr. Jason Cullen picked five reasons for the society tolerating the rude words. There were aggression, group solidarity, intensifiers, pain relief and stress reduction, and avoiding inbreeding. What’s more, Mr. Jason Cullen introduced the origin of taboo language. Taboo language is from religion, sex and racial differences etc.. All cultures have taboo language, but not all cultures forbid the same things. In the end, Mr. Jason Cullen summarized that the languages change very fast. It’s not strange that the old expressions leave and the new ones come. Taboo language also has its unique function in modern life.

After the lecture students and teachers asked Mr. Jason Cullen many questions. All people enjoyed the excellent questions and wonderful answers. It was an unforgettable and successful lecture.

Proofread by Ma Jingyuan