Muhammad Kamal Khan2025-11-192025-11-192009https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/10830The present thesis is a comparative study of an ethno-linguistic phenomenon known as 'taboo' in Pashto and English cultures. It is a custom which consists in avoiding mentioning certain words and expressions which is a common practice in more than one society of the world. The stuify has analyzed the nature ofthe approach ofPashto speakers towards some of the well known taboo-words and expressions and has also compared them with English speakers. It is based on data collected through questionnaires, interviews and personal observations. The findings of qualitative data collected through interviews and observations from Pashto speakers were used in support of the quantitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed through the application of statistical software-SPSS. The t-tests revealed that Pashto language is more prone to linguistic taboos than English. Less or no difference was found on the basis of area (rural/urban) in the approach of people of both cultures. Further exploration of the data reveals that almost similar to English, female speakers of Pashto observe their linguistic taboos more strictly than male speakers. The data also shows that the observance of taboos is higher in older age-group than the younger one in Pashto. Due to many reasons the younger generation is less terrified by the linguistic taboos. The present study also confirms the ideas of the previous researchers that these taboos are mostly violated in extreme anger as when one is highly emotional and out of control. On the basis of the pedagogical implications of the study, a dictionary of taboo words in Pashto is recommended.enThesis