Sexual Euphemistic Expressions of The Holy Quran: A Sociolinguistic Approach

Abstract

Language reflects the environment and culture, and it also represents a dialectic expression between the author and the social condition. The language of the Quran undergoes a dialectic process along with various factors around, by socio-historical (asbāb al-nuzūl) and situational (asbāb al-dhurūf) context. This study aimed to discover the contextual and situational background, referring to the diction, language style, or euphemism of the Quran regarding the relationship of husband and wife. It employed sociolinguistic approach as language was a prominent medium for cultural heritage discovery and apprehension. It found that the Quran exercised the use of adjective, verb, and verb phrase to demonstrate expressive and referential function, and to avoid taboo words. It also pointed out that Arabic society in the pre-Islamic era geographically and culturally lived within an unconducive environment. They enjoyed nomadic lifestyle, unwilling to be bounded by rules. Therefore, the Quran used subtle dictions when it came to the topic of spouse relationship. the Quran employed 18 types of diction in 8 surahs, mainly discussing about: 1) disobeying commands, 2) telling the story of the Muslims’ habits in the past, 3) giving suggestion after enforcing prohibition, and 4) providing explanation about women in nature. The subtle diction was intended to avoid any filthy imagination and lust among the Arabs back then.