Taboo expresions in Slovene, Zagreb Linguistic Circle
On Tuesday, June 2, 2026, Dr. Tjaša Jakop (Institute of Slovenian Language ZRC SAZU) and Dr. Agata Šega (University of Ljubljana) delivered an invited joint lecture titled “Taboo Expressions in Slovene”. The event took place at 7:15 p.m. at the premises of the Society of University Teachers (Društvo sveučilišnih nastavnika) at Frankopanska 5a in Zagreb. The lecture was held as part of the official 2026 scientific program of the Zagreb Linguistic Circle. We were met by an engaged audience composed of faculty members, dialectologists, sociolinguists, and postgraduate philology students.
The lecture provided a comprehensive geolinguistic and lexicological analysis of linguistic taboos in Slovenian colloquial language and dialects. The material was divided into two structural halves, combining our respective areas of expertise:
1) Socio-Semantic & Colloquial Foundations as a cognitive framework of linguistic transgression (analysing how older lexical roots blend into contemporary colloquial language to camouflage or intensify taboo concepts and
2) Geolinguistic presentation of data collected for the Slovenian Linguistic Atlas (SLA) showed the immense regional variation of sensitive vocabulary and tracking the micro-regional distribution of vernacular terms for highly sensitive semantic fields:
- Intercourse (“spolno občevati”),
- Anatomy (“penis”, “vulva/vagina”, and “zadnjica”)
- Euphemisms surrounding death, disease, and profanity.
