avoidance languages

In LINGUISTICS, a term used to characterize LANGUAGES which permit communication between a person and others with whom there is a social taboo; sometimes loosely called mother-in-law languages or taboo languages. The concept relates chiefly to Australian Aboriginal languages, where there may be strict taboos between certain relatives, such as a man and his wife’s mother and maternal uncles. In Dyirbal, for example, the everyday language is known as Guwal, and the avoidance language as Dyalnguy, which would be used whenever a taboo relative was within earshot.