'Bad-Bad Words (Term Paper)\r'

'Bad-Bad linguistic process Der’rik Hardin Psych 326 declination 1, 2012 Dr. Hennon Bad-Bad Words The goal of this paper is to turn taboo a series of research on rely rowing, their messages, and a brief register of profanity. I also intgoal to furnish that expletive quarrel be deemed satisfying in certain complaisant statuss in the Ameri coffin nail acculturation. To begin we moldiness trammel semantic. Semantics is a branch of linguistics that deals with the seatvas of meaning, changes in meaning, and the principles that g everyplacen the relationship amid sentences or conditions and their meanings (Weinreich, Labov, & Weinreich, (1980).It speciality out also be referred to as the ingest of the relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. But presently, does the meaning of the affirm invent matter any more than than or is it the way we portray these bad spoken oral communication in a specific affable situation? Ambigui ty and harassment Words Currently there is no read surmisal to explain why populace conviction or why we chose the boys we handling to define these anathematise wrangling. Psychologists, linguists, forges pathologists and a number of an opposite(prenominal) researchers soak up been pondering on much(prenominal) an translation for roughly judgment of conviction.According to Jay, (2000), denunciation is an essential agent of phrase in linguistics and psycholinguistics that refers to aggregate expenditures of unquiet livery. The term anathema is subjected to more an(prenominal) an(prenominal) ambiguous rowing such as whammy, lampblack, list avocation, insulting, ethnic-racial slurs, vulgarity and slang, (Jay, 2000). These legal injury pull up stakes be utilise interchangeably passim the paper. Thanks to research conducted by timothy Jay in 1992, it was quite simple to choose between the handling of malediction and its many ambiguous terms.For starters, cursing is more than name announceing. In fact, to curse is to call(a) upon noble or supernatural power in say to perk up harm to a nonher, (Jay, 2000). The drift rear end cursing is to ca ingestion corporal harm on a nonher with the usance of talking to and phrases. Most the Statesns expend cursing in short phrases, out of angriness and frustration to get their exhibit across with strong emphasis of the pictured perception, (Jay, 2000). S wearing awaying is the use of any word or phrase that is likely to cause criminal offense when apply in pump class polite conversation (McEnery, 2005). fella before meant to take an oath legally or religiously until a second meaning suspended the term to take on the use of discourtesy vocabulary (Hughes, 2006). Initially, informing seemed to name positivity in sentences as it replaced cutthroat actions as a means of presenting anger (Jay, 1992) and slake considered to be a identical word to the closely relate d word curse. To the American culture, obscenity is viewed as sexual in nature (Jay, 1992). Obscene language whitethorn rest of quarrel such as â€Å" be intimate” â€Å"cunt,” or â€Å"mother derriereer. ” According to Jay (1992), to label a word as raunchy is technically restricting that word to justify speech.This means such a word cannot be used freely and can be subjected to restrictions or punishment from the passing governing body. It is the American culture which gives execrable words the relation to sexual content and imagery. For this cerebrate, courts deem obscenity as unquiet and not to be freely uttered, especially in the media, books, and other forms of public diversion (Jay, 1992). Written in The Mother Tongue, English and How it Got That Way (Bryson, 1996), it is mandatory that a lease or motion picture be rated R using certain intelligible words.The Federal Communications Commission, (FCC), get downed to get out seven bad words fr om syllabus television; these consisted of â€Å"shit,” â€Å"piss,” â€Å"fuck,” â€Å"cunt,” â€Å"cocksucker,” â€Å"motherfucker,” and â€Å"tits,” (Sapolsky and Kaye, 2005). Even though Americans can be intolerant of give tongue to, some adjuration does occur on U. S. television (Sapolsky and Kaye, 2005) such as South Park (Grimm, 2003). Producing some(prenominal)(prenominal) prosperous seasons, South Park used milder bad words like, â€Å"hell,” â€Å"ass,” â€Å"screw you,” â€Å"bitch,” pricking”, and â€Å"son-of-bitch,” for guinea pig (Sapolsky and Kaye, 2005).Insults and slurs can be considered other forms of curse words, or bad words in general. They take on a similar meaning as curse words in their similar example to cause harm to another individual. Although insults and slurs consist of different bad words, they ar twain forms of verbal attacks. While slurs deal with soc ial background, race, and ethnicity indicating stereo theatrical roles, insults denote physical, mental, or psychological qualities (Jay, 1992). Lastly, scatology was a in the raw word for me which refers to the use of humankind waste products, (Jay, 1992).Americans often hear the use of scatology amongst young adults and children more than older individuals. This is credibly because the consept of human waste is facetious to the junior crowd. For example, my son, Aiden, likes to refer to his wet underwear as â€Å"pissy,” when he has an accident (which originated from his grandmother). Other words in scatology implicate â€Å"shit,” â€Å"ass,” â€Å"crap,” or â€Å"ka ka. ” The variety of bad words is quite indispensable for the purposes of semantic evaluation. This allows linguists to define the different type of meanings these utterances hurl on on the human language (Jay, 1992).Some of these classifications, as there argon more than w hat I mystify listed above, may point of intersection a lot. According to Bryson, (1996) in order to know the actual meaning fag a curse word, the attendee mustiness know the draped and evaluate the organize in which the curse word is worldness used. For example, Whitney tells her best help to â€Å"shut the fuck up” as they be express feelings hysterically opposed to Whitney telling her friend to â€Å"shut the fuck up! ” as they are arguing over pizza. The example certifys dickens different scenarios with the same word usage only when different stirred captive behind them.In order for the listener to interpret the two scenarios differently they must pay attention and evaluate how Whitney is communication in each sentence. As tack by Dewaele (2004), the perceived strength behind curse words matters rather than level-headed on the basis of word semantics. oath Words in their Proper view Although, mainly assemble offensive, curse words are not al ways used to cause harm. For example, in a jokingly conversation between two friends, cardinal may utter the statement â€Å" flatter my ass” which may be open mentalityous to the other friend.Yet, still individuals do not always find curse words funny, such as when 1 is being told to â€Å"fuck off” during a disagreement. The use of cursing serves to exaggerate or put emphasis on the emotions of the speaker which also drags attention to the listener (Jay, 2000). For this reason some people curse to show how strongly they feel approximately the issuance they may be speaking on. For example, in my experience, when an argument breaks out the audience entrust hear name calling, such as â€Å"bitch,” â€Å"whore,” etc. Behind the name calling is direct intent to harm the other person being argued with.Even though this is a bad example to show a positive use for curse words, it demonstrates the stimulated anger and frustration that the two arguers ar e trying to convey finished the use of name calling, or the term more widely accepted by the American public, curse words (Jay, 1992). It seems to be unwashed knowledge that curse words are bad â€Å"pursue,” yet they are still commonly used depending on the situation or demographics. For example, most parents know not to use curse words round young children. So, when is it okay to use cursing terms and why is it situational based?not only does the situation matter scarce the choice of curse words and culture makes a difference. Bryson (1996) provides a list of words free-base most offensive in certain cultures. Some of these bad words could be classified under slurs because they employ racial, social class and ethnic offense to a certain assemblage of people. In Norwegian it is mellowedly offensive to call someone a â€Å"devil” (Bryson, 1996), which is equivalent to the American â€Å"fucker. ” Some cultures however do not swear at all as their native l anguage does not contain swear/curse words.These cultures include the Japanese, Malayans, and most Polynesians and Native American Indians (Bryson, 1996). scorn the small number of countries that do not condone to cursing, most cultures curse and have been doing so for a very keen-sighted time (Bryson 1996). A theme on Romans, done by Dr. J. N. Adams of Manchester University in England, found an estimated 800 bad words in their vocabulary. These findings are outstanding, compared to the English language containing roughly most twenty depending on how they are being used (Bryson, 1996).In an essay exploring the use of swear words during stand-up comedy, Susan Seizer found it appropriate to use such obscenity and vulgar words despite the haughty Court censorship rulings. Siezer (2011), uses swear/curse words in an idiomatic, non-denotational, and non-referential way to aid humor and laughter for the audience. Her goal, in this study, was to use words such as â€Å"fuck” o r â€Å"holy shit” to provoke something other than sexual or excretory images to the public.She also intends to further the effect of freeing Americans from these referential and denotational word uses in an attempt to open up poetic pleasures of word play (Seizer, 2011). Seizer’s shot was confirmed concluding her study. Through her examples and test she proved that the comedic use of dirty words can be illustrated in a non-denotational manner for the sake of comedy and humor. By using obscenity this way a shift in the audiences expectations and moved international from sexual vulgarity to sorts of pleasure (Seizer, 2011).Obscenity passim the experiment combineed and intensified the expressions of the speaker’s perspective and comical experiences which also put the audience at ease as the free play with words allow the comedian to open up and heighten the states of hilarity (Seizer, 2011). Seizer’s study promoted the idea that curse words are not a lways seen as a bad thing but more situational based. Depending on the environment, it seems to be okay to freely play with words such as â€Å"dick,” â€Å"fuck,” â€Å"pussy,” and â€Å"shit,” as Susan used in her experiment.Apparently, if it is humorous to the audience, freedom of speech is accepted anywhere. As reported by Andersson and Trudgill (1992), swearing may occur in jokes for humorous intent and many jokes depend on the dump value of swear words for humor; inversely relating curse words and comedy. non only are curse words deemed acceptable through comedy but for entertainment purposes as well. Take smut for example. Swear or bad words are used in pornography to heightened erotic behavior between two actors. Coates (2003) also reported the use of swearing in social situations.According to Coates (2003), Adolescents may express their identity of being cool through curse words or to appearance closeness in friendships and popular group ci rcumscribetings. Brief History in profanity After searching through several articles and multiple books I came to realize that curse words has never had a scientific historian. Mencken, (1944) reports bad words, or profanity as he terms it in his article, came to America from England during the Seventeenth Century. In this age of time the use of curse words was not socially accepted.Mencken (1944) goes on to write about canful Adams. In 1755, John Adams ceremonious rules for the Navy of the United Colonies in terms of profanity. Sailors who chose to speak profanely were authorized to wear a wooden collar or a shameful badge (Mencken, 1944). John Adams was not the only man in history to punish citizens for the use of profanity. wholeness year prior to Adam’s rules, George Washington employed his own set of rules for soldiers in order to decrease the use of swearing or profane cursing (Mencken, 1944). Unfortunately, these rules did not hold many years.Near the end of the ce ntury Richard Parkinson stated the words â€Å" goddamned” and â€Å"hell” as a new phrase used by many Republicans. Parkinson pointed out that men in high power used profane language as well, including George Washington (Mencken, 1944). Accepting Curse Words Similar to our day in age, the restriction of cursing, profanity, and swearing was not successful and still widely used at the discretion of the public. Written in the north American Review of 1934, and cited in Mencken’s article (1944), Burges Johnson declared that American profanity was losing its” punch”.By that he means the asperity of curse words has diminished over time. As we can see, the practice of curse words is becoming more socially accepted and used to express identities for some people while emphasizing the intent behind speech for others. Hinduja and Patchin (2008) reported the expiration to which teens swear on social networks. Their research data on swearing and Myspace showe d 19. 2 percent of participant’s individualised profiles contained swearing and 32. 8 percent of participants swearing on their friends profile. profane swearing has evolved and become a necessity part of language (Jay, 2000). Mentioned in Jay’s book (2000), a comprehensive theory of cursing must be embodied into human linguistics and psychological models of language because it captures the emotional aspects of language along with the emphasized, offensive intent behind the speaker. This theory of cursing must be accepted and interconnected into human linguistics because human language does not exist without human emotion which cannot be separated from emotional reactions in the use of language (Jay, 2000).Works Cited Andersson, L. G. and P. Trudgill. (1992). Bad Language. capital of the United Kingdom: Pengiun. Bryson, B. (1996). The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way. red-hot York: Avon Books. Coates, J. (2003). Men Talk. Maldon, MA: Blackwell. Dewae le, J. (2004). The emotional force of swearwords and taboo words in the speech of multilinguals. journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Developments, 25(2,3), 204-222. Hinduja, S. , ; Patchin, J. W. (2008). personal information of adolescents on the internet: A quantitative content analysis of myspace.Journal of Adolescence, 31(1), 125-146. Hughes, G. (2006). An encyclopaedia of swearing: The social history of oaths, profanity, pass language, and ethnic slurs in the English-speaking world. Armonk, NY [u. a. : Sharpe. ] Jay, T. (1992). Cursing in America: A psycholinguistic study of dirty language in the courts, in the movies, in the schoolyards, and on the streets. Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co. Jay, T. (2000). wherefore we curse: A neuro-psycho-social theory of speech. Philadelphia, Pa. [u. a. : Benjamins. ] McEnery, T. (2005). Swearing in english.London: Routledge. Mencken, H. L. (1944). American profanity. American Speech, 109(4), 242-249. Sapolsky, B. S. , ; Kaye, B. K. (2005). The of offensive langauge by men and women in hot flash time television entertainment. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 13(4), 292-303 Seizer, S. (2011). The unmentionable: Verbal taboo and the clean life of language. On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy, 84(1), 209-234. Weinreich, U. , Labov, W. , ; Weinreich, B. S. (1980). On semantics. Philadelphia: Univ. of pappa Press.\r\n'