Magnus Ljung

Swearing : a cross-cultural linguistic study

Machine generated contents note: -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on Transliteration -- Abbreviations -- Defining Swearing -- A Typology of Swearing -- History of Swearing -- Interjections -- Oaths, Emphatic Denials, Curses -- Ritual Insults, Unfriendly Suggestions, Name-Calling -- Degree, Dislike, Emphasis, Exasperation and Annoyance -- Replacive Swearing -- Notes -- Appendices -- Bibliography -- Index.

English denominal adjectives : a generative study of the semantics of a group of high-frequency denominal adjectives in English

English denominal adjectives : a generative study of the semantics of a group of high-frequency denominal adjectives in English

The functions of expletive interjections in spoken English

This paper is a study of the functions of ten common expletive interjections in a 1 million-word sub-corpus from the spoken component of the BNC. The findings indicate that about a hundred interjections function as release mechanisms for mostly negative feelings triggered by real-world experiences. The rest are shown to be pragmatic markers as these have been defined in the recent literature and are analysed mainly in terms of the discourse-based analytic model used in Stenstrom (1994).

What vocabulary tells us about genre differences. A study of lexis in five different newspaper genres

What vocabulary tells us about genre differences. A study of lexis in five different newspaper genres

History of Swearing

The first two recorded instances of what may be regarded as swearing come from Ancient Egypt. One of these is found on a stela, an upright stone slab with a commemorative inscription, dating back to the era of Ramses III, pharaoh between 1198 and 1166 BC.

The Wodehouse Effect

Discusses the distinction between transferred and non-transferred modifiers in constructions from P.G. Wodehouse. Similarity between the two sentence types best described by deriving both types from the same syntactic source; Humor of the wodehouse effect explained in a framework.

Degree, Dislike, Emphasis, Exasperation and Annoyance

Up to now the focus of the present study has been on instances of swearing that are independent utterances, viz. speech acts of various kinds: interjections, oaths, curses, standard insults, name-calling, unfriendly suggestions. From now on, however, the focus will be placed on swear words that are not themselves independent utterances but are used inside larger units, viz. as what earlier we have called slot fillers. Given that the slot fillers that are in focus here are all swear words, they may be aptly named expletive slot fillers.

Ritual Insults, Name-Calling, Unfriendly Suggestions

The three types of swearing mentioned in the title above all belong to the larger category of insults but are different enough to merit separate treatment. All of them basically resemble the curses discussed in Chapter 5 in directing the speaker’s negative feelings at another person, usually the addressee. The standard insults, the unfriendly suggestions and name-calling express the speaker’s feelings towards the addressee at the moment of speech. The curses, on the other hand, are verbal realizations of the speaker’s wish that something evil should befall the addressee in the future and often contain invocations of heavenly or infernal powers.

A Typology of Swearing

The aim of Chapter 1 was to demonstrate the criteria that had to be met in order for constructions to be recognized as swearing in this study. The purpose of the present chapter is to explain and demonstrate the different subcategories of swearing used here, in other words to set up a typology of swearing.

Oaths, Emphatic Denials, Curses

As we saw in the discussion of the history of swearing in Chapter 3, oaths and curses are the two oldest forms of swearing known to us. There are two main kinds of oaths (I am disregarding here the use of oath to refer to swearing in general). In a technical sense, an oath may be defined as ‘a solemn promise often invoking a divine witness, regarding one’s future action or behaviour’, as the ODE puts it.1