A linguistic approach to taboo language
BY CAITLIN CISAR
So, what makes
a word taboo?
It's not the sounds; those are arbitrary. It's the meaning. Taboo-ness is derived from the social and emotional aspects of a word's meaning. Many words contain just an informational aspect, which informs you of what the word is (such as the dictionary definition). However, taboo words have a combination of all three of these functions.
The social aspect of meaning is society's consensus of if and when a word is acceptable to use. "If a word retains its power to offend even when it is mentioned, then it is a taboo word" (Eggert, 47).
The emotional aspect allows the speaker to express their emotions. If someone stubs their toe and screams "fuck!" are they trying to convey the informational meaning (to fornicate) of the word? Or the social aspect through strategic swearing? Likely, this could even be uttered alone. The emotional aspect reflects and, in some cases, releases the speaker's feelings.
Take the word bitch, for example.
We know its informative meaning is a female dog. But when we hear someone using bitch as an insult, they aren't calling the person a female dog. They are trying to offend the receiver. Using bitch can do that because it disobeys social norms and gives more of an emotional punch.
GOT DATA?
An Analysis of Gender and Sexuality Slurs
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Let's take a closer look at some taboo words and uses. We have a dataset from 12 respondents who rated the taboo-ness of these gender and sexuality slurs. 7 respondents were female and 5 respondents were male. Here are the words:
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Bitch
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Cunt
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Slut
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Ho
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Thot
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Motherfucker
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Whore
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Bastard
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Perv
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Stalker
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Ass
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Asshole
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Douchebag
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Faggot
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Fairy
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Pussy
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Queer
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Gay
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Dyke
We also asked if the gender of the speaker and receiver make a difference in the rating. Hint: it does. We'll get to context after we look at society and culture.
How does society and culture affect taboo language?
Why did we choose these words?
Cultural beliefs and behaviors within a society shape the words that are thought of as taboo. If you take a look at history, taboo-ness changes, and so do the words that represent taboo things. In the late 1300s, the word lousy used to be considered taboo, similar to now when we say shitty. Sometimes, words have been around but didn't acquire their taboo-ness until later. Shit has been used since the 1500s, but its meaning of poor character or quality didn't take off until the past century (Litman-Navarro). During the 1800s, words surrounding sex became more taboo due to the hush-hush practices behind closed doors. Now, sex words aren't so bad. However, racial slurs are considered the worst, with gender and sexuality terms following.
Females are evaluated primarily in terms of how well they conform to heterosexual male needs and desires.
Eggert, 208
The words we chose for our analysis are taboo because our current social practices shape them. These are derived from factors beyond the scope of this analysis, but power dynamics play a significant role. Slurs for females often include sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, and unpleasant behavior. While slurs for males include both homosexuality and unpleasant behavior, they are also based on intelligence and weakness.
What about context?
Context plays a significant role in taboo language use too. A few things to consider when looking at the context:
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Who is saying the utterance
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Who is receiving the utterance
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Whether they know each other
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Where the utterance is taking place
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Who else can hear the utterance
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Taboo words may vary in their perlocutionary effects depending upon the context. Bitch, in most cases, is used as an insult; however, sometimes between friends, it can be used as a term of empowerment. It is usually unacceptable to use fuck in front of your boss but can be seen as a sign of group member acceptance when used within certain situations or places, like the internet.
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Our data shows context makes a difference too. For the chosen words, ratings from female to male utterances differ from those of male to female. Although an interesting trend did emerge: the most offensive word for both genders was faggot.
Numbers
"You're a faggot!" from a female to another female had 42% of respondents rate the utterance as a number 7, the highest and most offensive rating on the scale. The remaining scores vary from 2 to 6. These numbers are almost identical with male to female and even female to male ratings.
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However, male to male had 58% of respondents rate the utterance as a number 7. The remaining scores are from 4 to 6.
More females agreed that bitch is somewhat offensive coming from a male, with 50% of respondents rating the utterance, "You're a bitch!" at 5.
Coming from females, the numbers vary from 2 to 5, with more agreement in 3 and 4 at 33% each.
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The gender of the speaker and receiver impacts how offensive the word is; it impacts how much taboo is brought with it.
TOP FIVE OFFENSIVE WORDS BY PERCENTAGE
More numbers, but pretty
MOTHERFUCKER 58%
CUNT 42%
FAGGOT 42%
FAIRY 42%
BITCH 33%
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
MALE TO FEMALE
FEMALE TO MALE
BITCH 50%
FAGGOT 42%
CUNT 33%
DYKE & WHORE 33%
SLUT 25%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Any other factors?
The sociological background of a user affects how one swears.
Other interesting trends show up because of society and upbringing. In a study by McEnery and Xaio, women in their mid-20-30s don't use taboo language as much. Eggert suggests this is because they are trying to advance their careers and portray professionalism. However, taboo language use picks up as they get older and have established themselves.
Sometimes we can see where sociological factors affect language by examing where euphemisms exist. In some cultures, such as those who are hunters, it is thought that saying the actual name of certain animals will scare them away. A wolf, for example, might hear someone talking about them and run off.
THE
GRAY
ONE
Euphemisms often become the taboo word because their meaning is so closely connected to the original word. Fuck used to be the euphemism for 'fornication' but now, we see fuck as one of the harsher taboo words.
What does all of this mean to me?
Taboo-ness is ingrained from childhood. By the mere attempt to hide bad words it classifies them as taboo. These behaviors inform my language use, and my language use simultaneously informs my behaviors. Looking at historical and contextual differences in language use helps highlight how connected language, culture, and taboo-ness are. By seeing the differences throughout history, we can see how much our language use reflects what kind of traits we value, such as modesty or professionalism.
Today, I am conscious of my words when I am around certain people. In my speech community, it's okay to say the word wolf and to cuss in front of my mother but certain genres (racial slurs) are simply unacceptable in 2020. This forbiddance reflects our society's belief that harmful behaviors should be taboo because we don't agree with them. Others, such as beliefs about sexuality, show up in our interpretation of offensiveness and still carries weight in our linguistic practices.
Other cultures are different, and taboo-ness is not necessarily universal.