Diese Arbeit untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Schimpfwörter und Dialekten am Beispiel englischer Dialekte Großbritanniens. Es wird die These aufgestellt, Dialekte böten einen nahrhaften Boden für eine Vielfalt an Schimpfwörtern, die so in der Standardsprache nicht vorzufinden sei.
Als Beleg dieser These wird zunächst näher auf die Natur des Fluchens und somit dem Enstehen von Schimpfwörtern eingegangen. Im Folgenden wird mit Hilfe einer Korpusanalyse das Vorkommen der häufigsten englischen Schimpfworte im gesprochenen wie schriftlichen Diskurs verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen deutlichen Trend zum Fluchen im mündlichen Diskurs. Da die gesprochenen Sprache für die Mehrheit aller Sprecher vielmehr ein Dialekt als die Standardsprache ist, deutet dieser Befund auf eine größere Bandbreite an Dialektschimpwörtern im Kontrast zur Standardsprache hin. Dies wird anhand konkreter Beispiele dialektaler Schimpfwörter aus diversen englischen Dialektvarianten illustriert.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 What is a Taboo?
2.1 Definition
2.2 Taboos and swearing
2.3 Euphemisms
3 When do we swear?
3.1 Emotions
3.2 Written Versus Spoken Discourse
3.3 Situational Context
3.3.1 Register
3.3.2 Location
3.3.3 Company
3.3.4 Implications for swearing
4 Swearing and Dialect
4.1 Dialect
4.1.1 Implications of Dialect for Swearing
4.1.2 Examples of dialect swear words in Great Britain
4.2 Sociolect
4.2.1 Social Rank
4.2.2 Level of Education
4.2.3 Age
5 Conclusion
Objectives and Research Themes
The primary objective of this paper is to examine the dynamics of taboo words and their usage among native English speakers, with a focus on Great Britain. It explores the thesis that the conditions facilitating swearing, such as informal social contexts, also promote the use of regional and social dialects, thereby leading to a richer variety of imaginative taboo vocabulary compared to standard English.
- The relationship between societal taboos and the acquisition of swear words.
- The influence of situational contexts, including register, location, and social company, on swearing.
- The role of emotional states in triggering spontaneous, unpropositional swearing.
- The correlation between dialectal diversity and the creation of regional taboo terminology.
- The impact of sociolects, age, and education level on the frequency of swear word usage.
Excerpt from the Book
4.1.2 Examples of dialect swear words in Great Britain
The outcome is that the various dialects of English have come up with an even greater variety of swear words. The Standard English idiot or fool, for instance, is referred to either as a “Noggerhead” in Somerset, a “Baerk”, “clarnit”, “Ninkampuwp” or “Nizgul” in the Black Country, a “Barmpot” in Lancashire, and a “Worrawolly” or alternatively “sackless” in Kingston upon Hull. The dialectal creativity goes on when it comes to bodily effluvia: flatulence is also known as “Boff” in the Black Country and as “guff” in North Yorkshire; in Leicester people do not urinate but “waz” and call their excrements “bob”, also known as “cack” in Staffordshire and Stoke (BBC Voices 2009). This little excerpt of what I found in my research gives an idea of the full range of dialect taboo words there are.
Sometimes such dialectal slang and swear words also expand beyond the boundaries of the regional or social variety they originate from. The word motherfucker, for example, is thought to have originated from the sociolect of Afro-Americans and has entered the vocabularies from more and more US-Americans not belonging to this social group from the 1960s on, today it is a common swear word throughout the USA (see Montagu 1967:313). With a total of 16 occurrences (for motherfucker and motherfucking combined) in a hundred million words in the complete BNC (Davies 2004-: BNC) compared to 607 occurrences among 400 million words in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (Davies 2004-: COCA), this swear word is still no more than a marginal existence among the swear words in Great Britain. But, as many words have been imported from the US to Great Britain in the last decades, it is quite likely that this word is also on its way into the British swear word lexicon. This example – a word formerly only spoken by a limited group of people extending over the whole country and eventually even crossing the pond – shows quite nicely how dialect words can enrich the language even of other varieties.
Chapter Summaries
1 Introduction: This chapter defines the scope of the study, which focuses on the dynamics of taboo words and the hypothesis that dialects foster a greater variety of swear words than standard English.
2 What is a Taboo?: This section provides definitions of taboo subjects and words, explores their link to societal norms, and discusses the role of euphemisms as a response to prohibited topics.
3 When do we swear?: This chapter investigates the psychological and situational triggers for swearing, distinguishing between propositional and unpropositional language, and analyzing how context influences speech style.
4 Swearing and Dialect: This part examines how regional varieties and sociolects, influenced by factors like social rank and age, generate unique taboo vocabulary that is predominantly used in informal settings.
5 Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the findings, emphasizing the correlation between informal contexts, the use of dialects, and the creation of imaginative alternatives to standard swear words.
Keywords
Swearing, Taboo words, Dialect, Sociolect, Standard English, British National Corpus, Pragmatics, Register, Euphemisms, Emotional state, Language variation, Code-shifting, Teenage language, Offensive language, Lexical variety.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper explores the usage and dynamics of taboo words among native English speakers in Great Britain, specifically examining how regional and social dialects contribute to a wider variety of swearing expressions.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
Central themes include the definition of taboos, the influence of emotional and situational contexts on swearing, the role of dialects and sociolects, and the impact of demographic factors like age and social rank.
What is the main research question or goal?
The goal is to demonstrate that the conditions promoting swearing—such as informal, familiar settings—also promote the use of dialects, resulting in a more diverse and creative set of taboo words than those found in standard English.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The author uses a qualitative approach supplemented by corpus linguistics, specifically analyzing data from the British National Corpus (BNC) and comparative studies to examine the frequency and use of taboo terms.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The body covers the definition of taboos, the emotional basis of swearing, the differences between written and spoken discourse, the impact of the situational environment, and detailed analyses of how dialect and sociolects shape taboo vocabulary.
Which keywords best describe the research?
Keywords include Swearing, Taboo, Dialect, Sociolect, British English, Pragmatics, and Language Variation.
How do euphemisms illustrate the nature of taboos in this study?
Euphemisms demonstrate that even when a topic is taboo, speakers have an urge to express it; euphemisms act as a social compromise, allowing communication while avoiding explicitly prohibited terms in formal settings.
How does the author characterize the swear word usage of adolescents?
The study highlights that adolescents show a significantly higher tendency toward using slang and swear words compared to other age groups, a finding supported by an analysis of the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language.
- Quote paper
- Karin Wiecha (Author), 2009, Swearing and Dialect , Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/143976
