The Function Of Profanity In Modern English — страница 3

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of someone” (to beat someone quite badly) to the simple: “take a piss” (to urinate). Next on the taboo ladder is another word in the same category, fart. It is synonymous with conflagration (in the form: “to fart”) but can also be used, although not nearly as successfully, as a derogatory term for someone – usually male (i.e. “He was a lazy fart”). Shit is the last word in this category, most typically used in noun form to mean “feces” and in verb form to mean “to excrete feces,” although it is also commonly used as an expletive (”Shit!”) or improperly as an adjective (i.e. “That performance was shit”). In “Swearing,” Geoffrey Hughes had this to say about these first three words: It is a curious feature in the taxonomy that of the various forms

of excretion and erucation, shit should be the most used term (cf. German scheiss, French merde, Italian stronzo, English turd). By comparison, fart has diminished force, piss has little currency (beyond the contemptuous piss artist and the unceremonious piss off!) while burp has none whatever. It would seem that the two dominant factors in making terms in this field highly charged or otherwise are their degree of solidity and their proximity to the genital/anal area. Fuck has its own category among these six words, sex (although that does admittedly have a lot to do with cunt and cock). It is used as a synonym for sexual intercourse as well as an expletive (i.e. “Fuck that!”) and a derogatory term for someone (i.e. “She’s a lazy fuck”). Cock and cunt are alternate

words for the male and female sexual organs, respectively. They are also both used as derogatory names. Clearly, these definitions illustrate how graphic these terms are, and how closely linked they are to activities and objects most societies categorize as taboo. It is the shyness and embarrassment with which people approach any of these topics that more or less dooms these words to their taboo fate. Interestingly, it seems that most of the traits that we share with other animals (i.e. excretion and sexual intercourse and organs) are traits that we would rather not discuss. Thus, words that would be used in an informal discussion about these topics become taboo. This in turn leads to the words being reduced to use only in flashes of anger or moments of despair, or perhaps not at

all (the mortality rate for rude words and expressions is astonishing — the noun/verb bugger and the noun dolt are two examples of words weakened by time and overuse — nevertheless they are continuously replaced by an equally impressive birth rate). Chapter 5- Phatic and Emotive Language Many linguists would argue that because these words have become part of the English language’s phatic and emotive vocabulary (used only for the purpose of establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact, or in the case of emotive expressions, used to express rather than to describe), they have no real function in the language. To prove that phatic and emotive language is indeed a useful, if not necessary, part of the English language would be to prove that these six words also have

a purpose. Why, then, is phatic/emotive language useful? Technically, phatic/emotive language includes many expressions common in conversation (i.e. “Nice day again, isn’t it?” and “How are you? Still sick?”) and correspondence (”Dear Sirs” at the beginning and “Yours truly” at the conclusion of a letter). However, expletives such as shit and fuck also fall under the labels of phatic/emotive language. Obviously, as the definition confirms, phatic/emotive language is necessary for establishing an atmosphere and maintaining social contact. While the first set of examples from conversation and correspondence are the kind of phatic/emotive language that maintains social contact, expletives and exclamations are definitely the ‘atmosphere establishers.’ Even if

the atmosphere is not a desirable one, it cannot be denied that this sort of vocabulary succeeds in defining it. In fact, to some degree, the four of the six that are not used as expletives (piss, fart, cock and cunt) are also good examples of phatic/emotive language. While their usage would certainly establish a certain atmosphere, they fall more into the part of phatic/emotive language that maintains social contact. This is mainly due to expressions such as the very informal greeting “Hey, you old fart!” and, as Hughes said, the unceremonious exclamation “Piss off” (British English slang for “go away”). Chapter 6- The Employment of Substitutes This raises the question: Isn’t it possible to establish the same atmosphere with much more “acceptable” language? In