Linguistics

The old idiom, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” has been used for decades, and although a good sentiment, can be disproven by any person with an basic understanding of their feelings. The power of the words one hears can greatly affect their self esteem and confidence. The fact that words hurt is an issue everyone faces, but some words hold too much power, power that can be used in not so ideal ways. Slurs, or words that are used to oppress minority groups, are used too casually in the modern world, with grave consequences on the minorities they are used against. The word faggot, a term used to describe gay men, has become popular in modern America between school boys as a way to either mock their peers or intentionally hurt an actual queer person. This word in particular moves farther away from offensive and can be categorized as oppressive due to its both psychological and social ramifications. The use of the word faggot is an act of oppression when one looks at both the social and psychological effects the word has on both the user and the recipient of the slur.

Profanity should be the last reason a great novel should be banned. After all, it is reality, it is how people talk, and in the case of Harris and Me, its definitely how young boys talk to each other. The use of the language is hardly profanity at all. For example, Harris says, “Well you can just blow it out your butt you old cow, you ain’t no grown-up to tell me what to do. How the hell am I supposed to know things if I don’t go ahead and ask them? (Gary Paulsen, Harris and Me .7)” The words feel elementary to me, he says butt instead of ass, and old cow instead of old heifer. Maybe it’s not the actual words that parents are losing their minds about, but more about

As kids we are taught that swearing is bad, and not to use swear words. We are told that it is inappropriate and tells people that you are uneducated or that you don't have an extensive vocabulary because you chose a swear word instead of a “more appropriate word”. Children are shielded from just another word in the dictionary because society has a negative connotation with swear words. As children grow up, learn and use swear words they are reprimanded for being disrespectful or inappropriate. There is too much of a social stigma around swearing that says that it is inappropriate, should not be used often and shows lack of intelligence.

Upon analyzing Fahrenheit 451, the novel's informal utilization of profanity could instruct students to communicate in an unprincipled method in the social world. In 1987, Dr. Kassinove, a psychologist, uncovered "that profanity led to decreased delayed compliance and to lower perceptions of trustworthiness" (Kurklen). This rigorous study is plainly expressing that utilizing a profane method of communication in society could lead to a privation

Stated in the website of Teen Ink about the profanity "We would not be learning the true history if certain pieces of it and little details were ignored or left behind. In order to understand history to its most, we must learn from our mistakes and realize what we have done wrong. All language is beautiful in the right context" ("Should Of Mice"). With the use of profanity, young audiences can gain the knowledge and understand the history behind the words and why those words were used frequently at the time. This is significant for the young audiences to learn and to know that they must learn from the mistakes of using profanity and learning from it so that those words can't be repeated. This is also supported through the knowledge of racial slurs and offensive language in Teen Ink as the site states "If people do not read, learn, and understand how African-Americans were treated in the past, then history will most likely repeat itself. We must learn and understand our mistakes, in order to prevent them in the future" ("Should Of Mice"). With audiences exposed to offensive language and profanity at a young age, they would learn that these words are not appropriate and would likely not use these words. If young audiences don't gain the knowledge of these words, then history will repeat itself with people using the derogatory words. This also

This apprehension about using a term or a word to describe something limits communication. For example, someone might not want to say something for fear that the response might result badly like in the loss of a friend or particularly worse, violence. Some terms are offensive, but if used innocently, there should be an understanding because language is always changing. No one should be afraid to speak. With limited communication, tensions between groups increase because they lack the ability to exchange words without potentially insulting the other.

The idea of defining something as“bad” has been around for centuries. But what really is bad? Is it a sandwich that does not taste good? How about that student in class who never does his homework? From the beginning of life children are told to never use a swear word. Throughout life people are constantly told not to use cuss words. But, considering these words to be wrong really has not stopped peoples’ use of the words. Swear words are something people use often in their everyday lives, but are not socially acceptable in our society in many situations.

The hosts of the podcasts surmise the reasoning behind the use of foul language. First, the use of foul or vulgar language is to assert power over others. They give the example of setting oneself apart from peers using foul or vulgar language. Second, people use foul or vulgar language to intimidate or scare others. The hosts explain how underlings are less likely to use foul language due to a fear of being

Thus, taboo words -or what can be called foul language- are words prescribed by culture as being “off limits.” And the use of this taboo or stigmatized language is usually associated with strong emotions.

The data will be compiled through a search on Twitter itself using its Advanced Search function. I will search specifically for taboo language, to gain a large collection of taboo language, using the taboo items Thelwall's (2008) categorisation of taboo language identified to determine the taboo items to be used in the search, however I will only be focusing on those terms categorised as moderate strength, or higher. This is because I intend to focus on the use of items more universally understood as taboo, and more offensive. The full search term can be seen in Appendix D. The search will be limited to tweets made within a 24 hour time period that is yet to be determined to ensure more consistent language use, the search will also be limited to tweets in English. I will be using a new Twitter account unconnected to any other accounts to access, sample and collect the data. This will allow me to search Twitter while only accessing publicly accessible tweets. Any tweets which are mistakenly collected that do not contain taboo language will immediately be discarded. Accounts that appear to be shared, owned by celebrities (verified accounts), parody other people or viewpoints or owned by businesses will also be disregarded as it is plausible that the tweets may have been written by more than one person, or have been designed as part of a media campaign etc. and so may not show natural language usage. To download the data, I will be using the NVivo software tool NCapture (see Richards 1999 for further details on NVivo software, and Sotiriadou 2014 for downloading Twitter

The English language is inhabited by several words that the majority have been deemed unbefitting for routine use. Many of these inappropriate terms are derogatory, slandering a particular ethnicity or socioeconomic status. In some eyes, the words’ assumed prohibition from public use has developed into a social more. However, these discourteous words are utilized in specific contexts, such as classroom settings and social networking sites. Even with the opposition, people have continued to apply this language for harmful reasons and divulge claims that are evidently based on racial slurs and stereotypes. Linguistic boundaries in the American language lead to unfair assumptions and representations of social groups by limiting the development of cultural identity in society through the constant reminder of the negative connotation of racial slurs. The lack of a precise definition about the universal use of racial slurs has caused various controversies throughout the United States, such as the presence of classic American literature on middle school reading lists as well as inexplicable statements made by educators. This facet has perceivably shaped the image of certain cultural identities and furthermore the treatment people of those groups receive.

The effect words have on others is an ongoing debate that has become prominent again due to the changing political climate. While some believe that words should not have the power to hurt people, others believe that care should be taken to not offend someone. This has led to the advent of “safe paces”, which can either allow people to temporarily escape societal problems or hinder free speech and reality, depending on who is talking. Looking into multiple forms of media and entertainment, it is clear to see how people think very differently on these issues. The show South Park makes it very clear how safe spaces can negatively warp reality and how culture can affect the way people live.

Taboo language is a language that is has some kind offense to it. When taboo words are often used they are used with a meaning that show strong feeling for something or against something. Many times in the world we live in today taboo language is often used with people who you are close with and view and as a friend many of the words have been changed from their original form to a version that is more socially acceptable such as “What’s up my nigga.” Taboo words are not taboo words until you add a meaning to them Damn is not a bad word until you add the meaning of the word it. There are many definitions of words that once were not taboo but now are such a bitch, which used to be used as a female dog. Is now viewed as taboo word which shows how over time new meanings of words are adopted and used.

“You are so cool!”). Furthermore, if a student continually uses inappropriate language as a result of the words becoming one with society, then they lose the opportunity and the comprehension educational systems have open for them to learn denotation; the student also opens up the option of living with illiteracy because they don’t control the words they imply definitions for. For the sake of an example, if a high school student or post-student calls one of their fellow, mentally healthy employees a “retard” then the employee could take it offensively because he or she doesn’t want to be known as being without comprehension, and if the insulted employee so pleases, then he/she can take the student to court and charge he/she with slander because he/she is not truly the denotation of the word “retard.” The actual definition being: “A person who is…ineffective in some way.”(CITE) The scenario and consequences could be similar in a school setting as well as inappropriate language is prohibited in both places. The connotation of words can be smudged in so many different directions that to misunderstand a word that one uses whether the connotation is implied by the user or applied by the listener, it can be taken as stripping the listener of their human attributes all due to the lack of knowledge of the word which was spoken.

Aside from the act of threatening another individual, language crimes can take a variety of forms including bribery, extortion or solicitation (in terms of soliciting things such as illicit sex or murder) (Shuy, 2005: 3). However, the simple act of using offensive language can also be regarded as a language crime and, indeed, such actions have been widely legislated against. Prosecutions here however, are said to be rare – often because people understand the hypocrisy involved in prosecuting another for something that most of us engage in at some point (Taylor, 1995: 224). Vilification can also be regarded as a language crime