engleski

Slurs: How Pragmatics and Semantics Affect Ethics

In this paper I tried to propose an approach to the question whether the derogation carried by slurs is part of their semantic core or if it is just a pragmatic addition to it which is focused on the variability of slurring words. Slurs often come into existence by the evolution of previously existing word forms of different meaning, and often the slur will continue its development towards a neutral meaning, as is exemplified by the phenomenon of re- appropriation. During the evolution of slurs, the linguistic change that leads to the birth of a slur, as a word that yields derogation and to its death, that is, its use a non-derogatory word, speakers and hearers use and interpret them in different ways. With a novel use, both negative and neutral, the pragmatic meaning can, at least in theory, be cancelled. In that way the speaker can distance himself from the established semantic meaning of the word. Once the words starts shifting more and more into semantics the cancellation will no longer be an option.All these elements have an impact on the ethical side of the analysis of pejoratives. If a word is derogatory at its semantic level there will be no possibility for the speaker to cancel the negative message he conveyed. But, nevertheless, there is always the possibility to use the word pragmatically in a neutral or even positive way. In this case additional contextual information should be available to the hearer in order for him to infer the real message of the speaker. The possibility of misunderstanding is always present and the hearer could get offended, but we should not prohibit neutral pragmatic uses of slurs since this would impede their development towards a neutral semantic meaning. For the same reason neutral uses should not be restricted to in-group members.

Slurs, pejoratives, hate speech, pragmatics, ethics

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