The Good, the Bad, and the Harmful: From Restricted to Standard Uses of Slurs

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Slurs derogate individuals based on their belonging to some demographic group, for example, race, sexuality, class, and so on. This chapter observes ‘reclaimed’, ‘restricted’, and ‘standard’ uses of slurs and proposes a semantic account which accommodates each type of slurring. The view proposed—Expressive-Property Contextualism—explains the similarities and differences between a wide array of slurs and demonstrates that the mechanism by which slurs derogate is virtually the same in all uses.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHarmful Speech and Contestation
EditorsMihaela Popa-Wyatt
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Chapter2
Pages13-35
Number of pages23
ISBN (Electronic)9783031605376
ISBN (Print)9783031605369
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Aug 2024

Publication series

NamePalgrave Studies in Pragmatics, Language and Cognition
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
ISSN (Print)2946-2576
ISSN (Electronic)2946-2584

Keywords

  • expressivism
  • restricted slurs
  • contextualism
  • derogation
  • reclamation

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