1. WHAT DO INSULTS AND
‘COARSE LANGUAGE’
ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH IN
INTERACTION?
By Kayla Burazin and Monika Grant

2. Overview
 Language
 Word magic
 Speech acts
 Social genres
 Social structure
 Profanity
 Politeness theory
 Social solidarity

3. Language
 What?
 Why?
 How?
 “Any verbal or non-verbal
communication engaged in by
humans, animals, or even machines”-
The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology
 Verbal and Non-verbal

4. Word Magic
 Curses
 “Curses are both an oral residue and
evidence of growing awareness of the
performative potential of writing. (SIC)”
(Bogoch, B and Danet, B, 1992)
 Oaths
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knV
OAr4U8l0

5. Word Magic
 Does anyone know of any other form
of word magic?
 Have you ever experienced this in any
way?

6. Speech Acts
 Speech act is a technical term in
linguistics and the philosophy of
language.
 A locutionary act: the performance of
an utterance
 An illocutionary act: by saying
something, we do something
 A perlocutionary act: which is viewed at
the psychological consequence, such as
persuading, convincing, scaring,
enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise
getting someone to do something or
realise something.

7. Genres of Speech
 Every social situation is a different
genre.
 Euphemistic speech: speech, that
moves around the true meaning of a
certain issue
 Dysphemistic speech: speech that is
straight to the point of a certain issue.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYA
MDhVT50I

8. Genres of Speech
 Can you think of any of type of
genres?
 Would you consider genres front or
backstage?

9. Social structure of language
 Social classes
 Showing respect
 Titles
 An individuals context splits them into
a certain class.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-
9X0S1kcS0&feature=related

10. Profanity
 Why is there so much emphasis put
onto certain words?
 Profanity can be seen as an
intensifier, to gain attention or attack
(Daly et al 2004)

11. Politeness Theory
 Brown and Levison first proposed the
politeness theory in 1978
 Politeness Theory identifies two
aspects of individuals‟ „face‟, namely,
their positive and negative face
needs(Daly, 2004)
 Face Threating Acts (FTA)(Daly, 2004)

12. Politeness Theory
 Can anyone think of a situation they
have been in where Politeness Theory
has come into practice?

13. Social Solidarity
 One principal theme in the work of Émile
Durkheim concerns the sources of moral
and therefore social order in society-
Oxford Dictionary of Sociology
 Can be created through the use of
profanity within a conversation
 Bosses say you should of do this or you
should do that …no you fuck off and they
can both use this medium to horizontals
their relationship. (Whelan, 2012).

14. Reference List
 albri1home (2008) Sue Simmons Curses
"What the F**k" and Apology. Youtube.
Accessed 10/10/2012
 Daly. N, Holmes. J, Newton. J, Stubbe. M
(2004) „Expletives as solidarity signals in
FTAs on the factory floor.‟ Journal of
Pragmatics 36: pp. 945-964.
 Danet, Brenda, Bogoch, Bryna, The Journal
of American Folklore, Vol 105, No. 416
(Spring 1992), Pg, 132-165
 Dundes, Alan, Jerry Leach and Bora Özkök.
1972. “The Strategy of Turkish Boys‟ Verbal
Dueling Rhymes.” in Directions in
Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of
Communication. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Pp.
130-160
 Labov, William. 1972. “Rules for Ritual

15. Reference List
 nocommenttv (2009) Obama swears in. Youtube.
Accessed 10/10/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knVOAr4U8l0
 Pishgadam, Reza, Zarei, Sima, Expressions of
Gratitude,: A case of AFL learners, Rewiev of European
Studies, Vol 3, No2 2011.
 Punjabicom1 (2012) Most Shocking & Worst X factor
Audition Ever. Youtube. Accessed 10/10/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-
9X0S1kcS0&feature=related
 Scott. J, Marshall. G (2009/2012) A Dictionary of
Sociology, Oxford University Press. Accessed
10/10/2012
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978
0199533008.001.0001/acref-9780199533008-e-
1236?rskey=E4TJeD&result=1236&q=
 University of Minnesota, CARLA: The centre for
Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.