Swearing and Cursing: Contexts and Practices in a Critical Linguistic Perspective - Paperback

by Nico Nassenstein (Editor), Anne Storch (Editor)

While most of the more recent influential work on swearing has concentrated on English and other languages from the Global North, looking at forms and functions of swear words, this contribution redirects the necessary focus onto a sociolinguistics of swearing that puts transgressive practices in non-Western languages into the focus. The transdisciplinary volume contains innovative case studies that address swearing and cursing in parts of the world characterized by consequences of colonialism and increasingly debated inequalities. Turning away from more conventional and established methodologies and theoretical approaches, the book envisages to address transgressive linguistic practices, performances and contexts in Africa, Asia, America and Europe -including individuals' creativity, subversive power and agency. Due to its interdisciplinary and non-mainstream focus, this volume is an essential addition to the field of studies.

Back Jacket

Swearing and cursing is more complex than simply violating linguistic taboos. This volume focuses on contexts of languages from the margins, asking about the semiotic diversity of linguistic transgressions by moving away from mainstream swearing studies, turning the gaze to the postcolonial and to linguistic edgelands. In its center stand dynamic, processual practices that are not only swear terms but also voice, substance and performance.

Author Biography

Nico Nassenstein, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Anne Storch, Universität zu Köln.