a
BAD LANGUAGE WORDS IN THREE
TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELS:
A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARUM AJENG KINASIH
Student Number: 084214096
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
BAD LANGUAGE WORDS IN THREE
TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELS:
A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARUM AJENG KINASIH
Student Number: 084214096
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A
BAD
TWENTIE
A
Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A Advisor
Anna Fitriati, S.Pd., M.H Co. Advisor
ii
ASarjana SastraUndergraduate Thesis
BAD LANGUAGE WORDS IN THREE
TIETH CENTURY AMERICAN NOV
A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY
By
HARUM AJENG KINASIH
Student Number: 084214096
Approved by
M.Pd., M.A. August
d., M.Hum. August
E
OVELS:
ugust 15th, 2012
A
Defended before the Board of Examiners On August 31, 2012
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Signatu
. Siswadi, M.A., Ph.D.
a. A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D.
LEMBAR PERNYA
an di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sana
: Harum Ajeng Kinasih
: 084214096
an ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepad harma karya ilmiah yang berjudul:
dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau me is tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun me tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
n ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
I declare that the thesi
works of other people
should.
v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
hesis I have written does not contain any works or
ople, except those cited in the quotations as any a
Yogyakarta, Sept
Harum Aje
ks or parts of the
y academic paper
eptember 10, 2012
vi
When bad things happen, don’t give up.
The day will come when you look back and laugh at them.
vii
For my family
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank the Lord who arts in heaven, who gives me life and seizes my days
with so many blessings and gifts. Even if I turn my face from Him with so many
sinful deeds, He never lets me lose my faith to keep struggle and face everything.
With Him, I know that I will never walk alone.
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip
M.Pd., M.A., for his patience, readiness, and willingness to guide me work on this
thesis. Without him, my thesis would be nothing but unfinished scratches. My
gratitude also goes to my co. advisor, Ana Fitriati, S.Pd., M.Hum. for her
willingness and thoroughness in reading my thesis. Her short advice completed
this thesis and it gave me more confidence and faith that I could really do better.
I would like to thank my parents and two brothers for their unlimited
understanding, support, and love. It is very assuring that I always have a place to
come back while I am down. I also thank my big family who never let my little
family drown in the hardship.
My special gratitude goes to Prayudi Wijaya, who is willing to be my
mentor. His stubborn opinions on anything saved me over and over again. My
thanks to my friends on the same road Topan Putra, Daniel Patty, and Niko Neka,
who make my days become extraordinary fun and give me the reason not to be
left behind. I also thank Mas Surya Dharma, a great overtime-mate, for being a
ix
Last but not least, I would thank all special people who gave me any form
of supports for finishing this thesis. Though I could not mention all the names, all
of their contributions were highly appreciated.
x
A. Background of the Study……… 1
B. Problem Formulation………. 3
C. Objectives of the Study………. 3
D. Definition of Terms……… 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW………...... 5
A. Review of Related Studies………. 5
B. Review of Related Theories……… 7
C. Theoretical Framework……… 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……… 23
A. Object of the Study……….. 23
B. Approach of the Study………. 25
C. Method of the Study……… 26
CHAPTER IV: RESULTS……….. 29
A. The Usage of BLW in Three Twentieth Century American Novels………. 29
1. The Usage of BLW based on their varieties of content……. 30
2. The Usage of BLW based on morphosyntax, parts of speech, and functional terms………. 42
B. The Characteristics of BLW Usage in Three Twentieth Century American Novels……… 47
C. The Purposes of BLW Usage in Three Twentieth Century American Novels……… 56
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………. 63
xi
APPENDICES………. 67
Appendix 1: List of the Sentences Containing BLW.………... 67
Appendix 2: Data Categorization…….………...... 81
xii
ABSTRACT
HARUM AJENG KINASIH.Bad Language Words in the Twentieth Century American Novels: A Sociolinguistic Study.Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2012.
People in a society need to conform with certain culture to be accepted. However, there are also certain behavior that makes them not to be accepted in their community. Therefore, there are things considered as taboo as the prohibition or avoidance of behavior believed to be offensive to society. Bad Language Words (BLW) is a form of taboo language which are commoly used by people in the society. The use of BLW is interestingly a complex social phenomenon since they commonly appear in many texts and conversations, regardless their offensiveness. It can be seen from their frequent appearances in three twentieth century American novels: The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A MockingbirdandThe Catcher in the Rye.
There are three questions raised in this study. First is the use of BLW in the direct sentences appear in the data, second is the characteristics of BLW appear in the data, and the third is the purposes of the BLW stated in the data.
The study is started with the identification of direct sentences containing BLW and the categorization of those sentences. The categorization follows the
insights from Geoffrey Hughes’s BLW classification based on their varieties of
content (2006) and Tony McEnery’s BLW categorizationbased on morphosyntax, parts of speech, and functional term (2006). The characteristics of BLW in the data are inferred from the categorization for later they become the keys to determine the purposes of the BLW usages.
The study figures out that the sentences containing BLW in the data cover five categories of BLW proposed by Hughes and thirteen categories of BLW by McEnery. Six characteristics of BLW are inferred from the analysis of the study. They are offensive, emotive, exclamatory, exaggerative, idiomatic, and intimate. Four purposes of the BLW usage in the sentences are found too. They are to
express emotion, to provoke the interlocutors’ attention, and to express and
xiii
ABSTRAK
HARUM AJENG KINASIH. Bad Language Words in the Twentieth Century American Novels: A Sociolinguistic Study. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2012.
Manusia dalam masyarakat perlu menerapkan budaya tertentu untuk bias diterima.Akan tetapi, ada tingkah laku tertentu yang dapat membuat mereka tidak diterima dalam komunitas mereka. Karenanya, adahal-hal yang dianggap tabu, yaitu tingkah laku yang dilarang dan dihindari karena diyakini menyinggung orang lain dalam masyarakat. Bad Language Words (BLW) adalah suatu bentuk bahasa tabu yang umum digunakan dalam masyarakat. Menariknya, penggunaan BLW merupakan fenomena sosial yang kompleks, karena meskipun bersifat menyinggung, bahasa ini umumnya muncul dalam banyak teks maupun percakapan. Hal ini terlihat dari seringnya bahasa ini muncul pada tiga novel Amerika abad kedua-puluh:The Grapes, To Kill A Mockingbird danThe Catcher in the Rye.
Ada tiga pertanyaan dimunculkan dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah penggunaan BLW dalam kalimat langsung pada data, yang kedua adalah karakteristik BLW pada data, dan yang ketiga adalah tujuan penggunaan BLW pada data.
Studi ini dimulai dengan identifikasi kalimat langsung yang mengandung BLW dan kategorisasi kalimat-kalimat tersebut. Kategorisasi ini mengikuti klasifikasiBLW berdasarkan variasi isi yang pernah dilakukan oleh Geoffrey Hughes (2006) dan klasifikasi BLW berdasarkan morfosintaksis, kelas kata, dan istilah fungsional yang pernah dilakukan oleh Tony McEnery (2006). KarakteristikBLW yang disimpulkan dari kategorisasi-kategorisasi BLWnantinya digunakan sebagai elemen penting dalam menentukan tujuan penggunaanBLW.
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language has a power to change the world. It can connect, destroy, or
build society. The bound between language and society’s culture are unavoidably
existed for as old as the language itself. According to Goodenough in Wardaugh
(2010) culture consists of whatever it is one has to know to operate in a manner
acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of
themselves (Wardaugh, 2010: 229).
People need to apply certain culture to be accepted. On the contrary,
there will be certain behavior that makes them not to be accepted in their society.
This social law is also applied for language. There are some bad language words
(hereafter abbreviated as BLW) that are considered as taboo in certain society.
Taboo is the prohibition or avoidance in any society of behavior believed to be
harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or
shame (Wardaugh, 2010: 249). English is a language that is developed from long
history and the complex mixing from other languages, and the social meaning of
English has lead some words to be offensive or obscene for people. As a taboo,
BLW become an offensive matter that is hardly accepted by the other member of
the society.
The language behavior develops from the very first time of the
censor their language, and so normally say whatever first enters their heads
without considering the circumstances of utterance, are deemed mentally unstable
(Allan and Burridge, 2006:39). Therefore, there is a certain rule that serves as the
barrier between appropriate and inappropriate things to say.
People used to transfer their knowledge, including the knowledge about
taboo, orally. However, the invention of writing around 3000 BC transformed oral
tradition, transmitted through storytelling, epics, mythical re-enactments and
performances, into textual tradition, handed down by scribes (Kramsch, 1998:53).
The development of arts in the form of literature later becomes the record of the
social and society changes. Social analysis through the close examination of
literary products then becomes a worth-to-do project.
Three novels are used as the objects of this study. Three of the novels are
twentieth century American novels, written by three different authors. The novels
are JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye(1964), John Steinback’sThe Grapes of
Wrath(1976) and Harper Lee’sTo Kill A Mockingbird(1990). All of these novels
share the same properties; they are all challenged due to the BLW usage inside
them <http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challenged
classics/ reasonsbanned> (24 April 2012). For example,The Catcher in the Ryeby
J.D. Salinger is challenged because it covers “excess vulgar language, sexual
scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing
with the occult.” Therefore, these novels are suitable to be the object of study
Based on the above, it is interesting to analyze the productivity and the
creativity of the BLW in American novels by different authors. Gathering the data
from the literary works, the purpose of saying BLW can also be revealed.
B. Problem Formulation
There are some questions used to map and focus the study. The
questions are as follows:
1. How are bad language words (BLW) used in three twentieth century American
novels?
2. What are the characteristics of the bad language words (BLW) found in the
three novels?
3. What are the purposes of the bad language words (BLW) use in the three
novels?
C. Objectives of the Study
There are three main objectives of this study. The first objective of this
study is to describe the usage of BLW in three twentieth century American
Novels. The term ‘usage’ follows Hughes’s insight about BLW’s classification
based on the varieties of content and McEnery’s theory on BLW’s categorization
based on the morphosyntax, part of speech, and functional term of usage. The
result of the first objective will be useful to explain the second objective, which is
objective of this novel is to figure out the purpose or the motifs of statements
contained BLW.
D. Definition of Terms
There are two main definitions that are used to limit the discussion. The
terms are bad languages and sociolinguistic study.
Tony McEnery in his book Swearing in English: Bad language, Purity
and Power from 1586 to the Present defines bad language words as any word or
phrase which, when used in what one might call polite conversation, is likely to
cause offence (McEnery, 2005:2). The related terms to bad languages are profane,
swear word, cuss, dirty word, and oath.
Allan and Burridge add more specific definition for bad language as
follows.
Both slang and profane swearing are found only in colloquial styles –
which leads us to the discussion of styles as varieties of English. From swearing and cursing, we proceed to insults and maledictions. Except for
style, all these topics have at some time been referred to as ‘bad’
language (Allan and Burridge, 2006:55)
The next term is sociolinguistic study. In short, it is a study of language
from the social context. Ronald Wardaugh in his book An Introduction to
Sociolinguisticsexplains that
5
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The previous study that is related to this study isThe Use of Slang in Daily
Communication Among Youth in 1950’s New York as Seen in J.D. Salinger’s the
Catcher in the Rye (Purna, 2005). It is an unpublished undergraduate thesis of
Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, written by Gregorius Purna.
The Use of Slang in Daily Communication Among Youth in 1950’s New
York as Seen in J.D. Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye explores the meaning,
characteristics, and functions of the slang spoken by the youth. It employs some
theories of slang by Eric Partridge (1978), Sechrist (1978), and I.L. Allen (1994).
Using the standard dictionary and dictionary of slang, Purna identifies the
meaning and the purpose of the youth’s using slang as the daily terms in their
communication behavior. To strengthen the validity of the research, Purna uses
the theory of communication combined with supported theory about youth
communication to limit the analysis on the “youth communication.”
Purna analyzes The Catcher in the Rye in the point of view of
sociolinguistics. It is found from the quotation below
“This is an interesting part for the discussion where the novel can be
analyzed in the point of view of sociolinguistics. Using this base, the writer will use the analysis to draw the problems to be discussed later. Sociolinguistics deals with society and language in which the members of
The study finds out five categories of slang expressions classified
according to the meaning attached in the expressions. They are categorized as
persons, actions, objects, swearing, and circumstances or conditions. It also finds
six characteristics of slang spoken by youth. They show emotion, abbreviation,
exclamatory, arbitrary, based on idioms, and often exaggerated. The purposes of
the slang usage are found as to express emotion, to be secret, to be quick, to be
brief or succinct, and to be playful in meaning. As for the functions, Purna finds
slang functions as to speed up the communication process and to express emotion
using emotive vocabularies (Purna, 2005: viii).
Other than the similarity of the use of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye,
the present studyuses nearly the same pattern as the Purna’s undergraduate thesis.
BLW, which is the main object of this study, is treated in the same position as
slang in Purna’s undergraduate thesis. The study finds out also the characteristic
and the purpose of a linguistic variation, in this case BLW. It takes also the same
point of view of sociolinguistics, which underlines the relation between language
and society.
In short, this study will take the same position as Purna’s undergraduate
thesis. It takes the same literary work as one of the object of the study and it also
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Taboo, Bad Language Words (BLW), and Swearing
The English word taboo derives from the Tongan tabu, which came to
notice towards the end of the eighteen century. Taboo in this study is related to
taboo in language. In a broad sense, taboos arise out of social constraints on an
individual’s behavior which can cause discomfort, harm or injury (Allan and
Burridge, 2006: 1). Radcliffe-Brown in Allan and Burridge (2006: 2) states that
In the languages of Polynesia the word means simply ‘to forbid’, ‘forbidden’, and can be applied to any sort of prohibition. A rule of
etiquette, an order issued by a chief, an injunction to children not to meddle with the possessions of their elders, may all be expressed by the use of the word tabu (Radcliffe-Brown, 1939: 5f ).
Allan and Burridge also categorizes taboo as follows
bodies and their effluvia (sweat, snot, faeces, menstrual fluid, etc.); the organs and acts of sex, micturition and defecation; diseases, death and killing (including hunting and fishing); naming, addressing, touching and viewing persons and sacred beings, objects and places; food gathering, preparation and consumption (Allan and Burridge, 2006: 1).
A sociolinguist, Wardaugh, states that taboo is prohibition or avoidance in
any socitey of behavior believed to be harmful to its members in that it would
cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame (Wardaugh, 2010: 239). It is an
extremely strong politeness constraint. Consequently, as far as language is
concerned, certain things are not to be said or certain objects can be referred to
only in certain circumstances.
In a specific case of taboo language, Geoffrey Hughes (2006) claims that
“taboo” itself also contains binary opposition, referring to human experiences,
(like the name of God
about the users of bad
bad language as any
polite conversation, i
complex social phenom
od) or unspeakably vile (like incest) (Hughes,
of Varieties of Swearing and Word Magic whic
territory.
s’sVarieties of Swearing and Word Magic (Hughe
shows the hierarchical separation between the bi
ane”, and “taboo,” divided by the “line of ac
hs,” since they can be either sacred or profane.T
language” and “ethnic slurs” stand below theli
and have no sacred equivalent. As the entries
several of the terms have complex historie
s, 2006: xvi).
Enery, taboo language begins to gain its pow
zation. This process leads a society to point w
bad language are commonplace (Mcenery, 2006:
ny word or phrase which, when used in what
on, is likely to cause offence. The use of bad
nomenon and any investigation of it must draw
range of evidence in order to begin to explain both the source and the undoubted
power of bad language and the processes whereby inferences are drawn about the
speaker using it (Mcenery, 2006: 1).
Tony McEnery bases his study on the Lancaster Corpuse of Abuse. The
LCA is a problem oriented corpus based on data extracted from the BNC spoken
corpus (McEnery, 2006: 26). The corpus contains only those examples of BLW
usage where the age, sex and social class of the speaker are known.
The BLWs covered by the LCA can broadly be grouped under the following main headings—swear words (e.g. FUCK, PISS, SHIT), animal terms of abuse (e.g. PIG, COW, BITCH), sexist terms of abuse (e.g. BITCH, WHORE, SLUT), intellect-based terms of abuse (e.g. IDIOT, PRAT, IMBECILE), racist terms of abuse (e.g. PAKI, NIGGER, CHINK) and homophobic terms of abuse (e.g. QUEER). Obviously, there is an interplay between these broad categories—for example, animal terms of abuse may also be sexist abuse forms (e.g. cow). However, for the purposes of describing the contents of the corpus, this broad classification will suffice (McEnery, 2006: 26).
Then, McEnery also designs a more specific classification for the BLW.
The classification is based on some combined parameters such as morphosyntax,
part of speech, and functional term of usage. The table of the categorization is
Table 1. McEn
To determine
combines some survey
borrows the scale f
constructions of the sur
presented in the next pa
Enery’s Categorization of BLW(McEnery, 2006:
ne the strength of the bad language offensive
veys commissioned by various media watchdog
from one of the sources that have cont
he survey, The British Board of Film Classificati
xt page.
y, 2006: 27)
nsiveness, McEnery
hdogs in the UK. He
ontributed to the
Table
poetic creativity, but
xviii). There are some
The resonators which
below.
able 2. Scale of Offence of BLW (McEnery, 2006:
s one example of bad language, yet blasphemous,
anguage may also cause offence (McEnery, 2006:
ple of bad language, swearing now includes
s that some broad distinctions need to be ma
. Hughes also differentiates modes and content of
mode, we swearby some higher force or some hing is so; we sweartodo something; we swear
and we swear simply out of anger, disa These different modes can be retermed by var ms, such as asseveration, invocation, imprecation, profanity, obscenity, and ejaculation (in it
on”)(Hughes, 2006: xv).
s of content, Hughes states that with the dive
range of content is remarkable for its protea
but also shocking in its ugliness and cruelty
some resonators or things which become the trigg
Table 3. Contents of Swearing Resonators (Hughes, 2006: xviii)
Resonators Examples
The use of religious reinforcers and sacred references
by God!,the devil take it!,by my
father’s soul,on mymother’s grave
Family origins son of a bitch, whoreson The attribution of various reprehensible
social stigmas, such as illegitimacy and perversion
bastard, whoreson, bugger, butt-fucker
social conditions, such as poverty poor, miserable insulting names, demeaning labels, and
unflattering comparisons, such as the animal, the sexual, the intellectual, the excretory, the racist, the political
somewhat inconstant in their modes, styles, and references. The degree of
provocation is also influenced by culture, age, gender, and so on (Hughes, 2006:
xix). Therefore, the study of BLW, including swearing, needs to be specific due to
certain origin and period to get specific result too.
The use of bad language is a complex social phenomenon (McEnery,
2006: 1), so is the purpose behind the use of the BLW in the conversation. It is
proved by McEnery that there was no difference in amount of swearing between
males and females, although males tend to use the stronger forms of BLW, and
250). The other study of profanity in the workplace reported by University of East
Anglia in 2007 reported two interesting findings related to the purpose of the use
of profanity: that workers made regular use of profanity to express solidarity and
to vent feelings of frustration and that the language was not used in close
proximity to customers, being confined to staff-only areas (Wardaugh, 2010: 250).
In addition for the purpose of saying BLW, Wardaugh gives a statement that
linguistic taboos may also be violated on occasion to draw attention to oneself, or to show contempt, or to be aggressive or provocative, or to mock authority – or, according to Freud, on occasion as a form of verbal
seduction, e.g., ‘talking dirty.’ The penalty for breaking a linguistic taboo
can be severe, for blasphemy and obscenity are still crimes in many jurisdictions, but it is hardly likely to cost you your life, as the violation of certain non-linguistic taboos, e.g., incest taboos, might in certain places in the world (Wardaugh, 2010: 250).
2. Sociolinguistics
Wardaugh, in his book An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (2010),
differentiates between the sociolinguistics or micro-sociolinguistics and the
sociology of language or macro-linguistics.
In this distinction, sociolinguistics is concerned with investigating the relationships between language and society with the goal being a better understanding of the structure of language and of how languages function in communication; the equivalent goal in the sociology of language is trying to discover how social structure can be better understood through the study of language, e.g., how certain linguistic features serve to characterize particular social arrangements (Wardaugh, 2010:10).
In short, Hudson states that sociolinguistics is ‘the study of language in relation to
society, whereas sociology of language is ‘the study of society in relation to
This thesis will employ some theories of sociolinguistics, including the
theory of words and culture, factors influencing language used in communication,
and taboo in language. This study concerns on the use of language in societies.
Like Coulmas (1997) in Wardaugh said, the micro-linguistics (or sociolinguistics)
applications involve the further investigations on how the social structure
influences the way people talk and how language varieties and patterns of use
correlate with social attributes such as class, sex, and age. This study will spot the
use of BLW in American society reflected in three twentieth century American
novels written by different authors from different background.
a. Variables in Sociolinguistics
There are two types of variable involved in sociolinguistic research. The
first is the social variable that determines a variation in language. The possible
social factors are gender, geography, age, occupation, educational background,
etc. The second variable is the linguistic variable, which is the feature of language
that is investigated in the research (Stockwell, 2002). This research employs the
BLW as the linguistic variable and relates the productivity and creativity of BLW
in America based on the novels on which stories take place in America.
b. Language and Society
Before stating the relation between language and society, the clear
definitions of both terms have to be stated first. According to Wardaugh, a society
while a language is what the members of a particular society speak (Wardaugh,
2010: 1).
Language is used in a society to maintain communication (Trudgill in
Wardaugh, 1983). The communication can happen among people who speak the
same language. The process will happen inasmuch as a group of people share the
same knowledge about the reference, code, and concept of things surround them.
Wardaugh gives four possible relationships between language and society.
One is that social structure may either influence or determine linguistic structure and/or behavior. A second possible relationship is directly opposed to the first: linguistic structure and/or behavior may either influence or determine social structure. A third possible relationship is that the influence is bi-directional: language and society may influence each other. A fourth possibility is to assume that there is no relationship at all between linguistic structure and social structure and that each is independent of the other (Wardaugh, 2010).
In this study, this theory of possibilities is used to identify the influence of society
background toward the use of BLW. What is believed by people in certain society
may have certain impact toward the language. This is supported with Trudgill’s
statement about the relation between language and society cited in Wardaugh
(2010).
Thirdly, in addition to environment and social structure, the values of society can also have an effect on its language. The most interesting way in which this happens is through the phenomenon known as taboo. Taboo can be characterized as being concerned with behavior which is believed
to be supernaturally forbidden, …. In language, taboo is associated with
c. Words and Culture
The culture in this section does not refer to the appreciation of the work of
art; it has simpler sense of whatever a person must know in order to function in a
particular society (Wardaugh, 2010). The relation between what is said by people
and the influence of people’s way of life exists in rather invisible manner. Whorf
simplify the relation by saying that the structure of a language determines the way
in which speakers of that language view the world (Wardaugh, 2010).
The theory of relation between words and culture can explain how certain
society, in this research American society, has certain treatment toward some
words that are considered as bad languages.
d. Factors Influencing Language Used in Communication
This thesis takes the direct quotation in the novels as the object of analysis
and it involves the components of speaking of the sentences. Hence, the Hymes’s
proposal of ethnographic framework becomes the most relevant theory to support
the study. Hymes uses the word SPEAKING as an acronym for the various factors
that he deems to be relevant in understanding how particular communicative event
achieves its objectives (Wardaugh, 2010: 259). SPEAKING stands forsetting and
scene, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentality, norms of interaction
and interpretation,and, genre.
S orsetting and scenerefers to the physical circumstances in which speech
takes place and the abstract psychological setting of the occasion. P or the
addressor-addressee, or sender-receiver which satisfies certain specified roles. E or ends
refers to the conventionally recognized and expected outcomes of an exchange as
well as to the personal goals that participants seek to accomplish on particular
occasions, i.e., different personal goals own by participants in the court. A or act
sequence refers to the actual form and content of what is said; the precise words
used, how they are used, and the relationship of what is said to the actual topic at
hand. Different speaking in different occasion will have different style of
language and content. K or keyrefers to the tone in which a particular message is
conveyed; whether it is delivered light-heartedly, seriously, sarcastically, and so
on. I orinstrumentalities deals with the choice of channel and the actual forms of
speech employed, i.e., the choice of media to deliver the speaking and the register
which is chosen. The combination of some media and registers are very possible.
N or norms of interaction and interpretation refers to the specific behaviors and
properties that attach to speaking and the way it is viewed by someone who does
not share them. The last letter G or genre refers to the demarcated types of
utterance; such as poems, sermons, lectures, and so on.
The consideration of Hymes’s proposal about the various factors that are
involved in speaking strengthened Hughes’s statement that modes of swearing and
societal taboos show quite different emphases at different stages and sectors of the
same basic culture (Hughes, 2006: xix). An ethnography of a communicative
event, that is proposed by Hymes, is a description of all the factors that are
relevant in understanding how that particular communicative event achieves its
communicative event, whether it is positive of negative objective. In this thesis, it
means that each speaking containing BLW considers those elements, so that
participants involved in the communications own the same understanding about
the content of the speaking.
3. Twentieth Century Americans and Twentieth Century American English
A sociolinguistic study takes an account of the social conditions in order to
figure out the influence of those conditions to the language used in the society.
Since the background of the three novels used in this study are novels about and
written in twentieth century, a review about the conditions of twentieth century
Americans and twentieth century American English is necessary.
a. Twentieth Century American
Historians call the twentieth century as a significant century for the
development of America because it was the era when the government finally
implemented the promise of its ideals to all its citizens and in the process saved
Western civilization <http://www.histclo.com/country/us/hist/20/ush20.html> (10
September 2012). The twentieth century of the Americans was stuffed by some
international events which greatly influenced the social conditions and the
people’s way of life. From the World War I and II, the Great Depression, the Cold
War, to the Civil Rights Movement, the Americans witnessed the journey of the
nation to reach a condition of the Great Society and the modern society like today.
Nearly all aspects in twentieth century America were entering the rapid
from the groups of people who are called the Progressives (Wiegand, 2009:214).
The Progressives were the journalists, politicians, and single-cause crusaders who
sought progress in Politics and social reformation. The use of media and literature
as the crucial part of political and social changes was greatly successful. The other
groups fought for the improvement of the working class’s condition, initiating
some new acts for the protection of the labors and the other workforces.
During the Kennedy administration (1961-1963), the New Frontier program
was initiated to peacefully manage the foreign affairs problem, the Cold War, and
the racism in the South by the force of administration to act on Civil Rights. After
his death, the Johnson Administration which more concerned about domestic
issues initiated new programs in education, medical care, urban problems, and
transportation which lead the way to, the controversial term, Great Society
<http://www.histclo.com/country/us/hist/20/ush20.html> (10 September 2012).
b. Twentieth Century American English
At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 400 million native
speakers of English in the world, covering the “inner circle” of English which are
countries such as the United Kingdom, the USA, and Canada
<http://www.oed.com/public/twentiethcenturyenglish#restrictions> (10 Sept
2012).American English was greatly influenced by the Noah’s Webster statement
in 1789, which emphasizes the fact that the new encounters with different entities
and tradition in America would produce new words into the American tongue.
of English” had become so great that it was appropriate to refer to American
English as a separate language. Webster (1806) in Kövecses wrote in the preface
of his dictionary
In fifty years from this time, the American English will be spoken by more people than all the other dialects of the language, and in one hundred and thirty years, by more people than any other language on the globe, not expecting the Chinese (Kövecses, 2000: 7).
Therefore, the envisioned a glorious of American English was proven by the fact
the American people use their “own” English as part of their everyday life.
In twentieth century, when the American English had gained its maturity, the
number literary works were increasing rapidly. The role of the unique social
history of the USA and the colonies before that is just as significant and
influencing the other areas of linguistic differences (Kövecses, 2000:15), which
leads to the influence in literary work. The historical facts of twentieth century
Americans as it is explained in above subcategory are more or less giving
contribution to the language change in society. Regarding the language use, the
language made its independent style, variations, and tendencies. Related to this
study, from the historical perspective, it can be claimed that American English
contains more of what can be called verbal prudery or propriety than British
English does. Verbal prudery simply means that the use of certain words and
phrases falls under social sanction, that is, their use is forbidden (Kövecses,
2000:247). It shares the same properties with taboo in language, like BLW.
Mencken in Kövecses (2000), from his study, stated that the social and
linguistic process of “prudery” peaked in the US in the 1830s and 40s, but
American novels still largely use such terms, it can be said that the process still
remained in that period too. Profanity words were often used to swear and the ban
for the words did not help to decrease their number. Instead, as Marckwardt in
Dillard (1980) said, American English developed a whole lexicon of
near-swearing (Kövecses, 2000:249).
Departing from the engagement of the American English and the large use of
prudery in the society, this study on BLW dares to employ Sociolinguistic
approach to explain the existence of the words in the society. Connecting the
factors of how the American English is greatly influenced by the historical
condition of the society, how the literary works reflect the language use of the real
society, and how some theories in Sociolinguistic can be helpful to analyze the
language use in certain society; this study reveals the usage, the characters, and
the purposes of BLW spoken by people.
C. Theoretical Framework
This thesis aims to solve problems as stated in the problem formulation
using supported theories that are cited above. There are three main problems in
this thesis that need to be solved. The problems are the usages of BLW in the
novels, the characteristics of BLW, and the purposes of BLW statements in the
novels.
The analysis of BLW usage in the novels reveals the quantity, quality, and
productivity of BLW in the three novels. The supporting theories to answer this
strength. To help the analysis, the standard English dictionary and encyclopedia of
swearing are used to find out the meaning of BLW. The results of this analysis are
several categorizations of BLW along with its occurrence and variations.
The second problem is the characteristic of BLW. The analysis is
conducted based on the result of the first problem. The most supporting theory
used in this second analysis is the Geoffrey Hughes’s theory about the swearing
modes and contents. Since swearing is the most massive category of BLW, the
application of the theory to analyze the characteristic of BLW is considered
appropriate.
To answer the final problem, which is the purpose of the BLW statements,
the characteristics of BLW are reexamined. The supporting theory that helps the
analysis of this problem is the Hymes proposal on the elements of speaking.
Relating the characters of BLW, the sentence containing BLW, and the
components of speaking proposed by Hymes gives a big contribution to find out
23
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The objects of this study are three published twentieth century American
novels; they are JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1963), John Steinbeck’s
The Grapes of Wrath (1959), and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (2006).
Specifically, the objects are the direct speeches in the novels that contain the
BLW. The analysis will find out how these BLW used from the productivity and
creativity aspects.
The first novel is The Catcher in the Rye. The novel was written by J.D.
Salinger. This analysis is using the edition by Signet book which was printed in
1963. The story of this book is about a teenage boy named Holden Caufield which
is presented in the 192-paged book. This boy was having a very boring life, from
his perspective, and trying to have a more “adventurous” journey outside the
school life. An article in the BBC’s website describes that
“Holden is 16. Expelled from his prep school for flunking too many
subjects, he travels to New York, his home town. He drinks, smokes, sees a prostitute, is punched by her pimp, goes on a date, has a strange encounter with a former teacher, spends a fair amount of time in the park, and really does not a
great deal else,” <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8084931.stm>
(24 April 2012)
The second novel is The Grapes of Wrathby John Steinbeck. The edition
used for this study is the novel published by Penguin Books in 1959. The novel
the Great Depression years and endured a very difficult life, moving from their
family in Oklahoma to California. The family got so many miserable stories after
they were pushed to leave their land and find jobs in the land of hope, California.
In fact, they even got more sufferings because of the worse condition in
California.
The novel is known as a novel which shouts social criticism about the
circumstances of America in 1930s. The account of the predicament of migrant
workers was taken more as social document than as fiction. Recent literary critics
have often lumped it with a number of other dated books of 1930s as “proletarian
fiction.” As a social document, the novel presents such a vivid picture of
oppression and misery that one tends to doubt its authenticity (Magill, 1989:340).
The Grapes of Wrath is a noted novel that brings Steinbeck some
achievements; they are the National Book Award in 1939, Pulitzer Prize in 1940,
and finally the Nobel Prize in 1962.
The last novel isTo Kill a Mockingbird. First published in 1960, this novel
soon became a target of controversy and was read by many people because of its
plot. The edition used in this study is the Harper Perennial Modern Classics novel
published in 2006. The edition contains 323 pages. The novel plots a story about a
lawyer, Atticus Finch, who struggles to defend a black man in a case of white-girl
raping. Scout Finch, his daughter, is the main narrator of the story. The story
flows as the Finch family faces some difficulties because to fact that Atticus
In 1961, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Although at the
beginning of its release the book was getting so many controversies with its
“spices” of social slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape, the book was
translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies
worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. Most recently,
librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the
best novel of the twentieth century
<http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Kill-Mockingbird-HarperLee/ ?isbn=97800609354 67> (24 April 2012).
The reason of choosing the three books is firstly because the books contain
so many bad language words in them. In addition, according to the data of
American Library Association, the three books are included into the frequently
challenged books of the year. Robert P. Doyle in www.ala.org listed many titles
of challenged books in every year, and the three books have been favorite target of
censors <http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/
challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm> (24 April 2012). The three books
are challenged for different reasons of word choice, therefore they are chosen so
that this thesis has more various data of BLW. Hence, the three resources are
qualified to be the sources of research on BLW usage in the three twentieth
century American novels.
B. Approach of the Study
This thesis primarily uses the sociolinguistic approach to analyze the data.
using literary works as the main resources, there are various theories of
sociolinguistic that will be used to show the relation between literary work, words,
and society. Positioning language as a part of a social discourse, sociolinguistic is
the most appropriate approach to conduct this research.
C. Method of the Study 1. Data Collection
Before conducting the analysis, the reading of the three novels as a literary
work as the primary resources, was necessary. After the reading, identifying direct
speeches containing BLW in the novels was the second step. The identifying
process involved also the using of Standard English dictionaries and Encyclopedia
of Swearing. All sentences in form of direct speeches containing BLW were
collected and numbered according to the novels containing the speeches and the
order of appearance. . The sentences found in The Grapes of Wrath belong to the
category A followed by the codes of number indicated based on the order of
appearance in the novel. The sentences found inTo Kill A Mockingbirdbelong to
the category B, while those found in The Grapes of Wrathare in the category C.
For example, the first speech containing BLW inThe Grapes of Wrath was given
the code A001.
As the additional references and secondary sources, internet references are
used. The preferred websites used as the sources are only restricted websites that
are not influenced by common users of internet and only updated by
each BLW, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Language (Longman, 2005)
and The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English
Language: Encyclopedic Edition (Merriam-Webster, 1996) are used. The
reference to the standard meaning of the BLW is needed to find out the
categorization and the strength of the words.
The data of related theories was conducted through library research and
internet research. The theories found were gathered and analyzed to make sure
that the selected theories were necessary and appropriate to answer the problems
presented in the problem formulation.
2. Data Analysis
The data analysis of this study covers several integrated steps started from
the categorization of the data to the inference of the BLW purposes which is the
final problem of this study. The steps of data analysis are presented in below
itemization.
a. The sentences of direct speech containing BLW were prepared in a form of
an organized list. The speeches were taken from the direct quotation in the
three novels. Then, the categories of BLW were observed from the list.
Each BLW in a speech belonged to a category. The next step was to
identify the strength or the rate of offence owned by each BLW.
b. The analysis of data was presented in a form of integrated table, consisted
of well managed column and row, so that the picture of the BLW usage
data, the amount of data, the category of the data, and the strength of the
data would be easy to track.
c. The deeper study on the integrated table to get comprehensible research
for the characteristic of slang was done. The theories by McEnery and
Hughes were combined together to get the characteristics of BLW in the
three novels.
d. From the characteristics, the purposes of the BLW saying in speeches were
then analyzed. The analysis of the purposes employed the Hymes’s
proposal on components of speaking, McEnery’s, and Hughes’s theories,
with additional supporting theories gathered from previous studies on
BLW. The conclusions of the purposes were drawn also from the direct
evaluation of the novels, since they were dealing with the direct
expressions stated in the novels.
e. Based on the analysis, the purposes of the BLW statements in relation to
its categorizations and characteristics were inferred together to get the
29
CHAPTER IV RESULTS
The main data of this study are 484 direct sentences containing BLW in the three
selected American novels. Each sentence is coded into three different groups,
based on the novels in which the sentence is found. The sentences found in The
Grapes of Wrath belong to the category A followed by the codes of number
indicated based on the order of appearance in the novel. The sentences found in
To Kill A Mockingbirdbelong to the category B, while those found inThe Grapes
of Wrath are in the category C. BLW appearing in each sentence are italicized to
make it easy to indicate.
A. The Usage of Bad Language Words (BLW) in Three Twentieth Century American Novels
As stated beforehand, there are two theories used to identify the uses of
BLW in the data. The first is the usage of BLW based on their varieties of content
and the second is the usage of BLW based on morphosyntax, parts of speech, and
functional terms. In the two categorizations, there are some overlapping uses of
BLW. A bad word, for example hell, belongs to only one category in Hughes’s
categorization because it only has a type of resonator. Yet, it exists in some
categories in McEnery’s categorization. It happens because McEnery’s
terms, which makes it possible for a word to be in several different categories
when it is used in different sentences.
1. The Usage of BLW Based on Their Varieties of Content
According to Hughes, swearing draws upon very powerful but
incongruous resonators (Hughes, 2006: xviii). The BLW identified in the research
can be categorized based on the five resonators of the sentences which are drawn
from every BLW in them. They are categorized as follows.
a. The use of religious reinforces and sacred references
The improper use of sacred terms such as the name of God and sacred
references may lead to a serious offence to someone or certain group. In the three
novels used as the object of this study, the BLW containing this resonator
becomes the greatest to appear in the data. From 484 sentences containing BLW,
395 sentences or 81.61 percent of the sentences belong to this category. The
reason behind this large use of religious reinforces can be traced from the history
record of the BLW usage.
Historically, religious oaths form the vast majority of terms and phrases,
making up the variegated vocabulary of swearing in English. It happens because
the normal dynamic of swearing or the nature of BLW usage is to invoke some
force superior to oneself (Hughes, 2006:388). Although there is always a tension
between the necessity of validating an oath and breaking the taboos deriving from
biblical authority traditionally surrounding the use of sacred names, the vast usage
of religious terms in twentieth century American society is undeniably usual.
of twentieth century, Christianity, divided into Protestantism and Catholicism,
was the deepest root of the American’s religiosity (Balmer: 2001). Therefore, the
terms which are commonly used to swear by the American society in the twentieth
century were largely coming from those religions’ terminologies.
The BLW related with religious reinforces and sacred references in the
data are Jesus Christ, God, damn, and hell. Below are 11 examples of the
sentences belonging to this category, for complete list of the sentences, see
Appendix 1.
A002. It was about him an' a couple of other guys goin' all over the world
drinkin' and raisin'helland screwin' around.
A015. Well,hell!
A016. But look, when you been in stir a little while, you can smell a
question comin' fromhellto breakfast.
A128. Sogoddamnsassy,
A156. But I'll be goddamned if you opened your mouth twicet sence we
lef' home.
A166. You sure give that fellahell,
B011. Aw, that’s adamnstory,
C004. I don't know, and I don't give adamn.
C036. Just as long as it's descriptive ashell.
C050. Checkers, for Chrissake!
C056. Jesus,now, try not to stretch it all over the place.
The main term Jesus Christ and its variants mentioned in the examples
C050 and C056 refer to the man who Christians believe is the son of God and on
whose life and ideas Christianity is based. The mentioning of the term not in the
sacred situation falls under the basic taboo against “taking the Lord’s name in
vain” (Hughes, 2006: 262). To be more specific, in Christian societies this rule is
listed in the Ten Commandments. This rule works also for the term God
mentioned in the example C068. In many religions, including Judaism,
Brahmanism, and Islam, direct reference to the name of God is taboo (Hughes,
2006: 201). However, not as strict as it is written in the rule of the religions, the
term Godnowadays has particularly very mild offence, while Jesusis stronger in
the mild category (McEnery, 2006: 30). The less offensiveness happens because
the terms have been used very commonly by society, in the greater quantities than
in the past days.
Two exceptional variants of the sentences using God are the examples
A128 and A156 which contain the word goddamn. The two terms are basically
originated from a serious curse such as “God damn you!” The curse has developed
many semantic nuances and grammatical functions, undergoing semantic loss of
intensity as its functions have proliferated (Hughes, 2006: 203). From the form,
the term goddamnor God damn are the combinations of the term God and damn
that both are related to the religious reinforces.
Examples B011 and C004 contain the term damn. In certain religions, the
terrifying notions of eternal punishment, damnation, and hell have naturally
and its relatives have been regarded as to be highly taboo (Hughes, 2006: 116).
Today, the term is generally regarded as a mild idiomatic oath with different
levels of offence depending on the usage of the term in a sentence. Damn and
goddamn, according to McEnery both havevery mildoffensiveness (2006: 30).
Examples A002, A015, A016, A166 and C036 contain the termhellwhich
is closely related to the concept of a place for eternal suffering, the observe of
paradise, and the battleground between the principles of good and evil (Hughes,
2006:226). Hellis now mentioned very common in a conversation although some
of its usages will be very offensive in regards of the context of the conversation,
and particularly it has a very mild offence (McEnery, 2006: 30). Together with
damn and goddamn which also share the very mild categorization, hell is
particularly used in non confrontational way and without an intention to emphasis
the word itself.
b. Family origins
The BLW whose contents are related with the family origins are found in
the novel. 25 sentences or 5.17 percent of the sentences using BLW belong to this
category. The word used in the sentences is only the main term ofson of a bitch.
There are also some variants of the word existing such as sons-a-bitches,
sonuvabitchand son-of-a-bitch. Here are the examples of the sentences belong to
this category.
A047. Them dirtysons-a-bitches.
C187. Hold thesonuvabitchup!
Literally, the term son means “someone’s male child” and the term bitch
means “a female dog” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005:
1577 and 140). Therefore, the term son of a bitch is originally used only of
despicable males, but it is now highly generalized (Hughes, 2006: 441). The entry
for bitch (which is discussed more in the subcategory of insulting names) shows
and becomes the key of the offence since the term is generally regarded as highly
offensive. Son of a bitch is a term of insult or disrespect which invokes slurs on
the target’s character (Allan and Burridge, 2006: 85). The sexual behaviour of the
bitchis mainly the insulting factor and it is once very powerful. The power of the
word is far less offensive now and it shares very mild category (McEnery, 2006:
30).
c. The attribution of various reprehensible behaviors and violations of moral codes
i. Promiscuity
Promiscuity is related to the violations of moral codes by having many
sexual partners. 5 sentences or 1.03 percent of sentences using BLW in the three
novels contain the terms of promiscuity. The BLW used in the sentences are
whoreandslut. Below are the sentences belonging to this category.
B002. Ain’t no snot-nosed slutof a schoolteacher ever born c’n make me
do nothin‘!
The termwhoreappearing in the example B019 is among the few insulting
epithets that have never lost its power since its ancient usage, whether used in the
older narrow sense of “prostitute” or more generally “an unchaste or lewd woman;
a fornicatress or adulteress” (Hughes, 2006: 493). The emotive power of the term
remains quite strong as it shares the moderatecategory in the McEnery’s scale of
offence (2006:30) as the term associates certain sexual behavior reference and has
a tendency to be confronting. The term whore holds more ancient definition of
“formal” category prostitution while the term slut, which appears in the example
B002 has less easily defined class of women who “sleep around” (Hughes, 2006:
263).
ii. Theft
Theft is a common reprehensible behavior which happens every day in any
place. The popularity of theft is followed by the infamous reputation of the
thieves, marked the “occupation” as a detestable title. In the data, there are 3
sentences or about 0.62 percent of the data containing the term crook, which
directly refers to this category. Below are the direct sentences containing the word
crook.
C124. You're goddam right I am, you dirtycrooked bastard!
C193. Are you calling me acrook?
C194. I'm nocrook.
Literally crook means a “dishonest person or a criminal” (LDOCE, 374:
sentence is “a thief.” With the large diversity of speech communities, the offence
of the BLW is different from one place to another. This also works for the term
crook. In consideration of moral quality, crook which exists in the underworld of
the mafia is largely meaningless, not even once it will live as an offensive
language. In the world of The Catcher in the Rye, in which the sentences are
found, crook is at least holding the mild category of offence, since the setting of
the novel is a common society that normally considers theft as a violation of
moral and even law codes. In the examples above, the term crook is used to give
offence related to its literal meaning that is related to the act of theft.
d. Social stigmas (illegitimacy)
Social stigma is basically a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a
society or group of people have about something. The stigma can be the resonator
to offence someone. There are some kinds of social stigmas such as illegitimacy
and perversion (Hughes, 2006: xviii). The illegitimacy is related to something
which commonly unacceptable in the eye of the society (such as illegitimate kids)
while perversion is related to unnatural sexual behavior (the term included is for
example butt-fucker.) The one which exists in the data of this research is the
illegitimacy subcategory. The sentences belonged to the illegitimacy category in
the data contain the wordbastard. The word appears in 11 sentences or about 2.27
percent of the data. Below are some examples of sentences using the word
A001. But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard
makes him carry a sticker.
A029. Uncle John was a crazybastard,
C040. He’s drunk as abastard.
Bastardused to be used, denoting the lexical meaning of the word which is
“someone who was born to parents who were not married” <
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bastard?show=0&t=1343469908> (21 July 2012). The
meaning reflects the fact of the illegitimacy itself, while the subsequent potency of
the term as a swearword obviously derives from the stigma of the condition
(Hughes, 2006: 18). The term has been developed and generalized greatly in
meaning and tone. The development leads to the lost of the original literal sense,
but the power remains quite offensive as it belongs to moderate category of
offensive words (McEnery, 2006: 30). All the examples above carry the
developed meaning of the termbastardrather than its literal meaning.
e. Insulting names, demeaning labels, and unflattering comparisons i. The animal
The animal terms are famous in the history of swearing. Comparisons of
people with animals are conventionally ascribed certain behaviors (Allan and
Burridge, 2006: 79). There are 3 sentences containing the animal terms found in
the data. It covers only 0.62 percent of the data. The animal terms found are pig,
dog,andbitch. Below are the sentences containing the animal terms.
B006. Says he’s got the other barrel waitin‘ for the next sound he hears in
that patch, an’ next time he won’t aim high, be it dog, nigger, or—
Jem Finch!
C195. Girls with their legs crossed, girls with their legs not crossed, girls
with terrific legs, girls with lousy legs, girls that looked like swell
girls, girls that looked like they'd bebitchesif you knew them.
In common usage, the term pig refers to “someone rude, uncouth,
slovenly” and in some US dialects, it refers to “an over-dressed (or perhaps
under-dressed) woman with too much make-up who looks like a hooker” (Allan and
Burridge, 2006: 80). Example A200 which contains pighas the closest relation to
the first reference. This term has very mild offence against the interlocutor
because in its usage, the word tends to be mocking rather than confronting.
One sense of dog is “worthless person” and it is attested of a woman
otherwise described as “bone ugly” (Allan and Burridge, 2006: 80). As quoted by
Hughes (2006) dog is used to call “a worthless, despicable, surly, or cowardly
fellow.” Example B006 is closely related to the sense of “worthless person or
cowardly fellow” and it gives very mild offence against the hearer. The last,
example C195 contains bitches, whose referent is “female dog.” Therefore, the
term bitch is a “usually nasty woman held in contempt” (Allan and Burridge,
2006: 80). This term has the longest history among animal terms as an insult and
today the term can be used as wounding personal insult (Hughes, 2006: 23).
Rather than dog, bitch has more power and it belongs to the mild category
