27.3986, Calls: Cog Sci, Disc Analysis, Gen Ling, Translation, Typology/Switzerland

Thu Oct 6 19:33:18 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3986. Thu Oct 06 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.3986, Calls: Cog Sci, Disc Analysis, Gen Ling, Translation, Typology/Switzerland

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Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:33:02
From: Adrian tiena at tcd.ie [tiena at tcd.ie]
Subject: The Linguistics of Offensive Language

Full Title: The Linguistics of Offensive Language 

Date: 10-Sep-2017 - 13-Sep-2017
Location: Zurich, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Adrian Tien
Meeting Email: tiena at tcd.ie

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Discourse Analysis; General Linguistics; Translation; Typology 

Call Deadline: 31-Oct-2016 

Meeting Description:

We are currently putting together a workshop proposal dedicated to the
linguistics of offensive language, to be submitted to SLE for incorporation
into the SLE 2017 meeting in Zurich (10 - 13 September 2017). 

As rude and coarse as offensive language may sound, it exists for a reason and
speakers use it for a reason. Even if offensive language represents the
“unmentionable” of language (Fleming & Lempert 2011), most people still
“mention” it from time to time because, presumably, this part of the language
encapsulates something socially, functionally or culturally sensitive yet
significant. In fact, in Tien (2015: 164), it was through semantic and
cultural analyses of a selection of offensive words in Chinese Hokkien that
offensive vocabulary was shown to “represent a fascinating and compelling
source of enquiry, richly packed with cultural information waiting to be
discovered”.

In this workshop, we seek to establish that offensive language is more than
what meets the ears. It is more than a verbal reflex as a result of an
emotional outburst. If offensive language concerns deliberate challenge to
certain social norms or cultural values by mentioning the unmentionables, then
it intrigues us to know what these norms and values are driving at such
unmentionables. Specifically, we plan to address the following questions,
among others:

- Why do people offend with words? 
- What is the formal representation of offensive language
(cross-linguistically)? 
- What kind of offensive language have people been known to say
cross-culturally?
- Why can’t we do without offensive language? In other words: do people have
to use offensive language? 
- Why do we need to understand offensive language better? 

Whether we like it or not, offensive language is here to stay. It, therefore,
helps to understand offensive language better even if only in translational
contexts. Research shows that offensive language is hard to translate -
possibly because it encapsulates culturally significant (and unique) values -
and this is one reason why offensive words and phrases don’t seem to carry the
same offensive power even when they do somehow get translated. Learners of
second languages etc. will know from experience that offensive language needs
to be used strategically in order for it to function effectively.

In proposing this workshop, we note that there is some literature on offensive
language, albeit small in size. However, a lot of it falls within what can
only be regarded as non-serious generalist literature, rather than academic.
In this workshop, the impetus is to bring a linguistically rigorous angle of
offensive language back into focus, examining this kind of language for what
it is and how it should be analysed. Following the workshop, we plan to put
the contributions together into an edited volume and have these published with
a reputable publisher. This volume promises to break new ground in linguistic
research on offensive language.

References (featured above)

Fleming, L., & Lempert, M. 2011. Beyond bad words. Anthropological Quarterly,
84(1), 5–13.
Tien, Adrian. 2015. Offensive language and sociocultural homogeneity in
Singapore: An ethnolinguistic perspective. International Journal of Language
and Culture, 2(2), 142–167.

Call for Papers:

We invite international expertise from across a range of approaches in
contributing to the topic of offensive language e.g. cognitive, functional,
constructional, among others. Areas for submissions include, but are not
limited to (not in order of priority or importance):

- Offensive language as it is spoken/written/sign(ed) 
- Offensive language and cognition
- Offensive language in the context of first or second language acquisition
- Offensive language in the context of bi-/multilingualism
- Offensive language in situations of language contact e.g. pidgins and
creoles etc.
- Semantics, lexicon, syntax, pragmatics of offensive language
- Offensive language in various social domains and genres 
- The humorous use of offensive language
- Offensive language in cyberspace 
- Offensive language in translation
- Typology of offensive language: offensive language in cross-cultural
contexts
- Case study of offensive language (as specific examples)
- Offensive language and metaphors
- Offensive language and the culture it reflects
- Offensive language and social or cultural taboos

In the way of indicative examples, here is a number of specific topics
currently put forward for scrutiny in the linguistic inquiry of offensive
language (note that these serve strictly as examples):

- Delivering and retrieving an offensive meaning from language 
- Relevance theory and offensive language 
- The use of metaphor and figurative language offensively
- Offensive use of text in cyber bullying 
- The lexicon of offensive terms
- Cultural common ground and offensive language 
- Translating offensive language in movies
- Offensive language as a construction - the form meaning pair
- Offensive language vs. politeness or face saving strategies across cultures
- When is offensive “offensive” -- cultural and situational aspects, aspects
of the relationship of the interlocutors 
- The use of cultural taboo in offensive language 
- The role of gesture and facial expression for offensive behaviour
- The role of cultural stereotype for offensive behaviour 
- Offensive language considerations for natural language processing 
- Characterisation of offensive expressions for IT application, as in auto-
completion, search word suggestion, machine based translation
- Challenges include cultural differences, cultural stereotypes
- The “gestalt” of an offensive expression: how language, tone, gesture,
cultural background, common ground and situation interact to make an
expression offensive (or not). An offensive term can sometimes be used as an
expression of endearment; among close friends, for example
- How “new” offensive expressions emerge in culture/ interaction
- Which aspects of one’s cultural background play the greatest role in the
establishment of an offensive expression?
- Offensive words as cultural key words
- Semantic analysis of selected offensive words in the world's language

We welcome submissions of provisional abstracts for papers in the workshop, on
topics related to the theme of the workshop which is the linguistic
investigation of offensive language. Each paper will be allocated a 30-minute
slot during the workshop, including 10 minutes for discussion. Provisional
abstracts of no more than 300 words excluding references should be submitted
to Adrian Tien (tiena at tcd.ie). The abstract should clearly state the research
questions, approach, method, data and (expected) results. Abstracts will be
peer-reviewed. 

Important Dates:

- 31 October 2016: Submission deadline for provisional abstracts
- 25 December 2016: Notification of outcome of provisional abstracts
- 15 January 2017: Preliminary workshop participants invited to submit their
full abstracts.

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