politically sensitive labels

[Prof. R. Sussex]

My thanks to several contributors for helpful insights on the US use
of "liberal" and other terms. My point was not, of course, that the
US "has a monopoly on politically sensitive labels" - such a view
would indeed be naive, but it's not what I wrote. I am interested in
the uses of political-affective labels in the US in ways which differ
from uses elsewhere and which aren't documented in lexicographic
resources: for instance, James Laundau's observations on the decline
/ shift of "progressive", or Laurence Horn's comments on who will
associate themselves with "Conservative" and "Liberal". These can
indeed be studied as factual matters, as Fred Shapiro notes of "civil
liberties": a term which looks as if it has been picked up and given
a new direction by a particular part of the political spectrum.

I can't find any relevant entries in LLBA or other relevant
bibloiographic databases. I'd be grateful for any bibliographic
guidance.

Roly Sussex

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Roly Sussex
Professor of Applied Language Studies
Department of French, German, Russian, Spanish and Applied Linguistics
School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
The University of Queensland
Brisbane
Queensland 4072
AUSTRALIA

Office: Greenwood 434 (Building 32)
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