slur & epithet, racially derogatory word

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/4/2013 01:55 AM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
>The evidence, and the nature of the innovation, both point strongly
>to an origin among the African American intelligentsia and literate
>middle class, which was also the presumptive readership of these
>media. In fact you see very little slang or marked BE vernacular in
>the pages of the Chicago Defender from this period, and then only in
>quotative contexts, not reportage. Langston Hughes used the word in
>this way in his 1940  autobiography ("Southerners often make that
>word a slur between nigger and Negro").

But this is "slur" referring to pronunciation, isn't it, rather than
meaning "a derogatory term"?

Joel

>I don't see why one would one assume he must somehow have picked it
>up from BE vernacular.
>
>Geoff
>
>
>
> >
> > From: Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> > Date: April 3, 2013 2:01:29 AM PDT
> > Subject: Re: slur & epithet, racially derogatory word
> >
> >
> > It's not unusual for those who work in the AA print and other
> media (especially African Americans)  to utilize the lexicon of the
> AA community to connect with their predominantly AA readers.
> >
> > --Margaret Lee
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Geoffrey Nunberg <nunberg at ISCHOOL.BERKELEY.EDU>
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 1:29 AM
> > Subject: Re: slur & epithet, racially derogatory word
> >
> > Among many. But as the cites suggest (and as Wilson confirmed),
> this use of 'slur'  doesn't seem to have originated in black
> vernacular speech but rather in the AA print media.
> >
> > Geoff
> >
> >> From: Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> >> Subject: Re: slur & epithet, racially derogatory word
> >> Date: April 2, 2013 3:56:04 AM PDT
> >>
> >>
> >> Some other words/phrases that moved swiftly from AAE into
> mainstream English are _24/7_, _back in the day_, and _chill/chill
> out_  , among others.
> >>
> >> --Margaret Lee
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org