[Lexicog] offensive words in dictionaries

[Kenneth C. Hill]

We found much the same situation in Hopi: Body functions, including sexual
passions, are all OK to include in the dictionary. But we had to be very
careful though with things having to do with the ritual world. Lots of
comments relating to the weather and to what happens during ritual events
had to be omitted. I believe this did not result in the suppression of any
lexical item but it did constrain the example sentences that we used to
illustrate usage.

--Ken

--- William J Poser <billposer at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> The issue of offensive words has come up with Carrier
> dictionaries. In addition to the unmentionable body
> parts and excretions, which in this case didn't arouse
> much concern, I have a perhaps surprisingly detailed
> collection of terminology for sex acts, courtesy of
> a couple of male speakers who like to talk dirty.
> They are flagged in the database, so they can
> easily be omitted when printing if so desired.
> I first raised this issue with a younger person
> who had an administrative job related to language
> work. Her view was that they should be published
> somehow but that since the dictionary might be used
> in schools, the dirty words should be printed separately.
> So one edition of the dictionary had an expurgated
> main volume with a separate dirty word supplement.
>
> Subsequently, I discussed this issue with a number
> of the elders and found that they favored including
> everything in the main dictionary. I think that in
> part they aren't as prissy as younger people, or as
> worried about being perceived as immoral, and in
> part they recognize that this is part of the language
> (after all, you need these words in order, among
> other things, to tell people not to do them)
> and that it shouldn't be omitted. They have a better
> sense of the language as a "real" language used for
> all purposes than do the younger people, for whom
> the language is used only in limited ways
> or for whom it is a purely symbolic thing.
>
> It is also worth noting that cultures differ in
> what is umentionable.  One female elder with
> a reputation for being uncomfortable with talk about
> sex proved quite happy to talk about menstruation.
> Inclusion of words having to do with menstruation
> in the dictionary doesn't raise any eyebrows.
>
> Bill



	
		
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