[Lexicog] stereotypes, taboos, and lexicography
David Tuggy
david_tuggy at SIL.ORG
Wed Feb 23 19:17:57 UTC 2005
I remember the blank astonishment on the face of a colleague of mine
when he was informed that a phrase he had just used, about "all these
cotton-picking regulations" —he may actually have meant something like
"nit-picking" or "picky"— was racist. Once he got his breath back, he
immediately pointed out that his (French-Scotch-Irish) ancestors had
picked their share of cotton too. But clearly cottonpickers were (1)
largely Black, and (2) whether Black or not, at the bottom of the social
scale. Terms for people who are social underdogs seem to inevitably
attract usages where they communicate the speaker's negative evaluation
or imputation of negative qualities. And, even if no offense is
intended, offense may indeed be taken.
C.S. Lewis' _Studies in Words_ talks about this process of status words
moving from (a) having a clear meaning about social status, to (b)
relatively clear meaning about qualities, evaluated as positive or
negative, to (3) being "useless synonyms for 'good' and 'bad'". The
chapter on "villain" and "frank", which were originally social antonyms,
is a particularly good one. "Christian", "gentleman", and other
high-status words (including "frank"), were one the same
historico-semantic treadmill.
It is interesting to see in the press nowadays signs of "Christian",
which is now low-status for many people, acquiring negative
connnotations, which may develop into full-fledged meanings.
--David Tuggy
Patrick Hanks wrote:
> Very good questions. Thanks for stirring up the brain cells,
> Thapelo.
> Let's consider an example that could be controversial, and think
> what guidelines we might come up with. Thinking back to my
> childhood in the 1950s (again), the expression "nigger in the
> woodpile" (meaning an unexpected or hidden snag) was then
> quite common, and I believe that no one around me at that time
> (my parents and their circle, living in middle-class southern
> England, not America) had any thought of black people or intention
> to be offensive when using it. I'm not denying that it IS offensive,
> just drawing attention to the unthinking was in which we used idioms.
> In fact, I can remember the sense of a penny dropping back in the
> sixties when someone pointed out that it is offensive. The expression
> is in Collins English Dictionary (1979) but we left it out of the New
> Oxford Dict. in 1998. Why?
> We felt justified in ignoring it because (mercifully) the expression
> seems to have become obsolete. We did not, for example, find it
> in the British National Corpus.The language appears to have
> regulated itself. Certainly, NODE, a one-volume practical dictionary
> of English, had no wish to revive the term! It's more difficult for the
> OED, which is a dictionary of record on historical principles, with an
> obligation to record "the language as it is [and was], not as we would
> wish it to be."
> About eight or nine years ago in America the NAACP mounted
> a campaign, in my opinion misjudged, to persuade dictionary
> publishers to remove the term "nigger" from dictionaries, apparently
> under the impression that dictionaries regulate the language or that
> removing a word from dictionaries removes it from the language.
> Anyone who has ever travelled on the subway from Manhattan to
> JFK Airport will know that the term is alive and well, and much used
> among Black people speaking to Black people (males only??),
> apparentl without any hostile derogatory, or racist intent. The point
> about it is (I think -- am I right?) that it is a word that can ONLY be
> used by Black people (or perhaps only by Black Americans). In the
> mouth of a white person it is incredibly offensive, breaching the
> most solemn taboo in the language. Such facts need to be reported
> lexicographically (don't they?), insofar as such terms are still used.
> The lexicographer cannot regulate them, and can only ignore them if
> they die quietly by themselves.
> What do other people think?
> Patrick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Thapelo Otlogetswe <mailto:thaps at yahoo.com>
> *To:* lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 22, 2005 2:15 PM
> *Subject:* [Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography
>
> How would such derogatory information be represented in
> dictionaries? "Its all Greek to me", may not be as offensive as
> "work like a Black" and I would think that "work like a slave"
> would also be less offensive. And does a lexicographer have a
> responsibility in challenging steretypes through dictionary
> entries? Or his role should be better seen as that of a scientist
> from without looking in as it were, merely describing the uses of
> language that he sees. But does impartiality really exist in these
> matters or one is either challenging the status quo or endorsing
> it (a Terry Eagleton position in the later chapter of Literary
> Theory )? Put differently, are certain entries like 'work like
> Black' racist when used by racist communities and also racist when
> entered and discussed by lexicographers? In this case the
> lexicographer guilty of participating in the development and
> sustainance of racist views. On the other hand, would it be
> accurate to leave them out from a dictionary?
>
> */Patrick Hanks <hanks at bbaw.de>/* wrote:
>
>
> So would it be true to say that Pg. "Isso é chinês para mim" =
> Eng.
> "It's all Greek to me" (which means 'incomprehensible')?
>
> "work like a slave / work like a Black" were common expressions
> in my youth, but I think they've been driven out by poltical
> correctness.
>
> Patrick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Margarita Correia"
> To: <
> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 11:38 AM
> Subject: RE: [Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography
>
>
> >
> > > Do all languages contain derogatory stereotypes about
> neighbouring
> > > peoples? ...
> >
> > In Portugal, we have at least one derogatory expression
> about Spanish,
> > our "historical enemies".
> > We say that "De Espanha, nem bom vento nem bom casamento"
> (From Spain,
> > neither good wind nor good marriage").
> > I don't know if in Brazil they use the same expression or if
> they have
> > others (I guess they must have some about Argentina).
> >
> > We also have several stereotypical expressions about people
> from other
> > countries. For instance, we say "Ver-se grego / negro para fazer
> > qualquer coisa" (Literally: to feel like a Greek / black
> person to do
> > something), wich is used to qualify things very difficult to
> do or very
> > hard (demanding lots of strenght). Note that the words
> "grego" and
> > "negro" in Portuguese have a very similar form.
> > In the case of grego, the basis of the expression is the
> written form of
> > this language (with a different alphabet) and for black
> people, the
> > basis is slavery, I guess.
> >
> > When something is very difficult, very tricky, we usually
> say "Isso é
> > chinês para mim" (literally: this is Chinese for me).
> >
> > These are only some examples. We have much more.
> >
> > Have a nice time.
> >
> > Margarita Correia
> >
> > margarita-c at netcabo.pt
> >
> >
> > -----Mensagem original-----
> > De: Peter Kirk [mailto:peterkirk at qaya.org]
> > Enviada: segunda-feira, 21 de Fevereiroo de 2005 12:18
> > Para: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
> > Assunto: Re: [Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography
> >
> >
> >
> > On 20/02/2005 17:27, Patrick Hanks wrote:
> >
> > > Oho! Lexicographylist has woken up again!
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > Maybe not. I can't think of any lexicalised examples in
> Azerbaijani,
> > although they can be very rude about their neighbours. I
> wonder if that
> > is because relations are too close to open warfare. I note
> that these
> > expressions in English are not so often about modern enemies
> as about
> > old ones, like the French, the Dutch and the Scots. I suspect a
> > graduation from open warfare to residual hatred to
> stereotyping with
> > such expressions to the lexicalisation and wider application
> of such
> > expressions.
> >
> > > ... The recent discussion of "Dutch courage", etc. provided
> > > some interesting examples. Does Dutch have derogatory
> expressions
> > > involving "English"? Or is Dutch stereotypically more
> polite -- or
> > > more parochial -- than English?
> >
> >
> > Just ask them how they stereotype the Belgians!
> >>
> > > ... the English stereotype for 'oasis' is that oases are calm.
> > > tranquil, quiet, and green ... But my much-travelled colleague
> > > Christiane Fellbaum tells me that in reality oases are
> typically
> > > noisy, smelly, dirty places full of bustling people and
> honking
> > > trucks. About the only things that a stereotypical oasis
> in English
> > > has in common with the real thing, it seems, is that it's
> found in a
> > > desert and has water!
> > >
> >
> > But is this because the reality of the oasis has changed
> more quickly
> > than the image? A century ago there would have been no
> honking trucks,
> > and probably in most cases a lot less people. And there
> certainly are
> > still tranquil oases in some places.
> >
> > --
> > Peter Kirk
> > peter at qaya.org (personal)
> > peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
> > http://www.qaya.org/
> >t;
> >
> >
> > --
> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
> > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.2.0 - Release Date:
> 21/02/2005
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Thapelo Otlogetswe
> *Information Technology Research Institute
> University of Brighton
> Lewes Road, Brighton
> BN2 4GJ, *England*
> Tel: (+44) 1273 642912 (office)
> (+44) 1273 642908 (fax)
> http://www.itri.brighton.ac.uk/~Thapelo.Otlogetswe/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard
> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/spamguard/*http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail/static/protection.html>.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
> * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers.
At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/79vVAA/HKE4lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
More information about the Lexicography
mailing list