[Lingtyp] Swearwords as a negator and/or minimizer: a cross-linguistic perspective

[Paolo Ramat]

Italian " un cazzo" lit. 'a penis ' ( with  article!)  behaves exactly in
the same way. Floricic (franck.floricic at univ-paris3.fr) knows a lot about
that topic.

Il Mar 13 Giu 2023, 15:01 Michael Daniel <misha.daniel at gmail.com> ha
scritto:

> Dear Pun Ho Lui,
>
> In Russian strong speech, 'penis' is used as a non-referential NP in
> different type of emphatic negation; including constructions very similar
> to what you quote. See for examples, some way below. Note that "ни" is a
> negative particle distinct from regular negative "не" and commonly (though
> not exclusively) used under the scope of clausal negation; I am not sure
> how to gloss it.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Michael Daniel
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> он         ни    хуя                  не    знает
> he.nom not   penis-Sg.Gen not    knows
> 'he does not know anything at all'
>
> хуй                    тебе,             а     не   деньги
> penis.Sg.Nom    you.sg-Dat,  and  not  money
> 'You are not getting anything, you are not (instead of) getting any money'
>
> ни      хуя                 (подобн-ого)
> not     penis-Sg.Gen (similar-N.Sg.Gen)
> 'Nothing like that at all!'
>
>
>
>
> вт, 13 июн. 2023 г. в 14:45, Stefan Savić <stefansavicz at gmail.com>:
>
>> Dear Pun Ho Lui, Dear All,
>>
>> In BCMS/Serbocroatian one can also use the genitive singular form *đavola
>> *("devil") in the same function, now hardly considered a swear word per
>> se, but once it definitely was (along with other religious terms). As a
>> matter of fact, in numerous such instances, the nominative singular
>> *kurac* is often replaceable with the genitive singular *đavola *(whereby
>> the latter sounds considerably milder than the former).
>>
>> Best,
>> Stefan
>>
>> On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 at 14:35, Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear linguists,
>>>
>>> Swearwords/taboo words can function as a negator (1) or
>>> minimizer/“squatitive” (2):
>>>
>>> (1) Cantonese
>>>      我    撚        知
>>>      1sg  dick  know
>>>    ‘I don’t know.’
>>>
>>> (2) I learn fuck all/ shit.
>>> ‘I learn nothing.’
>>>
>>> Other languages with these pattens include:
>>>
>>> - Russian
>>> - German *einen Teufel *‘a devil’
>>> - Swedish *så fan Heller*
>>> *- *French *mon cul* ‘my ass’ (?)
>>> - Polish *chuj *‘dick’; *gówno *’shit’
>>> - Serbian *kurac *‘penis'
>>> - Croatian *kurac ‘penis’*
>>> - Colloquail Finnish “aggressive mood”
>>>
>>> These examples are provided in:
>>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/lingtyp/permalink/6751622964867235/
>>>
>>> I am wondering if there are other languages performing similar
>>> constructions. If so, is the any requirement for using them.
>>>
>>> Thank you.
>>>
>>> Warmest,
>>> Pun Ho Lui
>>>
>>>
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