An Exploration of Taboo Language: the Facets of “Bitch”

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An Exploration of Taboo Language: The Facets of “Bitch” Position Paper It is not uncommon in a conversation today to hear what many people would consider to be profanities or curse words. Speaking with such language as curse words has become so seamlessly incorporated with the majority of speech that, though it does not go unnoticed, has become far more accessible. Curse words are still noticeable in speech even when they seem appropriate because they fall into a societally constructed subcategory of speech called “taboo language.” Sociolinguistics, likely more than any other field of study, has a vested interest in this taboo language. This is because taboo language is a very unique aspect of human speech. Taboo language is evolutionary, amorphous, versatile, and is often indicative of the personality of an individual speaker, or the social state of the region or time in which it is found. Prerequisite to understanding the social implications of taboo language is at least a basic understanding of the definition of taboo language and the ever changing nature of the subject. Taboo language is too broad and abstract a subject to form a universally concrete definition, however, Ashley Montagu, an American anthropologist distinguishes between two different basic types of taboo language. He makes the distinction that “[profanity] makes use of the sacred, while [obscenity] employs the indecent.” (p102) These two simple definitions encompass the majority if not entirety of what is considered to be taboo by most any societal group. For the purposes of this analysis and for understanding how taboo language is interpreted in the modern day, the word “bitch” along with its various connotations and interesting history will be expounded upon in light of Montagu’s definitions of taboo language seeing as, in at least one point in its recorded history, the word has fallen
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