Slurs, synonymy, and taboo
Author(s)
Date
2022-01-22Source Title
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Electronic ISSN
1471-6828
Publisher
Routledge
Pages
1 - 17
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
4
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4
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Abstract
The ‘prohibitionist’ idea that slurs have the same linguistic properties as their neutral counterparts hasn’t received much support in the literature. Here I offer a modified version of prohibitionism, according to which the taboo on using slurs is part of their conventional meaning. I conclude with explanations of the behaviour of slurs in embedded constructions.