A contextualist analysis of insults
Author(s)
Date
2017Source Title
Modeling and Using Context: Proceedings of the 10th International and Interdisciplinary Conference, CONTEXT 2017
Print ISSN
0302-9743
Publisher
Springer
Pages
661 - 674
Language
English
Type
Conference PaperItem Usage Stats
230
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323
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Abstract
For a predicate expression F contained in a sentence S (‘x is F’) to count as an insult, it should be used in a situation having a number of contextual elements. There should be an audience to whom the utterance of S is addressed. There should be a target of the insult, an individual who the speaker wishes to be shunned, excluded from certain, more or less salient, forms of social cooperation. The purpose of the utterance of S is to persuade the audience, by appeal to their emotions, to shun the target. Slurs have the canonical occasions of use structurally identical to the occasions of insults.
Keywords
Semantic propertySocial cooperation
Contextual elements
Predicate expression
Artificial intelligence
Indirect speech
Average speaker