Berkovski, Y. Sandy2023-02-212023-02-212022-090048-3893http://hdl.handle.net/11693/111592According to nearly all theorists writing on the subject, a certain derogatory content is regularly and systematically communicated by slurs. So united, the theorists disagree sharply on the elements of this content, on its provenance, and on its mechanism. I argue that the basic premiss of all these views, that there is any such derogatory content conveyed with the use of slurs, is highly dubious. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.EnglishDerogationPragmaticsSemanticsSlursArticle10.1007/s11406-022-00484-1