• The Conference
  • Home
  • Programme
  • Venue & directions
  • Organizing Committee
  • Scientific Committee
  • Exhibitors & sponsors
  • Satellite events
  • Conference Party
• Past & future
  • Previous symposia
  • Finland 2014
  • Spain 2016
• About FU Berlin
  • University homepage
  • Humanities at FU

Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 522

Part of Session 102: Swearing and linguistic impoliteness in social interaction (Other abstracts in this session)

Swearing and language choice in bilingual cross-cultural couples

Authors: Chiaro, Delia
Submitted by: Chiaro, Delia (University of Bologna, Italy, Italy)

In my paper, I explore the choice of language made by bilingual cross-cultural couples when swearing, based on results of self-reported questionnaires and in-depth interviews (Chiaro 2007). I shall examine attitudes of partners whose Native Language (NL) is A towards swearing in Language A by partners whose NL is B and vice versa to  investigate whether is it acceptable to swear in a language other than one’s own, and,  if so, how far it is tolerable within a close relationship.

As is well-known, displaying emotions through swearwords exemplifies a practice that is not universally acceptable. There are unwritten rules regarding where, when, and with whom, the use of such language is admissible owing to the fact that many people are averse to swearing. However, given that such rules are socially universal, a person may presume that it is ‘safe’ to swear amongst friends who belong to another language group, in the language of that group, only to find, upon swearing, that it is deemed inappropriate. Presumably, with one’s soul mate, swearing is acceptable. But what if they do not share the same NL?

The use and perception of swearwords in monolingual speakers have been studied extensively in sociolinguistics (Stenstrom 1995 and Bayard and Krishnayayya 2001) and while similar studies in bilinguals and multilinguals are sporadic, studies that do exist, have shown that swearing in bilinguals and multilinguals happens most frequently in their dominant language (Chiaro and Nocella 1999 and Dewaele 2004).

The research hypothesis underlying my study links swearing with other emotion-laden domains as disparate as praying, joking and intimacy. Research shows that bilingual cross-cultural couples are able to play with words in one another’s language yet outside the tight family circle, the non-NL speaker’s jokes are not always appreciated by other family members, to the point of perceiving them as linguistic errors (Chiaro 2007). With regard to swearing, a person may not consider swearing in Language B as forceful as in their own NL. Vice-versa swearing, like joking, may be considered strictly the realm of native speakers and only tolerated in non-NS when fully accepted by the  wider speech community.

References:

Bayard, Donn and Krishnayya, S. 2001 Gender, expletive use, and context: Male and female expletive use in structured and unstructured conversation among New Zealand university students. Women and Language 24 (1): 1-15.

Chiaro, Delia and Nocella Giuseppe. 2007. Anglo-Italian bilingualism in the UK: A sociolinguistic perspective. Paper delivered at the 2^nd International Symposium of Bilingualism, University of Newcastle-upon.Tyne, UK:

Chiaro, Delia. 2007. Cultural divide or unifying factor? Humorous talk in the interaction of bilingual cross-cultural couples. In Neal Norrick and Delia Chiaro (eds.). Humor in Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Dewaele, Jean-Marc. 2004. Blistering barnacles! What language do multilinguals swear in?!  Estudios de Sociolinguistica 5(1): 83-105.

Stens, Stenstrom, Anna-Brita. 1999.He was really gormless / she’s bloody crap. Girls, boys andintensifiers. In H. Hasselgard and S. Oksefjell (eds) Out of Corpora: Studies in Honour of Stig Johansson; 69-78. Amsterdam: Rodopi.