Valutazione, Polarità ed Eco / Evaluation, Polarity and Echo
Abstract
In this paper I consider two kinds of evaluative terms – slurs and thick terms – and I focus on the cases of polarity inversion: we usually talk about the reclamation of slurs and the variability of thick terms. What these uses of evaluatives have in common is that, in both cases, the polarity of the evaluative content of the term is subverted in particular contexts. In section 0, I present the two classes of evaluatives at stake: slurs and thick terms. In section 1, I describe the phenomenon I want to account for, namely the inversion of the polarity of the evaluative content of these terms. In doing so, I dwell on the most interesting features of reclamation and variability: on the one hand, I present the most debated cases in the Anglo-American literature and on the other, I observe some uses of evaluatives with inverted polarity in Italian (mostly from social networks). In section 2, I discuss the echoic proposal put forward by Bianchi (2014) to account for reclamation and extended to the variability of thick terms in Cepollaro (2017a). In section 3, I consider the main problems that the echoic account meets, in order to sketch possible solutions.
References
ANDERSON, Luvell (2016), When Reporting Others Backfires, in CAPONE, Alessandro, FERENC, Kiefer e LO PIPARO, Franco, a cura di, Indirect Reports and Pragmatics, in Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, n. 5, Springer International Publishing, pp. 253-264.
ANDERSON, L. (in corso di stampa), «Calling, Addressing, and Appropriation», in SOSA, David, a cura di, Bad Words. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
ANDERSON, Luvell e LEPORE, Ernest (2013a), «Slurring words», in Noûs, n. 47 (1), pp. 25-48.
ANDERSON, Luvell e LEPORE, Ernest (2013b), «What did you call me? Slurs as prohibited words», in Analytic Philosophy, n. 54 (1), pp. 350-363.
BIANCHI, Claudia (2014), «Slurs and appropriation: An echoic account», in Journal of Pragmatics, n. 66, pp. 35-44.
BLACKBURN, Simon (1992), «Through Thick and Thin», in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, supplementary volume n. 66, pp. 284-299.
BLACKBURN, Simon (1998), Ruling Passions, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
BLAKEMORE, Diane (2015), «Slurs and expletives: A case against a general account of expressive meaning», in Language Sciences, n. 52, pp. 22-35.
BOLINGER, Renée Jorgensen (2015), «The Pragmatics of Slurs», in Noûs, n. 49 (1), pp. 1-24.
BRONTSEMA, Robin (2004), «A queer revolution: reconceptualizing the debate over linguistic reclamation», in Colorado Research in Linguistics, n. 17, pp. 1-17.
CAMP, Elizabeth (2013), «Slurring Perspectives», in Analytic Philosophy, n. 54 (3), pp. 330-349.
CAPONE, Alessandro (2014), «Indirect Reports, Slurs and the Polyphonic Speaker», in Reti, saperi, linguaggi, n. 2, pp. 301-318.
CAPONE, Alessandro (2016), Indirect Reports and Slurring, in CAPONE, Alessandro (2016), The Pragmatics of Indirect Reports, Springer International Publishing, pp. 145-169.
CARSTON, Robin (1996), «Metalinguistic negation and echoic use», in Journal of Pragmatics, n. 25, pp. 309-330.
CARSTON, Robin (2002), Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication, Oxford, Blackwell.
CEPOLLARO, Bianca (2017a), «When evaluation changes - An echoic account of appropriation and variability», in Journal of Pragmatics, n. 117, pp. 29-40.
CEPOLLARO, Bianca (2017b), «Let’s not worry about the Reclamation Worry», in Croatian Journal of Philosophy, n. 17 (50), pp. 75-87.
CEPOLLARO, Bianca (2017c), The Semantics and Pragmatics of slurs and thick terms. PhD Dissertation, PSL Research University, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa - Institut Jean Nicod, Paris.
CEPOLLARO, Bianca and STOJANOVIC, Isidora (2016), «Hybrid Evaluatives», in Grazer Philosophische Studien, n. 93 (3), pp. 458-488.
CROOM, Adam (2011), «Slurs», in Language Sciences, n. 33, pp. 343-358.
CROOM, Adam (2013), «How to do things with slurs: Studies in the way of derogatory words», in Language & Communication, n. 33, pp. 177-204.
CROOM, Adam (2014), «Spanish slurs and stereotypes for Mexican-Americans in the USA: A context-sensitive account of derogation and appropriation», in Sociocultural Pragmatics, n. 2, pp. 1-35.
DANCY, Jonathan (1995), «In Defence of Thick Concepts», in Midwest Studies in Philosophy, n. 20, pp. 263-79.
EKLUND, Matti (2011), «What are thick terms», in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, n. 41 (1), pp. 25-49.
EKLUND, Matti (2013), Evaluative Language and Evaluative Reality, in KIRCHIN, Simon, a cura di, Thick Concepts, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 161-181.
GALINSKY, Adam D., HUGENBERG, Kurt, GROOM, Carla e BODENHAUSEN, Galen V. (2003), The reappropriation of stigmatizing labels: Implications for social identity, in POLZER, Jeffrey, a cura di, Identity Issues in Groups, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 221-256.
GALINSKY Adam D., WANG, Cinthya S., WHITSON, Jennifer A., ANICICH, Eric M., HUGENBERG, Kurt e BODENHAUSEN, Galen V. (2013), «The reappropriation of stigmatizing labels: The reciprocal relationship between power and self-labeling», in Psychological Science, n. 24, pp. 2020-2029.
GIBBARD, Allan (1992), «Thick Concepts and Warrant For Feelings», in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, 61, pp. 267-283.
GUTZMANN, Daniel (2011), Expressive Modifiers & Mixed Expressives, in BONAMI, Olivier e CABREDO HOFHERR, Patricia, a cura di, Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics, n. 8, pp. 123-141.
GUTZMANN, Daniel (2015), Use-conditional meaning: Studies in multidimensional semantics, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
HARCOURT, Edward e THOMAS, Alan (2013), Thick Concepts, Analysis, and Reductionism, in KIRCHIN, Simon, a cura di, Thick Concepts, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 20-43.
HARE, Richard M. (1952), The Language of Morals, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
HARE, Richard M. (1981), Moral Thinking, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
HOM, Christopher (2008), «The semantics of racial epithets», in Journal of Philosophy, n. 105, pp. 416-440.
HOM, Christopher (2010), «Pejoratives», in Philosophy Compass, n. 5 (2), pp. 164-185.
HOM, Christopher (2012), «A puzzle about pejoratives», in Philosophical Studies, n. 159, pp. 383-405.
HOM, Christopher e MAY, Robert (2013), «Moral and Semantic Innocence», in Analytic Philosophy, n. 54 (3), pp. 293-313.
HOM, Christopher e MAY, Robert (2014), «The inconsistency of the identity thesis», in Protosociology, n. 31, pp. 113-120.
HOM, Christopher e MAY, Robert (in corso di stampa), Pejoratives as Fiction, in SOSA, David, a cura di, Bad words, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
JESHION, Robin (2013a), «Expressivism and the Offensiveness of Slurs», in Philosophical Perspectives, n. 27 (1), pp. 231-259.
JESHION, Robin (2013b), «Slurs and Stereotypes», in Analytic Philosophy, n. 54 (3), pp. 314-329.
JESHION, Robin (2017), Pride and Prejudiced: On the Appropriation of Slurs, handout for the conference Expressives and Evaluatives, 19/01/17, University San Raffaele, Milan.
KIRCHIN, Simon, a cura di, Thick Concepts, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
KYLE, Brent G. (2013), «How Are Thick Terms Evaluative?», in Philosophers’ Imprint, n. 13 (1), pp. 1-20.
LANGTON, Rae (2012), Beyond Belief: Pragmatics in Hate Speech and Pornography, in MAITRA, Ishani e MCGOWAN, Mary Kate, a cura di, What Speech Does, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 72-93.
LASERSOHN, Peter (2007), «Expressives, perspective and presupposition», in Theoretical Linguistics, n. 33 (2), pp. 223-230.
MCCREADY, Eric (2007), Context Shifting in Questions and Elsewhere, in PUIG-WALDMÜLLER, Estela, a cura di, Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 11, Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, pp. 433-447.
MCCREADY, Eric (2010), «Varieties of conventional implicature», Semantics and Pragmatics, n. 3 (8), pp. 1-57.
NUNBERG, Geoffrey (in corso di stampa), The Social Life of Slurs, in FOGAL, Daniel, HARRIS, Daniel e MOSS, Matt, a cura di, New Work on Speech Act, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
POTTS, Christopher (2005), The Logics of Conventional Implicatures, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
POTTS, Christopher (2007), «The centrality of expressive indexes. Reply to commentaries», in Theoretical Linguistics, n. 33 (2), pp. 255-268.
PREDELLI, Stefano (2013), Meaning Without Truth, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
RITCHIE, Katherine (2017), «Social Identity, Indexicality, and the Appropriation of Slurs», Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 17 (2), pp. 155-180.
SAUERLAND, Uli (2007), «Beyond unpluggability», in Theoretical Linguistics, n. 33 (2), pp. 231-236.
SCHLENKER, Philippe (2007), «Expressive presuppositions», in Theoretical Linguistics, n. 33 (2), pp. 237-245.
SPERBER, Dan e WILSON, Deidre (1986), Relevance: Communication and cognition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
STOJANOVIC, Isidora (2015), Evaluative Adjectives and Evaluative Uses of Ordinary Adjectives, in BEKKI, Daisuke e MCCREADY, Eric, a cura di, Proceedings of LENLS12: Language Engineering and Natural Language Semantics, Tokyo, 15-17 November 2015.
TENCHINI, Maria Paola e FRIGERIO, Aldo (2016), A multi-Act Perspective on Slurs, in FINKBEINER, Rita, MEIBAUER, Jörg e WIESE, Heike, a cura di, Pejoration, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam Philadelphia, 167- 185.
TIRRELL, Lynne (1999), Derogatory Terms: Racism, Sexism, and the Inferential Role Theory of Meaning, in HENDRICKS, Christina e OLIVER, Kelly, a cura di, Language and Liberation: Feminism, Philosophy, and Language, SUNY Press, Albany (NY).
VALLÉE, Richard (2014), «Slurring and common knowledge of ordinary language», in Journal of Pragmatics, n. 61, pp. 78-90.
VÄYRYNEN, Pekka (2009), «Objectionable Thick Concepts in Denials», in Philosophical Perspectives, n. 23, pp. 439-69.
VÄYRYNEN, Pekka (2011), «Thick Concepts and Variability», in Philosophers’ Imprint, n. 11, pp. 1-17.
VÄYRYNEN, Pekka (2013), The lewd, the rude and the nasty: A study of thick concepts in ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
WHITING, Daniel (2013), «It’s Not What You Said, It’s the Way You Said It: Slurs and Conventional Implicatures», in Analytic Philosophy, n. 54 (3), pp. 364-377.
WILLIAMS, Bernard (1985), Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
WILSON, Deidre (2006a), «The pragmatics of verbal irony: echo or pretence?», in Lingua, n. 116, pp. 1722-1743.
WILSON, Deidre (2006b), «Attributive uses of concepts», in Issues in Pragmatics, (PLINM301), manoscritto.
WILSON, Deidre (2007), «Where does irony come from?», in Pragmatic Theory (PLIN2002), manoscritto.
WILSON, Deidre e SPERBER, Dan (2012), Meaning and Relevance, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Works published in RIFL are released under Creative Commons Licence:Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
