A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something.^[1] It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others, or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts.

Definition and etymology

The word pejorative is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of peiorare, meaning "to make worse", from peior "worse".^[2]

Melioration

When a term begins as pejorative and eventually is adopted in a non-pejorative sense, this is called "melioration" in historical linguistics. It may also be called amelioration, reclaiming,^[3] or semantic change. An example is queer, which was reclaimed by activists and academics starting in the early 1990s.^[4]

See also

References

Further reading

• Croom, Adam M. (2011). "Slurs". Language Sciences. 33 (3): 343-358. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2010.11.005.
• Croom, Adam M. (2014). "Remarks on 'The Semantics of Racial Slurs'". Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations. 13 (1). pp. 11-32.
• Croom, Adam M. (January 2014). "The Semantics of Slurs: A Refutation of Pure Expressivism". Language Sciences. 41, Part B. pp. 227-242. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2013.07.003.
• Henderson, Anita (Spring 2003). "What's in a Slur?". American Speech. 78 (1). Project MUSE. pp. 52-74.

External links

• Media related to Pejoratives at Wikimedia Commons
• "Pejorative Language". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.