Authors:
- Fills a lacuna by offering a lexical and semantic analysis of offensive words in Chinese
- Opens up a fascinating world of cultural insights
- Demonstrates that offensive words are a significant part of the Chinese lexical repertoire
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (9 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
About this book
This book offers a precise and rigorous analysis of the meanings of offensive words in Chinese. Adopting a semantic and cultural approach, the authors demonstrate how offensive words can and should be systematically researched, documented and accounted for as a valid aspect of any language. The book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and students of sociolinguistics, language and culture, linguistic taboo, Chinese studies and Chinese linguistics.
Reviews
“This book is a real tour de force, offering an in-depth and insightful account of offensive words in the Chinese language from multiple perspectives. In ‘mentioning unmentionables’ and deciphering their cultural scripts and variations, the book brings us closer to a deeper understanding of the relationship between language and culture. It is a must read for anyone who wants to find out how languages are used in the real cultural world.” (Zhu Hua, University of Birmingham, UK)
“In exquisite detail, and unfailingly cultured tones, the authors unpack the meaning content of Chinese offensive words, showing how the offensive so often inverts and reflects what is valued. Life and death, ghosts and animals, gender and sex, family and face, anger and the body, history, dialect variation and the internet: there is something here for everyone. A semantic and cultural tour de force!” (Cliff Goddard, Griffith University, Australia)
“A valuable and very welcome addition to the literature on swearing and taboo language. It provides the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of an under-researched context/language of swearing. It also develops significant theoretical insights into the relationship between taboo language and core aspects of culture, history, society and human interaction.” (Karyn Stapleton, Ulster University, UK and co-editor of Advances in Swearing Research: New languages and new contexts (2017))
Authors and Affiliations
-
Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Adrian Tien, Ning Jiang
-
School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Lorna Carson
About the authors
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: An Anatomy of Chinese Offensive Words
Book Subtitle: A Lexical and Semantic Analysis
Authors: Adrian Tien, Lorna Carson, Ning Jiang
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63475-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-63474-2Published: 28 May 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-63477-3Published: 29 May 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-63475-9Published: 26 May 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 243
Number of Illustrations: 43 b/w illustrations
Topics: Linguistics, general, Sociolinguistics, Sociology of Culture, Oriental Languages, Linguistic Anthropology