Three Rich-Lexicon Theories of Slurs: A Comparison.

Many authors writing on slurs think that they are lexically rich, in the sense that their lexical meaning comprises both a descriptive dimension and an expressive/evaluative one, the latter accounting for their derogatory character. However, more fine-grained theories of slurs have recently been pro...

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Published in:Topoi: An International Review of Philosophy Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 17 - 31
Main Author: Zeman, Dan
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Mar2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
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        atl: Three Rich-Lexicon Theories of Slurs: A Comparison.
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        au: Zeman, Dan
        affil: https://ror.org/043pwc612 Faculty of Letters, Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto, Via Panorâmica, s/n, 4150-564, Porto, Portugal
      su:
        Lexicology
        Semantics
        Discriminatory language
        Connotation (Linguistics)
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        subj:
          Lexicology
          Semantics
          Discriminatory language
          Connotation (Linguistics)
      keyword:
        Derogatory and non-derogatory uses of slurs
        Lexical semantics
        Rich-lexicon theories
        Slurs
      ab: Many authors writing on slurs think that they are lexically rich, in the sense that their lexical meaning comprises both a descriptive dimension and an expressive/evaluative one, the latter accounting for their derogatory character. However, more fine-grained theories of slurs have recently been proposed, drawing on frameworks from lexical semantics. My main aim in this paper is to compare three such fine-grained rich-lexicon theories—the one put forward by myself in previous work with two similar ones, Croom's (2011, 2013) and Neufeld's (2019, 2022). While my primary aim is to underlie the commonalities and differences between the three views, I also aim at showing that the latter views have some issues that are easily avoided in the framework I propose.
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