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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Topoi: An International Review of Philosophy Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 17 - 31
Autor principal: Zeman, Dan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Mar2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario: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.