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THE SEMANTICS OF RACIAL EPITHETS.

The article presents an analysis on how racial epithets works as derogatory expressions and as semantic strategy. Racial epithets conveys derogatory content towards their subjects. The two competing strategies for explaining how epithets work include the semantic and the pragmatic. An analysis is pr...

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Published in:Journal of Philosophy Vol. 105; no. 8; pp. 416 - 441
Main Author: Hom, Christopher
Format: Article
Published: Journal of Philosophy Inc. Aug2008
Subjects:
Epithets
Historical linguistics
Semantics
Ethnicity
African Americans
Group identity
Comparative linguistics
Demographic characteristics
Race relations
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:The article presents an analysis on how racial epithets works as derogatory expressions and as semantic strategy. Racial epithets conveys derogatory content towards their subjects. The two competing strategies for explaining how epithets work include the semantic and the pragmatic. An analysis is presented on the combinatorial externalism, a semantic account of various purposes of epithets. It is argued that the semantic strategy conveys that the derogatory content of an epithet is part of its literal meaning. Racial terms used for Chinese people and African-Americans are examined.