Bedeutsame Defäkation, unbedeutende Kopulation. Semantische und pragmatische Unterschiede zwischen südslawischen und deutschen Maledikta
Meaningful Defecation, Meaningless Copulation. Semantic and Pragmatic Differences between South-Slav and German Swearwords

Summary/Abstract: Swearwords are an important part of spoken language. This paper compares German and South-Slav swearwords by resorting to literature and a survey conducted on bilingual persons. In so doing, it establishes structural as well as semantic differences: Whereas pejorative expressions in German are structurally stiff and, for the most part, have a scatological semantics,South-Slav swearwords exhibit a high level of flexibility and mostly resort to sexual vocabulary. It is therefore fair to assume that their use differs as well: While German expressions are in principle used as real swearwords,South-Slav expressions (apart from a secondary, pejorative function), are used to bring to the fore otherwise tabooed sexual topics.

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