Theoretical semantic analysis models the meaning of profane imprecations in conversational discourse, highlighting the role of social relations in formal semantics and pragmatics.
Though profane imprecations like F*** you! have received no attention in formal semantics, we might expect our theory of linguistic meaning to have something to say about such common expressions. In this paper, I discuss the nature of the meanings of profane quasi-verbs (Quang 1971) that function syntactically like f*** in the example above, and I provide a formal model that can account for some important aspects of their meaning and conversational use. This analysis throws light on the role of social relations in semantics and pragmatics. EARLY ACCESS
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Paul Pörtner (2026) studied this question.