Expressivity and Slurs

Abstract This chapter discusses slurs, a class of pejoratives that derogates people due to their membership of a certain group based on properties, like “race” or gender, and provides an overview of the semantic and philosophical debate surrounding them. After presenting the most important characteristics of slurs, with a focus on their projectional meaning, the chapter discusses the different approaches to their meaning. A distinction is drawn between semantic and pragmatic theories, based on whether the derogative force of slurs is part of their conventional meaning or is assumed to be conveyed by their use in context. The semantic theories can further be subdivided into one-dimensional and multidimensional approaches and whether the second dimension is rendered as expressive content, as a conventional implicature or as a presupposition. The chapter closes with some remarks on recent approaches to extended derogative and reclamation.