Expressivity and Law

Abstract This chapter examines how a particular kind of expressive language—swearing—is understood and regulated by the law. It focuses on the prohibition and control of spoken swear words in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in two distinct legal areas: public order offenses and broadcast law. The chapter discusses areas of controversy in relation to the criminalization and censorship of offensive language. These include how the law grapples with expert linguistic evidence, how swear words should be represented in legal texts, and whether swear words should be subject to legal constraint. It is argued that shallow understandings of swear words in the law would greatly benefit from having regard to linguistic research.