View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit “Swearing across cultures: A lexical analysis of Pulp Fiction in English and German” Verfasserin Sonja Renate Astrid Pühringer angestrebter akademischer Grad: Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, im Oktober 2012 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 190 344 353 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Lehramtsstudium UF Englisch, UF Spanisch Betreuerin: o. Univ. Prof. em. Dr. habil. Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank Prof. Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky for her helpful suggestions, stimulations and great anecdotes. I am grateful for many hours of delightful discussion and conversation. Furthermore, I want to express gratitude to my family who has supported me mentally and financially throughout my studies. Last but not least I dedicate this thesis to my grandfather, Ing. Winfried Albert, who has encouraged me my whole live and whom I will be forever thankful for. i Table of contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................i Table of contents .............................................................................................................. ii List of tables .....................................................................................................................iv 1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 I. Theoretical background: Swearing 2. Swearword evolution ............................................................................................. 3 2.1. Word magic .................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Taboo and censorship ................................................................................... 10 2.3. A history of swearing in English .................................................................. 16 3. Defining ‘bad’ language ...................................................................................... 29 3.1. The socio-linguistic approach ....................................................................... 30 3.2. The feminist approach .................................................................................. 32 3.3. The speech-act approach .............................................................................. 34 3.4. The Victorian idea ........................................................................................ 34 4. Modes and functions of swearing ........................................................................ 36 5. Major categories according to referents .............................................................. 43 5.1. Obscenity ...................................................................................................... 44 5.1.1. Sexuality ............................................................................................ 44 5.1.2. Scatology ........................................................................................... 46 5.2. Religion ........................................................................................................ 47 5.2.1. Profanity ............................................................................................ 48 5.2.2. Blasphemy ......................................................................................... 48 5.3. Social referents ............................................................................................. 49 5.3.1. Intelligence and intellect .................................................................... 49 5.3.2. Gender ............................................................................................... 51 5.3.3. Ethnicity ............................................................................................ 53 5.4. Animals ......................................................................................................... 57 6. Disguise mechanisms........................................................................................... 60 6.1. Euphemism ................................................................................................... 60 ii 6.2. Dysphemism ................................................................................................. 65 6.3. Spoken language ........................................................................................... 67 II. Empirical part: Swearing in Pulp Fiction 7. Material and Method ........................................................................................... 70 7.1. Audiovisual translation ................................................................................. 72 7.2. Pulp Fiction .................................................................................................. 74 7.2.1. The movie .......................................................................................... 74 7.2.2. Screenplay ......................................................................................... 75 7.2.3. Plot ..................................................................................................... 77 8. Analysis ............................................................................................................... 80 8.1. Original version ............................................................................................ 81 8.1.1. Obscenity ........................................................................................... 82 8.1.1.1. Fuck ........................................................................................ 83 8.1.1.2. Other sexual obscenities ......................................................... 94 8.1.1.3. Scatology ................................................................................ 96 8.1.2. Religion ........................................................................................... 103 8.1.2.1. Damn .................................................................................... 104 8.1.2.2. Hell ....................................................................................... 107 8.1.2.3. Jesus Christ .......................................................................... 108 8.1.3. Social swearwords ........................................................................... 109 8.1.4. Racism ............................................................................................. 114 8.1.4.1. African-Americans ............................................................... 115 8.1.4.2. Asians ................................................................................... 120 8.1.5. Euphemisms .................................................................................... 122 8.2. German translation ..................................................................................... 124 8.3. Comparison ................................................................................................. 128 8.3.1. Similarities ....................................................................................... 130 8.3.1.1. Fuck, ficken and abgefuckt ................................................... 131 8.3.1.2. Shit, Scheiße and Scheiß ....................................................... 133 8.3.1.3. Ass and Arsch........................................................................ 135 8.3.1.4. Damn, verdammt and verflucht ............................................ 137 8.3.2. Differences....................................................................................... 138 iii 8.3.2.1. Alternatives to fuck ............................................................... 141 8.3.2.2. Ethnic slurs ........................................................................... 145 8.3.2.3. Animal terms ........................................................................ 148 8.3.2.4. Interjections .......................................................................... 150 8.3.2.5. Omissions, additions and other disguise mechanisms .......... 153 9. Discussion .......................................................................................................... 155 10. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 157 11. References ......................................................................................................... 159 12. Appendix ........................................................................................................... 165 12.1. Exemplary extract from English Pulp Fiction script ................................ 165 12.2. Exemplary extract from German Pulp Fiction script ............................... 167 12.3. List of swearwords in English Pulp Fiction script ................................... 169 12.4. List of swearwords in German Pulp Fiction script .................................. 175 12.5. Abstract ..................................................................................................... 181 12.6. German summary ..................................................................................... 182 12.7. Curriculum vitae ....................................................................................... 184 iv List of tables: 8.1. Table 1: Summary of swearword categories in English movie script…...….....82 8.1.1. Table 2: Obscenities in English