Gros mots et petite politique : paradoxes sociaux et technique des déviances verbales chinoises
Journal Title: Argotica - Year 2013, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
Chinese slang and dirty words are referable to different ways by which social and moral mechanisms affect language. Nevertheless, their genesis is al-so substantially determined by the technique factor and the possibilities that are specific to Chinese writing. The repertoire of dangerous social classes equipped with a protective slang is filled with a host of groups whose lexicons spread on a millenary, drawing an alternative sociology of China through the linguistic expression of their social transgression. The mechanisms settled in order to overcome these social boundaries could be better understood by transferring the model deduced from the acceptability of insulting one another within the hierarchical structure of a traditional Chinese family. The taboos hereby enlightened appear to be confirmed at the level of mass conflicts. Despite the wealth of obscene vocabulary, Chinese political insults make use of very few dirty words, even under the Cultural Revolution. The humiliating attacks proceed more by a stigmatizing social classification, associated to a number, which the analysis of the “Stinking old ninth” proves to be based on an efficient slang proceeding, involving the possibilities provided by the Chinese writing. Its role is obvious in the functioning of the struggle meetings of the Cultural Revolution, during which these possibilities counterbalance the relative restraint of the insults. More generally, the obscenity of a Chinese dirty word depends on its spelling and the tradition of slangy encryption of the writing, and not of the word itself, is well anchored. A significant part of the present renewal of political verbal deviancies comes from the exploration of technical resources other cultures do not possess.
Authors and Affiliations
Frédéric Le Gouriérec
Keywords
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