sh.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The power of swearing: What we know and what we don't
Ulster University, UK.
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education, English language.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2277-2282
Keele University, UK.
University of Westminster, UK.
2022 (English)In: Lingua, ISSN 0024-3841, E-ISSN 1872-6135, Vol. 277, article id 103406Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Swearing produces effects that are not observed with other forms of language use. Thus, swearing is powerful. It generates a range of distinctive outcomes: physiological, cognitive, emotional, pain-relieving, interactional and rhetorical. However, we know that the power of swearing is not intrinsic to the words themselves. Hence, our starting question is: How does swearing get its power? In this Overview Paper, our aim is threefold. (1) We present an interdisciplinary analysis of the power of swearing (‘what we know’), drawing on insights from cognitive studies, pragmatics, communication, neuropsychology, and biophysiology. We identify specific effects of swearing, including, inter alia: emotional force and arousal; increased attention and memory; heightened autonomic activity, such as heart rate and skin conductance; hypoalgesia (pain relief); increased strength and stamina; and a range of distinctive interpersonal, relational and rhetorical outcomes. (2) We explore existing (possible) explanations for the power of swearing, including, in particular, the hypothesis that aversive classical conditioning takes place via childhood punishments for swearing. (3) We identify and explore a series of questions and issues that remain unanswered by current research/theorising (‘what we don't know’), including the lack of direct empirical evidence for aversive classical conditioning; and we offer directions for future research. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2022. Vol. 277, article id 103406
Keywords [en]
Cognition, Emotion, Hypoalgesia, Power, Pragmatics, Swearing
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-49824DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103406ISI: 000862760300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85136049350OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-49824DiVA, id: diva2:1692948
Available from: 2022-09-05 Created: 2022-09-05 Last updated: 2022-10-14Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Beers Fägersten, Kristy

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Beers Fägersten, Kristy
By organisation
English language
In the same journal
Lingua
General Language Studies and Linguistics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 382 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf