Do laudatives really mirror pejoratives?
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2020-08-27
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en
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Abstract
Pejoratives are words like jerk that convey negative attitudes towards their targets. Laudatives are words like sweetheart that convey positive attitudes towards their targets. Some theorists have hypothesised that laudatives are merely positively-valenced analogues to pejoratives, but have not provided empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. The present paper therefore serves two goals: (i) to document the (dis)similarities between laudatives and pejoratives and (ii) to analyse the theoretical consequences of these findings for the philosophical debate about derogatory content. I argue that laudatives largely mirror the behaviours of pejoratives and conclude that non-content-based approaches to pejoratives are better at explaining the minor differences between the two classes than are content-based approaches.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen