Global Swearword, local ideologies
The Re-semiotization and indexical field of Fuck in Taiwan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19219152 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hsi-Yao Su (0000-0002-6205-0551), Hsi‐yao Su (National Taiwan Normal University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 109 |
| Pages | 44-56 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language & Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0271-5309 • E-ISSN: 1873-3395 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.langcom.2026.05.001 |
| OpenAlex | W7164383432 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 26 |
This study examines how the English swearword fuck is taken up in Taiwan—a context where English functions as a foreign language—by analyzing metapragmatic commentaries on a controversial moment in which a prominent actress uttered fuck during her acceptance speech at a major awards ceremony. While swearing in official settings, especially by a woman, is conventionally viewed as inappropriate, public reactions to this incident were mixed, with a majority supportive. Drawing on Christie's (2013) discursive-pragmatic approach to swearing and on the linguistic-anthropological and sociolinguistic notions of indexical order (Silverstein, 2003), indexical field (Eckert, 2008), and language ideological assemblage (Kroskrity, 2010), the analysis identifies multiple, and at times conflicting, indexical associations in the metapragmatic discourse: fuck as inappropriate/vulgar, genuine/authentic, cosmopolitan/sophisticated, performative/professional, gendered, and class-oriented. These associations function as micro-instantiations of broader ideological regimes of moral order, gender propriety, cosmopolitanism, and affective performance. By linking micro-level evaluations to a heterogeneous yet traceable ideological assemblage, the study shows the analytic value of a language ideological perspective for socio-pragmatics research and demonstrates how global linguistic hierarchies are re-semiotized through local moral and affective dynamics
Context (archaeology) · Field (mathematics) · Ideology · Indexicality · Language ideology · Perspective (graphical) · Relation (database) · Gender Studies in Language · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
Swearing in Modern British English
Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life
The evolution of swearing in television catchphrases
Swearing, moral order, and online communication
Language Ideology
Swearing in informal spoken English
The role of swearing in creating an online persona
You are in Taiwan, Speak Chinese’
The pragmatics of swearing
Metadiscourse of impoliteness, language ideology, and identity
Swearing, identity and power in professional interaction
Swearing as a Leadership Tool
Swearing in a second language
The Emotional Force of Swearwords and Taboo Words in the Speech of Multilinguals
Variation and the indexical field 1
The relevance of taboo language
Censorship and Taboo Maintenance in L1 and LX Swearing
On recognizing persistence in the Indigenous language ideologies of multilingualism in two Native American Communities
The social life of cultural value
The power of swearing
What does it mean to be a girl withqizhi
Corpus-pragmatic perspectives on the contemporary weakening of fuck
Expletives as solidarity signals in FTAs on the factory floor
Hashtag swearing
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |