Lenguaje peyorativo en español: términos despreciativos y términos neutros usados como insultos

Abstract

The study of pejorative language has attracted the interest of many philosophers and linguists for about a decade. Its discussion, for sociolinguistic reasons, has focused on the so-called “slurs”. In this article we present and discuss another type of pejorative terms that abound in Spanish and other languages, but which have apparently disappeared in English. The paradigmatic example of these terms is ‘gitano’ (gipsy), in which a neutral use coexists with another insulting one that has the effect of insulting twice: the person to whom the insult is directed and the Roma community. We maintain that the type of terms we analyze contributes to perpetuating racism, classism, and sexism by perpetuating negative stereotypes, rather than by expressing attitudes.