Slurs and the grammar of appropriation

Abstract

Slurs are expressions generally used to dehumanize target members of groups identified based on categories such as race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, assuming that they have derogatory content. A linguistic analysis of these expressions should explain why, in cases of appropriation, i.e., the positive use of these expressions by the target groups of the slurs, they do not express their standard derogatory content. One option is to assume that slurs, when appropriate, become ambiguous expressions, having both pejorative and positive content, but only when expressed by members of the target group. In the present work, I develop an analysis of group slurs for the LGBTQIA+ community, whose main argument starts from its syntax, trying to answer the following question: what is the internal structure of group slurs and what authorizes their indexicality? I assume that these expressions are structurally deficient indexicals whose meanings vary according to their reference in the appropriation process, being associated with the speaker’s identification as the first person of the discourse and a member of certain social groups. This association is made through component features of its internal structure.