Scientific journal paper Q1
Taboo language across the globe: A multi-lab study
Simone Sulpizio (Sulpizio, S.); Fritz Günther (Günther, F. ); Linda Badan (Badan, L. ); Benjamin Basclain (Basclain, B. ); Marc Brysbaert (Brysbaert, M. ); Yuen Lai Chan (Chan, Y. L. ); Laura Anna Ciaccio (Ciaccio, L. A. ); Carolin Dudschig (Dudschig, C. ); Jon Andoni Duñabeitia (Duñabeitia, J. A. ); Fábio Fasoli (Fasoli, F.); Ludovic Ferrand (Ferrand, L.); Dušica Filipović Đurđević (Đurđević, D. F. ); Ernesto Guerra (Guerra, E. ); Geoff Hollis (Hollis, G. ); Remo Job (Job, R. ); Khanitin Jornkokgoud (Jornkokgoud, K. ); Hasibe Kahraman (Kahraman, H. ); Naledi Kgolo-Lotshwao (Kgolo-Lotshwao, N. ); Sachiko Kinoshita (Kinoshita, S. ); Julija Kos (Kos, J. ); Leslie Lee (Lee, L. ); Nala H. Lee (Lee, N. H. ); Ian Grant Mackenzie (Mackenzie, I. G. ); Milica Manojlović (Manojlović, M. ); Christina Manouilidou (Christina Manouilidou); Mirko Martinic (Martinic, M. ); Maria del Carmen Méndez (Méndez, M. C. ); Ksenija Mišić (Mišić, K. ); Natinee Na Chiangmai (Chiangmai, N. N. ); Alexandre Nikolaev (Nikolaev, A. ); Marina Oganyan (Oganyan, M. ); Patrice Rusconi (Rusconi, P. ); Giuseppe Samo (Samo, G. ); Chi-shing Tse (Tse, C. ); Chris Westbury (Westbury, C. ); Peera Wongupparaj (Wongupparaj, P. ); Melvin J. Yap (Yap, M. J. ); Marco Marelli (Marelli, M. ); et al.
Journal Title
Behavior Research Methods
Year (definitive publication)
2024
Language
English
Country
United States of America
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Abstract
The use of taboo words represents one of the most common and arguably universal linguistic behaviors, fulfilling a wide range of psychological and social functions. However, in the scientific literature, taboo language is poorly characterized, and how it is realized in different languages and populations remains largely unexplored. Here we provide a database of taboo words, collected from different linguistic communities (Study 1, N = 1046), along with their speaker-centered semantic characterization (Study 2, N = 455 for each of six rating dimensions), covering 13 languages and 17 countries from all five permanently inhabited continents. Our results show that, in all languages, taboo words are mainly characterized by extremely low valence and high arousal, and very low written frequency. However, a significant amount of cross-country variability in words’ tabooness and offensiveness proves the importance of community-specific sociocultural knowledge in the study of taboo language.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Taboo words,Swearing,Semantics,Best–worst scaling,Emotion
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
  • Psychology - Social Sciences
  • Other Humanities - Humanities
Funding Records
Funding Reference Funding Entity
PID2021126884NB-I00 Gobierno de España
2022N87CR9 Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MUR)
459717703 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
451-03- 68/2020-14/200163 Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja
H2019/HUM-5705 Comunidad de Madrid.
Publication Identifiers
2-s2.0-85192533659
10.3758/s13428-024-02376-6
WOS:001220339100002
WOS:001220339100002
2-s2.0-85192533659
ci-pub-107082
http://hdl.handle.net/10071/32818
Other Publication Details
2024
Springer
Web of Science©; Scopus;
1554-351X (print)
1554-3528 (online)
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56 4
3794 - 3813
Yes
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